CK's Back To Work

When I had Sophie, CK took a month's leave to help out at home. Now, he could only take 2.5 weeks of leave. Today, he had to go back to work. Although he was worried about me and the kids, I know he would probably go insane if he had to stay at home one more day. Sophie has been a tough cookie to manage and she tends to "bully" her daddy. As for me, I really appreciate the extra pair of hands especially when I have to care for Alfee. Yet, I also know that the sooner I take over the kids, the easier it is for things to normalise and stablise (at least with Sophie). Thus, this is the beginning of just me and 2 kids (excluding my domestic helper) at home in the day.

Our day is typically divided into 3 parts nowadays - morning, afternoon and night. Mornings are the most chaotic and busy for all of us. We have to settle Sophie's morning routine (toilet visits, changing out of her PJ, breakfast, toothbrushing), activity time, tv time, lunch (at 10am), her shower and finally naptime. Right now, Sophie is on medication (both western and TCM) so a little more coordination is needed. With Alfee around, Sophie's schedule is occasionally disrupted by his nursing time, diaper change and other needs (colicky). CK has to wake up earlier to keep Sophie busy and complete her morning routine while I carry our Alfee's morning routine (nursing, changing out of his PJ, wash up, tummy rub etc).

On school days, Sophie leaves for school with my dad around 1 pm and comes back by 5 pm. This gives me some time to spend quality time with Alfee and catch up on some sleep (ideally). Perhaps I can even squeeze in some blogging time as well. However, this is the week of school holidays. Sophie can only be a TV junkie for now. I really cannot do much with her with Alfee at my breast every 1.5 to 2 hours. Evenings are particularly stressful. I have to feed Sophie at 5 pm, followed by her bath and bedtime routine which total up to be 2.5 hours typically. I have to take Alfee everywhere we go and be flexible about each task at hand.

I guess at this point, my priority is to let Sophie adjust to the new member of our family. Alfee is here to stay so it is best that they learn to accomodate each others' needs and wants. The less Sophie disturbs him, the more time I will have to spend with her. Of course, I am making conscious effort to spend more time with Sophie especially after I breastfeed Alfee. And she is fast becoming my helper as well.