Monthly Archives: July 2016

Weaning Chhori from night feed

Posted on July 8, 2016 | 6 comments

I am sure I have mentioned before that Chhori is still night feeding on a good night, she wakes up 1-2 times for a feed while on bad ones it is multiple times.

Chhori (4)

This routine didn’t bother me when I was home looking after her but since I started work, it started affecting my day. There were days when I was not functioning properly at all as I was sleep deprived days in a row.

Anyway, this was the signal for me to start looking for a solution to stop night feeding. I still wanted her to breastfeed for the next few months at least but I definitely wanted to stop night feeding.

So the solution was for me to sleep in a different room than Chhori. So AS and Chhori slept in our room and I slept in Chhori’s room.

chhori (5)

First night, she woke up the same as usual and started looking for milk. When she didn’t get it, she cried. She opened her eyes and saw her daddy instead of mummy and she cried more. It took AS a long time to calm her down and put her back to sleep. It was the same every time she woke up looking for milk.

I was in the next room so I could hear her cry and was so tempted to run, hug her and feed her. But I knew that was not going to solve my problem. She is old enough now that she doesn’t need night feeding as most kids over 1 year will not wake up multiple times at night for a feed.

The second night the story was similar but the cry was shorter and AS got better at calming her but I was still tempted to run over to hold her every time she cried. So on the third day, we decided that it is best for me to sleep in the guest bedroom which is further away from our bedroom so I don’t hear much at all. So I have been doing that for the last 5 days. I occasionally hear her cry but not much.

chhori (3)

Also according to AS, she is getting better at not crying even if she wakes up during the night. If she does cry, it lasts less than a minute and she is back to sleep.

We are hoping that in a few weeks, she will get better and will sleep through the night so I can go and sleep back in our room. I really hope this will work otherwise we will be back to square one.

I am loving my 6-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep for sure but AS probably isn’t 🙂

Please, please share any tips that will help this process be easier for me and Chhori. Thanks in advance.

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

 

6 Comments

Posted in Being Mum, Our daughter

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Chhori update

Posted on July 6, 2016 | 8 comments

Thank you everyone who sent me emails letting me know that you enjoy my blog or to let me know that my blog has helped you in some way or emailing to ask some questions or just to say hello.  I am trying to reply to everyone as soon as I can. I am really happy to answer question or help in any way possible so please do not stop writing.

I got a few emails asking about Chhori so here is an update.

chhori (3)

Chhori is 16 months now (I know it makes me feel very old) and is running around a lot.

When we are out and about, she loves to walk around so one of us has to be behind her at all times. She enjoys people and has started saying a few words like

  • Mama
  • Hi
  • Bye
  • Ma (grandma)
  • Ba (grandpa)
  • Pa (water)
  • Mum mum – food

AS constantly tries to teach her to say “dada” or “daddy: but so far no success.

chhori (1)On top of these words, she mumbles a lot. If I ask her what does a dog do, she will say “bow bow” and for a duck she will go “quack quack “ and cow is “mooooo”

Even though she doesn’t talk properly yet, she understands almost everything we tell her. I have named all her toys so when I ask her to pick one toy out of many; she understands what I am talking about. She uses lots of sign language and gets what she wants done using them. I have to admit, she has both parents wrapped around her tiny cute finger already.

chhori (7)

She also knows actions to many rhymes like “itsy bitsy spider”, “head shoulder”, “twinkle twinkle”, “five little monkeys” and quite a few more. I love to watch her when she does these actions as she looks super cute. (I know I am biased :))

chhori (2)

My parents, especially my mum is looking after her 5 days a week while we are at work. I am very grateful that they decided to come and help me. A few days a week, my nephew comes over too so my parents have their hands full. Chhori really enjoys my nephew’s company and she is always happy around people. I guess she is going to be one social being.

As it is winter here, it gets dark around 5pm these days. Every day when it is dark outside, Chhori comes over to the door every 5 minutes to check if AS and I are home yet. As soon as we enter the house, her face lights up and most of the time she shows her happiness by clapping her hands. If I ask her to come and hug me, she will run and hug me and plant a big kiss on my cheeks. I am so enjoying being a mum and I love her so much.

chhori (6)

Most of the day, my mum gives some update about the day and sometimes it is a complaint that Chhori refuses to eat some meals while other days about the fight between Chhori and my nephew. I think my mum loves to describe her day with the kids. I believe that there is a special bond between grandparents and grandkids.

