THE PLAIN JANE CAFE: A REVIEW

On the way home yesterday, our little family finally decided to take a short break at this new cafe in our neighbourhood.

We weren't expecting much since it looked really sparse, but as it turned out, the experience was more than pleasant. I can assure you, hipster cafes don't always take well to tiny humans entering their 'cool spaces'. Might be the vintage furniture or the breakables, but it might also just be me. 

Here's my attempt at a food review if you'd like to read -

A NEW DAY

nap time seriousness

Baby Mya woke up five times last night after a whole day of restless naps, bad feeds and grumpy play times. Part of me blamed myself. I must have done something differently or made bad choices. Another part blamed her, why wasn't she sleeping, eating or even playing for that matter. 

But as she peacefully whimpered down to her nap this morning. These words came to mind, 

His mercies are new every morning.

Thank you for giving both Mya and I a brand new start. Thank you for allowing us to live for you again. 

Thank you for A NEW DAY.

Saturdays

the frowning baby and her milk bottle + photo bomber

Ever since this whole breastfeeding business begin, I realised that slowly but surely my entire clothes rack was being colonised by only one type of clothing - SHIRTS

Instagram Woes

HACKED + HIJACKED!

So this happened.

About a week ago, I woke up to a dozen or more messages on my phone telling me, in essence, that my Instagram account had been hacked.

Apparently, after I went to bed the night before, my account had been taken over by an unknown person who proceeded to upload photos in my name. It was horrifying to see strange photographs of advertisements for handphone covers in an unknown language on my Instagram feed. In just one night, I had lost my Instagram identity which I had painstakingly curated. Friends who use three or more different apps to edit a photo before posting, you know what I mean right?

I couldn’t control what was being uploaded because the account had been compromised. The user settings had been tampered with such that others could see my feed, but I was logged out of my own account.

I tried everything I knew, changing the log-in details, reporting that I had forgotten my password, and reporting the user to Instagram itself. In the meantime, more and more people were alerting me about the situation, flooding my phone with screenshots of my hijacked account, making me even more anxious. 

Then the ever-phlegmatic J.G. asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks. “What are you so anxious about? It’s only an Instagram account,” he said.

I had no answer. 

Frustrated as I was, I couldn't tell him why I was being so fretful about the whole affair. After all, humblet was happily sleeping in the next room. We had our home and our jobs. My loss was not spectacular in the material sense. So why all the fuss?

Baby Bumps: The Five Month Old

the pensive five month old

Ten days into the new year and already, we are putting away another bag of clothes humblet can no longer wear. These have either gotten too short, too tight or too thin over time. With every onesie we fold aside, it shocks us how quickly she is growing. Hand-me-downs anyone?


Today not-so-little humblet is five months old. Baby bumps has become a little routine each time the tenth of the month approaches. Not sure how long I can keep up this discipline, but as with my new year's resolutions, as least we had a good start.


Here are the details, if you'd like a read -

Current Statistics

Height / Length: 65cm
Weight: 7.2kg
Head circumference: why does it even matter?

Latest Skills

sitting up?

1. Turning over both ways on both sides (core muscle let's go!)
2. Tummy time looking a lot more like crawling attempts vs dry swimming (c.f. three months)
3. Grabbing everything and shoving them into her mouth (teething? already?!)
4. Tasting first foods...carrots, banana, apple etc.

We're not sure where she is in terms of development, as in compared with other kids her age. A while back, we decided to let her grow and learn at her own pace, so we stopped tracking. As long as she is healthy, cheerful and enjoying the company of others, we think that's already more than we can ask for. Life will be stressful enough when the time comes so we figure we'd let her enjoy (and enjoy her) for as long as we can help it. 


So here we are, about to embark on this adventure called Solid Foods. Humblet continues to amaze us every single day. Showing us her preference for toys. Displaying her social skills with familiar faces. Celebrating her first Christmas and her first New Year.

And in general smiling a lot more...

A Tiny Thank You

thank you!

It's been nearly a year since humblet began and all I can say is I'm even more humbled and grateful that I am when it all started.

To the two hundred-ish regular readers, 10 000++ hits on the reader counter and so much more - I am extremely touched by your love and constant encouragement. Thank you and again thank you. Really doubt I would have the discipline nor motivation to keep writing without your comments / notes and all the other wonderful things you do for humblet and I.


For those who are new to this blog, you might read about why it begin here.


As for the rest, I've rounded up the top three posts of 2015 -

1. The First Trial-mester
The honest account of how this pediaphobic reacted to finding out she was pregnant and more.

2. Humblet's Birth Story
To whom this blog is directly addressed to, without the gruesome details.

3. Humblet's Dad
A surprisingly popular post about the man of my life, whom I now share with my daughter.

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If possible, I hope to keep writing, if you would be so kind as to keep reading.

Tell me what topics you would like to read about or what about humblet you'd like to know in the year 2016.

Once again, thank you.

Grateful,
Amy