Nanny Woes

A quick update about Beanie: Her 2nd nanny has just resigned last week, merely 1.5 weeks into the job, the 2nd nanny has also quit on me.

As usual, Beanie's separation anxiety and incessant cryings were too much for the 2nd nanny to bear and she decided to take the easy way out by accepting another couple's offer to take care of a 3mth old baby instead.

Ugh.

So I've decided to place Beanie in an Infantcare instead. I do not have much of a choice. Sigh...

I'm trying to work out a schedule where my in-laws can take care of Beanie from morning to about 1 pm, and then the old folks will then bring Beanie to the Infantcare center for the 2nd half of the day.

I seriously hope that this arrangement will out. Im at my wit's end already. ;(

Beanie says MaMa... ...

Passport photos for Beanie

Good shot! Opps... where is the white background? Ok, retake.

Hmmm... not bad. Let's see whether we can get a better picture.

"ahh... mommy, where are you? where? where? where?"

"Are we done yet, mommy?"

So Hub has a wedding to attend in Bangkok in May and after much discussion, we have decided to bring Beanie along... ... *tremble in fear*

I seriously hope we will not regret our decision to let her tag along. Just the thought of packing her luggage is enough to send shivers down my spine. And the fact that we will be stuck with her in a confined space for a grand total of 3 hours is already making me weak in my stomach.

May the force be with me... and the poor souls who will be taking the same plane with us!

In anycase, we have to make a passport for Beanie, so we spent last Friday trying to get a decent mug shot. Thanks to our dear friend, D who helped to take a few shots for us.

Our very first family trip!

Separation Anxiety Part 2

Sorry for the recent M.I.A (missing in action) as I was busy studying for the licensing exams and of course, my nanny has to quit on me during this crunch time.

Ugh.

To cut the story short, the nanny could not take Beanie's incessant cryings anymore and told me to bring Beanie home, for good. I was panicking for the past few days because I'm supposed to start work soon and yet I do not have a nanny for Beanie!

Out of desperation, I surfed the net and came across this little advert posted on gumtree and by a stroke of sheer luck, I found another nanny within my vicinity! I called the new nanny up and arranged for a meeting on the same day. The new nanny is in her early 40s, has 2 children aged 7 and 9, and seems really nice. I have goooood vibes!

But Beanie thought otherwise. The moment I passed Beanie over to the new nanny to carry, she started to cry. Geez, I was just standing next to her but she wasn't having any of it. Huge tears swelled in her eyes and she kept reaching out her arms for me. The new nanny was like "Woah... she is sooo sticky to mommy!"

"Oei Beanie, please don't scare the new nanny away... " I was thinking secretly to myself. Anyway I told the new nanny that we really gotta work together to allow a stress-free transition. Or else, Beanie will be a difficult baby to handle.

Sigh. She is usually such a happy baby. Bringing her out for meals is usually fuss-free and very enjoyable. We just had a wonderful lunch at Itacho Sushi (Ion) this afternoon with a girlfriend of mine. Beanie was very well behaved, happily munching on her baby biscuits, blowing cute raspberries at strangers and chewing on her fav toy, Sophie the giraffe.

I really hope that this new nanny will work out. I have read up on some materials on how to lessen stranger anxiety in babies, so hopefully those tips will work!

Separation Anxiety

Little Beanie is not taking to the nanny well. Sigh.

Since early this month, I have started to drop Beanie at the nanny's place for half a day, usually from 1 pm to about 530 pm. We started by going over to the nanny's place in the morning and I stayed with her for the whole of 4 hours for 5 consecutive days. On the following week, I followed the new routine and when I said my good byes to a oblivious Beanie, I thought I had skipped the whole separation anxiety episode, until 2mins later Beanie realized that "hey, mommy isn't here anymore" and then she started screaming. And screamed she did. She screamed and screamed and refused to drink milk or water. She kicked away her toys and became inconsolable. My nanny was totally stunned. What happened to the happy baby???

It has already been 2 weeks but Beanie is still refusing milk, water and nap at the nanny's place. And she will cry so pitifully when I leave that it's breaking my heart.

And when she is back home, she will then wallop down a big bowl of porridge, drinks her milk like she has been starved for days and then K.O by 730 pm.

According to my nanny, Beanie will still cry and be cranky for hours. Only to be bribed for a few mins of silence by her favorite snacks or biscuits. But a baby cannot snack for 4 hrs right? She refuses to nap or nap for only 20-30 mins whereas her usually afternoon nap is about 1-1.5 hrs.

My nanny, who is this kind granny in her late 60s is also getting tired of Beanie's incessant cries. She told me subtly that if Beanie con't to be this difficult. she might not want to babysit Beanie anymore.

