Happy 1st Birthday My Boy!

This is a belated post. 1 year just flew past like that. My son is 1 year old now. I still clearly remember the day of going to hospital, going through labour and the moment he was born. I guess this is the reminiscing part that every mum goes through when their baby turn 1. My assumption.

Before showing his playground birthday party, let's do a recap of all his first!

First second on earth

First smile - 6 day old

Actually I am not sure if this is his first smile, let's assume so.

First car ride

First month baby shower 

First cheeky look

First ferry ride to Gozo 

First winter

First Christmas Party

First swim

First "Girlfriend"

First flight

First Chinese New Year in Singapore

First touch of snow & First time in Sicily

First time in Oslo

First summer

First gym class

First time on a swing

First time "driving"

First time in London

First time in an outdoor pool

First time in Barcelona

First birthday

Happy birthday my beloved son! Daddy and Mummy wish you happy and healthy forever! We love you!

Things we learnt when travelling with a baby

Most of my friends in Singapore do not travel with their babies. It is a personal choice. We did not have a choice to begin with but it was also a conscious decision we made to want it this way, travel with our baby.

It definitely is not easy and can be really tiring. Why? Baby naps on the go and become awake when you are back in hotel for a rest. So? It means you need to entertain your baby instead of resting. But it is fun and rewarding to see your ever learning baby looking around curiously, absorbing every little details.

Things I/we learnt:

1. Travel slow.

We choose a good location for lodging and do walks more than transport. This gives us an option to head back for a rest in the afternoon and reduce the tiredness. When baby is happy, we are happy too! So we no longer think that resting is time wasted. With all these walks, we discover places that we would never see if we go by transportation, which is great and we know the roads so well that we do not need a map by the 2nd day.


2. Chill when you have a problem.

When you have a baby with you, you bound to meet a problem. Baby can be crying for no reason, you can't get to the place you want, etc. Personally, we experienced it in Oslo where we had to miss a ferry tour that we booked. Elson was mad, I was frustrated. At the end of it, we calmed down and chilled. Ever since, we learnt to chill more often.


3. Never join a tour

Joining a tour means you are bounded by its schedule. It is most of the time, rushed with no breaks in between. With a baby, we could not afford to be rushed. We joined a tour once, and never did it again. A better way would be to take the hop on hop off bus if there is where flexibility is in your own hands.


4. Choose a good lodging

You will spend more time in the hotel when you have a baby for sure. You take longer time to prepare to get out, head back for some rest, sometimes even dining in for dinner just because your baby is not happy. So we always choose a good location, and nice hotel/apartment.


5. Accept the fact that my baby will not be routine trained (more for me than for elson)

We are travelling so often that I do not bother to routine train my baby at all. Personally I do not have the patience to train and let it get disrupted with the travelling and start again when we get back home. So I have to accept the fact that my baby do not have a routine, and I need to go with the flow. This meant that my baby does not go to sleep himself and need my help, the day starts and ends whenever he wants, etc. Some parents could still follow the routine when travelling but I rather just have a rough guide and go with the flow. Personal preferences again. This also mean that I need to chill when I do not get to finish my itinerary for the day.

I think we learnt more than the above but my brain juice stopped flowing. So I will continue another day.

Kyven at Tumbletots Malta

I signed Kyven up for spring Tumbletots class as he was 7 months old. (Minimum age is 6 months old or being able to sit independently). Elson kept reminding me that I'm crazy to send him to class at such young age. Oh well, real reason is for him to socialize as we do not have families and friends with babies here. Another reason is for this mum to get out and have some fun! Ok, I am a mum but I am still playful!

My perception of such group classes for babies are such that it is filled with activities, both stimulating and calming for the entire 40minutes. Or rather, due to my background as a Kindermusik educator and Music n Movement teacher, that was our weekly lesson plan. 

The much anticipated first class started on 2 May. Elson took half day off to join us, secretly I am guessing he is checking if his money is well spent. Haha. Kyven really enjoyed his first class. He was happily checking out the different stations/gym tools. He made his first friend too! The class structure is 5 minutes of circle time to kick start, follow by 30 minutes or so of your own time own target of moving around different stations where facilitators go around guiding, lastly end with another circle/sticker time. Parents need to use some creative juice here to make use of the tools, or you could ask the facilitator for some guide and follow through. 

