61 Months

And so the girl is now sixty one months old! 🙂 [[image:2013-yaya61month-04.jpg:Let’s ride the scooter!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions I debated whether or not to stop the girl’s monthly blog entries, given that she is now five (and 1 month!) and every month isn’t particularly different anymore. As it turns out, I am not quite ready to give it up yet. I admit it: I enjoy putting down a few words every month to commemorate the day that Yaya was born. And now, looking back, I am very glad that I’ve done this, and that I’m also doing this for Adik. However, I thought that it is time to kind of do a bit less, given that Yaya is no longer a newborn and that every month no longer brings a lot of changes. So while I will be posting an entry every month, I want to […]

Continue reading

Selamat Hari Raya 2013

We wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Eid Mubarak! [[image:2013-aidilfitri-10.jpg:Chuffed that it’s Hari Raya!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Just a quick one with pictures. We begin with a photoshoot of the kids wearing their Raya finery (thank you Opah and Atok!):  [[image:2013-aidilfitri-08.jpg:Happy Adik in his baju melayu:center:0]] [[image:2013-aidilfitri-09.jpg:Eid camaraderie:center:0]] [[image:2013-aidilfitri-11.jpg:Another good one of the kids together:center:0]] [[image:2013-aidilfitri-01.jpg:This is Yaya’s impression of a Malaysian girl (aka “where did I go wrong?”):center:0]] [[image:2013-aidilfitri-13.jpg:Yaya talks Papa into posing like that too!:center:0]] [[image:2013-aidilfitri-12.jpg:Yaya and Papa, normally this time:center:0]] [[image:2013-aidilfitri-16.jpg:Adik in the kitchen:center:0]] [[image:2013-aidilfitri-14.jpg:I love this photo – too bad it’s blurry!:center:0]] [[image:2013-aidilfitri-15.jpg:Togetherness is the Raya message:center:0]] The above pictures were taken on the day that the package arrived from Malaysia. On the actual first day of Raya, I worked. But I did make beef rendang and nasi minyak: [[image:2013-aidilfitri-03.jpg:Somewhat traditional Eid food:center:0]] No kuih […]

Continue reading

The One with the Actual Birthday and then the Party

So on Yaya’s fifth birthday, we went to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton as her birthday treat. We had originally thought about going to the zoo but the fact that it was a cold and rainy day (seriously? This has never happened in July to have a spring-like rainy day) forced a change of plans. However, it turned out to be an awesome experience, and since we are now members of the museum, we look forward to repeat trips there. [[image:2013_yaya5th_25.jpg:Yaya is all dressed up to go out on her birthday:center:0]] I love the above photo as you see how happy Adik is for his sister. Also contained in this entry are a few photos taken a week or so later when we had Yaya’s birthday party. Vin and I were so busy running around on that day that we took maybe 5-6 photos in total. For the […]

Continue reading

Fun Yaya and Adik pictures from July

So it seems we took way too many photos in July and there were a few with the kids together that I couldn’t fit into either of the “usual” blog entries, and they were too cute to not post. So here it is. No stories, no information. Just some gratuitous pictures of the kids (and I snuck in some photos taken during Vin’s birthday as well). [[image:2013jul-yanda-03.jpg:Happilly spinning on the office chair:center:0]] [[image:2013jul-yanda-01.jpg:On Papa’s napping chair:center:0]] [[image:2013jul-yanda-02.jpg:No sign of a nap though:center:0]] [[image:2013jul-yanda-04.jpg:Yaya could not wait for Papa’s cake ceremony, Adik blew a candle out:center:0]] [[image:2013jul-yanda-05.jpg:Papa blows out the remaining candle:center:0]] [[image:2013jul-yanda-06.jpg:Let’s all blow (/spit?) on the cake!:center:0]] [[image:2013jul-yanda-07.jpg:Sitting by the rocks:center:0]] [[image:2013jul-yanda-08.jpg:Fun in the pillow fort on our bed:center:0]] [[image:2013jul-yanda-09.jpg:More fun on the bed:center:0]] [[image:2013jul-yanda-10.jpg:Plotting something together?:center:0]] [[image:2013jul-yanda-11.jpg:Sayang Adik! Love Adik!:center:0]] [[image:2013jul-yanda-12.jpg:What did naughty Adik do to Yaya?:center:0]] [[image:2013jul-yanda-13.jpg:Awww, all is forgiven:center:0]] That’s it. Thanks for watching! 🙂

Continue reading

Rafe’s 19 Month Birthday

During the whirlwind that was Ramadan, where Yaya and Papa both had (real) birthdays, Adik sneaked in to being 19 months old! [[image:2013_0729_rafe15.jpg:Deer in headlights?:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions I was going through the archives and looking at Yaya’s 19 month entry, and according to it, she had four teeth and two more were cutting through. They say that “every child is different”, and they were not wrong. In contrast, Adik has at least twelve teeth with more sprouting! Not that I am comparing the two children, necessarily. I was just thinking about the fact that I was cooking a lot of foods for Yaya at this age, processing all the hard things (meats, hard veggies) so that she would eat a balanced diet – and I am not doing very much of that for Adik. This is because he is eating table foods now. We are […]

