What we did on a Rainy Day

It's been a while since I've been stuck at home. It rained heavily almost all day today and so I stayed in with Shane. The last time it was like this was when it was snowing heavily.

We didn't do much aside from reading a few books and singing a few songs. Sometimes I feel so guilty not entertaining him enough. 

So this was how our day went...

He woke up at 915 this morning. We read a few books. Today we did Llama Llama Wakey Wake, Diddy the Dinosaur, Easter Story and Old McDonald's farm. And then sang some songs… His favorite - the Noble Duke of York… and some others which I can't remember which ones.

And we skyped with the grandparents... Whilst I left him in the jumperoo for a good 30 mins.

Then he sucked his thumb till he he'll asleep for 2 hr from 1130 to 130pm.

Then after he got up, I prepared and had my lunch while he sat in the swing... 

Then Z came home and he fell asleep again from 330-415pm. And after he woke up, he started playing with his Skwish toy… for another 30 mins… then got bored and he had Sophie for another 30 mins.

I took a video of Z playing with him and he looked so bored... It read so much of "pls try harder to entertain me"...

After a bit he had his evening nap from 630-7pm while we had dinner... He had his bath... And while I was washing up, I left little Shane by himself to play with his little monkey.

After a bath, chilling in his rocker

The day passed so quickly. I felt like I did nothing, and it seemed like I hadn't talked much to Shane, or taught him new things about life! 

So what do most parents do with their babies at home? If I were to go out, at least he gets to see the world… I just don't know how to make his day at home more interesting. Hmmm...

Crib Training - Part 3

OK, so at part 2, it was all successful. Looks like we're stuck here. At the moment, we cannot put him down to sleep when he's awake. We've tried for the last 2 night. Just does not work. Will keep trying and see how many more nights till he does sleep on his own whilst awake!

We don't have any secret weapon to use this time… Any one with any ideas (minus letting him cry) let me know!

Crib Transition - Night 2

Yay! Last night went pretty well. Shane slept all night in his crib, and only started fussing at 7am this morning.

So this was what we did. Basically knocked him out (with milk), and then put him down when he's in pretty deep sleep. We had to hold his hands and body for a few minutes because he was just tossing and turning (with his eyes still shut).

Tonight, it's time to try to put him in his crib whilst he's not in a deep sleep. Lets see how that goes.

Transitioning baby to his crib

So we bought a crib before the little one was born, and till today, he hasn't slept a single night in it. So I thought I had to do some sleep training. But then half way through last night I realized he doesn't have a sleep problem. He does almost sleep through the night (yes I wake him for a feed for certain reasons). Our problem was that he is way too attached to our bed instead of his crib.

So I would call this....  Crib training. Last night was tough. I can't have the baby cry more than 309 seconds. It so.... Heart breaking. I feel like I want to just pick him up and snuggle in bed with the little man, and hearing him pour out tears in his crib felt as if I had abandoned him. All for his own good... And ours too I know. Tough! But no one said it was going to be easy.

So anyway, at midnight, I caved, and brought him back to bed with us. Tough I would say he managed to sleep in the crib for the second half of the night. Round 2 try out again tonight.... Pray we get some progress!

Baby Wordplay

This blog post is on a Gem in the heart of Philadelphia - Little Theatre, Baby Wordplay.

Little Theatre at 2237 Greys Ferry Ave - Graduate Hospital area in South Philly

Totally recommend Miss Pam's class to anyone here in Philly.  It's a walk in class where she sings songs, reads books and does her puppet shows. It runs all week from Mondays to Saturdays at either 10:30 or 11:30, and you can pop in whenever you have nothing to do with the baby. Each class is only $8 (or $7 if you get a set of 10). It's never too early to take your kid there... There were babies as old as 6 weeks there. 

I thought that Shane would not have understood what's going on, but after a few sessions, I noticed that he's been paying attention to some of the songs that have become familiar, and he stops fidgeting when his name gets included in some songs, or when he can be thrown around during the songs. There was also the little horsey and doggy puppet that popped out yesterday which he just stopped and stared. Today, we had the little chick and bees on the puppet show. So much action! The Peanut butter, marmalade and jam song, the good old skimery ke dinky dink song... etc, so many things to keep the little bubs entertained. A whole 45 mins of non stop action! I love it too because I get to "fly" Shane up in the air quite a lot with songs like the astronaut going to the moon, noble duke of york, etc. Also, I love it that Miss Pam has like almost unlimited number of books... And they're so interesting books - pop ups, song books, peek-a-boo books etc.

Miss Pam and Shane

If you can see close enough in the background, there's Maya the doll which she uses in her stories and songs, there's itsy winsy spider amongst the twigs, old McDonald farmhouse, and a whole range of stuff hidden behind the curtains.

