I’ve been blogging about it during Arianna’s and KR’s time so now, it’s time to go through the list once again. From the looks of it, I packed for the 1st time at around 36 weeks and 32 weeks the second time around. This time, I think it’s going to be like 38 weeks before I get everything sorted out! LOL

Anyway, here goes :

Labour bag :
* Birth plan and some reference books including a consent form for emergency C-sect if necessary. – Not yet & don’t plan to, will just explain to midwife then and tell my doc that I don’t need the epidural, just start pain management at the lowest level, the gas.

* My ante-natal card – Always with me when I go for checkups so not in the bag yet, need it for next check up.

* Ted’s and my bathers if I need to get in the bath and he needs to massage me while I’m IN the bath – No need la, didn’t even use it the last time, labour was fast and KR popped out within 2 hrs of me getting induced!

* My fluffy slippers – Not yet

* My wheat pack for those long and painful backaches which I anticipate. – Not yet

* Socks – Not yet

* Rotten T-shirt to give birth in – No need coz hospital will give me the gown

* Ted’s change of clothes – No need

* Lip balm – Not yet but don’t think I will need it

* Towel – No need but might bring just in case

* Energy bars and snacks for those in between moments – Not yet but I’m planning on bringing a truck loads of these along! It was terrible with KR coz of my stupid mistake of ordering small portions. Who knew that small was THAT small?? I got hungry so fast that it was NOT funny. Good thing I had with me some fruit bars that I had brought along for the labour period but didnt eat them. So this time, there will be loads of muesli bars, crackers and biscuits to help with my munchies.

* Stress balls – No need

* CDs for relaxation – Not really but definitely bringing my radio this time for after the delivery, sometimes there’s just nothing on tv to watch.

* Toiletries – Too early

Hospital Bag
* Bunny rugs / wraps for Kecik – Not yet, need to sew up first. Bought some muslin ones for spring/summer

* Towel for bub and me – No need

* Pampers for bub – Will bring a few but I think no need as hospital will provide plus I intend to make FULL use of whatever they give me! Heh.

* Maternity Pads for me – It’s there but not packed and as mentioned, will use hospital ones first.

* Nursing pads – There but not packed.

* My daily clothes – Not yet coz I’m still using my trackies at home, though I should put aside the nicer looking ones.

* Going home clothes for us – Not yet….can’t find the said jersey!!! Die ler….

* Toiletries – Not yet coz I’m still using some of the stuff at home.

* My fluffy dressing gown – No need, didn’t use it at all the last time.

* Maternity bras – Not yet coz I am actually wearing some of them now. So comfy what!

* Panties – Not yet but I’ve set aside my nice and new ones.

So, with this list, it goes to show that while I have everything within reach, nothing is definitely packed. I reckon this should be done within the next week or so. At least I can hope la!

My suspicion was confirmed coz I can actually feel the sharp edge now! And with this new found ‘tool’, everything need a chomp before anything else can happen. This also includes the plumbing fixtures especially the faucet in the bathroom! We certainly have to be careful when we are in the shower just in case the worst happened. But till todate, we havent heard from anyone just yet. Hence, all is good.

Now I just need to get her used to washing her hair, the same way.

http://www.faucet.com.

The link must only contain the phrase plumbing fixtures.

Arianna turns 2 years, 4 months in Jan

The more the better Mum!

See, so cheeky! Don’t want to come out from her cot…

All smiles

Arianna is hitting the terrible twos. Constantly testing her limits and our patience. It’s not easy coping with her tantrums and hitting but it’s one of those growing up issues we have to deal with. For most of the time, she is a good kid. Loving at times but mostly just being her own little self. She is good at playing by herself which is a bonus for me and is slowly getting used to having a baby around the house.

Thanks to Sesame Street, she has improved vastly on her alphabets and although she cannot sing it yet, she can quite easily identify them if I were to write it out. She also knows her numbers up to at least 17. She also knows a fair number of animals which is only because I tend to lure her towards that and is beginning to form longer sentences and not just 2-3 words in a row.

Manners wise, she is doing quite ok too. ‘Thank you very much, Mummy/Daddy’ is a norm these days. Sometimes, its even ‘Thank you very much, Arianna’. *lol* And most recently is ‘Sorry Mummy/Daddy/Baby’ because of her hitting.

Overall, I think she is doing good but I am still concern about her food intake as it is tough as nails to get her to eat veg. Noodles and soups are her fav and at least she’s ok with the ang moh [spice-less] curry that I have been making lately. I do try to vary her food but I am absolutely hopeless in the kitchen hence I am not surprised that she finds my food isn’t as appetising as Nanna’s!

Kathleen-Rose turns 9 months in Jan 2010

Sleeping beauty

This must be how movie stars look like after a messy meal!

Aarrhhhgghh, stay away!! Paparazzi! Paparazzi!!

Giving her approval upon checking out her Chrissy pressie from Grandma and Grandpop.

My cheeky vegemite

KR is a blessing to us. She’s such a darling….her mannerism is as her name, sweet. And so very unlike Arianna is almost every aspect. Perhaps the only thing in common that they have is my penyek [flat] nose, and also that they both sprouted their teeth late. Arianna grew hers when she was about 6+ months but KR still has no signs of it yet. May take a while to sprout, poor little thing!

