One expensive plate

We went out for dinner at this Western cafe near our place. They claim to serve Tony Roma's kind of food. (ya, rite!) The owner came out of the shop and was trying her best to convince us about the food, bla bla bla and we eventually went in. The cafe was empty and even Harvynna remarked, 'How come nobody else came here?'

Anyway, Rowena got bored and insisted on getting out of her high chair and was already yelling at the top of her voice. We put her down and she was walking all over the place till she went to the side where they had some 'kayu jati' plates and bowls on display. She pulled one out and before I could rush there to take if off her...... she threw it on the floor and it broke. As the place was empty, all the staff's eyes were on her and the owner immediately came up to us and looked at the bowl and blabbered on an on about how it is authentic kayu jati and very fragile and have to be very careful and we have to pay for it!! It was a whopping RM85 for a really hideous plate.

We swore never to go back there again and of course, Rowena got a good scolding from us, while Harvynna enjoyed every minute of it. Because, for once, Rowena was getting scolding and not her.

Whenever, I asked Rowena why she threw the plate, she would pretend to hyperventilate and breathe heavily. I was really annoyed with her as she was trying to test her limits by throwing the plate till later she gave me her sweet look and kept saying 'sorry mummy'. But of course, Harvynna kept teling me not to talk to her as she was really naughty and not to bring Rowena out the next time we go out.

I think we have to stay away from any fragile places especially at departmental stores or we will end up spending lots of money on broken stuff.

My personal shopper

Harvynna is great company whenever I go shopping. She seems to have really good taste in pickning out clothes and is every willing to give me her feedback. She will follow me to the changing room and tell me what she thinks. It is either a

- this dress is really nice or

- looks ugly or

- looks like an aunty or

- not nice

Even while I am dressing up at home, she will let me know if I look nice, and will help pick out matching earrings.

Buying clothes for her now is difficult as she will choose what she wants and is into denim clothes now. She keeps insisting on denim dresses, overalls, shorts, jeans but I keep telling her that she has so many denim clothes already.

Rowena also tries to give her comments like 'Wah, mummy nice'. But in her case, its 'nice' all the time.

Haha - the benefits of having little girls!!

Life Changes

I was blog hopping earlier and came across a tragedy that struck this family in Australia, where their 3 1/2 year old daughter passed away in a freak accident. While reading the mum's story, I just had this overwhelming feeling that how life can change in a blink of an eye and we have to stop taking things for granted. Her daughter, Ava was just turning 4 (Harvynna's age) and I immediately thought of my 2 girls.

Harvynna is going through this really whiney stage, where she whines for just about anything. She can suddenly burst into tears for no reason and many times, she keeps saying that I dont love her. I think all the attention on Rowena (given by everyone) is really getting to her. Sometimes, she complains that she is not pretty. I think that is because most strangers keep saying how cute Rowena is and she feels it. I told her that people normally say babies are cute but she is so beautiful.

But she feels flattered because Rowena calls her a princess. If you ask Rowena, what is Harvynna, she will say 'Pincess' and when you ask her what is Rowena' she will reply 'duwa' (referring to dwarf). Thanks to Snow White and the 7 dwarfs.

Rowena is really catching up on her speech and can put many words together now. This is good as they can both now communicate to each other and somehow, Harvynna understands, some of the mispronounced words Rowena uses, which we dont! Their conversations in the car can be quite funny sometimes. They both have their own sense of humour.

The other day, we were rushing home to get ready to attend my aunt's birthday dinner. And I told Harvynna jokingly, why dont you stay at home instead. This was her reply:

I will stay home if Rowena stays as well.

And I said OK.

Then she adds, we will use our shoes in the house, and when you come home, the house will be dirty. Then very good for you!........ and they both started laughing.

Some of the cute things Rowena says are:

Eeeeya, daddy poo poo everywhere!

Mummy read! Rowie no no

She refers to Bangsar Village as 'bubble, pop pop pop' because thats where she attends Gymboree!

updates

Its been a while since I updated anything on the girls. As mentioned in my last post, I have resigned and am serving my 2 months notice with tons of things to do and clear up before I handover everything. Hence, have not had time to blog hop - managed to speed read a few but with no comments. Sorry - will catch up soon.

The girls are back in KL now (since early January) and are back to their daily routine. Will be starting Harvynna in kindergarten sometime in April (when she turns 4) - most probably it will be at Beaconhouse (if they take her in) or Words Bangsar. Gosh, that will be a real rush routine every morning, getting her ready, dropping Rowena off at the babysitters and Harvynna to her kindy. But I think she is getting bored silly making her really cranky and whiny, which in turn drives me up the wall too!! In the meantime, she can read (somewhat) and do basic counting. She can write her own name and other words, if prompted but her hands are not so steady and the writing still looks a little wriggly.

Rowena, on the other hand has turned 21 months today. She is really chatty and such a handful. She is showing signs of her Taurus sign. Bringing her to malls is really tough as she insists on her way, and folds her arms, sitting on the floor with a firm 'No'. She tries to pull of the price tags on the items in the shop and I have to quietly pick up the tag and item and put it back, hoping nobody will notice.

She can put 2 words together, but is quite lazy at pronouncing whole words e.g.

lollipop becomes pop
slippers becomes pers
butterfly becomes fly

Even for songs, she only sings the last 2 words of everyline.

She is very vain that after she puts on her clothes, she will turn round and say 'wahhhh' and go show her daddy 'look daddy - wah'!

Harvynna and Rowena can really fight now with each pulling each others hair, pinching each other, grabbing each others things. cant imagine what it would be like once Rowena starts talking in full sentences. But Harvynna can be a good babysitter too as she looks after Rowena while I do something around the house. They can both play quite independantly for a while, which is good

A new beginning

Happy New Year! I know its already 11 days into the new year, but nevertheless.....

Anyway, I have been pondering and dwelling into this for sometime, and finally I submitted my resignation in my current job today.Its really a mixed feeling, as I have been here for 5 1/2 years, and it has been comfortable. But after 5 years, I looked at career progression etc etc etc and decided that I need a change. Its amazing how once I made up my mind to leave, several offers came and I was deciding between 2. So, as of now, I have tendered my resignation, turned down one offer and accpeted another. It feels so draining as there was so much to think about.

Career wise, I am not interested in rising up to the top of the ladder as my priorities are with my girls. All I need is a good stable job, pays well enough so I can shop at Baby Gap or Mothercare without feeling guilty, and a good work life balance so I have time for my family and a job which I can happily wake up to every morning.

So I guess I have made the right choice. There's no turning back now. Looks like I started 2008 with a big change, but for the better.

Wish me luck!!

2007 at a glance

My SIL's wedding

My SIL Vindi got married in November to Jim Mountstephens. Finally managed to upload some of the pictures.