Artsy fartsy for lil' missy.. Craft session

The only event I remember for Oct. Booo, this is for not jotting down as soon as it happens. What to do? I  am dropped dead by the time I reach home have short term memory..Learnt how to go about introducing art crafts to lil' missy. What do I really need? Patience and a definitely mentally prepared for mess. I am just so not ready to clean up the mess. I think I am a clean freak!

Threw away her 'palm' print because it turned moldy. This will be a picture blog post of the FUN we had.

  

While waiting for our turn, she has started to entertain herself

The dough for her palm print

She doesn't like the mushy mushy touch on her palm

That's it. She's pulling away!!

Her palm print! Unfortunately, it turned moldy after few weeks.

Painting while waiting for the clay to dry.

She prefers to feel the paint..

than to use the string or brush to paint..

Hannah: Eeew, why is her hands full of paint?

Dip, dip, dip.. no way of stopping her

Must guide her hands to the right place before it ends in her mouth.. again!

The fine art vs err...

My cheeky lil' missy.. Love her to bits!

Even when she's a hard baby at times. Talk about multi-tasking at a young age.

Lil' missy's first experience in the pool

Swimming is the only exercise I enjoy. Jogging, badminton and whatever else will just make me feel dizzy, I feel. Lame excuse? I don't deny either. I have one unhealthy lifestyle.. Wait. Does doing house chores and chasing after lil' missy consider an exercise? I sweat too..

Anyways, I do not stay in a condo with easy access to swimming pool and neither am I keen to drive all the way to public swimming pool. No wonder I am ballooning to be a whale in no time if I don't watch out. Maybe vanity should be the drive to have a healthy lifestyle. I need to exercise! Drag my hubby along one of the mornings.. one of those days.

No, this post is not about me.. it is about lil' missy of course! First time mommies will surely want to record their child's, precious ones' many firsts. Also the very reason this blog exists. In September, I know, I know.. a late post. Without a maid now, whatever time and energy I have after lil' missy is spent on house chores. Back to swimming. Lil' missy had her first swim in the pool, INFINITY pool at 1yo! I only get to swim in an infinity pool at age thirties. She's truly one blessed girl. What more. She got another godmother too on the same day too. I've been waiting for this godmother!! Finally... One more person to continuously keeping lil' missy in prayer and loving her. Another great woman to be lil' missy's role model when she grows up. Ooh, and also when mommy (yours truly) needs to take a break.. .. ..

My swimsuit model, in her 1st birthday gift from us

Lil' missy enjoying herself

With her 2 kai-ma's. Look at the view! Awesome.

Annual Horsey Affair at Selangor Turf Club

I am truly glad that my friend told me about this event. No regret going despite the hot and humid weather. Not to mention the slight drizzle in the morning. Read here, here and here for more info on this annual event. Or just google it. Although it is held every year, but done at different places annually at the 3 turf clubs in Malaysia which are located in Penang, Ipoh and Selangor. Unless you don't mind to travel to those states to participate, it will be once in every 3 years in each state.

Glad and happy my niece had a great time. I hope. At least she gets to ride on a pony. All kids love to ride on one if they are not afraid of it right? Lil' missy gets to stroke on pony too.. real thing. And not showing picturs or flash cards saying horse!

Here are some pics..

Our first picture at the carnival

We get to pet the pony. So up-close!

And carriage ride too with their droppings along the way. Smells!!

My happy niece. Love her smiling like that.

Always cool look.. blur on the pony cos it moves. Real thing :)

Hehe, can see the tiredness on her face? Must have a shot with carriage!

She smiles for me :) Smile more sweetie niece!

The mascots welcoming us.. on our way out. Too bad lil' missy is afraid of them.

September.. A month of celebration!

I love September. Just 2 days after celebrated lil missy's birthday and anniversary, we are on the road to more celebrations. My, MY birthday! ME!!! Okay, a bit of self-indulgence.

I get to do something different this year as I celebrated with my niece too. Our first. My niece is growing too fast. I still remember vividly how I brought her out.. and being young and not knowing much about parenting, I brought her to shopping complexes and eat all the fast food and ice-creams and... unhealthy stuff that I won't give to lil' missy yet. And nothing much learnt throughout the time spent except that we get to hang out with one another. I wonder if she was bored. As she started schooling with crazy pile of homework to finish, our weekends together became rare. And silence for years until this fateful Saturday! Nothing fanciful but the timing is so, so good.

