We were all made beautifully: Baby EJ is 7 months old and here goes my life as a SAHM

It's 9:02 PM now as I'm writing this and I have a little boy who's now snoring in his cot right beside me and also my first time writing a blog post this late.. It's better to write than wasting my time on Facebook while waiting for my next pumping schedule at 12 AM.

I just can't sleep that early, I wish I could, so I could transform myself from a walking zombie into a properly functioned SAHM.. Oh well speaking about sleep deprivation, I wonder when will I upgrade from 4 hours to 6 hours of sleep a night?

I think I have so much going on in my life. First, I'm trying to conceive no.2. Yes, it sounds a little early to try no.2 while my baby is barely 8 months old and I do have my reasons behind it!

My hubby wishes to get a baby with horse horoscope (there's a belief in Chinese that a horoscope will be either doing good or clash with another horoscope). Next year 2014 is a horse year and my hubby's ox horoscope will match well with his horse baby. And for the following year 2015, a goat year is a bad clash to my hubby's ox horoscope. That's the main reason & I have no heart to break my old man's heart!

So, yeah currently TTC-ing and hope good news coming soon :)

TTC-ing the new babe means it's going to be the end of my breastfeeding journey soon and I'm weaning my son from expressed breast milk and God knows, how hard and emotional trying to quit breastfeeding is!

As part of my quitting process, I reduced my breast pumping session to just 4 times a day and it has been a week, so far I'm doing good, no engorgement, no stuck milk ducts, etc, just that I'm being too emotional over weaning! Breast milk getting lesser too (which triggers more sadness as I think I'm not mentally ready to quit but I have to, as the clock to conceive no. 2 is ticking fast)

I wish the horse year is not in 2014 but 2015, how nice? I wish I could breastfeed him longer! :'(

Second, we have a new domestic helper now and she's very green in taking care a baby, so I'm still training her & I hope she learns fast. Having a helper with no experience in taking care a baby can be challenging because I have to teach her super basic things like how to assemble or dissemble a feeding bottle, how to carry a baby, how to wash baby stuff, how to sterilize baby stuff without scalding her hands and oh boy, our helper is really tiny, our 8 year old little niece looks much bigger than her.. I just hope that she has the strength to carry my boy! Thinking about having the 2nd babe, now it worries me, I hope the new helper can cope with no. 2 too!

Now back to baby EJ, he's now 7 months old and oh boy, a super duper active boy.. I wonder if he can stay quite for one second when he's not sleeping.

At 7 months old, he's currently 9.8 kg & 74 cm. He's huge!

2 weeks ago, baby EJ was sick, he was having bad flu & cough. It broke my heart to see him cry, his nose stuck, couldn't sleep and coughed badly :'( I cried several times and I wished I had the power to transfer his sickness to me.. He couldn't blow his nose when it was stuck badly and it was midnight, my hubby was overseas and I didn't know what to do to make him feel better.. He refused to drink milk and cried a lot.. During that time, I think I was in the middle of breaking down, and I just cried! Crying made me feel better and I had the strength to carry on & take a good care of him, so the next day I brought him to his pedi and he was prescribed antibiotic, cough mixture, flu mixture & nose drop! It was apparently a bad cold he caught in cold rainy days!

It wasn't easy to feed him his medication 3 times a day using syringe designed to feed infants oral medications, he cried so much and with so much medications, it took several jabs to get into his throat and my heart was breaking so badly seeing him screaming and crying.. 2 days later, I did different approach, I mixed his cold syrup and antibiotic (mixed separately) with breast milk in a bottle and it worked! A much better approach! He recovered in 1.5 weeks and now, he's back to a normal healthy infant!

Motherhood is truly tested when a child is sick!

His big milestone at 7 months old, STANDING UP! He started to stand up at 6 months 3 weeks old and oh yes, it was that early.. Now at 7 months old, he can stand firmly for a long time, holding into his crib and able to move a few steps, either right or left. He's my little superman!

Look at his 2 teeth! 2 sharp pearly whites, yippie! Be careful, it hurts when he bites your fingers!

It's not easy to handle a teething baby as he can be very cranky and many times, he rejects his milk & solid too! So as a mama, I got to do whatever it takes to fill his tummy full! Teething is stressful for both baby and his mama. Period.

Other milestones : CRAWLING. He's super fast like a busy bee king! REACHING OUT HIS ARMS. He signals us, so we can carry him immediately. What a demanding little baby! SAYING BA-BA-BA oh yes, his first word was ba-ba-ba (sounds like papa, oh Mr. Lim, you're lucky, I'm just envious! I hope he can say ma-ma soon, lol!)