Eighth Month

Eighth month pictures are up on the web.

http://home.exetel.com.au/bradley/ or click the link on the right hand side and go to baby album.

In the meantime I am going to be scorching in this ozone hole where the temperature is currently 37 degrees!

Eat my shorts!

doing the bart.

Next Australias Top Model

Ok. I admit it. This modelling thing is -of course- my obsession and Oliver doesn't give rats bum at all. And that I, have had worked for ad agency should have known better and be ashamed about doing it. But in my defence, being an ex- advertising executive, I would be the one who take it least personally if Oliver doesn't get any casting or booking. We just wanted to know if anyone else think Oliver is as cute as we think he is. We just need to know if he's wanted :P.

So. He got his first job after his first casting for Target catalogue. Everyone was confident that he would be his happy-self during the photo session. But of course we were wrong!

Little Buddha was grumpy the whole photosession that he only got to pose for 2 outfits (being the biggest baby in there didn't really help either when most of their outfits were size 000). The first outfit required the baby to sit up right so they can show the front, but he just wanted to crawl. The second outfit has special feature at the back so they actually wanted Oliver to crawl away and show his bum but seriously I am sure they didn't even have a single shot where Oliver was not grumpy. Not to mention dribbling!

When we're done, the photographer then dismissed Oliver "you can go now. Go.."

Well we know who is not going to be the next Australias Top Model!!

Life as a SUBURBAN wife/mother

Here I am. Officially a suburban wife/mother now since we moved into the suburb (at least it is our own home now). My to-do list today includes washing-hanging-folding clothes, cleaning the bathrooms, paying bills (should be doing it now instead of blogging), groceries shopping (maybe), vacuuming the carpet (as if that will happen!) yet I am standing here playing internet (not even sitting down because the telephone cable is not long enough to connect to the computer if I put it on the dining table - just because we still haven't organised the broadband connection and still using prepaid internet), because this is the only time I can check my emails and updating my overdue blog (so overdue that probably no one will ever read this entry because everyone stops visiting this blog).

Ok. Where to start.

Oliver & Moving House

Just my luck of course. As you would expect, during the busy period that I had to do most of the packing, my little Buddha had:

• his first cold, for about a week he got very cranky with runny nose and didn't sleep well at night.
  
• 3 top teeth popped out - and before that he was just as grizzly as a bear. He bites and bites now (ouch) - andhis breastfeeding days are numbered now.
• started crawling 3 days before we actually moving!! (Those boxes and stuff everywhere must have been such good incentives to move). Michelle from my mothers club had actually predicted that he'd be an early crawler but I was hoping she was wrong.. I went to the library last week for baby nursery rhyme time and sat in front of these two mothers who were having conversations about their boys who started to crawl about 2 weeks before - when they were 10 months old. 10 months old! Not 7 months and a few days!
  

Fortunately he didn't seem to have any difficulties settling into the new place (despite that his room is bright orange! - we can't afford painting the house yet), if anything he has bigger space to roam about, although I am still not happy when he ventures to our kitchen and starts licking the refrigerator.
Now he wants to stand up all the time and who would've thought looking after him standing up if even bigger job than when he only crawls? Even his cot is not a safe place anymore, as he would stand up on his cot and rattles the gate and falls on his back, hitting his head on the end of the cot.

He is a little joy that boy is. He starts to show recognition to people (but still doesn't mind having a stranger nurse him, oh dear!). He slightly prefers dad when he wakes up (when dad is around). The other day I picked him up from his cot after his nap, he just cried and cried until he saw Daddy, straight away smiled and jumped in the air. I told Scott that "I think he prefers you" and Scott said, "don't be silly" and the moment he walked out from the room, Oliver just cried again. He was happy in Daddy's arms and I think that was just to cutest and sweetest thing.

