16 wks

Our Christmas weekend
Turned out to be quite merry after all, though with a tinge of sadness since we spent it celebrating the Lims' new chapter of life in Singapore and mourning their departure from London. As Reza has said: who's going to scout out all the restaurants in London for us now?

Aza and Reza had us over at theirs on Christmas Eve for a lovely seabass lunch and we spent the afternoon at their beautifully done-up new house, sembanging until dinner time, when Alex finally got to take us all to Tayyabs - a Pakistani restaurant he's been raving about for ages.

His raving was quite justified, the grilled meats were indeed fresh and yummy. Uniquely for a cheap curry house in London, each dish tasted of itself rather than of each other. The only thing I didn't like about it was the waiter who took our order, who, despite our trying to insist we didn't necessarily want the mixed grill, ignored our orders and gave us the two mixed grills he'd suggested anyway.

Baby had her longest day out yet, as we were out from about 1pm till about 10.45pm. She impressed everyone with her tolerance for mama and papa's socialising though, only crying eventually when the loud Bollywood music in Tayyabs and hunger eventually pierced her slumber. Then we had to shift seats a bit so mommy could feed her discreetly. On one hand it was quite a family restaurant - huge families all over the place - on the other, the men and women tended to sit separately. So I thought a rogue boob on show might be a little too risque.

On Christmas Day the Hemmingways came down from Leeds to visit family and dropped by ours for lunch, so baby got to play with Aunty Jyo and test out Uncle Chris's finger for snacking.

Jyo kept teasing Chris about being bad around babies but Chris insisted he has nothing against them. Jyo also pointed out that in order of our old Sri Amanian gang getting married and having kids, she is bang in line for the next sprog. Go to it, Hemmingways! Lets see those 1/8th Greek, 3/8ths English, 1/4 Chinese 1/4 Indian children, who are bound to be raving beauties!

Oh and on the baby development front, Boo is much more aware of her hands now. Definitely aware. She not only likes gripping fingers in her soggy little palms, she'll hang onto them while she's munching away at her own left hand (which she prefers over a pacifier), like she's keeping it in store for a later snack. She has regular 'thumb time' now - ie when I take off her mitts and push various objects into her hands in an effort to make her aware that she has an opposable thumb that she can use to pick up things. No luck yet, she keeps it curled up when grasping things but at least it's fun to see the look of pleasure on her face when you put a particularly tactile soft toy into her hand. The Mamas and Papas bear from Uncle Simon is a favourite.

She also keeps clasping her hands together like this. And if you tease her and ask if she's practising for all the ang-pows she's going to get when she goes home at Chinese New Year, she gives you the biggest, wickedest chuckle. Family at home - you have been warned.

And on another baby development note, we realised one day that the reason she may be toppling forward when we sit her up sometimes is not because she can't control her back; sometimes it's because she's trying to look at something down in front of her. In this case we realised she was desperately trying to study the logo on the sweatshirt daddy was wearing - despite mommy and daddy constantly propping her up and pulling her away from it. To quote proud papa: 'It's cos you're a genius, innit?!'

On Boxing Day we had some of the Malaysians over for dinner. Poor baby held up quite well considering the amount of socialising she'd been doing this week and the swell of numbers - everyone looking at her all at once - and the fact that her evil parents simply let her nap on the sofa instead of away in one of the bedrooms, so that on one occasion, she was woken by a roar of laughter from the dining table. But then I have not un-fond memories of being similarly awoken when my parents visited their friends when we were children so although the laughter must be annoying I'm sure it's also kind of a nice, warm memory to have.

Au 'voir, Lims!
Day after that we had another dinner with the Lims and Ridzuans at ours again, to say goodbye to Debs and S'Liang, who flew off the next morning for Singapore.

We're going to miss them loads. And not just because they were so good with Bel, they were the two left in London we'd known the longest - since our A-levels and since Alex and I knew each other. So their going to Singapore not only means a loss of their much-valued company, we feel like it marks a closing of one chapter of our lives. And we're only sorry it's closing because we've had such a great time. The only consolation is knowing that, like Sophie and the Yaps who went before, they're friends whom you know will always be friends, regardless of the time that's passed between meetings.

Also, now that they'll be more settled in Singapore, I will be watching that space that you never realised existed before a baby comes along to uniquely fill it for the first time. Despite S'Liangs protestations that he's not quite ready for a baby yet, he seemed more than comfortable carrying her around and playing with her loads. He was very good and is maybe more ready than he wants to let on.

What sales?
Took Boo out this morning for a walk down King's Road and was quite disappointed to see not much in the way of desirable clothes on sale for either her or me. But maybe it's a good thing that I wasn't tempted!

