... Our Wonderful Journey to Parenthood ...


Thursday, September 29, 2011

Pray Pray

Something so cute happened just now that I just couldn't wait to write this down to remember.

Eunice was playing at the door while EG parking his car. Suddenly, she looked up and stopped moving. I saw a lizard on the ceiling. Then, the lizard moved. Next, Eunice started to run to me, and told me "ba ba" (*bao bao).

As usual, I asked her, "why bao bao?"

She answered: "sted sted.." while patting her hand on her chest. (*scared scared). I carried her up.

EG came into the house and asked me what happened and I told him. As a lizard killer, he started his actions.

Suddenly, Eunice put her hands together, and told me: "pray pray.."

I couldn't get her at first - I thought she wanted to clap her hands to scare away the lizard. Then she told me again, "pray pray..." then I got her this time.

So I said a short prayer: "Dear Jesus, please remove the lizard from my house. In Jesus's name we pray...."

Eunice shouted "A-Meng!"

Then, she pointed at the floor, "walk walk...."

:)

I didn't know that my little one knows the power of prayer too! This is just so cute. :)

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Eunice's First Miri Trip

It was Eunice's first trip back to her mummy's hometown at Sarawak when she's 18 mths old, to attend my brother's wedding. :).. I was excited for this trip since February and been counting down the days since then. Well, packing was a nightmare as I was so worried that I forgot to bring her important stuffs - and I brought incredibly lots of stuff including her snacks, cookies, pastas, etc. I managed to borrow a playpen from my friend but I need to bring my own mattress back too! So, we ended up with 1 huge bag, 2 small bags, a stroller, a backpack, and a diaper bag. OK I admitted that I over packed. I'll be more efficient in my next flight trip. Hehe :)

Overall it's quite a good trip, though very tiring for EG and me.
On PG-KL flight, the air stewardess gave Eunice a packet of Dutch Lady. She was happily sipping the packet drink throughout the flight. We had to transit for abt 2 hours in KLIA. While planning for the trip, EG already told me he'd prefer KLIA as it has more space and he feels safer for Eunice to run around. Well, it was a public holiday and hence there weren't much price differences on air asia ticket vs MAS ticket. But of course, I also prefer KLIA over LCCT.

From KL to Miri, the flight was 2 hours. She slept for the 1st hour, and woke up the next hour getting restless. I had to entertian her by carrying her up to watch over other passangers (as if she was playing hide & seek with them @.@), or carrying her up and down the aisle. But lastly, we fed her with a very sweet crackers that the air stewardess gave and she finally was occupied for a while before we landed. :)


The little girl just loves to explore the travelator


Wandering around herself - not feeling scared at all


In Miri, my sister and mum were helping out to entertain her, so my load was lessen. I just need to cook for her. Sometimes I just let her eat whatever that my mum cooks. :).. However, the trip was kinda hectic as we had dinners with relatives almost every night. Most of the time Eunice didn't sleep long enough for her nap (still adjusting i think), and hence she'll get cranky on most of the dinner time when the dinner ran late. That also explains why not much pictures on Eunice as we were just so busy entertaining her.


After my brother's wedding dinner, we had a small family gathering with my father's siblings to celebrate his birthday. And thank God she was all happy that day after her long nap! And finally we managed to get a nice picture of her with her grandparents! :)


Eunice and her grandparents

My sister brought out all our soft toys over the years and let Eunice play with it when she was home. Oh she loves them so much. And she also watched Chipmunk throughout the whole 8 days in Miri - watching 6-7 times a day! Yea, we all can memorise the show already. But she still loves it.

