Early Christmas Gift from Santa Rina..

Yesterday Ava received a mysterious parcel..we didn't actually knew it's coming. It turned out the parcel was from her Grand Aunt Emily aka grandaunt Ua. This would be her first Christmas gift and it's came all the way from UK. I am so excited on Ava's behalf!!

 

                                    Two baby overalls, one t'shirt and a knitted sweater..I loved all of it!!!

Hmmm..The future of Oxford? Hopefully will hit the lottery jackpot anytime soon!

Mummy also got one and luckily it fit!!!

Thanks Ua!

Forty -TwoThings That Change When You Have A Baby

Noted : This article was taken from the www.babycenter.com :


What changes when you have a baby? A better question may be: What doesn't change? Here, writer and mom Rebecca Woolf lists her most notable post-baby observations. Then scroll down to read our favorite comments from readers about how their babies changed their lives.

1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms.

(Ya last time I always want somebody to give me roses, now I don't need any roses 'cos Ava with her rosy cheek and her baby scent is so soothing and makes you giggle with joy inside. And you just never know if the rose is sprayed with pesticides which could get to my baby through me. )

2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid. [See a reader's perspective in #22, below.]
( Sometimes I would become paranoid over something which is not necessary to be worry off)

3. The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices.

4. You respect your body ... finally. ( Hmmm..yeah for the health concerns )

5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way. (Noted : "Respect and love in a new way". Now, I am more firm and explicit in what I believe its true and not just following what people wants me to do on behalf their expectation, at the same time, I respect them for who they are.)

6. You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own.
(This is totally true, when Ava's having a fever, I felt like every part of my body is stiffing and extra tired )

7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.

8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago.

9. Your heart breaks much more easily. ( Oh yes, totally.)

10. You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day.

11. Every day is a surprise. ( The first laugh, the first fist, the first rolling, the first kick...everything feel like a magic!)

12. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!) ( Stay healthy and avoid depression, its just going to slow down your energy. )

13. You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.

14. You become a morning person. ( which is a still struggle for me )

15. Your love becomes limitless, a superhuman power.

And from our readers...

1. "You discover how much there is to say about one tooth." — Ashley's mom

2. "You finally realize that true joy doesn't come from material wealth." — Anonymous

3. "You now know where the sun comes from." — Charlotte

4. "You'd rather buy a plastic tricycle than those shoes that you've been dying to have." — Sophie's mom

5. "You realize that although sticky, lollipops have magical powers." — Roxanne

6. "You don't mind going to bed at 9 p.m. on Friday night." — Kellye

7. "Silence? What's that?" — Anonymous

8. "You realize that the 15 pounds you can't seem to get rid of are totally worth having." — Brenda

9. "You discover an inner strength you never thought you had." — Ronin and Brookie's mom

10. "You no longer rely on a clock — your baby now sets your schedule." — Thomas' mom

11. "You give parents with a screaming child an 'I-know-the-feeling' look instead of a 'Can't-they-shut-him-up?' one." — Jaidyn's mom

12. "Your dog — who used to be your 'baby' — becomes just a dog." — Kara
[Many readers begged to differ, saying things like, " I disagree with number 12. My dogs are my additional children," "Nothing about previous babies, whether two- or four-legged, changes when a new miracle comes along," "My dog will never be 'just a dog," and "This is sad to me. My dog is still my baby too."]
13. "You take the time for one more hug and kiss even if it means you'll be late." — Tracey