I made it back to John Lewis though to exchange her little snowflake dress, which was fortunate as there were only two dresses left and only one was the 6-9 mth size we wanted.

So here is a preview of Boo in what we hope will be her Chinese New Year splendour (minus the onesie inside, of course; the weather today is a little chill) and the previously promised picture of her in the librarian Kenzo jumper, hahaha.

Was slightly annoyed to see that the other Kenzo things there had been marked down even lower, but couldn't bear to search the shelf in case I found the same jumper for the advertised £6 all the remaining clothes were going for. I can tell Alex isn't too fond of the jumper beyond his amusement at my fondness for it but I maintain she looks darned cute in it. OK she will obviously be mistaken for a boy, but I still think she looks cute in these colours! Darn the pink-for-girls sales mafia.

Lastly...
On a less desirable personal development note, my hair is definitely experiencing post-partum fallout. Picking up all the loose strands is driving me and neatnik Alex nuts. I need another haircut!

And it's a good thing I'm keeping a food diary - for some reason I have hives on both arms at the moment and an enormous welt across my left inner wrist, which is driving me nuts. I'm blaming the belacan I put into the makeshift butternut squash and tomato laksa we had for dinner. Grr, off to join baby and dad in bed now.

Oh oh, we shifted to the bedroom on Boxing Day, Mom you'll be pleased to know - no more sleeping on the floor. Now I just have to avoid squashing baby in bed! I have to say it's definitely more comfortable than the floor has been!

15 wks+

Pacifier love
She's still chewing on her dummy like there's no tomorrow. It's quite good because she seems to work out her inner demons on it. Baby+dummy sitting in her little chair = about 15 minutes quiet in which time mommy can wolf down a sandwich for lunch. Baby+no dummy = 'I'm booored, very very booored' harrumphs in 5 minutes or less.

My diet
By which I mean what I'm eating rather than I'm limiting my eating, sorry mom. Am starting to keep a food diary. It's a bit sporadic at the moment because I don't always remember what I've eaten, even from yesterday, but Nigel Slater was right! Writing down that you've had four mini mince pies in one sitting is a more effective telling off to yourself than going on any darned diet. Not that that's going to stop me until the mince pies run out.

My current other favourite snack at the moment is linseed/soya bean nibbed bread (at least that's healthy, right?) toasted with chunky peanut butter and blueberry jam apparently. I should also maybe stop keeping a supply of dark chocolate in the house.

TV too young?
Am wondering a bit about letting babe watch TV. It's not like I particularly want her to but, face it, when she's feeding it's either I do that or try to read a book (which has to be light enough to hold open with one hand) or the paper. She's cottoned on to the fact that the TV is entertainment and will turn her head sometimes to see what mommy is watching.

And sometimes, I have to admit, I prop her on a pillow and turn on the TV to some children's programme in the hope that she's distracted long enough for me to read the paper. And sometimes we're so entranced by some show or movie that we let her watch along, though I cover her eyes if there's violence.

Part of me goes: as if you remember anything you saw at three months, let alone what was on TV. Another part of me goes: But TV nowadays is so violent! I don't mean there's a lot of literal violence on it - though there is - even the pace of some adverts are a bit head-spinning. Surely it's not a good thing for her to be exposed to too much heart-pumping sound and the flicker of rapid imagery?

And have you watched the news recently? Every other news item seems to have a clip of a bomb going off, people in distress or gunfire. It may be educational but it's certainly not un-harrowing.

And I think maybe it's not so good for her to be so media-aware so young. It may make her too self-conscious growing up. As it is, she's already very curious as to why it is mommy is constantly pointing a little silver box at her practically every day.

Anyway if anyone has any suggestions on how else to keep baby occupied, email them in! For now I'll keep trying to make her watch nature shows and Pocoyo, which I think is utterly cute!

15 wks

Happy Christmas, everyone
Haven't felt particularly moved by the yuletide spirit this year - apart maybe from when baby naps for half an hour, and mommy is able to have a little mince pie and double cream time - but maybe it'll sneak up on me in the next two days.

On the mince pies: the ones from Waitrose completely trounce those from M&S in case any of you are wondering where to get yours.

The empress' new clothes
Our plans to find an elf costume and dress baby up in it and take lots of pictures haven't materialised, although I suppose there are still two shopping days left till the big day. We haven't been able to stop ourselves buying other things for her to wear though. It's an easy trap - you feel good because you're buying clothes for baby, not yourself, and you get to dress her up! Fortunately we've just retired a batch of sleepsuits (she's starting to outgrow the 0-3 mth size) so there is some room for her wardrobe to expand.

