Since 3months she has been turning to her side. Then one morning (the morning right after she did her first proper head lift), we woke up to her lying on her tummy and mewing away cos’ she still cant’ lift up her head well and is kind of stuck with one of her hand tucked under her body and the head turned to the side ;p I just hoped she would put the cart before the horse, or in this case, the turning before she learns to lift her head up properly.

Another sleeping quirk of hers is that she will scratch and scratch her hair and her ear when she is sleepy.  I mean, really scratch until I got worried she has lice or something.

Currently Elise is sleeping in the yaolan in the day and the cot at night. She is a light sleeper and would need one of us to be around to shake her back to lala land when she stirs. But she is a darling at night. She will sleep from 8pm to 7am the next morning, and having a dream feed at 12am. We are very blessed so far with our two kiddos sleeping habits

I also insisted on an OT to help with his attention. With twice weekly sessions, he has greatly improved within a month such that the OT was impressed and surprised. His over-talking has reduced by almost 80%! But he is still restless and inattentive with table-top work as compared to following instructions for activities.  He is also more confident in his movements and brave in trying out new things. My boy has indeed grown up

At home, we tried to be more deliberate in interacting with him to improve the co-regulation and attention. I did worksheets with him every day – spot the differences (visual filtering), odd one out (grouping), sequencing, comprehension etc.  Hopefully it would improve his attention for table top work in school.  We also played games like bear cave, tunnel, monster, and lots of board games like tumbling monkeys, qwrikle, connect 4, jumping balls

Lastly, I signed him up for My Gym classes.  Initially I wanted to help with his posture and motor skills with the gym classes but was worried that he, like previous trials, would run around the gym.  To our surprise, he was able to follow instructions and group activities rather well and was able to wait his turn for activities.  It was gratifying to see him enjoying his gym classes

She is more alert now and is a regular chatterbox, complete with facial expressions and tones when cooing.  She is happiest in the morning and tends to be grouchy in the late afternoons but would usually deep sleep by 7pm so that we could have our dinners in peace. My only grouse is that she wants to be carried in the daytime, very much like her brother. And would scream once we put her down.  So we ended up using the yaolan again

Elise favorite pastime is to suck her fingers and would suck more than the thumb, sometimes with all 3 middle fingers in her mouth. Grandma even found her choking on her longer middle finger ;o I insisted on giving her the pacifier rather than have her develop the habit of sucking her thumb which in my opinion is much harder to break.

Her most distinctive feature is her hair, wavy like her grandpa’s. I think she is so going to hate her hair when she grows up but right now, i think it’s so cute

Lastly she likes her cot mobile and is able to follow the movements closely with her eyes.  I was rather worried about her eyesight in the beginning but it seems ok now

But of course it is harder the second round. We are not the young parents anymore and 4 years plus work commitments make alot of difference. The night feedings are tougher, breastfeeding is still tough, and even going out with 2 babies is a huge challenge (we only attempted once to the beach and was back within an hour).  But i know it will pass, and faster than we thought. Soon, we will be asking ourselves what happened to the sweet baby we once knew?  The good news is as second time parents, we are less anxious as we know what to expect.

This time too, the family support is tremendous.  At times, there are 5 adults looking after 2 kiddos – one carrying the baby, one playing with the elder, one pumping milk, one cooking, one washing.  For this, I am very grateful. I hope that it will bring the 2 families closer together as well. And both kids will know that they are well-loved and well-supported.

As for me, I am able to put myself in the role of Elise’s mummy much earlier as compared to Caelen – the attachment is faster.  For him, it took us almost 6months before we are able to think of ourselves as a threesome as compared to a twosome. But now, i love her already and regarded her as my sweet darling daughter almost from day 1. I supposed it is because i am already comfortable and used to my role as a mother.  Hubby is still the same though. He is the slow to warm up type but I know that he will be a fantastic daddy as he is with Caelen

Caelen seems to take to his role as a big brother quite well too, to our relief.  He is generally a sweet and gentle boy at heart and seems destined to be bullied by mei mei ;p  There is little jealousy, i think partly due to the fact that he still has ALOT of attention.  There is almost always at least one person with him.  The only sign of jealousy is when he doesn’t let his daddy carry mei mei and would ask to put her down to play with him.  He is however, ok with mummy carrying mei mei as if he understands that I have to feed and take care of her.  When she cries, he would rush over to her although he doesn’t know how to comfort her and would ask why is mei mei crying.  Sometimes when she is awake, he would sit at the side of her bouncer and examine her hands gently, asking why is mei mei’s hands so small? There is alot of healthy curiosity with him about mei mei which we encourage.  I am also mindful not to make a big fuss when he is sometimes too rough with her for I know he is not intentionally hurting her.  I hope that they will grow up to be good friends (as predicted by the fortune teller in taiwan).  Even when Elise was in my tummy, i would tell her you must be Kor kor’s best friend ok?

Her patterns are starting to come out as compared to the docile newborn. She wants to be carried upright and “walked around’. Very much like her brother. But she is generally a good sleeper at night, non-withstanding the night-time poops which unfortunately happens rather often.  Luckily Caelen is not woken up by her at night so we only have one baby to deal with.  But once in a while she will stay awake almost the entire day and then sleep for the next 2 days.

