Sushi, more sushi

Our weekend lunch trip was spent in a sushi place in Leeds. As usual, Terry was wrenched with the ideas of where to go in the morning even when we all sat in the car.
I said 'it's not a big decision, why just choose one... what about the sushi place in Leeds?'
He said 'OK, if it was no good it's all your fault!'
The sushi place is actually a part of a big Chinese restaurant chain. We ordered 2 today's special, which is a combination of sushi box, Japanese dumplings and Udon noodles assuming Japanese are all very light (it meant to be). Just after I fed Daniel bottle at the table, along came a big box of sushi, there are around 20 pieces, we assumed it must for 2 people. We love sushi, not before long 20 pieces sushi have gone...then the dumplings, and the noodles proved to be too mush... after all these, the waitress brought another box of 20-pieces of sushi and told us as it was Chinese new year period, they give an extra box for free... we were pleased but just half way through munching the extra sushi we felt the meal was ruined as we are so full...Wish I had done something a bit more healthy. We live not far from countryside but there are always too wet and too muddy for a pram. Or wish I had stayed home blogging all day at least it saves money.

Blogging blogging...

I wanted to start my blogs years ago but never got around to do it, in a simple reason that Terry doesn't like me to do so. Put this in his original words he doesn't want to marry some computer geek who sitting in front of a computer all day.(it's understandable considering he himself is working on software all day and he want the quality time together as a couple in the evening). Whenever I was sitting in front of a computer for more than 10 minutes in the evening he would shout from downstairs 'your programme is on!' etc... or my mobile would ring, when I rushed down to get my phone just to found out it was Terry... well, well, blogging was off the table for a long time and I just do a bit on-line chatting on sohu lunch time at work, as it's in Chinese I always tell the curious colleagues that I am blogging.

The real start of blogging is the beginning of this year when I was a bout 4 months into my maternity leave. Terry seemed suddenly understand my urge to blog post-baby though he is not my blogs' keen reader (At least he would read it once I told him I have a new post :-)) But why we, women, need to blog? where is this urge come from? Is this a kind of self-obsess or simply therapeutic? Why women tend to blog more? Especially after they had baby...

A mum of three, Wifeinthenorth, just turn her blogs into 70,000 paycheck, Someone pay her £70.000 to turn her blogs into a book. She probably make her husband look a idiot in the process...

Chinese New Year Week

Jenifer phoned yesterday telling me that Nancy's Chinese new year party was boring. I was thinking 'well, lucky we didn't go!' Jenifer and Nancy are among the handful Chinese friends I still keep in contact since Portsmouth year. We arrived in Britain in the same year. In Jennifer's case, we happened to arrive on the same plane in 1999 and surprisingly found out that we were heading to the same university at the Heathrow. 8 Years on we ended in different places and having different life...Originally I was very keen to go after receiving Nancy's invitation as I want Daniel to have more chances for Chinese culture exposure, however on the second phone conversation she mentioned that Richard's parents (her in laws)coming I immediately realised that it's not going to be a Chinese party, more or less an English one, then I gave up the idea of driving 5 hours down and 5 hours up for an English gathering... My guess was right, Jennifer complained that she is the only Chinese guest on Nancy's CHINESE New Year party...

Terry's work offered him to work longer hours. Originally his contract was 7 hours a day but since Monday he started to work 9 hours a day to earn some extra cash before we off to Hongkong and China. We all got used to him coming back home 4pm having tea and scorn and playing with Daniel... Now Terry come back 6.30pm we have to just keep looking out the window...Poor Daddy!

Daniel had his last batch of immunisation for Diphtheria, Tetanus, whopping cough, Meningitis C, Polio and pneumonia on Monday. Opposing his normal crying, he was happy and smiled this time through the process of my undressing him, getting weighed and waiting outside the nurse's room, until the needle poked into his thigh he outbroken such a scream which will make your heart ache... then another one and another one... 3 injections,poor Daniel cried inconsolably afterwards and nothing calm him down... The nurse commented that he got really good lung as the whole medical center can hear Daniel's screaming.

