Week 111 and Week 24.5 - These are the times that try Ho's soul

T minus two weeks till my self imposed 6 month time of exclusive breastfeeding/breastmilk.  Of course things are going well and now I am ill.  As is Charlotte and she has it tons worse than me.  And yesterday was a very difficult day to be a parent.  I admit I am a pretty pathetic sick person and Charlotte has inherited this (ahem) unfine quality in me.  I took her to the doctor today where she was mostly compliant (pretty noncompliant by her standards) and she was whining in the waiting room to have Yakult.  Not a pretty sight.  And this whiny sick thing went on all day whereas I too was also feeling whiny sick, which of course makes for a horrendous synergy of pathetic whiny sickliness.  As the day progresses Charlotte emerges from her nap with a sweaty and  alarming 103 degree temperature and we pull out the extra high fever meds we got today, aka ibruprofen (extra high fever is not a good time for anyone involved).  I did get a nap in (and pawned Sophia off on Imee as she did not want in on my nap) and we went out to dinner at the Soup Spoon and we got back and I wanted to take a bath with Charlotte and for a good thirty minutes she is whining for Yaya (aka Imee).  So my head is about to explode from the general stuffiness of the flu-like bug I have and I am trying to will some sense into Charlotte that indeed I am a sufficient caregiver and we can have a bath together.  It takes every iota of energy and steeled will to not just collapse into a pile of sickly mush and to proceed with the whiny bedtime routine.  Eventually Charlotte forgets to mention Yaya.  We make it to sleep before she is up coughing and wanting to watch Elmo 3 hours later.

Aside from this - I am doing cry it out with Sophia to get her to nap during the day.  She still seems to not hate me when the hour of crying (if she does not fall asleep) is over.  The first day was 45-55 minutes of crying and then 30 minutes of napping.  The second day was 20 minutes of crying and 45 minutes of napping.  I have realized that she can be transferred to her bed after she falls asleep elsewhere so this is progress (perhaps) or just an epiphany of sorts (e.g. maybe she could always do this all along and I just didn't know, but I doubt it).

As of Saturday we also started solids for Sophia - and she has been a good sport about it.  She likes her rice cereal and still appears to be pooping - all good metrics in the vein of infant progress.  Except for an anomalous day this week where she slept 11 hours at night Sophia is getting up at 12, 3, and 5 AM.  O how I miss those days of 8 hours of sleep!

I will try to get a picture of her two little bottom teeth soon...

I also sort of celebrated my birthday at the Tanjong Beach Club on Sunday - as I love their brunches and the lighting is good for pictures.  We were lucky to have Auntie Deanna visiting us from Macau as well.

We also spent a nice dinner with the Margolin-Beckwiths at Smokey's Barbeque where Uncle Matt (Beckwith) read stories to Char and TT while Matt, Susie and I kvatched.

On a totally bizarre note - I went in yesterday to the doctor who delivered Sophia to get some breastfeeding friendly meds (and the hospital two blocks from our house has no sort of general doctor - though I guess the ER type system is).  Anyway - I meet the doctor and he was very confused, asking me -

'who are you?' 

'did I deliver your baby?'

'when?'

'was it a natural birth?'

Um, this man stitched my privates and he has no recollection of me whatsoever.  I guess when you've delivered thousands of babies it is hard to remember them all (caveat - I did not meet him before the day of the delivery and he was there for all of thirty seconds of Sophia's delivery, but I was still disheartened to feel like such a number).

Also - OB/GYN's know nothing about ear infections.  He wouldn't even look into my ears but I did get some antibiotics and sleep inducing cough syrup - all breastfeeding friendly.

Matt has been in Macau for the last 3 days and I am happy for his return tonight!

On a final note - a rather lovely mom gave me a huge stash of frozen breastmilk that I am very grateful for.  Love the mommy community of Singapore!

Here is Charlotte invoking Auntie Deanna and us to dance!

And Sophia trying solids:

Luggage tags are cheap and easy toys:

With Auntie Deanna outside Tanjong Beach Club:

Bucky is difficult to photograph in light spaces:

The melancholy of Char's illness:

A new way of lifting weights!