Mummy's New Day Job

... in addition to being Zara's 24/7 on-call Coolie, that is!

Yep, I just couldn't sit still and play SAHM all day long. Although being a Stay At Home Mummy is fun and, God knows, busy enough, there's always been a part of me that's wanted to do it all.

All my working life, I've been an employee; I gave my all to something that was bigger than myself but ultimately something that didnt belong to me. When Zara came along and I left my career behind, suddenly, I was thrust into a completely new role where the investments I made with my time, money and effort started bearing fruit of a more personal nature. I was - I am - shaping a human being! What a huge and risky responsibility that is!

From there, I began to realise that if I could be tasked with something so personal to me, I might just have the courage to delve into a dream I'd cultivated for some time and... gasp!.. Make it a reality! So when the opportunity presented itself a few months ago, I jumped right into it - albeit with the support and financial assistance from a wonderful (and daring!) husband. 

That's how I've suddenly become a despatch girl, an accountant, a professional mover, a stock-taker, webmaster, and ultimately, the owner of an import business and online store selling playpens! PHEW!

Exhausted but satisfied after lifting carton after carton of

playpens and playmats out of the truck and into the house!

 See, from merely loving Zara's magic playpen back when we shipped it in with great difficulty some 6 months ago, we got so many enquiries about it that we realised we had something really, really good there.

Countless phone calls, Skype sessions and emails later - and of course, lots of hard-earned money too - our first shipment of JollyKidZ Majicpanel Playpens arrived last week, and since then, life has been a flurry of orders, deliveries and paperwork!

Despatch Girl... til we earn enough money to hire

someone to do it for me!

Through it all, our Zara has been mostly an angel - playing peacefully (and sometimes not so peacefully) in her playpen while Mummy distractedly tries to develop her website, sitting quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) in her carseat while Mummy drives all over town delivering playpens, and patiently (and sometimes not so patiently) observing Mummy as she pulls her hair out over numbers that dont match up...

I may have a lot on my hands right now, but am I living my dreams or what!

It's true you know, you never really know what you're capable of until a baby comes along. For that, I have a lot to thank Zara for.

As a result, I named my business after Zara's favourite Sesame Street song, in honour of my little peanut who gave Mummy the courage to try something new and the patience to see it through.

http://www.buggybabyboogie.com/

Thanks for your readership, support and kind thoughts, everyone! 

Zara's Progress Report - 11 Months

She actually walked around with this Nerf pellet

on her head for almost half an hour!

Gosh... is Zara really just less than a month away from turning ONE? I find it so hard to believe that I'm enroute to being the mother of a toddler. I'll probably still be saying the same thing when she becomes a teenager. But more on that in 12 years :-)

The good news is Zara has finally put on weight - she's up to 8.6kg now and my arms are finally beginning to develop muscles.

Anyway, I digress. As is customary, here is Zara's progress report thus far:

New Gross Motor Skills

Can walk fast and steadily; can almost run, but still falls when not focused

Can high five

Can throw objects

Can open boxes and pull out toys

Can empty her toybox by turning it upside down

Can put a bucket (her hat) on her head, remove it and put it on Mummy's head

Can climb down stairs (finally) by sitting on her bum and putting legs down on the next level

Can jig to music she likes, and familiar sounds like ringtones

Enjoys opening and closing doors, cupboard doors and drawers

New Fine Motor Skills

Can use a shape sorter and correctly insert shapes into the right holes

Can empty the shape sorter and repeat the process

Has discovered the joys of nose and ear-digging (!)

Can flip pages of a book

Can snap the doors shut on her peekaboo airplane, but hasn't figured out how to open them again

Communication Skills

New words - Mama (indiscriminate), Baba (indiscriminate), Dah (when she sees Duster the cat). Mummy is worried that her first word might just be Cat instead of Mummy!

Two different types of crying - Aiiiiiiyaaaa (when tired or wants milk/food), Gahhhhhhhh (when she doesnt see Mummy or Abah)

Can understand 'No' better and ignores it less

Can understand 2-step instructions like 'Pick it up, and give it to Mummy'

Interests

Has gotten bored of Mickey Mouse and reverted back to Sesame Street, a new video called "Exploring Together"; often laughing when she sees something funny.

