Somewhere over the rainbow…

Cleaning Up My Closet

Isabelle has not been sleeping well for the past 2 weeks. Maybe she’s teething as she’s drooling and keeps putting things in her mouth to bite them. Or maybe she’s hungry as I haven’t started solid on her, and only milk alone is not enough for her growing appetite. I dunno what’s wrong with her waking up every hour crying for nen nen, thus I haven’t been sleeping well at night. So, I decided to use my night time to clean up the closets last night.

First, I started with Justin’s tier drawers. Boys are boys, his clothes are rather simple to arrange, and I just had to pick up those old and unfit ones to give them away, or keep for Isabelle when she’s grown up. His clothes only occupied 2 drawers, and the other two are for towels and his toys separately. Some of his “homely” clothes are placed downstairs, sharing another tier drawer with Isabelle. In short, they’re not too much.

When I was cleaning up Isabelle’s drawer, I was quite stunned! I noticed that she has lots of clothes, mostly hand-over from Justin which she has never worn before but they’re too small already. And after I put Justin’s “new” hand-over to her drawers, they’re all full, all 4 of them! No wonder girls need more space for storing their clothes, there’re just so much! Blouse, T-shirts, pants, skirts, dresses, hats, socks, fluffy shoes, stockings, etc…Gee, shoppingmum has did it again, shopping too much for Isabelle!

Then, it’s my turn. I took out almost all of my clothes, and I found T-shirts and jeans which are more than 5 years old. I did some “fashion parade” to try out the clothes, and most of them are really too small. Gee, have really gone out of shape after these years. *Sob sob* And still hubby keeps telling me I look the same! He’s really trying to be sweet and “comforting” me only lah…

BTW, my old jeans look rather ridiculous. They’re all high waist straight cut type, and my butts really look bigger wearing them! That’s why most jeans have lower waistline cutting now, to make our butts looks smaller. And not to mention some office wear which I wore to work last time, all A-line cutting. Most fashionable skirts are flare and more feminine nowadays, like the type which will swirl when wind blows.

Yikes, my closet sucks! It’s time for shopping huh?

Justin “Kao Lui”

My boy has become more and more independant these days.

There’s a little girl in his Kindermusic class who’s about the same age as him. Nowadays, he likes to “stick” to the girl, and sits besides her mother (rather than me) in the class. When the teacher asks him to sit with me, he’ll just ignore the instruction. The thing is the little girl doesn’t like him much, and keeps pushing him away, but Justin still insists on sticking with her.

He tries to make friends with her by pulling her hands, touching her face, and flashing his smile at her, but the girl still wasn’t “moved”. Justin takes the “rejection” rather well and keeps trying weeks after weeks to get her attention.

I really don’t know how to tell Justin to stop “bothering” the girl, as he’s quite persistent. When I asked him at home if he can just sit with mommy through out the class, he said “No”.

Me: You like Siao Min?
Justin: Yes, like Siao Min.
Me: Can you sit with mommy in the class?”
Justin: No, Siao Min…
Me: Why sit with Siao Min, Siao Min doesn’t like to sit with you.”
Justin” *Angry* Err…err…sit Siao Min.
Me: Is Siao Min pretty?
Justin: Yes.
Me: Siao Min pretty or Xin Yi cheh cheh pretty?
Justin: Siao Min.
Me: No lah, Xin Yi is pretty.
Justin: Siao Min, Siao Min, Siao Min….

See, that’s my boy “protecting” his girl!

Last night, we went to Justin’s “girlfriend”, Jovee’s birthday party. She lives opposite our house only, and it’s the kakaks’ idea of matching them up when they’re just babies. But Justin didn’t pay any attention to Jovee, he saw a new “target”. This little girl was about his age too, and she has a big sister looking after her.

When Justin approached her and touched her face, her sister will drag the girl away. Sometimes, she pushed away Justin’s hands. However, my boy refused to leave them alone, and kept following the girls around. When he’s chasing after them in the garden, he fell and dirty his white pants in the puddle of mud.

Justin cried and ran to me, so we brought him back to change into clean clothes and shoes, before going to the party again. When Justin saw the girl, he started the “chasing game” again. Poor boy, he really didn’t know how to “back off”. Sigh!

I told hubby over the phone that Justin got rejected. He’s laughing over it. Yikes, I really don’t know how to teach him to stop “bothering” girls who’s not interested in making friends with him.

Isabelle: 5 months old

Weight: 6.7 kg

1. She’s very alert and sleep less during the day now. So, we have to carry her around in a sling or push her in a stroller.

2. She likes to have people talking to her, and she’ll coo back or giggle. Maybe she’ll be very talkative when she grows up.

3. She is good at taking things within her reach, especially MIL’s glasses!
4. I think she’s teething, as she likes to bite the toys or teether.

5. She will drool when she sees us eating. MIL’s been pressuring me to start solid now, but I still want to wait until she’s 6 months old first. Just want to minimize the risk of having food allergy or intolerance as I had with Justin.

6. She is learning how to reach out her arms asking us to carry her. And she’ll cry out when she sees my car coming back from work in the evening, asking me to carry her immediately.

