I've Become A Butt Sniffing Mom!

Before babyAC, I used to look at moms who sniffed their babies bottoms and wonder why in the world anyone would want to check for baby poo by smelling it. But of course now that I'm a mom, I've diacovered that it's way easier and faster to sniff a bum than find a clean place to lay the baby down, undo his onesie and then take a peek through the side of his diaper to see if he did a poo or not. 

I've become a butt sniffing mom. 

Ah well, such is life. 

The little has also peed on me twice this weekend, right before taking him into the shower, while I brush his teeth. He even had a cheeky smile when he did it today. Lol. 

Anyway, he is 7 months old now and can roll roll roll so we've gotta be really careful so he doesn't roll off our bed. He is also learning how to crawl, sometimws moving backwards instead of front. He can sit up unassisted, although he tends to plonk himself forward, or to the side if he is in his high chair.

He loves bananas, and I suspect it is because of all the bananas I ate during my pregnancy. Heehee. He is ok with most solids that I give him- pea puree, steamed carrots, steamed brocolli, pumpkin puree, rice porridge with spinach, avocado, blueberry, even greek yogurt (not a huge fan but he will eat sole of it). The one food he absolutely doesn't like? Sweet potato. I'm so sad! But more sweet potatoes for me instead. Hur hur. 

+3 is traveling to China for four days so we'll be staying at my parents' place during that timw. More hands to help me with babyAC. 

Mmm I'm sure there is more to say but it's 1am and I'm sleepy. Maybe more another time.. zzz. 

Almost 7 Months

BabyAC spent the three nights when I was away at my parents' place. He usually refuses to take the bottle when I have to go to work and will sometimes wait for me to get back, but drinks when he is very hungry and cannot tahan anymore. During the time he was with my parents, he figured out soon enough that I was away and stopped resisting the bottle. Smart boy!

Was so nice to come back home and see +3 and him (actually +3 picked me up at the airport). I had to resist the urge to wake him up and smother him with kisses. I was a little worried that he'd not want to nurse once he was used to the bottle, but thankfully he latched on as well as he always has. 

He is almost 7 months old! Time really flies. Here are some updates: 

- He has started on some solids, once a day. He has taken peas, pumpkin, brown rice porridge, sweet potato, carrots, banana, avocado, fish, spinach and even a little bit of bread. 

- He can sit up by balancing himself with his arms on the floor (tripod) and is getting steadier day by day. Once he can sit up better, we'll be getting a high chair for him. 

- He has also learned to get himself onto his hands and knees, and tries to crawl but usually ends up swaying back and forth on the spot, or moving backwards somehow. 

- You can feel his lower teeth cutting through his gums! Poor boy has been rather irritable and now I know why. Thankfully he likes his teether and that seems to give him some comfort. 

- After shaving his hair three times, we're finally going to try to grow it out. His hair is slightly thicker in some places and he seems to have a bald patch at the back of his head hehe. 

- It's the seventh month (hungry ghost month) so I've been rather paranoid about keeping him indoors in the evenings. Instead of dropping him off at my parents' place and having dinner there when I'm done with any work meetings, I've asked my nanny to come over to babysit for this month. Interestingly, a lot of people didn't think I was so superstitious, but better to be safe than sorry I say. 

He is generally a happy boy, who is relatively friendly and charms most people who meet him. He reserves his heartiest laughs for his father and always gives +3 the biggest grins whenever he comes back home at the end of the day. 

Everyday I look at my little family and I'm so thankful for all the blessings and happiness that I've been given. :) 

Sydney!

One more sleep and I'll be flying back home (well, half more, seeing how it's 4am here / 2am SG time... waitaminute, it's 5am/3am already?!). I'm sitting here in my hotel room eating my third pear, cos I bought a box of pears at Coles and I'm trying to finish them before I head home.

Arrived in Sydney at about 5am on Thursday, and took a cab to the hotel (North Sydney Harbourview Hotel). Got there at about 6am, which was way too early to check in, but the hotel staff were nice enough to let me use their boardroom which had an attached bathroom so that I could change and freshen up and pump.

Left my bags at the hotel and walked out to find a cafe to have breakfast. Most cafes open at 7am and I managed to find one that was on the way to the office. Had myself a nice hot cup of coffee, and an avocado tomato cheese sandwich. It was still early and I had another hour and a half to kill, so I walked some more, enjoying the cold weather. Stopped at the cafe which was at the office building and had a second breakfast - vegemite on toast because Australia. Lol.

Went to the office and saw P, who introduced me to the office folks and offered to take me sightseeing on Friday night. Spent the day in training, and thankfully the hotel was a 5-7 minute walk from the office so I could head baack at lunch time and pump. There was a Coles on the way so I grabbed some muesli bars and a bottle of coconut water to munch on the way back to the office.

