Lucky Chance

Today, Korby, my 4 month old FINALLY drank his milk from the bottle and decided that he can after all live with it.  I've been taking chances for the last couple of months to no avail.  It was a long waiting game that I was determined to get over with.  And today, I got lucky!  I have no plans of ending my breastfeeding bliss for now.  I'm just trying to at least let Korby have both worlds while I do the same.  I guess this marks the start of my girlfriends reunion preparation and then some kid-less trips outside home.  Yoohoo!  So what exactly nailed it?  The MILK ladies and gentlemen.  It was all about the milk.  You see, we've tried a couple of milk brands.  We started with S26 and then Enfalac.  He must have thought they were blahs.  He responded only with a little nipple nibbling and a scowl.  Milk cans were discarded in their half-finished state.  What a waste.  While Korby continued his distaste, we decided on trying a cheaper brand in the market--Bona.  And surprise?  He liked it.  I mean he LOVED it.  He finished a bottle in between gasps and gulps. 

So much for forcing him on expensive milk.  Baby knows what he wants any way.  I've always been an ENFA mom with my eldest child being an ENFA baby himself.  I also get too lazy with expressing milk ending up with only a few milk dribbles and sore boobs. My 2 closely-spaced sons however are picky with their milk. Now that Korby finally made his choice, I might get a little freedom moving around doing things on my own.  I've been  meaning to go to the salon for a haircut or perhaps a hair treatment.  My hair is dying for one.  I remembered one time when Kliven my now 1 year old was just a baby.  I braved my way to the salon though Kliven wasn't so keen on his milk on bottles too.  Only to end up with Mom and Kliven in the salon because Kliven badly needed to breastfeed.  So I had my hair done with my baby clamped on my boobs.  I hope it doesn't get repeated this time. Fingers crossed on that one.

Poor Chicken

We spent the weekend in Mom and Dad's place because it was Dad 50th birthday.  I love staying there.  For one, I miss my family: Mom, Dad and Sissy and second, it's just great having to go through a day with lots of people taking over my crazy kids. So while we were there, I sneaked off and did my grocery because I seldom do that at the moment.  I had to endure hub's grocery shopping disasters for quite some time now.  And boy was I itching to do it my way.  

Aaaanyway, Dad has this habit of handing his pets to my kids.  And Kliven had his own fair share.  It was Kliven's first real encounter with this feathery creature and I must say, he was amused.

 So amused that he grabbed that poor chicken's neck while the poor thing hanged on to dear life.  Its neck was like stretching... and stretching.  I was mortified to say the least. 

 I imagined Kliven snapping off that chicken's neck while blood was ooozing like some kind of twisted horror movie.  The thing with kids is that they just clamp their hands shut when they're into something and I had to pry his little fingers off the chicken.  Thankfully, the chicken was alive with no bruises and a tremendous shock to last his whole lifetime.  No more chicken handling for you Kliven! ; p

Friendship--The older it grows, The stronger it gets

Since when exactly was the last time I saw my High school friends?  That, I couldn't remember.  It almost felt like ages.  Suddenly, I felt old.  And then I looked at my bouncy boys and I felt OLDER and.... 20 pounds HEAVIER! ( I hope it's not really 20 pounds! )

Time sure flies.  This was me way back in High school (see pic below).  Caught in the act.  A day sleeper.  Hungry for zzzs.  I'm still peckish for 40 winks. That good amount of sleep at the moment.  The only problem is, I never seem to get it.  Not anymore.  *sigh* So much for good ole times.

Aaaah..the joys of sleeping!

Well anyway, I miss my girls.  The kind where my lips quiver involuntarily all ready to bawl.  Because really, who could forget such AMAZING people.?  And the fun times, those fun times.. I miss Dearly's spaghetti overload, the pigging-out til my zippers pop, baking and later devouring chocolate crinkles, the drunken madness, the endless roadtrips til the wee hours of the morning, the sound of our boisterous laughter put together, the seemingly never-ending gossip bubbles, the movie marathon, crying over petty fights, baking for a cause, the  uniformed-haircuts and let's not forget the dancing and more dancing.!!  We were inseparable, different and yet one.

Back when I had a waistline.  

Alas, gone were the days.!  That's why, I almost peed in my pants when I heard these girls are planning a much-awaited reunion! I say, count me in because I've never been out of this cave ALONE without my whiney kids for more than 2 hours.  So, a short vacation with my girls somewhere is a breather.  The problem is, Korby doesn't like his milk in bottles. I might as well leave my boobs and go manly that time. I'll figure out a plan somehow.  I have 3 more months to train Korby. 3 months! Worries! Worries!

