First time playing in an indoor playground!

26 months old: 

• November 16:  What a week it has been!  Firstly, grandma arrived back from her 10-day trip and it has been a sigh of relief to have her back.  The difference of three adults taking care of one toddler versus two is quite the difference, but especially so when one of the adults has a high risk pregnancy and could go into labour at any time.  I’ve never taken my mom for granted in terms of the house chores and cooking and caretaking that she does for us, but am I so glad and grateful that we have her back.  Bb’s behaviour was starting to become a little different too in that she missed her grandma and was starting to ask about her every day either directly (“po po lei?” “Where is grandma?”) or commenting on where she was “po po dap jor fei gay hei hern gong”).  It’s getting colder out so we have been taking her outside to the playground less.  With two adults managing all the household tasks, we gave less undivided attention to her and she was starting to act up.  We really notice when she acts up and that’s when she’s not receiving some attention of some kind.  We understand what it’s like now for working parents who don’t have the spare time for their kids and how sometimes their kids could have behavioural problems because their kids are lacking attention and love at home (not always, but it could be the case especially if the parents are overworked from work and still have to cook meals, tend the house, etc.)
• Bb continues her new phase of dressing up, whether it be herself or her dolls dressing up.  She’s thrown a lot of the clothes she owns on to the mattress and floor and alternates between different tops and pants for herself or her dolls.  She can pull up and down her pants but needs help with getting the last part up (where the tag is) since the bulge of her diaper is a literal “hump” to get over.
• From her dress-up photos, she looks more grown up now.  More of a little girl and less of a chubby toddler although she has gained more chub in her little cheeks now.  It’s cute when she has flushing red cheeks after a meal.  I know she’s had something warm and is full.
• She continues to enjoy eating nuts like cashews.  We bought a big container of mixed nuts from Walmart and I found out she doesn’t like the pecans or walnuts.  She spit it up whole.  She likes the cashews the most.
• There was an annoying incident on one of our walks last week.  As I was walking down one of the paths in our neighbourhood, I spotted a gentleman that I’ve seen before.  I’ve had creepy vibes from this man when crossing paths when him.  Unlike other regular pedestrians or stroll-takers who just walk by without making eye contact or making quick eye contact, this particular man seemed to zone in on me and then peer into the stroller.  I had creepy vibes from him before and I recognize him because he wore the same cap and hoodie.  When I spotted him from afar, I actually thought to make a U-turn so I wouldn’t have to cross paths with him.  However, I thought this was a public area and I was free to walk wherever I could and that I was actually aiming for the bench to sit at to take a rest.  When we did cross paths, I didn’t even look at him but I did notice the creepy vibe that he gave me as well as him peering into my stroller from the corner of my eye.  These are things that you can’t describe but feel.
• I reached the bench and sat down (since bb had fallen asleep) and surfed on my phone at 3:07 p.m.  Very shortly, I noticed the same man jog back up the same path.  What the heck?  He had just come that way.  And then at 3:14, the same man appeared again crossing the bench.  Um, how is it possible that in less than ten minutes he would come jog by path THREE times?  During this third time, I actually had my phone ready and recorded him from where I sat as he passed by.  He still looked at me and peered into my stroller to look at my baby.  WTF.  That is not normal behaviour and cause for concern.  The path can be long and I don’t think it’s normal for someone to be jogging past the same spot three times in less than ten minutes.
• What do you know, at about 3:25 p.m., I noticed from the end of the path that he was going to pass by again so I hightailed it out of there before he could pass by again.  I felt so weirded out and uncomfortable.  I then went to the nearby school and found a spot there instead to rest and allow bb to finish the rest of her nap before I walked some more and got home.
• I told three of my girlfriends and all of them felt the weird vibe from the man and was glad I was safe.  One girlfriend said the guy looked creepy too from the video that I sent her.
