Our Regular Sunday

Going to school.

I make it a point to take two portait shots of her every Sunday.

It is apt, since we dress up a little for her class, since she has loads of nice, new clothes.

She dresses up but not me. I am too lazy to do my make up or remove it later on, so I'd better just do without.

You can see that this little girl just doesn't listen to me. She refuses to pose for the camera and flung that poor Carebear into the drain in one swift flick with her wrist. Arggggh!!! Sorry bearie, this little girl isn't mushy-girly some of the times.

(post note: I just remembered... I made her sleep for more than two hours before class,,, I think she might be a little sleepy still. See her "just got up look").

Our Regular Sunday

After her class, we went for a drink and I let Kiki observe the environment, but she got restless, so I played pee-a-boo with her, although she is fonder of "auuwwww---taaaak!" like this.
In a typical Teochew accent.

and I let her "walk" a little.

and then crawl a little.

She got free wheeling and crawled all over the place! all hands and knees got dirty!

Oh well, she had a joyous time, that's all that mattered.

Swimming (1)

This is the first time we are at a swimming pool.

I am reminded of the time when Kiki first played in the portable pool that Anna has. That time, Kiki already likes the waters. She kicks naturally and would lie in a tummy-down position and kick her legs behind. This time, it was the same. She didn't need to warm up at all, she naturally loves the pool.

She looks like a boy in this Mickey Mouse bathing suit....... it has a tail by the way. Ya.

Swimming (1)

Look at the tail of the costume.

We should do this more often.... we were all thrilled.

Children

Some children are just drawn to babies, like this pair of girls.

They came up to Kiki to show her the toy they have.

They stood so close to Kiki with their faces in hers and Kiki poked a finger at their mouth and eye, which scared them off. Kiki was just being friendly..... she does that to me. But of course I don't expect others to understand.

My helper and I realised that the two girls don't speak English. They kept talking to us in Malay, which I couldn't understand.

Nevertheless, it is nice to see children being themselves.

Being children, they are less self-conscious and more embracing. I could take a lesson in this.

A non-regular Saturday

Learning to walk.

I was so fatigue that I slept till noon on Saturday. I was plain tired and I don't know why.

I would think that early waking hours and work itself is quite a toil, plus I think I need to revamp my lifestyle back on track but am totally lazy. So anyway, we slept till late and went for Tim Sum, followed by the swimming pool. I was excited because it is the first time Kiki will waddle in the pool.

Our Regular Sunday

I don't know if most working mothers feel like they don't spend enough time with their babies but I sure feel guilty half the time. I hope I can move pass this as this feeling does not help my well-being. But I take heart to know that my lecturer once said "a working mother is the best mother. Because she knows very well that time is scarce and she makes the best use of the alloted time she has with her baby."

I make it a point to spend Sunday with Kiki. We don't do a lot of stuff but her weekly class has become something we all look forward to. She enjoys her class very much, although sometimes,,,,,, she is a bad student. (for an example, if she is disinterested, she will slide halfway down her chair and sit in such a way, threatening to fall off her seat) I always tell her
"小妹，坐好来! " But she still does it as long as she has gotten bored. Sometimes, I have to resist spanking her.

But to be fair, she's a good student 95% of the time.

She pays attention, participates in all activities and often slams her palms on the desk to show her delight. Recently, she has become very chatty, she will chat her friends up and sometimes distracting the activity. Oh ya! She can now call her daddy "Ba ba ba ba ba" (mostly five counts) and she calls out to her daddy most delighfully in the morning. I would shoot to Bren - "your baby's calling you 爸爸" He would say "no lah,,, she's saying babababa" as he was sensitive to my feelings.

Well,,,,,, the don't say "daddy's girl" for nothing.

I think my baby is refusing to call me on purpose. That girl just likes to take a dig at me, all for her personal amusement. Arggh.