I bought a cooking class session at a discount. Thanks to those group discounts thingy. And since the classes available then did not seem to spark my culinary interest, I signed both of us up for the adult and children session for a sushi making class! We both don't have an oven at home, so baking will be out if we want to continue having funpracticing our newly learnt art. I have not make any sushi after the class though but the time spent is worth it.

My shy niece..

Relunctantly smile for me

My niece's masterpiece

And here's mine

Work in progress from top view

Front view

Trying out the sushi roll. It takes skills!

And she did it! YAY!

Our creation.. went down to our tummy an hour later. Healthy!

And what we did right after the cooking class? We rush off back home to meet my hubby and lil' missy. I missed them of course but the main reason was to go to the horse carnival at Selangor Turf Club. But that will be in another post. 


Ooh, in case you are interested to know about this cooking class thingy, check out this place. They have a different program every month. It's interesting though I personally feel it's a bit pricey. But very convenient and fun. No cleaning up after. No messy, messy kitchen and greasy floor. However, for my niece and me, it'll be at my kitchen next.

Finally, a post after a long hiatus.

My new SLK

New paint I mean! We do not have the budget to change for a new car and definitely not planning to change for a new one in the next few years. Very unlikely since we always seems to spend whatever exra cash we have on ... .... The money just vanishes everytime the pay check comes in. Whoooshh. Gone. The paint on my SLK  is peeling off and if we do not do anything about it, I will have a rustic car soon.

Ooh, i got it painted at 50% discount. Good deal, maybe?
Well, hopefully it (the paint) will last for another 5 years at least..

Here's my Small Little Kelisa in grey!

Will we survive without helper?

We defnitely will, keeping fingers crossed.  Decision has been made. The maid has really stepped overboard this time. She has tested our patience to the max. Enough is enough. This is final. . 

No doubt she has been a great helper in certain ways. But she has overstepped and been taking things for granted for the past 18 months. Every month, she would complained not feeling well, breaking things at least once on average. She has selective hearing and memory. I have to remind and instruct her DAILY on her tasks. I feel like I am becoming her PA in some ways, cleaning up when she didn't complete her tasks. Oh, and she must have her daily afternoon naps too. Else, we would be seeing a zombie in the house.

Even after making the decision to send her off, both hubby and I were quite hesitant in our ways. She is here to earn a living afterall. Or maybe she has taken lightly to our warnings. scoldings, advises and whatever it is. We have been hard and soft on her. Nothing seems to work. My MiL even allowed her to take a break when my MiL herself does the house chores. She is pampered in my eyes! She is not grateful and even told my relatives that she deserved her naps, gifts and whatever not. We didn't really want to have such an ending.

So, the day has finally come for us to send her to the agency. We didn't tell her much but just instructed her to pack her clothes from my in-law's. I inspected her bag, which is just a day or two days' supply of clothes and drove her there. I believe she knew that she is being sent off. Reach the agency, signed some documents, stated the reasons for terminating the contract and off I went. I believe reality sink in on her when the agent scolded her, interogating her. The agents sure have their way to speak to them. The lies we have been fed. Till now, we are not sure how she got her handphone. I sympathise her for having to pay so much for her flight ticket to work here (7.5 months!!) and the time away from her family. If only she behaved well, attitude right.. if only.

Things I found when I went back home to her room to pack her stuff. Extra handbags, bracelets, trinkets, blings blings.. Come on! You are not going anywhere to see any prince charming. Why do you need them? And who gave these to you? Did you earn them by washing some extra clothes from my relatives??? Oh well, it doesn't really matter now. Jaga diri baik-baik, those were my last words to her. Gave her some extra cash and didn't deduct her salary for breaking our things, I hope we gave her a good working experience as her first working place in Malaysia.

Back into the world of washing toilets, ironing clothes, floors...

Testing my patience

How does one feed a 1yo toddler? It is quite a task to feed her now. With her not sitting still, she is driving me mad everytime. Maybe I should strap her down to the chair and let her bawl. But then, there will be a risk of her throwing up too if she cries too long. I will then be very upset if all my hardwork is vomited out! And the stress of knowing empty tummy in lil' missy petite body. How to grow??!!

I've seen parents used dvd player, tv and now ipad to keep them entertained. I am refraining until, until...

As for now, this is my tactic (Have I shared this before?) Well, I don't remember and if I did, take a look of how she has grown to be a cheeky monyet (monkey). She's 13mo here.


