Monthly Archives: December 2009

2009 came and went….

Posted by Misty Mom on 31/12/2009 None comments

It’s now 11.12pm as I’m typing this post so it’s still a valid 2009 post. :) Who would have thought that 2009 would pass by so quickly, eh? Well, it has and now, like it or not 2010 will soon dawn on me in less than 1 hour.

For many years, NY has been just like any other day. Back home, we used to just open a bottle of liquor and drink ourselves [Mummy, Sis and I] silly after mass unless we were at a family party. I dare say that I have not celebrated NY outside my home like at a club or anything like that. And even if I have, perhaps it was just that once and I thought to myself, ‘Never again!’. *lol* There are many reasons why I prefer to stay indoors on Christmas/NY and all that. It’s simply because everything is ridiculously priced, superbly overcrowded and you can expect more drunk driving and road rage, as well as incrowd fighting. Of course these are all club related but then again, if you’re not home, then one would probably be out partying right?

I can’t blame age for this for I’ve felt this way for a long time. In fact, during my clubbing days, I used to go on Fridays because I hated the Saturday crowd. I went clubbing coz I love dancing and you can really dance as much as you want on Saturdays coz it’s super jammed packed! Friends always made me go on Saturdays but nup, Friday was my night out. :) I used to go after choir practice. *lol* Talk about a superb balance of partying and praying eh?

Ok, enough carrying on like an old lady. So what has 2009 been like for me? To be honest, most of it is pretty much a blur. After we got back from Malaysia after Christmas 2008, we were mostly just waiting for KR to arrive. I guess, the most exciting thing that happened to us was the arrival of Kathleen-Rose on 28/4. And perhaps the beginning of my current madness passion, sewing which began somewhere in February coz Ted bought me the sewing machine for Valentine’s Day. Talk about romantic presents eh? :P

And after that, it was just one day at a time. There were several other issues that need not be talked about but other than that, 2009 came and went, just like that. I am definitely looking forward to 2010 simply because we will be heading back home in May! :D What else could be more exciting????

Anyhoo, here’s hoping that 2010 will be more fruitful for you and may you be prosperous, both health and wealth wise. God bless!

Smarter than your average bear!

Posted by Misty Mom on 28/12/2009 None comments

This is pretty much part of MIL’s vocab when it comes to the girls especially Arianna seeing that she’s been picking up a lot lately. There is no doubt that there have been loads of development especially speech wise.

One of the things that Arianna picked since she was a baby was that she always knew which way was right side up when it came to books or our mobiles phones. I don’t if it I was the one who taught her as I don’t remember doing it but she always knew. Even KR is slowly picking up. In fact, KR is already able to slide my phone open! I still remember the time when Arianna sent a mass sms to many people on my phone list using MMS…. >.< You bet my phone bill sky-rocketed that month!

So much for having children who are smarter than your average bear. It also taught me a lesson - Never leave an unlocked phone lying around when Arianna is in the house! :P

Spreading some love

Posted by Misty Mom on 27/12/2009 2 comments

When I see some siblings, I sometimes get a little envious as some can be very loving to their younger siblings, especially Aida’s kids. Ava is such a loving bigger sister to Ben and I always wished that someday I could see that same loving behaviour coming from Arianna to KR.

I guess I can’t complain much these days.

sisterly love
I love how I managed to capture this shot just in time! :)

We don’t get this show of affection from Arianna much so this is ever so precious to me. Her temperament is like a yoyo. One moment she is this absolutely loving sister and the sort of child every parent wished they had and in a blink, she turns into the devil spawn! She can be the absolute terror that every parent is terrified of and the sibling from hell. Sometimes I think if I brought back the right baby or not coz both Ted and I were excellent kids growing up. And when she is in this mood, I need all my sanity to stop myself from selling her off on eBay or just giving her to the gypsies for free.

So because of this, I have to hang on to all those moments where she is the angel and light of my life. Because when she’s in a good mood, it’s just amazing to see how loving she is to KR and continously picking up toys that KR continuously throws about. It’s just amazing…if only it was all the time, but one can dream right? :P

How Christmas went for us

Posted by Misty Mom on 26/12/2009 5 comments

This year, as usual, it was mostly a private family affair. Our usual routine is this : Christmas Eve party at Ted’s friends place, open presents in our own home on Christmas day first thing in the morning, get ready and head over to IL’s and spend the day there.

