Grandparents

I was home early from work yesterday, and as usual headed to my parents place. The house was quiet and the maid said "Elyssa go out" when she saw me. (wow, first time I heard a complete sentence from her)

So off I went to the nearest playground. Not there. Hmm.... went to playground No.2. Scanned the main play area but didn't see any familiar faces. I was about to head for another playground when I saw them at a distance, walking away from me - Justin walking with his right hand holding "ah ma"s hand and baby Elyssa in "ah kong"s arms. They didn't see me and as I got closer, I heard Justin chattering away with "ah ma" and "ah kong" responding in animated tones and Elyssa smiling away.

Such a simple but sweet scene. I thanked my lucky stars for the hundredth time that Elyssa is in such good hands when I'm at work.

New Toy

"Daddy, why so big one??? I'd rather look at you"

Hubby got Elyssa a new toy recently - a giant Lamaze octopus. She was so fascinated when her daddy made tunes from the octopus's legs. So daddy went all soft-hearted and redeemed the toy with his bonus link points. Turned out to be just a short-lived excitement though. After a while, she wasn't that interested in the toy anymore and preferred to look at other things. *Sigh*.

But actually I think the toy is too big for her. The head of the octopus is almost the size of her own head. Also, she can't make sounds from the legs by herself. Will keep this toy away first, and hopefully she'll like it again next time. If not, that's quite a lot of $$/points down the drain!

Daily Schedule

"Mummy loves it when I sleep cos she says it's soooo peaceful"

I wrote previously about what a big bully Elyssa can be. After some analysing, I think one of the reasons she's in that cranky state (besides just being a plain bully to mummy & daddy) is when she doesn't get enough sleep. My parents say that Elyssa normally sleeps for 2 hours in the afternoon. She doesn't do that on weekends!

So, I decided to take down her daily schedule from my mum so that I can replicate it during weekends. (actually, my mum rattles-off her daily schedule on a daily basis, but it was only a few days ago that I actually sat down to record it.)

Elyssa's daily schedule:
8.45-9.00am : Arrive at my parents place. Short playtime on the mattress to cool down.

9.05 - 9.10am : My mum will give Elyssa her bath, then her milk. After that, my mum will put her in the “sarong”. She’ll play for about 5 to 10 minutes inside. When she cries, my mum will rock the “sarong” until she falls asleep. She’ll usually sleep for half an hour only, with a max of 45 minutes. When she wakes up, mum will give her water then place her on the bouncinet.

12.15-12.30pm : Milk time, followed by same process with the “sarong”. She'll normally sleep until about 3pm. During this time, my brother's Cambodian maid will be stationed there, to rock her when she wakes up. This is also the time that Justin (her 2+ year old cousin) and my parents nap.

3.30pm : Milk time. After milk, she'll happily sit on the bouncinet and watch the activities in the house – my parents singing karaoke, my mum playing the piano, Justin running about etc. She’ll cry if she can’t see anyone.

5pm : Bath time again.

5.30pm : Sleep time, usually for half and hour only.

6.30 : Milk time. But if I can be home by 7pm then my parents will defer milk time a little so that I can breast-feed her.

My parents say that her routine is quite fixed. She'll be cranky half and hour before her milk time, but otherwise she's a happy baby.

Our Mini Weekend Getaway

"Mummy, I like the view here"

We went for a mini getaway last weekend. Just a mini one cos we were actually not that far away from home. ( even went home on Saturday to do a load of laundry!)

Stayed over for 2 nights at our new condo, which is almost ready to be rented out. How I love condo living! It's so windy, there's no mosquitoes, there's a nice view and best of all, there's a swimming pool downstairs. I went for a quick swim on Sunday morning and it just felt so good. I think if I stay full time in a condo, I'll go swimming every weekend morning.

It felt almost like a real holiday. Hubby and I always had a concept of "holiday calories don't count" so we ordered in pizza, had late night supper etc etc... Aaaahhhh nice!

