baby sung

(taken 20.01.08 - scroll to the end to see us posing for these shots)

It's been hard to post anything more than a photo lately - not so much so that taking care of Ellis takes up all of my time, but because any free moment is allocated to more mundane but critical tasks, like attempting to sleep, do the laundry, or prepare dinner rather than the comparatively "frivolous" activity of blogging. I say "attempt" because all these can be done only when she falls asleep - and I never know how long I have till I'm stopped by that all familiar cry.

Right now (10 am), she's - amazingly - fallen asleep in her crib. Something that practically NEVER happens in the day as she usually is only willing to sleep in the crib at night. My best bet in the day is her little bouncy chair. It's a lifesaver! I put her in it and place it next to me when I'm on the computer, or station it outside the kitchen so she can see me while I'm preparing dinner. The chair shifts constantly throughout our place - at dinnertime it's next to Kisu so he can "catch up" with baby; late nights it's in front of the sofa when hubby and I indulge in a spot of TV. She is able to sit in it quite peacefully for stretches, and falls asleep in it quite comfortably. If she cries we can try to coax her by rocking the chair with a nudge of our feet.

I also bring her around a lot - we go out an average of 3 times a week - just me and her on weekdays. This includes lunches or tea with girlfriends, business meetings, deliveries to my stockists, visiting friend's homes, grocery shopping, etc.

I'm able to do this because I've realised, from comparing notes with friends and observations from others, that we have been blessed with a truly uncomplicated and unfussy baby. She only cries when there is something bothering her - and that's usually when she's hungry, or has wind and is going to spit up. Arguably, the spit up thing happens a lot these days - which means that I'm constantly picking her up after a feed to help her settle her stomach. A dirty diaper does not bother her - unless it leaks and wets her clothes. Many times I've chided her to stop crying for no reason (so I thought) but ended up feeling guilty when, upon picking her up, discovered that she needed to burp, spit up or have her diaper changed.

The best part is that she sleeps so well when we're out - she can go for hours sleeping in her stroller. And that means that Kisu and I are still able to enjoy our time out. So far, we have been able to have our meals out comfortably and together - none of that taking turns to eat and take care of baby thing that we've heard about. On rare occasion, she gets cranky but can usually be calmed by food (i.e. the boob).

As you can probably tell - food is quite high on her priority list - so it's no wonder then that she's in the 97th percentile for weight (and thankfully height as well) and has developed lotus-root looking limbs.