For the longest time, I felt like Naomi was suffering from a huge case of the Terrible Twos. She acted up a huge amount and was largely sticky to Daddy, especially during my third trimester with Charly. Of course many said it was because I was also carrying, but whatever the case was I was at my wit’s end for awhile. I was heavy, hormonal and contracting like a maniac so her meltdowns and horrendous attitude towards me made me feel really sad, and also anxious about how she was going to be once her sister was born.

My fears were, however, completely unfounded. The minute Naomi saw her sister in the hospital it was like she fell in love with a new doll.

She wanted to stroke her and pat her all the time. I think it helped a lot that we introduced Charlotte as HER’S and not something new that she couldn’t touch or be involved with. So yes, all the advice from books about involving your toddler is gold. Everyday she would wake up and bound into the nursery saying, “Good morning Baby Charly!” or she would just ask “Where is Baby Charly?” whenever she got home. It was really sweet. She was really never aggro towards her sister.

BUT.

And yes, there is a big “but” in all of this.

She was a horrible monster with me. She acted up all the time – hitting me and pinching me even, saying hurtful things which sent me into tears. I was doing all I could and I was severely sleep deprived, so I just took it personally and felt really depressed about all of it. Two weeks into things, I decided enough was enough so I made arrangements for me to spend some one on one time with just Naomi. I took little pockets of time here and there but probably had a solid four days of focusing on Naomi, and this really worked for her.

During this time, I reminded her that Mummy loved her very much. I’d say, “Guess what, Naomi? Mummy has a secret. Do you want to know what it is?” She would lean in and I would whisper in her ear, “Mummy loves Nae Nae”, and she would beam up at me. From then onwards, I’d ask her every night at bedtime what Mummy’s secret was. And she would whisper gleefully back to me: “Mummy loves Nae Nae.”

Of course whenever she did act up in a really big way, we’d put her in the ‘naughty corner’, a technique which also really works for her.

On hindsight, I think she was just angry at me. In the last month before Charly’s birth, I was contracting so much and told to be on alert, so I was not able to carry her as much as I would have liked. She was very understanding at the time and would say, “No, Mummy. Daddy carry Nae Nae. Mummy is tired. Must rest.” She knew. Yet, I think she couldn’t help but hold it against me.

It probably took her about three weeks to really get used to the new routine and to things in the house. She’d help me out with the chores – getting a new diaper for her sister, throwing away soiled ones and her favourite – holding the milk bottle up for her sister while feeding. This one only kicked in recently when I switched to bottle feeding, but she’s so chuffed when she gets to help! She also refuses to sleep in her own room now and wants to sleep in the nursery with her sister. Every. Single. Night!

The other day, she asked that I buy a cuddly mouse toy and when I asked if it was for her, she said no and that it was for Charly. She then ceremoniously gave it to her sister when she got home – I asked her to re-enact her giving Charly the toy ‘coz it was just so sweet!

These days whenever I pick her up at school with her sister, she leaps up from her seat and yells in delight: “Baby Charly! Baby Charly! Teacher X, that’s Baby Charly!” Yup, the hello mummy only comes later. She is so in love with her sister.

And that makes me smile :)

When you’ve got a baby with Eczema, using the right product is absolutely essential to ensure you don’t aggravate the condition.

From day one, little Charly’s skin has been rough and flakey. I remember Nae also having the same sort of skin condition at her age, and I am hoping that like Nae, Charly’s skin will clear up on its on in a few months time. There are a lot of reasons behind Eczema so sometimes it doesn’t quite go away. We were told that for babies who may have inherited either Mum or Dad’s sensitive nose or lungs, this shows itself in the form of sensitive skin in the baby’s early days. And this clears up once the child gets a little older – and indeed has either one of the two (or both) conditions above. This was true for Nae, so I’m hoping it’s true for Charly too.

