Our Family Diary

Role Playing

2009-12-13T09:21:00.000-05:00

Kids love to role play but what struck me one day was the role that MX and MH played. MX was role playing to be the bride and claimed that MH was the groom. Not sure where she got the idea from but it is probably from the last wedding they attended, which was my brother's. Is this nature or nurture? I would hazard that this is nature at work, neither me nor my wife has taught them gender specific knowledge and I have always tried to let them pick up from a broad spectrum of knowledge and experience without typecasting.

This is thier make-believe wedding car and 'wedding' photos.

LBK Gathering at Sheares Hall

2009-12-08T08:48:00.011-05:00

MX Hair Cut

2007-12-01T21:14:00.000-05:00

It is not easy to get MX to sit down and have a hair cut. She doesn't like people messing with her hair. Period. That includes daily hair washing by the way. These days she has been complaining about itchy hair due to the hot weather and she is also not sleeping well.

So it was amazing that she was cooperative enough to sit down for a hair cut at Bettina. Bettina is this neighbourhood hair salon in Bedok which used to frequent. The owner must have tons of experience with cutting kid's hair.

Cant get a better picture of her before her hair cut. Look at her tresses.

A fresher looking MX after her hair cut. Now she is alot less fuzzy when the weather is hot.

Eilat

2007-08-25T10:07:00.000-05:00

Our final weekend in the Land of Milk and Honey and we thought we should chion to the last places that we have not visited. Eilat is a beach resort, not unlike Myrtle Beach, SC or Daytona, FL.

The most enjoyable part of the trip, besides spending quality time with the babies (biggest one included) is the fantastic snorkeling opportunity offered at the National Park. It has been some time since I last scuba dived and this is the closest that i can get.

This is a picture of MX playing acting, taking pictures of MH with a piece of paper as a camera. She was taking pictures ALL over the boulevard in Eilat.
MX posing with the camels in Timna Park. She is a timid girl for sure and does not relish spending time next to big animals.

At a jetty in the Underwater Observatory.

City Of David

2007-08-11T10:01:00.000-05:00

Adar Street 2/1

2007-08-10T09:56:00.000-05:00

this are random shots of babies at home in Adar Street, each with its own cute significance.

MX attempting to do yoga.

MH and MX wrestling for space on MX's bed.
MH "du du" nian.

Mediterranean Cruise - Day 4 in Cyprus

2007-08-08T09:49:00.000-05:00

Mediterranean Cruise - Day 2 in Alanya

2007-08-06T15:30:00.000-05:00

Mediterranean Cruise - Day 1 All Aboard

2007-08-05T13:38:00.000-05:00

Mediterranean Cruise - Day 3 in Rhodes Island

2007-07-08T09:40:00.000-05:00

Life At Home

2007-07-07T05:42:00.000-05:00

It has been a very busy few months coping with two young children. Updating the blog is definitely not high in our short term priorities for the day. It is tiring most times, having to cope with two dependent young children whose every needs have to be attended. But it is heartening to know that they are growing well and learning something new everyday.

MX, in particular, is growing to be a little person, with her own way of communication and unique personality. She is in what people might conventionally name as the Terrible Twos. That's true to a certain extent when she just wakes up and she in a height of her bad mood, but "terrible" is too strong a word to describe MX.

These days, she is getting potty trained. So when she shouts "potty potty" the whole household will get into a state of frenzy to get her little potty in front of her, get her to take off her shorts and sit on the potty. And when she pees or poop successfully, she will shout her own triumphant "verrrry good" in her own unique accent.

Baking Cookies from thechias and Vimeo.

Baby Crawling from thechias and Vimeo.

Their First Camping Trip

2007-06-22T01:23:00.000-05:00

It was time to start venturing out of the comfort zone of the house and see how well we and the two babies can cope with travelling. With this in mind, we went on a camping trip to Golan.

We spent the better half of the day exploring Devora and Gilbon Waterfalls. It was a tiring walk, with the blazing summer sun shining throughout.

The fun starts when we arrived at the Indian Camp at Avnei Eitan. This campsite consisted of a dozen of Red Indian Teepees. There was a swing hanging from the tree outside the teepee that MX loved.
This is a picture of the group preparing BBQ for dinner.

MX on the swing with Jackson, my colleague.

This MH sleeping soundly in the teepee. Notice her spread eagled hands.

A family photo outside the teepee.

Mei Xi's 2nd Birthday

2007-05-02T01:37:00.000-05:00

Time flies, and we are celebrating MX 2nd birthday. To look back at how fast she has grown in the last two years has been an amazing experience. The only thing that does not seem to have changed much is her stature. She is still wearing the birthday dress from her first birthday. We also invited some of my colleagues and friends over for her birthday party, complete with Miffy ballons and all.

Sisterly Love

2007-04-20T13:43:00.000-05:00

Babies First Week in Israel

2007-04-16T07:03:00.000-05:00

Taking care of two kids is never going to be an easy job. We were glad that one week flew past quite uneventfully. No doubt it was a tiring and busy week. Sometimes, we can be so busy that she is left with a pile of laundry.

Luckily, Mei Xi can be quite helpful sometimes when she is not fuzzy. We are slowly training her to be abled little helper.

Baby sweeping from thechias and Vimeo.

Mei Han took a few days to acclimatize (she still prefers the warmth in Singapore) whereas Mei Xi love the cool crisp air here. See the small one all wrapped up. She is cute.

Time To Fly Again

2007-04-07T07:30:00.000-05:00

In no time at all, 5 weeks wisked past and I am due to fly back to continue my work. Initially, the plan was for me to return in the middle of May to pick up wifey and babies. The rationale was to allow the babies to settle down to a more manageable routine before we, hubby and wifey, take care of them fully. However, we decided to bite the bullet and all of changed our flight to 7 Apr 07.

These are pictures at Changi Airport.

This is Mei Han's first flight, on a B747 to Frankfurt via SQ326. This is Mei Xi's nth flight already and she is not two yet. The flight must be one of the most tiring we have had. The babies took turns requiring attention, whether is changing diapers, refusing to sleep, requires feeding. So for the whole 12 hour flight from Singapore to Frankfurt, 2 hours transit in Frankfurt and 4 hours to Tel Aviv, we slept less than 3 hours. I only managed to watch one show, Blood Diamond, throughout the flight. It also wasnt very helpful when there is no aerobridge when we were boarding the LH696 flight to Tel Aviv. We had to climb the steps to the Aircraft with 2 diaper bags, 1 trolley bag, 1 laptop and 2 tired babies....

Mei Han's Birthday

2007-03-02T23:30:00.000-05:00

Our second daughter, Mei Han, born on 2 Mar 07 at KKH.

Skiing In Hermon

2007-02-01T14:55:00.000-05:00

Weekends in Ashdod is a real bore without my family, so I went skiing on Mt Hermon on two weekends. Skiing is once of those sport which I can't get enough of, if only it was not so expensive. The first weekend was more like a refresher as I had to relearn my ski techniques from the last time I skiied in Alp De Huez in 1997. Fell a couple of times and sprained my shoulder quite badly. It certainly didn't help that it was icy through out the slope.

skiing from thechias and Vimeo.

Hit the slopes again two weekends later and really enjoyed myself this time. In Hwee Feng's words, the config file has been loaded (from the last weekend) and machine is oiled. It snowed heavily on one of the days but because of that the slopes were empty and I had the slopes all to myself.

Wifey & Babies Back In Singapore

2007-01-24T12:54:00.000-05:00

My babes went back Singapore on 12 Jan to prepare for Mx Junior's delivery. If not for Lily, Hwee Teck's wife, I would really be at a dilemma how to ensure their safe flight back home as I had to stay back in Israel for one more month for work. This is a picture of us at Ben Gurion Airport in the wee hours of the morning prior to thier flight departure.
As some sort of "parting gift" to let MX to remember me by, wifey suggested that I give her the pink miffy that we bought for her in UK during the big miffy hunt. The delight in her face when she saw her new miffy was evident. This brings her miffy collection to a total of 5 (i think)

Once back in Singapore, they paid a visit to dad and mum at Bedok. Too bad I couldn't join in the family dinner. I can feel the joy in Bedok of having wifey and MX back home for dinner.

