Emily's tummy - the bottomless pit

ok .. Emily's appetite is scary. She can finish a whole big bowl of rice, veggies with soup and chicken .. and she still asks for more!! We don't give in to her cos we KNOW her tummy is full and she WILL throw up if you try to stuff her with more food. We don't get it though ... last night, she was crying for more "mumm mumm" .. and cried bitterly when we told her firmly, "no" ...

sigh

So we gave a light snack of Japanese seaweed to munch on and she walked around happily chomping on it.

Received my 2 new maternity dresses!!

ok, they are very comfy and thin .. just perfect for our weather ... BUT, since I am NOT slim like the models wearing the dresses in the pics I posted below .. the patterns on the dress are MAGNIFIED ...

DAMMIT!

lol. My maid and girls think I look fine in it though ...

I beg to differ lor ... my girls are bias cos I'm their MOM .. and well, my maid can't very well say I look ghastly in it can she? ..

SIGH

My nausea is tapering off now ... it's on and off really. My appetite still sucks though. After lunch today, I felt really awful ... but I had a short nap and when I got up, I felt much better and RUSHED OFF to attend my Grandma's funeral.

sad news ...

My Grandma (paternal) passed away yesterday in hospital. I only visited her twice while she was warded. Wished I had visited her more.

sob :(

Maternity clothes HERE

are teeny ... lol. Seriously. Plus some look quite aunty looking. Yes, they have improved somewhat from looooong ago .. I remember my school teachers walking around with huge tent like dresses with ginormous bows in the front .. ugh, those were absolutely GHASTLY. The problem I see now is that the ones here from Thyme Maternity ... Spring Maternity ... Cloud9 and other such brands ... the clothes are quite small ... definitely not for me .. I walked into Marton Bell at Vivo the other day and though they did have bigger sizes .. the designs were quite ugly ... (well, the ones I saw anyway)

sigh

And so, I have yet another reason to buy stuff online .. specifically, maternity clothes .. I find that Motherhood.com has some decent looking and reasonably priced stuff. Of course, you have to factor in international shipping but I find that it's still ok. I just got 2 dresses from them ...




Of course, hubby doesn't know that I am still buying maternity stuff or he would have a heart attack .. knowing that this is our last baby .. ie I'm wasting money as he calls it ...

sigh

Men just don't understand.

Crayola washable markers are the best things in the world ...

I'm sure most of you know this by now ... but little kiddies LURVE using markers ... crayons and colour pencils just cannot hold a candle to MARKERS ... once Emily discovered them, there was no turning back ... The only problem is .. most markers are PERMANENT and WILL stain clothes and skin.

NOT CRAYOLA WASHABLE MARKERS.

They are the most wondrous things. I love them. I swear by them ...

Here is what it looks like :

Anyway, here is a sample of Emily's work of art ...

Hubby took one look at her drawing and exclaimed ... "HAIYA, even her drawings are of BOOBS!" ... lol. Well, you hafta to admit .. he is right .. the girl is still hooked on breastfeeding .. and she's pushing 2 in September ... !!

2003 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

As promised, here are just some of the photos from the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM which we attended in 2003. It was really an awesome experience !

Mass ascension happens at 7 am .. that's when all the balloons start going up ..

As evening came around, the balloons are on the ground and they light up like this (see pics below) ... they end off the entire evening with a awesome fireworks display .. lasting almost an hour ... MUCH MUCH nicer than the measly 10 min fireworks display we see during our National Day ... huh.

Check out the 2008 Balloon Fiesta schedule ... :) If you really decide to go though, I hear that hotel rooms around the area are booked solid months ahead .. so you might want to do your bookings NOW ...

A chat with Lauren's nursery teacher ...

So I dragged myself out of bed on Thursday morning to see Lauren's teacher ... it was "Meet the Parents" day at her nursery. Stanley was eager to hear what the teacher had to say about Lauren.

Well, we were happy. Her teacher had nothing bad to say about Lauren at all. She was doing well in school. She interacted well with her friends .. (I have this fear that my kids will turn out to be bullies ... dunno why I think that .. lol) and she loves listening to stories and participating in class activities. She was also writing well ... which was a good cos we don't make her practise at home. The teacher was surprised at that saying her writing was quite good and showed us some of her work. She has no problems understanding what the teacher says to her and always answers questions when asked.

When I met Claudia's teacher the next day she also had good things to say about Claudia calling her a "good girl". Although Claudia's results dipped a bit this semester .. thanks to me being ill for the last 8 weeks and NOT coaching her at all for her exams .. she did fine. Her Chinese teacher was also impressed with her .. saying that Claudia was doing well - which I guess is a surprise for many since she is a non native speaker of the language.

I'm so glad my girls are doing well in school :)

12 weeks and still nauseous ...

Have I mentioned that this is the absolute last time I'm doing this pregnancy thing? ARGHHH, I cannot stand the 1st trimester cos I suffer from awful nausea .. that for me lasts till about my 14th week of pregnancy ... this time around, though the nausea is milder than my previous 3 times ... (I gauge this based on the number of times I've PUKED my guts out so far this time) I think I'm just sick and tired of it. Plus I'm getting OLD ... yup, I am ... I am 34 and a half ... will be 35 this December 27th ...

