yohann's july pics

as of last check-up, 7.4 kgs na si taba.
he can now roll onto his tummy, swat hanging toys, grasp objects, play with his saliva (haha!), watch enitire episodes of baby einstein, watch tvcs, giggle.
even before turning 3 months he can already stand on his legs for long periods of time with minimal support. at parang nangingilala na rin. hehe.

tough love

Before Yohann turned 2 months old, he already refused to drink milk from his bottle. I had to mix-feed him a few days after birth as my milk wasn't enough to satisfy his hunger then. When my milk supply increased, I did direct feeding, no more formula or bottle. Now that he's 3 months old, I'm teaching him again to drink from his bottle. I need to be away from home some days and would leave him milk, but he would refuse to drink from his bottle.

Last Friday after coming home from an errand, I was told he refused to take his bottle and had to be fed with a dropper. How tiring is that?! So I immediately got him a bottle of milk and started to pep talk him into drinking it. At first he would take it in his tiny mouth, lick a little, and then push it out with his tongue. So I would offer it to him again. And he would react in the same manner. Repeat this five times and he would end up in a crying fit. After that I gave up and just fed him.

This morning I needed to go out, so last night we did the same routine, trying to get him to feed from his bottle, with little success. Because of that, plus his early morning tantrums today, I wasn't able to leave. I decided that today we will practice some more until he gets used to his bottle.

The whole morning I refused to feed him. We tried having his grandma give him the bottle, but he refused it. Afterwards I tried too. Again, he refused, and turned toward my chest, but I also refused to give it to him. Much crying came after that. Whenever he would calm down and turn quiet I would give him the bottle again. He would play with it a little, then cry. When he got tired of it, he just slept without eating. Mon was already teasing us, saying we were both sticking to what we want and not letting the other get what he wants. Lol. I vowed I wouldn't give in to his crying, he'd better learn to do this or else go hungry whenever I need to go out without him. I had to teach him to do it no matter what; this was tough love, I told myself.

Six hours later Yohann had already downed 3 ounces, little by little, with many tears and fussing. I was satisfied enough with that and so I made him go to sleep and gave him my breast to feed on as a reward. After he woke up, I gave his bottle again and - lo and behold! He doesn't like it again! Hahaha!

thoughts on marriage

I still can't get over the 'Simple Girl' article I read last week. To know what a simple girl is like, it says to look at your FB contacts and check who among your friends are the ones happily married and living perfect lives. Ganun? I am happily married, but I was happily single too. And, no, I am not living the perfect life now that I'm finally married and with child!

My point is, being married and having a baby is not the perfect life. It is a happy life, yes, but only if we choose to be happy in spite of the difficulties. Because married life is not for the faint-hearted; it is for those who know what commitment means.

happy family naman :)

There are days when you get so tired you wish you could get a day off, but you can't because marriage is a 24/7 commitment. And then you'll realize you don't really want a day off because you can't bear to be away from your loved ones for that long. There are days when you wish for everything to come fast forward so you'll get past the nitty-gritty stuff and straight to the day your child graduates from school and you're secure that he'll be able to get on with his life. And then you realize you don't want the days to go so fast because you just can't get enough of the little munchkin yet. What spells the difference between your wishful thinking-slash-complaining is your commitment to see this through, no matter what, because you know you love your family so much and in spite of it all, you'd still want to savor every minute with them, easy or not.

I just thank God I got married when I did, that I was already in my 30's. I am more sensible, less emotional, more understanding and giving than I was, say, 5 years ago. I can't imagine how I'd be able to properly take care of a baby and be a dutiful wife if I got married while in my early 20's. Oh, maybe I would have learned in time, but at least I've been spared from more mistakes. Of course right now we are still learning. But with age comes experience, and therefore, more sensibility, or so I think.

breast milk and answered prayers

I went back to expressing milk using a hand pump this afternoon. I think it's been 6 weeks since I last did that, and I honestly didn't know if I would get enough milk for a single feeding. Breast pumps aren't easy tools, and I'm using the manual one which makes it extra challenging.

I had been pumping for like 30 minutes and all I had in the bottle was maybe just a teaspoon or a little more than that; the milk was coming out drop by drop. Sigh. My hands were kinda tired now from pumping and massaging; I wanted to stop but I kept on. I need to have enough milk for Yohann's consumption tomorrow.

