10 weeks to go

Big bed transition is going really well with the exception of last night where he called out 'Mummy!' in the wee hours of the morning. I walked bleary eyed into his room expecting to see a little body curled up in his bed but couldnt see anything and wondered for a second where he could be. Then I spotted him. Laying face down on his playmat, he'd rolled off his bed on to the mattress on his trundle and ended up on the floor on his mat. I was really lucky not to have stepped on him. The next words out of his mouth was 'mummy, hurt the knee' so obviously he'd taken a little knock somewhere on his cascade down off his bed. After a quick kiss on the knee, as I always do with all his 'owwies' he went straight to sleep again on his bed. Too lazy to go back to my own room and besides it was much cooler in Matthew's room last night I fell asleep on his trundle. Sometime in the early morning, I had no idea what time it was but it was getting light outside, Matthew fell off his bed again and this time on me. Not sure if it was accidental or deliberate, as after a week of sleeping beautifully on his bed and not falling out once, he'd fallen out not once but twice in the one night. Anyway we'll see how it goes.

The other funny thing about no longer being confined to his cot is finding Matthew waddling down the hallway still in his sleep bag on Saturday morning looking for us. Again, we were alert with a curious sounding 'Mummy?'. It was 8:30am by this time and both Duncan and I had slept in (Yes, I know how lucky we are to have a child who likes to sleep in occasionally).

He's still extremely chatty with me at bedtime though and continues to talks non-stop. 'Mummy sleep here' patting the space he's left for me on his pillow or 'Matthew loves Mummy'... the child knows exactly what he's doing. Duncan finds our conversations hilarious. It takes Duncan no more than 5 mins to get Matthew settled into bed compare to my 30mins, sometimes an hour.

Fun stuff we did on the weekend was go to the Art Science Museum again on Saturday to see the Salvador Dali and Van Gogh exhibition. Duncan and I enjoyed the Dali, whereas Matthew enjoyed the Van Gogh. It was more of a visual biography of Van Gogh through the use of projectors rather than a display of his actual works. Matthew enjoyed walking through the installation of images projected on the walls and floor and listening to the music and sounds of the period.

Outside the Dali exhibit

Matthew staring at the lifts at the Art Science Museum (the Lotus inspired building in the Marina Bay area)

Baby stuff is getting there, after the enormous furniture move last weekend, I set about getting on with the task of sorting out Matthew's old baby clothes and linen. Sorting out what to wash, what to store away again  for later, what to throw out and what to give away. Still a couple of loads of washing to be done but not much else to do really. We really are exceptionally prepared this time round. The next job is to make sure I have all the bits and pieces for sterilising breast pumps and bottles ready. Hopefully like with Matthew who was a hearty little feeder who latch on like a champ immediately after birth we wont have to mess around with bottles.

Birth preparation is also underway. I met with my doula, Ginny during the week. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a doula is someone who helps provide support to the birthing mother during childbirth. During my meeting with Ginny, I also met a newborn girl who had been birthed 5 days earlier in the water in her backyard surrounded by her 4 siblings, talk about inspirational! Ginny came upon recommendation from my OB some weeks ago and after much consideration and discussion with Duncan having a doula made a lot of sense to us. Depending on the time of day I go into labour we would very much like to have Matthew with us when we welcome our new baby into our family. In preparing for this and knowing that Duncan may have his attention divided between Matthew and I, enlisting the services of a doula was a perfect solution for this situation. My OB, Ginny and the hospital all have experience with children in the birthing suite, and all three were specifically selected so I could have a drug-free waterbirth here in Singapore.

11 weeks to go - Nesting

Firstly, Happy Father's Day to Duncan! It's Father's day here as it is in most parts of the world and seeing as we are Singapore we thought we might go with the flow.

Here's Duncan with Matthew opening his father's day present.

Oh my goodness have we (the royal 'we' being Duncan, Matthew and I) been busy this past week. We've purchased Matthew's new car seat, bought new storage furniture for Matthew's room to go with his new big boy bed, moved the furniture around between the guest room and Matthew's room, cleared out the storage room and sorted out all the baby toys.

