Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday was our 8th wedding anniversary. We were going to go to an Italian restaurant that received a good rating from 'The Good Food Guide' but at the last minute decided to go to the Sydney Botanical Garden in Circular Quay instead. It was such a warm and sunny day that it would be a shame to do anything else but spend it outdoor.



We left home just before mid-day so the first stop was a lunch stop at a Japanese restaurant in China Town. I had nabeyaki udon (or seafood noodles) and Husband had katsu don (or fried chicken on rice). Lunch was nice and very good value. One small thing to note - While we were at the restaurant, there were these 2 ladies eating at the next table. Just before they left, one of them (might be the daughter) came over and told us that Lara was the cutest girl she had ever seen. It was unexpected but a nice comment! (It made one not-very-modest Mummy very happy!)

We walked to the Botanical Garden via the Domain after lunch. It was a pleasant walk. Lots of people were out and about. By the time we were close to the Botanical Garden, Lara was asleep. It was perfect time for a cup of coffee! After coffee, we crossed the road to go to the Art Gallery of NSW. We didn't spend too long inside as Lara started to make loud noises. We then made our way to the Botanical Garden a couple of minutes away.



The garden was more beautiful than I remembered with colourful blossoms. You can feel 'spring' in the air.



We lay on a piece of grass where we could see the Opera House, Sydney Harbour and the Sydney Tower. Lara was very happy on her tummy looking at the blue sky. It was a little breezy though.



We did heaps of walking - from Central Station (where we parked our car) to Botanical Garden and back. I felt tired and had sore feet but it was a satisfying kind of tiredness. We are already talking about going back!

[35 weeks] Favorite blue toy

Airing of the toys

Braidwood is one place I wanted to go for a little while for its annual "Airing of the quilts" festival. The festival is held at the end of November and this year is the 12th year of this quilt event.

I love the idea of seeing around 500 quilts hanging outside various heritage buildings in town plus shop windows, cafes and an indoor exhibition centre. We are planning a trip there this year, it should be fun. For more information, check

this out.

For the moment, I am content with my own 'airing of the toys' ....



"Airing of the toys" event is held fortnightly at our backyard, usually on a sunny day (postponed if it's raining). It normally starts after my return from the toy library. Of course, the toys will first be giving a hot warm soapy bath. Some toys will even get some special scrubbing attention. Then all the toys are lined up outside to be aired dry.

There's nothing better than the warm sun and cool breeze to give the toys a clean fresh feel.

[8 months] Busy girl

The greatest advancement in Lara's development this month is mobility.

I'm not referring to crawling - she can't crawl yet, at least not in the right direction - I'm referring to the various movements of her body. There are lots of head-lifting, head-tuning and body-twising to see what's going on around her. There's constant leg-kicking. When she sit and play on her mat, she's persistently reaching out towards toys in sight. She also starts to show a liking for board books, touching the pictures and turning the pages.

When Lara is awake, she's one very BUSY girl!





Photos: Lara on her play mat. She moved from the position in the first photo to the second photo (note where the green couch was) in less than a minute.

Other things to note at 8 months:

Weight: 9.4 kilo
Height: 69 cm
Head circumference: 45 cm

Mental development -

• Generally very happy. Smile and chuckle a lot.


• Make distinct cooing sound when she likes something.


• Have demonstrated:


• Affection- Lara would pull me towards her or move her body towards me usually at night or early in the morning. I read that she's "pressing in" and 'cuddling' me to show affection. Daddy is a little jealous because she only does it to Mummy.


• Persistence - Anything illegal generates lots of interest.


• Preference- Like the colour "blue". We have some blocks of different colours. She picked the blue colour ones out first. She watches the weather report on TV because it has blue background.


• Anticipation- Expect the tickling bit at the end of 'round and round the garden'.

Physical development -

• Still put everything in her mouth.


• Eat well. Started on protein (lentils only, will start on meat/fish soon).


• Sit well. Fall over a lot less.


• Can open windows (flaps that look like "windows" on her toys).


• Good bowel movements - generally twice a day (occasionally 3 times).


• Drinking water off a training cup/bottle. Practicing to hold the cup with Mummy's help.

On the eve of her 8-month birthday, Lara "officially" rolled over. I think she had rolled over before. But Husband said it didn't count because either it was from her tummy to her back (it only counts if it's from her back to her tummy) or it was by accident, not intentional (such a hard taskmaster Daddy is). Well she did two 'controlled' roll-over from her back to her tummy yesterday- even Daddy had to admit it was a roll-over.

