Annabelle's First Few Words, Sing Along...

Annabelle has started speaking and talking more frequent lately. She is able to speak few words that I can clearly identify what are they such as "Amma", "Akka", "Mummy", "Papa", "DogDog", "Sit", "Car Car...", "Baby (but she pronounced it as ba-bi)... :P (these are some that I can recall)

Sometime, out of a sudden, she will utter some words that are really out of our expectation. She will also imitate what we says...

I remembered last two weeks ago, after my departmental training at the hotel, Ivan brought Annabelle to the hotel to fetch me home. Ivan had complained to me (in front of Annabelle) that she was a little naughty, refused to drink the milk that was prepared. Annabelle looked at me, put her moving index finger up and say "NO... NO"... We both burst out laughing when we heard that. That was really a good moment to refresh!

Besides speaking, she loves to sing along some nursery rhythm that we put in the car. The all time favourite "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" was one of those she loves to sing especially follow the last word or sound of the song. She will also sing and dance along when she watch her Disney Cartoon, Mickey Mouse. She will also waive "bye bye" and kiss "flying" kisses to say goodbye...

It is such as joy to see her grow. Mummy and papa are so proud that you learnt well.. Keep it up!  Annabelle girl, another milestones achieved..!!! Hooray!!!

Sick & Misfortune

I am down with cough and flu for the past one week. Today, I saw one of my medicine that I took from the clinic, the last I fall sick was not too long ago which is 3 Aug. This year, I have been sick for many times. I don't know if my immune are lower because I am carrying or I am getting older?!!

Just told Ivan yesterday, last time (before having kids); when I fall sick, I do take it very lightly. Now, time is different; when I am sick, the next thing in my mind is I need to be well so that my germ or virus does not pass onto Annabelle. I think this is normal for every mother to think as such. This round, I had officially pass on my cough to Annabelle and she has passed her flu to me. Everyone in the house is not well. Many things to be blame... weather, ignorance, not taking good care of ourself, it is a norm to be sick... :> But anyway, hope all are fine... Annabelle, get well soon!

Oh, my misfortune... my working laptop was stolen from my cubicle over the weekend of 6/10 -7/10. All my works, files and everything are gone with it. I was very very shocked to know it on Monday morning, the Kensington Lock that locked on the laptop was cut. The whole set of laptop just disappeared from my desk. Backup!!??? I always teach my students to do frequent backup but I did not do it frequent enough, some of my files can be recover but some are completely gone! I am very upset and disturbed over it, but I told myself I need to get over it as nothing can be done as it has happened. For the next few months, I am going to be busy preparing my lecture notes, tutorial answers and others again.

Yes, the last week was not too pleasant, hope the weeks to come will be better...

Bangun Pagi, Gosok Gigi, Pergi Sekolah...

Been a busy month of September, didn't have much time to drop by to note for our princess.

For a 13 months old baby, Annabelle has cut many of her teeth. So, 3 weeks ago we decided to buy her toothbrush and toothpaste to start the "gosok gigi" process. We went shopping for toothbrush and toothpaste on that weekend. Papa found a rattle toothbrush and mummy found a traditional toothbrush. Guess what we have decided for Annabelle? We bought both! :) The rattle apple green color toothbrush is used in the house during the weekend and the normal toothbrush is sent to daycare for her daily use. The next day, we started the brushing teeth.

Annabelle was excited to hold the rattle toothbrush, I showed her how to brush her teeth. She imitated the steps. But she has difficulty spitting out the toothpaste and water but swallowed them. Thank God the toothpaste is safe for baby.

Overall, she is happy with this process. Everytime stepping into the bathroom, she will point towards the direction where the toothpaste, toothbrush and her mug was kept. :)  "Annabelle baby, Good start, keep it up!"

