OMG My Baby Is 25 Months Old

Would you look at that date? How time effing flies!

I've been dying to talk about B for ages, just for my records but argh, he's a bit of handful these days. 

He doesn't go to bed that easily and we are out of our wits trying to get him to settle into bed on time. Half of it is definitely my fault, not getting dinner ready on time. Part of it is Bin's fault as he returns home from work rather late so B will want him to play together.

Doesn't want to have his photo taken.

A few months ago I tried to keep a record of B's expanding vocabulary. I was a wee bit concerned that he wasn't speaking the average amount of words. Just before he was 22 months old, he started speaking a bit more, and knowing some stuff (gee, I've forgotten what), much to my surprise.

Once he turned 2, I just gave up with my records. I know for a fact that his longest words are kookaburra and cauliflower, which doesn't seem that impressive. Heh. I will never forget my sister telling us that my niece said "embarrassing" before she was even 2! :)

Singing

He loves listening to his nursery rhymes and singing to himself. Well, just the recent 2 months, I suppose, the singing part. He's been trying to sing the entire alphabet song, London Bridge, Driving in the car, and many more. It's tiring to be his jukebox as he'll demand, 'Mama sing (names the song)!' whenever he feels like it, at the dinner table, on the bus or train, supermarket ... yikes!

B is also pretty good in adapting a particular situation to the song. Not sure if 'adapting' is the right term to use here but my brain can't function at the moment. In his bath tub, he was singing 'big bubbles, big bubbles' to the tune of the alphabet song. In his toy Jeep, he sang 'driving in the jeep' instead of 'driving in the car'. 

I can't help but to grin, of course. There's a rhyme that goes, 'Teddy bear, teddy bear, go to bed' or something like that, and whenever we are doing something, B will say, "Mama sing, 'teddy bear, teddy bear, drink water now'" when I've just requested him to drink some water.

Books

Our little bookworm still enjoys books. Just the other day he requested me to bring him to the library to borrow some books. I might have misinterpreted it as a request when he could have just been stating a past fact. Hmmm...

Anyway, as you know, I love books and I am always browsing online for some good book deals. I have to sit on my hands to stop myself from purchasing books for him when I know I should just borrow them from the library for him.

Just recently we borrowed 2 of Ed Vere's books, Mr Big and Bedtime for Monsters. B loves them. He enjoyed Mr Big when I read it to him twice, although I'm not sure if he empathized with the gorilla at first.

I am sorely tempted to purchase a copy of Mr Big for our collection but I'd best wait until it goes on sale.

I've also been twiddling my fingers whether to purchase the Gruffalo for keeps like NOW or later!

Tunnels, Towers, Things with wheels

This boy loves his cars and trucks and engines and he gets very excited at the department store's toy section. He's been asking for a biiiiiiig police car ever since he saw one at his friend's house. 

But he also asks for Rosie, Stanley, Kevin, any Thomas and Friends' engine that suddenly takes his fancy. Just this evening he asked for Mavis, which was a surprise. I didn't think she made much of an impression on him!

He was given a light up Thomas, but now
wants a light up Rosie or Stanley. *roll eyes*

Tunnels ... when he sees any crevices, including my rolled up exercise mat, he'll exclaim, "TUNNEL!!!!!"

Just recently he's been enjoying the concept of building towers and a few days ago out of the blue, he built one on the fridge. ;)

B's very proud of his tower. :D

I get a bit agitated at times when B starts hogging certain toys at play group. I tried reasoning with him that he can't have all of them, he needs to share them with the other children as they don't belong to him. But honestly, it's like talking to a mule's butt.

I don't even know how to dissuade him from playing with other children who aren't keen on playing with him. You can tell as they're older and they get all grumpy and hug the toys to their chest. 

Oh, but let's not start with the toy grabbing by the other children. Yikes.

Hogging the little cars and engines.

His 2nd Birthday

We didn't throw him a birthday party these year, but it was celebrated 3 times. I made a cake and brought it during our camping weekend at Creswick, a week before his actual birthday.

See that rascal, putting his half-eaten mandarin
on the cake board as if it was his plate!

