Week 85 and Week 37 - Thanksgiving, Anniversary and Full term!

So it has been a busy week.  We were lucky to go to two Thanksgiving meals and we celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary - all within a weekend!  I was ecstatic to make a pumpkin pie with a homemade crust - no small feat here in tropical Singapore!  This was probably the greatest culinary moment in 2011 for me.  I think I also took about 3 showers a day while in the kitchen this weekend as Cheese Curd Furnace + Hot Singapore + working over an oven makes for one hot mama!

Still working a lot at Matt's so no great park pictures this week.  

Charlotte is helping mom out in the kitchen and washing dishes.  She loves rinsing them out - she gets rather upset when we turn the water off.  Speaking of upset, we think Charlotte is starting the terrible twos a few months early.  She has had a few meltdowns - but these are now much louder, much more ' the sky is falling' meltdowns.  She has gotten up a few times this week and there is nothing like getting up to your child shrieking uncontrollably.  We thought maybe she was getting sick (she has had a runny nose for a couple of weeks and was tugging at her ear) so I took her to the doctor Monday and she is not sick (good) but may have gas (or as they say in this part of the world - wind) or teething issues overnight.  She is also skipping her second nap a couple of times a week.  Her active 'park' schedule has been off a bit thanks to torrential rain that has been relentless of late - so I think if she was at the park twice a day every day she would sleep better.  O well.  At least she gets to spend time at her BFF TT's house!  Today they looked at Xmas decorations on Orchard Road with Tita Monica and Yaya Imee.  Too cute - wish I could have been there!

Oh, and she is drinking out of a cup!  Now if we can just get her to drink milk out of a cup....

As for me - I went to the doctor and all is fine and the baby is 3kg and could come any day now.  The head is not engaged but one cough/contraction and it could be.  Doctor seems to think baby could come near my due date but maybe earlier?  I am on high alert.  I also got to do a CTG scan as I don't normally feel my contractions.  This is basically a fetal heart monitor that goes around your (big) belly.  And then you lie on a bed which equals taking a nap for 45 minutes for tired me.  I was supposed to hit a button when I felt a contraction and I did this... for the 5 minutes I was awake.  Happily my belly is not much bigger (this has been true for the last 3 months really) but in profile I really do look like Alfred Hitchcock's face:

 

Here are some headless friends modeling with the great spread at the Stampers!

Charlotte helps stir the pie filling - but feels icky after getting some on her hand:

Pumpkin pie!

Lovely Susie channels Katie Brown!

Cup drinking:

Charlotte doing well at the doctor's:

Char and Tita Monica before their Orchard Road adventures:

Charlotte doesn't like her stroller much these days - but she still loves to play with the buckles!

And videos this week:

Charlotte dances while watching Daddy's corporate video (longish at 3 minutes - dancing begins at 1:30 or so):

Charlotte helps make pumpkin pie:

Charlotte knows how to say things:

Week 84 and week 36 - Sleep no more

Well, I have been helping Matt at the office quite a bit which makes for a sad blogger.  Not a lot of photos this week - but luckily Connor celebrated a birthday and we took some fun pictures with him (or at least of him - he and Char of the age of parallel but non intersecting play).  Charlotte may have been the oldest kid there....

My Waldorf education has suffered with my working.  I do manage to do some dishes with Charlotte every afternoon - which she loves and cries whenever it is over.  I think she thinks of it as a midday bath!  I wash and let her rinse off - it is cute.

She has been getting up a bit this week - twice last night and maybe 2-3 more nights this week.  We thought it was the teething but it is hard to say as I perused her gums with my fingers this morning and there was no wincing.  Sometimes I wonder if she just doesn't like the waffley pajamas....

As for me - sleep is definitely a thing of nighttime past.  Cheese Curd is up, I have to pee a lot and sometimes get lazy about it as it is such an ordeal to get up... the baby is about 5.8 pounds and we tried to take some pictures but aside from the glowy femur and the boring head circumference there was nothing interesting to see.  I go back on Monday - and I get to do a CTG beforehand which is exciting.  I think this is because of my high ANA levels (the CTG monitors the baby's heartbeat).  A few more days and I am full-term!  So then it is the tradeoff of a baby in the belly (and an uncomfortable mommy) or no sleep with an newborn... I think for the moment I will take a few more weeks of baby in belly...