Last weekend we finally used up the last of the John Lewis vouchers from Alex's colleagues and got her a pretty white dress with turquoise and aqua snowflakes and pink sequins (which we have to exchange because she fits snugly into the 3-6 mth size and we want her to wear it at Chinese New Year) and a turquoise, aqua and maroon jumper.

The jumper cost £15 - after a 50% discount! - and while I've said I don't intend to make a habit of buying baby clothes as or more expensive than my own, I couldn't help it! I loved the colours. Unfortunately it makes her look a bit like a middle-aged male librarian (complete with bald spot) but I don't care. Will post pictures of her looking disgruntled in it later.

The other thing we got her was this fuschia snowsuit (see above). And I had to restrain myself from buying her a beautiful baby blue princess coat from Zara. Argh Zara is terrible - I love all the little dresses there! On sale they will be irresistable.

This is particularly because their clothes come in lots of colours for girls, unlike most shops in this country where it's all shades of pink or lilac or red. It's annoying the heck out of me because I want to dress her in green!

14 wks+

Baby's teething...
... we think anyway because she's started chewing her gums - or her tongue, who can tell, she certainly won't let mommy look - meditatively every few hours. And sometimes she grunts these fed-up, drawn-out 'hrrrmmph's to herself.

She was being very grouchy earlier on, partly because she didn't sleep her normal routine today, then we stuffed the pacifier in her mouth and she has been chewing happily on it since. This is the longest she's had it - she previously used to give it a few tastes and then spit it out - so I reckon there's definitely something coming up from under those gums.

From the one or two feels I've had when poking my finger into her mouth to chew on I think it's the upper front right one coming out first.

Her Majesty's loyal subject...
Oh and her passport came back this morning with the Right of Abode visa stamped in it, hooray! Mine also came back safe and sound but the Home Office creased and folded the previously pristine birth certificates we enclosed, despite my enclosing a hard cardboard-backed envelope for the return of our documents, duh!

13 wks (or is it 14? Whatever)

What baby can do

1. Kind of sit
She'll hold herself up in a sitting position as long as your arms are around her to make sure she doesn't topple forward or sideways. But she can also propel herself upward and forward if she's leaning backward, so I'm starting to have to keep a real eye on her, even when she's sitting on my lap, like now. I think earlier she was trying to see me type. Now, fortunately, the moving script on screen has caught her attention. She can also sit up on the sofa on her own for a bit, and she looks really grown up when we prop her up on it.

Aside: She was sitting on my lap facing me earlier and I leaned her forward onto my chest and suddenly remembered how only two months ago the little munchkin was sleeping on my chest some nights. I mean most of her would be on my chest and now she not only doesn't even fit on it, I'd probably be at risk of not being able to breathe if she did. How fast has she grown! I'm going to be saying this for the next 20+ years, aren't I?

2. Kind of turn herself over
She leaned off a pillow the other night and fell on her side, before scrabbling a leg over to turn on her front. Does this count? She wasn't very happy about it, probably because we were yelling 'Go baby! Come on baby! Turn over! Turn over!' and laughing instead of picking her up.

3. Go to the spa
Or rather she's well prepared for one now, what with the oil massages I keep giving her scalp in order to get rid of the cradle cap each day, and the little manicures from daddy. Here's the duchess waking after a little nap following such a massage (boy does she hate them) and just before her shower. I'm not so sure this really is the best way forward though. Have been giving her regular such showers for a week and the cradle cap still shows no signs of going.










Who's fat?
Mom keeps insisting baby looks obese. But I figure I'm not going to worry unless her boobs get bigger than mine. But also I think Elaine has a point: maybe baby is just growing into her fat. Elaine thinks her cheeks don't look as chubby as they used to because her head has gotten bigger. So maybe the rest of her will catch up with the fat in a few months.

Or maybe she's just padding up for what's supposed to be a very cold winter ahead (she is, after all, a genius according to daddy). And yes, I could stop eating so much cake and cheese, but then what would I have to look forward to in when shopping for the daily groceries?

Notes to my housewifely self:
1. We will keep shopping at John Lewis because they deliver your purchases to the house for free! So far I've bought a huge roasting tray - like we've been meaning to for years - and a hand-held blender with which to make more soups.Am planning to try my no effort own pumpkin soup recipe: saute garlic and ginger and some chilli in some butter; add pumpkin chunks and try to caramelise them a bit; add stock from Marigold vegetable bouillon; whizz with blender. Add salt and pepper to taste. Should be able to do it during baby's naps.

2. The secret to melting dong bo yuk (braised pork belly) is to immerse the entire piece of meat in the gravy, not just part of it, and not just to cook it for four hours over a slow heat as I've done before. I have had to restrain myself from eating all the fat on the piece I cooked last night because it was so good (if I say so myself).