So this year was no different. Instead of my babbling away how Christmas went, I’ll let the pix do the talking. Note that is mainly a pix post. We didn’t take any pix of the Christmas Eve party so we start of with opening presents at our home.

Christmas morning :

Loving her bear from Godma
Daddy helping Arianna with her presents. Obviously loving her pressent from Godma.

When is it my turn, Daddy??
Is it my turn yet?

Trying to hang on to her pressies
It is! It is!

The after-math
The after-math! We didn’t have time to clean up the mess after opening the present coz everyone was asleep till late. Only I was up at 6.30am to feed KR but as usual, she will go back to sleep after awhile and leave me the only one awake!! :/ Hence, we came home to SUCH a big mess after spending the day at the IL’s…super yuck!

As usual, I got a ton of pressies as well. Mostly were kitchen appliances related and most importantly, Ted got me a radio!!! Yes, I’ve been talking it about for SO long coz our sound system is linked to the PC hence, if I want to listen to CDs, I have to turn the PC on. I thought it was riduculous! Apparently Ted thought it was a hint. lol But it’s all good to me. If only I could get him that led hdtv. Alas, this won’t be happening anytime soon though. Sorry, my love!

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa’s :

1st Christmas with Grandpa
Bonding with Grandpa. From memory, I think I have the same shot as this with Arianna….

Chilling out with her new buddies
Surrounded by her new buddies….

Christmas at Grandma's 2009
One heck of a special pix!!! They have not taken pix together so this is new. But a very GOOD new….

Ginger bread house
The ginger bread house which I don’t have the heart to eat~ Told MIL that I didn’t know where to start and she told me at the back. Why, I’m not sure but I sure as hell don’t want to eat it! Was told to start at the backdoor.

Christmas lunch was great as usual – MIL is a superb cook!!! We had prawns for entree which left me so full but out of respect and appreciation, I finished it. I think if I couldn’t Ted could and would! lol

We literally spent the day there till after dinner time. The girls even had a nice long and comfy nap too – Arianna had like 4 3/4 hrs and KR about 3hrs. And I have no complains about it at all!! Bet they were REALLY pooped from all the excitement. lol Poor little things….

All in all, it was a great day and well spent. Still trying to get over the food though, too much!!!! :P

What gifts should I get for your kids?

Posted by Misty Mom on 26/12/2009 None comments

Arianna’s Godpa who is also my childhood friend from Malaysia, who happens to also be living in Sydney now, called up about 2 weeks before Christmas. He called mainly because he wanted to ask me what he should get Arianna for Christmas. Having no kids of his own, he thought it was best he asked me which I thought was most sensible to do.

So I told him that he could get any sort of educational toys for Arianna like puzzles and books, although she already has a lot of books. This is mainly because I don’t really want her to be a total girly girl who is into Barbie and Bratz and that sort toys. I’m quite thankful that she isn’t into dolls actually. :) In fact, I fully approve of her obsession with bears. I actually help fuel it too. Heh. Anyway, Daniel said that he’ll get her something and just an angpow for KR since she’s too small to know the difference. Plus, we already have so many toys, we could do with less anyway.

Funny how people actually ask what to get for the kids but no one ask me what I wanted. :/ Nevermind, I’ll tell you anyway….I would like nordic track coupon code. :D Yup, what better way to start the new year than losing a couple of pounds!

Wishing you a blessed Christmas 2009

Posted by Misty Mom on 25/12/2009 None comments

Christmas 2009
Here’s wishing you and yours a wonderful and blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. May 2010 be more prosperous, health and wealth wise.

Lots of love,
Ted, Yvy, Arianna & Kathleen-Rose

A new interest

Posted by Misty Mom on 21/12/2009 None comments

For the past week or so, Arianna has found a new [hopefully not shortlived] interest : Coloring. I know that it’s not uncommon for kids her age to like coloring but with Arianna, nothing is common so when she went nutters over coloring. I was pleased! It keeps her occupied for awhile and I have one less kid to worry about. lol

Engrossed in coloring
Concentration in picking the colors…

Engrossed in coloring
More so when she’s coloring. :) I hope she will be this good on the plane come May….

And of course, this is Arianna practising to be the reindeer….who is saying ‘Cheese!’. :P
Little Reindeer

Godma’s Chrissy pressie!!

