Kimmy and Julie :: Family Journal

I’m Sorry, Son…

Jonathan boy cried yesterday night again. He could have a reason for crying but I just could not understand it yet.

Yesterday, I put him in his baby cot with the pacifier in his mouth. I pat him to sleep. He lied down quietly while gazing at me. After a while, he started to twist and turn, rubbing his eyes against the soft bed and there it came, the whining and crying. Whenever he cries, he opens his mouth and of course the pacifier fell off from his mouth then he cries even louder. I’ll pick up his pacifier and stuff back in his mouth. When he rejected it, I’ll give him some water. He’ll suckle a while then cry. I gave him the pacifier again but he still cried, then I gave him water but he still cried. I sing to him but that would not calm him down either (not that I have a bad voice, at least better than Daddy). At times I’ll just let him cry to see if he’ll get tired and stop crying. Guess I’m wrong…because he won’t stop crying.

Being a stubborn wife and mother, Darling will pester me to pick him up from the bed. I’m reluctant because I don’t want Jonathan to get used to carrying to sleep. But hearing and looking at him crying (until sniffing) and especially at night (my mom always advise me not to let baby cry too much at night), I have to pick him up. He will stop crying sometimes but still sniffing. After talking sense to him nicely (i.e. It’s already late, Mommy have to work tomorrow. Jonathan is tired, just close your eyes and sleep. Mommy put you down on the bed. Mommy is here, mommy will pat you to sleep and sing song to you. Ok, you don’t like Rock-a-bye, Mommy sing Twinkle Twinkle.) I put him down. Before his back touches the bed, he started crying again. The whole cycle go on and on. Pacifier…water…pat…sing…pick up…put down…cry…

He really tested my patience and only Darling knows how impatient I am. It’s already midnight. I just couldn’t bear with his nuisance so I spanked him on the buttock again. He knows it’s painful that he cried even louder. I made him looked at me straight on the face and lectured him. He knows mommy is scolding him so showed his “tut-tut” mouth.

Every time after I spanked him (only on his buttock or chubby hips) due to his mommy-cannot-understand act, I felt bad the next morning when I sit beside the baby cot looking at him sleeping so soundly, caressing his innocent face, stroking his head. I just wish for a supernatural brain to read his mind and understand his needs.

Jonathan boy, Mommy is sorry for making you cry. Mommy pray for Lord Jesus to teach me to be more patience with you and give me the wisdom in understanding you.

Jonathan…6 Months

6 months…the beginning of another important milestone for Jonathan boy.  At this stage, you can do more things with him and I just can’t wait for anything. 

Jonathan boy weighs 8.7 kg now. He has grown but not much taller as what I’ve always hope for because both Darling and myself are kinda short not tall.  He can still fit into the baby cot but because he is like a wiggling worm, we thought of moving him to sleep on his own bed so that he would have bigger space to turn and crawl around.  But no hurry on that as it’s still good to put him in the baby cot so to “lock” him up. You see, he loves to grab and pull anything within his reach then into his mouth.

He can turn on both sides wonderfully so the next thing I’m expecting from him is pulling up and moving from a sitting position to being on all fours (is it too soon for that?). I don’t expect much on crawling on fours (although he is able to rock back and forth since 5.5 months) as some babies may skip this step.

I can’t wait to feed him solid and now I can start doing so. Without the knowledge of my paediatrician (yup, my paed quite strict on Jonathan’s diet), I’d quietly fed him some cereal, steamed apple and Babybites. I just can’t wait to give him more like porridge, potato, fish, etc. It’s so much fun to have him joining us on the dining table and seeing him eating especially when he show you the weird first-taste look.

He got a tooth and soon teeth! I’ve been trying to make face to him so he will open his mouth wide but still unable to capture a nice and clear picture. Anyway, one tooth is half way out and another tooth coming soon. It started while he was 5.5 months when I felt something sharp on his gum. I can now take out the Pigeon Baby Training toothbrush for him.  I know he will loves it because anything in his hand will end up in his mouth.

Everything in Mouth

Just look at him! He puts everything in his mouth, suck and munch. It can look very delicious to you with the sucking sound he made. That’s my baby…

 I first bought him a yellow fish-shaped teether.

This is Jonathan’s Christmas present from “4 Yi” from Munchkin.

