Last Jab... For A While...

Took JL & JY to the doctor today for their appointment. Raining cats and dogs when I left the office, but thankfully it had stopped back home. Otherwise it'd be quite a task getting the babies in and out of the car...

Strapped them into the car seats (I think this is the first doctor's appointment that we've taken them in the car seats. Prior appointments they've always been held by Mommy and Grandma.
Unlike the last time, this time we didn't have long to wait as we were second in line.

Dr Lam weighed them again, measured them, and prodded at their bellies and moved their legs around to check, and pronounced them healthy, and growing at a good rate.

JL was 6.2kgs, and JY 5.9kgs. According to Dr Lam, by six months babies typically would have doubled their birth weight, so calculating retrospectively, their birth weights would have been over and under 3kgs by a shade, which is an ideal weight for single babies. What this means is that both JL & JY though born small, as they're twins, have caught up with single babies now. Hooray!

Then came the jabs, the final Hepatitis vaccination. And both cried very loudly this time, maybe because as they get older they're more aware... Good thing was they stopped quite quickly, and was completely okay when they went out the consultation room.

Only small problem was the slight skin problem under the folds of their necks, as babies's necks are short the folds tend to contain sweat and irritate the skin. Some cream would clear that up.
Dr Lam also mentioned that we could start them on solids soon, beginning with cereal, then slowly on to mashed/pureed veges/fruits. Stuff to avoid until they're older are peanuts, coconuts as they potentially could trigger off allergies.

Our next appointment would be a check-up when they're 9 months old, and no more jabs until they're 1 yr old! Hooray again!

All done and out of there just before 1900. Bill came to RM201 with the consultation, jabs and cream. Both of them were very happy tonight and made a lot of noise, sometimes together. Must be happy to know that no more injections until 1 yr old eh?

Olive Oil...

We've begun rubbing olive oil on their scalps since they had the shave, reason being that their scalps were a bit dry, and the paedaetrician told us that's the best way to treat it.

So now twice a week we rub extra virgin olive oil (the same stuff I make spaghetti bolognese with...) on their scalps before we tuck them in. Usually Friday and Saturday nights.
They don't seem to mind it, though it does make them smell like the kitchen of a mediterranean restaurant...

New toy... for Daddy...

Bought a Casio Exilim S600 compact camera (or as Casio calls it, a card camera). I've always been strongly against compact digicams, mainly because the sensors are tiny (compared to an APS sized sensor in most SLRs), and hence leads to noise, small dynamic range, and increased possibility of reduced sharpness.

However, this time I capitulated as I needed video, and specifically looked for cameras that can shoot VGA video (640x480) at 30fps. Other requirements include being able to take decent still pics (so a dedicated videocam was out...), being small enough to pocket, takes SD cards (so Fujis, Olympuses, Sonys were out). Final candidates were the Canon Powershots (too big), Ixuses (too pricey), Nikon Coolpixes (hopeless) and Casio Exilims.

I currently own a Canon A80, which was fantastic as far as compacts go, and offerred lots of manual controls too, but ultimately let down by its inability to shoot decent video, its large size, and tiny screen.

Saw a used Exilim S600 on sale, did a lot of reading up on the net, and so far the reviews I've read has mostly been favourable. Good video, good stills, takes SD, great battery life (though proprietary battery) and fantastic built quality! And for the price I bought it, it was beyond reproach. Picked it up Saturday after I dropped off wifey and babies at 1U. Had to go to Taman Sri Sentosa to pick it up, and in the process getting lost couple of times...

The condition was excellent with only a few small wear marks on corners. First impressions were very good, very very solid (it's made of stainless steel after all...), large bright screen, and it looks really good. Here's a pic I took off Steve's Digicams site, where I read one of the reviews. Yes, mine's the same color too.

Casio Exilim S600 Blue...

Started shooting as soon as I got home, and pictures appeared nice and vibrant, though I haven't gotten around to really looking at them yet. Videos were good, with decent exposure and very smooth due to the 30fps.

