So much more to do.....

I’ve caught the bug too. Harvynna recovered from her fever within a day. Now, I am down with a very bad sore throat (my voice is almost gone) and fever. What a time to fall sick. I realize I have so much more to do, but so little time. Now being sick, its even worse.

Haven’t got some of the baby’s essentials like Newborn Diapers, newborn toiletries etc. I remember the last time the hospital provided everything incl cotton balls, diapers, wet wipes. Have not packed my bag for the hospital, Have not set up the cot for the baby. AND have not come up with a name for the baby!! Since we don’t know the gender, we have to come up with names for a boy and a girl. We have narrowed some names for girls – its easier to look for girls names. Have to work on that.

Oh yes, and a pressie for Harvynna (from the baby).

Time to hire a Personal Shopper!

Been so busy with work and Harvynna and her upcoming birthday. Been busy shopping for her birthday stuff. Managed to settle all her birthday clothes but not her present. I have absolutely no idea what to get her. Most of the nice stuff are for 3 years and older like those big kitchen sets. I came across childrens make up set, which is really cool. (actual make-up). I am sure she will love it as every morning when I get dressed for work, Harvynna will stand next to me and do exactly what I do……… put cream for her face, rub cream on her tummy, ask for perfume and lipstick and combs her hair. She tries to use my Foundation but I tell her ‘NO!’ She already managed to dig a big hole into one of my compact foundations.

Hope to recover fast and get my voice back. Feels strange not to be able to have our usual conversations in the car to and from the babysitters house where I ask her about her day, sing with her. She must be wondering why Mummy is so quiet but is probably happy because I can’t scold her when she does something wrong.

Pics:

Harvynna's first birthday card for her 2nd bday sent by her Aunty Belle in UK

Her first birthday present from her Nana and Nani (which she chose herself)

Her birthday dress 1

Birthday outfit 2

My 2nd year

As Harvynna turns two in 2 weeks time, I thought I will post some pictures of her during her 2nd year. How she has grown in person and in our hearts!

Fever

Poor Harvynna was down with fever yesterday. This morning the fever subsided, but I felt so sad to wake her from sleep to drop her off at the babysitters before I go to work. She looked so sleepy. Thats the down side of being a working mother - you cant alway be there when the little one is sick. She must have been overexhausted from the trip to Melaka over the weekend.

She was running about and went swimming 2 days in a row and refused to get out of the pool.

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Went for my 36th weeks prenatal checkup on saturday.

Baby's weight - 3 kg
Baby's head measurement - showing almost 39 weeks.

Since the dr will be on leave, my next visit will be on 12 April.
Sigh!-thats Harvynna's bday. Took leave on that day. Looks like will have to go the hospital instead that morning.

Art Attack

Home alone again with Harvynna on Sunday. So it was painting time. This time, I was smarter, and let her paint in her diaper. The last time she ruined her clothes with the paint. Covered the furniture thoroughly with newspaper, but she still managed to paint all over the place and her diaper was soaked in paint. Wonder how she managed to do that! At the end, it was a battle with her as she wanted to keep painting but it was time for her bath and lunch. She then climbed onto the dining table with her 'painted' body and protested. She even ran out the front door and started calling for the neighbour, ' Aunty! harvynna want do painting' in tears'. Gosh, the neighbours must be thinking I am ill treating her.

Evening at Souled Out cafe

Took the little one for dinner at Souled Out Cafe on Saturday Night. Harvynna gets very
restless when she does not go out. She needs the car ride and the outing to get a good nights sleep. Surprisingly, she behaved very well. She sat in her high chair and we ordered her, her own drink and meal. Nowadays, if we go out, she must have her own food. No more sharing with Mummy and daddy. The moment we arrived, she said, 'Mummy, I want dink (drink) and she happily finished a whole glass of sprite by herself. Starting young as a typical KL girl!


With daddy!

My room

Been trying to do up Harvynna's room to entice her to sleep there. But so far, no luck as yet as for now, she knows the room is to used to get dressed, read her books and then she's out of there! Been contemplating putting the baby and Harvynna in the same room once the baby is born. However, the paed recommends that the baby should room in with the parents for at least the first 6 months. That's why the occurence of SIDs is lowest in Asian cultures as compared to the West. Dont know if this theory is right but we followed it and now Harvynna is almost 2 and still sleeping in our room!

