Older and wiser??

And so it has been crossed, the milestone that is 35 years old. Everything seemed ages ago.. school, first dates, homework... And in its place- school, first dates, homework through the eyes of my 6 year old as she sets out on her virgin journey into official school-dom.

I am blessed to be surrounded by friends I adore, and family who love me back. Sapna even gave me a bday surprise, so sweet of her! This, even as I have to forego our planned Perth trip in exchange for a new baby boy.

Perhaps the one upside of getting older and losing everything to gravity is acquiring some money to call my own, and the ability to splurge on expensive things. Happy Birthday Me! :)

Mamma Mia

4 Mamas at Pappamia (ironic!)- 2 tai tais, a temp SAHM and a very hardworking Singaporean.

$124 worth of food.

5 rounds of gift exchanges.

3 hours worth of catchup session.

'Nuff said.

Water Dragon

I do wonder sometimes, even as Aidan is #3, if I'm doing it all wrong.

I am a selfish Mother, I do admit- I tend to put my needs first in spite of all professional advise especially my need to cuddle and be at arm's lengths from the kids, close enough to just crane my neck for an itty bitty kiss or sniff so I take them to bed with me. And in bed with me they stay until they are 7.. Arissa has only started sleeping in her own room without Mummy and I've had to bribe her with star points towards a Littlest Pet Shop mansion. But if Mummy can't be around at bedtime, then Daddy will do too so the state of our marriage is as a cousin wisely observed "aren't kids supposed to bring a marriage together, in your case its keeping you apart". I sleep with Aidan in our King while Hafidz is squashed by 2 girls in their Queen bed.

The 'mistake' I made with Sofia was I had nursed her exclusively for 4 months and when it was time to head back to the office and give her the bottle, she refused point blank. She chose starvation over a rubber teat. It was such a stressful time for me, rushing home from work to feed her 2 full boobs because she refused formula AND expressed BM in a bottle and had not been nursing since 9am that morning. My cabinet is still full of bottles in various shapes and sizes- NUK, Avent, Tommy Tippee, Pigeon.. we tried every brand in the market and she spat it all out in disgust. So with Aidan, I started him on mix formulation from Day 1. Sure I felt guilty as hell, it felt wrong not to nurse him as I had nursed the other 2 but there's just an insatiable hunger to being a boy. He went from 2.79kg at birth to a sumo wrestler at 2 months, and my BM just couldn't keep up.

 Aidan and his newborn cousin, Arish

The other problem is the amount of wailing he subjects us to. This boy sure has a set of lungs on him- we used to be afraid he would go into fits wailing like that, face swollen and body rigid, but Hafidz and I have learned that he's just a loud and demanding personality. I guess it comes with being a Dragon baby? One night after a bout of endless wailing, I turned to my agitated husband and said "y'know God is great, he gave us a fussy baby on our 3rd try.. can you imagine if Aidan is #1?" and Hafidz solemnly nods in agreement then shoots back "kata water Dragon year, but this boy ni Dragon gembeng!"

(';')

Under House Arrest

G-whizz has it been 2 months since my last posting.. and 2 months of bliss it had been. No laptop, no emails, all I do is BF day and night. Ha.

The confinement period is spent at Mum's, thanks to her kind soul for welcoming me back into her home and feeding and caring for me like the only daughter that I am. I believe I was spoilt in that 2 months, even though I was sans hubby during the period from the lack of space in my old room, but I had 2 spare pair of hands to pass Aidan to whenever I needed to shower, eat, nap or watch dvds.

The Helper arrived on 12 November and was a big help in some ways although she was young and needed a lot of hands on training. I mean, seriously, after paying 5k I get a totally untrained maid??! The saving grace is that she is keen to learn and doesn't get offended when we get upset with her. The lucky thing is I have another 2 months of home leave before going back to work so she has to be independant by then.

The 7 day massage was heavenly.. and I got a few tips about my body. One of which is that I am still tres fertile and judging by the seat of my womb, the next one (if if if), would be a little girl. Gaaaahhh!!! Where is the gynae's number, I gotta book myself an IUD.

::Aidan at 5 days::