Yes lor, Rachel is sick liao... (or the record, this is the 2nd time she's sick, the first being a slight fever)... And I know where she got the virus from... READ HERE!!! :( She got flu, was coughing and coughing in the morning and slight fever too (the last I measured, 37.9)... I suspect the fever might be due to teething, but I am no doctor lar... hahaha...

I have to add (too bad I didn't video her), it was easy giving her to medicine (dunno if because it's sweet)... I tot I was goin to have trouble, cuz 3 different medicine mar, 2.5ml each... BUT HOH, this gal of mine, take liao ask fo more, somemore give her she suck suck suck... like so happy... hahaha...

Labels: Rachel Huan, Sickness

Saturday, 27 January 2007... The day Rachel turned 8 months, I had a scare of my life...

Parents being Don't-Listen-to-People parents, my mom insisted on giving Rachel a bite lick (according to her) of steamed sweet potato that she was having because Rachel was staring at her non stop... I rejected at first, but after a few pushes, relented and say ok lar, since Rachel was having sweet potato porridge anyway, nothing wrong...

WAHLAU, how wrong was I, when she allowed Rachel to bite a big (to Rachel it IS big - about 1cm cube) chunk, and then when I wanted to take it out, I saw Rachel 'chewing', so I let her chew, even called Tecky to bring water and to come see Rachel chew... To my horror, a few seconds later, she tried to swallow and from the look on her face, I saw that something was wrong... She had a 'help me' look, which then I realise she wasn't breathing, then she started to cry, but no sound came out, and started to choke! OMIGOD! I was practically screaming for Tina to go get my aunt (the paed) that stays next door, and mum (guilty of course) was hitting Rachel's back so hard, trying to get the piece out of her throat...

TOTAL havoc, I don't know wat happened, I know I kept asking for answer on what to do now, trying to DIG into Rachel's mouth/throat for that piece, and I guess sweet potato being sticky in texture, is a little tough to deal with in this kinda situation... LUCKY LUCKY LUCKY, after a few (A LOT) harder hits (this was the time I heard her choking for breath), and a dig with my index finger, she started to cry (with sound this time)...

I know I sigh in relief, and with this, tears started to fill my eyes... I hugged her so tightly and realised I could have lost her if that chunk stayed there... Blaming question started to come in, YOU BUY MUNCHKIN FOR WHAT? TO PREVENT THIS KINDA SITUATION FROM HAPPENING!! WHY ARE YOU SO CARELESS!!! etc etc etc... I think God was looking closely down on us at that time, taking care of the situation (I for one did not handle it well), and I couln't thank Him enough for it...

Mum started to say, from now on, she will not dare to simply give Rachel food, and will not givetoo big a piece anymore... To imagine, I always give small piece, she scolded me, "NOT EVEN ENOUGH TO FILL THE GAP OF HER TEETH LAR" (not that she has teeth), so I guess, mum (and myself of course) learnt a very important lesson... Mum told Tina, next time I won't dare give already... And then I realised, my mum has been giving Rachel LOTSA food when I was at work...

Anyhow, lessons I've learnt from this experience, which I don't hope for anyone else to face:
1) DO NOT trust your kid to know how to chew, make sure the pieces of food you give are always in the right size (and texture)
2) DO NOT give in to anyone when it come to what you think is not right
3) DO NOT PANIC when anything happen (difficult but important)

After a careful thought, I remember I read somewhere saying that if choking happens, lay the baby on yourlap (tummy down) and hit the back... I'll do more research on this, whoever got good suggestion do comment, but I'll post another post when I have the right answer...

Labels: Mishap, Parenting Tips, Rachel Huan

Check that out...
Nadia needed some girlie girl girl photos for her layout in one of her (MANY MANY) design teams, so she 'borrowed' Rachel for a while lar...
See how the photo came back...

SUPER NICE RIGHT?

hahaha... I don't know how Nadia does this, her scrapping are always so nice and creative... SWEET eh? hehehe... I don't mind 'lending' Rachel at all... Like I told her, Rachel untung... hahaha... Can add such nice layouts to the collection mar... :D

BY THE WAY, if you are like Nadia, wondering how come Rachel look the way she look, well, hahaha, it was actually taken by Yam (the official photographer of the Lisze's wedding - the one I went to in Penang) of little Rachel 'checking out' the beautiful bride and her bridal gown... hehehe...

Labels: Rachel Huan, Scrapping

Rachel LOVES shopping...
Cranky or not, just bring her out, she'll love it...