Meixi having dinner @ Bedok on Vimeo

Mummy & Big Baby Duet

2006-11-12T15:54:00.000-05:00

baby singing on Vimeo

Jeruselem

2006-11-02T13:50:00.000-05:00

What is a trip to Israel without going to Jeruselem (or Yerushalayim). We took a tour with my colleagues to visit the Holy City. I am not a historian and can never get a proper grasp of historical events, dates and places, so I shall not attempt too hard to describe the places below.

A view of Juruselem from Mt Scopus with Dome of the Rock in the foreground.

Via Dalarosa.
The wailing wall.

Our New Home

2006-10-15T15:23:00.000-05:00

I think we are getting use to moving house already. This is like our 4^th house in 2 years. Finding a place to stay here is not the easiest of task. You have to be constantly wary of people who wants to rip you off because either they think you don’t know the language or you don’t know the market price. Whatever it is, we looked at almost 12-15 apartment before deciding on our new home at Adar Street 2/1. It is brand new apartment at what I thought was a reasonable price for a apartment rental.

Our new apartment is located on the first floor of the block, but it is still quite high up because there is a private void deck between the lift landing and our floor. There isn’t a view of the sea but it overlooks a nice park and playground.

This is big baby infront of our balcony.

Masada & Dead Sea

2006-10-05T14:58:00.000-05:00

Our third day here and we decide to venture out to Masada and Ein Gedi. I cannot claim to be a historian but from what I gathered, Masada is where the Jews defended themselves from the Roman siege for a couple of years. What’s amazing is how desolate the area is and how the Jews could defend themselves and survive while being cut off from outside supplies during the siege.

This is a view of Masada from the Roman Ramp.

This is wifey and big baby eating breakfast on Masada.

The sun heats up rapidly in the day it was blazing by mid morning. Next on the itinerary is a visit to Ein Gedi Spa, one of the many resort spas along the Dead Sea. This is a family photo with wifey clad in mud.

This is Big Baby Cool (she’s actually sulking because she missed her nap time.

Shalom!

2006-10-03T14:44:00.000-05:00

Arrived in BG Airport in the dead of the morning at 4.30 am. Here’s how tired baby was and look at the number of luggage we were carrying.

Big baby’s first picture in the Middle East. Guess what she is doing? No prizes for the correct answer…pooping. We call this her poopy face.

London At Last

2006-09-29T15:17:00.000-05:00

The last stop of our motorhome trip. We had wanted to park at Crystal Palace Caravan Site but we ended up parking at 3rd Uncle’s place at Eeling. It turned out to be a good decision as baby fell sick in London and we had the support from 3rd uncle and aunt to take care of poor baby.

We didn’t do much in the end because baby was sick. We only managed to walk around Oxford Street and Soho on the first day in London as a family. On the second day, me and wifey took turns going out to meet up with our friends in London while baby slept the whole day.

Here’s Bevan and I at Belgo, an award wining Belgium restaurant in Leicester Square.

This is what I had for dinner, Fish & Chips in Hoegarden batter washed down with Del Konik, a bit overfried I thought.

Miffies staring out of the window sill in 3rd Uncle’s apartment in Eeling while their mistress stayed at home to convalesce.

Here’s the whole family outside the caravan at Flamstead, just before we returned the caravan.

Troutbeck Caravan Site

2006-09-27T15:02:00.000-05:00

This was our base for our stay in Ulswater. Troutbeck Caravan Site is one of the most beautiful caravan site during our trip. It is located in a valley surrounded by foothills. The facility is clean and well laid out, although it was more expensive than expected.

Here is our caravan parked at Troutbeck. Wonder what baby is up to…

We took a steamer ride from Glenridding on the northern shore of Ulswater to a little town on the southern shore called Howtown. The hike around Howtown was easy and a slight change in terrain. It is not as rough as the previous days, but pretty in a simple rural way.

Here’s Ulswater from Howtown.

Rydal Water and Grasmere

2006-09-26T14:51:00.000-05:00

This is where William Wordsworth, the literary creative juice lived for some time to. Rydal Water and Grasmere was supposed to have provided the inspiration of his many poems.

Family photo with Rydal Water in the background

Grasmere

Big baby drinking milk outside Dove Cottage.

Coniston, Lake District

2006-09-25T14:27:00.000-05:00

I have been walking to the Lake District at least three times before and have enjoyed every single moment of it. It is however the first time I come here with wifey and big baby.

This is wifey in with Lake Coniston in the background in her walking regalia.

This is big baby after lunch.

We didn’t really plan our walking route that day as we assumed Coniston Old Man was too tough a nut to crack. In the end, we decided to walk up the path and see how far we went. This is a view from the foothills of the Old Man.

We walked for about 2 hours and reached a lake. Kudos to wifey for the climb as she has to carry the little baby (I was carrying the big baby).
This is a cute picture of wifey and big baby resting by a lake midway up to the Old Man.

It was about 5 pm by the time we descent and got back to Park Coppice, totally neckered.

Haworth, Bronte County

2006-09-24T15:04:00.000-05:00

We had hope that we can save some money on accommodation by renting a motor caravan and doing free camping. So after driving 4 hours from Cambridge the previous day, we decided to do try some free camping along a driveway. Anyway we were too tired to hunt for a caravan site which was invariably in some ulu locality.

It was quite an experience as we couldn’t really find a place we think is safe. We actually spent 2 hours searching for a good place to park for the night. It was either too quiet, too open or at some places downright eerie. At least we concluded that we should not try any free camping unless absolutely necessary. The Caravan Site is a place where we can park for the night with a peace of mind.

Fortunately, nothing eventful happened the previous night and we woke up in the Yorkshire morning rain, ready to explore Haworth, Bronte Country.

I am not a big fan of the Bronte sisters who wrote some of the greatest English Classics like Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre (only because I have not read their books). But I did enjoy the atmosphere of small little town set in the Yorkshire Moors, which provided the literary inspiration for their works.

Day Summary.
11am Arrived at Haworth Train Station.
12.30 pm Visited Bronte Parsonage Museum
3 pm Set off for Park Coppice Caravan Site in Coniston.

Adieu Cambridge

2006-09-23T15:45:00.000-05:00

Cambridge is a beautiful place. No doubt about it. I remember the heavy heart I left Cambridge with in 2000 after spending 4 memorable years there... This is the first time i have been back for 6 years and all the memories spent wandering round the streets, standing on the bridge watching the punters, racing down to the department on my bike all came back. Alas

Memories...punts moored between Trinity College and Trinity Hall.

A view from Garrett Hostel Lane Bridge

We also caught up with wifey's 4 shen and cousin.

Tim & Margaret's Wedding

2006-09-22T00:19:00.000-05:00

22 Sep 06, our third day in Cambridge and Tim and Margaret's big day, the purpose we came to Cambridge. The day started on a wet note and the infamous unpredictability of the English weather finally hit us. After a few days of excellent weather, the clouds changed and the whole day was interrupted by drizzle and shower. It certainly did not make our life easy, having to avoid the rain so that baby does not get wet.

I am extremely grateful that Tim and Margaret graciously invited us to their wedding. I enjoyed the wedding thoroughly, especially the company at the dinner table, catching up with the Tit Hall engineers, Julie and Ed and the big nostalgic trip of eating in Hall again with Joseph as the ever trustworthy maitre'd.

Summary:
12 pm - Church wedding service at St Andrew's Baptist Church
1 pm - Lunch reception
3 pm - Went to Robert Sayles in Grafton Center to buy a big pink miffy.
5 pm - Cocktails and picture taking in Latham Court, Trinity Hall

7 pm - Dinner Reception in Hall.

Looking For Miffy in Cambridge

2006-09-21T05:42:00.000-05:00

Another objective for this UK trip is to look for more Miffy for baby. Miffy is hard to come by in US and baby is such a BIG Miffy fan that we want to buy more for her, especially when it is so much more available in the UK. Call it pampering, or pursuing our childhood, but it was really quite fun to reacquaint with toys again.