***Update 1: I subsequently sold this off for about the same price I bought it, but threw in a charger I bought off Ebay for RM5. Got another S600 on Ebay for the same price I sold this at, plus shipping from the USA! It included the whole package, box, cradle and everything. Only difference was this one is plain stainless steel, no paint on it, which I prefer.

Replaced with this...

So far it's seen quite a lot of use, and usual compact pitfalls aside, have performed admirably. Parents took it on holiday with them and were absolutely delighted with it.

***Update 2: Sadly, this was lost on a trip to Eastern Europe by my parents in October 2008. The camera aside, it was worse as it contained all of their holiday photos, and they only lost it in Dubai on transit for a flight home. Suspect it was a pickpocket...

Shaving Babies...

It's a holiday today! Yay...!!! (Prophet Muhammad's Birthday)
Babies slept with us yesterday night, and this morning both woke up around 0730, started sucking their thumbs (and fingers...) and making a variety of noises. So before they break out into full blown crying, we fed them and tucked them both back into bed.

Woke up again around 0900 and carried them downstairs to be bathed and dressed while wifey and I went out for dimsum brekkie at Hong Kee. Not too bad, and for some reason they had a 30% discount (which I did not question...) Was on the verge of boycotting them after the last experience of heavy-handed dimsum skin and cold fillings. Oh, also ran into 2 old friends... was actually walking over to say hi to the one i saw, and enroute ran into another.

Sis-in-law dropped by with nephew in tow and the lot of us brought babies out to the nearby barber to be shaved. Cost 20bucks for both!

Eh, what's that buzzing...

Aiyo, my head looks like an egg!

Reason we had them shaved was because their hair was growing rather haphazardly, and we already meant to do this earlier but kept putting it off. Finally got it done today! Babies were held by Mommy while being shaved. Good thing they were more curious than anything else. I was afraid they'd fidget a lot, or cry or something.

After that I dropped wifey and babies off at 1U around 1230 while I ran some errands. Picked them up at 0230. Babies had behaved very well. Goodie! Wifey bought two milk powder dispensers and a baby brush for their hair. (for when it grows back...)

Double flips...

Jun Yen has now also learnt to do the flip! Like Jun Lee, the hardest part is actually getting out their arm from under their body after flipping onto their bellies. Jun Yen tends to get particularly grumpy and cries when this happens.

Holding Onto Milk...

Jun Lee has began to hold her own bottle! Of course, she doesn't do it well yet, tends to drop it after a while, and not always obliging. But still its a start.

Papa, hold for me lah...

Jun Yen has so far steadfastly refused to hold her own bottle, which my mom claims is just like me... Dunno true or not...

The Flip...

Jun Lee has now learnt to turn on her side, flip herself onto her belly and raise her head to look up to get a better look... hehe...

And in the process causing us a bit of worry as we're sometimes afraid she'd suffocate herself with her face to the mattress. Of course most of the time she holds her head up, but when she gets tired she'd lay hear head down and sleep belly down. She has yet to learn to flip herself back onto her back yet though.

Updated Le Francais review...

Totally forgot about this post which I made last year, and left it hanging at the bread basket description. You must have thought I had nothing but bread rolls there...

Finally completed it, and except for the exact prices which I forgot over time, the rest of the review is largely intact. Go here http://ricscirocco.blogspot.com/2008/01/le-francais-one-bangsar.html

4 months and 2 weeks...

Here we are at 4 months old, heading towards 5 months!

This picture taken after lunch today.

Yet another jab...

Yup, yesterday Mom and Dad took the babies to the clinic for their Triple Antigen shots again. I was tied up in the office, and wife was ill earlier in the day, but by evening had recovered sufficiently to go along.
I was told no drama at all, with Jun Lee not crying at all, and Jun Yen merely whimpering. Wifey asked the doctor about the lump in the side of Jun Lee's neck (which I felt a week back when I was feeding her) and was told its normal, (don't ask me for specifics, I wasn't there...) and apparently Jun Yen has it too, just not as obvious.

