Nap Time Woes

I am extremely envious of mummies who have kids that sleep without much fuss when it comes to naptime and bedtime.

Sofia has been fighting against her naptime recently and it could be a long long 1.5hrs battle with her before she dozes off. Naps are very important for toddlers this age as they are still very young and needs approximately 12 hours of sleep in total everyday. If Sofia does not nap, she will be very cranky and snappy by 5pm, feeding her dinner would take enormous efforts. She will then hit the bed early, by 7pm BUT the problem is she does not sleep through till 8am in the morning. She will wake up at some wee hours and ask for her sleep deprived Mummy, toss and turn, talk to herself, for two hours before dozing off again.

We have tried all sorts of ways and methods to encourage her to nap but none seems to work. Is this a growth spurt? We are not sure but hope this will be a passing phase and she will take naps like all other toddlers soon.

New Haircut

Sofia got a new hairstyle couple of days ago and it was all done by our domestic helper, Ana.

We think Sofia looks absolutely like a China doll now.

The Search is on again ...

Just received a notice today from Sofia's school today, Pat's Schoolhouse would be wrapping things up by end of this month and Children's House would take over wef 01 April. The search is on again for a school for Sofia.

We actually do have the option of continuing with Children's House but personally we feel that their school fees is rather steep.

There will be another operator taking over the other Pat's Schoolhouse branch at Damansara Utama and we are interested to know more about them. In the meantime, we have also started visiting other schools in the vicinity but many of them are already running at full capacity during this time of the year.

Wish us luck.

More Time

My time is so stretched these days and the four main areas which are screaming for my attention are:

• house renovation stuff
• household matters
• teaching materials for Sofia
• rest and more rest

We had underestimated the amount of effort and time needed to get the house done. Of course we can close our eyes and leave the decision to the contractor but we are not too happy about the generous margin factored into the final price to us. So in the end it is DIY, research followed by calling up and site visit and then price negotiation done directly by ourselves. Sourcing for materials is another time consuming matter, a trip to one or two suppliers would easily take the whole afternoon.

Being away from home the whole afternoon would mean that dinner would be a rush rush affair when I get back.

I am also trying to create some teaching materials for Sofia, her thirst for learning is simply unquenchable and she enjoys learning very much, as long as we are willing to fork out the time.

REST. Yes, entering the third trimester is the toughest. Not being able to sleep through the night happens daily, got to empty the bladder in the middle of the night. Getting back to sleep is another struggle because the little man inside would be dancing or kicking in my tummy now that he has got more space. After half an hour of coaxing, he would be all quiet but I would be WIDE AWAKE! The only way to catch up with sleep is to nap when Sofia takes her afternoon nap but that means I will not be able to do anything else ... so little time so much to do ...

It is going to be '好'!

I hit the 6th month milestone of my pregnancy today and was scheduled to go for detailed scanning with my gynae today. I had been counting down till today cos everyone around me is eager to know the gender of this baby and that will be confirmed through the detailed scan. I, on the other hand, am more interested how the baby is progressing and developing. The detailed scan will give us some insight into its heart, brain, stomach, and I would like to see everything normal.

I heaved a sign of relief after the checkup revealed everything looks alright and I have a good piece of news to share, it is going to be a baby BOY! Don't get me wrong, I would be equally happy if it is a baby girl. But I do know with a baby boy, it is going to make some people around me VERY VERY happy. I can bet you my mum and my mother-in-law can smile in their sleep! Well, Sofia is a girl and with the next one being a boy, it gives you the "good" character in Chinese, just the way it is written - 好! So naturally, they are very delighted.

Now comes the headache, I have zero baby clothes for boys and that should give me the perfect excuse to Daddy for shopping rite? All parents would know how fast baby clothes gets "archived" and we do feel that it is rather wasteful to build another "him" wardrobe all over again. I probably will contact some of our friends in KL to ask for hand-me-down clothes if they do not plan to have any more kids.