A New year indeed...

The year usually only begins for me after my birthday. Many thanks for the birthday wishes, coffee treats, lunches and dinners. My indifference to birthdays, especially my own, seems to have lost steam this year. I'm unusually happy. It was something my friend said that really sunk in and tugged at my heartstrings.

Every year I get older and every birthday I celebrate, will be another year I spend with Kay....and Cheeyuen. Thanks for putting this wonderful line together...Thubee.

Our 10th anniversary marked by the birth of Kay really is an extra special milestone for us as a family. I'm saying my prayers and thanks as I'm typing these words on my new Mac book. Haha, can't help but brag about it. Yes I have been spoilt, this year and every year by my dear husband. And that special locket will contain these beautiful memories forever and will one day be passed along to Kay.

It's been quite a holiday season for us. Trip to New York (thanks for the hospitality Joyce & Chungwoh), first Christmas tree, Dinners, Lunches, baking and making truffles for friends. Our only regret is not having family around. Times like these make it especially hard to ignore this reality. We are seriously thinking of sending Kay back to Singapore for her summer holidays once she hits 6 years old. It will be a great way to instill some independence and get her acquainted with family and traditions there. That is not too far away I imagine :) now that she's turning one soon.

Right now I'm just wishing for this season of colds, teething and nasty coughs to be over for my precious little Kay. It's been dragging on for more than a month now. Dried up snort on her face has almost taken over her rosy cheeks and become a permanent feature. That said, nothing has dampened her spirits so far and nothing is stopping her from roaming around in quick steps on all fours. Standing up for 10 seconds on her own is the new record of the day. Maybe she would take her first steps by her first birthday. It's an extremely surreal feeling to see them gain this new independence. That baby that was so fragile, small and helpless is finally growing up. Kay is officially 10 months old today.

First Post in 2008!!

It has been some time since I(the daddy) post something on the blog. Going to make use of this wet, surprisingly warm Sunday morning to jot down a few quick notes.

Firstly, just wanted to say much I adore the 2 girls in the pic. It has been a really exciting year with Kay coming into our lives - heck, this blog will not even be in existence if it was not for her. Also I am so proud of Sching who has been a fantastic mom despite having to care for Kay for most of the last ten months. Judy's visit in Oct has definitely helped a lot and also make us realize how family plays an important part in the care for a baby.

Talking about caring for Kay, we are glad that we have found a baby-sitter for Kay. With Sching moving forward with her design business, Kay will need to be cared by someone else, at least for 3-4 days a week. We are always seeking to find someone who can speak cantonese/mandarin so that Kay can get a bit of Chinese influence - her parents obviously sucked at that right now. Thankfully Daniel's mom-in-law has agreed to take care of Kay and let's hope that Baby Kay is going to behave. She is coming to an age when we need to concern about discipline and it will be good for her to have multiple figures to learn about right and wrong, plus everything else in-between :-)

Front teeth for christmas

Kay will be getting her two front teeth for christmas this year ! The best present ever. Well, abate the running nose and slight fever from the tooth eruptions, i think she'll be happy to take a real bite at her food. I just hope she gets well before our long trip to NYC this weekend. It'll be tough travelling with a baby who is unwell. Wish us luck.

Oh she is 9 months old today ! Ok better jot down those important dates first.

Dec 12th - front left tooth showing
Dec 14th - front right tooth showing
Dec 18th - front left left tooth showing

This has been a busy season for us, with tonnes of sewing, baking and meeting up with friends. The Jo's moms gathered at our house to sew tag blankets for the little ones, so we had sewing machines taking up our whole dining table for the whole of last week. As you know, it's hard to really get anything done, with the babies crawling, feeding..and napping. But it was always nice to get together. Will post pictures of the projects we made soon.

A month of craziness

Again time seems to fly by so quickly. There are so many things that happened in the past month that i don't know where to begin. First a quick note to say that I have fully recovered, wound-wise. The nurse stopped coming to visit me on November 19th. That makes it about 2.5 months since the first surgery. I'm glad it's over. It's been too long too painful. Anyway it's something that Kay has to be reminded of in future :)

Other then that we are also seeing many milestones for Kay. She is crawling really well now. And she is also pulling herself up and standing on her own without our help. Most mornings, I'll find her standing in the crib waiting for me to open her door. Sometimes with a big smile, sometimes screaming. But still as adorable as ever. She is a pretty happy baby, as long as she is played with, fed and rested. Not much complains except for her new found dislike for being in the carseat. It's been a struggle every time we get in and it often becomes a crying match until we reach the destination. I'm told it's a phase, so I'm just hoping it'll past soon. Oh, did we mention Kay cut her second tooth on the day my mum left for NZ? Yes,

October 27th - for the second tooth (bottom right). There is still no sign of the top teeth yet even though the symptoms seem to be persistently present.

November 22nd - Set up our first christmas tree. This year's theme is the Nutcracker & friends. Milo and Tea (our cats) have been catching the birds i put up on the tree. Every morning I find a "dead" one some where on the floor.

December 1st - Kay's first Santa Clause parade in Stouffville. It was freezing -15 degrees out there. She was mostly bundled up and quiet cos' of the cold...so we're not sure if she enjoyed it. It was a pretty big parade for a small town.

December 2nd - Kay's first encounter with Santa himself at daddy's Telus Children's christmas party. She didn't scream or cry on Santa's lap. Brave kid. It was fun...balloons, cotton candy, free food and good company.

Maybe i should start blogging with more dates....i'm realizing that I'm not recording down a lot of things and I forget.

Well, as you know the weather here is now getting pretty brutal. Snow storms for the last 3 days, icy driveways, slippery dirty roads, and a foot of snow in our backyard and garden. Now we wished we had a snow blower and a smaller driveway.

First halloween

Trick or treat in Stouffville can be pretty fun, especially when you have 10 cute babies all dressed up for the occasion. Our mom's group in stouffville is growing and it will be nice to be able to see the little munchkins grow up together.

Last 2 nights has been pretty rough for Kay. Poor girl is down with runny nose, cough and a slight temperature. This is the first time she has fallen sick. She couldn't sleep nor eat very well and that in another way translates into my day as well. Spent 4 hours trying to put her to bed tonight. Felt a bit like being back in the first month again. Anyway, beside having snort all over her nose she is still pretty active and cheerful during the day, so i'm not so worried. Since it's a virus, Dr Tolkin couldn't give her anything. So we did the good ol' Vicks rubs on the feet and chest....and of course Tylenol for infants in yummy White grapes flavour. Not sure if any of it worked, but it gave me some peace of mind. It's hard to see them in pain.

Now i know how my mum felt when she knew i wasn't well. Anyway, my left wound has completed healed to the surface last week. Yoohoo !! Time to celebrate with champagne and wine, maybe not yet. Can't wait for rightee to be done as well. There is still 2.5 cm to go and I have a bottle of nice Cabernet waiting to be popped. Come November 11th and I would have gone through 2 full months of wound dressing. What can i say, except that I've got a great nurse and it's healing well. Carol, if you are reading this, thanks for yanking that packing in and making sure i get my daily dose of humour as well. Hmmm...felt like i have written this before.

Realised that I haven't posted much about my mom's visit. I guess it's the heart-felt warmth and a really a sense of family that cannot be described by too many words. We are just really glad she was here to help and be with us. Wish we brought her to do more sightseeing of the city, but at least she covered the 2 main attractions: Niagara falls and Chinatown. At least one of them is in Toronto. :)