He also shows preference to sleep on his side or tummy when he sleeps. This wouldn't matter so much (since he's almost 8 months old) if he only knows how to roll back to his back. Yup - the little Buddha is capable of crawling and standing up but NOT to roll back. We have been woken up by him in the middle of the night because he found himself on his tummy and not able to roll back. I think he needs to learn about priority!

The house & the neighbours

We managed to unpacked most of the boxes apart from the books and stuff that meant to go on the walls. The previous owners have penchant for colours and as the result we have blue, yellow, green, orange and pink walls!! We are hoping that we can have the house painted before Christmas but wiith all the expenses that had accrued the past month it probably won't be happening.

Being a family-oriented neighbourhood, we are surrounded by friendly ones. One that I must note though, is this lovely girl who lives two doors away, Aly, with her best friend Keely. They came out to say hi to us the weekend after we moved in, and we introduced them to Oliver.
Keely: "Where is Oliver going to school?"
Scott" "Mmmph.. I don't know. We still have plenty of time to think about it"
Aly: "Look at his hair" (Oliver's hair just grows out of control at the moment, he looks like Krusty the Clown)
Scott: "yeah.. he's a punk"
Keely: "He's going to be so popular at school!!"

They put a note at our door one afternoon offering their service to be baby sitters or do job around the house (five dollars an hour and when they came and visited they said they will donate some of it to the cancer foundation and some other charity foundations. Scott said they will need to charge more if they are going to donate some of their fee). I told them Oliver is too young and that they will get nervous if they are to look after the baby and Keely said "We will just have to ring you every so often!".

The thing is.. we might be too nice to them and they have been at our door all the time now. They came to visit 4 times the last 24 hours, twice we sent them home saying we were on the way out and last one we didn't answer the door. Help!! We are being stalked by 10 years olds!!!

Saturday morning - 7 am. Oliver's in his bedroom, whinging. Scott and I were fighting about who should get up and let him play on his rug. He had been awake since 6am, we fed him, hoping that he would sleep a bit longer in our bed (he didn't), put him back to his bed (twice),brought him back to our bed (still whingy) - nothing happened, he's just ready to get up and play.

Here we are, 6 months down the road - Boy how difference our life is now.

It's a change of the lifestyle and although I should say it's all worth it, I miss some things. Like the luxury of sleeping in (who doesn't?). But seriously, I looove my beauty sleeps. Actually I just don't love sleeping in, I need it. I need it to function normal. Haven't had that in 6 months. Funny how I was given tips to sleep in a lot during pregnancy, because you wouldn't be able to do it anymore once the baby's born. I did sleep in alot before Oliver is born, but that was then, now I WANT my beauty sleeps again!

Not being able to go out often anymore is fine with us - we're enjoying our time as family. Can't believe this - hold your breath I am going to say something very cliche: He is our joy and watching him grow brings smile on our faces.

I keep thinking that their development is like preprogrammed - first smile by 6 weeks, learning to coordinate hands at 3 months, babble at 4 months etc etc. Oliver's new skill is faking coughs. He's been doing it for days now and he will respond to your cough by coughing back to you. Cute.


We are still learning. Lots of trial and error and I hate that we sometimes do not realise that we are making errors. And when the pennies finally dropped, the guilt trips taken tolls.."Why didn't I think of that before?" "My poor baby.. can't believe I did it to him before for so long...".

Anyway - as someone said, having a baby means you need to get ready to change your lifestyle. If you're not willing to, then you shouldn't have a baby! Oh.. so true...

Oliver & Sign Language

I swear to God Oliver gave me sign to 'milk' this morning. I made attempt to get him to sign to me, and he looked at me tentatively, and really, seriously, I was pretty sure that he did. Scott was in bed also with us and he even noticed it. How exciting!!

Hehe.

Of course I don't know if he really did. Later on today I thought he was tired, but hey, is he making that sign again? Is he tired.. or is he actually hungry?