Of course how can I not mention the importance of catching up with old friends. Here is Mei Peng and I at Dojo where we had lunch.

Day Summary:
AM - packing to go out. yes, it took the whole morning to get everyone ready
12 pm - Lunch with Mei Peng at Dojo
PM - Walking tour of Cambridge, the big Miffy hunt
Night - Night out to find parking and Tesco

Classic shot of the Bridge of Sighs in St John's College

UK Motorhome Trip - Cambridge Day 1

2006-09-20T04:32:00.000-05:00

We lots of luck, we managed to squeeze in a holiday in UK during the relocation from US. The main reason was to attend the wedding of one of my university mate, Tim Winchcomb to Margaret, Both of whom had flown over to Singapore to attend my wedding. We also took time to visit friends, relatives in UK.

To say that me and wifey are familiar with UK is an understatement as we spent 4 years each here. Therefore, to make the trip more interesting, we rented a 6 berth motorhome to drive around the UK. It does not necessarily work out cheaper than staying in hotels and B&B but with 6 pieces of luggage and the thoughts of packing an unpacking everytime we move, it was definitely a good choice.

A summary of our main activities that days is as follows.

20 Sep 06
7 am - Arrival in London Heathrow
1 pm - Collected our Motorvan from Justgo in Flemsted, Hertfordshire
5pm - Arrival in Cherry Hinton Caravan Club Site for the next 3 nights

Spent the rest of the night figuring how things work in the motor caravan and organising our belongings in the confines of the caravan.

A picture of the motorhome.

Cherry Hinton, a little precint near Cambridge where we stayed.
At Tim and Margaret's wedding.

Baby - The Small Artist

2006-08-06T21:19:00.000-05:00

When baby is truly inspired, she expresses herself with colours and impressionistic lines. And she's getting better at scribbling and doodling on paper.

Baby Doodling on Vimeo

Tallulah Gorge State Park, Georgia

2006-08-02T19:09:00.000-05:00

We left Natahala National forest for Tallulah Gorge State Park the next day to end off our weekend trip to avoid the hot savannah summer. It is a beautiful and established state park. In fact, there are roads running just above the gorge which makes it unusual as state parks are normally located in quiet serene areas. However, the traffic does not detract from the beauty of nature's forces and is well worth a visit for even the casual hiker.

Nantahala National Forest - Day 1

2006-08-01T19:48:00.000-05:00

The hot Savannah summer is really getting into us and we decide to take a weekend road trip to the Nantahala National Forest highlands in Northeast Georgia. We stayed in this delightful Ramada Inn in the small town of Dillard located at the border of Georgia and Tennessee. The Ramada Inn wasn't cheap given the remote location but it was definitely worth it with its magnificent view of the mountains from the balcony.

It was raining on our first full day in Dillard but we pushed ahead for a 2 hour hike in Black Rock Mountain State Park. The rain and cloud cover concealed the view from the summit of Black Rock Mountain but it was a good exercise walking on the Tennessee Rock Trail.

We also took a walk around Black Rock Lake, which is a short half hour walk. Here is baby in her own hiking regalia at the lake.

In the afternoon we drove to the Coleman River Scenic Area and drove up the Tallulah River. It was a beautiful area, especially the end point at Tate City, a small hamlet in the Tallulah river valley.

Baby Update

2006-07-24T19:15:00.000-05:00

Baby is growing to be a big girl now. She is still not a verbal prodigy but she seems to be able to understand quite a bit. At last count, she seems to be able to understand approximately 30 words and even phrases. For example, she can take her bib out of the basket, pick out a specific toy in another room when asked to do so. At the moment she communicates with a babbling and "superior" pointing skills.

See her here in a cute blue denim dress with her favourite and sometimes stinky miffy.

Dinner Out At Pearl's Saltwater Grille

2006-07-14T19:34:00.000-05:00

We don't eat out much here in Savannah, but once in a while we do try the local "southern" cuisine. No other adjective in my mind comes close to the experience of eating at Saltwater Grille. Imagine Paula Deene's cooking with the Savannah river landscape in the back drop and that is where this uniquely Savannah restaurant is situated. Where else would you be served deep fried hush puppies (a type of corn meal) as a starter, except in the deep south.

I had blackened mahi mahi washed down with a glass of riesling and wifey had grilled salmon. The food was ok but not memorable. Indeed it is the back drop to this restaurant, basically a swamp, which makes this experience unique.

Baby is adorable as usual and charmed many folks in the restaurant.

PS: the use of the word "folk" seems to be a very southern thing as well.

Hutchinson Island, Savannah

2006-07-02T09:35:00.000-05:00

Hutchinson Island is a small island across Savannah River linked to the mainland by the Talmadge Bridge. There is a Convention Center, Hotel and Golf Course there but in my opinion, severely under-utilised because of the inaccessibility. However, it does provide an excellent river front view of River Street.

Baby Chasing on Vimeo

Tybee Beach (Again)

2006-07-01T13:22:00.000-05:00

Savannah is a small city by any measure and we are running out of places to go. This is like our fourth time to Tybee Beach but it is baby's first time actually playing on the beach. She has been to many beaches, Myrtle Beach, Daytona Beach, Bahamas, to name a few but this is the first time she is mobile and aware enough to enjoy the sand. She was extremely excited and was blabbering the whole time we were there. We bought her a sand castle building kit and here she is busy splattering the sand all over, including some on her own food. hahaha.

Father and baby taking a stroll on the beach.

She was very excited to see the sea gulls and kept wandering away to have a closer look.

Baby At The Beach on Vimeo

Peek A Boo

2006-06-29T09:34:00.000-05:00

Peek a boo on Vimeo

Baby At Play

2006-06-26T07:14:00.000-05:00

Baby At Work

2006-06-20T07:24:00.000-05:00

Baby Reading on Vimeo

The Sleeping 'Beauty'

2006-06-15T20:28:00.000-05:00

Toddlerhood!

2006-05-27T19:01:00.000-05:00

After 6 months of comfortable cruising, our little infant has finally graduated to toddlerhood!!! Credit needs to be given to the ducks around our block - she loves to gaze at the ducks and when she is entranced, she forgets to hold onto my hand and ends up standing for a minute or more on her own. And after that, she gradually gained enough confidence to walk while holding onto our hand(s), and then on her own - again, getting to see the ducks was an incentive for her. Now, she's toddling around the house more and more to get from toy to toy or place to place. It's endearingly amusing how she toddles around while carrying Miffy in her left hand and sucking her right thumb. I suppose they offer her security while she's mastering a new skill!

Ma ma's little girl

2006-05-22T18:56:00.000-05:00

After 1 whole week of 'ba ba' (daddy) to everything, baby launched into her 'ma ma' (mummy week =) That's so endearing and something I've been waiting so long to hear!!! Now, everything and anything could be 'ma ma' - 'Mummy, pick me up from my crib', 'Mummy, I'm hungry', 'Mummy, I don't want to eat anymore' ......

She's also getting more used to sleeping on her own in her crib, so it takes a whole lot less time now to put her to sleep and I sleep better at night too. Phew!

Savannah / Hilton Head Airport (SAV)

2006-05-20T20:23:00.000-05:00

After having mum and dad here for 6 days, it's time to say goodbye. It's been a full 6 days - shopping, sightseeing the historic downtown, visiting golf courses, day trip to Charleston, factory outlet shopping at Hilton Head, lunching and dining out and at home too. It's really comfortable and homely to have them over for a visit (makes me feel like a baby!), and it's good to see baby at ease with them (except for a couple of days in the middle of the week when she suddenly changed her mind and heart and decided that she preferred to stick close to her mum and dad). I'm also happy that all my driving practices have paid off and I could chauffeur my parents around Savannah - and I absolutely love the zippy little red Chrysler PT Crusier that we rented =) It's such an exciting and cheery car to go around in. Hee hee.