3. Work out a timetable for going back to work. Currently baby's movements are something like:
0600 Baby wakes for feed, goes back to sleep.
0800 Baby wakes for feed, change her nappy, put her back to sleep. Maybe wake up. More often go back to sleep.
1030 Wake up. Cook and eat breakfast, read weekend newspaper sections.
1130 Baby wakes for another feed; clean her face, neck and hands; try to moisturise her face and oil her head with minimal yowling.
1230-1300 Baby goes back to sleep; wash up; put laundry in machine/ read some more/ watch the news also Neighbours and Doctors (very sad, almost addicted to Neighbours)
1330-1430 Baby wakes, has head and neck washed/full shower
1500-1600 Leave house to shop for groceries/ whatever/ go on the internet/ read some more/ make appointments etc
1700 Play with baby if she's awake
1845-1930 Baby tends to nap again, prepare dinner in meantime
2000 Alex home to take care of baby; prepare dinner
2030-2100 Eat dinner
2130-2200 Have shower
2300-2430 Baby finally falls asleep, usually shortly preceded or followed by daddy, and me after.

Her father's daughter
Just look at the hairlines on the two of them. I could look at these two pictures and laugh for hours on end.

3 mths, 6 days

Things baby does that make us scream with laughter

1. Demonstrate impeccable timing: I was holding her up to face me and pretending that I can already teach her stuff.
Me: Baby, you have to learn to say 'hello', yes? Say 'hello', baby. Just 'hello'. What will you say when you see grandma?
Baby: Brraaaaagghh!... Aaaah [which is what her uninhibited burps sound like]

2. Complain with a full mouth: I was wrong, I'm pleased to say, over the 'aiyaiyai' complaint cry going away. She still makes it. I must have just not irritated her for a while. She had it going great guns the other night and I finally twigged she was just over-tired and probably wanted to sleep.

So I put her down ['Aiyyaiyaiyaiyaiii... Aiiiyaiyaiaa... Aiyaaaiyai'] and brought out the magic boobs. But she didn't stop complaining, oh no [*sucksuck* 'Mmffaiyaimmyaimyaii...' *sucksuck* 'Mmmfaiyaiyaimmff...' *sucksuck* 'Hmmf mmf hmmf hmmf...']. And then she finally fell asleep.

Pictures of baby looking cute
I finally remembered to take some in daylight so they aren't so blur.

3 mths, 2 days

Break out the champagne!
Baby grasped her first thing, on her own, today! And she happened to do it while I was taking a picture of her anyway so we even have the moment documented in numerous blurred pictures. OK I have to admit it might not have been a premeditated course of action, since she's exhibited no inclination, much less understanding, of the concepts of opening and closing her fists at will as yet, but she actually finally USED A HAND!

I was showing her Uncle Dino's little white rabbit rattle and was trying to get her to hold it by the ears, which I reckoned were small enough for her to hold comfortably, and she did. She then started sucking on one, which looked so cute I reached for the camera.

A couple of pictures later, she dropped the rabbit. I picked it up and placed it by her side, near her hand, and continued to take pictures of her looking bemused - you see how all this has been beautifully documented - when she nonchalantly turned her head to the rabbit, reached out...

AND PICKED UP THE RABBIT BY ITS HAND! She didn't even looked surprised at what she'd done. It was as if she'd done this sort of thing since the day she was born. I, however, whooped for joy, yelped 'Oh you clever bunny!', alarming her a bit I think, and called Alex out of the kitchen, where he was cooking dinner (coincidentally a pasta recipe calling for rabbit). I think he was more amused at my excitement.

Baby waved the rabbit around a bit, tried eating it again but learned the rabbit's hand didn't fit as comfortably in her mouth as its ears did, then decided she'd had enough and dropped it again. I held it in front of her, hoping she would repeat the act and cement her knowledge of grasping, but no dice.

She'd had enough excitement for the day and just went back to sucking her thumb contentedly. She's exhibiting a growing fondness for thumb-sucking, particularly since she started drooling last Saturday (the drool returned with a vengeance today). Before today, I thought it was a fondness for her mitts, which are now frequently soaked with saliva. I must take them off more often for her to experiment with her hands.

3 mths

More jabs
For her three-month birthday, Boo today received the second of two jabs in the thighs. That was at 3pm earlier. To thank us, she is now crying her head off in the second bedroom, in Alex's arms. She started acting grizzly sometime just before dinner and hasn't stopped since, bar a nap a short while ago. Is a bit worrying, but at least there's no sign of a fever. We are trying to work out if the jabbed spots are sore and if we're unwittingly pressing on them when we carry her and pass her around.

