Counting down to CNY 2010

Joy-Anne has been practising....

wishful thinking

Today, I was talking to a friend whom I hadn't been in touch with for a while.

An orthodontist now after spending a few years in the UK, she's also divorced and single again.

When I hear of my peers and even juniors going overseas to for further studies to be specialists, I sometimes feel a tinge of regret.

Maybe it's just the travel bug in me.

Should I have taken up that offer to fly with SIA, how different my life would be today.

Then I hear the sweetest voice calling "Mummyyyyyyy" and I snap back into reality.

Nope, I'm thankful for what I have. I wouldn't trade my wonderful husband and kids for another degree or free travel around the world. I'm happy washing butts and picking up toys. Stretch marks, a flabby tummy and droppy boobs are ok.

My husband said he'll still love me even if I weigh 300lbs. (I asked him this while watching The Biggest Loser)

toilet-training the princess

Joy-Anne had her first diaper-free outing last night. We went out to church for prayer meeting, and we brought her potty along. I'm glad to say we had no accidents, and the church carpet has no pee!

We have made progress in the past 10 days. She is diaperless during the day (except for naptime) and we have had no accidents. In fact, there have been a couple of times when we forgot to sit her on the potty and she held it in while calling for Nana to get the potty.

She's two years and two weeks old. Not too bad, I think.

Mama's birthday

I turned 26 yesterday.

Haha! In my dreams ...maybe. So Joseph made a crown for me and made me wear it.

I awoke to hugs and kisses from the kids. Did some lauundry and ironing and then hit the gym before we went out to church at about 12noon.

After church, we went to The Chicken Rice shop at The Sphere for dinner. With some complimentary vouchers, we each had the set for only RM5.

This morning, we were in church again before 9am because I had Little Lamb duty.

this is how helpful Joe carries the baby chair

We then went to The Inn of Four Seasons (chinese restaurant) at Holiday Villa for dim sum buffet brunch.

My in-laws joined us for brunch - 50% discount with Citibank credit card.

I had a good afternoon nap after the sumptuous meal. In the evening, my darling went out to to bring back a slice of cake from Secret Recipe. I had told him not to bother with a cake but I guess he didn't listen.

So I assembled it with portions of the cheesecake that a friend so kindly baked for me and surprised me with at Little Lamb this morning.

Birthdays are like pit stops along the road of life. We stop, look back, give thanks. Then look ahead and continue the race. I'm so thankful for all that God has blessed me with. And I believe God is waiting to bless even more.

This is going to be a wonderful year.

We need to stretch our faith.

Move out of our comfort zone.

Believe He is going to do wonders!

The best is yet to come!

Father and Son time at Ikea

Daalin brought Joseph out to Ikea for father-and-son-time yesterday. We usually let him pick where he wants to go. Sometimes it's Midvalley, sometimes it Sunway Pyramid, but yesterday he picked Ikea.
He went to Smaland by himself. Now that he's older, he's no longer afraid to go all by himself.

They had dinner at Ikea. Joseph said it was a yummy buffet.

I've no idea what else they did but Joseph came home a very happy boy.

Before going to bed, he prayed and thanked God for a wonderful father-and-son-time. I'm glad that Daalin picked up this habit from Pastor Chris Kam who takes each of his 3 sons out once a week, one-on-one. Despite his busy schedule, he sets time aside for his 3 sons. Now that the eldest is in his late teens, he still tells his father everything.

I hope Joseph will also grow up to be close to us, and will be able to confide in us. Just this few days, had a few 'chats'. He tells me about his day in school, what he learns, where he goes and what he does. And then he will ask me about my day.

I'm sure this is what God desires of us....to spend time with Him and chat. Parenting gives me so much insight into the Father Heart of God.

Wings that don't fly

I can't quite remember what I said that made Joseph say he wanted aeroplane wings. I lose a bit of brain cells and memory with each pregnancy.

Nope, this ain't the wings. Just some Tupperware toys that we brought back from Penang. I played with them as a child. They are no more in production I believe.

So anyway, I opened up the cardboard box that was still lying around the house, cut some wing shapes, poked holes and tied an elastic. Initially I remarked that Joseph look like he was carrying a cross - like Jesus. It made him cross!

Then Joy-Anne exclaimed she wanted butterfly wings.

Ahh....now I recall. Joy-Anne started this whole wing thing. She took a big hard-cover book, put it to her back and said, "I'm a butterfly!" So I told her I would make butterfly wings for her and that's when Joseph eavesdropped and said he wanted aeroplane wings.

So mummy got busy and started cutting out wings. And here's my singing butterfly...

Too much cuteness

Now that my princess is 2 years old, she is just overflowing with cuteness! She obeys instructions to pose...

She says things like," I rest a while".

She occasionally lets me tie her hair...

I can't stop wanting to pinch her cheeks and slobber her with kisses!

She puts her fingers to her cheek when we tell her to make a cute face...

And she also wants to do everything by herself. When we want to brush her teeth, she says, "I do by myself."

When I want to dress her, she pulls her pants away and says, "I do by myself." And she really can put it on all by herself!

Now that she complys to sit on the potty, she will even tell me "take my photo!"

The past few nights, she wakes up in the middle of the night, stares at me and calls "mummy...." in the sweetest cutest voice. In the still of the night, it is absolutely the sweetest sound on earth.

