May 2012
10 posts
Teacher Tom's Greatest Hits →
What a great reading list on this Sunday morning!
Hardest job in the world
Not a day passes without me questioning myself if I’m a good enough mom.
If he’s happy? If there’s anything else I can do to make him happier, healthier, stronger…?
We're Sticking to the Game Plan
Work is good. I love work. Not saying it’s not hard, or tiring, coz it is. The learning continues, of course, as it always does in this job. But the suffocating panic I felt whenever I thought of work before I started work for fear that I’ve forgotten EVERYTHING turned out to be unfounded. I know, like, duh. But if you tried to reassure me last week, I’d be all BUT YOU...
“Above all, I believe that there should never be any violence.” In 1978, Astrid Lindgren received the German Book Trade Peace Prize for her literary contributions. In acceptance, she told the following story:
“When I was about 20 years old, I met an old pastor’s wife who told me that when she was young and had her first child, she didn’t believe in striking...
April 2012
23 posts
Sometimes you look at your baby sleeping, or as he smiles at you adoringly, or as he lounges in for a cuddle… and you pray that you can live up to that much love and trust.
Thinking out loud
Brevity is the soul of wit. It is also the spirit of microblogging. Which is hard. For me. Because I’m long-winded.
The moment has arrived
Insya Allah I go back to work the day after tomorrow. I’m a bundle of nerves. I’m scared a patient will come in and say, “hey doc, my stomach hurts” and I’m all WHAT IS A STOMACH?
Granted, it’s only part time (two days a week, 8am to 5pm, no overtime or on calls), which is a terrific way for me to ease back into Medicine and for Mukhlis to get used to the fact...
A Philosopher's Case Against Modern Motherhood →
Couldn’t agree more :)
Hurray! Sleep again!
Remember how I was figuring out wtf was up with the all night nursing? I hope I’m not jinxing myself but, so far this week, it’s been ok again: back to about twice overnight (admittedly, as long as we’re bedsharing and also, a biiiiig breastfeed at bedtime helps).
At one point I was wondering if dinner was the culprit. Too little? Too much? Not enough protein? Overdid the...
Drink up
Took out the straw from my drink carton, rinsed it, put it in a glass of water, let M have it.
And he drank. Through the straw. Just like that.
Why didn’t I do this earlier?
I think now’s a good time to get those sippy cups with the straws. But definitely no juice boxes yet!
What is play and why is it important? →
Also, it is arguably one of the best and funnest parts about having kids.
Learning to play again →
You know how when I find a good site I read it “cover” to “cover” like a book :) Well, this one’s my current read. Now that M’s play area has been assigned and rudimentarily set up, I need lots of play inspiration!
For later
On Monday I found out a friend died. First, shock. Then, tears. Then, honestly, I went to my old blog to read about the times we spent together.
Microblogging, on Tumblr, via my iPhone doesn’t have the same depth or detail as blogging (lengthy) posts with pictures using my laptop. But it’s good enough for now.
Adding to his repertoire...
He signs “all done”! I’m ecstatic!
He also feeds himself with a spoon - today’s lunch was mashed/ blended beef, potato, carrot and peas. With watermelon slices for dessert.
Breastfed baby sleeping through the night (or not) →
I found the link somewhat helpful.
For quite some time, Mukhlis would only wake up 2-4 times during an 11-hour overnight sleep to feed. This continued even when we were away in Jakarta and Singapore. In fact, with the exception of 3-4 utterly exhausting nights, he even kept it up during his almost 2-week-long cold in Singapore.
And then we came back to Adelaide and he began teething big time....
Friendly puppy dogs
Yesterday we sat Mukhlis at the edge of the field in the park in front of our house and let him feed himself apple slices as he watched the world go by.
A Siberian husky, a Collie and a puppy I can’t figure out the breed of came to say hello.
I was scared. Mukhlis was fine. But I? I was nervously laughing which, if you can imagine, is goddamn useless coz they’re like, you know,...
When you're the head chef for a little foodie →
This site is constantly open on my iPhone browser at the moment. I also occasionally refer to the Annabel Karmel App, mainly to get inspiration for possible flavour combinations.
March 2012
3 posts
Hungry Little Monster
I really don’t know where I’m going with this blog.
Sometimes I feel so immensely protective of Mukhlis that I think I should stop blogging altogether, that surely the Facebook pictures and updates are enough, mainly for extended family back in Singapore. But ever so often, I’m reminded of how much fun I had keeping my old blog, how much going through the archives take me back...
January 2012
5 posts
What happens when academics become moms
Currently loving
http://scienceofmom.com/
and
http://www.squintmom.com/
Two mommy bloggers who don’t just write about the cute things their babies do, or chronicle a day at the zoo, or share pictures and baby books. They also write well researched and referenced evidence based posts on parenting issues from nutrition to vaccination to child development.
RESPECT! :)
Baby Essentials That Aren't →
I’m loving this 7-part series! The only reservation I have is with Part 5: The Baby Bathtub. We’ve got a bathing, changing set up that we like so I think Ridwan and I still prefer bathing him in there rather than the laundry/ kitchen sink whilst he’s still too small for the fullsized adult tub.
We’re heading to Singapore and Indonesia soon though, so we’ll see what...
Random thought
I know I’m not all that ladylike or a girly girl but if our little man gets a sister in the future, I hope she’ll be very feminine.
Feminine. But strong.
Insya Allah.
“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts,...”
– Charles Bukowski (via burnthazel)
December 2011
20 posts
Happy cup
He doesn’t like the bottle. It’s a struggle to get him to drink EBM from it. He just doesn’t get it; you know the whole nipple confusion thing? Well, ok, to be fair we’ve tried all of 3 times. One of those times, he got upset so we stopped trying before he started crying.
People have suggested against bottle training, that when I’m away at work or elsewhere,...
On rolling and reading
My SIL wondered what it was that Mukhlis was lying on in the photo of him in our backyard. It’s a playmat we got for free from the community nurse who came to check on us when he was a few days old. The whole idea of the mat is to encourage tummy time right from the start and to remind parents that YOU ARE YOUR KIDS FAVOURITE TOY/ PLAYMATE! There’s also a slogan on it about starting an...
