If we're not careful, Joey might develop a hunchback!

As you know, Joey is quite tall for her age, and tall people usually have such bad habits of slouching when they sit or walk. Short people never have such problems because they're already desperately trying to appear taller all their lives, so they will stand as straight as they can. I KNOW it very well.

This worry occurred because we often notice her slouching while sitting down in her cot. She doesn't sit that much though, only about 20% of the time. The other 80%, she's usually standing up and less likely to slouch. Still, we told ourselves that we got to consciously help Joey overcome this bad habit. Now her bones are still soft, so i don't worry so much yet. Still, must remind her to stand straigth all the time in future.

This is a proof. One of my colleagues took this photo of the nursery. Can you see that Joey is slouching??

This is another one we took of her a few months ago... also like that....

No Hunchback, please!!

Who is this hot babe??

Woo! It's Baby Joey!

I saw this very pretty spaghetti strapped top at Bishan Junction 8 & couldn't resist buying because it costs only $7! I think it's super cute, and makes her look more girl. hee..

Brought Joey to Causeway Point today, cos need to go stock up her porridge ingredients again. Sat down for some toast & kopi at Ya Kun first...

I got sick of the traditional Ya Kun kaya toast, so I ordered French toasts instead. I was so hungry that I ordered 2 slices, which Isaiah stared on in disbelief when the waiter delivered it to our table. :)

The French toast is really yummy, dipped in kaya. Try it if you haven't.

Joey got all excited at seeing so many different things on the table & wanted to eat!

'eee... this thing called kaya tastes weird...'

Then she spotted the little blue car & kept pointing towards it excitedly! Daddy brought her over to have a car ride...

Nice doggie..

Looks like she was kissing the doggie?? Haha..

So happy to be in the little car!

I know this sounds like such a small thing, BUT I AM EQUALLY EXCITED!

After so long, Joey can finally stand on her own now. Not for long periods lah, but at least for a while.Not because she cannot balance, but because she cannot keep still in one position. She is rather pleased with her standing, we can see, cos she will always laugh when she is standing. :)

I know you are sick of me saying it all the time, but ...

I CAN'T WAIT FOR HER TO START WALKING!!! :)

Brought Joey out to the new AMK Hub to gai gai today. It is totally a mall for parents lor. It's got one whole level where all the different kids & babies' schools are. If I were to send Joey, I could send her here, so it's relatively near to my house.

On the way out..

Nice & New place.

Frankly speaking, after 2 rounds, there's really nothing much to shop here, so I made my way to Bishan Junction 8 instead. I was so hungry when I reached that I went straight to Yoshinoya for lunch!

Such a quiet outlet even though it's sat afternoon....

Of course, Joey must be entertained while I am eating...

Passed her the Book of Numbers (errr.., not the one in the bible)

Good. Mummy can eat her chicken & beef combo now. :)

After lunch, we went shopping around and Joey saw the kiddy rides & refused to leave!!

She was pretty captured by 2 toddlers who were running up & down the kiddy ride. I tell you, I was so amazed by this little boy who came to me (he was one of those running up & down the ride), and said, 'You must put coins into here, then this will move.' Don't think the boy is trying to be kind & helpful ok? He was trying to make ME put in a coin so that he can play on the ride! This ride allows 3 kids to be on it, and it costs $2 per ride!! Kids nowadays!! I just told him straight in the face, 'I don't want to put in any coins.' And he went, 'Oh. OK' Hahahaha... I am such a mean auntie!! hahaha...

After pulling a struggling & screaming joey off from the ride & belted her back to her stroller, we continued shopping & alas! She saw Snoopy's House Car, and wants to take a ride in it! Since it's only $1, I relented.

Instead of some cute cute music, the song it played was some stupid noise made by car when they move! aiyo, wasted my $1 lor! But Joey was quite entertained lah, so I let it go. Otherwise, I will complain lor!

As you can probably guess, it was yet another round of screaming & struggling when I pulled her off the ride. KIDS!!!!

Joey found this new thing to do now. She will put her wrist to her mouth & blow hard into it and thus making her saliva fly everywhere & making a 'farting' sound all at the same time. Then she would laugh & laugh because it's so funny!!!

I can't help but laugh at her amused expression too. This girl ah.... hahaha...

I finally bought her a doodle board!!!

lallalaallaaa ~~

Have been thinking of getting her a doodle board for like the longest time. I like art & design myself, so I feel my daughter will like it too! heee... Then I was at Toy 'R' Us the other day, and saw this doodle board selling at only $5.90! So I bought it immediately! =D

The board is too big for me to bring home yesterday, so it's still in my office. Hope she will have fun drawing & perhaps I might even discover a budding & gifted artist in my home!

Post script: I brought the doodle board into the nursery to show her, but she was only interested to eat the pen instead of drawing! sigh!

I decided to change my strategy of bringing Joey to work everyday. I can't believe I actually went through one whole year of the same schedule everyday:

1. Put her in stroller and push her to the MRT station (20 minutes)

2. Take an MRT ride to City Hall (30 minutes)

3. Push her to Suntec Tower 3 (20 minutes)

A total of 1 hour 10 minutes EVERYDAY to and fro!

Therefore, I decided that I will stop using the stroller now, but I will carry her with my bare arms instead! It sounds like a tall order, but actually, it turned out to be quite fine. I only need to walk short distances before I reach the next transportation, so it's actually not so bad. And I only take about 1 hour to get to my workplace, comfortably.

Joey in her cot, preparing to set off with Mummy!

She's wearing a cute little green halter dress given to her by Nigel's GF, Kat!

Joey with me at the bus stop. :)

I think I will just bring her to work like this everyday from now on, except for days when I have to carry many bags. If just a haversack, it's still no problem lah. But with more bags, having the stroller will be useful. :)

Auntie Liying said something to me today that touched my heart.