Like playing charade again. Gave him sign of milk, and I thought he was smiling at me so I got up and got the bottle ready. Got back to Oli and he was happy on his tummy, so I thought.. well, maybe I was wrong. And then he got cranky again.. you get the point. And I fed him and fed him and fed him.. A lot!

Oh all these confusions..

I was like an obsessed mother who kept signing "do you want MILK?" when there isn't any milk around. And even though he might have been giving him 'milk' sign I am pretty sure that he's as confused as me now :P

Yikes!

Parents pressure

Started to wean Oliver a bit so he is not completely on breastmilk - I figured it would be better to get him used to this before introducing solids, and guess what.... he's a muuuch more happier baby now, more content, less grumpy, naps are even better. I feel sad thinking that he must have been hungry (well maybe not exactly hungry, just not quite enough) all this time.

On that note though, I still am not very excited about the idea of solids. I know we have to do it sooner rather than later (he is turning 6 months old in about a week), but to think about the mess, the extra work, extra effort to introduce it to him... mmpppph (blowing raspberry like Oliver's new skill) it sounds soo complicated and I'd love to keep it this simple (although still not as simple as just giving breastmilk) for as long as I could!!!

Oooh.. the pressure of being a mother, the pressure of trying to give the best for your child. Yesterday Scott showed me a picture of this couple's baby looked happy and was having so much fun in a kindergym session. Hang on... What is it? Why is our baby not doing it? Does this mean that I didn't "help (your) child to maximize their learning potential ' since "the activities at the centre are not designed to speed up development but are to ensure that each baby/child gains full benefit from each developmental stage" (according to the website)? But we were already planning to enroll him to a swimming school and in my BC (Before Child) years, I promised I was not going to bombard my child with so many extra curricular that he probably would not enjoy anyway -but here I am considering doing everything at the same time and he's not even 6 months old yet.

Is this parents pressure - to make sure that your baby can have 'the best start in life'? Before I had a child I thought some parents just trying to get their children to do what they (the parents) want them to do, not what the children really want to do, but now I actually get it - you are doing it for your child. You are actually worried that you are not giving them enough learning experience, you are worried that they might be an outcast if they didn't do what the others did, that their developments might be behind other kids, in the nutshell - "not giving them the best start in life".

Question is: Is it true? Is it worth it? Is it really necessary or is it really there is a time for everything?

Anyway - too much thinking. My head is spinning.

Suburban CEO

Are you...

Staying home with kids but thinking about going back to work to save your sanity?
Feeling self-conscious when talking to friends who have careers?
Tired of going to lackluster, boring playgroups just to pass the time?

This site is for you!

Hmm.. I haven't really had time to read it but someone recommended this website to read: http://www.suburbanceo.com/.

It says... This site is for every woman who wants to stay at home with her children but has had to reluctantly admit that she often feels frazzled, overwhelmed and not totally fulfilled. This site will help you identify the five missing pieces from modern life as an at-home mom and become CEO of your own life. By doing this you'll be able to:
Make staying at home with kids as intellectually challenging (and far more rewarding) than any career.
Build a better social network than any of your working friends.
Take your house from quiet isolation to being a thriving hub of activity.
Set aside your resume: "having it all" does not necessarily mean having a job!

Hmm... might be interesting!!! I'll post more once I have time to gulp down the content -although please please don't assume that I am not enjoying being a stay at home mum.

On the Bradleys' news front, we had a busy week. Scott had been swamped with work - always always busy these days. Weekends are not good for relaxing either since we've been busy doing a lot of house inspections with a view to buy. Not very good prospect though, you can be sure that if we like something that we see, we won't be able to afford it. I know beggars can't be choosers but boy we're soo picky!! If only extra $$$$ can fall from the sky!!