So back to finding a good, natural product… Humphrey’s Corner is an all natural range specifically for delicate baby skin. There are no artificial fragrances added and what you smell is 100% natural – Aloe Vera, Rose, Chamomile, Lavender and my favourite, Rosemary. It’s working pretty well with Charly at the moment, but Nae is also a fan now although I think she just likes the cartoon sketches of Humphrey :)

Rose

Lavender

Aloe Vera

Chamomile (had to post this again as I loved the photobomb)

And Rosemary – our favourite

They also do non-fragranced baby wipes

Here’s a recent picture of Charly I took a few days ago… Proof of her happy skin. Yes, she’s still got Eczema but with these products – and some moisturizer with ceramides that her paed prescribed – she seems fine for now. Keeping our fingers crossed though!

You can purchase Humphrey’s Corner at Robinsons or online at GlamoGirl.

Just quote “ickleoriental” when you checkout to get 35% off on all Humphrey Corner products! (Offer valid till 22 June)

Unless you’re some sort of athlete, I would say it is a bit of a misconception that getting back in shape is an easy task to achieve post birth. And I’m really not talking about just losing the weight, which can be tough in itself for some. If there’s one fact you can depend on, it is that pregnancy and birth – and perhaps parenthood to a small extent – age you tremendously. To get back to where you imagine yourself to be, especially if you’re used to feeling strong in some form or other… Well, let’s just say it is like starting all over again from square one.

I’ve been going for little runs here and there and I’ve gone for a few strength sessions with my mate Chris at Selective Fitness. It’s a very slow start I’m giving myself but I think this time, I’m trying to keep things attainable. This morning’s trail run with Grace was another reality check. I was aiming for 6km but completely forgot that my longest run to date of 4km was completely flat, and the trail is full of climbs. So halfway through the run, I decided to realign my goals and I am now feeling pretty chuffed about the 4km that I did actually manage to do.

Some things to consider when you’re trying to get back in shape post-baby – aside from some of the tips I blogged about first time round as well:

• Surround yourself with active friends
  When you’re feeling all inert and bleah, it’s very easy to just want to run away from anyone who bears some semblance of fitness. Basically, it’s easy to want to stay in denial. Open your ears, listen willingly to what your friends are doing and don’t give yourself excuses about how tired you are or how different you figure their lifestyle is to your’s. While all that you are thinking is probably natural and true, it will not help you in your quest to getting fit again. It’ll just drag you further and further down into your own pity party. Let others inspire you. You can do it!

• Accept the challenge
  Somewhere along the way, if you’re looking open enough, someone is going to invite you along for a run or some other sort of workout (depending on what activity you gravitate towards). No matter how unprepared you think you are, accept the challenge. The hardest part to everything is starting. The quicker you start doing something, and with friendly company to keep you motivated, the speedier your journey to fitness will seem. Come on, get out there!

• Keep goals small and attainable
  I was reminded of this one today. Don’t set yourself a goal that will leave you feeling high and dry and disappointed with yourself when you first get out. In my case for example, I shouldn’t think about what sort of distance I can cover, but rather how long I can keep going without needing to stop. A 15-minute non-stop brisk walk or run, for example, is a good first goal to achieve before gradually upping my workout duration. Achieving small goals will keep you coming back for more, at least getting you  to your next workout. Thanks Grace for this reminder!

• Eat humble pie
  Years ago I was running 20km distances and taking Grace out on her first runs – Today, she gave me a bit of friendly competition by running behind me and egging me on. She’s such an accomplished runner and it would be so easy to get all down and out about how far from fitness I’ve fallen. But you know what, always remember that pregnancy and parenthood takes a great toll on you. The more you beat yourself up about how you are nowhere near your past achievements, the crappier you are going to feel. Eating humble pie and looking to your friends for inspiration is a big help!

]]> http://ickleoriental.net/?feed=rss2&p=5106 0 http://ickleoriental.net/?p=5093 http://ickleoriental.net/?p=5093#comments Wed, 05 Jun 2013 09:51:29 +0000 Janice http://ickleoriental.net/?p=5093 more »]]> This is definitely a post which is long overdue, especially since Charlotte is now 2 months old. Time is really flying by this time around and I must admit I have completely been enjoying and treasuring the time spent with my girls this past month. It has been so precious.

