Tissues are for...Pulling

I was taking care of Jasmine after work today and as usual, she was wandering around the house, finding lovely items to play with. I walked into Jasmine's room after she was quiet for about 2 minutes (she usually makes alot of noise so when it is quiet, I get curious as to what she is up to).

Anyways, I walked into her room and found this:

Children's Hospital Visit

Jasmine had her second allergy testing today. We waited 3 months for this appointment, so we can do a prick-test and find out if Jasmine is really allergic to any foods. As it turns out, Jasmine was really sensitive to egg and peanuts. Poor girl, they pricked her back and she had these large welts. Immediately after the prick, Jasmine became very itchy and was scratching herself non-stop.

Because of the size of the welts, we were informed that Jasmine can be potentially fatally allergic to these items, so now we have to carry an epipen with us at all times (in case she gets in contact with these items and has anaphylaxia). It's basically a tool used to inject epinephrine into the body when you have cardiac arrest (opens up your airway so that you can breathe). Scary stuff.

That same day, we also visited the emergency room, to have some x-rays scanned of Jasmine's head. The doc was concerned with her odd bruising around the eyes after her nasty fall a few days ago. Jasmine had bruising along the sides of both her eyes (like panda eyes) even though she had hit her head in the forehead region. After a long 6 hour wait, the results came back negative. Deep down, I knew Jasmine was fine but better safe than sorry.

New Car Seat - Radian or True Fit?

Jasmine finally grew out of her bucket car seat and we had to get a new one. I did alot of research and narrowed it down to 3: Britax Marathon ($329), Radian ($289) and True Fit ($199). It was definitely a difficult decision, as all three of them were rated really good and there were pros and cons for each one:

The Britax Marathon was rated #1 on the market for safety. Britax has been a well-known brand for the longest time and the quality is very high. The car seat looks very comfortable with lots of cushioning. The price was a little steep though.

The Sunshine Kids Radian car seat caught my eye, as it was slimmer than the other 2 and if you wanted to store it, you can fold the seat flat. It also has a steel frame, for extra safety measures and side impact protection. One of the selling points is that you can fit 3 Radians in the back seats of your car if you had 3 kids (and we were thinking of having 3). This car seat is recommended for families who like to travel.

The True Fit car seat is the "new kid on the block". Just released in 2008 so it's brand new. The car seat itself was modeled after the Britax Marathon so in terms of features, they are quite similar (except alot cheaper). There's an option to leave the head rest off in the rear facing option until needed (pics to show you what I mean).

We purchased both the Radian and the True Fit and installed them in my car to see which I liked more. I really liked the slimness of the Radian. With the Radian in the middle back seat, you can still fit 2 passengers on each side. And even in rear-facing position, the front passengers have lots of legroom. The driver can see past the car seat into the rear windows (no driving obstruction).

We decided to go with the Sunshine Kids Radian car seat for Jasmine. Below are pics of her in the True Fit car seat, one without the headrest and the other with the headrest (Beeps didn't want to be strapped in for too long). I'll post the other pics of Jasmine in the Radian as soon as I load them up.

Splashing so much

Ever since Jasmine was a baby, we would bathe her in the kitchen, on the table. For each bath, we would gather everything (foamy mat, towel, clothes, diaper, cream and toys). She loves taking a bath, it's something she looks forward to every evening.

From Jasmine: Yep, Mommy knows me so well. I love taking a bath. I wish that I could stay in there forever and ever. Just recently, I learned that water flies EVERYWHERE when I pat my hand in the water. It is so fun. And when the water flies, Daddy scrambles around like mad, trying to wipe stuff off the floor. I really don't know what he is doing but I don't care. Pat, pat, pat, pat.

Yesterday, Mommy told me that I am a big girl now so I get to bathe in the big girl tub. Mommy and Daddy lets me pat the water as much as I like. Look at me now...

