Blessed 2009

Thank You Lord for a wonderful 2008 especially the beautiful gift of baby Kate! Thank You for all the blessings, provisions, friends made, lessons learnt, holidays taken, beauitful pictures taken, memorable videos recorded, friendships strengthened, family.

We look forward to a wonderful 2009 because we know that You are with us every step of the way. May all of us experience a breakthrough 2009 where prayers are answered and God’s power is experienced. Let us acknowledge God’s sovereignity and continue to be deeply rooted in our faith.

A blessed 2009 to all ……

Paynesville

Ken, Kate and I joined 5 other families from church for a holiday camp in Lakewood Park, Paynesville http://www.lakewoodpark.com.au/. We basked in the warm fellowship of friends and food coupled with leisurely and scenic drives to the nearby lakes and beaches.

The kids and some of the men tried the Flying Fox and Ropes Course and some came back aching .. haha. I canoed for the very first time (Ken did most of the canoeing and I just kept splashing water at him with my paddles – accidentally of course). After a full day of driving and actvities we were treated to a sumptous dinner of lovingly prepared cuisine from each family’s head chef.

We drove to Lakes Entrance on sunny Sunday and spent the afternoon at the beach and the pier where some of us crabbed and caught mussels. The guys had a wonderful time body surfing while the ladies relaxed under the beach umbrellas. This was the first time Kate went to the beach and we let her splash around in the water – loved it she did! She had fun licking seashells (should have seen her expression when she realized how salty they were) and grabbing sand and almost tasting them too. I got what I wanted – a slight tan!

Lakes Entrance was so beautiful that we went back again the next day – to Ken’s delight as he wanted to take more pictures.                                                                

 We hung out at the pier where some crabbed and others went for a walk around the town centre. Next on the itinerary was a relaxing 2 hour waterway tour where we cruised the vast inland waterways of Paynesville. We got to see beautifully architectured houses along the lake and were treated to some fantastic stunts by a power glider. You should have heard the ladies cheering on the deck – no wonder he kept doing those stunts again and again – was glad to have an audience eh?

Tuesday is here and it is time for us to leave Lakewood Camp – we thought we were heading back home but were invited to detour to Wilsons Promontory where one of the family would be camping for a night. It was a pretty long drive but the scenery was beautiful. We will definately re-visit Wilsons Prom – might even camp there next time … need to get a tent first .. hehe. We hung around for a couple of hours – walked down to Tidal River, took some pictures and embarked on our journey back home.

Thank God for a wonderful and safe trip!

So innovative

Sometimes the best toys are the things around the house. I was out when this happened but it was such a proud moment for me when Kate demonstrated for me again. Shall get her to do it again for her daddy tonight.

She was crawling around when she saw the esky I placed on the floor near the kitchen. She put both her hands on it and used it as a walker .. just pushed t around .. new found mobility .. went up and down the length of the house several times .. haha .. so cute

Carolling

The cornerstone caregroup went to Anzac Lodge to bless the elderly with some carolling and gifts in early December. We had a good time and so did the residents at the nursing home (some of them were so touched that they teared). We really thank God for His perfect timing. Several members of the caregroup were down with gastro earlier on in the week and up until several days before, some of us were still not well. Thank God all of us affected chose to believe and trust God’s healing power and go ahead and bless the residents of Anzac Lodge (this included adults, children and babies). I thank God for His perfect timing as all the gastro bugs were cleared the night before and all of us turned out in full force to bless the elderly.

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the session … Kate loved it too ….

 

The week after, the entire care grooup was invited to sing a couple of carols in our church’s carols by candlelight event. Kate joined us again and she started us off by singing into the microphone first .. haha .. and then she also ended off for us by saying something into the microphone. She just has this knack of making a sound in the form of a babble at the right time. Her timely babbles drew much laughter from the audience .. hehe … imagine the look of pride on her parents’ face

Replying to a question

My almost 10-month-old shocked us (her parents) and her grandparents earlier this evening. Her grandfather asked her what she must do before she goes to bed and she replied “Nan Nan” (i.e. drink milk). All 4 of us heard it .. speechless .. and the best thing was that she was pointing to the kitchen where her milk would be prepared when she said it.

