Friday night drama

{This happened on, uh, Friday. But I only had time to share it now.}

It was about 7pm. I had arranged to meet my Dad who'd bring Kate to have dinner altogether. I ordered a bowl of fish soup and rice for us to share, and I took a seat. I was contemplating on what else to order when I felt this ache between my breasts, right at the top of my pregnant bump. It felt like there was an air bubble there and causing me mild breathlessness. I tried to sit upright, thinking that I was squashing Jake or something and that was his way of protesting. But the discomfort morphed quite quickly into discomfort and before long, it became sharp stabs of pain from that same spot down the rest of my belly. I was breaking out in sweat and my head was beginning to feel light and woozy.

Ow, ow, OW! The discomfort was fast becoming just plain pain and I started to (mildly) panic. Was this a sign of labour? Where's Dad? The husband was at school and I quickly rang up my mom (good ol' Mommy's always the next on speed-dial). After a brief conversation with her, sharing my high level of discomfort and confusion, she told me to just monitor the situation and before long, my Dad appeared and I was so relieved to see him! I couldn't stomach anything so while he had dinner with Kate, I was in such a poor state I just laid my head to rest on the table.

All this while, in my head, I was uncertain if it were signs of labour, and I kept thinking how I should best prepare myself for next steps. I had contingencies flying through my head - could Dad send me to the hospital with Kate? Yes. Maybe I just needed to do a dump - I must then muster strength to walk home (no way to the public toilet). Or perhaps it will dull soon before peaking again and.... my brain was seriously on high alert despite the pain and all this while when I was sloshed across the food table.

Thankfully, the pain started to dull and by the time dinner was over for Dad and Kate, my cold sweat had evaporated and I was able to breathe more normally. We all made our way back home and thank goodness for family support (!!!) - cos all I had strength for was to do a dump (not worthy of the pain I'd undergone) and shower and I quickly laid on the bed to rest. I was mindful to monitor the pain and well, just in case it was a sign.

I hadn't wanted the husband to panic (though on hindsight, I doubt he would have) so all I told him (via sms) was that "I got stomachache!" followed by "I'm going to take a dump. Made it home." and since this dur-head didn't have any idea of how painful my tummy really was, his response was (insert dry laugh here) "Don't poop Jake out ok"

...

So anyway. The sister, the boyfriend and the Mother also came by the house that night to help me babysit Kate while I was resting. And by the time the husband came home from school, it was as if everything was normal.

My tummy had stopped aching and I was feeling much more calm. I don't know what to make out of the pain - the husband reckons that Jake had hit something somewhere that caused my discomfort. Mom said it's a false alarm. All I know is that I was frightened by the episode. It made me realise that I really have to be more mindful of my body and not push it. Till today, I'm still lugging things (Kate included) around and driving on my own and behaving pretty much like normal with no thought or worry of, well, anything happening. But after this episode, I realise that I have to be more careful and must remember to always do the most safe action if anything ever did occur when I was alone (eg, what to do if I felt pain while driving). Besides this, I also remember that labour.is.painful.

No signs nor symptoms since the drama-of-a-bad-stomachache, though my tummy has been more upset since and I'd to do more small poops (oops, tmi). But I do need to be.more.careful.

Yup. So that was MY Friday night drama. There's a part two to this - in relation to Kate.

So when the husband got home from school, he was welcomed by the sight of me patting Kate in bed, as if we'd just gone through a normal, routine evening. Kate was already very sleepy by this time (10pm) and she was very cranky and she naughtily pushed the husband away saying "go away!" She's done this before but instead of his shoulder or body, Kate had pushed at the husband's face similar to a slap. In retaliation, the husband playfully told her "you don't like it if I did it to you, right?" and he reciprocated!

I immediately put a stop to their silly behaviour (the face is a no-go-zone!) and reprimanded them both. I said that they are not allowed to hit faces and both of them should apologise to each other.

The husband got the hint and did so; and we both waited for Kate to reply.

.... she didn't. In fact, she got all wound up and started to sniffle. She.did.not.want.to.say.sorry.

After a while of repeating myself (Papa had already said "sorry", you hit Papa too so you need to say sorry to him...), I realise that this girl was not going to budge so I changed tact.

"Mommy does not want to sleep with a naughty child. You have to say 'sorry' to Papa or you can go sleep in your own room" We then handed her her pillow & bolster and carried her off the bed.

Kate walked out of our room.

!!!

The husband and I stared at each other in disbelief and (fill in adjective here)! Our 2 year old kid just chose to walk out rather than obey us and do the right thing. O boy.

The night ended with her crying in her room, and both the husband and I going to her and coaxing her to do the right thing and by the end of the night, the husband and her had made up. But seriously, we were both astounded (to say the least) at her behaviour.

I cannot imagine how things may be when she's even older. O boy.

So yes. That wraps up the two key dramas that occured on Friday.

