hi5!

Kate LOVES hi5. Her staple diet of YouTube videos include Barney, hi5, cooking/baking demos and random videos of other children.

I had originally arranged a play-date with Kate and her girlfriend to catch Madagascar, then I chanced upon hi5 and there was no doubt that I had to bring Kate to watch her favouritest thing in the world.

So come Friday, I soldiered on to make it happen for Kate.

Before the show started. We had a very rushed lunch and it was literally 5minutes to showtime by the time we reached the stage area. Not a very good spot but I guess it's good enough

The show started 5minutes late so in that time, I managed to catch my breath. I also remembered to take some pictures with my baby. 

<3

hi5!

Her star-struck "is this happening????" look

She got into the show and started to sing and dance along

I scored a number (let's not get into the stupid system) and here's Kate on the lap of a real-life hi5! This red-head is called Lauren. I don't know why that tall guy looks like a wax figure.

The guy seated beside Lauren is called Tim (I think) and he's a real sweetie. After we took the pic, I'd tried to get Kate to say something (anything) to hi5 but she just stared silently (star-struck). Tim then said to me "aaw, she's shy. But she did a great smile for the picture!" And here's proof that he knew what he was talking about - he'd peeked at her during the pic! 

Kate stood by the side of the stage staring at hi5 after we were done with our pic. I had to coax her to step off the stage. And she just stood and stared at them (taking pics with the trail of people). Here's her gamely smiling and posing for yet another picture.

Though the show lasted all of 15minutes, and it was so much effort having to go out to have lunch and score the meet-and-greet tix and having to Q up to wait for our turn to take a pic with hi5... it was rather tiring man. But I think all the effort was worth it. I guess that's what being a parent is about - you just give it your all and it's worth it to see how happy they are. I look back at the pics of her enjoying herself and I feel so happy. I wish it was always happiness and fun with her; and not peppered with angst and discipline and tantrums.

Kate knocked out. She was throwing a fit just before this and only quietened down after being bribed with a box of raisins. She gobbled that up... and fell silent. It took me a while to notice the quiet and I felt all mushed with love looking at this sleeping princess. 

This is actually the second time Kate's watched hi5 live. The first time round, she was equally excited but she didn't know the hi5 songs well enough. This time, she was able to sing-along to more songs and follow the actions and songs. My little girl is growing up so quickly!

Dear Jake

Dear Jake,

Today, you are 3 months, 1 week and 2 days old. And here's one to document your progress.

You are able to gurgle and laugh, squeal and play with us. You know how to interact - just this evening, you laid there quietly while nainai was talking to Kate. Then the moment she looked at you and started talking to you, you started to gurgle and reply.

You love to sleep. This has been consistent since day one - you love to sleep. You like to be rocked to sleep, you love to be carried to sleep, you cry when we interrupt your sleep and when you're in really good sleeping form, you can miss your feed! This has yet to happen at night time though - I hope you find your night-sleeping-groove soon.

You drink about 120 to 160mls of milk every 3 hours. It's not very consistent though, with you acting up and struggling to drink sometimes. I'm guessing it's because you're either too hungry, or not hungry (& just want to sleep).

Your hair, is still preciously gorgeous. Papa has to trim your hair every 2 weeks. Else it starts getting really pokey. Hair really makes you look handsome and cute! You totally have your sister and father's eyes. Your face, well, is distinctively fishbally-mine.

You missed taking your 3rd month vaccination because you were in contact with your little aunt who had chicken pox - so we're waiting it out another 3 weeks before you get that. But at the 3rd month check-up, you fared well ticking off everything that you're meant to be able to do.

You weigh 6.4kg and measure 64cm. You're slowly graduating from the newborn clothes, to the 3-6month ones.

You are a screamer. Have said this before and will say it again, you're quite a chill boy though you are totally OTT when you're mad or upset. You yell. Oooh boy.

Finally, tummy time. Your head is really quite strong by now and you actually prefer to sit up or be carried upwards when you are awake. You are not able to flip yet, though you are arching your back sharply. You prefer to lean towards your right, though you have begun to do so on your left. Let's see when you actually do it!

