How Am I Going to Push This Big Fella Out?

I just got home from the gynae visit this morning.
This is 'Lil Bub's face. You can see his chubby cheeks here. He is facing sideways. 

31 July 2012 - week 33 - 'Lil Bub's face, sideway

According to my gestation week, I should be about 33 weeks preggy. But 'Lil Bub decided to be a big baby and according to the ultrasound scans, he is about 36 weeks in size averagely. Which means that he is 2-3 weeks bigger than my gestation week. Fuyoh!

31 July 2012 - week 33 - 'Lil Bub is 36 weeks averagely in size

However, the weighing scale says I am 57.4kg, which means I gained about ~7kg thus far, which is not a lot for a pregnant woman. So does this means 'Lil Bub is gobbling up all the food I eat? *grin

Anyway, Dr. Eric says since I am waiting for spontaneous birth and VBAC, there is no need to worry. Just let nature takes its course. Baby will come out when he is ready.
But doc asked me to be prepared 'coz 'Lil Bub may come out 2-3 weeks earlier, so I may be delivering beginning of September. Geez!

Yiu-Shern - 37 Months

It has been a few months since I last updated Shern's development milestones. So here it is...

29 July 2012 - 37 months (photo by Win Win)

Birthday
In a blink of an eye, my little baby is no more a baby. Some says 3yo is still called toddler. Some says is preschooler. Anyhow, all I know is that my little boy is no more a baby.
He celebrated his 3yo birthday 3 times last month. Once at home on his real day, 2nd time a mini party at home with relatives, and the 3rd time in his playschool with his fiends.


Playschool
Shern started going to playschool consistently after his initial crying episode. He is now enjoying school and could name me a few of his friends' names in school.
But then he is such a dawdle every morning before playschool. He dawdles his way through breakfast and changing into his school uniform. Maybe because he doesn't know how to read the time/clock yet, so the mummy is the only one getting all 'kin cheong', but he is all lackadaisical because he doesn't even know he is late!


Potty Training
Shern is now fully potty-trained, as in pee and poo, but only during the day. From his playschool, he learned to say this every time he wants to pee:
                "Mummy, may I go to the toilet please"
                Then I must answer "Yes, you may"
Very polite and nice.

But the problem is everytime I need to go to the toilet I need to say this too:
                 "Yiu-Shern, may I go to the toilet please"
                Then he will answer "Yes, you may"


Weight
Shern is very small-sized. His grandma calls him cili padi. He only weighs 13.5kg. His weight lingers around this for more than half a year or so already.
For me is OK as long as he eats and he is healthy. I have been underweight all my life too ;)


Pacifier
This is a thing I have a headache with. I don't know how to wean him off the pacifier. As of now, he only takes his pacifier when he sleeps or in the car, and not at other times. But if I allow, he would have sucked his pacifier the whole day.
I introduced the pacifier to him when he was a few months old because if I don't, he would be stuck to my boobs 24/7. I believe if I didn't, he would be stuck to my boobs even until now.
And now I can't wean him off the pacifier completely. How?



Speech
Shern's speech is very good. He uses words I don't even know he knows. Such as 'Thomas is a silly engine'. And when he plays with his train in the hse, he will shout 'All aboard'!
I guess he learns it from the DVD or youtube.


Food
These 2 months, Shern has turned into a muslim or something. He doesn't take meat. No pork or chicken. hahaha. Luckily he still takes fish n prawns and his favourite is fish balls and eggs.
He can eat fishballs and eggs with rice every day and he will be so happy!


Tantrums
Shern has his 'naik gila' episodes. About once a week, I think. Because of a small matter, he sometimes throws a gigantic tantrum and cries and whines for so long, that he doesn't even know what he wants anymore.
This is the time when Shern test my patience. Sometimes I do talk to him patiently, when he gets too much, a spank on his leg or hand is what he gets.

Shern with his Half-Round Pedal Cycling

We bought a bicycle for Shern at a bicycle shop near the market for RM80, which is just a fraction of the price of a bicycle at Toys 'R' Us!