I think is because we bring her out quite often, and she's used to seeing lots of people... She like to look around, and most of the time, entertains herself with the things she sees and laugh to herself... Sometimes she'll even fall asleep while looking around (that's how tired she was, and how stubborn this little girl is)...

The grandparents does have fun bringing her out shopping, I bet there's more to come... Seriously, it's easier to bring her out walking/shopping than to entertain her at home... hahaha... Whenever Tecky and I are not working, she'll always stick to me, and it's like she knows that we're not working, and wants us to bring her out... She'll not allow me to leave her sight during non-working days...

I'm sure we'll have a hard time trying to keep her in the house next time! *shakes head*

Labels: Rachel Huan, Rachel's Characteristics

Rachel has been VERY VERY temperamental lately...
Look at the 2 extreme ends of her temperaments within minutes!!

She screams and shout and rub her legs... AIYOH! I going insane also...
The 2 days at home, I'm drained off all my energy... She wakes up at 5am daily now, fuss and want to be carried over to sleep with us, she drools non stop, and demand for attention 24 hours of the time she's awake, create a scene before she falls asleep (screaming and shouting until everyone accuse me of FORCING her to sleep and that I shouldn't do that if she doesn't want to sleep - when they don't have to face the cranky version of this baby when she don't get her sleep)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We think it's teething session 2, so hopefully this will pass SOON (and yes, I know I was hoping for teething last time, now I hope for it to be gone gone gone!!!)...

SO MOODY, no doubt she's a woman in the making!! No need to check under the nappy, 100% confirm, FEMALE!!! Terrible mood swings!!! *roll eyes*

Labels: Rachel Huan

I blogged about getting the walker a while back, and we have been limiting her time in the walker only to the short evening when we got home before her nap time... Recently, she's been really good at it... She 'walked' from living to the kitchen, in her attempt to search for me, but then she need constant encouragement, cuz she just FORGETS that she could move in this!! hahaha

Labels: Rachel Huan

This is how Rachel 'sayang' people... hehehe

Labels: Milestone, Rachel Huan

*SOB*
Today morning, she willingly went Tina (the maid helper) but instantly after that, she tried to reverse, tried to come back to me... When I told her to say byebye, she does her hand waving action thingy, and then about to start crying, when I tell her to say byebye again, she does, and then start crying again...

AIYOH! So sad to see her cry, but I'm glad that prefers us (selfish selfish parent)... However, I can't help realising how funny it was, that she'll wave byebye, but cry cuz I'm leaving... When will she know the real meaning of byebye, I wonder...

She's been very fussy and cranky lately... We are guessing more teething, but spotted none, so still waiting... *roll eyes*

Labels: Rachel Huan

Rachel surprised me yesterday, by knowing how to wave bye bye...
I have been teaching her this for SO SO long... And lately, lotsa people were asking me, "huh? still don't know how to wave meh?!"...

So, yesterday she FINALLY does it, over and over again somemore!
And she knows how to relate this moving-of-hands-up-and-down action to the word bye-bye (as in everytime she hear bye-bye, she'll move her hands).... Only problem now is, when people say HI RACHEL to her, she also does the same hand movement!! *slap forehead*

Photo doesn't show the movement of her hands as of the photo she did with GIMME-5, because it was taken with my point & shoot (using sports settings (fast shutter speed)) versus the use of DSLR with slow shutter speed that showed the movement...

p/s: I AM a little proud, cuz this is one of the thing I can tell my mom, eh eh, see... I trained my dotdot also leh!! hahaha... If not, everything Rachel learnt also she teach one... (except the sayang people's cheek, I tot her that too, cuz I want dotdot to sayang me... hahaha)...

Labels: Milestone, Rachel Huan

Labels: Milestone, Rachel Huan

~ Backdated Post ~
Cause : CANNOT upload to youTube!!! :(

Disclaimer : This post is purely for entertainment purposes... hehehe

During New Year Eve, we were at my uncle's place... Rachel was a little cranky, so to keep her entertained, we let her sit in front of my cousins' piano, and I 'taught' her how to make sound out of it... The first time times, her face was all crunched up, looking staring at the piano weirdly... Then she started to get the hang of it... In the end, we ended up getting the entertainment more than her... hahaha... But I have to admit, we (ME at least) got a little annoyed by the banging, and had to stop her from it... hehehe... Silly mother!

p/s: That's the maid-cum-sitter, Tina... The video's a little dark, because uncle's living room was a little dim at that time... :D

Labels: Blogging, Rachel Huan

NOTE: Long post, without photos ahead!!