When we celebrated Naomi’s first month in the world, we were incredibly lucky that our friends who run Cookyn Inc were opening their new place at the Garden Hub. This time, Charlotte’s birth was in time for the newly-minted Grub (also by the same friends) so I asked if I’d be able to hold Charly’s Man Yue celebrations there.

What is a Man Yue? It is the first month celebration when your newborn turns a month old. In Chinese culture, a new mum has to stay home in confinement for 30 days, to rest and let her new baby adjust to the world. Of course, the whole confinement concept was a bit lost on me and my family, what with mine and Naomi’s birthdays falling on the weekends preceding Charlotte’s big do. But still, we celebrated anyway as we figured it was more of a good mass ‘Meet the Baby” session for friends and relatives. And well, it was a good excuse to have some good grub!

What I love about the venue is that it was built specifically for the restaurant and in the middle of a huge, green park. The kids can bring their scooters and bikes and scoot outside the restaurant if you’re sitting outside and watching them.

Before Charlotte was born, my family had asked me what I’d be calling her nickname-wise. Naomi was dubbed my Bug from the very start and funnily, I had toyed with calling Charlotte my Grub, so the venue seemed very apt :)

It was a really great day as our friends and family streamed in and out of the place. I must say though that as much as I love seeing our loved ones, I do dislike big parties like these as I just felt I was unable to really spend enough time with each person who came. I felt like I was flitting about, more or less only saying hello and goodbye to people and never actually being able to follow up on my question posed to each person, which was meant to be a sincere “How are you?”.

This time it seemed even more fun ‘coz all of Naomi’s little friends were also at the party. Nae, unfortunately, was still in her “I’m-a-bit-jealous-of-my-new-sister-but-am-trying-not-to-be” phase though, so she spent all her time clinging to her grandmother and trying to be a baby, instead of using the time to socialise with her friends. I feel like I should blog about how she’s adjusted to Charly’s arrival, as it’s been quite a journey…. Alright, mental note right there.

Here’s a rare one of her catching her favourite little man… Hunter’s little brother, Carter! She keeps wanting to kiss him, and I can’t say I blame him!

I must thank Amanda, Mervyn, Dexter, Pat, Kelvin, Julene and all the others at Grub for letting us hold the party there, and also for sacrificing their Saturday afternoon to serve all of us! Oh, and Charmaine for organising. It was such a relief to just rock up for the party and not have to lift a finger to organise it =P Thanks for the fantastic event, guys.

We’ve actually since been back to taste the actual food and I must say we were very impressed. Mervyn watches over his kitchen very closely and the quality of the food that comes out is proof of that. My favourite was probably the Steak & Guiness pie… Mmmm, okay I’m hungry just thinking about it. Here’s a glimpse of what they serve on a regular basis for brunch…

But hold up… this was supposed to be about Charly, wasn’t it?

Charly was an absolute STAR during the party. She pretty much slept through the whole thing, what a champion! There was no stress at all this time around. I’m just so thankful she seems like such a happy and healthy little piglet.

Read about when Naomi turned one month here.

When I first knew about the Jawbone UP, I got really excited.

In retrospect, I know this was a very odd thing to want just before giving birth since there’s not a lot of lifestyle to track when you’re at the beck and call of a newborn. But the geek in me wanted to own a piece of wearable technology which might help me track and make changes to my lifestyle so life wouldn’t seem like such a mess. I must confess I was also attracted to the cute mint green band and that I could pair it effortlessly with one of my favourite gadgets of all time – the iPhone.

The UP band logs every bit of activity that goes on in your life, from the steps you take and what goes in your active lifestyle, to your sleep patterns and diet. You can use these pieces of information either to make adjustments – eat better to track a better diet, sleep earlier to achieve more deep sleep time etc – or you can use it to make your life more efficient. It can be used by parents, for example, to share baby duties more efficiently by analysing their deep sleep cycles.

