How Much Milk Is He Drinking?

I have been directly breastfeeding Bean since Day 44. I seriously do not know how much milk he is drinking. As in how many oz/ml per 24 hours. Ask me this back in 2010 and I would have been scared and unsure.

 

However, not this time. I am a little more sure of myself and arm myself with the confidence that Allah is The Sustainer. (Drinking enough water and eating well help too, duh!)

 

Well.

 

I know that he has more than 6 wet diapers per day, and 1 dirty diaper per day. That is comforting but every baby is different.

 

He nurses on demand, and he feeds during my breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper, mimicking our family meal times.

 

He is thriving, gaining weight and height.

 

He is sleeping well, Alhamdulillah.

 

If you are a first time mum who is feeding directly, BRAVO! If you are expressing, BRAVO!

 

If you are faced with naysayers who doubt your ability to feed your baby the best milk there is, soldier on! Do not let their doubts and insecurities poison your mind, heart and soul. Take ownership of your commitment.

 

My prayer for you is that you remain strong and true to your committed and perhaps a more polite answer than what I have just said above may come in handy *grin*.

 

Oh, and turn off your follow/like to certain online social media groups that purportedly supports breastfeeding but ends up otherwise will help too. Plus, you will get more sleep!

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Potty Training

The Little Girl is potty trained, day time. Her play school teachers thought that she was ready and it started the week Bean was born (stressful for me!). There were a few accidents but she got the hang of it. Well, I had to mop up at least twice during my confinement period.

 

We are still working on the night time potty training. She has cloth diapers on when sleeping at the moment as she has been able to keep dry throughout on most nights. We still have accidents every now and then. 

Hospital mats and bed liners, Febreeze sprays and Rainbow are real life (mattress)  savers.

 

Slowly but surely, we will get there.

Update: proud to say, after one week, The Little Girl is now fully potty trained! Yay!! 5 nights of trainers and 2 nights of normal panties later, we are free from having to purchase her pull up pants.

Spring Cleaning Mania

Yes!

 

I have reclaimed about 60% of the utilities room.

 

Bags and bags of unused toys from gazillions of play school birthday parties, clothes for 24 to 36 month old girl, my pregnancy clothes, my confinement clothes, my nursing tops (that weren't too practical) and my size UK6 pre-pregnancy clothes have all finally left our home.

 

To a much better place of a few deserving new owners.

 

I pray that my former cleaning lady's grand-daughter will find hours of joy playing with those toys, and wearing those pretty clothes.

 

I pray that her daughters will find my clothes ranging from size UK6 to UK18 comfortable and wear them in good health.

 

Now, on to IKEA for more organising shelves etc.

 

On second thoughts, I will wait till Monday when the weekend madding crowd is not there.

 

*sigh of relief*

Baking Hazard

Recently, I baked two loaves of lemon poppy cake:

Then, as I was putting away the ingredients back into the larder, I saw this:

Alcohol! 

So those lovely loaves went to my girl friend instead (she is not Muslim and doesn't mind her loaves spiked). Waste not...

Note to self: read ALL ingredients and expiry dates no matter how long it takes at the supermarket, especially when trying out new products!

Spring Cleaning

It is Spring in Australia, and I am joining the Spring Clean season from Kuala Lumpur.

It will be great for my soul and somewhat OCD nature.

I didn't do much in my final trimester and confinement period. It is only fair that I catch up with myself now at the store room...

...as well as at the wet kitchen

See you again soon! 

*busy mode on*

RecycleMonster

We bring cartons, bottles and cans to the play school that The Little Girl is enrolled into as materials for arts and crafts sessions. 

The recyclable materials have often come home as Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar or a train or a flower. Creative results that never cease to amaze me.

Unfortunately, my nightmare lies with accumulating and storing the materials for at least a week before bringing those recyclable materials to be dropped off at play school, once weekly.

(Before: traffic hazard)

*insert ashamed face here*

(After: milk and drinks storage at most bottom shelf, paper & carton in Samla Box with lid on second from bottom shelf, plastic bottles and cans in Samla Box with lid on middle shelf, Phillips Airfryer on second from top shelf, extra toilet rolls, kitchen rolls and tissue paper boxes go on the top shelf upon return from the grocer's before being placed into the cupboards). 

In my haste, I forgot what the Ikea shelf is called as it was an impulse purchase one desperate morning. I'd prefer it in white to blend in with the rest of my fixtures and I would love to spray paint it but I am having so much on my plate right now.

I really wish that Jenny Komenda can help me out with suggestions as to how to DIY this little space into something prettier!

Ziplock & The Diaper Bag

I have been a Ziplock mummy since 2010 when The Little Girl was born. I still am, for Bean.

Clean diapers to last us a trip out for the day, a set or two of clean clothes for each kid and diaper cream usually go into transparent, water tight Ziplock bags. Helps to keep dirt/dust and spills out until we need them. 

Sophie The Giraffe goes into her own Ziplock too, she is just special that way because anything that goes into Bean's drooling mouth better has some form of hygiene control! Well, Ziplock helps to lock in the drool after Bean has had a go at her. I wouldn't like my entire diaper bag smelling like drool...

I also use a zippered swim bag to keep small items like comb, thermometer, tissue packets, hand sanitiser, safety scissors, nail file and toilet seat liners handy. 

I usually have a separate swim bag that has the hospital record book too. Modular wise, I can add the one with hospital record book on trips to the paed, and put it away into the drawer at home when we are done with it to keep until the next paed appointment.

Weight of my diaper bag counts a lot to me. The lighter, the better! 5 to 6 kg tops.  Bulk of the weight comes from wet wipes. When the bag is light I double check that I have not run out of wet wipes! More about this later.

My diaper bag comes with padded changing liner that is washable but I only ever use that on top of hospital liners as all changing tables in public areas contain bacteria and virus that I cannot even pronounce. 

After use, we usually dispose of the hospital liners. These hospital liners are great for change on the go, absorbs spills and accidents really well. Obviously they befit the sole purpose they were invented.

As a mother of two, I carry a box of wipes. Forget the small packets of 10s! They tend to run out on me when Bean does a major mess!

Fashion wise, I don't only carry the one and only diaper bag the way I used to. I find organising things into its own Ziplock or swim bag helps a lot when I pack my bag for the day. I include or omit what I pack especially if The Little Girl is away at play school and won't be coming along. That way, I carry less weight on my already aching shoulders.

My own stuffs are simple. Wallet, iPhone, house keys in its own pouch to prevent scratching other stuffs especially the wallet, car access card and a small vanity bag. 

The Little Girl tends to ask me to bring the iPad along if the trip is long, can you imagine how much extra weight that adds? But I digress...

To contain our mess, we also use recycle able scented nappy liners in small size which we buy from Sainsbury's. Really useful in packing up soiled diapers etc before chucking the lot into dustbins. That way, if the dustbin liner breaks, you won't find our mess bursting out to create the second pile of shit, literally.

Better end this before you feel disgusted by my post. This is intended to be a helpful guide to new mothers and fathers who are trying to figure out the best way to organise their diaper bags, especially for that first ever day out with baby!

Reminder: always service your diaper bag. Refill and replenish whatever is exhausted, recycle what you can and dispose of your garbage responsibly.

Have a fun day out!

Care to share what goes into your Ziplock and diaper bags?