He can hold on to the handky and play with it like a toy…and there it goes into his mouth.  

He loves this because he can hold it well and the stick nicely fit his mouth. (This is not a teether and it’s dangerous. I only gave him once because I can’t find anything near me and just trying to keep him occupied while I does my things.)

This usually keeps him quiet in the car in his car seat. He loves its crunchy ears and tail…and the hanger too until all wet.

Basically he just puts everything within his grab in the mouth. When I put him to roll on my bed, he will grab my blanket and there goes into his mouth also. Recently, he will pull his shirt and start munching. Headache…

Impatient Me and/or Naughty He…

Jonathan has been howling in the middle of his sleep at night recently with no reason that I can see. Usually it’s around midnight.

Yesterday night, he slept and half an hour later, he just cried and cried. I tried to turn him to another position, put back his pacifier, called out to him to assure I’m by his side, etc.  None were working. Darling requested me to cradle him to sleep but I just don’t want to make it a habit of cradling him to sleep. At the end, I gave in so I picked him up and after a while, he fall back to sleep.

At times, he just refused to sleep even though he is tired and already rubbing his eyes. In the beginning, I can still tolerate and will try to soothe him to sleep by patting him, caress him or singing to him. I then get impatient when he still refuses to sleep after more than an hour.  It’s still alright if he is not sleeping but if he adds the howling and crankiness, there goes my limit. Frankly speaking, I have spanked him a few times and yet no effect. When I raised my voices and try to talk sense to him, he seems to understand and will cry even louder.

What should I pray then? “God, can you make me to be a mother with more patience?” Or rather… “God, can you make Jonathan to be a more goody boy?”

Jonathan…5 Months

Birth
Weight: 3.99kg
Height: 53cm
Head Cir.: 34cm

3 Months
Weight: 7.1kg
Height: 63cm
Head Cir.: 41cm

5 Months
Weight: 8.2kg
Height: 66cm
Head Cir.: 43cm

This is how much Jonathan boy has grown from birth till he’s 5 months now.  And his paediatrician still commented that he is overweight. Because of this, I have cut down the number of feedings since he was 3 months based on the paediatrician’s advice to increase the amount and interval (from 4oz every 3 hours to 6oz every 5 hours).  Furthermore I fully breastfeed him at night and on weekends. I guess it’s the genetic. Darling and I are quite a big baby at birth. I weighted more than 4kg and so far is the heaviest among my siblings and nieces/nephews.

Within just one month Jonathan boy has learned so much and progressed to a next milestone. He can now sit unaided for seconds and then lean forward to play with his toys for quite a while. When he’s tired, he will either fall to the back or tilt to the side. It makes our life much easier cause I can now put him on a walker and he can play by himself for quite some time.

He is able to drink from the bottle on his own. In the beginning, he was lazy and reluctant to hold the handle. He could not aim the teat to his mouth so he got very frustrated, gave up and yelled. When he got the hang of it, he drank like a thirsty camel now.

He dislike sleeping on his tummy now. Whenever I put him to sleep this way, he will struggle and turn himself upward. The bad side is that he will loose his pacifier from his mouth easily so will cries when he realised that his pacifier is no longer in his mouth. Sigh…

He will excitedly combat crawl to an object that he finds attractive. He will also grab anything within his reach and his favourite is plastic, book and paper. He will also try to reach out for your food. Because of this, I’ve tried him on solid few times. I gave him a slice of apple and he is not tired of sucking the sweet juicy apple.  The first time I gave him cereal, he took it so easily and wallop everything.

 Darling is wondering if Jonathan boy is growing too fast. I’ll say it’s all God’s blessing.

Jonathan’s 1st CNY

This year was Jonathan Boy’s first CNY and receiving lots of ang pow.  He can really grab the ang pow and hold on to it nicely. I don’t have to rugi a lot this year but got back half of what was out from my pocket.
 

First ang pow from Gong Gong. I wonder how much inside??

We travel back to Sitiawan 3 days before CNY and stopped by Ipoh to visit God-parents as this is the first time Jonathan meeting up with them. God-mom was so anxious and happy to see Jonathan and carrying him for the first time. Of course because her own grandchildren are in New York and she had never seen them before other than some photos that God-brother sent back. Unfortunately God-dad went out at that time.