Baby M's room

Matthew's room

Matthew finally got to sleep in his big boy bed for the first time yesterday afternoon and has since had 3 successful sleeps in it. Duncan's just put him down for his 4th sleep. Success in this exercise is defined as 1) not falling out of bed and 2) not trying to escape! Although it seems that Duncan is the only one that can put him to sleep successfully at this point. Matthew insists on talking to me instead of sleeping, he lures me in his room with a sweet 'Mummy come here...'. When I look in on him, I get 'Mummy lie down', which I do next to him and I pretend to sleep followed by a 'Mummy sleep?' query in the dark, he then proceeds to gently pat my face as if to check whether I'm asleep. When I tried to sneak out of bed quietly, in my pregnant state, I clumsily fell out. Then the next thing I heard over head was 'Mummy pillow?' followed by Matthew passing his bolster pillow to me, by this stage I can't help but laugh out loud. The sleep avoidance tactics continue with 'kiss Matthew?'... hmm. I wonder where he's learnt all this??

I was listening out for the 'thump' last night which never came. When we checked on him at 1030pm before going to bed he was nestled into the pillows at the head of the bed and he looked so cute and small in it!

Matthew this morning, not to impressed with me taking his photo.

 He warmed up a little later in the morning shortly after we got ready to head out to brunch with friends.

Here I am at 29 weeks pregnant. Still looking compact, but with 11 weeks to go, there is still much growing to be done!

On the pregnancy front, Baby and I are doing really well. I had my monthly visit to our obstetrician and all is tracking well and it's been confirmed that I don't have gestational diabetes (which I was at an increased risk for). My weight gain is currently 2 whole kilos less than it was when I pregnant with Matthew. Baby is growing as she should be and I was fortunate enough to get this gorgeous picture of her in 3D.

Ultrasound image of Baby M. She looks so cute already.

Matthew's Birth Story

(better late than never!)

Little Matthew Arthur Bradey was born on the 28th of May, 2009. As with most birth stories, this journey began much earlier that day.

Here I am on the 27th of May, 2009 - 39 weeks pregnant

I was at this stage 39 weeks pregnant and experiencing all of the excitement and eagerness that comes with having ones' first baby. The eve before our precious boy was born right before Duncan (that would be Matthew's dad) and I turned in for the evening, we said a few gentle words of love and encouragement to our unborn son that it was time we met him. Amazingly after many many weeks of waiting on that very same night at 2:30am, I went into spontaneous pre-labour.  Mild cramps had woken me from my restless sleep. Having not had any pre-labour symptoms or Branxton Hicks contractions leading up to this, I had a very strong inkling that it was time. Rolling out of bed, I went to turned on the lights in the bathroom to check and found that my mucal plug was coming away. Of course, typical of me, the first thing I decided to do instead of trying to get as much sleep as possible that morning, was a quick tidy up of the house and put the laundry on in an effort to make sure the house was tidy for visitors! It was only around 5:00 am that I decided it was time to tell a still slumbering Duncan that baby was on his way and I set about making sure that the last minute items for my hospital bag were sorted.

The morning meandered on as I continued on with my chores about the house, contractions continued on a little like this..
6:43am big cramp
7:04am little cramp
7:14am little cramp
7:33am little cramp...

As I knew Baby probably had a few more hours before arriving,  I sent Duncan off to work and sat at home waiting patiently for 9:30am to come around so that I could see Anne my OBGYN at my scheduled appointment that morning. Duncan whose workplace was only short walk away from Anne's office met me there. At the appointment I informed her that I was in pre-labour and that my mucal plug had started to come away and that the contractions were at the time erratic and between 5-10 minutes apart. With a quick check of my cervix, Anne was able to confirm that I was indeed in pre-labour and was 1-2 cms dilated. She also told me that my blood pressure was elevated and that it would be very likely that she'd see me in hospital that evening and she would possibly 'move things along' if nothing had happened by then. She also suggested that it might be a good idea not to drive home as I'd driven there! By 10:00am, I'm sitting at home alone rubbing my belly thinking to myself how much I'd like to meet my little baby and how lucky I was that today was going to be the day. Duncan returned to work to let them know that baby was about to arrive.