Our princess has grown so much!. Papa also bought her a bag recently. One day, she took the bag; I put it onto her back; there you go, she is ready to go to school. "Annabelle, wait k.. your time to go to school will be coming... but not now"

Picnic @ Kiara Park (Enjoying the Nature)

When was the last picnic you been? If I recall correctly, the last I been when I was in my primary school days. I remembered picnic with my family members at one of the waterfall near Hulu Yam. Gosh!! Long long time ago...

The idea of picnic was initiated by Ivan. He didn't want a playland or a water park. He said that:"I wanted my baby to enjoy the nature!" He wanted to do that during the Raya Holiday but due to wet weather, we had postponed it. So, on the Merdeka day, after a birthday party we attended; we had decided to carry on an unfinished plan.


 
We reached the park at about 5.30pm. I prepared some sandwiches and sausages, after all this is supposed to be a picnic. :) We had decided to let Annabelle enjoyed her time there for about 2 hours. On the way, Annabelle had her nap in the car.  As we reached, we took a walk to the water stream. Since she just woke up from her sleep, though she was excited to see the water she was still feeling groggy. I slowly tell her and show her the water. I let her down slowly with her feet touched the cool water, she refused initially. Many time, she tried to tip toe and many times asking me to carry her because the texture of the sand and stones in the water was rough. After 5-10 minutes, she was still standing at one spot in the water, papa took over the duty and hold her hand and soft talk to her. She began to feel a little easy and the next thing you know, she sat down in the water. Bravo Annabelle, you did it!

She loves playing with water but this is the first time she is in contact in the water in a stream other than water in a swimming play pool or her bath tub :). From her action that she sat down and touched the sand and stone and picked them up, she even couldn't bother much about the set of sand toy that we bought for her but she really had a good bond with the nature with her tiny little hand. We are happy that she even walked from one spot to another to see other children playing along the stream.

Time passed really fast, it was about time we leave home. Annabelle had so much of fun and a little reluctant to get up from the water. We told her that we will bring her again one day. I cleaned and changed her. Then, she walked towards the children playground and happily walking around and seeing children playing.

I guess, we had spent a great time with her with the nature. Sometime, come to think about it; instead of bringing them to a playland, shopping in the supermarket or watching TV and playing game in the house; this is the best way to spend quality time with our children. :>

Annabelle is 1 year old!

Our Princess is 1 year old. We celebrated her birthday on the actual day (4/8/2012). To start off with this blog, I must say that we really did plan how to celebrate her birthday about a month ago. From the special designed invitation, invitation list, food & menu, party bags, her montage from young till now(slide show)  and decorations. On the Friday before the event, after dinner; Ivan started with some decoration while I was doing some art & craft which are part of the decoration. We slept slightly late but felt satisfied that we had DIY the decorations well.

On Saturday 4/8/2012, we got up as early as 6.00pm. I cleaned the inside of the house, prepare her food and Ivan was cleaning the outside of the house. As I was cleaning, I reminded Ivan that last year at 6.27am, that was the time Annabelle was born and welcome to this world. Isn't it great to see our daughter grow in the last one year. We both gave each other a smile and continue our tasks. :)

After breakfast, he started with the balloon decoration. Annabelle was very excited seeing the house decorated with balloon and half the time she wanted to go outside of the house to see what is going on. All the necessary preparation was done at around 6.45pm while I got ready the birthday girl in her dress by 6.30pm. She seems excited with her dress but sleepy because she normally takes her nap at about 6pm. Guests started arriving at about 7.00pm.

At about 8.00pm (oh yes we had a delay as we all are Malaysian -"Malaysian's time") we started the birthday celebration with a short and meaningful prayer as well as thanksgiving to God for His gift of Annabelle to us. Then food are served. We catered some food and we had Uncle Shah and Auntie Liza prepared simple food for the children. At about 9pm, we had cake cutting ceremony. Being a traditional mummy as me, I had asked our friend, Kiren, to bake a cake with pattern "1" instead of ordering some fancy looking cake. Isn't it I am old fashion! Hahaha... Annabelle looked so shock to see everyone sang to her, everyone clapped. She was looking at the candle. We blown the candle together and cut the cake. She tasted her 1st year cake. :) Children were very happy because all of them received a party bag each which sponsored by Annabelle's Godparents, Priscilla and Daniel.

