Trying to update

I've been so lazy updating anything. I think it's my pregnancy syndrome where all I want to do is just....nothing much. I'm also oh so lazy to go out. And with my being less active, I am quite reluctant to bring Eliza out on my own, to minimize having to carry her. She knows that when we go out, she walks. When we go out with Ww, she'll always ask him to carry her which he'll gladly oblige anyway.

Thankfully, my first trimester is over and all the nausea, extreme tiredness is more or less over. I felt so unlike myself during that period and I felt as if I was sick for weeks which isn't like me at all.

I hope to post up more things as there's also so much happening with Eliza that i just don't want to forget all these stuff that has been happening. So to more blogging days...i hope :)

Updates

I wish i can write more...there's so much to write about Eliza who has been so charming.

The 'in' thing for her to do now is make 2D houses on the floor which she'll invite us to come in. Sweet. Her passion for arranging things has developed to arranging a large shape which she calls her house.


I'm thankful for Eliza who has been relatively cooperative and for Ww who has been taking over much of the playtime with Eliza from me. They're really a lot more energetic, loud & hilarious, which i think is great for eliza from the way i see her enjoy her playtime with daddy so much.

For the past 3 weeks, i've been running on low energy because of the surprise arrival of cutie pie no.2! We've been waiting for no.2 for so long (ok a little past one year?) and when he/she arrived we were a little surprised but delighted. No.2 is God's gift in God's own time. I wondered if we were foolish to still try for a baby so close to next year's changes but if God gives, He will, if not He won't. It's a little complicated because of the many changes next year but if it all goes well, no.2 will be born in Canberra. If all goes to plan, it may not all be that bad...i can't imagine going through my first tri all alone with Eliza & Ww, if we had conceived one there...and i kinda didn't want to wait till Eliza was 7 yrs old to have my next one. Maybe 2 kids is all we'll have..just nice. hmm?

It's a little crazy because this time round, i feel a lot more exhausted, more throwing up, more lethargy than i remember during my first trimester with Eliza. I'm asleep by 10pm which means i haven't been doing my usual online stuff for weeks. I can't seem to eat fruits/milk and all the healthy stuff, but i'm eating all the really sweet/salty/oily stuff. There're days i wish i could lie in bed all day. So i'm just praying this hormone thing stabilizes and i can be back to normal....somehow.

Nites

Sticking thing up her nose

Yesterday I came home late after ladies sharing and BS, but i still got to listen to my mil recount the day's dramatic events.

Well, after lunch while my mil was eating lunch in the kitchen and Eliza was playing her toys in the living room. Eliza came running to her saying "I can't breathe" (I'm surprised she even said that phrase!) of course this made my mil anxious and she eventually found out that the candle tip from her cake toy came off and Eliza curiously stuck it in her nostril!

So my MIL and SIL tried to help her get it out. The tweezers were too big, and even asking her to blow her nose didn't help. Eventually they found an ear-digger stick and slowly shifted it out. All the while Eliza calmly let them get the little red plastic candle tip out of her nostril. And with a little help from Eliza to blow her nose, it finally came out.

Later on my MIL chided her and reminded her that she should never ever stick small things in her nose or ear or mouth.
In response to all that, Eliza replied, "I put in my eye" -__-

Great, my little one is getting cheekier with her words.

( oh and this is not the first time Eliza has stuck something small in. The last time she stuck a soya bean and a green bean in her ear. The green bean came out quit easily, but not the soya bean. I can't remember what my FIL did to get it out)

Anyway, My MIL concluded that Eliza's just too cheeky and too giak xiao. My sil said nothing like this happened to her 3 sons either. Oh well, that's Eliza for you! She surprises us always. :)

Sleep talking part 2

Eliza tend to rouse around 12midnight to 1am and in before that she tends to sleep talk. Usually we hear it when we're in the room..though nowadays, it seemed to be much louder.

On one of the nights when i was staying up, i heard her call out "Where's mummy?" which she would do if she is sufficiently awake and don't find me in my bed. So i answered from the study that i'm coming while i turn off the computer, thinking i'll go to bed anyway, since it's so late. I found her fast asleep when i went into the room to check. So was she sleeping or awake?

Oh and i'm starting to wonder if she has started to have nightmares / night terrors....she'll suddenly wake up crying really loud and somehow seem inconsolable. Though it could be that she was feeling bloated and it is really uncomfortable. Tonight i rubbed some ruyi oil and it seemed to help. It happened on other occasions..just that this time she was saying "i don't want, i don't want". Maybe a mix of both eh?
Still pray she'll sleep well and not have bad dreams.

National day weekend

Eliza has been sick for at least 3 weeks. In between there was a few days of no runny nose or fever etc. And after that 3 days we heard her cough at night and knew that it isn't a good sign. Meanwhile Ww's sick too, after being in a meeting with 2 colleagues who has flu and sneezing beside him.

This time round I thought I'll bring her to the doc earlier on Friday afternoon since it's so packed on Saturday and closed all weekend. $68 later she started to develop a fever that night that lasted till Monday morning. We brought her to the clinic near home and thank God it was open with our fav chatty doc. She was prescribed antibiotics (again!!) and given a tablet in her butt to bring her 39.5degree temp down.

She was so seh the whole day, took a 4 hour nap and watch a lot of hi-5. This time round she was REALLY sick. We haven't seen her so sick for a long while. She also haven't eaten much for 3 days and her extra 300g she gained recently was all lost. I also see signs of her usual irritability when she's sick but we try to give her lots of TLC and firmness.

