Holland - Day 4: Driving Northeast

The drive to our chosen holiday park at the De Heuttenheugte, Drente turned out to be rather pleasant. And, even though the kids refused to nap in the car, they held themselves pretty well till the end of the day.

We got in to the park just several hours earlier prior to their mandated 3pm check-in schedule. While waiting about, we hung out at the main recreational area, called the Market Dome, for a bit of a look-see. The entire park was pretty huge with acres and acres of land, and fitted with more than 400 bungalows ranging from a 2 bedroom to a 4 bedroom villas.

When we could finally check-in and got everything sorted out, it was time for the kid’s to go off to Sleepyland.  They both had their own rooms and, while Squirt went down without a peep, it was harder to convince Spud to sleep in yet another strange bed without any lights on. It was a battle not worth having, and so for the next 4 nights at Centre Parcs, Spud slept in a room as bright as the daylight!

With the kids all fast asleep by 6.30pm, we spent a boring but nice quiet evening (it was really, really quiet!) resting on the couch and watching TV. I hardly moved after that, and blended in nicely with the brownish-orange couch. (I hurt my back badly earlier on in the day from carrying Squirt too much.  Every movement hurt so bad and I was in pain for at least 5 more days!)   

Going to a holiday bungalows such as this and the one we went to De Lommerbergen a few years ago, is just something the Dutch do all the time. It is more of a Dutch thing, more than anything else.

Here’s a snapshot of our then-temporary home:

Exterior view of the bungalow (Source: CenterParc's website)

Living room, dining area, kitchen and path to Master bedroom

Living Room and Fireplace

More information on the park can be found here.

Holland - Day 1 to 3: Chilling

The afternoon flight from Bangkok to Amsterdam got us to our destination at slightly after 8.30 pm on a Thursday night - 2 hours past the kids’ bedtime. They both were so knackered that they nodded off almost instantly the moment they were belted-into their respective car seats. They didn’t bother with any protests when we put them to their newly assigned beds after their shower.

Jet-lagged was to be expected. Both Spud and Squirt were restless throughout the night and between the both of them, they probably woke us up 10x that very first night.

I can’t quite recall what we did in the first few days and with nothing actually planned for the first few days we were there, we took it real slow.  We did things on the fly. To fight off jet-lag and to get ourselves synched in with the new rhythm of time, we do anything and possibly everything we could to keep us awake;  one of which included giving the kids their first professional haircut on the first morning we were there. At a professional salon.

Spud took it like a champ – she sat still throughout the entire session and listened to instructions well. Although she did not like the sound of the hair-dryer too much (scary, she said!), I think that she enjoyed the overall experience!

Squirt in the meantime, cried his bloody guts out. He hated the clippers and screamed bloody murder for the entire 5 minute hair-cut. Good thing that the lady who cut his hair was unfazed. In all honesty, I don’t think any hairdresser in Bangkok would be very willing to give a hair-cut to a wailing baby. (I didn’t have the heart to snap a picture of a stressed out, over-stimulated, over-tired and jet-lagged baby…)

We had some visitors over the next few days, and the kids have, once again been able to meet their great-grandparents who are already approaching 90 years old. It was really heart-warming to see them interacting together.

While we had spent most of our time chilling out, we also got busy with a little preparation that needed to be done for a trip to a holiday bungalow in the Northern part of Holland for the week to come.  This time, the drive to the holiday bungalow was only an hour-half long; not half as long as the previous one we went to.

This would be the first time in which the four of us would be spending our time together in a foreign and strange place all by ourselves, with no additional pair of hands to help us out for more than 3 straight days…

The thought of putting the kids to 4pm every day and only releasing them from their respective bedrooms after 8am was extremely appealing…

The one with pumped milk...

...has now officially retired.

DONE.

FINITO.

NO MORE, NO MORE, NO MORE, NO MORE. (singing to the tune of Ray Charles’ Hit the Road Jack)

So, yeah! As of mid-April 2013, almost 10.5 months since Squirt was born, I hit the road. I did my very last 3-minute pumping session and I packed away the pump. This time, for good. My pumping career is now officially and truly over.

And with that, a massively shrunken pair of boobs. (something which I am not particularly happy about. Pout. Pout.) Plus, accompanied by the pesky monthly menstruation 2 week later! (something which I am sure I am happy to do without!)

I introduced Stage 2 formula into pumped breast milk rather unwillingly before Squirt turned 10 months old with much chagrin. He seemed OK when his milk was mixed with formula, but did not quite like it if was given a 100% formula milk. Well…at least initially. Eventually, he took it all without complains.

