Merry Christmas!

Sorry for the late post, been busy playing with my Christmas toys and watching my cartoons. I had loads of fun with my presents, hope your Christmas was a splendid one too.

our xmas tree - more gifts under the tree compared to last year's

with my mei-mei



taken at the curve, i'm into disney princesses lately

The below were taken a few weeks ago at my friend's, Shawn, place. His mom made this ginger bread house for us to eat (wreck).

before

during

Below is me singing with my Christmas present from my uncle Chun Son and Shasha (mummy's brother). I'm terrified of him but I like this present very much since I'm such a vainpot now.

Below is where mummy thinks I look like a rocker (to be specific, like jon bon jovi). :D


I've been using this mike alot lately...you think I can be an idol in the making?!

What a fun-filled week!

I didn’t get to go to Aunty Ng’s last week….yippie! Instead, we went to Cameron Highlands for three nights, then my mei-mei and I had to go see this new doctor for our jabs (which was no fun at all), then we went to Port Dickson for a day for mummy’s cousin’s wedding and then I had a birthday party to attend the next day.

At Camerons, the weather wasn’t good on us. It was raining nearly the whole time we were there. Mummy said I had the most fun as I got to go to my playground everyday while the rest of them (we had aunty pei see and her family plus her parents with us) stayed indoors most of the time. And since it was a holiday for all of us, I get to eat junk food everyday! After having proper food that is.

Most of the photo shots at Camerons were done indoors and we had 2 babies and me to entertain the adults.

no, this isn't my mei-mei but my friend, kai jin

here's the three of us...see how little my mei-mei is although she has grown a fair bit

with kai jin's papa, uncle ronnie! he was my entertainer there

at the tea farm, my hair flying from the strong winds

our first family shot since mei-mei was born

with papa, he took me to go see the tea leaves nearer

After Camerons, I had to see this new doctor which I quite like to take my jab. Mummy had told me earlier that I need this jab but I always said “I don’t want” but as usual, she didn’t listen to me and went ahead anyway. I was alright with the new place since they have this little playground for me to play around while we wait. And I was also alright when the new doctor checked me till she said she needed to put some medicine in my arm. This was when I started wailing and crying. Papa held me down and then it was mei-mei’s turn. She also cried and I told her “Mei-mei, don’t cry, doctor only put injection, pain for a while only!”

The next day, we all had to attend Uncle Ivan’s (mummy’s cousin) wedding at Port Dickson. It was a really nice wedding because I got to play sand the whole time we were there! We didn’t stay the night though but I got to have my bath at Grandpa’s room. Mei-mei and I slept throughout the car ride home.

my ms. grumps face at grandpa's room

with my handsome prince, papa (mummy will tell you the story another time why he's my handsome prince)

all of us waiting for the bride to come to exchange vows with the groom

and while they were exchanging vows, I got busy playing sand



and i was busy playing sand throughout the night




The next morning, we attended our neighbour’s son’s first birthday party by our condo’s pool.

How I wish I don’t have to go to aunty Ng’s every week!

5 ponytails!

Usually mummy would ask me whether I would like to tie my fringe or to tie two ponytails or one ponytail when it is time to tie my hair. Over last weekend, I answered her “5 ponytails!” and she did just that….

Don’t I look cute?! But mummy thinks I look like a soh por (mad woman).

Mummy’s entry – the things she says!

Don't let her innocent look fool you.... :D

Rye Li’s not even 3 years old yet and she sure has a lot to say! At times I feel as if she’s like an old aunty (yes I know, she probably got the lingo off me!). There have been so many things lately she has conversed with us which (I hope I’ve remembered all) caught us by surprise but last night’s outburst from her to her paternal grandparents really reminded me that I need to update her blog on this.

Being grandparents, they like to tease her now and then which usually will make Rye Li irritated and she would reply back with a “NO!” or “I don’t want!” and even “I don’t friend you”. But last night, she went “Next time don’t come (to) my house!” which made her Ah Kong and Ah Por burst out in laughter. Of course, I had to reprimand her and told her not to be rude and further explained to her later that it was not a nice thing to say. I told her to just tell them not to disturb her if she doesn’t like what they have to say. Not sure if she understood my lecturing or not.

