Charlotte and daddy

daddy's girl she's most certainly not. mummy stay here, mummy do, mummy help me. the only way we could get her to let daddy kiss her goodnight is if we promise i'd stays in the room until she falls asleep and daddy will leave the room. even then, she would wipe daddy's kisses away or ask me to kiss over daddy's kisses. daddy never gives up. he uses reverse psychology to trick Charlotte into letting him do things for her. he would say to her he doesn't want to do something for her and the more he says no, the more she'd say 'daddy do it'. reverse psychology sometimes works, sometimes not. the best part of this is, daddy never stops trying. he would always come up with new ways to get close to his little girl. 

the central coast

we spent the October long weekend at the central coast. it was a last minute trip i booked just one week before the long weekend. i've been wanting to go away on a short trip for awhile but i couldn't justify a weekend away locally when we're only a short distance away from home and the cost that comes with it. secondly, wherever we go, it can't be too far away from home because Charlotte doesn't do well with long car trips.  but this time around, i thought we'd just do it anyway and i'm so glad we did because we had such a great time. 

i booked our accommodation through airbnb so it didn't cost us that much. while it's not a beach front home, it was close to some of the most beautiful beaches. we were in the central coast for three days and we went to a different beach each day. each beach has its own charm and the kids loved them all. Gabriel's face would light up the moment we get to the beach and when we're not at the beach, he'd ask us when we're going. we gave him a bucket and a spade and off he went to chase the waves, build a sand castle and just run up and down the shore lines. as for Charlotte, she was a bit scare of the waves but she's not afraid to touch the sea snails or sea jelly we found in the rock pools. she enjoys building sand castles too. 

after this trip, i realised the central coast is probably the perfect getaway destination for our family for now. there are still many different beaches to explore, i can't wait to go back for our next family holiday and i'm so excited that summer is just around the corner. 

the best gor gor

this is quite a regular occurrence in our household. Gabriel having his breakfast and as i give Charlotte her breakfast, she would demand that she wants to sit on the chair Gabriel is sitting on (because she's a bully like that). before i even had a moment to come up with a way to convince Gabriel to move to a different seat, Gabriel gathered his milk and whatever toy he has with him at the time and move to a different seat, vacating his seat for Charlotte. he makes me so proud every time he does that. i'm so jealous of Charlotte. she makes me wanna have a brother. i hope she would grow up to know that she most definitely has the best gor gor in the world.  

Stripes!

Charlotte loves stripes. every morning when it comes to time to get change, she would point at me and tell me she wants to wear stripes "just like mummy". I wear a lot of stripes but i don't wear them everyday but somehow she's picked up on it and stripes is her favourite print too. I hope she'll continue to like stripes. 

mothers' day 2016

life is full of surprises. like this mothers' day, i received the best mothers' day gift from Charlotte. she gave us a peaceful car ride to the blue mountains and back. we were so proud of ourselves when we made it to the blue mountains with our ear drums still intact. 

i've been wanting to explore and admire the autumn colours at the blue mountains since the beginning of autumn. both Gabriel and Charlotte has never been and it's been that long since we last went to the blue mountains. when Jim asked me what i wanted to do for mothers' day this year, i told him i wanted to go on a day trip to the blue mountain. we all knew Charlotte is not a good traveller and we could end up with a screaming toddler in the car for the whole journey there and back. but we decided to bite the bullet and just do it and deal with it. 

Gabriel's daycare friend, Zoe and her family came with us too. we met at Leura for brunch, walked around Leura town and then made our way to the Everglades Gardens. the Everglades Garden is gorgeous at this time of the year. the maple leaves are at a different stage of turning brown. some of them are turning yellow, orange and red. we had perfect view of the mountain range from the garden. i think this garden will look so different in spring and is definitely worth going again. Leura town on the other hand was not as serene. it was quite busy and it turns out everyone had the same idea for mothers' day. 

i'm so glad we decided to just take the trip because the kids had a ball and i had a lovely mothers day this year. and another bonus is daddy managed to take some pretty good photos of me and the kids. 