Charleston

2006-05-18T20:07:00.000-05:00

Blazing hot in downtown Charleston:

Boone's Hall Plantation is reported to be America's oldest working plantation and this was where the old TV serial 'North and South' was filmed. Hubby loved this Avenue of Oaks, with its old oak trees draped with Spanish moss, so he took many, many photos of it from varying angles:
On the porch of the main house... is baby thinking Grandma rocks?

A very happy baby after being nourished by yummy milk, and a very happy daddy carrying his precious daughter (that's Eeyore squashed between them) (P.S. It's the last time we're bringing out fresh milk for her; it's extremely inconvenient and time-consuming to heat it up to her desired temperature.) :
Family photo - notice baby's beloved Miffy bunny beanie? They are inseparable now and go to sleep together every nap time and every night; baby also lugs her around by the ears when she's playing or when we go out. Good thing we spotted a bigger Miffy in the Charleston flea market so her Grandma bought that for her - as a spare in case her little Miffy suffers from some accident. She loved the bigger Miffy and chuckled when she first set her eyes on it! It's her temporary favourite!

Downtown Savannah

2006-05-16T19:53:00.000-05:00

Baby took to my mummy and daddy quite soon. After spending half a day with them, she was comfortable being in their company when I wasn't around. See her enjoying snacking on pears in her grandma's lap while we were touring historic downtown in a trolley bus.

All dressed up for fine dining at The Olde Pinke House at Reynolds Square. It's a conserved old house with period interior decoration. The little baby was an angel, finger-feeding herself bits of food, and only clamouring to be 'let loose' from the highchair after she's done with her dinner.

Family photo along the riverfront at sunset. The little baby has been saying 'ba ba' (which is what she calls her daddy) and 'bao bao' (hug hug / carry me) the whole week. Naturally, that makes her daddy very happy =)

Our Little Gourmet

2006-05-15T19:32:00.000-05:00

Baby is getting really dexterous at picking up pieces of food with her fingers and feeding herself. When we go out to eat in restaurants, she can feed herself small chunks of bread, soft vegetables and even slivers of chicken. When we are at home, we mostly still scoop up food for her in her spoon and then let her bring the spoon to her mouth herself. (But the little gourmet won't feed herself food that she doesn't like - we'll have to spoonfeed her on those occasions.) These days, besides lunching together, we're also trying to make it a point to dine together as a family.

Here's baby trying to feed herself cereal:

After a strawberry feast (sans clothes, heh heh), baby looks like she is promoting a new type of lipstain:

Moving House

2006-05-14T19:43:00.000-05:00

We spent 2 days moving house - Friday 12th and Sat 13th - and a further day unpacking most of the things. The whole process was quite efficient. Hubby did most of the moving while I was unpacking in the new apartment, and whoever was with the baby in the old apartment packed and cleaned there. So, the whole apartment looked somewhat decent for my parents' arrival.

The new apartment is really bright and cheery. It gets lots of sun, especially during 9-11am, and the view of trees from the window and the patio is very soothing. As we're further from the pool, it's a lot quieter here, and the neighbours seem nice thus far =)

Here's baby trying to help unpack the toiletries rather than play with her toys:

Hmm.. what's in the box?

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Our cherubic baby trying to make some music to entertain mummy and daddy:

Pre-Mothers' Day 'Gift'

2006-05-14T18:16:00.000-05:00

Baby said 'ma ma' a couple of times on Monday 8th =) (And only on that day. By the end of the week, she was back to muttering her favourite 'zi zi' and 'za za' and 'je je' sounds. Sigh*)

She also walked 2-3 steps into my arms on Friday 12th =) Another milestone!

Happy 1st Hatch Day!

2006-05-01T21:13:00.000-05:00

Size Matters!

2006-04-28T21:02:00.000-05:00

Baby Playing on Vimeo

Atlanta

2006-04-15T21:11:00.000-05:00

We spent a week in Atlanta, the state capital of Georgia. Atlanta is a a good place just to roam around the different blocks, without having to worry about drifting to the wrong side of town. The sun was blazing we had baby in the Kelty carrier with a parasol attached. The parasol attracted more attention to baby she normally would.

This is the city emblem, adopted by the city of Atlanta in the 1800s. Notice the phoenix:
This is baby walking down Freedom Hall, which is next to the Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site.

This is baby sitting impishly on a sofa in the Courtyard Marriot. We got a pretty good deal for the hotel, about US$55 per night for a three star hotel.

Yummy yummy

2006-04-12T09:59:00.000-05:00

Our little person is getting more proficient at feeding herself with a spoon or a fork. Of course, we still have to load the food onto her spoon or fork for her. When the food is yummy, she's very eager to feed herself and eats quickly. When the food is not to her taste, she sometimes refuses to feed herself, dawdles, plays with her food and throws the spoon away =(

Since she's generally been quite a good girl during meal times, I bought her a new feeding set - 1 unbreakable baby blue plate (with a polar bear design), 1 bowl, and 1 fork and 1 spoon. Now, meal times are more enjoyable (for me at least) because of the aesthetically pleasing feeding set. Hee.

Baby is starting to comprehend more of what we say, provided she's paying attention. When I ask her if she wants milk (nai2 nai3), she gets very excited and crawls to me immediately. Sometimes, I get the same reaction when I ask if she's hungry and wants to eat (e4 e4, chi1). She also understands 'Where's Miffy/Big Bird/ba ba/ma ma?' - she'll start searching for the person/item. And if I gesture to her and ask her whether she wants to be carried (bao4 bao4) or come to me (lai2), or stop what she's doing, she understands and can respond appropriately too. In addition, she's starting to be able to wave 'hi hi' on cue, instead of just randomly. So fun!

Baby Cruising

2006-04-11T10:50:00.000-05:00

Baby is getting more and more proficient with the Playskool Scooter. These days, she loves cruising around the house on the scooter. She has not learnt to steer around yet so whenever she meets an obstacle, she will yell for help. Take a look.

View this clip on Vimeo

There's so little space in the house for her to scoot around, so we have to shift aside the furniture. I got tired of having to rescue her each time she got stuck, so I even brought her outside the house to play the scooter on the paths in the estate garden, but she ended up crawling on the ground as she was more fascinated by all the twigs and leaves! Dirty baby! (But the latest scientific research highlights the benefits of exposing babies to some dust and germ... so there - we may be doing something good for her after all. Heh heh heh.)

Baby's day

2006-04-10T09:38:00.000-05:00

This is what baby's typical weekday looks like:

Rise and shine (unfortunately for her tired parents, she tends to be an early riser =p)
Breakfast (milk, with any combination of bread/puffed wheat/cereal/fruit/cheese)
Playtime
Morning walk (since the mornings are warmer and more pleasant now) to enjoy fresh air, to listen to bird songs, and to watch the ducks/squirrels/birds
Snack/drink
Nap for 1 to 1 1/2 hours (so endearing when she drapes herself across my tummy!)
Lunch
Playtime
Outdoor time (e.g. walk to collect mail and/or get groceries, sit on lawn, play on lawn, dip in swimming pool, relax by pool area)
Playtime
Milk and snack/fruit
Nap for 1 to 1 1/2 hours
Bath time
Dinner
Playtime
Wind down for the night - bed-time milk, story time, family time... then zzz zzz

There's some day-to-day variation in the exact hour at which these activities occur, and we're seeing if she can sleep later and wake up later.

Currently, her favourite games are:

(i) 'Where's Miffy?' - We hide her beloved bunny and get her to look for it. She enjoys this tremendously and can't get enough of it. Sometimes, she'll even hide and find Miffy herself.

(ii) 'Hide and seek' - with mummy/daddy/Miffy.

(iii) Tumbling blocks - I build a tower of blocks for her and she whacks it down.

(iv) Little Miss Tidy - Ask her to put things into boxes or other containers. (Particularly useful when she has made a mess of things or pulled down a stack of magazines or pulled things out of my handbag.)

(v) The Passing Game - Ask her to give an item (laundry, toy, letter, etc) to mummy/daddy/a soft toy.