Terrible 2s

I was reading an article on 2 year olds, and they mentioned,

'As your toddler approaches the Terrible 2s, she may test your limits and misbehave more frequently. Her job is to see what kind of independence she is capable of at this time.
She is testing her independence, and needs to experience the boundaries safely within the context of your relationship. While it is her job to test, it is your job to non-emotionally enforce. '

I think that Harvynna hit the ‘terrible 2’s stage earlier (probably at 18 months) – this could be due to the other baby on the way but I noticed the symptoms increasing over the past few weeks. This includes:

- Refusing to sit in her car seat half way through the journey and insist on ‘I want to sit mummy lap’ while I am driving by whining and screaming and trying to open the seat belt.

- Refusing to hold my hand when walking to the car.

- Saying ‘no’ and ‘don’t want’ to everything when she actually wants it

- Running around public areas on her own and lying down on the floor to protest if we try to carry her

- Insisting on having her way and will kick up a fuss till she gets what she wants

- Biting

- Throwing her food on the floor from the high chair if she had enough

and the list goes on........

My little 'T2'

Shopping woes

Since Harvynna's 2nd birthday is about 3 weeks away, I have been looking around to get her a birthday outfit. Its so hard making a choice as girls clothings are really nice and cute, and you just feel like getting everything.

This year, I thought of getting her something more practical like a top and bottom instead of a dress since we are not doing much for her birthday this year since its too near my due date. We'll make up for it next year when we have a double celebration birthday.

Last year, I got a her party dress from Australia (as in the picture) which she only managed to use twice (once at her party and once at my cousins wedding). So for now, its just occupying space in her growing wardrobe. These party dresses are really nice, but may not be very practical for this weather.

Ended up buying some unecessary things from Bangsar Village for her like a pair of shorts and a sweet blue checked cotton top. I found a really cool long pants from Gymboree for her birthday . Bought a size 3T (for 3 years) and I could not wait to try it on her at home. I tugged and tugged to get it up and she kept saying 'tight' 'tight'. Finally got it on and it looked really cool. Then I asked her,'is the pant tight?' and she kept insisting 'no!' Looks like I have to buy size 4 or 5 for her from now on.

The shopping hunt will continue till I find the perfect outfit for her.

23 Months!

Harvynna turned 23 months yesterday. In a months time, she will be 2 Years old! How time flies! Now that she is talking, it feels like she has been talking forever. She still looks like a baby when she sleeps, but when she is awake, the ‘Terrible 2’s’ look appears.

At 2, they are no longer a baby, but have a mind of their own. Yesterday, we asked her what she wants to do after dinner, and she replied, ‘ Go Sopping (shopping)!’Immediately after dinner, she ran to the door and said, ‘Mummy, get ready, lets go’ and was so excited to go out.

And, unfortunately, this little one has started to lie. When you ask her , where is xxxxx? (something she misplaced), she will reply, ‘Nana took it’ or ‘Aunty Philo took it’ or even ‘bird took it!!’ even though she knows she took it.

Some of Harvynna’s milestones at 23 months:

Weight – 16 kg

Eating habits
3 main meals and eating others food as well
Milk – 8 ozs 3-4 times a day
Likes chocolate items but does not like food that is too sweet (unlike mummy!)
Loves pasta, rice and noodles
Feeds herself and can use a spoon quite effectively
Can drink from a cup but still spills some out

Language
Speaks in almost full sentences, grammar may not be right
can now name most of the familiar objects she uses
understands that everything has a name and can verbalize both the family name and first name of familiar people.
enjoys being read to and can follow simple stories.


Emotions
likes to boss and order people around e.g. ‘Mummy, read a book AGAIN’, ‘Mummy, I want water now!’
more communicative in expressing her feelings, desires, and interests e.g. ‘Harvynna tired’, ‘Daddy, lets go Bangsar’ or ‘ I don’t want mummy !
enjoys attention from an adult one at a time – its either Mummy or Daddy at a time
gives and receives love freely and expresses like and dislike very passionately
likes to talk and sing while she plays
makes up her own words( from things that happened) to songs
enjoys imitating speech and mimicking adult behavior.(picks up words from others)

Others
Can put on clothing

Takes off clothes
understands concepts like sooner and later
Asks 'why' and 'what's this?'

Can name most body parts
Takes more of an interest in playing with other kids
Enjoys helping around the house
Washes and dries hands

Again????

Harvynna’s favourite word now is AGAIN. She learnt that from me as she tends to poo a few times a day and when she tells me:

Harvynna: Harvynna poo poo
Mummy: AGAIN????
Harvynna: Harvynna poo poo AGAIN

Now, everytime she poos she will say, ‘Harvynna poo poo AGAIN! AGAIN! Mummy, wash bum’ and drags me to the bathroom.


Her favourite hobby is reading or rather others people read to her. When Harvynna asks to read the same book again and again:

Harvynna: Mummy read a book
Mummy: AGAIN??
Harvynna: Mummy read a book AGAIN!


