Not too much new to report on the developmental side of things.
She’s eating almost the exact same things as us now save for the few things that aren’t right for her age (strawberries, honey, nuts, etc…) but she like chicken curry, olives, and salmon to name a few.
She’s seems to be more on her feet than on her knees these days. The hubby is sure that she will be walking within the next week and a half (her first birthday if you do the math).
Other than that, she’s seen and felt snow which she didn’t like that much, she seems to be getting a little more of a temper these days and we’re on day 5 of completely being finished breastfeeding. No turning back now.
I’m looking forward to her first Christmas in just 2 short days.
Oh it felt good to sleep in. We almost missed breakfast time as we stayed in bed for so long.
We spent the day beside the pool soaking up the heat (Switzerland is now in the cool 11/12 degree range) and trying to stay in the shade.
My sister-in-law and I had been wanting to go into Hurghada to check it out and do some shopping. I really didn’t want to bring the wee babe with us as all she would want to do is breast feed, probably cry and want only me so I wanted to leave her with my hubby (he was ok with that) when we went. But due to the heat and the timing we decided to go altogether and take her along. My SIL also wanted to experience an Egyptian restaurant (rather than the resort food) and I couldn’t blame her but with the wee babe’s witching hour being right at dinner time, I felt it was a better idea if we parted ways and the hubby, tweenager, wee babe and I head back to the resort and the in-law’s head out for dinner.
My sister-in-law had been talking with the guy whom we bought the snorkeling trip off of. It seemed that he had a 3 hour city tour that he could hook us up with for cheap. Ali is his name. My SIL wasn’t totally sure we should pay the price as she felt we were going to get ripped off if we went this route but with 7 people it’s probably better than trying to organize it with taxis plus we didn’t know what to expect in Hrughada.
We walked out to the area where we were supposed to meet him. It all felt a little sketch.
He showed up in a van/bus. It was the most ricketyist thing you’ve ever seen. I asked if there were seat belts (the wee babe was in her car seat of course). He said no but assured me it was safe. I told him we needed seat belts at least for the wee babe. He said it was fine, and it was totally safe. Everyone was looking at me to decide what was going to happen here… were we going to go without seat belts, or were our family going to head back to the resort and let the in-laws go have fun. I spoke harshly and said that accidents happen all the time and there’s no way to know when and where it’s going to happen so I didn’t want to take the chance. Ali then said that he would get a taxi for us with a seat belt. The pressure was too much and I began to cry.
A few minutes later a taxi drove up. I got in the back seat and the hubby put the baby beside me and then we realized that the female part of the seat belt wasn’t there. I said there wasn’t a seat belt. The taxi driver then proceeded to tell me it was safe, no worries. By this point I was freakin’ done. I tried to get out of the back seat and the taxi driver put his arm up in my way. Oh no you don’t!!! I yelled out NO! and grabbed the baby (with car seat) and started walking back to the decrepid van that held the rest of our family while my hubby (much more rational than I) was fishing out the seat belt. I was yelling my SIL’s name and waving my arms. “I’m outta here” I kept thinking and then I heard my hubby yell that he got it out and we could continue into town now.
Sigh…
So I get back in, the wee babe get’s strapped in, and off we go. Immediately, the wee babe starts crying. From what I understand, the city of Hurghada is only 10 mins away so she’s ok to cry for 10 mins. Well, the taxi driver starts to get a bit antsy… asking why she’s crying. Asking if there’s anything we can do to make her stop… pointing to his boob and asking if she breast feeds… So he thinks that turning up his Arab music is going to help. Really? By this point, I was completely frazzled. I stuck my boob in her mouth to shut her up and just sobbed in the back seat.
We finally made it to town.
We did some shopping and got right ripped off. You see, there are no price tags in Egypt. Everything is negotiable. So the tour guide brought us to the shops that he knows the vender. What I’m sure that happens is the vender and him have an agreement that if he brings the tourists there, the vender will give him a cut. So we paid way too much because we didn’t shop around and see if there could have been better prices. Which there were.
