MOBS & Lollietots CUTEST SMILE BABY CONTEST

Wow..folks,

Another Cutest SMILE baby contest is here!!! This time by:

MOBS & Lollietots CUTEST SMILE Baby Contest

So here's my entry for KY, 3 years old(DOB: 25 July, 2006, Female)

Here's the PRIZES ...

1st prize: RM80 Voucher

2nd prize: RM50 Voucher

3rd prize: RM20 Voucher

Consolation prize: RM10 Voucher x 2

Special prize: organic cotton soft toy - fred petite monkey by miYim



wow..wow..wow...

So How to win?
1. Be MOBS follower (Twitter, Facebook and/or Google)
2. Blog about this contest with title "MOBS & Lollietots CUTEST SMILE BABY CONTEST"
3. Choose your baby's CUTEST SMILE photo and share it with us on your blog entry. Pls include baby's name and age (0-3yrs only at time of contest) and gender.

4. Add contest banner on your sidebar with link back to this contest
http://malaysianonlinebabyshops.blogspot.com/2010/01/mobs-lollietots-cutest-smile-baby.html

5. Leave a comment (at their link above) with your blog entry + email address.

For those who DO NOT have a blog... you can also join :)
Just email your baby's cutest smile photo to...
comfybebe@gmail.com and lollietots@gmail.com
Pls include your name, your baby's name, baby's age, gender and your email address with the title "MOBS & Lollietots Cutest Smile Baby Contest"

Simple isn't it?
So start sending your entries today !!!

Deadline : 15th January 2010

Cheers!

Babies “cry in their mother tongue”

Hi folks,

Just came across this article in Baiboo, a portal which has a lot of interesting articles for parents!

Interesting, so I think studying foreign language or using more than one language might gives a good start in our child's language development? What say you? Let's check out what the research shows.

Excerpts:

German researchers say babies begin to pick up the nuances of their parents' accents while still in the womb.

The researchers studied the cries of 60 healthy babies born to families speaking French and German.

The French newborns cried with a rising "accent" while the German babies' cries had a falling inflection.

Writing in the journal Current Biology, they say the babies are probably trying to form a bond with their mothers by imitating them.

The findings suggest that unborn babies are influenced by the sound of the first language that penetrates the womb.

Cry melodies

It was already known that foetuses could memorise sounds from the outside world in the last three months of pregnancy and were particularly sensitive to the contour of the melody in both music and human voices.

More detail article reading, please go to Baiboo site here.

Cheers!

Wow wonderful baby arrival month!

I just got to know two good friends of mine had just delivered 3 kg +
bb girls... Wow n end of the year my sil's turn to add on a new member
bb girl too ...

Was it coincidence or research proven dat Jul- Dec more bb gals
arrives n early of the year more boys? Haha...

Anyhow i take this chance to congrats my two mommies frens:
1) Ai Lian for the arrival of Keyra on 16 Sep 2009
2) Charlotte for the arrival of Sofia on 23 rd Sep 2009

May mommies n bb hav good time binding n successful BF together!

By the way, may I add...congrats to my sifu, JS on the arrival for his bb son on (if I am not wrong) 16 Sep as well..

Cheers!

What to buy for second or next baby..

As I was compiling this list for a friend who asked me on what I bought for my second child, I thought why not I put it up on my blog to share with other mommies friends..

Hope you find this list useful:

1. New nursing bras
2. New nursing wear (for festive and special occasion use) - old ones bit worn out
3. New EBM storage bottles - I bought momslittleones
4. New BPA free milk bottles( I bought MAM bottles) - big and small- double set for babysitter's site
5. Backup bottles teats - buy later stage type cos my first baby prefer fast flow I guess due to letdown reflex they kinda used to fast flow
6. A tent(for KY to spend her time when mommy is busy)
7. A new shoes for KY (being a big sister's present)
8. Pureen Cleaning Liquid for milk bottles and baby food
9. NappiKleen - got few bottles during sales at around RM17 per bottle @ Tesco
10. Hankerchief - soft type for babies
11. Disposable Newborn diapers (just hospital time use...just small pack cos baby outgrown it very fast plus you don't need a lot if you are cloth-diapering)
12. Bought a few new rompers for baby(just so that he got something new to wear instead of all pass-me-down, just to make me feel better haha)
13. New bolster set for baby as KY is still clinging strongly to hers
14. Nappy rash cream - I switched to using Bepanthen for my second one..seems better
15. Spare Isomil(milk powder) small can just in case(my breastmilk supply often arrives late...even if second baby doesn't need it later can give KY)
16. New towels
17. New baby bath - for first one or two week the confinement bath baby with herbs then later on with Buds Baby

I think that is about all...the rest mostly can recycle what the first child used ;)

How about you folks? What item you found you need to get for your second, third or fourth babies?

