1yr old Baby Schedule

Technically, J hasn't turned 1 yet but this has been a pretty standard schedule for him for the last 3 months and he's doing pretty well, really it's his 9-12 month old schedule.

5:30 - wake up and BF on both sides - immediately goes back to sleep

7:00 - official wake up time, diaper change

7:30 - breakfast which consists of a combination of Oats, fruits, yoghurt and or cheese.  J isn't the best eater he and he likes to chew things up and spit them back out so I always need to have a couple of things on hand, and if nothing else works, bread is always a winner (so far)

8:00 - play time which consists of hi, chasing the dog, chasing his brother or chasing a ball, he's pretty independent so he doesn't need a lot looking after during play time and I usually just make sure he's safe and not touching anything dangerous or breaking anything of his brothers

9:00 - nap time, I hold him and together we shut the blinds and as I am doing so, I will say to him gently that it's sleep time and he needs to go to sleep, so that he would recognize the word sleep.  He will usually nap for 1-1.5 hours.  I will change his diaper so he would be comfortable during his nap.

10:30 - I will always wake him up by this time regardless of how much he has slept.  He will get some water, I used to breast feed but it would make him not hungry enough for lunch so I've cut it out.

10:30-11:30 I will try and take him out for a walk, if I have time otherwise its playtime at home so back to chasing the dog or chasing a ball (brother will be at school by now)

12:00 - lunch time for mummy and baby, I will always feed him first then give him some finger foods while I eat my lunch.

12:30-1:30 - play time again, sometimes we will sing some songs and J loves to dance and wiggle his butt ^^ I will also give him a fresh change of diapers.

3:30 - blinds open and its time for some boobies, he would usually brink for up to 10 minutes on each breast and a change of diapers before we head out to pick up his brother.

4:00 - we try to leave the house and pick up older brother R by now and usually we would stop by the park and let R play for 30-45 minutes before heading home.

5:30 - last minute dinner preparations while R and J get some play time together.

6:00 - dinner time and as per lunch time J would get his dinner and then some finger foods while we eat.

6:45-7:30 - play time with R as I finish with the housework

7:30 - bath time

8:00 - diapers changed and jammies on, its time for some lullabies and last minute kisses from R and dad and its time for bed, J will get some BF and then go to sleep

J can now sleep from 8 till around 5:30 am for his first BF, sometimes he wakes up earlier and sometimes even later, but it's been pretty predictable for the last few months, mind you he is a very light sleeper so sometime noises in the night will wake him (unlike R who can probably sleep through a rave party) and I try not to use BF to put him back to sleep rather just using my voice to sooth him and again telling him to go to sleep and that it's sleep time, so far it's worked like a charm.

Sleeping Arrangements

One of the biggest challenges of having two kids is putting them to bed.  Though my 5 year old is old enough to sleep in his own room, he still requires some companionship and tbh it is something that I cherish every night.  However, enter a baby into this equation and you've got yourself some serious pythagorean doozy of a problem.  I'm not sure how other mums do it, but here is a rough schedule of how I've been putting my boys to bed, every night.  It's not perfect but it does allow for some one on one time for big boy baby number 1.

7:00 Shower/bath time for kids - I wash both kids together in the shower with baby in a stand alone tub, I was older brother and myself and we both take turns in entertaining the baby while the other one is washing.

7:30 After our shower and bath, we are all dried off and older brother is asked to wait for me in his room while kept entertained with his story CDs, while I breastfeed baby and sing him a lullaby.

8:00 I put the baby in his cot and say good night, turn off the lights and leave the room.  Sometimes he coos and talks to himself but most nights he will be out by 8:15 (more on his sleep training later).

8:00-8:45/9:00 I spend about 45 minutes to an hour reading and playing with older brother and try to put him in his bed before 9pm.  We cuddle and sometimes both of us will doze off by then.

This is roughly how I put both of my kids to bed every night, and I know on screen it looks really put together but there are nights when it's chaos and all hell breaks loose.  No matter what, I have found that the key is always persistence, in the beginning older brother will definitely be not happy about leaving me and baby to sleep and would often disrupt baby's feeding and sleeping but after while (I think it was about a month for my boy) he understood that letting me do this, will allow for more mummy time when I am done.  I think in any case that deals with putting both kids to bed/getting both kids to eat etc, the key is always to make sure the older one doesn't feel like he is being neglected, make sure he is kept entertained and is happy during the time when you have to tend to the little one.  

Two Kids Later...

Wow, I haven't realized how long it's been since I last posted.  Thats not to say that I have forgotten about my precious baby blog, its just that well, I have been rather lazy (and lets be fair, also very tired).

