This Is The Way I Brush My Teeth

I know I've said that up next will be Miya eating her first solid food but let me share this with you first. Since Miya's been purely breastfed, she doesn't get that white thingy on her tongue. But she started getting that when she started drinking orange juice. So I bought her a toothbrush but the one I got is the one where you put it in your finger and put it inside the baby's mouth. But since sometimes she doesn't like it when I'm poking inside her mouth I decided to buy this toothbrush I saw in ManilaMommy's blog. Confession: I've been reading Neva's blog since before when I started reading Anna's blog but I've been a lurker forever. I remember her blogging about this when her kid was just a few months old (and I didn't have Miya then). So I was bracing myself to read all her previous posts in Multiply when to my delightful surprise she re-posted her post about the toothbrush.

Wacha looking at? Don't disturb me I'm brushing my teeth..er gums and tongue.

Look at Miya, she looks like she was born to use the toothburshhahaha. This was the first time she used it and she already knows how to! Although now there are days when just plays with it and doesn't want to use it properly.

Sick Again

Miya has cough and colds again, I had to take the day off from work today. This is the second time she's had cough and colds, the first time was the week after she got sick. The first time she had them she didn't have to take any meds, breastmilk was enough. Her cough was gone after a day or two and so was the colds. I'm hoping it's the same again this time. We've also been using a nebulizer to clear her nasal passages. But, as we are blessed with a very happy baby, she still smiles despite not feeling well.

This was this morning. A totally different baby from last night. It's so hard to make her go to sleep. Last night, she was crying, coughing, sniffing and scratching her head (due to her atopic dermatitis) when I was trying to make her go to sleep. That's why she has all those morning glory in her eyerlashes. I was almost close to tears myself last night. If only I can protect her from all of that. And we barely slept. She was waking up almost every two hours and I had to change her position every now and then looking for the right one that will make her sleep longer. Either she sleeps on my chest or in her carrier (her head's elevated), she doesn't want to be put down on our bed. Hopefully, tonight will be better.

Atopic Dermatitis

Miya has atopic dermatitis. At first we brushed it off as rashes because her dad likes kissing her (what with his stubles and all). And that's what people usually say when they see her, they immediately assume it's because we like kissing her on her cheeks. This was I think late April or early May. We always had her wear mittens because she keeps on scratching her face. Then it wasn't just her cheeks, she had it on her left shoulder down to her upper arm. Around the third week of May when we went to Shangri-la, two of our friends noticed it and told me to have it checked. I was instantly alarmed. You see, I try not to be paranoid when it comes to my daughter. Try is the operative word. But really, I try not to jump to worst case scenarios when I see something in/on my daughter. As her pedia said, if she's eating and sleeping well then I don't have to worry about anything. Our pedia told us to use a hypo-allergenic soap for her bath time (we were already using Cetaphil at that time but before it we used Lactacyd Baby Bath) and turn to Perla for washing her clothes (we used to use Cycles). He was weary to prescribe medicines because most of the medicines for rashes have steroids. But it came to a point where Miya wasn't sleeping straight during the nights as she used to, she would wake up almost crying and scratching her face. So we brought her to our dermatologist and the derma concluded that it's atopic dermatitis. To treat the rashes, we need to apply hydrocortisone to the affected area. As per the derma, hydrocortisone is the mildest steroids, so I was a bit hesitant to do this at first. But he convinced me that we only need to apply it for 3-5 days. And then afterwards, we'll change to AI cream. He also prescribed Cetaphil Restoraderm body wash and moisturizer for Miya. The Cetaphil he prescribed is specifically for atopic dermatitis. He also gave antihistamine for the itching.

The hydrocortisone worked like a charm. Unfortunately, Miya's rashes flared up again after a few days after I ate sashimi. I was advised by the derma to go on a hypo-allergenic diet. I can't eat chicken, egg, seafoods, bagoong, dried fish, chocolates, nuts, mangoes, citrus fruits, pineapple, tomatoes, wheat products, strawberry and mongo. The first few days after I was given this list I stumbled and ate some allergenic foods and this will automatically result in Miya's rashes flaring up again. So we had to apply hydrocortisone again. The rashes will be gone for a few days but new ones will come out in a week or two. It was starting to get frustrating. Just this morning, I researched on atopic dermatitis and found this. I was sad for my baby. She didn't have a chance against atopic dermatitis. Apparently it's hereditary and with her dad having asthma and I had eczema as a child until adulthood, she was a likely candidate for this skin disorder. I hope and pray she outgrows this.

Daddy's Girl

Last night after nursing Miya reached out to her dad (who's at the other side of the bed) for a hug, then she immediately fell asleep. It was the first time she did that. She usually sleeps on my side of the bed, she falls asleep while nursing and sleeps on her back. But last night after nursing, kinalabit pa nya si Joema because Joema had his back turned on us. My daughter's satrting to be a daddy's girl. And I love it!

Shangri-La Weekend

21-22 May 2011

Wow this post is a month late! Anyhoo, let me just start writing about it.

