First Halloween

For Jasmine's first Halloween, we weren't thinking of doing much since she can't walk yet and she can't eat any candy either. But we did dress her up a bit. One of Richard's freinds likes to sew and made her a cute costume (thanks KW) when she was born so I pulled it out to see if it fits, and it was still pretty big. The costume was a pink puppy; it had a body made of fleece/felt material and a hat with eyes, nose, red mouth with ears. Since Jasmine's eczema prevens her from wearing anything except cotton, we only put the hat on. Jasmine really doesn't like having anything on her head but we snapped a picture really quickly before she pulled the hat off.


We trick-or-treated at 3 houses and she managed to get alot of chocolate. It's probably because it was raining and most of the houses on our street kept the lights off. Actually, I knocked on our neighbors door (they had their lights off) but they opened the door anyways. They looked so surprised that we were standing there (I guess they weren't expecting to give out any candy). They didn't have any of those small halloween candies to give out...so they gave Jasmine 2 of those large "donation" chocolate bars (the ones that schools sell to make some $$). Haha, SCORE! I ate them both!!! One of the perks of being a Mama.

Anyways so after Halloween, I was shopping at the mall and found some costumes on sale so I picked one up for Jasmine for next year. She's gonna be a cute little bug...unless I find something cuter as we approach Halloween 2009.

I'm Back from Vegas

Just got back from Vegas this afternoon. The four days flew by in a flash. Funny thing is, I feel more tired today than when I first left on Sunday. Gotta catch up on some sleep before the weekend.

Well, Jasmine survived four days without Mom and Dad around. She hung out with my Dad-in-law and Richard's sister the entire time. I called to check in everyday and to find out if there was anything happening. Nothing. I was told that Jasmine was really good, ate and slept well with exception to a couple of nights when she woke up (she usually sleeps through the night). I guess I didn't need to be worried after all.

Jasmine learned a couple of new things this week; she can clap and she bounces around when there is music. So cute. On the trip, we bought an electric dog that barks and walks and jumps...Jasmine loves it. Jasmine screams in delight whenever she sees a dog or cat. I'll post a video up on this later.

Can't Sleep?

Ok, tonight is the second night when I am tired as heck but can't fall asleep. It's 4am in the morning... and Richard is sleeping, Jasmine is sleeping... I should be sleeping too. I can't believe this. Sigh.

There are a few things on my mind which may be the reason why I can't fall asleep:

- we are going to Vegas on Sunday with some friends and Richard's Dad is taking care of Jasmine. Maybe I am worried about whether Jasmine will be ok?
- or maybe I'm worried that I'll miss her too much?
- Jasmine's eczema is acting up. Is it going to be like how it was last winter?
- my job situation is kinda wonky. Am I worried about that?

Whatever it is, I can't sleep. So sleepy...

Separation Anxiety and Sleep Training

While we watched other babies go through separation anxiety, I was thinking how lucky we were, that Jasmine doesn't have it. But it looks like Jasmine has it after all, just slightly later than others. She shows signs of separation anxiety when other people pick her up or if we leave her on her own (we are in the room but watching from afar). This is probably why she is having sleep difficulties now.

Jasmine slept through the night ever since 4 months (I think, can't remember now). And only recently has her sleep gotten pretty bad. She has trouble falling asleep at night and for naps. And she wakes up at night as well. Last night, she woke up 3 times.... I feel lilke I pulled an all-nighter. I'm guessing she doesn't want to be alone.

When we put her to sleep, she just cries and cries in her crib. I really hate hearing her cry. Makes me want to pick her up right away. But she is so cranky and sleepy that even when I am holding her, she is fussy and wailing. So, we end up putting her in the crib anyways. We are going to do some sleep training and see if things will improve. Richard suggests using the CIO (cry it out) method.

This is when you leave the room for 5 minutes, then check on the baby. Then leave the room for 10 minutes and then check on her, then leave for 15 minutes....and slowly increase time intervals until the baby falls asleep. Usually the first night, it can take anywhere from 60 minutes to longer. Then the second night is usually less than that and by the third night, the baby should fall asleep within 10 minutes. The baby learns to self soothe and fall asleep on her own.

Sounds good huh? Well I don't have the willpower to listen to Jasmine cry so Richard will have to stop me from going into the room. He's got alot of work on his hands.

11 Months - One More Month

Jasmine turned 11 months this week - hooray! Just one more month and she'll be 1 years old. I can't believe how time has flown by. She won't be a baby anymore, she's upgrading to being a toddler! Here are some other stats:

- climbing and cruising
- eating really well
- has 4 teeth

It was challenging to take the 11 month pic today. I was taking snaps of Jasmine in the crib and then remembered I needed "the sign". So I went and got the sign, but had no way of keeping the sign up without Jasmine playing with it. If Richard was home, he'd help with that but he's at work.

Anyways in order to get the 11 month sign up, I was doing acrobatic moves. I had to stick my left leg up and use my toes to keep the sign up, meanwhile balancing my weight on my right leg and still had to focus the camera and make Jasmine look at me all at the same time. Boys and girls, don't try this at home....

Here's Jasmine's 11 Month photo:



On a different topic, Jasmine's cheeks have been red and irritated alot lately. You can see them in the pics above. I've been assuming that her drool is making her skin really sensitive. And because Jasmine likes to suck on her sleep sack when she sleeps (wish that she would suck her thumb instead), the saliva on her sleep sack rubs onto her cheek all night long, and making it even worse when she wakes in the morning. I still hate hydrocortisone cream so I'm staying away from it.