Posing before realizing that she's stuck

With her smiling..

Her legs can't reach the floor and so can't find a footing to get away from the stool..

Crying, the next!

I love this stool. It is very expensive, RM 30 for one but we don't get to see it available anywhere now. It's like a dying art. Got this in Melaka, and will buy a few more if I have the chance to go down.

Sheep :)

There was once we were out and she had not had any nap throughout the day. What do you think we have then? A super cranky with no appetite baby with us! Gosh, it was so hard to feed her then. And I succumbed (which is a good thing) to letting her feed herself. Let not the food go to waste. At least, she gets to practice some eye and hand coordination.

The messiest ever! Wait till we have art session with her..

Do you share the same madness to handle? How do you overcome the challenge? How do you feed an active toddler?.. without the mess. Sorry, still not so ready to clean up the mess. Sigh..

Lil' Missy turns ONE

Lil' missy, the apple of our eyes

We were quite hesitant to host any party for lil' missy. We are L.A.Z.Y. Imagine the amount of time needed to plan, food especially since I don't cook, WHO to invite, BUDGET... but we relented. We are thankful not just for her, but to the people around us, supporting us. Truly, we wouldn't be able to stay sane in this transitional period in our lives if not for the support we have. And, decided to host a small party at our humble abode. We had her fullmoon in a japanese restaurant. So, this time, we wanted to test our place a lil' bit.

Food, a pain! I don't can't cook and definitely not for a big group. I don't like to order from catering either as the menu doesn't look tempting. Besides, we don't meet the minimum headcounts due to limited space, and hence short guests list. I would prefer to cook if I could but I wouldn't want my guests to lose their appetite. Stress, stress! And then, I remember her! Tasted her food from a friend's party and defenitely recommend Azlin! If I ever going to have another party, I do not have to worry anymore except to watch out for Ramadan. I almost change the date to accommodate her since she doesn't cater during fasting month. Understandable. But since she has been so kind to prepare 2 main dish, I quickly accept the offer. I sourced from other places to fill in the rest of the menu. Of course, I also took the chance to introduce my lo-mai-chi. Since carbo and meat are well taken care of, I just need to prepare some salads (vege), fruits and drinks. Dessert, the birthday cake of course! Looks like complete menu. eh? Thank God that the party turned out well.

The post will not be complete without a picture of the cake. Since we didn't spend on a wedding cake during our wedding, I wanted one for lil' missy. So, here it is.

The orange and chocolate cake. Yummy, thanks Shing!

We also dedicated lil' missy on that day too!

Western cuisine for the day

I love mushrooms!! And naturally, it will be one of lil' missy's meal too. And she had an whole egg today too! Something different today unlike the usual porridge. Seriously, I wonder if she's ever bored with fish and porridge. Maybe I shouldn't even need to worry about it so long she's eating. I don't even want to think the time she'll turn to be a fussy eater, with her petite size.

Today, she had egg, potato sandwich for lunch. It would be yummy (for me at least) if there isn't any cheese or butter. I don't like cheese and butter just in case you wonder why. As for dinner, she had creamy mushroom pasta. And I would have walloped all the mushroom soup if there're salt and pepper in it. It tasted soooo bland except for the mushrooms. We, parents prepare the best as we could for them don't we.

And did she like it? Not sure... She didn't take much of the bread, About 1 whole piece. Maybe it is filling as well since there are so much of carbo from the bread and potato. As for the pasta, I can't say either as she was a bit cranky. All because of the 2 hours nap for the whole day and that has been the average hours of naps for the past few days. If you're sleepy, you won't have much appetite too right? And she has finished almost all the pasta except a few spoonful. Will see when I cook her western food again. In case you want to know the recipe of the creamy mushroom soup, here it is.

Damsel in distress!

Lil' missy gained confidence after a few successful attempts getting down from our bed, she was shocked when she slipped (since she still can't stand on her own without aid yet) and fell with a loud THUMP! Maybe it's not loud, but my heart did skip a beat. I saw how she used her hand to lessen the impact of the fall, so, the bump on her head may not be painful. But. no doubt she was shocked!

And from then on, she practiced caution. She will get down and cry for help half way although it is only
few inches more to reach the floor. She learnt from mistakes. It is a cute sight to see her trying to get down on her own, but then cry when she couldn't reach the floor. Yes, I am an evil mom! Hehehe.. but I believe there are times she needs to learn through the hard way. Life is not a bed of roses after all, right? Of course, we do not leave her alone at any times since we have helper to do the house chores, she has our full attention.