It's only at midday that we decide that it was time to head to the hospital as the contractions are now 5mins or less. Fortunately the trip to the hospital took less than 10 mins. We were offered a room after a short wait and for the next hour a fetal heart monitor is placed over my belly. At 1:30pm Maggi our midwife tells us that I'd not progressed any further with the dilatation even though the contractions are 3-5 mins apart. The news is not positive as she apologetically tells me that she thinks it's going to be a long labour as our baby is still in a posterior position (facing up). I'd not read up much on birthing a baby in a posterior position as I'd hoped all along that baby would turn in the last minute during labour to the more favoured anterior (facing down) position. I did not know at the time of birth that majority of posterior babies enter the world with assisted forcep deliveries or ceasareans. Also 90% of mums to posterior babies have epidurals as they are said to have more painful contractions, are given Pitocin (the same drug to induce contractions/labour), push for longer and have a significantly higher risk of severe tearing and episiotomies!

Needless to say with this news, the panic set in which I'm sure made the pain of the contractions even worse. In an attempt to dull the pain, they set up the nitrous oxide (otherwise simply known as 'Gas') for me but I found it of no use after failing to co-ordinate my breaths with the rise and crest of each contraction. After each attempt at the gas, I found myself dizzy but unfortunately without the result of pain relief. I turn to Duncan to tell him that I didn't want the gas as I wanted to be alert when baby arrived. It was after this that I decide to have an epidural. Duncan looks to me and asks if I'm sure I want the drugs as he's known all along about my desire to have a drug free natural birth, I tell him firmly 'Yes'.  Although I had been adamant about having a drug free birth, accepting the offer of an epidural was at the time the right choice.

I vaguely recall being asked to sit up right as they exposed my back to firstly give me a local anaesthetic and then later insert the epidural. 

5:00pm ... what a relief, although it had not taken the pain completely away as each contractions could still be strongly felt. The epidural had taken a very very long time to take effect and I had been rocked from side to side to help the anesthetist distribute the medication, with the Doctor returning several times to increase the dosage. It is also at this time the midwife breaks my water. Anne checks in on me at 5:15pm to see how I'm progressing. By 6:30pm, I'm nearly fully dilated (9.5cm dilated with a small lip - whatever that means?) and the midwife predicts that baby will be here at 8:30pm (she was very close indeed!).

At 7:30pm Anne has several attempts to turn baby's head to an anterior position but to no avail and tells me that I'll most likely need a caesarean and our midwife agrees. I firmly tell her 'no' and Anne gives me the option to push and would assess how things progress. At 8:00pm I begin pushing with much determination, using the contraction as they crested to bring baby a little closer each time. The midwives tell me that are amazed at how strongly my contractions can seen and felt through my tummy and wished that the student midwives were here to experience this! Duncan is my rock throughout, beside me all the way, offering words of encouragement with each push, pausing to laugh and share a joke with the doctor and nurses and enjoying every minute of watching the baby crown. With lots of pushes, and lots of complaints from me about reflux (I ate a mint during the afternoon) as baby feet were pushing up again my stomach and a quick rest from pushing so that Anne could perform an episiotomy, baby made his grand entrance. Matthew was born at exactly 8:53pm, weighing a healthy 3.77kg, 51.5cm in length and 34.5 cm head circumference. I asked to have a vernix (and meconium) covered Matthew placed on my chest so that I could start bonding with him right away while new Daddy got busy cutting the umbilical cord. He was then given to Duncan for a first cuddle, then weighed and measured while Duncan watched on. Sometime during all of this, the placenta is delivered and I am stitched. We then asked to have Matthew's grandparents in the room to meet Matthew quickly before I attempted to nurse him for the first time. We were very lucky to have bonded so quickly and Matthew took to the breast immediately.

This is Matthew's birth story, written and re-written as apparently my memory is extremely hazy, and two year after Matthew's birth and now 29 weeks pregnant again with our second child, it's finally published (after being checked and vetted by Duncan for accuracy!).

with Mummy.

with Daddy.

with both of us.

Matthew First School Report Card

Both Duncan and I popped by the school yesterday afternoon to attend our first parent-teacher interview. Having never attended one of these before, we had no expectations nor were we particularly prepared, I certainly didn't expect to be handed Matthew's semester one report card!