Watching Chipmunk with her soft toys

I always love my home trips. This round, though I went back for 8 days, but I still feel I didn't get to spend too much time with my parents as they were too busy preparing for my brother's wedding and entertaining the guests from outstations. I hope I will go back again soon. :)


As for Eunice, I think she loves it too. She was calling "Yi Yi ar.." all the time when she sees my sister's pic in my phone after she's back to Penang. Sometimes she'll make me call her and she'll just listen to my sister's voice for a while then she'll feel all happy. :). How sweet. And recently, she also pointed at my mum's pic in my phone and told me "ah ma ar..." :)... but I din have to chance to let my mum hear her beloved granddaughter calling her yet. :)

While coming back, it was slightly easier. Eunice slept through the 2 hours flight from Miri to KL. And she played around in KLIA again during our 3 hours transit. And eating throughout the 45 mins flight from KL to PG. On that night, Eunice slept at 8.30pm all the way till 7am the next morning. I think she was as tired as us. :D

I wonder why my timid girl was not scared at all in KLIA with all strangers around

But I think, Eunice is a bit too big size to share a seat with us. :P... Though her parents are not big size. I never complain for MAS seats before until this trip - because I'm sharing it with an active toddler. As for EG, he told me, no more trips with flights until she's bigger. If we have to, then pls get a seat for her. We were both exhausted when coming back - carrying all the luggages, strollers, bags, and an active toddler who keeps wanting to walk!


So, our oversea plan will now have to be on hold! :)

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Nursery & Kindy Scouting

Yeap, you read it right. We're scouting for Eunice's nursery / kindy at her 18 months. Kiasu? Hmm... I called up a nursery and she told me the earliest she can put Eunice in is in July 2013! Waa... I don't mean to be kiasu but I don't like the hanging feeling (typical me) and hence I started to ask around and look around last month.

After much scouting & "interviewing" (friends, colleagues, some short listed nurseries :P), then only I realise it's not an easy decision - it's something that will make a difference in my child's first going-to-school experience. However, the fee is another factor to consider. There are some nurseries which are very affordable, but some can charge up to double of the normal ones.

EG and I had some discussions among us, and we decided on a few:
1. Study Environment - We prefer the kindy not to be too academic. I have heard some kindys gave spelling test / ejaan / 听写 (chinese spelling test) every week for the children as young as 4 years old! I think this will not only give the stress to the child, but also the parents. However, I don't expect the kindy to be too relaxing too as it'll be a problem when the child goes primary school - when nowadays primary school's homework can be as stressful as my job! :P. So, there should be a balance.

2. Languages - I'd want Eunice to learn all 3 languages. I admit that I'm quite a failure in teaching her chinese while I myself is chinese educated. She doesn't know any chinese word, except "bao bao" maybe. :P. So far, we found that most kindys will teach all 3 languages.

3. Teachers - I have heard too many scary stories of the teachers suddenly lost their mind and started to whack the child. I know taking care of one active toddler is hard, what more a bunch of them in school. But still I cannot accept any teacher who will lost their sane while teaching. A friend told me once her niece came home with a blue black buttock from school and showed me the picture. I was really really shocked. Imagine the terror on the child! So, I'll ask about the teachers too.

4. Discipline - Though we don't want the teachers to "whack" our child, but there should also be discipline - to teach them what's the right things to do. One of the nurseries that we checked out uses very good disciplinary actions to the child. The principal told me sometimes they will even have "court cases" when she'll be the judge. They treat the children like adults.

5. Teaching methods - Of course most of us went through the conventional way where 1 person talks and the rest listen. But we found there're some kindys that allow the bigger children to cook, or do planting and etc and they believe the children learn through these activities too.

6. Class size - For us, we prefer the class size to not to be too big so that all the children will have the equal attention from the teachers. Having said this, if the class size is big, then we'll want to know how do the teachers make sure that all children can progress at the same speed.

7. Teaching materials - A kindy that we went to showed us the teaching materials that they used for the students - and we were truly impressed.

In the end, we have sort of decided to send Eunice to a kindy that we both like, though the fees is more expensive than the others. We both hope that it'll be giving Eunice a good first learning experience in her life.

