15-month old Ali

Ali is now 15-months old! Woo hoo!! She still can't walk on her own, though she can walk decently if you hold her hands. Ali is a little chicken and she is too scared to walk on her own. Grandparents are a little concerned, but to be honest, I am not worried. Everyone eventually knows how to walk and run, right? It is only a matter of time. But it would be nice if she does know how to walk independently. Boy, my arms are pretty sore holding her!

She loves taking things out and putting things in containers. She can do it for a long time. Pumpkins are her newest obsession. Ali just LOVES looking at pumpkins. I couldn't resist but bought a whole bunch of halloween pumpkin decorations just for her. Gotta love the dollar store!

Monster Pumpkins display at Metro:

Although she can't really talk yet (just babbling), she does comprehend what we are saying most of the time (but hubby and I don't really know what she is babbling about and often times lead to her frustration!). Here is a video of Ali showing off a few things that she knows:

A few teeth are coming out. The "fangs" from the top and another bottom teeth are coming out, but for some reason, the top front teeth are still missing. Weird. Ali is also more particular about her food now. She used to love everything we give her. Now, she is into more solid type of food. Not so much with the mushy stuff. One of her favourite restaurants is The Boss at Metro. That's right. That is also my favourite restaurant, with the A+B breakfast combo. How can you beat that? Yum!

Ali doesn't nap as much.  She can usually nap for 2 hours on the weekend, but only an hour at the most if she is at daycare.  We usually rock her and snuggle with her for a few minutes before we put her to bed.  Lately, she doesn't want to be rocked.  We would rock her and pat her just for a few seconds and she would point to her crib.  As if she is saying, "Enough mommy/daddy, just put me to bed.  I am too old to be rocked to sleep.  Seriously."  Yup, go straight to bed is what Ali wants.  My tofu princess is sure growing up fast!

Oh, it's explosive alright!

One thing mom sure gets obsessed about is poop. Yup, poop. Playdoh poop is good, but runny, explosive type? Not so hot. Ali had her first bowel problem - explosive diarrhea. I am not exaggerating. Runny, explosive AND stinky. She started two days ago and daycare pretty much sent her back home right away. Poor daddy has to work at home that afternoon. We took her to the clinic and they said you just had to wait it out. We tried giving her Pedilyte, but she is not too keen on the new drink.

Ali had her first run when she was having breakfast. I changed her right away, but on our way to the change pad, it has leaked everywhere. Daddy has to change his pants and I have to change her out of her uniform. When I was helping my students at work, I noticed there was some stain on my shirt. At first, I thought it was her cereal and I just wiped it with a paper towel. But then, when I was changing her again when I got home that night, I realized it was poop stain and I was wearing it to school the whole time. Lovely. Just lovely.

Ali was happy otherwise, so we brought her back to school yesterday. After hubby dropped her off, they phoned him pretty much right away. Poor daddy has to bring the girl TO work. Yes, Ali playing on his lap while he worked away. #$%$#$^@! Insane. Thank goodness the boss wasn't there and the secretary was nice enough to give him a hand to occupy Ali. I took half a day off to help too. I am sensing my students are going to hate me this year. It seems like I am always abandoning my Calculus kids. I wasn't there when they wrote their chapter tests and they blamed their bad marks on me. They said they needed me there for emotional support. Huh? Since when I became my students' spiritual guidance?

Today I stayed home with the girl again. Man, this is the fourth time I called in sick this month. Is this going to be a regular routine from now on?? Ali, please don't get sick this often. At this rate, mommy will be running out of sick days real soon. But I have to admit, staying home with Ali is pretty damn fun.

Here is a random video of Ali munching on goldfish crackers:

#11

There are times I hated my job, but there are times, I really do love it, especially my sick days and my extended health. Ali caught a cold from her friend on the Thanksgiving weekend. While she recovered rather quickly, she got sick again Friday night. At 2 in the morning (and why do these kinds of things always happen in the middle of the night???), she started crying like she was in pain and when I ran to her room to hold her, she threw up in my arms. Nice. Real nice. Her puke was all over me and she started to lean on my shoulder after too. Gosh, I felt so sorry for her.

Being an inexperienced mom (for a toddler), I immediately called hubby to give me a hand. Ali was burning up really bad too. We tried giving her some water and she just couldn't keep it down. Oh and almost forgot about the shakes. So then we rushed to ER and after waited for an hour and threw up the third time, we finally got the doctor to check on Ali. Unfortunately, Ali had to endure tylenol up the other way, since she just couldn't swallow anything at that point and the fever was just too high. She was shaking from time to time because of the high fever and man, it was the WORST thing I have ever experienced. Hubby and I would give anything to relieve her pain.

Thank goodness, her fever came down the next day and she was almost back to her regular self - just really congested and have a few coughs. I took Monday off. I am so glad that I have so many sick days lined up. Not to be bragging, but who can say they have 70+ sick days left?? Mind you, I have already used up 3 because of Ali, but hey, it's all good!

Pumpkin patch

It is super cool to have kids. I am not saying that you are not cool if you don't have little ones, but it is so much fun to go to places that you wouldn't normally go to if you are adults. I have never ever been to a pumpkin patch before, but we took advantage of the beautiful sunshine we had on the Thanksgiving weekend and checked out a farm in Richmond.

There are quite a few farm animals by the entrance. Lamma is one of Ali's favourites. (Lamma, lamma, red pajama, anyone?)

Once we got in, there were people dressed up in vegetable costumes dancing and singing. Ali was SO mesmerized by the gigantic dancing corn and carrots. Seriously, I don't think she blinked at all. Too bad I forgot to take pictures of those "live" vegetables.
Taking the hayride to the pumpkin patch.