We take much pride (add to this a dash of humour after all he is 2!) to say that our little guy 'Aced' his first semester at school. The 'A' stands for is able to to. It seems our Matthew is already able to do most of skills that is expected for toddlers aged between 18-36 months. He is particularly good at music and anything which requires showing off his advanced gross motor skills. The most pleasing part of our chat with his teachers was to learn that Matthew is excelling at Mandarin, both teachers commented on how well he's picked up the new language in the short period of time he's been at school (we don't speak a word of Mandarin at home) and is advancing ahead of other kids who come from Chinese backgrounds. The rest of the comments mirror that of our own, Matthew is very affectionate and friendly and loves to cuddle. He's a very active and happy child that rarely throws tantrums or cries for attention. He's well liked by his friends and everyone at the school knows his name! There were no negatives mentioned (oddly, as Duncan and I think that Matthew could work on his social skills at the playground as he has a tendency to be aggressive) and they think he is doing very well at school and love having him there.

Along with his report card, we were given around 500 photos on a disc, a big bag full of his artwork to keep and display at home and a 'Learning Portfolio'. Matthew and I love looking through the portfolio together. I've shared a few pages here; and I've also posted a select few photos on picasa.

Pictures from Semester One --> Click Here
Sample pictures from Matthew's Learning Portfolio 2011 --> Click Here

Motherhood Exhibition 2011

FYI to my Singapore mummy friends. Good deals on Huggies (newborn diaper packs), Pigeon (Great wipes and breast pads) and Medela products. Also worth looking at are 'Studio Loft's maternity, new born and family portrait photo packages ($100 off)

Details: Motherhood Exhibition 2011
Where: Singapore Expo Hall 6B
Date: 2 - 5 June, 11am to 9pm

For those not in Singapore, this might bring a smile to your face, spotted at the expo was Matthew's picture. Duncan wanted me to ask the organisers if we could take the picture home after they were done with it... I think he was serious about it too. Not sure what I'd do with a 6ft version of the cover...

Spotted at the Motherhood Exhibition 2011 was Matthew's magazine cover:

The Unusual Palate & Conversations of a 2 year old.

Matthew really has the most unusual palate for food for a 2 year old. Here are some of the types of food he LOVES.

pickled ginger,

Ikura salmon roe (we just call them eggs)

Roquefort cheese, from France no less.

Olives, any kind either green or black, marinated or spiced it doesn't really matter.

Balsamic vinegar

Serrano Ham
Coffee/Tea (he has the froth on top of Duncan's latte as the tiniest bit of caffeine sends him crazy)

I can't think of a single food that Matthew won't eat, even a bit of spice in a curry doesn't bother him which is great as it means we can dine pretty much anywhere.

Post Birthday lunch just the 3 of us, complete with Matthew's favourite Japanese foods.

I know I've mentioned in the past that Matthew vocabulary is expanding rapidly, and in fact we'd been warned that this is expected around the 2 year mark. But it's still very surprising and shocking to us that Matthew has suddenly gone from speaking 2 word sentences, babbling incoherently the rest of the time and singing random words to tunes he knows to conversing with us in 3-4 word sentences and sometimes more virtually overnight. Honestly, Duncan and I would tell you that it happened sometime overnight on Saturday right after his birthday.

Matthew said on Sunday morning;
'Mummy open the fridge'
and
'May I please have Jellybeans Mummy?
For a longest time, Matthew has been referring to himself as 'Moo Moo' which is my nickname for him and I'd thought that he had difficulty saying his name and words beginning with the letter 'M' but a few weeks ago managed to say 'Marshmellow' very clearly. On Saturday evening, on our way out to dinner, Matthew was not only say his name properly, but was singing 'Happy Birthday to Matthew' over and over again. When the parenting books say that kids can change overnight, they really mean it!

Happy 2nd Birthday!!!

Pictures from Matthew's 2nd Birthday party available HERE

Wishing a very Happy 2nd Birthday to our gorgeous Matthew. Much Love Mum & Dad xx

All about the cake... Matthew 2nd Birthday

I am I must confess obsessed with birthday cakes. Duncan will tell you that I hate missing out on a piece of cake and when asked if there's anything I needed picked up from the shops on his way home from work my answer to his question is almost always 'cake'. Growing up, every birthday before the age of 12 was marked with a big birthday party and the centrepiece of that happy occasion was always the birthday cake. Leading up to the big day my sister and I would pour through my Mum's cake decorating books to select 'the one'. Whether it be Garfield, a doll/princess or Strawberry shortcake shaped cake, the event of celebrating a birthday began with the selection of the cake in the weeks leading up. Celebrating Matthew's birthdays so far has been no different and happily for me it brings back memories of my childhood. Not knowing Matthew's likes and dislikes, the decision for Matthew's 1st birthday cake was solely ours. This year however with Matthew's continued obsession with Buzz Lightyear it was an easy choice to settle on a Toy Story themed party and hence an equally themed birthday cake. For Matthew's 2nd birthday, I'm attempted to make a Buzz Lightyear rocket cake.