There was even one time when her Ah Por told her not to watch too close to the TV and she replied “I don’t want to talk to you” and continued watching her Barney, ignoring her Ah Por.

Last week, when we picked her up from the daycare, Aunty Ng told us to be careful of what we say in front of the girl. Apparently, she told one of her daycare mates, after seeing her in a Mamy Poko diapers, “So expensive diapers, waste money only!”

I have myself to be blamed for this as several weeks ago, she saw some Mamy Poko diapers for her mei-mei, Haye Li which I got as samples. I guess it reminded Rye Li of her time when she was wearing Mamy Poko diapers at nights. We used to point out the Pooh bear and friends characters from the diapers at nights before bedtime. I’ve stopped buying this brand since their quality isn’t as good anymore and that Huggies is a cheaper alternative for at nights (she only wears diapers when we go out for a long time or when she wants to poo during the daytime so I have resorted in buying cheaper diapers for this).

Anyway, when she saw Haye Li’s Mamy Poko’s diapers, she asked me to buy some for her and I replied (without thinking) “No need, they are so expensive, waste money only!”. I didn’t realize that she would use the same on others. I guess we as parents need to be mindful that not only we need to be careful for not swearing in front of the kids, but also other negative things that we are so used in saying.

Other than the above negative stuff she has to say, she loves conversing with us now. One night while watching her ritual cartoon before bedtime, she turned to me and said “You know what happen (ed) to my leg at Aunty Ng’s today?”. And I replied “what?” and she continued “I scratch (ed) and scratch (ed) until the thing (the mosquito bite on her leg) come (came) out”

Or she would tell me that her friends at Aunty Ng do not want to friend her anymore because they are all so naughty (I think it's definitely the other way round).

At times, I would ask her stuff of what she did at the daycare and she will tell me a lot of things. I wasn’t sure whether some of the things were real or not till I asked Aunty Ng and true enough, all the things she had to tell me were true.

There was one night as well that we had some guests over and they stayed till quite late. This girl came and asked me in front of them “Why the aunty don’t (doesn’t) want to go home?”. Yes, she is also getting bolder and just last weekend when we had our families over for Haye Li’s full moon, just when our guests were leaving, this girl went “Nobody can take my mei-mei home!”

I’m wondering what will the next shocker from her would be now… sigh!

Guess who is who? *updated*

This is an updated one of the below post....looks like most got it right. A & C are Rye Li and B & D are Haye Li. There are some similarities but they do look different, we shall see when Haye Li grows in the next several months.

Here's four pictures...two are me when I was a baby, and the other two are my mei-mei, Haye Li. Will let you know by Haye Li's full moon, next Friday, 21st November 2008, the answer. :D ....Mummy still thinks that both of us look like our Ah Mai (papa's sister).

A)

B)

C)

D)

Why are we doing this? Coz people has been saying we look alike and yet papa disagree. But there are many pictures that show our similarities. Mummy doesn't see what is his problem since both of us look more like his side than mummy's side. She always tell people that I only resemble her 'there' all this while and she's doing the same to my mei-mei too.

Sticking to mummy

From this post, papa managed to snap a shot of how gluey I am to Mummy lately.

What exactly am I doing? Well, I'm lying down on mummy's legs while watching my cartoon on TV.

Over the weekend

My weekends lately have been filled with loads of people at our house. I’m alright with this as I get loads of people and kids to play with me. Only recently, mummy managed to get some pictures of me with one of my visitors.

Depending on my mood, I will let the kids play with my toys which I have been. But at times, I will snatch them back and don’t let them play. And poor baby Liv got this from me. She came over the weekend with her mama, Aunty Carine and Aunty Pei See with her baby, Kai Jin. Kai Jin wasn’t too playful so I only played with Liv. Mummy didn’t manage to get a picture of all three of us again (she has been trying to since we all met for the first time – with baby Liv anyway – three weeks ago!)

The following pictures are mostly with Baby Liv – again, mummy has been hopeless at taking pics when there are visitors around. Baby Liv is nearly two years younger than I but she is around the same weight as I am too. Mummy has been telling me that I need to eat more proper food than the junk food I like so that I can grow taller at least.

with aunty carine, our driver, mummy says this is a good way to lose some pounds!

