Her Pearly Whites

"Wanna see my teeth?"

"Ta daa....................."

Finally...... photos of her pearly whites.

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I was so excited when I heard from hubby that she was teething. A bit late at 9 months+, but I was actually expecting it to be later. After all, I read somewhere that it's hereditary and according to my mum-in-law, her daddy's teeth only came out when he was 13 months old. She was so worried that he'll remain toothless!

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Timing wise, Elyssa's teething at this time is actually quite good. My Beijing trip put a final end to my breastfeeding (for the past few months, I still breastfeed her at night plus the occasional day time "comfort suckling") At least I don't have to worry about her nipping me with her new teeth during breastfeeding :)

Standing Up - by herself!

Just look at how happy she is - of her ability to stand up by herself! She's been "practising" on and off for the past few weeks. Only two or three seconds each time and never long enough for me to take a photo of her.

But after dinner at my parent's place just now, hubby decided to try to take photos of her standing. The rest of us encouraged her by clapping when she stood up. This little girl just loved the attention. She kept on standing up (approx 5 seconds each time) and then plop herself back into a sitting position, then stand up again. She did it over and over again for more than 10 times - as if she wanted to proof that she can really do it!

Chinese New Year

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

It's the first day of Chinese New Year today. I was really looking forward to this CNY since it's Elyssa's first. However, it's a quiet one this year. I'm home alone with Elyssa at my parents place. Hubby is home alone at our house. Why? Cos hubby contracted German Measles!!! *sigh*, of all times....... :(

Our yearly routine is to go back to Ipoh for CNY, but for this year, there was a last minute plan to have a family gathering in Singapore instead. Made a mad dash to make Elyssa's passport the week before I went to Beijing. Would have been a nice gathering in Singapore, we had plans to visit Sentosa Island, Vivo City, visit friends etc etc..

But at least Elyssa and I had a CNY eve steamboat dinner with my parents and other relatives last night. Poor hubby had to stay alone at home since he's still contagious. He did come over so that I could pass him some food and also because he wanted to see Elyssa. He did see her, but he had to stand outside the house so as not to infect her. Poor guy... and it was actually his birthday yesterday!

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Well, CNY is for 15 days so I guess we'll somehow make up for it. No point being upset over something that we can't change. To end this CNY post on a nice note, here's a photo of Elyssa in her little "cheongsam dress". I just love the dress and the photo!

"Gong Xi Gong Xi.... Angpow pls......"

Beijing

I finally came back from Beijing yesterday afternoon. I just feel so uncomfortably hot!!! Such a vast change in temperature. On Friday, it was negative 15 degrees for me and now it's close to 30 degrees here. My body is finding it difficult to adjust to the 45 degrees swing.

Friday (Jan 23) was the only full day I had in Beijing for sightseeing. So despite the bad weather forecast and warnings from my Beijing colleagues, my KL-based colleague (PC) and I decided to proceed with our earlier plan to visit the Great Wall. After all, I'm not sure when I'll get to visit Beijing again, and the Great Wall is certainly a "must-see" place.

We left the hotel around 6.45am. Boy was it cold and windy! Took the subway from Guoman station, changed at JingGuoMen and then arrived at JingShuiTan station. We were told that we could easily get bus 919 to the Badaling Section of the Great Wall. Took us quite a while though. There were a lot of 919s, but when we asked whether it will go to Badaling, the bus drivers kept saying no and asked us to walk further down. Was a good 15 minutes before we finally found the correct 919 in the bus depot. We were relieved when we boarded the bus - even though it smelt of fish! The one hour + journey was only 12 RMB (approx RM6)

We were totally unprepared when we reached our destination. The minus 15 degrees and the howling wind was really awful. I've never felt sooo cold before in my life. I bought additional woolen socks and leggings at a shop there. As we walked from the shop to the Great Wall entrance, both of us were literally blown off course a couple of times by the strong wind! I felt as if my feet were frozen stiff and were like 2 huge bricks. After paying the 40 RMB entrance fee, we had a cup of hot coffee (cut throat price of 30 RMB) before venturing out again.

The Great Wall was absolutely spectacular. I've seen it hundreds of times in pictures but seeing the real thing was totally marvelous.

Didn't stay too long as it was terribly cold. When I removed my gloves to takes some shots, I couldn't put the gloves back as my fingers were slightly curled and I couldn't straighten them!! Also, when I wanted to take a drink from my water bottle, I was surprised to see a huge chunk of ice inside!

Took the bus 919 again to return to the city. Despite the cold, we had absolutely no regrets going to the historic Great Wall. And despite the almost 2 hour journey back in an unheated bus and a panic attack when we saw the "Badaling" signboard after one hour (going in a circle!!!???) we were glad that we had the public transport experience rather than having a guide pick us up from the hotel.

When we reached the city, we made a quick detour to the hotel to pick up the camera battery (both our batteries died halfway!!) and then set off for our next destination which was the Temple of Heaven.

The Temple of Heaven was another fascinating place. It was the temple where the emperor prayed for a good harvest season for the year. Will get the photos from PC later.

Phew... tired of writing already. Just so that I don't forget, here's a quick overview of what I did during the Beijing trip.

Sunday - Checked into Traders Hotel around 5pm. Shopped at Yashow shopping area until night. Had an awful but expensive dinner in the hotel.

Monday - After work, we shopped at the nearby Silk Market. Had another awful but expensive dinner after that.

Tuesday - After work, I shopped alone at the Silk Market as PC had a work dinner.

Wednesday - Left the hotel at 8am for a quick visit to the Forbidden City and Tiannamen Square. Was back at work just before 11am. After work, I took the subway to the WanFuJing shopping area.