I made another cake the weekend before his birthday with my favourite ang ku kuih. I wanted the cake to be a centrepiece for our family photo but argh, my frosting skills are still lacking. I decided to use fondant at the last minute for the windshield and windows. If only I had decided earlier to use fondant right at the beginning, it might look a bit better.

At least he recognized it as a police car and my lovely neighbour said the cake was yummy. I had to admit that it tasted better than it looked!

On his birthday, I brought cupcakes for his play group friends and the kids loved them. I wish I had slathered on more frosting but I doubt the mums would have approved of a sugar-laden cake for their children.

The obvious difference of his development after he turned 2 was his agility. Out of the blue, he could climb much better. I was just terrified he would slip and fall, but that's just me, always worrying about him tripping and hurting himself. 

He can peel a mandarin orange by himself and was very proud of his achievement the first time it happened. He went, "Yay!!!!"

Since then, mama must not peel it for him as he'd like to do it himself, please.

We took him to the Werribee Open Range Zoo on Sunday before his birthday and I suspect his parents were more excited than he was. I guess at this age, kids just want to be able to touch things to relate better, instead of observing them from afar.

As for birthday presents, we just bought them yesterday - a scooter and a wooden tool kit. He's very excited about the scooter - he prefers to push it around like a trolley. Haha!

Train set from a good friend!

But looks like we forgot to buy him elbow pads and knee pads ...

Dusting the Cobwebs

Look at the cobwebs over here. Geez!

As you know, time is always of the essence and there's rarely enough time for me to spare for this little blog of mine. Granted, I do miss scribbling my flyaway thoughts but gawd, I do not have the patience to wait for my laptop to start up and for this page to load. 

Instead, I prefer to bury my nose in a novel whenever I can. I love the libraries here ... the books are in great condition and I don't have to buy them anymore! I don't have any space on our bookshelves now that Brendan's occupy 1/3 of it. I've stashed my favourite books into boxes and they're hiding in the closet of one of the spare rooms.

Such is my love for my son. :D

So, books. And library.

Yes.

I get to borrow up to 40 items and books can be borrowed for 30 days. It's really such a good deal. I've renewed several toddler books twice and that's me hgging the book(s) for up to 3 months. Gosh. 

Well, just this 1 book. 

Image taken from https://shop.abc.net.au/thomas-amp-trains-of-world-bbk

He's a bit Thomas-obsessed at the moment. I'm not sure how long it will last, but he likes looking at books in general. Thank goodness for that. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but when he was younger (before he was 1 years old), he didn't seem keen on books so I was quite disappointed with his lack of interest.

Now I'm a secretly proud mama. :D

OK, back to me, before I go on and on and on and on about the love of my life. Brendan, not the hubs, mind you.

Last year was spent dedicating most of my time to B. This year, I hope to regain control of my weight and fitness.

My 1st event is coming in 2 weeks and I haven't trained as much as I had hoped. B and I fell sick after we returned from Malaysia last month, and we spent 2 weeks on the mend. It's funny how the unexpected happens, and now I'm rushed for time to get back into shape.

A 10km distance still needs some form of training.

When I first signed up for it in January/February, I had a goal which was to set a personal best (PB). Now I know that it's NOT going to happen. Argh!

Seriously, running 10km today was SUCH a struggle for me. I hope I won't suffer too much on race day.

Anyway, I don't really want to talk about running. Let's talk about food.

Once upon a time I used to judge people who had their freezer packed with frozen food. Now I understand WHY there's a need to indeed stash your freezer with some form of convenience. 

While I'm chopping meat of veg or preparing food to cook for dinner, my son would come to me and ask me to play cars with him. With such hope in his eyes, I do my best to spend a few minutes in between food prep to play with him. I can't deny him just a little bit of attention. Because it's not nice.

I do try to cook 1 pot meals or have the food prepared while he's napping. 

Recipe: http://msihua.com/2012/03/revisit-claypot-chicken-rice-with-a-rice-cooker-recipe/

I've made 'claypot' chicken rice in the rice cooker twice because I really like the convenience of it. It was also because I still had some leftover Korean sesame oil my neighbour had given me - it is REALLY good.

