365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - formula? no thanks!

every night, Charlotte gets some expressed breast milk in a bottle before i nurse her. i've been doing this since she was a newborn to make sure she knows how to and will drink from the bottle in preparation for the inevitable time when i have to stop breastfeeding her. knowing how she hasn't been very keen on the bottle when i'm giving her expressed breast milk, i expected her to refuse the bottle even more when i put formula in it. and as expected, she hated it. i tried my usual tricks of singing her favourite songs to her to coax her to drink more and it didn't work. there was lots of tears and screaming at bedtime last night. maybe introducing formula to her when she's tired and all she wants to do is to be nursed and go to bed is not the best idea. i guess i'll try again tomorrow. maybe during the day when she's just got up from a nap or when she's in a better mood.

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - totally unprepared

Charlotte had her daycare orientation today. as Hannah and i discussed her routine,  her needs and how to help her settle in,  it made me realise how unprepared i am this time around. i haven't thought about labelling her belongings, organising her bottles and formula, her daycare clothes etc. and most importantly, she hasn't had any formula since she was a week old so i'm not sure how she'll take it. with a checklist in hand, the first thing i did when i got home was to order some labels and i also went through her wardrobe to make sure she has enough daycare clothes for the two days she'll be attending. now, onto the harder part and the part dread most about getting her ready for daycare - introducing formula to her.

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - an almost perfect Monday

today started off quite well with Charlotte waking up at 7:30 rather than 5 like she's been doing the past few days. thanks to the beautiful weather we had, we managed to go to the park in the morning and then to the library in the afternoon.  Gabriel had so much fun at the park and Charlotte is starting to enjoy it a little bit more now that she's older. Gabriel made me read 'the deep dark woods' to him five times at the library and he's already talking about going back again next week so we can read the spider man book.

 

we would have had a perfect day if it wasn't for the sales man who came ringing our door bell as i was putting Charlotte down for her afternoon nap. she wasn't happy when i put her in her cot abruptly to go answer the door so there was no napping after that. which means she was too tired for her dinner too.  luckily Gabriel was very well behaved today and for once in a very long time,  he finished his dinner without a fuss.

 

Monday is my least favourite day because i have both kids by myself. but i don't mind it now. maybe because they are both a little bit older. Charlotte's routine is more predictable and Gabriel is quite an understanding little boy which make my life so much easier. oh, the iPad and tv are big help too.

Charlotte at 8 months

this is Charlotte at 8 months:

_ she loves food especially our food. she's having three meals a day and she loves spaghetti bolognaise (puréed of course). 

_ she has two teeth on her lower gum with another coming and two front teeth coming too. breast feeding is going to be interesting once her two front teeth are fully erupted. 

_ she can now move forward in a wriggly manner. it's not quite a proper crawl but she's getting there. now that she's more mobile, she's showing signs that she's ready to 'explore' her surroundings.

_ even though she can crawl yet, she loves to be held in a standing position.

_ she's still not sleeping through the night but her night waking is getting better. she's waking once a night for a feed.

_ her favourite person is still me. i'm the only person she wants when she's tired. if i'm not available, she would settle for Jim. 

_ she loves her brother, her face always lit up when she sees him. she starts chuckling when her brother says "hello my mister mister" to her. 

_ she's very cheeky these days, she loves annoying her brother when he's on the iPad. maybe she knows her brother would give in to her eventually. 

_ she can now move wave bye bye, maybe not a proper wave but she moves her right hand up and down when we say bye bye to her.

_ unlike her brother, she favours her right hand over her left. she'll always pick up her toys with her right hand or when i give her food, she would use her right hand. 

_ she doesn't like sitting in the stroller for too long, which make shopping with her a bit tricky. for now, i could put her in the carrier but not for much longer as she gets heavier.

at 8 months, she finally dropped one of her naps going from 3 naps to 2 naps. she's still transitioning but i vaguely remember when Gabriel went on only doing 2 naps, our days became more manageable and predictable. and most importantly, we don't have to have early lunch outing on the weekends to rush home for a midday nap!

it feels like we are finally settling into a better and more predictable routine. our days are more predictable and easier to plan now. she wakes around the same time, takes her nap around the same time and feeds around the same time. well..it has only taken 8 months! i hope things will continue to get easier as she grows older. i look forward to the day when she can play with her big brother.

the next few months are going to be interesting as she becomes more mobile. gone were the days where i'll find her where i left her.

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - mummy's little helper

most nights i would shower Gabriel first and then bath Charlotte. but tonight,  i had to bath Charlotte first because Ben and Holly was on. as soon as Ben and Holly is finished, he rushed in,  took off his clothes and wanted to jump into the bath to join Charlotte. he was a bit sad when I told him he couldn't because the rack wouldn't hold his weight but he cheered up as soon as I told him he could help me bath Charlotte. he happily used the wash cloth to wipe her arms and he also tried to 'brush' her teeth. Charlotte on the other hand was quite happy to have two of her favourite people giving her a bath tonight.  

