Friday, August 31, 2012

I'm going on a jet plane

So we thought we should get down to submitting in an application for Julianne's passport since a December holiday is in the cards.  We were also toying with an idea of a short getaway to Hong Kong in November but have since shelved those plans. 

So just how do you take a passport photo of a 10 month old?  Materials needed:
1) Nappy cloth
2) High chair
3) A husband with all the photography gadgets (studio lights and flashes all included) and 
4) A happy, well fed baby, willing to sit still and pose a million silly faces 

And here my friends, is the finished product.  

In the end, we went with the right one on the last row.  I think that should get her on the plane! 

Saturday, August 25, 2012

The big 60!!

Mum celebrated her 60th birthday yesterday in just the way she'll like it - a nice quiet (ok, not so quiet considering all the noise the two grandchildren were making) family affair! 

We took the opportunity to go out for a nice family dinner, something we don't get to do alot these days with two little kiddos in toll.  And Lei Gardens didn't disappoint.  The best part of the celebration was seeing how the family is now finally more complete with my sister and her family home and with two grandchildren adding all that noisy cheer to the celebration! Sophie was singing "Happy Birthday" in Chinese, and Julianne was happily clapping away whenever everyone started clapping (like when the waitress brought in the huge birthday bun with dry ice 'steaming' (in Sophie's words) out from an old ginger.  It was a complete joy to watch and a picture of bliss - perfect 60th birthday gift for Mummy! 

Here are pictures from the happy day! 

Happy 60th Birthday Mummy!

Dad & Mum with the lovely flowers from Godson TIm

The birthday bun and ...
.... Mr Piggy Pig Pig
Happy Us!!

Best birthday present to Mummy - having them home!
S & S
and my favourite photo of the day .....
Cousins in tu-tu ... preparing for the Swan Lake dance

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Chasing away the clouds

It has been a week and though the dust has somewhat settled since Yeye’s passing, I just feel I’ve been out of sorts these past few days. I can’t exactly pin point what it is about but I just feel a whole bag of different emotions, mainly not very nice ones.

Maybe it’s the blues from returning to work after being away from the office for a week and spending so much time with Julianne (the longest break I’ve had since I returned to work, though I wished it wasn’t under those circumstances). Or the anger and disappointment I’m feeling at the insensitive behaviour of certain people during my family’s recent bereavement. Perhaps it’s just me being pensive and reflective at this whole life and death thing and thinking about how our life here on earth is nothing but temporal. Maybe it’s the lingering sadness that Yeye is no longer around made worst at seeing my Dad wake up at 4am unable to go back to bed because he more than I, am still trying to get over the lost of his father whom he rushed to see every morning for the past one month and whom he made sure he visited three time a day no less, hoping at each visit that it will not be the last. To Dad, it’s like his duties as the eldest son is now over and he’s not sure what to make out of that. Yes, he put on that smile at Sophie’s birthday, he kept himself occupied helping my sister with her big move, he’ll go gaa-gaa with Julianne, but something on his face tells me that this is still painful for him and he is trying to find some rest and healing.

But with all that said, I’m just glad that through these down moments, I have family surrounding me, in whose love I can count on basking in. My sister who sends me mid-day updates on how my greedy little niece is cracking her teachers up in school asking for ‘more worms’ (referring to her lunch of mee tai mak noodles), my other sister who comes on car rides with me to buy ice cream just because I feel like eating them, my husband who bothers to wake up with me for night feeds to drape that shawl over my shoulder so that I don’t catch a chill. My mum who’ll bring Juju out with her sisters instead of leaving her with our helper cos she knows that's how I’ll want it and my dad, who puts up that brave front just so that the atmosphere at home is not all gloom.  And beyond my immediate family, I've a closely knitted extended family whom I love and treasure. 

Loving my family and giving thanks for them.

Happy photo to chase those clouds away ....

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

So this is what it means to stand?!

Watch me stand!
Hello everybody.  That's me, at 9 months, 1 week and 4 days old.  Gong Gong brought me out to the garden and decided to put me down on the grass.  And what'da ya know, the next thing I was doing, I was standing on my own two little feet! 

I like to stand, just like Papa and Mama.  And as you can see from my expression, I was mighty thrilled! So this is what standing feels like?  It is kinda cool! 

Mama says the next thing I'll do is this thing called walking.  I don't know how that feels although I think I've been doing a bit of it lately with my new push toy.  I'll check in again here on Mama's blog once I've mastered that trick. 

Till then, let me get back to this standing game! It is so fun!! 