Its aromatic fragrance is more intense than say, the Malaysian ones we're so used to. I am sorely tempted to purchase a bottle (and use it sparingly) as the Asian grocer nearest to us has 1L retailed at $18. My neighbour says that's quite expensive.

Recipe: http://thesweetspot.com.my/?p=5833

Dry chilli pan mee was a almost a disaster for me. I used dried SMALL chillies for the chilli and boy, the heat was ridiculously intense that our heads were perspiring! The only saving grace was my first attempt at making noodles from scratch. They were nice and bouncy. 

The only problem I had was cutting the dough with a pizza cutter and then stretching them a little, before dusting them with flour (to prevent sticking) was a very time consuming job. Dinner was served late, it was almost 8pm when we started eating.

If I'll have to make them again, I'll have to start in the morning!

(Or buy a pasta making machine ...)

Oh gawd. It's time to prepare dinner.

Spring is springing

Why, hello!

It's been a while!

I'm here because I'm wondering how long will it take for a tray of brownies to cool down before I can dig in. I'm also wondering if I should bake some cookies while waiting.

Or prepare dinner instead.

Betty Crocker's Triple Fudge Brownies - first time trying a brownie mix.

I can't believe it's September and in a few months, it'll be another new year. I dread the new years as they remind me of how old I'm becoming and how fast B is growing up!

There has been some progress in some of his skills and thought process that sometimes surprise us. I'm probably not like some mums who keep tab on every single achievement but should I?

August 2017 - He finally knew how to stack them. Almost brought tears to my eyes. :P

Just last Friday, I was chatting with another mum when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed B going down the plastic kiddy slide on his tummy. The fact that he was sliding down head first wasn't what surprised me (he's a bit of a daredevil, me thinks), but the fact that he had managed to climb up the 5 steps on his own and I didn't get to witness it the first time. Oh, man!

Mr Sociable wanted to be friends but the kid wasn't pleased to be interrupted
from his playing.

He's very keen on being friends with other children and it's hard to rein in his excitement and friendliness. When mums of the other children aren't around to guide or advise their children on how to react to B's attention, I try to steer him away, just in case the other children/mums don't really like it. 

B has a few friends at playgroup who are used to his attention by now. He likes handing over toys from the containers or anything, just to be friends. But now that he's a bit more aware of his surroundings and he is 15 months plus now, he is at that stage of wanting to play with the toys that other children are playing with. Oh gawd, I have to tell him to either share or wait for his turn, and sometimes drag him away, telling him that the other kid does not want to share the toy.

It's the truth, and I might be handling it all wrong but hey, it is NOT easy to deal with the situation, mmkay.

I know a mum who once told me she had tears in her eyes when she observed her son playing on his own while she was preparing dinner. She was imagining how lonely it was to be an only child. 

Yeah, I sometimes feel the same way, too, when I see B bored and alone with his toys, as if in need of some company. I tell myself that I need to bring him out as much as possible for play dates so he can play with the other little people like him. :)

But sometimes I want to do my own things, too ... and housework. :D

Neighbour's chilli was so spicy! I thought they'd harvest it so I left it there but they never did!

I am trying to get myself back into running and it's hard work when you have to push the stroller at the same time. It's a good workout, I have to admit, but my runs are pretty dependent on the weather. The weather is kinda crummy this week, and the sun peeks out from the clouds during B's afternoon naps! Hah!

Anyhoo, I need to post some recipes here before I forget them. I'd like to think that I've cooked up a storm for the past few months I haven't updated this blog but I don't think I've been that productive. 

Laters.

Autumn is here

This post was drafted last week and finally completed the day this post is published!


Brendan
One of the things I love doing is looking back at old photos of my little koala, and chuckling to myself, amazed as to how much he has changed. Heehee. It really tickles me.

Now that B is almost 11 months, I can see his developments progressing bit by bit, from improvement of his motor skills and expressing himself better. There's a lot of baby babble and hand pointing and I nod and respond accordingly, pretending to understand him when I only understand 10% of it!

