Crawling!

That's right...Meera is now mobile! She took her first tentative crawl on the 15th. A few days before that I could see her trying to move herself...she'd get on her hands and knees and rock back and forth. But she couldn't quite figure out how to propel forward. Prior to that she was dragging herself with her arms ( I call it the combat crawl...like a soldier out on the field). My extensive reading (of countless mommy blogs) told me that she would start crawling soon but I never expected her to start so soon.....thought it would take weeks or months before she actually crawled. Well she figured it out within days and life has not been the same since.



Now, I am constantly having to pull her away from stuff and I can no longer leave her to sit by herself (she mastered sitting up on her own on the 7th). Luckily hubby has already fixed the security gate so I don't have to worry she might fall down the stairs...although there are other things to worry about!

Beyonce, Here I Come!

Finally... Beyonce will be performing in Malaysia (crossed fingers it doesn't get canceled last minute). As soon as I found out, my first thought was "who's gonna babysit Meera". But hubby said he would take care of her and I could go with 'All The Single Ladies' ...if I could rope some to come along. So I immediately started looking and by the end of the day...mission accomplished!


Being 'kiasu' I went to get the tickets the minute they went up for sale. Actually reached there 5 minutes before the window opened. And surprisingly there was no queue. Maybe because the tickets went on sale during the Raya Holidays and I went to the Axcess office at Alamanda which might explain the lack of ardent fans in queue. So there I was waiting and waiting and waiting (I swear it felt like hours...but the guy was only 15 minutes late). Bought my 3 tickets (rm583 each) which were 2nd row (after the VVIPs and VIPs block) and come 25th October I will be at Stadium Bukit Jalil!

Quitting Cold Turkey???

When I first decided to breastfeed Meera I told myself "six months or when she starts to teeth" would be the endpoint for me. But now that she has turned 6 month I'm not keen on stopping. Aside from the convenience of breastfeeding (no bottles to carry among others), the idea of starting on formula is pretty daunting. I have no idea how much to feed and prepare since she basically nurses on demand. I'm also dreading the extra work that comes with feeding formula (extra bottles to wash, water to boil plus having to prepare the milk... you get the idea, right?)

So I guess it's only understandable that this mommy will be quitting in stages ;)

Meera is 6 Months!

I can hardly come to terms that my little baby has passed the half year mark.


Went to the pediatrician and her stats are weight: 7.37kg, height: 66.3 cm head circumference: 41cm. Basically all this means that's she's on track in all physical aspects :)

After this visit we won't be coming to see the doctor for another 3 months! Although I should be relieved, I can't help feeling a little nervous... who's going to check if I'm doing things right? For the past 6 months I was always reassured by our monthly visit to the doc. For a qualified person to check on Meera. So now what...I'm off by myself? Needless to say I'm gonna be paranoid. Hopefully I resist the temptation to call the doctor for silly reasons (I asked the nurse if the doctor would answer questions over the phone and she said yes. So that helps...a bit!)

We've also started her on solids. That will be another post in itself.

And we've switched her from her infant car seat to a bigger convertible one...so much more comfortable (at least it looks that way).

Sweet Potato Puree Anyone?

In preparation for starting Meera on solids, I've been reading numerous websites, blogs, forums...(well you get the idea). So with all the advice I gathered I decided that the first thing I would try would be rice cereal (it's easy to prepare and supposedly the least likely to cause any allergies). After that I'd give her sweet potato...which requires a bit more preparation. So with that in mind I bought some sweet potato from the market.

I decided to steam the potatoes and puree it with my magic bullet. The 'precise' method for preparing baby food is not explained anywhere. (I like specific instructions i.e. steam for x minutes with x amount of water, etc...). Unfortunately most instructions went something like "steam till soft and puree till right consistency" Huh??? To a novice cook, I can't help but wonder what is soft and as for consistency...


Well, in the end I steamed till almost mush and pureed till smooth. As for consistency....I now understand why the instructions lack detail...there ARE no words to describe it. I figured I'll add water is it's too thick for Meera when the time comes to feed. For now I've just put it in the ice tray to freeze.

It Pays to Complain!!!

Yesterday, we decided to go out for a nice dinner (or rather I decided and informed husband who complied). This was due to the fact that his boss had acknowledged the hard work he'd been putting in for a recent project and was rewarding him. In his e-mail: take your family out for a nice meal (worth $200). I think he meant RM though.. ;)

So we went to our favourite Italian restaurant: Tuscany at Marriott Putrajaya. Over the years, we have been there a number of times for special occasions and have never been disappointed. Service is good and the food is great.

