Olivia turns 3!
Her Baby, Her Family, Her Life, Her Motherhood

Be Right Back…

Wow!

I have been absent for a long time.

Time for a quick update.

The previous site, which I have used for many years was hacked.

And it wasn’t until recently I came up with a simple and uncreative domain name, where I continue to talk about myself and a little about the girls!

Who am I kidding!? I talk about them ALL THE TIME! On my facebook, instagram and in the real world.

The girls have grown so much since my last update… and this couldn’t be a better timing to return to blogging, now that I am back to living in Beijing!

 More updates soon.
Her Life, Her Motherhood

Olivia’s first Family Birthday Portrait

 

At 9 months old,Olivia is in Singapore for her first visit.

We were also in time to celebrate Grandma’s birthday and Grandpa’s & Amanda’s lunar birthday.

To Amanda’s delight, it was a princess-themed home celebration complete with a beautiful pink Disney princess birthday cake.

Olivia is settling well, with strangers anxiety, she would only allow Grandma to carry and turns fussy immediately when I am in sight.

I have been relying on her nanny too much. Who has been taking care of Olivia most (all) of the time since birth, feeding, napping and bedtime.
I never really had to take care of two kids this long.
I always had her help except when she returned home and that my bones felt like they were going to break at the end of the day coz Olivia wanted me to carry her all day, while Dp was there to help me with Amanda after school.

So, for the first time, I finally felt what it was like having to take care of two kids.
A fussy Olivia and a whiny sick Amanda, both screaming for my attention!

All I do these days in Singapore are to put the both them to bed and feeding them.
A total of 5 times (putting both them to sleep) and 7 times (feeding Olivia milk and solids, and more if Amanda is too whiny to eat on her own.)

Depending on my luck, it can be somewhere between 10 to 120 minutes putting Olivia to sleep.
As for Amanda, i consider 30 minutes very quick.

There were times, it felt like they were both waiting for me to feed them, play and sleep and I didn’t have a chance to stop and take a break in between.

This is probably the most challenging days of motherhood so far…

Ps: This blog is updated on iphone with Amanda seated next me watching TV while Olivia crawls around me.

Pps: Taking Family Birthday Portraits are very memorable in our Family. Read here.

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Her Life

Daddy’s Girls.

Daddy's girls!
The girls are usually excited to see Daddy coming Home in the evening.

Amanda runs to hug Daddy while Olivia squeals in delight.
And just about a month ago, Olivia would say 爸爸 whenever Daddy walks into her sight.

I am not jealous that both my daughters says 爸爸 first.
Its simply just because 爸爸 is easier to blabber. Really!

Olivia now babbles 爸爸 阿宝 棒棒…

Cute!

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Her Baby, Her Motherhood

My 6 months old Sweetheart.

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There is a saying here that goes, 有苗不愁长, Anything will grow as long as there is a sprout.

Its is often used to describe how fast babies and kids grows.
And its also how I feel about Olivia…

People (from pharmacy, hair salon, grocery to fruit store) who saw me waddling with a bump last year, are often amazed about how fast Olivia grows.
Already 6 months old! They gasped! Yes. I am silently in shock too.
Time pass too quickly.

Because of Olivia’s long hair, a lot of people think that she is older than what she is.
Babies here are usually shaved bald after the first month and continues to shave for the entire summer.

And now that summer is here, we too have some fun with her hair.
Mostly she wears 1, sometimes 2…

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And 3 plaits when its really HOT~!

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We have started her on solid food, such as banana, cereals and teething biscuits.
She readily accepts solids but turns out she has a fussier taste bud than her sister.
No matter how much she loves bananas, she wouldn’t take it if its not that ripe or overly riped.
And like her milk, she wants her cereals to be warm not cold.

TO keep her busy at our meal times, we give her a teething biscuit, carrot stick, cucumber or a man-tou.
Which she would very quickly put food to her mouth.

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Another of her favorites would be watermelon, she used to suckle watermelon for the juice but now decides to take a bite off with her gums.
Unlike her elder sister, no white pearlies were spotted come out of her gum at 6 months.
But she does love to stick out her tongue a lot, which her sister loved doing it too at around 9 months old.

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Hope Olivia won’t be too mad at me for not updating as often as I should.

Nothing new, but I am just busy with all the online shopping and the many many TV serials.
And the internet connection is driving me CRAZY! Its taking way too long just to upload pictures!

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Her Baby, Her Life

Olivia’s new skill.

My six months old sweetheart, originally uploaded by judebabe.

 

While Olivia was late in rolling over (and still not flipping back) , she is early half-a-month early for learning to sit independently.

It is always funny to see how she would use her arms in supporting herself when she is about to fall sideways.
When she is tired from sitting, she falls forward and rest on her tummy.

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See pictures of how Amanda fumbles while learning to sit here.

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Her Life

Roll over!

Roll over!, originally uploaded by judebabe.

 

On the day when Olivia turned 5 months old, she finally rolled over!
While Amanda learned to roll over when she was close to bring 4 months old.

But they both have a similarity, they both chose to do their first roll over (no help and on their own) when I am not around!

