Cheese!

Peek-a-boo! :D [8th June 2012]

So, I've been trying to post an update for a couple of weeks. I started typing it on my laptop and haven't had the time to finish it yet. Sorry, people!

Please bear with me (RAWR! Ha. Sorry, I always picture a bear whenever I hear that expression :D ) whilst I'm busy being a mum and trying to dispose of the bomb that seems to continuously explode over and over again at home.

Morgan is doing really well! We've now switched from pram to pushchair, and she has started to roll over from her back to her belly and back (though she sometimes gets stuck on her belly).

Things with HSS couldn't be better!

I am happy, and Morgan is happy.

The whole point of this blog initially was to have a place where I could rant, rave, vent and declutter my brain from all sorts of worries and thoughts. Since things are going so well, I haven't had the need to write anything worth while lately.

I shall post an update as soon as I find the time, with the story of how Morgan's Other Granny's Visit went. In a nutshell, it went well.

As I type this, I'm on the way back home where I shall shortly get Morgan all cleaned up and fed before taking her over to my mum's. She willk babysit for a short while to enable HSS and myself to go buy a bed guard for Morgan. Yay for safety!

I am currently looking up weaning info - silly UK/US sites mean different things by "weaning" - in the States they use it to mean moving on from breastfeeding to anything else, whereas UK sites mean to say the intro of real food as opposed to breastmilk/formula milk.

As you peoples know, my boobs failed in the function of noms, and have limited themselves to just being decorative. This means that _my_ weaning will entail the intro of real food. According to WHO (World Health Organisation), weaning shouldn't be introduced before Baby is 6 months old. Having said that, some start weaning from the age of 4 months. Not every baby has the same needs/appetite.
Morgan is showing a keen interest in food - she has that "Dog Thing" going on where she watches interested your every move whenever food or drink is concerned.

Omnomnomnomhandnomnomnom

She is currently drinking 210ml water& 7 scoops formula every 4 hours approx. Hungry bebbeh is hungry.

Oh, and we also now have set up her travel cot to act as a playpen. It has been filled with colourful stuff - toys and such. Enough distractions to keep Morgan amused for the long period of time that is 10 minutes.

6th June 2012

 

She has been experiencing some separation anxiety and panics if left alone for longer than 5 minutes.
That is about it for now.

Have a good day everyone!

P.s. Here's a Moving Morgan feat. HSS :)

Happy Happy Joy Joy

I've had complaints that I haven't blogged in a few days.

Sorry!

I've not been 100% health-wise, so it made juggling everything more tiring than usual.

All I have to say is this though:

I'm happy. Morgan is happy. HSS seems to be happy as well.

21st May 2012 - Happy times :D

On Saturday evening, Morgan slept over at my grandma's house.  HSS and I went out to celebrate a friend's birthday - didn't stay out late though as we were both pretty tired.  On Sunday, we grabbed brunch at Mint - whereby HSS's tastebuds were deflowered by means of the infamous Orgasmic Brownie.  After noms, we were going for a walk when I found a couple missed calls from my sis.  I called her back and she asked me to go buy nappies and Bebegel for Morgan as she had been restless all morning due to bellyache.

Off we went to the airport's pharmacy! It was the first of undoubtedly many Parental Emergencies to happen - and I'm glad I wasn't alone in this.  Once the goods were acquired, we went over at my grandma's to attend to Morgan's needs.  Eventually, Morgan and I came back home and HSS left for work.

Monday found us all in a pretty good mood, as can be testified via the above picture.  That is the first photo of the three of us.  One photo I very much cherish.  We played and cuddled all day!

Today is now Tuesday - and Morgan's Paternal Granny has arrived on the island! Her plane should have landed a minute ago.  I'm not in tip top shape as I have a very sore and swollen throat.  I think I had fever earlier, which is why Morgan is staying at my mum's for the night.  Will give me some time to try and recover as the days to come are going to be quite on the sociable side!

Morgan is teething at the moment which makes her uber drooly.  She is becoming more sociable than ever and more vocal too.  Today I kept imitating her sounds and that seemed to please her. She is also using her hands more efficiently and holds her head up straight for longer periods of time.  She still loves music and will get restless if there is no music on.  She turned 4 months old today! Can't believe time is going by so quickly!!

I have to say that all of this time I waited for someone like you: You are my dream

Morgan is starting to focus more on what she does - she is discovering her abilities from a new perspective! This means she ends up going cross-eyed on  a daily basis when trying to observe her dummy or her hands.

She is now pretty much wearing just her onesies all the time as the weather is getting too warm to wear layers.