Rachel's development in terms of understanding and learning has been developing in a very fast pace lately... So I can't wait until her 8th month to post... hahaha.... Here goes:

1) Recognising People...
I'm a little surprised by this, and has been testing waters since more than 2 weeks back... But this week, it is CONFIRMED, Rachel knows how to recognise people and look for them... Why I say so?

Hehe... When I carry her, I like to ask her, eg: "Rachel, where is Daddy?"... What she'll do is, she will turn to where she thought Tecky was standing (most of the time, it's the last place where she saw him)... If he's not there, she'll turn around until she sees him... Sometimes stop at each faces along the way of her head turning, but she'll stop searching as soon as she stare at Tecky... The only thing she won't do, is when I ask her where's mommy when I'm carrying her (same goes for whoever that is carrying her, she won't look at him/her)... She can do this to nearly everyone in my family and inlaws... cool eh? hehehe...

2) Clapping
She has been clapping on demand since more than a week ago... When we say 'clap-clap' or 'pai pai chou' (Mandarin : Clap hands), she'll put her hands together and clap, together with a smiley face... (I'll post a photo of this soon)... However, she has 'overwritten' this ability on gongxi gongxi (hand movement to ask for angpow during Chinese New Year next month)... So we are trying to train her to know the difference between this 2... Last week, she will clap when we say gongxi gongxi, this week, a little better, starting to know the difference...

3) Singing
Of course it's not real singing kind of singing, but she has been showing signs of wanting to sing... Why I say this? hehehe... She has been screaming to music on and off, but I tot it was just her showing her tantrum... HOWEVER:
That day I was singing to radio, on Michael Wong (Guang Liang)'s new song, "I AM WHO I AM", and she followed suit... She'll just shout AAAAAAAAAAAAA (with an '0' shape lips and pulling it long in 1 breath, even when she's out of breath, she'll stop to breath and then continue), but when I stop for breath, she'll stop, then when she hear me continue, she'll go AAAAAAAAA again... I HAD to take a video of this, but then, err, was too happy hearing her 'sing' to remember... *slap forehead*...
Yesterday, when I reach home from work, my mom was singing '10 little indian boys' to her, and clapping, she was happily doing her AAAAAA and clapping along... I couldn't take video, cuz camera with Tecky in Brunei! *slap forehead*
This 'stunt' of hers is VERY dependent on mood... she happy, she'll do it, she will not do it when she's in new surroundings and busy kepoh-ing around....

4) Sayang (Malay: Caress in sign of love/affection(?????)) people
Yesterday night, for gazillion times, when I tell her "Rachel, sayang xiao ah kiu (my youngest brother)", she'll raise her hands to his cheek (hehe, yeah, I showed her this everytime I say sayang)... When I tell her to sayang kak tina (the maid), she'll raise her hands to her cheek!! But when I ask her to sayang mommy, 4 times(!!!) she oni did it once! :(

Of course, when she's cranky or when she's attracted by something therefore not paying attention to us, she wouldn't be bothered with whatever we ask her to do! *roll eyes*

No photos to show for this post... :|

Labels: Milestone, Rachel Huan

That's what parenting is all about isn't it?
Having a permanent boss... hehehe... The only difference is that with this boss, we don't get paid, but we have to pay them... :D

Labels: Blogging, Parenting, Rachel Huan

Rachel learnt to anticipate this pass few weks... We like to play peekaboo with her, by hiding behind the person that carries her, then reappear on the other side... She has learnt to swap side after a while, and anticipate our reappearance... When she gets it right, she'll squeal with joy... Or when she doesn't, you just have to call her name and she'll turn around and smile...

It's such joy playing with her, when she's not cranky and crying and demanding a lot that is... hehehe...
p/s: That is the babysitter's (maid) voice in the video asking Rachel, where is mommy??

Labels: Milestone, Rachel Huan, Video

Rachel had her first swim on the last day of 2006...

We bought the 'pool' from Tesco a while back, and since it wouldn't fit into our apartment (yeah, there's a child pool in the apartment, but don't know when was the last cleaning ler...), we left it in inlaw's house in Kota Kemuning and didn't have much time to set it up, somemore lately rain all the time, COLD MAR!