(vi) Animal Farm - Show her pictures of various animals and make the corresponding sounds for her.

(vii) Treasure Chest - Introduce her to a box/bag of things and she'll happily take out everything inside and play with them.

And of course, she always enjoys gumming her toys =p

Little gourmet

2006-03-29T10:33:00.000-05:00

Baby is a little gourmet. After she had her usual bowl of cereal (with yogurt, tofu, mixed veg) and was enjoying her fruits (diced plum), I started having my dinner. Hubby was working late tonight so I had dinner alone. My dinner was cod (baked with parmesan cheese), boiled sweet potato, fresh spinach. Baby started eyeing my food and after I gave her a taste of the sweet potato and the fish, she kept asking for more, and more, and more. She showed more interest in my dinner than in her own dinner (or jar food). So she ate quite a bit of my dinner too until the 2 of us had finished everything on the plate. Leads me to wonder - if she can eat so much in one meal, does this mean she hasn't been eating as much as she should all along?? She's quite a good girl today, so she helped to feed herself most of the time - I just had to scoop some food into the spoon, give the spoon to her, and she put it into her mouth herself. A bit messy still as some of the food will slide down onto her bib or onto her table, and then she'll use her fingers to play with or pick up the food on the table. She's experimenting with using both her right and left hands to feed herself, and sometimes when she's lazy, she'll try to move her mouth nearer the spoon instead of reaching out for the spoon with her hands.

I'm trying to reset baby's internal clock these few days. After our weekend trip and outings and her illness, her sleep times have gone haywire. So she doesn't get enough sleep, puts up a big struggle when it's time to sleep, and gets extra hyper and irritable =( Envious of my Kindermusik classmate's baby - sleeps at very regular hours of her own accord.

Dancing Queen Wannabe

2006-03-26T22:03:00.000-05:00

Just for laughs...

View this clip on Vimeo

Healthy again

2006-03-26T20:54:00.000-05:00

It's a relief that baby has recovered quite quickly. She has been 'grounded' this whole week and as she was quite tired the last 2 days, she zzz, and zzz, and zzz, and then zzz some more, so that probably helped her to recover too. She slept so much and so soundly that I kept checking if she was still breathing =p

She's back to her playful self now, and when we went out for lunch at a Mexican restaurant today, she had a whale of a time scrutinising, smiling at, waving to, and 'greeting' (by saying 'ei, ei') all and sundry, especially other babies. Unfortunately, her attempts to befriend others were often rebuffed or ignored. So her parents are still her best friends, for now.

At a few days shy of her 11th-month 'birthday', she's 17lbs (approx 8kg) and 67cm. That's small and light compared to other babies, but she certainly doesn't feel light, especially after we've carried her around in our arms for a while. And you won't often find the baby in her stroller - that's for our bags and jackets since baby inevitably tries to wriggle out of the stroller after a few minutes. Sigh* Can't help wondering when she's going to walk on her own since she has been a competent cruiser for a good many months already.

Viral infection?

2006-03-22T20:51:00.000-05:00

We went to the paediatrician today so that baby can has a more thorough follow-up check. It turned out that she has a throat infection (which explains her smelly breath these few days), and that might have led to the ear infection. The doctor surmised the infection is likely to be viral as she has developed rashes all over her head and abdomen, and a bit on the arms too. Her fever has subsided, though, and she's behaving her usual self, so we're just monitoring for now. No further medication.

Providence Canyon State Park

2006-03-21T16:47:00.000-05:00

To celebrate wifey's birthday, we took a road trip to Providence Canyon State Park, Lumpkin, GA. The state park is abit different from the ones we normally go to. What is interesting is that it is a mini-canyon and it was formed due to bad farming practice in the 1920s. We took a 4-mile hike into the Canyon Floor.

What's special about this park is that it's a canyon, so it's really interesting seeing the view from the bottom of the canyon and then all the way on top, at the rim of the canyon - the sheer height of the canyons is amazing. I suppose it can't be compared to the Grand Canyon, but it's first time seeing any canyon at all! The multi-coloured rock strata are an interesting feature of the canyon. Depending on what minerals have permeated into the rock, the rock could be any shade of orange or brown (because of iron), or bear a lovely hue of lavender (because of manganese). My favourite is the lavender hue because it's so sweet and unusual.

In the evening, we left the park and crossed the stateline from Georgia to Alabama and stayed in Eufaula, this little city famous for bass fishing. Yay! We've been to Alabama! The next day, we did a cross-rural Georgia drive. Saw lots of pastures, cattle, farmland, Plains (Jimmy Carter's hometown) and many small towns. We had home-cooked Southern fare (fried chicken okra, etc) in a place called Americus, where baby was more interested in waving and gibbering to everyone than in having her lunch. Unfortunately, it was also here that she lost a pretty pink hairclip belonging to her mummy =( A heirloom!

Feverish Baby

2006-03-20T16:29:00.000-05:00

It is tough when your own baby falls sick. The saga started last Saturday night when we thought she felt warmer than usual. As we were on our road trip in Eufaula, Alabama, we couldn't do much except to administer panadol. She didn't get better when we arrived home on Sunday and her temperature hit a high of 40.7degrees C on Sunday night! Imagine our panic and unease, being first time parent faced with a feverish baby. After consulting 811 (emergency medical helpline), we drove to the Memorial Health Hospital ER at 1.30 am Monday morning.

We were glad that we went to the hospital and not stuck to self medicating poor baby. Cos we found out that the cause of the temperature was a ear infection. The doctors and nurses were able to provide a more aggressive treatment with a combination of Tylenol (acetaminophen) and Motrin (Ibuprofen) to combat her temperature. By about 4 am, she was down to a manageable 38.5 degrees C and we went home.

It is strange to find the house so quiet now. Normally, baby will be cho luaning which will require us to rescue her either from stopping her from entering the kitchen or pulling the wires. Now with baby resting in bed most of the time, we kinda missed her mischief...

Mei Xi's Enlightenment

2006-03-16T21:13:00.000-05:00

There's a difference in having the ability and willingness to do something. For some time, Mei Xi has been able to finger feed herself crackers and grains of puffed wheat. However, she protested when given other finger food or a spoonful of cereal to feed herself. So it's to my surprise when she had a change of heart and started picking up cubes of bread that I had left on her table before 'disappearing' to prepare a bottle of milk for her. Now, she's also picking up blueberries, diced pear, cheese cubes... as well as spoon-feeding herself cubes of solid food. I guess it's more rewarding to spoonfeed herself cubes of food, as she had a higher success rate. Emboldened, she's now more willing to spoonfeed herself more liquid food too. Hee!

New Games

2006-03-14T21:35:00.000-05:00

Baby has picked up some new games very quickly lately. She's gotten the hang of picking up and giving things (e.g. daddy's socks, her toys) to us, knocking towers of blocks or milk powder cans over, as well as the concept of 'in' and 'out'. Yesterday, I showed her how to put the little Eeyore soft toy into and out of a big box, and she quickly did the same to Eeyore as well as other toys. Today, she's 'practising' with a smaller toy and a smaller box - not that easy this time. She also managed to spoonfeed herself little cubes of cheese (she takes to this much better than feeding herself cereal). It's fun to watch her do all these new things.

Not so fun, though, when she's naughty. When she's doing things she knows she's not supposed to, she tends to give us a particularly radiant smile - e.g. when she is pulling electrical wires, when she refuses to sleep and wants to play in bed. It's as though she knows she's being naughty and is testing our reactions =(

Now that she is fully recovered from her cold and flu, her appetite has increased, and she's growing faster too - as though to 'make up' for the lost time when she was sick.