Lara is no longer being wrapped at night.

ps. Thanks to Snoozen who lent us the lovely play mat featured in the photos.

Lemon meringue pie

Photo: Our lemon tree.

Citrus trees are doing very well this year, unlike in some years when you could count the lemons produced whole year with your fingers. There are lots of nice-looking lemons and oranges in people's gardens everywhere we walk. Fortunately, the lemons don't get ripe all at the same time so we get a constant supply of lemons. I have been searching for and trying different lemon recipes.....

This week I did a lemon meringue pie. There were three parts to this dessert: the pie crust, the lemon curd and the meringue top.

I had attempted a pumpkin pie a few weeks ago with homemade crust. The crust was rock hard so I thought I would try the pre-made supermarket version this time. The meringue top was something I wasn't too sure about, worried that it would collapse or crack.

The meringue turned out nice and not too difficult to do. The lemon curd was delicious. But the pie crust was still too hard. It looked uncooked so I baked in the oven a lot longer than the recipe specified. Also I used 3 sheets of pastry and it was too thick. Parents-in-law came over for lunch and they kept comforting me by saying it wasn't too bad for a first attempt. Anyway, it will get better I'm sure.

Barbecue in the park

We made it to the lovely park again last week and this time we had sausages, snacks, drinks and books with us!



Husband cooked lunch while I played with Lara on the grass. Lunch was sausages and onions with crusty bread rolls and salad.



Lara was fascinated with grass. She spent a long time looking at it, touching it and yes you guessed it, eating it. Well, she hadn't eaten any (I hope) but she certainly tried. I had to stop her from putting grass in her mouth every 5 seconds. The books say it is at around 7-9 months that babies start to show determination. She certainly had plenty of determination as far as grass was concerned.



After lunch we sat on the grass and enjoyed the warm afternoon sun. There were a couple of dogs walking with their owners and Lara was interested in them all, especially a big Chow Chow. It was a shame that Zeb was not with us in the park. We had to leave early because Lara started to show over-tired signs and wouldn't go to sleep when Husband walked her around in the pram.



It has been raining in the last couple of days. It cheered me up looking at these 'sunny' pictures. It's starnge that I seem to have less energy in the rainy days? I read the other day that "Bad weather always looks worse through a window". Have to try to remember that. I wonder what we can do especially with a little one on rainy days?

Pizza tonight

Husband has been saying he wants to try bread-making for a long time. The last homemade bread I did was about 2 months ago in our bread-maker. Husband prefers the 'elbow-grease' version. He likes pizzas so he decides to start with pizza dough today.

These were what we had for dinner tonight. One was cabanossi, the other pepperoni. The other toppings were: mushroom, mixed olives and cheese. Husband spreaded finely-chopped fresh tomatoes with mixed herbs and crushed garlic on top of the base (inspired by Jamie Oliver) instead of tomato paste usually seen in the shop-bought version.



The verdict: delicious! The pizza base was so nice and fresh it beat 'Domino' pizzas anytime! Husband says he is going to try 'sweet chili and cheese pull-apart bread' next time. Can't wait!

ps. Husband used Jamie Oliver's basic bread recipe.

[33 weeks] "Bath" too small

I'm sure all new parents have photos of their babies at bath time. This is Lara in her blue bath tub. She only just started using it even though it was one of the first things we bought prior to her birth.

After a couple of uses in the first week, and seeing the amount of water needed to fill the tub and how short Lara stayed in it, we decided that it would be more economical to wash her in the bathroom sink. It not only saves water, but also easy to drain. The sink became her bath for the last seven and a half months. Unfortunately, the sink is getting too small. Her feet and part of her legs hang out of the sink when she stretch. We still use it occasionally to wash her pooey bottom. Very soon, she will not be able to fit in it at all.



Bathing Lara is one of those activities that is best not to perform alone. I still remembered the bathing class we attended in hospital, when you really felt like you needed more than 2 arms. We still feel a little flustered sometimes even with two people. The key is preparation I think. The better we prepare for the bath, i.e. have what we need at hand, the more relaxed and enjoyable it is for Lara and us. Lara was a little scared going from the sink to her blue tub at first. She was all stiff and held onto the side of the tub very tightly! She now enjoys it more so we leave her in the water a little longer.

