Baby Care Information - My 1 year old

Being a father is something new everyday of your life. My daughter is now 1 years old and I learn something new everyday. From the first day when she was looking so fragile and so innocent to this day when she's running, jumping and trying everything she can. This is my journey thus far. The first thing that happens is of-course immense joy as she opens her eyes and takes that first look at you. The first time her small soft hands wrap themselves around your finger. This baby, only 3.5 kilograms still pinkish and blueish out of her mothers womb. Shortly after, your head starts rolling and a million and one questions pop-up in your head. Did I miss out anything? What kind of milk will she drink? How will I know if she's sick? What about daycare? Will I get any sleep? Is there enough to provide for her? This month, Next year? college? The first few trying weeks. Milk was an issue, her mom couldn't produce enough and my baby would puke some amount of milk after every feeding. Yellow fever crept a bit but she was stable and handled it on her own, some sun shine every morning helped a lot. Sleeping for the parents was nasty, as a new parent you want to stay awake all the time and look at your first baby. I was living in a daze, barely dozing an hour or two a day. Every squeak, every movement would get you to jump to your feet and check on the new bundle of joy. She slept for short hours at a time, general rule was 1 Oz for every hour of sleep. In the early stages she could only drink around 2 Oz so maximum is 2 hours sleep at a time which was fine during daytime but a nightmare at night. Asians usually have a mother or mother in-law or a confinement lady for the 1st month followed by some traditional massage. Unfortunately for us both mothers were still busy and working and we did not hire a confinement lady as they need to be pre-booked much earlier on. Lesson learnt the hard way! Our mothers would drop by and help out few hours a day when they could. I would go to work like a Zombie and come back and still help out. On some days I had to use my lunch hour to send my wife food during her confinement. Things went on pretty well up to the 3rd week, she started vomiting milk at a crazy pace after each feeding. Each feeding she would puke out at least 2/3 of the amount. This led us on another goose chase and more questions popping out. Lactose intolerance was the answer, apparently we checked back with our parents and our history as children. My wife was lactose intolerant when she was young. Goats Milk. This started our trials of various milks. Its crazy to see so many brands in the market and boasting so many things like iron, calcium, dha etc. We started with lactose free milk and soy based products. Apparentely neither worked well although she was vomiting out less then normal milk. After checking out with a close family friend we found out that one of their daughters had the same issue. He recommended goats milk which they have for infants. There was no harm in trying so we bought a small can for a ridiculous price. Turns out this was the only milk this beautiful baby would drink. So we had to shell out a lot of money for goats milk as it was more then double normal milk's prices and only came in small cans for infants. Her weight quickly picked up and she was back on track for normal growth. Fever Flu Measles and sleepless nights Coming to the age of 3 months, her mothers confinement has ended and had to return to work. Our baby slept through most of the night and woke up around 6am for her feeding. Both our mothers are unable to care for this beautiful baby due to work. We ended looking for a nursery where they took care of infants. Luckily for us, there was one just a few kilometers near our apartment. Again money issues came out as it costs a lot to send an infant to daycare due to the age and care needed. This daycare was where she picked up her first nasty flu and fever. One day my wife received a phone call from the nursery. Apparently our baby had a running nose. My wife's mum managed some time off and picked our baby from the nursery. Her nose was running and she was getting a fever. Apparently it has spread out and all the babies there had a flu as well. This was the start of the sleepless nights yes to come again. Breathing was erratic, she cried regularly, her fever crept up. It was a nightmare. As parents you feel so powerless against these micro-organisms that have caused this. On some nights she only wanted to sleep on us, so we had to sleep (or more like rest) sitting up so she could breathe properly. We constantly dug baby care information from the internet and also checked with doctors and friends on what to do. On some days we were so afraid we rushed her to the Hospital Emergency. I believe we did this twice, once when she had sounds in her breathing, and once when her days to recover has gone overboard. Shortly after this she contracted the measles. Another nasy wave of sleepless nights. Fever shot up to 40c every few hours. We panicked and rushed her again to the hospital. There was no correct diagnosis yet as the doctors just wanted to monitor her fever doesn't get too high. This was when baby care information became useful on google. Searching the symptoms I narrowed it down to a form of measles. I checked with a doctor I knew and confirmed it was the same. When her rash broke out around 5 days later, I breathed a sigh of relief whereas my wife panicked and we went to the hospital again only to find out that she's already recovering. After the critical period From 4 months on she has been steadily growing on goats milk and her making more expressions and increasing her motor skills. From 6 months on she had tasted her first semi-solid food and loved it. She has been eating and drinking milk steadily from 6 months. Her appetite has grown since then and variety has also grown. I avoid any fast foods and sweets for my baby. Other parents are not so picky even to the point of feeding their babies McDonald's meals and other things full of preservatives and artificial flavouring. I'd like to stick to normal organic food as much as possible. My mother has also retired and she helps to take care of our baby from Monday-Friday when we are working. Thankfully she's also a teacher and so our baby is picking up things really fast. 1 year old 8 months old when I was away for a basketball tournament, she started her first steps with her mother. Since then she has not looked back. Now at 1 year old she's already running and jumping. My baby has my genes. According to my mother, I started walking when I was 7 months old. People in the mall are amazed that an 8-9 month old can walk on her own. 1 year old marked a new beginning to her feeding habits as well. We decided to change back to normal milk and thankfully our baby's body is able to accept it. This brought our cost of milk severely down. Goats milk was 3-4 times the price of normal milk. Now she is increasing her vocabulary to quite a few words. From mummy/daddy to cat, bird, pocoyo and others. The many cute expressions and laughter she has amazes me everyday. I am thankful that we have her. Our wonderful daughter. One word of advice is to never lose your temper. Sometimes it is very stressful, at times I have raised my voice too. Just remember your baby doesn't know much, and much less how to tell it to you. Take time to check, talk to your baby often, touch and kiss everyday. Teach her the wrong and right. Patience is your biggest friend here. There is a lot of trial and error, there is no textbook to parenting. 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Of things fast and slow

I have always had the love for speed. However things have slowed down much after having a family. Even though I have slowed down, I still enjoy driving a high powered car and attending some of the weekly races.

I'm not much of an endurance racer, more the quick run and finish, short 4-5 lap races and of-course the mighty drag race. It is amazing to find how much weight needs to be lost and how much power needs to be added just to get milliseconds faster.

The other kind of race I enjoy is the uphill and downhill races made popular by initial-d. This really challenges both man and machine as there is unknown changes to the environment and reflexes need to be quick to engage these changes.

I still love my honda B16A engine daily drives. I think they are the ultimate between performance and fuel economy. Driving at highway speeds gets you decent mileage. A full tank runs around 450km. Whilst if you're stepping it hard on the circuit it will give you around 200km.

To extract the power of the B16A all one has to be familiar with is the engagement of VTEC and keeping your gearing in the VTEC range to extract its power. Anything below that and it is the same as driving any normal car out there with the same CC.

There are some disadvantages to this for a high revving engine and power is at the top of your RPM band, the lower end does not produce as much torque as compared to a SOHC engine or conventional engine. Its very slight and does not give you any major issues.

Get your race team sponsored!