I haven’t quite done this yet but I’m definitely using it to ensure I chalk in more deep sleep hours to better my milk supply. So if I see that I’ve gotten very little deep sleep on a certain night, I’d make a conscientious effort the next day to sleep earlier, or nap during the day. Quite specific to my situation at the moment, but I suppose that’s the cool thing about it…

At first glance, the Jawbone UP looks like a fashion accessory – like a Livestrong band (which once was fashionable anyway), Phiton wristband or Road ID. But unlike the three, it actually comes packed with technology. It comes in a variety of colours and three different sizes – and you can try the size at the store before you buy it as the packaging allows you to test out how much leeway you have on your wrist once it’s on. I must say part of the attraction was its design, which reminded me of the brand’s Jambox. It is pretty ergonomic so it doesn’t get in the way as you wear it and is water resistant for when you shower or wash your hands.

On one end of the Jawbone is a headphone jack which plugs into your iPhone when you need to sync it – which means the band lasts for around 10 days power-wise since there’s no need for a wireless connection with your device. And on the other end is a button which allows you to toggle between sleep and wake. The band is always on, and never turns off.

Stylish, no?

Admittedly, I’ve not been using the band at its optimum yet. The most used function would be the sleep function – reason stated above – but I’ve also been using it to gauge how active or inactive I’ve been post Charly’s birth. I’ve got about 4 ‘team mates’ to compare myself against so every day I can see how normal or abnormal my day has been. The friendly comparison injects a healthy dose of motivation so I’m able to stop making excuses and to get my arse up from the nursing chair.

For example,  I have a marathoner friend who moves an average of about 10,000 or more steps a day, an active friend who does about 7,000 ish and a fellow gal pal who will average around 4,000 plus steps a day. Below you’ll see that on May 3, I moved over 3,000 steps which to be honest is because I took Charly and went shopping all over the place. I was absolutely knackered by the end of the day.

That’s a really good day post birth. On some other days I only move about 800 steps, which is SO SAD. But you can see the motivational value of the comparison there.

 Here is said girlfriend and I with our Jawbone UP bands – We’ve had a bit of fun accessorising as well, so it doesn’t just look like a piece of random rubber on your wrist. Nice?

The Jawbone UP is available online at the Apple Singapore store at S$189.

When Hubba and I were first in the market for a stroller, we were looking for something that would be lightweight, easy-to-handle, and luxurious. A friend pointed the Toro out and it seemed like a perfect choice for me, since it had good suspension, a full system that catered for use from infant all the way till the toddler ages and well, I just loved the feel of it. I acquired this particular stroller again but lately, I’ve realized how impractical it is for a second-time mother in need of a buggy for two.

So yes, my Toro stroller system is up for sale again. Here are some things I loved about the Toro:

• It’s around 8kg which puts it in the same league as the Bugaboo Bee, a stroller that I actually had my eye on
• Comes with Maxi Cosi adaptors so you can easily attach your car seat, not waking baby when going in and out of the car
• It stores standing up, which makes it easy to bung in the corner of the house or in restaurants when there’s no space for stuff. You can even drag it when it’s collapsed (like a piece of luggage) which makes holding baby and walking up and down stairs, or waiting for taxi cabs easy. In my first few months, I used to collapse this with one hand, have baby in the car seat capsule in another, whilst trying to get everything sorted with taxi. Felt pretty Supermum-like.
• It comes with a Carry cot which can be used as a separate travel cot or moses basket
• Good suspension and big rear wheels so I’ve gone ‘offroad’ several times and Nae has been quite happy
• Super easy to collapse and open up, which has made moving around as a new Mum really easy – well, this was before I decided I wanted to become a full-time kangaroo
• Basically a luxurious ride for baby if you haven’t got a whiney toddler skulking around you

Here’s a picture of the entire travel system with Carry cot.

And here are a couple of videos of the Toro in action!

How to Open & Close the Micralite Toro

Micralite Toro Stroller Review

Fit CarryCot & Car Seat

This stroller retails at S$1,088 with the Carrycot system. I’d be happy to let the whole system go for S$500. Negotiable.