Yayaness
She still seems susceptible to yaya-ness though. Yayaness: Asking her inane questions in a very high-pitched voice, all ending with ya. Eg: 'Boo, now we are going to change your diaper, ya?'; 'And after we change your diaper you will take your shower, ya?'; 'And Boo won't cry, will she, because she's a good girl, ya?'

It sounds irritating as hell but it seems to keep her interested and I've managed to wring a half-smile out of her frowny face with it.

What baby did today
Shame, she was so good today. Smiley as anything when she woke up and didn't cry even once hroughout her shower and being moisturised after. We don't usually make it to the end of moisturising without at least one or two yowls.

She yelped a bit with the jabs of course, but stopped after Nurse Stella gave her a cuddle. She was wide awake on the tube to Peter Jones in Sloane Square, fell asleep while I bought a blender and some coffee mugs with their own meshes, then woke again on the bus ride into town to get some tea and supplies from Chinatown.

I can feed her on the bus, I can feed the two of us
Was a bit worried at first because it was obvious she wanted a bit of a feed and I wondered if feeding her on the bus might be taking things a bit too far. But then it was quite empty and I felt reasonably well covered as I was sitting behind the stairs on the top deck. So manoeuvered my bag to shield us from the front and then got down to feeding. She had a quick snack and then I buttoned up and it was all done, no muss, no fuss.

Ethiopians on the streets
As luck would have it, at Hyde Park Corner, our bus ran smack into a demonstration by Ethiopians, calling on the British government to act against their prime minister, Meles Zenawi. I thought our bus was going to be diverted, but no the bus was allowed to follow the protest at a snail's pace, so I decided I could use the exercise and got off halfway between Hyde Park Corner and Green Park and walked to Soho.

Plus I actually caught sight of a placard mentioning the BBC and wanted to see what it said (it turned out to be a rhetorical question, something along the lines of 'BBC is it not right to support dictators?' or something like that).

Was only sorry I'd done so somewhere halfway down the protest, because lots of people had whistles and the racket was ear-splitting. Pressed baby's hood firmly down over her ears and was relieved to see she didn't look overly concerned by any of the noise. But was also quite touched by the fervour with which people were chanting their protests.

I managed to outstrip the protest (it wasn't very big) shortly after Green Park and then it was quite fun to note all the consternation on the faces of people further up, who could hear the racket coming but didn't know what was going on.

This little charmer
Baby woke again on the bus back and started getting a little fussy so I eventually took her out of the carrier so she could see around a bit more. The lights on the streets diverted her for a bit but then she started getting restless again.

I hoisted her on my left shoulder and she turned to face the woman sitting next to me, a nice Italian lady with an eight- or nine-year-old girl herself. Whoa, her face lighted up. And of course the woman smiled at her, so she smiled back. The woman made kissy noises and baby laughed. She asked her name and I said 'Isabel' so then she tried calling her by name but of course baby doesn't have anyone here calling her Isabel, poor thing, so she just looked blank.

Italian woman got off the bus after saying goodbye, so then baby turned her attentions to a Spanish couple behind us. Cue more smiling and laughing. She also bestowed smiles on a man across the aisle.

I kept having to smile and say thanks and goodbye, not quite knowing whether on earth to engage with people behind who were interacting with her or not. It's difficult being a surly Londoner when you have a daugher who's a social butterfly.

12 wks+

O dear just realised today I have been counting the weeks wrong. I just thought I'd better start listing baby's achievements, such as they are, as I go along, so my mind doesn't go blank when the health visitor asks what she's been up to. That's her in her new bathrobe by the way. So...

1. Drool production
Baby has started drooling a bit. I noticed it bubbling up in her mouth on Friday but thought it was a one-off. Then on Saturday night she was really going great guns, bubbles all over her little chin. For a while I worried she'd been wiping off moisturiser and eating it or something - relax Mom, she shouldn't be, I don't usually let her swipe her face for a while after I moisturise her - but the drool production seems to have toned down to nothingness again by today. Either that or she's learnt to swallow better.

2. New sounds
With the drool came a new sound. Kind of a bored, elongated huffy grunt. It's like she's fast-forwarded to teenagehood. Instead of a cry of dismay, she goes 'Hrrrnnnhh... hrrrnnnngh' when upset. I still haven't worked out if she's just trying out of different sound or whether this has to do with the drool adding a new dimension to her vocal pipes.

She's also started going 'Miaommiii... meep' in the morning sometimes. To my sleep-sodden ears it sometimes sounds like she's trying to say 'mommy' of course. Produces instant guilt and wakefulness.

Sadly, she seems to have dropped the 'Aiyaiyai' cry, which I loved.

