Angpow shoes

The 3 of us just returned from the Middle Kingdom two days ago. Still a little jetlagged and have lots of unpacking and laundry to do. Tidying up the pics now. Here's one taken before we went on the trip of N using the big angpow packet as his shoes! He ran away when I tried to photograph him.

Spring is here.Check out my plum blossoms

Pic taken on 12 Sep of my plum tree. Hopefully we get bigger fruit this year. Last year, N kept plucking the fruits before they even had a chance to ripen.

Abel's first trip

This is a super overdue post but I'd just finished collaging the photos. We took our moms and dad and the boys to Waiheke Island in April during the Easter break. We caught one of the catamaran from Half Moon Bay and the journey was 35-40 minutes to the island.

First stop, we went to the market. It has bric-a-brac, pony ride, plant sales, fresh foods, and local artists showing their work. We bought some fabrics and N's kitchen appliances from a lady and then went to check out the foodstalls. The breads just look so inviting!!

Next we went to Stony Batter. I nick name it the Stonehenge of New Zealand :P Of course it is the result of volcanic acitivities long time ago. The walk was about 35 minutes. We had to stop often as N kept going off-course. First to check out the red dust, the rocks, and the sheep poops and cow dungs. I also had close encounter with this sheep that literally was 2 inches away from me while I breastfed A. Luckily Jake lured it away with some potato chips.

After the walk, we were exhausted and it is time to refuel :P We decided to go to Vino Vino for lunch. It overlooks the ocean. The view was stunning. We had the big platter and the steak. Yum...it couldn't be better.

Next, we went to Mudbrick Vineyard. The vineyard has a very well landscaped vegetable garden. There were cabbages, cauliflowers, beans etc. I wonder if the restaurant used the produce in its kitchen. N had a blast running up and down the little hill at the top of the restaurant. We also tasted the wines. A little disappointed we actually had to pay to taste the wine. The wines were alright. I like some of the reds we tried even though I am not a red person.

We also checked out Palm Beach. Dad and I managed to check out a garage sale there. N had loads of fun with the sand and the playground.

After the vineyard, we pretty much ran out of things to do. We actually went to check out the Woolsworth on the island. It's the only supermarket and imagine the monopoly.

We caught the 7 30pm catamaran back to Auckland and phew, Abel did pretty well for his first trip.

Abel -3 months

Here's Abel when he just turned 3 months. His hair started dropping that month. He was very into tracking his mobile and staring at them. He's also making lots of vowel sounds.

Homemade Hummus Pizza

Anyways I attempted to make hummus few weeks back. It was easy except I was overgenerous with my garlic cloves resulting in my hummus being a little spicy. Because it was preservative free, I had to use it up quickly. So here, jake made me a pizza with pita bread. He spreaded the hummus very generously on the pita bread and then put a bit of havarti cheese and finally use the bbq sauce to swirl around the pitta bread. Then it gets into the oven for 5-7 minutes. It is totally fine to do the above without the cheese. Result: it's pretty good. The havarti just added the extra oomph to it.

I don't know whether to be pleased or to be angry. Today one of my apple have gone bad on the bottom, so I decided to carve a star for N to stamp on the paper. After A is down for nap, I got ready and he set out stamping. It wasn't too bad for the work of 2.9 year-old. Then A is crying . I put away the paintbrush and the tray away and went to get him. For 2 minutes I forgot I have left the 2.9year-old to his own device. When I went out, he was clean but had his hands in his art smock. I noticed all his stars were all gone!!!!!!!!!!!! (We were working on a baking sheet type paper)
Me: Where are your stars???!

N: In my hands. (Showing me his purple hands).

He's wiped out all his stars and he'd probably had the best finger/hand painting session in that 2 minutes whilst he was unsupervised!

Art-ing with chalks

Over the winter when the weather is permits, we bring our activities outdoor.
I introduced chalks to N in winter. First he is more interested in asking me to draw pictures for him and he guessing what I drew. When he was ready, he asked for a chalk and started drawing on the tiles. Above he's drawing plates of noodles.

I know what you did last summer

I have been collaging photos. Getting quite sick of collaging. Anyhow, now that I have little kids, going to the beach is always on our agenda whenever the weather is good. N loves going to the beach. He goes there for the playground, for the sand, and he can get dirty without too much nagging from me.

Below, he went there with jake and my dad. He had a ball with all his tools there.

For some reason, N also loves my big white bucket. It is his hat, helmet, bucket, drum, and it is also his boat below??

You might remember we got N a pirate ship in 2009. That thing sat on our lawn after the summer and it gathered lawn clippings and bugs and what not. It was an ugly piece of junk after that. This year, it joined the inorganic collection outside the kerb :P Anyways, below is just a huge drum being cut into 2 that my Fil bought. N had as much fun in it if not more.