• Due to this incident, DH decided to share this in the community forum so other vulnerable women or members could take notice.  Unfortunately, either due to the way that DH had phrased the post or there are some mean-spirited people in the community, most of the people didn’t think what the man did was wrong.  Most of the people who commented were men themselves.  They were saying things like it’s a free country and people can walk and look at whatever they want.  What they are missing from the actual intention of the message is the way the man made me feel uncomfortable and weirded out by LOOKing at someone three times in the span of ten minutes.  I’ve passed by so many other people when taking my walks outside and nobody else gave me this weird vibe.  It’s something I can’t describe or put into hard facts.  It’s also something that I would say 90% of the male population probably don’t understand either.  DH made a good point that this is why the “me too” movement was so popular.  If a victim comes forward to share a vulnerable story and they are shot down, then of course no one wants to come forward to share anything anymore.  They think whatever they say won’t have enough weight (all due to these people who shame the victim first instead of what they have to say).
• Anyway, it’s too bad that this particular stranger made my walk so uncomfortable and unfortunately memorable.
• DH had Rememberance Day off, so we took bb to Jungleland in Vaughan for some indoor play time.  It was raining that day so it was perfect to bring her for some indoor run-around time.  It cost $22 for the three of us to play for two hours (but they never kicked us out so I’m sure we could have played past two hours if we had the energy and time to).  It was one of the higher rated playgrounds in Vaughan and while I thought that there would have been more stuffed animals for the children to play with, the extent of the three-levelled play areas were quite extensive and fun.  Bb took a little bit of time to get used to the obstacles but otherwise had a really good time towards the end.  She didn’t want to leave, naturally.  There was a toddler area with smaller toys and cars too.  Bb also liked the little tykes cars and there were two of them for her to play with.  It was so spacious and bright and comfortable there.  There were so many sofas for the adults to lounge around on.  There were other parents who just let her kids play around while they immersed on their smartphones lol.  It wasn’t busy at all either for a Friday afternoon.  There were probably about eight other toddlers/young kids aside from bb.
• After we had lunch, we headed to Vaughan Mills.  Bb slept in the car for about an hour.  While inside Vaughan Mills, we had some frozen yogurt, kale and avocado smoothie from Yogen Fruz and walked around for nearly an hour.  Good workout.  We then spent so much time inside the Build-A-Bear shop.  Bb watched as the staff member stuffed cotton inside the plushies with lots of fascination and interest.  I was surprised how many people were buying plushies/bears.  The line never stopped!  Bb took particular interest in two green frog plushies near the entrance of the store.  She must have played and held hands with the plushies for 15 minutes straight.
• We picked up grandma from the airport that evening.  Surprisingly, bb didn’t fall asleep in the car despite it being 9/10 p.m.  She recognized grandma right away and as if she had never left.
• On Saturday, DH took bb to the playground.  It was getting cold and bb wore her new 3T winter coat that I got for her earlier this summer.  She looked so darn cute in it because it’s so big on her.  She was like a little munchkin in it.
• At home, bb likes to put her stuffed animals in the high chair (but placed on the floor) and serve her stuffed animals food.  It’s so cute.  She has the play food in little plates with a knife and fork and spoon too.  And then she clears the table off herself too.
• Bb uses the learning tower as a chair for 95% of her meals.  She climbs up herself from the back of the chair actually.  This way, she doesn’t need anyone to pull the chair out for her and she can climb in herself.
• Naps have been a struggle.  Either DH puts her to bed around 3 or 4 or she falls asleep in grandma’s arms around the same time.  Then she’ll wake up at 6 in time for dinner.  The past couple of days, she has been so reluctant to get up and will cry and squirm around like a little baby.  I don’t know why she’s like this sometimes.
• Again so glad that grandma is back so that I’m not the only one looking after her and we can alternate.  Meals are so much better too.
• Bb likes playing with the larger lego that DH owns.  She can build a staircase and also place the individual lego pieces stacked up against the bigger piece.
