Monday
01:00 - Went to bed after dealing with an unsettled baby, a grotty partner and a snoring toddler. Breastfeed Eloïse, gave Bas his cough syrup and tucked Nico back in. Changed the bed sheets after Eloïse had a nappy failure.
10:00 - Took Eloïse to Wriggle & Rhyme, a SPARC initiative held at libraries for kids under 2 y.o.
17:50 - Cuddled, played and sang with Eloïse. Her favourite song of the month: This is the way the lady rides.
18:00 - Dinner at Oma’s. On the menu: fries and croquettes. Yummy!
Tuesday
10:30 - Nico refused to put his pants on after going to the toilet, wanting me to do it, so I just left him pants down and went to look after Eloïse which he was quite happy with till he wanted to watch the Dumbo DVD; so i told him to put his pants on first. Now he's running around with his pants back to front.
15:00 - Fastest toy clean-up ever. The bribe? Hairy Maclary (put on pause as a visual incentive).
20:00 - Ong Ngoài and Ba Ngoài got a fair share of smiles from Eloïse. Love Skype.
21:00 - Papa said that Nico can now button and unbutton his pyjamas by himself. Another thing on the milestone chart to tick off.
Wednesday
09:00 - Realised that Eloïse has spent the whole of yesterday without needing any clothes change. Would rejoice, but am afraid to jinx it.
9:30 - Lele from PAFT comes to visit. Nico shows off his train set and spelling skills (”K for Cake”) and Eloïse behaves like an angel.
13:30 - Late lunch. Nico hogged up all the cucumber in our Subways.
16:15 - Running late for kitchen tidy up & dinner prep. Cuddling Eloïse is much more of an enjoyable activity.
Thursday
07:45 - Woke up nice and rested. Eloïse slept through, yay!
09:15 - Running late for Mainly Music. After spending the last 15mins trying to persuade Nico to put his pants and his shoes on, then get into the car without getting distracted by cats, trains, food etc, I’m wondering if Nico isn’t a tiny bit intellectually disabled. Then I remember that he’s a male.
11:55 - Nico got a massive hug after telling me that he needed to pee. I did make sure that the hug was after he peed. Wouldn’t want to squeeze it out of him before he sits on the toilet. He must have heard me lamenting to Ange about him not being toilet-trained yet.
13:35 - Just did the maths. Today I trimmed 60 nails.
Friday
06:30 - Realised that Eloïse slept through the night again. If we can keep this up tomorrow morning, I’ll call it a winner.
10:30 - Bragged to poor Simone who had to wake up 9-10 times last night. Elijah is 7 months old, and his older sister only started sleeping through the night at 14 months so potentially she could have another 7 months to go. I hope that didn’t jinx me.
12:55 - Manage to escape the clutches of 2 little boys at the library whose parents were nowhere to be seen. Nico and I were minding our own business after story time, reading books, when they decided that kicking and throwing furniture around wasn’t so fun after being told off. So I read to 4 attentive boys and girl, who kept on bringing me piles of book to read despite being told that we needed to leave.
Saturday
02:00 - Nico had a fever so I gave him some Paracetamol. Then he wanted to pee. Then he wanted to kiss Loki goodnight. Papa was asleep on the couch, so grinning Nico was very happy to see him.
04:00 - Nico woke up, either uncomfortable because of the fever or because he had a bad dream. For the first time in ages, he got to sleep in Papa and Maman’s bed. I offered to get his bear, to which he agreed, so I got up again. Not 1 minute later, decides that he wants his giraffe too.
05:30 - Eloïse was unsettled. Breastfed her then got back to bed, completely forgetting about Nico. Headbutted him in the process. Yep. By the looks of it, my bragging to Simone just jinxed me.
08:00 - Realised that the whole family, bar Loki, managed to sneak into the bedroom: Papa, Maman, Nico, Eloïse, Naliah and Aïcha. Who needs a 3-bedroom house?
11:00 - Took Eloïse in a sling to Mangere market. I always forget how nice the people there are. She loved the sights, sounds and smells and was very excited, cooing all the way. I’m amazed at the number of people who offered to help me with my bags.
15:30 - We’re $370 poorer. Just bought a Safe-n-Sound Maxi Rider II booster seat for Nico. On 13 August we’ll need to give Eloïse’s capsule back to Plunket, so Nico will get a shiny new booster seat and Eloïse will take over his Safe-n-Sound Guardian car seat.
Sunday
12:00 - Happy 1/2 birthday Eloïse! Wow, 6 months already. She is so different from Nico (2 years, 9 months) when he was her age - chattier, more social, more tactile… Unfortunately she likes to explore by putting things in her mouth which is a worry. She isn’t rolling over yet unless Naliah is here to provide an incentive. The poor cat has had her skin and fur tugged by the fistful but has been taking it really well. Although Nico has learnt (“Oww Naliah”) to steer clear from her when she lies back and glares at him. One thing that Eloïse has in common with Nico is their love of food. She’s started having stewed apple and pear and absolutely loves it. They’ve been interacting quite well together. She seems to really love Nico, who has been very good at sharing his toys and books. He even took her hand and helped her touch a touch & feel book when we read a book before bedtime.
2:30 - Just tucked Nico into bed with Papa. Better not become a habit! Eloïse woke up for a feed.
4:45 - Eloïse woke up for another feed.
11:30 - Only 6 months into it and I’m already contemplating dropping breastfeeding. Papa, Nico and I all have a nasty cold and I’m the only one who can’t take medicine to relieve the cough. Add to that the energy it takes to breastfeed (I’ve just realised that with the exception of Bastiaan’s initial contribution, the entirety of Eloïse’s cells have been constructed and grown purely using my resources - quite an amazing process)…
12:50 - More maths - By the time I’m done breastfeeding Eloïse, I’ll have gone through about 5 continuous years of sucking it up and not being any to take any cold and cough relief.
23:55 - Papa went to check on Nico who’s got a fever, so once again back in our bed. Papa ended up sleeping on a mattress the floor so Nico wouldn’t overheat in between us. I realised that Nico snuggles up to me, which defeated the purpose of having Papa on the floor. I put a pillow between us after sitting up to see that I only had one metre of space.
