Christmas Day

It was a lovely day.

JD had a lovely surprise with his new bike. He took it for a ride on the street with his new Spiderman helmet. Some of the kids on the street got a new skateboard, a basketball hoop, a mobile phone, some got a keyboard and all the kids on the street were running around with their newest present.

Chloe being the little darling she is, just enjoyed watching the festivities around her. Unlike her brother whom was going around shaking and volunteered to open everyone's present, she was the happy contended little baby happy to be in our arms.

We had a feast tonight. Fresh prawns, salmon, turkey & chicken sausages, black pepper steak, my homemade chicken satay, a watermelon & prawn salad and a huge plate of Greek Salad made by my brother in law. We finished all the food, no leftovers! Yeh!

Everyone were happy with their presents.

No doubt, with festive day like this, you always get some hyper kid whom have consumed far too many candy canes, overtired running around throwing a tantrum and being an absolute pain. Yep, we had that, and I whipped out my "naugthy corner" tactic and put a stop to any tantrums that might show its evil eyes again in the night.

Luckily we ended the night happily with everyone clutching their presents going home for a good night sleep...

I am going to have a good rest for the rest of the year and going on a holiday with my little family unit tomorrow.

I have had a great year 2006, with lots of wonderful events especially the arrival of my baby girl in July, my ever so crazy n loving JD who is still bringing me lots of smiles, my hubby, my wonderful family whom have made a special trip to Perth this year! I love you all!

Till the new year, have a good one everyone, with lots of love from us all here in Perth!

One more sleep...

Now, u better be good! Otherwise Mrs.Claus Junior won't be bringing u much Christmas cheers this time round! And remember to leave her a glass of milk and a cookie :)

Here's a special Merry Christmas from our 5 months old celebrating her very first Christmas!

And a special present is now sitting under the tree. I can't wait to see the look on JD tomorrow morning.

JD builds

Lately JD has a new interest. Building. He builds and builds, through day and night. Lego blocks, Duplo blocks, Gear blocks, you name in, he builds it. And he is into rockets, space ship, aeroplanes and robots these days. He will build them using his blocks.

We can spend the whole day together building blocks.

"JD's Robot"

And he gets really upset when his sister accidentally kicks his creative genius while doing her "aerobics" on the floor. He said "Chloe, you are still too little to play my blocks!" Eh seh!

This morning, he told me he is building a city! A city with dinosaurs that came to eat children! Oh my! You see JD lying down on the floor. He would actually spend some time admiring his own creation each time he finished building something. A proud achiever indeed. And he should be.

JD posing with his "Scary Dinosaur"

My city

Perth is a beautiful city by night! A place that I have called home for the last 9 years.

He is catching on

Now this is funny. I always carry my digi camera with me everywhere I go. I take pictures of the kids, my food, people, scenery, myself, my cooking and etc etc. This morning I was taking pictures of some of JD's creations which I will talk about in another post. I think he had enough of me clicking away constantly he decided wanting to have a go. So I did, and look at this, picture of me by my 3 year old. I was impressed, more than impressed.

Only 4 more days

Yes, only 4 more days to Xmas! I got my Xmas dinner sorted, but I still have a huge to do list. Better get off my chair and stop blogging!

Xmas Baking

This year, I am doing something a little bit different for Christmas in terms of gifts for friends and families.

My kitchen Aid mixer has been working overtime, my oven has been baking hundreds of biscuits over the last few days, I recycle gift boxes, I got JD to help me roll the cookies dough into little balls, I cut the cherries, he helped himself along the way...all for the fun of Chrsitmas baking. I spent all my time in the kitchen the last few days, basking myself in the oven heat and while it was 35deg c outside. And I wasn't doing anything to conserve energy either, I had to turn on my aircon at one point to cool the house down.

Unfortunately, I was too busy trying to bake all the biscuits and forgotten to take any pics of JD in his little apron stuffing his face with cookie dough and cherries.

But here is the final product, box of Custard Cherry Biscuits and beautifully wrapped for JD's care provider at daycare.

Scare tactic...NOT!

I brought the kids out this afternoon to get some groceries. Along the way, I stopped by at a shop hoping to get some vegies. And we bump into this Asian lady whom was friendly at first but soon turned into my joke of the day! Luckily I was in a rather humorous mood, and wasn't offended by the conversation.

This was our conversation with this Asian lady at the shop about Chloe and what I think my little baby girl must have be thinking as the Asian lady rattle on in Mandarin.