:)

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Cameron Trips

This is a really long due post and I have decided to combine my two cameron trips into one post.

We went to Cameron Highland last year July, when Eunice was only 5 months old. And a year later, we went again. EG is a big fan of Cameron Highlands - some said it is a boring place, well, that's the reason why EG loves it. He said, because it's boring and there's nothing much to do there. And for him, that's the real holiday. Ya, weirdo, I know. :)

Anyway, back to the trip. Last year when we went, Eunice was only 5 months old. Some friends actually said that we're very courageous to bring a baby for a trip. Now that I think back, yea we indeed were brave. During then, we just wanted a break for all the baby-taking-care and thought of doing something different. Anyway, it was just a 2 days 1 night thing. So, the itinerary was simple - reached Hotel, lunch, BOH tea farm, buy some snacks to eat in the room, dinner, and Eunice slept at 8.30pm so EG and I were reading & watching tv in the room while snacking on the junk food that we bought. The next morning, after breakfast, we went for strawberry ice cream and we left CH.



2010 July - My little girl still on the rear facing car seat on the way to CH


2010 July - Eunice only knew how to turn then

2010 July - and she sat in her stroller while we're going out


2010 July - my 5 month old portrait at BOH tea farm




A year later, on the same holiday weekend, we have decided to go Cameron Highlands again - after a year. This time, my Eunice was already 17 months old. The packing was more challenging - as I need to pack her food along! And not knowing what exactly we're going to have in CH for meals, I actually brought up my slow cooker in order to cook for her. Yea, very kua cheong, I know. :). But I feel more peace in heart doing that. :)

This round, we stayed for 3 days 2 nights. And we paid more for a better hotel to make sure my little one has a comfortable place to rest and sleep. We visited more places this round - BOH tea farm (sure-go place), butterfly farm, the smokehouse, pasar malam, and etc. And we also could go more places for food as Eunice is now bigger and we do let her try those food that we ate too, though her main meal was still her porridge.


See how much my little one has grown over a year.




2011 July - my little girl now on front facing car seat and snacking all the way to CH



2011 July - now she walks :)



2011 July - We no longer put her in stroller now, she walks



2011 July - my 17 month old portrait at BOH tea farm



2011 July - and she walked around happily with her cheeky face



2011 July - And she really enjoyed her favorite food in CH


We really love to bring her around. She's such a joy in our lives. :). And we really thank God that she's not a very difficult baby. And she still follows her schedule while she's out - sleep & eat at the same time. Both the trips are so memorable to both EG and I though Eunice might not remember anything. :)

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Eunice @ 17.5 months

I read back the last post I wrote on Eunice's speech. It's really amazing to see how fast our little girl has grown up. EG and I have been telling each other that she is now a big girl already, no more a baby. :)

For the past months, she'll wave good bye and fly kiss to us everytime we drop her at babysitter's place. And when we're picking her up, she'll be standing at the door happily waving and pointing at us while babysitter packing up her stuff to give back to us. And sometimes, she'll even say bye to her other friends there, or some other older toddlers will come and say "Goodbye Eunice". It makes us feel very relief sending her to the babysitter's place knowing that she has her friends there.

For her speech development, she can say more words now. She picks up fast. She used to say "bish-bish" but now she can say "fish-fish". :). Every morning when I change her diaper, I'll tell her this is diaper, she'll answer me back "ah-ple"... but when I showed her apple, she also told me "ah-ple". :). And any yellow animal in sitting position is "duck duck". And she loves to play with "ball ball" too.

She has a tigger in the room. We always ask her where's the tiger? She'll go hit the tail. And when we brought her to Parkson today, I saw tigger's picture on the wall and I asked her what's that? She said "Tai-tai"! She now recognises the "Sss-tar" shape. And she loves to eat bananas, she calls them "Na-na!". :). She showed me a yellow color card that day, and told me "Na-na!". I was truly surprised.