14. "You learn that taking a shower is a luxury." — Jayden's mom

15. "You realize that you can love a complete stranger." — Dezarae's mom
16. You find yourself wanting to make this world a better place. — Arizona
17. If you didn’t believe in love at first sight before, now you do!  — Ciara
18. You start to appreciate Sesame Street for its intellectual contribution.  — Anon.
19. You have to quit watching the news because you see every story from a mother's perspective and it breaks your heart. — Brooke&Boys
20. You just plain love life more - everything comes together and becomes better because of one tiny person and your love for them. — Anon.
21. You finally find out the real reason you have those breasts. — Anon.
22. In response to #2 [above], I'd say that where you were once afraid, you're now fearless. I was always very timid and shy and let myself get walked all over … but now where my kid's concerned, I'll speak my mind and really connect with my inner "b"! — gummismom
23. The support you get from other people surprises you, because the people giving it are not always the ones you'd expect. — japanese_macaque
24. Nothing is just yours any longer. You share EVERYTHING! — DylanLsMom
25. No matter what you've accomplished in life, you look at your child and think, "I've done a GREAT job!" — Anon.
26. You want to take better care of yourself for your child. — Treasor
27. You can have the most wonderful conversation using only vowel sounds like "ahhh" and "oooo." — littlehulk2008

Noted : 28. I enjoyed buying stuff for Ava rather than buying for myself!

            29. Find myself everyday in front of the computer updating my blog.

I loved this!

I bet everyone have already read these and I decided to put these articles on my blog just like everybody else. If you are familiar with kadazandusun accent when speak Malay language..you would probably laugh your heart out!!  These essays really make my day!!! I laugh non stop when I first read it!!! I was raised in a  Ranau Dusun family and community, I know very well how to pronounce it complete with the accent. And when you know how to read it, that's when you start to laugh until you got stomach ache. Hubby doesn't seem to laugh as much as I am when reading this.

I asked him,

" Have you read this?"

"Yes, I have" he answered with a sober face.

"And.... it's not funny to you?"

" I have already laugh about it.."

Still the face had no reaction. I laughed some more when looking at his clueless face!!

These essays are pure genius!!!

If you noticed the above articles are bleeding with teacher correction.

A teacher can only judge your work based on their own limitation and in the process of doing that pull you down to their level. To the person who wrote this article, I say don't get discourage you are a literary genius, you really communicate humor and family love and life not on a superficial level but on a personal and intimate level.

At the same time I cannot disagree with the teacher also; your Bahasa Melayu sucks, but who cares. 

                                             

Pictures of Ava

Watch daddy tries to eat Ava's Inchworm

Are they taste good?

 

Mom, I am already under you!!!

Look at me, I'm pulling my feet!

                                 The other side of sleeping

I cannot sleep without my Bunny in the sarong...

6 months and snacking at Mc Donald...

We were here at The Bintang Mall again!!! but no shopping spree this time, we just here to grab some express dinner. We're suppose to attend the church mass on 5.30 pm at St.Joseph but apparently today just had only one mass at Carmellite church which is on 9.00 a.m. So we stop for a few minutes to do a prayer and off we go to the Mc Donald, Bintang Mall.
While I was digging my Big Mac which was so ridiculously delicious !!! Ava's in hubby supervision so I can just concentrating on me, myself and I..hahaha..among  the crowd who chosed Mc D as their dinner menu, I spotted a mother with her baby from across the table. The baby was similar sized like Ava and the mother happily put the french fries in her baby's mouth and the baby happily chewing on it..I was flabbergasted..I struggled to get a better view of the baby's inside mouth.."is she's teething already?" Right, yeah I realized I was quite of being kepoh throughout of this weekend but I cannot helped it..I am a new mother and of course my curiosity is high on how possible it is a baby can eat "fast food" while the baby is still a baby? If they just starting to eat solid food is that a proper intro for a solid to a baby? The mum noticed me staring at her and quickly I gave her a warm smile but looking at her kept on giving her baby the fries and the baby  kept on eating on it..."I was not sure".......Again, the woman gave her friendly smile toward me before their left from the table and she passed by hubby with Ava at the foyer. Hubby curiously "sempat" asked the mother how old was her baby and she's  6 months old, that's after the mother asked him whether Ava is a boy or a girl..I should put ribbon or something pinkish on Ava's head because she's always has been mistaken as a baby boy. Sometimes people would passed by and said "Oh..your baby boy is so cute and fair..." and I would answered sweetly,"No, she is a girl and no she don't have a fair skin, it's only nearly fair...", the last sentences after the word "and", I left it with by myself.
I don't know about others but do every parents would just let their baby eating any kind of solid food without properly doing any research on the nutrition contains or is it only me who don't t know about this fact?

Do I look like a boy to you even I am all pink?? wink wink....

