Category Archives: Being Mum

First flying experience of Chhori

I told wrote a while ago that Chhori was flying for the first time. So here is how her first flying experience went.

We went to the Gold Coast for a holiday which is about an hour’s flight from Sydney. We were at the airport 2 hours before the flight and checked in our luggage and went straight to the gate. At this stage, we had an hour to kill before would we board the plane.

Chhori was OK until we were at the waiting area. As soon as we chose to sit down, she decided that she wanted to walk around and make new friends.

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Either I or AS was always behind her when she started her adventure. She would just walk around and find a group of people and start interacting.

Once, as I was walking behind her, she decided to stop next to 3 ladies who were standing and talking. She just stood next to them and just looked at them and smiled. She behaved as if she knew them. They were super sweet when I apologised and even talked to her for a while. Then suddenly without any reason Chhori decided to move on to another place.

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This time she found a family with 3 kids siting in the lounge area. The youngest boy was almost the age of Chhori and very shy. The girl who was around 5 years was so into Chhori that she would constantly hug her and touch her despite her mum telling her not to. It was amazing to see how kids make friends so easily. She had fun with this family for a while then she decided that she was done and moved on.

Next stop was a woman who was on her own but was eating something. Chhori was too curious and went next to her and just stared at her. I apologised to the woman and tried to move Chhori away but she didn’t want to. So I had to give her biscuits to distract so she didn’t bother the poor lady.

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Apart from these interactions, she was smiling at everyone and was very curious about everything. She made both AS and me tried by the time it was time to board the flight. 10 minutes before the boarding time she decided she want to breastfeed and I thought that was a better idea than running behind her. So I started to breastfeed and 5 minutes into it she went to sleep. She was still asleep when we boarded the flight and even throughout the whole flight. Yes, she was sleeping until we landed in Gold Coast. I had to wake her up when we landed as it was getting difficult for me to get out of the seat.

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She was fresh and happy and when we were outside the plane and started walking everywhere again. So on the flight there, AS and I were able to enjoy our meal and talk while she slept on my lap. I have to say it was not expected but definitely a welcome outcome.

But on the flight back to Sydney the story was completely different.

Chhori decided to go to sleep just after we checked in and was fast asleep for around one hour. Then, around 10 minutes before boarding she woke up.

To start with, once we were boarded and seated, she refused to put on her seat belt. All she wanted to do was stand and run around. She finally settled down when we took off.

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For the next 50 minutes I had to constantly talk with her or get AS involved and I was praying that she wouldn’t cry. I didn’t want everyone to stare at us the whole flight.

Luckily there were other babies on the flight and a few of them were crying from time to time.

Chhori did cry once when I refused to let her hold the hot tea but she was OK once we turned her tablet on. For the last 30 minutes of the flight she was watching her rhymes.

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I had to constantly change the rhymes when she decided that she had enough of one but most of the time still she was OK. I was so happy when the pilot announced that we were going to land.

Chhori behaved normally on the flight and luckily for us we didn’t have any drama as it was a short flight.

We are going to New Zealand in August and the flight will be around 3 hours. I really hope she will be OK on that flight as well because that will be the test flight for our next travel which we are planning, to Nepal.

Please share your own adventures of flying with kids or your experience of having other’s kids on board. We are not going to judge you but hope to learn from your experience.

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

First day @ swim school

Australia has a lot of beaches everywhere so swimming is a necessary skill here. We wanted Chhori to learn to swim from an early age so we have taken her to a swimming pool before but we just let her relax in her floater while we swim.

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Recently we had been looking for a swimming school for her and finally we enrolled Chhori into a swim school. It was so hard to find a spot in a school which operates classes on weekends for kids less than 2 years but finally found a place available in one.

Last week was her first class and I was not sure what to expect, the class is 30 minutes long. One of the parents needs to go into the water with the baby and hubby volunteered me to do that. I am happy to be part of it as I want to learn how to teach her to swim when we are not in the class.

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It is going to be our weekly activity now and I am excited to see how Chhori will be at the end of it.

There were 7 another babies in the class with Chhori and each had a parent with them.

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The class started with some introduction and it was followed by splashes and paddles. We went through a few songs like humpty dumpty and wheel on the bus and did the actions. We did the same songs a few times so the babies get used to it. We also showed the babies how to blow bubbles and then had a few water toys which they were encouraged to grab. Chhori was having fun with each activity.

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30 minutes passed too fast and the class was over. Chhori had great fun and was still excited so we stayed in the pool for another 15 minutes or so playing and repeating what the instructor had shown during the class.

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I am looking forward to more classes and I am super happy that Chhori is enjoying the class and learning at the same time.

Please share your swim school experience. Also please share tips on how I can help Chhori to learn swimming better.

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

Happy Aama ko Mukh herne (Nepali Mother’s day)

It was Nepali Mother’s day on Friday 6th May 2016 and Australian Mother’s day yesterday. This year’s mother’s day is extra special for us as we have my mum, and my MIL (she arrived in Sydney yesterday) here.

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I was lucky enough to have my mum here last Mother’s day as well but it is AS’s first Mother’s day after a long time so I made sure they had a good one.

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On Friday we celebrated in the traditional style with sagun, fruits, sweets and cakes. It was nice to observe AS’s celebration as both of them were very happy.