Oh and the whole while the wee babe wanted to breast feed and she cried for only me. It was awesome.
My SIL was pissed. She said that we could have taken a taxi into town for way less and not got ripped off. She’s right. Lesson learned. Do it yourself next time. The only thing is that we didn’t know what downtown Hurghada was like so it was impossible to know ahead of time that we could have done it ourselves.
By the time we got back to the hotel, I was spent and couldn’t wait to go to bed.
Tomorrow will be our last day in Egypt and if you can believe it, the only person who didn’t get Montezuma’s Revenge was the wee babe, thankfully.
In Egypt it’s sun all the time. ALL. THE. TIME. And the other cool thing is that it’s really close to the equator so the sun rises and sets at roughly 6am and 6pm every day. All year. That’s pretty cool in my opinion. Although I wonder if that makes it kinda boring and predictable. When I was talking with one of the guides, I asked him if he had ever left Egypt. His reply was no. I asked him if he could go one place, where would it be. He said he has always wanted to see snow. Imagine that for a minute. Always seeing the sun in it’s predictability… I can completely understand why he would want to see snow. I would LOVE to see the look on his face when he first encounters snow.
We began the morning at 5:15am when we were picked up from our hotel to drive to Luxor. The bus was a “private modern air conditioned vehicle” as described on the website. Marmoud would be our guide until we got to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings about 3.5 hours away.
The bacteria from the food or water (not sure exactly what it was as we were being so freakin’ careful!!) had gotten to the hubby and the tweenager but not too badly. I was a bit worried for the tweenager though as she had been sick during the night and I wasn’t exactly sure how she would do for a 3+ hour drive. Turned out that she did not too badly and was feeling a lot better as time went on.
We said goodbye to Marmoud and hello to our new guide Marmoud. It was an easy transition.
When we got to the Valley of the Kings, it was HOT and probably around 11am. I had begun to feel a little of what the hubby and tweenager had… So I decided to hit the bathroom. My first experience with paying to use the toilet (on this trip). We paid the 1 Egyptian pound per person and got our 5 squares of toilet paper. Hint for those traveling to Egypt: take some extra toilet paper in your backpack in case you might need it as they don’t supply it in the bathrooms.
Our guide was both English and French speaking but the majority of us could speak French so he spoke mainly in French. The bits and pieces that I didn’t understand I asked him or the hubby or the tweenager to translate. My father-in-law and sister-in-law both helped me as well. What was great was that I had watched a bunch of youtube videos before we left on Egypt so I knew a lot of what he was telling them.
The Valley of the Kings is simply amazing. There is a replica of the valley and where all the tombs (which are under the ground) are placed. There were 3 tombs available to go into and view the hieroglyphics and construction. The most unfortunate part was that we weren’t able to bring in our cameras to take any photos. Unfortunate for us but if everyone was taking flash photos of the hieroglyphs then then would surely dim to nothing after a while. As it was, we weren’t able to get a guided tour of them inside the tombs as the perspiration and condensation from people’s breath was wrecking them.
As we walked through the tombs it was very powerful to see the chambers, the art work, imagining the people creating this masterpiece in the ground thinking that no one would ever be able to see it again. It’s simply amazing how the Ancient Egyptians believed so strongly in the after life. It was almost more important than the living life. They would store their furniture, 365 little figurines to be their servants (one for every day of the year), food, jewelry, organs, etc… as they believe that these things were needed in the next life. It fascinates me. Probably one of the reasons it was always a dream for me to go there.
But it was so hot. I was carrying the wee babe in our Ergo but that was too hot for her so we carried her in our arms. I was getting a little concerned about the intake of water she was getting as she was drinking breast milk but I wasn’t sure enough was going in for the amount she was sweating. It also didn’t help when my hubby told me that he overheard someone else speaking French saying “I can’t believe they brought their baby here in this heat.” I told him that he should have replied for them to mind their own business.
After we left there (things were getting worse for me in a bathroom sort of way) we headed to an Alabaster factory. That was nice to see them making pots and different items by hand. We bought a few things and headed out again.
