5 months old today!

If only time would slow down for mama, mei mei.

Jealous!

Blake Lively is so gorgeous and glowing in her pregnancy announcement photo!

One of the nicest people I know, Rachel is also expecting her first baby. Her announcement was awesome too.

Fourfeetnine, a blogger I stalk love is also preggers.

Damn.

I miss being pregnant.

Just have to remind myself of the rising cost of education to remember 2 will do. Le sigh.

Someecards makes me happy.

It happened way too quickly.

FML.

Good and not-so-good reads.

I'm now reading The Fault in Our Stars and OMG, please just shoot me in the head.

Since when do teenagers talk that way?

Do we want to live in a world where teenagers talk that way?

Vee in OITNB (Season 2) asks why is "some sick f***" writing about kids with cancer? MY question is why is he writing about teenagers who talk this way?

The word "unextraordinary" should never ever be printed. The word is "ordinary". A tree did not die for that word to be printed on it.

Prior to this nonsense, I'd actually had a good streak with 2 excellent books.

Gone Girl - I could not put this book down.

The Help - I made the mistake of watching the movie before reading the book and thought that the book must be quite average. I was wrong wrong wrong. A much better read since it is told from the point of view of characters (seems to be the in thing for fiction these days) and although casting Viola Davis, Emma Stone and Octavia Spencer was spot on and they were pretty much flawless, I just need to know what's going on in the characters' minds. It's sick, but I have always been a want-to know-what everyone-is-thinking-silence-is-therefore-evil type person. When I watched the movie again after finishing the book, I enjoyed the movie a whole lot more.

PS I realise all 3 books have been made into movies. As with my music choices, I refuse to be more "hipster" about my books. Mainstream all the way!

J and I also just finished a 3 day OITNB (Season 2) marathon and there's a fantastic tumblr about the books referenced on the show. All 3 books are in there. It'd be awesome if someone actually read all of them, no?

My 7 New Mommy Must Haves

In no particular order...

1. Nursing Cover

My sister bought a lovely Bébé au Lait nursing cover and told me how indispensable it was to her and it is soooooo true for me too.

I got a free pattern online, bought some fabric on Etsy and my mom made me one.

I love this thing, it is like my security blanket when I go out with my babies. I am just not "open" enough to breastfeed openly and this allows me to feed whenever and wherever I have to. Both Felix and Alexis loved the fabric's pattern as well and stare at it adorably when they feed. It is also an impromptu blanket for the stroller when we go out and I have forgotten to bring a blanket for the umpteenth time.

2. Microwave Sterilizer

Tommee Tippee Microwave Sterilizer

I had a Tommee Tippee Electric Sterilizer and it wasn't very long before it stopped working (Just a year or so). I think there was something wrong with the cord connection or something. The heating plate just stopped heating the water up. I also got so pissed off each time I switched the thing on and returned later to find the dreaded "E" error symbol which meant I had wasted time thinking everything was getting sterilized and really it was just sitting there doing nothing.

I bought a Tommee Tippee Microwave Sterilizer this time around and I love not having to worry about the electrical parts failing on me. Just load it, add water, pop it in the microwave, zap it, let it cool down and you're done!

3. A seriously awesome Stroller

I wanted to be prudent and thought I shouldn't splurge too much on a stroller so I got a sensibly priced one. Now I can't help but have stroller envy when I walk through malls. So avoid stroller envy and just get an awesome one, like this one.

Quinny Zapp Xtra 2.0

[What kills me now, is that I've also found an online deal which means it costs only a few hundred more than what I paid for my "sensible" one.]

4. An also seriously awesome Breastpump

Medela Freestyle Breastpump

I've blogged before about how my Medela Swing Breastpump was great but now I have the Medela Freestyle Breastpump and it is soooooooo good!

As it is a double breastpump, it takes less time to pump and I can pump so much more too. I didn't realize I needed it, but now that I have it, I can't believe I lived without the display in the past. It has a timer, shows how much battery power is left (no more lugging a charger around just in case), shows the intensity level and once you know what level suits you, you can save it as a program.

5. A Diaper Bag that looks good on your husband!

Chances are he'll be carrying it anyway so make sure its one that looks good on him!

I got one like this for J

6. A Diaper Changing Table

About a week after Felix was born, a friend called and said they wanted to get us something, anything that we'd like. J and I were unanimous, please get us a diaper changing table. We hadn't really thought it was necessary. We had a changing pad and thought we'd just use our bed, but after changing our bedsheets multiple times because of the many accidents one has with a baby boy and the backache from bending down to change his diaper, our diaper changing table was a lifesaver! No regrets at all.