唉哟妹妹，你的脸为何红红的？

妈妈说因为我还小，有时因为天气热，皮肤会痒。

所以就红红咯！

可是老Aunty说，

妹妹脸红红是因为妈妈没给她搽 cream！

还说是妈妈的手有 “poison”,

所以有搽cream，妹妹的皮肤也是痒！

我看老Aunty有点“something wrong” 吧！

You see, I have noticed that the elderlies at times like to use silly stories to frighten us. Come on, I am not a first time mom, well, 2nd time mom, but I am not stupid to believe her old wives tales!

And the English version of the above conversation, and speaking in an Asian accent:

Old lady: "Eh, why your baby's face so red red ah?"

Me: "Oh, she has a bit of eczema and the heat makes her more prone to it"

Old lady: "You got put cream or not? Eh, your cream good one or not?"

Me: "Oh yeah, as prescribed by her pediatrician"

Old lady: "Ummm, u know what, I think hor, is because your hands got poison lah. So hor, even you apply cream for her, the poisons on your hand also make her skin red red you know!"

Me: "Ummm, is that right?"

She makes my day because I have never laughed so hard at someone's silly idea and she said it with such conviction! But then just imagine if that was someone else suffering from anxiety or slight depression, that person would have been heartbroken.

An Aussie Must Have

Since moving to the OZ land 9 years ago, I have a few Aussie must haves.

One of my "must haves" is to own a barbecue (or barbie as we call it here)! Yes, an Aussie household is not complete without a backyard barbie, where you can throw pieces of steak, fish, sausages on the barbie, sit outside in the back garden, have a nice cold beer on a nice summer evening.

For years, I have had wanted to get one. But each year I kept putting it off, maybe just not sure of which one I really like, or I was just too stingy not wanting to part with my money.

Anyway, after spending countless evening, breathing in the aroma from the neighbour's barbie, hearing the laughters in the back garden, thinking how nice it would be, I decided I am getting myself a barbie for Christmas this year. Actually for the family.

And so we did. I walked into a barbie shop with Chloe last Tue morning, greeted by a very helpful middle aged salesman, half hour later and a phone call with the husband, I was sold. He was honest, straight to the point and he thought Chloe was cute as a button.

So, we spent an hour this afternoon putting it together and we had out first barbie at home this evening. I was thinking, this will be a way for the husband to do the cooking on the weekend. Hee hee.

And we are definitely having a barbie for this year's family Christmas dinner. I am not cooking a big fat turkey with the oven going at 200 deg c and when it is forcasted to be 39 deg on Xmas day and at the same time with my air conditioning going at full blast, it just seems so silly!

Play Safe

Yesterday, after packaging up JD's Xmas crafts for the families back home, I went off to the post office with Chloe hoping to just get some stamps and sent them off. I was preparing myself for a long queue at the post office given this time of the year. The queue wasn't long but the process of just sending five A4 size envelopes took over 20 mins!

Apparently, the Xmas crafts JD made were considered to be "suspicious and potentially dangerous" materials! As they were not just the usual printed materials, and his crafts had some "gold dust", I had to fill in a custom declaration form to say they are" safe and posing no terrorism threat" and showing my ID!!!

Geez...and and, I had photos in one of the envelopes...and apparently the powder that used to print the photos were considered as explosive materials! Oooppps!

Anyway, so after filling in 6 custom declaration forms, letting the postie chick feel and touch and scan my envelopes, weighing them one by one....checking my ID, I was out of there! Hmph!

Sometimes I tend to think we can take things too far or just simply playing safe.

Happy Birthday!

To my mom, Happy Birthday! Hip hip hooray! Lots of love from all of us here in Perth!

Xmas Angels

This year, JD and I made this Christmas Angels as greeting cards for families and friends. He applied the glue, sprinkled the gold dust, we did the cutting together and helped him to glue on some of the shapes. We are really happy with the results.

And these angels will be boarding the first available sleigh to the grandparents and aunties back home soon!

Make you drool

This post is specially for my big Sister W. Hee hee, this will make you drool as I am having this for lunch today. Yum yum, slurp slurp, sedap sedap!

自煮的牛腩米粉 (Beef brisket noodle soup)

Almost a decade

Today, my husband and I would have been married for 9 years.

Yep, 9 years, 2 kids, good times together, and no doubt we have our squabbles along the way, but it's all cool. My husband is a good man. You know, doesn't smoke, doesn't gamble, doens't drink, only comes home late when he is busy at work, loves his kids, enjoy buying presents for his kids too, relax by playing computer games at night, can cook a decent meal for me once in a while, more patient than me, a cool head, a Mr.Fix It.