Thank God that Annabelle was well behaved throughout the night, she was quite "sticky" towards me initially when the crowd got into the house. When she saw some of her daycare friends and her cousin were playing, she joint them. She was also okay when some other carried her so that I can have my dinner too.

The night went on well. Everyone enjoyed the food and left home. Few of our dearest friends and relatives left behind chit chatting away and catching up time with others. Thank God for blessing us a wonderful weather, though it was a bit warm it was not raining.

In memory, Annabelle was just like born yesterday. She has grown so much in the past one year. Ivan and I can't recall that she was a very difficult baby to take care, in fact she is a very good baby. We have God to thank and we are truly blessed. Seeing a child grow also seeing myself growing with her. I become much patient and becoming more aware that being a parent is no easy but it is worthwhile invest my love, my care, my time for her.

My last note to this post, I make a wish at the cake cutting moment, "I wish Annabelle grow well and we stay together well as a family!". God, you had heard our prayer a year ago and answered our prayer with Annabelle baby; I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Lord, continue to protect this child, be with her when she plays, she learns, she eats, she grows and she explores. Keep your arm around her at all time! Thank you Lord! Amen!

Updated Teething Chart (as of 12 Jul 2012)

Annabelle's 7th and 8th teeth (the 2nd lower lateral incisor) just emerged last week. So far, thank God for his blesssing that Annabelle was not having much problem coping with the teething process. Like what the papa said: "She is a strong girl!". With more teeth coming out, she is now able to eat so much of food from biscuit, fruit, rice and many more. Oh yes, not to mention that she will sometime leave a small bite (mark) on your hand or shoulder when she feel "geram" at you... :P

Aha... It is also time to start the brushing teeth practice. Every morning, (if time permit); I will bring her to the toilet and I will ask her to look into the mirror while I use a handkerchief to clean her mouth, her tongue and also her teeth. I bought for her a mini toothbrush, will slowly use it so that she has an idea about brushing teeth :)

Annabelle girl, you are now a big girl... need to learn to brush teeth ya!!!

Our Princess has grown so much... She is walking now..

This is exactly what I told Ivan recently, "Annabelle has grown up so much. She is walking by the herself." She started taking her 1st few steps on the last week of June (which means at her 10 months, 4 weeks old); it was really nice to see her getting up by herself on her feet slowly and taking the steps forward.

I always doubt when is the right time to let her wear her shoes so that she can walk on a rough surface when we are out. So, last weekend, we bought her her first pair of shoes (it cost us about RM30.00++ though). She looks so cute in that but she has the habit of taking it out when I put it for her. I learnt that if I tell her "Annabelle, we wear shoe shoe and go "kai kai (~going out)". She will quietly let me do it. Then, she had her first outing -- walking (with our assistance) in Subang Parade. She was so excited and screaming away when we walked up the carpeted ramp.

On last Sunday evening, Ivan suggested that we go to the stadium near the Istana Klang. We reach there about 6.15pm. There are many people jogging, walking and playing football. Annabelle was so excited. The moment, we let her down in her new pair of shoes; she seems having difficulty at first and dragging her feet while walking. Then we told her repeatedly:"Baby, take one step at a time, slowly...". Finally she got a hang of it and walk about 1/4 of the stadium. Good achievement, ya!!!

Papa Ivan (Happy Father's Day)

We didn't forget our papa during this day.

Yesterday is Father's Day. After mass and Sunday's school, we head to Tengku Kelana bought some flowers for Ivan's dad and my beloved father in law. I had no chance to meet him in person when he was alive, with some flowers just one way we can celebrate this day with him. If he is here today, I am sure the celebration of father's day will have another feeling.