I heard all babies like to suck on flannels?

Stranded teddy

I came home from swimming one morning, and found one teddy bear stranded on top of a wobbly tower, unable to get down . It brought a big smile to my lips - this colourful tower is the highest I've seen so far .....

We like to play with Lara's toys, especially Husband. He likes to stack toys up high. I have to say he's quite imaginative. He can usually build something fairly high with toys that you don't realise are stackable. Every time I turn my head, another "skyscraper' is being built ... And when you hear a loud sound coming from the lounge in our house, you know the "skyscraper" just crashed....

Unpopular lemon shortbread

I made these lemon shortbread over a week ago. There are still 7 pieces left as pictured above. This is unusual in our household as most desserts are eaten very quickly. Husband doesn't like them because they are not sweet enough for his liking. Could it be that the recipe only use icing sugar and the sourness of the lemon mask all sweetness? I think they are allrigh. Anyway, I have to eat them all and I can only manage 1-2 a day. Anyone want any shortbread?

Dinner surprise

I had to go into work this week as my laptop wasn't working properly after installation of some new software. I left home early in the morning planning to be home at around lunch time to do rest of the work from home. I ended up staying for a lot longer.
When I got home it was already dark. Husband not only looked after Lara whole day, but also cooked dinnner and washed up. He even wiped the kitchen counter clean. I didn't expect roast pork for dinner! It was a pleasant surprise after a long day.

[32 weeks] New toy

Parents-in-Law's for lunch

Very warm Sunday today! 25 degrees! A huge change from last weekend's constant rain. We headed out to Parents-in-Law's for lunch. Mother-in-Law made steak Dianne with delicious 'bubble and squeak', an English dish made with fried mashed potato and vegetables. Lunch was eaten in the sunny backyard under the pergola.



Lara sees her Grandparents every 1-2 weeks. Today was the first visit after the recent 'stranger anxiety' episodes so I was a little worried - it would break Grandma's heart if Lara start crying in front of her. Luckily she didn't. Thank you Grandma for buying more cute pink outfits for Lara!

Stranger anxiety

(Photo: I don't know if you can see it but Lara's doing the "peace symbol" with her fingers here.)

I went to the toy library a couple of days ago to pick up new toys for Lara and thought I would also stop by to see a few people I used to work with . Lara was always sociable and very interested in other people on our outings together. Since those work colleagues have not seen her and one of them just had a baby, I thought it would be nice to take Lara with me.

She wasn't fussed in the car. However, she cried twice during this trip! There were lots of tears! She cried in a colleague's arms while I was talking to the colleague who just had the baby and looking through the cute newborn photos. She cried again when she was held by a lady in the toy library so I could load toys into the car. How fast things change! She was SO easy-going only two weeks ago at a friend's baby shower!

And it happened again yesterday! We had some of friends over for dinner. I was feeding Lara on the high chair when they arrived. Lara burst out crying (she was at home with me sitting next to her!). She did get better as the night went on.

Anyway, I remembered a book we borrowed from the library mentioned something about this so I got the book out again. The book is called 'Raising a Happy, Unspoiled Child". Husband initially borrowed it when we had disagreements about raising Lara. The book said this "Stranger Anxiety", normally happens between seven to nine months, is the start of a baby's development of "interest in people". So is the closely related 'Separation Anxiety" which happens after 9 months and can persist into the second year of the child's life. It was amazing that this 'stranger anxiety' seemed to happen overnight for Lara. It's almost as if Lara has read the book and decided that "I'm 7 months old so I should have this stranger anxiety they talk about"!

The book discussed the mental and social development of a child from birth to 3 years and the behaviours associated with each stage. According to the book, the special social abilities coming up (for 7-14 months old) are: (1) Using an adult as a resource (2) Expressing both positive and negative feelings toward an adult (3) Showing pride in achievement and (4) Engaging in make-believe or pretend play. It'll be interesting to see how these abilities develop.

P.S. I had no laptop for a few days. New software was being installed so I could do some work from home. I had to use/share husband's PC, which he was not too happy about.

[31 weeks] Crawling backwards

Lara has been having lots of "tummy time" as shown above and she is a lot "mobile" now. She can turn lying on her back. Many a time I left her lying on her play mat for a couple of minutes, her head facing a certain way. When I came back to her, her head would be facing a totally different direction.

