Cheeks to Cheeks

A little late but Chinese New Year is 15 days.

A Happy Ox Year to Everyone!!!

For those who aren’t aware, we’re back at sunny and very hot Kuala Lumpur. We left an extreme cold weather (Shanghai) to an extreme hot weather here. It’s good to be back.

My baby sister left for Dublin today. With her gone, we’re officially on vacation and so will this blog. This blog will come back live after a month of hiatus. In the mean time, don’t miss us too much. Matter of fact, we will be meeting some of you (readers) very soon!

For the past few weeks we have been trying to correct Belle’s speech. She has the tendency to over-pronounce words that has “h” in ‘em. For example, we would ask if this knife or safety equipment is sharp. She would reply, “Knife is swharp.” At first we thought maybe it was just that word.

The other day, she kept telling me, “Mommy, you horsh!” At first I thought to myself, “O-kay, Mom might be fat, but it is quite mean to call me a horse leh!” So, what did I do? I just ignored that and continued talking. Then, she said that sentence again and gave me a I-annoyed-at-you face. The light bulb went ding! She meant to say, “Mommy, you hush!” Hush as in be quiet.

One thing I learn from my Speech Path classes is not to over-emphasize the wrong word. We will have to let her pass through this speech phase. That means we will not go, “No Belle, it isn’t swharp. It is sHarp.” We will just have to continue our conversation as if she didn’t mispronounce the words, but at the same time, constantly bringing up the mispronounced words in our daily conversation. I’m pretty confident she will be saying sHarp instead of swharp very soon.

and yes, I’m still up. I should hit the sack as it will be a long day tomorrow. Heck, everyday is a long day for me. Luckily I had Belle’s lunch ready. I had whipped up some fried rice for her lunch and have it kept warm in the rice cooker. Tomorrow it will go into the thermos.

Her “new” school has a new policy: they will not be nuking the kids’ food. It is such a pain in the rear but luckily we have a thermos to keep the food warm for her. Knowing Belle, she gets bored with food easily. I have to crank the little birdie in my brain for more creative meal. Chloe got Belle some cool bento gadgets for Christmas and I guess I’ll have to start getting into the bento groove now. To tell you the truth, I’m darn lazy when comes to making food pretty. I’m the type that just whack the food and as long as it is edible it is good enough for me.

The previous post reminds me of coffee. I am so deprieve of caffeine and has been deprieved from it for a long time. Once in a blue moon I would sneak in a cup of two, and that is between feeds. I just love the aroma of the coffee beans.

The other day while in the grocery store, I noticed my Belle shares the same love. We were walking along the coffee aisle, Belle got attracted to the aroma she was literally hugging onto the coffee bean bin. She sniffed the aroma deeply and did that with her eyes closed. It was a funny sight.

I wonder if I have a Rancilio Silvia will she be hugging onto the coffee pot?

All thanks to the little imp called, Cassie. She went to bed around 9pm and decided to wake up around 10-ish. I could not get her to sleep till just few minutes ago. I tried nursing her and the little rascal decided to do gymnastic stunts while latching on to me. I wonder if this is something older babies do (that is, older babies who are still breastfed). Belle was not like that and I’d weaned her when she turned 10-month old.

Talking about age, Belle is now 3 years and 2 months old, and Cass is turning 11-month old tomorrow. We are planning for a big birthday bash for Cass when we’re back in K.L. Oh yea, we’re traveling again. To tell you the truth, I hate traveling to 2 different climates. We will be heading back to Shanghai as well. That said, we will have to pack 2 types of clothings…and winter clothes ain’t exactly in the “travel light” arena.

To Nicole: Yes, my posts are getting shorter and shorter. I just can’t seem to find time to sit and compose long posts any more. Being home full time with the baby can be quite exhausting. Anyway, I hope we will be meeting up fairly soon.

This year we took the girls to Stanford mall for a photo session with Santa Claus. We will scan the pic once we’ve settle all the mess we’re currently in. We will probably send it out as email to friends and family. Yea, we’re too cheap to get the photo burned into a CD. *grin* Imagine if I get that CD, there will be more stuff to get like custom rubber stamps and special envelopes. Again, more money flowing out.

Man, I better get a job fast.

*Haha, you thought  you will see the pic here, huh? Sorry la, next time.

My intention to get Belle’s birthday party post and Ireland trip post is still here but I will time-stamp it according to the events dates. I will let y’all know once those posts are up.

You would think having more people in the house would give me more time to do my own stuff, but I’m finding myself being more busy than ever. I don’t have time to hop over to the blogs I often frequent. So, please forgive me if I haven’t been dropping comments.

With the car wreaked we are pretty much stuck at home. We do have other cars but it isn’t big enough for seven passengers. My neck, shoulder and upper back has been really sore and the doc prescribed Vicodin to ease the pain. I was told it takes about a week or more to get over a whiplash. Let’s hope I get over the pain before our upcoming trip to Asia.

It feels as though our money is flowing out all the time. *sigh* It sucks not to be earning as much as before. Thank goodness we had our kitchen faucets changed few months back. With current situation and slow economy, we will have to tighten our belts.