I'm a full-time mummy

I was enjoying some Sesame Street videos on Youtube with Ben when I saw (reflection from the screen) him smiling to himself while watching one of the videos. So I quickly grabbed my camera, then point it back to ourselves and I asked him to smile for the camera, and this is what I get...

Sigh... and he goes back to watching Sesame Street...

Undeterred, I continue aiming the camera at him waiting for the right opportunity to snap one shot of him smiling while watching the videos.. heheheh..

(this mummy is very determined OK!)

And then he realised the camera is still on... Snap!!!

And mummy asked him to smile again for the camera.... and this is what mummy gets...

Sigh.... guess I have to keep trying to fish a smile out of my cheeky boy...

I was busy the whole afternoon yesterday (which is why no post yesterday), I was caught up in a mini baking mission to bake some surprise sweet goodies for my ex-colleagues. On top of that, 2 of hubby's close friends came over for lunch cum playdate with Ben (one of hubby's friend brought along her 17 months old daughter). From morning, I started off roasting the chicken wings which I marinated the night before and hubby went out to buy some cold cuts and sausages to make spaghetti for lunch.

About 1pm+, I accompanied Ben with hubby's friend and her daughter and spend some playtime with them in Ben's playroom. Around 2pm+, Ben looked tired and it was past his naptime already. So I nursed him to sleep while hubby's friend took her daughter downstair and play with the other friend who just arrived.

I then proceeded to start baking the Shortbread Shapes cookies (total 3 batches) while Ben took his nap and hubby and friends had their lunch. I had earlier prepared the ingredients in 3 batches to save some time. By the time I finished everything (I even bake some Orange Poppy Seed mini muffins again) it was 5pm+.

After the cookies and muffins have cooled down, I got ready the small plastic bags with my plastic bag sealer and started off the packaging exercise. In total, I prepared for 13 people and all 13 will get their bag of cookies (I think I put about 14-15 pieces into each bag).

But not all get the additional mini muffins cos my SIL and her daughter came over for dinner at our place and had some, and I also gave some to hubby's friend to take home as well. So, ended up about 6 or 7 close ex-colleagues only get to try the extra mini muffins in their goodie bag.

All in all, it was a tiring but rewarding experience. I'm pretty proud to achieve all this baking within 3 hours time. I hope to be able to practise more and perhaps find some way to reduce time wastage and probably need to think of easier and faster ways to do the cookies mould. That was the tiring part of all the tasks and also when I need to turn the baking tray 180degrees midway baking to ensure the air circulation are thorough and the cookies are baked nicely all over.

Some of my ex-colleagues have already emailed to thank me for the treats and I also gave some of them the links to my recipe posts. A couple even asked me to start taking orders for Chinese New Year cookies and doing this as a part-time business... hahahah... funny, funny... I told them it's not the right time yet as I'm still learning and can only do my baking when Ben is taking his nap, maybe who knows, in future I might think about this hahahahah... until then maybe I should start training Ben to do the cookies cutting/moulding part hahahahaha...

Alright, I hope it's not too late to be posting this as I've just got an email from a bloggy friend (that's you Claire!) inquiring about MMR jab for her child (about to turn or already 12 months old now).

Just for your info, Ben got his MMR jab when he was 18 months old. Yup... we delayed half a year from letting him take his MMR jab, and then we came across an article and we rushed as soon as we could have the time available to get the jab for Ben. Before I write on, please take some time to read the article, the very same one I read (and posted in my FB page) which made us changed our decisions and got the jab for Ben. (*updates: I can't seem to be able to load the article website anymore... hence am not able to show the link in this post anymore)

So, back to this topic... after reading this article and discussing with hubby on whether we should go for the MMR jab now, we also took into considerations on the fact that I'm still breastfeeding Ben, so, I would want him to be protected (BM helps with immune system you see) by my BM while I'm still able to breastfeed him.

I know for a fact that whenever Ben has stomach flu, teething or any illness (which I can count with 1 hand throughout his now 20 months of being on this planet) he recovers really fast and sometimes we didn't even realised there's anything wrong with Ben cos' he's just alert and active all the time!

So, my personal thoughts on this is, if we delay the MMR jab longer and I'm not able to breastfeed Ben anymore (touch wood), how is he going to cope and recovers fast from any side effects (just in case)?

So after discussing with hubby, we decided to go ahead and make an appointment to see Ben's paedictrician. Because we delayed Ben's MMR jab (supposed to take at 12 months), his 2nd booster (DPT, Hib and IPV) jab which was supposed to be taken at 18 months was also delayed. In the doctor's office, we were scolded because of our actions in delaying the MMR jab and putting unnecessary risks to Ben (imagine if he contracted measles or anything throughout the 6 months we delayed the jab!)

So anyway, to cut the story short, Ben finally got his MMR jab. Side effects noted:

Of course, I am in no position to influence your decisions on the MMR jab. I'm just sharing our thoughts and take on this. We too delayed it for 6 months and then finally decided to get it. And you know, after we got Ben the jab, we actually realised how silly it is for us to delay the jab... it took us 6 months to  get over the unnecessary worries and putting the unnecessary risks on Ben (Thank God he's healthy and did not contract any measles!)

I have friends who are still delaying it, I have friends who only got the MMR jabs for their children when they turn 4 years old (that was because MMR back then was a new thing), I have friends who wanted their child to get the jab but had to delay it because of the egg white allergy.

Internet is a wonderful thing, but as you searched on this topic, you get lots of different point of views. MMR causes autism, MMR causes deafness, death, no links between MMR and autism, etc etc...

So please, discuss through with your spouse and check through with your child's paed. Ask around your friends and relatives whether their child have taken the jab and any side effects noted.

Here's some other links I found on the Internet:

I hope that this post is able to help you, Claire!

Anyone else had any thoughts and experience to share?