;( I really hope that Beanie will get used to the nanny soon. Sigh...

Another little yellow bird saved

Almost 10 months ago, I saved a little yellow bird and I called him "little yellow". As I have mentioned before, as much as I love animals, I simply do not have the same love for birds. Even pretty little parrot with rosy cheeks did not melt my heart, so I gave Little Yellow away to a friend and end of story. Or so, I thought...

A few weeks ago, while I was hanging out my laundry to dry, I saw a big, bad and hungry crow trying to peck a small little yellow bird to death at the ground floor car park. Poor little fellow was no match for the crow, which was easily almost 4 times its size. Although I have no love for birds, I could not bring myself to witness Little Little Yellow being pecked to death.

Luckily father-in-law was at home that day, so I gave him a yell that I need to run out to do something and he stayed at home to watch over Beanie, while Mommy ran out like a mad woman to save a little yellow bird.

I shooed the crow away and tried to catch Little Little Yellow, but the little fellow was so traumatized that it tried to fly away too. To cut the story short, 3 Banglah workers saw me trying to catch a bird and I roped them in to help me.

So there we were, 1 chinese woman and 3 Banglah workers chasing after a yellow bird in the car park at 1 pm, under the hot sun.

Thankfully 1 of the workers caught the bird and there, I saved another little yellow bird.

Geez, at this rate, I can run a Bishan Bird Park already! Anyway, I passed Little Little Yellow to the same friend who have adopted Little Yellow. So there, now he has a pair.

After all the trouble, I hope these little birds are happy to be alive!

Flowers, flowers, flowers!

Finally a post NOT about Beanie!

My frangipani is flowering! Hurray! For a period of time, I thought the plant was dying. It was a sick plant as most of its leaves were infested with mealy bugs. I sprayed so much white neem oil that all the leaves dropped and I had a completely botah tree for a few weeks.

So much so that I actually started shopping for a new tree until I noticed that there were new shoots sprouting out and before I knew it, I see bunches of flowers!

Such beautiful blooms... makes my day, everyday. ;)

Beanie at Bistro du Vin

We brought little Beanie to Bistro Du Vin for lunch 2 weeks ago and there she was, happily nibbling on a tiny piece of bread.

So far, Beanie has been very well behaved whenever we bring her out for lunch. She enjoys sitting at the table with us, either happily chewing on a piece of bread or watching us eat while she swallows her saliva furiously! I will usually bring her lunch along with us, and then feed her at the table so that all of us will eat together. This is also to introduce to her the concept of dinning together and that meal times are also social events.

So here are some tips on how to bring your little one out for a meal in a chi-chi restaurant (or any restaurant lah):

1) Bring baby out in her "awake" window. Ie: if baby's usual nap time is 11 am, do let baby nap before bringing her out. You do not want a cranky baby in a restaurant.

2) Bring along her favorite biscuit or finger food. That should keep her busy or happy for at least 15 mins.

3) Allow baby to eat at the table with everyone, she will enjoy the company and will most probably finish her portion because everyone else is eating too. Monkeys see, monkeys do.

4) Allow baby to feed herself with a spoon, yes, it will be very messy but she will be so engross in getting food into her mouth that she will leave you alone for at least another 15 mins. Just bring along a really BIG bib.

5) Dress your baby in her cutest. If all things fail and baby is making a racket, at least it is a cute baby and people will tend to be more forgiving! ;)

And Beanie takes after... ... ...?

My little helper at about 5.5 months.

This is a picture of me and my grannie when I was a baby.

And this was Hub when he was a baby... ;)

Beanie really looks a lot like Hub. It's like seeing a mini version of him crawling around the house now. The resemblance is uncanny!

But when my little Beanie smiles, somehow her face kinda changes a bit and she will then look like me.

What do you guys think? ;)

Beanie is having fun in a pool of balls!

"look at my invisible right hand!" *waving frantically*

Ok, now both hands are invisible! Whoopee!

"What? I cannot wave my hands??? Why??"

"Ok, fine. No waving of hands. I'll look at the uncle who is making funny faces then"

"Can I go back to waving my hands, please?????"

Ok... looking at my past few posts. I can declare that I am finally one of those annoying moms who simply cannot stop talking about their kid(s).

I. just.cannot.help.it.

Being a full-time mom means that my life revolves around this little Beanie girl. If I do not talk about her...... hrm, then I have nothing to talk about. It's sad... but true.

Thankfully I have a bunch of girlfriends who have just become new mommies as well, and when get together... we would just keep talking about our kids non-stop. We don't talk about shopping, husbands, fashion, travels, cookings ... anymore. It's now all about kids, kids, kids and kids.

