Another impossibly quick month has passed. Don’t ask me where the time went. Despite my best efforts, this entry is quite late and (guiltily) backdated. My excuse: work. I had a lot to accomplish before handing off for maternity which meant that I had to work through the Christmas holidays even! Excitement and nervousness abounds – Yaya’s Adik is scheduled to arrive on December 29th, and we have much to do to be ready! Yaya was stellar throughout this period. She didn’t complain that Mama was always in the office, making me feel all kinds of guilt. But as always, she is an absolute joy for us. [[image:2011_yaya_41months_03.jpg:Got milk?:center:0]] Food status: she has proclaimed mangos to be back as part of her accepted diet. But it has to be “crunchy” – meaning pureed, frozen, and slightly thawed. She still doesn’t like normal mangos – she did surprise me by trying […]

I’m just not even going to mention how late this entry is or the reasons why because they’re all the same boring reasons recycled month after month. At any rate, the girl is now 33 months old! 2.75 years old already! [[image:2011-0422-22.jpg:Fashionably bored?:center:0]] Honestly, I like the picture above because we rarely see this expression of calmness and peace about her.  😉 * As usual, mouse over the pictures for captions It has been a quiet and rainy month. Poor Yaya only got to go to the playground maybe twice this entire time we’ve been home (and we didn’t go out to New Jersey this month). Why? Are we just lazy parents trying to raise a couch potato? Well, not quite. It’s just rained almost every day for weeks now. The backyard will be sprouting mangroves and alligators will be migrating there soon. We are all getting such cabin fever […]

It’s a miracle! Only a few days after the girl’s 31 month birthday, this entry is being written? What’s gotten into me? 🙂 Anyways, this past Tuesday the 22nd, Yaya turned 31 months old. Here she is: [[image:20110222_05.jpg:Aww shucks!:center:0]] Another fast-paced month has passed by. We did our first 2011 New Jersey work trip in February, and had a lot of fun. Yaya was chanting “Yaya goes to hotel!” all the way in the car. Needless to say, it was a long 11-hour drive. Poor thing. We kept telling her, yes, we’re going to the hotel but it’s still a long way away. Her enthusiasm was unflagging, “Yaya goes inside hotel!!!!” and variations of this statement occurred. This was also the first road trip where she seemed to really take a huge interest in her surroundings – “Mama, look at all the trees!”, “Mama, look at all the buildings!”, “Yaya sees birds”, “Ni Hao […]

So the girl is now two and a half! Years!! How crazy is that? Time really does fly. Especially in 2011 since suddenly I am so very very late with this entry. Yaya’s getting close to 31 months. But my excuse is work commitments. It’s been a very busy 2011 with work deadlines and working on weekends and such. But enough on my excuses – let’s just get to it. [[image:20110122-17.jpg:I’m a big girl now!:center:0]] Oh also, Happy Belated Birthday to Yaya’s Wan Yong and Pak Yope! We have had a very snowy month of January, so we have all been stuck indoors for the most part. Which, given my crazy work hours really hasn’t affected me that much. But Yaya doesn’t seem to mind too much – we do have plenty of things to entertain her with at home. She’s been very into jigsaw puzzles and building blocks – […]

Another month, and how quickly it passed! Granted, I only fairly recently wrote her 28 month blog (cheating and dating it earlier than it was actually written, but whatever). 😉 At least this month I’m able to work on this entry only a few days after the fact (hooray to client holiday shutdown period!!). Here she is, saying hey y’alls: [[image:2010-29month09.jpg:Hey y’alls:center:0]] Allie is definitely a chatty kathy. There are nights when she keeps herself from falling asleep just talking away – to us, or to her stuffed animals. And the minute she stops talking she falls asleep almost instantly. It’s quite amusing (although not so much when you’re waiting for her to fall asleep so you can go eat some dinner). She refers to herself as “Yaya” (which is what we’ve called her from before birth even, Alya – Yaya, get it?) now, and almost never answers to Allie. But it’s always funny […]

I am very delinquent this month (and cheating by dating it a little earlier – it is actually much later in December that I’m writing this entry but I’m fudging the posting date to make myself feel a little better). But I will try to faithfully capture what’s happened until her 28 month birthday rather than going further than that. Well the girl has been progressing steadily, and is now speaking in half-sentences! It’s crazy! We are amazed by how far she’s gotten in just one month. But first she says hi: [[image:2010-28month12.jpg:Hello, how do you do?:center:0]] And yes, she can actually say that! Just a refresher – Allie only started speaking six weeks ago (starting with “toe”) and you can read about it here. But here she is, six weeks later just going crazy with the verbal communication. For one thing, everything that she says will somehow relate back […]