Right now, I'm creaming Jasmine's cheeks every hour. I'm alternating between Aubrey Organics face cream, Jamieson Vitamin E cream (30,000IU) and plain old Vaseline. I use the Aubrey Organics cream mostly, with Vitamin E cream next. Just before a nap and right before bed, I smear on a chunk of Vaseline, to keep her cheeks waterproof at night.

I also put a clean bib on Jasmine every 2 hours. Even when she is sleeping, I put a bib on her so that she sucks on the bib instead of her sleep sack. (the sleep sack gets pretty disgusting in the morning, all wet and stuff). We'll see how things go in a few days.

Climbing Everywhere

Lately, Jasmine has been walking every chance she gets and pulling up onto furniture to stand. She's just climbing everywhere, so we have to watch her all the time. She really is turning into a little monkey.

When we put Jasmine to bed tonight, it took her FOREVER to get to sleep. She usually goes down after 10 minutes, but tonight, it took 90 minutes. Me and Richard would lay her down on the bed, turn on the projector, close the door and leave the room. Within 10 seconds, we hear Jasmine screaming and yelling. So we go in and see if she is ok. This is what we find:




Jasmine learned how to climb up in her crib and now she's practicing it in her sleep! How cool is that??? Well, it was kinda funny when it first happened but it stopped being funny quite quickly. Richard and I took turns going into her room and putting her down on the bed. We did this over and over again. I lost count after 10. I can't deal with it so I sit on the couch...

Loves the Water (video)

I still remember the first couple of months when Jasmine was born and she absolutely hated bathtime. Boy, have things changed. Jasmine loves being in the water now.

Here's a video clip of her bathtime:

Jasmine's Friends

Over the past few months, I've been getting together with some friends who had babies around the same age as Jasmine. These are some of Jasmine's friends:

Courtney and Jasmine (Courtney is 2 months older than Jasmine)



Adyson and Jasmine (Adyson is 3 weeks younger than Jasmine)


Megan and Jasmine (Megan is a newborn, 10.5 months younger than Jasmine)


Ty and Jasmine (to follow)

Logan and Jasmine (to follow)

Drool Princess - More Teeth

It's weird, I was just wiping Jasmine's gums today and noticed something poking through on her top gums. It's TWO MORE TEETH!!! Wow, both teeth coming in at the same time. No wonder she's still drooling like crazy. I was going through 7-8 bibs a day (yes, she is drooling that much). She's my drool Princess.

These 2 teeth look like they are coming out straight, unlike the 2 bottom teeth, crooked like heck. It doesn't matter I guess, since these baby teeth will fall out eventually.

Teething = Trouble

I just went through a very stressful day with Jasmine today. Since last Thursday, Jasmine refused to drink all liquids. I offered her water, breast milk, formula, juice. I tried using a bottle, straw sippy cup, rubbermaid juice box and shooter glass but still she wouldn't budge. She just clamped her mouth shut.

I realize now is Jasmine was teething then and she didn't want anything in her mouth. Jasmine ate solids fine though. She just didn't drink anything. That spelled trouble. Without liquids, her body reabsorbed the water that was in her intestinal tract so she had difficulty pooping. I saw her poop get progressively firmer each day and then, she didn't poop at all. I started adding prune juice into everything she ate, hoping it'll help with her condition.

Jasmine teething = no liquids = constipation

Well, what goes in must come out. It was terrible watching Jasmine suffer in pain. She was straining, pushing, screaming, crying... oh man. This went on for over 2 hours. All I could do is hold her up, massage her belly and cycle her legs. I encouraged her by making the pushing sounds myself, hoping she'll understand that she has to do the pushing. Looking into her eyes, I can see her say "Mommy, please make it stop!!!" I feel so terrible.

Finally the poop came out. There were several of them and all were rock hard. Since she didn't poop for a couple of days, there's gotta be more in there. Sure enough, when Richard put Jasmine into her bath, about 5 minutes in, Jasmine did a nice poopie.... in the water. Uh yuck. Well, at the least she got it out without too much work. Good thing Daddy gets to clean up the mess, heehee. And then 2 more big poops in the next 12 hours. Nice job. I guess the prune juice really, really works.

Well, Jasmine's second tooth is full out now and she has resumed drinking from a bottle. Phewf. At least I know that she still likes the milk and it was just her teething that caused all this mess. Let's try to keep all her poops in her diapers from now on?

Pumping - Once a Day

And it's October already and one more month before mat leave ends. I am now pumping breastmilk once a day. Any additional milk needed will be substituted by formula now.

In September, I started pumping twice a day, down from three times a day. (I yielded 14oz at 2 pumps instead of 20oz at 3 pumps/day). I'm guessing I'll get between 6-7 oz now with 1 pumping session.

Jasmine is growing up fast which makes me happy and sad at the same time. Looking back at all the breastfeeding given to Jasmine, I don't really want it to end. I mean, I'm glad she isn't so dependant on me anymore, but yet I really liked the close feeling of having her next to me (especially in the middle of the night).

Things were so peaceful, just me and Jasmine (and Richard's snoring in the other room... hahaha). Alot of times, she would suck, suck, suck and then stop, because she fell asleep on the breast. Those are fond memories. No pics or videos were taken then. It'll be all in my head now. Sigh, these feelings and thoughts will likely come back to me when Jasmine becomes a Mom herself and she goes through all the things that I did this first year. I miss Jasmine already.