Geez. It is really quite scary. How could we be so totally consumed by these small little beings????

Anyway, we attended a friend's daughter birthday party this afternoon and there was a "ball-pool" for the little ones to have some fun. It was Beanie's first time in a ball-pool and as you can see, she was very excited to be surrounded by colorful balls!

Beanie has been very well-behaved for the past few outings. She was sociable, without any trace of stranger anxiety (yet!) and went around charming the socks off everyone by staring into their eyes... ... *cue Puss in boots*

Ahh... I love my Beanie girl so much!

Little Beanie is drinking beer! Hahahaha...

My little Beanie is growing so fast!

This is Beanie when she was a few days old.

This is Beanie at 6 months

I'm sure all parents find their kids growing up too fast and too furious. Just 6 months ago, I pushed and pushed and pushed out a little Beanie. She was all pink and soft and oh, so fragile... now, she is roaring aloud and attempting to chase Cookie around the house already. To Cookie's dismay, of course...

Anyway, a little update about me. I've decided to be a financial advisor (FA) and is currently in the process of applying for my license. We have found a nanny a few blocks away who will be looking after Beanie while I am away at work.

Being a FA allows flexible timing and I am basically my own boss. So hopefully, I can still be Beanie main caregiver and at the same time, make a decent living. The ideal scenario will be to put Beanie with the nanny in the morning while I clock into office for training or to get some work done, then pick her up by 2-3 pm. In events when I need to meet clients in the evening, I will then park Beanie back to the nanny again, or the in-laws might babysit if they are available.

I really do hope that this arrangement will work out. As much as I enjoy being a Stay-at-Home-Mom, I do look forward to be financially independent, to put my degree and CFA to good use, as well as to lessen Hub's stress of being the sole breadwinner.

May the force be with me. Wish me luck!

Beanie has started on solids!

I have started Beanie on solids about 3 weeks ago. She was 5 months and 1 week, technically still young to start her on solids. Most of my friends started their babies on solid only after 6 months.

But since Beanie was 5 months old, she was showing a keen interest in food, she would swallow her saliva furiously whenever we were eating in front of her and mimic chewing actions. So her very first meal was rice cereal, followed by steamed and pureed apples, pears, carrots and pumpkins.

She is really into carrots and apples, and will finish her portion eagerly. However, she isn't that into pumpkins. She would clam her mouth shut when I feed her or spit out every bit of pumpkin. O well... ... and I'll most probably introduce steamed green peas, sweet potatoes and bananas in the next few weeks.

Although I am really excited that she is starting on solids, her poo poo is a totally different story. When she was on pure breast milk, her poo was rather pleasant smelling. So washing the cloth diapers were still bearable. But now, her poo poo is sooooo smelly! I have to try very hard not to gag when I'm cleaning the diapers. ;(

Times like these, I do wish that she is on disposable diapers instead!

A day at the beach

Thus, I'm not a florist

Beautiful bouquet of flowers given by a friend as a X'mas gift

Flower arrangement No. 1 for CNY, my virgin attempt at flowers arrangement. Hub said this looked like a turtle.

Flower arrangement No. 2.

During X'mas, a friend gave me a bouquet of flowers as a gift and it was a very much appreciated gift. It was very nicely arranged and I thought that my dinning area looked so much more festive and pleasant with some fresh flowers.

So, for this CNY, I took the trouble to hit the nursery at Thomson and bought some freshly cut flowers, 2 short vases, 1 huge sponge and a lot of enthusiasm to do some flowers jamming.

Hub raised his eyebrows and gave me an incredulous look. "You sure you know how to flower-arrange? It's not as easy as it looks ok.... ...."

"Bleah, how difficult can flowers arrangement be? Just stick the flowers into the sponge lah" I snorted.

Hrm... ... 1 1/2 hours later, I came to a conclusion that arranging flowers was indeed NOT one of my competitive strengths. Half the time, I was swearing under my breath while still trying to pretend that I was enjoying the whole flower-jamming process and at the same time, working very hard to ignore Hub's smug "I-told-you-so" look.

Ugh!

Ok, to all the florists out there, you have my respect!

Beanie says Happy Chinese New Year!

Past few days had been really crazy. Visiting relatives and friends with a baby is not easy. I'm basically running around like a mad woman, packing the diaper bag, cleaning after Beanie, preparing her food (oh, I've started her on solids! I'll update on another post), expressing milk, do housework ... etc.

And I'm still surviving on 5-6 hrs of interrupted sleep (on good days).