A lady, lingeries and credit cards....

Last night we went for "jalan-jalan cari makan" at the town,..well not exactly jalan-jalan cari makan, I went to deposit money to my account so that I can transferred the money to the account of MyBabyPitStop and TinyTapir. ( You know what it is...)
Went to Parkson mall and saw a few blouses which got 70 percent sales!!Yummy!!Then I lined up to the cashier counter and a woman in front of me got some issues with her payment method, at first she gave her HSBC credit card,  the payment was rejected , another Ambank credit card, also got rejected, Standard Chartered credit card ( yeah I know I am a bit "kepoh" but sometimes it's kinda fun!!hahaha) also got rejected. I took a glance at her merchandise and wooo...among of it was a corset, push up bras, thongs, girdles and so on. (all the lingeries from Triumph brand I would say )..I wonder what she wants to do with all of those..hmmmm?. So after everything got rejected, with a sour face,she took out her money, luckily she's got cash with her. The things that bothered me was why didn't she just used the cash instead of giving the cashier an extra work and making customers who had been lining up behind her grunting and gave a bitter look on her. I was by the way enjoying the short drama..Later after paid my stuff, I got problems finding hubby with Ava, apparently I had left my mobile phone with him and I let my instinct to guide me to where they were.."Aah, so true, they're at the Guardian store"..hahaha..

I am crazy!!

I just cannot stop buying cloth diaper!!!this time I bought another addition of inserts  and a wetbag. I almost missed the Happy Hieny  last stock and luckily "sempat grab the last piece of it "..I nearly click the mouse to grab another baby/mummy bag but...sabar saja lah...habis budget nanti..hahaha

Ava with lil cuzies from Kolopis, Penampang..

Playing her Bunny and Inchworm with Bro Ian in grandma's room.

 

Bro Ian with style.

The adorable Baby Lucy.

A priest in the making perhaps?

Ava with aunt Jacinta.

Sis Pearl, Bro Ian, Aunt Jacinta and Ava .

Strike the pose..

The best pose ever!!!

Mummy and son got tired during the car ride.

Cuzy Lucy and Ava.

Yummy, I loved chewing my hand..

Watch out the head!!

Their first play date together..

A bit blur ( taken from mobile phone )..The sweetest smile ever..

 

mmuahhh..Love you both!!!

Amazing Race?

Having raised in a family which normally do upfront planning and preparation made this kind of scene was totally alien for me, luckily I didn't get a heart attack! If we are deviated from our plan, normally everybody would be getting edgy, anxious and the occasion of people snapping is expected. So deviate from plan or not preparing very early is a no no for my upbringing especially not in front of my dad.
The trip going back to Kota Kinabalu was totally like an amazing race. We suppose to fly on Friday afternoon but when we woke up on friday morning, we haven't packed up anything yet, not even sure what to bring, well of course we have to bring baby's stuff and the baby herself. We just about to pack up when I sprained my wrist for the " I dunno how many" times already and this time I cannot take the pain anymore so we decided to go for a quick traditional massage. When we reached there, apparently I was recommended to do a full body massage. We were thinking for a short while and thought still had lots of time in our hand. There I was having a full body massage, it's not a luxurious trip, it was like tortures! after delivery apparently wind had stiffen all of my vein!!Then after one in a half hour doing the massage , we went for a quick breakfast and after b'fastr we realized we really need to get back home and do the packing. When we reached home, it was already 10.30 am and thought still had time and slowly packed our bag. By 12 noon, we re still not even half way finished packing and we need to leave by 12.30 noon.
To cut the story short, we just dumped everything in the bag and ends up with three bag and gave Ava a quick dip in the tub. Normally we just used two bag. By 12.30 noon, moving from the door house to the gate took about 20 mins. We had to carry Ava.. Bumble escaped from the house and hubby had to chase after him. Halfway chasing Bumble, it started to rain cats and dogs. By the time put Bumble inside and locked the gate, it was 12.55pm!!
We rushed to the airport, when we 're few miles away from the house hubby asked me,
"Did you already take Ava's birth certi?"
I answered,
"Yeah, it's in the bag..you didn't put it somewhere else do you?"
"Huh, I put in on the file"...
The clock stroked 1.00 pm and we made a u turn to go back to the house. The ticket counter closed by 1.30pm. Noted that our house from the airport is 40 miles away. During that time, I started to have panicked attacked. Rushing from the house to the airport, knowing that you could missed the flight was very tense. It was silent in the car and luckily Ava's sleeping. I tried not to look at the clock in the car because it really made me edgy and I already thinking to pay more additional RM300 to fly in the evening. I was sure we're not be able to catch the flight.