Things are going well for me at the moment - HSS is a Godssend [yes, I'm aware I typed two s's there.] and I couldn't be happier.  Seems like I may have found my Not-that-white Knight and his loyal [Honda] Steed.  I know, I know. Bad pun.  I've been giggling over it all afternoon the moment it dawned on me as I was walking with Morgan to go meet my mum for coffeetimes.  It is unusual, but very pleasant, to have someone to help me out and to share things with and for a change, to be looked after.  I've been doing things on my own for such a long time, I forgot what this feels like.  Actually, I don't think I've ever felt this way before.  *grin*

I got her "two" new books - and I say "two" purely because the one with the Rainbow-winged Fairy on it is actually a pack of 4 pop-up books written by the awesome John Patience.  Morgan has got another 2 books by the same author.

 

Today I finally heard back from my workplace.  I've got a meeting on Friday morning to discuss my working hours and what training I'll need to refresh my memory and learn new things.  Fingers crossed!!

Morgan's Paternal Granny shall soon be coming over! Can't wait!

Also, in June, my very good friend Kathryn will also be coming over - it will be way exciting to introduce Morgan to her!! My Partner in Crime [PIC] Laura should also be visiting us soon - that'll be interesting and fun!

All in all, life is good right now :)

 

I got 5 on it

7th April - Saturday night:

I failed.

I tried to go out. I didn't even last 2 and a half hours before I came back home to be with Morgan. The gig I went to happened to feature one of my favourite locals bands, too! And yet, the urge to come back home and be with her was too overwhelming.

Thankfully, a friend offered me a ride home as he wasn't in the mood to stay out. The moment I got back home, I rushed to Morgan's side and held her hand. She stirred, slightly, and I breathed out a sigh of relief.

I snuggled up in bed next to her and fell asleep shortly after.

Easter Sunday (8th April):

Woke up, fed Morgan, and stayed in bed for as long as I could together with Morgan. My grandma gave Morgan a teddy bear soft toy with an easter egg attached to it. The egg, I'll be munching on this year. The bear will be enjoyed by Morgan when she's a bit older since it has choking hazards (beady eyes and a glued-on nose that could be easily pulled off).

My sisters visited briefly, and in the afternoon, my elder sister, Morgan and I walked back home. I noticed how used I have gotten to pushing a pram whilst walking with my sis. I let her push the pram and Gods know how many times she bumped into things (like the edge of the pavement, potholes or doorsteps). When pushing a pram or pushchair, one has to examine the ground that is way ahead of them all the time and memorise what obstacles are present. It is similar to programming your very own Mental GPS System.

Woe is me!

Once home, she hung out with Morgan and myself for a short while and then left us to a nice relaxed evening of watching Once Upon A Time together.


I bathed Morgan upon her request. "How?" you might be wondering. Well, Morgan very rarely is fussy. On Sunday early evening, she was fussy for no apparent reason and kept fidgeting. I took her to the nappy changer so that I could have a peek and see if she needed a nappy change. The moment I lay her down, she stopped whining. That is when I realised that she actually _wanted_ a bath! She is starting to enjoy being buttnaked and feeling all fresh and clean. Right after bathing her, drying her up and clothing her, she fell asleep in my arms. I woke her up to feed her and she then went back to sleep. Later, I woke her up again for another feed and yet again, she drifted back to sleep straight away!

Monday (9th April):

Willow & Dimi [her dad], Morgan & myself :)

We met Becca, Dimi and Willow in Valletta! This was Morgan's first encounter with another baby. It was good to finally meet Willow as Becca and I have pretty much followed one another's pregnancies and parenthood up til now.



Willow seemed interested in Morgan, but Morgan's attention span is still limited and so there wasn't much interaction yet. It was still pretty cool.

Morgan and I in Valletta

I do have a complaint though. We went to this cafeteria just opposite the St John's Co-cathedral, and were left waiting for food for about an HOUR AND A HALF. With TWO babies. All we wanted was a pizza, a burger and a salad. No biggie! We ended up paying for our drinks and going elsewhere. This time round, food only took about 15 minutes and the waiter was nice enough to get me a jug of boiling water for me to warm up Morgan's bottle when it was time for her to eat.


It was really awesome watching Willow make a mess of her fruit puree food thingy! I can't wait til Morgan starts the weaning process! I'm sure I'll be exasperated at times, but food is meant to be enjoyed and boy do babies enjoy it!!

Right after saying our farewells, I took Morgan to Paola to meet up with my mum. We had coffee, and afterwards Morgan and I came home.

