Vivana's Birthday & To The Park

We went to Vivana's 2nd birthday a year ago and time flies, one year passed and now it's her 3 years old party. The party was held in their house in New Lynn, very near to where we used to live.

It was raining very heavily on that day. We drove all the way from East Auckland to West Auckland and we were waiting in the car for the rain to stop. Val was getting so impatient as she saw all the cars coming. Finally, we managed to get ourselves into the house. Due to the rain, they've moved all the hired toys to an empty room. Val and her friend, Charlie (if I'm not wrong) were playing with them......mmm....other kids are kind of more obedient......they didn't come and join them.....

Val saw Vivana's birthday cake....it's a butterfly.....and she told me she wanted Mickey Mouse.......even though, now she has changed it to Thomas The Train. We didn't stay long in the party as at that time, my tummy was super big.....and getting tired easily.....so we left after being there for an hour.

It's spring in NZ now.....and finally, there is one dry weekend. On Saturday, we brought Val to Domain and Mission Bay after finding where the birth care is located. We were thinking just to let her run around and exhausted her.........and in both places, there were ppl giving her some breads to feed the birds. She was so happy. When we went to Mission Bay after Domain, she told me she wanted to buy bread to feed the birds. We found on dairy shop and the bread costs NZD3.80. For goodness sake, I'm not going to pay that to feed the birds!!!!!!

Luckily, one kind lady gave it to her while we were walking along Mission Bay. So that night, we went to Countdown to get a loaf of bread so that we can bring along to the park the next day. She was happily holding the bread and told Benedict: Daddy, this is for birdies, not for you. Don't eat it!!!!!

The next day, we went to Manukau Botanic Garden.....well, there are not many birds there.....lots of ducks instead......but so many ppl feeding the ducks till the ducks are not eating anything. Finally, we found few ducks 'in hunger'......but the place has no barrier and Val looked like throwing herself into the ponds while she's throwing the bread....so I was screaming here and there and told Benedict to keep a close eye on her.

At the end of the day, I can see both of them 'regretted' to bring me along.......making all the noises....ahhahahah....Benedict complaint that I made two of them stress!!!!!! ahhahaha....... Anyway, the most important thing is my little princess is having a great time. =P

Baby Wesley

Baby Wesley was borned on 05 October in Auckland Hospital. After 6 hours....mmm.....well, I had epidural.....so no pain....his face finally faced down and only took me 15 minutes to get him out!!!!! We were transferred to Birth Care in Parnell. It's a lovely place where all mummies are there....no sickies......so a safe place for all new borned bbs. I was there for 3 nights.

Wesley weighed slightly above 4kg when he was borned. Well, he is not a fat bb, he is quite tall in fact. At least this is what I think. ehheheh.......But he is a very strong bb. He tried to lift his head the minute after he was borned! He smiles and tries to turn his head from left to right (vice versa) on the first week. We've got a confinement lady coming in to help us and she told us he won't have flat head as he knows how to move his head when he feels uncomfortable.

Wes has to wear all Val's old clothes. We haven't bought too many pink clothes when we have Val. But some clothes are in pink. We think that's alright for him to dress in pink anyway. Somehow, we ourselves got confused. We keep thinking it's a girl. ahhahaha........While in Birth Care, talking to other mums, in the middle of the conversation, I've just realised I kept saying SHE and everyone thought it's a girl......so I have to correct my statements.....Even Benedict said: Good Girl....=P [See how much Val has influenced us!]

Val is coping well with the new bb brother. After 40 weeks of brain washing her....ahahah.....she knows she's a BIG SISTER now.....and she really tries to act like one! Believe it or not, she hates shower....she only wants bath....and we have problem in getting her out from bath to shower....[too costly to keep having bath lah].....

Now, she's BIG SISTER.....she said: I'm a BIG JIE JIE now.....I NEED SHOWER!!!!!

We are very very pleased to hear that!!!!!!!! hahahaha.....

And when Wesley dozed off after having milk...I scolded him saying he is going to naughty corner. Val will side her brother: No Mummy, he is not naughty. I don't want him to go to naughty corner.

She gave Wesley some rattles of hers........she cleaned them before giving to him.

We've tried to tell her to keep her voice down while bb is sleeping. Well, she told everyone off for making the noise.......sssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........MY BABY BROTHER IS SLEEPING!!!!![in loud voice].

She told us she wanted to hold and cuddle Wesley. Whenever we mentioned she's BIG JIE JIE....she will behave for 1-2 minutes....hehehe.....

Even though this is my second bb, but somehow, I forgot what's happened when i had Val. mmm.............maybe I'm getting old...heheh.....