Email me if you’re interested!

Anyway, I didn’t really think we’d fuss much this Mother’s Day. My lovely husband being the silly goof that he was forgot to book anywhere for lunch so everywhere was packed and we just had a simple coffee and lunch at Loysel’s Toy with our two sproglets. Naomi woke up and sang me HAPPY BIRTHDAY instead very merrily, which amused me and melted my heart.

But what melted my heart most was the next day when she came back from school. The teachers had obviously worked Mother’s Day into the curriculum and so I found this handmade heart craft thing on the table when she got home. I picked it up and when I saw “Naomi Loves Mummy” on the back, it made me smile.

Then my two year old sauntered over and very clearly and distinctly said, “HAPPY MOTHERS’ DAY!!!”

I almost cried!

A little re-enactment in this video, I just had to capture on Vine for posterity.

Good God. Where has the time gone? Just yesterday she was born… Wait. Just yesterday her sister was born. The past two years of my life have gone in such a blur that I’m starting to lose track. Boy does having kids really make the time go by real quick!

So anyway, this post is backdated because Naomi turned two when Charly was just three weeks old. I always knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge celebrating her birthday in Charly’s first month and many asked if I would combine both celebrations. But I didn’t want Nae’s second birthday to be overshadowed by her sister’s celebration or vice versa, so I broke my “no spending” rule and threw her a gym party at Kiddy Fun. I needed a place that would be set up for me – I just couldn’t deal with any of it with a three week old in tow.

Unlike Go Go Bambini or Fidgets, this gym is great for toddlers since everything is padded and age appropriate. It also has a great party area with lots of seating for adults so I figured I’d be able to nurse in comfort if needed, whilst Nae is playing with her friends. I was able to play with my birthday girl and tend to my newborn at the same time. Perfect! Nae had a ball! She absolutely loves the place and all her other friends loved it too! Even her older Che Che’s enjoyed themselves. Success!!

Don’t they all look like they’re having fun?! It was absolute madness! I loved how whenever someone arrived, I’d only see the parents coming through the door ‘coz the kid would be in the play area already! I don’t actually think I saw ONE kid NOT enjoying him or herself. It was a HIT and a half!!! And I think the fact that the kids could get around on their own as well meant that the parents had a bit of time to stand back and watch. (Steve just being dramatic!!)

All in all, a really fun day for the toddlers – even the ones learning to walk! Yay for Naomi! And yay Mummy for cheating this year and throwing a non-fuss but maximum-fun bash! It’s so lovely celebrating your child’s second birthday. This is the stage where they learn what a birthday is and they participate in the singing, the clapping and they actively blow out their own candles. It is such a beautiful milestone.

And I’m so glad we took the time to truly revel in it.

Ps: Elmo cake a gift from her doting grandparents and aunt. Isn’t it fab?

N: Mummy, where’s Uncle Nate?

J: Uncle Nate?

N: Yes

J: Who is that? You don’t have an Uncle Nate.

N: Meet in the bike shop

J: Oh, you met him at the bike shop? You mean Uncle Nick? (T3)

N: Yes

J: He wasn’t in the shop yesterday. I think he went home.

N: Come back?

J: Yes, I’m sure he will.

She then tottered off to play happily.

Such an odd kid, this one :)

“Well, your birthday is next Monday but we’ll be celebrating this Sunday,” I said.

“Do you know where we’ll be celebrating?”

She answered earnestly with the name of the venue. I was surprised she still remembered since she’s only been there once.

“And all your friends are coming,” I exclaimed. “Do you know who will be there?”

“Beanie, Maia, Pakka, Carter, Hunter, Uncle Chris, Auntie Beverly, Sophie, Mia, Bake, Kai……. All YOUR friends!”

She went on with a grin on her face and I had to correct her before she added, “All MY friends!”

My heart melted and I could only think of two things:

(1) It’s so cute she thinks Uncle Chris and Auntie Beverly are her friends

(2) Who the hell is Pakka?