We celebrate our first Thanksgiving today. Although Daddy is not home for Thanksgiving, he came back from work for a little while this morning to see and play with you. He misses you so much! After your first nap, we went to the park to play on the swing and slides to tire you out. Then we came home and you went down for your second nap.
Today, Mommy gives thanks for our perfect little family, for the best husband any wife could ever have, for a beautiful, healthy and growing daughter and not forgetting, our little Zoë. Even though she's in Vancouver this Thanksgiving, we miss her and we can't wait to see her in 2.5 weeks.
Mommy saw that one of your front central incisor has broken through the gum and the other one is not far behind! Yet another reminder that you are growing up...*sigh*
It looks kinda swollen right now but you'll be getting your bugs bunny teeth soon and you can sing the song, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth, MY TWO FRONT TEETH. All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, so I can wish you Merry Christmas!"
You turn 9 months today! At this hour, 9 months ago, I regained consciousness and laid my eyes on the most beautiful being God has ever created. While I am not really cut out for motherhood (I'm not and will never be a Suzy Homemaker), you are a joy in my life that exceeds the drudgery of being a mostly working at home mother. I wasn't really expecting to ever be a real mother (just a fur-mom), much less be totally in love with this tiny being...but I am. It's such hard work but whenever I see your eyes light up when you see me across the room, it makes it soooo worth it.
You are very feisty and outspoken. You know exactly what you want and you go after it with gusto. Whether it’s a piece of what Mommy is eating or that new magazine you want to rip up, you reach for it and usually get what you want. You live life with passion and perfection, when you learn something new, you do it over and over again until you get good at it. You also definitely have a funny bone in you because you love to make people laugh with all your hilarious antics!
Wait, what’s going on with your hair?
Thank you Auntie Cheryl for the little barrettes!
Oh yeah, Mommy discovered that you have *just enough* hair to make a wannabe ponytail. It’s time to start toughening up your scalp for all the fun hair do’s you’ll be getting as you get older...Zoë must be so happy that she's no longer Mommy's Barbie doll!
Now Daddy and I have only three months to plan your birthday party! Don't you worry, it will be the party of the year as Daddy has already started preparations!
You've been blowing raspberries all day, everyday, for the last few days. When you eat, when you take a bath, when we meet new people... You think it's so funny! Sometimes you do it till you are red in the face! I guess you just want to practice until you get it perfect? You silly goose!
Who says baby food is mostly pureed peas and carrots? Obviously those babies did not have a Daddy like yours! You are so lucky that you haven't even had to touch a single jar of commercial baby food. And as much as we can, we try to only give you organic food.
Daddy has been busy in the kitchen making you all sorts of delicious food! And he is thrilled that you are not a picky eater either! You are pretty sick and tired of just the regular pureed vegetables so Daddy has concocted other yummy and chunky combinations for you. Also, instead of pureeing your food up with water, he infuses homemade stock (which he simmers for hours on the stove) into them which makes it oh-so-good for you!
And as for your taste for foods, you eat anything and everything! When we go out, you eat most of our table food too. I think your favorite is dim sum, just like Mommy and Daddy! Also, you seem to enjoy your dairy and Daddy can't wait till you are old enough to have cheese courses with him when we go out for fancy dinners because he always has to have those by himself.
Your normal day-to-day menu is as follows:
Breakfast (around 7:30 am): oatmeal cereal with a dash of ikan bilis powder, 1 egg yolk, cheese cubes, juice
Morning snack (around 10: 30 am): fruit mixed with yogurt, water
Lunch (around 1:30 pm): cereal and yogurt, avocado cubes, water
Dinner (around 5 pm): vegetable mixed with soft tofu and cereal, juice
You nurse between each meal, before you go to bed and 2 times at night. And since you are a puff-a-holic, you snack on puffs all day long as well! I wonder if you will even put on some weight or are you just like Mommy who eats and eats but can't seem to put on the pounds?
Love, Mom
This weeks menu: carrot, chicken & mushrooms; green beans, brocoli, spinach & chicken; cauliflower & salmon
Ah Ma and Ah Kong left to go back to Vancouver today. You had so much fun with them and they were so much help to Mommy. Mommy finally got all our boxes cleared and we just have a few other small loose ends to tie up but our apartment finally feels like home now. With Ah Kong's help and Daddy's brilliant idea, we got our TV centered on the wall and our electronics all hooked up. Now you watch Ni Hao, Kai-Lan in stereo! They took Zoë home with them because you and Mommy are going back in December to celebrate Christmas there. Daddy can't come with us so Zoë had to go with Ah Ma and Ah Kong so it will be easier for Mommy and you to travel.
I am sure you can't wait to see them and your little Zoë next month!
Another week has come and gone and what have you been up to? You are now trying to cruise with the help of the furniture. You are still quite wobbly but you are trying soooo hard! After pulling yourself up, you shuffle your feet in one direction and move towards that direction. Or you let go of one hand and try to balance yourself. You have sustained many, many falls but have always taken them in stride—always just crying for a few seconds and after some comfort, you are off and trying the same thing again. You are definitely one strong-willed and determined little girl with no fear whatsoever!