Baby Liv, I had fun playing with you. Sorry if I snatched some of my toys of you, I will let you play with them again next time okay?! Just don't forget to bring your mummy along, we need her for our driver again!

On Sunday morning, I went to Aunty Ng’s for one of my daycare mate’s, William’s birthday party. Papa took me there and I wanted him to stay with me. As you can see from some of the pics, I was back to being “Ms. Grumps” again.

with Madelene mei-mei, William's sister (I like playing with her at Aunty Ng's)

yes, she is nearly as big as me although she's only 1 and a half years old

Mummy’s entry – “Don’t want mei-mei”

Guess it’s too good to be true if Rye Li really didn’t have problems adjusting to her new mei-mei. In the first week, she was alright with some unhappy faces now and then.

However, in the second week, more like over the weekend, she started showing her true colours. I guess it’s also due to the fact that she didn’t have a nap that day. She wanted milk and then changed her mind that she wanted milo and she wanted to make it herself. So I said I will teach her and then I found her toys to be scattered everywhere on the floor and asked her to put them back. She reluctantly did it with a black face and took her own sweet time. So I hurried her with a lot of nagging and still it didn’t work. So I took the cane out and she hurried a little but wanted me to help her. By this time I was too mad to help her and started threatening her with the cane. Till this day, I have yet to use the cane on her but only to threaten her when she gets out of line.

I guess having the cane also didn’t work and I was boiling mad already. So I nagged her and told her that I will take all her toys and throw them away and so I packed the toys into a bag and kept them out of sight. I also didn’t want her to think that the cane is only for ‘show’ so I used it for the first time on her hand. She cried after that pitifully and went to her room on her own and cried on her bed. I let her be for a while.

After that, I went to her and asked her to apologize and told her that I will make her milk and to lie down in her room. I added that I will also sleep with her. She didn’t dare to ask for her milo as she knew I was boiling mad already. After she drank her milk, she fell asleep with me at her side. I wanted to be there for her when she got up but she slept through our dinner time so we left her be in her room.

When she got up, I was already with Haye Li and I guess she wasn’t happy with that sight. She starting making a fuss, not listening to us at all. This time, Haye Li also wanted to be nursed. And Rye Li insisted that I carried her. So I passed Haye Li to hubby and asked Rye Li to come onto my lap on the sofa (I don’t dare to carry her just as yet since she is pretty heavy). I tried reasoning with her but her mood was pretty messed up already. Then she said “Don’t want mei-mei” and I went, “Ok, if you don’t want mei-mei, mummy will find an uncle or aunty out there who wants mei-mei and I will give mei-mei away”. She wasn’t happy with this either but whatever it was, no matter how much coaxing we gave her, she refused to let me nurse Haye Li then and the poor baby was crying too. Luckily, I had a bottle of expressed milk in the fridge and hubby warmed that up for her.

So I tried coaxing the big baby for a while and she asked for Milo. She actually remembered the events before her nap and asked that she wants to make it herself. And so I gave in and only then she said “Ok, mummy, mei-mei” and pointed at me and then to Haye Li (indicating that I can nurse her now). I just told her “Too late already girl, papa already warm up the bottle! And now I got to go and pump”).

Since that day, it has been a struggle now and then when she’s home (this is why I insisted that she still goes to the daycare as I would not be able to handle two kids at one go even with help at home as she wants my attention too!). It’s interesting when I reminded her that she said doesn’t want mei-mei anymore so whoever comes to my place, I would tell her that they would take her mei-mei back and she would not allow this saying “Nobody take my mei-mei, my mei-mei is mine!”. As much as she is jealous over her new sister’s existence, she is also very protective over her.

We also had our fair share of:-

“I hate mei-mei”
“I want to fight with mei-mei’
“I don’t want to friend / talk to mei-mei”

When I’m in a better mood, I will reason with her on what she had just said. But when I’m already tired, I will ignore what she just said.

