Monthly Archives: August 2009

Eat your chocolate!

Posted by Misty Mom on 31/08/2009 1 comments

How often have you said this to your child? I think most modern parents would never even have thought to say it let alone find out that some crazy parents actually do say it. We do. :D

Like I’ve mentioned a million times before, meal times can and most of the time, be a very difficult time and perhaps the person most stressed out is me. I know that Arianna won’t starve to death overnight if she doesnt eat well for one meal but I could swear blind that she could well come up with the best weight loss supplement one day! *lol* :P She’s quite happy with having just pita or naan bread with butter and jam. Sometimes just fruits like strawberries and banana would put a smile on her face.

She’s not really a meat person just yet and apparently this is taking after her father who wasn’t one when he was growing up either so I’m taking that as a sort of consolation that I ain’t that bad a mum if she doesn’t want to eat meat. Anyway, dinner tonight was quite funny :

Daddy : Clever girl! Finish your corn and then we’ll have a bath…
Arianna : Bath bath, bath bath!
Daddy : Yea, finish up and then we’ll go.
*While I was washing up, he comes and whispers to me asking if we should give her a piece of chocolate, which was fine by me. So after she was done with the corn cob, he handed her a piece of choc.*
Daddy : Here you go, Cheeky…
Arianna : Oooo…choc! *grins cheekily but doesn’t eat it at all but just holds it with her fingers for a good 5 minutes without even tasting it*
Daddy : Eat you chocolate so we can go have your bath!
Arianna : OK!!

And she did…and once she was done, she concluded with a ‘Habis’. :) And was taken away to have her bath.

Ps. I do believe that this child likes bitter stuff – dark choc and I’m talking the higher intensity dark choc that even I can’t eat, marmalade which is also something I don’t like and [sinfully and not my fault at all but daddy tends to let her have the last tiny sip from his mug every now n then] coffee. Is this normal??

OMG, she’s rolled over!!

Posted by Misty Mom on 26/08/2009 1 comments

I was talking to Mummy a few days ago and I told her that KR has been trying to roll over for some time now and I expected her to completely roll over within a few weeks. The little one totally took me by surprised when she did it TODAY! :D

It was just after lunch and she was on the rug playing and trying to roll over when I thought that I should be close by, just in case you know? And whaddaya know…she rolled over!! After several attempts of course, thankfully I had the camera on hand so I got it on video. YAY!!! Will post it up later today…

My little baby is growing up so fast la. Just 2 days shy of turning 4 months…really beat Arianna flat! Arianna turned over when she was more than 7 months old. Really makes me think what other surprises are in store for us! ;)

“Baby cry….”

Posted by Misty Mom on 25/08/2009 1 comments

About a post or 2 ago, I mentioned that Arianna has been really going off on her vocab and I am actually quite thrilled about it. ;) One of those things that I like about her expanded vocab is the fact that she can now come and tell me if KR is awake and crying ["Baby cry, baby cry..."] since I have been hard of hearing lately. Blardy cold clogged up everything and since then, my hearing has been really bad! It’s just terrible…

It actually reminded me of the time I was still working in a local education centre and I was in charged of processing the enrolment fees. We had this system up and running but unlike the more modern and new POS systems, this was an old one and so ancient! And every now and then, it would beep for the credit card to be swiped. But somehow I couldn’t hear it and my boss would be the one to prompt me about it. lol I can still ‘hear’ him telling me about the beep! So funny….

Anyway, the other newest thing is that she has been repeating what I say so a few days ago after getting KR from bed – she had woken up crying, I walked out of the room and told Arianna while patting Kr, “Poor baby…., poor baby”. And what does she say? “Oo baby, oo baby”! Omg…it was just hilarious!! I wished I had it on tape….

So now, everytime I say ‘Poor baby’ she repeats me with ‘Oo baby’. Such a funny girl!

You can have mine…

Posted by Misty Mom on 25/08/2009 None comments

I guess I’ve taken a lot of things that my parents have done for me, for granted. I’ve never taken much notice of the action, love and sacrifices that they have done for me until I had kids of my own.

