First Outing to Mid Valley

It's the last day of 2008 and we decided to bring baby Valerie out for the first time. Destination: Mid Valley. Agenda: Lunch. We picked Mid Valley because I wanted to see the Christmas deco for the year. It's always been a sort of annual thing for Ivan and myself. We would always snap a pic at the centre court concourse, whatever the Christmas deco would be. We thought this through and through and it sounded like a do-able outing. Worse case scenario, if baby Valerie ever end up wailing or screaming, we would just run straight to the car and drive home. :D

We parked at the Gardens because I knew their babies rooms were great. I mean I have done some research before giving birth and discovered that the babies rooms there were very private. You could have one room all to yourself with changing facilities, sink and toilet. So in case anything happens, you know.. this would be a good backup.

I had in my mind to try out Sushi Zanmai as I was dying for Japs food. I have restrained myself from taking any sashimis since the start of my pregnancy, so I've been looking forward to this. When we reached the entrance of the restaurant, we learned one thing as new parents. Errm.. this place was not child friendly. There was no place to put the baby stroller as the tables were too near to each other. So we went off to the Thai restaurant next to it instead.


We timed everything as precisely as possible. Baby Valerie was still sound asleep throughout the entire outing, until the middle of our lunch. Halfway through my plate of mee, she woke up fussing. After feeding her, she kept looking around, thrilled by all the different lightings. Then we headed off to the centre court for our Christmas pic. Baby was all busy looking around with amusement in her eyes. Such an explorer!

About an hour later, baby Valerie lost her patience and started crying instead. So I held her while we walked back to the carpark. In the car, she wanted to nurse immediately but I was not nursing attired. Another mistake that I've learned. Always, always wear nursing blouse if you are breastfeeding. If not, carry extra milk around.

It was only later that I found out that babies need comforting thru breastfeeding after being overwhelmed by their environment around. In fact, a couple more outings down the road proved this theory to be true. Anyway, the outing turned out well and I felt this was a good breather after being homebound for a month.

First Christmas

Before Valerie was born, I was all crazy about getting a Christmas tree ready. It was not easy trying to find a Christmas tree in the month of November since no shops were selling yet. The minute I heard Ikea started selling, we rushed there straight. With the tree all setup, I was ready for Christmas :D

Christmas day was the day Ah Mei left. I thought it would be easy to take over from her, considering Valerie was supposed to sleep throughout the day. But nope, she was awake the minute Ah Mei left. No matter how I rocked, bounced and nursed, her little eyes remained open.

By the time evening came, we were exhausted but Valerie was finally asleep. Hooray! We rushed to get ready for the party. Aunty Jenny has been so kind to move the annual family Christmas party over to our place instead since we couldn't go out with the baby yet.

At around 7pm, the guests started pouring in. Aunty Jenny prepared a sumptuous western style buffet dinner and we totally enjoyed ourselves. Look at the yummy food!



By the end of the party, Valerie was still sound asleep. She only woke up once for her milk feed but basically slept through the entire party (not the way I imagined her first Christmas would be). But then, she also slept through her own full moon party a couple of days back. Nobody could wake her up no matter how they tickled her cheek, moved her arms, talked loudly in front of her. Here's my botak baby (shaven for full moon) with dear Aunty Jenny. Her first Christmas pressie was lying on top of her. Hehe..






More photos of the party here....

Elaine and Aunty Jenny

Even Amanda has a dish to show off... hehe...

Watching TV while waiting for food

Amanda, Joyce and my brother

Ah Po, Mom, Aunty Jenny and Uncle Herrick

Ivan, my sis, Hong, Jeremy and baby Valerie in her bouncer

Full Moon Party

The small scale full moon cum Christmas party that we originally wanted has blown to be a big catering party! The in-laws side wanted a big full moon party since this is the first 'Chen' grandchild. Because of that we had the full moon on a weekend 20th, instead of the planned 25th.

Too bad we didn't take much photos that night, being the hosts and having to entertain guests one after another. All I could say was the party was a big turnout, packed and there was not enough space for guests to sit.

By the end of the party, the bare Christmas tree was filled with lots and lots of pressies for Valerie! We had to add a mini gate barrier to contain them. Haha...

Valerie's First Month

Valerie's first month went by in a brisk, taken care by the confinement lady called Ah Mei. I saluted Ah Mei in how she managed Valerie, always singing songs to her, calling and talking to her while she goes about doing her daily chores. She even bathed her twice a day, saying babies love the cooling effect. The one thing Ah Mei complained was how often Valerie poo-poo due to being a breastfed baby. Hehe...

I only remembered Valerie was sleeping most of the time during the day with occassional fuss when she wakes up for feed. She especially loved to sleep with her head tilted upwards to one side, making a cresent shape of her entire body. I think that's how she slept when she was still in my tummy.


We swaddled her so many times during the day using a cloth diaper but without fail she would always wriggle her way out, freeing one arm first.. and then the other. We then had to wrap her up all over again. Look at the little 'supergirl'.

I was also amazed at how smart babies are. You know how they will just fall asleep in your arms and the minute you lower them to the bed, their eyes would be open. Or when you have carried her for an hour or so and dead sure that she was in a 'deep sleep' mode, the minute you tried to put her down and tip-toed away slowly, you would hear the 'aaaaayyyyy' sound.

I didn't get to breastfeed as often as I wanted because Ah Mei always took her away from me to ensure I have ample rests. So I ended up pumping most of the time every 3 hours throughout the day. Nevertheless, Valerie remains a baby who loves to breastfeed. Ah Mei always bring her into my room in the middle of the night, saying she misses her mommy's boobies...

