Of newborn babies and prep for Bao X

Welcome to Baby Le Xuan

My cousin delivered her daughter yesterday! I am full of envy when I saw the baby pics on Facebook, so chubby and cute and impossibly SWEET!!! Congrats to Nancy and family with the addition of a really beautiful looking baby! And I don’t say that for all babies k, so it is a BIG compliment... (most babies need time to blossom anyway..but all babies smell so wonderful, I miss that smell… haha!)

I love my boys, and I think parenting boys may be easier, less of worries at some life stage perhaps, but I will dearly love a daughter.

However, during bouts of sour grape times like this, I will recall how En (and I am sure Xuan will be like that too) is impossibly sweet and sensitive now, and remind myself that not only baby gals are capable of that and I am contented.

Yesterday, suddenly in the middle of his Scrabble after my dinner, En went to the kitchen and told my helper he needed the step up ladder.. turned out he was trying to reach the basket of fruits on the table to help choose an apple for me. He never forgets this routine, something that I don’t even expect from him, but he seems to have observed that I have a fruit after dinner, and one day after I allowed him to choose an apple for me, he has taken it upon himself to do it for me since. Unfailingly.

And I am touched. I wonder if I have ever been so sweet to my mum when I was young, must remember to ask my mum!

Second Hand Goodies

I am addicted to online shopping. I have purchased lots of things online during the past weeks from fellow mummies/ sprees in a motherhood forum, all in very good condition and with significant discounts:

• New Boys pants and tops for CNY
• Lightly used Bjorn Baby carrier (anticipating that China will not be very pram friendly) – it looks almost new and I am happy as I got a fantastic discount
• Lightly used Ameda dual pump
• Brand new valves and bellows for Ameda pump for hygiene reasons
• Almost new Avent manual pump – you can tell I am serious abt breastfeeding given that I do not need to return to stressful work! And mainly cuz I anticipate I can’t lug the dual pump around in China if I am out – dun ask me why I don’t latch cuz I find that in general, it is hard to latch boys who are more impatient.. so I practice pumping to feed
• Brand new nursing bras
• Desitin Creamy and First Teeth toothpaste
• More baby clothes as present for friends
• Tickets to great seats “The very hungry caterpillar and other stories
  

I am happy with my great finds, and all done in the comfort of my bed! No jostling, no long queues, no hassle!

Many of our baby items are hand me downs anyway, not because I stinge on the kids but I find we can find v good bargains and great condition stuff if we look carefully and patiently online And all these stuff are kinda premium stuff that I buy at a fraction of the original price. Way before this, hubby and I scouted for bargains and second hand items from BabyTown which used to sell second hand items but they have stopped that some time back. So I move online instead.

As Bao X is our 3rd, he already has a lot of hand me downs, and as I am pretty sure we are not gonna have another baby, I feel bad spending money on brand new stuff (and now recession right, so must save $$$ right?!). For like 3 yrs now, we wanted to pass on our brand new baby items to our friends but none of them have kids, so I end up keeping them, or passing them to NJ’s cousins or my cousins who are more prolific.

Of course, some items need to be new, like his bed set and bed sheets, mattress protector etc, and I have also bought him some new clothes, PJs and wraps, but a lot of the “hardware” items, I feel the second hand items function pretty well. After all, many baby items are very stage specific and babies outgrow them very fast, so it is really not necessary to buy new ones. E.g. the rocker, bumbo seat, even the sling as they have a limited lifespan. For items that are more essential and used longer, like sterilizer, pram, cot, baby monitor etc, then we invest in new ones to ensure durability.

For Baby En and Xuan, we have already invested in various new hardware items that last us well through the years, e.g. the pram system, the baby monitor, the exersaucer, the cot, the playpens.. and we are still using all these items till today, which will be passed on to Baby X.

Planning for Bao X’s arrival

I bought Gina Ford’s “The contented Baby book” to get acquainted with the initial months of babyhood again and to learn how to prep for baby’s arrival.

I seriously cannot recall what kind of things we prepare etc, and felt a bit insecure. Upon reading the book, it is all coming back to me, the setting up of nursery, the time table for feeds, the breast feeding etc.

And I realize without actually knowing it, when Hubby and I first have En and Xuan, we are, or I am, quite Gina Ford in our own way.

E.g. Many of the items we deemed essential, such as the Baby monitor, the nigh light for feeding etc to us are listed as essential in the book..

I also believe in spending the initial time with baby, without the stress of social obligations, i.e. limit the visits from relatives etc etc, so that we can focus on feeding the baby and knowing the baby. I believe in not being disturbed at the hospital so I can rest and also feed baby regularly.

Waking up the baby to ensure baby drinks on time and hence, not wake up erratically at night was also what we practice instinctively, and it is what GF strongly recommended to have a flexible routine that is catered to baby’s needs as well as ensuring sanity of the parents.

So now that it is all coming back to me, I feel a bit more confident.. And with cousin delivering Le Xuan, I am looking forward to arrival of Bao X! (seriously - the last trimester is very trying lor.. )

But Bao X, don't come too early OK - some weeks into Jan will be the perfect time, no sooner than that ok!

I still need time to sort out the nursery!!!