Other news happened this week include sister has been offered a new job in Kunming, Mum and Dad has prepared a big sum of 压岁钱 (Chinese new year cash present for children to wish them good luck) for Daniel awaiting him to collect when we go home...

Chinese New Year Eve

The golden pig year happens to start at a weekend, which gave us, who don't happen to live in China, the chance to celebrate this most important festival for Chinese. Since came to this country 8 years ago, apart from first couple of years in University where there is the CSSA (Chinese Scholar and Student Association) to organise celebration, I virtually stopped celebrating it as if it's just another normal working day. It's hard when there is no such an atmosphere around you...

But this year it's different. It's a weekend and Daniel gave me the reason to celebrate it. Also in Britain there are some media enthusiasms towards China this week as well. Apparently, Times has held a China week on its everday's Time2 Section, dave some sort of introduction of Chinese culture and language, on today's paper they even gave away Chinese New Year Calligraphy 福 , which Chinese put on their front doors to wish a good fortune and blessings for future, equivalent to Christmas wreath here.

Daniel was put on a Chinese outfit, which is a present from my sister... we watched Chinese New Year Spectacular on Internet Broadcasted from New Tang Dynasty Television and Terry attempted some Chinese puzzles on Times paper today...

Mummy who lunch

Alison texted me Sunday asking me if I'd like to meet her up for a lunch this Wednesday. I asked her to suggest a venue. Here we go! Joesph Bramah, the new coffee place in town, it's actually a pub, but the decor is very stylish and new, it's more a cafe than a pub to me. Alison added that Joesph Bramah is a baby friendly place in her text... Alison has no children herself, guess she doesn't want to see me abandoning my coffee half way through because baby won't settle...

Though I was a bit stressed in the morning due to searching Daniel's birth certificate after the Chinese visa agent phoned for that. (memory has really been worsen by the birth of baby or simply getting old?), I still managed to get Daniel ready by 11.30am and left home about 12am, parked car at the supermarket car park, which is for free. Met Alison in time in front of the cafe.

The cafe was brilliant. A cup of cappuccino for 69p compared to £1.50 at Startbucks. They do two meals for one price all day everyday. Pre-baby I used to eat out with Alison a lot as Terry was working away, but all outing were in the evenings (I tend to take short lunch break to get more time in evening for exercises). We never managed a lunch together during the work days. Today I had pasta meatball and Alison had five bean chili with rice. The taste was quite good. Daniel has been fast asleep in his pram while we were eating and chatting. Each time he start to stir, I would kept jiggling the pram and he would doze off again. Alison was amazed how Daniel had been behaved... my yummy baby behaved! Guess he wants his mum to be a yummy mummy who lunch..Well, we will go again!

Dopey parents

Our Sunday normally starts like this, waking up around 8am, breakfast in bed then Terry would ask what we do today. Before my pregnancy, the answers would be obvious, going down gym or walking followed by having lunch somewhere. Since pregnancy, answers reduced to just having lunch somewhere, the choices between Thai lunch in Manchester, Coffee or Chinese tea in Leeds and pub lunch at Newmillerdam. Post birth, having lunch somewhere has become difficult, however we still keep the Thai lunch as a top choice for Sunday activity. Today is no exceptional, Thai lunch in Manchester again though I suggested we spend half day lying in bed planning what we do and lazy around house in the afternoon...

It almost took an hour to get Daniel ready, breadfed him, packed changing bag put him in his bunny suit and eventually strapped in the car seat. after an hour driving through the fog, we parked the car at some cheap car park near china town, only realised that we forgot to take Daniel's pushchair. Dopey, are we? For this we have to cut our trip short and only had lunch at Thai restaurant and went back home.

Because we forgot Daniel's pushchair, Daniel had his first high chair experience in the Thai restaurant. He was still a bit wobbly in the chair but he seemed like his new experience and let us have the lunch in peace...

Snow

Waking up found the garden and road are all covered by snow, I decided to cancel today's baby massage class as the road might be too icy for driving. Daniel doesn't seem to like massage class any more anyway. Last few sessions he cried either half way through or all the way through and made other babes cry as well.

