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…to see Elena smiling at me gives me such great joy.

I’d been busy the past few nights, following hubby out to search for stuff for the house. On Tuesday night, my darling girl was taking her evening nap when I got back from work, and by the time we got back from house-stuff shopping, it was already past her bedtime and she was asleep again. My mom told me that she was very agitated when my mom was putting her to sleep at night…it was as if she was already used to seeing us during that time of the night and couldn’t fall asleep (this happened another time as well when I was out late…she would close her eyes, nod off, and then wake up, look around and make some noise…then close her eyes, nod off and wake up again…).

Yesterday, I left work at 5pm sharp and made it home by 5.45pm. The minute I popped my head into my mom’s room, Elena turned and looked at me and my heart really felt like it was going to burst with joy. She was so very excited, smiling widely and as I got closer (my mom was carrying her), she waved her arms wildly and tried to touch my face (and ended up hitting me instead… ) and kicked her legs as if she wanted me to carry her. You cannot imagine how happy I felt at that moment (and guilty too, for not being able to spend more time with her!). I cuddled her and buried my face in the crook of her neck…gosh, I love that sweet baby smell…and gave her kisses all over!

That night, after we got back from house-stuff shopping (again) and after her last feed, I carried her over to the bed to sleep with us. She lay in the crook of my arm, turned over sideways and kinda ‘hugged’ me (I say kinda coz her arms are still so short… ). I held her close and patted her…and when I peered down at her to check if she was asleep, I saw that her eyes were still wide open, but she was just laying still in my arms as if she was enjoying being held (and those who know my girl knows that she hardly ever stops moving). And then after awhile, she gave a little sigh, closed her eyes and went to sleep.

So you can imagine how hard it was for me to get up this morning, leave her in bed and go off to work…

Have been so busy these past few weeks that I haven’t had any time to update my blog. Elena - week 26 is still in draft format, photos are still in my memory card…sighsighsigh.

We’re finally moving to our new house this Saturday! Hubby has been so busy liasing with the contractor in the past few weeks, poor guy. I think he must be thoroughly sick of renovations and such by now…

Workwise, things are pretty ok. I enjoy the environment (jeans every day, yo!), but getting up at 6.30am everyday is a pain in the behind. Well, at least I get to leave a 5pm, and knowing that my precious girl is at home waiting for me is always an incentive to leave early!

At night, I spend most of my time playing with her if she’s not asleep, hence the lack of time to blog nowadays. This week will be totally taken up by packing and doing all the last minute shopping before we move.

There are just so many things I want to blog about…sigh…

Jocelyn, from Jenlia Maternal Services, paid us a home visit this week. She was recommended by a friend of mine, and I decided to buy the 5-times home visit package @ RM100 per visit as Elena’s visits to the paed at DSH will lessen soon as she’s finishing off most of her immunizations. During each visit, Jocelyn will assess Elena’s development to ensure that she does not miss any important milestones, as well as check her general health and weight, and also help to answer any questions we may have. This visit was timely as Elena will be starting solids soon and I had tons and tons of questions to ask!

Elena’s development is right on track, and Jocelyn commented that she’s a very happy, contented and well-stimulated baby (thanks to my mum who plays with her every day while I’m at work!). The funny part was that when we were talking, Elena started babbling as if she wanted to be included in the conversation!

Jocelyn also recommended a book that she co-wrote, Asian Parenting Today, which I bought the very same evening…it had a really helpful section/schedule on solid-feeding which would make it very much easier for all of us!

Elena’s rash at her chin has unfortunately gotten worse, and despite using the Sebamed Facial Cream daily, the red and scaly patch refused to disappear. She was also getting a kind of rash on her body as well, it looked like goose pimples that wouldn’t go away! We went to the children specialist near our place and the doctor said that the rash on her body as well as her chin was actually eczema. She gave us a more gentle bath oil to use as well as a tube of Cetaphil intensive moisturizer. Luckily, after applying it for a few days, the red patches finally began to subside! We were all so relieved to see Elena’s skin return to it’s original baby soft state… …

Yikes…super backdated post! Anyways, nothing much to update for week 24 other than Elena has learnt how to blow raspberries…. So now, in addition to trying to keep her busy hands from digging out the bottle teat from her mouth whenever I feed her, I have to learn to avoid getting milk spit right into my face…*blek* However, it’s really cute whenever she does it…if there’s no milk, then she’ll use her saliva…and the more I laugh, the more she does it.

She’s still drinking 5oz every 3 hours and sleeping through the night. Poo-ing frequency and amount has gone down though…she poos once a day but rarely do we face anymore poo-overflowing-out-of-the-diaper problems anymore!

She’s very adept at rolling over now, and can hold her head up pretty high…

Oh…and we’ve recently noticed that our funny little girl doesn’t seem to like toys very much. She loses interest in her toys very fast, BUT…she absolutely loves the ‘Your Baby Can Read’ DVD series as well as the flashcards, and she loves her little board books. We can go through 20-odd double sided flashcards without her struggling to get out of her Bumbo seat! Wonder if she’ll be a little bookworm like her mommy when she grows up?

After a bout of sore throat, followed by cough, followed by flu (it’s funny how my sore throat almost always progresses on to a cough and then flu), I’m almost fully recovered, yay!

The hardest part about being sick? Not being able to hug and play with Elena! I don’t mind the sniffles, I don’t mind coughing my lungs out, and I don’t mind not being able to eat alot of things…but it’s absolute misery to see Elena smile at me yet not being able to carry her and hug her close (I know there’s something grammatically wrong with this sentence yet I can’t figure out what’s wrong…).

Finally, I’m on the mend and tonight, I finally could play with her, lie down on the bed with her and let her run her fingers over my face, carry her and rock her to sleep. Gosh, I could feel my heart melting as she wrapped her arm around my neck, lay her head down on my shoulder and went to sleep. It felt SO GOOD that I carried her for a few more minutes before reluctantly putting her down on her cot.

My darling darling girl, I love you so!!