I pray for her every night before she sleeps. Amazingly, she'll lie down quietly, eyes open wide with a smile on her face everytime I say my prayer for her. When I end my prayer with Amen, she'll be eagerly saying "Ah-mi" too. I'll tell her, Good night girl, time to sleep sleep, see you tomorrow, and give her a fly kiss. And she'll return a fly kiss back to me, and started tossing in her bed till she falls asleep herself.

She imitates us nowadays. Once, EG passed gas in the toilet in the morning. She heard it, and she made the same sound using her mouth, then looked at me, and started to giggle away. Gee.... :)... And when I did something extraordinary, I'll tell EG Ta-daa.. and she repeated after me. So, we have to be really careful with our speech nowadays so that our little one won't pick up any bad words. Hehe....

She suddenly loves soft toys very much. She will smile happily when I gave her her Patrick the dog. And when I gave her my big doggie that sleeps with me since the past 3 years, she'll be even happier. The doggie is as big as her but she'll sleep on it. So, she took over my doggie. :(. And as of date now, there are 5 soft toys in her bed sleeping with her now.

As she grows, she became more manja recently too. When she dirty her hands while eating, she'll make a kind of face, shouting "Ooooooo....!" and give you her hand, and we'll HAVE TO clean it for her before she can continue eating. And if she accidentally trips or falls down, she'll make the really sad face and run to us to "ba ba" (bao bao, i.e. hug hug in chinese :P).

I finally has started giving her formula. And after trying anmum and enfa, my babysitter told me she could drink enfa faster (probably tastes nicer since sweeter). I have also tried making the first formula milk for my girl last weekend and to my surprise, she's taking it VERY WELL. No rejection at all. Once we went out, she pointed at my breasts and told me "neh neh", I told her to wait till we reach the car. And when I got into the car, I made the milk in front of her and gave her the bottle. She said happily "neh nehhh" and took the bottle and started to drink. Looks like weaning is not very hard for me. :)

And EG said, now she has personality already. She doesn't let other people carry her much. She'll fold her arms together and put her head away on our shoulder. :D. And she doesn't simply smile to anyone now - unlike when she's young. She's not that friendly anymore. Well, the daddy is actually happy about this as he thinks it's safer this way. :)

Our little girl has been bringing smiles to our faces everyday. We really thank God that she has been growing up well. :)

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Eunice's Speech

Eunice has been "talking" since she hits 12 months old. I remember a day before her birthday, I pointed at the bear on her cot and said "bear bear", and she actually said "bear bear" too. Then, I asked her, "Girl, how to clap hand?", and then she started clapping her hand.

I was truly surprised!

From then onwards, I've been trying to tell her and show her as many things as we can, and talk to her like an adult (well, not really :P). As of now, my 16 mths old Eunice can say a few words already. Those that which are frequently used:

- neh neh (nen nen)
- mum mum / mem mem (food)
- ba-bai (bye bye)
- Ang kiu (thank you)
- wou wou (dog)
- ngiau (meow / cat)
- walk walk (she can say this well)
- baby (she can say this well too)
- bak-bak (bird bird)
- day-dee (daddy - and squeeze her eyes when say dee :P )
- mummy (she only says this when she wants to :(, unlike daddy :( )
- neh ma (no more - just picked this up)

Besides, she also started to understand what we're telling her since she's 14 mths+.


- When we tell her, "Girl, let's go wash your pet pet..", she'll then walk to the toilet and stand at the door waiting for us.
- It's 8pm+ and I tell her, "Girl, want to go sleep already?", she'll then go to the staircase, half climb with only 1 leg up the staircase, and wave and tell me "ba-bai..."
- I can now also tell her to pass things to her daddy, or daddy tells her to pass something to mummy, she'll come look for us then.

And she also have been "talking on the phone" since 13th mths onwards (just doing the talk on the phone gesture with ANYTHING that she can get on her hand), and recently, she will say ba-bai before she "put down the phone". :)

Recently I had a conversation with her. :). We went to QBM after work to have our dinner and when we left the shopping mall, she wanted some milk.

