Maldon and Tiptree

After mass today, we decided to go for a picnic in Maldon. DH had never been before, and the weather cleared up sufficiently for us to have a brilliant time. Later on, we visited Tiptree, where the famous jams are made. We didn't buy anything though, but had a nice afternoon tea of scones and cake. Puppy has learnt to make noise whenever he sees us eating, and for his efforts, managed to smear grissini all over his cute little face during the picnic. Pity I forgot the camera.

Today's the first day of the August Bank Holiday weekend. Instead of doing either of 2 more productive things, i.e. 1) Attending the Youth2000 festival in Walsingham; 2) Attending a long lost friend's wedding (only I wasn't invited ), I ended up having a leisurely day with DH and Puppy. The day began by DH opening the door at 0815h to the tree surgeon employed by the council to remove a couple of dodgy branches hanging precariously above our shed. We had a cheapo lunch at the golden arches before heading off to Ingatestone to add to our snag list on the new property, only to find out that the lady at the sales office had previously compiled one of her own which was 3 times as long as ours :) We then headed off to Tesco in Chelmsford to buy sleepsuits for Puppy, only to find that that particular branch did not have a baby clothing section. After that, we drove aimlessly around before ending up in the King's Head in Great Burstead for dinner. Hopefully the weather will be nice enough tomorrow for a picnic somewhere. I've got a load of food in the fridge that needs to be eaten!

CONGRATULATIONS LUKE AND ANDREA ENTWISTLE!!
MARRIED 26 AUGUST 2006 - OLDHAM

Rice Cake

After an hour of struggling and frustrated cries last night, DH and I gave in and handed Puppy a piece of rice cake. He grasped it and started gnawing on it. That certainly quietened him down, and after 10 minutes of the rice cake experiment, put him back on the breast.

I don't think he was all that ready or able to eat the rice cake, but I wonder if this signals the time when we should be introducing him to complementary foods.

3 weeks / 4weeks

My poor husband has been pulling a big sulk for the last couple of days since I announced my intention to go to .Sg for 4 weeks in November. Puppy hasn't seen any of my friends or relations (apart from my parents) since his birth, and everybody is wanting to meet him. He has, afterall, met all of his paternal relations as well as closest friends. DH seems to think that 3 weeks is enough, but it takes time to do the visits, as well as incorporate shopping, resting, eating and holidaying with the family. 4 weeks will fly by, and I'll be back in freezing England before long.

I shall miss DH, and he will miss both of us dearly, but ohwell.

18 weeks

Puppy is 18 weeks today - 4 months 11 days. He weighed 8.125kg (8lb 15oz) couple of days ago.


Skills already developed:
1) Arm flailing
2) Leg kicking
3) Screeching like banshee
4) Gurgling
5) Cooing
6) Smiling
7) Giggling
8) Focussing on objects/people
9) Rolling from back to front
10) Blowing raspberries
11) 'Coyness'
12) Propping himself up on the front
13) Holding onto things within reach, e.g. hair, rattle, finger
14) Reaching out for things, e.g. food, mummy's glasses

Today he's tried playing with toys while on his front.


He's also received his size 2 Tots Bots nappies and started wearing them today, after 10 days in smelly disposables.

Last week

The past week has been interesting. It was the puppy's first visit to his relations in Ireland. He was initially overawed by all the crowd and noise made by everybody, but soon settled down and by the end of the stay, was beginning to drown out the family squabblings with his own high pitched baby screeches. We took great-grandma with us, and spent an extra couple of days in the Cotswolds. Puppy loved it, and great-grandma, well, is currently missing him loads.

The past week has also seen puppy eyeing up our food a lot more. He twice tried (and managed once) to plunge his little fists into cream. As much as I am for, and will be going on the baby-led weaning route, I reckon one just turned 4 months might be slightly too young to start. I will bring him to be weighed tomorrow, and decide after.

Big Brother (2)

Is it possible to 'hate' somebody you don't know? The answer is 'Yes', if that person is Nikki from Big Brother series 7. I have grown to dislike this character more and more eversince she started seriously bitching behind Aisleyne's back a few weeks ago. My husband and I were compelled to vote for the very first time, as we simply could not bear to see/hear her anymore on TV. In the twist that brought 4 ex-housemates into the House-Next-Door, resulting in Nikki being voted back as a proper housemate simply tells me that the game isn't fair. I don't care if she and Pete (who incidently has also been getting on my nerves the past 2 weeks) really like each other and potentially are going to really 'get it on' on live television. Pete has Tourettes, but Nikki, what excuse does she have? If it was up to me, it would be a big smack right across the face and a firm 'Keep Quiet!', or more accurately 'Shut the **** up!'. Talk about lack of personality, all she does is throw little princess tantrums, act like she's 7 (to be fair to my 7 year old neice, Nikki's acts much more immature), and bitch behind people's back. When confronted, she simply cowers into a corner and denies ever spreading falsehood.

Who _is_ she? Where did you find her?

On the other hand, I definitely want Aisleyne to win. I don't mind Glyn, Jennie or even Richard, but Aisleyne, for me, has stood the test of time (ok, she came in late), and withstood serious emotional/mental trauma. I think Aisleyne has displayed loyalty, and been able to stand up for herself, and if she has bitched, she has been prepared to face up to confrontations. I respected her even more when she said she felt a duty toward's standing up for Suzie regarding the water-throwing incident with Grace, yet knew it would be wrong to spoil Grace's 21st birthday celebration. For me, she would be a deserving winner.

