Ini lho Mbah...

Imbah…ini loh keahlian dedek yg terbaru di minggu ke-12: megang2 kaki sendiri, nendang2 baby gymnya - kadang2 malah pake diangkat2 dan ditarik tarik, maenan ilernya ama skg udh sumeh…murah senyum. Imbah, jangan lupa janjinya buat beliin baju lebaran Dedek..Ampe ketemu 3 minggu lagi..

lactation consultant

As a working cow, sometimes you find rocky way. That's where you need advices from the expert, lactation consultant. During my breastfeeding time, 2.5 mos, I already utilize them for 4 times.
1. the consultant nurse in Gleneagles. In my opinion, Gleneagles provide good support for breastfeeding mommy. They'll deliver your baby to your room every 4 hours and show how to do it properly. I always called the nurse if I need to turn the baby to another nipple…too scared since baby was so fragile. Btw I was admitted in two bedded room since the one bedded was fully booked so no one company me at nite. Nurse Marry, the counselor, came twice. First, to show me the difference way to breastfeed and Second, in my last day, to give me the brochure abt breastfeeding and number to contact her. I called her twice to ask abt proper latch on - when I had a doubt that you produce enough milk- and how to increase milk supply.
2. BMSG (www.breastfeeding.org.sg). You can find inspiring story of another cow, Q&A, breastfeeding products. I haven't utilised this website thoroughly. The good thing for this, you can send any queryvia email regarding your BF problem and they'll get back to you on the next day. I already sent 2 emails regarding back-to-work preparation and my recent blocked duct problem. The emails were replied by volunteer counselor aka an experience cow.
It's good to know that you don't need to pay and queue to get good advice from the expert!

cerita pas wiken

Kemaren wiken, arya jalan jalan mulu..hari sabtunya arya ikutan monthly shopping ke carrefournya plaza singapura. Hari minggunya arya maen ke rumah Eyang Salim di bedok. Sekarang Arya sudah enak diajak maen soalnya bisa anteng pas duduk di stroller. Beda banget pas pertama kali diajak ke Mall buat diaper hunting. Waktu itu Arya masih 3 minggu dan kita ajak ke Marina Square. Walhasil selama kurang dr 2 jam jalan2, 2 kali Mommy ama Arya ngumpet di family room buat nursing dan strollernya bukannya buat dorong Arya tapi malah buat bawa belanjaan karena Arya maunya digendong. Dan berhubung Papa ama Mommy nggak bisa gendong pake Jarik (Arya malahan nangis makin kenceng pas Mommy nyoba gendong pake Jarik), Papa gendong Arya dan Mommy dorong stroller penuh dgn belanjaan. Seremnya tuh pas naek eskalator..takut strollernya ngglundung.
Nah sekarang Arya nyenengin banget..bisa enjoy liat lampu di Mall. Malahan kakinya di naek-naekin di handling bar strollernya. Trus sekarang Mommy selalu bekel ASI peresan tiap pergi..habis suka males kalau harus nyari-nyari nursing room. Nggak banyak sih palingan 50ml. Biasanya Arya sih udh dibikin kenyang pas di rumah.
Awalnya Arya sempet rewel pas di taksi, tiap taksi brenti di lampu merah, Arya nangis…Dikasih susu, sok jual mahal karena Papa salah bawa dotnya (masih terlalu keras), tetap dasar rakus akhirnya Arya mau juga. Jadi pas nyampe Mall, Arya udh kenyang deh…Bisa menikmati lampu. Pas pulang udah hampir jam 8.30 malem, di taksi langsung mimik mommy. Nyampe rumah sehabis di waslap dan ganti baju, Arya masih aja ngajak maen, belum ngantuk…Akhirnya baru bobo jam 11-an di rocking chairnya setelah nemenin papanya maen PS2.
Besoknya Arya pergi lagi..kali ini nengokin Eyang Salim di Bedok. Untungnya taksinya lewat ECP (freeway), jadinya Arya menikmati perjalanannya. Sampe sana, liat kanan kiri bentar, trus nangis gara2 kepanasan. Langsung deh kipas angin dinyalakan, dasar Arya..bentar kemudian udh bobo. Bobo terus ampe Mommy & Papa pamit pulang. Kali ini Arya nggak mau minum susu perasan Mommy yg 50ml. Ampe pulang pun, Arya tetep nggak mau diminumin pake dot. Padahal ubun2-nya udh jedut jedut…Segala cara udh dilakuin, Mommy/Papa/Mbak Bin semua nyoba ngedotin Arya. Pake digendong, dipangku, didudukin di rocking chairnya ..semua nggak mempan, Arya malah nangis. YA udh kita menyerah deh…dan Arya digendong Mbak Bin pake Jarik buat diboboin. Eh..masih nangis. Ditaro dan diajak maen ama Mommy masih nangis.
Pas Mommy singkirin baby gymnya dan disodorin putting, Arya langsung senyum dan mimik dgn rakusnya. Hm ASI perasan harus dibuang de..
Emang bayi udh ngerti ya kalau ada Mommynya dan menolak dot?!!
Wiken ini seneng deh..habisan Arya makin gede dan makin sering ketawa. Kalau udh maen di rocking chair ato baby gymnya brutal banget. Kaki tangan gerak gerak semua. Beberapa kali tangannya Arya megang kakinya sendiri loh..O Iya, Arya punya hobby baru..ngerap sambil nyusu. Hehehe ngoceh gitu sambil nyusu. Trus udah 2 malem, Arya bobonya dikelonin Papa. Tadi pagi aja nemenin Papanya sahur.
Arya seneeeeeeeeeng banget kalau diajak maen Papa. Lucu ya bayi..