It being Ramadhan month, they even had a 4 course menu for RM68: Appetiser (soft shell crab), Soup (chowder), Mains (choice of salmon or lamb) and Dessert (dates cheesecake). Hubby decided to take the set. I wasn't too keen since I wanted pasta and the dessert was a bit odd to me (cheesecake with dates did not sound like a match made in heaven). So I decided to order a mushroom soup and angel hair pasta with pesto and salmon. They also had a goose liver appetiser for RM75 which we decided to share. Now this would definitely be above and beyond the allocated reward but we LOVE goose liver so figured we'd top up the balance of the bill.

Normally there would only be two or three tables occupied but this time around there were like 30 plus persons (some company function I guess). This should have been an indication of things to come....

Well...I figured we'd have to wait longer than usual so the wait was expected. When the crab finally arrived it was deep dried but cold. It wasn't very nice but we didn't complain cos I figured maybe it was supposed to be cold. Then the goose liver arrived....that was lukewarm! WELL.....for 75 bucks I was disappointed! And it was such a pathetic amount of liver too. Decided not to be a doormat and informed the waiter. He took it back to the kitchen and they warmed it up. Of course by then it didn't taste as nice anymore. Can you actually warm up liver??? They should have made it over.

After that my soup arrived and it was sooooo hot. Too make up for my liver, maybe? Well unfortunately, I think it was so hot that the cream curdled and left a sour taste to the soup. Hmm....either that (since I'm no chef I'm not sure that can actually happen) or the cream was bad (is that even possible in a fine restaurant???) By this time I was quite upset...my nice dinner was turning into the worst one of my life. Hubby could see how upset I was and asked to speak to the manager (I'm more of a 'keep quiet and suffer in silence' type). He informed the manager about the past 2 dishes, who apologized and said it was due to the large crowd. We even said we wanted to leave before the mains arrived and asked how they would charge us for the meal. But the manager said he would take off the appetiser and soup from our bill. I was so hungry by this point that I said we might as well stay and finish dinner. So we had the lamb (which was quite tough) and pasta (which was alright). And the cheesecake (I had low expectations by then so it was better than I imagined). We asked for the bill, the manager came over and said, "It's taken care off." Huh??? I was in shock...taken care off? It took me a few seconds to realise that our dinner was free (as bad as it was)! So we got up and walked out without paying our bill. :)

Coming out of the restaurant the manager came over and apologised again. We chatted for a few minutes and again he said it was due to the large crowd. So the take home lesson is: don't eat there if there's more than 10 people? Hmmm.....doesn't sound good does it?

But we will be giving them another chance. If for nothing else than to get another free meal (is that possible?). Besides....we still have a RM200 meal to claim!

The Highchair

In anticipation of Meera starting on solids we went and got her highchair.

Despite the relatively few choices in the market (relative to the US that is) I had quite a hard time deciding which one to get. First off was cost...cheap (IKEA/ similar basic chair) or expensive (with A LOT of features i.e. adjustable height, recline, etc...). Decided to go all out for this item since 1) I wanted something safe that I could put leave her unattended without having to worry she would tip over and 2) we would be using thia for a few years so better buy one that would last. And so began the scouting (and researching) of highchairs available to us. There were quite a few contenders...Chicco, Fisher Price, Sweet Cherry, Graco, Little Bean, and then some. (same manufacturer as Chicco. Looks exactly like the Chicco but when we went to test it out it just didn't meet expectations...like a Petaling Street knock off!). Fisher Price was a close second cos it had almost the same features (very good reviews online but a bit more expensive and I didn't really like the design). But in the end decided to go with the Chicco one. Plus it has a parent tray at the back which I think will be quite useful (to keep baby's hands away from the feeding bowl). Got it for RM649 (NOT CHEAP!!!) and that was after discount.

Must make sure Meera sits on it during feeding times. Hopefully she's not one of those kids that's running all over the place while eating. Otherwise....well...let's see how it goes...

Look Who's Talking...

Well...not quite there yet but it's a step in the right direction (or so i'm told). Lately, Meera has developed a love for her own voice (or should I say squeals). Right now, I'd say its quite cute to hear her version of a conversation. But ask me again in a few days and I'll probably say it's downright annoying!

It also seems as if whenever she's sleepy she's start a very particular kind of babbling...like she's trying to sing herself to sleep! Or so it seems...