Looks-wise, daddy feels she looks like Caelen. But mummy feels that she definitely has a more girly look than him.  Unfortunately she didn’t inherit her mummy’s big eyes but yet her eyes, like her brother is not small. Hers is slightly more rounded and sometimes a little tilted like her grandma’s.  Her lips are full like mummy’s and her nose bridge is higher than Caelen’s.  Elise’s face shape is also sharper, unlike Caelen and mummy which is squarish (mummy is quite happy with that .  Overall, mummy feel that she has a pixie-like face which is nice for a girl.

So, off we went home.  On the way, we even managed to stop by Kovan and sold off the tatami mat.  But even in the car, i was feeling sporadic contractions similar to Braxton hicks but stronger.  However, it was not regular so I didn’t pay much heed.  Towards the night, the contractions built up until they were 5 mins apart but still bearable.  But I had a feeling that this is it so we packed the bags, bathed and I took my tummy photos hee…. At 12am, we decided to just proceed to Thomson since I am not likely to get any rest in any case.

We arrived at about 12am and checkin to the labour ward.  Was sent to the observation ward with 4 other couples in there No privacy at all  Stayed there and monitor the contractions which was 5mins apart but still not very strong. Dr Khi turned up at about 1am, to my surprise.  Happened that she had 3 deliveries that night and she was waiting for one of them to deliver. By then dilation was about 2cm.

The nurse then came in to ask about the pain relief. I was sure I would take the epidural and upon checking, the doctor assigned by Dr Khi was not available to come in at night  So we had to get the next standby doctor on her list.  The nurse activated the doctor at 3am and only then they allowed me to be wheeled to the delivery suite which was much better.

Dr Khi came again at 330am to burst my waterbag.  By then, dilation only 3-4cm  After the waterbag broke, the contractions became much stronger, and I had to really grit my teeth to get through them.  Luckily this time I brought along my baby pillow which was useful to cover my face haha…the epi doctor finally came in at 4am to administer the epi.  To my dismay, Hubby was ordered out .  He could stay on the last time  I grabbed the nurse’s hands so tightly that she complained… well, serves them right for not allowing hubby to stay.  The epidural was successful and the whole procedure was, honestly, not that painful.  As usual, it was the fear of the needle and the anticipation that really kills you.  This time, however, i had bad shivers and I felt that I couldn’t breathe so i panicked abit.  After a short nap, the shivers subsided and i felt much better.

8am. Nurse came in to check.  It is still only 4cm dilated  She expected me to only deliver after lunch. Taking from my experience with #1,  I asked for oxytocin to hasten contraction. After the drip was administered, I read newspapers until Dr Khi came in at 9am to check on me.  She saw that baby’s heart rate was low and upon checking, I was fully dilated! it was a huge shock! I had felt some pressure at the bottom but thought nothing of it since it was only an hour since the nurse checked.  I asked for the epidural to be lowered but it was too late so I still couldn’t feel anything.  So I just started pushing in the general vicinity of the bottom.  Unfortunately, the heart rate was too low so Dr Khi had to vacuum her out.

Elise was born at 939am, 12 Oct Wed.  She weighs 2.88kg, 50cm

I came across the name Elysee at Americal Next Top Model heheee…. hubby liked it too and we agreed to use it if ever we have a girl of our own.  Later I was fretting abit cos’ the new recruit on the CPD side who moved in right next to my cubicle and she had this exact same name but she was so whiny that I almost wanted to change her name to Elyse just to differentiate it from her :p

But i know that hubby still prefers Elise, more classy he said.  So i relented.  In any case, our girl will be here to stay while my neighbour might just pick up and change employment (or I might). 

As for her chinese name, we wanted Lee Ying En at first but MIL didn’t quite like it since hubby also has an “En” in his name.  So he searched… of all things, chinese singers names, and hit upon Ying Xin.  Sounds not bad too   We did some rudimentary checks on chinese naming websites but different webby have different interpretation of the “auspiciousness” of the name so we decided that WTH, we will just choose one that we like.  So Elise Lee Ying Xin it is

Girl, can’t wait for you to come out dear.  You are now 38 weeks and is showing no signs of wanting to meet the world

Now, all the food that he doesn’t like will make him choke and vomit. According to Caelen, papaya, watermelon, porridge, vegetables, all “will choke choke”. Rice, gummy sweets, apple “will not choke choke”.

He would kiss me on the lips at every opportunity. In the morning, before he even opens his eyes, he would grab my face and pull me close for a morning kiss, complete with gentle “mummy, mummy”. Before he sleeps, he would give me lots of goodnight kisses, with requests for “many small small kiss”! Even during meal times, he would insist on hugging and kissing me in public, and would turn to hug my legs when we shop.

Last sunday, after he woke up from his nap, he snuggled up on my lap and hug me so tightly while i rock him gently and planted kisses on his forehead. It was a sweet moment that I would cherish I love my little boy so much.