Ended the day pretty early (compared to Singapore) at about 4.30pm, and decided to go for a walk around. The hotel is pretty near Lavender Bay and Luna Park, about a 10 min walk downhill. It was a really enjoyable walk down, passing by a lot of old houses. Apparently one of them was +3's ex-boss's friend's place. Hehe.

Lavender Bay was beautiful with the boats and the view, but being there alone really made me miss +3 and babyAC. The sun was setting and I made my way back (uphill! eeks). Had a catnap and woke up to Skype with the folks back at home. Popped over to Coles again and I picked up some bread, hummus, avocado dip, a box of pears and rice milk for a quick yummy meal in my room.

Slept in and got to the office a little late on Friday but since it was one-on-one time with M, we could be a little bit more flexible with the time. I was chatting with her and she shared that her commute to work was 2 hours each way! OMG and I thought living in Punggol and having to work in town was bad.

Finished early, went back to the hotel to put my stuff down and met P when he got off work. I'm glad I had comfortable shoes on because we walked from the office which was North of the bridge, down the Harbour Bridge to the Sydney Opera House and then to the Circular Quay. It took us almost one and a half hours, and that was at a relatively quick pace.

Fun fact: Ferries are part of the public transport and people actually take the ferries as part of their regular commute!

Not so fun fact: Despite walking for almost 2 hours, I totally forgot to turn on my pokemon go (haha latest fad game) so did not manage to clock in any miles. Sigh.

Anyway.
 

We got tickets for the ferry from Circular Quay to Darling Harbour, and had dinner at a Mediterranean place. We had calamari and hummus and haloumi for starters, and lamb for mains. Also had a nice glass of beer - my first in a while, yum! Took the train back to North Sydney station and got back in time to Skype before the little one had to go to bed.

I have to say this trip was really productive and I'm glad to tick off a couple of touristy things. Was planning to take a walk down to this place called The Rocks but check out time is rather early at 11am, and my feet are a little sore so I might just sleep in and just grab a quick bite at a cafe then walk around trying to play pokemon go or something before heading to the airport.

Sydney!

Have landed here in Sydney for a quick couple of days in HQ for training. Weather is 16 degrees at 6am in the morning, how nice! 

There was a baby on the flight who was crying during take off and landing, and he really made me miss babyAC. Anyway, in a cab getting to the hotel. Update more later. 

Splish Splash!

We took babyAC to the pool for the very first time on Saturday! Actually, we had wanted to bring him swimming a few weeks earlier when we got his swimmers, but he was congested and we didn't want to risk him getting even more sick. And then we had to take him for his vaccination, so didn't bring him till the weekend after his jabs....

Anyway, the yummies came over on Saturday for a swim-date and dinner. It was fun playing with the girls and taking babyAC into the deep pool where he could float around. He's definitely a water baby and didn't complain much- just a little bit initially cos the water was cold and he wasn't used to the float, but after a while he warmed up and was happily kicking away. 

He's now 6 months old and I really should be more diligent about starting him on solids. He's had pea puree, a bit of carrot (which he didn't like), and a bit of pumpkin (also not too keen on that). My ex-colleagues said I should give him fish porridge so I went to buy some threadfin and will try to prepare some for him this coming week. 

So far, +3 makes him laugh the most and loudest. It's always so much fun to see them together. Sometimes, I'll take a walk in the evening around the condo and wait at the platform overlooking the main road for when +3 gets back from work. To see the smiles on both of their faces when they see each other is just heartwarming. 

I think babyAC is going through a mild sleep regression, and has been waking up at 2-4am fussing. Thankfully, I am usually able to get him to go back to sleep by carrying him over my shoulder, but my poor back! Ah well, I'll gladly do this because I know that time flies too fast and soon he wouldn't want me to cuddle him to sleep. 

We had a little scare this afternoon. BabyAC was napping and woke up. He was lying in bed when suddenly he vomited onto the bed. After the first "batch" of milk came out, another came right up and because he was lying on his back I was so scared that he might choke on his vomit. I'm so glad I was lying next to him and that +3 was there as well- I quickly swooped him (the baby, not the husband hehe) up into my arms and over my shoulder. 

My immediate reaction was to bring him to the hospital, but he didn't seem to bothered after a little bit of fussing. We decided to stay home to monitor the situation, and thankfully he was feeling much better and didn't throw up any more after that. He even had a normal poop (not diarea). *phew* 

I know that we really are so super blessed that babyAC has been in good health and growing well.

Anyway, we are halfway through his first year, time really flies. It's been an amazing journey and I'm excited to see the kind of little boy he will grow up to be. Meanwhile, I'm just going to enjoy his cuddles and kisses.