Kate’s 1st Chinese New Year Celebrations

This year, CNY coincided with Australia Day which enabled Ken to celebrate the occasion with the family without having to take annual leave. PTL!

We had reunion dinner at Uncle Peter’s on Sunday evening and what a feast we had. It did not take me very long to realise that I made the mistake of wearing a pair of pre-pregnancy pants which did not have low nor stretchy waistline. Not a very wise thing to do especially when I knew that I would be eating heaps. As a result of that, I had to forgo dessert : (

Kate was very sociable that evening. She allowed almost everyone to carry her and play with her .. chased Uncle Lachlan around the dining table .. entertained the adults by clapping, putting her arms up, singing action songs. She surprised all of us by stopping whatever she was doing and started waving and saying “ta ta” to all of us. It was almost as though she was saying “Ok, I think this is enough entertainment for tonight. I am tired and I’m going home to rest. Goodbye”.

After putting Kate to bed, I started looking for clothes to wear for the next day. I pulled out this sleeveless black top with red roses (perfect for CNY), happily put it on and started buttoning it until I reached my tummy .. yikes .. cannot button .. oh oh … panic. No red clothes which are suitable in the warm weather .. might have to settle for brown top and black skirt. Still not satisfied with the brown top, when suddenly I had a stroke of genius. Use the ‘unbuttonable’ top as a vest lah and wear another sleeveless top inside .. problem solved .. whee .. not bad lah .. passable .. haha

Its customary that we wear new clothes for the new year. Its fine if I do not have new clothes for myself but I think I should at least instill that into our children. Kate did not wear new clothes for CNY but she wore something that was new to her .. thanks Adrian & Jasmine for passing on Cherise’s lovely CNY suit … sooo cute ..

On the 1st day of CNY, all of us went to Aunty Serena’s house to have the traditional Heng Hwa Mee Sua compliments of Ken’s grandma and aunt. Everyone will have a bowl of mee sua with a little bit of every side dish as each dish signifies something in the custom. I think peanuts signify fertility and mushrooms signify prosperity and maybe the crispy black vege (that’s what they call it .. orh cai) signifies black gold (fortune). Anyways, just make sure you eat a bit of every dish. The first time I celebrated CNY with the Lims, I was given a massive bowl of mee sua with all these dishes stacked to the max ..  I could not see my noodles at all .. haha. Now we get to choose smaller bowls .. whee. I look forward to this dish .. its yummy especially the specially flown-in from Singapore “orh cai”

After lunch, we proceeded to “bai nian” with all the elders at their respective houses … eat eat eat … today I smart already .. wear skirt with the stretchy wasitline .. too uncomfortable just pull the waistline lower .. haha

A wonderful celebration with family … will be celebrating the 7th day of CNY (ren ri) which is like everyone’s birthday with care group this sunday. Whee

Kate’s 1st Steps

Kate has been standing up unaided from a sitting or stooping position for a couple of days. She has on certain occasions taken 1 or 2 mini steps (unaided) before plopping down on her butt .. its a good thing she’s still wearing diapers .. haha

This evening, she took 2 steps towards Kenneth in front of her grandparents. I missed it. We encouraged her to try again and this time I made sure I was looking .. she took 10 steps towards her Daddy .. what a proud moment. We think she surprised herself with the steps as she was going on momentum. When we tried to get her to try again, she tapped on her chest (saying “scared scared”) .. haha … so cute

She has been practising standing up before she sleeps every night. She stands up on the bed and then just plops herself down on the butt .. giggles .. and does it again and again and again .. such a playful baby

I love remote controls – says Kate

Kate was watching her Childrens Song Sing-A-Long DVD earlier and all of a sudden there was no more sound (I was a couple of feet away on the computer). I looked over and realised that the DVD was in forward mode .. haha .. our little angel had pressed the forward button.

A couple of minutes later, no sound again. Looked up and realised that she had the TV set remote and switched channels .. haha

Association Skills

Its amazing how babies associate things they learn.

