Crikey!

Took many direct frontal shots but failed to get good ones. The flash just throws her off. Look at that piggy face!

Wrestling

Little sleeping traveller

Teething Hell

Abby's second lower teeth is cutting through and she's not happy about it. She gives us much grief over it as well. Her voice has been hoarse for many days now from all the yelling and complaining and crying and sobbing.

Fussing was at its peak yesterday but coincidentally I was on leave so I was taking care of her and had the honor of witnessing Her Fussiness operating in high mode. Nothing was good enough for her to bite, and she tosses everything from cold teethers to baby biscuits all over the place. Then she moans unhappily from her seat, or her Graco Activity unit, or from our laps, and this is no different whether she is sitting, lying down or standing up with support (however lying down gathers the most yelling and frenzied screaming).

Only thing that comforts her is picking her up AND walking around. Just picking her up is still a no-no in her books. Have to continuously walk around and point at stuff for her to keep her distracted. Once I try to sit down again, she resumes her tirade. I also couldn't differentiate the teething irritability from sleepiness. Many a times we try to put her down into her sarong and she screamed and kick at us in fury.

Mom finally suggested we take Abby to the clinic to check if she's sick or maybe sporting an ear infection or two, despite the absence of a temperature. Ok lah, so we dressed her up and called the doctor to request for permission to land. Doctor nonchalantly said, "Ok if you're worried can take her here....but it just sounds like she's teething to me." We went anyway just to confirm it's that.

Just as soon as we step out of the house, she stopped and turned into this sparkley-eyed baby. Then while in the car, I rolled down the window for her to get some wind and she started mumbling happily to herself. By the time we reached the clinic, she's exclaiming in fascination at the blur of activity around her. We sat her down at the waiting room and she did not even raise a peep and just looked at everything expectantly, like she's waiting for something fun to happen.

The nurse called and we entered the clinic. To my utmost annoyance, that Abby broke into smiles. I think I saw the Doctor mentally labelling us as over-concerned and psycho parents.

After some prodding and questions, Abby was pronounced disease-free and never-been-better. Doc gave us 4 boxes of formula sample so that our trip was worth it. After that we drove around for awhile and no trace of fussing surfaced.

We reached home and she was perfectly fine. She ate a gigantic dinner and went to sleep at a good time. It was as if everything never happened and she kept giving us that, "Me? Fussing?" look.

If it's a dream, I want to wake up pronto.

I'm a M.O.T.H.E.R

I have come to accept the responsibilities and expectations of being a mother to my kid. Remember my inward resistance towards the work and fatigue that come together with the role 2 posts ago? It still comes and goes (especially during sleep-deprived mornings) but another stronger yet silent feeling of love for my kid has resided in me.

(I'm so accomplished at writing about my dissatisfaction and on what ails me that I feel embarassed talking about the more positive aspect of things now.)

I'm much more tolerant of the work and is grateful for my mom in law who does a huge bulk of everything, including the preparation and freezing of Abby-boo's meal. Then she throws in household chores and cooks for us as well. She's a superwoman! I must always remember to show my appreciation and never take her for granted.

I also watch out for my own trigger points; like things which press my hot buttons to make me get all upset and resentful of my 'trials' and sometimes even fling me into depression. I know that lack of sleep usually gets me all negative-thinking and instills me with this feeling of hopelessness and self-pity. A long no-apologies nap fixes that quite effectively, unless if the sleep deprivation also comes hand in hand with PMS...then that's a different story...

Then there's stuff at work which bothers me to no end even after hours. Things that usually deals with me having to eat humble pie and stuff. I have a pretty huge ego for a woman. Then there's those belittling things which sometimes people say without realizing that their being insensitive and they usually do not think any further of it, where else I will dwell and dwell and dwell on those words until I'm all spitting mad inside.


All these things I take note of and any change of emotional temperature within me I will carefully evaluate and manage. That's something I can at least do.


Looking at happy things, Abby-boo is almost 7.5 months now. She'll be mobile soon. She's at that stage where she's able to get onto her fours but couldn't yet figure out how to go forward. She just rocks front and back like she's doing some yoga stance. However, she's starting to cruise by pulling herself up by holding on to the furniture and can even manage some steps while she's up and standin' tall. Everybody tells us that we'll be starting our cow-herding phase soon.


Hubs and I are pleased at her progress, and always look forward to see her perform her new tricks. Abby-boo also eats well and consumes huge amounts of pumpkin, sweet potato, rice, oats, carrot, spinach, corn, apple, avocado, pear, banana, chicken, potato, papaya and peas. Recently, we introduced beetroot to her palate and the next in line is edamame and fish. It's always a pleasure watching her eat.



All these things bring me joy and gives me that very cliched 'worth-it' feeling. I notice I started feeling better about motherhood when Abby-boo started to respond more and express more of herself. She's a little person now who will someday grow into an adult who will grow into a loving relationship with her Heavenly Father and mirror the image of Christ. I want to sow the right seeds into her put her on the right path.

Who knows, I might even have more kids later. :)

Snack Time!

Abby-boo was idling in her Graco Entertainer today and complaining a little. She doesn't like sitting and lying around much nowadays and will take any chance to roll or try to stand up while holding on to us. Being quite new to this, she's yet succeed much.

I gave her a baby bikkie which is shaped just nice for her little grasp. For the first time, she showed interest in it and actually started to gnaw somewhat determinely at it. I went to clear up some of her mess and returned to half a bikkie, still tightly clenched in her vise grip. She gave me lots of gummy smiles and chattered approvingly on the delectable snack she has in her little fist. Then the little flirt, oh so at peace with the world now, spent long minutes gazing at her own face on the mirror installed in the Graco unit, studying intently the crumbs and damn bikkie bits which are by now all over her cheeks.

I asked for a bite and Abby offered me her partly-mushed up bikkie and smiled most happily at our shared interest. I was surprised she understood what I wanted and that she actually offered me the biscuit in her hand. Just to confirm, I asked Hubs to do the same. To our amazement she offered to feed him as well.

The more interesting part is yet to come. After a few repeated requests from us her response changed. Abby-boo started to ignore her daddy and stopped offering him her biscuit. Daddy exclaimed in disbelief!

However when I tried, Abby-boo dutifully feed the thing into my mouth.

Poor daddy!

"No more buying toys for you!"

LOL !