Grandma came over from Orange for the weekend. Of course our little boy was a monster the whole time Grandma was here, and turned back to angel when she left. Lucky for us that she's biased hehe.. As always, Oliver doesn't know the concept of strangers. No stranger anxiety when meeting Grandma although last time he saw him he was only 2 weeks old - if someone decided to kidnap him, there wouldn't be any need to lure him with anything (touch wood). Mummy enjoyed having moments where she could hand Oli over to Gran for a few days.

The weather in Melbourne has been soo gorgeous - it is suprisingly 25 degrees today. I decided to take the little monster for his little excursion to the beach. He couldn't care less though *grin*, fell asleep all the way in the stroller.When he woke up and I put him on my lap but he was more interested in looking at his toes than the ocean and when I stood him up on the sand he was just as ignorant. This is really the case of a parent that is ready to show the world to the baby, only to be put off.

new pics

Little monster has been keeping me busy currently to get me going on the blog. But fifth month pics & a movie file have been uploaded on the website if youse all interested on http://home.exetel.com.au/bradley/baby_album/my_pictures.html

Oh no!

We spotted the second tooth popping out from Oli's gum! Maybe just didn't realise it before...

Early teether!

Here you go!
Felt something sharp in his mouth when he bit me yesterday, only to find a little pearl popping out from his gum.

Went to the pharmacy to get teething gel, just in case, and got confirmation from the pharmacist when she saw Oli's gum. And she said, "My boy didn't get it until 12 months!"

It's a day of neverending screams today.

Fly me to the moon - Oli's first big trip

Mummy's diary

21 Jul 07

(Lesson #1: Do not pack at the last minute to avoid overpacking (baby's stuff) and/or underpacking (mummy's))

We're taking the 2pm flight to Queensland. I knew I should have packed at least the night before but that would be unusual of me to do that. It was just unbelievable but there was so much to do! I was so busy that I literally didnt have enough time to sit down and had my breakfast before we left. I wasn't sure what he needed, couldn't make up my mind on what to bring - I ended up prety much taking almost the whole nursery. Packing for him took forever and I just threw some of my stuff in the suitcase at the end of it. In the end, the only thing I probably didn't bring was his cot.

(Lesson #2 - for daddy: Do not say "What would you do if we leave early this morning instead of the 2 o'clock flight?" while you're sitting down having a nice cup of coffee and your breakfast while your wife is running around getting things organised for YOUR boy. It is not very nice and your wife might not want to talk to you for the rest of the day.)

Milestone #1 : Oli tried to sit up without support in the morning on his rocker after breakfast

The flight was suprisingly quite easy - though it would be a different story if it was 5 or six hours flight. The passenger sat next to us moved to another row so we had next seat empty - very very helpful. Oli couldn't get comfortable to sleep but no problem with his ears during take off/landing.

We got our rented car - v annoyed because instead of the baby capsule we got a child seat, facing forward instead of rear facing. Aaargh.. Have to put rolled rug to support Oli's head and sit at the back to make sure he's ok. It is secured in the middle seat so Oli just staired right at the road and too fascinated to fall asleep even though I know he's very tired.

Arrived at poppy Bradley's at 6pm - Uncle Bob & Aunty Carol were there too. Oli went to bed straight away,thinking we should give him a power nap before he said hello to everyone, but we ended up letting him sleep until the morning. Too bad that uncle Bob & aunty Carol didn't even get to say hi!

22Jul

For lunch today we have: Daryl & Ann, poppy's best friends, Karen (Scott's sister) and Shawn & the kids, Paul (nanna Marg's son) and Janelle & the kids -rrrr... that's 15 of us. What a nerveracking time !

Just couldn't believe though that Oli actually had good naps all day, wasn't even bothered by the noise or overstimulated by the crowds. Phew.

Milestone #2: first tickle giggle - not with me or dad, but uncle Shawn.

23 Jul

yawn. Oli woke up twice this morning. Suspecting teething as he began to pull his ears as well as drooling (a garden sprinkler, Scott calls him).

24 Jul

Mummy & Oli went for a walk to the conservatory, looked like a jungle that we turned home halfway.

