My daughter takes after me in this, for sure.

Simply refused to let go of the cup... even though there's no more bubble tea inside. =D

Joey's getting taller and taller!

Well, that's a natural progression, and I would really need to start worrying if she doesn't grow taller by the day. But it's true that her 'getting taller' creates new problems for all of us.

For one, she can now touch the fan in the living room easily, and that means if we do not keep a close watch on her, she may well put in her fingers into the fan that's on, and.... I don't have to elaborate further and you already would know what will happen to her fingers.

Some kind soul told me today to buy a fan net for my fans! What a brilliant idea. Cover the fan with a fan net. Let the wind blow, but yet keep Joey's fingers out! I shall get it soon!

She is also now tall enough to climb up onto our sofa. She will climb up with one swift action, then grab whatever caught her attention on the sofa or nearby, then come down again in another swift action. Thank God she already mastered the art of climbing down by leg down first. Otherwise....

Then, all of a sudden, before I realised it, she is now tall enough to reach for things on the dining table top.

This is a very common thing for her to do now. Even thought she may not be able to see what's on the table, she would just reach for whatever she can find, and pull them down. This morning, she almost pulled down a cup of coffee and some glass plates of cakes. Faintz.

Now I regret for not making a TALLER TABLE.

If you visit my home, you will find that most of the things on the dining table are now concentrated at the centre of the table, keeping the sides clear.

Wait till she realise that she can actually climb onto one of the dining chairs & then climb onto the table. I think by then, I would have to keep all my chairs in my storeroom liao. Hahaha... please pray for us... Hahaha...

Joey's in her '2nd home' - The office nursery!

Joey's 'elder sisters'... haha!

Denise - Dawn's baby and Nicole - Jiahui's baby! =D

Such a cute trio...

Joey's grandma & uncle brought her to the playground to play. I am amazed why every kid likes almost the same thing? Playground, sweets, ice cream, colourful toys, toys that make funny sounds & music. They never fail to enjoy themselves at the playground!

She is walking properly finally. Previously, she was not exactly walking properly, cos she couldn't pick herself up from a sitting position to a standing position. She can only walk when I put her on her feet, so the moment she falls down, she will crawl away speedily. Now, she can finally pick herself up by herself, so the crawling days are over, I guess!

Now that she is walking, she walks all over the place, touching everything and exploring every single thing in the house. These are just some random photos of her exploring the house she lives in. :)

She is so cuteeeeee... =P

My guess is that Joey has a thing for Mr Pringles.

See.... I told you.

I finally have some time to update Joey's blog now! Have been taking photos, but no time to blog. I only have 30 minutes though, but I will blog many many! Heeee...

There is this Taiwan Porridge restaurant in Kallang, near SIS, that my parents and I love to go to. The food is great and the place is usually not overly crowded. I love the 'old-ness' of the place and that it's built over the sea. :) Porridge is free flow too.

Peanuts starters...

I love the metal containers for the hot tea... so retro..

Joey just staring....

Another reason why we like to come to this restaurant is because she can also eat the porridge & sweet potatoes in the porridge. :)

Recently, I've come to realise that actually Joey understands alot of things that we say. It is simply amazing because she doesn't speak anything other than gibberish, and she calls me 'Meee', not even the full version, 'Mummy', and she doesn't really follow me when I ask her to repeat after me. So, when I slowly realise that she has been taking instructions from us readily nowadays, I was truly amazed.

For example, when we change her clothes, we would tell her, 'Pick up your clothes and put them into the pail.' (There is a pail we use to contain her dirty clothes and accumulate for a whole day before we wash everything in one go.) And trust me, she will do it immmediately. She knows where the pail is and she reaily drops in her clothes. Then give herself a few claps. Haha. Super cute.

Then we would say, "It's time to wear your shoes. We're going out." And she would immediately sit down wherever she is, and stare at her feet, waiting for you to put them on for her. She can understand basic things like, 'Come, mum mum (eat)', 'Wear your socks', 'Sit down', 'Stand up'. When we ask her to give something to papa, yeye, nainai, she does it correctly.

She also has a thing for dustbins! She likes to go to a dustbin and pick out things from them (yucks!!). But then when we ask her to, 'Throw this into the dustbin', she would take it from us and throw them into the dustbin (and not the pail!!). Goes to show she understands lor!