My Daddy Bear

The joyous moment of being a proud daddy...


Amidst the everyday busyness of feeding, burping, diaper changing, bathing n putting the baby to sleep, you may wonder if daddy has a part in it all. Well, I have to say Ivan has been as supportive as possible, although occassionally his lazy bones still kick in. Here are some of the regular routines of the Daddy Bear.

1. Whisk baby away when mommy loses her patience
2. Pat baby to sleep (when all attempt from mommy fails)
3. Change baby diapers (only the wee wee ones.. no poo poo!! wait till baby starts on solid then he will know what is a stinky poo)
4. Play and keep baby entertained while mommy tries to put on her clothes
5. Feed baby (this is still a failing effort to this very day, baby will somehow chew on the teat and move left right whenever daddy offers her the bottle)
6. When feeding fail, daddy will do the burping. He's pretty good at this one :D

Little Princess Nursery

I just have to tell you about the baby nursery. Before Valerie was born, we were undecided whether to put her in her own nursery room or to room in with us. And this went on for months, and reading various articles made us even more confused. In the end, Ivan decided to just set up the baby cot one day and did it in the nursery room. After which, I changed my mind and decided it's better to put the baby cot in our master bedroom instead.

And here was where the trouble starts. We couldn't get the baby cot out from the baby's room cos the door was too small. Annoyingly Ivan had to disassemble some of the parts to get the baby cot out and into our room and asked me a final time "Sure? No more changing your mind?" I gave a final nod.

So here it is a picture of our baby cot. Isn't it lovely? I like the sweet pink and purple butterfly beddings on the white baby cot. And adding the netting makes it look cosier. The pillow is from Safe n Sound and the mobile cot is from K Kids. About the mobile cot, it's called 'Mother's Whispers', where it comes with a night light, 2 songs to select from, mommy's heartbeat and a recording feature to add in your own voice. We wanted the red Patrick dog initially but it was sold out, so have to make do with yellow Bobby bear instead. But after a while, I felt the bear is not a bad choice, which baby doesn't fall in love with a bear anyway...

My First Breastfeeding Experience

When the nurse first asked me.. 'How do you want to feed the baby? Breastfeed or Formula?' Without thinking another second, I quickly replied 'Breastfeed'. Yup, I have read all about breastfeeding and how it works. I know it's the best way to feed my baby and I was dead determined to make it happen.

And so, 2hrs after my delivery, the nurse knocked on the door and came asking if I wanted to give breastfeeding a try (apparently my baby has woke up from her sleep and started feeling hungry for the first time). Although I was pretty tired after a long day, my eyes gleamed with excitement. I stared at Ivan and he gave this nod to say 'Go ahead if I'm up to it'. So I said 'Let's try it!!'

When the nurse first brought the baby to me, I held the tiny wrapped bundle in my arms, in the position I always imagined I would breastfeed. Then like the book said, 'touch the baby cheeks lightly and she will open up her mouth'.. I did that and the baby did open her mouth.. okie.. that's good.

Next, 'gently put your breast to the baby's mouth and let her latch on'. So when I slowly edge myself closer to the baby, before I have time to figure the next move.. suddenly the baby latched on!!! And she sucked on really hard!!! I'm surprised at how natural baby rooting reflex was and how so strong! She sucked for quite a while, with me wondering if she's getting anything out from it. I mean I was supposed to hear gulping sounds or see if she's swallowing. But I couldn't quite tell.

I then tried to unlatch as I didn't think she was latching on correctly (excuse the over-excited mom). Like the book said 'put your last finger at the corner of her mouth to break the suction'... I put my finger in and tried to get her to unlatch. But instead, she sucked in my finger as well!!! 'Oh no.. baby baby... let goo.. mommy's not ready' was all I remember saying. In a panic, I pulled my breast out from her mouth and did it hurt!!

After a few latching and unlatching sessions (because I kept thinking the baby wasn't latching on correctly which later I realised she was actually), my nipple skin was slightly chapped. Like the book said, I could express out some milk n air my nipple with it to get better. And it did get better after a day. Surprise, surprise, no need to buy any creams.

And there it was, my first breastfeeding experience. I would say it was a truly memorable moment to see my own small baby latching for first time and then slowly falling asleep on my chest. She looked like she's found the most secured and comfortable spot right then. I beamed with pride as I held her close.

The baby arrives!

I'm finally starting a blog for baby Valerie. I know it's a few months late, but like the old saying goes 'Better late than never'. So here I am, doing the very first post. Hmm.. how shall I start? Okie, here goes...

Baby Valerie Chen Wei Yee was born on 26th Nov 2008 @ 3.0kg (although personally I have wanted her to be born 2 days later which is 28th, cos daddy and mommy birthdates are both 28th Sept and 28th Oct... and if she's 28th Nov.. how coool is that?? :) ) Oh well.. anyway, she ended up chosing birth date same as her 'yee yee' (my sis) which is 26th.. Not ideal but is fine really..

When she was born, I was partially conscious, due to the spinal injection and my belly was being cut open, all I could hear was 2 cries and then that's it. After that was total silent, except the doctors and nursers busy moving about (no idea what they were doing) I suppose they were sewing me back. I asked Ivan 'How come the baby doesn't cry anymore?' And he said 'She suck her own thumb and went back to sleep'. When the nurse finally brought her over for me to have a look, my first thot was 'There she is... my very first baby!!!... perfect with all her little fingers and toes... but she looks like daddy doesn't she??' I had so wanted her to look more like me... after all I carried her for 9 months and gave birth to her didn't I?? Anyway I know how baby face changes over time, so I secretly hope she will look more like me eventually :)