Day by Day

This has been my favourite thing to say lately. "We take it day by day."

There is no way to fairly compare our experience as first time parents with our experience now. If anything, the exhaustion is probably double that of our experience the first time around since we need to balance our time and attention between two children. To be honest, my recovery feels so much longer this time around since I've had very little time to relax and just rest. Oh, and have I mentioned that we do have a third baby of sorts, being still in the first year of a fledgling business?

I've complained about running on empty with only prayer to back me up. I've mentioned last time that a single week has seen me go through highs and lows faster than I've gone through in previous years.

Restless

Almost a month since I gave birth. I told myself that I would take two months off for my "maternity leave" but I'm not sure I can handle it. The good news for me is that my newborn's temperament seems to take well to me working while he naps in the stroller. Kind of makes me wish we had a crib, actually, so he can rest on a cooler surface. I suppose I can put him beside me in the co-sleeper though. There's a thought.

That said, I do admit I've been slowly preparing myself to start working again. I've gotten myself back on LinkedIn and I already submitted an initial feature piece to a magazine I aim to regularly freelance for--freelance because I'm not sure I can fully commit to a 9 to 5 since I do still have other involvements and businesses I need to deal with but we shall see how it goes.

Taking time to breathe

Time has been quite paradoxical these past weeks. I can't believe that my newborn will be a month old in just one more week, and yet it feels like it has been an entire lifetime since I was wheeled into the delivery room.

The difference between the brothers is remarkable.

At this same age, we could barely leave Llew down in the stroller but here I am now, blogging, while Kian sleeps soundly in the stroller. Our feeding schedule is the farthest thing from clockwork precision: thankfully I am all for feeding on demand so it doesn't bother me so much. Of course, it's another matter entirely when my body demands that the baby remove some of the milk that has

Child-rearing Round Two

There are, apparently, many things about newborns that I'd forgotten about.

Like how often they spit up, and that if you have a little boy, you need to be prepared for mid-diaper change "showers".

It's been a week and a half since we finally held our newborn in our eager arms. It was as magical as the first time but more relaxed in a way. We had fewer photos in our hospital room but I've no regrets with that: because of the rooming in policy hospitals now adhere to, my son and I were reunited within hours after delivery (I had to work off the effects of the epidural first and eat my first meal in more than twelve hours) and we were too busy getting to know each other and more importantly, learning to latch again.

D-I-Y: Cornstarch Paint

Credit to Trish Kuffner for this lovely Cornstarch Paint that I made two weeks ago! The link to this particular recipe (and five other paints to try with your kiddo) is here.

I've made cornstarch paint before in the form of, well, basically coloured oobleck a.k.a. liquid sidewalk chalk. My problem with it is that it separates when left overnight and is a little difficult to shake and mix the following day because of the settling.

The Postpartum Recovery List

Well, we're almost there.

I swore to myself that I would be a more fabulous mom this time around. My first task was actually to choose pretty clothes to wear for the duration of my hospital stay. I hadn't known before that I could actually already change out of my hospital gown as soon as I'd returned to my room after giving birth. I'm prepared this time.

I must say Victoria's Secret is officially my new favourite place to shop for pretty sleepwear. I picked out slips that are actually on the bigger side just to be sure that they'll fit but I know my proper size now and I fully intend to get my hands on more of their slips after I've given birth.

This is it!

I had my check up last Tuesday and apparently we are almost there!

It's something of a double-edged sword, to be honest. It's exciting and frightening at the same time, not knowing what adjustments we will be making and how.

So if there's an extended silence, we all know why. Let's hope it's only silence this time and not dropping off the face of the blogosphere like I'd done before.

In the matter of discipline

So far, I believe it's working, this attempt of mine to try and spread out my writing, whether for blog purposes, work, or fun, throughout eight hours in a week. It doesn't feel like it's something I need to do; spreading it out and being flexible with how long I do it keeps it fun. And I'm one of those people who needs to keep seeing work as something fun.

I first got the idea of writing a little something every day from a college professor. It's not an exercise for everyone but if it works, then by all means, right? And it works well for me.

Aside from writing though, I've also been organising and editing some old pieces. I shan't be reproducing them here. They're frankly too much of an embarrassment although I know that once upon a time, I thought they were great. (That was just a little over ten years ago.)

My co-writers and I have had our laughs and moved on. ^_~

D-I-Y: Adventures in Play Dough

I'm a typically crafty person. I love poking around the house doing little crafty projects for various purposes (storage, home spa, art), the most recent one being to make non-toxic, occasionally edible, play materials for my kid.

I don't have the photos of the original set of playdough I made for him on me--I may have them locked up in my old hard drive which I still need to unlock somehow--but this one for Homemade Rubbery Goop, which I got off Learning4Kids is, so far, my favourite out of three different versions I've tried.

The link I shared shows the whole step by step process but behind the cut are my own pictures plus a few comments from when I made it a few days ago. I still need to make more--I only have two colours so far but I realised I need more containers to store them in before I present them to my little one!

Product Review: Olay Deep Moisture Body Wash with Honey

Last week I received this lovely little surprise care package from Belle de Jour and Olay Philippines. I said I would begin using it over the weekend which, truth be told, the use for which began Sunday night. I've been a late afternoon to evening bather lately so commentaries and observations will stretch from the afternoon or evening of the previous day to the morning of the next. Mornings I tend to just do a quick shower to wash my hair so effects of products I use the night before tend to linger.

Here we go.