Sharing stories

A is in his big brother's bed one morning and N decided to read him a book.

Flashback

Jake has very little photos of his childhood, like less than 10. Reason being he played photo developing with his photos when he was younger resulting in him ruining the photographs. So when I saw this being uploaded onto FB by B his cousin, I saved it :) This must be taken in the early 80s. hehe..Jake is the little toddler in the photo. My, how much he has grown. *GRIN

Can you see any resemblance of the boys in him?

N likes to play with A now. He can be a bit rough but boys are boys right? And A doesn't seem to mind half the time. In fact, he chuckles very loudly. Oh dear I look forward to lots of boyish adventures/mischiefs in years to come. And today N said this to A which I thought was so sweet of him. He kept calling out,"Hello Little Brother "to A.

Abel - 2 months old

Here's one of my favourite when he's 2 month's old. Captured him laughing.
He's a lot more alert than when he was a newborn.

Apple Juice please

A few days ago, this conversation took place:


N: I want to drink apple juice. Can you make me apple juice?

Me: There's no apples.

N: Look, there's ONE apple. (took it out from the fruit basket)

Me: One apple is not enough to make juice. (Real reason: Lazy to make apple juice from one apple and then wash the whole juice extractor)

N: There's one apple here, Mom.

Me: There's no enough apple, darling.

The end.



On Saturday I bought half a dozen apples. (they are really for A's apple puree)

Anyways they are sitting in the fruit basket. This morning, this conversation took place.

N: Mom, wow, lots of apples here.

Me: Yeah. Do you want to count how many apples they are?

N: So now you can make apple juice!! Lots of apples here. Okay??

Me:<_>

Abel - Month 1

We purchased a new camera after Abel was born and I have only recently got to tidy up the photos. I know , I know, 7 months down the the track I am only writing about his first month. Anyways here are some of the ones that I collaged. Abel was very different in temperament from Noel. The second he entered the world, he screamed. We nicknamed him "the Screamer". hehe. See most of his pic he has his mouths wide open.

Abel was quite jaundiced and on day 16 he was readmitted to the maternity unit to go under phototherapy.

We celebrated his full moon at home with some friends . He had only a few pic taken. We were too busy talking and he was wanting to feed every so often.

On his actual day of his full moon which also coincides with my MIL's birthday, the immediate family went to have dinner in the city at Grand Harbour. The dish I was most impressed with (not in term of taste but looks ) was that dessert of little chicks in the egg shells. It is actually red bean or was it lotus paste pastries.

Just got home from a tiring exercise. No I haven't been running on treadmills or doing aerobics. I have just gone to pick up N from kindy and return books at library and have Abel's passport photo taken at the chemist.

Picking N and returning books was easy-peasy. A little embarrassed as I packed tambourines for N while they are learning alphabet U today. The teacher got N to play the tambourine when they sing their goodbye song. Saw all the kids brought umbrellas of all sizes. I'll have to find an umbrella small enough to fit into my ziplock bag.

Next we go to the library to return N's dvd. He's into Play School these days. It's pretty cool programme with lots of song singing, crafts and all sorts of things that pre-schooler love. We picked up another Play School and then lastly to the chemist.

By right, it should be just real easy. A snap or two and we will be out of there in 10minutes (allowing time for photos to develop) But A had a small problem. He wouldn't close his mouth. NZ Passport regulations require that photo must be taken with a neutral expression with mouth closed. So the lady must have snapped at least 20 shots until she ran out of memory (She must have a very small memory card) but still not having a good shot. She suggested she would photoshop for me but then she said the lighting from both pics are not the same so it was not possible for her. She then got another lady to take the pic while she served another customer. After 10-12 shots or so, the lady was satisfied with one. I was tired and also have to attend to N who is by now hungry and bored. He asked to have Char Kuay Tiaw at the shop we always go in the mall. So we went to have lunch there while we wait for the photos to be developed.

So, I was charged $20 for 4 photos. The normal price is $15 for 4 photos. I suppose when there's a baby who won't close his mouth it's quite worth the price. Do you have a good experience getting passport pic taken for yourself or your little one?

Constipated ...

I like to think I have some sort of routine going on most days of the week. On Monday, after A woke up, I will feed him hen proceed to have breakfast with N before we both attend BSF, me in the adult studies and he in children's program. MIL would be babysitting A.

This morning the weather looked rather good so I decided to put in a load of laundry. I have a bit of time in my hand. I leave A in the 'exersaucer' thingie and N playing in the playroom while I spot cleanned several pieces or let's just say 1/2 load of the laundry. After that, I got N to go for breakfast. He was being very moody and quiet and uncooperative. For those of you that have met N, he's not the quiet sort. He's usually full of life, jumpy and yaks non stop. I couldn't for the life of me think of reasons of the mood swing. He was chirpy when he first woke up.