Enjoys flipping through and touching the pages of her Usborne Touchy Feely book.

Her new favourite game is throwing toys out of the playpen.

Feeding

Has started a third meal at lunchtime (around 2pm), followed by a 5oz bottle of formula at 3pm.

Breastmilk cut to 2 feeds a day now, at 6am and 12pm, while formula has been increased to 2 bottles a day at 3pm and 10pm.

Lost appetite for 4 days in mid-January due to mild rotavirus (vomiting and diarrhoea), refused to finish more than 3/4 of her milk or solids. Appetite now back to normal, thank God!

Sleeping

Refuses to nap earlier than 2pm, unless she's in her carseat and the car is moving

Naptime cut to one session from 3-6pm

Sleeps from 10pm to 6-7am, and after a feed will sleep on til 9-10am. In the last 2 weeks she has started waking up at odd hours again, refusing to go back to sleep until Mummy holds her. Will sometimes not sleep until Mummy takes her into the big bed. Mummy getting very cranky from not enough sleep.

New Quirks & Characteristics

Extremely friendly with strangers; will reach out to be cuddled by strangers and approaches them in public places. Very worrying so have started attaching her to a harness!

Still suffers separation anxiety when Mummy is out of sight or gone for too long.

Enjoyed Kiz Sports immensely during her first outing there last month. Was less enthusiastic about Gymboree because she couldnt understand what the heck was going on.

Teeth

They have appeared finally! Bottom right tooth at 10mths, 1 week and the bottom left a week after. Now sprouting upper right tooth. She looks a bit like a pirate.

New bad habits!

 

Has started slapping mummy hard on the face, and laughs when told 'No! No slapping, it hurts!' And believe me, it does hurt :-(

 

Nose-picking!

 

Well, nose picking is about as far as my mushy brain can recall at this early hour of the morning.

 

So far, I'm extremely happy with Zara's progress this last month. It's as if she has suddenly grown up overnight; I looked at her the other day and was suddenly struck by the fact that she suddenly looked less like a baby and more like a little person. It was scary and exciting all at the same time.

 

Slow down Zara, slow down... Mummy's not done having fun with you yet!

Zara's First Christmas!

My little family is so fortunate to be (almost) truly Malaysian. We get to celebrate almost every major festivity save for Deepavali and my hope is that Zara will grow up being grateful for her colourful heritage in this country we call home.

Although I don't technically celebrate Christmas anymore, my parents still do and Naz and I consider it our duty to ensure Zara grows up respecting other beliefs and the celebrations that come with them. And so it was that this year for Christmas, we found ourselves in Klang at my parents' home, sitting around a lovely, real and very fragrant Christmas tree (thank you Ikea!) with my family and cats, the way I'd always done growing up.

Christmas has always been special to my family, not because we were very religious, but because over the years, we'd developed some special traditions that may perhaps have been laughable to others but were dear to us, and those traditions gave us something to look forward to, to bond over and cherish as time went by.

...Like the little notes my brother has left for Santa since we were kids, along with a glass of milk (or brandy, depending on the mood!) and a cookie or two; of course, not forgetting a bowl full of nuts for the reindeer! We'd wake up on Christmas morning to miraculously discover the glass emptied, the cookies half eaten and the nuts devoured, replaced by a huge bowl of candy! Joy!

...And how every year until our senior cat Teddy passed on, there was always a special tin of cat food wrapped for him under the Christmas tree. There, he would take pride of place next to his gift, outfitted in his traditional Christmas bow, until the present was opened for him to enjoy later in the evening.

...Of course, the necessary procession of gift giving, accompanied by the silly photos my mother would take of our expressions as we registered the contents of our wrapping paper. Once the mayhem was over, the cats would have a field day chasing the wrappers all over the house.

...Christmas lunch would usually be chocolate (!), because we'd been eating them all morning anyway, and be too stuffed to prepare a proper lunch! 