Pray she gets well soon by Friday cos we've got lots of fun stuff to do in the coming weekend!!

Starting school and babies

Eliza starts school
Ww mentioned that Eliza's school uniform looked just like Elmo's...i just had to take a photo of her & Elmo. Got me laughing crazy when Ww pointed that out, days after we have gotten the uniform...and i didn't realize it at all.


Oh this was quite a while ago already...since the beginning of july. Except that she missed almost one entire week cos she was sick and we were worried that she will pass it on to other kids, since she herself got it from another kid.
So far the separation has been much better. During the first 2 days she was quite happy to go to school, after that it was downhill for a week. Everytime my mil brings out her uniform she'll run away...and she'll cry her way down. The good part is that she'll be sooo chirpy and happy when she's coming out, it's really quite fun to pick her up after school. The playschool is just 2 blocks away so it has the advantage of being so nearby.
We hadn't planned to put her in school so early, but seeing that my mil is so busy during the mornings, plus not always being able to guide her in her emotional & mental growth...hmm..in a way. We felt that getting Eliza to start some 2-hr playgroup would be a fun thing for Eliza (since she has been so 'on' about going to school). And at the same time it would be a good relief for my mil. Would have loved to put her in another school but it's so far away at Kembangan.

Every time we ask her what she learnt at school, she'll say some meow meow song (everytime!) so it's really hard to decipher what she did at school, other than the timetable we have from the school. This weekend, she told me of watching fireworks and i kinda caught her singing some song that sounded like the National Anthem..hahaa..this girl ah...always singing.

Eliza loves her older cousin but is apprehensive of her new baby girl cousin

I thought she did seem kinda disappointed that her cousins weren't here this weekend. My SIL needed to rest after her delivery so it's not a good time for them to come either.
Then we also realized that she is really not very warmed up to the baby either. She's really not a fan of babies and younger kids. She'll acknowledge the presence of the baby like "who cry?" but don't dare to get near the baby. Sometimes, i wonder if it's some bad experience with younger kids in the past or lack of exposure with younger kids and babies; or it's just her...that she's not a fan of babies at all.

The heart issue + dealing with a sick toddler

The heart issue...
Parenting is a heart issue. I love reading from this homeschooling mum, her insights on parenting, the stuffs she does with her kids. It's like learning from a mentor. I've learnt much from her and i love some of the things she writes in this entry.

"Proverbs 23:26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
This is the secret formula to the successful passing on of values: the parent must have his child's heart. By that, I believe the Bible would be alluding to the child's affection, adoration, deep respect, and importantly trust that you love him and always have his welfare at heart. It is only when we have the heart of the child that the child will happily obey and observe and follow our ways- even when their flesh and sinful desires tell them otherwise. And when a child will be wise to obey his loving parents, therein will he find safety and protection and blessing. It is no coincidence that God also wants His children's hearts. "

"Importantly, love each child as unique individuals who have different talents and abilities, different weaknesses. Do not fall into the trap of measuring everyone by the same yardstick because not everyone can measure up the same way."

She also writes about dealing with a child hitting when he's angry, and for me it's Eliza throwing things when she is upset she's not getting her way. (no wonder we say people are childish when the get angry and throw things...i see a child in action like that!)
I realized that i have been focusing on her throwing things and i neglected to address her anger at not getting her way. This has been such a timely reminder about addressing the heart of the issue and not the behavior.
It's like an eureka moment. Thank God for guiding me to her blog, to reading this and i learn from it. Really. God's amazing.

At the same time i was also reading the Pupose driven life devotional today and the verse was also on the same matter.

A man's heart reflects the man. Proverbs 27:19 (NIV)
"Where did those interests come from? They came from God!
God had a purpose in giving you these inborn interests. Your emotional heartbeat is a key to understanding your shape for service. Don't ignore your interests; consider how they might be used for God's glory. There is a reason that you love to do these things."

Dealing with a sick toddler...
I wonder if being sick makes Eliza more irritable, more impatient, more prone to tantrums, sudden impulses, waking up more times at night etc. I feel like i tread the delicate line of giving her more slack cos she's having a runny nose/blocked nose and to still not give in on some of the rules and basic manners that we expect of her.
ie. she refuses to let me make the bed cos she wants to do it on her own...i let her, though not without her almost breaking into a upset-almost-going-to-fly-into-tears-and-rage mess. That little time frame between me saying and backing away from the issue at hand is sometimes just not fast enough. and her displeasure is only accented by her not being able to get what she wanted to do in the first place.

This is what i meant her being so touchy and ready to explode anytime.

Nowadays with more demands from her to do this, eat that, watch this now, do this now etc. There's a lot of distraction to be done, a lot of "No. Now now"s. I find myself being the bad guy around (as compared to my in-laws who are a lil more likely to give in than me).

This week is slightly better. I'm just praying that this is only a phase of due to her sickness and not so much of her character. Still it's a learning point for all of us, for her as well.

I just pray she gets well soon...it has been slightly over a week since she got sick last tuesday, and despite her cough and phelgmy-ness cleared, she's still having a slight runny nose that's disturbing her sleep at night. (which means my sleep gets disturbed too cos she'll keep waking up even after she has gone down for bedtime.) tonight she has woken up at least 4 times since she fell asleep earlier.

Nonetheless, she's still the cutie pie and full of fun :)