If babies are all this cute, I wouldn't mind having a few more :-)

85 Blessed Years

Today, 21 January 2010 is my grandmother's 85th birthday. Since 4 months ago, I had been planning on doing something special and meaningful for her. So last weekend, we travelled up to Penang to have an early surprise celebration for her.

Of course the easier option would be to have her come to KL and have dinner at some restaurant. But I decided it would be more meaningful if we all went back to Penang, where she is currently living and is most happy, to have a celebration with her friends.

We had the celebration after the MSF (Methodist Senior Fellowship) meeting on Saturday. I did a short sharing with Reuben doing a 'magic' trick for visual illustration, simultaneously.



My grandmother was pleasantly surprised. She had already suspected something was going on (even though I told her we were back to celebrate Joy's birthday) but did not at all suspect the sharing which she found very meaningful.

85 years is a long time to live. We're blessed that she is in very good health. Except for her limp (due to a hit-and-run-accident in 1991), she is free of illnesses. If you knew that she eats chicken skin and adds tonnes of sugar to her coffee and milo, you'll be surprised she is so healthy. Indeed, she does not have a hint of diabetes, hypertension, high cholestrol etc.

Because she loves cheesecake, I got her a huge very yummy trifle cheesecake for her birthday. It's 12" x 12", weighs about 5.5kg and costs RM150.

After we sang "Happy Birthday", she told everyone, with a huge smile on her face, "I love cheesecake!"

It's a pity I have never really lived with her to get to know her better. In fact, I never knew she liked pizza and satay until a few weeks ago! She's a small eater. So she completely surprised us when she downed a huge piece of pizza (besides other food) during our Christmas dinner and 13 sticks of satay at another dinner earlier this month. And all this while I thought she liked bread!

I thank God for a wonderful grandmother who is so faithful in her walk with the Lord. True to Deuteronomy 7:9, we are blessed because of her.

I also did a photobook for my grandmother as a birthday present. She absolutely loves it. The look of delight and surprise on her face as she flipped through the pages was worth all the time, effort and every sen of the RM84.80 that I spent on the book. Because she has been moaning about how she's lost all her precious old photos, I took the trouble to dig out what I could find (on my last trip back to Penang) and compile it into a photobook. I know she treasures this collection of photos dearly.

(Don't know why blogger rotates my photos...you'll have to rotate your head.)

She's bringing this book everywhere to show off to all her friends.

85 years summed up in 40 pages.

I'm happy to know that she's happy in her old age. Just last month, she told me she was glad that we remember and include her in our plans.

We live in the 21st century. Limited mobility is not a valid excuse to leave an old woman cooped up at home all the time.

She rarely gets to go out because of her limited mobility. So when she was staying with me in KL for 2 weeks over Christmas, I dedicated an entire morning to take her shopping. It meant leaving my own 2 kids at home so that I could push her in a wheelchair all over Midvalley Megamall.

Deutoronomy 5:16 says "Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you."

Blessed 85th Birthday Ah Mah!

sling baby, sling.

Tomorrow is the last day for our church 21-day fast and prayer. We've been going to church every morning at 5am! And this is how I carry Joy there.... ...sleeping in my sarong sling. I still have hands free to switch off the lights and lock the door while Daalin carries Joseph (with both hands coz he's 20kg!).

I've had this sarong sling since Joseph was born.

Joseph as a newborn in the sling

I think it's one of the best baby gear I've bought. It keeps baby away from prying fingers, and close and comfy to me.

Joseph at 13 months

When baby is not in the sling, it's also a very useful canopy to keep the bright lights out. (My kids love sleeping in complete darkness! Joe complains if it's not dark enough.)

It doubles up as a shawl to keep warm (in our very cold auditorium in church) when I forget to bring a cardigan.

I've also used it to breastfeed, while walking around shopping malls. It's a life-saver because my babies take a long time to feed. With the sling (and nursing wear), people think baby is sleeping when they are actually feeding.

Besides that, I just love the feeling of closeness with baby and also smelling their hair and the salty smell of sweat around their neck.

At almost 5 years old and 20kg, I can still carry Joseph in the sarong. Even with frequent washing, the cotton is very durable. There are much more choices in the market now in terms of brands, material and designs, compared to 5 years ago. I will certainly miss slinging my babies when they really outgrow the sling.

Joy-Anne's 2nd birthday celebration

We had a very very simple impromptu celebration for Joy-Anne. With WeeLyn's recommendation, we ordered food (more like WeeLyn ordered food) from this lady who runs a home business. We had curry chicken, fried noodles, belacan fried rice and the birthday cake from her. My mum made coleslaw and prepared some sausages. Curry puffs and popiah courtesy of WeeLyn and Tairven who also very kindly let us use their premises and took photographs.

Chan family photo - minus yeeyee and yeeteow on the otherside of the planet

I bought water guns to keep the kids entertained.

Joy played hide and seek with Kim Kim.

She took a strong liking to Kim Kim during this trip to Penang.

Joseph also expressed that he likes Kim Kim because "she's pretty". When I told him that he should tell her if he likes her, he said, "But....she's Ah Ku's wife."

I think he just has a liking for pretty girls.

After dinner, Ah Ku entertained the kids and adults with some tricks.

I guess it's a priviledge to be related to a clown. You get a lifetime supply of entertainment. Simple as it was, we had a good time of food, fellowship and fun. Good friends are such a blessing to have.

Joy will have another (joint-)celebration with Ah Mah and Ah Kong later this month when we celebrate mama's birthday. Two celebrations for a two-year-old-girl!