Conversation, and Life Lately

In the past few weeks we have been slightly disrupted from our normal routine of life.

It started with Tim getting sick with viral attack. As he was recovering, Shanna fell sick with stomach upsets & fever. After both Shanna and Tim recovered, Shanna's babysitter fell sick and was hospitalized for a week. In the midst of all this, Tim and I were busy getting house cleaning done and baby stuff washing out of the way... oh, by the way, our washing machine 'fell sick' too, thankfully it was repairable by the technician (I truly felt handicapped without it). With the lack of rest (due also to midnight wakings to the loo, besides checking on the sick kid), coupled with the weather changes, it became my turn to get sick with cough this week.

I think, for the month of November, I ended up staying home more than going to the office. Our home internet usage skyrocketed :P

Despite the sick bug, we are all in good cheer and grateful for all that we have :) For our happy little family, for understanding boss at work, for Christmas that is coming with the reminder of how much God loves us. Shanna especially is ever cheerful and talkative, the blessedness of being a 2 year old! Teaching her about God is so fun and interesting.

This is one conversation we had when we were out in the car one rainy evening.

Shanna: "Mummy, the cow is out in the rain!"
Mummy: "Yes, poor cow. Is it all wet?"
Shanna: " Yes."
Mummy (trying to make an educational point): "Shanna, Daddy & Mummy have a home to stay in, so we don't have to stay out in the rain and get wet like the poor cow. Who gave us our home?"
Shanna: "Jesus."
Mummy: "Yes, Jesus gave us our home, our food, clothes..."
Shanna: "Books, toys, bed...."
Mummy: "You are right. Jesus takes care of us."
Shanna: "Jesus did not take care of the cow."
Mummy (after being tongue tied for a minute): " Jesus takes care of the cow too. See, the cow has a lot of grass to eat, and the cow is alright in the rain. Jesus knows the cow will be alright."
Shanna (solemnly repeats) : "Jesus knows..."

Shanna had been learning through reading some books that she should 'look right, look left, then look right again, and then raise her hand and cross the road when there are no cars'. Without fail, she raises her hand each time she crosses a road, it's quite an amusing sight :)

Since we are on the subject of cows, one morning Shanna saw a calf beside the road.

Shanna: " Mummy, there is a calf beside the road."
Mummy: "Yeah. Uh oh, what is it doing beside the road?"
Shanna: "The calf didn't raise it's foot?"
Mummy: "Oh, you are right. Should the calf raise it's foot?"
Shanna: "Yes? Naughty calf."

Conclusion, there is relatively quite a large number of cows in Penang.


~ Audrey

my first ever orange butter cake muahahaha....

looks good... tastes good, according to my 2 girls at home :)

first attempt... not bad lah.. :)

4 ounces of flour

4 ounces of butter

2 ounces of sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon of baking powder (too little if with one orange juice)

one fresh orange

:D

tim

Latest Me

My babysitter Ah Mah was hospitalized for almost 1 week after she ate some Chinese medicine from China which caused her to vomit and have bad gastric. During this week, I stayed home with Mummy. Mummy and I had great fun everyday and I was a very happy and contented little girl. It was a little tiring for Mummy with her big belly, and having to work 2 jobs, taking care of me and office work… Mummy lost weight this week, but I gained back some weight I lost when I was unwell last week. After the week spent with Mummy, I have grown much attached to Mummy, I want Mummy to play with me, Mummy to bathe me, Mummy to talk to me, etc.

The ends of my hair were dry and needed a trim, initially Mummy thought to take me to the hairdresser since she wanted 2-3 inches cut off, but since Mummy and I had so much time together, Mummy decided to give me a hair cut herself. I don’t like having my hair cut because the hair would fall all on me and I’m very particular about being ‘clean’. Mummy managed to persuade me to sit and play with some water & toys while she hurried with the cutting, big belly in the way and all. So, what do you think of the outcome?

~ ShannaLYY

And he shall be called 利恒恺

we need to record down this baby's name somewhere so we chose our blog for it. parents with a kiddo at home tend to be forgetful at time :)

i know it's not an easy word to pronounce especially the last word. :) any guess? i myself seeing it for the first time also :)

the meaning of the name is forever happy :)

:)

D&M

Favorite Rewards System

I love getting freebies! Doesn't everyone? ;)

This is not an advertisement, more like a sharing... over time I have gotten some good free stuff with my Citibank credit card point rewards.

The best thing about Citibank points is they never expire, as long as the card is not cancelled. If the credit card is upgraded, the points are all carried forward. Because of this feature, I was able to accumulate more points over time to redeem good stuff instead of misc items.

What I have redeemed in past years of being a Citibank card user as following:


Princess Combi 5 piece cooking set

Panasonic Stand Fan x2 (we got 2 for different rooms)

La gourmet 1.5L Wonder Thermal Cooker (so useful for cooking 1 person's portion - mainly used for Shanna)

Latest redemption is an Anshin Stainless Steel 1.8L Rice Cooker/Steamer

The redemption process is very fast and easy. Starting with logging on to Citibank online website, where my points balance shows up. Then I browse and select the item to redeem, key in my shipping address, then that's all done. Usually 2 days later, the redeemed product arrives at my house usually via Citilink courier service. The whole process does not cost me any $$ and most impressive is the speed of the redeemed item arriving in my hands from the time I initiate the redemption.