The Head-band

I am no fan of wigs, mainly because I feel that they make you look corny and I often critize those mothers who make their poor babies wear some fancy headgear with affixed fake hair. In my moment of weakness, I relented to Jasmine who kept asking me to choose one of these headgears she was selling. I totally forgot that I had dismissingly chose a red one until the day Jasmine sent it to my office and also asked for payment, naturally since she is running a business. For the life of me, I forgot that I had relented. So anyway, I might as well goof with it since it is in my ownership.

Kiki refuses to wear any form of headgears, be it a hat, cap or headband. I have so many of those but she stubbornly pulls them off everytime and I have long since given up putting on any hat for her. To think that she was the queen-of-hats when she was a baby is a far cry. So anyway, after two weeks of trying with this red number, I managed to put it on her just for a short 5 minutes to take these shots. And she entertained me for another 15 minutes and wore it to her class, where everyone was wowed and complimented that she looks like a Korean Doll. (why Korean? Only Korean perm their babies hair?) ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I could only smile. ; )

Oh, what a morning.

I normally go to the main office for a cup of nice, local coffee each working morning.

Today, I was greeted by a rat, caught in a mesh-iron trap. The rat was a small one, it was not moving much and was standing on its hind paws. I stopped to look at it, can't help feeling very sad and sorry. Our cook shot at me--"awaiting death". I said "huh?" She said, "the rat is awaiting death, it is hallucinating." I couldn't say another word.

I can understand that a kitchen is no place for a rat to be, but the rat is being a rat.
Rats can't grow their own rice or farm their own chickens, they just get to the food, whatever it is, to eat.
If it were a cockroach, it would have been easier for me to rescue it.
I did a silent prayer for the rat and hope he gets reborn in a better realm.
And so,,,,,, this is my rainy Friday.

With the Biscuits

I took a day off today to run some errands.

Had time for breakfast at the coffeeshop next block.

Let Kiki have her biscuits while we (helper & I) have our pork porridge with egg.

Then, we went to the market to get some sweet corns and spinnach.

She is still just eating the same old stuff every day. I am beginning to worry if she's eating enough. Already, she doesn't eat fish. The pork slice I give her is the stock for the porridge. Again, it is always fruity porrige with carrots or spinnach.

I do wish she will eat more soon. Already,,,,, some babies at 6 months are eating more than her.

I ought to ask her paedi the next visit in 3 weeks time.

I Love Hoodies

I love hoodies. I had many hoodies myself and still have a few.

If our climate allowed, I would wanna wear hoodie day in, day out.

I think it has a street appeal and I like that it is casual and shields me with secrecy.

But of course climate doesn't allow.

I bought this sweet number from Jasmine at bebejac (see earlier post), girls' apparels are indeed vast and nowadays, kid's clothing has as much variety as the adult's, and they're cuter cos they're smaller in size.

Kiki has learnt that the buttons will turn the TV screen on & off, hence she would press it repeatedly.

Next, she would play with my aroma oil diffuser, watching the lights change and removing and replacing its cover. Next, she would pause the CD player or skip the song. She would wanna play for as long as she likes. Today, she could lower herself in a half-squat position and then sit her bum onto the floor. Looks like she has learned to control her thigh muscles. =)

@ The Gym

Playtime at the gym. One hour free play, once a week.
One hour with instructors, once a week also.

Kiki enjoys her playtime at the gym. She gets excited and would kick her legs while waiting to go into the gym.

She can now climb onto the big stairs on her own, though my helper is around her to keep an eye.

She likes to climb the ladder that is mount against the wall. And the swings, and the flying fox swings. She is just so thrilled and would laugh a lot.

Eu Yang Sang

Product: Hou Ning Powder.

Indications:

Traditionally used to relieve cough and reduce Phlegm.

Key Ingredients:

Capra Hircus L. Bezoar.

http://www.euyansang.com

I wanna tell you guys that TCM works wonders!

Kiki had cough and I get heart-ache when I see her struggling to get some sleep but had phlegmy cough. My colleague looked at me the next morning and said:" Wa Lau! You didn't sleep arrrr?" Referring to my tired look.

