PHOTOS and more photos!

Sorry I have not posted many pictures lately, so here's to make up for it:

From Halloween (Kaitlyn was a cowboy, that was the only costume that was the right size for her):


Kaitlyn making her "i don't like it" face:


A rare occurrance that I was able to take a picture of her sleeping:


I took her in to my office for our office Christmas Party. Kaitlyn sitting on my desk and playing with my phone:


Kaitlyn showing us that she knows which buttons to press for the washing machine (not in use, a spare washing machine now that we moved back to my parents')


She was upset that she was told to leave the washing machine alone:


Kaitlyn at 10 months old:


Kaitlyn with her favourite toy:


Here are the home-made Christmas shots:




and lastly, Kaitlyn's signature smile with the wrinkly nose:

10 months old!

Kaitlyn's 10 months old today. I know I have not been writing much on my blog. Life's been sort of hectic with work and baby.

Anyways, Kaitlyn gained a WHOLE KILOGRAM last month! Yay. I guess I can no longer say I am too worried about her weight. Although I am sure I will find something else to worry about in no time LOL. We weighed her last night, and thought the scale was broken, as it showed Kaitlyn 500gm heavier than last week. So we tried again, it then showed she was 300gms heavier. We took the 300gms, so Kaitlyn is now 8.1kgs. I tried to measure her height but it's no longer possible with her wiggling like a worm all the time. I guess the height measurements will have wait till she can stand still by a wall or something.

So what's new this month... mmm...

She weaned herself off wrapping altogether last week. After we stopped wrapping her arms, she was still held down to the bed with the SafeTWrap. But last week, she just kept screaming and crying when she slept and kept rolling to her tummy regardless how tight we wrapped her. So after 4 days without sleep for anyone, we thought we'd try to remove the SafeTWrap. She cried the first time she napped, then she was fine!! It turned out, she's a tummy sleeper, and didn't like being held to her back. Now, as soon as we put her in her cot, she turns to her tummy and lies there happily smiling at us LOL.

She's walking quite fast now holding onto something slightly. She's been trying to let go for seconds at a time, but I think she's still a bit afraid. I think she might actually walk on her own next month. She still can't crawl the proper way. She now crawls with her arms AND her toes LOL, it's hilarious to watch.

We've introduced pretty much everything we usually eat to her diet. Her usual daily is as follows:

• Between 4:30 and 6:30am, she wakes up for her early morning boob feed, for about an hour
• Between 8:30 to 11:00am, she wakes up for the day and has a bottle of 150mls of formula, then 30 minutes later, about 50mls of cereal and a tablespoon of fruit, a rice rusk and 30mls of water.
• She goes to nap for 1.5 to 3 hours after some play time
• Between 1:30 to 3:30pm, she wakes from nap and has a bottle of 150mls of formula, then 30 minutes later, 2 tablespoons of vegetables, about 50mls of rice cereal mixed with an egg yolk, then half a slice of cheese, with 30mls of water
• She doesn't nap in the afternoon anymore, so she just plays till dinner time
• 6:30pm on the dot, she has her dinner. She can put away 2 full bowls (the normal size asian rice bowl) of congee! We make congee with chicken, beef or pork, mixed with pureed vegetables. Even after her load of congee, she will still ask us for food when she watch us eat our dinner. So we occassionally just give her tiny pieces of whatever we are eating
• 8:00pm on the dot, she has her bath, gets dressed
• 8:15pm: She gets her before bed boob feed, I think this is more for comfort than meal as she doesn't really eat much and plays most of the time. Then she gets 90mls of formula to make sure she gets enough food for the night.
• 8:45pm, I read her the bedtime story "It's time for bed", gives her a few big hugs, and kisses, and puts her to bed.

I love being a mum. Kaitlyn is amazing and has such a personality. I love how simple babies are, that you can tell so easily if they are happy, angry or sad. I love that she shows affection without any reservation. I love her hugs, kisses and those big wrinkly-nose smiles. I love how she shows off her only 2 teeth all the time :D

I have been taking photos occassionally (wish I could take more, more often), but have yet have time to put them on the computer.