Spring is coming

2006-03-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

After the winter months, I'm just glad that the mornings get bright earlier, the days are getting warmer and longer, so it's pleasant to spend time outdoors. I think the older I get, the less I like chilly weather. Cool is fine, but not chilly. When the day only gets bright close to 8am, it does get rather dreary after a while. The warm weather also means that baby and I have been spending more time outdoors - be it just sitting on the grass, sitting by the pool (I'm the one sitting while baby moves around a bit), wading in the pool, watching the ducks and ducklings waddle along. Today, we even went down to Emmet Park for Tara Feis - the St Patrick's Day opening festival - to enjoy some Irish music and Irish dancing. Pity about the sandflies that bestows itchy bites all over me =(

10 months

2006-03-02T20:57:00.001-05:00

Our little person is now 26" (about 66 cm) long and weighs 16 lbs 7 oz (about 7.6 kg). Seems like she has a lot of arms and legs now, and she looks so cute in short, sleeveless clothes. Embarrassingly, she has only outgrown 2 outfits since birth. At one time, a lot of the clothes were getting tight-fitting, but then as she gained proficiency in crawling and cruising, she slimmed down and her tummy got smaller, so the clothes fit her comfortably once again. We're quite sure she's going to be a small, like her parents. Her height and weight are at less than the 5th percentile, compared to other Singaporean babies of her age (and this was normed against some 1980s population, and we would expect kids to be even taller now, which means she's really small). Maybe she can be a little gymnast or figure skater, like the 16-year-old Georgian competitor in the Torino Olympics, who's small but good. Heh heh.

Baby's cute when she's a little angel - that's when she smiles and laughs, babbles, and comes to us for hugs and kisses. But she's also mischievous because she's so curious and wants to explore all the things she's not supposed to =p And then she has a mind of her own, so she'll cry and protest if there something she doesn't like (e.g. changing diapers, changing clothes, brushing her teeth, food that is too coarse). Most of her crying takes place at home (or at the clinic whenever we go for the well-baby check-ups and vaccinations); she's quiet and scared when we are in unfamiliar places and doesn't dare to venture far from us.

She's no verbal prodigy. She's said 'ma-ma', 'ba-ba' before, but not on a regular basis. Seems like her interest and forte, at least for now, is her psychomotor skills. She's a pretty mobile baby - able to cruise (walk holding onto furniture), get herself into a standing position, squat and sit from a standing position, crawl around competently. She's also able and willing to pick up and feed herself certain finger food. The little gourmet loves to eat fruits, doesn't like fishy-smelling fish, and would rather go hungry than take milk that's not warm enough for her or milk that's spiked with medicine =p That's personality !

In The Pink Of Health

2006-02-27T21:23:00.000-05:00

Baby is recovering well and here are more cute pixes of her. Hee hee.

That's her chuckling away. Notice the bib she is wearing. She looks adorable in that bib.

One of her new actions, sticking out her little tongue. She is probably trying to feel her growing teeth.

Fluey Baby

2006-02-23T21:23:00.000-05:00

Baby has not recovered from the flu and we brought her to the doctor as we were getting worried that she is taking too long to recover. And luckily we went to the doctor as she was diagnosed with bronchialitis. ie congested and inflamed bronchial which can develop into pneumonia if not treated. So she was giving a battery of medicine, Amoxycilline, Albuterol and one other medicine with an unimaginable long name.

These photos are to illustrate the heart wrenching moments during her pitiful state of health...

and she is hiding in a corner out of sight....

View this clip on Vimeo

Baby In Motion

2006-02-15T16:53:00.000-05:00

Here are some clips of baby in motion. It is easy to describe how she has grown dimensionally but is it always to difficult to describe her pyschomotor development.

Here is baby sprinting out of the room and overcoming obstacles along the way.

View this clip on Vimeo

Here is another one of baby chasing a skipping rope. She can be quite single minded at times, just like daddy.

View this clip on Vimeo

Flu Week

2006-02-15T16:49:00.000-05:00

Everyone in the family was down with flu this week, so none of us has the energy to do much or go out. Me, wifey and baby have drippy noses, chesty cough or a combination of both. The only consolation to me at least is that Turino 2006 is going on and it has been quite exciting following the up and downs of the skaters and skiiers. Hee. Therefore this is a boring blog for a unexciting week.....

Kindermusik

2006-02-10T20:54:00.000-05:00

This week marks another milestone. Baby attended her first Kindermusik class- a class with babies and mummies, and music-related activities. e.g. bounce baby up and down to the beat of the music, do some actions according to the song lyrics. It's quite fun, except that all the lifting of baby up and down is like me doing weights training =p I think Mei Xi sorts of 'gets' what's going on. But I see it more as an opportunity for me and her to meet other people.

Unfortunately, our little princess has caught the flu and cold bug from us. She had a bit of temperature and runny nose, so we have to sponge her down, give her infant panadol, and keep dabbing her nose dry. Poor thing!

Playskool Scooter

2006-02-05T21:30:00.000-05:00

The yard sale every Saturday is where we get alot of baby stuff. Yard sales here are when families literally open their yard and sell their unwanted second hand items. We have gotten alot of good deals during yard sale. I mean the economics just doesn't work out to buy new things for baby when she will out grow it soon. So for the grand price of $1, we bought the Playskool Scooter for baby. A new one would easily have cost more than $20. You can also see a video of baby in action at http://www.vimeo.com/clip=42682.

9 months

2006-02-02T20:45:00.000-05:00

It's 'mummy dearest' for little baby during the last 2 weeks. She's been wanting me to put her to sleep at night, and also to carry her at various times during the day. When she wakes in the middle of the night, she looks for me too. Seems like she's teething again, so it's uncomfortable for her. It's sweet and endearing when she crawls to us or lifts up her arms for hugs, or presses her lips against our faces to kiss us ... nice to feel so wanted and loved =) But it's been tiring as well, and to minimise my having to wake up in the middle of the night to carry her out from her crib to soothe her, I just let her sleep beside me on the big bed. Now that she's reached the ripe 'old' age of 9 months, she's become more independent, and the 'mummy dearest' days are over (not without a pang of regret on my part).

She's a little 'kay poh' queen too - always wants to find out and observe what we are doing and eating. That's why we jokingly call her the supervisor in the house!

Chinese New Year

2006-01-30T20:41:00.000-05:00

We spent Chinese New Year in the Disney Magic Kingdom in Orlando; just got back in the wee hours of the morning. So didn't do much cleaning up or celebrating this year =p But it's baby's first CNY, so we gave her a little ang pow to put under her pillow.

Anyway, the little baby was a bit too young to fully enjoy the magic of Disney. There's too much noise and bustle; she was scared of the very loud noises, and she had difficulty falling asleep when she was tired. And because she insisted on having me carry her most of time time, my muscles are aching a lot today. (Hope that translates to more toned muscles... heh.)

Orlando Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

2006-01-29T21:24:00.000-05:00

Today started early for us as we want to make full use of the day in Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom is one of the 4 main theme parks in Disney World, the rest being Epcot Center, Animal Kingdom and MGM Studios. After growing up on a steady dose of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and the Disney gang, me and wifey were really looking forward to seeing Disney World.

Magic Kingdom is a land of man-made make believe. There is an artificial lake separating Magic Kingdom from the main entrance so that all visitors have to either take a ferry or monorail to enter Magic Kingdom itself. The center piece of Magic Kingdom is Cinderalla's castle from which the park fans out into the various Lands, namely FantasyLand, TomorrowLand, AdventureLand, and FrontierLand. Below is our family picture in front of the classic Disney symbol.

Magic Kingdom is made for kids and it was swarmed with kids of all ages. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves - except baby. For some reason, baby was extremely fuzzy that day. Maybe it is because of her teething, or she can't get enough sleep with the excitment in Magic Kingdom. But anyway, she refused to sit in her stroller and we had to carry her everywhere. We tried to soothe her fuzziness by making her sleep. This is wifey and and baby (sleeping) in Minnie Mouse's couch in Minnie Mouse House.

One thing I realise is that Disney is no longer about Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Time has changed indeed. What my generation identify with Disney is no longer what the present generation identify with Disney. So in effect only a very small area in Magic Kingdom is dedicated to Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Pluto. A larger part of Fantasy Land is dedicated to Pooh, Ariel, Buzz Lightyear, the Gen X Disney characters.