Kyven being the youngest there, and the only on who is not crawling yet, has quite limited stations to go to. However, it was nice to see him interacting with other babies. That was my intention. I am waiting to see if he crawls before the term ends. (We are at 4th lesson now)

Little boy is standing!

I am going to add some of little boy's milestones and memories here as well. They just grow up too fast and I am getting old to remember everything.

Little boy started being able to sit by himself at 5 months old. Slowly his stability improved and he was able to sit and reach for things at 6 months. Pretty good progress. However, he did not roll or turn over much still. Weirdo. Other babies are all enjoying rolling around at that age.

Now at 7.5 months, I just happened to sea friend's baby's photo of her standing in her cot bed. So a sudden thought stroked me. Maybe he could stand too, I just needed to give him a higher support to pull himself up. You see, he had been trying to stand since 7 months, but he only managed to stand halfway supporting himself with the sides of his cot. So I tried. And... Tadahhhh! He stood! I was so excited. I put him down, and tried again. Yay! He stood up again! He was so cute that he even try to hold on to the support when he lost his balance and try to regain it. Haha. Ok, simply joy of a mum!

Let's see when he is gonna start crawling.

On the not so good side, his sleeping pattern is totally haywire. Day time, he chooses play over nap anytime. Night time, he wakes up more than he need to. Sleep training is just driving me nuts. I seriously have no patience for it, yet letting him cry does not work for him. Soft approach required! Tough guy!

Let me pray that he will sort out himself and get back to how he was last time. Just up for milk please, little boy.

Pregnancy and Delivery in Malta

It has been a long time since I update the blog. So many changes since the last update. We have a little baby boy, who is 5 months and a week now. Our lives change so much with his arrival.

I found out I was pregnant when I was back home in Singapore for home visit last January. We stuck to our schedule, and came back to Malta for the rest of my pregnancy, with 1 holiday trip to London in April. We were recommended a gynaecologist at St James Hospital, and never regretted our choice. Professor Isabel Stabile made every visit to her such a joy to look forward to. She did all the necessary checks and answer all our queries in humor.

I had a smooth pregnancy with no morning sickness or craving or rejection of any kind of food or smell. Just a little small hiccups where I had UTI and ezcema on my legs during the last trimester. Overall, I didn't felt like I was pregnant except for the growing tummy.

Towards the last 3 weeks were the most exciting and torturing time when I started to count down. Tummy got heavier and sleeping was a torture. That made me so look forward to the delivery. We made the choice of deliverying at St James instead of Mater Dei as we were more comfortable with the facilities and my gynaecologist will be there.

For information sake, you are not allowed to choose gynaecologist at Mater Dei should you need one for c section or any emergency case. Most natural delivery will be handled my midwives there.

My midwife at St James, Carmen, was a gem. 3 days before my due date, I got a call from her checking with me on my status. Any contractions, bleeding, basically any signs as my date is near. Next thing I know, she called me in for a check up by her. To my surprise, she told me baby is ready to come out, and asked me if I want to use some help by bursting the water bag. I was more than happy to do so. I can't wait to get rid of my big tummy!! So I was asked to go home get a good rest and report at 7am next morning.

7am. Here we go! I was late though, we just couldn't wake up. By 815am, my water bag was burst. 9am, first contraction start. Carmen constantly came and check on my contraction and ultimately told me I will have my baby by noon time. Before I knew what was going to happen, I was ready for pushing at 11am. Baby was born at 1215pm. How accurate can Carmen be!!! She timed everything so perfectly that my gynaecologist came in just before my final pushes for the baby to be out.

What a pleasant experience! I know it is not normal to say that about delivery but I think I had a pleasant experience excluding the pain.

Post delivery care at the hospital was fantastic. My husband get to stay in, Carmen checked on me regularly and make sure I ate the right food. Good knowledge gaining time.

I am so thankful for my smooth pregnancy and delivery. 

Hello baby Kyven

Weighing 3.54kg

Getting dressed for the first time

With my midwife Carmen

Our cheeky little boy now

How time flies....