our 'Mudik' plan

Yipee..we bought our flight ticket for 'mudik' after mommy's leave has been approved. We're going back to Indonesia for 2 weeks eventhough Mommy needs to work in Jakarta's office for 2 days.
We always try to go back home during Hari Raya/Lebaran so we can spend time with entire family, asking forgiveness from both parents and thankful for the day. We didn't go home during Lebaran holiday 2 yrs back when we were in OZ. It's different..eventhough we spent time with our Indonesian friends.
So this will be Arya's first journey. He needs to pay $78..urghhhh..10% of adult ticket price ($140) plus tax. O well..=) We'll fly using Lufthansa. Mommy refused to take budget airlines because she's afraid that air pressure will be higher in smaller plane - she hasn't done lots of research..
We're quite excited abt this. Arya will meet Ari's family, his uyut in Bandung, his peers - Ayla and Bio for the first time. and mommy will do shopping for Arya's clothes..it's cheaper!!
Mommy is a bit nervous with the journey itself, jakarta weather and the most, mosquitoes. In our apt, the management spray the anti-mosquitoes quite often, i guess once a week. So it's mosquitoes free. We had a bad and good experience during Lebaran holiday last year. the good is that we found out that we're expecting arya 3 days before Lebaran. the bad is that mommy got dengue fever!! uh..and we're not sure where the mosquitoes bit mommy. Jakarta weather also is another problem. Arya can't stand the heat, he'll have red rash in his face and neck if he's sweating. So far, we always open our window and turn on AC if it's too hot.
O well mommy needs to search preparation for flying with infants, buy mosquitoes wipe and mentally prepared for baby care advice which differ from our own, if any!!
Home Sweet Home!!!

Marhaban Ya Ramadhan

Bulan Ramadhan telah tiba...
Selamat Berpuasa...
Mohon Maaf Lahir dan Bathin...

ari-lia-arya

senangnya..dpt rejeki nomplok!

