Mamu's Last Biz Trip...Until She Finds Another Job

After attending my best friend's wedding in Taipei, we came back to HK on Monday and I left again for NYC that very night. I had to go away for almost one week for my last biz trip at the current company. These days, Joaquin is growing up so fast that even being away for a couple of days makes a big difference.
At the wedding last Sunday, he was so focused on picking up every flower petal on the floor (which was sprinkled by the flower boy). This week, Dadu told me that he is into picking up little leaves at the park but Mamu is not around to see that. Instead, she can only look at the pictures that Dadu sends over while counting to the days she returns to Hong Kong...

Mamu Update

Mamu will be officially unemployed starting this Labor Day (May 1)! 
Dadu and Mamu are planning to take a long holiday and drive around Europe with Chamu for a few months, taking the advantage of the plunging currencies, economies, hotel and petrol prices. Come join us!

Sunday with Chamu

Sunday is always a big challenge for us. Our helper is off on Sunday and we always have erratic schedules running around so much that Chamu cannot keep to his schedule. Take today for example, Jaime and I were out until 3am and we had a hard time falling asleep when we got home. So when we woke up at 7:30am, we both had only a couple hours of sleep. Of course me being the sleepy head in the family, I could not stay awake at all, so Jaime had to be the one minding Joaquin when I was napping mid-morning. By the time I got up again around 11am, we only had less than 30 minutes to get Joaquin fed and dressed before we were due at a birthday party.
It took us 40 minutes to get to Inspiration Lake which is located next to Disneyland Hong Kong. It's a very nice artificial lake with vast picnic areas with grass (quite a rare sight in urban Hong Kong). Unfortunately, Joaquin had the wrong start with grass, he did a face plant when he tried to sit up on the sloped grass. The rest of the afternoon he was not happy and was clingy for some odd reason. Every time we tried to sit him down on the grass, he would start crying.By the time we returned to the HK island, we were both very hungry. Even though we didn't bring Joaquin's dinner, we were brave enough to think that he could wait until his parents finish their dinner first. Naturally we had to deal a very hungry and grumpy baby shrieking when his parents were trying to eat. We finally gave up and started giving him "adult food": wonton soup and steamed bun. Joaquin was so amazed by the taste of MSG, he kept shouting for more. He also liked the steamed bun so much that he kept stuffing his mouth with it. I guess this will be the last time that we put our hunger before Joaquin's.

C.I.O. Day 7

Put him down at 7:53 pm. I was hoping that whining would stop in five minutes and that he would be asleep by 8:00 pm. But he kept howling for the next 20 minutes. I went inside to pat him a few times but he didn't stop. Finally we fed him milk (180ml) and put him down again at 8:40pm. He was asleep within 2 minutes... Bad news is that he took 45 minutes again (on Day 7!). Good news is that he just didn't want to sleep with an empty stomach...

C.I.O. Day 6

Our report is getting shorter and shorter and will hopefully stop after today (if Joaquin remains a good boy). No need to night feed again last night. I put him down at 8.30pm tonight and he was asleep in less than 5 minutes with no tears shed (he still whines though). We should've done this much earlier!

C.I.O. Day 5

Today we followed the same routine. Joaquin was smart enough to start faking his cry when I was telling him goodnight and to be a good boy by falling asleep himself. I put him down in the crib and he was whining. After I left the room, he was already asleep within 5 minutes! That's a new record time.

Leaving Chamu is Hard to Do

Following our success in CIO, Chamu has been sleeping very nicely. He quit his night feeds (he used to wake up @ 1am and 5 am to feed) and is now sleeping from 8pm to 8am (STRAIGHT!!!). The only downside is really the fact I don't get to see him much. In the morning I would sneak into his room and fix his blanket and kiss him goodbye before I take off. In the evening, I would come home and he would be so excited to see me (which is quite sweet). But within a hour I would need to become this mean witch who dumps him by himself in the room...

<sigh>