Sentiments of a mother...

Being a mother for almost six months now has led me into a realization that mothers are indeed to be considered heroes in their own ways. I couldn't imagine how much patience, love and endurance a mother has in rearing up her child all through the growing years.

I am in a situation where our baby is under medical observation and to undergo medical testings, which in turn, may lead her to be under treatments. For whatever reason, we are yet to know in two weeks time.

My heart was broken after hearing the words from the babysitter that the first manifestation that I, myself, has witnessed in Jade, had happened for the second time. I had to go to the bathroom and cry my tears out to easen the emotional pain I have inside. It happened yet to Jade, it seemed nothing. Though I know something could be wrong that needs immediate medical attention.

We are lucky to have a very supportive pedia who helped us seek for a specialist in one of the well known hospitals in Taipei. In addition to that, we are also lucky that her medical insurance covers all that we only had to pay the registration fee of 100NTD. Moreover, we are lucky to have understanding and supportive employers and colleagues who, in their own ways, had given us their emotional support.

I do not feel like disclosing the whole thing here now, I will soon as I know it will help others, especially moms like me.

In two weeks time, we will be going back to the hospital. I pray for strength because much as I have, anything related to Jade makes me so emotionally hurt, but I know that I need to be stronger in any means.

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Baby Talk

This photo was taken by Rene, one of Jade’s ninongs, when we visited their family. I love this shot. Jade seems to be talking to Andi, Jols and Rene’s 1.5mos. old daughter. More to be posted.

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5months of existence

We had our family picture taking in a photo studio when we went home to Cavite for a week vacation (after coming from Baguio). Jade has turned 5mos on Oct. 6. She seemed to enjoy the picture taking and easily posed with charming smiles.

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C.A.D.D.

This was forwarded to me by a friend. I laughed after I read it because it hit me hahaha. I thought of posting it here so you may know the other side of me. Read on...

If you have been secretly wondering what is wrong with
me, I now have the answer...

Recently, I was diagnosed with C. A. A. D. D. (Child
Activated Attention Deficit Disorder)

This is how it manifests:

I decide to do the laundry. As I start toward the
laundry room, I notice that there are cheerios all over
the floor and my car keys are in the cereal bowl.

I decide to pick up the cheerios before I do the
laundry. I lay m y car keys down on the counter, put
the cheerios in the trash can under the counter, and
notice that the trash can is full. So, I decide to
take out the trash.

But then I think, since I'm going to be near the
mailbox when I take out the trash I may as well pay
the bills first. I take my checkbook off the table,
and see that there is only one check left, my extra
checks are in my desk in the office/playroom, so I go
to my desk where I find a sippy cup full of juice. I'm
going to look for my checks, but first I decide I
should put the sippy cup in the refrigerator to keep
it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the sippy cup a vase
of flowers on the counter catches my eye - they need
to be watered. I set the sippy cup on the counter, and
I discover baby wipes that I've been searching for all
morning. I decide I better put them ba ck in the
bathroom, but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the wipes back down and splash some water on the
flowers, but most of it spills on the floor. So, I get
some paper towels and wipe up the spill.

Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I
was planning to do.

At the end of the day: the laundry isn't washed, the
bills aren't paid, there is a warm cup of juice
sitting on the counter, the flowers aren't watered,
there is still only one check in my checkbook, I can't
find the wipes, and I don't remember what I did with
the car keys.

Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done
today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy
all day long, and I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to
get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.

Do me a favor, will you? Forward this message, because
I don't remember to whom it has been sent.

Don't laugh - if this isn't you yet, your day is coming.

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colic, tummy bloat, cough, rashes and oral thrush

Since Jade turned two months, we have visited the doctor several times not for her vaccination but for medical check-up. For three consecutive weeks, we were at the clinic's lobby waiting for her turn to be seen by the pedia.

First, she had not been feeding for several nights - actually she did but not as much as she should have taken in. For three nights, she had drank around 70-90mol of her milk that lasted til the morning, not early morning by around 8-8:30AM. Even if we wake her up during the night, she would resist her bottle. I knew that the amount of milk she drank does not suffice for that long. We tried to convince her - pretending that she could understand our pleas for her to drink even just half of the bottle's contents - but to our frustration - she preferred to sleep. That bothered us a lot. We asked our friends and we were informed that they had the same experience so we thought it was normal. We read from the book that there are times that a baby can last 6-8 hours without feeding. But then, our baby manifested that for three straight days. I cried most of the time because I was so worried that she is very hungry but why wouldn't she drink her milk. Even so, Jade was still energetic - she did not cry in complaint. She feeds well during the day. I called the doctor and told her the details and she immediately asked us to bring her to the clinic. Dra. Irene examined her and it turned out that her stomach is bloated - too much air has filled her tummy - that is why she resists to be fed because she feels full. The doctor asked if we regularly burp her, of course we do. We understand the importance of burping a baby. She was given a digestant that will be mixed with fluid that she will have to take in before feeding. That did helped a lot. We were also given menthol oil which we were asked to apply to her tummy after ther bathe and before she goes to sleep. Eventually, we realized that our Jade is a colic baby.