Hari ini mommy senang..harusnya papa senang juga siy…soalnya kan bakalan kecripatan. Dedek nanti juga kecripatan siy..cuma belum ngerti namanya juga bayi. Ternyata gaji yg diterima mommy dr bulan April terlalu rendah S$65. Dodol nggak sih…baru ketahuan skg pas lagi iseng2 liat payroll online. Jadi oktober nanti, gaji mommy naek $65 plus adjustment selama 5 bulan $325. Asyik..buat beli apa ya?!!
moral story: kalau dpt kenaekan gaji, di check dan rechek dulu ya...orang HR kan emang bukan orang accounting/finance!

open list

Yesterday, my circle of moms - Punny, Ocha and Rateh, had very interesting discussion. Of course, it's virtual one, in between work and work. It started when Rateh sent an article abt 'how to raise a cooperative toodler' which gave us example of real mom stories who ask toddler to do something that he/she doesn't want to do it. I was more interested in story of Rateh's friend which attached in the email. She mentioned abt her sister in law who has 3 sons. She's so creative to always create a competitive play while asking her children to do something. The end result is good and the kids are always strive for this kind of challenge.
Ari and I haven't thought of this. We still so overwhelmed with managing our family. Punny and Ocha have a better start. They already read the book about how to raise kids. Punny is reading Supernanny and Ocha is something like how to raise kids in muslim way (ya nggak chas)?!! I think start from now, we should start think about this. Point to consider (raised during our discussion):
- who will have a supernanny role
- how's our rule regarding TV ( 1hr per day like Rudi's - Rateh hubby - and Adi's - Punny hubby - advice?)
- how's our rule regarding food behaviour
- difference treatment of boys and girls
i think the 'point to consider' will be our open list which we need to update regularly.
Girls, share your finding and I need to buy 'Supernanny' soon.

angkat kepala

Sebenernya ini keahlian udh kapan tau. Arya mulai mengangkat kepalanya dgn jelas pas menjelang 2 bulan. Cuma baru skg bisa pamer...Apalagi Arya punya maenan baru..si Octopus hadiah dr tante sharon, om jerome ama tante violet.

photo photo terbaroe

Ini ada foto foto terbaroe Arya. Pada saat dia maen ama si Kiks - boneka dr Imbah. Atau pada saat dikelonin, sambil merem melek.





Pada saat kekenyangan atau pusing karena kekenyangan..dan foto terbaroe dgn bobo tengkurep sambil ngemut jari. Kata Mbak Binti, Arya udh 2 kali bobo sendiri pas ditengkurepin.

kisah di cabie 02100

Setelah rumah sepi, imbah dan omnya pulang ke jakarta, Arya menjalani rutinitas baru. Mommy yg mandiin Arya tiap pagi dan sore abis pulang kerja. Soalnya Mbak Binti kuyus dan Arya suka aktif banget kalau nyemplung aer. Takutnya kepalanya kena bak mandi apalagi Arya kan panjang. Selama 3 hari kerja, Arya harus di waslap sekali gara2 Mommy pulang jam 7. Ups..=)
Terus rencananya kan Arya jalan2 di luar 2 kali sehari - pagi sore..walhasil cuma 2 kali berhasil gara2nya Singapur ujan mulu, Arya udh keburu ngantuk, Mommy ama Papa udh hampir telat. Ups..=)
Skg Arya suka rewel begitu Mommy ama Papa pulang kantor. Mimik udah, di peluk peluk udah, tapi baru bisa bobo setelah digendong. Padahal Mommy dan Papanya kan nggak bisa gendong jarik. Ups..=)
Tiap jam 4 pagi habis mimik, Arya punya hobby baroe, duduk di rocking chairnya sambil pupi. Suatu hari, kain rocking chair-nya hrs dicuci, Arya rewel di pagi2 buta. Untung ada rocking chair kedua. =)
Wkend ini Arya ditinggal tinggal belanja ama Mommy & Papa. Karena biasanya dimanja ama Imbah, Mommy & Papa harus pergi berkali kali - ke Fair price, carrefour, wet market di outram ama telok blangah. Maklum belanja buat keperluan seminggu. Kan Arya harus mimik susu dgn kualitas bagus. Iya kan Arya?!!

