of babies

When you’re pregnant and preparing for the baby, I don’t know about you but the first time around I scoured all the pregnancy checklists to compile all the items that they recommend you have. If had the money I would have bought everything. With my first baby, I learned which items are a must and which are nice if you have the money. Which we applied when I got pregnant the second time. One of the things that has proven useful is a baby carrier. With I, after scouring the internet for reviews, we decided on buying the ergo baby carrier. And I really appreciated it on times when it is raining and I have to pick up E from school. Or the time we went to the Blue Mountains and did a short hike, it was much better with I in the ergo.

waiting and waiting

I’m now almost to my 40th week and we’re still waiting for siobe’s arrival. We were hoping before that I’ll have given birth by the last week of October but I guess siobe has her own schedule. Right now I feel tired most of the time and really find doing most of my normal routine a chore. Thank God for my mum who’s taken over the cooking. Right now dreaming of orlando vacations or maybe even someplace nearby helps ease the waiting. Can’t wait to see you baby girl!

some updates

Winter officially starts today, though we’ve been turning on our heater at night for the past couple of days. In a couple of weeks, we’ll know the gender of the baby and it will also mark Ichi’s one year here in Oz. Sometimes it seems like we’ve been here longer will all that’s happened. On the moving front, it seems that the owner was able to get an offer from someone that was willing to take the lease too so for now we’ll be staying put till the end of our lease, unless their deal falls through.

Last Friday, we went to the open day of a nearby public school only to find out that we were just a few steps short of their local enrollment area. We’re still thinking if we should go and visit the other school (which is in the opposite direction further away from our current place)or just apply out of zone with this school. We’re leaning towards this school as we wanted one that would be on the way to Ichi’s workplace since with the baby coming, it would be easier if Ichi drops E off in the morning. Our other option would probably be to check out some of the private schools in the area but I haven’t found one that’s really near. Another thing is this will be causing financial strain on us because although we’re on a temporary resident visa, E will be considered as a foreign student hence a tuition fee that would be payable a full year in advance (though not as high as those on student visa but still a big amount). Add to that the costs of giving birth, I’m just worrying about our logistics, anyways I’m sure it will work out. It’s just a little overwhelming but somehow things work out so I’m really counting on that.

One thing that’s adding to the concern is how fast our health fund pays on claim. We’re having a little bit of problem claiming some GP consultations, I don’t know what the hold up is. I’m frustrated because They couldn’t pay me out on the spot at the centre something with the system not being able to release the payout (and this happened the 3x I went to their office to submit claims). I appreciate the front office staff at the centre because they really did try to do everything to get me paid on the spot but it always ends up with me spending a minimum of 30 minutes at their centre only for them to forward the paperworks to the head office. With us paying a high premium on that insurance, of course we expect prompt payout of claims. Makes me wonder if we should be looking at other health funds after I give birth, I’m sure with all the health insurance leads out there, a lot of companies would want our business.

settling

After over a week of transferring to the new place, our broadband has finally been activated. yipee! All our connections have been activated, and most of our bags and boxes are unpacked. Though there are a couple more boxes to unpack but there is now walking space in our living and dining rooms now haha. We were also able to enroll E at the nearby preschool since the place we moved to is far from the previous place. He was a bit sad to leave the old house and his preschool but he’s been excited to have his own room and has been sleeping there since we moved in. He has been sleeping the past two nights with me and Ichi because he’s sick. I was telling him this morning to go back to sleeping in his room tonight since he’s much better but he countered with letting him sleep one more night and then promises that he’ll go back to his room tomorrow. So what’s a mom to do but agree?!!

Oh, and lately whenever he sees a baby – any kind of baby, human babies, insect babies, etc whether in person or in pictures – he would say “oh, how cute!” with facial expression yan. It’s so funny seeing him do that especially when its pictures of things not cute at all, well beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right!

our cleaning boy

E likes to help us “clean” around the house. These pics were taken during a break from sorting our things for packing. Some times it’s funny to see him do these things but other times it’s a test of your patience especially when you’re trying to finish all the chores and he ends up making you do more cleaning. I just hope that when it’s time for him to do chores around the house he would be just as eager.

Disclaimer: No child was harmed in the making of this blog entry.

panalo!!

Panalo ang passport pic ni little boy. Whenever someone sees it, they always comment on how cute he is. They can’t help it! hahahaha!! di naman obvious na proud ano?!!

Tagged: Then & Now

Been tagged by marikit mom, Thanks Tin!

Here’s the drill started by Mitch of When Silence Speaks:

If you still keep your baby’s first 3 days photos, I We would love to see them. Label them as 1st, 2nd or 3rd day (as shown below). After that, please post the most recent one, one photo will do. You can post as much as you want though. I’m sure you will realize and tell yourself “seems like yesterday“.

THEN

Day One – getting cleaned up.

Day Two – at the nursery, he already scratched his cheeks.

Day Three – first day at home.

NOW

opening his presents last christmas

playing with his dada @ changi’s budget terminal

at our condo

tagging margaux & bianca’s mommy jody, franco & simon’s mommy april, and asha’s mommy nympha.

play school time

Last Saturday, we brought E to a trial class at My Gym. I was a little concerned with how he’ll do as this is the first class he’ll be attending but as it turns out he had fun. He did look a little confused at the start, trying to take everything in but he slowly loosened up and you can tell that he really liked his teachers. But the most fun he had was with the puppet fishes the teachers were using to signal the end of the class. He was really laughing out loud. Hopefully with this he can get used to attending a class for a specified time and learning to get along with other kids too. We did enroll him and next week he’s already looking forward to the stamps (on his hands) he’ll get after class.

potty training saga continues

I last posted about this a couple months ago and I was really hoping then that by now we would be done with the diapers even if only for daytime. Unfortunately at the time we weren’t able to continue with the training, i think we stuck with it for about 2 days only. Stuff came up along with our preps for our Manila vacation that we postponed training, excuses excuses I know!!!

Anyways, since we got back from Manila, we started trying to train E. So it’s now been 10 days of bringing him to the potty every hour or so to try to get him to pee and poo in the potty. And yesterday was the first time that I got him to pee in the potty with the whole day “accident”-free. You should’ve seen me with the praises that I heaped on him, grabe after all the recent days’ frustrations about it. But you still have to anticipate when he’s going to go or you’ll end up wiping the floor. Still it is a step towards being diaper free. Hopefully, tuloy-tuloy na ito kasi pag hindi maloloka na ako! hahaha!

mommy, you have sugat?

I accidentally cut myself while preparing dinner. After we had dinner I was on the computer watching some videos when E came up to me and asked “mommy, you have sugat?” and then puts his toy medical kit on the bed. He opens the toy kit and proceeds to check my finger, bringing out the stethoscope (he says he’ll use it to check on the finger), syringe, alcohol swabs, medicine dropper and bandages. After he uses everything on my finger and puts on the imaginary bandages, he then tells me ” mommy, there you’re all better.”

Sana hanggang paglaki niya ganun pa din no?!!