Next stop was Hatshepsut’s temple. Now it was probably about 1pm. H.O.T. That coupled with no food since breakfast at 7am – I wasn’t feeling great. It’s definitely impressive to see but I think I missed out on some of the background story as it was said in French and my concentration was lacking a little.
Then lunch. Thank god. We had brought so much water but it was all probably 20+ degrees hot by this point so I was craving some nice refreshing water and the restaurant didn’t let me down. The food was quite good as well, being sure to stay away from the uncooked veggies.
Back in the van and off to the other side of Luxor where we visited the Karnak Temple. The sun was going down at this point so the photos we took of the architecture there were stunning compared to the photos we got during the middle of the day. I’ve seen photos and video of this place but it’s much more impressive in real life. You just can’t help but wonder how this ancient civilization (with no modern technology) could build something so immense. How much time it would have taken them… When you walk amongst the pillars and take in the immenseness of the obelisks, it’s enough to make you stop and catch your breath a little.
Back into the van and off to the hotel. This hotel was even better than the one we were staying in. This one had three restaurants, a spa tub/shower with jets in the tub and one’s on the side of the wall of the shower. The toilet was like a little spa for your ass. No kidding, there was heat, massage, spray, dry… The only thing was it was broken. So no ass spa for me
By this point though I was spent. All I wanted to do was crawl into the bathtub, turn on the jets and let the day wash away. Unfortunately, the hubby and I had a communication breakdown and he took the tweenager to the pool with the rest of the family and left me for 1.5+ hours waiting for him to come back with barely any water to drink. By the time he got back, I was fairly upset as the baby hadn’t gone to sleep once and needed to breast feed the whole time and I wasn’t feeling top notch either by that point.
We headed down for Italian after I had a bath and then we headed up to bed. The bed was WONDERFUL in the hotel but we had yet another early wake up call (5am) and at around roughly 3am I found myself hugging the ass spa.
Day 2 we will spend visiting the doctor, the Pyramids, two flights and some interesting shopping.
This post isn’t going to be the usual rainbows and buttercups that I post.
For the past 2+ weeks now, the wee babe has changed up her sleeping routine from sleeping through the night to waking 5-6 times a night.
I’m going absolutely bonkers. Last night she woke up 6 times I think between the hours of 12am – 6am.
She sleeps in her own bed/playpen. Nothing has changed about that. But what has changed is that we don’t let her cry now as much when she wakes up as we’re apartment living and we don’t want to wake up the entire building. So we let her cry for about a minute but that’s it. I’m too afraid after that that the entire building will get a letter outlining the quiet times… Aimed directly at us of course.
When she cries, I’m too tired to stand up and rock with her to try and quiet her down so the hubby picks her up and gives her to me in bed and I nurse her. Then after I’ve fallen asleep for a bit I wake up and put her (fast asleep) back into bed.
Plus she’s teething like a mad-woman. She had 6 teeth up until about 2 weeks ago and now she has 8 and I’m not totally sure if a 9th is coming in. 9 TEETH! Breastfeeding is becoming more and more dangerous by the hour. Especially since she likes to chomp down on me when she is teething.
Speaking of breastfeeding, I’m probably attached to her for 12 out of the 24 hours in a day. Come on now – she’s 8 months old!
It was a full moon here the other night so I understand that can do crazy things to people but this has gone on entirely too long (maybe not for her but definitely for me).
We’ve tried amber teething necklaces, Oragel, Tylenol, a bottle just before bed to top her up… nothing keeps her asleep.
I think what used to happen is that she would wake up in the middle of the night, put her fingers in her mouth and then go back to sleep. But for some reason, now she’s replaced her fingers with me. And I think we’ve officially started another nighttime habit.
I also have been reading that when they are trying to master a new milestone, they like to wake up and practice that. And since she has definitely been trying more and more to stand up on things, it makes sense that she wants to do this in her bed.
Ugh! I can’t take it anymore! Someone tell me this is just a phase that she’s going through and after the teething and the mastering of cruising, she will once again return to my well rested baby.
