To the other side of the world and back again

Sorry that we’ve been a little quiet lately, what a busy few months we’ve had!

Shortly after deciding to travel to Europe we were told that we had to move out of the apartment we’d been living in for the past 4 years. Owners are moving back in, what can we do. So we had just over a month to look for a new place, move and then go on holidays.

We were very lucky to find a great place that’s closer to work and child care. It’s a bigger place so Anna has more room to run around. There’s also a great park nearby so it’s a blessing in disguise that we were made to move.

Shortly after the move, we began our adventure to Holland and France. The much dreaded flight was easier than we first thought. Anna was just under the weight limit for the bassinet and we were glad to offload our lovely 14kg once in a while to reboot the circulation in our legs. A highlight of the journey was definitely when Anna screamed out ‘F$#K’ at Singapore airport when she saw a giant frog – you see, she hasn’t quite master making the ‘fr’ sound, much to the embarrassment of her parents.

We spent the first week of our trip in Holland. It was great for Anna to meet all her Dutch relatives and to spend some quality time with the family. A highlight would have to be meeting her little cousin Pepijn and spending time playing together. It was great to have that time together. In Chinese culture, paternal cousins are as seen as siblings rather than cousins, so it was wonderful for Anna to meet her ‘brother’.

Then off to France we went. It was always going to be an ambitious trip, driving and training across France. As Anna’s at the age of discovering her independence, it was particularly challenging at meal times and nap times for her to sit still or remain seated in the pram. It was frustrating at the time, but we can look back now and be amazed at how quickly our little girl grew up in those 2 weeks across France and what a fantastic adventure it was for all 3 of us. It was also great to meet up with my best friend Laura, even though it was so brief. She has been away for almost a year and it was great for Anna to reunite with ‘Lau-la’ who taught her to stand up all those months ago.

With another 10 days in Holland, we were ready to go home again. Anna was definitely more active on the flight home and she thoroughly enjoyed taking Daddy on walks into Business Class. 

Back in Sydney, we settled back into a routine very quickly. Teachers at childcare all remarked on how much Anna was now talking and also how tanned she was. We were asked to prepare some photos from the trip and stories so the children in her class had a Dutch-themed week during which they learned all about Anna’s time in Holland, coloured in paper clogs and looked at the photos on display. Those teachers know how to make parents go ‘awwwwwwwwww’!

3 months down the line, life is back to normal. Anna is no longer using the pram and at almost 22-months of age, she started toilet training. She’s doing great so far, using the toilet at each nappy change. We’ll soon change to pull-up nappies to make it even easier for her. Will keep you all posted on her progress. She has also learned to use the dvd player (thanks Daddy for showing her what to do!) and is going through an obsessive phase with watching The Wiggles. She’s started singing a lot more and now knows all the lyrics from ‘Twinkle twinkle’, ‘ABC’, ‘Bah bah black sheep’ and a few other nursery rhymes. She’s showing a real interest in helping with household tasks, and at the moment she’s in charge of putting all dirty laundry in the laundry basket and putting recyclable rubbish in the special bin. 

So once we train her to vacuum and get drinks from the fridge we’ll be all set!

I leave you now with one of my favourite shots from the trip - Anna cracking up herself in the mirror. Enjoy!

To wean or not to wean

As with most baby habits, there comes a point when you have to wean them. The breastfeeding, the formula, the bottle, all done and dusted. Now we have the dummy.

Anna wasn’t always such a fan. In the very beginning she had trouble keeping it in her mouth, until we switched to the current cherry-shaped dummy. Ever since she’s been using it for sleep. Now that we travel for more than an hour in the car each day (Sydney traffic is getting worse) she started requesting it each time she’s strapped in. I suppose it is partly our fault. We used to feed her a snack in the car on the way home but to make sure that she still eats her dinner once we’re home we’d sometimes offer the dummy when she starts complaining. Now we’re stuck with a screaming Anna until dummy is fetched.