For our summer outing, our department chose EDSA Shangri-La. The past few years, we've been frequenting Sofitel thanks to our company outing. And as usual we invited our friends to join us. Here's a photo blog of our delightful weekend.

Miya watching TV with Daddy

Picture time with Mommy. Mas alam pa ni Miya where to look.


Ninong Mek carrying our little swimmer

Yes, she has diapers! Our little tabachingching!

Baby won't smile coz she's sleepy already. Didn't have enough from her afternoon nap.

So she only stayed in the pool for picture taking hehehe. After I bathed her back in our room, I left her with Joema and I went down again to the pool. I missed the water!

While Mommy was having fun, Daddy took care of our baby. She fell asleep while we were out.

For dinner, more friends came by. We ate at Recipes in Shangri-la Plaza. I love that restaurant. Love the food and the prices are affordable.


Reposting Miya's photo while inside her baby carrier. This is what I was talking about in that post.


Woke up the next day next to my happy baby.

But she went back to sleep during breakfast. Which was okay since we were able to eat properly. We were probably there for almost two hours. Sulit ang buffet haha!

After breakfast, we went back to the pool.

But our little princess still wasn't that happy. She's happier in the bath tub! Sus! Sorry can't post photos of her. She might kill me when she's a bit older hehe.

Wazzup!

Miya was Sick

Yesterday, I wen on half-day leave because Miya had low-grade fever. To tell you the truth, I was so worried that I wanted to go home immediately. She was restless Thursday night and she woke up rather grumpy so I took her temperature by Friday morning before we left for work. It was at 37 degrees. We told our yaya to take her temperature regularly while we were gone. She texted me around 8:45 to tell me that Miya's temp was at 37.2. I wasn't able to read the message until 11:30. I had a meeting at 9 that morning and I was expressing milk before that so I wasn't able to check my phone for messages. I was actually at the expression room when I was texting my yaya what to do. She texted that Miya's temp went up to 37.3. I was so panicky I didn't even finished expressing milk and went back to my work station to ask my boss if I could take a half-day leave. So I left by lunchtime and was here at home around 1pm. Good thing I went home early because Miya didn't want to drink milk from her bottle by mid-day. I nursed her immediately when I got home. She wasn't feeling grumpy anymore, she was even smiling when I got home so that made me feel less worried. But when we took her temp it was at 37.5 already. I had to read The Baby Book and consult what I need to do. Fortunately, Miya's temp is considered a low-grade fever. Per Miya's pedia, we can give her Calpol if her temp reached 38 which fortunately didn't happen. After her afternoon nap, her temp is down at 37.1. Whew! Maybe it's viral because I later on found out the baby in the next-door unit in front had low-grade fever as well.

Here she is last night, all feeling better.


I love you, baby! Please don't scare mommy like that!

Our Little Catholic

Miya's Christening was fuss free. I know where I wanted her to get baptized and we had a choice of the restaurant for the reception more or less. So all we had to do was inquire and book the church and the restaurant. The church's only requirement was a copy of the birth certificate which my father took care of from Pasig City Hall who I think totally confused all of us. Side story: The Medical City said that we'll get the birth certificate after a month so my father went to Pasig City Hall around 1st week of March to get it. After paying for P140 he was told to get it on April 1, just a day before the baptism. It turned out they asked him to pay for a copy of the birth certificate from NSO. Hello! Even I know that won't be available within the first 6 months of birth. We were only asking for a copy of the birth certificate with the registered number on it. When my father returned on April 1, what they gave him is the NSO certificate saying that there was no record of Miya's birth. After a lot of confusion, my father just asked for a certified true copy of their record which we presented to the chapel - that was the copy we were asking for in the first place!

Anyways, Miya was baptized at the Archbishop's Palace, Villa San Miguel, same location where we had our wedding but instead of using the bigger chapel, we used the smaller chapel this time.


It was a happy coincidence that the priest who wedded us was the one assigned to baptize Miya. We didn't contact him to do the baptismal rites since the chapel said they will assign the priest to do the ceremonies. So we were pleasantly surprised to see Fr. Caloy when he got there.


Miya was so well-behaved that day. She didn't even cry when the water was poured onto her head for the blessing. She was awake for the entire baptismal rite, she fell asleep before the picture taking at the end.

The reception was held at the nearby Max's Restaurant. We didn't realize that the chapel and the restaurant was right beside each other until after we book both. We took care of the reservations after we're sure we were getting the birth certificate by April 1. So that actually gave us less than a month, which was all we really needed.


For souvenirs, I contacted the friend of Miya's Ninang who supplied the cupcakes on her son's baptism.


I was so tired after the celebration - hirap pala to entertain guests on your party, when we got married we just sat there and waited for everything to happen hehehe. This time around I had to go to every table and talk to everyone if they were having a good time, if the food was okay, etc.

Here are more pics from the baptism.

Miya with her ninongs.


With her lovely ninangs.

With my family.