We bought her swim suit during a triumph sales, 50%! BUT BUT BUT!! TOO BIG LAR! Silly mommy, hahaha... It was practically dropping! Poor Rachel... :D

It was a tough job filling it up with water I tell you! I think we spent more time filling it up, than she actually spent in it! She was nearly falling asleep already while waiting, so we decided to put her in when the water was 1/2 filled (which was good too, cuz she isn't that tall, hehe)... Of course, the excitement was more for us (Tecky, MIL, BIL & gf, Tina and myself) than her, but we had fun! hehe...

She was a little afraid, crying at first... Tecky went in with her, and I was busy snapping with D70, hehehe... Later on, she did had a little fun I supposed... But most of the time, she still have that blur (I'm-in-strange-ground) look... We'll try it again later on, hopefully with a fitting swimming suit... hehehe... (AIYOH! New one lar, not hoping her to grow that big that fast)... :D

Labels: Milestone, Rachel Huan

New Year eve...

That's the date Rachel got her first knock in the head!! About 8pm... :D

We were in my uncle's waiting for dinner, and Rachel was sitting on the laminated floor playing with toys, when all of a sudden, she fell to the side and had a slight knock on the head... Good thing she hit my leg a little, so the knock wasn't bad... I don't see any swelling (hehehe), and she didn't cry much at that time... But it was her first knock after all...

Anyhow, New Year weekend is VERY tiring!! I don't know why, Rachel is extremely cranky since Saturday (I have many more things to post about on Rachel, with photo/video, but have to wait for backdated post lar, cuz can't edit my photos on my brother's pc)... She has been waking up earlier than usual (5:30am), and has been very difficult to put to sleep... I don't know what's wrong... SIGH... I hope I can rest more tomorrow before heading back to work... I hope she gets better... What a new year!!!

Labels: Rachel Huan, Ramblings

Backdated Post.

I used to pack a lot for myself, cuz I'm always saying "JUST IN CASE..."! But now with Rachel, AIYOH! I pack a lot, but for her, not me! The trip to Penang, we had a whole car load full of things, but all Rachel's... The things Tecky and I (both adds up) brought is only 1/2 a bag! Click on the compiled picture below, to see the listed things for Rachel...

The things we brought for Rachel, fuiyoh, fill the whole Cititel Hotel's standard room lar! *slap forehead*... To load or unload from car also need extra 3 set of hands! SCARY LEH!!!! It's really time to start decreasing things, else how to board a plane? hahaha...

Labels: Rachel Huan, Trip

Rachel was SUCH a show off yesterday evening....


Everytime she stands up, she look at us, waiting for applaud, and yesterday, she tried to let go of her right hand, then catch the railing again, then smile!

Here's a photo from yesterday, of her enjoying her banana in the munchkin... She didn't allow me to pull it out, held the munchkin in with both hands, TIGHTLY! SO "WAI SEK"!!! I guess, like mother like daughter eh? hahaha...

Labels: Milestone, Rachel Huan

After reading Sasha's blog (the post she purposely put up) on the munchkin, and seeing Rachel's reaction to food, Tecky finally regret not buying the munchkin... hehehe... SO, yeah, we went to 1U to get it for little Rachel last weekend, oh, and believe me, she loves it!! Not only her, grandfather also like it... hahaha... We had so much fun seeing her chomp chomp chomp away, and then started crying for more... hahaha....

You must be asking after seeing the photo, why got 2 leh?? hahaha... Well, the opened munchkin is of course, for little Rachel... And the unopened one, if for little Raelynne... Cuz Julian couldn't get it there, so since I'm getting it, Raelynne gets one too loo.... :D

Labels: Rachel Huan, Rachel's Stuff

Backdated post! (AGAIN!!)

Favourite if of course my camera!!!!!

But her second favourite, is my pda phone! *roll eyes*
Photo was taken on 11th December, when Tecky was at work (yeah, Selangor Sultan's birthday, so I didn't have to work mar), and I was getting ready to go out... Since Tina was getting her things packed up, I left Rachel on my unmade bed playing by herself... She fussed and tried turning around or pulling on the piled up comforter to try to stand up, and afraid of her falling from the bed and hitting her head, I gave her my phone... It kept her quiet and entertained while I can take my own sweet time getting ready (and even find time to camwhore a little)... hahaha.... COOL eh? Mind you, it's not that light... She holds on to the strap, or even on the body, with one hand, and then passes it from one hand to the other...

Of course the bad part of this idea is that, from then on, she kept lunging towards my phone whenever I write an sms, or make a call!!

Labels: Rachel Huan