Recently, I met up with a few mums at a café, Anna was using her dummy to try to fall asleep when one of the mums said “Oh Anna, you look too big to be using a dummy”. Immediately, I felt guilty. I comfort myself by thinking: well, she doesn’t use it all day like some babies. But should I be concerned that her use has increased? Will it be one of those things that she’ll all of a sudden stop doing one day because she simply ‘grows’ out of it?

In the meantime, I’ll just be happy that she has a cure for her sore ears for our upcoming flights and I'll enjoy it every time she says ‘Ta’ and hands back her dummy at the end of the car trip :)

To other parents out there reading this, any advice on what we should do?

New year, new blog post!

Firstly, apologies for such a long absence. I have gone back to work full time since the last entry so free time is quite precious right now.

Work is going well, I feel like I have switched that part of my brain on again and everything is still functioning. Juggling work and home life is ok so far, you just do what you have to do. The biggest challenge is wrapping my head around the fact that the teachers at day care are spending more of Anna’s waking hours with her than us.

Anna is thriving, growing bigger and smarter every day. She just started ‘counting’….if you consider being able to say ‘two’ after we say ‘one’ counting. She seems to be having a great time at childcare, even though she has been a repeated victim of the classroom biter. She likes to show us different things around the classroom when we pick her up, all the while babbling away about this and that. Someone should invent a baby-translator because we’d love to know what she’s saying!

Anna has achieved many milestones since the last post, most notably:

-   Turning one – after having a pirates and princesses themed group party with the entire mothers’ group, we also held a smaller party for family and close friends at home for Anna. On her birthday (which turned out to be a public holiday) we took Anna for her first visit to the Aquarium, it was a fun day for all of us.

-   Walking/running – Anna mastered walking at 13 months of age, after about 6 weeks of cruising. She now prefers to run and can walk up the stairs by herself if there is a railing.

-   Her first 2 syllable word – BUBBLE. Yes, it’s incredibly cute and such a useful word too!

-   First trip to the ER with a 'pulled elbow'. Long story short she's fine but now that it's loose, it could happen again. For those of you with young children, please take a look at this link for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nursemaid%27s_elbow

Anna is overall a happy toddler who loves to dance. She has many moves including the ‘wiggle’, the ‘finger-pointing- boogie’, the ‘Irish dance’ and the ‘sway’ (reserved for slow tempo songs). She also loves watching many kids shows, especially ones with music and dancing, such as The Wiggles and Hi-5.

Sleeping is still the biggest struggle even though it’s improving. It usually takes ½ hour of us sitting next to her cot to put her to sleep at night. Most of the time is encouraging her to lay back down each time she stands/sits up in bed. She usually sleeps around 5-6 hours before waking up and joining us in bed.

Besides mummy and daddy, Anna’s favourite person at the moment is my dad. Just saying ‘Gong-Gong’ (Chinese for maternal grand-dad) puts a smile on her face. When my parents are visiting, Anna likes to sit in Gong Gong’s lap while he surfs the internet, and she especially enjoys tickling him when he’s trying to nap on the couch.

It’s such happy times for us at the moment. The weather is warm, the sun is shining and even with all the crazy things happening in the world, the three of us are enjoying being a family together. What more could we ask for :)

P.S. For those of you who haven’t done so already, please donate to the Queensland Floods Appeal: http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html . The affected area is the size of France and Spain combined and it is the worst flooding we’ve seen in Australia for a century. Please help if you can.

Love,

Viv

The end of an era

I'm writing this 3 days before Anna is due to start childcare – wow, time really does FLY! I can still remember holding my little bundle of joy for the first time as if it happened yesterday and now I'm sending her off to be cared for by strangers. What a weird feeling!  

No one can ever prepare you for the joys and tribulations of parenthood and now I'm beginning to really feel guilty for the first time as a mum. Not that I haven't been feeling guilty for the last 10 ½ months – stopping breastfeeding even though it's been 8 months: guilty!; not feeding Anna home made food 100% of the time: guilty!; falling asleep with Anna instead of doing housework: guilty! Being a mum is one endless episode of guilt. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade this for anything else in the world. But as we're on the cusp of a new beginning for both Anna and me, I can't help but wonder whether I've spent the past year wisely enough. 