My criteria for any birthday cake is simple, it must look good AND taste good. The basis of a good cake is a yummy cake recipe and nothing is better than a chocolate mud cake, though Duncan would argue it's my vanilla cake recipe. There was a heated debate in the car on the way to school last week as to which type of cake and ganache to use. In the end, the chocolate mud won... as it always will ;)

Some weeks before Matthew's birthday...
I started off the process by scouring the internet for a picture of the Buzz Lightyear rocket. This was the closest picture I could find.

Buzz Lightyear Rocket Inspiration

From that I created a template for the shape of the cake (using much creative license here I might add) keeping within the limits of a 16 inch round cake board. You have to use your imagination to picture it as a 3D cake.

From there I had to figure out how much cake I needed to form the cake based on the size of the template I'd drawn up and then from there you have a rough estimate.

Cake template

Day 1
The mud cake recipe that I chose is the one from the 'Planet Cake' book by Paris Cutler. I knew it would be good as it's the one used for Matthew's 1st birthday cake. If you want a copy of the recipe please PM me. This particular cake if you follow the recipe exactly is super rich, for the purposes of a Matthew's party, I omitted the coffee granules. It's not for the feint hearted either, it's got so much choc and sugar in it, it'll send most kids and adults hyper! But boy does it taste good. For Matthew rocket cake, I used a 30 x 30 cm square tin AND a 20 x 15 cm tin and basically made 2.5 times the quantity asked of the ingredients in the recipe book spread over both cake tins. Before working on the cake it's essential to let the cake cool completely, so leave it to rest for 24 hours.

Crust of please!

30 x 30 cake

20 x 15 cake halved.

Day 2
Ganache is essentially cream and choc, in our case semi sweet dark choc and cream. I mixed 1.2 kg of dark choc with 600ml of pure cream ... I warned you, this cake is not for the feint hearted! (Did I mention somewhere that I'm at risk of gestational diabetes?!?!).

Using the layers of cake and ganache I formed the basic shape of the cake. Oh, by the way, you need to cut off the top crusty layer of the cake, so that the texture of the cake remains consistent throughout. It's also a good idea to use syrup (eg. apricot conserve diluted with Grand Marnier) and brush all the cake surfaces to seal in the moisture. Once you have the basic shape sculpted, finish with the ganache. Take your time with this part, as this is the most crucial part of decorating using fondant, the smoother the finish you have on the ganache, the smoother your layer of fondant will be. A ganaching tool is your best friend here, I picked mine up from Planet Cake during my cake decorating class last year, but you can pick one up from a good cake supply shop. A good one will be metal with a nice clean edge on one side and a curved edge on the other. You want a metal one because it helps to dip it in hot water to heat it so your can run the edge over cooled ganache to get that perfectly smooth edge.

As we now live in a country which averages 32 degrees all year round with high humidity, I wasn't sure how the fondant and ganache was going to cope, so in between working on the ganache and fondant I rested the cake in the fridge. It's generally not the best idea to place a fondant covered cake in the fridge as it can dry out and crack but it was the lesser of two evils.

Day 3
Now the fun bit, decorating with fondant. I didnt want to risk making my own fondant as handling it in humid hot weather can be tricky. So last weekend I bought a 2.5 kg tub of white vanilla 'Satin Ice'. The lady at the cake supply shop assured me that it tasted good and that it handled well in the Singapore weather. While the little Birthday Boy to be was asleep I started rolling out my monster piece of white fondant to cover the entire cake. Once again be patient. Using the correct cake making tools helps, like an acrylic rolling pin and fondant smoother. Looks pretty good I think. The rest is pretty straight forward and fun. I coloured the fondant and cut and attached the individual pieces free hand, like I said, you need to exercise a lot of creative license.

 

Voila!