Pumping has been a daunting task since day 1, but I am absofuckinlutely proud of myself for being able to exclusively feed Squirt with pumped breast milk for almost 8 solid months (just about 1.5 months longer than I had done it with Spud) and 10 full months of exclusive breast milk since Day 1 despite being a busy working mom.  (ahem! If I may say so…)

TEN. Ten freaking months of pumping ritual, day in-day-out, several times a day. It was tough, it was hard work, it was relentless and above all, a pain-in-the-butt.

Nevertheless, I am glad that I stuck to my guns, and ploughed along. I got used to the routine pretty quickly that I did not even bat an eye-lid when I had to pump (and that included pumping away at my desk with just a breastfeeding cover!)

When I stopped pumping for Spud 2 years ago, I remember having a mixed feeling about it – sad, but liberated.  Now that I’m truly done, I am feeling a little nostalgic about it. I remember feeling a little ache in my heart when I saw the last batch of frozen milk started to diminish.

Breastfeeding and pumping is a journey I would never ever go back to ever again, but for what it’s worth, I am glad I did what I did. Looking back, it was sheer determination to want to make it work. There were many highs and lows, and I still cannot believe that I managed such a feat. If you were to ask me if I’d do breastfeeding and pumping full-time again in my next life if I have to, I likely would say yes!

It was all a very humbling experience, and I am glad that I was able to do it and experience it all. This has been bittersweet.

Related post(s):
Retiring from pumping 1st time
Pumping Ritual
Pumping Grooving
Breast Pump Review: Medela

11 months

With only one month short of his first birthday, Squirt is now no longer that helpless little infant, and his growing independence have become more apparent by the day. He has mastered the art of stand, stoop and squat, and has even started to toddle along confidently with only one hand gripping our index fingers. In fact, our not-so-little Squirt took his very first, unassisted, few steps at just about 2 weeks before his 11^th month birthday while we were still in Holland.

The look on his face when he realised that he could actually walk …. priceless! He was so pleased with himself after every successful attempt towards unassisted walking that that could not stop smiling and laughing – clearly happy at his accomplishments. (I have been trying to shoot a decent video of him taking several steps, but so far have only managed a really, really short video)

Since then, has been busy toddling around and trying his darnest to perfect the art of walking. He is still a tad unstable, and often, tend to fall backwards like a tree being chopped, but I reckon, all he needs is practice, practice, practice. Like Spud, I guess he would know and learn when to let go when he is ready to.

So.

At 11 months, Squirt is more mobile than ever, babbles non-stop (even more than Spud ever did at that age!), enjoying gumming on biscuits, and yet, despite several bad nights and some other signs which may have pointed to him teething (drooling, bright red cheeks and chins, big and smelly poo, days that he did not really want to eat,  as well as crankier than usual…), Squirt, to date still has not cut any teeth! I know I shouldn't be worried and there is no reason to, but I cannot help wonder what the hell is taking those little teeth so long to cut through. I mean, come on already! Just pop - especially when he has been showing a lot of interest on the food we have on our plates.

Squirt is also learning to wave goodbye and, each time he successfully "waves" (he does it in a stiff, weird sort of way), he usually laughs heartily. It has been a pleasing sight to see a chuckling baby do simple things.

Apart from that, Squirt has been pretty apt in saying no by shaking his head vigorously. It has been a few times already that I thought I heard him say "Nee" (means "No" in Dutch and pronounced as "Nay") as he shook his head from side to side (But, I could also have been imagining it).

In exactly 31 more days, Squirt turns 1. And what a major milestone that would be!

Related post(s): 
Spud's 11 months update

Family vacation

Once upon a recent-time, I loudly and boldly declared that there was no way in hell I would ever want to travel with our two young kids. 

(Round about 3 months ago, I had “that phase feeling”  brewing and felt that it was necessary for us  get out of Thailand for a little bit, especially since I haven’t been out of the country in more than a year.  Around that time, we contemplated on the possibility of traveling out of Thailand as we did not quite want to be in Bangkok again for another Songkran. With more than 2 weeks of vacation-time available in our hands, it would only make sense to travel to somewhere further rather than Asia. And, with us now having to travel on a budget, going back to the Netherlands seemed like the ideal thing with free accommodation as an option. Still, the sheer thought of a plane journey with 2 little ones, be it short or long-haul, sent shivers down my spine.)

