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).

Happy!

Today, as I was on my way up to the office... as I do everyday... but different this time! I decided one thing that is very important in my life.

I decided to be HAPPY! :)

I know I've been rather grouchy lately, or perhaps for as long as I learn to earn my own money. Nothing is enough. Nothing satisfies me... (except maybe watching Sarah grow! Haha!) Well, I'm not saying that I'm contented. I just decided to be happy and live my best everyday. It's not easy, I know. I'm affected by situations around me rather easily... thus, making me sad, angry, frustrated, annoyed, blablablabla... and the list goes on and on and on.

Today, I decided to be HAPPY! And live my life as how I would when I was a little girl, except that now I am married and am a working mum.

Thank You, Lord for a blessed day today and going forward!

Blessed 1st Birthday, Princess Sarah

Lord Jesus, shower your blessings upon our precious one from this day forth! We pray for blessings of good health, protection, prosperity, wisdom & knowledge, joy & happiness, talents & giftings, spiritual gifts & fruits of His spirit upon our dear Sarah... in Jesus' name we pray - Amen!

Girl girl, Mummy & Daddy love you very very very much! Receive this prayer of blessings from us both! Muaaahhhh! xoxo :)

Sarah's teething again...

It's that teething season again for Sarah. Sad to see her feeling so down at this time... and especially seeing her in pain.

Symptoms:
1. slight fever
2. drool, drool, drool
3. diarrhea

ok.... so No. 3 is not a symptom that many, if not all, pediatricians say... or even in many other sources of knowledge. Hmm... I wonder whether i'd like to debate on this, but for the past 3 other seasons of teething for Sarah, diarrhea seems to be one of the symptom that is so likely to occur to her. The "texture" is different from the normal faeces. It's slightly watery + it has small little faeces in the soiled diaper, size of a pea. And she will poo-poo at least 4-6 times a day for at least 2-3 days in a row. It hurts her bottom so much that whenever we change her diaper, she would cry. I could imagine how painful it is for her, as her bum was really red during this period.

Little Sarah's Milestone: 10 to 12 months

It was between the 10th month and the 12th month (yeah, she's gonna be 1 year old pretty soon! :))... I cant really recall when all these happened exactly as time truly flies before our very eyes! I thank the Lord for His blessings of divine health, protection, knowledge and wisdom upon our little princess.

At Month 10 - 12:
She runs! (oh boy... at this stage, we really had to "catch her if we can"!) And yes, she loves playing catching!

Her vocabulary increases... (oh, she's bilingual by the way! :)) Let's see...
1. "chou-chou" (means smelly in mandarin), ie she will utter these every time she poos.
2. "nen-nen" (means milk in mandarin) when she's hungry.
2. "throw" and she then throws whatever in her hand.
3. "socks" whenever she sees a pair of socks. If she's holding a sock in her hand, she will place it near her foot. If she sees daddy wearing his socks, she will utter that word too!
4. "hallelujah"... she learned this word during one of our cell group prayer meeting time, when daddy kept saying "hallelujah", and suddenly we heard at the background, one little girl uttered "hallelujah" too! That was really really cute! :)
5. "k,k,k,k".... LOL! She will say this after mummy says "OK, OK, OK, OK" to her... :)
6. "star"
7. "duck"
8. "frog"
9. "car"
10."cat"
11. "dog"
12. "ahhhhhhhh" after drinking...
13... hmm... cant recall for now (will update later :p)
ok... some additional stuff after reading the comments... :p
so...
13. "na na"... that means "Mummy"... we're still trying very hard to convince her to call me "Mummy" & not "Na Na"... sometimes "Na Ma"... and also "Ma Na" :p
14. "nen nen ah???" Whenever it's feeding time, i will ask her, "You want nen nen ah???"... and she will copy me, "Nen nen ah???"... and we kept repeating these until she gets her bottle! :p
15. "ak ak"... that means "hug hug". She learned these words earlier on when we got her to hug "Mashi Mashi" every night during bedtime.
16. "ta ta" (means beat in mandarin), so whenever she misbehave, we will tell her "ta ta"... oh yes, since she's an absorber-of-anything-and-everything, she will utter these words too.
17. "oh oi"... that means "sleep"... i think this is a chinese baby lingo.