No videos this week!  Argh, bad blogger mommy...

Here is Connor and his happy folks - a very cute party indeed!

Connor's family looks excited while Connor contemplates whether to eat the peanut butter or chocolate and vanilla cupcakes:

Awesome cake from Kim Stamper!

Charlotte plays with balloons (and tries not to pop one - or at least Mommy hopes so):

Charlotte eats rice crackers in the park:

And rinses off her powdered milk dispenser:

And runs to see the garbage truck go by:

And eats yogurt by herself!

Week 83 and Week 35 - Braxton Hicks and Charley Horse

This is a week dedicated to pregnancy.  Matt was briefly away to Macau to do boy things (e.g. golf) and Aunt Julia stayed another week which was great.  On Friday night she and I walked to my favorite neighborhood tofu dessert place which was 20 minutes of walking and then I noticed this stomach tightening... could it have been Braxton Hicks contractions?  I never had these with Charlotte but I definitely knew I wasn't going into labor (well, if the last time was any indicator that is).  These contractions continued through the night which was tres uncomfortable.  I went to the doctor on Saturday and he confirmed my assumption and my cervix is nice and shut for now.  Luckily these contractions subsided as the weekend continued.  Matt got home late Sunday and Monday morning I had a Charley Horse in my right calf when I woke up.   Argh.  This is the part of pregnancy that I really don't like - systemic body failure.  I did learn that the head is down and engaged - but that really doesn't mean anything now.  Shockingly I also was the same weight - miraculous given my heavy diet of Oreos of late...

We are trying to mix up Charlotte's admittedly monotonous food offerings - we made meatloaf and lentils with bacon this week!  We welcome any suggestions for other toddler friendly foods....

Charlotte still hates brushing her teeth but Matt theorizes that a couple more bottom teeth may be about to cut through.  Funny I thought that they had all done that by now...

It has been an enormously rainy week so we have spent a lot of time with TT in the afternoons - as this is a much more desirable alternative to getting monsooned upon (note there aren't really monsoons in Singapore, but the rain can be heavy).  According to Tita Monica Charlotte said "I want hug" with outstretched arms to TT yesterday at our house.  TT sweetly obliged.  The two of them also walk down the street holding hands.  So bloody cute...

I have read up on Waldorf homeschooling and have given it a brief whirl.  Monday we made my sister's brownies (Charlotte helped crack eggs and stir with a wooden spoon - she was very clear she wanted no help with this) and Tuesday we made banana oat bars, which I highly recommend as it is easy to prepare.  I had encouraged Charlotte to mix with her hands and being this anomalous neatnik toddler that she is becoming, she refused.

I have been busy helping Matt at the office so there isn't a ton of pictures this week.  But there are some...

...first we will start with a video I took tonight - Charlotte thinks she is a zombie!

Char walking to TT's tonight at twilight:

Charlotte slides:

And looks serious:

She watches as the oats go into the banana oat bars:

Not sure if Charlotte is grumpy her hair is so long now:

She plays in TT's room with his construction toys:

Here is Char and TT holding hands while basking in the new moonlight:

Week 82 and Week 34

Well we got rid of the bat.  Imee and I were anti bat while those with the surname Drake were pro - but since I spend more time at home (and can be slightly superstitious in these pregnant times) the bat went.  The first line of defense was our pest control service- they wanted to charge us $180 (on top of their expensive basic service) so of course we balked.  So clever Imee put a garlic bulb in its own mesh bag up by the bat with a long laundry pole - and the bat immediately vacated!  Yay!  He/she hasn't been back since but still does fly close by around dusk.

We took Charlotte to a surprisingly well-presented brunch and swim on Saturday (again at Tanjong Beach Club) and she slept like a champ (when we let her) on Sunday and Monday.  I think she may have taken a four and a half hour nap on Monday - when we awoke her at 7PM she was not happy to see us.  Sunday we met up with Chris, Jisun, Doris, and Ellie for a mid morning brunch.

