Amira is Four Months

amira changed as she turned four months. she was a crying, moody, fussy baby (aka asyraf's sister) and became a talkative, laughing, giggling baby (aka amir's sister). now she laughs and talks and giggles all the time. she has her schedule, she stays on schedule and she's not scared to let the world know its time to change her activity (aka akmal's sister).

the schedule bit is what i absolutely love about amira. of course, the other things too but her 'on-schedule' attribute helps a lot in this household. i know what time she'll be up, what time she needs her nap, what time she needs a bottle, what time she has a night feeding, and it plays a major role in my well-being and sanity to last throughout the day.

at the moment, amira's on 5-bottle feeds a day, each feed roughly around 6oz. i'm a bit cheesed off that she's skipping her breakfast feed right now, she prefers a lie in in the morning because it shows that she can stay off the bottle for around 7-8 hours. if only she does that at night instead of in the morning, then at least i can get a good night's sleep. having said that, one nightly feed is better than many, many wake up cries.

she's put on a bit of weight and have grown quite a bit. the bath tub is getting a bit snug, the changing table too. she still looks a bit small in the cot and stroller and car seat.

amira's easy to bring out. she prefers the baby wrap than the stroller and would only settle for her stroller when she's napping. its alright though because we prefer no-stroller outings now too. she's pretty good to join us on our movie outings, lunch outings, quick stop to grab some things at the mall, weddings, birthday parties and of course the grocery shopping trips. she stays quiet in the wrap, sometimes falling asleep, other times looking around to see the sights and sounds.

she's on track with her immunization. just a bit more and we're all set with the monthly ones and will move on longer gaps. driving to the hospital and the government clinic around the boys' school schedules is taking a toll on me. i feel like i'm rushing from one place to another and being stuck in the jam does not help.

amira fell a little under the weather after her pneumococcal jab earlier in the month. i was a bit unsure whether it was that or because her brothers were all having cough and flu, one after another, but she joined in the fun with her own bout of fever and flu. alhamdulillah it only lasted a couple of days and she was back to her jovial self soon after.

amira loves the tv. its my babysitter when i have chores to do - ironing, cooking, simple cleaning, up after the boys.

amira's neck and back are strong now. she can sit for while in her babysnug, watching us have our meals, watching her brothers do their homework. soon she'll be with us at the dining table. got to read up on recipes for her first meals soon.

Flu Season

the flu bug attacked the household last week. it started with ariff and akmal and me, we were talking in very nasally voices for a couple of days and went to the clinic as soon as the weekend came. we were prescribed flu medication (zyrtec) and akmal given cough mixture and i was given prednisone. i think the three of us spent the weekend either sleeping to groggily awake.

as we were getting better, asyraf started coughing. hubby took him to the clinic and he was worse than the three of us. he was given antibiotic, stronger cough mixture and more zyrtec. amira started showing a bit of flush symptoms and hubby took her too. she was given piriton and nasal spray.

asyraf was all better within a couple of days but amira's flu took turn for the worse. her nose are always runny and blocked at night, full of crispies in the morning. amira had an appointment with her pediatrician for an immunisation this week so i put off plans to take her to the clinic for a second visit and waited to meet dr azizi instead.

as the doctor was examining amir's growth and development, i told him about her flu and that i have noticed she had discharge from her eyes, which i'm guessing is from her flu. the doctor asked us to stop administering piriton and told us to stick to sprays instead. he gave her more nasal spray, and nose drops and eye drops.

a day after the visit to the pediatrician, amira was getting a bit warm and was sporting a 38c temperature. i called dr azizi's clinic but we were uncertain whether the fever was due to the flu and eye infection or because she was reacting to the pneumococcal immunisation. so we decided to monitor her for a day or two, if the fever gets worse or if we're not happy with her, generally, to bring her in for the doctor to look at her.

alhamdulillah, by night time, amir's temperature was back to normal. her eyes were also much better, there was no more discharge. only the flu is there, albeit slightly, and she's coughing a bit but she's doing pretty well.

The Lunch Boxes Journey - January 2016

i have wanted to prepare lunch boxes for the boys to bring to school. but the L word - that's laziness, to you - always overcomes the want. its way much easier just shoving a couple of bucks into the boys' hands. but this year, this year, i pushed myself. that plus 4 boys at 2 schools really burns a hole in our pockets.

so beginning the later part of the first week of school, the earlier part i was busy beyond words, i started the boys on this journey. during the school holidays i stocked up on good containers of tupperwares and other brands. i wanted the ones with sections but they aren't always easy to get hold of. so i bought some with sections and some without. i got dividers from daiso for the ones without sections.

i'm not the most adventurous or most creative person. i'm like wayyyy at the bottom of the pile so i didn't plan big. it would be sandwiches generally, more on additional food or snacks to make the lunch boxes more interesting. some occasionally there will be food that takes more effort to make, i.e. fried rice, noodles, pasta, eggs and the like. or maybe leftovers which are much easier to prepare.

so for the month of january, we've went on the journey, stopping a couple of times particularly when the boys have after school activities or when i'm super lazy (i'm always lazy, but this is super lazy). other than that, we've, or i've, been good and stayed true to my plans. so true that even hubby have decided to join in and bring his own lunch box. of course his has more variety since he would take the effort to prepare his side dishes, something i don't do.

the sandwiches that we've had this month - ranging from beef sandwiches, beef wraps, egg sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, beef in mini buns, fried eggs in buns.

and then the breakfast set of hard boiled eggs, sausages & mini buns, burgers, meat and hard boiled eggs.

and the heavier fried rice, mac n cheese, fried pasta...

i like to stock up on cookies as side for the lunch boxes. i would alternate them with fruit loops, fruits, wafers. i found a lot of sandwich fillings that i think would go down well with the boys. i hope to try them bit by bit next month. hubby brings home from work all sorts of things that would go down well with the boys - jacobs cookies, oreo, zip, toblerone, tiger biscuits, fingers. ah the perks of working in a 'fattening' company.

so far the boys are pretty ok with what i prepare. there are days they come home with not-empty lunch boxes, they don't devour everything, which is ok with me. sometimes its because they don't have time, sometimes they were just not in the mood for what i prepared. fine by me, everyone goes through that. i just get them to finish during lunch or bring to the afternoon school. i also get them to share with friends if they can't finish. i'd rather they bring back empty lunch boxes so that i can wash. out of the four, only ariff is not easy with lunch boxes. he wants to play with his friends during recess and don't want to eat (only applies to lunch boxes though, lunch money is fine by him) and i have had to beg him to bring one measly buttered bread - which is why most pictures only contains 3 lunch boxes.