All in pink!

Hubby's cousin sent us these photos of Helene the other day, and I thought these were the cutest, most adorable photos of her I've ever seen (or maybe it's just parental bias lol).

The hat and socks were given by her nanny and Hubby's aunt, and the outfit by my aunt.

I must say she has the most pinchable cheeks, and cutest little dimples! Happy little Helene!

5 months old today

I just realised that my last blog post was about Helene at 4 months, and today she is already 5 months old! You can read about when Hannah was 5 months old here and when Heidi was 5 months old here. Incidentally, lots of people say that Helene now looks like Heidi, even though we initially thought that she looks like Hannah. But looking back at the photos, indeed she looks more like Heidi.

At her 5 months checkup last Friday, she weighed a solid 7.6 kg. Apparently the doctor said that the minimum weight for a 1 year old child is 8 kg, so she's well on her way there! However since she is fully on breastmilk still, it's all good. And I have a weakness for those chubby wrists lol.

She quite enjoys tummy time now and she will lift up her head and look around.

She has not started solid food yet, but I have tried her with some mashed up really soft potatoes and some kiwi fruit. She seems to enjoy eating, and doesn't spit up or push the food out. Usually babies only start solids at 6 months, but the doctor said that if she seems keen, we can slowly start introducing her to some solids. I think she is very keen, because the other day when we were all sitting down having lunch at the dining table, she was looking at us eat and her mouth was moving up and down!

She's still a very happy baby, but she can be very loud when she wants to be fed, put to bed or carried! It will be a minor protest at first, before becoming a full-blown shouting session!

As for me, I'm getting used to the waking up in the middle of the night to feed/pump. Seeing her growing up happy and healthy on the best food I can give to her is indeed very rewarding. Happy 5 months old to our little bundle of sunshine!

Helene @ 4 months

Little Helene is turning out to be a very smiley baby - she has a combination of Hannah and Heidi's looks and Heidi's cheery disposition! Hannah never smiled until she was 6 months old lol.

Now at 4 months, she possesses amazing acrobatic skills - don't ask me how she got her body in this position - she was trying to twist and turn while asking to be carried.

She can also flip over now, but it's definitely not her favourite past time. This was when she was initially learning to flip, so when she got stuck, it sure made her frustrated. Nowadays she can do it like a pro, but she still doesn't like being on her tummy, so we have to flip her back the other way.

My parents are back, and as usual with lots of biscuits, chocolates and sweets from Oz Land. However, this was something quite unusual - a gigantic lemon. We put it next to Helene and it was almost as big as her head. She's still cuter than the lemon though haha.

Helene, like Heidi before her, is also a thumb-sucker. No artificial pacifiers for her. So she will soothe herself to sleep, It is definitely way more convenient, but also like Heidi, we hope she will break the habit on her own when she's older.

A special dress Part 2

Back when Heidi was born, I blogged about how my mother had saved one of my dresses from when I was a baby, and Heidi was wearing it. You can read about it here.

Now that we have Helene, I wore the dress for her as well :)

So this is me:

 Heidi:

Helene:

One dress, 3 babies :)

New accessible playground at Youth Park

In line with checking out new places for kids in Penang (see my previous post on the Penang Children's Library), we have also discovered a new playground at Youth Park which is very clean and child-friendly. I have actually seen some of my friends post about this place on Facebook quite some time ago so we decided to go and check it out. It's called an "accessible playground" but I'm not really sure why. The location of this playground is on a small road uphill on the left before you reach the main playground.

We have not been to Youth Park for some time, so the kids were pretty excited. Here are some photos of the playground. We have actually been there more than once already, hence the different outfits Hannah is wearing.

Again, my verdict is that it is more suitable for younger kids as there are no swings or see-saws and just a few mini slides. Good for imagination and role play though, since there is a "hospital", "grocery" and "bird park". We will definitely go again because of its cleanliness and bright colours.

Penang Children's Library

I have been seeing quite a few reviews on this place and have always wanted to bring the girls there. We finally got the chance about a month ago so when I told them I was taking them to a new place i.e. the library, they were very excited indeed.

A special feature about the children's library is that they have a i-Play Toy Library. There are a lot of toys there which are suitable for young children. Hannah may be a little older to enjoy it, but everything new is a novelty! So in my opinion, it would be better suited for children Heidi's age. However, since I took both of them, they could play together nicely.

They played "cooking":

And "ironing":

And carpentry:

And had fun with the hula hoops:

Of course, there were also books to read, being a library.

What I like about it is that it's air-conditioned, relatively clean, baby-friendly with nappy changing facilities (useful for me since I also brought Helene).

It only costs RM12 per child to join as a member of i-Play for a year, so all you need to bring is your child's MyKid. We will definitely be going there again!

Penang Children's Library 

No. 11, Jalan Scotland 
10450 Penang 
Tel: 04-2287010 

Website: http://www.penanglib.gov.my/en/index.php/en/
Email: kkanak@penanglib.gov.my 

Opening Hours: 
Wednesdays to Sundays 9.45 am to 6.00 pm
Closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and Public Holidays

Precious time with my 2 big girls

This is another belated post, since I'm blogging about what I did during my confinement, which was almost 2 months ago!

In my 2nd month of confinement, about 2 weeks before I started work, I brought Helene to her nanny's place just for a few hours each day for her and nanny to get adapted to each other. So with a little bit of free time each day, I decided to spend some time alone each with Hannah and Heidi, since I don't know when will be the next time we will have this one-on-one time again.

Hannah is now 5, so we did big girl things, like go jalan-jalan at shopping malls:

We went to catch a movie - "How to Train your Dragon 2" and we both enjoyed it very much :)

We did art and craft at home:

And we had some yummy froyo (less fattening than ice-cream :p)

As for Heidi, she is only 2 and fun-loving, so we did what she loves the most.

Breakfast at Coffee Bean:

See her making her cheeky faces:

Enjoying her kiddy rides:

And I took her to try sand art for the very first time. She always observed Hannah doing it before so I decided she was old enough to give it a try.

There were not many people on a weekday, so the uncle could devote all his time in helping her do a nice piece, and this was the result! She definitely chose a picture to match her expression! :)

The best thing about all this was when she suddenly spontaneously told me, "Mummy, I'm so happy!"

Mummy loves both of you lots, my 2 big girls!