Just one night ...

To figure out if we could manage my girl alone if we decided to go away on a trip, we thought that a night stay at one of the local hotel would be a good tryout.

We had the perfect excuse, to celebrate the hubby's birthday. I found a family package and so we decided to try it out. Well, the hotel stay was 1 thing - the service expectations were not met. But most importantly, we did have a nice room/ tiolet. The bed, it was so ultra springy that when my hubby turned on his side, I was awoken up by his movement. Thankfully my gal slept through it all.

It didn't start well. She was initially ok with the room, and we had some toys to distract her. However, the moment we drew the blackout curtains so that the darkness would lull her to sleep, she started crying - NONSTOP, for 30 minutes. Nothing could stop her and she cling on to me like a koala bear. Even a visit to the loo had her slinged against me.

In the end, we decided to go out - had to use the build-a-bear vouchers than came with the package anyway. So off we went, the pram only worked for a little while and she was mostly in the sling or carried by the hubby. The first stop was of course build-a-bear shop and she finally showed some interest in a blue bear (all of them had the same tags, but she only showed interest in that blue bear's tag) but eventually we choise a brown bear which was made of velvety's material. Wanted it soft and squishy, but it was still a little hard to my liking. We choose a ballerina outfit that came complete with the shoes and a "ear" piece - with a decent price tag (I had a little heartattack when I saw the price tags). We will probably go back again when she's older to appreciate the bear and does the dress me up dress me down thingy.

Went for a light dinner (since we already had tea at the hotel - she was bouncing to the live music!) after wandering in ToyRus and started to head back to the hotel - with lots of aprehension. I asked the hubby if we should send her back to my mum's place where our helper was staying for the night. He shrugged and said to adopt a wait and see approach. I decided a quick stop to give her some milk, hoping she would fall asleep on the way back to the hotel - but it didn't work. However, I was pleasantly surprised that she had her own version of signing "milk" which I tried signing to her.

She was wide awake when we reach the room and she was ready to cry the moment I sat on the bed (she was still in the sling!). I was dreading the possiblity of sending her back, since my family would brand me a failure! I went over to the couch and pointed out the traffic on Sheares Bridge to her. She was amused enough to warm up quickly and I could bring her over to the bed. She rolled around a little and I was quite pleased that she was finally OK with the room. I was thinking if I should changed her diaper since that might arouse her from her sleepy state, when she suddenly sat up, and stared at me with a shocked expression. I guessed correctly she pooped and did the necessary things. She was quite contented for me to rub her tummy and to clean her up. I also managed to change her into her jammies, which on hindsight was a bit warm for the room. The material is only slightly thicker than her other rompers and we had set the aircon to 10 degrees and on fan speed 3. I'm not killing Earth, it's just that the air circulation of the room is so bad, the cold spot is the couch area!

She continued to roll on the bed for a while more, giggling, SNORTING and smiling, then she suddenly stopped. We peered at her (we were lying on her sides and just watching her roll about) and she was fast asleep. I looked at the clock and it was WAY past her bedtime of 8pm - 11:22pm! I couldn't washed up her bottles since she was still not in deep sleep yet. She screamed in her sleep a couple of times, but was quickly soothed and back to sleep. She was OK for the rest of the night except when we reduce the fan speed to 1, and it got too warm for her (even the hubby kicked off the blanket - he was earlier clothed in his clothes and bathrobe, before huddling under the blanket).

Her breakfast? Wow, seafood porridge (fish and prawns I believe), rice with tofu and miso soup, mashed banana with yoghurt, glutinous rice and some bread. She was happily chomping down everything, and burping out loud TWICE inbetween the food.

I then took a bath with her (it was horrible on the first day, she refused to have her bath, so we quickly just splashed her and then dressed her) and she enjoyed it so much that she didn't want to get out! She cried a little when the hubby took over the dressing bit while I showered. We had a little accident before her naptime - I accidentally clipped her finger when I was putting the cover back on the milk bottle. It must had been very painful, cuz her cry came out like 10 seconds after her face went red and all scrunched up! I patted her to sooth her and she promptly fell asleep. She slept for 1.5 hours while we watched Bourne Ultimatum (part of the package - 1movie!) - ya, through all the sounds from the TV. She woked up 5 minutes after the movie ended, so it was just nice as we had also finished packing.

It was a good experience - I had my fair share of doubts that I could make it, and she clinged to me like a koala and eventually having a good time before sleeping made me believe that I can take care of my girl (sorry for the clipped finger). It was not to say, I did it all on my own. The hubby helped too, even though my gal was screaming her head off whenever he tried to carry her. It must had been hard for him too, but he did a great job! He could manage her better than I can - the crying really gets me, and he has more faith in us as parents that I do.

Oh, Happy birthday dearie! I think we could try a 2 night stay sometime soon *hint hint: my birthday is coming soon!*