Baby Clara at 33 Weeks

So on Tuesday, we went for routine check up. C is now 33w, weighing 2.2kg. But if there was anything I learned from the first pregnancy, weights and such are an estimate, providing a rough guideline on how baby is doing. When B was around 39 weeks,  he was estimated to weigh 3.6kg! Dr was getting concerned because there was no signs of labour and felt he might be getting too big, hence we scheduled for induction. Thankfully he decided to come out on his own, before the induction happened and turned out? He was only 3.2kg. But judging from C's development,  she will probably be about the same size as B at birth.

I asked about when Dr W think C will make her debut. I mean, statistically, will second babies come earlier or later. Of course there's no guarantee but again judging from first pregnancy, it shouldn't be too far off so she's expecting somewhere around 39 weeks.  Which is good coz it means more time for me but bad also coz this bump is really starting to get in the way.

Regardless, 7 weeks is not that long a time. We will meet soon little girl!

Preparing and Transitioning The Older Child for A Sibling

My top top concern when Baby C comes along is how B will react to the whole situation. It has always been B, daddy and mummy all this while, with a sudden change of having a new sibling, I really have no idea how he's gonna react. Our pd warned that there could be a chance he would regress and DH and I are already hurting thinking how he might possibly be jealous.

So I did a bit of reading and found some tips that sound really useful, shared it with DH and we both made a mental note to watch out for one another and remind each other. Here's some of the tips:

1. Present the older child with a gift from baby when they first meet.
~ Well I'm not sure how exactly this will work for B but at least one thing I know for sure he will be happy with the gift we chose and that should keep him entertained at the hospital for a bit.

2. Leave the baby in the cot for the first meeting so that both parents' hands are free to hug or carry the older child during the introduction.

3. When spending time with #1 and the baby cries, do not rush to attend to baby. Instead,  explain to #1 that baby needs attention and help, shall we go check out together.

4. During feeding time for baby, whether bottle feeding or nursing, use that time to read or play with #1.

5. Get him involved as much as possible, such as changing diapers, getting the wipes etc

6. Have plenty of 1-on - 1 time with #1 as much as possible. Baby does not require your constant hovering unless they are fussing or crying. Honestly in the 1st few weeks, baby won't rem much, but your toddler will. It's ok to leave the baby on their own for abit.

These are some of the tips I found to be helpful and will be using them on B. Do you have any others to share?

Friday Afternoon Tea with Toddler

Yep, you heard it right. I brought B along for high tea with my mummy friends this afternoon. AND WE SURVIVED!

I had made plans with my friends to catch up this week since this is hubby-less week and I try to pack as much activities during the day so when nightfalls, we are both so tired that I won't miss hubby so much. More importantly, I don't have cooking duties so it was even better.

But I nearly chickened out last night, attempting to cancel today's high tea because I didn't think B would let me enjoy it. But you know what, I have to give him credit for being so well behaved this afternoon. And of course the venue and ambience helped a lot. We went to 10 Scotts at Hyatt and the entire place was cosy, like in someone's living room. Best, we were given a table in a quiet corner and  B had plenty of space to roam around. My friend brought his son along too so the 2 of them had fun together. They had playdates since around 8 months but only recently started playing with each other.

All I can say is.. boy was I glad I went ahead with the plans coz I had a great time catching up with friends, having tea and scones. When was the last time I had high tea?! I think it was the week before B was born and KK and I had high tea at Fullerton.

The good old days but today was even better.

Simple joys in life.

A Peek Into Our Lives.....

As part of the Day in a Life of blog train hosted by Mum in the Making, here's a peek into my day-to-day activities. They vary each day of course, but it's somewhat routine and similar in terms of the activities we do.

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5am: DH's alarm rings - he wakes to work out for an hour. I sometimes sleep through his alarm but most times I drift in and out of sleep.

630-7am: B is stirring and will be up, starts talking to himself, starts subtly waking me up. "Mummy I sayang you" or sings whatever song is on his mind. And I'm up in my drowsy state, we play awhile, tickle him and he laughs cheerfully.  DH hears us and joins us in the room, we change B's diaper in bed, goof around a little and go wash up.

7-730am: B has his milk while mummy shower before daddy heads out to work at 730pm.

B helps mummy to feed our little fishes.

Sometimes we drive daddy to work so we can have breakfast together and enjoy a leisurely stroll along the Vivocity boardwalk after breakfast.

8-830am: Mummy prepares a very easily assembled breakfast of bread or cereal. Bradley's choice of spread: butter with kaya or jam, ovomaltine, nutella or biscoff spread. Choice of drinks: milo or strawberry/plain UHT. Some days where we run out of bread, we will have cereal or MacDonalds' hotcakes with his favourite hash brown!