But no doubt that Val and Wes are our precious and we thank God for giving them to us. They have completed me and Benedict. =)

Updates

I haven't updated Blog for a long while. Few people has already made a complaint!!!! =D

Since I'm sick at home doing nothing, I might as well update you all with our recent activities.

First was the Mothers' Day 2008. Our church has performances for kids for all ages. Val is under the 'Precious' class. They have to sing 2 chinese songs with actions. Val was doing well on that day. She is pretty good in singing and the most important thing is she liked singing. For example, yesterday in the car, we turned on her kiddies music. She spoke to us in Mandarin: Off the music please. I want to sing myself.

The cutest part for that performance in church is she and Jessley hold hands in hands for nearly the whole morning, no matter during their practice or actual performance. Everyone said they are: jing tung yu ni.

My parents in law left NZ early June for Miri. Therefore, Val is back into daycare fulltime. Initially we thought she might have a problem. However, her adaptive to new situation and new environment is proved to be strong.

We have approached the older centre as we wish she can attend older class and learn from older kids in talking, learning etc. She is the oldest in her old centre and therefore, she gets quite bored there. The new centre manager insisted us to do transition period for 2 weeks. We were quite reluctant. After all the negotiation, both party agree to do one week transition.

On her first day, after 2 hours....she waved her hands to me and said: Bye Mummy. The teachers were surprised with her...she can get involved very quickly. Now, every Wednesday morning, they have one hour gym class in the centre. Of course, we have to pay lah....there is no free lunch in the world. With subsidies, we only pay for $13 per month for once a week. Benedict and I think it's something different for her to do and something for her to look forward to each week.

Now, whenever she behaves she will say: Mummy, Qiqi 'you guai, wo ke yi qu' Stretch n Grow. When we went to pick her up yesterday, as these days, I hardly went due to my big stomach and laziness and the cold weather......we read the articles written by teachers and photos......it's really fun in that centre. They have cake making day, play dough making day, birds feeding day (apparently they have 2 birds and come each week for them to feed) plus other group projects.

In June, there is a christian ship stopped in Auckland. They have a books sale on the ship. Val loves books. She loves her stories times. Sometimes she read the stories herself and started with 'You yi tian' [One day - In mandarin]. And we changed all the characters in the book to her friends name like: Adela, Sophie, Amanda, Lucas, Isabelle, Bella, Emily etc

We went on that day and she was thrilled to see such a big ship. We told her only good girls get to go onto the ship. So she's quite proud of herself and tries to be a good girl throughout the tour in the ship. We bought some books there. They are not that expensive compared to what we've normally paid for.

Weber Bros Circus is in town again. We've decided to bring Val there after she watched Barney (wtih circus's theme). It was a cold day but we all enjoyed it so much. Before we went, she told me: Mummy, 'wo yao chuang mei mei qu circus' [I want to wear pretty pretty to circus.] Of course, it's nothing special for adults. But looking how much she enjoyed the show.....we know it's all worth it.....=)

Our friends, Jeanne and Boon, invited us over to their daughter's, Emily, on year old birthday party in Butterfly Creek, near airport. Emily is such a gorgeous girl. Before we went, we told Val that this time it's Emily's turn to blow the candle. All kids love blowing the candle. I'm scared that she will go up and blow it on behalf of Emily. So we tried to brain wash her before we go. Who knows she said: No mummy, it's my turn. Emily, MOVE!!!! But thankgoodness that she didn't say that on that day. In fact, she stood aside and let Emily blew. =)

Our friend, Mei Chee, came to Auckland on her business trip. Val loves her so much and called her 'Wo de Mei Chee Yi Yi' [My aunt Mei Chee]. As she is learning ABC now, she knows M for Mei Chee Yi Yi. Once we went to the toilet and when she came out she couldn't find Mei Chee and she kept asking: Wo de Mei Chee Yi Yi Leh? [Where is my Mei Chee aunty?]

Sometimes, we tried to stir her and said: Mei Chee Yi Yi shi wo de. [It's my Mei Chee Yi Yi.] She gets angry and fights back and said: No, shi wo de, but shi ni de! [No, she's mine, not yours!]

Mei Chee likes to call her 'Baby'. And she told Mei Chee: Yi Yi, wo bu shi baby. Wo shi da Jie Jie liaw. [Aunty, I'm no longer a baby. I'm a big sister now!]

The way she talks is like her teacher. Last night, when she saw Benedict, she asked: Daddy, ni chong liang le mei you? [Have you taken shower?]. Benedict said: already. and she said: Heng hao. Good Boy. [Very Good.]

Like Benedict found a carpark, she will say: well done, daddy or Good Job Daddy.

She loves 'Ni Wa wa' [Doll song - Mandarin]. If we sing this song, she will get angry and said: this is my favourite song, not yours!

