Rolling lips

Election TV dinner

(Photo: My fish with chips and prawn fritters. Husband's burger with the lot and chips plus prawn fritters.

We had take-away from our local fish 'n' chips place often. They use NZ cod rather than hake and their battered fish is one of the best I've had - I like it even better than their grilled fish. The light batter somehow acts as insulation so the fish inside is very juicy and tender. Their prawn fritters are delicious too, it's my Dad's favorite.

Husband and I sat in front of the TV whole night. I'm not really into politics but have been watching some of the election coverage as Husband followed the news and commentaries. Even though I couldn't vote but I was interested in the outcome. There was a strange excitement in the air while the election broadcast was on. I believe in a government using tax money for hospitals, education and public transport rather than giving it away as tax cuts then use the excuses of not having enough money for the hospitals, education etc. Each person might get a few hundreds dollars with tax cuts but if you pool the money together, there are billions of dollars to do some good for all of us. Unfortunately, both major parties used tax cuts as a bribe in my opinion.

I had to say though I was happy with the outcome. It was probably the hope that with a change of goverment, things might improve this time.

Blooming garden

It's a very nice time of the year to be in the garden. It's warm but the sun is less harsh than the scorcher in the middle of summer. There's nice light fragrance permeating in the air from the blooming flowers, you could almost miss it if you don't pay attention.

The only problem is weeds... we've got weeds everywhere. Husband likes weeding in the garden (great because it's more of a chore for me) and has spent some time doing so. We bought a 40 kilo bag of Sulphate of Ammonia to kill the weeds and promote grass growing. We are yet to see the results. Hope a second coat on the grass would do the trick.


(Star Jassmin gives out very nice scent)

An afternoon at the beach

We took Lara to Bulli beach on the weekend. This is her first ever beach excursion, and our first this year.



We had fond memories of Bulli beach, having been there regularly a couple of years ago. It was our favorite pastime then. Sunday afternoons when we got ourselves ready - sunscreen and swimmer on - and headed down to bodysurf and swim at the beach. The drive there was pleasant and we always felt very satisfied on the way back.



Lara was a little unsure about the beach and the sea at first, clinging to our arms when we moved her up and down with the waves. She even started crying when she was put to sit on the sand. It didn't take her long though to start playing with the sand and crawling about. There were a lot of kids playing around. It looked like Lara really enjoyed herself. She fell asleep very quickly on the way home.

Husband wants to bodysurf next time we go. We should aim to go regularly again this year!

Come and catch me

Zebadee initiated this "come-and-catch-me" game with us every morning and night...


(Photo: Zeb with Parents-in-law's dog Honey)

Zebadee has an ear infection and our vet advised to put antibiotics drops in the affected ear twice a day - morning and night. The whole process involves squirting drops into her left ear, robbing the ear canal (to let the pus etc come up), then wiping the gunk off with cotton buds. This was performed without any trouble at home the first time.

After the first night, every time Zebadee sees you holding the ear drop bottle (very small), she would run to the other side of the garden and stay there regardless of our constant calling. Husband tried catching Zeb and she was just too fast. So Husband and I had to trick her by pretending to feed her (picking up her bowl) then closing the gate quickly so she couldn't get away. That was how we were able to administer the medication.

This morning, I fed her first then remembered the ear drops. When I walked to close the gate, Zebadee ran away and looked at me suspiciously from afar even though I wasn't holding anything. She wouldn't come over when called. So I walked back in and cut a small piece of cheese and walked out with the cheese in my hand and ear drop bottle in my pocket. After that it was easy. I did the ear drops and gave Zeb the cheese. Ha Ha. The wonderful cheese works every time!

[10 months] Little girl

Our little girl is 10 months old, how time flies. When I look at her, I see a little girl, not a baby anymore!





Sleep:
Generally sleeps well. Usually from 8-9m (occasionally stays up to 10 or 11pm) until 7-8am. Has 2 day sleeps. The first one between 10.30-11.30am for an hour, and the second one between 4-5pm for 1-2 hours usually. We wake her up if she sleeps too long during the day (so she will sleep at reasonable time at night). She gives definite sleep signs most of the time, like getting ratty and whines at everything.
Last weekend, she refused to go to bed and cried for an hour (she hasn't cried for that long in a long time) in her Grandma's. We had to leave early because of that. I wondered if it was because she started to realise it was not her bed?

Standing:
Steady on her feet when she stands. Loves to stand and pull herself up and down. She's careful kid, bends one knee when she gets down from standing position slowly. She also starts to move a couple of steps while standing. Grandma thinks she'll be walking by Christmas. It's funny that for a long time, she was very content just lying on her back and didn't want to turn over or move much. And all of a sudden, she discovered turning and crawling and now there's just constant movement!

Play:
Will sit down and play by herself, though will look around to see if Mum or Dad is around every so often. Likes to go out. Was a little bored staying at home because of the rain. More interested in our things than her toys. Lara always loves to play with our remote control so Husband gave her an old remote to play with. Unfortunately, this little girl is more clever than we thought. She seemed to know which remote is the real one - she's only interested in the real remote, not her toy remote.

