Been missing Sarah...

Everyday been missing her... cant wait to go back and see her and cuddle her. She's an apple of my eye. Whenever I miss her, I will see her picture or watch short video clips of her which i took from my handphone. :)

Was it scary that night?

Last night upon switching off the lights for bedtime, Sarah started crying and her actions were actions of fear. It was as though there was something in the room that she was afraid off. She wasn't behaving her usual self. I was sitting on the bed with her and she kept wanting to climb on my laps. She just did not want to "touch down" the bed.

Daddy quickly prayed a prayer that Jesus will cover her with peace & grace. Daddy prayed that our room be filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit & not something bad. Minutes after that, as I hugged her tightly (and she to me), she slept through the night.

It was such a pity that she couldn't communicate what she wants or what she sees or feels. Daddy & I kept asking her what's wrong and tell her that it's OK... mummy's here, daddy's here... She just cried, shook her head and sort of wanting to tell something but couldn't. I saw the frustration she had when she couldn't communicate words with us.

Well, Sarah... the day will come when we can communicate with words, ya? Be patient. Little by little everyday, you, daddy & mummy will be able to communicate and know each others hearts ya? Bless you, our little one... Have a good rest at home & may God send His angels to surround you & guard you from any evil deeds, in Jesus' name we pray - AMEN!

Sarah's "fish mouth"

Ho ho ho!
This is a MUST-POST on this blog! :D

We finally got this shot of Sarah doing the "fish-mouth". Hehehe... In previous post, she ended up doing a "pig-mouth" aka "gold-fish" from great-grandma sheela. This time, we got the shot we wanted... :p

In case anyone wonders... the answer is...

"No, I didn't teach her to do this... i guess it's just her natural talent or something. LOL!"

Sarah with Uncle Kenny & Uncle Alex
Haha... Uncle Kenny trying to do the fish-mouth too! :)

Our little girl is jealous!

Jealous? Possessive? Well... it's a trait that we saw in our little girl, and really... we wondered whether to be worried about it or to laugh at it and settle it later in the future! :p

Once upon a night at bedtime, I was lying near daddy and upon seeing that, Sarah quickly with all her greatest ability came in between both daddy & mummy. We then learned that she was probably unhappy seeing daddy & mummy so close together. OK... we got the hint! We tried again on several nights to "check on her current trait". Lo & behold, we found out that she was totally jealous when mummy is being "shared" with daddy! It was funny at the same time when we did this "test". First, she would make a sound implying that she doesn't like mummy & daddy to be close together. Actually that would be her first attempt to show her feelings and when that failed, she would then come closer to push daddy aside - far from mummy if possible! When that failed too, as we tried to "glue" ourselves together to further "test" her, she would then squeeze her way through so that she could have mummy all to herself!

WOW! Determine indeed, but yes, she has a strong character in that. She's already taking ownership at such a young age! Hmm... praying that it will be her strength when she grows up. There's a lot of good in being determine & possessive when they are used wisely.

Pray... pray... pray...

Well, if you ask us what do we do after the test? We distract her attention a little bit by asking her to hug daddy instead, and "mashi-mashi" (which is her little mashimaro bolster) and we continued to play with her a little while more before saying "Night! Night!"

Sarah and bling-bling

This post is especially dedicated to "great-grandma" Sheela... :) These photos were taken 2 weeks ago when GG Sheela "bribe" Sarah with her "bling-bling" and Sarah was happy to learn that this stuff is cool and that she can wear it at her wrist as well. The chain around her neck was cheh-cheh Saundra's... and when she gets them, it's truly hard to let them go... Very unfortunately, last week Sarah broke GG Sheela's bling-bling... :( So sorry, GG Sheela.

The party... the process...

As all mummies would love to do... (not sure about daddies :p)... we would like to give the "bestest" birthday party for our little one, especially so when they are our first child celebrating their very first birthday of their very own life!

Hmmm..... yeah, I fell into that category of mummies! :p

I wanted my little girl to experience the very best birthday party with everyone who loves her, not just her mummy & daddy, but together with all her grandpa, grandmas, grand-uncles, grand-aunties, uncles & aunties, cheh-chehs & kor-kors, & mei-meis & di-dis.... to some extend I wish I could invite the whole world to celebrate with us this special day...

