Cheeks to Cheeks

Why, Mommy?

If I hear another Why I think my head could explode from trying to think of Answers, Excuses and Reasonings. Belle is at the “Why and What” stage. I thought it would never come ‘cos she seems to a late bloomer for that phase. Apparently not. I told Vickie about it over lunch and she said both her kids are at this phase too.

Belle is at the age where curiosity sparks like a wildfire. She needs to know everything. Thank goodness she isn’t curious about the birds and bees yet.

Oh, did you know the whys and whats can go on and on and on like a broken record? Apparently, little missy here likes 101 answers to her ONE question. *sigh* When I tease her by asking her all the whys…all she does is giggle.

I was scouring the net for our Ireland trip and came across Las Vegas. The last time Jon and I were there was about 5 years ago. My mom simply adores Vegas ‘cos shopping at Vegas can be fun. I wish we could have some Vegas vacations soon but right now, it is not advisable. Vegas isn’t a smoke-free city and I don’t want to subject my kids to smoky casino hotels. We will probably visit Vegas when the kids are a little older. So, Vegas baby, you will have to wait for us.

I am such a slacker mom when comes to updating my kids’ milestones. I used to do it diligently when Belle was younger; but then again, all I did was blog about her. I don’t want Cassie to think I’m neglecting her (oh, I can hear my sister echo’ing now) but it is quite a challenge. Nonetheless, I try to be fair for both girls.

This is Cassie’s current stats:

Height:
approx 2′ 1.5″ (0.65m)
Weight:
approx 13 lbs or more

Eats:
- Solely on Mama’s moo.
- Belle started on solids at this time and we might start introducing it to Cassie when she’s around 5 mths 2 weeks old. I know she’s ready ‘cos everytime I eat, she will imitate me and her tongue will thrust in and out of her mouth.

Development:
Gross Motor: Her neck is still not very strong and she gets tired easily whenever she’s on her tummy. We tried to prop her up with cushions whenever she sits but she has the tendency to lean forward. If she reclines a bit, she will try to push forward by lifting her head up. She also loves to stand on surfaces and pushes down real hard whenever she’s at a standing position.

Fine Motor: Reaches out for toys that are dangled on her carseat. Just yesterday, she tried to reach out for me when I opened up my arms to carry her. She grasps well and loves to grasp on my shirt whenever I nurses her. Thumb sucking is another fine motor skill she has mastered. She has the tendency to suck my teat or the bottle nipples and sticks her thumb into her mouth while doing that.

Language: This girl is a talker. She takes initiative in vocalizing and babbling at others and finds delight in blowing raspberry. I believe she’s more advance in this than Belle. Belle started to do all these when she was only 6 month-old.

Social: Cassie is definitely the smiler in the family. Whenever she sees familiar people she will flash her smile. She laughs too! Just last night, the grandparents were playing with Belle and were making silly noises. Cassie loved the commotion and laughed away.
- Whenever she sees her nai nai (Chinese: paternal grandma) she smiles. I guess this is the incentive of being her care taker during the day. This was taken when Belle was at 6 month old and we’re seeing similarity with Cassie.

Sleep:
She co-sleeps with me on the cal-king size bed. This makes nursing so much easier. She is usually in bed by 8.30 or 9pm and will wake up for a midnight feed. She isn’t sleeping through the night but co-sleeping does make it easier for both of us. Mommy gets to sleep while she feeds. Sometimes she will be fussing around 3am and all I need to do is plant my boob next to her and her mouth will automatically find the teat. The next feeding will be around 7am. All in all, it isn’t so bad.

Toys/Stimulation:
We’ve introduced the Exersaucer to her. During the day she fusses a lot and refuses to lie down. Last weekend Daddy took out the Exersaucer and she loved all the gadgets and colors on the exersaucer. She entertained herself for a good 30 minutes. Another stimulation she gets is from the television (yea, yea, that’s bad parenting). Sometimes she watches Dora the Explorer with Belle.

Cassie drools quite a bit and we don’t recall Belle drooling that much. Matter of fact, Belle wasn’t much of a drooler. Nai Nai will always put a bib on her and this lazy Mommy doesn’t. I bought a Sophie the Giraffe for her to chew on and it’s being shipped to us from Kangarooboo. Lately she’s into chewing and if I give her the bolster, she would chew on it. I felt her gums but no teeth yet. *phew*

Cassie is using the Huggies Supreme diapers now. I prefer the Supreme over regular Huggies diapers ‘cos they are softer and absorb more pee. Nowadays I would give her a new diaper after a bath (around 7pm) and the diaper will last throughout the night. The longest record is from 7pm till 10am. If she is to wear the regular Huggies diaper, it will leak by 7am.

The Huggies Supreme is more expensive than the regular Huggies but it’s definitely worth the money. With that in mind, I am always in the hunt for coupons. I do get them on the mail via Huggies but they will only provide 2 coupons for the diapers. Each coupon entitles to $1.50 off. I find that Target usually has decent price on diapers. Like just this weekend, we bought a box of 96-pc at $19.99 (not including tax). Since I ran out of coupons, I didn’t get it cheaper. But then again, $19.99 is not bad at all. It is about 21 cents for each diaper. Target also carries a larger volume box but I did the calculation, each diaper from the larger volume box cost about 22 cents. So, sometimes, larger volume doesn’t mean it is cheaper.