Being a full time mum is the toughest job I've ever had and the most enjoyable one as well. Days are filled with chores like nappy changes and feeds, and lots of laughter and a real sense of being a kid again. While each task or game may seem mundane on their own, together they form your baby's world and perhaps they'll one day become treasured memories of their childhood. 

One real godsend has been my mothers' group. The MG meetings on each and every Wednesdays have become a staple in our lives. It's a great place for the mums to learn from each other, vent our frustrations and provide support to each other. It's also great fun for our babies to play and interact with each other. This Wednesday we attended our last MG meeting and as I hugged and kissed goodbye my fellow mums and babies, it really hit home that this is indeed the end of an era. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank each and every single mum that I've met via our MG as you've all helped me be the best mum I can be to Anna. And to your babies, it's been a privilege to watch you all grow into beautiful little toddlers.

I will try to find sometime to write another entry with an update on Anna's developments for the past couple of months. Until then,

With lots of love,

Anna's mum      

Go-Anna!

Wow, what a jam-packed couple of months it's been! As always, Anna is doing great and learning to do lots of new things.

Standing

Although she'd already done it a couple of times by accident, the first time Anna really learned to stand by holding onto something is the day my friend Laura came for a visit. As most of you know, Laura has left Sydney for a 2 year adventure around the world. Before she went, she made sure that she got to spend some quality time with Anna and they both enjoyed it immensely. With Laura's encouragement, Anna started climbing onto her lap and then pulling herself into a standing position. After around 1/2 hour of practice, she learned to stand. It was as simple as that.

That was 2 weeks ago, and now Anna stands all day long! Pulling herself up on anything within reach. I just can't take my eyes off her in case she hurts herself. The most scary thing she has done was to pull up on the tray of her high chair and then letting her legs go - literally swinging on her highchair like a monkey bar!

Now Anna's fine-tuning her technique of sitting back down. Often she'd just let her hands go and kinda fall onto her bum but she's worked out that if she holds on with one hand it softens the landing :)

Crawling

Since my last entry, Anna has well and truly mastered the art of crawling. She crawls as fast as you can walk, so often she's fast at my heels wherever I go. She especially enjoys following me into the toilet as the sound of her hands on the tiles seem to be extremely amusing to her and both David and I enjoy hearing the pitter patter of those little hands. Like all babies, Anna loves to explore all those things that you want her to stay away from, like rubbish bins, and those nooks and crannies that you just can't keep clean. I found her chewing on a leaf one day and got to her just in time to pull it out of her mouth. That was just plain lucky, who knows what else she's been eating during her expeditions! I comfort myself by thinking that it'll help build her immunity.

First words

 

Although Anna has been the first to achieve a lot of milestones within our group of babies, she has been a little slow with her babbling. Then out of nowhere, she started saying 'wah wah wah' one night while we were at Cairns, which turned into 'ma ma ma' the next day and she has not stopped since! She seems to be adding to her repertoire everyday but 'ma ma'  and 'mum mum' are still her favourites, especially when she's upset and wanting a mummy cuddle. The closest she's gotten to saying 'Dad' is 'ba ba' which is 'Dad' in Chinese so David's happy with that. We're so proud of our multilingual child :)

Clapping

We've been singing to Anna ever since she's born and one of her favourite songs has always been 'If you're happy and you know it'. Now that she's figured out how to clap she really wants to show you when she's happy by clapping up a storm.

Drinking from a straw

Anna has enjoyed using her sipping cup for about 4 months now but it's time that we have an upgrade - to a straw water bottle. I thought it would be hard for her to adjust since she was rather attached to her sipping cup but within 2 tries she got the hang of it and started to enjoy her new found skill. Now she's excited whenever she sees me flip that straw out of the bottle. It never seizes to amaze me how fast she learns new things.