And she crawled backwards on the weekend! Well, all right, it's more of a squirm rather than a real crawl but it made me very happy! I put her on the top of the mat with forbidden toys like remote control, camera just out of reach to lure her forward, but she pushed herself backwards instead and ended up at the bottom of the mat! She did it really quickly too, for a 7-months old that is. There were lots of knee bending actions going on. Husband thinks she'll be crawling in the right direction very very soon!

She does this (see below) a lot too, lying flat on her tummy as if to say "Do I have to do this now? Let me rest"


But then she gets up and do more "tummy time", Good girl.

Accidental sausage rolls

We have two fridges. We call the fridge in the laundry the 'dog fridge'. It is mainly used for storing Zebadeee's chicken wings plus some cold drinks. Sometimes when I buy too much meat, I borrow the dog's freezer until there is extra space in our fridge.

I took what I thought to be a bag of chicken wings out of the freezer to defronst for Zebadee but only found out later that it was actually a bag of sausages. We couldn't use them on the barbecue in the park this weekend because Husband is in a seminar the whole weekend. I decided to make sausage rolls with them.



It gave me a strange sense of satisfaction to see these sausage rolls lined up ready to be eaten. I had some for lunch. They are really additive. Every time I walked past the kitchen I ate another one. Better save some for Husband when he gets home!

[Reminiscence] Lara's birth story(II)

We arrived at the hospital at around 5.30pm Thursday 11th of January. There was a lot of excitement in the taxi telling the driver we are going to the hospital to give birth! I heard that a few "famous" people gave birth in the same hospital, including Sarah Murdoch, so I had a lot of faith in the hospital and wasn't overly nervous about the whole thing. Also I reckoned that the sooner I got this part out of the way, the sooner I could have some sleep (how wrong was I)....
Read Lara's birth story part one here.
We were directed to a delivery suite and the midwife on duty ordered some sandwiches for us. We flipped through TV channels while we had dinner. (you can tell my contractions weren't very bad at this stage, can't you?) I was also put on a monitor to check contractions and the baby’s heartbeat. Contractions started to come more regularly after dinner and I had to breathe a little harder through them (still not too bad). I tried different positions and found it more comfortable to be on all fours but my wrists hurt from supporting my body. However when the midwife came back to examine me at 8.30pm, I was still only 3-4 cm dilated, pretty much the same as when I arrived at the hospital. So it was decided to break my water around 9pm.

I realised afterwards that there was a shift change around that time. We were told in prenatal class that water breaking's usually done during shift change so the midwife breaking your water is usually not the same midwife delivering you. "You won't trust the midwife who hurt you" was how Jeanine, a midwife explained this in class.

The midwife(who was about to break my water) saw that I had not have any form of pain relief suggested that I gave gas a try as "things will speed up after water's broke". (It was extremely tactful for the midwife not to say what she really meant "you'll need gas as I'm going to inflict great pain on you") "Gas" was a great friend to me during this and for the next 5 hours. It seemed that I had an 'out-of-body' experience when my water's broke. I felt I was somewhere else (probably just the effect of gas) and when I came back to it, I was surpruised to find myself crying and the midwife was saying how sorry she was to hurt me. The fact was I really didn't feel like crying. It was a very strange experience to suddenly realise you were crying but didn't know why.

The water felt very warm as it came out. I took a shower to wash away the water and blood. My obstetrician came to see me and there was a shift change as well. Jeanine, the midwife we had in the prenatal class was also my midwife for the night. It gave me a great comfort to see a familiar face.

Husband commented afterwards that it was very strange to have the obstetrician, midwife standing in the bathroom with him while I showered. I had the same feeling but couldn't cared less then. After all, they would all be present at the birth.

I guessed things indeed started to happen fast because I didn't remember much in the next 5 hours. I knew there was pain but I lost all sense of time. I was in a drunken and dream-like state. I felt that many hours had passed and I remembered thinking if my obstetrician arrived (he went home after checking on me at 9pm), that would mean the end was near, so I kept asking for him. (Husband said afterwards that I started to ask for my obstetrician at 10pm....) I also had the feeling that I couldn't pull through and that I was going to die. I recognised later this (dying feeling) was what they called the "transition phase". It was the shortest phase but the most intense before the second stage of labour (ie pushing).