Morgan then requested she be bathed. I'm not kidding! She was restless and cranky, so I put her on the nappy changer to check if she needed a nappy change. The moment she was flat on her back, her mood improved and I realised she wanted a bath. Thus, I obliged. She was really cheerful afterwards!
We were both pretty tired, and so we just hung out and eventually went to sleep.

Yes, I hang out with my baby. She's cool! I actually enjoy spending so much time with her, watching movies, playing, listening to music, going places etc. She's fun and good company.
We watched some more Once Upon a Time episodes, and then it was soon bedtime.

Tuesday 10th April 2012:

We took it easy. Didn't go anywhere as it would have been too tiring. We watched the last few episodes of Once Upon A Time, and then watched Van Helsing. Both Morgan and I nodded off whilst watching it though. All the running around we have been doing lately tends to drain me. Plus, all that fresh air tires her out too.

Yet again, Morgan requested a bath at about 6-7pm. She seems to now want to be bathed before her early evening bottle is fed to her. I'm fine with that timing as it means she gets the day's grime off her early, but not too early so that she's still clean by bedtime.

Oh, and we had an "argument".  Morgan kept spitting out her dummy and trying to suck on her hand. I'd stop her and stick the dummy back in her mouth only for her to spit it out again and suck on her hand.  We spent some 5 minutes at it.   She then accepted the dummy, but shortly after I noticed she was trying to sneakily replace the dummy with her hand again.

Sneaky baby!

We played quite a bit and once it was time for her to have her night bottle - around 10:15pm, I decided I'd join her as I was pretty exhausted.

Wednesday 11th April:
Got woken up at about 5:15am by Morgan who seemed to have gotten hungry earlier than usual. Unfortunately it meant I also had to prepare the day's bottles at silly o'clock.

The steam steriliser took forever. Once it turned itself off, I prepared the bottles, put them in the fridge, and rejoined Morgan in bed. She had stayed up waiting for me to return to bed.

We snoozed some more, until Morgan decided she had had enough at about 9:15am and wanted to watch the light change through the window and to play. I laid her on the bed in front of me and we played for a while until it was time for her next feed.

Once cleaned up and fed, we set out to go pick up a parcel sent by her Paternal Granny from the post office. Such awesome stuff was contained in said parcel! A couple of outfits, a hat, a "Superhero" cushion - I call it so because the cushion cover has the letter M on it. Reminds me of the Superman S and stuff. Also, a giggle toy (one whose belly you press for it to make a sound), a pair of sandals, and a face cloth which is hilarious and awesome! It is one of them thingies you put in water and they expand. Its got a dinosaur on it, called Morganosaurus. The moment I read out its name, Morgan grinned. She seems to like punny stuff. *grin*

We stopped by at my grandma's, then went for coffee with my mum. Yes, I really like coffee. After coffeetimes were had, we returned back to my grandma's for a while. Since it was rather cloudy and drizzly, the moment the sun came out, we set on our way back home lest it rains.

Once back home, we just chilled and played. Morgan seemed to be amused by my singing along to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" as she grinned when I started singing along to it. I had the same reaction from her a few days ago, but it was with Walk Like An Egyptian. She has good taste in music!

I bathed Morgan, fed her, played some more and she then nodded off. Took care of some laundry which I only just remembered I need to attend to... Argh! I don't feel like dragging my tired arse out of bed! Ah well. I suppose I have to anyway in order to edit this post once I submit it to my laptop..
I only just fed and cleaned up Morgan for the last time today. She is now fast asleep in bed.

Oh, epic news! Her Paternal Granny just rebooked her flight! In just about 6 weeks, she'll be over! It will mean that my time at home with Morgan would be nearly up, but I suppose at least it is something to look forward to. A way to sugar coat it all, if you will.

I'm still waiting to find out what is going to happen at work. I called yesterday and was told they'll call me back.

I'm still wishing I had the luxury of being a stay-at-home mum.
 
Ah well.

If you've managed to read all of the above - well done! Here's a cookie!

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from GO Mobile

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey

Today was THE DAY- i.e. the day when I get to take Morgan to hospital and get the results of her Genetic Profiling - meaning I would find out if she's a Down's Baby or not.  Before getting to the big revelation, I'll give you a background of what a day from hell it has been.

At about 3am, I gave Morgan her bottle and changed her nappy, and then went to the kitchen to prepare her next feeds and to enjoy a middle-of-the-night snack and hot beverage.  Yes, I just heard the words 'hot beverage' being spoken in my head by The Big Bang Theory's Dr Sheldon Cooper.  Oops - there we go again.