One of my daily struggles involve preparing his meals. While I wish I was one of those super health freaks who insist their children eat only the best organic food, I can only be partially bothered. *guilt-stricken*

Breakfast are the toughest. I used to feed him some yoghurt when we were in Malaysia but I stopped, fearing for its sugar content. Right now, I alternate between oats with pieces of bread and fruit, and Cerelac with pieces of bread, as well as a piece of bread to keep his restless hands busy (so he'll feed himself) while we watch Sesame Street on tv.

I try to stay away from processed baby food but having Cerelac and some baby rice puffs (for snacks) readily available at hand is very convenient!

What a mess!

I dread cleaning up after his meals, I really do. Well, the hubs does, too. It's hard work!

Sometimes I prefer to feed him to limit the mess but it helps to have some finger food available when he insists on feeding himself.

Brendan's Bear

Once upon a time, my boy received a lovely gift pack from a good mate (I bet his wife did the careful shopping). He was two months old when we first visited them.

In the pack was a dark brown bear comforter snuggly (what do you call it?) and we'd place it on his chest every time he slept. I believe that's how he grew attached to it. :)

He'd shriek with glee each time he spotted the bear when we put him in his cot, and would proceed to chew on its snout or tag. In fact, he'd suck on the tag until he'd fall asleep during his naps.

Above is one of the pictures I took of his nap times in the past. I just couldn't resist smiling (with total adoration for my boy, hehe) whenever I find him with The Very Hungry Caterpillar cloth book or the bear partially covering his face.

He adored the bear so much that if you were to hold the bear and any other plush toys hostage, he'd dive and save the bear first.

Always.

A few weeks ago, we flew to Malaysia to celebrate Chinese New Year with our families. We made sure the bear traveled with us as his dependable companion on the plane.

Unfortunately, unknown to me, the bear fell out of my bag last Monday at KLIA before we cleared security check for our flight to Melbourne. I only realised this halfway through our flight.

Close up of the bear.

I was so so so gutted.

I felt terrible.

Bin and I were horrified!

The night we got home, I think Brendan had difficulties with heading into dreamland. Not sure if it was because there was no bear, as well as jet lag and tired, but he cried inconsolably for an hour. 

Two nights after that, he cried for 2 hours. 

OMG it was tough for everyone as we were a bit under the weather, too.

I decided then and there that I'd try to replicate the bear for him as the bear was no longer available on the shelves (since months back).

Geez, talk about true love for my baby ...

It took me 3 nights (intermittent hours here and there) and I finally managed to make something which resembled closely to the bear. Granted that the materials I used were not 100% accurate, but colour wise, I almost nailed it. 

Kinda.

When we presented the bear to him, he smiled and reached out for it. He checked its snout and tag, and decided that the bear was alright.

He doesn't have the same attachment as he did with the first one but he's doing much better now. At least he has something to reach out to when he needs it. :)

But should the hubs hold it hostage with the other plush toys, the bear would not be his first choice to save.

Nevertheless, I'm pretty impressed with my newbie skills. Heh.

It's 2017!

Soooo ... looking back on 2016 achievements, I don't recall having any!

I'm just glad that I had a good pregnancy at the beginning of the year, and blessed with a healthy and happy baby boy in May. 

The first 7 months of motherhood have been interesting. 

Taxing. 

Happy.

Lethargic.

Trying.

Laughter.

Love, love and lots of love. :)

Dec 2016: Sleeping side by side in our living room.

We spent a few days of the Christmas holidays in Gippsland, checking out a few local sites. During that time, Melbourne was hit by high temp and we managed to escape it for a while and have the luxury of sleeping in a hotel for 2 nights. Bliss!

When we returned home, well, the heat came back and we camped out in our living room for 2 nights as that was the only room in our house with an air conditioning unit. 

I couldn't bear it anymore after that and decided I'd rather sleep in my own bed, with the fan blasting my direcgion. 

We're flying to Malaysia next weekend so we're left with just this weekend to complete our spring cleaning. There's TONS to do, and it's going to be harder to complete them with a sticky koala needing cuddles and attention every now and then.