Love,
Juju   

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Goodbye 爷爷


In the end, God decided that it would have been too painful for Yeye to live on and suffer, so He called him home to be with Him in a much better Place. 

7 children, 17 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren, Yeye has lived a fulfilling life.  One that brought him to many places many can only dream of going, like the cruise he took to the Antartica.

I will remember how when we were kids, my cousins and I will gather in his room whenever we were at the office and munch on his almond roco and butterscotch sweets which he kept on his shelf in a green jar.  I also recall fondly how he came to pick me up everyday during my school holidays to bring me over to my aunt's place so that I could spend the day babysitting and playing with my god-brother.

Yeye, whenever I bite into the 流沙包 (custard bun) at Imperial Treasure, I will think of you cos that was your favourite dim sum dish.  And whenever we have bean sprouts, I will remember how much you hated that vegetable. 

You must have beamed with so much pride from up above seeing what a grand farewell you were given.  The sanctuary was over flowing with wreaths, I believe the last count was close to 200.  Every night hundreds of friends and relatives turned up, to give the family support and to also celebrate your life.

I give thanks you were at my wedding.  I also give thanks you were there to welcome the arrival of my first child.  I wished you stayed on to celebrate your 90th birthday next year, but God had other plans.  Better plans.  

Rest well 爷爷 ... goodbye for now.      

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Letters to Julianne #13


Dearest Julianne,

You have officially spent more time in this world than in Mama’s tummy!  I hope you’re enjoying our world so far!

Julianne in utero @ 39 weeks
You had a pretty exciting month, you fell sick for the first time, you started standing on your own, you even fell from the bed!  How much more exciting can life get for you?

It must have been pretty awful fighting that throat infection.  The only good thing that came out of it for you must be those extra cuddles you managed to steal from Mama, clinging onto me for your dear life all night wanting to sleep in my arms.  That clearly didn’t do my sleep any good but it gave me a good lesson on motherhood and how I your needs must always be before mine.

You are developing wonderfully for a 9 month old.  You have mustered enough courage to now crawl outside of your playmate on the cool tiled floor.  You have also mastered climbing up the stairs, something you learnt in just one day.  Now, whenever we leave you on your playmate in front of the stairs, you will almost immediately crawl towards the stairs.  Sophie Che Che has become the official stairs-guard with her “No climbing up the stairs Juju!”.  You really are such a little monkey going places these days, our eyes have to be on you all the time to make sure accidents don’t happen.

Climbing up the stairs she goes
From all fours to your feet.  You seem to have decided that since no one else around you seems to be do this crawling thing, it must be more fun standing just like everyone else you see.  Today, you can cruise comfortably and your favourite past-time other than chewing on all things in sight is to stand on Por Por’s bed, steadying yourself while holding onto the bay window or the arm chair and then letting go of your hands to stand on your own without support.  You started with being able to do that for a few seconds.  Today, you have progressed to standing for as long as 20 seconds before you fall back onto the bed.  You get mighty please with yourself whenever you can stand for a long time.  We always reward your efforts with claps and cheers so you know you did a good job!  You crave the applause and have that oh so irritatingly-cute arrogant look on your face each time you know you did good!

Her favourite position - standing
Unfortunately, this development milestone comes at a price as it caused you your first fall just a few days ago.  You were standing on the bed as usually and I didn’t realise you were so close to the edge of the bed while doing so.  Then you fell backwards and just dived down the bed.  It all happened so fast, I couldn’t react in time to stop the fall even though I was just sitting next to you.  Thankfully, falling onto the bed first kind of broke the fall and you were all fine after a quick and loud cry.  No visible boo-boo even.  Thank God.  And being that little monkey you are, you were determined not to let the fall get in your way of standing independently.  We put you back on the bed and you were back climbing and jumping again.  Do you not know fear?        

You are at a really cute age now where you can interact with us.  You even know how to play peeka-boo with us.  You will take your little blankkie and pull it up to cover your face then slowly bring it down as you wait for Mama to go “peeka-boo!”.  It’s so adorable! The other new game you learnt this month was the ‘treasure hunt’ game.  It’s a game we created for you.  What we do is use the nursing pillow to make this little ‘well’ and we’ll throw all sorts of your favourite things inside – remote control, iphone, ricola sweet box, mini torch, apple tv control – and leave you to dig into the ‘well’ and pull out the treasures.  I love seeing you stick your small head into that ‘well’ as you go in search for your treasures.  You take the job very seriously and always know which are the new treasures to pull out when we throw new toys in. 