7. She’s getting more and more attach to me. My little baby who knows how to go to sleep by herself has developed to sleeping at nursing only. So, I’m getting lesser sleep these days as she needs to suckle quite frequently. Luckily there’s no plan for no 3 yet, and I don’t feel like weaning her off until she’s ready.

8. She’s trying to do commando crawl, but we need to put our hands at her feet as a platform for her to push forward. She’ll be delight if she can go forward and get the toy placed in front of her.

9. She likes to roll and roll and roll. So, no more sleeping on bed with mommy, and she sleeps with Justin on the floor.

Conversation with Justin and Isabelle

This post is for hubby, if he’s reading my blog in China.

Me: Where is papa, boy?
Justin: “zhuo gong” (working)
Continue playing…
Justin: papa come back…
Me: No boy, papa only come back next Friday. Miss papa?
Justin: Miss…miss papa.
Me: Wanna talk to papa over the phone?
Justin: No…playground…
Me: Wanna go to playground? Wait until papa come back first.
Justin: wait…papa…kai kai…
Me: Yes, wait until papa come back first, then we’ll go kai kai

So, dear, you know what to do lah!

Isabelle: Coo…coo…mmm…mmm…
Me: Yes girl, do you miss papa too?
Isabelle: *giggle* coo…woo….
Me: Sure miss hoh…

Ok lah, it’s only my imagination cooing with Isabelle.

Hubby called twice today, once when I was having a meeting so we didn’t talk much, and another time during bedtime. Justin refused to talk to him over the phone despite of hubby kept shouting “Justin, Justin, boy boy”. My boy doesn’t like to talk over the phone yet. Poor hubby must be missing us very much now!

I’ll divert a bit. If I’m given a choice, I don’t want to be a man next life, if I need to work or “wan sek” and leave my family occasionally. Hubby said it’s not easy to work outstation, and he always tries his best to be back as soon as possible, even if driving back from KL at midnight just to see his kids sleeping soundly and greeting them in the morning.

I don’t think I can take homesick as good as he does. That’s why I’m trying my best to minimise travelling without missing out being with my kids. I wonder how some career women made it, juggling their travelling job and their families at the same time? Zara’s mama? Suzette? Can share or not?

Daddy’s Away

Hubby went for a business trip to China yesterday. He’ll be away until next Friday, if things are going out as planned. Before sending him off to catch the bus to KL, MIL told him some rules and regulations:

1. Don’t smoke too much
2. I thought she’s gonna say “Don’t drink too much“, but she said “Beware of China chick!”

My friends also joked about China chicks “seducing” my hubby. So, either my hubby is gatal, or has the look to kill chicks, or those chicks are gatal!

Can’t control much. His jobs requires him to travel frequently, if want to find chickc, can get locally too. Right or not?

Hubby’s worrying that Justin may “forget” him when he’s away, so he bought him his favourite titbits before leaving. I told Justin papa bought him that, but he said “po po buy one”. So, hubby’s heart would be broken to hear that…

He’s also worrying that he has to start his bonding with Isabelle all over again. We can’t call him too and he doesn’t have laptop with him. We can only wait for his call, and it’s better than none.

Genting Trip, again

It’s my company’s annual convention at Genting Highlands again. It’s also Justin’s 3rd and Isabelle’s 1st trip to Genting. My parents came along with us to help me out with the kids as I was occupied.

We reached there on Friday afternoon in hope to bring Justin to the outdoor theme park, but it’s raining heavily, and we had to stay indoor the whole day. Here’re some photos taken at lunch.

Then, we brought Justin to play at the merry-go-round. It’s his first ride, and he was afraid at first. But after a while, he began to enjoy the ride.

We went for a ride on the cable car later. Both Justin and Isabelle liked it a lot, but it’s a bit too long as we returned straight uphill and didn’t get out from the cable car. Isabelle was whining on the way back as she’s really tired already.

After checking in the hotel, we noticed that our rooms are not connected. We thought it’s ok at first, but as you know, the First World Hotel rooms are extremely small. Justin didn’t have much space to move around and he wanted to see us and gong gong poh poh all together in the same room! So, hubby and I went down to “fix” a connecting room. Luckily there’re some left despite of the almost fully booked hotel!

Once we’ve moved to the new rooms, it’s about time to take dinner already. Oh boy! We went for a boat ride, and Justin sat very still only. Isabelle on the other hand was very excited and she enjoyed looking at the lights!

The next thing we rode on was the floating ship. Justin was very afraid of the height. When hubby was standing up to capture the view with his viewcam, Justin kept saying “papa, sit down, sit sit sit…scare scare…papa sit down”. Hubby was playful, he stood up once in a while to tease Justin. And our boy kept ordering him to sit down, and he’s so cute!

It’s getting late, and we went back to the rooms at about 10pm. Both Justin and Isabelle fell asleep almost immediately. They’re really tired of the journey, I guessed.

