5 weeks to go!

We've had such a great week this week. My sister Kim passed through Singapore (en route between London and Paris) for the 2nd time this month and it's just been really good to catch up and for Matthew to spend time with his Tai Yee Mah (translates roughly to 'Eldest Auntie' in Cantonese). We took a trip to the Night Safari, a first for Matthew and the next day he had the morning off school so we could head back to the Singapore Art Museum again to see the Art Garden exhibit which he loved just as much the second time around. The next time I see Kim will be in October when we return home to Sydney with Baby M.

Matthew has fully recovered from NOT having HFMD. I took him to his paediatrician for his 2 year health and developmental check and the doctor was also unconvinced that Matthew had HFMD. His paed. didnt have any concerns about Matthew's health. However we couldn't do any of the developmental checks as Matthew amusingly refused to answer any of the doctors questions. Amusing for me as normally, Matthew does not stop talking, he's either parroting what I say or babbling away in a mixture of English words, Mandarin words and toddler talk. He flat out refused to answer when shown a picture of a car and was asked to name the object, likewise when shown a picture of some cats. At the end I had to step in and tell his doctor that I had no concerns about his speech and cognitive skills and confirm that Matthew does indeed speak!

In fact Matthew has been singing a whole lot more these days, with lots of songs in his repertoire, some of my favourite being 'Sing and Hum, Bumble Bee' (available on YouTube), 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', 'Oh Mr Sun' and 'I Love You' (from Barney). As I'm blogging this, I can hear Matthew singing 'The Wheels on the Bus' with Duncan in the bath! Counting to ten and his reciting the alphabet is a bit hit and miss, he recognises some letters and most numbers but will still sometimes get them wrong. He's excellent with colours and shapes and is definitely not colour blind like his maternal grandfather.

Pregnancy is going well, I feel huge even though the scales and the estimated size of the baby says otherwise. I'm still tracking a good couple of kilos less than I was with Matthew's pregnancy and Baby M is predicted to be an average sized baby. Everyone tells me should be pleased about this as birthing should be a breeze this time round... wouldn't that would be nice!

less than 7 weeks to go....

Wow, D-Day is drawing near! That's 'delivery day' not 'dooms day' - just to clarify. We can't wait to meet her, of course I've bought a few more dresses in preparation for her arrival.

Here is a 3D picture of Baby M taken last Wed.

she looks like she's smiling!

That afternoon when I arrived at school to pick Matthew up, I was told by his teacher that they had to send a child home that because of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD), by Thursday morning there had been 2 children. Both of these kids were from Matthew's class. We've been keeping a very close eye on Matthew over the weekend had thought that Matthew had escaped being infected by his classmates but unfortunately Matthew had a restless night sleep on Sat with a very mild temperature and on Sun a single nasty looking blister/ulcer formed on his tongue. We took Matthew to see a doctor yesterday but because his symptoms were so mild that a clear diagnosis that it was HFMD was not possible and were asked to return again this morning for a further review.  When we spoke to his teacher over the phone yesterday afternoon the number of confirmed cases had climbed to 7. When we took Matthew back to see his doctor today he was already feeling much better with no further symptoms hence, Matthew's medical certificate officially states that 'there is no clinical evidence of HFMD' and has been cleared to return to school. Although he's feeling much better, we highly suspect that he has or had HFMD and the ulcer on his tongue clearly causes him pain when he's eating and as responsible parents, we are keeping him home for another day or so at least.

It's been a while since I've had to manage a grumpy 2 year old all day on my own and he's making me work hard. So far today he's thrown a ice popsicle at me and blueberries and grapes on the floor, then asked for biscuits. When I asked him 'how many? one? two?' his reply was 'seven'. When I said 'seven?! that's too many.' he replied wishfully 'eight?'

I'm waiting to see what tomorrow brings...

Art Garden Exhibition 2011@Singapore Art Museum

For those of you who have been reading my blog might remember that this time last year I took Matthew to a wonderful exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum called Art Garden. This year's exhibit is no less interesting and fun for kids and those young at heart! It's just a great way to spend a couple of hours with your little one and watch their little face light up with glee.

Here are some pictures from our visit, the full set is posted on picasa Matthew 25-26 Months

Posing with Walter the rabbit, you may remember him from last year's exhibit! You can actually buy your own inflatable Walter from the SAM shop.

Ticket for entry are $10 for adults and $5 for children aged 6 years and above. A real bargain compared to the ArtScience Museum. Museum tickets also entitle the holder to discounts at the cafes and shops on the premises.

Matthew stopped short when he walked into the first room, he was in awe and went really really quiet trying to take it all in.

Matthew "I like choo choo train"

Fruit made out of paper, with each paying adult ticket, you can trade this in for a cut out template for making paper fruit. Once completed you can trade your paper fruit for a real one :)

Matthew and Dad hard at work making a paper apple and banana.

Eventually Matthew (and I) got a bit distracted and started drawing on the papier mache trees... which you were encouraged to.

Less than 9 weeks to go...

It's been an uneventful week for me with the usual pre-baby things to get done like a hair cut and a trip to the Dentist. I was actually told by my dentist to NOT brush my teeth as often - irritatingly, I love brushing my teeth. On the other hand the past week has been an extremely busy one for Duncan. We've resorted to catching up over a coffee and pastry in the morning just so we can have time together. Sadly I've had to go so far as to stipulate that with coffee I expect conversation to take place at the same time and for Duncan not to be multitasking during this time and take conference calls on his Blackberry while we are out!

I've been finding this pregnancy harder than the previous, the difference has to do with the fact that I no longer have a sedentary desk job and have been far more active daily. Spending 1-2 hours on my feet going about my morning routine negates the need to hit the gym 5 days a week like the last time!  Bearing in mind this time round I also have a 14+ kg toddler to assist me with my weight bearing training. The Singapore heat and humidity doesnt bother me much as I dont generally step outdoors unless it's absolutely necessary. Baby belly also feels much larger now than it did 3 weeks ago at my last OB visit. We shall see how much of the additional girth is me and how much of it can be attributed to our Baby Girl.  I'm still working on my preparation for my drug free, calm and comfortable natural birth both at home and at classes, all is going well if the desired effect of listening to the relaxation CD is falling asleep. I've checked with my doula Ginny and she tells me it very normal. I've listened to the CD about 10 times, by the 2nd track, I'm asleep. I've yet to listen to the whole thing in it's entirety. Duncan jokingly said to me that at the rate I'm going I may sleep through the birth ... somehow I doubt that. Looks like we will have not one but 2 doulas present at the birth, in addition to Ginny, a trainee doula will be there to observe. This is of course in addition to a secondary doula, Catherine, on standby (24 hours a day, 3 weeks prior to by estimated due date). I didn't say no to an extra pair of hands as I think it will come in handy toddler handling during birthing.

Matthew's been doing really well. I think he might have clued on that there's a baby on the way. We can also close the chapter on big bed transition. He loves his new bed and the new furniture, and stickers and art on the walls in his room and it's been a breeze for him to fall asleep on his own. The hard part is keeping his bed covers on overnight as he moves around so much when he sleeps! (he still enjoys a bit of a chat and a lullaby with me before bedtime, but that's OK as I love our time together before bed).

Matthew's Auntie Kim (my sister) is arriving this Sat and will be staying with us for a few days. We are very excited to have her come and visit. There'll be 3 people to share Durian with! She'll also be logging many babysitting hours while she is here ... I think I've briefly mentioned that to her ;)