OK...OK... back to reality ya?! No, we couldnt invite the whole world... No, we couldnt even invite all our relatives, and not to mention friends. I automatically became the organisor, because it was my idea... :p Earlier on about 3 months ago when I had that idea, I was pretty excited, and being the first party I ever organise in my home, I couldnt even sleep (thank God it was only for a night! *phew*) I was imagining how the decos would be like, how the cake would look like, the guest list, the menu of the day, the invitation card, the thank you card, the door gifts, the slide show, the party hats, etc etc... Boy, was I really really excited for the day to come.

Err... in reality? We had some simple decos - balloons & wordings, simple menu for the night (but in the end, ended up with lots of food leftover!), e-invitation card and a video clip showing some pictures taken in her 1 year of life with some video clips of her milestones... (err... my conscience is clear. FYI, i didnt do it during my work. They were all done on one of the nights before the party and during the weekend. hehehe... :p)... OK... So, there were no party hats, no great decos, no thank u cards, no door gifts (except some food that was nicely packed to be taken home. hehehe...)

During the whole process of planning, I learn many things. I learn that 2 heads are better than 1, for sure. Many times I thought of things beyond reality (which is great, but sometimes, some things just have to forgo for now... maybe it can be done later in the future, with better planning, better observation, better experience!). Hubby kept knocking my head, telling me to get back into reality, discussing with me of different options to make things easier and fun for everyone. And yes, we need to do it within our budget as well. I kept being reminded that the party is not to cater for everyone's needs but for Sarah - it's her birthday... make it a wonderful experience for her... most importantly - spend quality time with her! Ah yes... that surely made me think twice about a lot of things. Like the story of Martha & Mary-Magdalene in the Bible, at one time, I felt I became a Martha in this whole party planning process. I was anxious... very anxious indeed.

I learn that to have a good balance of both quality in serving our guests & time in spending with our little one, a good planning is important... that includes time, finance, finding of resources - helpers, food, etc... So, people... if you're intending to throw a party, these are some take-aways:

1. Get the calendar out and start planning the dates/time and work out a checklist. There are many party planning guides out there in the www. Here are some examples: example1 & example2.
2. Have your plans written down - don't let it linger in your head! (You might forget some things along the way & especially on that day)
3. Ask friends & family for help and delegate the tasks out. They'll be more than happy to be part of this. It is needed even though you might think that you & your spouse can handle those tasks. In reality, you would prefer to be freed to be good hosts to all your guests & parents to your child.
4. Tell yourself, "Don't worry... everything will be fine."

5. ENJOY the day!

Oh yes, very important thing... delegate photo-taking to someone. Dont forget to take family photos on that special day. Thank God we have bloggers in our midst. It is very natural of them to take photos here & there on that day :) Hubby was supposed to be the photographer but he was busy with other things. Thank God for back-up plans... hehe... As we didnt manage to take much, back-up photographers are important! We even forgot to take family & friends photos after the cake cutting. That was a regret. *sigh*

All in all, I think the party was a success, except that there were some unforeseen circumstances that affected the "plan" along the way.

Just a short sharing about that...

Firstly, on that day, hubby had to rush out to get our water-filter fixed & called the locksmith to fix our main door lock which suddenly gave way on that day. That kind of taken much of the time needed to get the party preparation done up. Thank God for mummy, ah ees & cousin who helped me with the food preparation & taking care of Sarah while I was busy. Thank God my sis was there to help me with the balloons & hubby quickly spare a short time to put up the wordings. Thank God for my in-laws for helping out with the last-minute SOSes.

Secondly, as i shared earlier, poor Sarah had to go through diarrhea that day and I had to take care of her well-being more than other days. Because this was unforeseen, a good delegation would definitely ease me up.

Thirdly, it was raining the whole night, thus the plan of having some chairs placed at the balcony was disturbed. OK, we really didnt expect that, thus the crowded place in our little hall... :p

Well... thank God it was over (haha!). Thank God tht we have family, relatives & friends who are great people and who are willing to compromise with our short-comings. It was a great party & I was glad to be able to learn many things and experience party-planning. So, more to come? Time will tell... hehehe...

Sarah's "pig mouth"

She's been doing the "fish-mouth" and I thought it was cute! Took out the camera, and all we got was...


She loves doing this especially when she is tired, or when she is about to throw her tantrum or cry! Wonder where she learn this from... hmmm...

Scott's Emulsion for Sarah...

We recently bought Sarah a small bottle of Scott's emultion, which is rich in cord liver oil. We got her the original one, which i know can be a little fishy and bland, and not everyone is able to consume it due to its fishy taste. A big clap to Sarah that she took it without problems. Hubby said that's the good thing about being "wai sek" :p

We let her try it for 2 days in a row and she did not reject it. Hubby on the other hand rejected it totally (Yes, it's good for adults too!). I remembered my family used to consume it and it was part of my daily supplement as a child.

