Cheeks to Cheeks

Creativity bug hit me. Now presenting my cute model, Isabelle…

In her plain ballet attire:

The transformation….Taa dah!

I love the shot below. Simple, clean and definitely shows the sassy-ness from my little model.

Well, the model will not be keeping this tutu. I made it specially for a little girl who is turning 3 next Saturday. The model will get her own tutus very soon.

p/s: The title has nothing to do with a person named Violet. It’s just a name I gave to the tutu.

Credits to Michelle who taught me the basics.

A glimpse into our Friday today…

The girls have been spoilt by Aunty Michelle. She bought these two sets of baju kurung (traditional Malay dress) for the girls. Talking about being spoilt, Aunty Chanel got them some new pretty hair clips. If you are wondering about the hair clips in these pics, they are from Aunty Vickie. She bought them from her previous trip to Hong Kong. I’m telling ya, these girls are spoilt rotten!

A demure girl………so NOT!

To all my Muslim friends and relatives, Happy Ramadan!

Oh what a week it has been; and it is only Friday!

Cass developed a high fever last Thursday. With all the H1N1 news in the media, one has to take precaution. We monitored her for 24 hours and the fever seemed to subside only after she had taken Tylenol fever med. Once the medication wore off, the fever went up again. The following morning I made a call to her pediatrician office for an appointment and the only time slot open was 5.15pm. I had to take it ‘cos I didn’t want to wait for another day as Urgent Care fee has increased for us. Anyway, it is always better to be seen by her pediatrician.

Thankfully it was not H1N1 (swine flu) but an ear infection. She was prescribed Amoxillin (antibiotic) and little girl felt a lot better after 2nd day of taking the antibiotic. Then came Monday. Daddy called me in the afternoon saying he wasn’t feeling too well and his throat was sore. I told him to come home early and he did. He developed a fever that evening.

On Tuesday we dropped Belle off to school and Cass to my in-laws, and headed to Urgent Care. He could have called our family doctor for an appointment but we just went ahead to the Urgent Care clinic. We were surprised that the front counter did not provide a mask for him after the fact that he had told them he was coughing and had the fever. When the doctor came into the room, he was donned in mask, surgical gloves and surgical gown (I think that’s what it is called). He was shocked that Jon was not given the mask and got him a mask immediately. Anyway, the prognosis is FLU, but he said 99% of flu is Swine Flu and they are not going to do any testing to find out if Jon has the H1N1 virus in him system. I didn’t like the prognosis ‘cos IMO he just could not label every flu as Swine Flu. Hey, for what it’s worth, it could have been Strep throat infection. After all, Jon did have the sore throat. The doctor did not do a swab on his throat and just told us that it is Swine Flu. If Jon wants the Tamiflu vaccine, he could prescribe it for him, but we opted out. We were told that Tamiflu side effect could be nausea or vomitting.

Jon has imposed self quarantine since Tuesday. He is getting a lot better but is still aching from the fever and the cough is still lingering. Both girls have been sleeping with me since Monday. That makes it 4 nights of not getting the needed rest. Just as I thought things could get anymore worse, Belle developed the fever last night. The fever has subsided this morning and I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

This morning was quite hectic too ‘cos I had to prepare both girls. Cass had an eye exam with the pediatric opthamologist at 10am. It is one of those stuff that I haven’t really hadn’t gotten the time to jot down on the blog. For months we’ve noticed Cass squinting her right eye and the pupil (of the right eye)tends to swerve extreme right whenever she looks to her upper right. Her pediatrician took a look at it and recommended that we have the ped opthamologist to take a deeper look into this issue. Today is her 2nd visit and she had her eyes dialated. With Jon being quarantine at home, I had to bring my MIL (in case we need someone to distract Cass during the eye exam) along. My FIL met up with us at the clinic as he had a doctor’s appointment an hour before Cassie’s eye appointment. FIL brought Belle to his work while the rest of us did what we were there for.

Dr. Ahn said Cass is a little far sightedness on her left eye but it is common for young kids. It will improve with age. Right now, we will just have to monitor it. If it gets any worse, she might need glasses for correction. As for the screwy pupil, he said she probably has Brown’s Syndrome. It is when the muscle of an eye becomes too stringent and that will lead to inflexibility of eye movement. He thinks it could be her left eye and not the right eye that has it. We’re hoping this will improve through time. As for her squinting problem, it was due to her lower eye lashes curling into her eye. Two options to solve this issue: Pluck those eyelashes that are causing it or Cut away a little of the fold on her lower lid. The 2nd option is quite drastic and he decides not to do that. Again, we are hoping her eyes will grow with age and the fold around her lower lid will “flatten out” a bit. It is quite difficult to describe it in words. Maybe one of these days I’ll take a pic to show the difference.

So, this has been my week. I pray it gets better as the week progresses. I’m so exhausted!

