Mommy's play date

Mommy does not have a chance to work on her cards for a LOOOONNNGGG time! Let's see...the last time I worked on cards was early July - when I was prepping for Ali's one-month banquet invitations. It has been FOUR MONTHS!! So, when Mish and her friend Gucci invited me to a card-making session, my response was like, "Hell yeah!"

We went to Gucci's friend's (Tracy) house and oh my, our jaws just dropped! Her craft room is SOOOO nice!! It's my dream craft room. She has boxes and boxes of stamps, punches, and many other tools. The one that impressed us the most is, of course, the Big Shot! I have heard of one, but never seen it in action. So cool!

I was so overwhelmed with all these cool toys that I had a hard time figuring out what I should do. Mish and Gucci were a lot more productive. They figured out what kind of Xmas card they wanted to make and they started on it pretty much right away, while I was just staring around, mesmerized, trying to take it all in - very much like a kid in a candy store. In the end, I decided to just try out a few stamps and her fancy die cut.

This is our favourite cut. This particular die cut is so versatile - you can use it as a frame or as a background. Nice!!!

I have always wanted to try out the Twinkling H2Os (it's like shimmering water colour). Tracy has a perfect stamp that I can use as the focus of the card and then I am planning to apply the twinkling H2O as the background at home.

I was hoping to do more cropping and stamping, but baby just wouldn't hear any of it. Ali cried and cried, so we have to leave early. BOOOO.... Well, at least I get to try out the Big Shot. *sigh* As soon as I stepped out of the house, baby stopped crying. What on earth!! I'll definitely have to go back to Tracy's some time soon!

Weekend fun

It's been a very busy and fun-filled weekend! We had many people coming over to visit and hang out with us.

First we have Aunt Sachi and Aunt Maria. (Thank you Aunt Maria for the cute bib and spoons!!)

Then we have Uncle Greg joining us for dinner.

On Saturday, we went out with Grandma June to do some car shopping and then had dim sum afterwards.

We had a potluck dinner with Uncle Jay & Aunt Mish, Uncle Dom & Aunt Fay (who is expecting as well, yay!) and Uncle Dondie.

Chilling with my buddy, Mia-Chiu!

Uncle Dom and Aunt Fay:
Mia-Chiu was trying out my Bumbo chair. I think she really liked it.

On Sunday, Grandpa came over to visit and we had more dim sum...yum!!!

Then we went over to my daddy's boss house for early Christmas celebration. There were many children around, but I was too young to play with them, so they came over and played with me instead.

I am so popular!! These girls are trying to chat me up!

Hanging out with Uncle Farhad. I didn't cry this time, hahhaha...

Baby eczema - Round 2!

Last week, Ali's baby eczema started to flare up again. It was a little daunting for me to accept since I thought our eczema problem was slowing going away. *sigh* I tried very hard to figure out the cause of this flare up. Was it the ice cream? Or the sofa bed cover in her room? Or was it Sam's hair? What did I do differently that cause her rash to reappear? And the culprit was the portable heater!

"OMG, what happened to my beautiful skin???"

It was getting quite chilly in the past few weeks and I thought it would be a great idea to put a heater in her room to warm it up a bit. WRONG!!!! Her eczema started to flare up like mad and it just would not go away! After I turned it off for a few days and laid a think layer of antibacterial cream, her skin has improved significantly!

My aunt recommended Vaseline creamy - Problem skin therapy and it worked even better than Aveeno baby eczema cream AND it's much cheaper too! Score!! The great thing about the Vaseline creamy is that it works well on her body and her face, while Aveeno only works well on her body. Cetaphil is good too, but it is not as rich as the Vaseline creamy. Good call, Aunt Marie!

"Thank you mommy! I look much prettier now! Yay!"

Drool machine

Baby Ali and I decided to go for a little stroll last week. I carried her in a baby carrier (thank you M&M) and she just loved it. Alison really enjoyed checking out the different scenery and of course, licking the buckle by her face. Yup, she loves to lick her bib and anything that is close to her mouth. She also starts to drool like crazy! She started drooling (just a little) when she was two months old. Now, we have to change her bib at least twice a day!

Alison - Month of October & November

Nap training - Part II

Alison is doing much better in terms of naps. She naps four times a day and each time ranges from 1-2 hours. She does not fuss too much before she falls asleep. There were a few days that she demanded to be nursed to sleep. Obviously, I did not submit to her cryings. I had to admit those battles were tough, but I made it at the end. Woo hoo!!

Ali usually falls asleep within 10 minutes after I put her to bed. I usually check on her in a few minutes where I would find her eyes closed, waving her arms or sucking on her fists, and talking gibberish in an angry way.

I don't know why I find her outraged state extremely cute and funny (call me crazy!). Check it out for yourself. Unfortunately, the room was too dark and you could only hear her "complaining". She started with a little bit of whining and towards the end, you can hear her angry babble. Gosh, I should turn that into my ring tone and name that tune as "angry baby".

My little chameleon

When baby Ali was first born, she had the most gorgeous skin colour - very fair and pinkish tone. Just lovely!
Then she was diagnosed with jaundice, so she turned yellow.

As she recovered from jaundice, she turned red.
Then really dark. Look at the two Alis. What a difference, huh? Alison is so much darker than Allison. At one point, people even questioned if she is a quarter East-Indian (people sometimes question if Anders is half East-Indian). Umm....
And now, our baby girl is much lighter in skin colour. Her skin is definitely not as fair and soft as Allison, but is getting much, much better. At least you can tell she is Chinese and not East Indian anymore. Good job, Alison (and her mommy too, of course!)