FRONT: Mitch , BACK: Me, Crispy, Mafel, Emma, Lalak, Vella, Dearly and Joy
{ Man, this pic's old ;) }

It has been years.  I sure hope everything is different and yet the same.  Feeling awkward is not even on my mind right now.  I knew my girls. We'll be laughing our hearts out.  It has always been like that.  I just knew,  things will never change.

Toy Box Overhaul

It's hard buying toys for our 6 year old and our toddler.  While our 3 month is contented with his age-appropriate toys, Khym on one hand is fascinated with tinkering and disassembling small parts of his toys.  Kliven on the other hand mouths them in glee.  Now I know, a 6 year old and a 1 year old don't really mix.  Kliven is still on his teething stage and often gobbles every sorry thing on his path.  So, he pretty much slobbers his way through our home.  And Khym just loves pounding his toys to bits and checking out the insides of his now shabby toys,  Kliven usually guards Khym's every movement like a hawk.  And while Khym's not looking, he hurriedly chomps on his find.  I've been watching the two with my vigilant eye and I don't like what I see.  I know it's unfair to demand that my older child gives up the toys that he enjoys so I could take a breather.  It's not right and I would not even dream of doing that.  So while I will surely encounter things like this in a few years or so, I learned to keep things at bay while straining my neck in the process.  All the more, Kliven doesn't like his age-appropriate toys.  He's more on grabbing his older brother's.  So some toys are just left in dusty corners at home.  Lonely and well, slob-free.  Being the Supahmum that I'am (coughs!), I learned to safeguard my kids' safety and avoid toys that are not only choking hazards but in every sense dangerous to kids.  And these are toys with:

• Removable or loose small parts i.e button eyes on teddy bears, beads, tiny toy "people" to name a few.

• Strings, ribbons or chords longer than 6 inches pose a strangulation risk.

• Springs, gears or hinges that can catch little fingers or long hair.

• Sharp points or edges.

• High noise levels that may damage your child's hearing.

• Small button batteries from battery-operated toys.

• Sponge-like construction i.e toy balls which they could bite chunks off and later choke.

• Stickers which are choking risks too.

• Projectile parts i.e Toy bows and arrows, dart guns.

• Latex balloons are also choking hazards.  A little child could chew and choke on a deflated balloon.

• Damaged parts.  Either you repair or discard those toys that are unsafe.

So there.  Some pointers to consider before actually plunking those toys in your cart.  Happy Toy-Shoppin' Mommies!

Plagiocephaly

Also known as flattened head syndrome, deformational plagiocephaly - often shortened to plagio - is the general term for the most common type of flattening on one side of a baby's head. Deformational brachycephaly (or brachy) is a flattening across the back of a baby's head. The two types of problem often occur together. 

Just recently, I discovered that Korby has a flattened head right smack at the back.  Right side to be exact.  It isn't really an all-out flat head thing, just a slight one.  No cause for crazy worries but still I'm in anxiety mode.  Because really, who wants her kid to grow up with a head slightly tilted to the side.  That gives me shivers. When you don't look as closely as I usually do, you wouldn't notice anyway.  But still, I'm troubled.  The kind when you think you might have gone easy on this part and therefore to blame on this slight deformation. Mom said that it will go away in time and can be corrected through repositioning up until baby reaches the 7th month.  Korby is on his 3rd month.  I hope she's right.  For those of you who share my apprehensions or have babies with the same condition.  Here are some tips I got from Babyworld that I should be following:

When asleep:

• Always put baby to sleep on his back but alternate different ends of the cot to encourage him to look to a different side each night.
• Move the light in the room as babies tend to follow the source of light.
• Reposition your baby's head away from the flattened side once he has gone to sleep

When playing:

• Encourage baby to play on his tummy to keep pressure off his head and also strengthen neck muscles When feeding:
• Alternate the side you hold your baby when feeding him.

When travelling:

• Reduce the time spent with his head on a firm flat surface such as car seats and buggies
• Use front carriers rather than back

Korby's isn't really a major flat out.  What I also do is massage the back of his head to soothe those neck veins or whatever you call it so that his head won't tilt too much on one side.  He has gotten so used to his favorite sleeping position.  Probably I'm not doing enough repositioning.  But I'm really hoping this can be corrected.  It's not like I want absolute perfection when it comes to my kids but there are other things to be thankful for.  So sometimes, I try to overlook those little imperfections and try to dwell on our many blessings instead :)