Since my last post, I have gone on to have another baby boy (now almost 1 years old) and have found ,what many mums will also tell you, that 1. Even though they come from the same womb with the same care and love, they will turn out very different or in my case an absolute 180 in difference, and 2. However much you wanted things to be exactly the way it was for your firstborn, once their baby sibling comes, it can never be the same, ever again (dun dun duuuuuuuuuun) - but of course I mean that in the best way possible =P.

These days I have been trying feverishly to get back to my old self, now that the baby is almost a toddler (like, seriously?) and his baby schedule is no longer so jam packed (later on that subject) I can finally have some time to myself and write, and most importantly write honestly, because motherhood can be a real mother-effer and there are times when you have no idea what the heck you are doing and those days are not even a tiny bit hard as those times when your kids give you the griefs - by that I mean the I don't want to a) eat b) sleep c) do things that you ask me to do or d) all of the above.  There have been times when I just wish I can run away from these messy, angry and snotty little people and just go downstairs to my cafe and have a coffee like a normal human being... but of course my coffee is always iced or was hot then didn't have the time to drink it so it got cold, then after I reheated it the baby spat up so I had to clean him and thus it's cold again.

Argh, Eff it, I've always preffered iced anyway.

Welcome (back) into my world!

Terrible threes?

We all know of the terrible twos...

But what about the terrible threes?

Or even the fearful fours? 

When R was two my friends reassured me "Just hang in there! He will be easier when he's three!" And I am not sure if it was my naivity, ignorance or just pure wishful thinking, I believed them.  But now that R is three and a half I often find myself wondering if their reassurance was simply white lies to comfort an obviously distressed woman.

Truthfully certain things are easier per se, for example R can now fully understand my threats and acknowledge the full wrath of my frustration, he can now last longer through the day and can sometimes go the whole day without a nap which can be useful when we are on an outing, and we can now enjoy an array of interests together (in our family that means watching Star Wars and going to museums and exhibits together) so I guess in a way he's becoming more of a little person.

However, if we were being fully truthful I would have to relay to you that all the positive things we could do together is sometimes and even often canceled out by the negative side of each.  Remember all those things I mentioned earlier? Understanding my threats? He also realized they are often empty.  Feel my frustration? Playfully gets me to cheer up then presumes to do the exact thing that made me stressed out in the first place. Lasting longer through the day? Just makes the crash even more traumatic, and enjoying our interests together? Sometimes he will enjoy it too much and the story will not have a happy ending when he realizes we will not be watching Star Wars again tonight.

All these things and many more often seem trivial and totally unnecessary, but the longer the day, the more suicidal one becomes.

I wish I can say that the story ends well for us, but unfortunately for R and I our struggles continue everyday.  I guess it's as in life, nothing meaningful comes easily.  I often try to remind myself that what we accomplished together, the tantrums relieved, the fights resolved, the differences met half way and just realizing that whatever happens, family is family. And I love R, and he I, and whatever is ahead of us, the terrible threes, the fearful fours, we will make it through it together. 

Funny things that my so did #4

#4 he's always one step ahead of me

The other day I tried to go to the bathroom, to no avail, and R was just wondering around the bathroom showing me his trucks and buses - a typical bathroom experience ever since he arrived; and I couldn't help but smell a certain...iffy smell.  I kept wondering if I person doesn't go...go, do they still produce the accompanying scent anyway? 

I gave up after a few minutes and decided to put R to bed as it was his nap time.  And that familiar smell just followed us out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, it just wouldn't evaporate!

Then something in my head connected
, and I checked his diaper - sure enough a nice blob of poo.

He must have mistaken 'mummy needs to go to the bathroom' for 'mummy needs to clean me so I better go to the bathroom'.

Speechless.

Funny things that my son did #3

#3. He's a belieber.

Yes. I have a little Justin Belieber baby baby baby ooh~ like baby baby baby noo~ baby on my hand.

Not only did he once mimic JB's infamous Bieber-do but also managed to pull off the Bieber aloof expression with pouty lips look.

Recently this mild Bieber obsession has turned itself into a much more sinister and mind numbing form of the never ending request of Biebers hit Baby, circa 2009 (?). I let R hear it out of pure boredom, who knew it would eventually lead to the destruction of our mother-son relationship.

It goes something like this...

R: baby baby baby.....mummy!!!!!

Me: argh... 

R: baby baby baby....BABY BABY BABY ....ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

Me: I give up (presses play to the insidious song on iPhone for the 200th time that day)

I have only myself to blame.

Funny things that my son did #2.

#2. Spontaneously break into 'Animal Mode'.

By animal mode I mean start making noises liken that of an animal, usually without being prompted (or cause) but he is also very willing to cooperate encore demands.

His current best impression by far is that of our dachshund's cries (from being left home alone).  In fact his whines are so much like Bob that once I had to ask my mum who was crying! (It was R).  

His other favorite voices include elephant, chimpanzee and cat.  He also does a mean impersonation of a crying baby (figures).