Above is Little Beanie doing baby push-ups at a friend's place. So far, she has been rather well-behaved during our visitings. She tends to be shy whenever we are in a new environment. She will sit there quietly to observe the new surroundings, kinda "scan" the new area with her big big eyes. And not much stranger anxiety yet. As long as I'm within her view, she is quite willing to be carried by my friends and relatives.

Ok, I gotta sleep. I'm so tired!

Failed choco pear cake

I started baking again... yay! The cake above looks good right? Unfortunately it didn't taste good. ;(

I had some friends over for dinner a few weeks back and I happened to have 2 very ripe, soft and juicy pears sitting in the fridge, so i thought of baking a chocolate pear pudding cake. I have done this cake twice before and both times turned out delicious.

However, this time round, I did not have some of the ingredients: self-raising flour, milk ... etc. But I had plain flour. Eh... no milk, but maybe I could put more eggs and melted butter instead?

I thought to myself: how bad could a chocolate cake be? And so I experimented.

Result: Epic fail. The cake did not rise, it was too oily (too much butter!) and dense.

My friends were too polite and nice to reject the cake and all of them ate their portions. I felt so bad to serve my guests a horrible cake. ;(

No more experimenting!

Beanie is 5 months old!

"Hmmm... is this purple too? Just like my t-shirt..."

"Heh Heh, I am finally strong enough to bring down the Baby-Gym! Wahaha..."

"Since I'm at it, I might as well take a bite... nom, nom, nom"

"Sofie the Giraffe's head is so yummy... nibble nibble nibble"

My little Beanie is 5 months old already! She is really cute and playful now, I am so enjoying my time with her. A little update on her milestones:

1) She is a drooling champion. I have to change 5-7 bibs a day... she can soak a bib in about 2 hours. Geez... I wonder whether she gets thirsty from all these drools.

2) She can flip from her back to her stomach on both sides, turn 360 degrees and crawl backwards!

3) She can sit unsupported on her own for 5 seconds ... and then topple over.

4) She can grasp her toys and shove them into her mouth under 3 seconds. Previously, she doesn't seem to know where exactly is her mouth.

5) She knows how to hold her feet when I'm changing her diapers, which is very convenient for me to clean her and apply the diaper cream.

In another month's time, I will introduce solids to her. I can't wait to see her munching away!

3rd wedding anniversary

After all these years, Hub still surprised me with a bunch of flowers on our anniversary. He has gotten the florist to send the flowers to the restaurant. So imagine my surprise when I saw the roses on the table that we were supposed to dine.

The flowers really caught me by surprise and I was really touched. I have known Hub for 17 years (scary right?!) and been together as a couple for 11 years. He isn't exactly the romantic sort and we have gotten so used to each other that, sometimes we kinda take each other for granted.

However, this bunch of roses jolted me awake and I reminded myself that we gotta make an effort to keep the romance alive...

Thanks Hub, Happy Anniversary and I feel very loved!

2011 to 2012

I’ve been thinking about the past 1 year and all that it has brought, and before I hurl myself into the new year, It's time to reflect upon the past 1 year, and what a year it had been!

The arrival of my first child has got to be one of the most eventful times in my life. From the first trimester complications, to the almost miscarriage in Hong Kong and the eventual birth. The whole journey was unforgettable. Sometimes, I still cannot believe that I have a pretty little baby girl in my arms and I'm so overwhelmed by the amount of love I have for her. No one tells you how much your perspective of the world changes when you become a Mother. Well, perhaps they do but it’s also something you just cannot imagine until you’re actually there. And once you become a mom, there's no turning back. Now I simply cannot imagine life without my daughter, to watch her grow and being there for her when she needs me.

Previously I have decided to be a stay-at-home-mom for the next 1 year to look after Beanie on my own, but after weighing the pros and cons, my current decision is to find a job that allows flexible work schedule and yet, be closely related to finance. So, I thinking of being a Financial Advisor and I am currently meeting people and going for recruitment talks to consider my options. Hopefully I can start in March or April this year. The plan is to work from home most of the time, and going to office in the mornings when necessary.

So who is going to take care of Beanie while I am at work? A friend's mother who is staying just a few blocks away, have tentatively agreed to be Beanie's babysitter. We have to sort the schedule after the Chinese New Year. Hopefully it will all work out.

And finally, Hubby will be back home for good! Yay Yay Yay! He will be relocating back to Singapore in a week's time, and I am most relieved and glad. Finally the father and daughter can bond on a daily basis. ;)

I'm entering 2012 with a lot of excitement. I'm looking forward to Beanie growing up and witnessing her milestones, from her first crawl, first tooth and her first steps. A new career awaiting for me, which I hope will work out, and more family time with hubby