BABY K2 SAYS HELLO

I've done it! Everything went in a blur literally. I was suppose to be at the obstetrician's before 10am but the chill hub as usual said we should leave home only at 10am knowing how long it will take to see the gynae. I had to start fasting (else one might puke with the effects of anesthesia) by 730am n had to set the alarm to wake up earlier to buy myself and the family breakfast. But once again,  the chill hub says just wake up as usual. Anyhoots, at 8am I officially stopped eating and drinking but by 11am I was darn hungry!  Excruciating!

930am, we started loading our luggage  etc onto the car.  Yup, is beginning to look like a 5d4n retreat with a bonus at the end of the day.
1015am we were at the clinic doing the usual urine test and CTG (listening of baby's heartbeat). We then waited for some time before seeing our obstetrician.
Noon. we went to settle our administration. The chill hub didn't register in his very occupied brain that my surgery was due at 2pm and thought we had heaps of time and wanted to have his lunch first before doing the admission.  Granted he was hungry but I, ME, the very pregnant woman who started fasting at 8am was famished so don't talk to me about food!
1pm. Admission finally done.  Don't understand why it has to take this long.  We were escorted by concierge to the room. The nurses were a tad worried as time was running out. She even hesitated to administer enigma as we were then only left with half an hour. It was then that the chill hub said: oh, your surgery's at 2pm? That's not a lot of time.  -_-
2pm. I was wheeled in and waited outside the operating theatre.
215pm. Anesthetist preped me and injected epidural.  It was surprisingly painless this time! The first round,  I screamed during the jab despite taking a deep breath of the laughing gas. This time,  under the very skilful care of Dr Dicky Tay, it was not even an ant bite! Was like a poke of the pen!
315pm. Everything was settled.  Baby's out, I was stitched up and on the way to the ward.  Wow!

Day 2. So there I was, lying in bed with a urinary catheter shoved up one of my holes.  for the second time. They took it out this morning,  waited for 7 hours as i tried to pee but to no avail.  Thus up it went again for another three days thus my resort stay got extended.  I was cursing and swearing mainly because of the pain inflicted by the catheter on top of the cesarean wound as I mustered courage to walk just a few steps to the coach. I laid in bed for so long that my backbones were cracking and my back was perspiring non stop this caused me to itch very badly. I scratched so much my back bled according to the hubs. He went back to get me some moisturizer and powder.

Day 6. Catheter taken out and I could finally pee! They had to shove another tube up to my bladder to see how much pee was left after I passed urine. Being poked n poked n poked isn't quite my idea of fun. Anyhoots,  we finally went home with our new bundle of joy :)

Sleeping like a baby like We all wish. 

Kaelyn has been the sweetest sister and daughter ever! Constantly looking for her lil brother and stroking him lovingly.  Also she has been a gem as she knew mama can't carry her during pregnancy and she walked on her own 99% of the time when with me! How not to shower this daughter with love?  It makes up for the times she throws a sissy fuss.

HELLO WORLD! BE NICE TO ME OR I'LL BITE! 

Getting ready for no.2

Ok,  so we are checking in tomorrow for our 5D4N stay at the luxurious Mount Alvernia. Anticipation is mounting and somehow I keep having a feeling that something is not done or i have not packed something into my already bursting luggage.  

For no.1, by this time,  I was chilling over a cup of smoothie whilst sewing some felt decor for my Xmas tree.  No. 1 was an end yr baby. There wasn't so much stress back then but this time round,  we were spring cleaning till the very last day! The hubs finally snapped out of procrastination and started sanitising the house,  diffusing the oils, n sterilizing my pumps only these two days.  Meanwhile,  work only stopped on Monday (4 days prior to the big day) and I had to juggle with all the prep work -- laundry,  making sure the sufficient diapers n milk supplies n crafting etc.  Well, I honestly didn't need to subject myself to such bo liao (redundant) craft stuff but probably an occupational hazzard thus I had been furious with Diy mobiles this time round. 

Gobbi Mobile

Black and White infant simulation mobile

Octahedron Montessori mobile

Munari Montessori mobile

So happy that the hubs participated in this.  Wouldn't be able too balance the mobile without b his great engineering skills! Hanging it up was pretty challenging. Hopefully these are worth while! 

Alright,  good night world! Goto get some beauty sleep before the big day! 

Week 36: happy mother's day

N so it's the yearly overrated day of the year once again -- Mother's Day.  Oh don't get me wrong. I'm a mummy n would love to be showered with gifts, recognition and attention but shouldn't this be done on a daily basis?  I mean we have to clean shit for the kid(s), cook,  do chores (unless u r one of those lucky ones who has help at home) 24/7 so why do we get such recognition only on the second Sunday of May? Well, "fortunately" the hub isn't quite into such things. Over the last 3 yrs, i've learnt not to hold my expectations too high. Such an eventful day would be grossly disappointing should I hope for even the smallest initiative. Birthdays,  anniversaries,  Mother's or Father's day alike, at the very best he will just humour me with a meal at my suggestion. It was a little better during courtship days. Even then, my first bouquet of flowers came only after 6 years and it made such an impact, his friends cheered for me! Now that we are married, it's worse. I guess a marriage invariably shifts the focus of relationships. This year was no exception. Wish there was,  but it's merely my wishful thinking. But all hope's not gone,  I hinted for a mother's day pressie cum push gift.  His reply however was: u aren't gonna push so why need a push gift?  Grrr.. but I guess being a tech enthusiast, he caved in and got me this! 

Ok, the frivolous cover was bought by me, but the phone was through his pocket! A Samsung Note 3 which by the way is a gem when it comes to blogging coz at least i don't have to widen the screen to read or edit something! With increased screen size, I'm more likely to do stuff with the phone. Hmm a sign of "lao hua"? ie long sightedness? 