I don’t have benchmark of what a 9 month old vocabulary should be but you clearly understand a few words/instructions at this age.
Turn the page
No
Clap your hands
Twinkle twinkle
Bye bye (this is a hit and miss though)
Pat pat

Among the words you can say are “Mama”, “Papa” and “Por Por”.  You should have seen Por Por’s face beam with delight when she first heard you calling her just 2 days ago.  Next shall be Yiyi ok?  

The highlight of your month has got to be the highlight of Mama’s month too! Seeing Da-yi, Che Che Sophie and Uncle Jude again after 7 months!! (Ok, 4 months for Uncle Jude since he made a trip back in March).  And what do you know, they are not going to disappear this time anymore like they did when you were 2 months old.  They’re back here to stay – to celebrate your first birthday with you, to watch you grow!! I cannot be more proud of your cousin Sophie who clearly adores you and have been such a sweet Che Che.  She feeds you bagel crumbs, plants you kisses, stops you from climbing the stairs, tells you to stop squirming so that I can put on your swim diaper and has been this big Che Che to you, like she knows it’s her job to protect you and be gentle towards you.  You on the other hand have been trying to pull her hair and her jammies, I sure hope they are signs of affection.  I have been telling you how you much now learn to share the attention with Che Che Sophie so no giving me your pouty face when Gong Gong, Por Por or Mama leaves you alone to give Che Che Sophie some of our time. 

Sharing her bagel with Juju

Giving Juju a little kiss

Da-yi thinks you’re such a cutie and she loves your pouty face.  She thinks you’re one funny 9 month old!  I think you kept her well entertained when she spent the day with you recently.  You took a while to warm up to her – in fact you warmed up to Uncle Jude faster than you did Da-yi.  I know, you have this thing for guys.  It’s the same reason why you adore Gong Gong.  Flirting at 9 months huh young lady?

With Da-yi ....

And Uncle Jude
You are not all angel of course.  This month, you started giving me trouble with your solids, particularly your dinner of cereal.  It started when you had your throat infection.  You didn’t have much of an appetite then cos it must have been painfully swallowing.  But when you still didn’t want to eat your cereal after you got well, I figured it can’t be about the throat infection.  I’m guessing you are getting bored with your oatmeal so I’ve designing creative ways to make you eat your cereal – which I’m still pretty much insistent on giving you cos that’s the only way I get additional milk into your diet.  We use to top each spoon of your oatmeal with freshly scrapped apples or peaches but now, I mix them into the cereal instead.  Sadly it doesn’t seem to work very much.  Every dinner time is like war with you.  So at Gong Gong’s advise, we’re giving you a break from your cereal and gonna feed your porridge for dinner for the next few days.  When you start showing signs of getting bored with your porridge (because this now means you’ll have porridge for both lunch and dinner), we’ll come back to cereal.  Well the good that came out of you not eating your dinner properly is that you’re hungry by your night feed and hungry enough to drink down almost 180ml of milk.  180ml!! That’s volume I thought I’ll can only dream of you drinking.  When babies your age are gulping down 240ml at each feed, you are averaging only about 130ml today.  When you hit 180ml, I recall checking your PJs to make sure it was not because the bottle was leaking.  Still on the eating front, we have met with a couple of food allergy reactions so far, the most disturbing to date has to be your reaction towards cow’s milk.  I fed you some yogurt puffs the other day and sadly, rashes started appearing around your mouth soon after.  Looks like my grand plan to put you on cow’s milk once you turn one will have to be put on hold.  At 9 months, you remain exclusively breastfed something I hope to do till you turn one at least.  But at the looks of things, it’s either I continue breastfeeding you or we’ll have to transit to soy milk just like your Che Che Sophie.  Let’s see, maybe you’ll outgrow the allergy in the next 3 months.  As far as eating and food are concern, you definitely have Mama’s genes.  Don’t like to eat, fussy with food and allergic to certain food – yes, the signs are all there!                    

August promises to be an exciting month!! Lot’s of birthday celebrations coming up, starting with your very first birthday party.  See your first birthday invite from Che Che Sophie!!

Your very first birthday party!!

You also have Aunty Rulin and Uncle Shaun’s wedding to grace (your very first) and Por Por’s grand 60th birthday!  3 more months and you’ll be ONE!! Mama is already starting to plan for your little party!! How exciting!!

Have fun in month 10 little pumpkin!! You’re truly blessed with so much love around you! 

Love you so much,
Mama
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...