Despite almost 8 months, she hasn’t done a tummy-back-tummy roll just yet. I thought that since she rolled over 2 days short of turning 4 months, she would start to crawl earlier than Arianna but I think this will not be happening anytime soon. She absolutely hates being placed on her tummy but is more than quite happy to be sitting upright. In fact, she can quite happily do so for quite some time. She too can play quite nicely by herself. It’s funny how she reaches for all the ‘forbidden’ toys ie. toys Arianna won’t let her play with, after she has gone to bed. It’s just SO funny!!

And with no signs of this tummy-back-tummy action happening, I think crawling will also be something that won’t be happening anytime soon. I swear there are times when she gets SO frustrated when she can’t reach for something that she really down let out a scream of frustration! *lol* At least, on our part we don’t have to worry about our tv stand yet coz we’ve been thinking of getting one before KR starts pulling herself up and all that.

Vocab wise, she has started to babble even more and can easily tell you that she isn’t happy about something. She literally shouts out to you to let you know about her discomfort. She has also started calling out ‘Dada’ and sometimes, as clear as a bell ‘Daddee’. How unfair is that???? >.< Looks like I have to wait till she turns 2yrs before I can her those precious words la. :/

Like Arianna, I am also having issues with food with KR. Having an allergy to cow’s milk, I am totally off dairy, including soy. I’m not sure for how long but I assume that as long as I am still bf, this is my situation. Sad right? Also, she is still on pureed fruits. I think I should up her solids intake so that she will sleep through the night. At the moment, she is waking up about 2-3 hours a night which is a bummer for me coz it’s a little tough getting back to bed. And once I actually fall asleep, it’s time to wake up for a feed again. A very very big bummer!

I guess I should be more adventurous in allowing her to try more things but looks like my being afraid is what’s holding her back! So I will really have to read into finding out more foods that she can take. Funny how despite having Arianna not THAT long ago, I still can’t remember. Aiyooo….anyway, this is all for now.

Stay tuned for next month’s update.

Keeping in mind that she is on solids now, I don’t think this is enough poo so I will definitely be letting the paed know about this. It’s funny how that since I’ve stop the dairy, her bleeding AND poo have both stopped. :/

*****************Updated later that same day :

Spoke to the paed and although I was not impressed that he rushed me off the phone when I had another question to ask him, he mainly told me that it was normal for breastfed babies to go without a poo for a long time. Now, as much as I fully understand this, there must be a limit to how many days before we start to worry but nup, he was quite insistent that it was ok. He even said that I should schedule a follow-up if I was concerned. Heck, of course I’m concerned but will give it a few more days. Till then, I’ll be taking her off the rice cereal and will be giving her more fruit and veggie purees.

So I began trying out slightly cheaper brands including Pampers as well but it wasn’t until I found BabyLove that our lives turned around. Really. They are absolutely wonderful to use!!! And not only that, it is Australian made and so much cheaper too. So, its definitely a win-win situation for me. One of the reasons why I love BabyLove so much is because the front flap is long as well as the tabs are stretchable. I know all nappies are stretchable that way but to me, these seem more lengthy and with chubby thighs, having anything tight marks those lovely chops. Now, we can’t have that now, can we? Nup…I would not allow it at all! Hence, I totally recommend BabyLove to mums, especially those in Australia of course. I personally feel that it does a great job as a day AND night nappy, captures most of the time anyway, #2 quite well but most importantly, it’s cheap to buy. Both girls are using them and I love it! Just because something is branded doesn’t necessarily mean that they are good.

And then recently, I’ve tried the nappies from Toy R Us. I was a little skeptical but the price caught my eye and I thought, what the heck. Wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot and I was not disappointed at all. Especially for Baby nappies are somewhat similar to BabyLove in more ways than one. Other than the price factor, is does the same job for me and the fact that the flap is also long is a winner in my eyes. KR is now using this and although it is good, my bet is still on BabyLove, my #1 fav nappy. Also, this one is American made so might as well support your own ‘country’ kan?

Before you think that this is a paid review, it’s not. This is my genuine point of view and recommendation. Go BabyLove!!

Weird position 1

Weird position 2

Since we’ve officially entered spring time, I’ve taken the quilt away since we don’t really need it as she is normally suited up for bed and we normally leave the heater on in her room. We expect it to get warmer and then colder again in October. Why it’s like that in Sydney, no one knows but that’s how it works….

Today, what I feared most and had hope would not happen, happened! *lol* Again, it was funny when it first happened but then reality sank in and gosh, it’s not really a pretty sight. And poor Ted had to be the one to experience it first hand.

Whenever Ted is home during her bath time, he either gives her a bath or jumps in the tub with her. It’s their little special time together and that gives me some time off. Also, Arianna’s bathtime with me is normally S&S, short and sweet. I hardly let her splash about like Ted does and I don’t really have bubbles all about like he does either. He really takes bath time to another level with her which I think it’s quite ok since she get both extreme of her bath time.

