Bible Verse of the Day

July 2013

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The Layover – Day 2: California Adventure Park

July 31, 2013 in Emma, Ethan, Hannah, Parenting, Vacation | No comments

You didn’t think we’d leave California Adventure Park out of the vacation while we were there, did you?  Well, we didn’t!

We had gotten ourselves 3-day park hopper tickets and Day 2 saw us make our way to California Adventure Park.  The queues to get in were unbelievably long and following Murphy’s Law, our line was the slowest-moving of the lot!  We also arrived somewhat later than the first day, though….haha.

Our first stop was at the newest section of the park: Cars Land.  I had been to California Adventure Park twice before, but this is the first time I stepped foot in Cars Land!

Modeled after the hit movie Cars, this was Radiator Springs in the flesh!!  How awesome is that!?

Can you just tell that the kids were getting so impatient to get moving into Cars Land?

Ethan and Hannah had wanted to get on the Radiator Springs Racers ride where they would ride in cars around a race track, like what you see in the movie Cars.  Unfortunately, the Fast Pass for this ever-so-popular ride was all taken up for the day, and the wait time was like 2 hours!  So Ethan was contented with just a picture (for now).

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The Hottest Planet

July 30, 2013 in Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | No comments

The kids were playing their own version of Cash Cab in the car one day.  They actually do this a lot, and it’s amazing to see how much they have learnt!  Also, it’s awesome to see Ethan imparting his knowledge to his sister this way.

Ethan: Okay Hannah.  Here’s the question, listen carefully, alright?   What’s the hottest planet in our solar system?
Hannah: Errr….
Ethan: Okay… A: Mercury; B: Venus; and C: Earth
Hannah: Ummm….. B: Venus!
Ethan: What about you, Mommy?
Mommy: A: Mercury!
Ethan: The correct answer is…. (pauses for effect) …………. VENUS!
Hannah: Yay!!!!
Mommy: Hey, no way!  Are you sure, Ethan?  Mercury is the closest planet to the sun!
Ethan: Yes Mommy, but Venus is the hottest!
Mommy: And where did you read that from?
Ethan: From my Encyclopedia of Knowledge!  I’ll show you when we get home, Mommy!  Venus is the hottest planet because it has a layer of carbon dioxide gas that traps the heat in!

And indeed, my little boy is right.

Refer to this article for more detailed information.

And I’m the happiest Mommy in the world to be proven wrong. 🙂

The Layover – Day 1: Disneyland!

July 22, 2013 in Emma, Ethan, Hannah, Parenting, Vacation | 1 comment

When I mentioned that we were heading back to Malaysia from Massachusetts, I just *might* have left out one eenie-weenie detail about our trip. 😀

You see, our first flight was a 5-hour-or-so one from Boston to Los Angeles, and we decided to give the kids a treat by taking them to Disneyland for a few days while we were there.

Believe you me, it was a decision Pete and I had been discussing back and forth several months before.  We weighed the pros and cons, taking into consideration the transportation aspect, as well as the commute and accommodation.  Finally we relented, and decided that this short holiday at the Happiest Place on Earth would truly be a memorable one for the kids.  It would be worth every hassle and every obstacle we might face.

After a one-hour shuttle ride from LAX to Anaheim, we checked into our hotel at about 10p.m. that night, had a really quick dinner/supper and called it a night.  Everyone was tired but excited about the following day.

Hannah woke up super early and whispered eagerly, “Today we are going to DISNEYLAND!”

She flashed me the widest, biggest smile EVER.  It was the most rewarding thing.  And it wasn’t even 6a.m. yet!

Here are some of our pictures taken at Mickey Mouse Land…. 🙂

We had a room on the 7th floor in Fairfield Inn, Anaheim.  It was quite a high floor and a great location.  We could see the nightly fireworks from Disneyland from our room if we’d wanted to (we saw a bit of it the night we arrived), and the walkway on our hotel floor’s balcony overlooked this:

 

Ain’t that festive?

We had booked a room at this hotel because it was one of those that was just walking distance from the entrance of Disneyland.  It took us about 15 minutes just to get to the park, and we loved the location and convenience!

Plus…we managed to get a complimentary upgrade to a Disney-themed room!  They had rooms with Disney Princesses themes, Cars themes, Toy Story themes, you get the idea….What we got was the Mickey Mouse themed room!  Complete with Mickey Mouse wall decals, and Mickey Mouse framed pictures, down to Mickey Mouse bed runners, it really helped set the mood!

For our first day at Disneyland, we all wore Disneyland-themed shirts, even baby Emma.  All of us, in fact, had Mickey-themed shirts except Daddy.  We couldn’t find anything Mickey in his size, so he wore a Goofy shirt instead!

Compulsory shots when visiting Disneyland:

We had fun on all the rides!  The waiting in line wasn’t too much fun though, but somehow the waiting time wasn’t too bad.  Most of the time, we managed to get on after about 20 minutes or so of waiting time.  I could only ride with the kids when Emma was fast asleep.

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Moving Continents – We Did It!