We had decided to make a small celebration at home instead of going out. We spent real good time together. :)

Initial plan is for me to cook lunch for Ivan, but towards to end; he has to do the cooking as well because Annabelle is seeking attention on the other end. :) Having said that, we make a simple western lunch set (with Burger, Sausages, Bread, Mashed Potatoes, Egg). Oh yes, in the photo; Annabelle is getting fussy and irritated because she was forced to sit on the high hair with the safety belt strap around her. After the cleaning up, we all three head to have a good afternoon nap.

For dinner, we had steamboat. You must be wondering steamboat again??!!! Yea!!! But this time, it is a simple make with just some balance of the ingredients that we had. Ivan had even improvised with new idea of using the hot plate and a small pot as the steamboat rather than the complete set of actual steamboat. At about 8pm, Annabelle was already far asleep when we had our dinner. Both of us had some good time eating, talking, laughing, and talking.

"Annabelle, why your face so sour. Just got up from sleep."

It was nice spending time as a family on the weekend as such! We managed to do lots of catch-up, had lots of laugh, lots of fun seeing our daughter laughing, walking and playing. I thank God for giving me my husband, Ivan, who is always there for me and a good father to Annabelle. May God blessed him abundantly. :)
  

Parenthood and its challenges

This semester, my Master class is on every Wednesday and Thursday. Yesterday, I supposed to attend my Master class in the evening. I supposed I am tired, or you can say lazy. I didn't attend the class and went home with Ivan. On the way back, Ivan suggested that why not you just hide yourself later in the car when he will pretend fetching Annabelle just like the normal Thursday. I was quite reluctant at first to do that but at last I give in.

Just before we reach the daycare centre, I text Auntie Letchumy that I am hiding in the car; ask her to play along. We reach Klang around 6.45pm, while hiding in the car and Ivan was trying to carry Annabelle and strap her to the car seat. The car doors closed. Annabelle starting crying, she cried so loud that I had to call her name. As I did that, she heard that and her cry got louder. I can't help it but carry her. Her face was full of tears. She hug me so tightly and rested on my shoulder. Her tears wet my shoulder...

"This is what I faced every Wednesday and Thursday!" said Ivan.

I was told by Ivan most of the time that Annabelle will cry when he fetches her every Wednesday and Thursday. But neither do I know that she cried so badly as Ivan drove off from the daycare and sometime she will stop after awhile else she will continue crying till they reached either Klang town or Shah Alam (which means the cry will last for 15 minutes). Gosh! My heart sink when I heard that. My heart was so painful and I felt so bad that my eyes are full of tears. I cried in the car. Annabelle was so shock to see me in tears, I quickly wipe away my tears. She was so cute, so took her napkin; covers herself and was playing "chiak... chiak..." with me. I ended up smiling and laughing. I explained to Annabelle that her mummy has to attend classes and she must not cry like that. She must cooperate with his papa and be good so that papa can pick her and fetch mummy in the evening. I make a deal with her if she does as what I said, she will get a good girl each time she does that.

I regretted to have agreed to play along this evening, but now I know that this was what my husband gone through so far. I repeatedly ask Ivan if he can managed. He has say yes to it.

Ai... thinking back on how tightly she hugged me and stop crying when I carried her. My eyes just out of my control and my tears will automatically fill around my eyes (even when this post is written).

Mummy's message to Annabelle:
"Baby, just hang it there. Mummy has to do this for all our good. You need to stay cooperative with papa and be good!"

Mummy's message to Papa:
"Darling, thank you for being there for me!"

Mummy's message to myself:
"Be patient. Finish the remaining subjects quickly. Get through your Master and everything will fall in place!'

First Swimming (a.k.a. Playing Water) Experience

Annabelle always love water. During bath time, I was always being splashed and got wet because she likes to tap on the water.