The Big Bully

" Wahhhhh........ I wanna be carrieeeeed"

Elyssa is such a big bully. And who are the victims? Mummy and Daddy :(

My parents always say that Elyssa is such a good baby when she's under their care. She hardly needs to be carried and she's usually happy and smiling.

She can be totally different at home. She wants to be carried and be entertained almost all the time. Sometimes the moment we put her down on her playpen, she'll start wailing as if she's been tortured. On certain "bad" days, hubby and I can get really stressed-out and exhausted taking care of this little one. Hmm... I wonder if Elyssa can sense that hubby and I are still new at this parenthood thing!

Shopping Trolley

After work last Thursday, hubby and I went to Tesco to get some cleaning materials. Elyssa was quite happy being pushed in the stroller along the supermarket aisles by hubby. (I was pushing the shopping trolley) Besides the opportunity look around, she probably liked the moving motion of the stroller. Sometimes when we stopped to look at things, she fussed a little. So what her daddy did was to just push the stroller back and forth a little (to create the moving motion), and she was ok again. Halfway through our shopping, hubby and I switched and I pushed the stroller to look at other things.

I came back after a while and found hubby looking intently at something on the shelves. And what else was he doing? While his eyes were on the shelves, his right hand was on the shopping trolley - absent mindedly pushing the shopping trolley back and forth !!!
Ha hahhh....... I just couldn't stop laughing! Other people must have thought - "what a weird guy" !!!

Just Photos

Just photos today.

"If I focus reeeally hard, the toy might come to me"

"Yummy, Yummy"

"Daddy.... get the toy orrff head. Not funny, okay?"

"Okay, this is better"

Reach Out 'n Grab

"You guys look interesting"

"Gotcha!"

Elyssa has recently started reaching out and grabbing things placed above her. I was getting a bit worried last time as she didn't attempt to reach out for toys, which is a 3 month milestone. Being a new mummy with almost zilch baby experience, I tend to rely on these month-by-month guide. Guess I shouldn't be so paranoid!

Shopping Trip

"ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz"

We were shopping at Carrefour last weekend and halfway, noticed that Elyssa was fast asleep in her stroller. Pretty unexpected since that was the first time we used the stroller for a shopping trip (instead of the carseat + Chico stroller) and she normally kicks a fuss before sleeping. Yippee yay..... can shop in peace!

After a while, I got a worried that she'll be cold since she was wearing a skirt. I didn't want to risk waking her up by putting on her long pants. So, I decided to "borrow" a towel from the shelf to cover her legs. Heh hehhh.... she looked a bit like an old lady in a wheelchair, and I couldn't resist taking a photo. When hubby saw the stroller, he asked how come I didn't choose a pink towel. Hmmph.... already "borrow" towel, want to choose colour somemore.....

Father's Birthday

"Happy Birthday Ah Kong! . Next year I'll help you blow the candles, okay? "

Celebrated my father's birthday at Imperial China last Saturday night. Food was actually quite good. We ordered the set for 10 although there were only 8 adults. Thought can just "ta pao" any extras but we ended up polishing everything. Yup, greedy, greedy people! Everyone was just so full after that.

I brought my camera along, but minus the memory card. Aargh!!! Silly me... forgot that I took out the card to download some photos that afternoon. Photo above taken with my bro's PDA. Not a very good photo as the birthday cake is not even visible, but thought it's better than nothing. Photo shows the happy "Ah Kong" cutting the birthday cake with his two grandkids - Justin & Elyssa.

His actual birthday is tommorow, so Papa, if you're reading this (and if I forget tommorow), here's wishing you a Happy, Happy Birthday! I'll try to go home early tommorow so you and Mama can have a nice birthday dinner together :)

About Elyssa

I realise that I haven't really written much about Elyssa's personality, so here goes-

1) She's a very responsive baby - When people talk to her, she'll just smile and smile. She'll "talk back" and will often give little shrieks of excitement. I just love having "conversations" with her! When she's very happy, she'll even chuckle out loud.