The end result is a monster of a cake, to be finished at the party venue tomorrow complete with Buzz Lightyear figurine and '2' candle in the centre. Pictures of the birthday boy with his cake to be posted in the next update! I hope he likes it ...

Picture added 28th May :)

Maid? No thanks.

Since arriving in Singapore I've lost count of the number of times I've been asked if I have a 'helper'. A helper essentially is a live in maid that help with chores and pitches in with the care of children. I've seen helpers pushing kids in prams around the shops while Mum browses through the shops and helpers feeding the kids at mealtimes while Mum and Dad carry on with their own meals. Once I fell pregnant, the frequency of which this question is asked since has doubled. What's even more surprising to the person asking the question is my answer: 'no, we don't have a helper nor do we intend to hire one in the foreseeable future.'

I don't object to hiring a live in helper to help with domestic chores, however I do think that as a stay at home mum (SAHM) that a part-time cleaner or house keeper once or twice a week is a perfectly reasonable solution to help stay on top of the cleaning. Helpers are very common here in Singapore and hiring one is inexpensive, approximately SGD$750 a month, which means that she won't get a hell of a lot out of that once the government get their hands on their portion of their wages. What I do object to is the way some helpers are treated (not all fortunately). For example, it is considered the norm for helpers to be roomed in what is in most cases the storage room or the bomb shelter. Every Singapore apartment has one of these, they are windowless tiny rooms barely large enough for a single bed, that are often located in the 'yard' which is open air outdoor area attached to the kitchen. I wouldn't sleep in one, nor would I expect any person to do the same.

Yes I have no doubt that raising 2 children on my own without hired help or family nearby and with a husband that works ridiculously long hours will have it's challenges but I feel that for us it's the natural thing to do. Many many mums manage perfectly fine with 2, 3 and even 4 kids, so will I. I know that the last 2 years with Matthew has just breezed by and I have to acknowledge how lucky we have been to have had such an easy time of being first time parents. Perhaps if the learning curve of being new parents had been steeper I might have a different view point and jump at the chance of having a helper?

One thing is for sure, having the opportunity to be a SAHM is a wonderful once in a life time experience to bond with your baby/toddler and if circumstances allow, I would highly recommend it to any Mum. This opinion is also in line with my own personal views on natural birthing and water birthing, positive discipline, attachment parenting, and extended breastfeeding. I think being out of the corporate environment is turning me into a hippie.

Phuket Pictures & bye bye Nanna and Pop

I had a teary Matthew in my arms when Nanna and Pop left in the taxi for the airport this afternoon. Bye the time Nanna and Pop rang from the airport to say they were about to board their flight home bound to Sydney, Matthew was yelling 'See Ya Nanna, See Ya Pop!'. He was still a little bit teary at bedtime though... very sad little guy. It's one of the downsides to living in a different country to family, especially grandparents. But I'm sure they are thankful that we are only an 8 hour flight away and not 20 hours.

Matthew has been a delight of late, even his teachers have commented how well behaved he's been in class. I'm sure that this too is a passing phase!

The trip away was very relaxing, most days were spent relaxing at our Villa punctuated by day trips out to the nearby islands for a bit of sightseeing and snorkeling or golf (for the boys) and massages (for the girls) or trip around Phuket island to visit some of the popular beaches and tourist spots. 

Here is one of my favourite pictures from our trip away to Phuket.

Kamikaze Matthew in the pool with Daddy and Uncle Tim (Unki Thim)

Matthew is pictured here being tossed to Daddy by his Uncle, he loved it and insisted on it about a dozen times by swimming away from his Dad to his Uncle with 'more please' until both had very sore shoulders and arms.

As a side note, Matthew's 2nd birthday party planning is in full swing. I'm making the cake again this year with the same chocolate cake recipe with choc granache, but this year it'll be in the shape of a rocket to go with the Buzz Lightyear themed party we have planned.  Matthew's party is on Saturday 28th which falls perfectly on his birthday. There will be plenty of pictures posted no doubt.

One last thing, Matthew is rapidly learning to speak in sentences and carry out conversations. I've been asked how many words Matthew has in his vocabulary now and I honestly can't tell you. He'll repeat or at least have an attempt at pretty much anything you ask him to say and is particularly cute at saying 'Marshmellow' and 'Octopus'.