19 days ago, I have officially stuffed up both my feet in my mouth and shoved them into my throat. We took the plunge by hauling Spud (2 years, 8 months) and Squirt (only 10 months old) on an 11 hour flight journey to the Netherlands over the long Songkran holidays for our family vacation.

If anything, that explained the lack of posts on my blog.

For 17 days, we busied ourselves by being full-time parents. The plane ride was exhaustively tiring.  We have had our share of bad flights before and this time round, with double the potential chaos, we had hoped for the best and were mentally prepared for the worst. Forget about being able to do "big stuff" like watching one movie in full or even attempt to read the in-flight magazines, let alone a book...but thankfully, the bumps were nothing which we could not handle. Both flights, if anything were uneventful; in fact, it was even better than those flights we have had with Spud before.

Spud even made friends with an older kid who was only too willing to indulge her antics. She even made conversations with 2 other ladies that were seating almost next to her.

We did not get much sleep both ways with only 10 minutes to almost none on the way there and only a couple of hours on the way back.  While Spud managed to get a few hours of shut-eye camping out in her own seat as deemed what being comfortable means by her standard, Squirt has proven to be a lousy sleeper if he doesn’t get a bed. He refused to use the bassinet, cried bloody murder each time he was being put down that we took turns to carry him in our arms while he slept, or dunk him in the wrap after many, many attempts in trying to get him to sleep. He was so distracted by everything that it was almost impossible to get him to sleep. He was over-tired.

Other times when not sleeping, Squirt was just busy crawling and toddling on the floor – much to the chagrin of a few flight attendants and several fellow passengers.

For most part, both kids behaved surprisingly well throughout the entire trip. They both had their moments (of crankiness), but there certainly had been no major meltdowns.  Both kids seem to travel well. They adapted and adjusted pretty quickly, with minimal crying and temper tantrums. I even dare say that we had a splendid and an enjoyable holiday!

After more than 2 weeks away being in different places and strange beds, the kids (especially Spud) were showing signs that they were ready to be home. I am still a bit jet-lagged and feeling extremely bothered by the hot weather in Bangkok. I can't even think coherently to write one proper sentence but I promise to cover the places we ventured out as soon as I can.

Watch this space. Meantime, here are a few shots from Spud snoozing in the plane - try spotting her in the first few pictures.

Life to Her Years

There is so much warmth to this post from Life to Her Years

Public displays of affection (PDA) between parents are not the most common thing to do within the Asian culture. When I was growing up, there were hardly any adults who would callously be showing some form of affection to their partners in front of their kids. With parenting in the Asian culture, PDAs tend to be regarded as something outside of most people's comfort zone. It is just not done.

But.

I am a big advocate of hugs and kisses, and now that we have our own kids, I can relate to the above so much more. It certainly is  important that kids are able to see and feel the love  and respect their parents have for each other, and that as parents, we could only instill and nurture such gestures of warmth to add life to their years.

Eavesdropping Spud

Spud was due for another vaccination some time last month, and after the deed (which she cried really hard the moment the poke her with the needle), I thought I’d indulge her with us having dinner outside before we came home.

It was nothing fancy – I took her to a food court at the hospital, and for Spud, that in itself is a novelty as it eating out seemed like a treat as opposed to eating at home. Barely 5 minutes into her meal, she then decided that she had to go to the bathroom for a pee. I was a little surprised, given that she had already gone to the bathroom before we sat down at the food court - which was barely 5 minutes ago!

I couldn’t say no. With the toilet being quite a distance away, and given that there were only the two of us, there was no way we could leave our stuff (along with newly bought, almost untouched food) on the table to head out to the bathroom.

I didn’t want the cleaner to clean our table, and I was lucky to be able to inform one of the cleaners not to clean our table just yet before I rushed Spud to the toilet. To Spud’s credit, she peed.

We then walked back to the food court to finish off her meal. Barely another 5 minutes passed since we claimed our spot at the food court again , Spud announced that she very badly needed to poo. I asked if she could wait, but that was merely a rhetorical question.  Arrgggh!!!

Again, I couldn’t say no – but it was inconvenient to say the least. We had to leave her food twice in a span of 10 minutes! When she finally sat on the toilet, not 5 seconds had passed and Spud looked at me with her dopey eye and went, "Poo not coming anymore. Poo went back inside.”

This was the part when I wanted to bang my head against the toilet door. I couldn’t get angry, and couldn’t decide whether to laugh or to cry.

I choked a chuckle. I then hung my head in defeat…what’s a mother supposed to even say to that?!