2) She hates to be left alone - She's really happy when someone talks to her, but the moment the person walks away, she'll cry out in protest.

3) She loves to be kissed on the cheeks. She'll give the most adorable look.

4) She can get really ANGRY. I think this little one has a temper. When she's sleepy or if we're slow in getting her milk, she can scream. And I mean, really scream.

5) She doesn't like to go to sleep.

That's all I can think of for now. But whatever the personality, she'll always be our little precious :)

Sleepy

Sleepy day today.
I'm already quite used to Elyssa waking up at night. The routine is for me to turn to nurse her then partially fall back asleep. This normally happens a few times a night, from 3am onwards. Last night, it was only after a few rounds of wake up-turn-fall back asleep (with some very strange dreams in between) that my groggy mind realised that something was not right. I finally got up, touched her bottom and realised that it was all wet. *Sigh* Time check - 4.30am. Had to drag myself out of bed with a trobbing head to get new diaper and clothes. Hubby woke up in the process and helped. (altho he already spent 2 hours drying the kitchen floor and cabinet earlier - cos kitchen got flooded after he left the water filter running for almost an hour. )

Elyssa got wide awake during the diaper change though. She kept on smiling and babbling away. Took a loong time of nursing and patting before she finally went back to sleep. Didn't check the clock this time.

So hubby and I are both sleepy heads today. ZZzzzzz...........
Luckily it's Friday.

Her Little Hand

Last night, hubby took this photo of Elyssa gripping my fingers with her chubby little hand.
Just a simple photo, but I love it!

I'm sure one day I'll look back and appreciate this..

Penny

While writing yesterday's post, I did a bit of reminiscing. This time it was of our other princess in the form our cat - Penelope Chong. Adopted the little furball on July 22, 2006 on the day of our water tubing/abseiling/Fraser's Hill trip. I never liked animals last time, but this one was truly different. And speaking of "meant-to-be", what are the chances of meeting a tubing fella whose cat-loving girlfriend happened to tag along the trip (so she baby-sat while we were at the river) and just happen to have cat food in the car??

Anyway as time went by, Penny really became part of our little family. She was a very affectionate kitty and will follow us everywhere in the house. She was even hubby's poo poo companion! He got even more attached to her, and vice versa when I was pregnant cos I read that it wasn't safe for me to be around cats too much.

Penny left the house and never came back when I was about 7 months pregnant. *Sigh*, some people say that she was "making way" for the baby. I cried for days and hubby searched the neighborhood for weeks. Even up to now, he'll sometimes stop the car if he sees a Penny look-a-like, hoping that it's really her.

Well Penny, wherever you are, I do hope you're well taken care-of (or happy in cat heaven) and thanks for lighting up our lives for a year and a half.

4 months old

"Mummy, next time before you take photo, make sure my mittens match okay? "

My little princess is 4 months old today. How time really flies. It's hard for me to believe that she was still squirming away in my tummy 4 months ago. (hmm..... I kinda miss that feeling sometimes). Just can't help thinking of the day of her birth - the 11 hour labour, the pain, me telling hubby we'll just adopt cats instead of having a baby, the pushing, the cursing under my breath, and finally the glimpse of a little grey foot and then hearing the magical cries of my little baby. :)

Weighed her yesterday, and she's already a whopping 6.9kg.

Bath Time with Daddy

"Since daddy is so slow, I'll just suck my fingers and wait"

Here's a photo of hubby bathing the little princess. He tried it out 2 weekends back and can now bathe Elyssa all by himself. (the first time, he kept asking how to hold, what to do, how long etc etc.). I'm so proud of him!

Best part if that if we go out for breakfast on weekends, he can get Elyssa ready instead of waiting for me. Makes more sense cos he wakes up earlier. He's the "weird" one who wakes up early during weekends to so-call maximise the two days, while lazy me thinks weekends are the best time to catch up on much needed zzzz.

Facial

Last Saturday, I went for my first facial treatment in a long long time, while my mum-in-law baby sat Elyssa.