Thursday - After work, I had a team dinner at the famous Peking Duck restaurant called "Da Dong". Best Peking Duck I've ever had. The duck skin practically melted my mouth. Yummy !!!!!

Friday - Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, Toy Market, dinner at Da Dong (again!)

Overall, I enjoyed my Beijing trip and I was glad that I had the opportunity to be there. Work wise, I finally saw my London-based boss for the first time and I had the chance to interact with my Beijing counterparts. But of course, I missed Elyssa (erhm... yes, you too hubby) like crazy and I'm glad to be back home at last!

Some of the photos taken -

Teething!!!!

Got an e-mail from hubby saying that his mum saw signs of teething on Elyssa's lower jaw.

Darn! I'm in Beijing this week for work. When I left for the airport last Sunday, I just had this nagging feeling that I'll miss out on something important!!!! When I told my sis, she said that there's gonna be plenty more teeth coming out, but well, the most significant is her very first tooth! Boo Hoo.....

I asked hubby to take a photo but he said that she won't open her mouth big enough or long enough to take a shot. Can't wait to be go back to have a look.

Will write more about my Beijing trip in the next post.

Metal Stuff

I notice that these days, Elyssa seems to like biting on metal stuff. One of her favourite items are our keys. Whenever she sees our house keys or car keys, she'll reach out for it and start putting it in her mouth. Ewww.....

And at Carrefour recently when she was sitting in the shopping trolley - I looked at some stuff on the shelf and when I looked back at her, I was horrified that she was happily sucking on the metal chain of the trolley!!! (the short chain for the coin) Ewww.....
I quickly grabbed the chain from her. Shortly after that, she turned round and sucked the metal curved part of the trolley's back rest. Eww.

I wonder if she's teething? But she doesn't seem keen on her teething rings!

9 months old

My little baby is now 9 months old. So she has spent approx the same amount of time outside my tummy as inside my tummy. :)

About her:

1. Weight - 9.5 kg

Height - 86cm

2. New food introduced - cauliflower, celery, broccoli.

(Missed out from last month's update -homemade yoghurt with fruit)

3. She has started to pronounce clearer sounds such as "Aaahh BUH", "Aaaah THE", "Maaaa", "Daaa". Sometimes, she can just "talk" non-stop.

4. Learnt some new "skills" from my mum i.e. respond to certain cue words (works about 80% of the time) :

a) "Sayang" Person xx - She'll move her forehead forward to touch the other person's forehead. My mum started this "sayang"thing with Elyssa's cousin Justin whereby my mum will say "sayang ko ko" and then both kids will lean forward so that their foreheads touch. They go through this "sayang" process multiple times a day! Although the "sayang" skill has since been extended to others in the house, I think it's still the sweetest when it's Elyssa and Justin. I shall try to take a photo one of these days.

b) "High 5!!" - When we raise our hand and say "High5" she'll raise hers as well to touch our hand. This action often makes her smile or giggle.

c) "Dance, Dance" - She'll move her legs up and down.

5. She still can't sleep through the night. On bad days she wakes up about 4 times. On average, probably about twice. Not funny when she sits up and go "Aaaah BUH" and flash a big grin at 3am!

6. She loves to ransack anything within her reach. Particularly loves to ransack the CDs and DVDs in the TV cabinet.

Morning exercise @ FRIM

Went to FRIM in Kepong last weekend. Hubby and I wanted to go for outdoor morning exercise and that was the best option available. It's pretty far for us, but the main advantage is that the path is very well shaded by the trees. Really important cos by the time we get Elyssa and ourselves ready in the morning, it's usually quite late! And I've always loved the greenery at FRIM.

By the time we arrived, it was close to 11am. Had a quick snack at the canteen then we went on our way. Took the trail to the canopy walk but didn't hike up the 500m to the canopy walk itself. It was a nice trail and tiring too since we had to take turns to carry Elyssa.

Some photos taken -

"Hmm...this is so different from a shopping centre"

"Peek-a-boo! "

"Are we there yet?"

" Not yet? ok, i sleep first"

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Yup, the little princess fell fast asleep when hubby and I were panting away with the exercise! She slept when we reached the mini waterfall area (our end point) and almost all the way back.

Well, good also - better for her to sleep than to poo-poo :)

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Will try to go to FRIM more often. When Elyssa is bigger next time, it'll be nice to have picnics there. Would be a refreshing change from our weekend routine which is shopping, shopping, shopping.

Countdown to 2009

Celebrated the Countdown to 2009 at a friend's condo. Time really flies... I remember that for the 2008 Countdown, Elyssa was squirming away in my tummy. This year as I witnessed the fireworks, Elyssa was also squirming away - this time in my arms as an 8 months + baby. I felt really thankful to be blessed with my precious baby girl.

Had a good time that night. How not to? With a bunch of 20 friends (almost), good food (mostly ta-pau'ed) , dice game, alcohol, weird drink concoctions (vodka & milk plus whatever sauce from the kitchen? ), hair tying with objects around the condo etc etc....... Ha hah.... felt really "young" again.

As for Elyssa, she had a good time too! She just LOVED all the attention she got from the uncles and aunties or opps.. the kor-kors and cheh-chehs. Just look at some of the things offered to her -

"The kor-kor's said that I should start young"

"The Kor-kor's also said that ciggies and gambling are good for me"

Other photos from the night -

"Ahhhhh....... this massage is nice"

"Between the bottles of Alchohol, Sprite and my Avent water bottle, I choose Whisky"

"Another can of beer please"

"Erhm..... what sort of game is this?"

Happy 2009!