Dear Jake

Dear Jake,

Mommy and Daddy went together for your 38^th week of gestational check-up. I reckon that we have another visit next week, before any action will happen. This is based on what the doc says based on cheche's birth pattern.

While the visits are a little boring, I remind myself that it is our only way of knowing that you're still growing very well. I'm happy that you're in the right position and while you can move left-to-right, you're unlikely to somersault - so I know that we're on the right track to a natural delivery.

Mommy's kinda playing with the idea of not receiving any aid during your delivery - but since nothing can be truly planned since the birth is intended to be au naturel, I'm going to not think about it and see what you're like at your entry to this big world.

I keep imagining how you'll look like and I'm pretty sure you'll look scrunched up and much like your cheche. Today, we opted not to “see” you, instead just listening to your heartbeat – going strong! I wonder if you’ve grown much in weight, because I had put on 0.1kg from last week. But that’s not a concern as long as you’re generally healthy and fine.

What really made me happy in the past week was how you’re such a good boy and shifted away from some nerve or whatever, and my pelvis is no longer in severe pain! Well done, Jake!

I know that I'll miss the movements of you within me, I know that life will be very exciting and different when you arrive, I know that I'll love you so much my heart will nearly burst and I know that our little family will be complete then.

See you really soon, Jake boy.

Love, Mommy

Making eyes 0_o

"Kate, how do you make your eyes small small?"

Haha, so silly right. Am trying to teach her the difference between small eyes & closed eyes.

Here's her showing her silly face to her favourite yeye.

Small eyes

Big eyes!

Random thoughts on a sleepy afternoon

• I love yummy lunches. Especially when they're paid for.
• I hate topping up the cashcard. It's so expensive paying for these blardy ERPs.
• I hate the thought of Kate going through any form of discomfort.
  
• It sucks to hear that she's ill again. Go away, bronchitis.
• I'm so sleepy.
• I'm so pregnant.
  
• I mis-counted the days to my delivery and I'd to change the countdown number in my last blog entry. I had actually (mis)counted 17 days then realised that 17 is longer than 2 weeks.
  
• I love my brother, sister, father and mother.
• I love my husband.
• I have 2 kids - OMG!
• I love to sleep. I wish I could do it properly all through the night. I don't prefer naps somehow. Sleeping a good solid night's sleep takes the cake.
• My girlfriend just delivered a baby boy yesterday and I think I'm next!
• I'm not looking forward to confinement.
• I wonder how I can tahan confinement, not sleeping, and the whole works with a newborn in my life.
  
• I have another week before I stop work.
• I then have 2 weekdays and a weekend before the EDD.
• With that limited time, turns out that I have to do all that I need to do, rather than have sufficient time to do what I want to do.
  
• I have a date with the sister next Friday.
• My stomach touches my thighs now (! - when I'm seated)

Jake's

...present from Nai Nai.

Decided to snap a pic of the unopened present - because I was surprised that Mom wrapped it up! So formal - heh. But it's also nice, because it's meant to be a gift. This is not the first present that Jake's received, he also got another pack of clothes from the husband's friend. And of course, the very cute sushi pack!

And not to forget the stuff I've bought for him. This pregnancy, I've received less hand-me-downs so I've made more effort to purchase things for my boy. Besides the towels and other necessaries, I've bought several sets of clothes for him too. I did one batch of washing last night (finally!) and it was so terribly cute to see these teeny weeny bits of clothing - all over again! I laid a piece on my tummy and showed it to the husband, "yup, I think it'd fit him alright" - heh.

Amidst the uncertainty of how things may become, one thing's for sure. I love my boy and I'm so looking forward to meeting him. I want to not always stress about the whatevers, but to just focus on welcoming him.

I love you, my darling baby Jake. 12 more days to go! Love, Mommy

Kate goes dancing

Thanks to the sister's recommendation, I signed Kate up for a series of dance classes. It all kinda started casually by me telling the sister that Kate's quite a stiff girl (like me & probably her father too) and from the limited songs with hand actions that she does know (hokey pokey, teapot...) she doesn't move very fluidly. So when the sister chanced upon this deal for dance class, she shot it across and within half a day, I'd decided to sign Kate up and even roped in a friend who also signed her daughter up.

Organised by the Kinder group, she fell under the tots category and it was a smallish class of 10 or less kids all aged 5 & below. The class ran a course of 6 classes but due to Kate being ill, she missed the first class and she only enjoyed 5 classes in all.

And I'm happy to say that enjoy the classes, she did! I didn't really know what to expect from the classes, or Kate, but I must say that from the very first lesson she attended, she impressed me! She was able to follow what the teachers did and her attention span was pretty good! Of course, there were moments that she got distracted and preferred to just jump around like a monkey, but overall, I feel that she did a great job in following the class through. What's also great is that she remembers the moves - I sometimes ask her to do a particular move at home and she is able to do so. When we're at class, her face lights up at familiar songs that she hears, and at one particular class, she even asked me "got teapot song or not?" when it's not being practised in class yet.

