Chinese New Year 2011

 Day One - Mummy and Megan in Pink. YY in pink! Unbelieveable... honestly I dont look too bad in color!!!

 Day Two - Retro theme... layered dress and poka dots!

  

Day Three - no more clothes to coordinate! Yup.

Megan's Rattle Rattle

Megan has started to grab my hair and everything that she can reach. She gets really frustated with an object is too far for her tiny hands to grab. Ok. Time for mummy to make her a new toy!

Was at the library and read that toys that make sounds when they are shaken are good for the development of kids. It makes them understand simple concepts like cause and effect. I shake this, it will make a sound. Nice! Megan gonna learn this concept!

Rattle Rattle! Yup I spent a morning patiently sewing this for the now not so little, little one.

First and foremost, like all toys for babies, prewash all materials because everything they hold goes into their mouths. These colorful felt are the same ones leftover from the animal chart.... Daiso felt last a long way!!! Mix and match the colors and sew them up with strong tread since kids these days are pretty strong and tend to tear everything apart!!

Stuff the rattle with foam and two bells and stitch up the gap. TADA! A simple little rattle rattle for my Megan is completed... Love it! The size is just nice for her tiny hand and not too heavy.

Now that Megan has her rattle rattle.... I shall see how she applies her new found knowledge of cause and effect (say next week!). Megan drinks milk slowly, mummy will have late lunch.... Megan drinks faster, mummy eats on time! Hahaha.... cause and effect!!!! My life shall get better soooooonnn...

Daily Life

I dig the concept of SLOW life... although I cannot do it. SLOW life is so hip and sustainable... so enviromentally friendly... Now that I am kinda stuck at home watching paint dry and baby grow... I guess this is the phyiscal form of me living a slow life... ok not so hip... but but quite alright.

Remember the golden seeds Ken planted last year? The top left photo shows the grown seedling in Feb 2010 and flower in oct 2010. Today, slightly more than one year later... a red pepper chili larger than my palm is harvested, Urban farming... slow life...

Our other plant, Calla lily has grown so much flowers that non of us is very excited or care that much anymore...

Resumed cooking new recipes and refining old ones...Thumbs up for my hot and sour Sinigang, tom yam steam boat and prawn paste steamed huai san (chinese yam). With so much time at home, it is not hard to surf the web for recipes and try to make it work.

Megan at 2.5 months old is very active... Usually I leave her to do her morning excerise on her own (right leg up, down, left leg up, down, both legs up! down). Afternoon is delicated to mum and daughter heart to heart talk where I listen to her tell me long "ah geh ah geh" stories. I have stopped breastfeeding and Megan has in desperation bit Ken's nose and suck hard when he bent over to kiss her. She got a mouthful of oil and blackheads in return and Ken had a great laugh.

One more month and my slow life will come to an end as I return back to office. I wonder other than making baby craft, do I still remember anything about hotels?

My Two Months Old Megan

I was reminded that I have not been updating my blog for a long long time... sorry guys, was really busy with my new found freedom (after I outsource Megan to my inlaws!!) and there is no turning back! At least for a while...

Megan is 2! (2 months that is) and I can happily declare - its all worth it! Maybe it is because the attachment has finally "attached", or I am more familar and better with her habits and schedule, or she simply gets easier to look after... All is good. All is good. Now lets check on my latest iPhone photos...



Left : That is Megan at one month

Right : This is Megan at two months... fat and heavy! And of course, the daddy gets more and more exhausted! hahaha...

She has developed sturdy lotus limps and she can deliver a strong kick...So we dressed her up for boxing and let her stretch her arms and kick her legs! Just look at her fat tummy while she is at it!!

At two months, Megan loves to "talk"... I love the interaction as oppose to the monolog in the first month but very soon I run out of topics. Her grandpa ran out of topics even faster than me, exclaiming to Megan last week, " dont talk to me, I dunno what to tell you... talk to your grandma, she always has a lot to say! no no no, dont talk to me.."

Andrea fared better...She can have a conversation with Megan for an hour and it goes like this:

Megan : ah ger.. ah ger.. duhhh... arr.. acerrr

Andrea : Yes, ah I understand, then what happened?

Megan : Hmmm err..

Andrea : Ah! Is that true? Oh wow... what did you do?

Megan : darrr.. ah gerr ah gerr... ehhh.... errr ahh... (2 mins pass)... ah geerrrr geerrr... *yawn* cerrr ar ah ger ah gerr (5 mins pass) duhh ah gerr ah gerr

Andrea : Your story very long... are you thirsty?

Megan : Ah gerrr.. geerrr arr duh..

Andrea : Oh you are now telling me what happened last week ah? You finished the part on yesterday...

Yes and she spends the rest of her waking hours playing and laughing. Even when her daddy is busy with work at home, she can still be cheeky and playful. It is tiring in a different way.

Good thing she sleeps well both in sarong and in bed... Now she only wakes up once in the night instead of 3 times! hurray!

This is how you Burp! You can sit her on your lap or prop her over your shoulder...

Oh yah, not to mention, she cries feriously as well...

Megan baby talk

*All photos are taken around 4th week, just before her one month old celebration.

1.5 months and Me

Finally I am more in tune with Megan's schedule (I am being controlled by a kiddo!!!) plus my body is getting more accustomed to fatigue from waking up at night.

How did my aki friends manage their babies before I came along? Ah! They have an advantage. Being architects, they are already so exhausted that their brains simply did not register their bodies crashing (again). Bad profession, great training for motherhood.

Haha... sorry no more baby photos in this blog... PLEASE!!! She looks exactly the same!!! Except a bigger heavier head giving me a sprained wrist.

At 1.5 months, I can now manage to make more elaborate breakfast for everyone after Megan's 6am feed, do laundry, bath & massage Megan, excerise, watch DVD, cook myself a light lunch and decent dinner for everyone. Yes plus email/ blog/ do "personal stuff" all in one day. Multi tasking, multi tasking.... tiring but do-able. If my in-laws come in the afternoons, I get to catch up on some sleep as well...

Its 2011. Must plan what to do to add variety to my life... I cannot be bored.

First and foremost, need to get Xianger's apartment done. Friend of 25 years, when she needs help on design and renovation of her new place, can I say no? Plan, design, discuss, measure, draw, detail etc... gotta really manage my time... luckily no need to coordinate, just shove it down Jeffery's throat... Drew a few options to start discussion... Ha, life is interesting again...



My oven has never been used. Time to use it... I should bake something since I have always wanted to learn baking. How about this? Brownie Peanut Buttercups! Got all the ingredients ready... one day... one day...



Saw this on the internet. Ha! Is this knitting or patchwork? Sooo Cute! Megan needs a bag! Shall I do one for her? She needs a pencilcase too! Similar design with a zip? Time to activate my virgin sewing machine somewhere in the storeroom! Do I knew how to use a sewing machine? No... but wat the hell... cant be that hard...

hahahah... ok better finish up Xianger's house coz promised to send Jeff and her all the plans and elevations by next week... DAMN... too many things to do.... way too many things to do...