We are also learning how to deal with two kids at the same time. It is very exhausting and I’m so careful not to overdo my conversations with Haye Li in front of the big baby so my bonding with her is only when Rye Li is not around. Or when I do have conversations with her in front of Rye Li, I will need to include Rye Li too.

Mummy’s entry – When Rye Li met Haye Li

I have to say that I once again, underestimate Rye Li. I should give her more benefit of the doubt. Overall, she has taken to her mei-mei way better than what I expected.

Since Haye Li came out early in the morning and I was already all knocked out by the delivery, hubby went and pick Rye Li up from my sister’s place. He brought her home to make my confinement drink and later, brought her out to get a gift for Rye Li and Haye Li. Rye Li’s gift from Haye Li was bought some time back and has been in hubby’s car all this while. I got her a Disney Princess activity book which has some colouring book, stickers and a puzzle (something she loves doing lately). I also added a Mickey Mouse colouring book in it. Her papa also bought her a toy at the store while she chose a gift for her mei-mei.

By the time she came to the hospital, it was early evening. I made sure that Haye Li wasn’t in the room with me then (something I just learnt from my colleague that week itself, that is, do not have the baby in the room with you yet when the elder sibling arrived).

When she came into the room, her eyes were looking all over – I’m guessing either to see where her mei-mei was or where her gift was. Hubby was carrying her and I asked her to come to me. She willingly came to me. She wasn’t her usual self and that was because she just woke up from the car ride.

Hubby went back to the car to take the presents up – they were huge as Rye Li chose a ‘masak-masak’ (malay: cooking) set for herself while she chose a baby Mickey and Minnie musical mobile for Haye Li (hubby said she insisted on this one instead of a nicer and cheaper one so he gave in).

I asked her if she wants to see mei-mei and she said yes. But she was more engrossed with her gifts than mei-mei later on. I guess this kind of worked as she didn’t react to me carrying and nursing Haye Li later on. When it was time to leave, she did show her face as she wanted to be with me and I reminded her that I’ve told her before (which I have prepared her for many weeks now) that my doctor said I need to stay at the hospital for 2 nights and that her papa will be looking after her. I told her that I would see her again the next day. She accepted it and later hubby told me that in the car she told him “I miss my mummy and mei-mei”. She was also alright throughout the night without me. In fact, too good! Those 2 nights without me, she didn’t ask for milk at all from hubby but when I came home, she had been asking for milk in the middle of the night!

The next day, same thing. Not much of an issue and I told her that we will be coming home the next day itself.

While breastfeeding Haye Li, I pulled Rye Li’s leg and told her that once mei-mei was done, it would be her turn. She found this funny and said “no”. I did this to her many times and her reply was always “no”. On the day we checked out, I tested her again and she came to me. She actually put her lips to my nipple and then went “eee-yuh”. I asked her why as she used to drink my nen-nen and her reply was “Because it’s smelly!”. Haha...reverse psychology do work! ;)

Also, on the day they came to take us home, I asked her permission whether her mei-mei and I could go home with her. I allow her to make decisions when it is appropriate and when she makes them, I praise her. When she was playing with her cooking set, she asked whether her mei-mei can play with her. I told her that she is still too small but praised her anyway for wanting to share her new toys with her mei-mei.

So how has it been so far at home?! Well, she has yet to throw any tantrums or voice out her unhappiness with mei-mei being around. But she has been showing her sulky face when she can’t get things her way – not that she has not been this way too before. The first night home, I happened to put Haye Li next to me on my bed. This is where Rye Li sleeps and when I asked her to come lie down on the bed, she refused with a sulky face. Then only I realized it was her spot and I said that I will put mei-mei back into the cot. Only after that, she lay down on her side. I told myself that I need to be extra careful now when dealing with no. 2 in front of no. 1.

But I am amazed that she is alright with me handling Haye Li all the time and when Haye Li cries, she tells me that “mei-mei wants nen-nen”.

She is not happy that I can’t bathe her now or get her ready for bed. So I’m compromising with her that either her papa or Kakak bathe her and I will wear her clothes for her. I try my best to be with her when I’m not attending to Haye Li but I can tell you, it is not easy at all as you’re already so tired from the sleepless nights. I will post more on the aftermath at my blog. This is all about how Rye Li is taking it to her new sister.