3. The lady's not for turning
She hasn't started flipping over though, which is what Janet and Ma asked last week. Ma thinks this may be because our fat little chucklebunny is too lazy, heh heh. So this weekend Alex and I tormented her by putting her on her tummy and getting her to practise her little push-ups because we think it's easier for her to flip over that way.

She looked up in mild consternation when the first earned her sustained applause from Alex and me. Actually we first applauded to encourage her. Afterward it was to try and get the look of consternation again, which was hilarious.

I feel evil putting her on her tummy because she'll manage the first push-up with a little huffing and grunting, get a few good ones in and then start to tire. When this happens, her face gets buried in the mattress, her arms go flat in defeat and her fat little legs scrabble and scrabble for purchase and then she starts to bawl. It's still quite funny but I feel evil.

Sadly though, no sign of flipping over.

4. However
She's started to sit up on her own. If you seat her against a pillow or my bent knees, she sometimes raises herself off them. Hurray!

5. The itchy and scratchy show
The good thing is that she is developing coordination. The bad thing is that she is using it to scratch herself - her scalp, her cheeks - quite effectively too. So it's constant mitts on for baby. I probably should get some new ones soon as the ones she has, all of which she fondly sucks, are starting to look quite manky.

6. The great Boodini
It's practically impossible to restrain her hands too. I used to tuck them into her sleeping bag, as if I'd swaddled her, but she's worked out how to get her arms out. And her mitts off. She also quite cleverly gets her hands out of any swaddle wrap eventually. So now I tuck both ends of a long blanket as far under her as I can get. Usually lasts an hour or two.

7. Explaining Boodini
We usually call her Baby, but her nicknames evolve. For a while she was Meepmeep (what she utters when indignant), then Babuji, which is what my dad called us all. Now it's been shortened to Boo.

8. Boo's favourite lullabyes...
... are currently the mockingbird song ('Hush little baby don't say a word/ Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird' - don't know the title); Somewhere Over the Rainbow; Swing Low Sweet Chariot and By the Light of the Sil'vry Moon. Unfortunately I only remember a verse of each of the latter two songs. But she doesn't seem to mind. The Rainbow Connection, Obla-Di-Obla-Da and Country Roads seem to have fallen out of favour.

9. She's a great smiler
She smiles at nearly everyone now. Chuckles too, if you speak to her in the right enticing high-pitched tone. On Saturday we took her to our book group and she was a really good baby. Only had a minor meltdown when we got stuck in a jam outside Hammersmith on the way to Kate's house, but this was better than mommy who had to restrain herself from swearing at a bus driver who blocked an entire yellow box by idiotically thinking his gain of a foot into the queue in front of him (and which didn't move again for a while) was worth blocking an entire street of traffic going the other way. She didn't cry once at Kate's, didn't poo and was quite happy to be handed round the group, leaving wet patches on everybody's tops.

Even better though, afterward we swung by Liss' place, since she was having a party, to say hi very quickly and again, baby charmed the crowd by just being very quiet and smiling every so often. I think she likes an audience.

Excitement! We also met three girls from Botswana, one of whom has read some of Alexander McCall Smith's No1 Ladies' Detective Agency books, and who said the descriptions of the Botswana atmosphere and countryside were spot on and that she could probably name most of the main characters in the book. Another Swedish fan and I sat there for about 15 minutes naming everything we could think of and going 'wow' when the Botswana girl confirmed they actually existed.

11 wks

Bye-bye Aunty Ling!
What a week. Yiyi - the family's former fatface - left on Tuesday morning after a quiet weekend of mostly eating and crackling what we now call the Crunchy Birds at Bel (see picture in entry below). Bel was happy to be carried by her, smiled at her and tried to eat her shirt a few times. I think that means she likes Yiyi.

Alex is insisting baby calls her relatives by their correct Chinese names, instead of my family's anglocised Aunty so-and-so and Uncle so-and-so. This might work out better, actually, considering she's probably going to be seeing a lot of her great uncles and aunts. Uncle and Aunty work fine but Great Uncle and Great Aunty etc are probably going to be quite a lot of mouthfuls. He also wanted me to spell Yiyi Yeeyee, the pedant, but I don't care.

Lights, camera...
We also had some fun trying out the videocam my parents sent in order to see more of their grandchild. Managed to fill a 37-minute disc quite quickly although we then discovered that we didn't have the CD with the software to edit the video. So my parents are going to have to watch about 15 seconds of Alex filming my backside as well. Nice.

Saya, rakyat Malaysia
Then Tuesday I hauled Bel to the Malaysian High Commission to register her as a citizen. The busybody makcik at the front counter first mistook me for the wife of another father who was there also registering his child and making her passport, despite the fact that his wife was standing right next to him and carrying their child.

