Charlotte and Joby

Charlotte has been showing great interest in Joby lately. whenever she sees Joby walk pass her play mat, she would try to reach for him to touch him. Joby on the other hand is not too keen on her. mainly because he's quite old and just want to be left alone. the other day, i got sick of taking photos of just Charlotte and needed to practice taking photos of interactions between two subjects so i placed Joby next to Charlotte. needless to say, she was very fascinated by Joby. Joby just wanna stay away from her but she got closer and closer to him, grabbing and pulling his hair. i have to say, Joby was quite patient with her. he hung around for a good five minutes before he had enough and walked away. 

father and daughter time

it's not often these two get to spend time together.  especially when big brother Gabriel is around. so last Saturday afternoon while Gabriel had his nap, Charlotte and daddy got to spend some father and daughter time together. as for me, i stepped aside and let them enjoy their precious time together and practice my newly acquired photography skill from last Friday's workshop. 

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - you're not mummy

i went to a photography masterclass at Paddington today. which means Charlotte had to stay at home with Jim. Charlotte and i have never been away from each other for more than an ever since she was born for obvious reasons. this is the first time we've been apart for such a long period of time. i left at nine in the morning and came home at four. according to Jim, Charlotte didn't have much milk when i was away. i had prepared two 150ml expressed breastmilk for him and i even thawed some frozen breastmilk for him just in case she wanted more. but in the seven hours when i was away, she drank a total of 80ml, cried for an hour and Jim said she finally accepted him as his primary carer for the day at 11:30 when she woke up from her nap. whilst she didn't eat (or drink might be more accurate) much milk and did a bit more crying than usual in the morning after i left, she actually did better than expected. i was expecting her to be unsettled and cry for the entire time when i was away and i also expected her to be in Jim's arms the entire time. but surprisingly, Jim managed to put her down for two decent naps. not only did she do better than expected, Jim did a fantastic job as well. i told him since he did such a great job today, we should do it more often and maybe i can finally go to the hairdresser to get my long overdue hair straightening done. it will only take five hours but he wasn't too keen. 

new year's day at the beach - a newish family tradition

note: this post was originally drafted on 1 Jan. i've been waiting on Jim to sort through the photos. we're in the middle of February and i couldn't wait any longer so i took matters into my own hands and finally got this post done. 

Gabriel has been asking to go to the beach lately so we finally went to the beach on new year's day. we kind of started the tradition of going to the beach on new year's day in 2013 when we took Gabriel to the beach for the first time. we went to Clovelly beach and he loved it. we couldn't go to the beach on new year's day 2014 because i was having the worst morning sickness. it was nice to be able to continue this tradition this year and i foresee us spending the next new year's day (and the next and the next) at the beach again. 

the last time we went to the Balmoral beach was last winter when i was pregnant with Charlotte. i wanted to check out the boat house and when we got there, we realised it's quite a nice beach with gentle waves for kids. plus, it's only 30 minutes from home. 

it was Charlotte's first beach outing. she was too young to build any sand castle or chase any waves but i think she had a great time. as for Gabriel, he had a ball. as Jim was setting up the beach tent, he got right into building sand castles and filling his trucks with sand. he must have been really looking forward to going to the beach. what's not to love for a three year old? a giant sand pit and a massive pool. 

after he's done with building his sand castle, Jim took him to chase some waves and check out the rock pools. when he came back to the tent, he told me he wants to take Charlotte to check out the rock pools. he also told me when Charlotte is older, she can go into the water with him. i hope he'll continue to adore and look after his little sister like he is now.

i remember when we first took him to the beach, he was not scared of the water or getting sand all over himself at all and i'm glad he hasn't changed. he is certainly getting more and more independent as he happily walk to the edge of the water as i follow behind him. 

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - a day/night of many firsts

Charlotte had her very first Chinese New year reunion dinner with the extended family tonight. it's the first time she's been out of the house past 7pm and she also stayed out way past her bedtime. i was worried she might be overtired and cranky. but 8pm came around, i fed her and she was happy to just sit on my lap and watch everyone. she had no intention to sleep at all. in fact, she didn't even fall asleep during the 20 minutes car ride. what a party animal. 

after becoming a family of four for more than six months,  we finally have a family photo of the four of us. whilst it's not a perfect photo, at least we got one now.