• She has been interested in the dog puzzle and likes playing it from time to time these days.  She does need help in locating the correct pieces though and asks me to help her.
• She continues to like reading the “Mommy loves me 1, 2, 3” book as well as the “Near and far” book.  She can pronounce the titles of the books.  She knows that “1, 2, 3” is “one, two, three” or “yut, yee, sam” in Cantonese.
• She continues to ask us what the English equivalent of a word is.  When grandma came back, she realized that that’s what bb is asking for (shocked) and told her that grandma will be responsible for teaching her all Cantonese while me and DH can teach her some English.
• Grandma also noticed that bb talks SO much more now than before.  Bb is so “lo jet”.  She copies us some certain phrases but when it comes from her, it sound so “old”.  She talks so, so clearly too.
• Bb also seems to be more shy than before (ever since the grandparent incident).  She doesn’t like the toy lego anymore.  She’s been fearful of the skull plate that was on the Halloween cake.  She also doesn’t like the stuffed turtle that her grandma recently prepared for her — it has weird bug eyes… DH says she seems more easily spooked these days.
• Two times this week she’s refused to take a bath too.  One of the times, we relented and let her be.  She doesn’t play much with the toys in her bath tub anymore either.  I count down from 20 to 1 to let her know it’s time to get out of the tub.  She doesn’t really let anyone help her to scrub down and most of the time she sits in her tub playing around with the towel or toys and cleaning herself.
• When brushing her teeth these days, she likes to clamp down and suck on the toothbrush, making it really hard for us to get in there and clean the teeth (especially the top row).
• We got a new pack of yogurt recently (I’ve stopped eating yogurt due to the sugar) and bb had kind of stalled in it too.  But once the new pack arrived, she ate like two in a day.  I guess it tastes fresher and she hasn’t had it in a while either.
• Bb has been getting up one to three times a night again.  Poor DH… we try to feed her more throughout the day but she still gets up at night.  What gives?!  She also doesn’t let DH go once she realizes he’s on his way out.  It’s really tough.  He has the ears of a hawk and whenever there’s any sound at night, he pops up from his sleep slumber to attend to her.
• Bb continues to choose people.  Sometimes she chooses me, mostly DH, and sometimes grandma for certain things.

• All right, on to the pregnancy stuff.  Week 34!  This little one continues to kick up a storm every single day.  I love it.  I will miss this so, so much once I’ve given birth.  How do I bottle up the little kicks and remember them forever?  As I told a friend recently, this little one loves being touched.  Whenever I put my hand on my belly, within minutes or seconds, a kick or some kind of body part will be moving against the belly.  Whereas for the first child, bb actually shied away from my touches.  DH has felt this child kick more than all of the times that he has felt bb in utero.  This one has also been hiccuping daily and it’s nice to feel the rhythmic-like beats (feels like a heartbeat).
• Belly is so big.  The centre of my belly is getting red due to the skin being stretched so much.  We haven’t done any pregnancy photos at home for comparison this time around.  I just haven’t had the energy or motivation to do it.  Somehow it is tiring to do, so we haven’t done it.  But perhaps we should for this last part of the pregnancy since my belly is so big now.
• Grandma commented on how big my belly is after just 10 days away.
• I can only wear one of my pajama bottoms comfortably now.  One of the pants is a tighter fit and it leaves a mark against my belly and is uncomfortable.  I’m busting out of my pajama top too and on most days, my bottom belly is just hanging out.  I don’t have a maternity winter jacket.  Why buy one when I’ll be giving birth next month?
• Speaking of which, appointments.
• I had my phone call appointment with the dietitian on Friday while we were out on the road.  She knows I’m on insulin now (145 lbs) and said my mealtime sugars were fine.  She did question a couple of mealtime numbers like when we had the AYCE sushi and even though I ate low-carb, I was above 8.  This was probably due to the sauce that the restaurant used in the food… she said I could do with more carbs for some of my meals.  She said I was eating a lot of quinoa and I could change it up if I was tired of it.  Otherwise, she was content with my numbers and told me to keep going.  She didn’t say when our next appointment was, so I assume we don’t have one?!  I guess I’ll ask the registered nurse when I speak to her next time or e-mail the dietitian directly.
