Monday, December 17, 2012

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!"

(';')