July 18, 2013 in Emma, Ethan, Hannah, Milestones, Parenting, Vacation | 1 comment

What can we say?  It’s a near impossible task but we did it!  It’s not easy though, but we persevered and overcame all obstacles, and we’re now back in Penang, having traveled across the globe with two kids and one baby.

We had a total of three flights to take: Boston to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Hong Kong and then Hong Kong to Penang.  The shippers had arrived in our apartment in Marlborough, MA the day before we were to leave and took almost everything away.  I had forgotten to leave a couple of bed linens for our last night too, so that night we slept on our mattress with just our blanket.  Not even with pillows.  It was kinda okay because I guess we were all tired out anyway.

The next day, we almost missed our flight.  All the last-minute packing and rushing resulted in us reaching the airport in less than an hour before the plane was set to depart.  Thankfully, in true Amazing Race style, we managed to get priority check-ins and got on the plane in the nick of time.

On this domestic flight, Emma had a seat to herself.  We carried her in the infant carrier and I strapped her in rear-facing using the lap seat belt.  She seemed happy throughout the 5 hour plus flight and slept most of the time. Had to change her and clean her up a couple of times too, and let me just say that the restroom on this flight is not exactly spacious!  As for the seating arrangements, there were three seats on either side of the plane and so Hannah, Emma and I sat together, with Pete and Ethan across the aisle.

On the international LA to HK flight, Emma had to be placed in a bassinet, so Hannah and I occupied 2 of the 3 middle seats, with Emma in a bassinet, and Pete and Ethan were seated diagonally across the aisle behind us.  The kids missed their inflight supper that night too because when we boarded, it was already way past midnight.

We arrived in Hong Kong before 6a.m. in the morning, and had many hours to relax and chill because our next flight to Penang was at 3:00p.m.  Look at how red and rosy Emma’s cheeks were when we were in HK:

We spent our time in the Cathay Pacific lounge , taking our showers and having breakfast and lunch there.  The kids slept through most of the flight from HK to Penang, and after a quick dinner at the airport, we left for home in two taxicabs!

After that it was cleaning up the house and getting it ready to be lived in.  It was really an adventure and one that we will not forget for a long time.

Emma at 4 Months

July 17, 2013 in Emma, Milestones | No comments

Scrap Credits
Love Encounter Sketches Cover QP of Oscraps from Kitty Designs 

Emma turned 4 months just a few days ago.  Before we left the States, we took her to her pediatrician to have her early 4-month well child checkup.  So the weight and height measurements below are taken at about 2 weeks before she actually hit 4 months.

Weight

13.12 lbs (5.95 kilos): 42.77 percentile

Height/Length

25 in (63.5 cm): 88.09 percentile (She’s a tall baby!)

Motor Skills

  • Emma is able to hold her head up much longer when on her tummy now.  Her neck muscles are getting stronger!
  • Drooling a LOT!
  • Loves to suck on anything in sight.  Lately her favorite “items” are her own fists, and our fingers (when we are holding her).
  • Kicks a lot and likes to flap and move her arms around.
  • Loves to stick her tongue out, prompting her siblings to *report* her behaviour. “Mommy, Emma’s sticking her tongue out.  That’s not very nice now, is it?
  • She might be growing too long for her 0-6 months sleeping sack, I’d reckon.  She is now able to rotate her body around her crib, even though she is in the sleeping sack!  Time to upgrade her to the 6-12 months sack! 🙂
  • Her favorite “pose” is grabbing onto her toes (and looking adorable while doing so).  She can also be sometimes seen tasting her toes!

Communication and Social Skills

  • Still cooing and a lot and making many non-verbal expressions.  Most of the expressions really remind us of Ethan was he was a little baby.
  • When she cries, it sometimes sounds like she is sounding the syllable “ma”….could she be calling “Mommy” soon? *hopeful*
  • Long gone are the days when we complained that she doesn’t smile, for nowadays she is a really smiley baby.
  • Looks at us intently with those deep-set brown eyes.  Most of the time, she loves it when we sing to her, for instance songs like Old McDonald’s and action songs like “If You’re Happy and You Know It”.
  • Is contented just to have Mommy hold her, not even for feeding.  Just holding her and doing nothing will soothe and calm her.  She will get agitated if she sometimes does not see me, or if someone holds her instead.
  • A little ticklish.
  • Since we returned home to Penang, she has been disliking the car rides and going out, preferring instead to stay in the comfort and security of home.  She would cry her heart out, determined to have us pick her up or to have us bring her back home.

Others

  •  Her sleep pattern is getting more consistent now.  She is used to the night time routine we’ve set out for her, so she falls asleep pretty easily after her shower in the evenings.
  • We’re still working on moisturizing her skin and getting rid of the rough patches.  She is still scratching herself quite a bit, so we need to ensure her nails are short and trimmed all the time.

Food and Feeding

She is 100% on Mommy’s milk.  Showing a keen interest in food, or so we think.  When we eat our meals, she will make quite a fuss, so at times I will need to breastfeed her while eating.  Hope the introduction to solid foods will be a smooth-sailing one!