When she sees a handphone, she knows it's for listening, and proceeds to place it to her ear and say something gibberish into it. When she sees a remote control, she knows it's for the TV and points it at the TV. When she sees ear-phones, she knows it's for listening to music, and she puts it to her ear & put on that 'listening-intently' expression. Haha. Smart girl.. I mean, to me, the handphone and remote controls all look the same, anyway!

The most amazing thing is we switch between chinese & english without realising it ourselves, but still she understands both ways. Wow, right? hee...

This is getting exciting, cos I know she now knows what I am trying to tell her. =)

"It's a beautiful morning.... beautiful morning...."

Haha... Much on the contrary, my morning had been far from beautiful. It started off real bad because I was rudely woken up by my alarm clock. It starting ringing in my head as some disturbance far far away. I was wondering in my dream why nobody went to stop the noise. Only to realise that someone ought to be me. Then of course, baby joey woke up because of that. Stupid thing #1.

Don't know what took me so long to prepare everything and I left home 15 minutes later than usual. Late means hotter sun on my journey to the MRT. Stupid thing #2.

By the time I reached the MRT station, I was drenched in sweat. Throughout the journey, I had tried unsuccessfully for 5 times to put Joey to sleep by putting her stroller to lying down position. But each time she would close her eyes for 1 minute then open and attempt to sit up. Frustrated. Stupid thing #3.

On the MRT, Joey was fussing non stop. Kept grabbing my bag, wanting to pull out every single thing inside. Threw her water bottle and pacifier onto the ground. Strangers on the MRT had to help me pick them up. Started pulling at strangers' clothes & bags. I had to apologise non-stop. Then as if it's not enough, she struggled to stand up in her stroller and I had no choice but to carry her, and try to balance bag & stroller all at the same time. People around me all throwing pathetic looks at me. Stupid thing #4.

BUT STILL I CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY!!!!!!!!

Frankly speaking, many many negative thoughts go through my mind throughout the entire morning. And I felt lousy, frustrated, angry, tired and zonked out at some point in time. I wish I could just drop everything & not try so hard. I wish the burden on my shoulders will be gone and gone forever.

Yet, I know I had to make a decision to be happy. Happiness is truly a choice. If I choose to be happy, what can dampen my mood? If I choose not to let anything get me down, NOTHING WILL!

And I made a special effort to smile & laugh today when I reach the office. And I did feel much better after that. All of a sudden, it seems like it's not such a big deal afterall. I guess when I force myself to be in a 'happy position', I can be happy indeed. And I realise, I really really want to be happy. I really really do.

I bet you also want to be happy if given a choice? :) But hey, it's not that you don't have a choice, it's whether you want to make that choice or not.

Let's gambatte, dear friends. This is yet going to be another great week. :)

In the Cab

In Church...

I can't think of a more apt description for my daughter. Alot of kids would be scared of hot things, scared of heights, scared of sharp objects. My baby Joey? Not at all! Before she learnt to go down a platform using her legs down first, she used to go for the dive - Head first. If not for a quick-handed mama like me, she would have hit her head against my tiled floor many times over.

Check out this, man. Sometimes when she wakes up in her sarong, she would turn her body 180 degrees and stick her head out. There was once I didn't know she woke up, and she fell right down onto the floor. Ouch!

Cool eh?

I Am So Healthy! I Am So Healthy! I Am So Healthy! I Am So Healthy! I Am So Healthy!

I am sorry that I can hardly contain my pride at myself! I did something so healthy today in a long while. I went SWIMMING!!!! wakekeke...

I know you can't believe it too, but the last time I went swimming was almost 2 years ago!! No joke, cos I went once during my early pregnancy, then after that I went no more! It was such a refreshing feeling being in the pool again today. I swam 2 laps in the competition pool while Isaiah bonded with Joey in the baby pool. :) Feel so healthy & happy now. I should do it more often. =D

Ok, I know you want to see joey instead of me in swimsuit. Haha.. so here goes a dozen photos!

Getting ready...

She kept looking at the pool... can hardly wait...heee...

Woo.... excited...

Pose with mummy first!

Into the pool! She was scared... think she forgot her first swimming experience in KL already.. even though her feet could touch the ground & she was standing steadily..

Take a photo before Mummy retreats to the competition pool for some real exercise!!

Papa comes into the pool finally!!

The end of her swimming expedition!

What a healthy way to spend my Monday eh?? :) :)