to baby #2: 37 weeks + 2 days

Eek! 19 days to go if you come on your due date. couple more days of work and two more weeks to get your stuff ready after that. i'm sorry but your room is still a bit of a mess. i haven't got around to moving all your brother's stuff out of the nursery so your room is technically not ready. hopefully i'll get to spend some time getting that room ready for you when my maternity leave starts next week. 

with just under 3 more weeks to go,  i'm not sure if i'm ready. i'm looking forward to meeting you. excited to finally meet this little face of yours. excited to know that you're a healthy baby. excited to learn about your temperament and make sense of why and how you can be so active, kicking,  punching and moving around all day. 

as we get closer and closer to the due date, i'm proud to say i finally started packing the hospital bag,  i'm bringing two sets of outfits as your going home outfit. they are both gender neutral but i just can't decide on one at the moment,  i'm bringing a thick wrap for you, and i also wrote a list of some of the last minute stuff i need to pack like toiletries, camera,  laptop,  phone charger etc.

we finally got around to doing some photos last weekend. even though i look like the size of a house,  i still wanna have photos taken of me with this bump. more for memory keeping than anything else. i was so worried you might come early that i won't get any bump photos done this time around. i'm glad they are done now. 

i had another appointment with Dr Ford today and i'm happy to know you're not engaged yet. Dr Ford doesn't think you'll arrive this week which i'm glad. he thinks you'll be like your brother, either on time or a couple of days early. i'm not complaining as i'm still enjoying carrying you around with me wherever i go and feeling your every move. 

leaving this post with one of the photos daddy took over the weekend. i'll post more in a separate post. 

weekend baking \\ date scones

i've been craving date scones for awhile now, especially the ones from baker's delight. in the microwave for 10 seconds and slather on with some butter, yum. what's better than a warm date scone with butter? of course one that is homemade and eaten fresh out of the oven. 

i had my heart set on having date scones for breakfast on Sunday morning so i found a fairly easy to follow recipe online Saturday morning and bought all the ingredients during out weekly groceries shop. to minimise the amount of time i need to make them on Sunday morning, i did all my prep work on Saturday night before i went to bed. i measured the flour and sugar and mixed them in a mixing bowl, i measured my butter and cut them into cubes, i chopped up the dates and i also made sure i have all the tools i need like a rolling pin and a scone cutter ready to go on the kitchen bench. 

on Sunday morning, instead of lying in, i got out of bed at 8am to make scones for the family. within 15 mins, the scones were in the oven baking and 20 mins later, we have freshly baked scones for breakfast. whilst it wasn't as fluffy as baker's delight, i still enjoyed it and i think i prefer this method of scone making to the thickened cream and lemonade method. 

ingredients \\

350g self raising flour

1 pinch of salt

30g caster sugar

40g unsalted butter, chilled

1 egg

175ml milk

180g dried dates, cut into quaters

method \\

pre heat the oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

sieve the flour, salt and sugar together into a mixing bowl. dice the butter into small cubes and add to the dry ingredients. using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine sand.

once the butter is incorporated, make a well in the centre. mix the egg, milk and dates together and pour the mixture into the well of the dry ingredients. mix together to form a dough and turn out onto a floured surface.

roll the dough with a rolling pin to 5cm thickness and using a round cutter, cut out 12 scones.

brush the tops with a little beaten egg yolk for a glossy finish (optional). arrange the scones on the baking tray in a way that they are touching each other slightly and bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 mins.

remove the scones from the oven and cool on a baking rack. serve with butter or jam or both.

to baby #2: 35 weeks + 4 days

instead of writing this on Sunday when you'll be 36 weeks, i decided to write this today because in exactly one month, you will be in my arms. in exactly one month, my life would change, our family dynamic would change. of course, everything would change for the better with your arrival, sleep deprivation and all. most importantly, we will all have to learn a new routine, a new rhythm to life. i hope your brother is ready for this change too. 

a lot of people tell me the second baby often come earlier than the first. your brother came just a day before his due date and i hope you'd do the same too. i know from 36 weeks onwards, you're ready to join us in the outside world but i also wanna savour these last few weeks to enjoy being pregnant with you, feeling your every movements. despite the discomfort and the regular trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night. 

another reason i'm hoping you won't be coming too early (like now or in the next few days) is because i haven't finished up at work yet. i have two more weeks to go after tomorrow and i have not sorted our your newborn clothes yet. i'm planning to sort them out this weekend and get them washed next week so if you can, please hang in there for another week at least. 

it makes me nervous to know from Sunday onwards, it would be anytime now. i try to imagine what it would be like if you did arrive way earlier than expected like 2 to 3 weeks. would i be ready? would that be better than waiting till the due date? that's the thing about child birth i guess, it's a waiting game and nobody, not even the expert can tell you exactly when the baby will come. they can predict when you technically might come but that's an estimate and it is not 100% guaranteed.

waiting for your arrival and finding out what kind of baby you are is very exciting. this analogy came to mind whenever i try to figure out the chances of you being a girl or a boy. i felt like i bought a lottery ticket but the difference is this ticket is definitely a winning ticket. so, if it's a winning ticket, what is so exciting about this ticket? it is exciting because the prize could be either an all expenses paid for trip to New York or a cash prize of $20,000. either prize is exciting. it's just like either you're a boy or a girl, we're just as excited. but the catch is i can't open the envelope to find out what i've won till 17 August. so until i open the envelope of this winning ticket, there are still lots of room for me to imagine walking down the streets of New York or dreaming about how to spend the $20,000 prize money. 

so, baby #2, please indulge me and let me enjoy the last few weeks of being pregnant with you. let me enjoy your punches and your kicks as they become more and more prominent these days. allow me to savour the last few weeks imagining what life would be like with two boys or a boy and a girl before one of them become a reality.   

Sydney Aquarium and Sydney Winter Festival

two weekends ago we finally got off our lazy bum and took boo to the Sydney Aquarium.  it was a sunny day except it was a little bit windy.

we parked our car close to Jim's work and on our way to the aquarium,  we stopped by the Sydney Winter Festival and did a quick look-see. Jim was right when he said we won't be able to spend a morning/an afternoon there. it was still early when we got there so the place wasn't crowded yet but there wasn't many or i should say any activity suitable for boo. so we decided to take some photos and made our way to the aquarium.

boo was quite excited when we first got there. as Jim lined up to sort out our pre booked tickets, he spotted a giant shark statue and he was very curious. he got even more excited when we told him we'll get to meet the octonauts soon.

it was really dark in the aquarium so it wasn't easy to take photos and we didn't take many. nevertheless, we got to see different sea animals. not only did we see shark eggs for the first time, we also got to touch one. boo was a bit hesitant when it comes to touching the shark egg or the sea cucumber but he loved watching the sharks swim around us as we walked down the shark tunnel like section.

the part boo enjoyed most at the aquarium was meeting kwazii the pirate cat from octonauts. when he first saw kwazii, he was a little hesitant to get close to him to take a photo but Jim went with him and he was happy. he was even happier when we bought the printed photo of him with daddy and kwazii.

by the time we finish checking out the whole place,  it was almost lunch time. we bought two photos of us from the souvenirs shop (yep, we're suckers for touristy photos) and headed off for some fish and chips.