Cheeks to Cheeks

I love this pic of Jon and Belle. It’s their “daddy & me” moment.

Last night, I was lying in bed with Belle next to me. She looks so peaceful when she’s asleep. Memories just flood in.

I remember the day I saw the 2 blue lines on the pregnancy test kit.

I remember how elated we were and emailed everyone the good news.

I remember feeling her kicks.

I remember the heartburns.

I remember the contraction pain.

I remember pushing hard.

I remember seeing her the very first time and exclaimed, “Gosh! She looks like my dad!”

I remember holding her on my bare body throughout the night during our first nite together.

I remember cradling her small head with both my hands.

I remember her wee hand clutching onto my index finger.

We’ve come a long way. Look at her now, she’s such a big girl and she isn’t gonna stop growing. She is so precious. 

Belle has been up a few times for the past 2 nights. She would roll and roll, kick here kick there, do 360 degree turns and she did all those while lying in the middle of our bed! When she did all those kungfu moves, I just ignored her. Jon on the hand couldn’t stand it. In the end, he had to wake up and lull her back to sleep. Poor hubby!

side note: My mom said it might be due to her teething. Belle will soon have 2 brand new front teeth.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Belle has a bad temper. How we know? My mom told me what happened yesterday:

Belle’s Dinnertime, around 4.30pm
Choice of the day: Congee with scallops simmered in chicken broth (3/4 cup full)

Popo: Come, mumm mumm (Baby language: eat)

Belle took one spoonful, then another.
Belle spotted the tag on her highchair cushion. Reached for it.
Popo stopped her and hid the tag.
Belle whined. Whined louder. She really wanna play with the tag.
Popo tried to calm her down. Tried to feed her again.
Belle’s mouth clammed up. She refused to eat.
Belle became mung mung zhang zhang (Cantonese: frustrated & start fussing)

No matter what my mom tried to do, she refuse to eat and continued to whine and fuss.

My mom then stop trying to feed her. She undressed Belle and decided to give her a bath ‘cos Belle loves baths.

During bath, she seemed fine. After the bath, my mom dried her and put talc on her body. That’s when I showed up.

I opened the door leading to the garage. Belle took one look of me. Next thing I know, this naughty girl’s mouth started to quiver. Then she started to whine. She wanted me to carry her right away, but I have to answer nature’s call first. By the time I came back from the loo, Miss Belle was wailing away. *sigh* I scooped her up from my mom and those crocodile tears stop.

She looks like me but she has my sister’s temperament. My sister used to be like this whenever my mom came back from work. Now we know, when Belle wants it her way, it has to be her way. *sigh* I think one of us need to be the strict one.

These are the few things Belle loves: Strawberries, Fruit Puffs & Egg Yolk Custard.

I told my sis I would blog about this. My mom tried to make kaya (Malay: jam made from coconut milk, egg & sugar) couple of weeks ago. Needless to say, Jon and I were the guinea pigs, oops, I mean testers. My dad gave some lame excuses and got away with it.

My mom’s kaya didn’t turn out like kaya at all. It looks like scrambled eggs. It did taste like kaya tho…hehe. Here are some pics:

Double boiled, stirred and came out looking like this. Kaya that looks like scrambled egg.
Spread butter on one side of the bread and crumbly pieces of kaya on the other side.

A brave tester. It was tough to get the kaya on the bread..hehe…Belle got her fair share via breastmilk.

I thought I was free from doing meme/tags. I thought if I keep my trap shut while reading other bloggers tags, they will not notice me. I was dead wrong.

I got this homework tag from the infamous Egghead. Hai, now I have to scratch my head on this…

Four jobs I would stink at:

Khong family – Since our kids are so close at age, would like to know more about you.

READY, GET SET…

GO!!!

GOING…

ALMOST THERE…

GOT IT! Dad’s new phone.

Have you ever seen a motorcyclist riding a bike while standing? I did.

Mind you, it isn’t the X-Game type or stunt riding. This fella actually stood up on the pedals while riding his bike. It was the funniest sight! It’s a pity I couldn’t snap a pic of it as I’m still getting use to my new toy cellphone and I’m *ahem* a safe driver.

Anyway, my first question was, “Eh, why is this fella standing one?”

Then, I came to a silly conclusion, “Hmm, maybe he has ‘chee chong’ (Cantonese: abscess) on his ass.”

Oh well, just thought of sharing this little piece of laughter with y’all. Enjoy the rest of the day/night! I’m gonna hit the sack now before the princess awakes.

Having my parents living with us is an advantage to Belle. She has been exposed to many different food within the 2 weeks they are here. Here’s her personal Menu.

