Out of this world

As Hannah is growing up, she is asking us many questions every day - where, who, what and her favourite "why". Yesterday I had this conversation with her which I also posted on Facebook. I told her that we would be going to Cameron Highlands with her cousins at the end of the month. She asked me lots of questions which led to some pretty "deep" questions:

Hannah: Will Ah Gong and Ah Mah be going as well?
Me: Yes, sure.
Hannah: Have Ah Gong and Ah Mah been there before? What about you and Daddy?
Me: I don't know about Ah Gong and Ah Mah but yes, Daddy and I have been there before.
Hannah: When?
Me: A long time ago before you were born.
Hannah: Was it when I was in your tummy?
Me: No Hannah, it was even before that.
Hannah: Then where was I?
Me: You were not in existence yet, you haven't come into the world. 

(I was trying to make this as simple as I could, and I don't think I really got through to her, but what she said next totally floored me!)

Hannah: So I was in another world?

Now what do you reply to that? I liked a comment which one of my friends posted - he said that I should have replied "Hannah, you are out of this world!" Pun intended! :)

Also last night, I saw that Heidi's medicine bottle was being infested by ants (she is having paracetamol due to some mild fever caused by her injection on Tuesday). I showed it to Hannah and she said "Mummy, why so many ants? The ants are also sick?"

Besides this, there are a lot of little amusing things which she says during the day, that I can't remember them all. 

I think the best way to sum my big girl up is that she is like the "little girl with a curl" - when she is good she is very very good and when she is bad..well I won't finish that sentence - I'll just take it as a growing up phase! (Incidentally, she does have a curl in her hair :p)

Heidi at almost 13 months now weighs 9.4 kg (at her last checkup) which her paed says is excellent for her age. She eats almost everything we do, and surprisingly, she loves spicy food! Unlike her elder sister who cannot take even a little spicy, she slurps it up and asks for more! Her walking and talking is slower than Hannah, who could walk quite steadily by now and say quite a few simple words. But she is getting there with her walking - 5 or 6 steps before she goes down on her knees. As for talking, her favourite word (and basically the main thing she can say now) is nothing else than "mum mum!" She can also say "ba-ba" and babble a whole lot of baby talk.

Heidi is a fun-loving baby and will smile and wave to anybody who walks by, much to the amusement of passers-by. I had the girls to myself one night when Hubby was not home and the 3 of us slept upstairs (which we normally don't do). The two of them had a ball jumping and playing on the big bed until they literally fell asleep from exhaustion.

Her favourite time of the day is bath-time and we have to take her out from the bath-tub kicking and screaming most times as she doesn't want to get out!

On our weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) trips to the mall or to Tesco, she now knows how to ask for this:

We usually try to get one that both kids can sit on, so we save on having to pay for 2 rides!

Now that she can sit stably, she can also sit in the supermarket trolley, which makes things a lot easier not having to carry her.

When she gets scolded she makes this face - "pretend to cry" face:

And as of late, this has been her favourite hobby:

My happy go lucky fun loving baby!

You two kiddos are definitely out of this world, cos I wouldn't change you for anything!

Birthday on Labour Day

May is full of birthdays for our family - Hannah and both her grandfathers have birthdays in May. Her Ah Gong's birthday is extra special because it is also a public holiday every year - 1st May :)

I did not manage to celebrate with the family for 3 years in a row since 2009 (and that was before Hannah was even born!) In 2010, I had a big dinner function to attend, in 2011 I was in Bangkok on a company trip and in 2012 I was still in my confinement period after Heidi was born.

This year Hubby's sister booked lunch at a restaurant called Double Good near Bukit Jambul. The food is pretty good and cheaper that the usual Chinese restaurants.

Hannah was full of expressions during lunch. See the funny faces she made below:

Heidi was fast asleep until lunch was almost over, so her Daddy and I could enjoy our lunch (which rarely happens when she is awake!) 

She woke up just in time to have dessert and cake :)

Speaking of the cake, my father-in-law had a special cake made, reminiscent of his favourite hobby ;)

Hannah insisted on eating the green part of the cake, so we indulged her as a treat, but not before warning her that this would happen if she ate it!

After Heidi woke up, we took a nice family picture together.

Happy birthday Ah Pa/Ah Gong from the 4 of us!

Heidi's birthday party(ies)

Heidi turned one on 8 April 2013, which was a Monday. We did not initially plan to do anything, but at the very last minute, we sort of caved and decided to give our little girl a small birthday bash. Before the bash, however, there was a mini bash at my parents' place here in Penang. We invited my relatives from my father's side, and since Hannah would be turning 4 soon, we had a combined celebration for them.

My father put up some simple decorations at home - we had these colourful letters from Hannah's 1st birthday, so we kept them for nearly 3 years. Good to recycle and reuse :)

Here is group photo of all of us - Hannah is smiling widely in anticipation of party packs, presents and cake!

Here are the party packs which my mum bought and Hannah helped to prepare before the party.

Here are the girls with their great grand-aunt.

