Baby Fair Battle

Last weekend there was a baby fair held at MV. This fair happens a couple of times a year and we generally avoid going anywhere near it, if we had a choice. However, this time around, we had no choice but to brave it bcause Nuha has just about outgrown most of her pyjamas. So we came up with a battle plan. I say battle coz as all u parents out there know- baby fair equals battle field. You have not seen crazy until you have been to a baby sale. Its madness. It trumps women's shoes sale. Ok maybe it doesnt but its right up there together with it so u know its crazy.

So we decided that I should sacrifice (myself) and brave the fair myself while hubs go shopping somewhere else with Nuha- alone. Now I'm not sure who got the better end of the deal... So come Saturday morning I was up bright and early! ok maybe not so bright, but I was up early coz Nuha wakes up at 630 most mornings. It didn't help that I read the news the night before so I was pretty unbright that morning. After the inevitable hi5 shows and various annoyingly chirpy cartoons, a shower n a quick bfast, we were on our way by 930am.

Turns out we weren't the only psycho parents. There was already a huge crowd waiting in front of the shutters. Strollers and prams of all colours n sizes were lined up like little tanks just waiting to run over your feet in a mad stampede. It was there that I bid my husband goodbye and kissed my baby for luck. I watched them walk away, Nuha with a mischievous glint in her eyes, and hubs, armed with biscuits n crackers- thinking he was going shopping. Heh, such innocent thoughts.
Once the shutters opened I slithered in past the rolling tanks and huge balloons, squeezing myself between parents and their five kids (Do u really need to bring the whole jing bang clan?), looking with pity at the mom holding the screaming baby while dad registers (registering gets u loadsa freebies). 

Once in I was like a mad women on a mission. I could no longer hear what the sales people around me were saying. I vaguely caught glimpses of stem cell thingymajig, insurance for kids, a thousand dollar baby rocker (now is that really necessary?). I had a flashing sign going on in my head that read PYJAMAS!!!. Once I found it I got the sales people to look for Nuha's size for me in all girl dsigns, grabbed a lot of antibacterial wipes and I was out of there in 15 mins flat. 
On my way to look for diapers I caved when I saw wooden toys going for cheap! I spent a while choosing this and putting this back and paying for it before realising I now had a huge bag of clothes and a heavy load of wooden toys to carry. I hate baby fairsss!!!

Found the diaper counter and bought 2 coz they were on offer. So I now had a huge bag of clothes, a heavy bag of toys and 2 huge packs of diaper. That didnt stop me from grabbing some cute shoes. 2 for RM60 are u nuts?!?!?! I love baby fairs!!!

I was almost out when something caught my eye... baby mattress, the coconut husk kind, going to RM100. We had been looking to buy one but it cost RM350 each! I looked at my load of stuff and decided- I was gonna have to manage. The salesguy wrapped it up in a HUGE plastic for me and even made a little handle so I could drag it along instead of carrying it like a shield in front of me (like a mad women). 

I walked about looking for hubs and Nuha looking like a bag lady. Hubs didn't manage to do any shopping for himself. But he did get a whole bunch of clothes for Nuha. We were out of MV by 1115. 100 points for teamwork I must say- though both of us looked like rags by mid-day. We were so tired we didnt even want to have lunch outside! Its safe to say we wont be doing anymore shopping for Nuha for at least another six months.
And just for the record- I hate baby fairs!!!

An almost burnt out mom

I had the most horrible day yesterday. Work was tiring. Then I fetched Nuha from school and stopped by the grocery store. Got home and lugged my grocery haul, I meant to buy ONLY long beans and eggs but ended up with 2 large packs of maggie, a bottle of chicken stock, a pineapple, some lime, chillies, salted eggs, long beans and eggs. I also forgot to grab Nuha's shoes at school so on top of my ever so heavy handbag and 2 large grocery bags, I also had to carry my toddler in one arm. Bear in mind I was wearing 4 inch platforms. 

Toddled my way up to my unit then started with dinner, while my toddler ran in and out of the kitchen- my kitchen has a heavy swinging door so the possibility of my toddler getting her finger slammed by it was huge. Then she got upset that I was home and not attending to her. Switched the tv to Hi5 (the most annoying jumpy colourful ppl u will ever see) and she started jumping along to it, making intervals to run to me to tell me she's upset with me for not playing with her). Everytime she came to me, bouncing up and down and letting out annoyed cries, I had to jump up and down singing the stupid Hi5 song at which point she will remember that Hi5 is in fact on tv and go scuttling back to enjoy the show. This went on five more times. 

I made a chicken, broccoli and tofu dish for her and masak lemak cili padi for her father and managed to locate the blender to make myself some sambal belacan and boil salted eggs. Thank god her dad came home as dinner was almost done and bathed her. I rushed in for a quick shower after she was done before all of us congregated to the front of the tv for dinner (the dining table is too occupied being a shelf to be used for actual dining). I fed her her food and she ate wonderfully for the whole of three mouthfulls. Then she decided it was more fun to spit out the food and smear it all over the floor. This went on two more times. After cleaning the floor I proceeded to eat my dinner at which point she climbed onto me and started throwing a tantrum (on me) for no reason other then not wanting me to eat. 