Bub is suffering from teething pain and sometimes prefer to stick close to us once he's done exploring. The past 2 nights he has been waking up a few times for feed/comfort. *roll eyes* 

He's crawling about these days and can sit up now. Some mornings, I'll find myself being hollered an "Ehhhhhh!" to wake up - he'll push himself up and go to the corner of his crib nearest to me to do so! 

Sometimes, he'll thump the railing a couple of times for impact.

Often, I'd wish I could continue sleeping and ignore him ...

No such thing as extravagant dinner these days.

I did attempt cauliflower rice a few days ago, to accompany the creamy tomato chicken dish. It was a messy affair to grate the cauliflower!

Then I started reminiscing my childhood days of eating prawn fritters cooked by my mum or grandmother. I did such a poor version of it, just because I was too scrooge to add an egg to the batter. Hehe. Instead, I experimented with sesame seeds and crushed peanuts in the batter. Taste wise, you don't really taste them but they add texture.

Today is Friday, and the hubs initially suggested we go out for dinner instead of cooking. Since he suggested pizza, I thought I'd make them at home instead. (Try this No Yeast Pizza Dough.)

Experimented with pork meatballs as toppings!

Hmmm, had to make the meatballs beforehand, though. So this really was quite time consuming.

We finally opened bubba's Christmas presents yesterday. When I say we, I actually mean me.

Among the stash, he really liked a finger puppet book and a toy xylophone. Most of all, he was eyeing any plastic wrappers he could get his hand on so he could chew on them ...

Oh my gawd, I'm falling asleep here and this is not even a long post!

Sorry peeps, I'll have to cut it short. 

I know if I don't keep this short and sweet, I'll have nothing to say but gush on and on about how happy it makes me feel to see my sticky koala happy and laughing every time. 

And that would be quite a pain to read. :)

And no, I don't have any new year resolutions.

What, December Is Here??

Soooo, I've been a mum for 6 months now, and gosh, how time just seems to fly when you're not sleeping enough! 

I swear I've aged 10 years since.

I've yet to make a few more to complete the fleet.

Little B is no longer the little dumpling he was 6 months ago, but is now mummy's little sticky koala. He's a cheeky fella with a ready grin and restless hands, and doesn't take mummy's "NOOOOO!!!!" seriously.

In fact, he'll chuckle and think it's one of mummy's sound effects. (I do a pretty impressive clucking hen and yapping puppy!)

Not impressed with the toy mummy made for him.

I wish I could proudly say that it has been a breeze but we all know that it would be a terrible lie. I struggle with putting him down for his naps and bedtime - bedtime is a constant battle as he often screams and wails. I amuse myself by singing "The End Of The World" which puzzles him. Hehe. I find it amusing because I suspect he thinks being left in his cot to sleep is equivalent to a death sentence and it really is the end of the world. 

Fell asleep after mummy refused to entertain his wails. Yes!!!
But only a half hour nap, though. Booooo!

And when he finally sleeps, I rejoice!

And then comes the dilemma: do I catch a few winks, too, or get on with my chores?

Bugger.

Such is my daily struggle. :)

Hiking the Northern Range track at You Yangs Regional Park.

We try to go for a hike every weekend so the parents can get some exercise in and also expose him to the outdoors where he'll be spending a good chunk of his childhood. Unfortunately there are a lot of flies and mozzies now that the warm weather is here.

Poor bub gets so bored on the trails that he tends to take a nap while mummy will huff and puff up the incline.

So far, there hasn't a need for me to feed him on the trails. Thank goodness for that!

I'm going to talk about something else besides my little bub now, lest I end up rambling about him. (Let's hope he'll continue napping until I finish writing this post!)

This is our neighbour's plum tree. Every time I step outside into our backyard, these fruits stare at me so invitingly that I wished one of its branches was leaning over to our side so I could pluck them. I found a fallen fruit in our yard that day and we tasted it. It was decently sweet, not sour at all. Lucky neighbour!

This is one of our blueberry plants. It was exciting for a while to see them turning ripe, until I realised how I had to check on them on daily basis to know when they were ripe enough to be plucked. 

I guess that's the reason why they cost quite a bit as you need tons of plants to yield enough blueberries to fill a punnet!