• I had the phone call appointment with the endocrinologist on the Monday (Monday was packed with appointments and I’m so glad two of them were via phone — what a time saver).  To backtrack a bit first, I started on 5 units of insulin on November 2 to 7.  I then upped it to 7 units when the fasting numbers weren’t going down.  Then I had it at 9 units where it went down but then up again.  I’m so used to using the insulin needle now (unfortunately?).  It’s so easy but I just need to remember to do it each night at around the same time.  I’ve been upping the time gradually from 11 to 10:30 p.m., a more decent time so I can go to bed earlier.
• So on the call with the endo, I asked whether I should go up to 11 units because of the brief fluctuation and he agreed with my decision.  Since then, the 11 units have been good to me.  The 32 to 36 week-mark really does notate a change in hormones.  I’m double what I started with now.
• I also don’t mind the increase in dosage.  The insulin needles are already in my fridge.  We bought and paid for them already.  Might as well use them up 😂  (so glad that DH has coverage.  I would have paid more than $100 if I didn’t.  With his coverage, I only had to pay $18.)
• I do find it difficult to remember which part of my fatty waist I last injected with.  I try to go lower or higher to avoid the spot I did it on on the alternate day to keep my injection sites “healthy” as per the instructions.
•  This call was also when the endo asked whether my OB had spoken to me about a possible earlier delivery yet.  I told him that I had the next OB appointment later that afternoon actually so hadn’t spoken to him yet.  The endo told me that it’s likely for me to deliver two weeks earlier now because I’m on insulin.  That news shook me and after I told DH and grandma, we were all mentally preparing for this.  This means we should have baby out of the womb by mid-December!
• So Monday afternoon was when I had my next appointment with the OB.  On this visit, my regular OB was on vacation (his first one in more than a couple of years!  — well deserved) so it was another OB instead, a female one who spoke Cantonese!  She had professional speaking fluency to the point that I couldn’t even understand some of the terms she used.  I had to use English in place for some of the words lol, a rarity, and makes me look so CBC.
• She said that my recent ultrasound done on November 3 came back normal.  Baby was head down (yes, confirmation!), amniotic fluid levels were normal, and that baby was about 2113 grams =  4.1 pounds at 60 percentile.  She asked me how my GD was going and I told her that I was on nighttime insulin now.  She told me that regular GD moms would give birth preferably between 39 to 40 weeks but since I’m on insulin now, it pushes me up one week, so I’ll be giving birth 38 to 39 weeks.  The medical staff basically don’t want me to go over 39 weeks.
• She had me on the table, measured my blood pressure, listened to the heartbeat, measured my belly.  She also put her hands and squeezed down in the lower part of my belly and told me she felt the head (it was still down).  So cool!  I didn’t know you could feel the head just like that.  I asked if the baby could still turn and flip and she said it was possible, but unlikely.  I sure hope baby stays head down!
• She ordered another ultrasound for me next week since I’m on insulin (more monitoring needed) and I’d return in two weeks to see the OB again.  I was 146 lbs at the visit.
• I feel like I’m gaining weight more quickly now.  I’m not sure it’s a good thing because if it means that I’m not controlling my sugars, it means that the bb is gaining too much weight unnecessarily.
• When I told DH that the baby on Nov. 3 was estimated to be 4.1 pounds, that really put things into perspective for him and made it sound more “real”.  A 4-pounder is quite significant already!  But who knows.  Ultrasound scans are notorious to be inaccurate for weight.
• Haven’t been into eating peanut buttered toast lately.