I was asked whether I wanted epidural early on (anaesthetist 'happened' to be in the next ward). As the contractions weren't very bad, I wanted to wait and see. I was not against the use of epidural. I heard/read some wonderful stories about it as well as the risks associated with it. I wanted minimal medical intervention but if I really required an epidural, I would have no problem asking for one. It just never entered my mind during labour.

They took the gas off me during the pushing stage. According to the labour record, I was ready to push at 2am and Lara was born at around 3am. The birth record also showed that placenta was delivered 4 minutes later, which I didn't know about. Again, I lost all sense of time. The only thing I remembered was pushing was a lot harder than I thought and I felt really exhausted. I also remembered getting different instructions from Jeanine and obstetrician on how to push. At one stage, I just wanted to shout "I don't want to do this anymore, just get her out". I think husband was trying to direct me towards following the midwife, who had 2 kids of her own rather than the obstetrician. I also remembered my obstetrician spent a long time stitching me up. Lara was born a healthy 4 kilos. Her Apgar scores were a excellent 9 and 10.

Husband told me later that after very little progress was made, both Jeanine and obstetrician tried to encourage me to continue pushing. Jeanine would say things like "you are doing very well" and obstetrician (being a man who never pushed a baby out in his life) would use scary tactics such as "we’ll have to use forceps if you can't push the baby out".

I read a few birth stories prior to Lara's birth. The more I read, the more nervous I got becuase you tend to hear more about the bad stories. Every birthing experience is different and nothing really prepares you for it. I think you just have to tell yourself that babies are born every day and women do this all the time so you'll be fine at the end of the day. Giving birth was an empowering experience as I discovered strength I didn't know I had. I was very grateful that things panned out this way and Lara and I were both fine at the end. End of birth just marks the beginning of motherhood and I know the road ahead is long and full of other surprises!

Walk in the park

It was so sunny and warm last week that we decided to enjoy the afternoon in a park. There were lots of people around cooking, eating, playing and having a good time. The ice cream truck had a very good day. I love the smell of sausages and onions cooking on the barbie. We found a nice spot with a electric barbecue and decide to go back later with our own sausages!

Lara fell asleep in the pram. To let her sleep longer, we sat on the grass and watched kids play. I made a mental note to remember to pack some nibbles and books to read next time.

One of my resolutions is to be with and appreciate nature more. We only spent a couple of hours in the park, but it really helped to lift our spirits after the stress of experiencing volatility in the share market for the last couple of weeks.

[7 months] First taste

Lara has been on pureed food for about a month, starting with one single vegetable once a day to now a variety of vegetables twice a day. She's eating well and loves her food just like her Mummy does. The vegetable and fruit she has tried so far are:
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Carrot, Sweet potato, Pumpkin, Broccoli, Green Bean, Peas, Swede, Apple

On the list to try next:
Zucchini, Cauliflower, Beetroot, Pear, Potato
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Carrot was the very first vegetable Lara tried followed by sweet potato. The early childhood nurse and friends have warned us about the possibility of baby rejecting first solid, so I kind of expected lots of spitting but it never happened. Lara did not resist the carrot puree at all probably because it was sweet. It did take her a couple of tries though to learn how to swallow properly - at first she would open her mouth wide to get more food but her tongue would push food out against her will.

The weaning book a friend lent us says to introduce potato last as some babies can be intolerant of it thus making feeding difficult. The book also suggests each vegetable be fed by itself for a couple of days to make sure there was no adverse reactions.

All the literatures I read suggest introducing vegetable before fruit. Because once babies taste the sweeter fruit purees, it's harder to get them to eat the blander vegetables. I totally agree with this. Lara especially loves the apple puree. She always opened her mouth wide for the apple puree even when she looked like she did not want any more vegetable puree.

I have never cooked swedes at home. Because of Lara, we all got to eat swedes! Of course, Lara had hers boiled with water which I later whized to make puree. We cooked ours in a roast with carrots and potatos, they tasted nice and sweet. I liked them, but Husband was not very keen on them.

I enjoyed making up the purees. They look beautiful like colourful crystals. Can you tell what they are?

Playful Zebadee

Lots of people tell me after you have kids, your pets will be forgotten. I have to admit that this is absolutely TRUE. Zebadee gets considerably less attention from me these days.

It has been beautifully sunny in the last few days so we spent a lot of time in the backyard. Zebadee provided some good entertainment for us. Lara loved to watch Zeb running around.

Here's a video of Zeb I took recently... a proof that she's not entirely forgotten ...