So smart .. can understand …

This just reinforces the importance of paying attention to what you speak in front of your children .. calm down when driving coz our little friends are listening and absorbing … and they might just say the most inappropriate words at the most inappropriate times .. haha

Falling asleep while eating apple

This is hilarious … we were all having our lunch and Kate refused to eat her food so we ended up giving her a piece of apple to munch on … when we next looked at her, she was eating with her eyes half closed and kinda nodding away .. haha .. eat until wanna sleep .. so funny .. then she started smiling at us and shaking her head to shake the sleepiness away .. so cute .. .she tried to fight the sleep monster for a couple more minutes but her eyelids grew sooo heavy that she nodded to sleep on the highchair

Grandfather brought her upstairs for her arvo nap .. haha

Good communication skills

Good communication skills I say … Kate can ask for milk … she says “Nan Nan” when she wants milk and when we show her the milk bottle she smiles and if we take it away she cries .. haha … so cute .. incidentally the brand of her formula is NAN .. ooh my baby can read!!!!

Grandaunties you will be very happy to hear that your SKK and nek nek has been drinking from the bottle for quite a while now. She loves it … mommy is still breastfeeding her but mommy reckons no more milk but will continue doing it for a while until Kate doesn’t want the boobies anymore .. haha ..

When the milk is too warm for her liking, she takes 3 gulps and then stops for a while before continuing in the 3 gulp sequence. So clever. Too warm to drink but too impatient to wait for the milk to cool down. Good strategy eh? In one instance, I took the bottle off her to cool it down, when it was returned to her with a comfortable temperature, she kinda nodded and smiled at me after her first sip, as though telling me “That’s much better, Mom”! Cuteness this little cute-as-a-button sweetie pie munchkin!!!!!

My little princess is pointing at almost everything .. loves pointing at christmas lights and decorations … ooh and the door requesting we bring her out … I was looking for her one sunday after church (she usually gets passed around after service while Ken and I have our lunch and catch up with friends) and kinda panicked when I could not find her. She was not with the last person I saw her with .. yikes .. walked around the compound and finally found her with Lydia (daughter of care group leader) witnessing a water baptism at the pool. Lydia told me Kate pointed to the pool area and said “there” … so she bring her there lor … haha

She understands a lot of things. Earlier on, her grandpa asked her to bring her toy to him and she did. We then asked her to pass to grandma, mom, etc and she did that. So clever! I reckon she is slowly learning to share as I noticed that she is no longer snatching toys from other babies during playgroup. Shocking that my little gal snatches …. yes .. but she is getting out of that phase .. whew .. now she just lets them take the toy and moves on to something else .. haha

Jehovah Rapha – God who Heals

Indeed you are Jehovah Rapha – God who Heals.

The 3 of us must have caught a bug over the weekend. Kate started throwing up on Tuesday evening and I threw up a couple of hours later the same day. Kenneth felt weak on Wednesday night and had diahrrea on Thursday. I thank God for healing me within a day – slept the entire Wednesday and was back to my usual self on Thursday. Ken is back to work today - thank God for healing him.

Kate is much better but she is still throwing up her solids – however she is taking her milk very well. Thank God for that. Despite her not being well, she is still sleeping reasonably well and is getting rid of the bug in her body quite efficiently – her stools .. whoa … smelly as

I am going to continue to trust God for His complete healing so that all 3 of us plus Mum is able to go carolling at Coburg Nursing Home tomorrow – as scheduled. Lord, Your plans will prevail – Ken will play the guitar and we will sing and spread the Christmas cheer to the residents there. We thank You for your complete healing upon all of us who were affected by the bug – Owls, Yeongs and us.

We give you all praise and honour, Amen

Babies learn so quickly

More things Kate have been doing in the last fortnight …

She has since learnt how to throw a ball, get down from stairs and shake head. Thanks to grandparents who spends time playing with her and teaching her all these …

Today she was watching “Baby can Read” http://www.yourbabycanread.com/ and when the child on the VCD shook her head in response to the word “No”, Kate did the same thing. So clever .. hee

I reckon she is learning how to be possessive of her possessions (her mommy from other babies) .. haha .. she doesn’t shove them aside or anything but when I hug or carry another baby, she will leave whatever toy she was playing with and try and climb onto me as well. Awww … what a nice feeling : )