That's Miss Pam during her class

Miss Pam is looking to open several more of these around Philadelphia and is on a fund raising mission now. There's a video of what she does on the fund raising site Indiegogo. Stop by and see if you can help out!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/babies-grow-quickly-and-we-can-t-wait#home

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! My mum sent me this picture that made me laugh so hard.... So I'm sharing with you all...

April 14

Last year this day, I found out I was pregnant... I remember it being the day of the Boston Marathon bombing. We were house hunting in Philadelphia.

This year today, when baby Shane is 4.5 months old, is when I get back my period... The bloody free days are over... :(

Sleeps & Naps @ 4 months

I realized that as Shane gets older, he is starting to learn to fight sleep pretty well. Especially for his day time naps. I guess that now his vision is a lot better and clearer, he is starting to kaypoh around and he gets really stimulated by his surroundings.

My usual trick of putting him lying on me doesn't work anymore. That's my lazy way of quickly putting him to bed. Now I have got to go to a visually hiring location, carry him till both eyes shut. Only then I can put him down on the bed.

My boys on a Sunday morning...

So many mums with babies around his age tell me that their little ones can sleep through the night (ie. 8 hours straight). Well... I tried to rock him to sleep when he gets up in the middle of the night, but doesn't really seem to work. Anyhow, I'm happy with one feed in the middle of the night... At least by doing so, the milk supply will not go down!

Diaper Changing in the middle of the night… What a bad idea. So over the last 3-4 weeks, I did not changed his diapers in the middle of the night, and I had such a good run in the night sleeping department. Just last night, we decided to do a 2am change… Oh what a disaster. First, we had to drag our groggy selves out of bed to change him, then he started being so fussy almost every hour and did not have a good sleep at all.

However, I think Shane naps pretty well during the day. His morning naps are fairly predictable. That is... After he wakes up in the morning, he'll be back in bed 3 hours later for his nap which can last about an hour. Afternoon naps are usually shorter (about 30 mins) if he takes multiple naps which can be 2-3 times... If we're lucky, he sleeps for another 2 hours straight in the afternoon.

No tricks in this. But I think his naps got better after I got this buckwheat pillow (which is like some sort of weighted pillow - because he doesn't like to be swaddled). I guess the weight stops him from throwing his hands and legs up in the air...

Get me out of my seat…

If only I knew baby talk...

My Birthday

I turn 32. Where did the last year go? I recall last birthday, we were just 2. Dinner at a fancy restaurant at Thiptara at the Old Town Palace hotel in Dubai, with awesome view of the Dubai mall fountain. I had just found out I was 7 weeks preggy then...

This year, here we are... 3 of us now in a family friendly restaurant in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Things has changed so much in the last year. But I like change.

Since ZhiC had classes all day from 9-6, and Shane had his pediatrician visit, today felt like any ordinary day with a hint of specialness. Not complaining. It just means that everyday is like my birthday.

Lunch at Honey on South with Mum

Coffee with Karin & Morielle

I love my family. Big hug!

So I also had a short birthday trip to the Amish town of Lancaster on the weekend... Sadly, Z was down with food poisoning and we had to cut our trip short! It's a real nice town, and we'll be back for sure!

At the Plain and Fancy farm

Kitchen Kettle Village

Surviving our First Road Trip to Canada

The last few weeks has been absolutely crazy hence the very late blogging post on our road trip to Canada.

March 8 - Day 1: Buffalo

So we set off really early in the morning at 5am. We figured that since Shane decided to feed at 4am, we should just pack and start driving before the sun rises. Having loaded the car the night before, it took us an hour to change, get the supplies ready for the road and set off.

Our first destination was approximately 6.5 hours away (driving time not considering taking detours and getting lost). So I figured that since baby had his meal at 4, he'd only be hungry at about 8ish in the morning. So I started the journey driving, while Z rested with him in the back seat (yes I know!! It'll be so nice to have him in the front seat. I had the baby bassinet in the front seat for company).

So we drove a whole 3+ hours (which is just about half the distance) before we ourselves got hungry, and before the baby started getting edgy in his car seat. I would say, setting off before the sun rises was a pretty good idea to get him to sleep in the car seat without fussing. First stop of every road trip… has to be a McDonalds!

The second part of the journey was not so fun. First, Shane started fussing (like really fussing) at the point where we were trying to figure google maps out. Then… of course we had to take the wrong exit. Sometimes, the maps tell you to turn way too late, and you're already in the wrong lane. We ended up taking the small roads instead of the highway, and that added another 1 hour to our journey. OK, we did something really dangerous for a short part of the distance - which is to take him out of the car seat while driving… Well. I had to nurse him like immediately and the next service station stop was miles away.

Anyhow, we got to our first destination - Buffalo - and stayed there for the night. As usual, my baby gets to try out the new hotel room at Comfort Suites. It was by far the most impressive hotel stay we had and at a very very decent price. The room size was just awesome.