And some actions...
1. When she coughs or when she hears someone coughs, she will pat her chest.
2. When her stomach's filled, and when we ask her "na ni pao-pao?" (direct translation: where full-full?"), she will pat her belly.
3. When her food is finished, she will show her hand gesture saying "No more".
4. She claps her hand after each song we sing to her, and says "Yeahhhhh!" This happens mainly in the car while we were trying to distract her from crying! Hehehe... Praise God it works! :)
5. She claps her hand after each "achievement" Hehehe... that means, whenever she's able to follow daddy or mummy in her daily development (i would say... this is a "mental development")
6. She waves byebye to everyone downstairs while on the way upstairs for bedtime.
7. She waves byebye and carries a bag (dont exactly know which bag or where she gets it from) and head to the gate.
8. She stands on top of her toy car and balance herself (daddy says like "Mat Rempit"!) and claps her hands! (oh boy... we tried to stop her from doing this stunt, but sometimes she's just too fast!)
9. Whenever mummy or nai-nai prepares her milk, she will stand nearby waiting for it... for me, I will pass the bottle to her (she will feel a sense of independence... i believe! hehehe...) and she will walk to the mattress in the living room, look for a pillow and lie on it (this part needs some help from mummy, else she will lie face down! LOL!) and drink from her bottle. Last weekend, daddy saw her looking for her hanky as well before walking to the mattress!
10. Play hard to get (as what "Great-grandma" Sheela always calls her... a new name given too! "Hard-to-get-babe"! :))
11. When we ask her, "Where pain-pain?", she will reply by patting her head. The funny thing is every time she knocks any part of her body (cheek, hand, leg, etc...) to something, she will pat her head to tell us it is painful. Hahaha!
12. She pats Ivan kor-kor to sleep! LOL! That's what nai-nai does everyday, so yes... Sarah's learning to pat her kor-kor to sleep too! :)
13. We play "1-2-3" game with her every night when we reach home. We'll say "1-2..." and at "3", both her head & ours will knock each other!
14. She responds to instructions like "Give me a kiss...", "Give me a hug...", etc...

At this age, she seems to clearly understand what we say to her or what she's needed to do at a certain time. She's even trying to communicate her wants to us! This stage of growth is rather interesting for me and daddy as we both learned that doing what is right is so important (especially in front of her) because she totally copies almost everything she sees! I'm amazed at the rate she is going and I thank God for developing her well in her days! God bless little Sarah!

Check out Little Sarah's milestone: 6 to 9 months
Check out Little Sarah's milestone: 1 to 6 months

[+video] You jump, I jump (at Month 11)

I sometimes call Sarah a "copy-cat" because she loves to copy whatever actions she sees... yeah, kids at this age are like sponge - able to absorb whatever there is around them! I see that in Sarah a lot... therefore, being parents and role-models to our children+children around us, we need to really be on guard - whatever we do and say!

Yeh-yeh was jumping (and playing with Sarah & Reanne) and when Sarah saw him jump, she wanted to copy him. She was really cute. I managed to record a short clip of it. Hehehe....

[+video] One Way Jesus with the Cousins... :)

Last night, CK played a Hillsongs Kids DVD for the kids at home. It was so funny to watch them dance (in their own special ways) while the video is being played.

Enjoy! :)

It's the REAL thing!

Talk about being addicted.... oh yeah.... I got totally addicted to drinking coke last weekend. Didnt know what happened and how it happened, but it just did! I just felt like drinking and since we got a couple of 1.25l bottles not opened yet, so... why not? I drank a cup... and then another... and yet another... and almost every hour or so, I would feed myself with this "real thing"... and i literally got hooked.

I told hubby, "I'm addicted! I want another cup... maybe just a sip!" And hubby said, "Fill it up!"