My mommy is coming soon to visit… hopefully she will have some good strategies for me. She did for the tweenager
Tonight’s blog is written from a raw place in my heart. Tonight my wee babe went for her first ever sleepover to my in-law’s place. We’re doing this as a trial for her (and me) to see how it goes and get her used to sleeping at their house as we have two upcoming weddings that we are attending and if you know anything about Swiss weddings, they go until around 4 am. No kidding.
So today has been heavy day. All day long I’ve known that around 6pm, I need to part ways with my wee babe and hand her over to her very capable grandparents. I’ve been dreading it. Not because I’m worried about them but because I’m worried about her and how much I know it’s me who can sooth her when everyone else can’t. And trust me, there are times every night that she gets fussy and it’s only me who can calm her down. So what’s she going to do? Explode? I guess in my head, I’ve maybe built it up to be something like that.
So we drop her off. Hugs, snuggles, cuddles, one last breast feed, one last smile, one last giggle. And as we leave she makes a little whine and I make a little whine, knowing that I’m not going to see her until tomorrow and knowing that she doesn’t know that or know what’s in store for her.
I miss her immediately. I don’t know why I’m feeling this way as I’ve already done this once before when my tweenager was a baby but I guess I forget about how I’ve already passed these feelings 11 years ago.
We head home (the 3 of us) and we have dinner. All through dinner I’m thinking about her. But I don’t say anything to my family as I don’t want to seem ridiculous and lame to them. Immediately following dinner I ask my hubby to call his parents and see how she is. Something inside of me is saying don’t listen in case she’s crying. I just don’t think I can take it. And wouldn’t you know it, she is crying.
I think maybe the hardest part was the fact that everything that was said about how she was feeling was said in French, so I’m constantly asking my hubby, what did they say? What’s going on? Did she eat the carrots? Did she drink her bottle? Are her pajama’s on? And the lag in translation was killing me. It seriously was all too much for me and I broke down. Come on. Let’s be honest here. We all knew it was going to happen anyway from the beginning of this story.
We take a break and call them back in a bit. And she’s still crying. At this point I’m wondering if maybe it was too early for her (and me). Should we go over there and pick her up? What am I feeling about that? A failure? What’s going to happen on Saturday night when I NEED them to look after her? Am I just being a pussy and over reacting? Maybe I just need a good cry.
And then she stops. Ok, she stopped enough for the tweenager to break into “Baby Beluga” and wouldn’t you know it, she’s looking for the voice that’s coming from the computer. (By the way, we’re skyping so we can see her but we haven’t turned on our camera so we don’t scar her by seeing us.) She was still a bit whiny and so I decided to add my voice to Baby Beluga but when I started singing it, more tears came. Then the hubby started crying so that got me going even more (I might be crying while I write this). Then the part in the song where they say “Is your momma home…” I can’t even get through it without crying. The look in her eyes is priceless. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them so huge since I’ve known here. Like the cat in Shrek. Come pick me up, their beckoning to me.
So she was still a bit whiny and standing up usually solves this for her. Sit down = she cries. Stand up = she stops. Go figure, it’s pretty annoying. So I make a joke to papinou (grandpa) why don’t you stand up, dance and sing to the little angel. I feel like we’ve told them all the little quirks that make her happy so what’s one more thing. Hold her like this so her fingers are free so she can put them in her mouth, stand up, sing to her, dance, flap your arms in the air, do some jumping jacks, etc… you get the idea.
Papinou get’s up and throws on a dance CD. Where’d her get that from? And on top of it, it has graphics for the TV too so the wee babe is transfixed. He puts down the computer so we can see him holding her, dancing. It’s freaking AWESOME! The tears are gone, and now I’m smiling from ear to ear. No more tears from anyone – my face actually hurt from the smiling and laughing. We’re laughing and the wee babe is dancing with papinou to some crazy disco song. Oh man. Then the tweenager grabs the flip mino and get’s almost all of it on video. I need to get papinou to sign the release forms first before I can post this on YouTube though. Stand by.