A thunder-cum-hailstorm broke loose out of nowhere.  And then it happened.  It was 4am. One moment I'm doing a Word Search, the next, a loud POP! was heard and the lights went out.

"FuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckFUCK!" I thought to myself.  Hugh, my laptop, was on standby, plugged in.  I ran to unplug it, whilst hoping it will still work once I give it a shot, to prevent any other possible damages.  I checked on Morgan, and told my mum there was a blackout.  Upon checking the circuit breaker, it turned out the issue must be related to the Electricity Main Thingy.  Great.

My grandma woke up and herself, my mum and I ended up bickering over what could be the issue.  Because you know, each one of us is a Certified Electrician, right?  Anyway. Everyone went back to sleep and I nodded off for about an hour until it was time to wake up.

I got Morgan fed and changed and cleaned up, then got ready myself.  It was soon after that hell broke loose over how on Earth I was meant to get to hospital.  Due to the sudden weather change, bussing it was out of the question, and the  taxi service I called was unavailable.  After a while, my brother managed to pick us up and drive us there.

A brief struggle to install the car seat and a mostly traffic-free drive later, and we were there.  My mum accompanied us to help me carry the car seat + Morgan as they are bloody heavy!  The Doc we had the appointment with hadn't arrived yet, so we sat in the waiting room, and did just that - we waited.

The wait was rather nerve-wrecking.  In the meanwhile, I received a message via Facebook from Morgan's Paternal Granny to say that Morgan's Paternal Great-granddad had passed away earlier this morning.  Yet another death that has affected someone close to me this year - brings the toll up to 5 in total.  It is rather sad that Morgan will now never have the opportunity to meet him, but I'm told that he was shown her photos and that made him smile.  So at least, there's that.  Now, we wait to see if this will impact her Paternal Granny's visit or not.  If the visit has to be rescheduled, then so be it.  It is a matter of prioritising after all.  If everything stays the same though, it would mean that we get Morgan's Paternal Granny over here on Saturday! Exciting stuff!

I was looking around me, observing other babies and children.  There was one colicky baby, who went bright red and just wouldn't stop crying.  Soon after, another baby joined in and started wailing as well.  I smiled, a bit smugly, I admit, at Morgan - who was asleep - and told her "Good girl, not to give in to peer pressure!"  This provoked a quizzical look and some chuckles from my mum.

I then was observing a boy - who was perhaps 10 years old - who seemed to have some disability. I didn't realise this until I heard him speak. That is when I looked at Morgan, a bit choked up and thought to myself how easy it is for a disability to stay hidden from the world, and how anxious I was to get the results. I kept hoping and hoping that everything would be fine.  Given the day's start though, I wasn't hopeful, to be honest.

Then, the Doc walked in and soon after we were summoned.

Doc said she was still waiting for Morgan's notes, and after a few moments, she broke the news.

Does Morgan seem Down to you?

No?

THAT IS BECAUSE SHE IS NOT A DOWN'S BABY!

The tests came back perfectly fine!  I was overjoyed to hear this, albeit it was a delayed reaction since I think I was somewhat shocked.  I had been preparing myself for the worst, just in case, so it was a bit of a dream-like situation.

Doc then weighed and measured Morgan - She now weighs 4.09kg [9lbs] and is 52.7cm [20.7inches] tall.  She'll be 5 weeks old tomorrow.  Quite impressive, at least to me!

Whatever else goes wrong throughout the day won't matter.  I know Morgan is well, and that is all that matters to me.

Mama I'm coming home!

I am shocked. For the first time since I started the blog, a day went by without me writing anything!
The reason for that is the fact that yesterday was a Day From Hell, which started at 4:15am with a meganappy that required an outfit change for Morgan, followed by feeding Morgan as well as an argument between myself, my mum and my grandma. The argument was prompted by their wanting to help, to be honest. My mum was meant to babysit whilst I ran a couple of errands, but that was no longer possible.

The morning continued with cooking lunch at 6am, then showing my younger sis how to change a nappy - which led to yet another outfit change - and how to give Morgan her bottle.

 Omnomnomnom

Whilst Morgan was being fed, I got everything ready for our trip over to my place. Obviously even the walk there had a number of irritating occurrences - starting from the fact that the closest ATM was unavailable due to some work being done in the lobby. My frustration then flew in the faces of the idiots who give permits for people to build a doorstep that takes up half of the already narrow pavement, and the assholes who park their car on a double yellow line on the corner, thus blocking access to the ramp I needed to use to push the pram off the sidewalk. Not to forget the inconsiderate twats who dump their garbage bags on the corner, thus also blocking said ramps. And to finish, the local councils for either letting the pavements deteriorate enough to be ridden with potholes worse than those drivers have to face on a daily basis, or else for building pavements so narrow you'd have to walk in a single file with your back against the wall in order not to fall off them.