After a rather lively dinner, I gave her her flu meds, sprinkled with chocolate. She took the entire teaspoon and strained the chocolate with her teeth before hanging her mouth open (chocs safely secured by tounge) to let the meds drip out. my patience was hovering above none at this point. I laid her down on the couch and force fed her while holding her mouth open as advised as her doc. She formed and O with her tiny lips and sprayed me with the meds. OHMYGOD. At this point I wanted to run out the door and go eat ice cream- ALONE!!! why oh whyyyyy!! I was so freaking tireddd!! Now I had to clean the floor from the spit up meds, I had to clean the couch, I had to clean her and I had to clean myself!! AAAAAAArrggghhhhhh!!!!! I took her to the toilet and got her cleaned up- fuming mad that she had done what she did. Then she cried out mammaaaa and planted a kiss on my lips. 

And just like that... I was butter on hot pancake. Why oh Why do u do this to meeeee!!????

We were quietly watching tv when she suddenly got entangled in her shirt. Just like that. On her own. My kid is amazing.

The Beast in the Night

Ok this has nothing to do with being a mama or being a drama. It is just something I NEED to tell you about.

Last night was one of the scariest of my life. I woke up at 12.56am to go to the loo. I switched on the light at the toilet and lo an behold- there was a cockroach by the bathroom mat. It was the size of my foot and I am convinced it was quietly waiting to pounce on me. I stared at it for five mins- I kid u not here. Half feeling the need to look away coz my eyeballs were going all 'geli' just looking at it and half afraid that if I turned my back on it, it was gonna come after me and crawl into my ear and eat my brains. After the long five mins spent squabbling with the voices in my head- look away!! dont look away!!- I reached on my dresser for the only thing within my reach that was heavy enough to squash it with (ambitious ok), a large bottle of baby powder. Then I realized that it could very easily climb onto the powder bottle before I could squash it and it would crawl all d way up the bottle and onto my arms before crawling into my ear to eat my brains. I figured that I needed to be a level higher so I could throw it onto the thing and looked around again and the only thing that was light enough for me to grab was the single seater chair (that was sposed to be my breastfeeding chair). 

By now I had been watching the huge beast for close to ten minutes and I was sure it wasnt gonna move anytime soon. No, it enjoyed torturing me too much. It was so still even its antennae wasnt moving. I pushed the heavy chair accross the bedroom and at one point I noticed hubs's head popping up and watching me with a 'WTH' look. We proceeded to stare at one another for a few seconds with me trying to telepathically send him an SOS and he was trying to figure out if he was dreaming of his wife doing crazy things at this ungodly hour or if his wife really was nuts. I finally went 'TOLONG I KOTT!!!'. I said 'For once please kill it instead of catching it and releasing it somewhr bcoz it knows whr I live and it WILL COME BACK!!!!. He took the talcum bottle and squashed it!! EEEWWWWW!!! I heard the crunch of its body and when hubs was done I saw the bug juice stain on the floor. EEEEWWW EEEEWWWW EEEEEWWWWW!!! I fell asleep two hours later, still trying to erase this horrible memory from my mind. 

I woke up at 6am and proceeded to the bath with my phone. I wanted to snap a pic of the dead beast to share with all u guys. Imagine my horror when I couldnt find the body!!!!! I felt like I was in a murder movie where the good guy kills d baddie then goes to call the cops and comes back to find the dead bad guy gone!!!! I finally located it inside the toilet lying face up and its freaking antennae were STILL MOVING!!! I swear these guys will survive a nuclear attack if it ever happened. I took my heavy body scrub jar and threw it on top of it and when hubs headed in for a shower- it was still bloody alive. I would have C4-ed it if I had any. I asked hubs to flush it, but I'm regretting it now. What if it comes back and bites me in the butt- literally!!!

Look at the size of that thing!! I almost very nearly died!!

Things Nuha can do in seconds

1. Open the kitchen cabinet and scatter all 'besens' and colanders I have. All these while I turn my back to stir something on the stove. I will then proceed to step on one of those things and fall.

2. Somehow procure one shoe and dip them fondue style in the toilet bowl.

3. Throw a bottle (glass) of ketchup out of the shopping cart she is in- while flashing me a toothy grin.

4. Run out the door (which her dad left open while running in to grab the car keys) and run straight to the huge garbage bin outside our home.

5. Take a HUGE bite of her foam ball.

6. Grab that piece of chocolate I was about to eat- with her mouth.

7. Stand on tippy toes in between me feeding  her spoonfulls of dinner and grab my books on the shelf (she can reach them already oh noooo!!) and proceed to make streamers out of them.

She's growing up so fast I just want to press the freeze button and savour her baby smell for a little while more!!