One of the herbs we have been trying to grow since 2 years ago is the coriander/cilantro. We bought 2 or 3 punnets from Bunnings a few times and every time they'd struggle and just die.

Then the hubs decided that he'd try and grow them from the roots of store bought ones. They flourished for a while, grew seeds and flowers, and died.

The ones pictured here are from those seeds. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise as we really didn't expect them to find its way into our vegetable patch! 

We're now waiting for it to 'pass on' for the next generation. I've even chucked some cuttings onto our nature strip in front of our house to see if they'll shoot up next year. :P

We grew some curly kale from a packet of seeds and we didn't expect them to grow so well. I lost interest in them when I realised that stupid aphids loved kale - they're a pain to clean off the leaves prior to cooking and consumption!

Not only that, we had a short stint of caterpillars happily leaving lots of holes in the young juicy leaves. The hubs had to check the plants regularly and 'dismantle' the caterpillars from the leaves and give them a new home some place else. :P

We are excited that our persimmon tree is fruiting!

It's still struggling to be a very healthy tree so we're obliged to give it tons of TLC and pray its fruits will stay with us until they're ripe.

Gosh, gardening is a tough job.

It's a pretty Aussie thing to do, I suppose, to have a vege patch. It does gives a topic of conversation to have with like-minded friends. :D


------
My post from our trip to New Zealand last December is still in draft!

Tsk tsk.
It's going to be another new year by the time it's ready.

I hope not!

Fears Of Being Pregnant and Being a Mother

For years since we got married in 2011, we've had people asking us to have a baby pronto while we were still "young". Only a few people (and friends) advised us to do what we wanted to do first before jumping into parenthood. You know, like travel the world, win the lottery, etc ... haha!

In all honesty, I was always terrified of going through pregnancy and motherhood. No, it wasn't about 'being pregnant' but going 'through pregnancy', if there's a difference. Which I think there is.

Or maybe not ... :D

My main fear was being an overweight pregnant woman and an overweight mother soon after the 9 months were over. I was terrified of putting on too much weight and never be able to shed it off. 

I thought I'd be able to lose some weight first before being pregnant but I don't think I tried hard enough! 

I didn't enjoy the weight gain during my first two trimesters because I was always hungry (1st trimester) and I didn't exercise enough during the second trimester. I was annoyed with myself, especially when my weight kept increasing and my appetite was not fading.

It was hard to stop worrying about the unnecessary or excess weight gain and focus on being healthy and fit. Somehow through time, I did adjust my focus. It made me feel better when friends commented that I looked OK for a pregnant woman.

Nevertheless, I would remind myself every now and then about how lucky and blessed I was:

1. My pregnancy was normal and there were no complications;

2. My weight gain was 14kg, which some might say was still too much and some will say that's not too bad. I made sure I walked more during my final trimester and did my best to eat well.

3. I don't have too much stretch marks, just a little bit below my abdomen.

4. I was able to sleep well through the night - you hear stories about babies in tummies kicking up a storm when mummies are sleeping at night.

5. My baby was (and still is) a healthy one.

Made these bibs in April. Haven't used them yet as they are quite big for him at the moment.

Moving on, now that the bub is out and 6-7 weeks old, let me tell you about what I feared about being a mother. One of the main reasons I felt that I wouldn't be ready for motherhood was being selfless. I could never imagine myself devoting 99% of my time and energy to a helpless child nor the patience it required. ('It' as in motherhood, not baby!)

I still can't imagine myself being unselfish but no doubt motherhood will slyly change me all for the sake of the bub. Hmmm ...

The first few weeks of postpartum were hard. I was irritated by the constant crying and my inability to decipher his cries. The lack of sleep didn't help either. Nor did it help that there were restrictions in my movements during confinement, e.g. I had to walk slowly and carefully so that I didn't tear my stitches. And he was just so fussy - he hated being changed out of his clothes and diapers, didn't enjoy his baths, took more than an hour to settle after feed to go back to sleep, and wanted to be carried often.

What I thought I'd get, was the ideal baby who could sleep through the night with less fuss after feeds, the independent one who could be put down to sleep without having to be rocked and held to sleep first.

Well, it's a hard knocked life and I had to be more realistic, Bin said.