Newborn Benjamin

I visited Baby Benjamin over the weekend and had the chance to sweetly cuddle him. So small, so sweet, so sleepy and so light! Here's a pic of him.

Finally - Fifth Tooth

After drooling for several, many months, the awaited fifth tooth finally came out! It's on the top right hand side. Boy, I thought that it would never come out. I was chatting to one of my friends who has a daughter 5 months younger, and she started teething at 2 months! She's only 10 months now but has a full mouth of teeth, and can eat pretty much everything.

Jasmine is eating a bit better now, although she is stuffing things into her mouth still. I'm guessing another tooth is on its way.

No, I'm not Jealous

We went to visit two couples who had babies recently. We first visited John and Cherl, and their son, Benjamin who is 3 weeks old. He was only 7 lbs. Oh so tiny. I can't remember newborns being so small but I guess they have to be in order to fit in our tummies. Oh so precious.

And then we visited Gerry and Nina, and their son, Jonathan. Jonathan is much bigger though - at 2 months, he was 13 lbs! Jasmine was only 14 pounds at 6 months so it seems he was gaining weight really quickly.

During the time when we were visiting, I was trying to see Jasmine's reaction when I held another baby in my arms. And what was the outcome? Beeps doesn't care. She was not jealous one bit. She was walking around and pointing at the fishies, playing with all the toys and looking out the window. Maybe there was so much distraction around, she didn't notice. Not sure if that is a good thing or bad thing, but at the least, it seems she won't try to get my attention when I have #2 on the way.

BONK - oh my head...

I wonder how often babies and toddlers fall and hit their heads. I know they always trip and they always fall. That's a normal part of growing up I guess. Actually, I wonder alot...

Jasmine had a rough day a couple of days ago, when Grandpa brought her out for a walk. They went to the corner grocery store to buy some fruits and veggies. Beeps likes playing with the cans on the shelves at the store: she picks up the cans, moves them around, picks at the labels... She can stand next to the shelf for 30 minutes if we let her (she did that last time at Walmart). Anyways, when they got home, Grandpa let her down on the ground so that he could unlock the door. And that's when it happened. She was standing one second, and the next second, she was lying on the ground screaming. Poor Jasmine, her head was bruised and had an egg on it. Well, this was only what I heard, since I wasn't at home when it happened.

Jasmine's head is looking much better today. But unfortunately, it happened again today. Richard and I were in the living room. Richard was sitting on the couch, I was sitting on the carpet and Jasmine was walking around on the carpet. One second, Beeps was carrying a ball in her hand and walking around, the next second, she was lying on the ground crying. Both Richard and I were shocked, because we were both there and neither of us saw what happened. I assume she tripped over her own legs so she fell.

Double unfortunately... she landed on the same spot on her head... so that egg she had on her head, came back up again. This time, it looked much worse. POOR JASMINE. See for yourself:

Chinese New Year in Victoria

We visited Victoria this past weekend to celebrate Chinese New Year with the Leung family. We only stayed one night so it was a short trip. We were even able to pack light, only using a couple of back packs (mind you, I only used 20% of the space in the backpack and Jasmine's stuff took up the rest). But then because we had to take the portable crib with us, we still had to drive our car over.

Jasmine was happy to roam around in Auntie Winnie's condo, as it was almost all carpeted. She wasn't scared of falling so she walked and walked and walked around everywhere. We did have to put chairs here and there so that she doesn't walk into places that was dangerous. Thanks Win for letting us take over your place!



Jasmine was so tired after the ferry ride that she konked out on the couch with Auntie Lisa. It was weird, because I tried to put her down for a nap but she refused and just kept on crying her head off. Then like 10 minutes later, she konks out. I guess Lisa's warm, soft body feels better than the portable crib, which she dislikes.





Poor Richard had to take on morning duty on Sunday though...and Jasmine woke up super early, even earlier than usual. Jasmine woke at 4:30am...sigh. Everything we've tried so far to see if Jasmine can sleep later into the morning isn't working. It sucks.