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I also had my Mother’s day for my mum with sagun, fruits, sweets and cake.

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It is nice to have her here and wish we will be together for Mother’s day every year.

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I am a mum now too, so it was nice to be on the other end of the ceremony. Last year Chhori was too small but this year, she is big enough to enjoy the fun. She got me a cute card (AS did :)) and also sagun, fruits, sweets and a cake too.

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My MIL helped her with the tick and sagun for me. She was clam and followed the instructions well.

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It feels so good to be the mother of such a cute munchkin and I am so proud of her.

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And to all the proud moms out there, Happy Mother’s day. Hope you had a good one.

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

Specialist visit

When Chhori was around 6 months old, I saw a dark line underneath her left ring finger. She had just started to crawl so I thought she had managed to hit her finger somewhere and it caused a blood clot under her nail. I just checked if she was OK and let it be.

When I cut the nail the next time I noticed that the new nail still had the line so I got a bit worried. I googled it and there were many posts from birth marks to cancer. So we visited our GP to make sure it was nothing to worry about. He checked her and referred her to a specialist to check it further just to be safe.

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It took us almost 2 months to get an appointment and so we finally went for a visit on last Friday. We both took a day off work for the visit.

About 3 hours before the appointment time, I got a text letting me know that the doctor is running an hour late so we adjusted our day accordingly. When we arrived there, we had to wait around 5-10 minutes before it was our turn. In that time, we filled out the paper work and made sure Chhori didn’t break anything while she was busy exploring the place. She has become so active recently that she needs a full time minder when we are out and about. I was scared she might hurt herself or break something.

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Anyway, when it was out turn the doctor came in and introduced herself. She checked Chhori’s nail and said that it was just a mole and there was nothing to worry about which was quite a relief. She took a photo of her finger in her phone, also under a microscope and asked us to come back next year so she can examine Chhori again for any changes.

I was confused for a while because she was literally done in less than 2 minutes and it was all over so quickly. I can understand that she was busy and all that but we paid $235 for the consultation and it was done in 2 minutes.

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I am super happy that Chhori is OK and we don’t have to worry about it but at the same time I don’t understand how a dermatologist can get away with charging $235 for a 2 minutes consultation. I guess I am in the wrong profession.

Does anyone out there have a similar experience? Do you think the doctors are getting more money than the service may be worth?

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate your favourite blog. NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2015

The worst feeling in the world

Chhori has been sick for the last few days and I feel so helpless. As she can’t talk yet, she can’t tell us what’s wrong with her. Poor baby has been vomiting after nearly every meal.

It all started Saturday morning. We were having a good Saturday morning until we had breakfast. As soon as Chhori finished her breakfast, Weetabix and milk, she vomited it all out. It was not just a normal vomit but this was like a projectile where she vomited out everything she had just eaten.

chhori

We cleaned her up and checked her to see if she had a fever or anything else. She seemed OK and she was happily playing with her toys as normal. So we decided it may be something in the breakfast she that couldn’t digest though this is her normal breakfast. Sometime it is normal for babies to vomit.

In the afternoon, we did some house hold chores sand prepared lunch. We fed Chhori first as she didn’t have much to eat the whole morning. She was good and finished everything on her plate. I was happy as she seemed all ok and eating again. But within a minute, she vomited again taking out everything she had.

I was worried at that stage but we were not too sure what to do. Our normal GP is on holiday and we didn’t want to go to the hospital yet.

We cleaned her up again and checked if she had a fever. She seemed normal and wanting to eat what we had in our plate. We thought it is a good sign and she is willing to eat so we gave her some rice and veggies and she seemed ok.

She was ok the rest of the day and I was relieved when she didn’t vomit after her dinner. She was playing with my nephew and was her happy self.

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Sunday morning at 2 am, I breastfed her and she went back to her cot to sleep as normal. But within a minute, she vomited, and a big amount too. She vomited the milk she just drank and everything she had for dinner. It was bad to see her all covered in vomit half sleep.

We both woke up and cleaned her up, her cot and our bed. She was awake at this stage but didn’t want to go back to sleep so I was carrying her whole time. As soon as AS finished fixing up our bed I took her to our bed and, we were contemplating what to do at that time of night.

Emergency department in the hospital is not a very good idea as it will be a long wait. We had that experience last time when we took Chhori to the hospital so we decided it is best to call the the 24 hour GP. We have a special service where a GP will visit you at home after hours. We called them and they informed us that the next available GP won’t be at our place until 7 am in the morning. We decided that it should be ok.

In the meantime, Chhori was calm and went to sleep in a few minutes. At 6 am, our doorbell rang and it was the GP.

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He checked Chhori properly and told us that it may be some king of gastro other than that she is fine. It was a relief to hear that as I was worried it might be something more serious. Sunday morning she was mostly fine expect she vomited a small amount after breakfast.

Our whole weekend was over just making sure Chhori as OK. I am glad she is doing well so far. But it was one of the worst feelings to see her sick and in pain and we were so helpless.

I am sure there will be more instances in the future when she will be unwell but at least when she is able to talk I hope we can help her more. But a baby who can’t speak and can’t tell you what is wrong makes parents feel helpless.

I hope all you had better weekend than I did.

Take care.,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate your favourite blog. NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2015