First holiday 

Another milestone this month has been our first holiday as a family. One of my oldest friends, Amy, got engaged and moved to Townsville in Queensland (3 hours flight away from Sydney) over a year ago. When she announced that she was getting married at Palm Cove in Cairns (the next major city north of Townsville) we jumped at the chance to travel with Anna for the first time. We've been to Cairns twice in the past, it's in a rather lovely part of Australia - where tropical rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef. Palm Cove was in fact our favourite beach in Cairns so we were rapt to visit there again.

This trip took months of planning as it was the first time flying with Anna and leaving her with a babysitter. For the early morning flight (6am take off so we were leaving the house at 4.15!) we woke up extra early to get all the luggage to the front door and only took Anna out of bed when the taxi was loaded up. For the flight we bought a new toy (Kerry the Fairy doll with lots of crinkling fabrics that Anna loves), stocked the nappy bag with lots of food and snacks and had boobs and dummies ready to help her with the air pressure on take off and landing. Anna was surprisingly well behaved on both flights - on the flight there she actually slept on both take off and landing; on the flight home she slept most of the way in daddy's arms. When she was awake she was entertained by staring at everyone around her, especially by those who wanted to chat to her.

Once we got to Cairns we were pleasantly surprised by our hotel. With the travel agent's recommendation we'd booked a room at one of many resorts on the Palm Cove main stretch. We arrived to find an ultra modern resort, with a huge lagoon pool (you know the type that snakes around the whole resort) and our room was more like a 2 bedroom apartment, with 2 bathrooms, living room and kitchen. It was nice enough to live in! Anna was so excited by the huge space that she now had to roam around in, especially by the tiled floors.

One of the attractions that we thought would appeal to Anna was the butterfly sanctuary located up the mountain at a little village called Kuranda. So that's where we were off to first. Anna was absolutely gobsmacked when she saw all the butterflies. With all the photos we took inside, she never looked at the camera once because she was too busy looking at the butterflies. One even landed on her!

The next day we decided to travel back into Cairns city centre to check out the huge baby pool they have in the middle of the city. But what a huge disappointment when we arrived to find that it was being renovated! So shortly after lunch we headed back to swim in our hotel pool instead. Although we were in the tropics it was the middle of winter after all, and water temperature wasn't exactly the most baby friendly. Anna had a good time getting her feet wet while watching a couple of bigger girls playing next to her. We made it up with a nice hot family bath back in our room afterwards, it was a nice novelty to have a bath with our little nudie since we don't have a bath tub at home.

Then Sunday was the day of the wedding. We took it easy with a lazy day at Palm Cove with a bit of time at the playground after breakfast, an early lunch and then it was back in our hotel to get dressed for the 2.30pm ceremony. Anna looked like a little doll with her brand new dress and headband and got lots of 'awwwww's from fellow guests. After the beautiful ceremony and group photos, it was time to leave Anna with the babysitter. Benny was an experienced sitter and she seemed confident about the night ahead. Plus Anna hit it off with her fellow babysitting buddy Casey (16-months old) straight away by pulling his shirt to stand up. So we left comforted by the thought that Anna would have a great night playing. But about 15 minutes later, we got the call we dreaded: "Your Anna is screaming her head off"! Oh no! But it was a simple case of being over tired so I was able to settle her into a nap within minutes, so we left her sleeping in her pram. About an hour later, we were called again - yes, screaming her head off again. This time we decided to take Anna into the reception with us until she falls asleep for the night. Even thought it was more work walking her around the hotel until she fell asleep, it was worth knowing that she wasn't upset anymore. We left Anna sound asleep in her pram with Benny again and the rest of the evening passed without incident.

So that was a little wrap up of our first holiday. Overall it was a relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable 3 days for all of us. With Anna flying so well, we're tempted to travel again soon.

Until next time, GO HOLLAND!!!