The song is over and we decide to leave on a good note. Papinou is moved to tears which gets the hubby crying again which sends me into another blubblerfest. Enough said.
Was I ready? I think so. Just on the edge of it. I might have been pushed a little bit due to a wedding or two but I think it was the right time for her. I’ve always prided myself on the fact that the tweenager has been able to sleepover at anybody’s house. Anybody. And I attribute that to the fact that she slept over at people’s houses from a very young age. Very young. So shouldn’t I be trying the same thing with the wee babe then if I want the same results? I think so. It’s just so damn hard. She’s so little and I HATE to see her cry even for a minute. It breaks my heart when I know that I can make it stop if she’s just with me. But whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger right? I’m sure she’s not going to die over there tonight so she can only be stronger.
Bon nuit ma beaute. Fait de beaux reve. Jusqu’a matin. I can’t wait to see you in the morning.
Last night was a rough night. Normally my wee babe wakes up 1-2 times a night. Lately it’s been 4 and I’m not used to this. It’s pissing me off to be honest with you.
My hubby and I have been trying something new for the last week. We’ve been bathing her, reading her a story, breastfeeding her and then bed time. Bath, book, boob, bed. And every night she’s gone to sleep at the breast but that’s it until around 12 or 1 where she wakes up and feeds and goes back to sleep for an undetermined amount of time.
Tonight, completely different. Bath, book, boob, bed, crying, boob, bed, sleeping, boob, bed, crying…this all started at 7pm and now it’s 10:10pm and she’s crying. My husband says “leave her and let her cry”.
What is it that make men and women so different where they can tune out their desperate pleas, but for the mamas, it’s like nails on a chalkboard. No wait, that’s more of an irritating sound and this is a more sad, and well, desperate sound.
I’ll let you know how it goes…
It’s 6:55am and… She went to bed finally around 10:40pm and slept until 6:00am!! This just validates it even more for me that there is no rhyme or reason for night time sleeping/waking.
Why do some nights they sleep all the way through, and other nights wake up 4+ times?????
Well in good form I’m starting out my first official blog talking about barf.
First let me tell you why these spit up showers are a little worrisome. The wee babe has had an issue every since she was born with gaining weight. It’s been sloooooooooooooow to almost non-existent.
She started out her first month sleeping. I mean sleeping. She woke up once in the middle of the night if that. When she would breastfeed, she would fall asleep about 4 mins after starting. I would tickle, change her diaper, and I even resorted to getting a facecloth wet with cold water and lightly wiping her body with it. She slept.
When she hit the one month mark she woke up a bit. By this time the midwives had put me on Domparadone and threats of supplementation were a future thought. And then she started gaining. Albeit slowly.
I must mention she was a soother kind of gal too. Oh and barf baths are her specialty – especially on me.
At 2 months and 2 weeks she got her first set of shots. Born at 9lbs 3oz she now weighed 10lbs 14oz. Not even 2 pounds in 2.5 months. Two weeks later I brought her to Baby Talk and weighed her again. Eek! Still 10lbs 14oz. Instant tears. But this time I was a little more prepared for the formula talk. I spent 2 hours talking to a Public Health Nurse going over the story, answering question after question.
Coincidentally, the day before I had said “Enuf with the soother!” It wasn’t really soothing her anyway and so commenced the crying it out in the playpen in our room upon nap time. It was amazing how hard the first two days were. Now it’s mostly just protesting for 10-15mins. Oh and I must also mention that because of this (I think), the wee babe has learned to roll from her back to her front. I think that’s a little ahead of the game but I’m not comparing
So with the soother gone, more breastfeeding to soothe the babe, more barf baths to be had and low and behold more weight gained! One week later and we’re already up 6.5oz. I’m feeling a little more at ease.
I’m going to keep going how I’m going and my opinion is not to add in the formula yet; I think she’s just a slow gainer. I’ll still complain when I’m doused with curdled milk and 5 mins after getting dressed I’m getting dressed again but all her systems are working perfectly.
