Last week, my life went utterly crazy. I didn’t really talk about it on this blog but dumped my rant over on my main blog since it was more generic rather than baby filled. This time, I think I shall share how things were really like throughout the entire week.

Somehow, last week was just too much for me to handle in more ways than one. It reminded me of Eva’s first month with us – hard, sticky, whiny.

Back then, she drove us nuts the moment the sun set. It was like our little angelic one suddenly went berserk and decides to torture us. She would want to be carried, fussing (but not crying) and if we didn’t comply, she would vent out her frustrations vocally. Nursing sometimes helped but most of the time, it was carrying AND walking. It was the period where I didn’t sleep much at all (carrying and nursing her at 3am was not my idea of fun) as sometimes she would fuss and fuss until the wee hours of the morning. I was constantly on the edge and crying was something I did very well then.

A lot of people didn’t understand save my in-laws, especially my sis-in-law. Some “kindly” ones tell me that I shouldn’t cry as it just wasn’t good but how can you not cry when there seems to be no way to comfort your little one? I started to feel very helpless and it hurt to see her fuss and all then.

Then things got better and we adjusted.

Last week, it went downhill. She had been cranky on and off; we suspected that it was from the teething and I have a sneaky suspicion that it was also because she hit a growth spurt. Whatever it was, it was like she was a newborn all over again and this time, it was during the day. She didn’t want to take any naps unless she was carried first or babyworn (thankgawd she could still nap in her crib after lunch) and when awake, I had to be constantly by her side. Forget about pee-ing, showering or even preparing dinner. The moment I zip out of sight or anywhere in sight but a few feet away, she’d start bawling for me. After a while, playing didn’t seem to work at all. She would want to be carried but carrying her meant walking as well – not sitting still unless it was nap time. With the hot weather, it seemed impossible and downright annoying to have to carry a baby whose body temperature was slightly higher than usual (from the teething).

On top of that, I was battling a flu and my first real menses (double the pain and the flow) and thus, my patience was stretched to its limit. At times I was this close to putting her back into her crib and just walking away to enjoy a longggg shower. Sometimes I would ring Nil up at the office just to rant to him about what a tough time I was having. I even cried and wondered how was I ever going to cope again.

Each day was tough; I was out for at least four to five hours every day, even though I was sick because it was the only way to get her to nap for those few precious minutes (it makes her feel better) and when she napped, I tried to catch some zzz but because I was so high strung, I would almost never nap at all. By the end of the week, I was tired, pooped out and just so not looking forward to minding her on my own.

Nil takes it much easier – I guess the fact that she winds down for the night and dozes off without a problem helps – but he had a taste of it over the weekend and he too admitted that it wasn’t easy at all.

That dreaded week has gone by and things are starting to look up. With my flu gone, I’m much more patient and well, I have more energy to spare. She has calmed down a little; some of my friends told me that she has probably adjusted to the pain and all. Those dreaded pair of teeth have yet to pop but I’m not waiting with bated breath for them. They’ll come when they do. In the meantime, we are back to our regular programming – well, sort of – and life is such, with a growing baby. Despite all the “misery” last week, I still wouldn’t have exchanged it for anything else…

Motherhood makes you nutty sometimes, no?

When my mother-in-law came to visit, she carted along a gift from Nil’s godmother, a very lovely lady currently living in Paris with her hubby, dog and children plus a boatload of sewing. She had earlier given us a baby foods recipe and this tool is the accompaniment to that book. I must remember to send her a little gift for this lovely tool because since we started Eva on solids, we have used this each and every time we make fruit and vegetable purees! It’s just godsent – easy, quick and best of all, very convenient!

The BEABA Babycook comes with a basket, a ladle of some sorts, a cover for blitzing and a lid together with two functions – steam and puree. The instructions are easy – fill in the steaming section with some water (you can use the processor “bin” to measure), drop in the items (diced up please) that you wish to steam into the BPA-free basket (in fact, all plastic units in this equipment are BPA-free), cover with the lid, turn the dial to “steam” function and let it cook. How long depends on how much water you put in and after it’s done, it stops automatically. You then remove the basket with the ladle (careful coz it’s steaming hot), either pour it into the bin with the juices that have collected from the steaming or discard the water (recommended for spinach and carrots coz of nitrate content) and puree!