Group photo.... See how relax Annabelle is!

Last weekend, we celebrated Mum's 56th birthday at Joanne's house. My sister Joanne has offered swimming session with the children. They loved it. 


Ivan and I were very excited for Annabelle.. haha.. funny isn't it.. we are more excited than our daughter!

Annabelle enjoyed herself. Though there were two pools (big and small), she refused to stay in the small pool and wanted to join the kor-kor jie-jie at the bigger pool. We can see her excitement on her face, she try to catch the water even try to drink the water from the pool...

It was a great experience! Thanks so much Joanne yi-yi for organizing it... :)

The art of catching water! Tip: patience

 

Fish, I think I will minced you!! Nyam Nyam!

Papa said I am good in the art of catching water... :>

Cameron Highlands Trip - 25 May --27 May 2012

Mind you... this is a very long post about our trip...  I really love to jot this down as this is a wonderful trip. Enjoy reading it...

It was an awesome, enjoyable, wonderful, peaceful, and blessed trip. Weather was good, hotel was clean and comfortable, places are interesting, journey was good too... all these are really a good memory for me and Ivan and of course baby Annabelle.

DAY 1 (25 May 2012)

This is consider our first family trip together. We started our journey at 6.15am and Ivan was the sole driver along the way to and fro Cameron Highland (CH). Annabelle was told about the trip way ahead of time, she seems to know it and woke up on time for the trip. A night before, we had all things packed and checked. We had a good sleep so that we can have a good journey.

We used Simpang Pulai as an alternative road to Tapah to Cameron Highlands taking consideration of Annabelle and if she can get used to the windy road. Though the journey to Simpang Pulai is 40 minutes further than Tapah to Cameron Highlands, it was worth the time as the road is much better. We reached Kampang Raja town and we had our breakfast. The weather was just nice and cooling.


After breakfast, we continue our journey up the highland to Tanah Rata to check on our Heritage Hotel. We were there earlier (10.30am), but thank God that the reception was good allow us to check in earlier. We got Room 358 (new wing of the hotel). I must say that the hotel and the room was really comfortable. We had all that we need for the room. The hotel has all the amenities included reading library, game room, and playland for children. (No promotion for them but pleased with their services). Annabelle felt very comfortable in the room and crawling all over the place and smiling. :) After settled down, I fed Annabelle with the food that I prepared; she had a nice lunch before we went out for sight seeing and visiting.

1st stop: Cactus Point @ Brinchang. We are not so much a cactus lover, just walk around and look see for some plant and took a shot while baby was sleeping.

2nd stop: Lunch @ one of the Brinchang Chinese Restaurant. We ordered some simple yet delicious Chinese dishes. Had a good feast and head off to the hotel for a nap as Ivan and I were tired as the day started early.


Evening, we were at the Brinchang Pasar Malam. Gosh! It was just about 5pm, the pasar already filled with people. Lots of veges, local food, fruit and also souvenir. We grab some veges and stem sweet potatoes as snack before heading on to the Steamboat Restaurant. Wow... talking about steamboat, we really enjoyed it a lot as it goes down very well with the cooling weather. After dinner, baby was already ZZzzzz, we took a drive back to the hotel, put her to sleep. We had some DVD with us, managed to watch one of them before sleeping... (but according to Ivan, the DVD watches me rather than I watch it... hahahah)

DAY 2 (26 May 2012)
Second day of the trip was a early start as well. At 7.30am, we were down at the Rainforest Restaurant for the Hotel's breakfast. The breakfast served varieties of food from Nasi Lemak, Mee Goreng, Pan Cake, Porridge, Western Food, Meehun Soup and many more. I was so happy with the selection they had. Though Annabelle has her feed of 4oz of milk, she still enjoyed the porridge very much and of course the pancake. We had a good breakfast, took a family picture and started our journey of "Countryside Leisure Tour".