In other words, Indiana Jones should envy us for making it there and back unscathed.

 Home sweet home!

We finally arrived at my place, and soon after my landlady arrived. We had a brief chat, she oohed and aahed over Morgan, and left. I packed my laptop and we started the journey back home. We made a quick stop at the post office where we picked up a parcel sent to Morgan from my good, bearded friend Cris.

Morgan is now the proud owner of a really cute blanket, and her very own Elder God!

 See? :D

Not even 10 minutes after arriving back home, a workmate of mine came over for lunch and to meet Morgan. She gave Morgan this awesome handknitted outfit her mum made, and also brought one of the most amazing apple pies ever.

After my workmate left, I attended to Morgan and had to change her outfit yet again. Once she was clothed and fed, another friend of mine who is currently pregnant came over with her son and we chatted a bit as her 5(?) year old son hovered around Morgan, examining her attentively. I think he was trying to decide whether he likes the idea of a sibling or not.

My friend and I then tried to explain to him that girls don't have a penis and don't need one in order to pee. He was not convinced and seemed to think we were grossly mistaken and pretty delusional. I'm sure he'll figure it out eventually.

The day carried on being hectic until late at night. It did end on a positive note though! Morgan's Other Granny - the paternal one - confirmed her dates. She'll be visiting for a week soon! I'm excited about it since we never met but she has been immensely supportive throughout the pregnancy and this first month of Morgan's life. I'm also excited for her as well as for Morgan - I know how excited my mum was upon holding Morgan for the first time. I can't imagine what it will be like for his mum.. Having to wait for so long and yet still see and read about the daily changes Morgan goes through via pictures I post and the blogs I write - it must be difficult. I can somewhat empathise due to having lived a long distance relationship. It is not the same though.

So yes - Morgan is now a month old! She is growing up so quickly! There are clothes that are already fitting her a bit too snugly and that will have to be cast aside. Her foot is now longer than my middle finger. I ought to get an inch tape and measure her properly! She is also pulling out the dummy by tugging on the strappy-thingy that is joined with the Bear's Head Clip that secures it to her clothes. She is also holding her head up by herself for a few long seconds, and following moving objects for longer periods of time.

 Notice her hand tugging on the strappy-thingy!

I hope I will have more time to write tomorrow as I tend to forget details which I would otherwise share. Besides from keeping you lot updated, this blog also serves as a journal for me, and later on for her, to remind me of those brief moments which can make or break one's day but unless a record is kept of them, they end up being forgotten.

The Elder Scrolls

There is a moment in life that is perhaps even more difficult to accept as a reality than parenthood.  It is, after all, the next step up.  Grandparenthood is a tough transition to digest and adapt to.  Yes, it is extremely exciting - but, it makes the Grandparent-to-be realise that they are growing old, and will now have to pass on the crown to the next in line.


I see this difficulty by observing my own parents.  Although they are both excited [and show the excitement in different ways], I can see how much they struggle with the fact that they no longer are Omnipotent - and that I get to have the final word, not them.  I would guess it is more or less the same as admitting defeat, in a way.

To some, becoming a Grandparent might be the one opportunity they have to redeem themselves and try to rectify any mistakes they may have made with their own children,  To others, it is the perfect chance of taking all that was fun about parenthood and relive it all over again - this time without having to worry about being the "Bad Cop".

As difficult as it might be for you to wrap your head around your own impending parenthood, try and be as understanding as you can with the Grandparents-to-be.  It might take you an extra effort not to bite their head off when they insist about doing things their way - but with a bit of patience, you'll manage to agree to disagree at first, and then eventually, find a solution.

I had to face this with my own mother when it comes to Childcare.  She seemed to take offence at my mentioning Childcare Centres to her at first.  She wanted to be the one to babysit for me whilst I'm at work.  I tried to word things as simply and carefully as I could, on separate occasions.  I showed her that I still had every intention of checking out some Centres - and went into detail about one of them to make her realise why I consider it to be a good option to have.  By the end of it all, she ended up telling me she now realises that yes, I should go for it.

My siblings and I grew up with our Grandparents and Great Aunt as our babysitters.  I suppose mentioning Childcare Centres to my mum felt as if I was trying to rob her from "her turn" at living through the experience.

I don't really have any advice to share - other than to be patient.  You have the final word - but it doesn't hurt to ask for the Grandparents' opinion in certain matters - it will make them feel useful and included.