Lennox & Me

Just the thought of flying alone with baby Sterling (then 3.5 months) and Lennox (exactly 2 years) was scary and intimidating. I even considered NOT flying to Singapore because i was afraid that i wouldn't be able to handle the 13 hour flight alone with them. But that would mean that my whole family (sister, brothers, grandma, nephews, nieces, uncles, aunts etc etc) and my Singapore friends would not be able to see the new baby... and it had already been a year since they saw Lennox. So i told myself i had to do it! And i did! Here's a few things i did to prep for the flight and to make the flight that much less scary: I chose a  night flight  instead of day time ones: obviously, to follow their sleep rhythm. I was lucky enough to have a choice of 9pm flight instead of a 11am one; I made sure they had a  'regular/boring' day  with naps etc, so that they were not overly excited or over tired; confirm my baby bassinet . Flying with KLM with a baby for the fir...

"You burn off so many calories breastfeeding!"... "i'm hungry and eating all the time because i'm losing so much weight breastfeeding!"... "it's so great i don't have to work out and i totally went back to my pre pregnancy weight!"... etc  I heard phrases like these everywhere before i gave birth for the first time. It was one of the things i was looking forward to before i became a first-time-mom with Lennox almost 2 years ago. I knew i would try to breastfeed if i was able to. And another selfish reason i wanted to breastfeed was because i've heard tons of stories of women who lost their pregnancy weight (and more) just like *that*. Ok let's back track a little here. I am always in favour or being strong & fit rather than thin & weak. All my life i've never been the small/skinny one and that's been ok. I've always been active since my teenage years with canoeing/canoepolo, wakeboarding and now crossfit. I h...

I've previously written about breastfeeding Lennox while he was at age 14 months ( see blogpost here ). It's hard to believe that Nox would turn 23 months in a few days, and his 2nd birthday is just around the corner! And yes i'm STILL breastfeeding! :) Currently i am breastfeeding both my newborn Sterling (he is 10 weeks old -- is he still considered newborn??? hmmmm) and Lennox. This blogpost is not meant to be about the pros of tandem breastfeeding (there are many other more reliable sources i used like kellymom.com  and the amazing FAQ ), but this is just my how i experienced it the last 2 months. Breastfeeding while pregnant When i found out i was pregnant, one of the first things i wondered is if i would continue breastfeeding Lennox. Many moms would choose to stop, which is totally understandable. After speaking to my midwife and my lactation consultant, i decided to just continue. They advised that there was no reason to stop if i felt good. As long as I wasn...

I have been relatively active on social media after the birth of our 2nd son, Sterling, but i just realised we haven't made it official on the blog yet. Say hello to Sterling! And coincidentally he turns 8 weeks old today :) Sterling at a couple of hours old Sterling at 5 days old Sterling at 6 weeks old (and my left eye :P) Isn't he just the cutest?! :) I'm one proud mama here :) Birth story I was 39 weeks & 1 day pregnant, it was a Monday and i was feeling good. I went with Lennox to the library to return some library books and let him run around for abit. I was also hungry so i decided to drop by the McDonald's for a quarter pounder meal (Lennox had a healthier sandwich :P) since i figured i wouldn't have the chance to after the baby comes. We continued to do some groceries then we headed home for a nap. At 15:15 i had my routine check up with my midwife. That day Diana was there (there are 4 rotating midwives that are assigned to me)....

It started out good enough. I had a really awesome pregnancy all 9 months with Lennox and the delivery also went pretty smoothly. I was prepared for the exhausting first couple of months. We were lucky with Lennox with many ways coz he was such a mild mannered newborn, he breastfed like a pro and was such a happy and easy baby almost all of the time. I even flew on my own with him when he was 7 months to Singapore (a 13-hour flight) and it was a breeze! He was happy to be passed around from one person to another while in Singapore and i managed to get some much needed rest with family in Singapore those 5 weeks. Even the flight back to Holland went well. The lady beside me proclaimed Lennox to be the 'best baby on any flight ever'. Man i was beaming. This kid is awesome. AND THEN SEPARATION ANXIETY STRUCK. We got home to the Netherlands and he took awhile to warm back to his papa. Cried when he saw Oma (my mother in law). Screamed when people looked at him when he was in ...