It happened! On March 22nd (last Monday) Allie became a 20-month-old! We have no idea where the time went and suddenly she’s such a lively and independent little thing! She had a terrific day, even though Mama had to work. Papa manned the camera and took a ton of pictures. Here she is, smiling with her mouth full of blueberry & oatmeal breakfast: [[image:allie543a.jpg:Good morning!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Luckily March has been much tamer weather-wise. Allie has gotten to go outside and play more, and take walks. It’s really been fun. I know I promised you pictures of the crazy snow, and one day I’ll get around to it. Another month of awesome developments. Allie can go up and down the stage steps completely upright (she had been crawling up and down the steps prior to this), and she is climbing on furniture. The sofa and […]

Yet another month has gone by! Allie was 19 months old last Monday, February 22nd. It’s quite amazing how quickly time flies! [[image:allie529a.jpg:Yaya and Mama:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for added captions  This has been quite the exciting month! For one thing, we have had a lot of snow, both here at home and on our road trips to New Jersey. It’s craziness! (Stay tuned for some snow pictures). And on top of that, Allie just keeps growing and developing. She is eating a lot of table foods and uses the food I make for her more like a base. It’s supplemented with all kinds of different things that Vin and I are eating. Plus she’s drinking a ton of whole milk out of her sippy cup. Linguistically, she may be on the verge of saying “Mama” (fingers crossed). She seems to be experimenting more now and possibly hopefully […]

It’s true! Allie is 18 months old now! She is one and a half years old! (Well at the time that this was written she is 18 months and 10 days old).It happened on January 22nd, also known as Yong’s birthday (Happy belated birthday Yong!). [[image:allie504a.jpg:The angel:center:0]]  Sorry for the delay, but here it is finally, how Allie spent her half-birthday. Allie is all better now, no more strep throat, no health issues there. She’s eating well, and enjoying all kinds of different foods. She’s even back to liking bananas (after months of refusal). She has a grand total of four teeth and puts them to good use – her blue cup has been nibbled on quite a bit. She also went through a phase where she spilled everything she was drinking. I think she was just getting used to her new teeth. She’s getting better at the drinking and […]

Last Tuesday, December 22nd, Allie was 17 months old! Unfortunately, the poor little girl was recovering from strep and possibly the flu. You can see how uncharacteristically unenergetic she is here: [[image:allie453a.jpg:Poor sick baby:center:0]] She had been fever free for a day, but was still weak and listless. She was diagnosed with strep throat and the doctor suspected the flu (although she did not test positive for flu) and had been on tamiflu and amoxicillin since Friday (the 18th). She had high fever and was just a ball of heat, the poor baby. She stopped eating, surviving on shrimp crackers (keropok udang), water, fruits and milk and rarely had a smile, and was super clingy, needing to be held all the time. She even refused her beloved bread, that’s how ill she was. She was showing signs of recovery in the morning, managing to eat half a roll at breakfast. […]

Dadgummit! Time, wings, and all that. Can you believe Allie is now 15 months old? And this time I didn’t wait weeks before doing her 15-month blog entry. Heh. [[image:allie395a.jpg:Cool cupcake:center:0]]  * Mouse over the pictures for additional captions Allie is fast growing and rapidly developing. New skills are emerging daily, it seems! She walks independently for longer bursts (from one room to another). She’s still a little shaky on stopping without falling over which means that when she takes off, either Vin or me have to run after her to make sure when the walk ends and a fall results, we will catch her if there’s a sharp or hard object waiting to crack open her tender skull. She easily pulls herself to a standing position using furniture (or conveniently placed parents) and is even working to stand by pushing off the floor. This skill is still a work […]

Behold, a mosquito bit the 13-month-old Allie’s cheek! [[image:allie361a.jpg:Mozzie bit me!:center:0]] Allie was 13 months old last Saturday August 22nd, also the first day of Ramadhan. She’s had another month of a full-time Mama since I am still in-between projects. And today, Allie is 13 months and 6 days old and it is the last day of my “summer break”. Both sad and glad about it. 🙂 Anyway, another action-packed month has passed by! I can’t believe that even without work, our days are so full and busy, and time still flies like nobody’s business! Allie has been busy growing and exploring her world. She is a pretty fast crawler, and is pulling herself up on furniture, and especially loves to run around the house holding our hands (which is terrible for our backs!). She’s still a little scared to try standing and walking without support, but we think she […]