Charlotte at 21 months

how time flies...Charlotte is turning 2 soon and i have yet to decide whether we wanna have a party for her. we most likely won't but i'll still make a nice cake for her. i've been pinning lots of ideas. 

at 21 months, she can say so many words and sentences and she is so much fun. she is bossy, she is cheeky and she loves her food. 

she loves music. her favourite songs are rockabye your bear (which she calls bear bear), twinkle twinkle little star, ABC (which she calls Cee Dee), Happy Birthday (which she calls happy see you), baa baa black sheep and shimmy shake. she's the cutest when she tried to sing twinkle twinkle. sometimes i wish she could stay this little and innocent a little longer. 

she's very good with people's names. the educators at daycare told us she knows all the kids' name in the centre. Ethan, Lachlan, Axel, Alex, Jessica, Harper, Arianna, Lloyd. 

she's curious and is already started asking lots of questions especially why. when she can't find one of us, she'll ask where daddy go? when she sees me doing something, she'll ask what mummy doing? she brings me so much joy this little girl, my little ray of sunshine. although she's strong willed and stubborn and feisty at times, i hope these personality traits will help her achieve her dreams and take her to places further than her parents when she gets older. 

hello 2016

i love the first day of the year. it's like you get to start fresh again, it's the time of year where you get to make plans for the year ahead and you are still hopeful that things will go according to your plan.

just like last year, we celebrated the first day of the year at the beach with the kids. we went to Balmoral beach like we did last year. after spending the entire day at Taronga Zoo yesterday, i was very tempted to just take it slow today and chill out at home but who am i kidding? there's no chilling out at home once you have kids. Jim wasn't too keen to go as he was exhausted from yesterday's outing but i really want to keep to tradition of spending the first day at the beach. so i decided to just go and i know the kids would love it. and as we got there, i was so glad we went. 

Charlotte  was too young to enjoy the sand and the water last year because she could barely sit up. but this year, she had a ball scooping sand and checking out sea shells. as for Gabriel, we loved pushing his bulldozer on the sand, jumping up and down in "muddy puddles", chase the waves and checking out rockpools. he didn't want to leave when we told him it was time to go home.  

if the first day of the year is an indication of what's to come for the year, i'm pretty confident it's going to be a great one. no doubt working full time with two kids is going to be hectic. there's new routine to be learnt and i'll probably have to take my multitasking skills to a whole new level but i'm ready for this challenge ahead. i want to do more with the kids in 2016. i want to spend less time at home just plodding along. i want to take them out to new places and experience new things more often. i want to have more YOLO moments and just enjoy them while they are still little.

2016, let's do this!

2015 - that's a wrap!

blink and we're at the end of 2015. while this little space didn't get as much attention as i would like to give it, i decided to do a recap of the year.

the past year hasn't been too eventful but we did hit a few milestones together as a family. in march, we took a road trip to Canberra to get Charlotte her passport. it was our first road trip and "holiday" as a family of four. she cried most of the way there and most of the way back. so we decided there will be no road trip for this family for awhile.

Charlotte started daycare in May. i felt bad for sending her just as she turned 9 months but it was a right decision to start her young. the carers and the older kids in her room love her. she was doted upon by everyone so she settled in within weeks. mum also came to visit us in May. she spent 10 days with us and surprisingly, we got along fine and didn't get into a single argument the whole time she was here.

i celebrated my 33th birthday in June. Jim took a day off work the day after my birthday
(because Charlotte didn't go to daycare on the day of my birthday) so we enjoyed a child free day in the city. lunch at pendolino was pretty good. while the prosecco costed us an arm and a leg the food was pretty good. we were able to enjoy each other's company and every mouthful of our food which is quite the luxury these days.

Charlotte turned one in August and she has grown in leaps and bounds in the past year. last Christmas, she could barely sit up by herself.  this Christmas, she's toddling around and getting into all sorts of trouble. babbling and getting very good at telling us what she wants and don't want and most importantly, bossing us around and having us all wrapped around her little fingers.

one of the biggest milestones for us would probably be the sale of our little townhouse. when the tenants moved out in July, the house was still vacant after a few open houses so we thought it would be a great opportunity to sell it. i'm still on the fence on whether we made the right decision but the property fetched a pretty good price just before the market cooled down and as a result of the sale, we managed to realised a dream of buying a new car. so, maybe we did make the right decision?

