Times flies. It has been 3 months since Baby Leow entered our life and she has graduated from the title "newborn". She has grown from a little baby that only sleep, eat and poo to a cutie in our eyes that steal our heart whenever she smiles to us. It is amazing to see her grow so much in such a short span of time, and she kept surprise us everyday with her new ability.
Baby Leow is growing so fast now. Every week there will be clothes that no longer can fit her. Thankfully a few of our fellow friends gave us their daughters' worn clothes and we were more than happy to adopt the "hand-me-down" approach. This saved us some monies that can be spent elsewhere. We still owe these friends a lunch.
Taking care a baby by our own as a newbie parents is a tough skill to master. Everything is a mystery for us to solve, from the reason why she cries, how to soothe her to sleep, how to keep her company and many more. We cannot help but to feel proud over the small achievement we have done so far.
Yes, we take care Baby Leow on our own.
Many gave us a surprise face upon learning we did not send her to daycare centre or having our parents to lend us a hand. Well, since Shirleen is working at home on her jewelry design business - Shirleen Jeweliciouss, she can spend a considerable of time taking care of the baby even though at the expenses of her business.
However, the rewards are elusive and sense of satisfactory are beyond words. It feels like we are watching and guarding her growth, instead of entrusting this responsibility to someone'e else while leaving our hands free. Indeed we felt exhausted and energy depleted by all the house chores, but whenever Baby Leow smiles or giggles, her pure happiness warm our heart.
The Worst Incident - Chikungunya
When we were relieved after leaving the nightmarish confinement centre, another incident strucked us real hard - both of us were diagnosed with Chikungunya at the same time! This happened when baby is at the age of 1 month+.
Apart of high fever and fatigue, Chikungunya also present both of us with muscle pain to the extent of having difficulty in walking. (till today the pain has subsided but still affect our daily life). Having said that, carrying a baby suddenly became a daunting task, and the disease also affected Shirleen's breast milk production severely. The schedule of taking care baby also greatly affected due to frequent visiting to clinic and hospital for follow ups.
The disease dealt us a big blow. Body pain, headache, fever, not enough breast milk, unable to walk properly and all these disarray made us almost gave up on taking care of her. At that moment, we were almost in the thought of finding someone to look after her for 1 or 2 days while we recover.
Nevertheless, we persevered. While Shirleen was going to clinic for follow up, I look after her and vice-versa. Things were not in order, and I was lost at most of the times when she cries the time I was with her alone. All these perplexed me - am I ready to be a father yet? I seemed in such bad condition when my family needs me the most.
Everything was made hard due to Chikungunya striking us at the same time. Thankfully at this moment, some friends rendered us support - offering us to help to take care of baby if needed, offering various advice, or giving us ointment to repel mosquitoes and promote recovery. Sincere thanks to you all, you know who you are.
Fortunately, we slowly recovered after 4-5 days. Although pain in hand and other parts of body still persist, we managed to overcome it and can take care of Baby Leow better.
House Renovation With Baby At Home
We have long planned for a renovation of our kitchen with dilapidated kitchen. The kitchen condition was worsened when the pipe suddenly burst in the middle of night during Malaysia Movement Control Time (MCO), and since then we have been struggling with a partially defunct kitchen during the entire MCO period.
The initial plan was to renovate the kitchen during Shirleen's confinement time but Covid-19 has made it impossible. The kitchen designer could not come, and plenty of pre-planned jobs are awaiting them after lockdown has been lifted.
Therefore, our schedule to renovate kitchen came materialize when Baby Leow is 2 months old. Yes, we lived at the home with all debris, ashes, dirts, defunct kitchen, noises in the day due to drilling and knocking, piping problems, messed up living room as everything from kitchen has to be moved there and all sort of living disorder for up to 3 months.
Needless to say, we struggled, and Baby Leow struggled too. She was too small to undergo this process. It was our bad to make her go through this, but it was meant for long term convenience. Eventually, the kitchen was done after 3 weeks. A major project indeed!
The Thing We Wanted to Remember The Most
Her smile and babbling sound! If we recalled correctly, we caught her real smile at the age of 6 weeks after repeatedly calling her name. Then we tried to replicate it every day since. It was like she trying to tell her how good is her day with her babbling ahhh sound, then followed by a toothless smile.
No matter how stressful the day we had, her smile and babbles melt our heart instantly.
Another memorable, yet funny moment that registered the most impression was a visit to Klinik Kesihatan (local government clinic) or routine vaccination and checkup when she was exactly 3-months only. The moment Shirleen carried her to the nurse's room for injection, the nurse blurted in jovial mode upon seeing her "Wah paha ini minta cucuk!", meaning this thigh deserves to be be poked, implying the relatively big size of her thigh.
Indeed, her thigh was big but cute at the same time! She is relatively bigger in size compared to other babies at the same age, but the attending pediatrician said this is not a concern due to she is fully breast fed.
The Funniest Moment
Okay, finally I got a haircut after the furore of getting a haircut once the restriction has been lifted. Then she cried out loud and looked like shocked after seeing me when I got home, how sad!
Her Personality
She is a baby that constantly need attention and will respond to your tending, either with a cry or smile. Early morning and night time before going to bed are her most happy time of the day. She is all smiles and enjoyed the phrase "Good Morning, Baby!" the most and we could spend the entire morning in bed with her. However, things will take a drastic twist in the afternoon due to hot weather. She will get fussy without reason, or appear to be tired and cannot sleep well.
She loved being hold and close to us but does not enjoy the craddle hold position - she cries out loud almost everytime in this position. Whenever she cries, only her mother has the ability to soothe her. Her father can only watch helplessly at far away.
Nevertheless, she is our sweet girl but can be rather look fierce when she does not smile.
We are in dilemma now. We enjoyed her purity and innocence in this stage, yet cannot wait to see her growing up.
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