New Year's Eve

This Year's New Year has been a quiet one since I'm confined to my home and have to breastfeed baby Jade almost every 2-3 hours. My parents were very nice to come over to see how everyone was coping at home and brought a little gift for the boys - chocolates.

Albeit a quiet one, but it was cozy and our family got together to watch telly.

above: James and his box of chocolates

The boys loved the chocolates so much that each of them had 2 to themselves and Jules even sneaked up to his daddy and took one from him. I too was guilty....hahah...i had 2 myself too. Think it's too much confinement food and i'm craving for something sweet like chocolates!

Jade with 婆婆 on New Year's Eve

Jade // Baby Photography - New Year's Eve

me and baby Jade

photo credits: hubs

this year i guess I wouldn't give myself any New Year's Resolution since I have 3 kiddos to manage. But if you ask me, i guess my New Year's resolution will be the same as most years which is to try to eat healthy - eat more fruits, more veggies, drink more water!

Milk Journal

13 days after delivery

milk output: still hovering at 90mls.

Jules & Jade - Sleeping in the same position

I captured this shot because so happens that both Jules and Jade are sleeping in the same position and you can see from the photo how big and small the 2 are.

Confinement Food Journal - Supper! Chicken Tonic soup

For boosting energy and nourishment: 
Chicken contains amino acid tryptophan, which helps to boost the moods, and vitamins to boost energy levels.
But auntie also says to only consume chicken after 12 days of delivery.

For warming the body and improving blood circulation:
Red-rooted sage (dang shen) is used to maintain a healthy level of iron in the body. 

Angelica (dang gui) is rich in calcium and helps improves blood circulation. It is used to nourish the female organs, alleviate menstrual pain and prevent hemorrhage.

Confinement Food Journal - Chestnuts with mushrooms!

my auntie cooked a new dish for me to eat today! Chestnuts with mushrooms!!
And there's a plate of long beans with sliced pork, steam fish with ginger, brinjals with sliced ginger and a bowl of pork rib bone soup with black beans.

HOW TO KEEP CALM and CARRY ON
i read somewhere online on confinement eating that consuming dairy products, poultry, meat and fish along with low-glycemic carbs like nuts, whole grains and beans can boost production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter which has a calming effect on the brain!

1. black beans has many antioxidants and iron.
2. Chestnut is rich in phosphorous, selenium and calcium, and is used to invigorate vital energy and resolve fatigue depression and irritability.

also eating small amounts of protein throughout the day helps keep blood sugar levels even and moods stable.

Jade // Baby Photos

Good Morning Everyone!!!

~ photo taken when Jade was 6 days old ~

Jade & Velle - why there's always nobody to take a photo of us...

Looking back, i think it's always me taking all the photos of my 2 sons and with hubs inside the photos. There's hardly any photo of me and my 2 sons....guess I'll just have to take some wefies with my daughter since there's no one around to help us take a photo.

Jules & James - watching Mr Men and Little Miss

here's one of their favourite activity before bedtime - watching 3 episodes of Mr Men and Little Miss. sometimes we indulged James and allow him to watch 2 videos of "Wheels on the bus" because he loves to sing along with it.

Confinement Food Journal - To eat your vegetables or not?

I guess many mothers out there whose MIL are doing the confinement may not introduce vegetables in their diet because it's considered "cold". And the chinese believe that after delivery, all mothers are very prone to cold and wind which will have side effects on your spleen and stomach.

However my confinement nanny believes that some vegetables is actually good for health and some of the vegetables which she has introduced into my diet are:

• Kailan or Kale (chinese broccoli) is an excellent source of calcium and vitamin A, and is good for improving joints and lymph.
• Broccoli
• Spinach
• Sweet Potato leaves (she said that books have written that it can increase milk supply), just like green papaya.

so new mothers. Be open minded and eat your veggies!

xoxo
velle

Confinement food journal - Breakfast

usual days i have oats with milk for breakfast, a small bottle of chicken essence and a cup of longan red date tea.

occasionally, i have kidney pork slice mee sua soaked in Dom Benedict! Just like today. I feel like it's my birthday or something. For breakfast, to me...it's considered quite sumptous already!

happy me.

slurps.

Milk Journal

12 days after delivery

total milk output: 85mls

DIY - Milestone Cards for Baby Jade

After taking photos of my milestone cards, Jules and James insisted on being included in the photo...so no choice, here's a photo of my 2 cheeky monkeys with my DIY milestone cards.

DIY - Cupcake toppers

above: paper from The Paper Market

i'm starting to prepare for Jade's Full month shower...don't really have much time left since we are celebrating earlier to make it during a weekend.

things i have to settle soon once the booking of the function room is confirmed.

1. order balloons
2. order catering
3. order cupcakes
4. order cake
5. order macaroons 

Click here to view completed cupcake toppers.

Confinement food journal - Dinner

For dinner tonight, we are having stir fried tomatoes with egg, stir fried broccoli with pork slices and carrots, fried fish with sliced ginger and soup.

The boys ate up all the egg and left none for their dad who returned home late from work.

Confinement Food Journal - Pumpkin rice and Pork rib soup

 last night we had quite alot of leftover rice, so auntie is making Pumpkin rice for us.

and accompanying our rice is a big bowl of hot soup.

Milk Journal

11 days after delivery

total milk output: 90mls

Jules & Jade - A brother's LOVE

Jules as an elder brother has shown great affection for his little sister. This is very apparent as compared to James who is undergoing some emotional turmoils right now. I guess it's the so-called middle child syndrome.

Jules will always go up to his baby sister to pat her head and stick out his tongue at her, play with her and try to make her laugh although most of the times, it's he himself laughing... which is so endearing to watch.

on the other hand, we have James who cries at the very littlest thing to get our attention, stamps his little feet and even cries when there's nothing to cry about! This drives hubs bonkers and usually James will end up at the naughty corner all by himself, crying out loud and even more.

Starbucks 1-for-1 promotion

YAY for STARBUCKS!

Straight after the Christmas holidays, Starbucks was having a 1-for-1 promotion for their hand crafted beverages. From 27 Dec to 29 Dec between 3-8pm. And i was craving for something sweet. So I had hubs went down to our nearest Starbucks outlet and ordered a decaf peppermint mocha for myself.  It was so good.

contented.

Jules James and Jade

 We are letting the 2 brothers looking after Jade....for 3 seconds only!

Jade - Don't Mess with Me Look

Jade showing signs of irritation when we wanted to lift her upright to take a photo of her face for her passport. Guess we didn't really do a good job...and she's frowning.

Jade - Day 9 Little socks

 bought these really cute baby socks from H&M.

Jade - Behind the scenes (1 week old pink tutu series)

here are a series of photos which we took just to get 1 perfect shot of Jade in her pink tutu skirt and " I am one week old" milestone card. Some photos are just too cute and adorable for not posting, so I'm just going to put up these few cute ones...especially the ones below with me adjusting Jade's flower head band and Jules sticking out his tongue to tease his little sister.

Confinement food journal

 

today we are having woods ear pork rib soup with hairy melon, stir fried pumpkin with sliced pork, spinach with ginger slices and steam fish.

Jules & James - On Christmas Day

Jules playing with his octonaut toys early in the morning... afterwhich I decided that it was time for them to open up their Godma's presents.