My lil' damsel crying for help.. if you look closely, she's only a few inches away..

Sleep, oh sleep..

How I miss thee..

How do you put an active 1 yo to sleep? What do you normally do? Do you go through the same motion every time before bedtime as advised by all the experts? I know we have not been doing right somewhere, but now, we have to resort to this whenever we I want her to sleep. My hubby will play with her until I am done with my tasks and to take over from him. And when I take over...

 

My hand will become her bolster.. And I have to literally pin her head down. Else, she will be moving up, down, up down.. rolling here and there to all the four corners of our bed. 

Lil' missy, mommy and daddy want to sleep too. When you don't, we can't... And you need to sleep more in order to grow well too. You are only 7.3kg at 1yr and 2 week.

Chicken in the menu

Finally, lil’ missy had her first taste of chicken meat. Why such a long delay? Well, I agree with the opinions of my friend. Her son has some indigestion issue (I hope I remember it right) and only gets better when his diet changed.  His diet consists of only these 7 ingredients only – pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, red dates, longan, sweet corn and “lut zhi” (still not sure what that is until now) until more than a year old.  I do agree that babies’ and infants’ digestion and whatever there is in the body are still developing. And that is also the reason we introduce any new food to them in stages. Read here or here if you would like to know more about feeding solids.

Back to my lil’ missy, since she has been passing motion twice a day at least, so I stick to my variety of vege but fish for meat only.  I hope she won’t be sick of fish when she’s grown up.  As to her first chicken menu, it’s dates, gei zhi and .... don’t remember what else in the oats porridge since this blog is supposed to be posted weeks ago! Sigh, if only I had written it down much earlier. Well, just a note to say that she’s having chicken now!

Free from Addiction!

Woohooo.. We managed to wean her off pacifier finally! Not that we failed earlier, but we were having mixed feelings whether to go ahead or not. But the sight of seeing some children still 'sucking' the pacifier at the age of 2, 4 scares me.. There are many pros and cons on this pacifier case. I believe it is harder to wean as they get older. And so, the project kicked off during the Raya holidays. We have a whole week to work it out with her.

We planned to start with her afternoon nap without pacifier. But on day 2, she seemed to be able to fall asleep after a long struggle and so, we decided to go ahead without pacifier at night. And on day 3, she came to realization that there won't be any pacifier and cried a lil' before dozed off. Well, I claim victory on this! Phew, looking forward to better sleeping habit for her. Hope she would naps and sleeps longer. She is still petite for her age. She can wear some of the 3-6mo rompers. 3-6mo!! If 6-9mo, I wouldn't be so stressed, but 3-6mo?? One step at a time. Grow darling, please grow well.

One of her pic with pacifier..

Bye, bye pacifier!!

Day 1: Conked out after a loooonng struggle

It's the day of the year!

Happy Anniversary Mr Hubby

                                  and

                                                       Blessed Birthday Lil' Missy!



Thank You, Heavenly Father for blessing me with two great gifts. And vice-versa (I believe Mr Hubby feels the same way too.. Hehe)

Thank You that Mr Hubby trusts in You, fears You and most importantly, loves You more daily. I pray Lord that as we celebrate our Anniversary together and many more to come, we are always reminded of Your Faithfulness in our lives. You being our Matchmaker, Provider and the Head of this house. May we, Father continue to be grounded in Your Word, a good steward to all the blessings You have showered us thus far and will continue to pour from the heaven unto this family.

And for you, lil' missy, our prayer for you from Ephesians 3:16-19:
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Who sleeps first?

My hubby of course! Everytime All the time Most of the time he would be the one who fall asleep before lil' missy or me. We still have a long way to go in sleep train lil' missy. She still can't fall asleep on her own and as always, will look for me.. Of course, my hubby will have to take over when I am busy preparing her stuff ie porridge or house chores. It is no easy task to put her to sleep. Lullaby, carry her and rock her.. these just won't work even for an hour. She will wait till mommy shows up. Lil' missy will smiles and giggles away with those sleepy eyes. These are the moments when my hubby would be the one snoring away while lil' missy entertaining herself waiting for mommy to finish her works.Funny isn't it that my hubby always complain that he is tired but have the energy on news, games.. but when putting lil' missy to sleep, he's the first to zzZZ! Man!