We went out for dinner with Murray & Marg (poppy and nanna) - the first time! Yay. He slept the whole time. Looks like we'll be having more dinner out from now on!

25 Jul

Oli and mummy were just having a boring day at poppy's place. At least mummy's got her new Harry Potter book. Not reading it as fast as I like though.

26 Jul

Scott's working from home. But Oli and I were going out with Janelle, sister in law, Paul's (Marg's son) wife. Went to the movie - not a baby session though, so when Oli started to get uncomfortable and started to make noise, I got so nervous. Had to put him down in his stroller and move him back & forth while watching.

Milestone #3: degree 'spinning' (very slow spinning!) on his tummy

Milestone #4: Roll over to his tummy. But of course we missed it. He started crying so I put him on his back and then i went to make a cup of tea. Scott was working just next to him, and the next minute he was on his tummy!

27 Jul

Had lunch at the Southbank and walked along the river with Scott in the afternoon.

Last night in Brisbane - we were having dinner with Marg & Murray, Janelle, Paul and the kids at the Thai restaurant not far from where we lived. Again, Oli slept well in the stroller. Yay!

28 Jul

It's funny what happened today. We flew out today , the flight was ok too. Except the nappy changing part in the small lavatory because I thought his nappy was soiled. Little did I know he then really soiled his nappy during landing - and his jumpsuit. He was really smelly, but couldn't change him until we landed.

got in the first parent room we found, but in the middle of changing nappy he decided to go for a wee, and spoilt his spare jumpsuit. I haven't got a spare of spare jumpsuit, we hadn't got our luggage, the only thing i had in the bag was my top that I packed just incase he leaked on me. So here he is, in mummy's top, happy as can be!

New pictures are uploaded on: http://home.exetel.com.au/bradley/baby_album/my_pictures.html

A Handful Oli

with cousins Nic, Chloe & Ben

Mummy's been pigging out.

It started with Oli being very fussy during the day lately, and when I took him him to see the nurse at the health centre, we found out that he hasn't been gaining enough weight (can't tell if you look at his chubby cheeks & creases on his legs though).

The nurse recommended me to start cereal on him. But he's only 4 months old!


Desperately trying to increase my milk supply (hence a lot of food, water, milk and beer!!! We don't have guiness but apparently normal beer helps to increase milk production as well - good enough for me) because I really need him to have good immune system & antibody at the moment:
1. I am catching flu (not looking forward for his first head cold), but this might actually mean that my milk will decrease
2. He's getting his second jabs on Thursday
3. We're going to Queensland to visit poppy Bradley & nanna Marg for a week on Saturday.

So far I'm sick of eating and drinking and not sure if my milk supply increases.

Would be an interesting (and dreading) to see what happens. He's a handful already even when he's not cranky. He's doing half roll now when put on his back on his babygym, trying so hard to roll over until his face turns red and he gets really upset that Mummy needs to step in. The other day he's trying to crawl with his face down dragging along on the baby gym - oouch - that mummy needed to step in as well.

His naps are generally getting better now that I take time to do proper wind down. I'd pick him up when he's whingy and start singing to him (Unfortunately Scott said the only reason Oli goes quiet everytime I sing is because he's hoping that maybe mummy would stop singing? Very funny, dad.) His favourite song is 'over the rainbow' but mummy can only sing the first verse (over and over and over).

what's in the name

Lots.

Apparently, these days parents get a lot of pressure in naming their babies. They want their chidlren to have names that set them apart from the rest of the pack, but also not so unusual that they will be target of the bullies at school.

(In my opinion, people -no matter how famous they are- who named their children Apple, Shiloh or Suri are as weird and nasty as what Michael Jackson did to his sons - just different approaches)

Anyway, some parents are willing to go the distances by hiring a baby-name consultant. Yes, a baby-name consultant.