Our big girl

Wow, it's been such a busy few weeks and as usual Anna's learning/doing lots of new things:

Eating meat/3 meals a day

An update on her solids food: she's now eating a lot more variety and also in a lumpier consistency. We have also introduced meat and fish into her diet, again, she took to it without a problem. Recently we've added full cream diary: milk (on her breakfast cereal), yogurt (natural yogurt mixed with fruit), butter (in her mash potato) and cheese (grated on her pasta or as finger food), Anna just loves it. On top of that we've started giving her cruskit (a type of biscuit snack) which she loves to hold and eat herself.

  

Her favourite snack right now is mandarins, often eating up to a whole fruit each day. We also bought a high chair for Anna to sit on for her meals so she's more upright. So far she's really enjoying sucking and banging on the tray while spreading food all over the place. Luckily we bought the most simple high chair that can be hosed down so mess isn't too much of a problem (can't say the same for our carpet!).

Crawling/shuffling
While we can't quite call it crawling, Anna's definitely moving about on all fours. It's more like dragging and shuffling using mainly her arms. She can push herself up quite high (as though doing a push up) and can sway back and forth, but she hasn't quite worked out how to move with her legs into a crawl. We're sure that this will happen very soon so baby proofing our apartment is one of the main concerns right now.

Teeth
Just a day before her 6-month birthday, Anna got her first tooth. It was the lower left central incisor, little sharp spikes poking through her gums. The tooth to the right followed exactly one week later. We've also started to help her brush them with a very cool baby toothbrush. Although we can't quite connect any specific signs of teething, Anna has been more unsettled at night. The websites tell us that it can be due to teething, developmental milestones (baby wanting to practice new skills even in their sleep), separation anxiety etc etc that can cause baby to wake up at night. Since it's starting to get colder at night, we've often resorted to putting her in bed with us. Although we hear that co-sleeping is a way to spoil a baby, we both enjoy snuggling up to our little one on those cold nights, and so does Anna.

First cold
The inevitable has happened – Anna caught her first cold. We're not sure if it's from another baby or just a particularly cold day at swimming, but we've been preparing for this day to come, after all this is the only way for her to build up her immunity. Although there was no fever, Anna was very uncomfortable with a stuffy nose and complained (very loudy) when we tried to clear it for her with saline drip and a suction bulb. The books say babies can have around 6 colds in their first 2 years so we better all get used to it.

Waving
We're super proud of this one as Anna is (again) the first baby to achieve this in our little group. I've been trying to teach her to sign 'bye-bye' for a while but she'd always look at me like I'm an idiot. It was a total surprise a couple of weeks ago when we were visiting my aunt's new house Anna started to wave. And once she started she just wouldn't stop! She even practices while falling asleep :) She can now also sign 'bye-bye' but she doesn't understand the difference between the 2 greetings. When we were at her 6-month check up recently she started waving to the midwife. Later that week I heard from another mum that the same midwife was raving about Anna's 'advanced skills'. So proud!


It seems to get harder and harder to find time to write on this blog but I'm determined to keep going. It's great to mark down all of Anna's achievements and a pat on our backs for doing a good job raising her :)

Off the charts!

It's been a little while since my last entry and the past 2 months have been such huge months for Anna which marked a lot of firsts.

Rolling over
As mentioned in my last entry, Anna is now rolling over. She just cannot lay on her back for more than a minute! This also goes for sleep time. She now prefers to sleep on her tummy. We were worried at first that she'd face-plant onto the bed and not be able to breathe, so we'd turn her back around all night long. But she soon showed us that being on her tummy is her preferred sleeping position and she's happy to turn her head to the side. She still can't quite turn from her tummy onto her back, although she has done it a few times by accident and boy does she surprise herself (and not to mention us!). Here's a photo of her after she did a double roll and ended up 1 metre away from where we'd put her down on the playmat :)

