LSNED - Day 5

We took the dogs to get their annual vaccinations today, and I learned that a new way of giving the Kennel Cough vaccination is now being used. The vaccination is squirted up the dog's nostril instead of being injected via a needle. Apparently it works better this way as it protects the dog more from Kennel Cough bacteria which can often enter via the nose.

So there you go! Even animal science is moving forward in leaps and bounds! :D

*hugs*

Jasmine - Aged 2 months

Wow! Can you believe it?!? Another month has gone by and Jasmine is now two months old!

I must admit the past month has been more on the difficult side as Jasmine has gone through quite a bit, such as having her one month celebratory dinner (Chinese tradition), getting her first immunisation jabs, going through a couple of growth spurts, and her first week without daddy around. It has been a huge learning curve with lots of ups and downs. As expected, I'm still tired and an existing blood condition which adds to the tiredness doesn't help one little bit! So most of my time is spent in feeding Jasmine, and trying to get rest when I can.

But enough about me. At 2 months, Jasmine:

• Weighs just over 5kg (5.2kg/11.4lb) and is 56cm in length.
  
  
• Still has a powerful set of lungs, although her cries have progressed from the cute newborn cries to fierce screams and more "ngaaai, ngaaai" cries. When she whinges, sometimes it almost sounds like she's trying to get our attention with a very loud "ey"! LOL
  
  

• Loves watching people talk to her. She hasn't quite mastered the art of responding with coos or gaas just yet, but no doubt this will come in time. She's already talking to the animals on her mobile!
  
  
• Has much longer periods of wakefulness and attentiveness now, although her attention span is still very short. Annoyingly she will fight going to sleep after a feed only to fall asleep half-an-hour or so before her next feed, which means I get very little rest in between feeds. Thankfully she only does this during the day and sleeps fairly well during the night now.
  
  

• Is starting to sleep in a sleep sack as she's just too active to wrap. She can unwrap herself within minutes, so we thought we'd better graduate her to the sleep sack. That way, at least she's covered and the wrap isn't hindering her movements/development.
  
  
• Has somehow lost her feed routine! She now feeds anywhere between 3.5hrs to 6hrs (!), although 4 hrs does seem to be the average. According to the community nurse, 6 hours between feeds isn't an issue as she is still putting on weight, but it just stuffs up my milk supply, which is flakey at the best of times! LOL At least she's feeding well though and still takes both breast and bottle without issue. Sometimes she can be a bit slow in drinking from the bottle and ends up fussing because the formula has cooled down. We then have to go and warm it up for her before she'll drink again. Other times she'll drain the bottle so fast, the formula doesn't have a chance to cool down! LOL I think I might have to set up a routine rather than rely on her demand feeding. It might work better for all of us in the end - at least I'll get some decent rest!
  
  

• Tolerates sitting in the swing seat now, and will even fall asleep in it.
  
  
• Is really exercising her legs by kicking lots now. She loves to lie on her back kicking up a storm! It's so cute to watch her. Her arms are still flailing about seemingly uncontrollably. Her strength is definitely improving as she can pack quite a punch with those little fists of hers! I often sustain a wallop or two when she's breast feeding. LOL
  
  
• Is wearing the larger of the size 0000 clothes, and even some size 000 clothes. It's sad to put away all the smaller items now as they were soooo cute and reminds me how fast she's growing!
  
  

• Smiles lots now, and often when she recognises our faces or our voices. She still smiles in her sleep, and it's so cute and sweet to watch her sleep. :D
  
  
• Can suddenly start crying/screaming in her sleep. After a moment, she will go back to sleep, but it certainly gives us a scare as we wonder what distressed her so much. Must be nightmares?!?
  
  

• Doesn't like tummy time. :( She'll tolerate it for about five seconds before staring to whinge. I have to give her tummy time in lots of 30 seconds each!
  
  
• Is learning to suck her hands when hungry or needs a comfort suck. She's also starting to drool a bit and blowing drool bubbles - eech! LOL
  

There are so many more changes and developments now as Jasmine gets older. It's hard to focus on all of them and I often fear I'll miss something. Kids certainly grow fast!

This week Gus is back to work for good so I'm on my own again. Hopefully his hours won't be as long as when he was off on training two weeks ago, but still he will be spending at least 14 hours away from home. :( At least he will be getting some rest on the train!