I know that in theory [before I had kids that is], it is a norm for parents to sacrifice for their children. They do the best they can for their kids and they do it so that the kids will have a better life. But knowing is very much different that living it out. Perhaps we were all born with the ‘On’ button when one becomes a parent, be it a father or mother. And this ‘on’ button that I speak of is when you become selfless where your children are concerned.

Take one of the most simple things that is also one of the most obvious, in my case that is, food. I’ve been a lover of food for as long as I can remember and food is something that my mum was very good at. In fact, she is the perfect all-rounder mum. She a superb cook and a mighty great seamstress too. Sadly, I can sew better than I can cook! :P Anyway, it was only a week or 2 ago that I realised that even till today she is still sacrificing for me.

I remember so clearly all those times when there was something on the plate which I liked but because there wasn’t enough and I had had my share, she would still ask me to take it although I’m sure that she would have also enjoyed it too if it wasn’t something that I was nuts about. It may be a small sacrifice but it is one nevertheless. And I found myself doing this exact thing too! We were all having dinner and I had baked the garlic bread coz Arianna likes it. There was definitely enough for 3 including Arianna but because she was enjoying so much, I told Ted to give her my share because I was just glad that she was eating something. She can be fussy and picky sometimes.

And then it struck me once again, that she still does it today. She would let me have whatever it was we were enjoying and she would do without. And this is just a small sacrifice compared to all the big ones that she has done. In my opinion, she is and will always be Mother of the Year, to me.

That said, I can’t help but note that there must be some sort of invisible pre-pregnancy contract that women are not make aware of but have been subsconciously and silently agreed to….ever notice how you don’t really ‘eat’ your food these days? You actually tend to just swallow? And how it is a luxury to have a 10 minute shower instead of just a duck under the shower head and be wet enough to wash the crap out of your eyes? And more importantly….the ability to actually poo in peace??

I haven’t done any of these in a long time and might I add that I had a REALLY good nap day before yesterday and I can’t even remember when I actually had a chance to take an afternoon nap – something that actually lasted for like 3 hours!!! Pure bliss…. :D

“Choochoochugachugacarcarcar”

Posted by Misty Mom on 21/08/2009 2 comments

THAT…is actually, “Toot toot, chugga chugga, Big Red Car”, which is the song title to one of the Wiggles DVDs called as mentioned. But because Arianna is such a fan and she gets absolutely excited when the tv is switched on that she goes into this frenzy of just joining up words and spitting them out like a player on fast forward. It’s hilarious! I wished I had it on vid but I don’t. However, I should really try and get it on vid coz it’s really cute! *lol*

That said, I may have mentioned this, o..I don’t know, maybe about a million times since Arianna hit 1 year old that I was concern about her speech. She was late in almost everything from rolling over to walking and even talking. But MIL and Mum have always assured me that whatever she’s been hearing and listening to, silently picking up words and storing it in her mind, will one day come out in a mad rush. And I think that day is rather close at hand.

She has surprised me more than once when she actually mutters words that I’ve not really taught her and more shocking is that she can understand so much more than I thought! I have really set my expectation of her too low. These days, she is fast to pick up words that I’ve mentioned to her and it’s really something, at least to me she is.

Here are some of the things which she’s since talked about :

Me : Arianna, come we go wash clothes. [This was the first time I actually included her setting up the machine so she had no idea what I meant].
Arianna : wach clooth…wach clooth
Me : Yup, we going to wash clothes now. [I set up the soap and dial and what not, and get her to press 'Start'.]
Me : Ok, press here…press hard, ok? [Takes her finger n puts it on the button]
Arianna : Wach clooth…[while pressing button and when it starts]…wooo, habis, habis!
Me : YAY!!! Clever girl…. [She claps her hands, very proud]
And as we walk out she still continues saying it and does so throughout the day.