Once done, the puree can be stored into ice cubes or baby cubes for freezing OR refrigerate if you plan to consume within the day. You can even use the Babycook for reheating – it takes in 1 measurement of water (on the bin) which is about 5 minutes. The recommendation is that you use glass jars for reheating and not plastic.

So far, I’ve tried making the following purees with it and every time, I get lovely ultra smooth puree especially when I choose to use the juice collected from the steaming process:

• Peach
• Pumpkin
• Sweet potato
• Mango
• Papaya
• Plum
• Broccoli
• Spinach

Definitely a recommended tool for the kitchen as you can use it to make adult-type soups as well but of course not in gigantic portions!

The only problem with this is that it’s quite pricey – about $280 plus – and available only at a few places. So far, I heard that Motherworks (Singapore) has this item in stock. Luckily there is a Singaporean BEABA distributor so it means that I have someone to go to if I did to repair or replace anything.

Pros
BPA-free
Easy to use
Quick cooking so great for busy mums
No need to keep an eye on the cooking (auto-shut off function)
Pulse puree mode = control over how you want the texture to be (lumpy or smooth)

Cons
Pricey

Date
25 to 29 January

Item
Pear

Category
Fruit

Brand (if applicable)
Healthy Times (organic) and Heinz

Cooking & serving method
None – I serve this chilled with some cereal and/or veg puree.

Reaction
Super positive. She loved this with anything and especially semi-chilled with barley.

Other notes
Good for constipation – not as great as plums though.

Date
23 to 24 January

Item
Millet

Category
Grain

Brand (if applicable)
Homemade

Cooking & serving method
I cooked about 1 heaped tablespoon of this (it’s in flour form) with boiling hot water and then add in chilled puree to even out the temperature.

Reaction
Negative if served alone and if I use lukewarm water, positive in combinations and if I use boiling water to “cook” it. The taste on its own is yucky and she refused to eat more than a few spoonfuls the first day – I had served it with very little pear puree. Later, I tried again but this time with more pear and I used boiling hot water to cook the cereal first before adding in the puree. She enjoyed it and finished an entire bowl.

Other notes
This comes in flour form so I didn’t use a lot as it tends to “fluff” up upon adding water and such. Excellent substitute for those with Celiac disease (gluten allergy) or those who are simply bored with giving rice.

Date
21 to 24 January

Item
Broccoli

Category
Vegetable

Brand (if applicable)
Homemade

Cooking & serving method
Using BEABA Babycook, cut and steam one head of broccoli (chopped into small pieces) for about 7-10 minutes before pureeing. I serve about 1.5 oz of this with some cereal and a fruit puree like plum/pear.

Reaction
Slightly positive when semi-chilled and positive when warm with millet. It looked a little strange when mixed in with plum and millet/barley but she enjoyed that combination a lot. No gas issues and the plum helped with bowel movements.

Other notes
None.

She did great on barley, pear and plums but the moment I moved onto oatmeal and sweet potato, she stopped pooping daily. Now her tummy is still soft, she’s not very uncomfortable per se and it’s been the third day which according to my paed, is still alright as normal adults can poo anywhere between three times a day to once every three days. But still…I’m always ALWAYS worried about constipation.

It’s strange because I don’t give her any constipating foods – I haven’t even introduced banana and apples! – and am giving her things that are supposed to be easily digested. Maybe she’s making full use of the food. Hm.

I swear for the past few days, I’ve been living on the edge, hoping to get a glimpse of the “dirty” whenever I change her diapers. Most mums would be glad to get a break from poo but not me. I’m actually quite tired of not seeing enough of poo!

Well, she did poo after lunch but it was like in the beginning when we moved from peaches to pumpkin – little but still quite playdough-like. I reckon I’ll have to give her some pear/prune/peach either once a day as a meal by itself or part of a meal.

Hai.