This week Jasmine and I will be going to our first Mother's Group session. I'll let you know how that goes!

*hugs*

Monday Giggles

Hello and welcome to another Monday Giggles!

Do you have a GPS unit? TomTom have released new Star Wars voices for their units and here's the out-takes from Yoda's recordings.

Enjoy!




*hugs*

LSNED - Day 3 & 4

Yesterday we headed down to Sydney and I was just too exhausted when we got back home to post what I'd learned! It was a very long and tiring day.

However, yesterday I was reminded that in marriage, self-sacrifice works both ways and can be small - like giving up the perfectly cooked sunny-side up egg and eating the ugly looking, messy egg at breakfast - or big - like enduring a whole afternoon with your wife's family and relatives when you have no idea what they're talking about because you don't speak Cantonese!

Today I have been no less exhausted unfortunately (in fact all three of us have been very tired and sleepy for some reason), but thankfully we had a whole day at home to do absolutely nothing but rest. Or try to! There was still something to learn today though, and that was the fact that Jasmine's very bowed legs and slightly turned feet are actually quite normal! I thought it was a genetic or racial trait as I have bowed legs too, like a lot of Asians! Whether or not her legs will straighten out will remain to be seen. Regardless though, I'm sure she will still be a tall girl like her mummy - her legs are already so long!!

Wonder what lesson tomorrow will bring? :D

*hugs*



PS. Sorry for the lack of photos. I have them, but it just seems like a bit too much effort today to download and prepare them for uploading to the web. With the way I'm feeling at the moment there's a huge possibility I might upload the wrong photo anyway!! LOL Maybe I'll make it up tomorrow. :D

LSNED - Day 2

It's great to see some of you participating in this month long class. Hope you've been looking out for lots of things to learn!

Today I learned (or more to the point, the lesson was very much reinforced) that when you have a baby, schedules, plans and "on time" no longer exist! Everything revolves around baby's feed time and right now, that's anytime between 3.5-5hrs. It takes immense planning to be somewhere at a certain time and trying to figure out if that time coincides with a feed or if we have to work around/between two feeds. The annoying thing is that it takes so long to feed, so an hour at the very least has to be taken into account when planning where to be and when. However, when we do spend the extra minute or so calculating our day, everything more or less works out to plan and it's smooth sailing for the whole day.

Are you as bound by time as we seem to be? Or are you still free to flit about the day without any regard to what time of day it is?

*hugs*

Learn Something New Everyday

Shimelle's annual class for September, Learn Something New Everyday, started today. I did attempt this last year (LSNED 2010), but lost momentum by the third week. I'm not optimistic that I'll get very far this year either, especially with little Jasmine now on the scene, but I'll try and do as much as I can. For now I'll keep my learning to blog posts, but maybe one day I'll get my act together and make a mini-album. :D Or maybe I'll do it all digital...we'll see. With Gus back at work from next week, time is going to be very precious.

So what did I learn today?

Today I learned that due to Government incompetence, I may not be eligible for government assistance unless I give my baby up for adoption!

Major *FAIL* by the Australian Government.

I have read and re-read the question a million times. If I have it wrong, please let me know!! I think someone needs to review this form. Mind you, like most government forms, it is so complex and confusing in the first place that I seriously doubt anyone in Government administration can figure it out any more than the general public!

So that, with much sarcasm and shaking of the head, is what I learned today! LOL

Are you participating in this class too? Let me know as I'd love to see what you're learning every day!

*hugs*

Thankful Thursdays

Today I'm really grateful that Gus has been able to take so much time off work (8 weeks in total) to help me with the first two months of Jasmine's life. He has been an awesome help and such a hands-on dad. Changing nappies, bottle preparation AND feeding and bath-time have all been his domain. Not to mention taking out the nappy bin!! Next week he goes back to work and I'll be all alone again and really missing him. I'm sure Jasmine will miss him too. Let's just hope that doesn't mean she will be too out-of-sorts for me from now on!

I'm thankful today too for the pretty flowers that have popped up now that Spring has hit the Southern Hemisphere. Our cherry blossom is in full bloom, as is our little apricot tree and the flowers are gorgeous. Although I'm reluctant to let go of winter (I do love the cold weather), I do love the Mountains in Spring - just as lovely as the Mountains in Autumn!

What are you thankful for today?

*hugs*