Eunice: Neh neh
Me: Mum mum (trying to change her mind)
Eunice: Neh neh (get louder)
Me: Mum mum (still trying)
Eunice: NEH NEHHH..... (starting to get irritated)
Me: Mum mum la girl... u want mum mum?
Eunice: NEH NEH NEH NEH NEH NEH NEH NEHHHHHHHH.....!!!!!!!
Me: OK OK! Neh neh!
My cutie lil' pie. :)

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Eunice's Coloring

Recently, we noticed that Eunice likes to ask us to give her a pen / pencil and she started to scribble. She'll shout if you don't let her do that. We got an imitated Aquadoodle for her but I guess the area wasn't big enough for her to draw. So EG bought some non toxic crayons and a drawing block for her to scribble.

When Eunice first started holding the crayon to scribble, I noticed she didn't really have strength to "write". She was just scribbling some faint lines on the drawing block. We'll normally hold her right hand and write something.

Last week, I drew a small birdie for her, and told her "bird bird", then I drew a bear and told her "bear bear". To my surprise, she started to use a crayon to "color" the bird. And after she's done with her "coloring", she told me "bird bird". :).

And next, she went ahead to "color" her bear.

Eunice's first coloring a birdie





Coloring a bear


I took a video of her trying to scribble but she wasn't holding the crayon properly.









I was so surprise and so happy with her new milestone. :)... At the same time, I'm also headache with the next challenge - my little girl is using the crayon to draw on the floor too!



Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Cloth Diapers

A friend, who is going to be a mummy soon, asked me to blog about cloth diapers (CD) since she saw me using cloth diapers on Eunice, so, I complied. :)

I read about cloth diapers from a forum before I delivered Eunice, and took some time to find out what it is actually. But I didn't buy.

Reasons:
1) there are SO MANY brands out there
2) The price ranges from as cheap as RM20 per pc to more than RM100 per pc, which really really confused me what the differences are
3) I'm not sure if I'll use it since it's not that cheap, I never like to spend on things that I don't use

During the first two months, since Eunice is breastfed, she poo-ed almost every time after she drank. During then, disposable was the most convenient. But when she started going to babysitter on her 7th week, I noticed her poo poo time reduced to 2-3 times a day, comparing to 7-8 times in the first month of her life. So, after reading up, and some recommendation from friends, the first cloth diapers that I bought was GH (Gift-From-Heaven) brand.

It was a pleasant surprise when I used it. It is not that hard to use, and it's soft - makes me feel that it's gentle to my girl's bum bum. :P. Then, after reading up some reviews again, I got 2 more from Autumnz online. Oh I fell in love with CDs then. A friend coming back from US when Eunice is almost 5 mths old, and I got 3 more CDs from US (just wanted to have a feel of what is the difference between US brands & local brands) - namely Bum Genius, Happy Heinys, and Fuzzi Bunz.

All the CDs allow us to adjust the size - that's why it's called One Size CDs. I can button up the CDs to make it smaller, or unbutton all to make it bigger. That's why CDs are supposed to save cost - since it can be used from S to L. Most CDs can fit toddlers up to 15kg - 18kg.

After comparing, personally, I felt there there's no difference between local brands & US brands. And I think Autumnz has really good reviews, and their price is affordable and reasonable. Besides, they have nice patterns and they give free postage for purchase more than RM50!

Now, I have total of 8 pcs of CDs actively in use, and that's very little actually. I've seen ppl with 20+ CDs to 50+ CDs! Since Eunice is much bigger now, I only use CDs for her during weekend since she normally will have a clean disposable from babysitter that can last her until I change her to sleep. Well, I can actually use CD for her for overnight, but I was too lazy to do the rinsing in the morning esp it's always rushing, so I still use mamypoko.