The heat was causing Kate’s eczema to flare up a little and she was rubbing her chin furiously against the bolster. Her grandfather was putting her to bed when that occured so he applied some moisturizer on her chin to soothe the skin. After application, she started rubbing furiously again as it was still itchy. The amazing thing was that she pointed to the bottle of moisturizer (telling him to apply more as she had rubbed it all away). And when he approached with the moisturizer, she stopped rubbing and stuck her chin out for him to apply. How amazing is that? Wow …

Great communication skills .. Praise the Lord!

Toilet Tissue Buffet

Beep Beep Beep! Washing machine is letting me know that the clothes have been washed and are ready to be hung out to dry. Praise the Lord for another sunny day – perfect weather for drying clothes …

I made sure that Kate was still watching “Psalty’s Praise Party 2″ and proceeded to the back yard to hang the clothes. Halfway through, I heard her crawling away from her play area … silence .. hmmz .. she must have stopped midway and resumed watching the show (which is what she does all the time). Decided to come in and check anyways … did not see her at the usual spot … hmmz .. got a little concerned

turned around and looked towards the kitchen … lo and behold .. I see my little gal surrounded with toilet tissue. She went into the bathroom and had a field day pulling it off the holder .. haha .. wah .. so much tissue … let’s just keep rolling it out .. whee .. and mmm … looks tasty too

aiyah .. mommy found me : (

really cannot take my eyes off her for even a minute …

Quite a happening day

Our day started with the gardener coming to weed our backyard .. he brought 2 of sons to help .. well, the 10-year-old assisted him but the 4-year-old just tagged along and helped a little .. oh, he is a baby himself. I noticed the little one playing peek-a-boo with me and so I went out and offered them a drink. He hung around the backdoor and asked if he could come into the house .. of course .. Kate would love a playmate .. haha .. anyhows, I offered him a bikkie and while he was eating, our little Kate crawled towards him in lightning speed and started tugging at his pants .. he looked a little shocked. Either Kate likes children very much or she wanted to eat what he was wating – I guess the latter ..

After the bikkie, he started playing ball in the house and watching the sing-a-long DVD I had on for Kate and eventually asked if he could play with Kate’s alphabet mat. It wasn’t long before he started taking the letters out to reshuffle them when his dad knocked on the door to let me know they had completed the job. Our little 4-year-old friend started frantically putting the alphabets back .. so funny .. they left with some chocs and their dad reckons it made their day. Its good to be a blessing!

The rest of the arvo was pretty usual until Kate woke up from her arvo nap at 4pm. She was playing downstairs as usual and while crawling around the house chanced upon 2 1kg dumb-bells stashed away in a corner. Her grandfather uses them for his  exercises. She tried picking them up .. managed to lift them up a little but when she could not lift them further, she started grunting out of frustration. So funny! The sounds she made .. sounds of frustration .. “errkkk” was what she said. haha

A couple of minutes after her weight-lifting session, we went to Brandon Park SC to replenish Kate’s diapers. We put Kate in the supermarket trolley for the first time .. boy was she excited! She was pretty good .. she stayed in there the entire time we were in ALDI supermarket. Finally got bored while Grandpa and her were waiting for Grandma and Mommy who went into COLES supermarket to get some other groceries. I think I should suggest to Ken that we put her in the trolley when we next go to the supermarket. Ken usually carries her but we can’t shop for long coz our arms can’t handle her weight anymore .. hee

Our little darling is comunicating very well even though she can’t talk yet. She says “ter” and points to her sippy cup when she wants a drink. I’m amazed .. now when you say “star” she will open and close her palms as if singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. Pretend play skills are good too .. she uses the remote control as a telephone by putting it to her ear .. clever little cookie

She must have been really tired from all the new experience she had today .. fell asleep at 8.45pm. Its the earliest in the longest time.

Self-weaned

My baby has weaned herself off me at 10.5 months .. I miss nursing her .. oh well ..