I’m just overall proud of her and I know it has only been a week. I have been preparing her big time for this and I also heard that no matter how much you’ve prepared them for a younger sibling to come, there will still be some resistance. This was why I expected the worst but instead, I was surprised myself. If there are any changes, I will also post on this.

My mei-mei is here!

My mei-mei came out already! Here's some pictures of her and I together...if you want to see more of her pics, you can go to her site at http://haye-li.blogspot.com/.

Some updates

Just to update on some of my conversations with Mummy lately…she claims I talk too much and like to ask questions over and over again at the wrong time. But I feel she asks me more questions and also that I have learnt to talk from her!

----------------------------------------------------
I was singing a tune one day and mummy went…
Mummy: What song are you singing?
Rye Li: I don’t know…..I think (it) is my music class song

I like to make up songs with familiar tunes I know, something I picked up from mummy.

----------------------------------------------------------
One night, when it was time for bed and after mummy read me my story…

Mummy: Why papa didn’t switch off the lights ah?
Rye Li: You also didn’t switch off the lights!

I can get defensive at times.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Rye Li: Mummy, my finger pain
Mummy: How come? What did you do?
Rye Li: I didn’t do anything also
Mummy: Then why your finger pain?
Rye Li: I don’t know

--------------------------------------------------
Since papa sleeps on the mattress these days while I sleep with Mummy on their bed, papa’s mattress would be laid up against the wall daytime and will be put down on the floor nighttime. One night….

Rye Li: Mummy, I put papa’s mattress down okay?
Mummy: No girl, wait for papa first. The mattress is heavy, afterwards it will fall on you.
Rye Li: *went ahead anyway to put the mattress down, and mattress hit me a little and I looked at Mummy for a response*
Mummy: *just gave me the stare* (she likes to do this a lot lately which I tend to ignore)
Rye Li: *went to papa who was showering at that time* Papa, I put your mattress down on the floor for you
Papa: Thank you baby!
Rye Li: *went to mummy* My papa didn’t scold me also

-----------------------------------------------------
Rye Li: Mummy, after we finish dinner, we go shopping?
Mummy: No girl, we’re going home, mummy cannot walk
Rye Li: Papa can walk, why you cannot walk?
Mummy: *quiet* (probably dumbfounded)
Rye Li: *with sarcasm tone* Papa can walk, Rye Li can walk, Kakak can walk also
Papa: *laughing*
Mummy: I cannot walk because I’m tired!
Rye Li: Oh

-------------------------------------------------------
Rye Li: Mummy, I’m hungry. I want to eat Chickadees
Mummy: That is not proper food for breakfast, it’s junk food
Rye Li: I like junk food
Mummy: No, you need to eat proper food for breakfast. How to grow big and strong?
Rye Li: I want to eat bread only. After I (have) finish (ed) my bread, can I eat Chickadees?
Mummy: No, we only eat junk food when we go for holidays!

----------------------------------------------------------
When I’m in the mood, I can tell my own stories and it will go something along like this

Rye Li: Once upon a time, there is a …….and then, he …… and then…..and then…….

After several “and thens”, I will go “the end, finish!”

----------------------------------------------------------

Other stuff I like to say….

Rye Li: Thank you soooo much!

Rye Li: I need to sleep ady (already), it’s so late at night

Rye Li: Why you always go toilet one? [mummy goes wee-wee all the time now!]

Rye Li: Why you all like to talk, talk, talk one ah?

Rye Li: My papa is a boy. He hold his kuku bird like this (indicating the action while standing) and wee wee

Rye Li: Don’t fight with me okay?!

-----------------------------------

Mummy has been getting a lot of stuff ready for my mei-mei's arrival lately and one of them was my old baby bassinet. When she took it out, I kept playing with it...pics below.

see how i've grown, still can sit but my legs and head are longer!

even after the cover was taken out to wash, i still played with it!

this is me on it the first time, on our way home from the hospital. mummy wonders whether my mei-mei will also look like this, probably bigger than i was

a picture of me swimming at my kai yeh's 2 weeks back, most likely will go back ther next weekend if mei-mei is not out yet

Mummy's entry - Was it love at first sight?