busy

Poor Arya. He spends his noon time with Mbak Binti, his Nanny.
Poor Arya. Last nite he's sleeping in between 2 notebooks, 'whatever' show in TV and light on, atleast until midnite.
Busy time for both parents, 2 company rats who try to climb the corporate ladder. Do we?? Maybe the daddy not the mommy in this time.
Thanks God! Today is friday. Arya will spend more time with his parents during the weekend, eventhough daddy needs to work on Sat. =(
Hope the busy period will end soon..

uneg uneg

uneg-unegku sebagai new working cow alias sapi perah baru.
Akhir akhir ini diriku suka ngalamin dilema. Life is about making choice. Usually the impact is only to us, Ari and me, now our decision will also impact our small fam. Mau jadi ibu karir ato ibu rumah tangga, lebih percaya ama mbak binti ato hire baby sitter...yang pasti kita, mommy dan papanya (belum menemukan persetujuan nih..mau manggil apa) mau ngasih yg terbaek buat Dedek.
Dari gosip2 sambil kerja ama temen2, gue heran karena belum nemu ibu di kantor yg ngasih ASI eksklusif ke bayinya selama 6 bulan. So far berdasarkan survey, yg paling lama sih 3 bulan. Alasan paling utama, sakit...Yang paling bikin bingung, kok ada ya ibu yg tega naro bayinya ke baby sitter selama hari kerja dan cuma diambil pas wiken. Ada ibu yg laen lagi, karena suaminya nggak mau si baby ditaro di baby sitter selama 5 hari, si suami harus ngasih nite feeding. Nggak tau itu realistis atau nggak sayang ama anak.. Pisah ama Arya selama 2 hari aja,pas Arya kuning, udh terjadi hujan air mata.
Disatu sisi...banyak inspiring story dr temen2 di Indo. Mulai yg mompa ASI di kantor 2 kali sehari, tiap2 mompa 45 menit. Ada yang bela belain nyewa kost dkt kantor jadi pas lunch bisa pulang buat nyusuin. Kayanya keukeh banget buat ngasih yg terbaek buat si baby walopun jadi working cow dan perusahaan mereka mendukung bgt. Tapi setelah diusut usut mereka bisa tetep full ASI karena kantornya ngasih kemudahan, dan bukan perusahaan amerika.
Hmm..Jadi sebagai satu satunya working cow di kantor, gue harus tetep keukeh. Apalagi kita diberi kemudahan bisa pulang pas lunch buat nengokin dedek. We hope Dedek will get the maximum benefit of breastfeeding and be a happy kid because he believes that he always has someone who loves him and be there for him.

back to our own

My mom went back yesterday together with my bro. Our Apt seems so big for 3 of us and Mbak binti. We'll have to manage everything with no help from others, as a team like the old days.
Thank you mommie..hopefully Arya doesn't miss the way you carry him. Definitely we can't beat that.
First nite (last nite), it took 2 hrs straight to 'nina-bobo' him..phuppphhhh

now and then

Second Month

First Month


hehehe nggak tau deh kursinya cukup ampe kapan ?!!!

A family

a family..
something that you need to treasure
when you can share pain, laughter,
happy memories, bad dreams..
it's priceless
but don't take for granted
consider yourself lucky if you have 'family'





our last holiday was Bali, 2003 (before I'm married) and now, Singapore 2006, 3 days together 4 of us with additional member: Ari & Arya (my lovely fam). Unfortunately my dad can't take day off.