However this timesubsequent to the injections they ran a bit of a temparature, and wasn't until today evening that they were completely okay. Fed them 2 doses of the paracetamol since yesterday.

A Lot of Babbling...

House was a riot (comparably) yesterday as Jun Lee was very noisy, in a good way. She was babbling a lot and very loudly and happily. Must be from the relief after the vomiting incident a day back.
In fact she was so loud she scared Jun Yen, who's usually the noisier one into silence. Jun Yen must be wondering where the loud voice that sounds like her's is coming from!
By night though Jun Yen had gotten past that and was babbling happily with Jun Lee. It was like a contest to see who was the loudest. Needless to say we didn't get to watch much telly, hehe...

In The Papers Today...

MCA is nobody's lackey, so says Dato' Seri Ong Ka Ting.

Haha! Hahahaha! Hahaha! *stops to wipe tears from eyes*

Phasing in formula...

In anticipation of switching them completely to formula, we decide to begin mixing in feeds of formula between the breast milk, maybe 2 feeds out of 4 during the day.
Started yesterday, and by 2pm, Mom called me in a bit of a panic as Jun Lee vomited after the formula feed.

Turned out they fed both with formula around 10am, and both drank eagerly. Around 12, Mom heard Jun Lee crying a bit and went in to see the bed wet with the milk she had thrown up, which by Mom's account was pretty big. Jun Lee went very limp and pale, and both Mom and Dad rushed off to the nearby clinic with Jun Lee. Doctor wasn't in, and by the time they arrived Jun Lee was more animated and color had returned. So back home they all went. In restrospect, if you, a full grown adult had thrown up your lunch, you wouldn't look so hot either...

After that, attempts to feed her (with mother's milk) were resisted as Jun Lee now appeared to have a bit of a phobia with milk.

This persisted until I returned home after work and tried without much success as she wanted to sleep more than feed.

Yesterday night she slept with us, and by the midnight feed was pretty much back to her old self, sucking her thumbs and gurgling. We reduced the size of the feeds to 3oz instead of the normal 4.5oz to get her to drink, but it seemed she was alright, and hungry!

Will lay off the formula for a while. In consultation with the formula customer care people and the nurse at the clinic, it is highly likely that her digestive system was accustomed to the easy to digest mother's milk, and the introduction of the formula in a rather large quantity (5oz) caused her digestive system to reject it. When we begin phasing in formula again this weekend, we'll do it in small quantities and hope it goes okay.

Shameless...

The candidates list announced in the papers today was very interesting. On the whole however, it was depressing stuff and the rakyat are about to be taken for another 5 year ride...

MCA for one announced heartily that it will be fielding a lot of new blood, but I wonder, if the new blood will do any more to advance the cause of the Chinese in Malaysia, or more of the same. More of what? You know lah...

There was also an article on the children following their parents footsteps. Again I wonder, how many of these would actually be fielded at all without the influence of Daddy or Mommy?

Thank goodness they dropped the "Close One Eye" MP, but the inclusion of the infamous "Bocor" MP had me reeling about in open-mouthed disbelief!

And dropping Zakaria but putting in his daughter in-law??? C'mon... "...never mind, Daddy, the mansion you wanted, I'll build you a bigger one..."

More antics...

Jun Lee has learnt a nifty new trick... And it all has to do with sucking her thumbs...

Fed-up with the thumb sucking (despite it being perfectly normal), we tried all kinds of methods to discourage her including wrapping a hanky round her fist (which made it look like a boxers' glove) and scolding her. The hanky she learnt to shake it loose, and the scolding simply made her stop for a while... In a variation of the hanky, we put on a mitten on the left hand which she preferred to suck at. It worked for a while, but we were a bit curious as to how the mitten came off so frequently. And whaddaya know...

Mom caught her in the act. As we usually only put the mitten on her left hand, she began to use her right hand to tug at the left mitten, hold on to it, and pull the left hand free!
We humans are resourceful indeed... :)