After napping the greater part of the morning and noon, baby was finally happier and here she is at Agraba Bazaar, AdventureLand. Notice her new dress she is wearing for her first Chinese New Year.

We also managed to take some rides with baby. This is wifey and baby sharing a happy Kodak moment in TommorowLand Transit Authority.

We stayed till 8 pm for the Disney fireworks. The Cinderalla Castle served as the perfect backdrop for the fireworks. It is definitely one of my most memorable fireworks display.

As an afternote, we left Disney at 9.30pm and started our long drive back to Savannah. It was 4 am when we arrive home, tired but happy....(sounds like the type of ending in a primary school composition)

Orlando Day 1 - Downtown Disney

2006-01-28T15:20:00.000-05:00

It has been some time since we updated the blog. I have been quite busy at work and wifey has been up to her neck with baby who is growing every day. That's not an excuse of course. But we do hope to keep it as updated as possible so meaningful gift to baby when she grows up.

Anyway, we went for a Time-Share deal to Disney World, Florida. So for the princely sum of US$79, we get two nights stay at a Hotel and two tickets to one of the four Disney Theme Park in Disney World. The catch is that we have to attend a 120 minutes sales presentation by Fairfield Resorts. Just to give an idea of the the amount of $$ saved. The Hotel is about $65/night and Disney Ticket is abou $63/person, so effectively, the cost savings is about $177. I am el cheapo.

The Hotel we stayed in was Holiday Inn Nikki Bird. It was advertised as a 3-star hotel but it felt more like a 2-star cos the facilities were a bit run down. This is a picture of baby wadding in the pool with wifey. She is still wary about water running down her head but at least she likes to paddle the water now.

The Time-Share presentation took the greater part of the afternoon. The property viewed is Bonnet Creek by Fairfield Resort. Bonnet Creek is a 46 acre property surrounded by Disney World. Apparently, the original owners refuse to sell their property to Disney 50 years ago when Disney started buying land to develop their theme parks and resorts. It is a beautiful property but the sales people were HORRIBLE. Ok to be fair, that is what time share presentation is all about. Pressure selling, emotional blackmail, emotive marketing. We had to go through three rounds of high pressure marketing before we were checked out and given the Disney tickets.

We had our first reunion dinner at a Irish Pub in Downtown Disney. This is a picture of biker baby on a Harley with her daddy near the Pub.

Amicalola Falls State Park

2006-01-05T21:37:00.000-05:00

We spent the New Year Holidays at Dawsonville. This is a small town about 40 min north of Atlanta. The main attractions being the Premium Outlets and the Amicalola State Park.

Aimicalola Falls State Park features the highest waterfall east of the Missisippi. From a physics point of view, the vertical displacement is certainly very high but the flow rate is actually quite low. It is a tiny stream that feeds the water fall and flows out from the base.

We also climbed to the top of the falls. There is actually a nice staircase that winds round the waterfall to lead to the top. Nice picture isn't it?

8 Months Old

2006-01-02T21:12:00.000-05:00

Baby turns 8 months old today. She's come a long way from a tiny bundle to a mobile individual with her own thoughts and wishes - and she's getting more assertive too. She is able to crawl and sometimes walk holding on to the edge of the bed to get to where desires. And if she is unhappy with anything (e.g. doesn't want to sit in the car seat or doesn't want to lie down for a diaper change), she can wail quite a bit and put up a resistance. But she's also getting cuter because she's more emotionally expressive and will call out to us for attention, kiss and touch our face, crawl to us for hugs or food, and cling onto our arms when she doesn't want to be put down. Now that her arms are longer, she sometimes sort of put her arms round us, as though giving us a mini hug.

Cute Pixes

2005-12-27T21:44:00.000-05:00

ROM Anniversary

2005-12-27T12:55:00.000-05:00

To celebrate our 2nd ROM anniversary, we splurged on an authentic Japanese dinner at Sushi Zen, downtown at the junction of Broughton and Whitaker Street. Savannahians have conservative palates and most ethnic food sold here have been americanised, ie sweetened, thickened or fried. So we were very pleasantly surprised that the sushi served actually tasted authentic. Baby had a good time as well as we sat on the low tables on the 2nd floor and she a whale of a time crawling around.

The friendly baby also tried to smile at and make friends with 2 little boys there! But she's too young to play with them.

We had the sushi & tempura combo so we can have a taste of everything. For drinks we had a 2004 Columbia Winery CellarMaster's Riesling. Quote from the internet "Floral, honeyed aroma with hints of apricot, pear and allspice. Rich and full-flavored fruit on the palate is balanced by clean, crisp acidity. " I concur.

Toys, toys and more toys

2005-12-27T11:05:00.000-05:00

Since most of baby's toys have been quite simple toys - mostly various kinds of rattles, we've been on the lookout for affordable and more complex toys for her. We found that Ross is a good place to buy decent toys for under $5, so we bought baby a little xylophone and a shape sorter cum pull-along toy. During the Christmas sale, we bought her a set of stacking rings too. Vivian has also given her some books. So now, baby has more interesting toys to play with - though we haven't introduced all the toys to her yet. We are still following the rotation system as well, so some toys are kept in 'Siberia' in the closet and then re-released after a while for novelty.

Anyway, the active little baby amuses herself quite well simply by moving around - crawling up and down the bed, crawling under the chair and table and over her high chair base, standing, sitting, trying to walk, pushing against the wall to get herself into a standing position ... we get tired just watching her... Yawn..

Little Miss Potty

2005-12-27T11:01:00.000-05:00

We got a little 2nd-hand potty for Mei Xi (got it at a yard sale together with an Eeyore plush toy and a toy with animals that pop up when you manouevre certain levers/buttons and a baby toilet seat - all for only $5). (Potties are very expensive here because of fancy features, such as being convertible to a step stoole etc... so we can't bear to buy a new one, and it's a bit tricky holding her over the toilet bowl.) Now we make it a habit for her to sit on the potty before and after she zzz... if we remember, she sits on it after a meal too. We hope to minimise diaper rash and the messy diaper clean-up, especially because she abhors diaper changes. After using the potty for about a week, she seems to have caught onto what she's supposed to do and she pees in it quite regularly. For the last few mornings, she has pooped in it too - we think it's more than a coincidence. Good little girl! It's now so much easier to clean her after a poop. Hee.

Baby's favourite activities

2005-12-27T10:38:00.000-05:00

She loves to stand while holding onto the edge of the bed (or sofa, or rocker, or chair, or whatever available surface.. but the bed is her favourite) and wave her toy(s) around:

And she can multi-task and suck her thumb at the same time too!

She's a little expert at standing now and can lower herself to the ground without falling. She can even change grip and hold onto another piece of furniture nearby. And she's started taking slow, baby steps to move along the side of the bed to reach a toy I put further away =) Guess it won't be long before she's walking and running all over the place...

All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth...

2005-12-25T10:32:00.000-05:00

Baby has her 2 front teeth for Christmas.. .and 3 lower teeth too! She's now getting quite good at eating chunkier food. We are starting to feed her some finger food (using our fingers, not hers, though =p) for her lunch - food like strips of Cheddar or Swiss cheese, home-baked bread, rice cracker, grape chunks, peas... and she can eat quite a bit. And on the rare occasions when she's in the mood (e.g. 15th Dec), she'll feed herself her solid food and a few spoonfuls of cereal during her meals =)

Her hours are a bit different now. She'll sleep for about 9 hours at night, then wake up for about an hour for milk and diaper change, and then sleep for another 2 hours or so. But she'll sleep less in the day... maybe it's also because we have been going out this weekend so there are too many distractions outside for her to want to sleep. What a little kaypoh.

Eating Out

2005-12-24T21:28:00.000-05:00

Lunch at Huey along the Savannah riverfront... The popular restaurant serves Lousiana fare. But baby is just taking apples, cheese and bread =p

The Cardigan Mummy Knitted

2005-12-18T21:21:00.000-05:00

This is baby wearing the cardigan I knitted a few years back for my nephew. Cute?

