Let's see now, a quick recap/summary since my last post, which according to the date stamp, was Nov 12, 2010.
- We have shifted to a new place (which should be worthy of a blog post). I'll try to make up for it.
View from our balcony #31 
When the pool was still empty in the early days! - We celebrated the 1st birthday of Zander at the new place together with a housewarming (which should be worthy of a blog post too, will try to make up for that too)
1st Birthday and housewarming - Changed jobs. Am now only 10 minutes away by car to my workplace! It's awesome! Seriously, everyone should just go to work nearby. I mean, I can still see daylight when I reach home and dinner ends so much earlier, and the kiddos have more time with us and can settle into bed earlier....the benefits just go on and on!
- Decided to explore some dormant home baker in me and got baking stuff, managed to turn out 2 chocolate cakes, 1 banana cake (the effort involved in the banana cake! gosh, just mashing the darn bananas are a pain!), a few batches of cookies, not too bad actually, and it's over a few months of course. Now seriously thinking of exploring doing cupcakes and such, shouldn't be that difficult right??
With the handy helper! - Decided to not have any more kiddos, and gave away all my baby stuff, sold my breast pump, put maternity clothes into cold storage, gave away all the bb clothes.
- Then decided to try for another one, cos I was thinking a gal and a boy was kinda lonely for either one, since both have like different interests, I mean, Karine has to put make up on another girl and not on Zander right.
- Really got preggers! And regretted #4 above, cos as of today, I have ZERO, Zilch, NADA, of baby girl clothes. I mean I have stuff for 18 mths and above, but seriously nothing for newborns - 12mths!! mittens and booties all given away! I showed hubs the empty drawer of clothes that I have set aside for baby, and he was like, well, let's just buy them then. but, seriously? Re-buy everything! Consolation is I can probably hand it over to my sister, but still!!!??! And I gave my nursing pillow, which I got on the cheap, and I thought was really handy cos I could use it as a back rest, and a resting pillow to prop baby up after feeds and for picture takings. Grrr....
- And Zander has finally started school! He started in March, in part mainly due to the impending arrival of bb #3, although I would have liked to keep him at home as long as possible. Then I checked against Karine, and she started school too at the same age, although she had the luxury to start off on a half day to ease into it. But I plunged into a full-day with Zander, partly because Karine would be there, and it would be easier (and cheaper) to just pick both of them up at the same time instead of having to shell out extra for the school bus for Zander. And what would he do at home? watch tv and get his own way....most likely. At least he would be more engaged in purposeful play in school. Actually, this reminds me that both Zander and Karine starting school and their journeys/experiences would be worthy of a few blog posts no less. Ok, will see if I can get to that soon.
Some pics first:
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| Zander's first day of school |
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| Working on his project |
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| His first nap in school |
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| Karine at one of the monthly field trips organised by the school |
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| Karine's K1 end of year pic (2012) |
So, we are now expecting a baby girl, due on 25th July 2013. She's quite an active little one already, which is good. But age really is a factor. I'm kind of dreading the whole night feeds, diapering and what-nots. Already, I'm waking up once or twice at night for the darn pees, and really tired out during the day. Plus I have the dreaded shooting pains down the hips to the legs. Plus Zander still wants me to be the one to carry and comfort him.
Thankfully, I've been weaning him off to Daddy. Already, he knows Daddy is the milk maker, and now, starting to be his bottom cleaner, though he still wants me to be his clothes changer. I can still deal with that though, just need to on a stool and not squat!
Karine's dealing with the impending arrival really well. She's excited and eager to play make up with the mei-mei! Karine has really grown to be a big sister. She's awfully protective of Zander. For example, she will stand between him and strangers in the lift, goes after whoever who teases Zander with her arms on her hips, and generally just loves him a like a big sister. Of course at times, she vies for the same attention, wanting similar "baby" treatment, and I always try to ensure that there are no comparisons and everyone has equal treatments. And I do make special time for her too.
Zander on the other hand, is such a typical Scorpio! He is usually in his own world, is a meticulous little boy, and needs to be coaxed, cajoled and reasoned with during disagreements and must feel his ownership over his actions. This is karma for Scorpio mum, and thankfully, I can still have the patience to deal with his Scorpio-ness. But once he's convinced, it's pretty much smooth sailing.
And finally little bb #3 will be a Cancer. Hopefully, not as "emo" as Cancers are. We (well mainly yours truly) have finally sorted out the bb supplies, clothings, and storage and furniture placement for the new arrival. Just need to get the final touches, like setting up the cot, getting a new mattress and mattress covers (poor thing has to sleep on mattress that has gone through a few rounds of pees and puke!) and the little baby bouncer and bassinet. Also left with diapers (not sure how big she'll be!) and the sterilised cotton balls and gauze. And we should be all set. Oh, I think I need a final inventory count on baby bottles and teats though. I'm pretty much set for pumping and stuff.
The past weekend have been really busy and productive. I have set a target for end May to complete the unpacking and packing and sorting of stuff to ready for baby. So the kiddos and I managed to sort out all the toys we have, sorting them into the toy boxes categorised by what's suitable for baby, what's suitable for Zander and what's suitable for Karine, and a general toy box that everyone would be interested in. Also managed to throw toys away (like annoying clappers and whistles and broken stuff) as well as sort them into a bag to be given away (mainly McD happy meal toys and stuffed toys). Have also sorted out grown clothes to be set aside as hand-me-downs and clothes that are more suited to be given away too.
Final things to do by end June
- packing of hospital bag
- getting ready the documentation (like bills and receipts for insurance claims)
- Stocking up on diapers
- getting ready 0-6mths clothes, mittens and booties!
- inventory check on bottles and teats and other consumables
- setting up the cot and sunning/washing covers, bouncer/bassinet and bathtub & steriliser ready
- shortlist caterer for full-month party
- firm up confinement food delivery provider
I think that's about it! We should be all set by then!
And yes, we are doing confinement by ourselves! We should be alright for that, cross fingers and toes! I mean, kids will be away the whole day, so pretty much all to myself, night time routines, pretty much the same as when I was at my mum's, which was really settle by ourselves. So main difference would be the extra help in attending to baby when I'm pumping/unavailable and bathing the baby. hopefully, hubs 2 weeks leave will help for the initial period, and after that i hope i'm settled in!
Last note, baby name! Well, since it's a girl, we were thinking of a name starting with "K". However, it's so difficult to settle on one that's also easily pronounced here! The few options were Kiera, Kayley, Kaylene. But none of them sat well hubs. Finally, I thought of Karise, since elder sis is Karine, why not Karise (in the same intonation)? Chinese name would be 嘉慧, that's pretty firmed up already. Stay tuned on the final English name!
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