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - bye bye nap #3

for today's mother's group catch up, we found ourselves at the same park we went to on the day i went into labour. that was 8 months and 1 day ago. little did i know at the time that i would be holding this little darling in my arms the very next day. 

on a different note, it looks like Charlotte is ready to officially drop 1 of her naps. i say officially because she's been doing 2 solid 1+ hours naps the past few days. somehow the 3rd nap is just not happening no matter how hard i try. the timing is always odd. like she'll be due for her third nap at 5pm odd. i guess it's time i accept the fact that she is 8 months old now and 2 naps a day is enough for her. now i just need to work on timing her second nap so she'll be up at 4pm rather than 3pm.  

my super hero

it's been a tough few days. the girl is teething,  she's been waking up earlier than i like (before the crack of dawn) and not napping as much as she should be during the day. as for the boy,  every meal is a battle. he's been sent to his room,  left at the dining table by himself to finish his meal and lots of tears just to finish his meal.  suffice to say,  i was very close to losing my mind. so much so that i went to the shops to get some hot cross buns yesterday only to realise i don't have my wallet with me when i came to pay for it at Baker's Delight.  i felt like such a failure for being so forgetful. but one text to Jim and i was getting cash out of the atm without any bank card. my mood was lifted as soon as i collected the money from the atm. as i walked towards Baker's Delight, i have this overwhelming feeling like i have just been rescued by a super hero. without him, we wouldn't have had hot cross buns for breakfast today. 

and today,  just as i was close to losing it with both kids and wanted some alone time,  he happily looked after both kids while i had a mini break to catch up on a new episode of Revenge. i'm truly grateful for this amazing man. he has more patience than me and he is one of the most hands on dad. i am truly blessed.  

twenty four hours in Canberra

we had to go to Canberra to get Charlotte's Malaysian passport sorted and we've been putting it off for awhile knowing how much Charlotte hates travelling in the car. now that she's old enough to travel forward facing in the carseat,  we decided it was time we get it over and done with in case we do need to travel overseas in the near future. there was still a lot of crying on the way there and back but i've decided leave the crying out and only remember the happy times we had.

 

the traffic was pretty good on the way there and we managed to get there just after one in the afternoon. first stop, we had a late lunch at brodburger at the Canberra Glassworks in Kingston and whilst waiting for our meal, we wander around the market just outside the Glassworks. the market is my kind of market with stalls selling vintage clothing, bric-a-brac and gourmet treats. i spotted a cream Japanese vintage dress which i was very tempted to buy but didn't. Jim ordered the broddeluxe burger which comes with two half pound beef patties and i had the brodlamb burger. his burger was so big he could barely finished it.

 

after lunch, we decided to take a stroll by the waterfront and Jim tried to take some photos of the kids but they didn't turn out too well because of the overcast weather we had. Gabriel was happy do some swan spotting while Charlotte was busy picking up dried leaves and sticks from the ground and putting them in her mouth.

by the time we were done, it was almost four. we decided to check into our hotel so Gabriel can have a swim and Charlotte can have a nap.

another highlight of our trip was dinner at Jamie's Italian which is just a short stroll from the hotel. Jim was craving prosciutto so he ordered a meat plank to start and for mains, i had the mussels linguini and Jim  ordered the truffle risotto. they were both so good. i wish we could enjoy each mouthful but we had to scoff them down as one of us had to hold Charlotte who got sick of the high chair after fifteen minutes while the other eat. also, Gabriel was asking to go to the toilet way too many times. dinner was such a hurry i didn't even get to see the dessert menu before we had to head back to the hotel to put the kids to sleep.
 

the next morning, we went to the Malaysian High Comm to complete Charlotte's birth registration and also to apply for a passport for her. it all went pretty well and we were done in less than an hour. we headed off to the National Arboretum as we've heard they have a pretty cool playground. the Arboretum is about fifteen minutes outside of the city centre and i was expecting it to be half empty seeing it was a weekday but i was wrong. turns out lots of local mums like to have their mother's group catch up there. i don't blame them. if i live in Canberra, i'd wanna have my mother's group catch up there. Gabriel loved climbing up the acorn cubbies and going down the tube slides and Charlotte enjoyed the swing. i think this park is probably the highlight of our time in Canberra for Gabriel.

we made our way home after the Arboretum with two rest stops within an hour. once to have lunch and to feed Charlotte and another time because Charlotte wouldn't stop crying even though she's just been fed. luckily we still managed to arrive in Sydney before peak hour traffic.

all in all i think the trip went better than expected. whilst Charlotte is the worst traveller, Gabriel on the other hand is a great traveller. he's probably the only person who could fall asleep with Charlotte screaming on top of her lungs next to him. he didn't complain about her crying and he was happy to accommodate her schedule and needs the entire time. when she needs a feed, he's happy to play at the playground at the rest stop and when she's up and ready to play, he's happy to let his sister steal all his attention. i hope he'll continue to be the big brother he is now and continue to love his little sister the way he does now when he grows up.