Yummy yummy

2005-12-16T10:28:00.000-05:00

Baby just started eating chicken this week. She's not that fond of fish or chicken or cottage cheese - prefer yoghurt or tofu. As for vege, her favourites include carrots, sweet potato, squash, sweet corn. Not that fond of green beans or peas. She likes diced fruits - apples, bananas, grapes - guess it's because they are sweet. I started using commercial jar food, and then I recycled the glass jars by making my own - steam/boil, mash, freeze, heat to eat. Now, I tend to boil when needed since the foods don't have to be that finely mashed, so there's less prep work. Meat can't be cooked in advance anyway. We try to buy organic food when possible, so it's healthier for her - no preservatives or additives.

She's now taking 5 meals a day, 3 of milk, 2 of milk/solid. (This differs from the sample menus we've seen in baby books, but she seems to be growing ok and happy with this arrangement.) We're thinking of gradually shifting her to 3 milk/solid meals a day, weaning her off, and include some finger food and fruit juice. (Do you know what's the difference between adult fruit juice and baby fruit juice, btw?) Maybe she needs to eat more in the day so she can zzz more. She has been sleeping less lately. And she's lazy - doesn't want to feed herself =( At most, feed herself just a few spoonfuls or catapult the food away. But when it's playtime, she's happy to put everything into her own mouth quite accurately. Sigh*

She looks like she's eager to start walking (while holding onto something) soon. She loves to stand by holding anything she can - bed, sofa, laundry basket, toy crate, cha ir, rocker, even the wall and the laundry rack. But maybe because she wants to keep moving, changing her diapers and clothes is a big headache. She keeps rolling over and trying to crawl away, or put up a big struggle when we want to dress her. Anyway, her diaper rash has been quite bad since our Thanksgiving hol, so we now air her butt when she naps. Looking better now.

Baby's Playground

2005-12-14T15:08:00.000-05:00

Her crib is like her safe haven for fun. These days, her curiosity and increased mobility will wreak havoc whenever she is let loose. So we usually leave her in the crib if we need to concentrate on some short task without her crawling over.

But most days, the living room and bedroom are both her playground and she roams from one to the other with consummate ease... so I leave a little crate of toys for her in each room... but she's very good at leaving a trail of mess wherever she goes. And our little budding engineer just loves to go after the electrical wires and laptop and modem - all the forbidden items.

Look at her satisfied look when she manages to stand successfully.

See how straight baby can sit up now.

Dinner At The Old Pinke House

2005-12-14T11:55:00.000-05:00

Had a good dinner at the Old Pinke House at 23 Abercorn Street. The restaurant prides itself in good southern food and hospitality in a quaint heritage house that was built about 200 years ago. I had New York Strip served with onion rings, asparagus and double baked mashed potatoes and chocolate tort (a type of cake apparently) for desert. For drinks, we ordered a 2001 Glass Mountain Merlot. I am not a wine expert but it tastes like a good full body wine and not too sharp or tart. The quality of the food was good, kinda expected from the price they charge.

Below is a picture of us at the restaurant. L to R, Ofer, Saul, Me, Leonard, Arnon.

Daddy is away

2005-12-08T10:46:00.000-05:00

Hubby has been away for a work trip this week, so it's been just baby and me spending a lot of time together. But there was some variety too. Vivian asked us to join the St James nursery childcare session for a couple of hours one morning, so baby got to meet new faces and play with new toys. A couple of the toddlers there adored babies, so they made a lot of fuss over her. We also spent another afternoon with Vivian and Chloe and Lucas, and baby really enjoyed herself there. As usual, she's very well-behaved when she's not at home - seems like she already knows about impression management at such a tender age! Going out now and then makes baby's life more varied, and she also becomes happier at home. And this last week, we've grown closer together from sleeping and playing together too. Now, she'll even crawl towards me or hubby when she wants some attention or some hugs! That's really endearing. And even though she no longer showers strangers with her endearing smiles, she smiles a lot, a lot at us these days =)

Thanksgiving Weekend - Smoky Mountains Day 2

2005-11-26T15:10:00.000-05:00

Spent the 2nd day walking along the Appalachian Trail from the Fontana Dam trail head. The weather was much better and there were less people along this trail. Less scenic, more strenuous but had a good dose of fresh air nonetheless.

This is baby along the steep trail which was rated moderated.
Baby taking a water break.
Wifey and baby with Fontana Dam in the background.

Baby having spa treatment after a long day in the woods.

Thanksgiving Weekend Trip - Smoky Mountains

2005-11-25T15:12:00.000-05:00

A picture of the family on Smoky Mountains at the Roaring Fork Motor Trail.
Along US411. Baby is sleeping in the car. haha

Baby Standing Up!

2005-11-22T22:26:00.000-05:00

Baby can now stand up! A new milestone!

Baby Developmental Update

2005-11-16T14:19:00.000-05:00

As of last visit to the paediatrician (on 7th Nov), Mei Xi is 6.55kg and 24 1'2 " - I suspect she's actually longer than that cos she has suddenly outgrown some of her little onesies. Think she's struggling too much when the nurse measured her. Dr says she has stranger anxiety now, because she screams and screams when a stranger touches her (same thing happened when we were in the grocery store the other day). Just 1, 2 months ago, she was still super-friendly, smiling at random strangers. Luckily she was still ok when we were in Singapore.

Her hair has grown longer already and no longer stands up (unless they get messed up when she sleeps). Hair is thicker too, so gets sweaty when she cries.
She doesn't bother to feed herself anymore these days. Unless is rice cracker (finger food). Don't know when she'll feed herself, but at the moment, meal times are relatively clean and tidy, so that's good too.
She can sit very well now, very straight when unsupported. Can also get herself into a semi-sitting position from a tummy position. Every day, she goes into the yoga downward dog position - body supported by all 4 limbs touching ground, as though she's trying to stand. Actually, she seems to be able to stand for a while when unsupported - haven't tested this one much since supposed to lead to bow-leggedness? Anyway, she always tries to stand on the highchair when I put her down to sit. Also looks like she's going to pull herself up to stand soon, at which time we can't let her sleep in the crib anymore.

She still doesn't like changing time, but at least after some 'training', she now only rolls over at most and doesn't crawl away. Just got to distract her, give her a toy, and be quick. That's why very troublesome if need to layer more clothings when weather is cold.
Been trying to her her to suck her thumb less too. Sometimes hold her hand and let her cry a bit to sleep. MH's friend gave Chinese VCDs, so now I recite some of the Tang and Song poems on the VCD we watch to her. I'm alo learning 3 Ji Jing to recite to her cos the words in the booklets are too small for her to see.

Weather's getting cold, so we got her a little red bomber jacket with faux fur lined hood. Very cute. Got red cos bright colour and thought is unisex. Then realise got pink lining inside =p Got her a pair of white mittens too. Think she'll be well-prepared if we go hiking up north during the Thanksgiving weekend.

Happy Birthday To Me

2005-11-13T21:06:00.000-05:00

Celebrated my 28th birthday, 4th birthday with wifey and 1st birthday with baby today. Wifey baked me a yummy chocolate cake. Thanks wifey!
Unfortunately, wifey cant join me in a family photo, so here is baby with me cutting my birthday cake :).

Just Baby

2005-11-12T21:16:00.000-05:00

Baby seems to love rolling around our bed. She loves climbing the mountain of pillows and duvet and sliding down the sheets. It is quite funny really, seeing her scooting around our bed like a little kitten.

This is not of her on our bed but on her mat which is the dedicated clean floor surface for her to crawl around on the floor.

Cry Baby

2005-11-11T21:47:00.000-05:00

Who can be a baby and not cry? Baby went for her immunization and cried / wailed / shrieked she did. She started crying even before her jabs when the alcohol swabs were applied. Here's her in a various crying glory. haha.

Then & Now

2005-11-03T09:43:00.000-05:00

It is always interesting to compare changes. Nobody can resist the winds of time and change, but at the same time, the similarities provides us a link to the past.

This was taken about 30 years ago. My sis and dad.

This was taken a month ago. My baby and dad. Where's Wally, anyone?