I have been using CDs since Eunice is close to 3 months old, up till now. They do save me a lot of $$ for disposable diapers since they can be reused over and over again. Of course if I can do exclusive cloth diapering it'll be even better, but I admit I'm lazy, esp. on weekdays. :).


So, some pictures on my little girl on CDs.



Eunice @ 7 weeks with Autumnz CD,
noticed that the CD was folded to S size



3 mths old Eunice with Autumnz CD



6 mths old Eunice with Happy Heinys CD

9 mths old Eunice with GH CD

11 mths old Eunice with Autumnz CD


1 yr old Eunice in Happy Heinys CD

Oh, my watermark blocked the diaper.
Anyway, if your eyes are sharp enough,
this is the most recent pic of
my 15 mths old girl on Autumnz CD
(the one she's wearning on 3rd mth pic)



Some asked me, is it troublesome to clean the cloth diapers? Well, it depends. Whenever I change Eunice's CD, I'll rinse it off. If it's just urine, then it's easy. If she poo-ed, then I'll just rinse off to the toilet bowl, and rinse it a bit so that it won't stink my whole toilet, and put them into a pail. In the end of the day, I'll just wash all the CDs all together and hang them dry. Not exactly troublesome but just some extra steps to do. EG encourages me to use CDs a lot as it's environment friendly, besides, like I mentioned, the materials are soft and he feels that his precious girl should feel very comfortable in CDs - esp when they are also breathable.

When Eunice is on CDs, I normally don't wear pants for her since she looks really cute in those prints. :)... But for the CDs on velcro, she knows how to take it off. So, I have to put on pants for her for velcro CDs.

PS: There are a lot of information online on how to use a cloth diapers. You can also find it in Autumnz website too.



About Mamabeh

If getting married is a big decision in one's life, having children is a even bigger milestone in life! Having a life growing inside not only change us physically, mentally & our daily life routines, but it's also amazing that how we have grown closer to move forward for the new life ahead of us.

Eunice's Growth

Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers


Day 1 @ 0 mth @ 3.28kg, 50cm
Wk 5 @ 1 mth @ 4.80kg, 51cm
Wk 9 @ 2 mth @ 5.60kg, 52cm
Wk 14 @ 3 mth @ 6.55kg, 57cm
Wk 17 @ 4 mth @ 6.90kg, 61cm
Wk 21 @ 5 mth @ 7.40kg, 62cm
Wk 26 @ 6 mth @ 7.70kg, 64cm
Wk 30 @ 7 mth @ 8.10kg, 67cm
Wk35 @ 8 mth @ 8.30kg, 68cm
Wk40 @ 9 mth @ 8.50kg, 70cm
12 months @ 9kg, 70cm
13 months @ 9.35kg, 74cm
14.5 months @ 9.4kg, 74cm
17 months @ 9.9kg, 74cm
18.5 months @ 10.4kg, 77cm
2 yrs @ 11.5kg, 84cm
2 yrs 5 mth @ 11.9kg, 85cm
2 yrs 8 mth @ 12.2kg, 86.5cm
4 yrs 9 mth @ 17kg

Natalie's Growth

Lilypie Third Birthday tickers

Day 1 @ 0 mth @ 3.36kg, 51cm
Wk 5 @ 1 mth @ 4.70kg, 55cm
Wk 10 @ 2 mth @ 5.82kg, 57cm
Wk13 @ 3 mth @ 6.40kg, 59cm
Wk18 @ 4 mth @ 6.82kg, 61.5cm
Wk23 @ 5 mth @ 7.13kg, 65cm
Wk29 @ 6 mth @ 7.60kg, 66cm
12.5 mth @ 8.64kg, 70cm
13.5 mth @ 8.86kg, 70cm
18 mth @ 9.20kg, 76cm
2 yrs 1 mth @ 11.3kg, 83.5cm
2 yrs 2 mth @ 12kg

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