Christmas 2010 in Victoria

We spent 4 days in Victoria celebrating Christmas with Gong Gong, Po Po, Yee Mah and Ko Fu. It was a very enjoyable and relaxing time. Due to the kiddies eating and napping schedules, we didn't go out much at all. We spent lots of time just talking and playing mah jong, as well as fixing dinner at home. Every meal was home cooked delicious and super healthy.

Everyone stayed at Winnie's condo (can't wait until she moves into her new house at the end of January!). It was cozy. Thanks for hosting Win! Here are some pics we took (click on the picture to enlarge):

Christmas Morning - trip to the ER

Something awful happened this Christmas morning. We were heading over to Victoria for a few days so I was in a rush to pack everything and was trying to leave the house to catch the 11am ferry. It was already 10am and we were still loading up the car when I noticed that Jasmine was still in her PJ pants! So I wanted to dash upstairs quickly, grab Jasmine's jeans and then dash back downstairs. Bad mistake.

Jasmine was walking up the stairs slowly with me and stupid me, I thought that it would be quicker if I carried her instead of her walking on her own. I picked Jasmine up and started going up the staircase. I slipped (I was wearing socks, another stupid thing to do in the house) and fell, Jasmine landed face first into the stair case. Jasmine smacked her chin open. Ikes!

Unfortunately, the cut was pretty deep and definitely needed to be stitched up. We drove to the Children's hospital and arrived there by 10:30am. Surprisingly, the ER was not busy and we got in after an hour. I guess most parents don't want to be at the hospital on Christmas morning.

Jasmine was always scared of the hospital, probably from her first experience when she was strapped down to do a head x-ray (when she was 15 months old). It took some convincing for her to sit on the bed and lie down. Good thing we brought her favorite blankie with us. The wound was about 2.5cm and required 5 stitches. I am very thankful that no needle was needed to do the stitches. The nurses used a topical gel on the wound, which took 30 minutes to work and Jasmine didn't feel a thing. Thanks goodness.

Now, we are only waiting for the wound to heal. So sorry Jasmine! Mommy has learned her lessons.

Lesson 1 - don't wear socks in the house
Lesson 2 - don't run up the stairs
Lesson 3 - wake up extra, extra early when traveling so there is no rushing

Emma First Birthday

Emma celebrated her first birthday today. Julia and Emma are good friends and have been on play dates since they were only a couple of months old (they even had bum rashes at the same time!). Emma is 2 months older than Julia.

It was a super fun day; Jasmine and Julia both enjoyed eating lunch and then playing with all of Emma's toys in her room. They even met many new friends there. Since Emma is still very young, they were unable to play together but I'm sure next year when she is walking and running, things will be different.

10 Months - Julia

Julia is now an unstoppable 10-month old, with massive teething/drooling issues. As soon as we put her on the ground, she starts crawling off to where ever she wants to go, usually heading towards the kitchen table or down the hallway towards the bathroom. She can sit up steadily, pull up into a standing position and knows how to scream at you when she is unhappy.

We go through about 10 bibs a day, as she is constantly drooling non-stop. I can feel her top 2 teeth coming in. Julia loves eating a variety of foods now including apple, banana, pear, carrot, sweet potato, peas, squash, cheese, yogurt, oatmeal and bread chunks. She's still eating purees but we are moving towards chunkier foods.

No check up this month, although she does have to go in for her second set of flu shots. (since we mentioned the flu shot, I am convinced that Julia may have an egg allergy because her face turns all red and hot with rash the 2 times she's had them. More on this topic later).

2 Hours - Meal Times

2 hours - that's how much time we lose at each meal, trying to feed Jasmine. She is a very s-l-o-w eater. She can eat alot, but she just takes a long time to eat everything. She keeps the food in her mouth and leaves the food there. She just sits in her chair. Her mouth doesn't chew at all. Why can't she just chew?

Annoyed, agitated, anger, losing patience... these are some words to describe what I feel while feeding Jasmine for 2 hours. Watching TV doesn't help (she is too engrossed in the TV to chew), giving her time-out after 30 minutes when she still has her first spoonful in her mouth doesn't work, and yelling at her just makes her take even longer to finish (she opens her mouth to cry and doesn't chew). Sheesh!

There's nothing we can do, just wait for her to want to eat. It's funny though, when we offer her favorite foods, she finishes so quickly and asks for a second helping. Her favorite foods include: noodles, pasta, soup, french fries, ice cream. We can only hope that one day, Jasmine will grow up to learn to like eating healthy foods.

Adyson 3rd Birthday

Today we celebrated Adyson's birthday at her house. She just turned 3 years old. Lunch was served quickly with all the kid favorites such as pizza, egg rolls and fruit. Jasmine had tons of fun playing with all the friends there. There were many activities including playdoh, expanding sponges that turned into sea creatures and hitting a fish piniata. The fish piniata was kinda scary, since the kiddies had to use a bat to smack it. Luckily, the adults all helped keep the bat away from hitting heads.




After that, it was cake time. It was a mermaid cake with an actual doll on it! It was a terrific day. Thanks for having us over Adyson!

Understanding Emotions

Something happened today and I noticed that Jasmine is really, truly growing up. She's starting to understand that other people have feelings, and it's not only about her in this world.

It was dinner time and Jasmine was sitting in her highchair, eating and watching TV. Her feet like to push off on things and it just so happens I was sitting directly across from her. Her feet was pushing off on my shins/knees. For some reason, her feet started pushing harder and harder to the point, it started to hurt. I said to Jasmine, "Ouch. Please stop. You are hurting my legs" (in Chinese). Normally, Jasmine would push harder (to test me) or start screaming to throw a fit. But today, she didn't do this. She just looked at me quietly with a sad face and tears welled up in her eyes. She totally understood that she had hurt Mommy and she felt bad about it! Isn't that terrific?

After some cuddles and kisses, Jasmine was back to being her old self. It's amazing how much a person can develop in one day.

Julia Crawling (video)

Julia has been attempting to crawl for the past few weeks and just today, she started doing it the correct way. Julia loves her new found freedom and roams around on the floor all day long. She doesn't mind being left alone for 15 minutes at a time because she enjoys gazing at the feet walking around.


Her favorite spot in the house right now is under the kitchen table. She hides under there until she sees a pair feet she wants to chase after, and then she dashes out. We have to be careful we don't accidentally step on her.

Pumping Milk - 3 pumps a day

I have been pumping breast milk to feed to Julia in a bottle. Now that it is December, I am preparing to go back to work. I was pumping milk 4 times a day but since I noticed that Julia is not drinking as much milk as she used to, with her being on solid food, I now pump 3 times a day starting today.

Originally, I yielded 26oz of milk when I pumped 4 times a day. Now puming 3 times a day, I am yielding around 21oz a day. Julia is drinking 18-20oz a day. In a few weeks, I hope to decrease to 2 pumps a day and start Julia on formula.

Convert to Toddler Bed

Jasmine has been sleeping in her crib since she was born, 3 years ago. In the recent months, every time we put her to bed, she would disapprove and try to get out by climbing over the bars. She hasn't fallen out yet and she hasn't escaped per se, probably because she is scared to fall down.

Now that Jasmine is older, we took down the bars and converted her crib into a toddler bed this evening. Jasmine was so excited and actually wanted to go to bed, which never happens. She hates the winding down process (although once she is sleeping, she doesn't want to get up!) but tonight, it was so easy. She willingly went to bed by herself. What a big girl she is now.