Just for the record, he is such a cool head that at the delivery suite of our first child, the midwife left him to set up the resuscitation unit (or pretty much just a place for doctors to check the baby) while she attended to another lady next door...all along thinking my husband was a doctor! Wahahahaha!

Oh and whether he was just a cool head or one with very strage timing. He, my husband, yes, that man, the one that still make a detour to the video shop to return some videos on the way to the hospital while his wife was already in labour and almost screaming through each contraction.

That said, hee hee, he is also pathetically lazy when it comes to the garden, cleaning, and not very good when it comes to disciplining the kid. In our household, I do the garden, clean the house, cook the meals, shop for groceries and the one doing the disciplining. But then I can also be a control freak at times. I like the house clean in a certain way, clothes being stack in a certain way, what snacks to have and not to have in the house, this and that.

And he will probably say many things about me, such as his wife, yes, that lady there, the one that constantly struggles with road map.

But then, he will always tease me in front of his mom saying in Cantonese "我有一个好老婆" (I have got a good wife :) )

Chloe - 5 months old

My little chubby chubby chub chub is 5 months old today.

Let me see. Yes she is still our little darling. More and more so everyday. I find myself enjoying motherhood even more 2nd time round. It could be because I have been there once before. She tags along to everything I do. She will sit in the pram watching me doing the garden. I will turn around, sing to her and she would flash her cheeky smiles at me. She likes being in the kitchen with me when I am doing the dishes, preparing meals. And you know what, she would be grizzling and grumbling, but quietens down the moment she smells the cooking.

Her brother loves her to bits. She would squeal each time he cuddles and smother her with love and kisses. She smiles when he sings "Itsy, bitsy spider" to her and tickles her by walking his fingers on her chubby legs :) JD has been a wonderful big brother. Oh, he calls her 妹妹（lil sister). But he quite often cover his ears when she starts crying becoz he said "It's too loud!"

She loves cuddling up to her dad. She would happily fall asleep in his arm when he carry her around, be it sitting in a noisy Chinese restaurant having dim sum or walking around in a noisy shopping centre with Christmas carols blasting away in the background.

Just last night, my husband said "She really is our bundle of joy". And she is.

But she is also showing more character. She dislikes the heat. She would now arch her back, protest with a "Ngehhhhh" sound when I try to put her in her car seat. Apart from making the "Ah goo" sound, she will lie down on her mat, squealing, laughing out loud to herself, sometimes making a grunting sound. She is funny.

I love her to bits. We all love her to bits. And I am so proud of JD for being such a good brother and for adapting to the changes at home so well. They both deserve gold stars.

Xmas wishlist

My husband...

I asked hubby what he wanted for Christmas this year. Honestly, after being together for so long, I have great difficulties in finding a present for him. And a lot of the time, he will usually find something he likes and buy it for himself anyway.

So, I asked him to give me a Xmas wish list. And wishlist he did, and sent it to me via email, crazy man!

And this is his wishlist:

- “Big” LCD TV
- LCD Monitor – 19 or 20 inch
- Double Swag for Me and Jayden
- IMac
- Toyota Rav 4

Ummmm, now these are all way beyond my budget. Maybe I can consider a double swag for him and JD so they could do more camping in the backyard and possible going on camping trip together. That way, I get to have a break from them, hee hee, and they get to have more bonding sessions together :)

Me...

And my husband also asked me to do the same. So, I sat down and had a good think about what I like to have. Some are things I really like to have, some are just nice to have:

- A dinner for two at one of our favourite restaurants
- Bag (I would love to have a crumpler bag to put all the spare nappies, change mat, wipes, change of clothes for both kids, my purse, mobile phone, keys and etc)
- Neck cushion when we go on long car trips
- A dishwasher
- Box of Godiva chocolate

I stick my wishlist on the fridge. He stood at the fridge looking at it this morning, gave me a HUGE smile and walked away!

And not forgetting JD's...

And while hubby and I were talking about all the Xmas stuff last night, including having the Xmas dinner at our place, JD was smart enough to know that Xmas can sometimes bring him some goodies. Just before putting him to bed last night, he turned around and said to me: "Mommy, my Xmas is here. I would like to have a bike. No no, I want 2 bikes. One for the inside and one for outside. And I like the Superman bike. And I also like the Red bike. Oh, and the superhero (i.e The Incredibles) lolly, Yep, that's it. No more. Goodnight! "

Well, let's see if he remains a good boy till Xmas and see if Santa will bring him what he wish for.