Recently we went to a friend’s baby’s christening and Chhori surprised everyone including me by sitting on a high hair for the whole time and eating a normal meal. She loves using a fork so we take her eating set wherever we go. So she enjoyed roast duck, broccoli, potatoes, noodles and water melon. I break them into small pieces so she can use her fork. She loved it and was happy to sit and eat.

chhori (4)

Also during one of the parties we went to, there was music and people were dancing so she went around the dance floor and started clapping and did her own little dance and she looked so adorable.

chhori (5)

As a mum, I am very biased and love everything about her. I am sure every parent is like that. 🙂  Will have another updater soon.

Please share about your little one.

Thank you one again everyone and take care.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

 

8 Comments

Posted in Our daughter

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Becoming a mentor

Posted on July 5, 2016 | 2 comments

My workplace recently started a school based mentoring program to empower and support young people who are secondary students, to keep them engaged and introduce them to an alternate learning environment.

Image Source : http://www.med.emory.edu

I have always been interested to work with and help out young adults. Before this job, I used to be an IT teacher for students in diploma and advance diploma in a university. So when I saw the email floating around for mentoring, I signed up for it. The best thing about it is that most of the program happens during the lunch time which means I don’t need to compromise with the time I get to spend with Chhori.

Once I applied for the program I got a call for an interview. I was nervous about the process but it went quite smoothly and I was selected by the panel.

The program started 10 weeks ago and it was a great start. We met the girls we are going to mentor and had a few activities to get to know them better and vice versa.

From the first week, we have been meeting with them every Tuesday afternoon at lunch time and doing different activates.

I can’t believe that the weeks have just flow by and we have done cultural cooking, craft class, laser tag, self-defence class, speech class, African drumming class, sushi making class, yoga class and all in a fun environment.

Most of the girls picked for this program are average students who are a bit shy at first. As we got to know them slowly and they opened up and now they are really comfortable with us.

On the cultural cooking day, I made chicken momo and taught them how to wrap up the momo. I was surprised that they learned it so quickly and did a great job. Other mentors made pizza, frittata, calamari haloumi and scones and it was and awesome session.

Last week, we went out for lunch with them before their 2 weeks break and we will start the program again for another 10 weeks.

I am so happy that I signed up and am a part of such a great program to get involved with young people.

Have you done anything similar? Please share other ideas you have to get young people involved so we can use that for our next session.

Thank you everyone and take care.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

2 Comments

Posted in Personal

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Winter is here

Posted on July 1, 2016 | 2 comments

For another year, winter is over in Games of Thrones (how great was this season especially episodes 9 and 10) but Australia is in the middle of winter and I am not the happiest person these days.

e2d4f-i_hate_winter_by_chinga

It is so cold every day and the rain and the wind make it worse. The sun rises late and sets early giving us less time in a day.

I am sure you all know my distaste for winter from the various posts in the past but I don’t like it even more now as I have a child. With the start of winter, Chhori caught a cold and she had fever for few days. We had to take her to the doctor when her fever didn’t go away for a few days.

Winterlightrink460

After Panadol and lots of caring, her fever went away but she was left with a running nose for almost 3 weeks. Then I caught a cold as well so we were both sick at one stage. When I was feeling I was going to be OK, my flu came back making it impossible to sleep at night. In that 3 weeks, AS and I had to take time off from work to look after her. She was not eating well and it was really hard to see her suffer.

snowboarding (17)

Not everywhere in Australia is it cold like this though. When we went to Gold Coast for holiday, I couldn’t believe that the weather was so good in May. We went to the beach every day and the water was warm and Chhori and my in laws had a great time playing with water and sand. We were even in an outdoor pool and it was fine.

gold coast (1) gold coast (3) gold coast (4) gold coast (5)

I know this winter won’t last long as the weather will change eventually but waking up to a cold morning every day, I can’t help but hate winter.

I am just praying that this winter will pass without Chhori getting sick again.

Do you have a love or hate relationship with winter. I know lots of people who love winter but I am definitely not one of them.

Take care  and have a great weekend !

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

2 Comments

Posted in Australia

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