I was pretty occupied the next day as I had some events to be attended. Isabelle was with me most of the time, while Justin followed hubby and my parents for the rides again. Not many photos were taken though. This time, Justin was excited to ride on anything, he’s not afraid anymore. My mom told me that he repeat the rides for more than 3 times each! And the indoor tickets were free as I booked family packages for the rooms.

I brought sleepy Isabelle back to the room in the afternoon and my parent looked after her for me as they needed to take naps too. My folks were so tired “entertaining” our active boy the whole morning, and they energy level really wore off! Hubby continued playing with Justin at the theme park then. He said he wanted to spend some quality one-to-one bonding time with him.

My company dinner was held that night, and this time, hubby brought only Isabelle around for her bonding time. It’s actually his first time spending 2 hours alone with Isabelle. I was wondering if he could make it since Isabelle is always very difficult at night as she only wants to be with me. But it turned out that hubby was handling her very well. They went for boat ride, floating ship, and the ferries wheel too. Isabelle also slept on hubby’s shoulder!

Hubby was so proud of himself. He told me that the happiness moment of the day was being able to spend bonding time with Isabelle, and he felt so happy and contented when Isabelle slept soundly on his shoulder. I can still remember the way his face looked when he’s telling me this, I was very touched when I heard that. It’s not that he doesn’t help out with Isabelle, but she’s really attached to me. All the while, I’m the only one who can handle Isabelle when she’s really grumpty, and maybe hubby felt left out. So, it’s good to see them spending some one-to-one time together.

Justin turned from being scared to enjoying all the rides during this trip. My parents helped out a lot in bring him around repeating the rides over and over again, thank god they didn’t feel bored and enjoyed spending time with him! But I know they’re really tired. But I think they won’t complain by looking at his smile…

My boy had also found his own way of remembering this trip: This statue which he named Old Man!

We left Genting on Sunday afternoon. It’s a good trip this time as everyone really enjoyed oneself very much!

Mommy and Papa

Before Justin can talk, hubby kept teaching him to say “papa” since newborn, and hopes to hear Justin say “papa” as soon as possible. His wish has granted as “papa” is Justin first word. I was quite kiasu as Justin only started saying mommy after one year old, and felt jeslous about this sometimes.

Now, both of us think that “mommy” and “papa” are quite irritating words at moments like these:

Situation 1:
Me: *Busy nursing Isabelle lying down*
Justin: Mommy, mommy, come come come….
Me: Let mommy finish feeding mei mei first ok, darling?
Justin: No, mommy…mommy… lai lai…come…come… *drag me hands some more*
Me: *Trying hard to get up from lying down position with Isabelle still latching on* Can you wait for a while?
Justin: No…come now…
Yikes, so mah fan to get up, and also had to carry Isabelle who’s still nursing. Well, you try to do that and you know what I meant! It’s not easy getting up from that position.

Situation 2:
Hubby: *Still in dreamland* Zzzz….
Justin: Papa, papa, milk milk…
Hubby: Huh? Milk milk *then zzz…*
Justin: Papa papa….*cry cry* papa papa….
Hubby: Ok, papa make. *Wear glasses, get up to make milk*
Justin: *Finish milk* Papa papa…finish.
Hubby: Zzz….oh….
Justin: Papa, read book.
Hubby: Huh? Go to sleep boy.
Justin: No, papa read book (it’s in the middle of the night). Read book…papa papa…
Hubby: Ok…Zzz…bla bla….*read book*

But still, how to resist these 2 special words from our boy? 心肝情愿…

Justin’s 1st Lantern

I’ve been thinking of buying a lantern for Justin for a while, but couldn’t decide a battery-operated one or the tradisional type. In the end, we decided to buy this old-fashioned gold fish lantern for him.

He likes it pretty much, but doesn’t know how to hold it probably without swinging it around. I was so worried that it’d get on fire! But Justin got bored rather quickly, and “dumped” the lantern aside. Maybe his cousins haven’t started playing with theirs yet.

I missed the time when I was little and we’d walked around in the neighbourhood holding our pretty lanterns. But I doubt Justin can do that now as there’re lots of stray dogs in my neighbourhood. So, he’ll have to play this within our house compound.

Playing Blocks

Justin likes to play with the blocks that we bought at a kids fair a month ago. He doesn’t like them at first as it needs lots of motor skills and patient to stack up the blocks.

However, he’s showing lots of interests in them and plays the blocks together with his train set. We still need to join the railway track for him though, but after that he’s on his own. See?

He’s getting more and more creatif, but sometimes he’ll “complain” if the blocks keep falling down. He’s still yet to understand the concept of balance with some of his “unstable creation”. Nonetheless, he’s improving a lot comparing to his first introduction to the blocks. Good boy…

Can’t Leave Comment

Frankly, I’m a bit regretted I changed my blog to beta blogger. At first I was just curious to try out, but my headache started when I couldn’t restore my template and was totally unfamiliar with the new way of setting up the template.

I franctically asked Jason for help. Luckily, things have sorted out.

Now, I can’t leave comment on blogger unless they’ve changed to beta version too. So, I’ve been reading blogs lately but didn’t leave any comments.

But I’m still blog hopping around, only “invinsible” to you.