7. iBaby Feed Timer App

They'll say it's not necessary to obsess too much when you're breastfeeeding, that you're producing just the right amount for your baby, but the fact is that you will always worry [it's called being a parent] and it is impossible to remember which side you last fed on because there'll be so so so many things on your mind.

This app is brilliant. Its so easy to use, just tap on the side you're feeding on when you start and stop and it'll keep track of the length of your feed. It also reminds you that you should be feeding soon and keeps nifty statistics. A really great app for new moms. Its free too!

Taylor Swift Loving

In Taylor Swift's very recent op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, she writes

"Some songs and albums represent seasons of our lives, like relationships that we hold dear in our memories but had their time and place in the past."

This is exactly how I feel about "Speak Now".

After watching her "You Belong With Me" music video and loving it (so cute-lah), I downloaded "Speak Now", and on the way to Melaka for work, listened to the album on repeat for 4 hours there and back again.

I just love how obvious it is from her lyrics that she's a hopelessly optimistic romantic (Cause hello, I love Judith McNaught).

I was about to get married at the time, so "Speak Now" reminds me of when I was a very excited bride-to-be.

The "Speak Now World Tour" didn't come to KL but I learned that the Taylor Swift Red Tour was coming to KL on June 11. I was 7 months preggers with Alexis and my EDD was June 15, I started wishing (to all my colleagues and friends' horror) that she'd be a week early like Felix and I could finish the 1 month Chinese confinement just before and go for the concert.

In fact, on the morning of May 8, I woke up, looked at my belly and said pretty loudly (and not for the first time, just ask J) "Come out..." Bless Alexis, she did! I got my contractions that night.

So, with my confinement ending June 7 (If you have a girl, you're allowed to end Chinese confinement 1 or 2 days earlier), it was just a matter of getting my hands on the sold out tickets.

This is when my brother's friend (bless him too!) came to the rescue and sold me his ticket! 

My brother was also very sweet for going with his 31 year old sister to a Taylor Swift concert, especially since I met his girlfriend for the first time at the concert, and she was accompanying her age-appropriate 14 year old sister there, haha. 

It was AWESOME.

My DIY Tissue Box Breastmilk Storage Organizers

When I had Felix, I blogged about the pressure of total breastfeeding on moms today.

To do that, working moms have to pump and store breastmilk when maternity leave is over (and always all too soon).

So that I wouldn't go insane in the office from worrying about whether or not I had pumped enough breastmilk for Felix, I started expressing a session a day (when I knew Felix wouldn't need a feed) and I am doing the same for Alexis.

This means quite a lot of bags of backup breastmilk and since I have mild OCD, I simply could not bear to allow my freezer to look like this...

I also think it is ridiculous to fork out any money for a "breastmilk storage organizer".

So, this is what I came up with, my DIY Tissue Box Breastmilk Storage Organizers.

I get a sick buzz looking at this:-

Step 1: Grab an empty tissue box.

Step 2: Snip diagonal lines at all 4 edges.

Step 3: Cut all the flaps you've made away. 

Voila!

Tip 1: Number the tissue boxes in ascending order.
Tip 2: "File" the breast milk bags from old to new from left to right (or right to left)

This method also makes transporting breastmilk to caregivers easier.
Just pop the tissue box (with the lowest number) into an ice box.

I know its a pretty simple idea, but when I went on Pinterest yesterday, there were only 2 similar pins, using drink can boxes, which I don't think many people in Malaysia will have many of, or requires more space in the freezer, like this cute one.

Oh dear, an entry a year.

I suppose a good thing about being a mom of two now is that I can blame my very lethargic blogging style on the fact that I am a mom of two.

I think too many things are going on for me to compress into bite-sized entries.

I do want to put things down before I forget it all though so here's another attempt at resuscitating this zombie of a blog.

Felix is now two and a half and this is what he looks like
playing with home made gloop of his favourite colour.

...and this is Alexis, my adorable little girl who is 8 weeks old today!

I uploaded this same picture of Alexis on Twitter and Facebook too, but I love this picture so much so I'm using it again.

No intention of posting pictures of what Jason and I look like now, suffice to say we could may have gained some weight. 

My maternity leave is ending in a month's time and (no surprise) I am not looking forward to it.

Alexis Teoh Rui Ern