And the dead giveaway how much she enjoys herself is her proclaiming, "I like dance class, you know!" It's really awesome that she revels and enjoys the classes, so it's a great investment!

Playing with hoops. The children are mice & her hands are her "whiskers"

Learning to lower their heads to go through the hoops

Rewarded by "cheese" (pic held by teacher)

"If you're happy" - show your smile

Head & shoulders, knees & toes...

Stretching like a ballerina

Kate paying attention (I love it!)

Happy child

Going round the carousel

Again, "if you're happy"

Last Saturday marked the last of the classes and as much as she enjoyed the classes, there are several reasons why I'm not continuing the classes.

• Will prefer to see more structured lessons - out of the course, week 2 was the worst. The teacher was not engaging the children and I gave my feedback accordingly. There didn't seem to be a proper structure to the classes and that made the children go awry. Am happy to say though, that after feedback was provided, the rest of the classes were much better.
• Cost - while the cost is not that much ($20/class), it is still quite a bit of investment. The classes are only 45 minutes and well, let's just say this is a consideration in the decision-making process.
• Not the right time - I'm happy that I managed to accompany Kate to all her classes the past month+ & watch her lovely progress in class. However, given that I'm going to pop in a couple of weeks' time, it's not the right moment to add on things to-do given that we don't know how topsy-turvy our lives may become when Jake comes.
  

Truth is, I'm not sure if my expectations are too high (she's only but, 2) though I do feel that the curriculum could be better? I'm not sure how long more it'd take for me to be able to find time to let Kate enjoy extra-curriculum classes, but I know that given how much she enjoys music and dance, I'll be on the lookout for more suitable classes for Kate to attend.

Classes or not, I do want to expose her to more fun in the sun - swimming! Running! Play-time!

Our eventful weekend

With all that's been going on in our lives, we seem to be busy-ing with things in general - doctor visits, errands, washing, packing.... and we don't seem to have been doing anything fruitful. But this last weekend, our lives have settled down slightly and we actually spent time together as a family. So, here's sharing...

Saturday morning: the husband had to work so Kate decided to tag along. (She said, yes, I want to go running with Papa and so I had to go babysit her.) It was a great move though and we all got some sun and it was rather fun (actually, more for Kate and I since the husband was going to do it already, anyway).

A little girl in a big man's world. Yup, that's the husband and his sheep in the background. This little girl's really competitive! Every time the big boys ran by she'd start to run but she'd slow down and stare at them running by... until they came by again and she'd pick up speed again!

Here's quite a funny shot of her, looking as if she's doing a push-up or something. She was really hot & bothered and she said so quite clearly "I'm so HOT!" - it was good to have her sweating it out though cos I think we don't let her do so enough!

Saturday evening: Play-date with Eva cheche. It was only a short hour, but it's quite amusing to see how little girls of the same age interact with each other. They were both not shy and rather similar in character - very sociable and outspoken. Eva's grown visibly taller since we last saw her (her birthday in August) and it was truly great to catch up with her Mommy!

The highlight of the evening has got to be when the 2 girls decided that they both wanted to sit on the one kiddy-chair. (We only have 1 kidddy-sized chair in the house since there's only one kid.) The exchange between them went something like this:

E was sitting on the chair.
K: I want to siiiiiiittttt
E: No. I sit. You stand.
K: pouts* I don't want
E points against the wall where K should stand.

It was like we parents (all 4 of us) were watching a live show - we were staring at the girls talking to each other and it was rather hahaha! We interceded and persuaded the girls to take turns to sit on the chair and they did so grudgingly (grudging more on K's part since she's the more reluctant party to share her possessions whereas E was quite happy hopping around everywhere! Such an energetic child!)

And of course, we had to take pics of them so that we'll remember them after they're no longer such babies. (And just for fun, here's them at their play-date once-upon-a-time.)

Kate's turn on the chair. Arm around Eva. Gotta be fair - so both must hold a balloon in their hands.

Eva and Kate, take 2 (swapped positions for Eva's turn on the chair)

Love how they both look kinda constipated. Look at how beautiful the curtains look as backdrop!

Snack-time - everyone had cake. Gotta have it on record that the cleaner did a great job cleaning up the girls' mess on the floor (handsome cleaner featured in background available for temporary hire on hourly rates. Heh)

To the gf: thanks for swinging by and it's, as always, great to see you. So much sporadic information exchanged! And much more updates to come. Exciting times ahead for us! *hugs

Sunday: highlight was a sumptuous lunch with the family and after the very tummy-filling affair, we willed time away for fun doing nothing at all. Aaahh, I love doing nothing!

The princess and her favourite purple friend