After she went back to her regular appetite, we decided to change her milk from S26 to NAN HA1 and her appetite improved a lot better. She liked her new milk - less fatty and not sweet! Her tummy did not bloat that worse anymore. The new milk's special formula - hypoallergenic ingredients plus biffidus - helped her digestion. The odds - pungent fart and poop - hahahaha. We have to ventilate the room after she poops so that the smell will fade away - even her babysitter noticed that. The doctor warned us earlier about it so we were already aware. I got used to it anyway that smelling the "scent" of her fart gave me joy and relief knowing that she is expelling the unwanted gas from her digestive system.

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Saturday is Paella Day

Alas, after more than two years, I was able to cook chicken paella again……

Few weeks ago, Dennis and I jumped into a CNN featured clip of Spain’s famous dish – paella. The one featured is chicken paella cooked in a very large pan which served around 50 people. Yes, that much – in a single cooking.

It reminded me of the paella recipe our Spanish friend Rebeca has taught us back in Limerick, Ireland during the ADI days. Dennis asked if I can cook for him, I said of course, but then I didn’t have time to do it until yesterday.

I had to recall the ingredients first. I browsed in the net but the recipes there are not as simple as I thought. “Where would I buy those stuffs needed” was the first thing in mind. Rebeca’s recipe was so simple. I only needed 4-5 ingredients such as rice, canned whole tomatoe, chicken and beans. Hey, these could be easily found in the grocery, at least I could see them immediately. Saffron of course is needed but I am not sure if I could find one, I thought of a food coloring as a subsitute (we did that back in LK because saffron is expensive, mind you).

Yesterday was quite a good day to cook the dish since hubs stayed at home (after several weeks of spending OT in the office), he could take care of Jade while I’ll be cooking the paella for our dinner. So off we went to the grocery and I picked up the stuffs I needed. I couldn’t find any food coloring but I thought it wouldn’t matter anyway. Rosemary leaves are also needed but I already got them at home.

Having all the ingredients needed, I started to prepare the dish with excitement. Here are what I had…

5pcs of chicken legs
250gms of beans
2 canned whole tomatoes
3 cups of rice
Rosemary leaves
Salt

…and here are the steps I did to come up to the much awaited paella –

1. Fry the chicken, brown both sides. (not deep fry)

2. Remove most of the cooking oil after the chicken has turned into brown. (and transfer the chicken to the bigger pan, of course a single pan can be used)

3. Add the beans.

4. Prepare the whole tomatoes, squeezed them in a container and added some water. I was able to buy peeled tomatoes so there was no need for me to skin them.

5. Add the tomatoes in the pan.

6. Add salt to taste

7. Sprinkle rosemary leaves.

8. Simmer for 20-30 minutes. This will make the chicken and beans absorb the savor of the tomatoes.

9. Add the rice.

(Tip: Remove some of the sauce and place it in a container. When the rice starts to get cooked, the sauce will be absorbed so if you see the sauce getting dried but with the rice still uncooked, you can pour back the sauce you removed earlier so you can get the rice cooked well).***

10. Let it cook for 20-30mins

11. Serve well and enjoy the dish.

***While the rice is getting cooked, I bathed our daughter while hubby was starting to complain that the smell of the dish made him hungry.

Hhhmmmnn, you can serve it with wine if you are into it. It’s a no-no for me at this time so we had orange juice instead.

I remember a friend told me that lemon can also be sprinkled in the paella before serving.

And here is my “Paella ala Jane” which satisfied Dennis who suggested that I cook paella weekly huh!

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Jade at full month

In Chinese tradition, the baby's 1st full month is a significant event in his/her life. Part of this tradition is the distribution of full month's cakes to people who gave gifts to the baby in th form of the red envelope, commonly called "ampaw" back home. The cake is specially packaged in a way that its box and bag denote that it is a full month cake. Since we are in Taiwan, Dennis and I opted to adapt this in celebration of Jade's 1st month. At the same time, it is our way of saying thanks to those who have gifted Jade red envelopes.

Dennis asked their department's assistant to order the cakes for us. She ordered two kinds of cake but we were only able to taste one kind, the green bean cake. I learned that the other is chocolate cake.Her cake was not distributed on the June 6 however, Daddy Dennis bought a small chocolate cake with matching "huge" candle for us.

We had a very simple celebration with just myself, Dennis and who else ... our darling Jade. We all dressed up in pink. Here are some photos taken during our evening of celebration.

Jade's full month cake (green bean topped with cherries)




Jade and Mommy


Jade and Daddy


Mommy blowing the smaller cake


family picture

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