Itinerary:

09:00am - Pick up from hotel (We were in a Hiace Van of 10 people + 1 child, Rajesh our tour guide from Cameron Secret Tour and Travel, was very good, giving us all the necessary tour information and explanation clearly)

09:30am - Visit to the Rose Centre in Kea Farm (took some nice photo of roses and other flowers, failed to climb up the viewpoint but really had some nice photo session at the lower stage of the place)

10:00am - Visit to a Strawberry Farm (Raju's Strawberry Farm, I must mentioned that they have the nicest Strawberry milk shake and Strawberry's Lassi. Ivan loved it so much that we went back on the last day to taste it again before leaving CH)

10:30am - Stop at viewpoint at the Sungai Palas BOH Tea Plantation for photography as well as a commentary by our guide on tea-picking, tea processing, and the variations between the different types of tea found on the open market. (We grab a cup of Teh Tarik from the centre, nice and tasty. Went back to the place we first "pak-tol" and took a snap too...)

11.40am: Visit to the Butterfly and Insect Farm. This is a nice place for Annabelle. She knows what is butterflies from her play mat back home. She was so fascinated with them and probably butterflies like baby, many of them rest on her head, her shoulder but none came to me :(

12.30pm: Visit to Bee's Farm. Original plan was to walk down the valley and have a visit. But when seeing the bees are all flying around, we had cancelled our plan and walk to the nearby Fruit, Vegetable & Flower Market for some shopping.

01:15pm - Visit to the Sam Poh Tong Buddhist Temple. The temple is so quiet and we really feel the peace when we were in there. We met a monk and lighted a lamp for peace of the family and pray in our way for our God's goodness.

01:30pm - Return to hotel

As you can see that our itenerary was just so nicely arranged. Though we need to pay RM25 each for the journey, we prefer this as we do not need to drive through the small and narrow path to the Tea Farm and find for car park at each destination. Our tour guide is also a local who is able to know the best road and best way to drive around. This really save hassle and less stress on us.

We had lunch at one of the Nyonya and Local Restaurant at Tanah Rata. We ordered food that can actually cater for 5 people but we both managed to "habis" them... so "wei sek"....

We went back to the hotel right after that for some moment of hibernation. But our dear baby refuse to sleep, she wants to play. I was so tired, so Ivan was so nice; brought Annabelle down to the Hotel's playland and play and had some bonding time. I had a good 1 hour beauty sleep.

Evening, we decided not to go out as the day was just so tiring. Annabelle was already "battery-kong" then. She was nicely snoring away on the bed. We ordered some hotel food. Who say hotel food not nice! You are wrong! We were enjoying ourselves with another DVD...

The day ended with a smile on our face. We went to bed and looking forward for tomorrow.

DAY 3 (27 May 2012) -- Sunday

Sunday, after breakfast; we took a walk to the nearby church for mass. Who knows that the mass is celebrated at the old chapel. We walked back to the hotel, took the car and drove to the old chapel. We were 15 minutes late from mass. :P.We met Fr. Eugene and managed to have a quick chat with him before leaving back to the hotel.

We packed and get everything ready for checkout. By 11.30am, we had checkout from the hotel and took some last few shot of photos around the hotel before leaving.

As we need to get some stuff before heading home, we did stop at the Kea Farm Market for a quick shop of veges and fruits. (Thanks to the Policeman who walking around to saman cars that were packed on the roadside, else we will have more time to shop around). Ooppps... forgotten to mention that we also stop at the road side for a Durian's Feast as I was craving for it and Ivan has kept his promise to belanja me... Yeah!!!

We had a nice trip driving back. Annabelle was Zzzzz from Brinchang all the down to Gopeng where we stopped for KFC for lunch at 4.30pm.

"As an overall, the journey is really so nice and enjoyable. I do not have much words to describe other than "We had quality time and love time together!" I hope God will bless us with more time as such and we really looking forward for another holiday!...."