We are in Mumbai, India!

Hi everyone,

Its been 5 years since I blogged. In these five years, I was pretty swamped with multiple events in my life.

My precious second child was born in 2015 and this time it is a boy :) I was busy in understanding and adjusting myself to be a mother of two. Everything seems to be more difficult. From getting my baby to sleep (I had sleep trained him at 4 months old instead of 6 months which I did for my girl. I will share more about this in another post), to getting him to crawl and roll and to get him to eat. Oh yes, he started only rolling and crawling at the very late 6-7 months old. You can imagine how anxious I am. We ended up signing him up on a program to get him moving.

He is pretty a fussy eater and so I have to think of different tactics and even stories to get him eating things like vegetables. You will love him if you see him. He is a bundle of joy. My kids love hugs. You will get one if you see them. :)

Our bundles of joy.

In 2017, my younger brother passed away. He suffered from an illnesses called Huntington disease and was bedridden for years. This picture was taken in 2012 where he was still able to walk on his own. He is a warrior and he is one of my closest, even closer than my mum. I didn't choose to share much about this condition in my posts because it hurts to even share in my posts. Huntington disease is a rare genetic condition which on the surface looks like Parkinson disease. I might share more about this in other upcoming posts.

My family. My beloved brother.

When I was back from my one year maternity leave, I worked hard and devoted myself to work. I was busy managing my family and my brother and thus I did not have the energy or maybe the "mood" to do any blogging. During that three years, I revamped one of the marketing module into full Flipped classroom and team-based learning concept and received praises from students and colleagues. In the process, I won different awards including a teaching award from Singapore Polytechnic. Oh mine, I was really super proud of myself. :)

My teaching awards. Different categories.

My next adventure begins in Mumbai, India. My family relocated here since late November 2018 due to husband's posting. Sadly, I left my work place which I had been working there for 8 years. However, I'm glad I made that decision. Nothing beats together staying as a family. After trying to settle down for almost a year, I decided to start blogging again. Stayed tune for more updates :)

Starting a new chapter in Mumbai.

Breastfeeding tips from experienced mother of three

This is my first blog post on getting one of my best buddies, Sophia to share her experiences on breastfeeding. She is a very experienced mother of three and she breastfeeds her children for many years ever since her first child. Often, I will ask her about tips about motherhood, what kind of food is good for baby since she's a wife of a TCM doctor. :P

Question 1: How old are your children?

Answer: "My three girls are 5 years old, 3 years old and 9 months old."

Question 2: Why did you decide to breastfeed your daughter?

Answer: "When I delivered my first girl, i attended the hospital's breastfeeding class and learnt that bf is really benefical for both mother and baby so i decided to give it a go. I bf my first child till 2yrs plus and stop because expecting 2nd child and likewise bf her till 2yrs plus cos expecting 3rd child."

Question 3: What are some challenges you faced, especially when you first started? How did you overcome them?

Answer: "For the first week of bfing my first newborn i was very stressed up as my milk supply was very little and I was very worried that my baby would go hungry...I cried everyday together with my baby."

"My husband played an important role to help me overcome these challenges. He consoled me to relax my mind and most imptly 'stop crying' as my mood will in turn affect my milk supply. Soon, with my mind at ease and drinking a lot of hot soups, I was able to express 60ml each side on my 2nd week of confinement."

Question 4: Any recipe for success to breastfeed so many kids?

Answer: "No secret recipe to success. Just relax and be patient."

Question 5: Where or how did you get help on breastfeeding?

Answer: "To get help on breastfeeding, i first attended the bf class provided by hospital, then read the related brochures and magazines given and also join some online mummy's forums to read about their experiences on bf."

Question 6: Why do you like breastfeeding?

Answer: "I simply adore bf because of these reasons:

a)It helps us save up a lot of money. I dun have to buy formula, bottles, sterilizer..etc

b) Bf gives me an excuse to treat myself to better food..ie splurge on more expensive cod fish etc.. because if i eat well, so will the baby.

c) It is convenient and hassle-free as i can latch on anytime, anywhere i go and my diaper bag is so much lighter.

d) It gives me a time to relax and regain my sanity. Taking care of 3 young kids alone with no helper can be quite insane. Bf is the time i can stop doing my chores for a short break to check FB, emails and do some online shopping!

e) Lastly i feel that bf benefits my children as it did boost their immunity."

Question 7: Do you ever nurse your daughter in public? If so, do you mind sharing your experience?

Answer: "I do nurse my babies in public with a nursing shawl. However I would prefer to go to places with nursing room facilities as my babies dun like to be covered by a cloth when feeding, they would struggle and cry and the situation might get quite embarrassing in public. I would choose to nurse in the car if I cant find a nursing room."

Question 8. What are some tips you’d like to share with other moms who are thinking about breastfeeding?

Answer: "Some tips which work for me: Relax your mind, eat more(ditch that diet plan!), drink lots of hot soups and enjoy that personal bonding session with your baby."

Question 9: Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience breastfeeding?

Answer: "If all doesn't work out and you can't breastfeed, do not blame yourself...Formula is fine too. Me, myself and I am pretty sure most mummies here also grew up well drinking formula right? Hence relax, take a step back and embrace the joy of motherhood ya! :)"

Hope the above tips from our Mommie Sophia will come in handy for new mothers :)

Thank you once again, Mommie Sophie.

Cheers,
Deariebear Mommie

Homemade Mushroom Sauce for Baby

I love sauces and today I am going to share with you how to make mushroom sauce. The great thing is that you can make a big batch and freeze it up into portions and use them whenever is needed. By the way, I am not an expert in cooking like a lot of mommies in the community. But I can guarantee this is really easy to do!

Prepare your ingredients first.

Ingredient list (You can adjust the amount accordingly if you have more mushrooms)

• 1 yellow onion
• 20g butter
• 225g mushrooms
• 2 tbls lemon juice (Household tip: If you are using raw lemon, you can place the remains of the lemon and put it in your fridge to remove any odour in the fridge)
• 2 tbls fresh parsley
• 2 tbls plain flour
• 300ml milk (I used my baby's formula milk. Prepare the milk like how you will prepare milk for your baby to drink)

Cooking Steps

Step 1: Fry the onion in butter till transparent.

Fry the onion in butter. I love the sweet fragrance. Smell so good!

Step 2: Add mushrooms, lemon juice and parsley and cook for 2 mins. Add flour and cook for 2 mins, stirring continuously. 

The mushroom will be soften, and that is how you know they are cooked:)

Step 3: Add the milk gradually and cook, stirring continuous in the same direction until thick and smooth.

Step 4: Blend everything using your blender. Depending whether how young your baby is, you can blend longer to create the very fine, smooth texture until taste almost like mushroom soup. If not, you need to only blend like less than 1 min to get more chunky textures.



Blend until the consistency you like. Fine or chunky.

 

Step 5 (Optional): If you would like to save time and money, you can freeze the sauce in batches. To freeze, I use the ice cube trays to freeze them up. After they are frozen, I will take out those cubes and put them in zip lock bags to save space in my fridge. As and when I wish to cook spaghetti with mushroom sauce, I will just take down from the fridge. So convenient!

 

 

Happy Cooking! Hope you like the sauce :)

 

Cheers!

Deariebear Mommie