And with grand-aunt Sue.

Family photo with the cakes.

Hubby ordered these cakes, one chocolate and one butter from Jan's Homemade Cakes in Abu Siti Lane, and they were super yummy, especially the chocolate cake. First time I have seen a birthday cake get eaten that fast.

And then it was time for the girls to cut their cakes. Heidi cut hers first with a little help from Mummy and then it was Hannah's turn.

It was sure a fun party - Hannah loved her gift from her grand aunt.

And Heidi loved the colourful wrappers!

On her actual birthday, we had just a small gathering of our immediate family and close friends. We decided to have a buffet, and Evergreen Laurel seemed to give us the best price, so we decided to go there. 

Most definitely, the highlight of the evening was the birthday cake!

The cake was made by Jennie's cake house in Pulau Tikus, but the Little People (which is Heidi's favourite cartoon) cake toppers was bought by my mum all the way from Australia. So we just gave them to Jenni and she did a fantastic job decorating the cake. It definitely looked too good to eat!

We took plenty of photos with our family and friends too. 

These are the Nolls who came all the way from Australia to celebrate with us.

Birthday girl with Nanna:

And both girls with Nanna and Gong Gong:

Birthday girl with Ah Mah - she must have just eaten something because she is doing her sign for "Good!"

Our friends Tze Ming and Jacintha - thank you for the gifts for Hannah and Isabelle! They were also remembered despite it being Heidi's birthday.

Hubby's school mates and their wives and kids - a whole bunch of us. Many years have passed since leaving school but they still remain good friends.

The lawyer group:

Happy birthday little Heidi! We hope you enjoyed yourself and we look forward to many more birthdays to celebrate with you!

Heidi is One!

Baby Heidi (technically no longer a baby!) is one today! Exactly one year ago we held her in our arms, safe and sound after all the "surprises" we had during my pregnancy. It seems just like yesterday and now she is already a year old!

Mummy, Daddy, Jie Jie Hannah, Ah Mah, Ah Gong, Nanna, Gong Gong love you very much! May you grow up healthy, safe and strong, always your happy, cheerful self, and may God continue to bless you always!

Papa's 60th Birthday

My father will be turning 60 this coming May, but since he is around this month for Heidi's birthday and my uncle from KL was around for cheng beng, we decided to throw him a surprise 60th birthday dinner with his siblings and extended family.

We ordered a special cake for him and this is what it was:

Check out the dentist paraphernalia on the cake :) Jenni cake house did a good job and my dad was pretty surprised indeed! :)

We had two tables at the Chinese restaurant and we took lots of photos with the birthday boy. Here are some:

 With us

 With his siblings

Whole group photo

Heidi behaved quite well despite it being way past her bedtime, and Hannah enjoyed her food and playing with her cousins.

The biggest joke was when the kids starting taking the dental tools off the cake and pretended to use them! Hannah is getting her teeth "checked" by my dad ;) I guess there is no danger of pain in using a tool made from candy so her mouth opened quite willingly! 

Happy early 60th birthday Papa and we look forward to many more!

Hannah's first cinema experience

I was on leave yesterday to look after the kids as MIL had to attend cheng beng prayers. She came back earlier than expected, but since I had already taken the day off, I took Hannah to watch a movie at the cinema. She had been pestering me to take her, ever since she saw the movie "The Croods" being advertised outside the TGV cinemas at 1st Avenue, so yesterday seemed like a good day to go and see the show. She was super excited before the show, asking when would the movie start!

She has never been to see a show at the cinema before, so this was her first time. And of course, no movie is complete without popcorn!

TGV have what they call "popcorn royale" and it's super yummy. With regular popcorn, I usually try and find the brownest pieces with most caramel on it, but for popcorn royale, all pieces are brown and coated thickly with caramel - you can see it from the picture above. Scrumptious! :)

Once we got inside, she settled comfortably into her seat and dug into the popcorn.

When the trailers started, the sound was pretty loud so I think she was quite startled by the noise, but she was not afraid. She only asked me, "Mummy, why so loud?" She managed to watch the movie for quite a bit, until about one hour she asked, "Mummy, finish already or not? I don't want to see anymore". I suppose sitting through an entire movie for 98 minutes is quite tough for a little girl not yet 4, but when I told her that she has to sit down and finish the movie, she managed to do it without a fuss.

At the end of the show, I asked her if she wanted to go to the cinema again since she did not want to finish the movie, and she nodded enthusiastically.

Well, maybe next time when she is a leeetle older :)

Our Easter Baby one year later

We celebrated Easter Sunday yesterday, and it sure brought back memories of Easter last year, which was the most memorable Easter yet! Little Heidi was born at 7.26 am on Easter Sunday last year and so I spent the day in hospital, rather than in church :)

Technically, she will only be one year old in a week as Easter Sunday fell on 8 April last year, so we are definitely looking forward to her first birthday coming up soon. Her smiles and cheekiness never fail to brighten our day and she is truly a miracle of new life. We love you, our little Easter Baby!