Since we set off early, we got in early in the afternoon, with enough time to take a walk around the city of Buffalo. Of course, we had to hunt for those famous buffalo wings! Landed up at the Anchor Bar… (1047 Main Street, Buffalo).

We had way too many buffalo wings and potato skins… that dinner was pretty much just desserts at the Chocolate Bar. Oooo lala

Called it an early night… in preparation for our journey across the borders!

March 9-11 - Day 2 - 4 : Toronto

Toronto was an easy 2 hour drive from Buffalo. It was a lot quicker than usual. Short journey, so Shane was happily sitting in his car seat, kaypoh-ing (looking) at the surrounding buildings, trees, cars that went by. We did not set off at crazy wee hours… and did so only after breakfast at about 10am.

Once we had crossed the borders, we noticed that driving in Canada felt like driving in Dubai. ie. Tail gating at 140km/h, changing lanes between cars when there's not enough room (again at high speeds), cutting 4 lanes at the last minute and hoping to make the exit, etc. This just feels like what we're used to when doing the Dubai-Abu Dhabi drive on Sheikh Zayed Road.

Anyhow, we got into Toronto in one piece. Amazing how we managed to get to the DoubleTree in downtown Toronto without a map and without GPS. (Yes we were too cheap for data roaming). I love Toronto. It feels exactly like Melbourne. The highway leading into town felt as if i was driving on Kings Way from Melbourne CBD towards South Melbourne. The waterfront area felt just like Docklands in Melbourne. Such a deja vu feeling.

 

I managed to catch up with Zahra, as well as Rudee and his new baby girl!

Big thank you to Rudee for being our tour guide around Toronto. And yea, we wouldn't have had a great Mexican lunch if you hadn't taken us there! Seems like people visit Toronto just to go eat. Just like Melbourne (again).

10 March was our wedding anniversary, and we spent it at this awesome restaurant - THR & Co. It's really gourmet food at a pretty decent price. Never had such innovative food that tasted that good.

March 12 - Day 5 : Niagara Falls, Canada

Set off for Niagara Falls the next day. Again, it's another 2 hours drive back towards Buffalo. We stayed at the Canadian side (because everyone said it's a lot prettier on this side).

We got into the hotel at 12pm…and found out the check in time was 4pm. (Seriously, haven't heard of such a late check in time!!!). If you want to know which hotel this is - it's the Radissons. Just as we were about to do a turn around and load the bags back into the car… the manager popped out, saw Shane and got reception to give us a complimentary upgrade to a jacuzzi suite facing the falls as that was available for immediate check in. Score! It does pay to flash your baby around for free upgrades?

So the Radissons Hotel looked a little tired (just as most US hotels do anyway). But the room was awesome with the Jacuzzi over looking the Niagara Falls.

So well… Parking at Niagara Falls… It's soooo expensive!!! The parking at Radissons was CAD$20 per day. If we had driven down to the park over looking the falls, it'll cost an additional CAD$15. We initially took a drive down, and after realizing there's no free parking anywhere, we just turned back, parked at the hotel, and took a short 15 mins walk down to the park to see the falls.

That's the American Falls on the left and the Horseshoe Falls on the right. Beautiful day to see the falls. Nice, warm and sunny… just about 32 deg F (0 deg C).

Z & S at the Horseshoe Falls

We took a stroll down the town, and came across this part of town that is like whacky world teenage town. Loads of school teenagers filled the streets… and they've got paint ball, ghost houses, king kong on buildings, game outlets… etc

And of course the famous Beaver Tails!! - Even Obama had one when he was in Canada.

Later in the afternoon, we took a short drive out to the vineyards for some wine tasting. Stopped by Chateau de Charmes. Really lovely place where we met this lady who did not just sell us wines, but sold us an experience of wine tasting. Canadian ice wines… really nice and sweet. So we bought a bottle for my favorite (and only) brother for his wedding.

The next day, we were meant to drive to Ithaca to stay the night. BUT!!! Another snow storm had to come. So the next morning, we decided to take the brave drive back to Philadelphia. We departed at 8am in the morning (without breakfast) and drove straight back.

Yes it was this bad!!

So visibility was almost next to none, and roads were so icy slippery! We could only drive at about 30mph for about 5 hours… (so clearly we covered very little distance in the first 5 hours). Our thots at that time was… please don't let us get into any accident. Fortunately, Shane only started getting edgy just a few hours later, and we just pulled over into a rest area.

The second half of the journey was a lot better as we were further south. So it was just raining - not snowing… plus the roads weren't icy. Got back into Philadelphia at about 8pm… and on the way back, we ended our awesome first holiday with Baby Shane by stopping for some awesome Korean Chicken Wings at Soho

Baby goes swimming!

Yes we're getting Shane on an early start with swimming! Since we were back in sunny and very hot Singapore, i took him to the pool for a nice little dip.  Surprisingly, he's reacted very well to the water!

And his first dunk…

And his first solo swim! (And yes i tried to deep pool too!)