LOL! Actually it wasnt just me... it was BOTH OF US! We were addicted to drinking it last weekend! We finished the whole bottle that day. Of course it's not something that we do daily or weekly or even monthly! It was just last weekend! Oh boy.... it's indeed the REAL thing! LOL! :D

Warren Buffet's advice for 2009

1. Hard work: All hard work bring a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

2. Laziness: A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current.

3. Earnings: Never depend on a single source of income. [At least make your Investments get you second earning]

4. Spending: If you buy things you don't need, you'll soon sell things you need.

5. Savings: Don't save what is left after spending; spend what is left after saving.

6. Borrowings: The borrower becomes the lender's slave.

7. Accounting: It's no use carrying an umbrella, if your shoes are leaking.

8. Auditing: Beware of little expenses; A small leak can sink a large ship.

9. Risk-taking: Never test the depth of the river with both feet. [Have an alternate plan ready]

10. Investment: Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Warren Buffet - Interesting aspects of his life

When I read Dorcas' blog on "Warren Buffet's advice for 2009", i thought of just doing a search about him and I then came across another blogspot with this title (as above)... I think Warren Buffet earns everyone's respect for him being 2nd most richest man in the world! He's so cool! :)

Warren Buffet - Second Richest Man in the World
(p/s- oops! I mean He became THE world's richest man in 2008! WOW!)

There was a one hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the second richest man who has donated $31 billion (85% of his fortune) to charity.Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

1) He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!

2) He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.

3) He still lives in the same small 3 bedroom house in mid-town Omaha, that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.

4) He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.

5) He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company.

6) His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis.

7) He has given his CEO's only two rules. Rule number 1: Do not lose any of your share holder's money. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.

8) He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television.

9) Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.

10) Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.

11) His advice to young people: Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself.

For those who's like to read a little bit more about Warren Buffet, check out wikipedia.

Blessed 1 year old, JJ Reanne! :)

Love,
suk-suk, sen-sen & mei-mei Sarah... :)

Christmas 2008 in a nutshell...

Well, well, well.... This is like writing about the yesterdays of my life... ie how I celebrated Christmas last year. Seemed like time flew by just so quickly.... and yes, like every other times when I didn't had time to update my blog... it is almost always due to busy-ness at work (or too many photos to manage! :p)... and after all the busy-ness, it's time for "jill to come out to play"! kekeke... :)

So.... Christmas 2008 in a nutshell....

This time, i spent the Christmas holidays with my family-in-laws up north, visiting some relatives. Spending Christmas in a small village is not like spending the season in cities like KL, PJ or Singapore... I mean you can see lotsa decos here and there, especially in shopping complexes, but not in a small village called Malim Nawar, Perak - my MIL's hometown. It was a short visit up north, where we stretched ourselves and our time to touch and go Penang as well... hehehe. More stories here in my BIL's bloggy :)

In Perak...

As usual, hubby takes many many pix of the nature and not us, human... :p

More non-human pix... hahaha!

Had this for breakfast on the first day in Perak.

It's a hakka delicacy called "lei cha" [wikipedia definition]

Well, that's just the green soup, and it's to be mixed with rice + all kinds of vege, making it super yummylicious! MIL cooks better than any places that serves and sells lei cha. :)

Sleepy heads... These are the looks of the little sleepy heads on early mornings...

Oh... and not forgetting, the importance of coffee & papers in the morning too! :)

Sarah's first bathing experience in a pail! LOL!

She looked so cute in there... at first, it's like a culture shock for her to get all wet in the little pail, but after some distraction she was alright.

The one & only (if i'm not mistaken) bicycle shop in Malim Nawar, which is my MIL's brother's shop. Many teenagers & kids drop by everyday to pump air into their bicycle tyres.

A day trip to Penang...

Sarah's first visit to Penang beach - touching "THE sand" is something to be recorded in Sarah's journal! :)

Makan-makan at hawker stalls... (how can we miss the food in Penang, right?!)

Some more makan-makan session at the Gurney Drive hawker centre.

