Inarah....at almost 10 months

My baby is down again with a flu. I rushed to her pediatrician yesterday night coz her cough sounded really bad with lots of phlegm. She has lots 3 grams over 2 weeks and that really worries me. It’s even more important in her case that she puts on weight consistently. She is 8.3kgs now. I am hoping that she will be around 12 kg’s when they decide to do the surgery. She hasn’t been eating very well as well. Its just so different with her compared to Alysha. With Alysha I had no issues with food. She just ate everything I made. Inarah is so fussy with food. Most of the time we have to trick her into eating. She loves water and so we just keep saying, water, water and she opens her mouth wide. Of course after realizing it’s a spoonful of porriage she almost screams but surprisingly they must really have a short memory as she opens her mouth wide again when she hears’ water, water”

It was so sad to leave her behind today. I have been on leave for 3 days due to my brothers wedding and so both of them have been having me all to themselves. Specially Inarah. So in the morning when I left for work, it was very difficult for her and me. She just wanted to be in my arms and kept putting her head on my shoulder as I held her close.

On a brighter note, her pead says she is growing well for her age and condition. She is not strong enough to hold on and stand on her own but keeps trying to get on her feet. She crawls with one knee and one feet which was a concern for hubby and me but her pead says , some kids do that for a while.

The other concern I have is milk. That is my breast milk. It’s been more and more difficult to keep up with her milk intake. I barely get 3-4 ounces overtime pump. Sometime as little as 2oz. Its just so tiring. I have to pump so many times a day to have just enough for her next days feed. It’s so tempting to start supplementing with formula. But I really want to exclusively breastfeed until she is one at least. It’s really not so much the nutritional value of the milk but rather the bonding process. When she is at my breast, you should see the look on her face. She looks at me with those eyes that say that she wants to be there for ever and ever. She is so calm and peaceful when she feeds.

She is a very intelligent child, you can tell. She understands a lot of what we say and shows us by doing what we tell her to do. Like sleep (she will put her head on the pillow), belly button (she will lift her top), her ears (she touches them), she raises both her hands in the air when we say hooray, she waves bye bye. She waves both hands like a butterfly when I sing the butterfly song. She will try to comb her hair when you hand her a comb. She will try and write on a paper when you hand her a pencil (thanks to Alysha) She opens and closes her palm when we sing twinkle twinkle little star. She knows all of us by how we call ourselves, papa, mama, ben (elder sister), kaka, nana, nani. She indicates she wants something by pointing her hand towards it.

She has started opening cupboards to dig out things, she can open a book when you hand her one. She knows 2 books very well already. Her favorite baby’s Boat and Goodnight Moon.

She also has a fierce temper and screams at you when you upset her. Like when her sister refuses to share something with her or when she is frustrated with something he can’t manage.
And she just LOOOOOVES to dance. You don’t even need music. Just sing a rhythm or hum a tune and her body just starts moving, she will move her hands in the air as well if someone else is dancing with her. She loves her sister. She could be very upset and crying but the minute she sees Alysha , there is this smile on her face that I don’t even see when she looks at me.

She makes us all so happy. She is truely as her name means " A light in the darkness"

Oh my baby. We are just so happy and lucky to have you. You have brought us so much joy in such a short time. Mama loves you soooo much