The time spent caring Daniel seems fly. Before I knew it another week has past. Work seems a distant memory, time spent at work seems slow, there would would be the sort of Thank God it's Friday atmosphere floating in the air on Friday at work. now it just feels another day.

Daniel started to make variety of noise when he turned 3 months old. He is a little fella who is keen to talk and giggle. He sometimes sits there uttering 'er, er...' noise for ages after his feed. The 'ah bu, ah bu...' noise we did would make him laugh loud... we just had a bath session like this: I bath Daniel, Terry does 'ah pu, au pu' and Daniel laugh... One of the rewarding moment of having a baby...

Humpty Dumpty...

'Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall... Humpty Dumpty has great fall...'
Terry bought this English nursery song CD in the hope of helping Daniel get into sleep better. We play this CD in the bedroom before Daniel go to bed. Humpty Dumpty is Daniel's favorite one. Daniel also like the Along Came Polly one. 'Twelve fat sausages sizzling in the pan, along came Polly, there are 8 sausages left...' Terry changed it as 'Twelve fat sausages sizzling in the pan, along came Daniel all gone...' and sing to Daniel Sometimes when he plays with him.

The nursery rhythm worked once twice to send Daniel into dreamland fast, most of time it just made us sleepy as we put it on the repeat mode...

Though Daniel's sleep pattern hasn't improved much and i has become more comfortable with letting him fall asleep on the breasts. I wouldn't do controlled crying again as we tried when he was just six weeks old and I couldn't bear his crying for 5 minutes so it failed. I would never try it again. I love the cuddles before bed anyway. I bought a grobag for Daniel. It seems he like it. It's very cosy and saves my effort to put his sleepsuit on.

A sunny weekend

It's 4pm and we just been out for an gentle stroll at local park and had lunch at the cafe near the park. It was a exceptionally sunny weekend and it's unusually mild this January here in Britain. We even didn't bother to put Daniel back on his bunny suit after the stopover at the the cafe. In contrast, it has been snowing in Kunming (found out on a phone conversation with my Mum today), the spring city in China. It must be all down to the global warming and climate change. Anyway, cannot worry about all these things too much otherwise mess up your mind...

Guess I'm now one of those photo-crazy new Mums, carrying a camera around taking baby's photos all the time... here are some of the photos taken at this weekend

Thoughts about the motherhood

It might be still dark and grey outside as usual in these wintery months but it's the best winter I've ever had since I came to this country. So far I haven't experienced any sign of the SAD (the seasonal affected disorder) syndrome or blue like I used to do in other winters. The fact of not needing to get up early driving to work in the dark, sitting under the artificial lights all day and driving back home in the dark again might give some explanations. (It normally gets dark about 4pm in winter here). Even the exhaustion of breastfeeding for the first couple of months on top of a major abdominal surgery didn't bring about the much-anticipated post-natal depression to me, which is something I was prone to. So this must be the baby wonder, I think.

However, once settled into the routine of a stay-at-home mum, I got this new anxiety creeping in. The anxiety of the identity or the anxiety of not being able to do or buy certain things as we used to do. Living in a consumption society in an age of anxiety is not an easy thing. Plus I am inundated with all these information and advices about parenting through books, internet, health professionals and friends. Equipped with all these knowledge I hope I can glide through the motherhood effortlessly. The truth is that the more I know the more I becaome anxious. e.g. To work or not to work is the one, it seems working mums with young children in this country are all ladened with guilts. Knowing the research of the early childhood upbringing has a lot to do a child's future potential just make you more anxious if you want to go back to work earlier. I have to admit that I have some desire to be a yummy mummy with a washboard stomach, an impeccable dress sense and a 4x4, but how can I achieve this if I don't slave myself ever harder at work.

If I hadn't moved country, probably wouldn't have come up with this thought. in Chinese culture, most women return to work at their first opportunity and children are normally brought up by grandparents and there are no guilts there. I remembered I was put in a nursery at very young age, do i have any psychological damage? I ask myself...