Another 10 minutes later and the milk started to come out in tiny spurts. Yahoo! I pumped for a total of 45 minutes and came up with a little over 2 ounces of milk (yup, ganun talaga, dadami din as I express on a daily basis).

After that I just realized, expressing breast milk is just like praying. You pray and pray and at the beginning find little fruit or answers to your prayers. Then you feel discouraged and you're tempted to give up and stop praying altogether. But when you press on, that's when you receive the breakthrough. See, you have to persist. So, keep on asking, seeking, knocking and your prayers, like my breast milk, will soon come to you. :)

bebe's growing up

Six Five more days and Yohann will be three months old already. How time flies! And he's changed a lot too.  His arms and legs are so chubby, his face is rounder and bigger, and so is his tummy. He's so heavy that it only takes 10 minutes for me to grow tired when I'm standing up and carrying him. Ke bigat!

He's learned new tricks as well. Every morning when he wakes up, he'll look at me and wait for me to smile and greet him good morning. As soon as I do, he'll make a wiggling motion complete with a big smile on his face and gurgling sounds, like he wants to laugh. He can't laugh yet, but he makes those tiny screams whenever I tickle him or make faces at him. When I sit him against my legs and talk to him, he coos and smiles and gurgles and screams in delight, hehe. It's as if he can understand when we talk to him because he answers. The other night too, while humming and dancing him to sleep, he kept staring at me while he was feeding. When I kept on humming, he started to hum with me! Too cute!:D Next thing I know he'll be humming himself to sleep :p

morning chat with mommy

One good thing about Yohann now is that he's awake for longer periods during the day and already enjoys playtime. I can put him down on the mattress and he'll stare at everything, kick and flail his arms and talk to his 'toys.' By toys I mean not the usual baby stuff, but the wall clock, the strings on his cradle, the calendar and the curtain :p They bring him  such fun he screams in delight when he's in the mood for them. When he gets tired of that, I carry him on my lap and let him watch Baby Einstein. He loves it! He was able to watch one 15 minute segment straight until he got too tired. 

watching Baby Einstein

I can't wait for the little munchkin to grow up and start talking, he's already such a babbler. I can't wait to take him to Kid's Church at VCF. But at the same time I can't imagine the thought of him all grown up and no longer a baby! Haha. Okay, I have to end here, the little boy's already screaming for mummy. :p

duty calls

Been meaning to post stuff here, but duty calls. Hands are full. Overflowing. Waaaah!!!

BRB.

When Daddy cries

Yohann's almost monthly vaccination led us to research on immunization schedules, the vaccines being administered, and the price of each. So far, Yohann's had two shots of Hepa-B, BCG and the 5-in-1 thing. I tell you, they don't come cheap! :p

Yohann smiling in his sleep; 'la lang gusto ko lang i-share :p

Take for example his Hepa-B shot. This costs Php 1,000 per shot, and will be administered in 3 doses (do the math -- 1K x 3 = 3K). The 5-in-1 cost Php 2,500, I forgot how much the BCG shot cost. This weekend, he's getting his first dose of Rotateq - something for gastrointestinal health - which will cost Php 2,500. This is supposedly given in 3 doses, too.

We weren't sure if our pedia's charging us just the right amount so we did some research thru the net.  Sample prices:

BCG 750

HIB 1,800

Pentaxim 7,500 (3doses)

Rotateq 7,000 (2doses)

Flu 1,600 (2dose)

Measles 900

Hepa B 1,600

We couldn't help but laugh at the prices! This was from a Makati Med pedia, I think. Most of the vaccines will be given in two or three doses, some of them will be packaged together (5-in-1 and 6-in-1), and all of them are given at regular intervals, i.e. monthly. In our case, this means that every month we need to allot at least Php 3,000 and Php 5,000 at most for Yohann's immunization.

Raising a child is no cheap business. Yohann's already brave enough not to cry so much when the injection's done, but his Daddy is another story. This early, he's already starting to cry :p

Good thing is, God provides for all our needs. Hindi pa naman kami nagugutom, nananaba pa nga. Thank you, Lord! :)