Love-hate relationship

That's the love triangle relationship between Kate, her parents (collectively as one) and the iPhone.

She LOVES it too much. The moment she spots it she will WHINE for it. She will CRY if she doesn't get it. She will nearly do ANYTHING to get it. The bl**dy phone is really a double-edged sword. It provides her with hours of entertainment and she can navigate youtube very skillfully on her own accord; selecting video after video of Barney/Hi5 (her current faces). It gives the husband and I plenty of time to do our own thing; but it is such a pain to take it away from her because she will always cry murder as if her life depended on it. TERRIBLE.

The husband and I decided that this obsession with the phone has got to stop and recently have been more stingy with allowing her to have it. I think it's been days since she last got her hands on it.

Today, she was whining for it (again) and in my exasperation, I said

"Don't have"

K: I want your phoneeee (whiney tone)

Me: No

K: I want your phoneeeeee

Me: Don't have. I threw it away!

K looks at me in horror. Pauses for a split second. And cries out "Don't throw your phone away...... WHY you throw away... *criesssss"

She proceeds to sob in sadness and the next thing I see is her standing over the bin, peering within to try to locate the phone.

HAHAHA I know, it's such a wicked thing to do but I cannot help it! I really wish she will exercise SOME control over the bl**dy device. UGH. But her reaction to the phone's demise was really quite extreme, but cute. Heh.

To the sister

Happy (belated) birthday! You are a beautiful person and mean the world to me. Love aplenty.

"Don't be sad"

The other night, the husband was feeling shattered. His despair was apparent to us, and I really felt for him. I whispered to Kate "go hug Papa, tell him not to be sad".

For the next few minutes, the girl laid on the bed beside her father, hugging his neck as far as her toddler-arms could stretch, and she said to him "Papa, don't be sad.... don't saaaaad". She sat up and rubbed his back, and when there was no response from him, she repeated herself again. "Papa, don't saad, dooon't ssaaaaddd"; while again lying down to hug him.

Thinking back on the episode brings warmth to my heart. It was absolutely lovely to watch, seeing how our child understands empathy and expressing her love to her parent so innocently, earnestly.

I say to the husband, "don't be sad, my love. We are behind you always."

Love is...

Waking up at 2am to help proof-read work for you

Warming up milk at 2am for me

Asking “want to talk?” when the opportunity arises

Staying up to have a chat despite being dog-tired

Making a call to hear your voice, to know how you are, to probe deeper and listen to how you are

Tearing up simply hearing your voice because you mean so much to me

Dropping an sms to say “Love you”, especially when it’s not something done often

Feeling sad seeing you suffer

Wishing hard to take away the pain that you’re going through because I cannot tolerate seeing you like that anymore

Being in tears reading words so sincere, written about a matter so close to our hearts

Feeling it

20 weeks

15 October 2011 - It was a terribly hectic morning; I went up and down from the hospital's lobby to the clinic thrice, the husband drove up and down from CCK to Thomson twice and Kate threw up once.

=_=

But after it all, Kate, the husband and I made it on time and were able to huddle in the little dark room and listen to the sonographer wax lyrical about baby little. Everything is on track, with him being slightly above average for everything (head size, weight, limb lengths etc). And on that day, we confirmed that we will be welcoming a little boy - I will have a son! *happy

Funny tidbit to share: when we knew that we were expecting our first child, we came to a common agreement on one female name only. At that time, I'd guessed (wrongly) that I was expecting a boy. This time, I'd thought that I was expecting a girl (again, wrongly. But I made this guess because my icky symptoms in the first trimester were exactly the same as Kate's); and the husband and I had only managed to agree upon one name for a boy. Both times, though my gut guesses were wrong, we were very lucky to be able to use the only names we had thought of and agreed upon.

The husband and I are very blessed, and it's these little things that make me smile.

Hello baby Jake,

We are halfway through this pregnancy journey and I'm so happy that you're doing such a brilliant job of growing very well. You are very photogenic - we all had a great time watching you bob around on-screen last Saturday, and it was very pleasant to have great pictures of you (we never had such an easy time with cheche). Finally, Papa and I can call you Jake and my only request is that you not sit so much on my bladder - quite an inconvenience.
Another 20 weeks before we get to meet - looking forward, my dear son.

Love, Mommy

Orbs

Same two people, same two outfits, different wedding, a year later. Ha!

Just Kate

Because I cannot believe how adorable, lovely and cheeky she is. How much joy and exasperation and stress and happiness she brings to our lives. How amazing it is that I carried her in my womb and gave birth to her, and how today, she is such a little character full of energy, and such a bundle of joy.