Continue reading

60 Months (a.k.a. the Fifth Birthday)

The girl is five years old now! A whole half decade! 60 months! 1826 days! Wheee! Happy birthday, beautiful! [[image:2013-yaya60month-03.jpg:Peek-a-boo! Like the humongous bow in my hair?:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions It’s been another whirlwind month! We went to Elkhart for the 4th of July weekend, and got to see a bunch of family. No work trips, luckily, but somehow every day goes by so quickly. Before we realize it it is 11 PM, the kids are asleep and Vin and I are exhausted. We also of course had two birthdays this month (happy birthday to Yaya and her Papa!) so there were activities surrounding the birthday. Food status: despite turning five and agreeing that at five she would start trying new foods as she was a big girl now, Yaya is backpedalling. At her 5 year checkup, her pediatrician had a serious talk with her about […]

Continue reading

Rafe’s 18 Month Birthday

Here we are at Adik’s 18 month entry! The boy is now 1 and a half years old! [[image:2013_0629_rafe22.jpg:Short break in the action:center:0]] * Mouse over the picture for captions Adik is now fully mobile – walking, running, and climbing. He can now manage to walk down the stage steps face first without falling over (after some practising of course), while carrying something in his hands. He was determined to not be the only one backing down those steps I suppose. He climbs up the stairs when we go up to bed, but we do not allow him to come down the stairs yet as he thinks he is too big to go backwards, feet first. But overall, his coordination is pretty good. He can throw objects with pretty good speed and accuracy, and loves to bounce a ball off the wall and chase after it. He loves to run […]

Continue reading

59 Months

One more month till Yaya hits the half decade mark! Woohooo! [[image:2013-yaya59month-01.jpg:Poster child for barrettes?:center:0]] Note: Mouse over the pictures for captions It has been a busy month of June. We started off at the end of May going to Maryland to visit the family, and then working in New Jersey and Pennsylvania before returning home at the end of the first week of June. I think we are all still recovering from that long and crazy ride! But everyone did well, and we made it home and back to our usual routine. Food status: No change. What can I say? The child is strong willed. We were never able to get her to do anything she wasn’t ready to do (e.g., talking, potty training) and we just have to keep being patient I guess. One day, she will snap out of this and start eating normally again, inshallah. Yaya […]

Continue reading

Rafe’s 17 Month Birthday

And so, another month has passed by and the little guy is now 17 months old. He’ll be a year and a half soon! Wheeee! [[image:2013_0529_rafe15.jpg:Pleased as punch:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Adik can now pretty easily climb the sofa. He doesn’t need help or a boost, he can do it all by himself. He has trouble and needs help if he’s carrying something in his hands while he does the climbing but if he has his hands free, boom, he’s on the sofa before you know it! He enjoys sitting on the sofa, playing with his gadgets or reading a book. The bad thing is, he still doesn’t quite understand that jumping face-first off the sofa might not be the greatest idea. So we have sit with him and monitor him and make sure he doesn’t accidentally hurt himself. Adik is still quite obsessed with brushing […]

Continue reading

58 Months

Two more months till the big birthday! And how much do you love backdated entries! Woohoo! [[image:2013-yaya58month-13.jpg:My beautiful baby:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Food status: No change. Nothing new passed through her lips this month. On the other hand, it is cheap to feed her and it is cheap not to have to get her any toys or games. I guess I’m a glass half full kind of person. 😉 We had some work travel at the end of the month, and fun travel to Chicago at the beginning of the month, and everyone did OK. We managed to do a big east coast tour during our work travels – saw the family in Maryland, friends in New Jersey and crammed a lot of socializing into a short thirteen days. Whew! Yaya really is a sweet child – I learnt that when we went to the Children’s […]

Continue reading

Chicago: The Children’s Museum

So on the second day in Chicago, it was freezing cold (high of 38 F / 4 C – in May!!!!) so we decided to do something indoors. We went to the Children’s Museum which conveniently, was a short (and cold and windy) walk away from the hotel. As it turned out, it was one of the best things ever! Yaya had a fabulous time and still talks about it. [[image:2013_may_chicago23.jpg:Hard-hat Yaya:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions At the museum, Vin and I pretty much had to separate. One of us stayed with Yaya and the other with Adik, and at some points we switched up. So there aren’t very many pictures of the kids together. However there are plenty of pictures: [[image:2013_may_chicago24.jpg:On a CTA Bus:center:0]] [[image:2013_may_chicago25.jpg:At a treehouse:center:0]] [[image:2013_may_chicago26.jpg:Fishing for toy fishies:center:0]] [[image:2013_may_chicago27.jpg:Adik and Vin at the cushioned baby play area:center:0]] [[image:2013_may_chicago28.jpg:Telescoping for Mama:center:0]] [[image:2013_may_chicago29.jpg:Look at all […]