Then he told me he wants to poo and he wanted to sit on the potty. Usually it's pretty fast business. Usually, was so fast he had already done it all in his nappy. Today it is different. He was constipated. He cried and cried.Big tears streaming down from both his eyes. He said it was painful. Poor boy. Not good when A decided to join in. And my breakfast was held back and I don't have any prunes stocked in my pantry. It's the first time of me handling such situation. Fortunately my MIL came shortly and was able to help coax him to drink water etc. We told him to take a break and to not think of the poop for a while. The poop didn't arrive until much later (around 1pm).

We were a bit late for BSF but it was all good. On our way home, we went to shop for prunes, and buy some veggies. I thought this is good opportunity to teach him the importance of veggies in his life!!!! On the other hand, has he been put off by the horrible thought of having nothing coming out and sitting on the potty and toilet for the longest time.

After we got home, I did manage to make him take 3 pcs of prunes, 1/2 big kiwi, and 1tbsp of corns. Btw, he took the corns very unwillingly. I keep reminding him he needs to eat his vegetables so he can poop.

Look Mom..

N has been saying lots of things lately. It is amazing watching how his little brain reasons and works. Here's my attempt to record them before I forget.

N: Look, Mom. (N shows me his teddy with a yellow post-in note on teddy's eye.)

Me: Yeah?

N: He's a pirate.

Me: Oh..(thinking wow, he associates eye patch with pirates)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

N is eating his Kit Kat Chunky bar.

Me: Noel, are you going to share your Kit Kat? Let Daddy or Ah Ma have some?

N: No. They are sick so cannot eat chocolate.

Me: @_@

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

N came to me with a laundry basket and making gurgling sound.

N: Look, Mom.

Me: Yeah?

N: This is spa pool, like in the hotel. (Proceeds to climb into the laundry basket)

Who says we need expensive toy to enrich their imagination? I find he's abandoning the toys we bought for him and utilising things like box and chairs and laundry baskets as his 'toys'.

Function at Northern Club

We attended a function mid-July and I took some pics of our food. Above was decor for the night. Below is the entree which is seared tuna.

We had ribbed eye steak for main. I didn't take the desserts as I thought it was quite boring. I didn't have a pic of us in our formals though.

N's favourite books

N took instant likings to some books and would want me to read them over and over again. (Think 4-5 times at one sitting) Some books he won't even finish reading it at first glance. I do try to get him to read them at least once before I return them. Thank God we have excellent library here.

Below are his current favourites. The first one is called No, David! If it were up to me, I won't choose this book, mainly because I think the drawing did not appeal to me. But what do I know, it appeals to N! He took an instant liking to the book!!! It has pictures of little David getting into trouble on every page and you can guess it, most pages read, NO, David or Come back here, David. It did end positively with Come here David, and I love you David. After the first reading, he could remember all the pictures in it. He would ask me to find, "David reaching for cookie jar", "David making lots of noise" , "David dirtying the carpet with his muddy shoes" and so on and so forth.
After this book, whenever he misbehaves, we usually asked if he remembers David, what happened to him.

Next book was recommended by my colleague who was trained as an early childhood teacher. It is called Avocado Baby by John Burmingham. John Burmingham wrote many children's books but this one appears to be most elementary ie contains least word so it appeals to little kids. One thing that I was not very used to was the author called the avocado fruit AVOCADO PEAR in the book. It is a little confusing. N really enjoyed the storyline. It's about a family, the Hargraves who are expecting a new baby. The family is very thin and not very strong. One day the mother fed the fussy baby avocado and he grew strong. So strong that he could lift piano, groceries etc He even threw the bullies into the pond.

Third book is Lauren Child's Charlie and Lola I will be especially very careful. We have never seen the show but both N and I love her books. The book usually has mixture of drawings and real pictures in it. I usually read it aloud to him. He really enjoys the story. What have you been reading lately?

Dancing Ladies

This is my only orchid which is blooming this year. Wonder if it has to do with the positioning of the plants besides feeding and watering. I shifted all of them to another corner last Spring.

Wishlist

I had never walked into a Kumf store but I did one day and tried this pair of ankle boot for fun. And I was impressed. It was so comfy and it is pretty too. How often do you get pretty and comfy for a combination? It looked versatile too. The only thing I dislike is its pricetag. At sale price, it is still $199 and my tight-ass-currently-on-leave-without-pay me can't justify paying that hence here it is, sitting in my wishlist. :S


*Pic taken from Kumfs website.

Pics from ML

Got these photos from ML. They are taken quite some time back. My, time has flown..