36 weeks - check-up

check-up at 36+6 days showed baby weighing in at 2.9kg based on stomach circumference, which is half a kg more than the last estimate 3 weeks' ago. 

doc again commented on baby's big head. uh huh. h measured 36.5cm when she was born and baby is currently at 35cm with another 2 weeks to go. doc didn't do an estimate based on head circumference because it's probably misleading judging by how we tend to have big head offspring ... i'm already dreading all the extra checks that will be needed when we start going for jabs at the polyclinic because of the big head circumference (sigh). thanks to too much pineapple tarts, hebehiam crackers and soft drinks, i also managed to put on 2.8kg! in 3 weeks! eating in moderation starts today again, and i hope the only weight gain is from baby at next week's appointment. finally got my hands on the medela breast pump tubing today ... turned out that it was cheaper buying from the brick and mortar store than online. was even cheaper than buying a no-brand tubing which would have fit the pump too. i have 7 working days left before i disappear from work. that our family of 3 is going to become 4 very soon is starting to sink in! reality bites.

30 months - CNY

this long CNY weekend has been quite eventful (and tiring) by my standards. 

got into the CNY mood quite early on when i had to do some art & craft homework with h for display at her school. 

also went about "gathering" CNY goodies quite early on this year, although still missed out on the petite flower pineapple tarts from hong lim food complex! a corner of our dining table is colonised by pineapple tarts (glory, cedele), bak kwa, kueh bangkit (hong lim), peanut filled pastries (hong lim) and prawn rolls (camel, tong garden). next year i MUST get my hands on some of those legendary "golf ball" pineapple tarts from le cafe. 

h seemed to have fun at her school's CNY celebrations. rode on her excitement to somehow get her into her qipao that i bought online. also have her chinese teacher to thank for teaching them the "恭喜恭喜恭喜你!" song which she's now a pro at because she has been "performing" it at various gatherings.

h has been all excited about going for "parties" which is what i have been calling the various CNY related gatherings which started last weekend.

at the extended family reunion, she made firm friends with one particular grandaunt ("chicken wing 姑婆) and also amused the rest no end with her endless and loud chatter. also got really excited about the 5 dogs (3 golden retrievers!).

CNY eve saw us having TWO reunion meals - burp.

got her to help load up the mandarin orange bag on CNY morning and she did it in no time. then it was off to the grandparents' place followed by great grandma's place where she again made her presence felt and had a fine time with her fave grandaunt again. also had some fun posing for the camera in spite of the sweltering afternoon heat.

in an unprecedented move, we actually headed to chinatown on the 2nd day of CNY because the mum in law wanted a picture of h with the main CNY decor there (big goats) since she had taken one with h and the big horses last year.

it was around noon when we reached and crazily sunny and hot. thankfully it wasn't too crowded. subsequently made our way to macs for ice cream and drinks to cool off.

day 3 was spent checking out the very spacious seletar mall which has a different range of shops from the malls we have nearby. han's, ELC, mothercare, samsonite (!), NTUC finest and even hokey pokey. h is great when it comes to checking out toy stores because she never really bugs us to buy her stuff and when she is done browsing (i.e. pushing buttons, checking out display sets) she actually is quite prepared to leave without much fuss. when we told her it was time to move off from one particular display set, she said "i play one more time then we go" and then she was true to her word. was kind of flabbergasted when she did so. in a good way. :D

of course after that she had a meltdown when it came to wanting to go on the down-riding escalator without us following her .... but that's another story for another day.

34 weeks / 30 months - IKEA shopping

we went to IKEA over the weekend to work off some of that "nesting" energy. unsurprisingly we landed up with lots of brightly coloured storage boxes. also bought a new high chair for h which affords her more bum space and which she can climb onto herself, a lamp for the study/#2's room, random art supplies for h and a pig soft toy which h picked out from the whole range of plushies ... i think it has to do with some recent rekindled interest in the three little pigs story. 

h was all cooperative and fun throughout the shopping trip and it helped that the store wasn't too crowded because it was lunchtime and most people were jamming up the IKEA cafe instead.

ice cream and hot dogs will probably be a staple for every IKEA visit from now on, after h tried her hand at the self service ice cream dispenser and walloped the whole hot dog without any left for me!! captured a priceless video of her telling us about how little miss chatterbox's melted because she talked to much. :D

in other "nesting" news, the baby cot has been reassembled by the hubby without any instruction manual. applauds! still trying to fully clear out the study room to be ready for #2's arrival, but i think we have made some progress thanks to the grandparents having h over to stay over the past few weekends. the storeroom is now also a lot more spacious. it would have been probably a lot more difficult to do real cleaning up/clearing up with h underfoot.

33 weeks - check-up

went for the scheduled gynae and ortho appointments on tuesday. 

baby is still "a good size" and i think i spotted him measuring at 36 weeks based on head/stomach circumference even though we are still at 33+ weeks. baby is estimated to be about 2.4kg which is a hefty 650g weight gain from 3 weeks ago! h was 2.4kg at the 35 week mark ... :0 i also put on close to 1.5kg to hit 70.0kg, the first time i am gaining weight at the recommended/normal pace. i think we have those 5 large packets of twister fries that i had in the past 3 weeks to thank. :p 

doc also said my tummy was very compact given how big baby is. i am glad for that though, because it means i haven't had to buy much maternity clothes. never mind that everyone who knows something about pregnant women usually has a surprised look when i tell them how far along i am. 

discussed options for delivery with both docs too, and i think c-section with epidural will be the way to go unless labour progresses super quickly. it probably poses the least risk to my bad back.

now we are just hanging in there until 39 weeks because that's when c-sections are usually scheduled to maximize baby's  time in the womb. next appointment is in another 3 weeks' time ... thought it would be fortnightly from now on but apparently not!