Anybody but Nikki (and possibly Pete)!

Majulah Singapura

Mari kita rakyat Singapura
Sama-sama menuju bahagia
Cita-cita kita yang mulia
Berjaya Singapura

Marilah kita bersatu
Dengan semangat yang baru
Semua kita berseru
Majulah Singapura
Majulah Singapura


English Translation
ONWARD SINGAPORE

Come, fellow Singaporeans
Let us progress towards happiness together
May our noble aspiration bring
Singapore success

Come, let us unite
In a new spirit
Together we proclaim
Onward Singapore
Onward Singapore

HAPPY 41st BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE

And if you disagree.....

Send your team of lawyers over and threaten to bash them up with a libel suit. One of my favourite parenting sites, Mumsnet has effectively been told 'shut up or ship out' by an irate Gina Ford. I have to admit that I haven't read any of the lady's books, but her methods have been discussed in my antenatal class and other parent-baby classes that I've attended. From what I've heard, her books and methods would not be something I'd be interested in. Maybe because my son is really rather well behaved, but more importantly, I think my child is an individual who may or may not go with how someone believes he should be handled. I believe that people by and large should be disciplined and have routines......at work, or doing housework! Some people enjoy being in a routine more than others, and the same goes for babies. I'm not saying that Ms Ford's methods are wrong, and I'm sure there have been some success stories (look on Ms Ford's website which I'm not linking), but I don't believe in leaving a little baby crying for goodness knows how long just because you think it's their bedtime. I don't believe that they have to be fed just because you think it's their time to be fed (OK, I'm breastfeeding on demand, maybe that's a little different). Babies are humans, and humans are all individuals. How can someone who does not have any children herself expect that all babies should conform to a strict routine? I don't care how many babies she's looked after (apparently over 300, but if doing research work, is a rather poor statistic power), but if it ain't your own, the emotional attachment just won't be quite the same. So for that, I don't think I'll be putting any money in her pocket.

Another blow to free speech. Mothers need an outlet. I think other topics have been bashed around a lot more on the forums.

Get a grip.

Lighten up.

Big Brother

DH and I have been following this year's Big Brother religiously. The latest twist is that the public get to vote four already evicted housemates into the house next door, and one of them gets the chance to go back into the main house, and is then eligible to win the £100000 grand prize.

I think this is really unfair. Afterall, the public decides to evict, and all these people have already been evicted. To let them back into the house to stir things up is fine by me, but certainly not if they're eligible for the big prize. All the pundits are saying Nicky to go back in, but remember, she got about 33% of the vote when she got evicted (and everybody was up for eviction that week), so she was well unpopular. I actually spent money for the first time ever to vote for someone on TV, and it was for Nicky to go out because she was annoying the life out of me. It's not entertaining to watch a 24 year old throw a tantrum. Bitchiness though, is entertaining on TV. Hence if I were to vote for someone to go back in, it'd probably be Grace and Michael.

Ghetto Princess to win.

Day of Firsts

We have just returned from the first full meetup of the couples since finishing the antenatal class in February. It was lovely seeing all the babies, especially those who don't make an appearance in the regular meetups. Interesting to see which baby was in what stage of their development. I decided that our boy was really quite lazy, as the girl born after him was already holding her head up high and rolling over effortlessly.

Then we got a pleasant surprise. The boy had done his first independant rollover this morning, but he must have heard me complaining about his lack of motivation to do more, and promptly rolled over twice more when we came home. Hurrah! 6 August 2006 - 3x rollovers!

Startup

So, it all begins. I've given up on my previous weblog on Diaryland> because 1) I've forgotten how to edit most of the features on it and 2) I just got tired of it. Hopefully I'll make a better effort on this new blog.


To start:
New wife: Married 18 June 2005
New mother: Boy, born 14 April 2006 (how many people are actually doing their birth sums now?)
New life: Marriage + baby = Stay in this @#$!"!$ country for the foreseeable future


Clearly I am not from this land. I am originally from Singapore, brought here by the sheer insane moment of wanting to experience life away from home. Did just that almost 10 years ago, and have stayed ever since.....not that I particularly wanted to, but it made economic sense, and I was just too lazy to get off my backside to move each time. So I'm staying, now that there are more compelling reasons to do so, hence it's no good for the xenophobes to tell me to leave just because I don't like it here. Saying that, I pay my taxes, work myself to the ground, don't have a criminal record, of sound mind....model resident really.


Purpose of blog: To do behind the back criticising of husband (an experiment to see if I will do it less in front of him), to do behind the back complimenting of husband, and simply rave about how wonderful my baby is (I'm genetically obliged to do that!).


Darling husband and I took the boy swimming today for the first time. He's 3 1/2 months and I'm sure he's already forgotten his diving reflex because he did not look pleased each time I dunked him in the water. Apart from that, I think he had a reasonably good time. DH seemed to enjoy it too, considering he doesn't do swimming very well. I managed to do my first bout of exercise since pregnancy - 6 laps in the pool - absolutely knackered after it! Will have to increase stamina gradually.


DH is learning how to drive. Post swim session, we decided to have a little drive round so he could get some practice. Going along a quiet country lane, spot us a pigeon on the road. Just carried on, thinking the bird would fly off, only it didn't, and the last we saw of it were a bunch of feathers blowing in the wind. I haven't checked the car though, I hope the bird isn't under it! Also, if someone knows of a good way to remember to do gear changes before it's too late, please let my DH know.