"你要感恩啊."

She was pointing to my daughter and telling me to give thanks to God for this daughter of mine. She said she is a very obedient girl. She doesn't cry much, and doesn't hamper for attention. As long as you let her crawl around freely, she will keep laughing & enjoying herself. This is very rare.

Many people have told me before that Joey is a very obedient girl who is willing to sit still in her stroller for hours without whining. Many babies refuse to sit inside even for one minute. For that, I have always been very thankful to God for such a baby. Joey may be a very hyperactive girl who keeps fidgeting and moving around to look at things around her, when it comes to sitting in the stroller, she is really the best baby I can ever ask for. God knows I have no choice but to put her in the stroller everyday and push her to work, so He makes sure that my baby likes sitting in the stroller and doesn't give me problems at all.

I didn't used to appreciate that 'virtue' of hers until friends started commenting that she is such a good baby for being willing to sit inside. I think I've heard like over 20 friends who commented that now. Haha.. so it must be really true!

You may not believe it, but it was only recently that I started to appreciate & love my daughter more. From the moment she was born till recently, I always think my daughter is a very cute girl and lovable. But on the other hand, thoughts like "I wish I still had my freedom before I had baby", "I wish I have more flexibility & time to do my work.", "I wish I could sleep late or sleep anything I want!" frequently flood my mind. Especially when she gets difficult, I wonder why did I have a baby so early. Serious, I am not joking. I don't know if you know what I mean. It's not that I regret having a baby, or that I do not love her, but it's just two sides of the emotions constantly in battle with each other in my mind.

When people ask me when I am having a 2nd kid, I would look disgusted and said, 'Not so soon!' and really mean it. I cannot imagine having to deal with another one!

But something just broke in me one fine day. Nothing dramatic or wayang. And I also don't know how to say it. But it was just all of a sudden I felt a 'click' in my ears and suddenly my heart felt so light and free. A smile came to my face and immediately I see the face of my beautiful baby in my heart. All of a sudden, I felt so much love for her and feel so thankful that I have such an adorable angel in my life. I went back home & told Isaiah that day I want to have 3 kids!!!

After I had the experience, I felt so angry with myself for having all those negative thoughts about baby. I don't think I am horrible or what, because in times of frustrations, all negative emotions come out, but I am just happy & grateful to God for healing those negatives.

I want to have more babies! They are so super cute! And they bring so much joy into my life! :)

Quite a relaxed day in office today, so I went over to nursery to visit Joey quite a few times. She was having lots of fun playing with her favorite Little Tikes car again. She kept pushing it around and around and around. hee...

After playing, of course she was hungry! So auntie fed her porridge! I cooked fish porridge with cauliflower today! heee..

Talking about porridge, my MIL wants to cook frog legs porridge for Joey so that she will have strong legs. She is worried that the reason why Joey has not started standing steadily & walking is because her legs are weak. I don't know about that, but frog legs porridge are very yummy anyway! :)

My Joey is a very happy & joyful girl. She really loves to smile & laugh. Some people don't believe me when I say that cos she is alot more tamed & quiet infront of strangers or when we are outside somewhere. Back at home, she is a very very smiley girl who will laugh at anything & everything.

I am so thankful for that because I feel happy knowing my girl is happy most of the time. Believe it or not, she would be playing in her cot, then she will laugh and laugh and laugh. Maybe she thought of something funny. Maybe she saw something funny. We don't know. But she would be very amused easily & she'd laugh, look at us and laughed again. And again.

Now she can respond to a smile. It used to be that when we smile at her, she would stare back blankly. Now, she would smile back at us. Wow.. that feeling is really great, you know? It's a direct message telling us that she can respond well. And it's so heartwarming when I smile at her lovingly and she smiles back lovingly. wooo... :)

She is also a very sociable & 'I' girl. On the MRT, she would take initiative to make friends with other babies or toddles by extending her hand to shake their hands. They would often not know what to know or how to react to this very friendly girl of mine. haha... She would look around at the different people standing around and extend her hand towards a particular one and go, 'ehh!' The lady or gentleman would of course reciprocate by playing with her (I mean, how would you view an adult who acts non chalent to such a cute thing? So obviously, the adult will feel obliged to do something in return right?)

Without fail, almost every MRT ride is filled with interaction with adults and kids and almost everyone within close proximity will be watching what Joey is doing. She really knows how to capture one's heart lor. One moment, she would be laughing, then the next she would be mumbling to herself and attempting to chew on my wallet. Anyone would laugh at these lor.

I love my smiley & happy girl! =)

Joey went crawling today.

"Hmm.. let me see.. the weather is so good today, maybe I should do some crawling."

"Let me go to the first room... my grandpa's room!"

"ahh... look what I found.. can pom pom le..."

"Let me show you my white & nice bath tub. Have been using it since I was born!"

"Oh oh.. so big.. how to put back?"

"Hmmm... what shall I do now? shall I escape to the living room and pretend I didn't see the bath tub? Papa is watching TV outside. Surely he didn't notice.."

"Better run before it's too late..."

"Look what I found? Sun!!"

"Hehe... as you can see, I am trying to sun tan. Such beautiful sunlight.. don't waste!"

"After sun tanning, i am so hungry. God provided a packet of mini instant noodles for me there & then!" (actually it's mummy who forgot to keep them properly)

"Did they say the noodles will cook in 3 mins? I think it might be faster if I toast it under the sun.."

"Chey! Doesm't work lor! The noodles also never cook after 10 mins. Better put back quickly before mummy come beat beat!"

"Beat beat where, you ask??"

HERE LOR.

tata!