After the bebe was discharged from the hospital, the Husband and I headed to Sta. Lucia for my derma appointment and to buy the prescription meds for our little patient at home. Then I bought him a present. Yes, I wasn't able to buy him one, tsk, tsk, tsk. Anyway, I got him Okley's Hijinx from the Bruce Irons Series. Darn, he look really handsome wearing it. I love you Mahal. I was thinking of a really cheesy message for you, but I can't think of any, maybe next year, or next next year...its okay I have a lifetime to think about it. For now, I hope a simple Happy Anniversary would do.

A mom in me is in never-ending search for the best  brands for my little girl. Over a period of 1 year , I have managed to try out a few brands and eventually settled for those which provided the most satisfying results.

During her first months being introduced in this crazy world where Mum & Dad lives, Hermione only used Lactacyd Blue as this is the mildest brand I've known readily available in the local market. You can get this at P199 per bottle and would usually last 2-3 months, of course we only spare a few drops - I'm not into lattering the bebe. We apply it using our bare hands and eventually resorted to using a sponge from Pigeon. My MIL advised me not to use a sponge since she is not that "dirty" having to stay inside the house for most of the time - which sounded logical so I kept the sponge away. 

Before turning 1, she began to develop little rashes every now and then so I switched to Oilatum Bar, thinking her skin is beginning to get tired of Lactacyd,  I googled that Oilatum is very mild and gentle on the baby's skin which prove to be right. Then, one morning, it downed to me that its about time that my baby got to really wash her face (not with water alone) so I grabbed a bottle of Cetaphil Facial Cleanser during our next grocery trip. I knew Cetaphil line to be very mild on the skin because I've been an avid fan for sometime, I just don't use it on a regular basis because I have the tendency to do brand-hopping, still exploring if there is something else the world still has to offer but I always find myself back to the arms of Cetaphil. I super love the no-scent, all natural, "no-tears effect of it. In fact you can leave it into your face without having to wash it with water. However, I've decided to give Lactacyd another try since we still have a couple of bottles left, aside from the Lactacyd Baby Bath, we have a Lactacyd Bubble Bath on stock, I'll let the baby try it on. Maybe its not the Lactacyd that gave her the rashes afterall, so we'll see.

She only get to shampoo her hair upon reaching 1 year old. We're very conservative about the whole shampooing thing. We just used Lactacyd and Oilatum Bar  in degreasing her hair from the Virgin Coconut Oil that we religiously damp both to her hair and body 30 minutes before bath time. However, I'm getting this feeling that the soap is not doing the works to her hair having to be forced to serve as a shampoo (which is not entirely in the poor thing's job description) so I found myself carrying Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo one day, there's not much for me to choose from then so I guess I kinda settled for it since I couldn't find anything paler in color than this one. Its  cheap - less than 100 bucks which is good for 2 months use (or even more) already.   Then again, I became restless, sorting what's the best shampoo for the little girl, it couldn't be J&J, its so generic! So I visited several sites and found the answer I have been looking for - Aveeno Baby Wash & Shampoo! Smells soooooo good, and it uses oats as its main ingredient to begin with. Priced at P450 (the lowest I could find in all the PX Stores I visited, most sell it at P650). I  know there are online sellers offering this product, I gotta get hold of them to stash some bottles.

Hermione's skin, like any other baby's skin is dry so I have no choice but to moisturize it. I'm not fond of moisturizers, I seldom use one for myself, I hate the sticky feeling so I'm kinda choosy when it comes to lotion, I want light and colorless (I can take white) one. No-no to the creamy,colorful moisturizers. Since this is a must, I only have one product in mind, Cetaphil, we uses both the lotion and the cream (at P650-850). The past few weeks I noticed that there are several dry patches on her skin so I'm reconsidering Cetaphil's capability. I managed to get a tube of Aveeno Baby Lotion, also in Oats at P400 at my favorite PX Store. I'm still on the trial period, if it can outperform Cetaphil then I'll be a follower.

We uses Virgin Coconut Oil and J&J Baby Oil. Now, I'm beginning to have doubts on the J&J line (because again its too generic) so I'm in search for a better substitute, any suggestions?