It was also Jonathan first time stepping in to Sitiawan, back in Daddy and Mommy’s hometown. The moment he stepped into Darling’s house, he felt like a stranger and kept looking around. He would not allow us to put him down.

As usual we went to Pangkor on the 1st day of CNY to visit my Grandma. The queue to the ferry was quite long and crowded but good thing that Jonathan slept thru soundly in Daddy’s arm during the 1 hour queue. Luckily we brought along the clip-on fan and thank God for the windy morning. 

The 2nd day was always the Fu Qing Association CNY celebration in the afternoon whereby they will always have the calligraphy and animal-of-the-year drawing contest. On the 3rd day, we visited Darling’s uncles and aunties in Pantai Remis. We departed for KL on 4th day morning as we are worried of the jam and Darling need more rest to prepare for his new job.

Overall, Jonathan Boy behaved quite well throughout the journey (to and fro) although he did make some fuss after more than 4 hours in his car seat. Of course his little buttock also need a break like we adults do.

Jonathan’s Magic Tool

Naturally Jonathan fall in love with pacifier. At around 2 months, he developed the urge of sucking. It started one night when I had a hard time putting him to sleep after each feeding as he keeps on rubbing his mouth on the bed. I thought he is still hungry so I breastfeed him again. One breast after another and yet he is not satisfied and still want to suck. It took me hours to comfort/pat/sway him to sleep. At times, I got so impatient and spanked him on his buttock. At times, he will wake up after half and hour wanting to suck. In the end, I got no choice but to offer him a pacifier and after that, every night is a peaceful night for me. If I don’t stuff the pacifier in his mouth, he will start sucking his fingers and ended up sucking his thumb which is very “dangerous”.

Before Jonathan is born, I told myself that I would not give my baby pacifier no matter what. I know that there’s no harm in giving pacifier to babies as it soothe and comfort them. Some said it stimulates the brain so they will be smarter. But my reason is that I don’t want to have a hard time weaning him from it and it’s inconvenient and unhygienic as you have to make sure it doesn’t fall off when you are outdoor.

Initially the pacifier is to help him to sleep but now, he will cry for it during play time. And I think because of this, he drools nowadays. Gosh, I just hope he won’t hold on to the pacifier for long.

First Hair Cut

Before and after ……

Jonathan had his first hair cut today. Chinese New Year is around the corner so I better bring him to the saloon before they increased the price.

This is my first time handling a baby for hair cut so it got so messy. I was carrying Jonathan while the hairdresser trimmed his hair and so the hair landed on my shoulder. With Jonathan turning his head left and right, the hair sticked to his face and body. Then he draw his fist near his mouth and started sucking his fingers so the hair got into his mouth. Alamak!

He looks so boyish with the new hairstyle. I still prefer his old hairstyle.

Jonathan…3 Months

 

Praise the Lord! Jonathan is growing well although he still spit up milk at times. This is Jonathan’s growth so far:

Birth
Weight: 3.99kg
Height: 53cm
Head Cir.: 34cm

1 Month
Weight: 4.3kg
Height: 56cm
Head Cir.: 36cm

2 Months
Weight: 5.8kg
Height: 60cm
Head Cir.: 40cm

3 Months
Weight: 7.1kg
Height: 63cm
Head Cir.: 41cm

In between 2 to 3 months, Jonathan is able to laugh and he likes to smile with mouth open wide. He will then hide his face shyly. He started to lift up his head at the age of 1 month and now he can do mini push-up steadily. When he is angry, he tend to push himself forward. He can grasp his soft toys now. He is learning to turn too. And I think soon he will learn to crawl. He’s becoming more observant now. His head and eyes will turn to follow wherever I go. He’s a big eater until his Paediatrician, Dr. Lee advised us to watch his weight. Well, it could be genetic as Darling and I were both a heavy baby.

Oh, my little baby boy is still an impatient cry baby. When he is hungry, sleepy or not in the mood, he wouldn’t allow you to lie him down. Worse now, he is so used to sleeping on his tummy until he is not able to fall asleep on his back and starts to fuss.

We brought Jonathan for immunization yesterday. He almost wanted to cry by showing his “tut tut” (sharp) mouth but I quickly pampered him. You just can’t imagine how loud is his cry if he really cried it out.

Little TauKeh

Jonathan at 4 Jan 2008