I said:" Ya lor,,,, my baby has cough".

He then recommended me this Eu Yang Sang medicine. He uses it for his two young kids.

<> S$66.00 for a small tube (the quantity of the powder is like 1 tea spoon only!) (lasts for 2 days, total 4 servings) But it relieves the throat and chest from the phlegm and works wonders.

I will recommend this.

Standing Up

Kiki is learning to stand, she will prop herself up to retrieve the toys she wants, but after about 5 mins, she would cry for help because she doesn't know how to lower herself back to sitting position. I believe with practise, she will start learning to walk in the next two months.

Rachael's First Birthday

Rachael's First Birthday - Prelude

Rachael's First Birthday - Guests Arrival

Cousin ZT & HJ are among the first to arrive.
My bicycle was a hot favourite and many guests took turn to ride on it.

We prayed for good weather and thank goodness the rain stopped in time for the BBQ.

I set up the long table under the tree, it was a perfect scene and had perfect breeze.

Had I planned for it, it wouldn't have been so perfect.

Rachael's First Birthday - The Start

We didn't plan to have a BD party for Kiki because she was at this period where she cries at the sight of my friends and relatives.

I don't wish to push her boundry too much but at the same time, I would really like to have a celebration for her first birthday as I reasoned that subsequent birthdays would most likely be a small affair.

I racked my brain for some ideas and finally decided to hold a barbeque at the beach as it is an open space and she is familiar with that area. Unfortunately, Kiki was still resisting everyone but I assured her that all is well and fine.

Luckily, we catered the food and for a service staff to do the roasting so that we can free ourselves to mingle and I can attend to Kiki.

I told my sis to take this picture of Kiki & I so that I have something to remember on this very happy day.
She looks so sweet and girly in this lovely floral outfit, not to mention the frilly socks.
Although I know that her shoes mis-matched, I let her wear them because they were from my sister.

Vert shortly, she was crying like this and was like that for the next 90 mins.......

And so,,,,,, I had to bring her further away from our guests, and we kept walking further and further for a couple of hundred metres because all the guests kept coming to us and wanted to carry the birthday girl.

Rachael's First Birthday - The Middle

Luckily, Ryan came with a tri-cycle and let Kiki have it for a while.
Between pouting, she took a break and spent some interesting time exploring the tri-cycle.

And played with the biscuits for a while too.

And refused to look at the camera for a pose.

Rachael's First Birthday - The Eating

Meanwhile, our guests broke into 2 main groups, my paternal relatives under the tree, my maternal relatives at the BBQ pit, and small clusters scattered all around.

It was intentional that the chairs were limited, so as to encourage movement and mingling.

The food was not bad and I didn't get to eat the chicken wings nor the curry. I was shocked to learnt that they were wiped out in a flash. Next time, I must order two portions of the favourite dishes. Also, two servings of beverage and more cutlery because most people used more than one plate.

The next time you want to have a barbeque, you can check out this company

www.eatzcatering.com It says "Host, not roast"

Rachael's First Birthday - Cake Cutting

It is funny how Kiki kind of had an inkling that it was her special day, she eventually calmed down and took to the stage when it was the cake cutting time.
She slowly became relaxed and kind of paid attention to all the family members and friends who were so sporting, they crowded around the long table and sang her a birthday song. And cheered.

Thank GM for the huge cake, everyone had a very big piece!

My family has the gift of singing the best birthday song ever. Each time there's a member's birthday, we sing in English, Mandarin and sometimes for the fun of it, in Teochew. The best part is that you can actually feel the love in the air. So densed you could almost touch.

Thanks everybody.

H-A-P-P-Y B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y-T-O-Y-O-U....., Rachael.

Looking on at her, basking in love. (I think it was me basking in love. She doesn't quite know yet, I guess).

Rachael's First Birthday - Cake Cutting

Cutting the cake,

and tasting it.