Before you jump to any conclusion, this feast wasn't set up for little old me. Nope, i'm just a guest who was lucky enough to sit in. The SIL and hub decided to do a sukiyaki shabu shabu feast for the mom. Great daughter. Hope my Lil K grows up to be this filial and our relationship won't be as taunting as mine and Empress Dowager's. 

So the rest of Mother's Day was uneventful. No adorable handmade crafts or drawings coz the Lil one didn't attend school on Friday. The day was simply peppered with tantrums and hours of potty trainings with unsatisfied demands. However, as I sit here now in the dead silence of the night, I begin to realise that the gift of motherhood is a sacred one. One of giving and not expecting much in return.

LIL K's first Sports day

9 May 2014. 

Venue: Toa Payoh Stadium

The day started bright and early.  Probably too early thus by noon,  Lil K was tired but the daddy wasn't home yet thus lunch was at 1230. Schedule totally thrown off! I'm a nazi when it comes to schedules. By 130pm she managed to fall asleep.  I knew this spelt trouble coz her sports day was due to start at 230pm! Indeed,  we had to drag her out of bed at 215pm and we're fashionably late thanks to the person who built such limited parking space at the stadium.   We were in time for the last event and immediately,  her teacher grabbed her for her to have a taste of it. The poor thing was still in shock! I certainly wouldn't like it if I were grabbed out of bed and subsequently put on the track!  Haloooo what's going on? Lil K was emo all the way.  Could barely make her smile.  Thankfully the daddy worked his magic n overall I guess the Sports Day left an impression on her albiet being a short episode.

Daddy ran more than Lil K! 

Homeschooling @ 30 months

How time flies,  Lil K is turning 30mths and for the past few months I've been pretty lax in the area of homeschooling. Been trying to amass heaps so I can entertain her when our new addition arrives.  Well,  hopefully I can at least for the first month of transition when I have a confinement lady to help around.  Not very sure what to anticipate,  but I certainly hope that the transition will be smooth.

Homemade soft playdough. Really easy to make though a tad messy because of the kneading. First time I'm kneading something! i don't even bake! M loving the tool kit I bought at Art Friend's moving out sale. 

Play Dough Recipe:

• 1 cup white flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 tablespoon cream of tartar 
• 1 tablespoon oil/ baby oil (it makes it smells better)
• 1 cup boiling water
• food coloring (i used the liquid sort but I heard gel colourings give better effect)

Mix first 4 ingredients in a bowl. Add hot water and mix well. Mix it until it starts to look fluffy and crumbly, then use your hands to work it together until it’s evenly combined. At this stage it can seem too dry, but keep going! Once it’s holding together, add food colouring, take it out of the bowl and knead it on a surface until it becomes soft, silky and pliable in your hands.. Play dough will keep for a long time stored in a covered plastic container or plastic sandwich bag.

Cutting, rolling and kneading. . Trains motor skills and kept her entertained for a good 20 minutes! 

At 30 months,  lil k seems to be able to read.  I mean I honestly don't know if she it's memorising the words or she genuinely knows how to read.  Don't really test her as that would be against right brain training principles. In any case, I'm just so glad she has a penchant for books and will request (bug) me to read her books everyday. 

The hubs wasn't around during Easter and I brought K out to chill with my gf. Knowing how fidgety kids are, I was well prepared and the above and below activities kept her entertained. 

We made the lil bunny out of toilet roll!  Cute Much? N the thing on her head was actually a bunny hat complete with bunny ears. 

More cut and paste activities to teach her more about shapes.  She has long been able to identify her shapes and this is a great extension exercise. 

Using velcro dots, Lil K was able to stick on Elmo's eyes, nose and mouth.  I painstakingly (ok it wasn't that bad) printed,  laminated and cut it out for her.  Sigh,  the amount of sleep i sacrifice is really quite substantial.  For some strange reason,  she derived joy from making a sad face. 

MANDALA

a right brain activity which trains children's photographic memory.  I basically showed her a coloured picture (I'm starting with 3 primary colours but I know of some doing 4 at her age) for 2 seconds and got her to shade off the segments with the correct colors.  So far she's been getting them correct and thoroughly enjoying the activity! 

SIDEWALK CHALK

Was trying to get a breather thus this activity was perfect!

I can't bring her far and our lift landing was the perfect place to have messy play.  Motor skills  and name recognition were the aims of this activity. 

Oh boy! Painting! It's really Lil K's favourite activity of the moment. Almost every other day she'll bug me to let her paint.  I'm not too keen on this activity as it's sometimes a pain to cleanup.  *yawn* All the chores, the picking up of toys, the folding of laundry, the cooking...oh the endless things are rendering me breathless, but yet again, it's such a wonderful feeling to see how the little one enjoys the activities which I set up for her. :)

maternity shots with bun no.2

Back then with no.1 in the tum tum, I did studio maternity shots. it is once in a lifetime-- that was my excuse to the hubs who insist he could do a similar job. But trust him to do anything and I would have popped before he even took a decent shot of me.

This time round,  budget's very tight as I've engaged a confinement nanny and investing in more herbs in hope to do a better confinement than previous.  It is said that confinement is the time when all the bad stuff can be reversed. True or not,  I'm not sure but definitely worth a shot!

Anyhoots, with no professional shots, I've taken some pretty good shots of myself.  Who says being pregnant has to he frumpy?

During the early stages......

See how things are progressing.....

I'm definitely looking more and more like a whale these days. Note to self: need a haircut soon! Need to be a pretty whale still!