When we're about to reach at the airport, I placed Ava in the carrier and rushed out from the car and ran to the ticket counter. Imagine me running with baby hanging in front of me. When I reached there, it was one mins before the closing and the story didn't stop there..the boarding pass already in my hand but without our luggage! Hubby was still struggling to unload the bags not to mention the car park is quiet far from the "ticket counter", not the airport building. The ticketing counter kept on informing me we;re already running out of time and our luggage probably had to leave behind, ..I was so edgy and kept on searching and hoping that hubby's head would pop from the crowd anytime soon. Luckily we managed to put all our luggage to the cargo. It was such a relief when everything settled down and we' re on our way to board the flight . Me and hubby had a good laugh after that and thought that this incident was such an amazing race for us!!

Ava Baptism ..11.11.2009

With her white flowing gown..

Together with Father Andy. The priest who baptized Ava with 6 others.

 Ava's Godmother, Tracy Oswald...

I am waiting for other pictures of Ava who's captured by Jen, cannot wait to have it!...

Changing Layout

At last I successfully manage to change my layout. Fresh looking view and more focus..Big thanks to Angel who assisted me. I was busy updating my blog until forgot that I dun have anything to wear for this evening..
Nampak gayanya, kena buka old closet la ni to find something decent to wear later....

Looking for Ava baptism dress,,,

Hubby and I never expected searching for a white dress would be difficult. When you don't need a white dress, they are all over the place. Now that we are looking for "the white dress", it seems that every store we would find a white dress either with a strange pattern or mix with other color or it doesn't quite look like a dress more like a funky white gown. Tomorrow is Ava baptism ceremony, this seems like a last minute shopping for Ava's white dress ..Luckily we found it at one of the mall in town...pheww...just hope tomorrow morning there'll be no rain otherwise Ava has to wear her white pj to her baptism. And hopefully it is not too hot either or she will feel uncomfortable wearing the white dress.

4 months Little Ava Sophia

1. Loud babbling -Keep on babbling and talking. Yesterday when we attended the course of her baptism, she looked up and gave a loud babbling to Brother Louis during his talk.
2. Pumping and cobra post ( Yoga ).
3. Scooting like a caterpillar. - Now she knows how to make her movement even faster, by rolling.
4. Loved the car rides. - Sometimes she would talking / babbling nonstop in the car.
5. Touching feet by her hand.
6. She just realize she has a tongue, keep on pulling it out and about by her hand.
7. Holding tightly whatever reach at her hand and put it on her mouth.
8. Quiet good in targeting what she want to grab.
9. Turns from front to back.
10. She would screamed to you whenever she needs help.

 

 

 

If the baby is given freedom from birth, she will begin to slither...

A morning glory...

Every morning, instead of rolling towards to daddy like a few months ago,  I would find Ava lying next to me..she'll be under my armpit holding either my blanket or my t'shirt . Looking at me with her big eyes and cooing..patiently waiting for mummy to wake up and feed her. What a great day to start when you wake up and see a smiling baby with the cutest grin!

Oh My Gosh, what a weekend..

Last weekend, we're planning to buy a new carrier for Ava, since she's already getting bigger its a bit difficult for us to carry her with sarong sling anymore. Hubby got a shoulder pain and I had a back pain. We went to Baby's Gallery at Bintang megamall and found a carrier which has a back support feature. I tried it on, put Ava in it and walk around the store like hubby said to get 'the feel of it',.. As i  looked myself at the mirror with Ava inside the carrier, Flo called, "How is it?"
I spun around and knocked the toys display and I stumbled down the floor, the first thing I grab was Ava and luckily she's safely wrap around my body..the sales man hurriedly came to me asking if I am alright..of course I didn't! my leg bruised and my butt in pain add up with huge embarrassment, luckily the store is empty with customer except us.  But surely I 'm going to get the carrier, surprisingly it came with the safety feature as well...