Olivia would only roll over on her right and when we place her left leg over her right leg.
But just a few days ago, she would roll over on her left with no help at all.

Now she learned who to roll over, she wouldn’t stop but it would also mean that the girl is always lying on her front coz she didn’t know how to flip back.
But she is very happy!
She smiles and lays her head when she is tired being on her front for too long.
She seems to be very happy with her new skills.

In case, you didn’t know most kids learn to roll over at 3 months.

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Her Baby, Her Family, Her Life, Her Motherhood

From the studio – Olivia at 100 days.

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Photos of Olivia taken at the studio, when she was sometime around 100 days old last month.

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With slightly more experience than a first-time Mom, this time, I made sure I booked her for a photo session when she turned a month old, though we brought to the studio a week later, I am still glad that I did.
Such precious memories.

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We too had our family portrait taken at the studio.
Its hard to get one tired baby and one overtired older sister to cooperate at the same time.
And I was also trying not to collapse when I had to carry Olivia, in the most uncomfortable position and support the very uncooperative Amanda, who just have to lean on me, most of the time.

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Of course, I didn’t pick those photos, because I was laughing very hard while trying not to cry (really!) for putting myself and everyone through this, plus I woke up really early for a seminar that morning.
Cranky and tired Amanda and I do not take good photos.

This reminded me how similar it is to Motherhood, We have our UPs and Downs, the happy and the tiring times, but mostly we will choose to remember the good memories.

I have also put together photos of Olivia and Amanda, taken when she was a 100 days old too.

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Relatives and friends tell us how much they look like each other.
Yes. They do look alike but yet very different.
During Amanda’s first year, I get asked by strangers if she is a boy, in pink! But with Olivia, there is no doubt that she is a girl, even in blue!

One thing for sure, my girls, they both attract quite a bit of attention and have strangers gushing at them when I bring them out.
Especially when Olivia has a lot more hair than most of the babies under 1yo, here in Yuncheng.
Till now, I am still surprised by how much more hair Olivia has than Amanda when she was a baby, as I was kinda expecting an equally bald baby.

Click HERE for older photos of Amanda when she was a hundred days old.

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Her Baby, Her Motherhood

My Happy Olivia.

My happy Olivia!
My 4 months-old Olivia smiles a lot more than her sister.
She also cries / fusses a lot more than her sister too!

She is growing wary of strangers but is always ready to break into a big smile whenever she sees me!

I count myself lucky, coz I leave most of the tasks to the nanny, the feeding, bathing, putting her to sleep…etc…
I am at home a lot in the day, I try to carry, talk, play, sing to Olivia as much as I can.

The thing with having help around, Olivia will eventually prefer nanny over Mummy.
She is already choosy over who to give her the bottle.

But after taking care of her elder sister for the past 3.5 years, I definitely want help. Lots of help.

The nanny currently a nice fit in our household, looking after Olivia and cooking for us.
While the salary of a confinement nanny is a lot more than a regular nanny, but I think it’s money well-spent.
I get to go out on my own in the day while Amanda is in school, sleep in in the morning, lying in bed to watch drama , etc, the many things I haven’t got the chance to do in years.

The last time I took of two kids on my own was when I was pregnant and Amanda have yet to start Pre-school!
I was angry all the time and feeling really sad for myself.
With help now, I don’t nag, cry or complain to Dp for not being helpful at home and everyone is happy when I am happy!

I am so so dependent on the nanny, and dreads the thought of her asking to return home for the weekend.
The last time she asked for weekend off, I ended up not sleeping for two days.

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I know, the day will come when I have to take care of two kids on MY our own, but for now, I rather leave Olivia to the nanny and worry bonding with her or having to deal with 2 kids at the same time Later!

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Her Baby, Her Holidays, Her Life, Her Motherhood

A short break from the kids.

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Going on a Mummy-only trip with friends to Chengdu in the Sichuan province for 3 nights.

While I am looking forward for a no-kids break. I was pretty hesitant to sign up for the trip.

Because I am definitely going to miss the kids, and am worried if Dp can manage Amanda well.
But I do want to test my limits, and see if I can manage without the kids, or see if I need them more than they needed me.

I picked days that Amanda needed to go school, so that Dp only need to watch her at after-school, bathe and put her to bed.
And Olivia will be in the safe hands of the nanny.

I have frozen stash of expressed breast milk for Olivia in the freezer.
I have been pumping exclusively for Olivia, and am glad that I do not have to deal with another baby refusing bottle or formula,
and at the same time, with the help of the nanny, I am able to be away for a long time in the day and not wake up for night feeds.

However, I do think its definitely a lot more convenient to nurse her personally.
No bottles to wash, or bring out. I do not need to stay up late or wake up early to pump. And the very-impatient Olivia will not cry while waiting for us to heat the milk.

Most importantly, I miss the bonding.
And I do feel guilty for not being patient to keep trying, and calm the wiggly, impatient crying baby who refused to be nursed.

But I guess I shouldn’t be complaining too much, since I have a chance to be away.
Since I plan to pump and dump during this trip, I am going to have spicy food, COFFEE… and a few drinks.