No, I’m not referring to the hubby. LOL. I’m referring to the very first time you set your eyes on your newborn baby. Was it love at first sight for you?

I’m going to admit that it wasn’t for me for Rye Li’s case when I delivered her. It wasn’t hate either. It was just very neutral. That’s it.

I guess when you watch TV, you tend to see cute little babies all the time and also you do tend to see those cute newborns online when you go to baby’s sites, etc. So I guess I had that impression that my newborn will be all that cute too which she wasn’t at all. LOL

Anyway, although I didn’t have that love at first sight feeling for her, I did have the mother instincts in me and therefore, my first priority when she was out was to breastfed her and lucky for me, the hospital I delivered at also believed in this. When she was taken away from me after the first attempt of breastfeeding which I was surprised as to how she latched on naturally immediately, I didn’t see her till like 6-7 hours later. When they brought her to me later, I only knew that I wanted to attempt again at breastfeeding but wasn’t really successful because this girl chose to sleep than suckle. So the next 2 days at the hospital saw me trying again and again for this.

So when did my love for her started? I can say in the days to come after she came out. Before this motherly love came along, it was just motherly duties for me.

But when the motherly love came along, it was unconditional love for sure till today of course! ;) …Now that Baby H is just around the corner, I wonder whether will I get that immediate motherly love or will it be the same with Rye Li’s case too.

I’m going to turn this into a tag (the first for me and will probably be my last) as I would like to hear from my blogger mummies friends out there whether they experienced the same as I did or something totally different. I will tag to those (very limited) that I know only and they are:-

1) Kittycat
2) Vien
3) ZMM
4) Chinnee
5) Sasha
6) Wen
7) Anna
8) Footprints
9) Momsie Tales
10) Mumsgather
11) Scribbles for my angels
12) Twinnila
13) Kai Jin
14) Baby Liv

Over the long weekend end August & photo updates

Over the long weekend, I had a birthday party to attend to. It was one of my day care mates, Denisha's birthday party at Aunty Ng's and I went dressed up like a little fairy. This little outfit is the very same one that I wore when I was one year old at my birthday party, minus the tiara and wand that is (I'm still small and cute!).

on my 1st birthday

during the treasure hunt

waiting for our lunch

singing to the birthday girl

The next day, Mummy and Papa took me to watch Wall.e for my first time at the cinema. I was really excited about it as Mummy has told me this some time back but I didn't expect it to be so dark in there even after Mummy warned me about it. We went in like 15 minutes before the movie started and I was happily eating the popcorn away but I did whine about wanting to go home as it was dark in there. And when the advertisement started and it was really loud, I told Mummy and Papa that I wanted to go home. So mummy asked me if I want chocolates and I said yes so papa took me downstairs to the counter to get some. Apparently, I missed a preview and some good disney advertisement plus the intro to Pixar which I know so much from the Disney DVDs I watched at home.

We were several minutes late to the movie when we got back into the cinema. I was alright watching the show as I was happily eating my chocolates away while sitting on Papa. I did ask some questions now and then. About half hour before the show ended, I was getting whiney again and asked Mummy why she doesn't want to go home. She said we're going shopping after the movie which did the trick and I asked for milk. I hardly touched my milk and gave it back to Mummy and turned around over Papa's shoulder and fell asleep. Papa and Mummy were just happy that they got to watch the whole show, they thought that they had to leave before the show started!

the only pic mummy got of me in the cinema before the show started as papa told mummy off - she can't help it, she got influenced by other blogger mummies!

Below are pictures from our Cameron Highland trips early August, the one which Mummy posted that ended in a disaster holiday. At least I had my fun!

Below are some random photos we took in the past few months:-

waiting at the checkout area of Ikea - my new drawers and shelves for my room

yes i still suck my thumb! and i love wearing my mickey mouse cap when i'm watching mickey mouse clubhouse but this has not been the case lately

my new friend, baby Kai Jin when he was just born end of June 2008




ms. vainpot - i now love sunglasses, something i didn't like before

my drawing!



i love my fries and tomato sauce so much that i can sleep while eating them! yes, at times i sleep with my eyes slightly opened.