(No, we didnt eat those hard-shells stuff... it doesnt look that appetizing to me! :p)

I wanted to try "pasembur", which is actually another name for "rojak" in Penang... hahaha! This particular stall that we went to has a very interesting way of getting their customers attention. The seller of pasembur will actually chant "rojak-rojak" while preparing the food and towards the end of his presentation, he will sing and dance in front of you while pouring the gravy into the plate! Hubby said he's like "casting a spell" to his customers! :p

OK... so coming up next... "CNY 2009 in a nutshell..." LOL!

Little Sarah & little Janson...

Now... what are these kids up to???

I saw this picture and thought how cute little Sarah & little Janson were in their curiosity towards the aircond in the baby room. Hehehe... :)

Sarah in her CNY outfit

No, it's not body-hugging cheongsam (haha!)... but it's a lovely outfit to wear during this CNY. I thought of taking lots of pix of her in it as I don't think she's able to wear it again next year! :p

Thanks to Aunt Sri Ann for this Christmas gift to Sarah... just nice to be worn for CNY this year :) Actually she wore it 3x for this CNY. Hehehe (Talk about a kiasu mummy!) Hahaha! Well, not really... actually she wore it once while in Perak and mummy didnt get to see it... Once in Melaka, but not long after wearing it she vomitted most her porridge out and dirtied her outfit. And so, once again, I dress her up the same for church last weekend.

It was a family-bonding moment for Sarah, mummy & daddy. After coming back from church+lunch, we took as much photos of our little girl, and she was in her "best-est" mood. She was very happy, laughing here & there, walking very quickly and falling everywhere too! Hahaha! She made both mummy & daddy very happy too. Spending quality time together is indeed a joyous moment. Thank God for my happy family.

2nd day of Jazzie, and...

Boy, am I so unfit?!!

Yesterday evening was my 2nd day of jazzie! After first half of the class, I slowed down in most of the dance movements. *tak boleh tahan liao...*

I woke up this morning with aches all over my body... and I walked up and down the stairs looking like a penguin :-s

Well, this will sooner or later be gone... so, press on, Rachel! Press on! :)

Woo-hoo!! To Jazzercise I went!

:)

See the BIG smile on my face??? Hehehehe... I finally did it... again!!! Yes! It's been... hmmm... it's been... errr... 2 years? Yeah... *sigh*... That's a definite procrastination!

My instructor, Sharina, remembered me and my last name... (Yeo with a "h" behind :p) and asked me where have I been... I said I've been busy... and I got pregnant... and then I got busy again... but now, I'm back! :) She said she just delivered not too long ago too but oh yeah, she got back her shape as well... and all she said was "Jazzercise!"

I'm excited I got back into this activity... It's that one activity that helped me to sweat... that helped me to get my butt off the chair! After giving birth, I thought of joining this Jazzie class again, but I kept saying... next month... and then I said... maybe next year... :p During the watch night service, Annie came to me and asked me if going back to Jazzie is one of my new year's resolution... I said "No..." :p

Anyways, today's the beginning of a fitter me! And I'm glad that I made this decision. Hubby did mention that I was fitter back then... also, less lethargic. I couldn't agree more. I guess my body deserves some good workout so that it can also function better, both for my goodself and especially for my family! It's indeed a good break from the everyday routine as well.

Wanna know more about Jazzercise? Read this!
Wanna know more about the class I join? Read this! :)

p/s - I tried taking pictures with my camera phone during the class for the sake of blogging... :p But i cant get any good shots... hehehe... it's either blur or taken at the wrong angle... anyway, here goes... :)

Is my life balanced?

At lunch break today, just thought of doing something different. Haha! Guess what I did?! I went to iVillage website and took a quiz! :p (like nothing else better to do.. hehehe...) And so while having my lunch, I answered some questions about "Is your life balanced?" :)

This is the result that I get...
"You are one of those rare adults with a firm grasp on her priorities. Even though you put others first, you are fluent in the subtle art of compromise and know exactly when to cut yourself some slack. Since you already know how important it is to make time for yourself, the only thing left for you to do is find is the key to actually getting those solitary moments."

Hehehe... So, am i living a balanced life? And how about you? It's time to reflect, dudes!