Tough Week

Last week was an extremely tough week for me at work. The politics, the new idiots they hire, the pressure and the way we seem to do things at the very last minute.. it is driving me insane. I have not been sleeping well all week, constantly waking up every few hours and the only thoughts in my head are about work, work and more work! This is NOT GOOD for my soul! Little Bambi's first birthday is just round the corner, and I would rather be doing fun stuff like organising her cake and getting ready for the day!

Apart from an awful week at work, Little Bambi had a throat infection and also contracted a viral infection on the skin at the side of her face, and near her ear area. There was one night where she was crying uncontrollably, and it just made me feel so helpless as a mother! The doctor did not prescribe anything for the throat infection, but we did go to the pathologist to test for the viral infection at the side of her face. 

Our family portrait is finally ready, Grumpy and I picked it up on Thursday night. Yesterday I googled a framing store, and immediately, Little Bambi and I drove there to get our portrait framed. The family portrait is a custom size, hence I had to get it custom framed. I am extremely happy with the portrait! I will post a picture here once the framing is done. 

It is the long weekend, and while we are all very busy with family and Little Bambi's birthday coming up, I have been enjoying my time with Little Bambi and Grumpy. Last night Grumpy and I went out for a movie, I was hoping to watch The Great Gatsby, but there were no seats left, so we settled for Hangover 3 which was so dumb! 

Today we went for a drive to the Yarra Valley to have lunch and some beer at the White Rabbit Brewery in Healesville. It was good fun!

My baby is turning 1 soon!

After we got home, I started sneezing a lot, and I think I am down with a cold. I might have gotten it from Little Bambi (she probably picked it up from another kid at her child care!) There is nothing worse than falling sick during the week of my baby's first birthday! AHHH PUTAINNNN!!

Mess

I am at a point of time where things just do not seem to be working out.
I find myself constantly in disagreements with Grumpy and my mum. Which make things extremely difficult. And to make things worse, work is full of shitburgers that I just do not enjoy it at all.
The only thing that keeps me going is my baby, Little Bambi. And does it make sense that I am working full time instead of looking after her? Probably not.

Maybe it is just me. And to help myself get out of this mess, I just ordered this book called Personality Plus online. God I hope it arrives soon! Not sure how long I can cope with all this shit!

11 Months

My Little Bambi is now 11 months old. This is the moment when I realise that she is turning one very soon, and growing up too fast. And yes, like any other mum, I am scrambling with her first birthday preparations.

So what has happened since her laser procedure? Well, unfortunately I cannot say that the results came out positive. The birthmark is still very visible and somedays, it does not look any better than what it was before. It pains my heart, I swear... the fact that I put her through that procedure (which did not improve the situation), but life is all about taking chances right? 

Moving on from that, at 11 months, she has 3 new teeth that is growing on her upper jaw. The teething effects were not as bad as the first two. Phew!

She is a little chatterbox, and I just love her constant baby talk.. its the cutest little thing.. hearing her mumble and grumble.

She has not been able to walk yet, but I am in no hurry for her to walk. Only because once she starts walking, she will become a real little person and no more the little baby that I used to cradle in my arms!

Little Bambi started childcare this week, officially for two days. Overall, she went really well and I am so proud of her. The carers constantly tell me how independent and well behaved Little Bambi is, which is absolutely wonderful! I really do hope she gets a good experience out of her time there.

Also, at 11 months, while I am still breastfeeding, I said I would stop by her first birthday. And if that is the case, I should really start weaning her off gradually now... which I have not done yet. One of the things I am worried about the most is my weight! The fact that I have been able to lose all the baby weight, and still eat as much as I want.. is due to breastfeeding. Should I stop? Should I?

Last week we went to a studio to get our family portraits taken.

My usually bubbly and cheerful Little Bambi decided on the day that she would NOT smile.. AT ALL..  during the entire photo shoot. Instead she puts on her most serious face. Like seriously..?

10 Months

Little Bambi is 10 months old today!

At 10 months, my little darling had to endure her first procedure at the hospital. Tears roll down my cheeks as I type this. On Friday, just two days before she reached 10 months old, she had her first laser treatment for a birthmark on her left eye. The treatment required her to be under general anaesthetic, which is such an awful thing for a little person like herself to endure.

I have never spoken openly about this birthmark that she has from birth, only because it makes me sad. However, I am truly blessed because birthmark aside, she is perfectly healthy, and has such an amazing personality.

Little Bambi helping herself to my books from the mini library.

Her passion for books

On a lighter note, at 10 months, she has been saying "mama" and "mummy" really well now, which melts my heart in an instant. She is so expressive, in ways such as clapping her hands, pointing her finger, and waving her arms! My personal favourite is when she listens to music, she rocks her body as if she is dancing. Its good to know my baby has musical bones (a trait she would have taken from me, considering her father is tone deaf). 

The most important trait at 10 months that I will always remember, is the brave baby that she is. She handled the procedure at the hospital so well... and in fact, a million times better than I did. It still marvels me that a little person like her can be so strong and brave. She truly is my one true source of inspiration. 

Easter Weekend

Two days before Good Friday, I was already feeling a bit under the weather. I was coming down with a cold.. and of course, what perfect timing considering it was the long weekend that was coming up!

