Thursday, 30 October 2008

My cheeky babe. If you have noticed her colourful bottoms, that's just the bumwear training pants. I'm trying to toilet train her ... let's hope it works.

Thursday, 30 October 2008

Silbling love.

Thursday, 30 October 2008

I miss the days when I used to bring nat to interesting new places to explore, like the zoo and museum. Since lucas came along, we are usually home and even when we do venture out, it is only for a short while. So today, since I was meeting my friends, I brought her along. nat had a good time entertaining my friends and even socialising with a little meimei, a friend's daughter. I was quite surprised by how gentle nat was with the little mei mei.

I really adore my little girl, even though she is really quite a handful these days. As I was telling gary, the most easiest time I had with her was between the age of 1 to 1.5 years when she was just learning to walk and talk, not too super active yet. Now, she is like a dynamo, shooting everywhere at top speed. Yet, I must admit that these times bring about other beautiful experiences for me.

Tuesday, 28 October 2008

We have been trying to teach nat to differentiate colours for quite a while already, but to her, everything is red. So we have bought her this new book, that hopefully will do the trick. There was a sale at Kinokuniya yesterday, so we bought some new books for nat to read. I am particularly attracted to this author called Eric Carle, who has written titles like "The Hungry Caterpillar". His drawings are colourful and vibrant and somehow, nat seems really attracted to them.

Check out nat's new books below. The spider book is to feed her latest spidey obsession while the other book, will hopefully help her to learn the colours.

Didn't really do much yesterday, though we did bring nat to Bukit Timah Hill to check out the monkeys. Unfortunately, the monkeys seem to have disappeared. I recall there used to be heaps of them sitting on the railings on our drive in, not anymore. Nevertheless, nat had fun at the playground.

Monday, 27 October 2008

It's 1am and I have only just managed to put lucas to bed. In fact, it took the 3 of us, the maid, gary and me to lull didi to bed ... I was really tired and had knocked out at 10:30pm already. However, at 12am, I got awakened by gary coming into the room with a super alert didi who definitely did not look ready to sleep. I told gary to go to bed first and I would take over this night duty. Thankfully, didi has finally fallen asleep.

Coping with a newborn and toddler is definitely no walk in the park. Yesterday was the maid's day off, so it was just us and the kids and let me tell you, it sure is tiring managing them. When one sleeps, the other refuses to sleep. When the other sleeps, the one who had earlier slept wakes up. What does this mean? We don't sleep.

Yesterday also marked didi's first official outing, first to the Riders Cafe and later in the evening to Botanic Gardens. Tiring, but I appreciate the fact that we are going out as a family and not just chucking didi at home, as we usually do. That said, I do think I'll start bringing him out more only when he gets a little older. It is quite troublesome and he doesn't seem to enjoy it all that much anyway.

Thursday, 23 October 2008

Recently, nat has picked up a bad habit ... partly our fault. She must have heard us using the word "stupid" and it is now part of her vocabulary. I think it is kind of a rude word for a little toddler to be using and I have been trying to "educate" her, without much success. The thing is that she understands that the word "stupid" has negative connotations, because after i scold her for using that word, she will ask me "no stupid?" in an innocent tone. A bit frustrating, wonder if I should just leave it, and hope that she grows out of this or continue being stern and disciplining her whenever she says the word.

I can't remember if I mentioned previously before, but breastfeeding seems to be easier this time round with lucas and over the past 1.5 months, I have managed to stored up quite a substantial amount of frozen breastmilk. Recently, I decided to thaw some of the earlier frozen breastmilk for didi to drink. Just before I gave the milk to didi, I gave it a little sniff and it smelt horrible! It was a mixture of a metallic, fishy smell. Gary and I did a quick check on the net and realised that this is quite normal. Seems that this has something to do with some kind of enzyme in the milk which causes the milk to change slightly after being frozen. However, the nutritional value is said to be still present. I think that henceforth though, I will try to implement a Just-In-Time system, i.e pump as he feeds so that Lukie never has to drink breastmilk that is more than 3 days old, which means there is no need for freezing of the breastmilk. However, I don't think I will throw out my current batch of frozen breastmilk just yet, keep it in case of emergencies (like if I am out gallivanting too long and we run out of fresh breastmilk). Sigh ... and I thought I could feed him frozen breastmilk for a long long time ... well ... sometimes things don't really turn out as planned. Nevertheless, I still firmly believe that breast is still best for my kids!

Daddy Update: Natalie and Lucas are now 21 and 1.5 months old respectively, and for all my gripes about the administrative tedium of childcare, the joys far outweigh the duties. It is fascinating to watch Nat at this stage of development (18-24 months) – her intellect and vocabulary are expanding much faster than I’d anticipated, and every day brings new surprises. From stringing words together to form simple sentences, to developing the motor dexterity to drink juice from a cup without upending its contents, to swimming unassisted (with floats) – it is amazing how quickly kids progress from a state of total dependence to one of semi-independence. Lucas has also become a big boy, more than doubling in weight from birth, with a seemingly insatiable appetite. He is boisterous, insistent and will (to put it mildly) take the trouble to make his wishes known. He has also grown much better-looking. A friend mentioned that I was taking being a father of 2 well in my stride; I think it’s the other way round, that the kids grow on me as they grow up. I hope I grow on them too.

Tuesday, 21 October 2008

Some pics to share ... a leisurely evening swim, relaxing on the rocker after an early morning bath and sibling love.

Monday, 20 October 2008

Over the weekend, we brought nat to Jacob Ballas. It's been some time since we visited this playground for kids and of course, our little sweetheart had a great time. Weather was kind of hot and after some time, her cheeks looked really rosy. Look at the pics!