as for Gabriel, he turned four few weeks ago and we had a big party for him. we hired a community hall, got iron man to come, all his friends came dressed in their favourite superheroes and super princesses and i made him a pretty cool cake. it's probably my best creation to date. he couldn't decide on whether he wanted a hulk or an angry bird cake so i made a mash up of both for him. i would like to take the credits for the cake but Jim helped with the figurines. i can't believe Gabriel will be turning five next year and he'll be starting school too.

we didn't do a lot of travelling this year. not that we don't want to but we've learnt our lesson since that little road trip we did in March. Charlotte is still not great in the car and we basically try stay within 5km radius from our house. some people say we should ignore her crying in the car and eventually she'll get it. well, we have ventured outside of the 5km radius boundary and it always end up with her screaming on top of her lungs until she's all worked up, red face with snots and all. so, i don't know when she'll get better at being in the car or being restrained.

it didn't feel like we got up to much in 2015 but life with two kids is so busy. i think we actually got up to quite a bit without knowing it ourselves. i wonder what 2016 has in store for us. well, i know for a start it'll be quite hectic. after working 3 days a week and being a stay at home mum for 2 days since September, my maternity leave will formally come to an end in a couple of days. i return to full time work on the first working day of January 2016 and there will be no more maternity leave for me in the future.

2016 has a lot to live up to but i believe things can only get better. i'm looking forward to our first overseas holiday as a family of four. after much umming and ahring, we finally booked our tickets to Malaysia so Charlotte can meet her aunties and cousins. the flight would probably be the longest as i walk up and down the aisle with Charlotte since she hates being restrained. it probably won't be much of a holiday for Jim and I but the kids will get to play with their cousins and we'll try our best to enjoy it as much as we can.

farewell 2015, it's been a great year!

Spring!

spring is my favourite season and it is looking pretty fine so far.

after neglecting my own fitness for 3 years, my flexibility went from bad to worse. i can't imagine whether if i'll be able to touch my knees when I'm 50. Also my non existent abs has been replaced by a pouch that is getting bigger and bigger thanks to my sweet tooth.  something had to be done before the warmer months where i can no longer hide under chunky knits and loose fitting clothes. so i finally decided to take action and started doing some stretching and also pilates at the beginning of the month.  i wish i could join a pilates class at the gym or at a community college but YouTube will have to do for now.  it's absolutely free and i can do it at the time that suits me (after the kids have gone to bed). i don't know if my work out is working but i feel good.  i feel good to finally look after myself again.  

another reason spring is going well so far is after weeks of prepping our little townhouse for sale at the end of winter,  the house went under the hammer for auction last Saturday and it was sold at a price we are very happy with. we sold the first house which used to be our home, our little paradise for 3 years. selling a house a auction is such a nerve wrecking experience and after weeks of not knowing whether it would be sold at a satisfactory price,  we're glad it's over. we can now move on with our lives and plan our next move.  

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - mma mma

most babies learn to say da da before ma ma including Gabriel. i remember he started calling Jim da dee way before he called me ma mee. i was so excited when Charlotte started calling me mma mma a few weeks ago. and every time she says mma mma, my heart melt a little. 

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - the best brother

he calls her his little sweetheart, he wants to be the first person to tend to her when she's up from her naps, he has to give her a kiss and a cuddle before she goes to bed and he is very observant and he remembers the toys she likes to play with. like this morning, Gabriel was playing with his cars but when he saw me getting some toys out of the toy hamper for Charlotte, he came over and grab the box of wooden blocks and he says to me: "let me get the blocks out of the box coz mui mui likes to knock them over". 

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - daycare sucks

ever since Charlotte started daycare,  her week goes a little something like this.  attends daycare on Thursday and Friday, come home with runny nose and maybe cough too. Saturday to following Wednesday are recovery days where she gets better. by Wednesday she's generally better and then the week repeats again. it's a vicious cycle and doesn't help that it's winter either. i guess it can be much worse and a bit of runny nose is good to help build up her immune system. this photo was taken last Wednesday after 5 days of recovery at home with no runny nose. 

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - the sweetest brother

i was greeted by this when i got to daycare to pick up the kids this afternoon. the educator says Gabriel was playing with his friends in the big kids yard and he came to sit with Charlotte when he noticed her in the baby yard. Charlotte's second week at daycare didn't go so well but her face lit up when she saw her big brother and she was quite contented with his company. i stood there and watched for 5 minutes before Gabriel noticed me.