The next morning, open eyes and said, ‘Wach clooth! Wach clooth!’ and thankfully I had planned to so we did the same thing. After a few days, she was bratty and whinging so I told her at night as she went to bed, that we’d wash clothes in the morning. And what do you know? That child has an elephant’s memory and when she sees me coming in the room….’WACH CLOOTH!!! WACH CLOOTH!!’. Aiyo…suey mouth me….promised her but it was meant to be an empty promise coz I didn’t really have a full load to wash. Mana tau she remembered so I ended up washing stuff that didn’t really need washing just to make up the load. So now I have a cronic loves laundry washing child…

Some of the other things which she has since picked up is ‘Ta!’ which is thank you and this is after dunno how long I’ve been trying to get her to say it; ‘G’day’ is your typical Aussie greeting; ‘Habis’ is finished of course; ‘Go! Go!’ with reference to Sportacus from Lazytown, number 1-10, ‘Byebye’, ‘See you!’, ‘Jesus’ and ‘more please’. But her ‘please’ sound like ‘paeing’. *lol* She knows a lot of animals and a few alphabets but that’s about it. O and the more recent of course is ‘Where is it/he?’ when I ask her where her Bear is or where is Daddy. She tends to repeat the question back to me instead of answering it. Smart girl…. ;) It may not be much but its a start to adding on her vocab…o, ya, ‘poo’ is also in. :D As long as she’s started, I’m ok with that.

More traffic please?

Posted by Misty Mom on 20/08/2009 None comments

I think that needless to say, many bloggers out there are blogging for the sake of making money which in my honest opinion is fine. After all, it is a source of income and if you can make money while doing something you like…life can’t really get any better right?

There are many ways out there to earn an income using your blog. Other than making your blog unique, one needs to generate traffic so that it is attractive to advertisers AND your page rank will go up. But getting traffic is sometimes not easy unless perhaps you get a SEO consultant to help you but why pay them when you can join a free web directory and get what you want for free…you need to spend money at all. Good right? ;)

Rolling over already??

Posted by Misty Mom on 17/08/2009 3 comments

By the end of this month, KR will have turn 4 months. I scarce to think where the time has flown. I say this so many times that perhaps I should get it recorded and then just play it back whenever I think it. Heck, I think I will also permanently CNP it as well! ;)

About 2 weeks ago [when I should have blogged about it but didn't], I put KR on her baby gym on the floor like I usually do and went about doing my own things. Come to think of it, I should have been doing something that could help me lose belly fat instead of just mooching around the house! After all, that is one of the main problem areas if you want to lose fat but what did I end up doing? Well, I left her on the floor and went to sew instead. Hehehe…yes, I abandoned her for a bit and she was in plain sight so she knew that I was just nearby and that I didn’t really just dump her there.

So off she went, chattering and gurgling away like the happy baby she is and then I heard this straining noise coming from her and lo, behold….someone was on her side, head tilted back and trying to turn over!!!! My heart skipped a beat coz I did not expect that at all. Arianna only turned at 6 months and at that point, KR was just 3 mths!! What’s happening???

Apparently, its quite a norm for babies to turn over at that age so I’m the one who is not in touch with this whole turning thing. In any case, I am impresses but at the same time, turning over faster only means that she is growing up faster as well. It is also the norm for second children to pick up things faster and seeing that KR is SUCH a chatter box, I can foresee her babbling away a lot earlier too. Aiyo, one chatterbox not enough….soon there will be 2! *lol* But you gotta admit though that kids chattering away is really something really nice to listen to although for most of the part, I can’t understand a single thing Arianna says! *lol*

Blessed in more ways than 1

Posted by Misty Mom on 10/08/2009 None comments

I don’t consider myself lucky when I hear how other mothers [mostly friends and relatives] tell me about their first time mom experiences and how they were not coping very well with the new baby because I never really had any problems at all. I count myself very blessed and touched by God’s graces that I didn’t have to suffer postnatal depression or baby blues as some might call it, and I also didn’t have any major issues with breastfeeding either.