Today, didi lucas went for his first injection. Just like nat, his pediatrician is Dr Terence Tan. A really nice and good doctor, he always makes you feel that your kid is in very safe hands with him. Dr Tan commented that didi is growing well, he is a big boy with a growing appetite for milk. At about 1.5 months, didi is weighing 5.3 kg and has a height of 54 cm. I asked him about didi's slightly jaundiced look as well as the white pimple spots on his face. He reassured me that these would naturally go off after a few months.

Love my kids ... although sometimes when both are crying at the top of their voices, it can be quite a pain but well, that's all part and parcel of motherhood, I guess.

Friday, 17 October 2008

It's great staying at home with the kids. Although I feel that half the time, my maid and I are stressed out trying to handle the needs of both. Nat has taken to running around at full speed these days and we have to watch out for her to make sure she doesn't fall or bang into didi.

I'm still trying to introduce new and creative activities for her to do daily, as you will see from the pics. Jigsaws and stuff ... she's also progressed from her chinese reader on spiders to another book. I am glad though that she loves to read. Whenever I ask her if she would like to read a book, she will drop whatever she is doing and quickly take out her favourite book, make herself comfy in mummy's lap and read.

Tantrums are still a daily occurence, including loud screaming sessions which I have managed to capture in a video. I look forward to the day when nat is all grown up and she and I will look back at these videos and laugh :)

Didi's sleeping habits seem to have improved slightly, at least we are not taking 2 hours to lull him to bed and he is sleeping slightly longer before waking up for his next feed. It's interesting though, it is these first few months that the babies change so much, every week you look at him, his features seem to change slightly. He is starting to remind me more of nat when she was his age ...

Love the kids to bits and there's this pic I took just yesterday, of both of them sleeping together, very sweet, that's wat you call a truly Kodak moment.

Monday, 13 October 2008

This weekend, we brought nat to Mimolette for brunch. Heard that the brunch there is pretty popular, so we decided to check it out. The other great attraction is that Mimolette is located near the horse riding club so nat had plenty of opportunities to get up close and personal with the horsies. In fact, on the morning that we went there, they were having some kind of horse riding competition and we got to see the horses trotting to the fast rhythm of catchy music, quite cool. It's really quite a nice place to spend a lazy weekend morning and the kids will surely love it. Just look at the pics and you will know that nat really enjoyed herself thoroughly.

My little sweetheart is now a full fledged toddler, always clear of her likes and dislikes. When we play certain songs/music that she does not like, she will put up her hands and say "don't want". The other day, I was just singing the "Ten green bottles, sitting on the wall" song to her (I know it's not the most creative song but I was trying to lull her to sleep.) and she said "don't want". Haha, I was hurt, how could she reject mummy's nice vocals.

As for baby lukie, he has really filled up since his newborn days. Not sure if he is going through a growth spurt but he sure is drinking lots of milk. Only thing is that these past few nights, he has been wide awake from 12am. Wonder if it is because he sleeps too much in the afternoon? Anyway, mummy has been having not much sleep because of his nocturnal preferences. Let's hope he will settle down into a better sleep routine soon.

Tuesday, 7 October 2008

I have decided to make a more diligent effort to introduce various activities to nat, since I am on maternity leave. I have since been reading up on homeschooling and am trying to source for different activities for her. For today, we started off with reading the alphabets and a Chinese story book.

Looks like Chinese is something very foreign to nat. I read to her a book about a spider and she was very keen to tell me that it was a spider. However, when I spoke in Chinese and told her the spider was also a 蜘蛛, she looked at me in surprise and burst out laughing. After reading the book a few times though, she seems more receptive to the language and even ventured to pronouce 蜘蛛, although it really sounds nothing like the real thing.

Today, she also did some simple scrawling and drawing on white paper, haha, definitely ain't no artist but at least it lets her unleash some pent-up energy.

Didi lucas blissfully slept through all the noise.

Monday, 6 October 2008

Baby Lucas had his first month celebrations yesterday, down at our condo function room. There was a kind of deja vu feeling, after all, nat's one-month celebrations was held, just a year ago at the same place. Lucas slept amidst all the noise, that's the thing about my kids, they are kind of trained to sleep with the tv, radio and all kinds of noise ongoing in the background. Nat also had fun hanging out with her friends, it's interesting to observe them, think they are getting to an age where they can interact with one another already. Nat was chasing after Jamie for biscuits ... and Jamie was "not pleased" haha ... they are really quite cute to watch. Luv my baby's pretty dress, these days, she is not so tomboy! We put some pretty clips in her hair and ask her to look in the mirror and she really does! After she checks herself out, she'll run back and ask if she's pretty, such a sweetheart hor! That's one of the joys of having a baby girl.

Saturday, 4 October 2008

Today, we brought nat to Dempsey for breakfast. There is this neat little cafe called The Pantry near the Lowen Gardens section that is a great place for kids. They have a large playarea with slides, ride-ons and even a trampoline. Nat had a really good time jumping on the trampoline. Let the pics speak for themselves. Do check it out if you have the chance.

Also, more updates on nat's potty training endeavours. Every morning, just before her bath, nat will sit at the potty. She seems to have accepted this routine without much resistance. While sitted at the potty, my maid will talk to her and entertain her and before you know it, she's done her morning poop for the day. I think I read somewhere that potty training comes naturally, the child will show that they are ready for potty training, either through actions or verbally, when they are well and ready. From my experiences with nat, I think this is true. Also heard somewhere that boys usually take longer to be potty trained ... well ... will let you know when lucas is ready for his potty training.

Thursday, 2 October 2008

My confinement lady will be off next week, so fast hor, time flies! And baby lucas will sleep with gary and me for the next few months, until his sleep routine is more stabilised. Nothing too exciting to update for the moment, after all, this is confinement period :) Here's a pic of my little pretty miss, just after her bath.