Posted by Misty Mom on 17/12/2009 1 comments

Arianna’s godma is my younger sister. I’ve been trying to get her to call her Godma but my efforts seem futile. I’m not sure why but will need to put in some elbow. :P

That said, with Christmas just a couple of days away, we had a tough time trying to pick something for my sis. She’s a nutter for horses but I’ve run out of ideas as to what else I could make for her. So far I’ve made her cushion covers and most recently, some pillowcases. Both were made with horse designs and she loves it to bits!! But for Chrissy, I think it should be something different hence we had decided to get her some jewellery which I know she likes. We bought 2 – one I picked and Ted picked the other one. It’s a pity the one I picked didn’t come with earrings or it would have been the perfect Christmas pressie.

3000_A
Something like this would have been perfect!

That said, I think that a woman would be really lucky if she got jewelry on special days especially the birth of a child. After all, she did suffer 9 months carrying the child, so a little piece of jewelry would definitely get the men into a woman’s good books. So yea, reading the tip definite made me see how to relate with men and help me understand them more. lol :P

Must have an audience

Posted by Misty Mom on 16/12/2009 None comments

Arianna is more than 2 yrs old and although she can easily drink from a cup, she chooses not to do so when it comes to her milk. I don’t know what it is but if it’s milk, it cannot come in as any other form. I can’t say that I am not concerned because I would like to get her off it but I’m not sure how. Apparently forcing a child to ‘part’ with the bottle may cause some issues hence, I’m in no hurry to a certain degree. I read in a thread on FB that some kids are weaned off the bottle at 4 yrs old. I think that is a little excessive.

Over here, babies as young as 6 months are encouraged to start drinking liquids including milk in either a sippy cup or straw ones. I don’t know if KR can or not since I already started her on the bottle. It seems that it just takes off the extra step of getting the child unto a sippy cup further down the line. I can definitely see the benefits of this but I can’t see how a baby is going to drink milk from a sippy cup and actually enjoy it. Most toddlers here are already on normal cows milk which comes in milk cartons but we are still on formula for Arianna and will continue to do so until a certain age. Since Ted is not big on cows milk, I can see that Arianna will soon have to get used to soy milk. I’m really not sure how she is going to handle it but I’m not going to worry about it now.

What I wanted to show you is how she goes about having her milk. She has a ritual/routine that must be complied to. *lol* She must have an ‘audience’.

In need of more than just a simply audience
As you can see, there are all the stuffed toys around her and until all of them are strewn as seen, she won’t lie down to drink. It is a very tiring thing to wait for her to collect her audience and sometimes I don’t have the patience but what can you do, right? O, also she must only lie down right in front of our front door. And no where else.

Since I recently made some new cushions, she initially refused to lie down on them and was going crazy looking for those red ones you see in the pix. I had to literally dig the red covers out from the laundry basket and actually place it on top of the new cushion covers and show her that the pillows are still the same except that we’ve changed to covers. It was only after that that she calmed down and actually lied down to drink her milk. I really didn’t expect her to get so stressed out about it.

I’ve got a nutty girl! :P

Full of surprises

Posted by Misty Mom on 15/12/2009 None comments

Not wanting to sound like a boastful mother but Arianna’s vocab has certainly picked up a fair bit. Seeing that she is not attending any playgroups or kindy, I personally do not know the ability of kids her age. But am glad to hear that some think her as a little advanced for her age.

So far she’s really good with animals and can easily name a heck of a lot of them since playing the flashcards that my Mum bought her some time ago. She’s only now appreciating them more and not eating them. ;) I’m really happy that she’s into animals like I am. I guess I must have indirectly exposed her to animals than all those ickky girly stuff. I just can’t bear to play doll with her or pretend to be a princess. Just too bleck for me. I rather look stupid silly pretending to be a drunk elephant anytime – that’s how much I’m not into girly things at all.

She has also recently started being more civilised when it comes to drawing as well. No more eating the crayons, thank God. I’m trying to train her to enjoy coloring so that I can let her do so when we travel this May back to Malaysia on the plane. As for KR, dont know what to do with the small one just yet. She will be 1 yr old by then….might be a little tough to handle la. Here’s hoping that we will get a whole row of seats to ourselves. It may be wishful thinking since we will be travelling on Air Asia and also this is that period of time when the tickets went cheap so I expect a full flight. *sigh* We can but hope for the best.

The worst thing that could happen is that we get split up and end up sitting with an extra large person who is in dire need of diet pills because the extra bulk is surely going to be all over the place. While I have nothing against large people, I can’t help but wish that it won’t happen. Fingers, eyes and toes crossed!