So today, in order for me to be able to actually taste my food, Ted decided to give her a slightly longer bath which proved to be fatal. She decided to drop a big one on Daddy and soiled her bath! It totally took Ted by surprise and although I knew that it really happened, a tiny part of me thought that Ted was pulling a fast one on me. Thankfully he got her out immeditately after the deed was done. We had to give her a quick shower and then Ted totally soaked the whole tub in disinfectant. Poor thing must have been wondering what the whole fuss was about.

Truly quite an experience indeed. I was just glad that it happened when both of us was around. I cannot imagine how I would have handled it on my own. What a scary thought!

I mentioned a few posts ago and ome of you maybe have gotten an email from me asking for help about Arianna not going to sleep in her own cot but wants to sleep in our bed. In fact, I was at my wits end that I had also written to my forum to ask for help. I guess this is what happens when you have a kind of problem free from sleeping child. And when posed with this rather common and minor problem as I know some of you have it far worst than me, I just freaked out and was so lost.

So first up, most sincere thank yous to those of you who had replied with your advice and encouragement to not give up and stay sane – totally appreciate it, really. So now, I am here to tell you that Arianna is asleep in her COT for her morning nap. I hope this works for the afternoon nap as well AND tonight too.

Like what most of you said, she wanted comfort and being in our bed gave her that because of the familiar scents we both have – Daddy and Mummy. More so Daddy coz she usually sleeps on his side of the bed. Anyway, I decided to try placing his pillow in the cot for her to sleep on since it was also mentioned in my forum. Familiar smell equals to Daddy’s smelly pillow.

After giving her a feed, I placed her in her cot and of course she fussed and kicked and cried, and tried to et up since she now knows that she can. But I settled her in, gave her a kiss on the head and closed the door. I stood at the door watching her and she was crying and crying but I decided to give it a few minutes and carried on playing Scrabulous. Heh. About 5 minutes later, she was quiet and I thought she had fallen asleep. Apparently not BUT at least she was quiet and in bed, didn’t matter if she wasn’t asleep as long as she got some rest. It’s been some 20 minutes now and I’m pretty sure she’s out!

So YES, I am happy that it worked and I hope that it will continue to work. That also means that we have to continue to give her some sort of comfort/security blanket/pillowcase to help her. Hence, the journey of a busuk pillow/baju/pillowcase has begun. And I thought we could have gone without! *lol* But I don’t care, as long as she sleeps, I’m happy with what ever busuk thing she wants!

I is a happy Mommy!!!

*busuk = smelly

So anyway, to officially kick off more vid sharing in the future, I’d like to show you a potential belly dancer who could turn out to be a party animal in the future. Oey….. *slaps forehead* Must be my DNA la….. *lol*

Then we have brekkie together and then back into the playpen and she watches telly while I play on the pc. I noticed that she only fancies 3 kiddy shows for now despite her young age – I know I shouldn’t be encouraging her to watch telly but I seriously dunno what to do with her la! Anyway, in this same order as on telly, it’s The Wiggles, Sesame Street and her favourite, In The Night Garden.

The Wiggles

This is an Australian based team and is a major hit wherever they go. I have to admit that 5 grown [old] men prancing around singing kiddy songs is a little creepy to me but hey, they are making big bucks and the kids here love them!! We saw a show feafuring Dorothy the Dinosaur at the Pregnancy, Babies and Childrens expo recently and Arianna really took to her!! I’m sure it was the noise and action that was happening. But surprisingly, I’m slowly beginning to like it a wee bit…ok, maybe not.

Sesame Street

This is and will be my all time favourite! I’ve been watching this for as long as I can remember and I still watch it. I prefer how it was back in the day where Barkley made frequent appearances. I actually intend to get the DVDs from their website soon [when my paid posts makes me some moolah!] and I’m glad that the boxed sets are from the beginnings.

In The Night Garden

This is a pretty new program in my opinion and it comes from the same producers as the Teletubbies and lemme tell you that I totally abhor the Teletubbies! I don’t know why…maybe it’s because of how they look. They are ugly. But surprisingly, I actually enjoy watching this instead. I’m not sure what the appeal is but Arianna stops whatever she’s doing the minute the theme song comes on and is totally transfix on the telly. The theme song is outrageously addictive although you might not think so the first few times you listen to it. But give it a listen and I guarantee you that you’ll be humming to this tune in a couple of days without even realising it! *lol* I know coz I absolutely love it and I sing it to Arianna at least 3 times a day and it never fails to bring a smile to her face. These creatures talk gibberish and I think they depend on their actions to get the message across. By the way, I think Iggle Piggle and Upsy-Daisy are a little too affectionate that I find it rather disturbing, then again, I might be taking it too seriously….who knows? But I can vouch that I ain’t the only one who thinks that these 2 are an item!! *lol*

And after this progrom is over then its morning nap time for Arianna and more pc time for me although sometimes I have to tear myself away and remind myself that I have to cook and clean as well. See what I mean when I say that I was kind of happy when the net wasn’t fix coz it gave me a lot of additional time to do things. *sigh* I’m utterly hopeless when it comes to time management!!!