On Thursday, my boss asked for my help with a workshop for the senior executives in my company. This workshop had a 7.30am start time! AHHH I told her I could not make it to work by 7.30am, only because I have to feed baby... Anyways, I express fed Little Bambi and was able to make it to the office at 8am. We were prepping for this workshop for a few weeks, and it was interesting. I think the only part I really liked was the breakfast that came with the workshop. After I was done with the workshop, I rushed off to have lunch with Little-Miss-Whats-For-Lunch. It was her birthday that weekend, and we went to a nice Japanese place called Ito on Bourke Street.

This is a massive katsu curry! So yummy!

The next day, I asked Grumpy if he wanted to go to church, and he said No. He was sort of recovering from a mild hangover, because he went out for after-work drinks. Instead, at the last minute, we decided to drive all the way to Warburton to a Buddhist monastery as they were having a Buddhist festival. So we quickly packed all of Little Bambi's food, nappy, clothes etc, and we drove about 1.5 hours to Warburton. Grumpy was there to eat all the yummy food prepared by the Buddhist crowd, especially the Thai food. The irony! Going to a Buddhist monastery on Good Friday!

Grumpy and Little Bambi at the Bodhivana monastery

While we usually like to take a drive somewhere and stay for a few nights during the Easter break, we were not able to do so this time round because my brother Dopey and my Dad were flying back from KL to Melbourne on Easter Sunday. So it felt like we were just hanging around at home waiting for their arrival. My cold was not getting much better because I did not want to take any meds while breastfeeding. But I did catch up on sleep on Sunday, which was nice.

She can stand up now! My baby is becoming a little person!

On Easter Monday, we had yumcha as a family with my brother and dad here in Melbourne. 

And there goes our Easter long weekend. Too fast!

We all went back to work yesterday, and suddenly my mum noticed some weird red blotches on her skin, and it turns out to be shingles! Which is bloody awful. So I am staying home today and tomorrow, working from home. 

9 Months

Little Bambi is 9 months old today!

My serious Little Bambi!

The only difference this time round compared to the previous months is that I was at work most of the day, instead of being by her side. I miss her so terribly much while I am at work.

Taking these month old portraits are becoming much more challenging because she will not stay still, not even for two seconds. She has grown bored of her toys (What Sophie??), and enjoys going to the coffee table and book shelf in the lounge room and taking things out with her little hands. Our lounge room is a bit of a mess during the afternoons.

Apart from crawling, she is able to sit on her own very well. When its bedtime, we put her in her sleeping bag, then we kiss her goodnight and leave her room. I will quietly open the door in a few minutes to check on her, and I constantly find her sitting up in her cot, just playing and talking to herself. She can say "Ah dahh dahhh" "Ahh mahhhh" "Na na na na na".

She has two teeth now at 9 months.

Her favourite food at the moment is avocado mixed with apple. Loves it!

Swimming school has its bad days and good days. However, she loves the play area in the pool, with the fountains, water cannons etc. I decided to stop her swimming lessons at the end of this month, especially since its autumn now. Maybe we can find another family activity for our Saturday afternoons.

She has learnt how to blow through her mouth. Sometimes it makes funny noises, and she loves it. I love it too. If only I could teach her how to whistle! Haha

At 9 months, I am still breastfeeding.

At 9 months, she has a passion for books. We read a lot to her, and she loves the touchy-feely books.

And, she is also potty trained! I think this is a Malaysian thing, my mum was very keen to potty train Little Bambi as soon as she was born. Little Bambi is so funny on the potty. She knows she sits on the potty to do a number one or a number two. And she does not want to be on the potty any longer than necessary. The whole potty process takes less than 5 minutes, and we are done!

Now at 9 months, time flies especially since I am working full time. Next up on my list is Little Bambi's first birthday party! I will make it extra special. But reasonable of course. Nothing over the top. Just a cosy little party for family and friends.

First Tooth

I can't believe I have already completed three weeks of full time work. How does it feel? I am exhausted! It is really tiring. And having said that, I still have my mum helping us out at home. Apart from looking after Little Bambi, she cooks our dinners, does all our laundry, cleans the house etc. I can't imagine when she goes back to KL! I will be a mess!

My day starts at 5.30am, and I get everything done (breakfast/shower/make-up) by 6.30am. Then I wake Little Bambi up, and feed her. We are done by 7am, then I put on my work clothes. I help put on a beanie and a cardigan for her, then she comes with me to the train station in her trike.
Work is really hectic at the moment. We are just three months from Go Live in a massive project. This project is huge. Bigger than the project I worked on in 2006/2007. But then again, I am not sure if I want to be where I am right now. Each week, I stay back past 5pm at least 3 times and I find it extremely frustrating because I want to go home and spend time with my baby! I sometimes wonder if I should just ask for an easier role, a no-brainer type role. Then I can have my normal lunch breaks and go home on time. My new lady boss is such a busy person that because of her, some days I am stuck in meetings during my lunch hour. Having a late lunch is not that big an issue, but I need at least a 30 minute time-out (around 11am-12pm) just to sit in a room with a breast pump in one hand. 

On a different note, my Little Bambi had her first tooth appear on Monday this week. She is quite late in the teething department compared to her peers. She is already more than 8 and a half months, and only just started teething now. Anyways, teething is not fun at all, for baby, or for mum. She had a bit of a temperature on Monday and Tuesday, and to make matters worse, the weather here is very hot at the moment. I got a bit emotional when I saw her first tooth cut through. It just means that she's growing up so fast and turning into a real little person now!

I miss her so much while I am at work