Food:
Lara has tried a variety of food including animal proteins such as chicken, fish and egg yolks. She likes all vegetables including tofu and avocado. She eats everything we give her so far. Favorite food is strawberries and nectarines. I let her bite soft fruit from my hand. Will be trying more textured food.

Others:
* Lara was 9.6 kg two weeks ago.
* Showing affection by putting her head on our shoulders and rubbing it.
* Baldie spot behind her head is covered now. I only realised how fast her hair grew when I looked at some old photos. Hair is black and very curly when wet.
* Craddle cap totally cleared.
* Daddy thinks Lara starts to show some intelligence and thinking behind her chubby face. She behaves more and more like a 'human being', not just a baby reacting to things around her.

A little sunshine

The rain restricted our movement a little last weekend. When a little sunshine appeared in the midst of rain, we headed down to the local park 5 minutes walk away to give Lara a leg stretch and some post-rain crisp air. We also took Zebadee with us as she had not been walked much due to the rain.

We took turns on the swing with Lara. She absolutely loved it! I also managed to take some nice pictures.


Zebadee had her lead off so she could run free for some time. Can she run fast! A very friendly Dalmatian puppy came over to say hi. Zebadee and the Dalmatian pup were happily sniffing each other for a long time.



We all had a lovely time!

The story of Lara's first tooth

Lara's first tooth came out a couple of weeks ago when she was 41 weeks or nine and a half months old. I could see it underneath the gum for a long time, but it refused to come out. Every time Lara dribbled a lot or became unsettled, I blamed the tooth for it. When the tooth eventually came out one morning, I nearly missed it as Lara was very good prior. If teeth had personalities, I would say Lara's first tooth was very shy and low key.

Teeth No 2 came out today! I could just feel the tip of it sitting next to the first tooth. Wow, two teeth now!

It took me many goes to try to take some pictures of the first tooth with Lara not being particularly co-operative. I ended up making Lara cry. This was my best effort.

Simple dinners

Chicken Biryani


Of course it should be eaten with papadums and yoghurt dip (not shown here).


Sausage rolls with salad

Chore wars

I don't think people will disagree with me when I say women, generally speaking, do more chores around the house than men. It makes sense if men are the only ones working outside the home (thus time poor to do housework) but I believe this happens even when they both work or when the women earn more than the men. At least, this seems to be the case with most people I know. With the addition of new babies, sometimes the unequal division of chores seems to be even greater.

Husband is reasonably good with the care of Lara. What I found interesting was that after the birth of Lara, Husband seemed to need more acknowledgement that he was doing the right things and doing OK with our daughter. I was also a little puzzled by his increasing need for appreciation and gratitude from me.

I got an interesting insight about this from a book I'm reading at the moment - "The Seven Stages of Motherhood" by Ann Pleshette Murphy.

The book painted it as a common occurrence that women find it funny when their husbands asking for 'thanks-yous' when they, for example, make breakfast for the kids one morning but mothers do this 355 mornings a year! The author was convinced that it was attributed to the fact that "Mothers tend to compare their husbands with themselves, while fathers often measure their contributions against what their own fathers did at home - a comparison that makes any effort look like a major improvement." I also agree with the author's opinion that the so called 'chore wars' is less about the actual work but "an internal struggle with ourselves over how much control and order we want and need". This seems to be especially prevalent in the first year, a time we not only learn our new roles as parents but also get a deeper sense about who we are and our needs as a couple.

I have to admit that even though I feel I have done more child-care, it is something I want to do. I have a tendency to want to have things done my way as far as Lara was concerned. It is sometimes better to do it myself than asking Husband to do it and then force him to 'do it like this' as I would have done. It is also fair to say that Husband gives me lots of compliment regarding the way I handle parenting. He always says how lucky Lara is to have me as her Mum. In contrast, I have not been as generous in giving out compliment when compliment is due. A little "thank-yous" can really go a long way!

The book also made the interesting observation that parenthood doesn't seem to affect fathers as much as they affect mothers. There's no doubt about fathers' love, however, fatherhood just has less effect on fathers' priorities and expectations.

We worked out some of our differences regarding parenting and chores in the last 9 months, some we had to agree to disagree, having failed to convince each other 'my way' is the better way. As the book says "Learning to respect and embrace those differences takes time and patience...." and we are working towards a fairer and happier balance.

Milo and Lara

Lara met her young boyfriend Milo (who just turned one month old) a week ago. This was the first time Lara met someone smaller than her and she was very curious. She liked to "pat" Milo - it was not the gentlest pat in the world so Mummy had to keep a close eye on things. She might also be a little jealous that someone else was in her Mummy's arms. Poor Milo looked alarmed when Lara got close.



Young Milo is learning how to go to sleep and stay asleep. We hope he will be able to learn it very soon!