...Christmas dinner was always Mum's homecooked turkey with good old canned Cranberry sauce, stuffing on the side and a variety of different salads that were my responsibility to prepare. Every year, Yean would be put in charge of the table setting and Dad would wash the glasses and prepare the patio.

...Flaming Christmas pudding... the highlight of my evening! Not because it tasted great, but how cool is a pudding doused in Grand Marnier and set on fire!

Finally and most importantly, there's always been a feeling, a special excitement that comes with the season that I can't explain. It's not the gifts, or the carols (anyone who knows me well will be aware of my utter distaste for Christmas jingles!), or even the candy. Heck, it's not even the fantastic smelling tree!

It's just that tingle that I get when I look around me after all the guests have left and realise that although we're all grown up now (and my parents are greyer, their friends older, and their tolerance for alcohol weaker), our Christmas has essentially remained the same, the spirit is the same, the laughter the same and the love, the same! The family may have grown bigger, thanks to Naz and Zara, but so has the bond.

That's why despite all the ho-ho-hoo-hah about how we shouldnt be 'celebrating' festivities other than our own, I say we should just do what ever brings us closer together. It's not about our religious beliefs, or the food and drink that we can and cannot share, it's about keeping the bonds of family traditions alive.

And, in the spirit of Christmas, here's a little collection of memories from Zara's first of many Christmases with her Ah Kong, Nana and Uncle Yean...

Our Christmas tree... no, not the one on the left!

Zara 'helping' to put the star on the Christmas tree.

The tree... dressed and all ready for Christmas!

Christmas eve: Uncle Yean with Duster under the tree.

Christmas Eve: Duster waits patiently for morning...

Christmas morning!!!

Zara gets a Christmas kiss from Abah

Zara surveying the post gift-giving damage.

Zara and Ah Kong share a similar taste in hair accessories!

Flaming pudding!!!

One for the album!

The Whirlwind That Was 2010!

This time last year...

Wow... and there it went. In a flash, one whole year just zoomed past and I have no idea how it happened. I'm guessing a major reason for that was having a baby. Funny how something so tiny can have such a huge impact on time!

Casey and her bridesmaids + one

Around this time last year, I was 8.5mths along and busy preparing for my bestie's wedding reception. Of course, I was excited about the prospect of Zara's impending arrival, but not really knowing what to expect, I focused instead on my duties as Casey's (very heavy) maid of honour. I remember trying on my bridesmaid dress that had to be tailormade specially to cover my ever-expanding tummy. I remember thinking that I must have resembled a big fluffy piece of pink candyfloss as I waddled into the hall, and I vividly recall how I tried to perch daintily (and unsuccessfully) on a chair as I delivered my bridesmaid's speech.

Fluffy pink candy floss !

How my life has changed since then! How trivial my worries were, and how naive I was about motherhood!

Little did I know what labour would feel like, after spending months imagining the sensation... Or how truly overjoyed and overwhelmed I would be upon seeing the tiny face I had dreamt of for so many nights!

How little sleep I've had since then!

How little weight I've lost!

How so very much I've learnt! About responsibilities... about patience... about sacrifice... about love!

Yes, funny how the meagre space of just one year can teach some people nothing, and for others, a lifetime of lessons.

I have a feeling that 2011 - and the years to follow - will speed by as 2010 has done. And I pray that in the increasing rush and tumble of our lives, as our family grows, and the mayhem expands with it, we will not forget to stop and smell the roses, sit back and cherish every moment we have with our Zara before she becomes a young lady.

Here's to 2010 - the best year of my life - and to 2011, that it may be even better yet!





Portrait by Choen Lee @ Bunny + Bear Pictures

We Lurve Gingersnaps!

Over the weekend, Zara and I attended the launch of this fab new mummy-baby clothing store in BSC called Gingersnaps.

Because we'd been to BSC quite a lot over the last week, we did pass the store a couple of times, but seeing as it looked so swanky I had done my utmost best not to peek inside - I didnt think my credit card could handle it.

So when I was invited to the event on Friday, I really was in two minds about it. Eventually, the curiosity got the better of me and I thought to myself... why not? I'm just there to make an appearance; I'm sure I can avoid the temptation.