It was a little big for Shern initially and he couldn't really reach the bottom of a full pedal cycle. So he was not so interested in cycling because the bicycle couldn't move. After a while, he learned how to make it move - by doing a half-round pedal cycle, and the reverse the pedal, then do another half-round pedal cycle. So for about a month or so, this was how Shern cycles.

He was still cycling this way at the end of June when we took him to Straits Quay to cycle.

29 June 2012 - Straits Quay, Penang

I'm so glad I caught it on video, because now Shern NO MORE does that. Either he grew taller, or he now knows the knack of cycling - by pedaling one full round! haha.

Anyway, that was what he did when we brought him to the Teluk Bahang Dam. Shern cycled the CORRECT WAY! I'm so proud of my boy.

 

 21 July 2012 - Teluk Bahang Dam

And now I know the difference of paying RM80 for the bicycle, and not RM300 for it. The bicyle tires have no grip. It looks as if they are made of 'plastic-kind' materials and not rubber. So on tarred road, sometimes when Shern pedals, the tires just turned round and round but is not moving because it couldn't grip the floor.

But is not that bad. This just means that Shern needs to use more effort to cycle on tarred road. Good exercise for his legs. :)
Or maybe I will just go change to rubber tires for him the next time I pass by the bicyle shop!

Shern Learning Chess from Daddy

Shern Learning Chess from Daddy - 2 July 2012

Shern has shown quite an interest in chess since Peter started introducing chess to him about a month ago.
Initially, it was just naming of the pieces. Hubby started off by letting Shern recognize the different chess pieces and he named them with names Shern could understand.
Black Queen became Black Mummy, White King became White Daddy, Knight became Horse, Rook became Castle, Bishop became Koko, Pawn became Baby, etc. This way, Shern could relate to the pieces and he had fun naming the pieces.

           

       25 June 2012

2 July 2012

After he could differentiate all the chess pieces, Hubby then started to name them more correctly, telling him Black Mummy is actually Black Queen, and so on.

Then Hubby taught Shern how to move only a single piece, which is the Rook (Castle). He explained to Shern that the pieces must move within the chess board and not go out and that the Rook can only move horizontally (and not vertically).
Shern seemed to be able to grasp that quite well.

See below video on how Shern navigates the White Rook to capture the two Black Rook and Bishop. :)

No, We are not trying to turn him into a chess master or genius. We are just glad he is showing interest and enjoying learning how to play the game. :)

31 Weeks Preggy and Shopping in KL

17 July 2012 - 31 weeks preggy

I just got back from KL yesterday.

And I've got to thank my hubby for this trip because he stayed home and took care of Shern while his wife went shopping in KL! How terrific is my hubby, right?
Not only he stayed home to be the babysitter, but he paid for his wife's shopping!
God gave me the best hubby in the whole wide world. ;)

My gynae asked me to walk more so that I will have an easy delivery. I actually walked 'til I had 3 plasters on my left foot! Haha.

My Shopping Left Foot - 17 July 2012

It's actually not a bruised foot, but I felt that due to all the walking, and maybe some leg swelling at the end of the day, my shoe kinda scratch against certain parts of my foot. So to prevent it from being scratched further, I plastered the area. It's a prevention move actually.

But it didn't help that I have a shopaholic-walking-mum who can walk the malls for 12 hours without buying anything! In fact, that was what we did. We actually walked the malls from 10am-10pm for 3 consecutive nights, but we bought loads of stuff though! Haha.

It was a great short trip. I really enjoyed myself. And all thanks to hubby for staying home with Shern. I love you hubby! Thanks for everything!

I Lost My Voice. I Am Sick.

I have been rather quiet lately. And this is true literally speaking. This is because I lost my voice.

I had a very bad sore throat since last Saturday. It hurt even when I try to swallow my own saliva. I haven't been this sick since I last went to Hong Kong back in 2010.
I dragged myself to see the doc on Monday because I wasn't getting better and I rather not prolong it in case I pass it to Shern. So now armed with antibiotics, flu and cough meds, I sleep my day away everyday.