Continue reading

Beach Escapade: Part II

We continue our adventures in Orange Beach, AL with a beautiful sunny day! It more than made up for the rainy afternoon that we had: [[image:2013_april_orangebeach44.jpg:What a beautiful day:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions After a quick breakfast, we are on the beach! Vin makes his own sandcastle since Yaya insists on making sand-cement in her buckets and not being able to get the sand out. [[image:2013_april_orangebeach25.jpg:King of his castle:center:0]] [[image:2013_april_orangebeach26.jpg:Adik continues to geram the sand:center:0]]  [[image:2013_april_orangebeach27.jpg:Striking down Mama’s castle:center:0]]  [[image:2013_april_orangebeach28.jpg:Build me more castles to tear down, Mama!:center:0]]  [[image:2013_april_orangebeach29.jpg:Happy boy loves the sand:center:0]]  [[image:2013_april_orangebeach30.jpg:Yaya paddles while Papa takes a stroll:center:0]]  [[image:2013_april_orangebeach31.jpg:Adik loves being buried:center:0]]  [[image:2013_april_orangebeach32.jpg:Let’s throw sand!:center:0]]  [[image:2013_april_orangebeach33.jpg:Papa ensures that Yaya isn’t pulled out to sea:center:0]]  [[image:2013_april_orangebeach34.jpg:My family:center:0]]  [[image:2013_april_orangebeach35.jpg:Adik wades in the surf:center:0]]  Adik loved the sea – he kept running into the surf and giggling as the waves crashed around him. He stayed in until he started […]

Continue reading

Friends in the Windy City

In honor of Laura and Roberto’s visit to Chicago, we decided to spend the weekend there. Laura and I have been working together for a few years now, but we have never met in person since Laura lives in Argentina. We drove up and had dinner with Laura, Roberto, and the Chicago contingent of Jen, Mike and Scott: [[image:2013_may_chicago03.jpg:Laura, Mike, Scott, Jen and Yaya:center:0]] Despite being at the famed Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza place, neither child ate the cheesy goodness that night. * Mouse over the pictures for captions But Jen and Yaya renewed their friendship and sealed it with post-it flag manicures [[image:2013_may_chicago01.jpg:Lovely long post-it flag press on nails:center:0]] [[image:2013_may_chicago02.jpg:They really do look like nails!:center:0]] [[image:2013_may_chicago04.jpg:Adik happily draws and eats cheerios:center:0]] Yaya and Adik get their first train ride (of any sort). The El route that we took included being underground as well as elevated! Yay! [[image:2013_may_chicago05.jpg:On the […]

Continue reading

Rafe’s 16 Month Birthday

After another fast-paced month, Adik is now 16 months old. He seems to have grown so quickly – when I look back at pictures of him as a newborn I can hardly believe it is the same baby as he is becoming more and more of a person in his own right. We saw that with Yaya, and continue to see it with her, and now we are seeing it with Adik and this is definitely the greatest gift anyone can ever receive – the opportunity to watch our children grow and become their own little persons. 🙂 Especially when they are as funny as our Adik is getting to be! [[image:2013_0429_rafe02.jpg:Jelingan manja (coy glance):center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions As far as I can tell Adik still has eight teeth, although i think I saw at least one more starting to cut through (bottom jaw, probably a […]

Continue reading

Beach Escapade: Part I

So we went to the beach in April! We went to Orange Beach, AL. Neither Vin nor I’d ever been (not just to Orange Beach but to Alabama in general) so this was a first. We had an amazing time! [[image:2013_april_orangebeach12.jpg:Family portrait on the beach:center:0]] Oh Adik! Why didn’t you look up? Anyway, I had been planning a short entry with a few pictures of our fabulous time in Orange Beach, but I ended up with way too many photos and a chronic inability to edit it anymore. I think we must refrain from taking so many pictures next time. Some of them actually turn out quite nice. * Mouse over pictures for captions So rather than being all talky talky, let’s let the photos speak for themselves. We begin with Day 2 of traveling – waking up in Athens, AL and then driving the rest of the way to […]

Continue reading

57 Months

The countdown is on to Yaya’s fifth birthday! 3 more months! Time passes so quickly – I can’t believe how big Yaya has gotten. Where did my little newborn baby go? 🙂 [[image:2013-yaya57month-09.jpg:Happy girl at the playground:center:0]] * Mouse over the photos for captions Food status: Yaya gnawed on a piece of bread and ate several crusts! Of course, it was the (pricey) artisanal loaf, the French Boule from the Dorothy Lane Market, but it was definitely good. We didn’t even say anything or encourage her to do it, she was biting into the bread and enjoyed it so much she ate it all, even the crusts! We rewarded her for it to hopefully encourage her to continue trying new stuff. Also, she ate another bite of pancake (she had more fun making it rather than eating it, but one bite is better than none) and she also had about […]

Continue reading