Then she asked if I had gotten Bel a British passport. I said no and she was pleased 'Good, you can't have another passport, ah? Malaysia does not allow dual citizenship, you know.' I was surprised because I thought children were allowed dual and only had to choose when they were 18. So I said so. Wrong response. Severe frown.

'Nooo - you cannot apply for a British passport, ah?'
'But I thought children could have both until 18?'
'No, that would be encouraging dual citizenship, right?'
'Ah - hmm...' [no, I thought, that would be dual citizenship]
'You cannot apply for a British passport ah?'
'Oh OK.'

Then the silly cow proceeded to give me a two ticket numbers, one for a counter that wasn't open, so the number was never called. We only discovered this an hour and a half later when the other ticket number was called.

Fortunately the nice man who works the counter for passport applications saw my form for birth registration and realised the makcik's mistake. So he got the woman who does registrations to come deal with it. Then we discovered that I had brought the wrong birth cert.

Was confused because they said they wanted the original cert. So I brought that. But the original cert in this country, for some reason, does not state the baby's parents' names. So they actually wanted the certified copy of the cert, which does. Gah.

Anyway the nice lady took pity on me because I'd obviously been waiting ages with a tiny baby and said she'd start processing the form and I'd just have to bring the other cert directly to her tomorrow, but not have to queue again. Phew.

Bel started crying while they were looking at the forms and the nice woman again directed me to a baby room outside, where I could feed her. Was a bit wary of using it because it was right next to a small prayer cubicle they had and I figured any man who took the trouble to pray there might be scandalised by the sight of a slightly exposed boob, even if I was just feeding baby, but no one came along so that was fine.

One of the nice pakciks behind the counter also actually came out to take a look at babe but she'd fallen fast asleep by then then so he backed away saying he didn't want to kacau her. Carrying a baby around really earns you goodwill!

Shopping
After that, I went to Peter Jones to try and spend the vouchers Alex's colleagues generously bought Bel. Got her a bathrobe, which I hope will enable me to stop her throwing off the towels we wrap her in after her showers or burying her own little face in them, which usually produces tiny squalls of distress.

Then took a bus to the end of the road in hopes of eating pancakes at Vingt Quatre but, poxes, it was closed for refurbishment! So I ate at a nearby Lebanese restaurant instead. When baby woke up there she was fascinated by the stripy cushions on the seats. Managed to feed her without incident there too. Now I just tend to tuck a napkin into the top of my shirt and let it hang over her and it shields me from public view just fine.

Back at the High Comm
So yesterday we hauled back to the High Comm and dropped off the right birth cert and then I wound up walking all the way home. This was because first I thought I'd go see if there were any dried shitake mushrooms on sale at Harvey Nic's food hall. But there weren't. Considered having sushi along with the other ladies who lunch there but decided balancing Bel on my lap on a high stool wouldn't be fun.

Then thought I'd check out the new Laduree tea room in Harrod's. Sze Liang and Debs were so nicely evil and brought over a box for us when they found out it opened so my appetite had been whet for macaroons.

I did and it was beautiful but I felt slightly too mussed up (crazy hair, backpack and sneakers) to sit down with the very well-dressed ladies who lunch and have a St Honore and cup of tea there (also tiny, tiny chairs).

Ooh but I found they also sell violet guimauve (marshmallows to the unposh)! I really wanted to try some when I was pregnant (but I must be honest, I was just greedy, it was not a craving) but could not find anywhere in London that sold proper French marhsmallows! Now I have! But they cost £4.80 a packet, dammit, so I decided I would have to come home, and eat all the junk food already in the house before I could even begin to justify buying a packet.

Anyway then thought I would settle for a Krispy Kreme and coffee but a big family had taken all the seats the at the Krispy Kreme counter, so wound up wandering further and further down the road, checking out and discarding options for lunch (Eat: don't like their sandwiches; Pret: no seats or only bar stools to perch on; Costa: annoying Japanese girls taking 10 years to choose a damn sandwich; Patisserie Valerie: no seats).

Finally wound up in a cafe near South Ken having a toasted bacon and cheese sandwich and banana milkshake while waiting for the well baby clinic to begin in our GP's practice.

91st percentile!
After lunch we went to weigh baby and found she is now 6.5kg and in the 91st percentile for her age! The health visitor, Janet, said she was delighted and that the feeding was obviously going well. It seemed churlish to then ask if I should maybe stop eating so much cake.

Baby is also 58.5 cm long, in the 25th-51st percentile, and Janet thinks the redness on her cheeks is not so much acne as just dry skin. Which would explain why showering her seems to exacerbate it. She also recommended a new moisturiser for her face - epaderm - and gave me a sample to try. It feels even more oily than E45 cream, which is what we've been using, and smells better. Will report on how it goes.

