Today... For Sure!

17 weeks and counting. That's how many weeks I am now pregnant with no. 2. And today was the first time that I confirmed baby's kicking! It was very exciting for me and it warms my heart to feel how tiny baby's hands and feet are. I can only feel 1-cm or so imprints. So precious.

Five months plus into the pregnancy and the issues related to early pregnancy have finally eased (though not completely subsided). I was extremely nauseous for the first four months, and car rides were especially tough. The nausea hit me initially at around noon everyday, then the timeslot changed, and it started from around 4pm and lasted to 8pm daily. Dinner was tortuous. Besides nausea, I also had days in the late afternoon when I could almost pass out while standing, from fatigue. If I sat in a chair during those bouts, I would fall into deep sleep in five seconds. I would be knocked out for 30-min or so, and would wake up fresh as a lark. Thankfully, that phase has passed too. It was probably because I cut out all caffeine (on top of raw fish, alcohol, soft cheeses, etc.) from my diet the moment I find out I'm pregnant. No coffee, no tea (except herb teas), minimal chocolate and no fizzy drinks. I went from three cups of strong coffee a day, to none at all. It must have contributed to my fatigue.

Chubbs has been extremely sweet and caring towards his unborn younger sibling; more so than I ever expected or could ask for. He's been sharing precious toy cars with baby by rolling the cars over my belly. He also thinks that my belly button is the portal through which he can reach baby. So he hi-fives very gently and kisses my belly button to get to baby. It's endearing and I'm really proud of kor-kor.

My tummy is getting bigger as I type and I reckon I'll be way bigger than when I carried Chubbs. Everything seems to be moving so fast, and I can't believe how the months have flown by. But I'm thankful for the month of school holidays for Chubbs, as this is the last chance I'll be able to devote all my energy to him, and provide him with undivided attention and unlimited play time before baby arrives in end Oct/ early Nov. Don't think I'll be as energetic or mobile once the third trimester strikes. It's already getting more and more difficult to carry all 16kg of Chubbs around. But we'll take each day as it comes, and the focus now is just to take care of my health and nutrition to have the healthiest baby possible.

Taken almost a month back, on Mothers' Day.

Biscuits and Gravy

Fuzzy received more than a quarter of his education in Indiana, and has developed a penchant for burritos the size of your biceps, burgers with half-pound patties and peanut butter (yucky to me) smeared all over, chili con carne with corn bread, foot-long hot dogs with relish, vats of fries, and of course, the Southern favourite, biscuits and gravy.

He's been bugging me for years now, to make him a huge batch of fluffy biscuits with thick sausage gravy. I've been putting it off all this time because frankly, I don't quite see the appeal of eating butter-rich, starchy biscuits with flour-thickened mystery-meat gravy poured all over. At this point, Fuzzy would say, "But, that's just you." Anyway, I'm done procrastinating, and to get Fuzzy off my back, I set my mind to make it our Sunday lunch this past weekend. I looked at some biscuit recipes (very similar to that of a scone) and came up with a recipe that I thought would work best. As for the gravy, I sort of eyeballed it, and it turned out well.

The result? The biscuits were fluffy, moist and surprisingly didn't weigh me down like a brick. They were so good that I'm contemplating making them on a weekly basis for Saturday breakfasts. I managed to put two biscuits away, but Fuzzy valiantly wolfed four down. I wasn't so crazy on the gravy, even though Fuzzy loved it. Nonetheless, we've definitely maxed out our calories for the day.

Biscuits My Way

Ingredients:-

2 cups plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/4 cup Greek/ plain yogurt

1/2 cup milk

115g cold butter

Method:-

1) Preheat oven to 220 degrees C.

2) Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Mix in sugar.

3) Work in cubes of cold butter with the tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Do not overwork the dough.

4) Stir the milk and yogurt well together, before adding to the mixture.

5) Knead the dough until all the liquid is absorbed.

6) Line a pan with parchment paper.

7) Pat out the dough till 1/2-inch thick and cut with a 2-inch biscuit cutter. Place biscuits on pan and bake for about 12 minutes or until slightly golden on top.

These biscuits are great with jam, preserves or honey for breakfast; as I plan to do with the leftovers. And feel free to make them more savoury by adding a big handful of grated Parmesan or aged Cheddar in the dough before baking; those would go perfectly with an ice-cold mug of beer. Cheers to the ultimate Southern comfort food!

Feeding Himself

People ask me all the time, "Why don't you let him feed himself? He's so old already!" Fact is, I do. But he just won't get very much eating done, which to me, defeats the purpose of the meal itself. Unless it's one which comprises wholly of ice-cream, chocolate, cookies, biscuits, cheese and fruit; he would gladly wolf everything down before the minute is up. But give him a bowl of rice with chicken and broccoli? Forget it!