Mommy can also see the beginning of some communication between us! There were a few times that I noticed you pointing to things that you want! Like when we eat our meals, Mommy caught you pointing at your sippy cup because you wanted a drink. We think that is soooo cool!
Once again, Mommy caught your cheeky self on video. This time blowing raspberries! We can see that you are a natural in front of the camera...you look and even take a moment to pause and compose yourself before you let it out. Mommy laughed so hard that we couldn't keep the camera still while filming. You are Mommy's personal comedian!!
Being the good citizen that you are, we joined Daddy and his colleagues for beach clean-up duty today. We had to pick up the small little pieces of debris because the fishies and the birdies think those things are food and they accidentally eat them and get sick. While we were cleaning up the beach, Daddy took you close to the water to watch the waves. You really enjoy the sound of the ocean, it sounds just like your Sleep Sheep and also maybe it's because Mommy and Daddy took you to Punta Mita Four Seasons resort on our babymoon!
After beach clean-up, we had lunch on the beach and you entertained all of Daddy's colleagues with your cuteness. They couldn't get enough of you! What a beautiful November day it was!
Since we are such BIG fans of Hello Kitty, we went to the Three Apples Exhibition today with Ah Ma and Ah Kong. The exhibition celebrates 35 years of Hello Kitty...Mommy grew up with Hello Kitty too! It was a great day and I think you enjoyed yourself. We hope that you will continue liking Hello Kitty even after you grow up!
Love, Mom
Izzy & Ah Ma
Izzy in her Hello Kitty top from H&M...courtesy of Godma who is also a Hello Kitty fanatic!
Izzy's bedroom one day...her nursery is pretty close though!
At the library for storytime...but Izzy's not paying attention, she's facing the wrong way!
Happy 36 week birthday, Izzy!
You really have taken a liking to chasing Zoë but Zoë really doesn't appreciate it too much! You are always crawling after her and Zoë is scared of you that she runs away every time she sees you coming towards her.
This past week you are way steadier when you pull up on things i.e your crib, the sofa, the boxes that still have to be unpacked. Your legs and upper body are getting so strong that you can almost climb up the sofa soon! Mommy will not be surprised if you start walking by Christmas!
You have the funniest crawl: one knee and one foot! You use your foot to accelerate your crawling. You figured that you can go faster like that than just crawling on both knees.
We unofficially started potty training you for the last month and you've been pooping in the toilet quite consistently now. Soon we need to get you used to your potty and transition you there. The number of poopy diapers that Mommy has to change has gone down a lot and we like it like that!
Ah Ma says you understand the word "No" now because you try to test her all the time. You try to put all sorts of things in your mouth, but when Ah Ma says "No", you stop but slowly try again in a bit while watching her to see her reaction. You just want to see where the line is drawn!
Your naps are changing as well. You used to sleep 45 mins at a time but now it's only 30 mins! Oh my, already as it was, Mommy had no time to ourselves but now it's even worse! And your awake time has stretched to 3 to 3.5 hours at a time. We have gone to the library for storytime and to the park to sit the swing to entertain you while you are awake. You love being outdoors!
As for the tests you had to take due to your UTI, we went for your ultrasound and everything came back normal so Mommy and Daddy decided to decline the VCUG test as it is quite invasive and you have gone through enough! Cross your fingers you don't get anymore UTIs ever again!
No one can stay away from you for too long...so surprise! Ah Kong arrived today joining Ah Ma in her visit. YAY, another pair of hands to help Mommy out!
In attempt to get you ready for Christmas, we got you tearing up some paper so you will know what to do when you see a wrapped up present. But you start screaming every time you tear the paper...why?? Santa does not bring presents to "tear"rorists!
Oh you little troublemaker...you enjoy pulling up on everything! But you are not steady yet and so you have fallen quite a few times but you take it like a pro and you usually don't shed any tears! You love climbing all over, up and down the sofa. You are quite the monkey!
You also love to imitate people and when you do, you find it so funny! You are learning so fast, it's amazing. You respond to your name almost every single time now as well.
Your favorite food right now is avocado. You can eat a couple of slices by yourself at one sitting! It's awesome because avocado is so good for you. You also love your puffs and always shove more than one in your mouth at a time! Your appetite is getting bigger...you have started to eat more than 2 ozs of food at a sitting. Hopefully that means you'll be putting on some much needed weight!
You are also back to your regular sleeping schedule now after having visitors, going on vacation and getting sick, all in the last few months! Daylight savings didn't really affect you because you went to bed so late on Halloween. So it kind of helped you because although we gained an hour, you slept almost an hour later and woke up at your regular 6 am wake-up time the next morning. Mommy wonders if you will ever sleep in a little, maybe at least until 7 am, because our day always starts so early!
Ah Ma arrived yesterday and will be here for a couple of weeks. She is helping Mommy keep an eye on you while we finish putting the apartment together. It has taken us a while because you were so sick before and now you are better, we have to finish up unpacking!
Izzy & Peter Rabbit (thanks Auntie Janet!)