I am amazed by how much I can sleep. I wake up at about 7.45am every day to prepare Shern for playschool, and then by midday, I sleep for as long as 3 hours. And when night time comes, I sleep again for another 8 hours. This is a lot for me because on usual days when I'm not sick, if I grabbed an afternoon nap, I would've stayed awake 'til 2am!

I've forgotten how bad it is to be sick. It feels terrible. I'm feeling sleepy and lethargic all the time. And with the flu, I can't breathe properly and I coughed 'til I vomited just now.
My throat is not hurting me that much anymore, but now I've got a very husky voice and I sound like a man.

Now all I hope is that I don't pass these germs to Shern. *pray hard*

Is That A Ball Underneath My Clothes?

Week 29 - 7 Mths - 3 July 2012

It certainly looks like there is a ball hidden underneath my clothes.
I posted this photo on Facebook yesterday and there were so many people commenting on it. One told me my 'Lil Bub is having Euro Fever. Lol.

I'm now in week 29, which means I'm entering my 3rd and final Trimester. Yes, finally. I feel like for this pregnancy, my tummy is bigger than my first (which everybody tells me is normal). My tummy feels stretched thin and I couldn't believe Lil Bub has much more space to move. But gynae just told me today that Lil Bub still has ample of space left. How could that be when he is kicking me like crazy! :)

Anyway, I'm 55.5kg today according to my gynae's scale and I've only gained ~5kg. So doctor told me I can gain some more, no problem. But Lil Bub is a little big-sized. Uh oh! Sigh...must be Lil Bub ate all my food. He ate all my sushi and nasi kandar and haagen-dazs!

But I am feeling great at this moment. Besides the feeling of carrying a football underneath my clothes 24/7, I've got no swollen feet yet. So walking is still OK for me. Appetite is great and everything is my palate now. No cravings so Hubby should thank his lucky stars.
Squatting is a bit of a problem for me (hey, try putting a football underneath your clothes and then squat and pee), so I will usually choose the cube with the toilet seat and then half-squat to pee. Easier for me this way! =)

That's all for now for the first pregnancy update for the 3rd Trimester for Baby#2!

Bringing Shern Along To Visit The Gynae

About a month ago, I let Shern followed me to my monthly gynae visits. Now that my tummy is bigger, Shern is more aware that I have a baby inside me.

I told Shern that mummy's doctor is going to scan mummy's tummy and Shern can see the baby inside my tummy in the computer screen. Shern was curious and excited of course.
So Shern was waiting impatiently waiting for our turn.

However, we chose the wrong week to bring him there. On that particular day, we waited for nearly 2 hours before it was our turn. Usually, we only needed to wait for 30-40 mins. Luckily, Shern was not too fussy. And I thank my lucky stars that I remembered to pack Shern some snacks and stuff to occupy him.

This is Shern and Daddy watching the cartoon on the TV just outside the waiting room.

8 June 2012 - Waiting for our turn

Shern sitting down and munching his snacks.

And then he got bored and wanted me to read books to him. So I read for him his Thomas & Friends books. 

At last it was our turn. Shern went straight to the table, and seeing no toys there, he asked Dr. Eric 'Where are your toys?'. He said so because there are always toys on the paediatrician table. Haha.

Then when it was time for me to do my ultrasound scan, Shern wanted to lie next to me as well. So I let him be. He then followed and lifted up his shirt to reveal his tummy as well. It was really cute of him! Dr. Eric also obliged to his antics and offerred him some gel to put on his tummy as well! :)
Too bad we didn't take any photos of him in the doctor's room.

Shern was fascinated to see the baby moving in the screen and when he heard the baby's heartbeat, he said 'lub dub, lub dub'!

It was a good thing we brought him there. Shern was happy and kept on saying 'lub dub, lub dub' for the next 2 days. This is part of the effort we put in to make him feel prepared for his 'lil bro's arrival.