I wish I could freeze time

Yesterday as I came through the door after a long day of commute and work, Kaitlyn greeted me with a BIG BIG smile and opened her arms reaching for me. As I held her, she gave me a long bear hug and purred, followed by some hearty "happy pats". I played with her for an hour, fed her, played for another while, bathed her, dressed her, and we sat down and had our nightly quiet time routine of boob/bottle, book and bed. As I put her down to bed, she once again gave me a big smile. I felt tears in my eyes...

She is "walking" much more steady now holding onto a finger, or the side of a furniture, or pushing her "Kandee Car" instead of sitting in it.

She sings all the time now. She sings along everytime she hears music or song. She even started wiggling. It's rather cute.

She learned a couple of new words, "kick kick" and "nainai" (dad's mum in Mandarin).

She's growing up too fast. Everything is so nice and perfect right now, I wish I could just freeze time and enjoy my baby for much longer.

A vent about discrminiation against...

Ok, first of all, I KNOW there are many good managers and companies who do NOT discriminate against women, especially working mothers. I KNOW because I am working for such companies and thankful that I am working for them. However, I still need to vent because such discrimination still exists and it peeves me off.

/begin vent

The last week or 2, somehow the topic of discriminations in hiring women, especially women with a family, came up numerous times in conversations with friends and people at work. It sounded to me that such discriminations are very common. It also surprised me that women are not only discriminated against in the big bad world of private, corporate businesses, they are also being purposely overlooked for jobs/promotions in academia. In the hiring process, or assignments for important projects, or for promotions, women of childbearing age is often dismissed or not even considered because of a perceptions that they will be distracted with family and children and will somehow underperform compared to their peers.

Well, that just peeve me off big time.

True, working mothers have many more added responsibilities outside of work. Also true that working mothers generally prioritise their child/ren and family ahead of work.

BUT: what better to prove that one is capable to perform one's duties at work, than someone who is already currently juggling many things when they are at home, and succeeding?

From personal experience, motherhood has been the most challenging and difficult thing I have ever done. By comparison, completing 2 degrees; getting my MCSE in a month; or even hiking up the Himalaya were all child's play. Motherhood taught me much more than any university courses could've done, especially in time management, multi-tasking, neogiation skills and most of all, patience and willingness to do tasks that I really didn't want to do. Come on, would anyone willingly change a soiled nappy with a big smile on their face? But every mother does it. Therefore, I believe employers should consider a woman's ability to raise a healthy, balanced child as a credit to her CV and definitely NOT a liability.

Furthermore, although it'd be wonderful to be a stay at home mum and devote my time and energy to raising my children, most of us do not have that luxury due to financial pressures. Personally, I believe a working mother actually VALUE their time away from the the chores and their angelic but probably still screaming, kids. They value the adult interactions, the challenges at work that utilises their intellectual minds, and they value being more than just a mother.

For example: before I fell pregnant, I started my Master's degree in IT Management. The first subject I did, I barely studied and scrapped through with a Credit. I took 2 semesters off to have Kaitlyn. When I returned to uni, Kaitlyn was over 6 months old and I had been a full time mother up to that point. I LOVE spending time with my daughter, I LOVE watching her play, grow and learn new things all the time. But, I also value my time away. I no longer took for granted that I am out and about on my own. I no longer took for granted all the intellectual discussions in classes. I no longer took for granted the time I could have to study for the classes when Kaitlyn was sleeping. Technically, I had less time to do my studies because I could only do that when Kaitlyn's sleeping. But for some reason, I actually got more done, and did them all much better than before. I finished this semester with High Distinctions.

Some of the most capable people I know at work, are working mothers. I have met women who completed their Ph.D while raising a young child. I believe the employers and companies who discriminate against working mothers, some even go as far as discriminating women of child bearing age regardless if they currently have children, are doing themselves great injustice. They are missing out on many very capable, intelligent, talented individuals who could contribute much to the company.

/steps off the soapbox
/end vent