When I hear about people expressing how tough it was coping, I can only lend an ear and a shoulder to cry on because I can’t really share my experience or say, ‘I know what you’re going through’, because I never did have to go through all that ‘suffering’. I still remember it so clearly, while I was still in hospital. We were asked to come into the the nursery at least once a day to get the baby checked and temperature monitored and everytime I was there, there was this one day who would be there feeding her baby boy.

I used to think that big boobs = lotsa of milk hence it would be easy to feed the baby but this incident proved me wrong. This lady had really huge boobs and her milk had already come in but somehow her baby wasn’t latching on properly and she was suffering from all sorts of pain from the engorging breasts [milk would literally be dripping down and she would have a towel to soak it up - poor thing!], to sore nipples from having trouble latching on to the most obvious, after birth pains of course. My heart really went out to her but there was nothing anyone could do accept encourage to persevere and I can tell you that she is one very relentless person though. Despite all this, she refused to pump and bottle feed her baby with breast milk.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but in my honest one, she should have just pumped and given it to the baby. Why make both parties suffer like that, right? Anyway, it was definitely trying times for her and I hope that she has pulled through. When I think back, I can’t think of a time where I felt like giving up, perhaps for a fleeting moment when I couldn’t get Arianna to latch on but once I knew how, everything was great. I really, honestly, had no troubles at all.

So although I may not be blessed with material riches, or a fancy Ferrari, let alone Ferrari parts, I have been blessed in more ways than I can imagine and truthfully, that is what is most important. :)

Is it really worth it?

Posted by Misty Mom on 09/08/2009 None comments

We were driving past this car last week and it had a shattered window on the drivers side. I shook my head as I told Ted about what I saw. I told him that I was pretty sure that that was no accident because of how the damage looked. He said that with so many silly people out there who think it’s funny to throw rocks at moving car below, he wouldn’t have been surprised if this driver was one of the victims.

And I guess I have to admit that this is quite possible as well. One such victim was this girl who got injured really badly and was in coma in the hospital for months and they didn’t think she’d make it because it was a serious head injury caused by a rock being thrown from an overhead bridge that the car was driving under. And this poor girl had just celebrated something big, if I remember correctly. How sad is that??

But that said, my first thought could also be the reason why that screen was smashed….thieves. Yup, thieves stealing Mp3 players from the car. Almost everyone I know [except us] owns an MP3 player and with all these compatible docks that you can just plugin, it really makes it so easy to have your own and listen to the things that you want to instead of depending on the radio.

But it would have been a really bad thing if the hoodlums had gone through all that trouble to only find out that there’s nothing there to take. That would have been a real waste of time and not to mention a huge dent in the pocket for the owner of the car. But one can hope that nothing was lost. And for those you do plug in your MP3 players in the car…perhaps it would be wise to remove all traces that you actually own an MP3 player that plugins in the car. After all, prevention is always the better solution.

An absolute telly nutter

Posted by Misty Mom on 09/08/2009 2 comments

I don’t know about you but I find that the only way I can get Arianna to focus and occupied long enough for me to do some of the household chores is to let her watch tv. I know that to many parents this is a big no-no and I have to agree too. But somehow, I feel that I am not creative enough to come up with things to do or activities to keep her attention long enough.

Some of the things that I’ve tried is giving her a pen and paper to doodle while I tried to sew. But I ended up spending more time picking the pen up and getting her to draw. Bizarre right? Most kids would be so occupied with the pen and paper to want to do anything else! Then I tried luring her with books which she has tonnes of and praise God that worked. That girl loves books a LOT. Mum says that we are blessed to have her so interested in books so I’m happy with that BUT it’s something that I’d have to be there for coz she turns to me for support and encourage, as well acknowledgement that she is doing something right. *sigh* So I am in a tough spot….a predicament that I could really do without.

Even though we don’t own a huge HDTV, our tiny tv does the trick. She is an absolute Wiggles fan and I have to say that she can watch them for hours if I let her. I really cannot imagine how she’d be if we did have our own HDTV….*shudders*