I have totally enjoyed breastfeeding Kate from the moment she was born .. she is such an efficient feeder .. I miss cuddling her while I nurse her . its a different kinda cuddle now .. hehe ..

My baby is discovering her sense of independence and is into exploring everything around the house .. she crawls all over the place and touches almost anything and everything except those that are forbidden (which when you add up is quite a lot too .. haha). She is learning how to stand up and walk … she moves very steadily when we hold her hands and walk with her .. she loves to kick balls too .. I reckon she has inherited her daddy’s sporty genes .. whoopee

It is also at this age where she is testing her boundaries a lot more. She keeps touching the stuff we forbid even though we warn her and eventually smack her hands. She will try using the other hand – as if trying to tell us that she is obeying us by not touching the dustbin with her right hand .. haha. Sometimes she will crawl away and come back quietly hoping we did not notice her. When you can’t hear Kate babbling, its time to look for her. She is probably munching on something she picked off the floor, pulling toilet rolls of their holders, touching the mop, opening drawers, playing with shoes, the list goes on.

She has recently been using remote controls to turn on the TV set, change channels and turn on the aircon …

She finally said MAMA 2 days ago much to my delight .. said it briefly again today .. whee

Kate finished a BIG bowl of lunch today

I am sooo happy when Kate finished her huge bowl of lunch today. This doesn’t happen very often so you can imagine my glee when I gave her the last spoon .. whee

I gave her about 4 cubes of pureed vege and chicken, some mee sua (since I was having it for lunch) and an egg yolk. I am glad I persevered when she showed some dis-interest half way through. Sooooo happy when she finished her lunch and grapes .. haha

Portsea here we come

Praise the Lord for beautiful sunny weather today. We spent the afternoon at Portsea Beach with a couple of families from church. Sun was out and there was a breeze .. cool at times but nice nevertheless .. hehe.

We were the first to arrive .. woo hoo .. doesn’t happen very often but am glad we were early so Ken had some time to take some photos of the scenery before everyone else arrived. Here is a pic of Kate in her sunnies while we were waiting at the carpark. The interesting thing about this pic is that I was not looking at her when I took the pic .. I posed her and turned around to look at something Ken was showing me and voila what a nice shot .. haha

This is the first time all 3 of us tried body-boarding. Kate managed to body board while keeping herself dry. Not an easy feat leh! Haha

Kate didn’t body board of course but she had so much fun playing with sand. I was quite amazed with her. This is only her second time at the beach and playing with sand and what a difference from the first time. The first time she saw sand, she tried to taste it .. normal behaviour for a baby her age but today she was sitting there and playing with sand like a toddler .. haha .. so cute

Kate had sooo much fun at the beach that she missed her arvo nap … was literally asleep within seconds when we popped her into her carseat before we headed for dinner. All in all a wonderful outing … I am determined to make the most of my summer with Kate, before I start work in March

Shampooing woes

Its been pretty easy to bath Kate up until recently. She has decided she is a big girl now and does not want to lie down on the bath aid anymore. So, she sits up in her bathtub and I shower her using the flexi-hose shower head. Everything is good until I start washing her hair. She starts to squirm a little when I shampoo the back of her head, but the moment the shower head moves towards her forehead, she starts to climb out of the bath-tub. I have tried putting a face-cloth on her forehead to prevent the water forom getting into her eyes, but she just pulls it off. Ended up praising her for letting the water slide down the face (explained that’s how it is when she swims .. not that she swims). She accepts the explanation for a little while and then starts crying to get out. Tried distractions .. doesn’t work … tried showing her that water will not get into her eyes if she leans back .. doesn’t wanna listen

So, went to Target and bought this at the suggestion of several moms … its working .. slowly but surely. Guess I just need to keep using it and when I’m confident with it, she’ll be comfortable with it too .. she still squirms but not as much .. haha … no joke leh … backache when struggling with a kid who wants to get out of the tub when they are not done with their bath yet