One of Hermione's best attribute is that she has a very nice smile, all 12-set of teeth showing making her smile more irresistable that the toothless grin she managed to give when she was a little bebe in her mittens.  Now that she is 16 months old, I decided its time for her to try brushing her teeth in the true sense of it, how? With the use of a toothpaste! I bought a tube of Chicco Strawberry flavored toothpaste yesterday at P250 for a good 75ml, with the rate that she's using it, she'll only need  1-2 tubes a year. I gathered that its safe for the babies, even when swallowed - yeah my baby loves to eat the toothpaste so I just put a little amount in her brush, just enough to freshen her breath.

We only use Pampers, but the Active line, I tried switching to the cheaper one - Pampers Comfort, she suffered from UTI and was confined in the hospital for a week. Comfort is way cheaper than the Active line, however, the crystalized urine have a tendency to escape since the nappy plastic sidings can break easily thereby leaving your baby with bacteria infesting her genitals. Baby girls are more prone to UTI than their male counterpart. Lesson learned, never scrimp on the nappy of the little lady. According to Pampers, it could hold up until 8 wee wees or changing can be intervaled every 8-hours but after the UTI incident that made my heart so broken seeing my little princess wincing in pain, we change her nappy every 2-3 hours. Bye bye UTI.

BABY WIPES

Only got to try one brand, and its Pigeon, the other brands are too scented for my nose.

Green Cross is still the best for me, although I have never given much thought about alcohol. I guess I have to try other brands as well.

Milk depends where your pedia's heart is. Pedias are usually loyal to a certain brand whether it be milk, medicine or vitamins. Although Hermione is breast-fed until she's 8 months old, my milk supply is not enough - so there has to be a formula in the picture. We stuck to the Enfa line recommended by her first pedia until she's 6months- Enfalac,Enfapro,we even tried their lactose-free. Then we switched to another pedia since the first pedia is not accredited by our HMO, kinda costly on our part, specially during hospitalization that we have to pay for professional fees if we have an option not to. The second pedia made us shift to Promil, Progress, Progress Gold, no qualms, Hermione loves them too... and then all of a sudden, Hermione stopped eating solid foods. I became worried that she is not getting the right nutrition that her little body needs so I consulted Dr.Google, and made a switch to Pediasure, a little pricey than of the previous milk recommended by her pedias but I know its the best milk for her. So no issues here.

We're into Bioneem recommended by her second pedia,we also have the mosquito bite ointment for the already-bitten area, but we need to try out other option soon since we were getting the supplies from her ex-pedia, and the last tube is running low.

Well well well, I'm half-hearted in choosing Pigeon bottle wash, why? Because its really pricey, for a bottle wash?! It cost P500-650 per refill/bottle, but I came across several write ups on the danger of using ordinary dish washing liquids for bottle washing so the money over stressing myself on the danger of using Joy Antibac for that matter is not really worth it, so we stuck for a while with Pigeon. Good thing I came across better alternatives, Cradle Bottle Wash (P235, 500ml refillable) and Clean Mess Out Bottle Wash (P125, 500ml bottle), but we couldn't get hold of the latter so we are using Cradle for now while waiting for Mess Out stocks to arrive. These two are really better alternatives they say. I'm glad that I bumped into the threads discussing Mess Out in N@W.

WATER
No other than Wilkins.

That's all for now.

Her daddy got this for her during his Singapore trip for 50% off, what a steal! She could stay here just sitting for hours tune in her favorite DVD CDs and this is the only place you'll find her during meal time,you see we don't allow running around while eating. She began to use this when she's barely 3 months old and up until now.

I love this! We got it from Rustan's Gateway Mall. A little pricey, but the best for its kind! Very helpful not only for a scoliotic mom like me but for the little one seeking independence. Although she was only able to use it for some time since she learned to walk fast. There are two color options, Pink and Blue. I wanted the Blue one, so baby#2 can also have it in the future but there was no available one during the time. This doubles as her harness now that she can run.

SAFETY 1ST PERFECT FIT GATE
Of course the safety of our child is our top most concern. Since Hermione can be very active, and freak accident do actually happen, we decided to get this. A little pricey but when you come to think of it, its very handy, can be easily transferred anywhere compared to the conventional one. When it comes to our child's safety, I think you would agree with me that - MONEY IS NEVER AN ISSUE.