we have successfully weaned baby c off his pacifier. hip hip hooray! i actually never wanted to give him the paci to begin with. but if you recall how horrendous his first few nights back home with us was, i was desperate and willing to try anything to quiet him. so....in came the paci. worked out well for us until about 3 months back. the paci would fall out in the middle of the night and baby c would wake looking for it. i told b then that we should wean him. but b was reluctant and maybe a little terrified (i think). baby c always nodded off immediately after the paci is put back into his mouth, which makes looking after him at night easy for b (in his mind). the real kicker came a month back. when we were out and about, baby c would suck on his paci, take it out, look at it, put it back in, bite and chew on it, take it out and THEN throw it onto the ground. then at night, he started waking up more times looking for the paci because he was playing with it in his sleep! the final straw was the night which he did this throughout the night. we have a total of SIX pacis in the house for him (yeah, a lot huh?). he went through all of them that night. the next morning, i threw them all out and we started. basically i didn't give b a choice cause i started the process. i tell you, the first few days AND nights were tough. the first day, he cried for an hour straight then nodded off out of sheer exhaustion. and you know what? i had to carry him AND stand up for the first few days. needless to say, both b and i looked like zombies during that week (yes, it took him that long). ah.......but then.............it's blissful now. no more worrying about if we have enough pacis, if he's going to throw them out, no more waking through the night to get the damn paci! on hindsight, i should have weaned him off the paci when we finally got the confinement nanny. should have let her dealt with him then. hmm.............................

this is an old video. this was taken when baby c was 6 1/2 months. this was when i just started giving him solids. it was super easy to feed him. i told you baby c was a born eater!

going back to baby c's doc, dr lam. he was not baby c's original doc, ie he wasn't the one who attended to him after birth at pantai. both b & i have heard of this doc before (as his reputation precedes him) but i refused to go to him as the waiting time can go up to about 2 hours per person. i thought it was ridiculous to have to wait that long to have a baby attended to, especially if the baby's sick. so in the beginning, we stuck it out with the doc at pantai. but a few weeks after birth, baby c developed a very ugly rash around the folds of his neck. so off we went to pantai and his doc prescribed an ointment for him. she said to put it on him for only a week as it was a controlled medication, ie it's really strong. but when i casually mentioned that we were going to see her again in two weeks time for baby c's jab, she then changed her mind and told me to dab the ointment on baby c for two weeks. after hearing this, i grew suspicious of her. i decided there and then to get a second opinion from dr lam. as he practices at sime darby centre in megah (where my parents live), my dad goes early (an hour earlier) to register us (or rather to put baby c's name in the queue). during the first consultation, he checked baby c from head to toe, moved his limbs, checked his groin, checked his head, everything. then he proceeded to give us pointers about what to look out for, what to expect, etc. on top of all that, he reinforced that we were doing a good job as first time parents as baby c was doing so well. he even patiently answered all the questions we had. and the ointment the first doc prescribed? the steroid content in it is so high that it will thin out baby c's skin. thankfully i didn't listen to her! anyway, dr lam is very conservative when prescribing medication. if it is not absolutely necessary, he'd forgo it. after the first consultation with dr lam, we dropped the first doc like a hot potato. the differences between the two docs were so vast. the first doc made us feel stupid when we asked questions. and she never touched baby c at all during all those times we went to her for his jabs. dr lam ALWAYS talks to baby c and touches him and takes his time to check baby c out. i guess that's why the waiting list to see him is that long. but you know what? it's all completely worth it!

baby c came down with fever on sat. it was all so sudden. we were, as usual, out and about when he started to feel warm. it would come and go. i didn't worry as babyc was still laughing and razzing, albeit not as much as usual. he was also tired and sleepy a lot throughout the day. well, he took more naps than usual and was moody here and there. i was still not worried and brought him to gymboree. that day, he really was NOT in the mood as even though there were no one else there, he didn't want to be left alone. i decided that since nobody else showed up for class, we'd also skip it. so b and i headed home to check on baby c's temperature. (we tried to get his temperature checked out at caring pharmacy, but the pharmacist said that they were not allowed to check temperatures and give diagnosis! what?! oh, sure. but you can go and tell them i have a cough/cold and they can prescribe you with medication. come on! she had the cheek to ask us to buy a thermometer and only THEN can she check baby c's temperature. needless to say, i stormed out.)
when we confirmed that baby c was having a fever, all i wanted to do was to give him paracetamol and let him sleep it off. i was still NOT worried because although baby c was a bit off his normal self, he was still responsive and playful. but b said we should go to the a&e at pantai bangsar to get it checked out. so off we went. and guess what? we spent over 2 hours there. i know that at the a&e, the cases get seen based on the severity of the situation and not on a first come, first served basis. but people who came after us who were not bleeding nor dying nor did they look that sick went in before us. after an hour, b went to check. we were told to wait. after another 1/2 hour, i got really pissed and BOTH of us went to make noise. (baby c was just so tired and fussy by then). we had to tell them that he's only 7 months old and guess what? they forgot about his file as it was just lying at the bottom of the pile. we were called in immediately. the "doctor" who attended to him (after another session of waiting), didn't bother to touch him. all she did was use her stethoscope to listen to his breathing and told me to sponge him down. she asked questions (the same ones over and over again. i was really at the tip of blowing my top off at her!). i also told her that baby c's skin is yellow, but she just ignored me and continued asking the same bloody questions! i was REALLY going to shout at her then, but baby c was there so i let it go. then she left us and after waiting again, a nurse came to give him a suppository. then we were told that we could go. after i told the nurse that we didn't need any paracetamol as we have it at home, no one wanted to tell us the dosage that we should give baby c if he still had fever that night. no instructions whatsoever. what's the use of a&e when it took us TWO hours to be seen? pantai bangsar's a&e is really the pits! only thing they're fast at? payment! all in all, it took us 3 hours from start to finish.
so on monday, we took him to his paediatrician (a fantastic man) to get him checked out. his doc, checked him all over and guess what? he has a throat infection. of course by now, he is already recovering (all thanks to god!). so, no medication needed. and the yellowness? just as i suspected - it's due to his intake of pumpkins and carrots! we are NEVER EVER going back to pantai bangsar.

baby c and fashion

this top is thanks to auntie g & auntie ms' sister (also auntie m!). it's so funky!

sitting on unc's chair. i kept sliding off though.

wearing aunt's sunnies. think it's time mummy gets one for me.

this is how i spent cny in kl. it was REALLY hot. mummy and daddy wished they could have joined me like this.

this is a gift from auntie m. i wore it on the 1st day of cny to usher in the tiger year. how apt!

back view of my baju. actually mummy has a confession. she completely forgot about his baju until she started clearing out my closet to look for new clothes for cny. by then i was "oversized" for it. but mummy managed to squeeze me in. this is for 0-3 months. i turned 6 months on the 1st day of cny. sorry auntie m!

ta-da! front view of my baju.

daddy has an obsession with putting things on my head.

daddy thinks that i look like a mini rapper. "what's up dog?"

the many faces of baby c

check out those thighs! these are really thunder thighs!

the cheeky look.

the i'm gonna start bawling if you don't feed me now look.

the i got distracted from bawling look.

the happy after being fed look.