Cheers!

Cost per child

How much does it cost per child?...This is one of the question my friends(not mothers yet) used to pose to me.

Actually it very much depends on:

1) Where you are staying

2) Who you will be placing your child at , i.e. whether you taking care yourself, getting your parents to take care for you, sending to child-care or babysitter

3) The type of things you planning to get for your child, be it insurance plan, education savings fund, babies stuff, toys, learning programme etc

I have never thought of this question until when my sister-in-law mentioned it once...and I do think that it's very important question to think about for those who planning to have child/children. More so if you plan to have more than one child.

For us,

1) Staying in KL city

2) Both of us(me and DH) working, thus sending to babysitter(we chose babysitter instead of child care centre for convenience and avoid spreading of germs which is common and unavoidable) 

3) We invest in medical, life-insurance and education savings, buy moderately good quality stuff for our child(depends what items) 

And being a shopaholic mom I am, I must admit, I am the biggest culprit for over-spending I guess... :P

So how much on average for a young baby cost(I have not reach the stage of pre-schooler or schooling kids expenses yet but I guess it would roughly be almost the same, perhaps some of the mommies out there can share about this stage) is MYR1000.

Yup..and these expenses is the basic items which included:

1) Babysitter monthly fees - depending on areas and Chinese babysitter can easily cost you RM650-750 per child in KL and most Selangor area.

But somehow, I was told that many Indians and Malays charge only RM120-300 for same service...hmm..so why do Chinese babysitter market seems better? This, I am not sure...

2) Diapers(unless you cloth-diaper your baby)

3) Milk powder(unless you fully-breastfeed your child)

4) Monthly insurance and savings fund

Excluded are:

1) Immunisation/Injections (unless you opt out the optional injection or get it FOC at govt. clinic) else per jab cost you easily MYR100 plus or minus depending what jab you are taking at the private clinics/hospital

2) Baby equipments, attires, toys, etc etc..(this list can never ends..haha..especially for shopaholic mom like me :P )

For a more thorough advice, do check out the article in Parenthots: Starting a family – how much RM do you need?

Cheers to all! Happy Parenthood!

Lil Caliph Great Giveaways...

Hi folks!

Good news for those who love to shop online for baby and mommy products! One of the great online store, Lil Caliph which sells many quality baby and mommy products is having giveaways for the month of May in conjunction of their 2nd anniversary!

So check out their site(which is listed on my favourite store list on the side panel) now and you might find some good offers and great giveaways!

Cheers!

The Benefits of having a 3 Years Gap..

There are many parents who would wait till their child is 2 years old before planning to have a second one. Me too..but hehe..God has a better plan…I had mine arriving when the jie jie is almost 2 years old.

 

Lately while talking to some of my peers, we were discussing about what is the IDEAL gap year before having another child. Both my friend(who like myself had a second one before our first child turns two) and myself inevitably agreed totally to the 3 Year Gap.

 

Why? There are some obvious benefits whether is emotionally, physically as well as FINANCIALLY:

1. By the time your first child is 3 years old , he/she would be toilet-train so you won’t end up paying for two batch of diapers (unless you are using cloth diapers) like me
2. By the time the first hits 3, slowly he/she would be switching to growing up milk and would be taking less often, thus you save a bit on monthly spending on milk powder(and of course if you decided to breastfeed your child, this can again offset a lot more on your monthly baby milk powder expenditure)
3. Seems that 3-4 years old, the child earn to be a big brother/sister, thus less sibling rivalry, and the elder one can be trusted to keep an eye on the younger one which relieve a lot on you
4. I guess for those who opt to send their kids to childcare centre/ babysitter, they can save up a bit more on childcare services as baby cost a lot more for most babysitters.
5. From 1-3 years is the golden years you won’t want to miss each point of emotional and physical development  of your child, thus by having your second one later….you have more time and energy (it’s not so when you are heavily pregnant with a demanding two years old!) to guide them.
6. For mothers who had c-section, their body will have chance and time to recover fully, thus the chances of having VBAC(vaginal birth after c-section) is higher.
7. For mothers who planned to breastfeed their child to 2 years old, this would be another reason to plan for second one after two years, well of course there are moms who can handle tandem nursing, BUT, for working and pumping mom, this is a real challenge to be able to have enough supply for both child and her own health too.
8. What else..i think there are more..perhaps moms with more than one kid out there would like to give their views?

 

All comments are welcome!

 

By the way, these are just my own views…for those who have one coming (and your older child has not turned 2), don’t worry….like my case…I always believe, God will not send you a mission which you couldn’t handle!- I think there is a better quote ..I can’t recall the exact phrase but the meaning is there! So fret not…we can and we will survive with more than one child! Mom have amazing hidden POWER!

 

Cheers to all moms!