I can't believe it ...

One minute, you're happy and YOUNG and the next ... you're just a hop, skip and jump away from death's door ... LOL. Ok, so not that DRAMA ... but 35 is OLD ok?!!!

Anyway, hubby was commenting that I seem to be whining and whingeing more this time around ... told him I couldn't help it cos I feel so darn ILL. I can't eat MOST things ... and if I try, I just PUKE it all out ... believe me, I tried. I had a MacDonald's strawberry sundae a few days back while my girls were having french fries .. and after that I drove home and within 10 mins, I threw up .. I guess I should be happy that I didn't PUKE IN THE CAR ..

SOB!

Anyway, I sms a few of my good friends daily COMPLAINING about my pain and suffering .. they sympathize with me .. which is what I want ... I don't get enough of it from my BLARDY husband .. HUH! blardy man.

Charlotte named the best place to live in the States ...

Read the article here

And guess what?! My FAVOURITE place in the States which we visited numerous times ... San Antonio, Texas was Number 2 on the list ... YEAH!!! We had the pleasure of visiting San Antonio a few times during our time in the States ... we even had the chance to stay in our friend's newly renovated lakehouse during Christmas !! .. It was AWESOME. My mum who happened to be visiting me at the time .. really loved it too .. I shall dig up photos and post them here ..

Another place we are familiar with that made it to the list is Albuquerque, NM. We also liked it there cos that's where they hold the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta which we also attended once .. it is an awesome sight to behold all those hot air balloons in the air ... and it is the only balloon fiesta that actually allows spectators ON the field as they are inflating the hot air balloons ... ! I shall also post my pics of that event soon!

Albuquerque is also about a couple of hours from Santa Fe, which is another great place to visit if you happen to be in that area.

ok, I'm off for a wedding dinner ... catch you later !!

Had an appt today ...

I'm 11 weeks 1 day today ... and my EDD has been corrected to 3rd of Dec ... I had an ultrasound done today too ... I was very excited even though it's my 4th pregnancy. Baby is about 4.4 cm now .. and my nausea is tapering off ... well, it wasn't so bad today :) I can't wait to get into that 2nd trimester ... :)

Morning sickness doesn't just happen in the morning ..

I wonder WHY it's named as such when you're pretty much sick hte whole day. Mine lasts till almost midnight or so everyday. During the day, I have NO appetite but I force myself to eat something so I won't feel too ill with an empty stomach then come evening ... I really start to feel like dying ... I try to hide out in my room cos smells can set me off ... and then I'll need to PUKE. I feel miserable I tell you.

On a much lighter note, Emily is talking more nowadays but she tends to make up her own words for things .. it's really funny. Here are some things she says that are close to the actual words ...

"MEE MEE" - ok this one is versatile. Depends on the situation. If your leg is in her way and she wants to get past, this means "Excuse me" ... If she is calling our Maltese, Kimmy .. then it's also "MEE MEE" ... and she also refers to my boobs as "MEE MEE" ... dunno why though .. lol (yes I am still nursing her) ..

"TE TE" - this one is "Thank you"

"watch vee vee" - watch tv

"EET TWEET" - eat sweets .. this is when she wants you to open the packaging for a sweet candy etc

"Ball" - ok she can say "ball" but this also refers to "fish ball" her favourite when eating broccoli and carrot soup cos there's fishballs in it as well.

"MEH" - this is when she wants milk ie FORMULA .. she'll ask my maid for a bottle ...

There are other words she knows ... and some other ones she's made up ... I can't remember them all .. she's a bit slow when it comes to talking .. Lauren and Claudia were much faster .. but Emily's a bit quiet ... still it's funny to hear her ... :)

Time and place ... and blardy morning sickness ...

Lauren has a funny habit. She uses her loo time to sing. And currently, her favourite song to sing while she is doing the big one .. is our National Anthem. Of course, she mixes up some words .. after all, the song is in Malay ... but it's quite a decent attempt for a 3.5 year old. She obviously learnt the song at nursery .. she IS IN A PAP kindy. lol.

We've tried telling her that she should just do her business quick, get out of the loo, then she can sing .. but I suspect she likes the acoustics in the bathroom .. ie the echo effect.

LOL

My morning sickness is finally getting better. The last few weeks were tough ... The worst thing is my MORNING sickness lasts the whole blardy day. It's torturous. I try to nap often to get away from it .. but of course, I've thrown up a couple of times already. DAMMIT.

The HOT SCORCHING weather doesn't help. I haven't been out on a weekday to town in weeks. I can't be bothered to drive in the hot sun just to window shop ... plus my nausea just makes me want to stay home and suffer. I think hubby will die of shock when the next power supply bill arrives.

I can't wait for the 1st trimester to go by ...

Lauren and Emily ... :)
awwwwwww ..