Bye-bye full pay
This is the last week in which I will have full pay for being on maternity leave, boo hoo. Must stop having lunches outside at will after this.

10 wks+

Royal China
Alex had Thursday off, so we slept in with baby and then got up and went for dim sum at Royal China (no queue!) and then the China: The Three Emperors exhibit at the Royal Academy.

The tickets cost a bomb! £11 each. It was worth it for the scrolls of miniature paintings and some of the costumes (amazing embroidery) and objects on display, but I was slightly disappointed over the fact that there were quite few objects and a lot of paintings and calligraphy instead. It's quite hard to concentrate on reading the translations and all look at the detail in paintings (especially miniatures) when you're also reckoning with a squirming baby. Bel didn't like it as much as the photography exhibit.

Also, I guess the paintings and calligraphy don't seem so unique when you can think 'Hey that looks like the scroll we have back home in the hall.' My favourite pieces were an ink stone and a priest's costume but they, sadly, don't feature on the website so no pictures.

Bel was very good for most of it. She started fussing a bit in the middle, though, which was quite funny because you could hear her squalls echoing down the long halls amid the quiet and reverent whispers from the other visitors, 90% of whom were old-age pensioners.

I finally stopped and sat on one of the stools provided in a corner to feed her, using the pram as a sort of blind to shield her from view. Worked quite well and I was really happy no one complained.

We took the tube there so I finally got over my paranoia of taking her on public transport. The journey went fine, particularly after I eyed up every passenger and decided the only person even vaguely likely to be a bomber was unlikely to be scratching the side of his nose in the moments before the big event.

We're on a roll
Then Friday we visited Liss in Queen's Park. She cooked lunch, baby slept a while on her sofa and we watched Zatoichi. I really hope babe can't understand, much less see anything on a tv five feet away. V violent but also so funny.

Afterwards, since we went back by bus, I popped by Selfridges' food hall - didn't realise it was so delightful - and bought some sashimi to have chirashi sushi for dinner. Mmm.

And today was another big day out for Bel. First a belated birthday lunch with Weify at Yauatcha (which had lovely staff, was quite pleasantly only half-full at noon and no one objected when I had to feed her halfway through), and then off to hang around Liverpool Street while we waited for baby's Yiyi (sister of her mother) to arrive from her writing assignment in Lyon. Then, finally, home sweet home. I guess next week I should stay in a bit more.

Yiyi is here
Been quite impressed with my sister's ability to pick baby up confidently. And she's bought her some really cute birds. Never mind that baby has seven months to go before she's able to appreciate them fully. I suppose I'll overlook her constant reference to my daughter as "fatty" seeing as that's what I've called her most of her life even though she stopped being plump at about two. Plus she brought three bottles of wine with her from Lyon. Hmm maybe we can dump baby with her and go watch a movie after all, heh heh.

Breastfeeding in public
So. I've done it in restaurants, cafes and in an exhibition. All experiences so far good. I think breastfeeding baby in public is GO.

9 wks+

Baby's first exhibition
Dragged her to the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit today, as an excuse to check out their Christmas fair, which turned out to be quite disappointing, except for one stall that sold made-to-order rocking horses. The horses were beautiful but so obviously expensive I didn't even bother asking how much they cost. Wow I just found them here; they do cost a bomb!

Anyway baby woke up as I entered the exhibition hall, so I decided she might as well make use of her free under-five ticket and look at the pictures too. Took her out of her baby carrier and built another level of bicep muscles lugging her round for the half hour or so we took.

She seemed to enjoy herself though, and looked at everything I looked at with as much interest. She particularly seemed to like these two pictures of a bear and a volcano by Hans Wolkers and Olivier Grunewald respectively and kept trying to look at them even after I walked on. Her attention only started flagging in the last 10 minutes or so. I'm guessing it's because her neck was getting tired due to her inability to look left for some reason. Then she sat quiet as a lamb as we watched some of the previous years' pictures they were screening as well.

Wasted all that good work hauling her around by having a chocolate and pistachio cone on the way back. A good day.

She anticipates!
Alex was playing with her, touching her nose with his finger and she just started chuckling when he did and then I noticed she was chuckling even at the approach of his finger - haha baby can predict! Clever babe.

Note to self: I am not Martha Stewart
Looking at my attempt to hem the edges of the slits on my home-made breastfeeding top, the scales are falling from my eyes. I may be a stay-at-home mom with an autumn bouquet on the table, but I am still crap at hemming - even with fabric glue and ribbon. Maybe I would have fared better with a needle and thread, but I don't think so. Am going back to my punk slashed t-shirt look.