If I called Benedict, daddy....the way she called Benedict....she said: Mummy, 'daddy' shi wo jiao de. Ni jiao Lau gung [Mummy, I call him daddy. YOu call him Hubby.]

One day, me and Benedict were talking and I told Benedict that I am pretty sure Val wants mummy more than daddy as Daddy is boring~~~~ She was sitting on the floor listening our conversation. So I turned to her and asked: Darling, who do you love most? Daddy or Mummy? [Normally, she would say both.] This time, she said: I love Daddy MOST!!!! and gave me a chicky laugh. She tries to embarrass me!!!!!!

Sometimes, if you think back, she's not even 3 years old. But already so chicky. Maybe all the kids are like that. Now, if she gets mad with me...she will say: You are Isabelle's mummy. You are not Valerie's mummy. But she still say Benedict si her daddy.

Oo....better stop now.....

Will try to update more often eh.

Hubby's Birthday

It's Benedict's birthday in early April. We shouted him out for a nice dinner, of course - so that we all can eat too.....Muahahahah........

On his actual day, we went to buy 2 really small piece of cakes......mainly to entertain Val. She actually overtook Benedict's birthday boy position. She stood onto the chair and get ready to blow the candles.

She told me: Mummy, one candle daddy and one candle for Valerie. She even requested 2 knifes.

Time really flies and she will be turning 2.5 years old in May. She has been talking non stop and she is trying to form sentences. She is capable in speaking English and Mandarin. Her 'ke po' attitude hasn't changed at all......being bossy in daycare....but the teachers just love her. Today, the center manager told me she would transfer her to the older centre as she's fully toilet trained and she knows when to go to toilet without anyone reminding her.

One teacher told me previously that one child was crying for mummy and the other child's mum came in and he went to hug her. That mum tries to calm him down by giving him a cuddle. Val went over and said: She is not your mummy. (in very serious tone) =D

Few days ago, I knocked her milk bottle down and I asked who did it? She replied: Mummy and I said: No. She gave me a smack on my leg and said: Mummy, 'bu yao jiang pien hua' [do not lie, mummy].

If she doesn't know a thing she will say: Qiqi bu hui.

It's so cute to see all these words coming out from her mouth. We are trying to teach her to pray. The way she speaks Mandarin is just like 'ang mo' speaks Mandarin and make me and Benedict laughed. =)

Thomas The Train

These are the 'gadgets' we borrowed from Toys Library together with the other 4 toys.

Val loves Thomas The Train for some reason. However, this toy actually entertained Benedict more than Val. He had waited for an opportunity to borrow it home from Toys Library. He told me once and I told him it's not something suitable for Val's age. So he waited, and waited....till the day I didn't go with him....he came back with this big box!

Val is having fun in destroying it and he is having fun in putting them back together. What can I say? Maybe this is another kind of 'family activity'. =D

Royal Easter Show 2008

This year, we decided to go to Easter Show. The show is on every year. Basically, it's like a fun fair. The main reason that I wanted to go is because they are having a live stage show for Shrek 3. Val is crazy about Shrek and I think she would be thrilled to see Shrek in person! After all, we have nothing do, might as well do something together as a family!

She went onto the pony rides 3 times, that's her favourite even though she's a bit scared! We actually brought her onto the 'Pom Pom' Car. She was terrified. Hahahah........but I had a lot of fun. ehheheheh.......

We went to watch the Shrek 3 and she was so happy. Every now and then that we passed the showground, she would say Shrek? Besides Shrek, there were few other kiddies live shows on, but we didn't have time for that.

Easter Show had a market too where everyone selling the crafts. M&M was having and small indoor theme park for younger kids. She went onto the train and I made Benedict to go with her. You can guess how bored was Benedict. But the most important thing is Val is having a good time. Police department was out to promote their services too. Benedict was so happy to get onto the police car. hahahaha.......He brought Val together so that he doesn't look too....mmm....'ding dong'....hahahaha.....

Then they had farms animals, animals competitions, cats exhibition etc.

We went there early in the morning and was in the market, farm and exhibitions. By the time we came out, Wow.....basically anywhere were packed of crowds.

It's a sunny day and far too hot for us. Well, better than sleeping at home, I guess.

Mum's Birthday

It's my mum-in-law birthday in February.

We went to a Thai restaurant in Dominion Road. My in laws really enjoyed the dinner very much. On top of that, Val had done her part to entertain everyone. She kept singing Happy Birthday songs over and over again......Honestly, can't remember how many times she sang! After dinner, we went to Mt Eden for a short walk. It's very windy, but everyone had enjoyed that day.

On the actual day, we thought it would be nice to have a birthday cake. So, we went to buy a small cake and i think the happiest person is Valerie. She gets to sing and blow candle. But am sure my in laws are happy too. =)