Eating solids
I wasn't going to start feeding Anna solids until at least 6 months, but a visit to the early childhood centre was to change that plan. At 4 months and 1 week, Anna weighed a whooping 7.98kg and was 69cm tall so the midwife advised that breast milk alone was no longer going to cut it! Anna took to food like a fish to water, from the very first spoonful she seemed to know exactly what to do. In fact, she even pulled the spoon towards her mouth! David says that since she's half Cantonese, she's gonna love her food (there is a saying in China - Cantonese people will eat anything with four legs - except the table.). So far she has tried roast pumpkin, mashed avocado, banana and broccoli, and stewed apple and pear. We also bought her a little sipping cup with handles and she can now drink water on her own – we are so proud!

Swimming
David and I were always keen for Anna to start swimming lessons as early as possible so when my mothers' group brought up the idea we jumped at the chance to sign up straight away. On Tuesdays, we all travel to the apartment where one of the mums live to use the indoor heated pool in their building. Our teacher meets us there for the 20 minute lesson (small babies can get cold very quickly in the water, thus the short lessons). We sing songs and help our babies float and become comfortable in the water. Recently we started to put their heads under water momentarily after using a command sentence that we've practiced in the bath at home everyday. For Anna, we've been dunking cups of water over her head for a couple of months now, always using the command “Anna, ready, go!”. She now starts to shut her eyes and hold her breath by the time we say 'ready', it's very cute :) Anna is getting more and more comfortable in the water, her arms and legs are relaxed and floating and she hasn't cried in the pool since the first lesson. 

 
Other major achievements:

• Responding to her name – Although this doesn't happen all the time, she's definitely learning her name and would often respond by turning her face towards whoever is calling her and smile

• Blow raspberries – After much practice Anna finally learned to blow raspberries, although she's since lost interest in doing it :)

• Holding toys – We have been receiving a weekly newsletter from a baby website about developmental milestones for babies and one of them being hand eye coordination. We soon realised that all of her toys were too big for her to easily hold with one hand so we bought a couple of new toys – a rattle and Sophie the Giraffe. For the uninitiated, Sophie is a very famous teething toy from France and has been produced by the same family for over 40 years. It's made from natural rubber and food dye so it's super soft and safe for baby to chew on. Not only is it a great teething toy, its legs and neck are also nice and thin so that it's very easy for a baby to wrap its hands around it. These 2 toys have dramatically improved Anna's ability to hold things in her hands. In fact, she's now moved onto the next skill – throwing her toys!                                                     

• Sleeping – Sleep has always been a major issue with Anna (for most babies really). Until about a month ago, Anna has been sleeping in her bassinet which was nice and snug. She could fall asleep without much fuss and the bed was small enough to stop her from rolling over. But soon it was time to move her into her bigger cot – all of a sudden, she was in this big white bed with all the room for her to roll so she started to struggle to fall asleep. We had a couple of sleepless nights trying to settle her and I ended up just feeding her to sleep and then putting her into the cot when she's asleep. This was a really bad habit to develop as she was starting to associate breastfeeding with sleep. So after much crying (sometimes screaming), scratching her face, and me ringing the parents helpline, she's finally learning to sleep in her cot without a breastfeed. She always needs to get into her comfy position – on her tummy and face turned to her left – then we give her the dummy and like magic her eyes start to close (well, this happens most of the time, but we still have the occasional tantrum here and there). She now also stays up for 2 hours at a time and she's as regular as clockworks – once those 2 hours are up, she lets you know she's ready to sleep with yawns, eye rubs and a few girly screams :)

• Sucking her toes – Anna has always enjoyed sucking on her fingers and now she's discovered that her toes are quite yummy too. Sometimes she has her fingers and toes in her mouth all at the same time!

• Sit ups – When Anna doesn't want to be put onto her back she lets you know by refusing to put her head and legs down. It looks as though she's doing crunches! Funny and cute at the same time.

We're very proud of all of Anna's achievements and amazed at her incredible growth rate. As a shop assistant said to us recently: She must be in the 130th percentile!

Anna is truly off the charts!