Goo-ma and goo-cheung enjoying the hayride and the music. Yup, there is live entertainment on our cart too.

The pumpkin princess came and explained the safety rules at the patch. She looked more like the pumpkin queen. Hahhaha...

Family picture at the patch! We brought two back too!! Great for pumpkin craving!! I can't wait!

Overall, we really enjoyed the pumpkin patch experience. Nice to go on a nice sunny day. Make sure you wear boots though. We wore our nice sneakers and we had to wash them after. Not to mention our car mats. *sigh* There is a great market right next to the pumpkin patch. A great family outing, but a little on the expensive side ($10/adult, includes one free pumpkin).

http://www.countryfarms.ca/

Thanksgiving

Holidays are always busy - almost guaranteed. This Thanksgiving holiday, I am blessed with many things. The one thing I am the most happy about is...one extra day off!! We have super long weekend from Friday to Monday. Isn't that sweet?

On Saturday, we had our friends over for a potluck dinner. We supplied the turkey and the stuffings and drinks and our friends brought over the rest. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of our main dinner (of course, everyone was so hungry), but I did remember to take pictures of our desserts.

Yummy, yummy cupcakes:

Strawberry shortcakes:
Sticky pudding:

After dinner, we tried to burn off some of the turkey by playing with the kids.

Uncle Gordy and Aunt Haelan catching up with the group:

Our best man is in town for a short two weeks. Uncle King is trying to maximize his time here by enjoying his favourite root beer drink and kissing Kaley at the same time.

Little Avery admiring Kaley's cruising speed. She can move so fast!!

The next day, we had dinner with our family.

Lately, Ali has become a little aggressive towards our cat. Just the other day, she tried to pull her tail, grabbed her fur and when I was cleaning, bear-hugged Sam. Our cat is so so mellow, even though her tail got pulled and her face got smacked by Ali, she still tried really hard to get to know her little sister.

Goo ma trying to teach Ali to be gentle with Sammy the cat while the kitty took refuge at Goo-cheung's lap.

Giving her great-grand a big kiss! Smooch!!!

A picture with her grandmother. She wasn't too happy here because she wanted to crawl around. Ali is a busy bee!

Stephanie's baby shower

This is the first time that I co-host a baby shower. Planning was lots of fun. Yes, a bit of work, but boy, was it worth it!!

Here is a picture of the mommy and daddy-to-be! what a sweet couple!

Daddy-to-be's sister made this wonderful cake for us. So cute (and so yummy!!!) She is just amazing!!

And all the cupcakes too. Look at the cute decorations!!! Each one is a little different!!

The boys helped out watching the kids while all the mommies and ladies hang out:
Everyone trying to get some food (courtesy of the parents-to-be) before the games start. So yummy!

Bottle Race. It's hilarious watching all the ladies trying so hard to drink the apple juice from the bottle (mind you, I chose slow flow nipples, hahaha).

Ladies trying to figure out what kind of "poop" (melted chocolate) was in the diapers.

The happy couple cutting the cake:

The organizers of the shower (yup, Ali was part of the team, b/c we stole all her bottles).

Group picture of all the ladies and Stephanie:

Congratulations once again, Stephanie and Dondie! We had so much fun!! Thanks for including us on your special day!!! =)

Our second baby swap

We LOVE baby swaps.  It is just a simple, but AWESOME idea.  I can't remember who thought of this idea (probably Allison's mommy), but man, it's just AWESOME! Hubby and I dropped off Ali at our friends' on our wedding anniversary a few weeks ago and now it's our turn to host.  I am glad to say Allison is MUCH happier this time around.  She eats well, very happy playing with Ali (more like Ali's toys) and constantly walking around doing laps.

Here is a picture of the two playing some music:



Hubby trying hard to make the two girls hold still.  Not doing so hot.

Look at the pro:

The two girls getting along very nicely:

The whole night Allison was playing with a fold-up lint brush, pretending she is holding a cell phone walking around the room.  Just you wait, little Allison is going to grow up to be a successful business woman.  

Hubby tried to teach the girls the concept of sharing and waiting in turns.  They did really well.  

Can't wait until the next baby swap!!!!

Goo ma's wedding

I am so behind on my blogging. Goo ma's wedding took place three weeks ago and I finally managed to upload the pictures now. Good grief! Late is better than never I guess!

Their gorgeous wedding cake:

We were super excited about the wedding. It was nice to see Goo ma and Goo cheung becomes an official married couple. Unfortunately, both Anders and Ali were sick on that weekend. Anders managed to go to the ceremony, but I had to stay home with Ali until dinner time. She was sneezing and had a runny nose and the outdoor wedding was just too wet and cold.

Anders and his cousin Stephen from Portland:

Feeding Ali at the dinner table:

Ali all dressed up, looking pretty:

A picture of the groom and his parents:

The reception was just fantastic. The food was great and the company was awesome. Ali was in a good mood all night and played with people around her. It was great, except she had a leak and boy it wasn't very pretty. I don't understand why, everything we go to a wedding, she had these crazy leaks. So bad that I have to change her whole outfit. Why, baby, why?? The first time was my fault completely (I gave her prunes), but why did this happen again?

Uncle Ming and the boys having a quick snack before dinner. Mcnuggets and fries, yum!!!

When we finally loaded the wedding pictures in the computer, we realized we didn't take any picture with the bride and groom using our camera!! Thank goodness their wedding photographer took some for us! We will have to wait a bit to see the new Lam family portrait!

Congratulations once again, Angela and Dan! And welcome to the family!!