 

i remember about two years ago, a little girl was a bit upset in the baby room and her brother (who must have been about 4 at the time) stood next to her consoling her and giving her lots of cuddles. i thought to myself at the time that i hope if we were lucky enough to give Gabriel a sibling, he would love and care for his sibling like this boy. at the time, i didn't think it was possible given how clingy and possessive Gabriel was of me.fast forward two years later, my wish came true. Gabriel continues to surprise us and show us everyday, how much he loves Charlotte. a couple of days ago, i asked him if he liked it more when it was just him, daddy and mummy or him, daddy, mummy and Charlotte. he says he liked it more when we have Charlotte too. i hope he would continue to be a protective and caring big brother like he is now to her.

Charlotte's first hair cut

as we arrived at the shops for lunch last Sunday, we drove past our hairdresser and noticed he's not as busy as he normally is. so Jim and i had a quick 10 seconds discussion and decided to take Charlotte to the hairdresser for a light trim to tidy the sides as they are longer than the rest.

unlike Gabriel's first hair cut which we planned, timed and booked weeks in advance, we arrived at the salon without our DLSR and had to use the camera on the phone (as you can see in the dodgy photos below). i suppose a child's first hair cut is not a novelty anymore when she's your second child? 

Charlotte was not very cooperative during the hair cut. turning her head every time the hairdresser tried to cut it and clingy onto me for dear life wondering what this stranger is doing grabbing her hair.

the end result? well, we are not 100% pleased with it. a hairdresser never gives you a light trim when you ask for one. the sides are slightly shorter than what i have hoped for and her fridge is a tad too short to pin. poor Charlotte now looks more like a boy than a girl and is looking very much like her brother at 9 months. we should have left her hair alone. here's hoping they'll grow fast and she'll look pretty again when she turns one in a few months time.

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - day 2 of daycare

Charlotte's second day at daycare went ok i think. she had a longer stay today, she had lunch, two naps and i picked her up at 3pm. whilst she did cry a lot more today and the educator did warn me the second day is generally harder than the first, i can tell she's settling in because when we got home, she was not as clingy to me as compared to yesterday. and she was quite happy too as you can tell from these photos. i hope she remembers attending daycare is fun when she goes back next Thursday.

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - Charlotte starts daycare

Charlotte started daycare today and it went better than expected. going by how she went at the creche on Tuesday,  i was expecting to hear her screaming on the other end of the phone when i rang to check on her 45 minutes after i left. to my surprise,  there was no crying of any sort on the other end of the phone and the educator assured me that she stopped crying after 30 minutes and was taking a nap when i rang. the educator said she fell asleep fairly quickly.

 

as it is her first day, i decided to pick her up after lunch. she was pretty upset when she saw me and when we got home, she wouldn't let me put her down or be out of her sight. she was so tired, she did another two 1.5 hour naps when we got home. 

 

first day of daycare is hard for both her and me. i feel so bad that she has to start daycare before she turns one but i also know the younger she starts, the easier it is for her to settle in. Gabriel started attending daycare when he was 13 months and it took him awhile to settle in. comparing how they went on their first day at daycare, i think i've made the right decision to start Charlotte young. 

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - uh oh

Gabriel had kinder gym this morning so i decided to take Charlotte to the crèche as part of her "training" for starting daycare this Thursday. the first time she was there, she stayed the whole hour. when I went and got her, she was asleep in one of the carer's arms. this time, she only managed 15 minutes before the carer brought her back to me. oh dear, i can't imagine how she'll go when she starts daycare this Thursday. i might just be the first parent in Appleseed history to be called to pick up my child earlier than the usual pick up time.

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - Monday park day

Mondays are pretty hectic when you have two kids. most of my Mondays start off quite well and i always feel quite proud of myself and accomplished when it's 4pm and both kids have behaved relatively well. in between naps and meal time, we managed to go to the shops in the morning and the park in the afternoon.  lately, I've been taking the kids to parks that are suitable for both kids. Gabriel had such a great time in the giant swing. he loves it when i push him really hard when it's just him in the swing and he likes it just as much with just gentle pushes when Charlotte is in the swing too.

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.