For $95, BabyNames.com will set you up with a half-hour phone consulting session to find that perfect name for your little one. If that’s too much time and money, you can pay $35 and they’ll suggest 12 names based on a list of preferences you can check off on the site. Do you want ethnic, biblical, trendy, traditional? How about a name of your favourite place? (Sidney? Wiena? As long as it is not Paris).

Or you can shell out more to pay a numerologist to see if your favourite name has positive associations, or get the expert to make up names from the combination of your and your partner's name combinations.

Oh boy, talking about spending money. My suggestions would be that you go to the library and borrow some babyname books or find them on the internet, and spend that $35 or that $95 for coffee and cake or dinner with your partner, before the little one arrives (you can also talk about baby names with him!)

The mind game

I am soo tired. Our little angel has turned into a nightmare this week. He's very moody and cried and cried and cried and unconsolable - and we (I) don't know what we did wrong or if something wrong with him.


I threw soo many theories on him already. Maybe he is an early teether since he is a bit of a drooler now and bites my finger when I offer it to him - not to mention always sucking his own fingers now? (Oh this is funny. He sooo drools now that when Charlie, a 2 years old son of Scott's friend came over and we told him to give Oli a kiss, his first reaction was, "Yiiikes... he's smelly!" And Oli wasn't smelly that time, and believe me, I know how smelly smells.)


Maybe he's catching cold because of the winter weather? He woke up last night during our dream feed or rollover feed or whatever you want to call it, and cried his lungs out when we put him down, which is very unusual of him. So much worries that I decided to give him some panadol infant. The second we squirted that panadol infant on him, he suddenly went quiet and we didn't hear a single squeek after that. Obviously the drug wouldn't work within that 30 seconds, so it was the shock - shock therapy does work!!! For all he knows we could have just squirted water into his mouth.

Maybe he's getting older and he needs more activities? Maybe I misinterpreted his boredom with sign of tiredness?
Who knows.

It is like playing a charade really. Except he can't tell me if it is one word or two words, no cues whatsoever. The only cue, the repetitive cue is that same looooong wail. It is taking so much energy to guess what he wants. And so this little devil makes soo much impacts on my days. When he's happy, I am happy. But when he's cranky, I am even crankier.

"What do you want, Oli?"
"waaa waaa waaa"

"Are you not feeling well?"
"waa waaa waaa"

"Right, if you keep crying, I am going to put you on ebay. As new - very well trained, generally contended and already sleeps through the night."
"waa waaa waaaa" (maybe this one means: hmm not a bad idea, mum!)

Accidental parenting?? (if it's not for Oli)

The book that I am following Oli's routine from, "The secret of Baby Whisperer" said that parents can do 'accidental parenting', such as turning things (or themselves) into prop needed by babies to settle down, allowing them to not be able to independent sleeping by rocking them, putting them in their bouncers, offering breast, using dummies, etc etc. It is a cycle usually starts by a child who can't seem to be settled so parents pick him up or rock him or do whatever it takes to settle him (trust me, we'd do anything to get him back to sleep when he cries his lungs out every hour in the middle of the night) and then the parents do it again next time he cries because 'it worked last time' and at the end the baby depends on whatever the 'prop' is to settle him back.

Being the textbook I am, of course I soo don't want to do any accidental parenting. I reckoned I would.. if it's not because of Oli. You see, i followed everything word by word from the book.. and tried to fix something that ain't broken.

As an example, it recommended to wind baby down before nap/bedtime by holding him in your arms - only when Oli's about 2.5 months old did I realise he doesn't really like a cuddle before bed. It makes him unsettled instead - I think I have a baby who likes to go straight into business, "wham bam thank you ma'am' baby. Life is sooo much easier now - how lucky we are to get a child who doesn't need to be nursed before bedtime. Woo hoo...