Picnic at the park

This evening, instead of cooking at home, we decided to go for barbie at the park. A few sausages, chicken kebab, potato salad, some bread, a picnic blanket, off we went for a nice little outing. Since daylight saving started in the last weekend, it has meant we get to enjoy more of the daylight and that it's still nice n bright at 7 in the evening.

There were lots of families out at the park, JD befriended another 3 year old boy, Chloe happily sat at her pram watching her daddy doing the barbie, and me happily snapping away pics.

It started to get a bit windy and cool half way through our picnic dinner and we had to quickly pack the kids back in the car.

Here's a shot of me and my darling 小肥妹！

And JD wanted a self portrait, and this is his latest look.

My Favourite Moment

My favourite moment in a day...

Lying down with both kids and having a laugh!

All Christmasy!

This will be our 8th Christmas in this house we live in, JD's 4th but Chloe's very first Christmas.

I finally took my Xmas tree out this week and got into the mood of Christmas.

The tree is snow sitting beautifully in the living room, but it is looking kinda empty under the tree. That's not important.

My wish for this Christmas is to have a safe holiday, have my family around me, everyone happy and enjoying the day...nothing fancy, but a simple, quiet, happy holiday!

And the street I live on are rather big on Xmas lights and we are not going to lose out either. Hee hee. But my lights are the same every year.

Nonetheless, I still find myself standing out in the front yard admiring my lights : )

Pissed OFF!

Okay, so I am pissed off. I am pissed off because I hate people being rude, arrogant, gutless.

This time last year we got an unsigned letter in our mailbox with handwriting similar of a young kid. In the letter, it requested us to clean up our verge because it was considered as untidy and wait for this...."un-Christmas like". Ok, so the grass on the verge were overgrown, but it wasn't the responsibility of our household. Infact it was the responsibility of the local council to cut it. We rang. They refused their responsibility. Furthermore, we got a warning letter from the council again. What the f***! Fine. I got my regular lawnmowing guy to do the job. And he only charged me an extra 10 bucks. That was done.

Now, can you justify this? I pay over 1 grand a year for the council to pick up my rubbish and other ancillary services, but yet they couldn't drag their lazy arse down to mow the lawn.

This year, I got my regular lawnmowing guy to do it, just in case I got another arrogant letter from an unsigned imbecile.

Today I got another unsigned letter, most likely from the same imbecile the second year in a row.

In the letter it says "Please ring tel: XXXXXXX about cutting down trees on XXX St verge. Fallen branches may KILL someone one day. Your neighbours".

Okay, yes, I heard the branches from the tree fell off while I was at home late Monday ternoon. Yes, I had planned to ring the local council but I haven't got around to doing it because my life is busy as it is now. And I mean busy not just with kids, but sorting out all the other mess in my life at the moment.

I have no problem with people advising me what to do.

But what pisses me off the most was when the same imbecile decided to leave another unsigned, arrogant, rude letter in my mailbox.

If they have the same courtesy, perhaps they should have come to press my doorbell, let me know of their concerns and I would most happily oblige to get the responsible body to come and chop down the tree.

I can wish for the darkest things to happen for someone when they are being nasty, rude, arrogant and simply being a dumb idiot.

But I hope I won't. But if I find out whom this chicken shit is, I won't be too kind with my words at all.

I don't usually get this annoyed. But today this incident has certainly strike a chord in me that I have to just let it out.

I need to.

I need...

To remind myself that patience is a learned skill sometimes. And I need to keep reminding myself that. Not everyday I can expect my kid to behave, listens, do as told and not throwing an ocassional tantrum. It is all normal. Some days I could cope easily without even a sign of grumble, but some days, I have no choice but to send him times and times again to his quiet spot.

I continue to keep myself together. No shouting. No screaming. Get down to his level and talk to him. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

But it's always those days when I am feeling slightly tired, under the weather that things go pear shape.

Isn't it funny that kids tend to know how I am feeling sometimes?

And in times like this, I reach for my cup of Camomile tea and reflect on the fact that kids are kids afterall.

He will learn. He will grow. He will eventually learn to listen. He is still my lovely little 3 year old that is learning about choices, boundaries, what not and what yes. It is all a phase.

I just need to keep believing in him and believing in myself.