So... WRONG! And I should have known that was a lousy excuse *wink*

I was pleasantly surprised though - because despite the fact that the baby clothes were so unbelievably cute (and we all know that usually means a hefty price tag), I did manage to walk away with quite a few items for Zara at just under RM100!  (Yes, yes... my willpower, and my credit card succumbed.)

So if you happen to be in Bangsar for some Christmas shopping this week, do pop in to Gingersnaps for a peek - it'll be worth your time, and your kiddo will have the cutest Christmas outfit ever - guaranteed!

Yes, we succumbed!

Zara's Progress Report - 10 Months

Hello World!

It may be a cliche, but never so true as when I realise how quickly time does fly by when you have a baby.

Just like that, 10 months have crept up on us and in 2 days, my Zara will be officially 2 months away from her FIRST birthday! Wow!

Since my last progress report, Zara's skillset has grown by leaps and bounds. I'd like to say her weight has too, but unfortunately - according to Dr Adrian - at just 7.8kg, she is technically underweight for an infant her age *sniff*. This worried me terribly during our last check up, because I was so sure she had at least surpassed the 8kg mark, thanks to her voracious appetite and the fact that she seems pretty happy in general.

Much to our relief, after checking on her motor skills and other milestones, he concluded that though she is underweight, she isn't under-nourished, otherwise her progress would have faltered considerably. Instead, her low weight is most likely due to a high metabolism and lots of activity!

It's true that Zara is a very active and expressive baby. From what we're starting to learn about her, she's:

1) Stubborn, cheeky and a go-getter like Abah

2) Bad tempered, silly and enjoys testing people's limits like Mummy

3) Quite the adventurer, loving her brief 'fact-finding' missions outside the playpen

4) Patient, when she's learning a new skill, like putting a cube in a cup...

5) But Extremely Impatient, when Mummy's not feeding her fast enough

6) A bit of a drama queen, now that she knows that a convincing cry and a few tears will get her attention...

7) Yet, matter-of-fact when it comes to falling over and getting a mouthful of playmat!

Generally speaking, she can also be both a very happy baby and a very grumpy baby - depending on how much sleep she's had! It's not uncommon for us to hear phrases like "I've never seen such a joyful little creature!" and "Oh my, what a little monster you have there!" within a space of just two hours. Thankfully, I've learnt to deal with these moodswings quite well in public, options being:

a) a biscuit

b) a rattle, and if all else fails,

c) The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse "Hot Dog" theme song playing on my mobile phone. 

What on earth did mothers do before technology?! 



Mummy's secret weapon!

Anyway, I've gotten carried away as usual, so...

To cut a long story short,

Here's Zara's progress report!

Gross Motor Skills

Able to crawl well

Can stand on her own without support

Can walk comfortably and for long distances without support

Can squat to pick up things and stand back up

Can hold her own bottle and sippy cup while drinking

Can clap and dance to music

Can wave 'bye bye'

Can make music by banging tins and buckets with a spoon

Can hold up objects (like Elmo) to Mummy to 'sayang' i.e. kiss

Can give objects and take them back

Can climb stairs but still refuses to follow Mummy's lessons on how to get back down 'legs first'

Play Peekaboo

Fine Motor Skills

Can insert objects into cups

Note: Kindly ignore Mummy's overexcited jubilation at the end!

Can pick up tiny objects

Can press buttons that emit noises or lights

Can pick up moving/spinning objects 

Communication Skills

Jargoning - Can verbalise Gaga, Dada, Kaka, Bwah-bwah, Bah-boo, Gah-goo

Can understand 'No' but occasionally ignores it anyway... she sometimes even laughs at me when I say No with my fierce face.

Interests

Besides Sesame Beginnings, she now also enjoys Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - will 'talk' and react to the TV, even laugh when she sees something she thinks is funny. 

Loves ntv7 promos - will stop whatever she's doing and walk over to watch.