This sentence really irks me! Lennox is almost 14 months old and yes I'm breastfeeding him. I didn't think i would breastfeed this long; i was breastfed till about 7 months and many of my nephews and nieces were also breastfed till around the same time (below 1 year). So I never imagined that i would go past 1 year. I am a proponent of breastfeeding, but also a proponent of feeding your baby, whatever way that might be (formula, or breastmilk). What i notice here in Europe is that people stop breastfeeding much, much earlier. I usually get these 'when are you going to stop' questions from people here. Back in Asia it's quite a norm to still be breastfeeding around age 1 and nobody really thinks of it as 'taboo' even if you go past 1. I guess this post came up because recently i went to a party here in Holland with some of my husband's family, and when it came up that i was breastfeeding, a certain 'Aunt' was like, "ooooooh, Lennox still ge...

From my previous post about Introducing Solids , I mentioned that I would also document Lennox's journey with BLW. He started when he was 24 weeks old (5 and a half months). By the time he could sit up on his own and was already holding items and putting them into his mouth. Here are some tips i learnt when starting BLW, suggested first foods and basically photos of him looking terribly cute while eating! :P Food prep for BLW Babies do not need teeth to chew! Their gums are strong enough to bite stuff off (just check with moms who breastfeed babies without teeth - the gummy bite can still be painful! :P) Babies around 6 months would be able to pick up objects, but using their whole fists. So one tip i learnt was to cut food into strips that are a little longer that their fists, so that even when they grabbed the food, one part would be sticking out for them to eat. I have here a few examples of Nox holding pieces of carrot, beans and cooked plaintain with his whole fist. ...

I love Ella's Kitchen products. From the smoothie packs to the little puffit snacks to the spelt cookies, it's so handy for Lennox to eat, especially on the go! I was actually introduced to it from a free 'pregnancy package' kit that we receive here in the Netherlands once I got pregnant. I tried it for myself and i loved their packaging and how clean the items were. Best part is that Nox loves it too! He's been using them since he was 6 months, especially when we were out of the house. I was happy to also find it in Singapore when i was there in February this year. Seems like it's a pretty well known brand. Since i'm breastfeeding and it's always not convenient to breastfeed Nox (let's say we are rushing and he's in his stroller), I give him a smoothie pack instead to keep him quiet... haha. I always make sure there's 2 of it in the diaper bag at all times! Anyway these smoothie packs cost anywhere from €0,99 to €1,99 each. So the past ...

Lennox (like most babies i think) loves to grab rattles and shake toys especially those that make a sound. He is intrigued by the fact that he is the maker of the sound; the look on his face is priceless! I filled our bottle with uncooked penne pasta and rounded up all the (unmatching) ribbons i could get I rounded up a couple of things i found easily at home and made this music shaker bottle. He plays with it almost daily! On top of making the sound he looks at the contents and pulls at the ribbons.  Although it keeps him entertained only for awhile most times, I feel pretty accomplished that it's a toy i made from scraps! haha

When Nox was reaching the 5 month mark, it was an exciting time as i knew he could start solids soon around 6 months. Finally this kid can eat more than my breastmilk! Haha. I figured I would have to do the 'usual' thing of making purees and spoon feed him until he can feed himself. I was even gifted a hand blender for making purees from a family member to do this! Spoon-fed weaning  is something most of us have been exposed to (i'm sure everyone knows how you pretend that the spoon is a plane flying around wanting to land in the baby's mouth. haha). Basically the food is mashed or pureed and as the baby gets older, the puree gets chunkier and chunkier until they eat 'regular' food. For those in a time crunch there are also ready-made jars of purees sold in supermarkets. Then a friend of mine told me about how she does the Baby-Led Weaning (BLW) method with her kids. Here in the Netherlands they call it the Rapley methode which is basically after Gil Raple...