Our little family.


With Joema's family.

My daughter was exhausted too.


Welcome to the Christian world, Anak! I hope I'll be able to bring you up as a good Catholic. We love you!

Photos from Reyna

Let me bombard you with more photos of my daughter (forgive me as my world revolves around her since she was born).

These photos were taken by my dear friend Reyna. The first set was taken on 12 Feb, Miya was a day short of being a two-week old baby. Reyna and our other friends came to visit and she wanted to shoot us, so we willingly obliged.












This second set was taken on 12 March. I requested Reyna for another shoot so that we can use one of the photos for the invitation for Miya's baptism.

Miya's First Two Months

Well, she's a little over two months now but I haven't blogged about her 1st and 2nd month "birthday". For her first month, since February doesn't have 30 days we celebrated on the 28th. We had a simple celebration at home, it was just us three and Miya's yaya.


For her 2nd month, my family came over for pizza, spaghetti and cake.





Some milestones:
* she now plays and interacts with us
* she gets fussy when I read her book Gus Gastos (we think she dislikes Gus or the monster or the fact that it wasn't really a children's book but a freeby from Oishi hahaha)
* she looks at the camera when her picture's taken
* she can hold her head up while burping or when you carry her facing you
* she can be carried with her back against me and looks everywhere around her
* she loves looking at lights and fascinated with the ceiling of the building elevator
* she falls asleep when carried in her sling
* she kicks and scratches you when she's fussy haha
*she very recently learned to thumbsuck (because the mittens are now gone), actually she sucks her whole hand hehe

Recent photos of our darling little angel..

...after drinking her vitamins..


...smiling at her pedia..

..after her bath.

Moses Basket

Remember my post about the baby shower thrown by my friends where they invited Joema to join us? Well, Joema's gift the Moses basket arrived the following week, if I remember correctly. Anyway, Miya has been using it since we came home from the hospital. We place her there when we're downstairs, instead of bringing down the crib everytime we go down. That was really the purpose I intended for it. I wanted a bassinet for downstairs where we can place our baby. We also bring the basket when we go to our families or friends since we don't have a carrier. Although we only place her there once we get to the place and not while in transit in the car.

3-day-old Miya in her basket

1 month old Miya


1 month and 2 weeks

The problem is in a few weeks time (hopefully months), Miya will be outgrowing the basket. I wonder where we'll place her by then. Hopefully she'll be big enough then to be able to sit on her baby chair or maybe we can use the stroller our friends gave her (for when she wants to lie down).

Mommy's First Rejection

The other night I had my first share of rejection. Was trying to stop Miya's crying but she just won't stop. Checked her diaper but she doesn't need changing. Tried to breastfeed her but she didn't want to be fed. Then my mother-in-law takes her and starts swaying her while standing up and Miya stops. I was crying the moment Miya was back in her crib. Joema was asking me what the matter was. I was upset because I wasn't the one who stopped her from crying. I was upset because I didn't want her to be masanay in swaying just to stop her crying. I was upset with myself because I didn't want help from anyone when it was clear that I did need help. Whenever I feel selfish with my daughter, and I'm sure there will be many more times in the future, I will always think of what Frances of Topaz Mommy wrote - that it takes a village to raise a child and hopefully I will be more generous in sharing Miya with others.

**********

I wrote the text above on Feb 3, exactly 5 days after giving birth and 2 days after returning from the hospital. I lacked sleep so excuse the incohesive sentences. I felt so rejected then - by my only daughter no less. I wanted to comfort her. I want her to know that when she cries she can go to directly to me (or that she'll go only to me). The next day my husband told me that our our daughter is so beautiful then he said, we should share her with everyone so that everyone will know how beautiful she is. He's afraid I wouldn't want to go to his hometown to let his relatives see our daughter.

Well, Miya is now almost two months but I still want to do everything for her. Although, I have somewhat accepted that I needed help but not totally.

When my mother-in-law was still with us, she was the one who brought Miya down by the poolside to get the morning sun. Now that we have our househelp, I let yaya give Miya's vitamins and sometimes let her change the diapers. She also carries Miya once in a while. There are times when she's the one who can pacify Miya from crying and it takes all of my willpower to take my daughter away from her arms. My mom always wants to hold Miya when we're together. She even wants us to stay overnight at their house and sleep beside Miya but I've said no to this. It will just be difficult for all of us especially since Miya wakes up several times during the night for feedings and diaper change.

Some friends have told me to start pumping breastmilk so that our help can feed Miya while I sleep or Joema can feed Miya when we go out. But I still don't want to do this. I still want to breastfeed Miya directly. My maternity leave is for 12 weeks and I will extend this to another 15 days so I don't want to hurry with the pumping of milk.

So yes, I still want Miya all to myself although I really encourage the hubby to share responsibilities with me like burping her and taking her from me when she just wouldn't stop crying. He is the one person I willingly give Miya to.

I know, I know I have to learn to share her with others. But can you blame me if I don't want to share this adorable child?