Matt (being the ever-conscious son of a dental hygienist) is trying to kill the pre sleep bottle while I worry about her growth and am trying to keep it.  Our compromise is having Charlotte brush her teeth beforehand... which recently she HATES.  Like throw-the-toothbrush-across-the-room hate.  Multiple throws hate.  Needless to say this is a battle we are trying to be more creative with - including some hopeful imitate-mommy-while-she-brushes-her-teeth modeled behavior.  We will keep trying.

Monday we started Charlotte on feeding herself - a welcome relief for breakfast and lunch (still a struggle at dinner).  She enjoys the self-feeding - it seems to bore her less than when we shove some food in her mouth.  But dinner - she is still bored with dinner.  But at least as of Monday we aren't running around the living room with a spoon appendage trying to feed her.

On the pregnancy front - well no new news except I really cannot sleep on my side AT ALL.  It is all back sleeping which makes me feel guilty when I wake up but what am I to do?

Aunt Julia is visiting us from Bangkok and we are enjoying our time with her...

Here is a video from last week - Teo (Char's surrogate big bro) and Char in our mini pool:

And Char eating pho noodles by herself:

And swimming to hip-hop at the Tanjong Beach Club:

And with pictures (lots and lots this week):

Here is the Cheese Curd at 32 weeks (she looks like she has a cartoon villain dinosaur next to her head):

And the long overdue pic of us at the zoo.  Notice Charlotte matches the expression of the primate on the right.  And this has got to be one of the best pictures of Matt evah:

Julia and the fam chillin' in our front yard thing:

Char plays in her new beautiful dress from Aunt Jisun!

Char and Aunt Julia plan our next vacation... to the Seychelles (haha):

Daddy demystifies smart phones:

Char enjoys her first mojito.  I tried to warn her about the hallucinogenic effects of tequila (o nevermind.  I forgot it is just rum there.  You can see I am not much of a drinker):

Char strikes a happy swimming pose:

Char still likes flip-flops - even if she isn't wearing anything else!

And she and daddy enjoy some upside down time:

Week 81 and Week 33 - Same same

For a couple of days I thought Charlotte was giving up her second nap which was causing me great despair.  I am sure that this is inevitable but luckily she was in a napping mood today so you know, I will take it day by day.

She knows her colors (at least yellow, purple, and blue) and may have said her first sentence this week - "There's a bat."  We have this not very cute fruit bat who lives under our roof.  We are trying to get rid of him but he at least helps to enhance Charlotte's vocabulary while he is here.

TT came over on Sunday and we had a fun impromptu play date.  Charlotte and TT played in our little pool!  Thank goodness for perennial warm weather (sometimes anyway).

Matt had a work event this past weekend - he won a small and medium business award in Singapore.  I got to tag along to the after party of this event at the New Asia Bar at the Swissotel - this was swish and my feet were killing me (potential swollen ankles + 3" heels = one unhappy mama).  Seriously the only one remotely pregnant there.  It was fun to be out but I am feeling like one old soul these days - so I am happy I have a photo that it happened but otherwise am ok without.

Back is ok - I try to stretch and it isn't awful but just a reminder that my body is not entirely my own.  I also stopped taking the low dose aspirin but still wake up in the middle of the night frequently thinking I haven't taken the right drug (this has been the case the whole pregnancy).  We went to the doc today - and I wondered why I still go.  Things are swimming along - baby is growing.  Matt came with me and I told him not to bother till week 39 now because it is a huge time suck and there is (thankfully) no change in status.  I did lose a pound today which is cool / weird.  Luckily the baby is still growing (she is 2.1 kg).  My doctor will be away at my 39th week - I somehow wonder if he will be delivering my baby after all.  What will be will be I guess.

Ok - on with things!

A fun video of Charlotte dancing and spinning:

Creepy bat houseguest!

Matt and I out on the town!


Char trying on daddy's flip flops again!

TT and Char Pool shots:

Moves like Jagger!

Char on a scooter:

Photoshop fun!