Friday, July 29, 2011

Unsettled

I was just thinking this afternoon while Baby O and I were snuggled together about to have a nap... that I am feeling more settled now after slightly over a year in Penang...

Then, it struck me that things will change again as the little one will be arriving very soon in November!!

So I tried to think of when was the last time I felt settled and somehow that felt like a reeaaally looong time ago! Let's have a look at all the major changes in my life...

2004 - we got engaged and started planning for the big day
2005 - I changed jobs a few months after the big day
2006 - we moved into our own home
2007 - moved halfway across the world to the UK
2008 - relocated to another state for job's sake
2009 - became a mother for the very first time and left the UK
2010 - relocated to Penang
2011 - unsure of what to expect when the prince makes his royal appearance end of the year!

Wow... yeah... thaaaaaat loooong ago! I thank God that through everything, He has provided the support that we needed and has never stopped blessing us. So even though I have not been feeling entirely settled, I am truly and wonderfully blessed!

Friday, July 8, 2011

My Budding Artist

One of the activities Baby O loves is to draw and paint. We started her off with non-toxic Crayola mini chunky crayons since she was maybe about 18 months old? Can't remember now... she was also introduced to water colour painting which she totally loves! I also managed to buy her a box of non-toxic water-based marker pens sometime early this year and she is hooked to them! She started drawing dots and lines initially and progressed to circles just before her second birthday. Soon after that, she totally impressed me by drawing faces! She starts by drawing a circle, then place two dots as the eyes, some squiggles on the sides as ears and a line for the mouth. Sometimes the line is upturn and we get a smiley face. Other times it is downturn and we appear to have a sad face. 
A sad face
She just loves drawing these faces and can spend a looong time 'perfecting' her faces!
Practice makes perfect!

There were only so many pieces of recycled paper that I could find so I had to get her one of these magnetic drawing boards. Got this one at a bargain from Toys R Us! Original retail price was about RM39. It was on promotion for about RM28. I had a RM20 voucher so I paid only RM8+ for this! This Mama loves a bargain!

Limitless creations

And when she had enough of faces, she even attempted to write her own name!! Which I found really amazing for a two year old!!!! Although you will probably think what is that?!? ;-)

Way to go girl!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Uninterrupted Sleep

Since Baby O's birth two years ago, I cannot recall many nights of restful sleep through the night. Most of the time, I will be rudely woken up by a foot on my face, or with a nice hand slapping across me. Since we are preparing for another baby now, we have been thinking a lot more about our sleeping arrangement when the new member of our family moves in with us. Ideally, Baby O should be sleeping on her mattress on the floor on her own (because we are not ready to move her out of our room yet) and her di-di or mei-mei will be placed in a cot. However, call it instinct or whatever you want, Baby O has been EXTREMELY sticky and insists on Mama sleeping next to her since she sort of found out that she will be expecting a sibling. Previously, she was ok with Papa putting her to bed. There were occasions when if she don't see me in the room with her, she will cry so tragically even though Papa is there with her trying his very best to comfort her without any success. The crying immediately stops as soon as she hears the door knob turns expecting no one else but me. These last few nights however, we have tried again to cajole her to sleep on her own 'special' big che-che bed. She seems proud to have a special bed but still insisted that I sleep next to her. Having all the pelvic pain and all with this pregnancy, it just seems difficult to lie comfortably down there with her but I tried to to get her used to the idea and eventually moved back up onto our bed.

We managed to have her on her bed a few nights now but someone has to sleep there with her. Last night however, she wanted to sleep on her special bed again and wanted me to be next to her. After a few minutes, I explained again to her that my hips are aching and I have to go back to sleep on the bed. She surprisingly didn't whine or cry this time but she did climb on to the bed to be next to me. I doze off but later felt her climbing down to her own bed again. I opened my eyes slightly every other minute to have a peek at what she is up to next and smiled when I saw her lying comfortably on a pillow with her little bolster. She even placed the blanket on her body which she usually kicks away when we do it for her. And after a few minutes of adjusting here and there, she finally fell asleep.

Initially, she still woke up at about 5-7am and climbed back onto our bed but these few days, I wake to find her still on her mattress most mornings. I have to admit that sleep has been good these few nights without me having to wake up every so often to check where Baby O is on the bed now and if she is being covered by the blanket/pillow/me/dear hubby or at the verge of falling off the bed... Then there are no more nasty foot of hand surprises. As I am a super light sleeper, even the flick of her hair can wake me up so that's gone now as well.

So do I miss sleeping next to her? Honestly, not really as she is still in the same room by my side albeit on a mattress. Plus we do still sleep together if I have a nap with her. I think I will only miss it if we move her completely out of the room but that seems like a very far fetched idea at this point in time! Meanwhile, I'll just enjoy my uninterrupted sleep for now...

Sunday, July 3, 2011

This Mama Is Feeling... A Lot Better!!!

I have finally regained enough energy to want to blog! Yes, it was a first trimester that I never had and wouldn't want to go through again! Well, considering that I had a relatively smooth sailing pregnancy before. This time round, you name it, I had (or still having) it. Started with an insatiable appetite! That is not bad but if I don't get food in in time, I will be nauseous to the core! To make it even more interesting, I was hungry every hour or so! Sometimes I overeat as I was so hungry that my food goes undigested and frequently comes out again the same way it went in looking very much like what it was before.. oops.. sorry for the details..

The heightened sense of smell deterred me from entering the kitchen. I could not bear the smell of food being cooked. I could not smell the leftover smells of cooked food. I could not stand the smells of certain foods like seafood. Dear hubby had to tapau (take away) most meals including lunches for us. He had to rush out during his working lunch hour so we won't starve. Poor Baby O was fed everything under the sun then. No more delicious and nutritious homemade goodness. (Am sure she is actually more happy with the tasty salty and sweet food though! Hmm..)

Then there is the need to pee in the wee hours of morning. Like every night. Even though I try to avoid drinking too much liquid after certain hours at night. 

At the same time, I was also having extreme fatigue. I can be talking to Baby O one minute and my eyes will closed the next. But come night time, I can't sleep. Either I'll be awake till 2 - 3 am or I will wake up at 4 - 5 am and can't go back to sleep till 7 am. This baby is really preparing me very early on! I was so tired that the TV became a regular babysitter for Baby O. I felt really guilty as I could barely give her the attention that she needed.

I craved very particular foods which was actually a good thing come to think of it as it made life easier in the sense that we know where to go for say dinner immediately and head straight there instead of usually having to think about where or what to eat. Dear hubby should also be thankful that my cravings weren't that out of the world and mostly obtainable within reach.

This time round the pelvic pain came much earlier compared to the previous pregnancy and that deterred me from doing exercises like walking and swimming which I really should. There were nights when I just couldn't find a comfortable position to lie in to relieve the pain. Thankfully, most times I know what will trigger it and try to avoid those actions (which includes too much walking in malls!).

So I am really, really thankful that I am SO much better now. Shall really enjoy this honeymoon trimester to the max before I get too big!

And time to dig out that What to Expect When You Are Expecting book again... How exciting!
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