She turned one 2 weeks ago and we held her birthday party last week. That would be a whole other post. Here's a picture of her seeing lit candles for the first time.

PooPee Surprise!

This morning, instead of snoozing my alarm clock, I accidently hit the dismiss button. My eyes flew open at 7am when the sun rays hit my face. I was an hour late! And to make matter worse- Nuha woke up just 2 mins later and demanded to be attached to my hip for the next hour. I had to get showered and ready in 20 mins. So I did what any sane mom would. I threw her toys in the tub and ran a bath for her just so I could shower without her screaming away. After brushing my teeth I noticed Nuha was sitting at a corner of her tub and quietly playing with her hands. Nuha NEVER plays with her hands and NEVER EVER sits quietly. Suspecting something amiss I took a closer look and vaguely saw some strange dark pieces in the tub. Guess who decided to take a dump in her bathwater? Heh- the exciting and trying times of a mother. Needless to say I was extremely late for work. 

Digestive System

My kid turned over at three months old and two months later she was crawling like a fat baby caterpillar. Then at ten months, she got her legs and could not wait to began exploring the nook and crannies of the world. At first I was ecstatic at the concept of my baby, the same one who popped out out my belly all pink and helpless- could now walk. And then there was the glow. The proud glow I wore when complete strangers wore looks of admiring astonishment that my child, my ten month old was walking while theirs looked forlornly from their strollers or on their backs. Oh how proud I was. Till reality set in. A crawling baby meant there could be nothing on the floor, digestible or otherwise. A walking baby meant there could be nothing- period! If I could get a ringgit for everytime I found her with stuff in her mouth, I would have been a millionaire last month. I have found her with all sorts of stuff in her mouth including baba's futsal shoes, a coin, a piece of peeling wall paint, mama's slippers, a torn off piece from a very very thick cardboard book, a monkeys head, a dust bunny, a cili padi, a glob of my lip balm, onion skin, carpet lint and a whole lot more.Yesterday I found a shiny piece of bead in her poo. Now before you go all haughty and judge me, tell me this- do YOU have a kid? If you do and have found none of those I listed above in your child's mouth then congratulations. You clearly have a maid and/or an angel standing by your child. 

Despite her tiny size, Nuha, like her mum, loves to munch. I send her to her daycare every morning on my way to work. In order to keep her from screaming I need to feed her all sorts of stuff. I keep at least three types of food for her in my handbag. You see, she gets bored easily. So I need to play with all sorts of textures to keep her interested. First, to get her to stay quiet so I can get her buckled up the carseat, I slip her two mini smarties so she will quit wiggling about and I can snap her straps. Again- no judging please. After the magical effects of the smarties wears off I give her a cup (a kid cup to apparently prevent spills) of whole wheat cheerios (feel free to praise me on whole wheat). By the time she gets board of cheerios and by now there are enough cheerios on the seat the feed an army of hamsters (stupid cup), I pull out the ever so expensive yoghurt buttons. She nibbles on ALOT of these and doesnt usually gets bored. But I will normally stop her (money doesnt grow on trees ok baby?) and give her a rice cake with fruit. All these food- for the 25 minute ride to school. 

And for mama? Well you dont expect me to throw out the whole wheat cheerios she threw around now do you??

Daycare Drama

Its been five days since we sent Nuha to the daycare and instead of getting better, its going down south. She started off being super excited and even crying when it was time to leave, to crying her little eyeballs out when its time for me to leave and go to work. It is heart wrenching for any mother to leave her crying sobbing little baby as she reaches her tiny fingers out the grill trying her best to grab onto her mother. I very nearly texted my boss right then and there to tell her I quit. Thank god for a very understanding daycare whose teachers try very hard to make Nuha feel comforted. It isnt easy for them either coz my kid has the voice of a banshee (I say this with tremendous love) and often, her cries sets off a series of screams from kids and babies who were just minutes ago happily going about their day. 

I have the bad habit of calling an texting Nuha's principal every 2 hours. She has been very patient with me so far and answers my texts when she can n return my calls when she is free. But tell me how do I concentrate in a two hour long meeting when my "She crying bad today?" Is she ok?" text gets a "Yes, really bad n screaming away. Only wanted to b carried by myself or my maid. Put her down, she screamed. Just managed to put her to down for a nap". I wanted to get in my car and drive the 8 minutes to get to her school soooo baddd!! 

Thankfully, she told me that Nuha had just woken up and was happily eating her porridge lunch when I called after the meeting. When will this end!!?!? 

Nuha has been very clingy and insecure since we started sending her to the school. I think she feels sad, like we abandoned her for a long part of the day. The fact that I was home with her for two months before makes it even harder. From being 'sick of seeing mama's face every second of the day' to 'no mama for 9 hours'. 

I cannot wait for her to setttle down coz really its a great centre. I really hope she settles in soon so mama can stop worrying about her so much at my new work place which is less then great. But that is a whole other topic :) 

Have a great day mommies and pls share your experience in leaving your kids at daycare centres and how u kept from going insane and/or quitting your job.