Just received it!

I loved, loved this sleeveless top...it's a discreet bfeeding top. I bought it from the e -store. Luckily the size which I chose just the right sizing..I'm hoping there would be another color than this however the bfeeding feature on this top leave me no reason for not to buy it..

Reflection....

Upon reading my blog entry, "this somebody" make a remarks that instead of taking all of Leo words, I should be brave enough to Zen the article by asking what is it to me personally.
With regards to bloging - even how poor I think I am, I should not be discourage because "practise makes perfect". It sounds like a cliche but there's lots of truth in that.
With regards on taking care of Ava - I am not a perfect mother but I'm taking each day as a practise and lessons to be a better mother and most importantly give my fullest love for her. I can only improve on my humble self, not on people expectation or any other superficial expectation I have on myself.

The Only Way to Become Amazingly Great at Something - Taken from the Zen Habits's blog

Editor’s note: This is a post from Leo Baubauta of zenhabits.

Very often you’ll see blog posts or books teaching you to “master” a skill in only 10 days, or 3 days … in fact, it used to be 30 days but the time frame to master something seems to be shrinking rapidly.
I’ve even seen tutorials claiming to teach a skill in just a few hours. Pretty soon we’ll be demanding to know how to do something in seconds.
Instant mastery of skills and knowledge! Hey presto!
Unfortunately, the reality is something a little less magical. Or maybe that’s a fortunate thing.
There’s only one way to become good at something:
1. First, you must learn it by reading or listening to others who know how to do it, but most especially by doing.
2. Then do some more. At this point, you’ll start to understand it, but you’ll suck. This stage could take months.
3. Do some more. After a couple of years, you’ll get good at it.
4. Do some more. If you learn from mistakes, and aren’t afraid to make mistakes in the first place, you’ll go from good to great.
It takes anywhere from 6-10 years to get great at something, depending on how often and how much you do it. Some estimate that it takes 10,000 hours to master something, but I think it varies from person to person and depends on the skill and other factors.

Want to be a great writer? It’s possible to be great within a few years, if you have the God-given talent of Fitzgerald or Shakespeare, but most of us toil for over a decade and are still trying to get better. We’re still learning, to this day, and if we look back on our first few years of writing — of any kind — we’ll tell you we sucked (for the most part) back then.
Want to be a great blogger? Same deal. I’ve been doing it for almost three years, and I’m still only competent. Gruber’s been doing it for, like, 7 years and he’s still only … well, he’s pretty great by now. You have to do it, make mistakes, learn, really begin to understand it, and someday, if you stick with it, you’ll be great.
There’s no one who is great at his profession who hasn’t been doing it for at least 6 years — no designer, no programmer, no carpenter, no architect, no surgeon, no teacher, no musician, no artist … you get the point. I dare you to name one. Most have been doing it for over a decade, and are still looking to improve.
It takes desire, it takes drive, it takes lots and lots of doing.
So here’s the thing: don’t get discouraged if you’re just starting out. Have fun, like we all did in the beginning. If you have fun, you’ll learn to love it, and THAT’S when it clicks. When you love something, you’ll want to do it all the time, sometimes late at night and often, you’ll jump out of bed and want to do it before you move your morning bowels.
THAT’S how you get great. By loving it so much your morning bowel movement takes second seat.

“Everybody has talent, it’s just a matter of moving around until you’ve discovered what it is.” - George Lucas

Find that desire. Do it, don’t just read about it. Don’t buy a single product or book or magazine that claims to teach you something in minutes, hours, days. They’re lying to your face, with a hand in your pocket at the same time.
Do it, keep doing it, then keep doing it some more. It’s the only way to get great, but the good news: anyone can do it. It just takes some time and some doing. Hey presto.

When the world says, “Give up,”
Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.”
~Author Unknown