Being home with my girls has its perks. At times they can make me pull my hair in frustration. At times they remind me how much I love them. Here are some pics taken during the days when I have both girls with me (alone)…that is every Monday and Friday. Enjoy!

Here is Belle in a traditional Malay costume, Baju Kurung. It was given to her by Aunty Michelle. It was a warm Friday and it was perfect for baju kurung. Belle loves being in a baju kurung. I might need my mom to start sewing some for her and Cass.

Belle can pass for a Malay girl ‘cos she is a hitam manis (tanned/dark skinned).

Both Jon and I have agreed that Belle looks a lot like my mom. Popo should be very happy.

Now that Cass is a little older, she participates in our masak-masak (cooking) games. The little one loves to imitate her big sister.

When there are two kids in the house, meltdowns are inevitable. My mother-in-law says she hardly see Cass cry or whine. Well, here’s to prove her wrong…

There is nothing this Mommy can’t handle. See the 180 degree turn of mood?

The trick to staying sane when meltdown happens is diversion. If that doesn’t help, then Mommy will have to lock herself in the bathroom and scream her lungs out. I have yet to get there. Haha!

Besides playing masak-masak, Belle loves to work on her workbooks. We bought a bunch of it when we were in Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur. Belle has become very good at sitting still working on her “homework” for at least 15-20 minutes. It is a great improvement for her ‘cos she is an active girl. She loves to move about and seeing her do her “homework” and enjoys it makes us very happy and proud.

Here is a pic of our studious girl…

I have been looking back at my kids photos and boy, have they grown a lot since then. It is as the saying goes, “in a blink of an eye.”  They are growing way too fast for me to handle. All I want is just to hold them close to me and keep them as my babies forever. I am selfish but I can’t help it ‘cos I’m a Mom.

The husband had to go in to the doctor’s office this afternoon and needed me there to “hold his hands.” When it comes to doctor visit, my husband can be a chicken. My father-in-law swung by the house and brought Cassie to his house while we brought Belle with us. After the doctor visit we went to TK noodle for a late lunch.

We were about to finish with our lunch and Belle noticed the four Pacific Islanders sitting behind our booth. I have a hunch they are Samoans ‘cos the ladies tied their hair in a knot on top of their head. They have heavy set frames, and 9 out of 10 Samoans I came across with are not particularly petite sized people. Anyway, this happened…

Daddy: Belle, come here. Don’t disturb the uncle.

Belle walked over to her Daddy.

Belle: Daddy, why is the uncle like giant?
Daddy: Huh? (didn’t hear her the first time)
Belle: Why are they like GIANT?
Daddy: Huh?? (Daddy must be hard of hearing)
Mommy: Shh! (Tried not to laugh and started to stuff Belle’s mouth with food to stop her from asking.)

I do have to admit, those folks were pretty B-I-G. Thank goodness she didn’t use the word F-A-T. But it was really funny to hear her use the word Giant to describe heavy-set people. 

It’s a blistering hot day and I have both girls with me today. Whenever both girls are home, my day will be interesting and today is no exception.

Just a few minutes ago, I had to fish up Belle’s favorite pen from the toilet ‘cos Meimei decided to test out the sink or float theory. If the bowl is clean, I have no problem retrieving the pen. All I need to do is gear up with some latex gloves and fishing it out will be easy peasy. But noooo…God had to test me. Cass decided to throw in the pen when Belle was doing both her #1 and #2!

I hadn’t any time to put on the gloves and I did not want the pen to sink any further. I did the inevitable.

Yup, I had it fished up quickly with my fingers and tried to do it with the least contact to the tainted water. So, for the past few minutes I was scrubbing both the pen and my hands with anti-bacterial soap.

Can my day be anymore interesting?

I’m so tired.
Both kids refuse to nap.
I need nap.

Okay, enough of ranting. I’m gonna prepare my best friend’s signature dish: Ayam Masak Merah. Yums!

Belle loves mango.

When I say that, I really mean she LOVES mangoes. She can eat an entire mango. For a small person, that’s quite a lot to take in. An hour ago, she had requested for mangoes and I cut up a mango for her. She loves to eat of from the seed. We told her that only privileged people get to eat the fleshy seed part. So, every time she gets to eat the seedy part, she will say, “I’m special, mama!”

Today, before she took a bite on her mango, she told me, “Mama, give meimei mango.”

We must’ve done something right.

My dear little girl is putting her meimei ahead of her. I can tell she will be a great elder sister to her baby sister.

Belle baby, mama is so proud of you!

Belle: Mommy, here’s ice coot for you.
Mom: Ice coot?
Belle: Ice coot. Ice coot for you ‘cos it’s Winter time.
Mom: Oooh! Ice coAt! Thank you, baby.

Want to see what does an “ice coat” looks like?

(Taken from the webcam. Too lazy to upload pics from camera.)