Will stare at books but shows little reaction

 Loves wheels - she will turn over toycars, toy planes, Mummy's shopping trolley, just to inspect and play with the wheels 

Enjoys car-watching with Ah Kong

Enjoys Malay nursery rhymes with Nanie

Feeding

Solids - 8 teaspoons cereal + 3 teaspoons bottled food twice a day

Milk: Breastmilk every 3-4hrs + one 8oz bottle of formula as part of her bedtime routine 

Loves food of all textures and flavours - she has yet to reject anything I've fed her.

She especially likes Japanese tofu!

Sleeping

Naps less during the day now as we've been on the go a lot lately, at most she gets 2 hours.

Sleeps from 10pm to 6-7am, and after a feed will sleep on til 9-10am.

Quirks

Loves blowing bubbles with her saliva

Razzes more than the average baby... and the spit goes quite far too!

Always sneezes exactly three times

Her favourite and silliest expression is what Uncle Farez calls "The Trout", when she purses her bottom lip over her top lip, usually while concentrating

Loves having her nails trimmed and ears cleaned - she will stop whatever she's doing and go a little cross-eyed

Teeth

None!!! Not ONE!

As any Mummy would be regardless of her child's progress, I'm very proud of Zara and absolutely adore watching her when she's engrossed in something and doesnt realise I'm around. These days though, there's another feeling that comes with peeking at my little girl... and it's fear.

Fear that she will grow up too fast and not want to cuddle Mummy anymore, fear that she will someday realise that Mummy isnt actually very funny at all - just silly - when I'm singing and prancing around, trying to entertain her. 

I recall Zara being 2 months old and how impatient I was about teaching her things. Now I just want to sit back and hope she'll slow down a little and keep wanting Mummy the way she does.

Arent parents the strangest fickle creatures?   



Mummy loves you Zara!

It Ain't Easy...

I'm mad at you, and you better know it Mister!

If your kids are giving you a headache, follow the directions on the aspirin bottle, especially the part that says, "keep away from children."

- Susan Savannah

A child is a curly dimpled lunatic.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sometimes, I need to read funny stuff like this to keep me going during those times when it's really, really hard to be a parent.

Sure, I've written about the many joyous, rewarding occasions when parenting has been mostly bliss. Sometimes I'm pretty good at making it all look like the best walk in the park ever. But of course, the truth is that there are just as many 'down' times as there are 'up' times.

Take these last 24 hours for example.

Abah is stressed. He's been working day and night, day and night for weeks now and is exhausted. His phone rings constantly and there are countless emails to reply. All Abah needs is a good night's sleep and a little peace and quiet.

This would have to be the night that Zara wakes up at 3am screaming her lungs out, and all attempts to comfort her and put her back to sleep are futile. Poor Abah tries to wriggle under the covers to escape the screaming as frantic Mummy tries singing, rocking, patting, feeding, even Quranic verses, to calm the little tyke down. All to no avail. At this point, Zara is writhing, red in the face, mad as heck and making sure as hell that you know it! Abah sighs, grabs his pillow and heads off to the sofa to catch some much needed rest. 

After an hour of this, Mummy is not only exhausted herself, but frustrated and almost in tears because she doesnt know what to do. So she puts Zara in her cot, hides under the covers and lies very still for about 15 minutes. And whaddaya know? Zara stops screaming. Just like that. Mummy peeks into the cot and Zara is fast asleep.

Fast forward to this morning, and Mummy is woken by more screaming. It's like having a nightmare, and waking up to realise it actually isnt a nightmare - it's reality! Abah stumbles back into the room, with a sore neck and looking like crap, to find out what's wrong. Zara has no fever, doesnt seem to have a tummy ache or anything else wrong with her. It's as if she woke up from the wrong side of the bed and has decided today she will give her parents hell.

Believe it or not, she continued screaming all the way til 12pm, stopping only for breakfast and milk, and for now, thank God, a nap.

So yes, there are days when I wonder whether all parents can really be great parents when they are tested to this degree. God knows I try so hard to be the best, most patient Mummy that I can be, but there are times when even I crack and scream back because I'm so lost and tired.

I'm willing to bet that when Zara wakes from her nap in a bit, she'll flash me her sweetest smile ever, and I'll melt and forget all about this morning's episode.

And just like that, the nightmare - the reality - will be the sweetest dream ever.