*pinch those cheeeeeks

I love you, my dear baby. I cannot believe that you're already this big! Only seems not that long ago that I was hobbling around with a heavy belly, having contractions, and look at you now! I'm so thankful to have you because you remind me that time passes so quickly and you (& your sister) grow so quickly. I am learning to cherish you at this gurgly baby phase because it's just precious. O yes, and you still smell like a baby and it's so awesome to hug and inhale all your baby goodness.

Love, Mommy

Spot Kate

Spot Kate

Little bits of Kate all around

On the kitchen drawer

On the master bedroom wall

Close-up of Kate's doing - her Barney stickers

Sometimes, we find them on us too. Back of our knees, somewhere on our back, at the leg of my pants... it's so cute. I can't help but smile everytime I see her doing. Makes me feel all warm and lovey.

The monkey park

That's what Kate calls MacRitchie. Heh. Cos the last time we went there, we spotted a few monkeys. And what's made the impression really stick was that we saw the monkey in mischief! It ran up to a lady's unattended bag and took her sandwich in a plastic bag!

The husband's started his Saturday morning exercise work runs so I decided to haul the troupe and go along. Sunshine and outdoor activity can only be a good thing. The weather was not brilliant though, and we ended up running for shelter not once, but twice. Thank goodness we were equipped with the pram and an umbrella. Though we didn't do too much, we managed to finish walking a whole round though to the zig-zag bridge and back... and spent half the time under shelter, with the rain pelting down consuming our breakfast.

No danger of monkey business as they were probably huddled up in their cove somewhere and not out in the rain. We did spot a squirrel though, so at least that was a bit of a talking point for Kate.

"What did you see, Kate?" 
"Squirrel *beams"

Aah, the little things in life mean the most, don't they.
 

The best (and only) bit of play area for kids - which is a little advanced for Kate

Waiting for Papa to finish his run

Observation: MacRitchie is not really Kate's cup of tea. She doesn't really fancy walking a lot (too humid and you can see her getting really hot and bothered) and if there weren't any monkeys or squirrels, she's absolutely not motivated to walk at all. There's also the lack of playgrounds to entertain her there. Have suggested to the husband to find another spot to run, if possible, somewhere with more child-play area will be good. Otherwise, we leave the kids home so that I can get some run-time.

Scenes from our home

It's been a while since my last "scenes from our home" update, and truly, life's so hectic. I've been struggling to survive with too little sleep. And with the unexpected hiccups in childcare arrangements, our life has lack of routine. Work's also picking up and putting in late hours is making me grumpy. I think these are all unhealthy for me and make me feel unnerved, unhappy, tired.

It'd all get better soon (it always does, right?) and I need to remind myself that I still have plenty to be thankful and happy about.

I love how peaceful she looks asleep. I get so tired of handling her and her awful tantrums. My little girl is fast growing up and I'm thankful that the husband is with me to help deal with her. I'm not the most patient person and a lot of times I slip up and feel guilty yelling/snapping at her.

Sometimes, we all need to just look at these silly/happy faces to instantly feel better. This boy's fast becoming a character of his own.

A wet Saturday afternoon where the husband, Kate and I sneaked out for tea. We shared some soup, bread and cake. I love how sweetly happy she looks here.

Shifty-eyes Kate. I need to get better shots of the two of them.

One dark morning when it was nearly impossible to get out of bed. Then I look at their faces (even now) and I laugh.

Jake on tummy-time. Except that he looks like he's training to sky-dive in this shot. Heh.

We ran out for an errand and this little girl entertained herself by "flying" with my shawl. And she insisted on wearing her hat. HAHA she's so funny!

3months, 1 week old. 6.44kg, 64cm baby.

Saturday afternoon - bumming at home with the family. I don't know why the husband doesn't tell me my hair was so messy - though honestly, it's probably become such a norm for me to look this way at home that no one notices anymore.

"Let's do a didi face" - love it!

Old friends

Had a work stint on Saturday night. It felt strangely familiar to be on this premises. Much like visiting an old friend I haven't seen in ages. It's changed, and I felt slightly out of place. And lonely. Maybe one day I'll go back there with some of my other old friends and relive some moments. Maybe.

Took precious time out from the kids and spent this morning with the husband. Muscles are aching and I have mini blisters (which thankfully don't hurt so much) and a bit of a scrapped elbow. I scaled one wall 3x (practise!) and the 4th one totally killed my arms. It felt good to meet this old friend again. It's been too long.