Try it!

Sarah's punk hair...

Last night, we couldn't resist taking Sarah's punk hairstyle... hehehe... she was playing & sweating all over, giving her the effect of a natural hair gel. Thus, the punk...

Sarah's 1st birthday party...

Sarah's first birthday party was Mummy's first time being an organizer of a party! How embarrassing... so many things to share about my personal experience, but this post is especially for Sarah. Hehe... So, no complaints... but just to share some pictures taken on her very special day.

Some simple decos... and a birthday balloon given by Aunty Brenda. She couldn't make it for the party, but had this balloon bouquet sent to Sarah before the birthday party. How sweet!
Thanks Aunt Bren! :)

Shoes for sale???
Welcome to our humble home... :)

(just added this pic... thx CK for capturing the food! :))
Let's see... we had fried rice, fried bihun, chicken nuggets, KFC (hot & spicy and original), 3 types of chinese kuih (ang koo kueh, kueh lapis & dono-what-round-thingy-with-red-bean-&-green-beans), chicken curry, egg sandwiches, ah-char, some sour mango thingy, watermelon & cocktail drinks... and of course THE cake!)
We had so much left-overs but thank God we manage to get people to tapao back! Hehehe...
Thank you all who contributed some of the foods.

Babies.... toddlers... young children...
Cousins & friends!
(Clockwise from top-left: Sarah, "Aunt MJ", Janson, Maximus, Ashley, Andrea, Reanne, Paul-Elijah, Ivan & youngest of them all... Priscilla-Anna)

Pix1: Sarah with Ee-por
Pix2: Por-por feeding Sarah some cakes
Pix3: Nai-nai feeding Sarah some porridge... and ah ee looked on...

Bloggers fellowship... :p

Pix1: Children fellowship
Pix2: Aunties fellowship
Pix3: Baba Yeo giving his speech! :p
Pix4: Mummies fellowship

Blessed birthday 2 u....
Blessed birthday 2 u....
Blessed birthday 2 Sarah.....
Blessed birthday 2 u!

We bought a special candle for Sarah. It was a candle with a "No. 1" and 2 stars beside it.
Err... She's too little to know which Disney character she would like on her cake, but Pooh Bear & Tigger seem too cute to resist! :)

Slide show time...

Ah ee helping to cut the cake for Sarah while Grandma Sri Ann giving the instructions. Hehehe...

Pressies for our girl...
Thank you all for the lovely gifts & ang pows.

Notice Sarah was on her "sarong" after the party. Yes, she wasn't feeling well that night. She had diarrhea (suspect due to teething) and caused her butt to be so red & painful, we had to let her wear "sarong" for awhile to "cool" it down.

Finally some family photos with our girl...

Blessed Birthday to U, Sarah.
We love U so so much!

Thank you, Uncle Daniel Lion for some of the photos shown here. We were all so busy during this time, it was good to have backup photographers like you to capture the moments! Really appreciate them much! Thank you so much!

p/s - CK, thank you too! Appreciate the video recording of the birthday prayer & song! :)

[+video] While waiting in the clinic...

Well, as usual... Sarah could not sit still. Thank God there was a small "playground" for the kids (and parents) to hang around while waiting.

Sarah couldn't resist the rocking horse... and the slide too! :)



We let her try the slide... she loved it! :)
It was actually pretty hard to take her attention away from it. Daddy had to distract her with some other stuff there, but soon after that, the nurse called "Sarah Chong!"

Baby Sarah's Weight & Height - Month 12

Last night was Sarah's first visit (after her first birthday) to Dr Khoo to get her Measles/mumps/rubella jab. We were excited as parents to go check out her weight & height too. Hahaha!

Month 12+ (19 March 2009)
Weight=10.12kg (+1.62kg (after 6mths))
Height=75.5cm (+5.5cm)
Head circumference=44.4cm (+2.9cm)

She didn't gain as much weight as last time because she is actively walking and developing her other muscles in her body. So, no... she is not overweight (even though she still has michelin arms...) Hehehe...

She is growing healthily. Doctor says she is following her growth chart and that was important.
Thank You, Lord!

Read previous post on baby Sarah's weight & height measurement (Month 6).
Read previous post on baby Sarah's weight & height measurement (Month 5).
Read previous post on baby Sarah's weight & height measurement (Month 4).
Read previous post on baby Sarah's weight & height measurement (Month 3).
Read previous post on baby Sarah's weight & height measurement (Month 0 - 2).