It just felt soooo good to have some to pamper myself. I've always liked facials (ok, except for the extracting blackheads part). Feels nice to have someone massage my face, apply mask and what not, while I just close my eyes and listen to the soothing music. At last Sat's session, I even dozed off for a while.

Hubby picked me up after the facial and we went for a quick tea break at a nearby cafe. Simple local coffee with kaya toast and yup, just the two of us. So, that was my relaxing Sat afternoon :)

Bed Hogger

"Mine, all mine...... and ok, for mummy since gives me my milkie at night"

Here's a photo of my little bed hogger - small person, but big space!

I've previously tried to put her to sleep in her own baby cot, but failed miserably. The few nights I tried, she woke up around 3am then refused to sleep again, despite all the patting/singing/ water/ pacifier/milk attempts. Ended up with a frustrated baby and an exhausted mummy. :(

I've been advised that if I want the baby to sleep in her own cot, I should do so before she's 6 months. Otherwise the baby will get too reliant on having mummy's scent and warmth when she sleeps. Guess I should try again soon, and to get ready for a panda-eyed me!

Sale at Anakku

Anakku had a 50% sale on all apparel last weekend and I just went bonkers!! I know people say not to buy so many kids clothes since they outgrow them very fast, but I just couldn't resist the pretty little dresses. Aren't they just adorable?

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I actually made 3 stops at Anakku. First stop (Fri night) - 2 pyjamas top. Second stop (also Fri night) - orange dress and red t-shirt/skirt set. Third stop(Sat morning) - pink t-shirt/skirt set and orange t-shirt/denim skirt set. I was itching to go again on Sunday, but hubby said enough la!!

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Oh, and when I went to my mum-in-law's place on Sat, my sis-in-law had packed a box full of pretty clothes from my nieces Chloe and Charmayne. Elyssa's such a lucky girl!

Stroller

My sis-in-law unpacked her stroller last week and Elyssa just loved it! She was sitting comfortably on her daddy's lap when the stroller was brought out so I half expected her to protest when I put her in the stroller. To our surprise, she just smiled and smiled and looked really happy in it. I guess it's because she can sit in an almost upright position.

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Good thing is we can now take her out for walks around the neighbourhood and to places without air-con. Before this we used to push her around in her stroller+car seat. (can't use only the stroller as it's for babies who are 6 months up) The car seat is pretty well insulated so poor Elyssa gets uncomfortably hot in there. The first time we took her out for a walk, she kept fussing and then we finally realised that her head was wet with sweat! Sigh, realised then that my little one sweats a lot just like daddy...

She can Turn!

The first time I saw Elyssa turn-over was when she was about 2.5 months. I left her in the middle of the bed to get a diaper, and when I returned she had turned over. That got me all excited but that turned out to be a one-off incident. My mum saw it again about a week later, but again that turned out to be another one-off.

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Last Thursday morning, she turned once when I changed her diaper. I put her back to position and then was pleasantly surprised when she turned again. After that, nothing could stop her! She must have been pleased with her new ability, and the little Miss Show-Off turned over almost 2o times that day :) When I didn't want her to turn right after her milk session (by putting a pillow next to her) she actually cried.

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She can only turn one side though and then she'll call out "ugh ugh ugh" to be rescued. More work since we have to keep "rescuing" her. Hopefully she'll learn how to turn back soon.

Left Handed?

Elyssa has developed a habit of putting her hand and fingers to her mouth. I noticed that it's almost always her left hand. Hmmm.... wonder whether she's gonna be a leftie, like her mummy and "ah mah" !

Both my mum and I were born left handed, but were converted to write with our right hand when were young. I've always blamed the conversion for my ugly handwriting. (thank goodness for PCs nowadays. I type faster than I can write, and it's so much neater!)

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If Elyssa is indeed a natural leftie, I intend to just let it be. It's a little inconvenient but I've read about the left brain/right brain concept, how both has its plus points, and in no way are right handers "better"!