Breakfast, she has a choice of:
Poached Egg, serving yolk only
Half-boiled Egg, serving yolk only
Baby Oatmeal
~Milk & H2O accompany each choice

Lunch, she has a choice of:
Egg yolk Custard
Congee simmered in fresh chicken stock, dried scallops & dark chicken meat
Congee simmered in fresh beef stock & slices of tender beef
Congee simmered in fresh anchovy stock & veggies (spinach/carrot)
~Juice or H2O accompanies each choice

Snack, she has a choice of:
Strawberry & Banana infused Puffs and Cheerios
A slice of apple ( scraped with a teaspoon)
Strawberry
~Milk accompanies each choice

Dinner, she has a choice of:
Congee simmered in fresh chicken stock, dried scallops & dark chicken meat
Congee simmered in fresh beef stock & slices of tender beef
Congee simmered in fresh anchovy stock & veggies (spinach/carrot)
~Juice or H2O accompanies each choice

Supper:
Fresh squeezed Milk

Nightcap:
Fresh squeezed Milk

[Vien: Wah seh! I don't even have a set menu like her. Belle is so pampered by my folks. ]

Ai, this morning I pok kai aka PK (Cantonese: trip & fall literally aka out of $$$ figuratively). I stepped out to the platform that adjoins the family room to the garage. Jon was standing there too with my laptop bag. I had the breast pump bag on my right shoulder, handbag on my left & holding the sandwich box & keys on my right hand. The platform is raised up and I have to step down to get to the garage.

So, there I was yakking with my mom, saying good-bye to Belle, giving her “fly kisses”, took one step down. Next thing I know (like slow motion) I felt my knee unbuckled, fat body in the air and then the gravity pulled it down. SLAM! My right hip first, then my shoulder and arm. I was in a daze. It happened so fast yet it felt like I was watching myself falling down.

Jon said I slipped on the step and I fell down so fast he didn’t have time to react. I got up. Felt a bit sore on my hip. Luckily I have a fatty butt to cushion the fall. Checked myself, nothing broken and found only a minor scratch on my left inner ankle.

It’s past noon now and I feel like SH*T!!! My right shoulder and neck are aching like crazy! I think I twisted my back too from that fall. The good thing is, I still can sit, stand and walk. It’s this sore I can’t seem to get rid.

I was thinking of blogging about yesterday Father’s Day event. Sigh, that will have to wait. So achy.

Lesson learned today: Do not do/carry too many things at the same time. A habit which was spawned from my laziness and/or pride of multitasking. Need to kick that habit for safety sake..hehe.

p/s: Belated Father’s Day greeting to all Daddies!

I’ve been lazy lately. I guess all the good homecooked food got into my system and triggered the satisfied ooh-ahh I-don’t-wanna-do-anything-but-enjoy-the-moment mode. It’s good to have my parents here. One thing for sure, Belle gets acquainted with her popo and gong gong (Cantonese: grandma & grandpa).My folks have been here for a week and boy, was it a roller coaster ride for them. They tried to adjust to the time difference and Belle wasn’t much help by not willing to take longer naps. My FIL dropped by during lunch once in a while (entire last week) and my mom was so happy to see him. That meant she could hand Belle over to him and she and dad could take a nap. LOL!

Before my folks were here, my FIL usually swings by my house to pick up Junior (my American Eskie). Junior spends the rest of the day at my in-laws house. He goes home with us after we have our dinner at the in-laws. Now that my parents are here, Junior stays home the entire day.

My Junior has a short-term memory. He can bark and bark and bark when he sees an unfamiliar face the first time (in our house). Once he gets acquainted with him/her, he’s very friendly. Mind you, he does choose who he likes to be friendly with. At times, we have friends over and they have answer nature call (toilet). They will have to go thru a door that separates the family room from the main entrance/bathroom/formal living room. Everytime they walk in after going to the loo, Junior will bark and bark and bark; as though he has never seen them before. That’s why Jon and I gave it a term: Jr short-term memory syndrome.

During the first week, Jr will bark at my folks everytime they walk into the family room. He especially loves to bark at my mom. One day, they brought Belle out for a walk. Sometimes they would lock the collapsible gate at Junior’s room (our pantry became his room) but that one day they left Jr in the family room. After the afternoon stroll, my mom walked into the family room just holding Belle’s pillows. Jr saw her and started growling at her. My mom froze on the spot and called out my dad. My dad saw what happened and quickly brought Belle into the family room. Lo and behold, Junior saw Belle, stopped growling immediately and went back minding his own business.

One conclusion to this story, Junior is very protective of Belle. I guess he saw my folks brought Belle out but didn’t see her when they came back. He must’d thought Belle was kidnapped. LOL!

Here are some pics to share (taken when Belle was 22-wk old)…

Jr: Oh boy, here she comes. I hope she doesn’t pull my lovely beautiful fur…

Jr: Mmm…baby fingers are yummy to lick..mmm..mom’s milk..yummm…

Belle: Okay, here’s the deal, if I don’t like the food, I’ll drop it on the floor and you quickly gobble it down before mom or dad can pick it up. Deal?
Jr: *woof*