Anyway, with all these coupon clippings I have, don’t be surprise to see Blockbuster coupons in my handbag. Searching for coupons online has become second nature to me. You will be surprise how much you can save (in long run) with just coupons.

I have blogged about this mishap before in 2006 and it is déjà vu all over again. That post was p/w protected but it really doesn’t matter anymore. The same person, different location and the same embarrassment.

The guy who is in charge of the facility came barging in the room (unlocked the door with his set of keys) WHILE I was pumping. I heard the clinking of keys, the sound of a key inserted into the door knob…and the only thing I could do was brace (literally cowering my boobs) myself for the embarrassment. The only consolation I have is that my back was facing the door this time.

 I thought he would turn away and close the door the moment he hears my pump going “hee hee ho ho.” But, noooooooo, it was as though he was in a daze. That man stood there for good 3 secs while I tried to mutter, “Err…I’m in the middle of…” He was so clueless (blame it for being childless).

I couldn’t even pump more after that incident. My boobs refused to let-down. It was as tho’ the shock made the boobs sucked the milk back. Man, as I’m typing now, I’m still flustered.

Next time I really need to put a big sign on the door, “Do Not Open. Mommy at work,” ‘cos locking the door does not work.

One of these days I will teach the kids the Pledge of Allegiance:

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

This year, we are going to celebrate our 4th of July with the neighbors. It has become a tradition since we moved in to the neighborhood. This year will be merrier ‘cos we have Cassie joining us and it will be her 1st neighborhood block party. Happy Independence Day, America!

Here’s what we did in 2006.

Here’s what we did in 2007.

Call me crazy but I’m already looking at vacation plans for the upcoming Thanksgiving holidays. My parents called and asked if we’re interested to visit my sister at Ireland. That was such a silly question; of course, we want to go!

Thanksgiving is just four months away and we have ample time to plan for this vacation. First, we need to get a passport for Cassie. Then we need to find out about visa requirement, hotels, car rental, Ireland’s car seat law, etc. As I’m typing this post, I am looking at specials/discounts on car rentals. Do you know Advantage is having a 50% discount on Luxury and Convertible car rentals? Too bad we will not be able to consider this option. For the trip to Ireland, we will need at least a minivan. Looks like Advantage has branches in Dublin International Airport too. I will have to check them out soon.

I was chatting with Jo (Barb’s sister) online and we talked about the proposal of having the word/name Badawi recognise in the dictionary. If you haven’t receive that email (apparently, a lot of M’sians know about this or have read this email), just google it.

The M’sian political venue is becoming a BIG joke domestically and internationally. I told Jo, “the Danes shouldn’t be the happiest people on earth; it should be Malaysians. Everyday we got jokes to read in the newspaper.”

Sigh, Malaysia oh Malaysia, what have you become?

One of Belle’s all time favorite song is Wheels on the Bus. Whenever we sing that song together, she will follow the lyrics with actions. Whenever I pick her up from the daycare (every Wednesday) I will sing the song with her when we see a bus on the road. Here’s the lyrics to that song:

The wheels on the bus go round and round,
round and round,
round and round.
The wheels on the bus go round and round,
all through the town.

The wipers on the bus go Swish, swish, swish;
Swish, swish, swish;
Swish, swish, swish.
The wipers on the bus go Swish, swish, swish,
all through the town.

The horn on the bus goes Beep, beep, beep;
Beep, beep, beep;
Beep, beep, beep.
The horn on the bus goes Beep, beep, beep,
all through the town..

The money on the bus goes, Clink, clink, clink;
Clink, clink, clink;
Clink, clink, clink.
The money on the bus goes, Clink, clink, clink,
all through the town.

The Driver on the bus says “Move on back,
move on back, move on back;”
The Driver on the bus says “Move on back”,
all through the town.

The baby on the bus says “Wah, wah, wah;
Wah, wah, wah;
Wah, wah, wah”.
The baby on the bus says “Wah, wah, wah”,
all through the town.

The mommy on the bus says “Shush, shush, shush;
Shush, shush, shush;
Shush, shush, shush.”
The mommy on the bus says “Shush, shush, shush”
all through the town.

There are other versions where these lyrics were included:

The doors on the bus go open and shut.
The bell on the bus goes ding-ding-ding.
The lady on the bus says, “Get off my feet”…
The people on the bus say, “We had a nice ride”…
The people on the bus goes bumpety bump.
“Your name” on the bus says Let Me Off!

The local newspaper wrote about lesser school bus for the coming year due to the high gas price. Oh, I can hear all the bus drivers singing…

The driver on the bus shouts, “Bus for sale…bus for sale!”

Two weekends ago we went to the Huis for a barbeque pot luck. We try to meet up at least once a quarter, just so the kids can play together. The Emmerts and Ka-Chievs were there too. All in total there were 8 kids and 8 adults. The Saturday was extremely hot and the kids (not the babies) were lucky. They cool off by playing with the front lawn sprinklers. We love to meet up with these parents ‘cos we could yak and yak about kids, family and work. Another set of parents, the Lees, couldn’t make it this time and volunteered to host the next get-together.

Here are some pictures taken that day. It isn’t much ‘cos I was busy cooling down Cassie with a make-shift paper fan. Her eczema flared up that day and it was all due to the heat and sweat. I wonder how she will survive in Malaysia’s weather if we plan to go back next year. Read the rest of this entry »