2 months today

Dedek Arya is 2 months today. Here are his footnote:
- still nursing every 2-3 hrs even at nite time
- have a new hobby: poo while sitting in his rocking chair
- W: around 6 kg and H: around 61cm. The measurement might not be so accurate because we used ikea's measurement tape and weighed him using adult scale - the weight deduction between dedek&I when I carried him and myself. =p However as a benchmark in his 5th wk, Arya's W:5.1kg and H:59cm. So the measurement seems allright.
- smile more often especially to his Imbah (my mom).
- when he's lying in his tummy, he can lift up his head momentarily
- at nite, he likes to sleep sideways depend where the mummy is =)
- he lie happily in his stroller, rocking chair or under his playing gym
- his eyesight is improved
- he likes watching his daddy playing playstation
- he looooooooooves being carried using Jarik (traditional baby sling)
- his clothes are getting tighter and tighter

me

Being a new mum, your world basically is centered around your bub. I did say in my previous posting that I'll be a better mother when I'm back to work. That statement still seems right to me however I'll question more abt the meaning of 'work' that suits me, as a person and part of family. My mom is stay-at-home mom and I turned out to be OK. I can't imagine how my bub's world will be. My mom already set a high standard about a good mom is and I can't compete with that. Basically my 24hrs a day will divide by 4, as an employee, a mummy, a wife and me-time. I have to sacrifice something. I don't believe that I will success in all. I'm not superwoman. Should I take a part-time job?!!!

First nite-out

Jumat malem kemaren, pertama kalinya dedek keluar malem loh. Kita ke Clarke Quay buat makan malem sekalian perayaan Dr. Joko (proudly say) dateng ke Singapore.
Dedek ama Jokie sama2 heboh...Dedek karena liat lampu, Jokie karena..hehehe. Dedek maunya ngliat keatas mulu.
Adin bergabung ama kita setelah menghabiskan sorenya di bedok library buat make-up workshop dan bete karena akhir2-annya malah ditawarin produk.
Setelah muter sekali, kita memutuskan buat makan di 'tapas tree - spanish food'. Kita pesen seafood paella, udang, baby squid, chicken wing ditutup ama churro. Si dedek awalnya bobo pules di keranjangnya setelah dininabobokan ama Imbah, e..ditengah tengah kebangun deh si dedek, haus...terpaksa..dgn kepedean yg tinggi, dedek mimik deh. Hehehe kayanya makin lama mama dedek udh makin jago niy nursing di tempat umum.

Beating the breastfeeding game

I've been back to work for a week now. It's like a rollercoaster ride. Sometime I feel happy not trapped at home however more frequently I feel guilty to separate my baby from his food resource. Imagine that babies are very simple. He only needs basic survival kit: love,food and comfy environment. Unfortunately during the day, he can't enjoying his food totally.
On the first 3 days, I slept at 8 pm after nursing my baby. I think I'm physically and mentally drained after working for 8 hours, back and forth nursing and pumping milk and having broken sleep everynite. My dedication to work (wow!!) are reduced. I don't think I love my job as much as I thought before. I have other priority in life, nurturing my baby to be a 'positive' person.
On my first week of working, we still do trial and error to fit Arya's best schedule. I plan to either bath him or take him out for morning stroll before going to work. I'd prefer to take him out to get a fresh sea air and sunbath. We leave from home at 8.50am, go back at lunch time at 12.30-1.30 and back from the office at 6.30pm. I express my milk at 11am and 4pm. See...lots of distraction during work.
On my first day, I expressed my milk in shared restroom. Smelly. So I asked HR if there's a cleaner room. There's 2 option: sickbay (near the CFO) or executive restroom. I chose the second one and quite happy with that. It's private, big and clean.
In between catching up with tons of email, preparing next year planning, helping to do month end and adapting with working/parenting world, I have a pressure to provide enough milk for Arya. Arya is big baby, his weight is more than 5.5kg in his 7 weeks so it also reflect his needs of milk. On thursday, i sent sms to Fanny and Ocha and said that I need to top up with formula in order fulfilling Arya's need. The pressure to provide baby with exclusive breastfeed minimal until 6 months is high. I know the benefit of exclusive breastfeed but it's not easy, you know. Not every woman has luxury to get more than 200ml of milk in each pumping time. My milk supply is not abundant only enough. I'm still lucky to be 'enough'. Ari also support me as long as baby and the mummy are happy.
Today, I can proudly say that Arya is exclusively breastfeed in my first working week. Somehow we can pass friday without formula milk..hopefully we can continue this achievement =p