Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Back from Europe

We're back from Europe since last Fri and now I am busy unpacking and doing the laundry.
Before we left SG 2 weeks ago, the sky was blue but when we returned, the sky was grey and the air smelled bad due to the haze.

I've been doing laundry portion by portion so that I can move the clothes indoor to air should the haze worsen.
A glad that the sky seemed clearer since last Saturday.

I must say that traveling with a young toddler is very challenging.
Throughout the 2 weeks trip, I didn't have a good sleep as bb Rae turned cranky during bed times due to foreign environment and I gotta calm her down.
I am really glad that I managed to wean her off from EBM as it was impossible to wake up early to express BM.

I was awake since 4.30am daily to ensure we were on time for the tour and if I gotta express BM, then I'd need to wake up at 3am!

The weather in Europe was very pleasant, it was early summer so it wasn't hot nor cold.

Baby was able to eat a packet each of bb food for lunch and dinner and she had more milk then usual; she drank 4 to 5 times daily instead of the usual 3 feeds.  I guess the jet lag had make her lost of appetite.

She slept in the coach most of the time and when she was awake she'd played with me or RY or the tour mates (we joined a guided tour instead of free n easy).

She behaved so well that all the tour mates including the tour leader were impressed with her.

Europe is not very stroller friendly, so most of the time I carried her in the carrier.

It was a wonderful experience to travel with bb as the last time we were in Europe was just RY and me!
I think bb will not remember anything about this trip.
Most important is we as parents experienced traveling with her when she was 17 months old!
I'll cherish this memory........

Let me show u some pics of my cheeky girl during this trip.









Monday, June 10, 2013

Packing up for the Europe trip

Prior to the arrival of bb Rae, packing for holiday or biz trip was easy and merely took me a few hours to complete.
But with baby (especially such a sticky one), it seems to be taking me forever to pack ........
I can only pack while bb is asleep and gotta do it early in the morning like 4am and have about 3 hours each time to organise and pack for 2 paxs (bb and me).
Do note that not only I gotta pack her clothes, I also need to plan how many diapers/ wipes, how much milk powder, bb food pouches (yep, she is still eating bb food as she only has front teeth and no molar yet so she refused to chew or grind food which is not soft to her liking) and which toys to bring along etc ........ 

I only managed to pack for bb and has yet to pack for myself.

Wish me luck in my packing and hopefully I can pack in time!

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Toughest job!

I met up with a mommy friend 2 days ago for lunch.
We were supposed to meet in Orchard for lunch but due to me lack of sleep (bb's mid-night Merlioned episode), I was too tired to travel so my friend came to the mall near me for lunch instead.

It was a nice meet up and we chatted over lunch to share about our little ones and also about being mum.
We both agreed that being mum is a tough job and I personally feel that being a SAHM is the toughest job I've ever had ........

SAHM has no annual leave, sick leave or time off, no salary, no bonus or AWS, no overtime pay but overtime is expected, multi tasking is also expected.
SAHM contributions has the least recognition in the society!
SAHM like any other job has its ups and downs, as well as work stress but we've no HR dept to complain to.  We only can talk to hubby and hopefully he listens but sometimes he is the source of our frustrations so he may not understand.
Being a SAHM means that hub and others like MIL may've certain expectation on you being able to clean house, do household chores, cooks, care and discipline bb with perfect score of 10/10 since you're home all the time.  
RY expects me to attend to bb whenever she gets cranky especially in the middle of the night or early morning so that he can get a good sleep and if i dont act timely, he'll get upset.  MIL expects me to handle all housework by myself and not bother hub so that he can concentrate working and have good rest after work. (Note: MIL has never taken care of her kids full time as her mother helped her while she worked).
Anyone who is a SAHM like me with no helper would understand that its no mean feat to handle housework and bb alone.  
I need a break too!
When you're at work, you get tea break and lunch break but being a SAHM, I've no such break!
My meal time is a short 5 mins to let me swallow my food without tasting it.
The worst part is when baby cries while I've stomach upset and gotta decide which to do first, attend to bb or go toilet, it's an agony to hold back your "shxx" while attending to bb but its also heart breaking to hear her cries loudly and fiercely.
Rae is very "sticky" to me and want me to carry her like a koala bear and refused to leave me to let me do my work.

The rewards of SAHM is non-monetary!
I get to care for bb personally, ensuring that she eats balanced diet and be part of her growing up companion, play with her and teach her words.
We sing/ dance and laugh together.  
My job satisfaction is when I see her growing up well and hear her call me MaMa!
i'm also glad that I'm able to witness her achieving the different milestones.
So there is pros and cons of bring a SAHM and I hope the cons are temporary only.........
As a matter of fact, I do enjoy my time with bb Rae.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

She "Merlioned" in the middle of the night!

Yesterday was a horrible day for me!
It was the 1st time Bb Rae vomited and it was in the middle of the night!
If you've seen our Spore icon Merlion, you can imagine why I use it figuratively.

She started crying in her sleep at about 2am and I tried to pat her back to sleep but with no avail.
Then I gave her some milk and she clang on to me to sleep but when I tried to put her back into her baby cot, she cried fiercely and "merlioned" whatever was in her stomach!

So I gotta clean her up and also clear the mess on her bed, change the bed sheet etc.
Just when we thought we can catch some sleep, she pooped and hub gotta change her diaper.
We only managed to go to bed at about 5+am!

I hope this wont happen again as its really tiring .........

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Preparing for the Europe trip

We'll be going to Europe next week and now gotta start preparing for the trip.
I gotta plan what to bring for bb since its going to be cool spring weather there.

Not only I gotta pack her clothes, I also need to pack her milk, snacks. Bb food and medication  etc.

I should be bz doing the packing till the day we depart for Europe.

Down with common cold

Bb Rae is down with common cold and has been sneezing with running nose for a week.
I weaned her off from EBM just before she turned 17 months old and after a week of no breast milk, her immunity went down.

To boost her immunity, I've given her Scott's Emulsion and hopefully she can recover fast on her own with no medication required.