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - 6 months needles and review done

Charlotte had her 6 months immunisation today. another two needles, one on each thigh. i'm glad it's over and there is no needles for the next 6 months. after her needles, she also had a full review with a health nurse. i was going to take her to the local early childhood centre like i did for her 6 weeks review and all of Gabriel's reviews but i've heard great feedbacks from the mums in my mothers' group about this nurse (Lisa) in one of the medical centres in the area. so i decided to take her there instead. 

when Lisa first saw Charlotte, she commented that Charlotte looks older than her actual age. maybe because she was sitting quite steadily by herself in the waiting room when Lisa came to greet us. i think it's also because of her above average size and her full head of hair. oh well, this is not new to me because a lot of people have commented the same. 

all in all, the nurse says Charlotte is doing really well, achieving milestones appropriate to her age. she also commented that Charlotte seems like a cheerful baby and is very alert. i told her Charlotte stopped sleeping through the night from 5 months and she assures me that it is normal. she also gave me the bad news that it is highly likely that she won't sleep through again till she is 9 months. GREAT! 

below are the stats from today's review: 
weight (dressed): 8.1kg
length: 65cm
head circumference: 42cm

when we got home, i looked at Gabriel's blue book to see if Charlotte is heavier than him at the same age because some friends have commented that Charlotte seems to look a bit bigger and i was wondering if Charlotte is actually bigger. below are Gabriel's stats at 6 months:

weight (dressed): 9kg
length: 71cm
head circumference: 42cm

i thought holding Charlotte now is hard work but it looks like i managed much heavier load three years ago. 

i'm glad i took Charlotte to see Lisa because she is very supportive and knowledgeable. unlike Charlotte's 6 weeks review at the early childhood centre where i walked out feeling confused and started doubting myself on everything i do. 

Charlotte at 6 months

dear Charlotte, 

i can't believe you turned 6 months old today. what a milestone. it felt as though it was only yesterday when Dr Ford placed you in my arms for the first time. in six months, you've got daddy, your brother and me all wrapped around your finger and we love you so much. you have brought us so much joy and for me especially, some sleepless night too. 

you've come such as long way from being a fragile little newborn baby who can't even hold up your own head to a robust little infant who is now rolling over from your back to your tummy, sometimes from your tummy to your back if you're lucky. you can now slowly move backwards and i have a feeling you'll be crawling soon as you start to show signs of lifting your hip whenever you're on your tummy. in the past two weeks, you've learnt how to sit without assistance and you can now sit on your own and play with your toys using both your hands for quite awhile. i still have cushions around you just in case though. your hair is no longer standing up so you're no longer rocking a pineapple head. i love how your fringe is growing and you now have two little toothy pegs on your bottom gum.oh i miss your gummy grins.  

you had your first taste of solids two weeks ago and you absolutely love food. every time i put you in the high chair, you seemed to know what's coming up and you get very excited. you are also showing a lot of interest in our food when we're eating. so much so that i have given you more adult food than i should have. yesterday we had Japanese ramen for lunch and you kept staring at me begging me to give you some food as i ate. so much so that i couldn't help but give you some little pieces of ramen, stew pork, and your brother's chicken karage. i really hope you'll continue to be interested in different types of food and will grow to be a good eater. in terms of proper baby food, so far, you've had pureed pumpkin, sweet potatoes, carrots and zucchini. in the next few weeks, i plan to give you avocado, pear, bananas on their own and then i'll start mixing different veggies together and aim to start giving you three meals a day in the next month or so. 

i wonder what skills you will learn and what milestone you will achieve next? i wouldn't mind if you start sleeping through the night like you used to soon? 

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - *yawn*

separation anxiety + two new faces in the house + sleep regression = no sleep for me. i lost count of the number of time i went into Charlotte's room last night. the marathon started at 12:30. all i can remember is after i fed her at 4, she wouldn't let me put her back in her cot and i practically had to hold her to sleep. after numerous attempts, i finally gave up at 5 and took her to our bed and she slept soundly till 7. it was one of the toughest night i've had since she was a newborn. it's really frustrating to know she was able to sleep between 8 to 10 hours overnight since she was 3 months old but with all these new skills she's learnt and new milestone she's achieving, she's lost her ability to sleep more than 5 hours at a stretch at night. 

i'm not sure if we'll have a better night tonight but i have mentally prepared myself to expect the worst so any sleep i get will be a bonus. i don't remember Gabriel keeping me up at night like this when he was at this age but it could be that my mind has blocked out bad memories like this and only retain the good ones. i guess that's the beauty of the human brain. surely she'll eventually sleep through the night again?  

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - reunited after 3 months

i haven't seen this boy so happy and had so much fun in a day for a while now. today is like xmas for him all over again because his best friend aka his gong gong came back from holiday. from the moment they arrived, Gabriel haven't left his gong gong alone. the moment his gong gong is out of his sight,  he starts looking for him.  he spent the whole afternoon running around in the backyard and playing cars with his gong gong. he even managed to get his gong gong to take him to target to get the paw patrol toy he's been eyeing. after his shower, he couldn't wait to go back out to play with his gong gong. as i was dressing him, i briefly mentioned to him that his gong gong will go on holiday again in a couple of months to which he reply to me that gong gong can't go on holiday again. he didn't wanna go to bed tonight until his gong gong promised him that he'll play with him again first thing tomorrow morning. and before he went to bed, he double checked and made sure his gong gong is staying and not leaving tonight. oh boy, i hope he'll be ok come April when they go on holiday again?