At 22 months, Harvynna is a real monkey climbing everywhere and she will press on to my stomach for support, putting all her weight on my stomach and I will scream at her in pain, ‘ Don’t press mummy’s stomach ok!!!’ angrily.

Now the moment she comes near my stomach, she will say, ‘No press mummy stomach, OK, OK, OK’ until I reply OK!

Weekend moments!

Proud to say that we managed to do a couple of things over the weekend. First of all was the Dr’s visit.

Baby is doing fine but is slightly bigger for 33 weeks.
Abdomen : measuring 34 weeks
Weight: 2.2 kg

The Dr recommended that at the next visit, should the weight gain be on the higher scale, then we should opt for a C-Section. I don’t’ agree with him as I have my mind set on a natural delivery this time. I told him that even for Harvynna, she was supposed to be about 3.7 kg but at the time of delivery, she was slightly less than 3.2 kg (which is a normal size for a baby). How annoying! But of course, Harvynna loves the Dr, as he keeps bribing her with chocolate that at the end of our visit, she raised up her hands to him and said, ‘ Uncle Cayyi’!!

Then we went to the 'Times the bookshop warehouse sale'! It was really good and we were quite surprised that there was still a lot of bargains despite being at the tail end of the sale. I got a couple of books for myself but the rest were for Her Highness. The Ladybird books were really a steal as it was going for RM5 per book. Regretted for not buying more. I purchased only the books that were really cheap as there were many books that were only going for 10% less. Harvynna was so excited as she was surrounded by books. She kept picking up her own selection and adding it to our basket. She opened some of the books and started ‘reading’ them aloud. I found the place rather warm and wanted to get out fast.

We went to Esquire Kitchen for lunch. Harvynna enjoyed the lunch as she got to eat exactly what we were eating. Quite surprisingly, she loves broccoli!

On Sunday, daddy had to work, so it was Home Alone for Harvynna and me. We did some finger painting (will post pics later). The paints were from Toys R Us, but beware of these paints as they can really stain. Luckily I put on some old clothes for her and that will remain as her ‘painting outfit’ She loves it as throughout the day, she requested to do ‘Painting’. After that we had pizza for lunch and we had a much needed snooze for 2 hours.

Took her to cut her fringe in the evening.(finally) They actually did quite a good job, looks quite professional compared to when I do it myself. They even layered the fringe. Not bad for a 2 year old. After that Harvynna kept telling everyone,’Aunty cut Harvynna finch’. Now she looks cuter instead of the ‘ragamuffin look’ she has been sporting for weeks.

Where is everything?

Yesterday, I was rearranging Harvynna’s bookshelf as I intend to go the Times Warehouse sale tomorrow. I got Harvynna to help out but there were selected books that she refused to put on the shelf. And these were the baby books, which I was keeping for No 2. She says,’ This one cannot – mummy no touch!’ Hmm – she must have some kind of sixth sense. Anyway, for the past 2 years, I have been purchasing many, books for her Ebay, online bookstores and even visits to MPH every now and then, which had accumulated to a huge collection. Somehow, only half the books were in her room. I searched the whole house and couldn’t find them. Where have they gone????
I realize that having with a toddler in the house, things tend to disappear all the time.

That’s just one story. We have found hair clips and toys in the fridge! Crayons and colour pencils at places you cant imagine like in the car, in between the sofas, under the chairs, in my jewellery box, in the bathroom, in the dryer. Actually, I have found quite a number of things in the dryer including food!! Her sippy cup was found in her clothes cupboard a couple of times.

Her play pen is another huge box of treasure. Many things can be found there like clothes, half eaten biscuits, magazines, flash cards, deflated balloons……… amidst her collection of toys. Her toys will have to be stashed somewhere else since the playpen will be used as a cot for the baby in the living room.

One day, I should organize a treasure hunt in my house. You never know what we can find!

I want Diddy!

The last couple of days, Harvynna has been extra clingy to daddy (diddy). On Sunday night, she wanted diddy to 'read-a-book', carry her, cuddle her. Normally everynight, Harvynna and I go to the room, where she will have her milk, I will read her her books, then she will 'read' the book. When she is ready for bed, she will say, 'sleepy time' and 'Mummy off light' then its zzzzzz. But now she wants to go and drink her milk on daddy's lap, and wants him to come to the room with her. Then in the middle of the night, she will wake up, ' I want to sleep with Diddy'.

Basically, if its no diddy, then no sleepy time!

If daddy goes out, she will ask,'Where diddy?' Even this morning, she insisted Daddy carry her and refused to go down to follow me to my car.