But of late, I've been trying to make him as many yummy meals as possible, that hold a slim chance of him actually being willing to pick up the spoon and put food in his mouth. Managed to get a few shots of his drinking his morning milk (usually a chore to get him to drink) and eating a hearty meal of chicken, carrot and potato stew. I was very happy that night.

Real Play-Doh

I know this makes my son sound super deprived. But truth is, he has never played with Play-Doh until very recently. What I've done in the past is literally home-make play dough for him out of flour, salt and water; and he was perfectly happy with that. But his eyes lit up when I popped open an actual jar of Play-Doh (these kids know the good stuff). And that one small tub of Doh kept him occupied for more than half and hour in his high-chair.

More Kiddie Menu Ideas

Chubbs has a new favourite dinner. Pasta with Barilla's bottled pasta sauce, which has zucchini, aubergine/ eggplant, carrots, celery, onions and tomatoes. I used to turn my nose up on bottled sauces, but this one is fabulous because he gets veggies that I don't use often. Check the sodium content of any bottled sauces and make sure there's no MSG, starch, preservatives, etc. I serve a big bowl of this either with some grilled chicken, a substantial piece of cheese, or just on its own. But always with a huge splash of the best extra virgin olive oil.

Macaroni with Barilla zucchini and aubergine pasta sauce and 1 chopped up grilled honey-soy chicken drumstick. He finished it and had a bowl of watermelon for fruit.

Another meal that's always a favourite of Chubbs is soba noodles in miso soup. Fuzzy searched the supermarket to find an instant miso soup base that doesn't contain MSG. I whipped up his dinner in 10min. And thankfully for me, Chubbs loves frozen mixed veggies.

Grilled chicken thigh with soba noodles, miso soup and frozen mixed vegetables. After finishing his meal, he had watermelon for fruit and as a treat, a frozen juice pop.

Pizza margherita with cherry tomatoes. His fruit with dinner was a bowl of grapes.

Pizza has a weird bad rap for being unhealthy and it's often labelled as junk; something which I can't understand why. It's basically bread + tomato puree/ paste + cheese. I guess if you put oily toppings like salami, pepperoni or both on, then yes it turns out rather greasy. But I keep it very simple and healthy. I often just spread a piece of wholemeal bread with tomato paste and put a handful of grated mozzarella on, toast or bake until the cheese is thoroughly melted and slightly golden brown, and serve with tomatoes on the side and fruit. Or I'll order extra plain cheese or four cheese pizza when we eat at a pizzeria, and freeze the leftovers for Chubbs' instant dinners. Easy peasy... as Chubbs likes to say.

4 Months to 3!

I was lunching with good friend, S, recently, and she commented that it was so surreal that in just a few months, we would be mothers to three years olds. Her elder boy, A, is only a couple of months younger than Chubbs, and we both agreed that we never expected this day to come so soon. Time just seemed to have flown by.

Life with Chubbs is still pretty much the same; I'm constantly thinking of ways to make his days interesting, educational and fun-filled. Because school is only three hours for him on weekdays, the majority of the time is still spent at home with me. So some days I'll bring him for playdates at his friends', some days swimming (but he hasn't done this is a long time because of a persistent cough, and lots of phlegm), he comes along for supermarketing, etc. It's rather exhausting for me because he has boundless energy, and goes for 12 hours or more straight, without a nap. And it still takes him an hour before falling asleep at night. And he does all this without mid-afternoon temper-tantrums, no crankiness; I guess this is what makes my little bub somewhat special.

Cheers to my ball of energy, and Mommy and Daddy are proud of you everyday.

On the way for a swim.

Early morning shot.

"Ma Ma, Wo Ai Ni!"

I got my first Mothers' Day present from Chubbs this year. And when he presented it, he even said , "Ma ma, wo ai ni!" And it's the first Mandarin sentence I've ever heard him say. I turned to mush and gave him the longest hug I could. Even though the teachers in school helped him with this project, it's still way precious to me. Happy Mothers' Day to all mummies out there!

Drawings

Little Chubbs spends a large part of his day either drawing on his doodle boards or using his crayons on his easel to practise writing and coloring. He's been able to write his full name, my name, the alphabet and all the numbers for a while now, but of late, I've noticed that his art has taken more shape.

He followed the instructions and drew a fabulous Little Einsteins' rocket.

According to him, this is a rocket that has just blasted off (depicted by the flames at the bottom), and in the windows are, "Daddy, Mommy and me."

This is a sad whale that is swimming in the sea.