The book also recommend teaching baby to self soothe and put himself back to sleep when he stirs from the REM sleep by 'shhh-pat tehnicque (now, babies have approximately 45 minutes sleep cycle where he moves from the REM sleep into deep sleep like an adult - the problem with that is that some babies wake up when they shift gear and can't go back to sleep by themselves and start crying desperately instead). We did it for a while but Oli doesn't like it!! His crying got worse - the 'shhh' and patting on his back actually woke him up. So we gave up - and thought, "what the hell.." and did what is not recommended by the book. We picked him up and let him fall asleep in our arms (it didn't work very well either though, most of the time he got settled this way because he was just too tired and boy, he was a nightmare during that stage!). But who would've thought.. he just doesn't cry anymore and been sleeping so well the past week that I never need to pick him up again... Again - this is him and has nothing to do with any technique. Lucky is an understatement and it has nothing to do with what we do as parents. I probably would have changed him into all the bad things I feared him to be if he's not the one in control *grin*.

But actually..... sometimes I think I am not reading his cues, it's actually him reading my cues. Sometimes I think I put him down too soon but he never whinge, like he knows it's his bedtime and then tries to go to sleep (and laying there for 20 minutes with eyes open and me feeling bad about it, but since he's not crying I can't pick him up). Or he wasn't fussy about food but the minute I put him in position then his mouth starts rooting. I am still convinced that he's actually the one in control but only let me think that I am (whatta a good boy, knows mummy needs this for her ego).

Febi (damn you, Feb!) always said she feels sorry for my child because i am a control freak *grin* but I think she would've felt sorry for me, because if it wasn't because of Oli I am probably too busy pulling out my hair to write this blog entry.

Mothers vocabulary update

Phew. Not much time left beside looking after little Oli - excuse my laziness to update my blog. But I thought I should post this little article found on the web - just for fun!


You knew many things would change once you became a mother, but did you expect your vocabulary would be one of them? Here are some common words that may have taken (or will take) on new meaning thanks to your baby:

Amnesia: The condition that enables a woman who has gone through labor to make love again.

Feedback: The inevitable result when your baby doesn't appreciate the pureed carrots.

Full name: What you call your child when you're really mad at him.

Grandparents: The people who think your children are wonderful even though they're sure you're not raising them right.

Hearsay: What toddlers do when anyone mutters a dirty word.

Impregnable: A woman whose memory of labor is still vivid.

Independent: How we want our children to be as long as they do everything we say.

Ow: The first word spoken by children with older siblings.

Puddle: A small body of water that draws other small bodies wearing dry shoes and socks into it.

Show off: A child who is more talented than yours.

Sterilize: What you do to your first baby's pacifier by boiling it and to your last baby's pacifier by blowing on it.

Two minute warning: When your baby's face turns red and she begins to make those familiar grunting noises.

All you need is love...

Mum's gone home after 2 months staying with us to help me out. She wanted to stay longer but there wasn't any seat available during June when we tried to change her flight. Although she seemed to be sadder to leave Oli than me.

She left me with hundreds questions: how am I going to survive without her? What am I going to eat? I suddenly feel like a grown up. I am not playing house - I am running a household and a family now!! EEKS...

Anyway, it's now half a week since she's gone. We are okay - Oli and I. Trying to settle into routine without my mother. So far I have only text-ed her less than 10 times regarding my worries. See, this is the only thing I hate about parenting - I am sooo neurotic (and a bit of hypochondriac) and trust me it's not much fun worrying about your little person. And why is parenthood is all about trial and error - I don't want to run experiments to my child, I just want to do everything right for him!).

I saw those mothers I saw walking down the streets with two kids, usually one toddler and one baby and I asked Scott, "How do you think they manage it? If you have a 2 years old child who is still demanding a lot of your time, and you need to feed a newborn every 2.5 hours, and that each feed takes about one hour, when do you have time for the older one?"

His answer: "impossible, Linda, impossible."

PS. We're having a mothers club meeting next week, and as Scott put it, many new mothers only got interested in mothers club after their mothers had gone home.