Mother and son's breakfast. That's my red dates and longan drink steeping in the tumbler.

On Wednesdays where B goes to playgroup, we leave house by 845am in order to try to reach before 915am. Other days, after breakfast, B keeps himself entertained while mummy get busy with these:

Laundry

Washing and preparing whatever I can in advance for dinner. 

Cooking the soup. I seldom use the slow cooker these days but decided to bring it out again so I don't have to watch the stove all the time.

Thawing the meat/seafood, which I will bring transfer from the freezer the night before so we don't spend too much time waiting for it to thaw.

All this while, B does NOT play quietly on his own. Every 5 minutes or less I'm being interrupted in my chores to "mummy help!", "mummy sit here", "mummy read", "mummy play".

When my morning chores are finally done, I can finally sit and relax for awhile (read: play with him wholeheartedly) until it's time for shower. Today, we are going on the duck tour. It's our first time and we are supposed to be there 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time. Actually, I later found out if you have purchased your tickets online and indicated your preferred departure time, 10 minutes before departure is plenty of time to get in line to board the boat.

830am: Shower and change and mummy quickly splash on some make up. All in 10 minutes!

9am: Out of the house we go and headed for Suntec City.

930am: Reached there in plenty of time, bought tickets and waited to board.

Getting impatient

Is that the one we are going on?

Wefie with Mum before boarding

The ride took about 1 hour, and boy was it hot and packed! Every seat was taken up so B was sitting on me the entire time. At some point, he started getting bored and sleepy! Must be the heat. Anyway, we were done just before 11am and we rushed home to prepare lunch.

It was B's lunar birthday and I had prepared the stock and thaw the meat in advance. So it was a matter of cooking the mee sua and boiling the soup.

1230-1pm: Nap time. Mummy's break time!! YAY!!! He typically sleeps for 1.5 hour to 2 hours. On some rocky days, 1 hour. On some extreme lucky days, 3 hours! I use this time to catch up on social media, sleep or prepare dinner stuff.

230-3pm: Back to reality, the boss is awake. Sometimes daddy decides to come home early from work, we'll head over to pick him up before coming home to cook dinner. Today is one such day.

4pm: Home from picking daddy. Dad will watch and play with B while mummy cooks dinner.

5-530pm: Dinner time!

6pm: Outdoor play time (this is only if Daddy is back early because with a baby bump now, it has proven quite challenging for me to run after him at the playground or when he scoots around on his scooter).

7pm: Shower aka water play time (again)

730pm: Milk

745pm: Brush teeth and lights off! Hopefully he's out before 830pm.

And that's the end of my day, oh, not before clearing this mess up first.

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This post is part of a blog train hosted by Justina at Mum in the Making. Click on the below button to take a 24-hour peek into the lives of different mummies or link up with your own post!



Next up on this blog train is: Winnie at ToddlyMummy.

At ToddlyMummy, Winnie shares her thoughts on parenting, fun learning moments of they home learning sessions and outdoor adventures. She sometimes share about her favourite food too, along with occasional side orders of stuff that she finds useful as a busy mum.

Missing in Action.. For Just a Little Bit

I know I've been quiet. Is pregnancy fatigue a good enough reason?

Guess not.

Probably just boils down to laziness. I really take my hats off other mummy bloggers who have to juggle family and takes time to write very meaningful and interesting posts.

But I did have some good days that past since B's birthday weekend. Most of these I've updated on Instagram (follow me: https://instagram.com/paulineee84) which I'm a lot more active. We went on the Duck Tour which was fun but hot hot hot. We took a cable car ride and became Faber-licensed, i.e. basically signing on to be member that allows us a year of unlimited rides. It was quite a no-brainer for us because the roundtrip ticket for an adult is $29 while the membership is $39. Thankfully I signed on the spot because once B got onto the cable car, he didn't want to alight! So can you imagine if I had to carry him to buy tickets at every station and pay $29 each time which totally didn't make sense. So we got our membership card on the spot at the Mt Faber membership counter and just went on the ride until I got a little sick and had to persuade him down. It was really fun actually. If anyone is interested, that membership card somewhat acts like the Sentosa Islander card, you get a whole bunch of discount on Sentosa including free admission via car.

Now this week, DH is away in Japan and I told my mum I'll camp over at her place. Actually, mainly for dinners so I don't have to cook. I made no effort in going to the market last weekend since I had zero intention to cook with DH being away. So last few nights B and I came home late after dinner at my mum's, I showered him there just in case he sleeps in the car on the way back. Tomorrow, I'll take him with me to Dr W for my check up. 31weeks now, not long to go.

Will have more details tomorrow... and it will be my turn on the SMB blog train, giving you a sneak peek at a day in my life.