• I started eating Medjool dates yesterday now that I know I’ll be giving birth two weeks earlier.  I was supposed to start on Nov. 28 on week 36.  I started now on week 34, day 1.  I ate two dates yesterday and four today.  Last pregnancy, I ate 4 diligently every day starting at week 36.  I’ll be doing the same this time but have to make sure that my sugars are in range.  The dates seem to be spiking me so far…
• I also started drinking one cup of raspberry leaf tea today to strengthen the uterus.  I’m really hoping for a fast and easy labour this time around.  My goal is to go into labour naturally in the 38th week.  I don’t want to be induced…
• I asked the OB about induction and she said something about oxytocin and how it’ll be controllable, but I still wasn’t very sure what the procedure or details were.  The induction would have to be scheduled.  We haven’t discussed much about it yet since we still have to see how the upcoming ultrasound scans and appointments will be.  Maybe will be new developments.
• I also asked the OB about getting the flu shot.  She asked if I got the TDAP one yet and I said no.  She said typically they need to be done separately so I should weigh which one is more important and get that one first.  I will be getting my TDAP first and then the flu shot.  She said I need the TDAP for every pregnancy as the immunity is passed on to the baby.  DH and grandma don’t need to get it again if they got it two years ago because it has ten years of immunity.  Why didn’t my regular OB tell me this earlier?  I would have gotten it earlier.  When I called my family physician, the receptionist asked why I called so late to get it.  She told me that the TDAP is usually done between 27 and 32 weeks!
•  Last thing I want to mention is that I had a sore throat from not eating well and sleeping too late recently… the sore throat has now turned into a cold with sniffles and a slight cough.  Tested negative twice this week.  Hope I get better otherwise we’ll have to reschedule our weekend activities and I really don’t want to… We have our weekends packed right up into December so far.  So many people and friends to meet but the weekends are limited.
• The countdown is also on.  Less than a month to go!
• We also think bb is acting out/regressing in her naps/sleep because she knows there’s going to be a change soon.
• Got the cup noodles for my postpartum meal.  Need to get the stains out of the newborn clothes still, wash them again, and pack them once and for all… and what will I wear to the hospital and postpartum?!  Not ready yet…
• Oh, we also had the Tummy Talks breastfeeding seminar on Monday evening.  It was hosted by Joan again, the same instructor for breastfeeding two years ago.  She is so knowledgeable about the topic, having done it for more than 40 years.  While watching the seminar, I feel so unready for the postpartum changes that my body will be going through again.  I’m not ready for the nursing or postpartum pain or the feeding… it’s a lot physically and mentally.
• I also realize it’s not the most convenient to be pregnant during winter.  It’s colder now so it’s not as enticing to go outside for walks (first snow and dipping into the negative temperatures).  I really enjoyed my season of pregnancy last time.  I gave birth right before the weather turned cold.  I want to walk more, but if it’s chilly out, then I’m not as motivated.  The sun sets by 5 p.m. so I have to walk outside at noon to get more sunlight and warmth.  In the summertime, you could walk as late as 9 p.m.  Also easier to be pregnant in shorts and T-shirts than in long sleeves and pants.  I wore extra large T-shirts for the first pregnancy in the summertime without pants even.  It was so convenient and great lol.
• Been waking up each night to pee.  I’ll pee and then chug water from my bottle.  I’ve had the Charley horses for a while and the water at night helps.  I can’t sleep through the night.  My sleep quality also isn’t very good..  It could also be that I’m disturbed in my sleep when DH wakes up to get bb.
• The pain I had in my pelvic region that made it hard to turn over in bed kind of disappeared now.  I’m not sure what happened.  Maybe my frequent walks helped.  I’ve been doing nightly cat-cows as well because I heard it helps the baby move into a head down position.  It feels so nice to stretch and move the hips.
• I also realize these motherhood posts are getting longer and longer.  These posts are actually all for me to write down to remember things and for me to release them from my mind so that I’m not cluttered up with all these random thoughts and feelings.  It’s really not intended for the reader (thank you for tuning in regardless if you do read everything) and so that’s why I have these posts.