We are not heavy credit card users by the way, in case you were wondering. Most points are accumulated with biz/personal travel-related expenses.

I guess with the good rewards system, and also the fact that I was never charged any credit card fees, I will continue to waive off all other credit card sales people that come my way at shopping malls ;)

~ Audrey

I Am Unwell

I have been unwell since last Saturday. After waking up from my afternoon nap, I kept throwing up, emptying my stomach of everything, including water. I also refused to eat and was running a slight fever. It was late and on a Saturday, so D&M brought me to a GP clinic where I got some anti-vomit medicine. I was scared to see the doctor (trauma from the past?), and was trembling and Mummy could feel my galloping heart beat. Still I was brave and did not cry.

I have been sick now for a few days. The vommiting is not so severe now but I refuse to eat any food. I still drink water. I still have fever in the 38dC range, and my running nose mucus has turned yellow-green. So today, D&M brought me to the paed. I was crying refusing food/throwing up medicine when Daddy picked me up from my babysitter's.

Even though I'm sick, I am still quite active, and I had a great play time at the hospital waiting room when waiting to see Dr. I also ate toast bread that Daddy bought for me. When in Dr's clinic, I said "Are you (I) scared?", Mummy & Dr both said "No, you are brave". I think so too, I held steady and let doctor check me all over... while clinging on to Mummy. Doctor told D&M that my stomach is making a lot of noise, while my ears have early signs of redness and also in my throat. These signs are not conclusive to what I'm down with exactly but I need to take antibiotics and a bunch of other medicine for running nose, fever, anti-vomit.

Guess what, I gave my babysitter a very hard time today, refusing medicine even though being offered (or bribed?) with sweets, and also refusing to eat. But when I got home, I ate all my medicines without any fuss, and also ate some bread and rice with vege/meat. D&M thinks I'm being a bully at my babysitter's house, poor Ah Mah.

D&M are praying the fever will go away soon, if not I will need a blood test in a couple of days' time. I'm so skinny now! I hope to get well soon too!

~ ShannaLYY

Latest Additions to The Walls, House (We're Blessed)

What do I do with the limited energy I have nowadays? Besides cleaning and organizing the cupboards/shelves in the whole house, getting hubby's help to rearrange some furniture, spending quality time with family, catching up with baby/parenthood-related reading (to remind myself on what the experts say about taking care of a baby), shopping for baby & my post-maternity self (can't resist some good deals in clothes), etc... I've continued working on DIY wall hangings inspired by Pinterest.

Here are some of the latest:

Father & daughter handprints - done on hubby's birthday to commemorate the day, and also before Shanna's hand gets too big :)

Whale picture for the little boy's room. Thanks to hubby, who made it possible by helping to find the blank canvas' at the most unlikely place - Daiso.

Our little apartment seems to be getting smaller all the time, especially with the additions of a deep freezer and a dryer. The deep freezer was purchased 2nd hand (6 months old usage) from another Intel mom who used it for milk storage. Me, I plan to use it for confinement food storage over Chinese New Year, and also for the milk assuming I have extra supply next time. For now, the freezer serves to encourage us to buy, store and eat more ice cream :P

The dryer has proven very useful as well, with the unpredictable weather nowadays. And I am happy that the clothes coming out from the dryer are so soft and unwrinkled that it saves me some ironing work :) Thinking ahead, hoping it will save me some time spent on hanging out to dry the 1001 little baby clothing pieces when the little one arrives.

Anything that will save us time and doing chores easier is welcomed now and even more so when #2 comes. We expect busy & tired days ahead, but know it will also be rewarding, and somehow with God's help we will make it through.

A reminder of how blessed we already are came when we had this conversation with our babysitter:

T&A: "Aunty, when we bring the second one to you next year for babysitting, how much you want us to pay ar?"

Babysitter: "Har? Aiyo, no need la."

T&A: "What do you mean no need, Aunty? We must pay you for helping us take care of 2 children."

Babysitter: "Just the same pay is ok... it's not important, most important is I'm happy with the children around, ok?"

T&A: "Cannot la Aunty, we must pay you for your efforts & time, is xxx enough? Maybe you can ask around for the normal rates and let us know who much you want us to pay?"

Babysitter: " Har? No need so much la, it's ok la..."

Ends up that probably hubby and I need to decide how much to give our dear babysitter, who has been so good to Shanna and us. We don't feel deserving, but thank God for His blessing.

~ Audrey

our little artist at home

our princess jumping with joy

she loves playing piano especially on the songs that she knows...

she loves painting and loves mixing colors .... and ended something like this

can you see any caterpillars in the drawing? *hint: suppose to have 2

:D

tim