Sarah's 1st tooth

It took me a while to be able to take a picture of Sarah's 1st tooth.  It came out a couple of weeks ago but it was so tiny that I could barely see it.  Plus, every time I try to pull on her lower lip to inspect, she just sticks her tongue out and hides it.  But now, her tooth is much more visible. Her 2nd tooth is also on its way out.  Can't see it on the picture, but it's there.... Goodbye, gummy smiles...   

TJ products

Only tried the Tandoori Naan so far.  It's quite good, and super easy.  Comes frozen, Pre-heat oven for 400 degrees and then put these in for 3-4 minutes.  Done.  4 pieces, enough for 2 adults for dinner. $1.99

I used this sauce with chicken and served it with naan.  I'm not an expert Indian cuisine eater, so I can't really tell if this is authentic or not.  Taste-wise, I think it is fairly decent. The only thing is that the sauce is really liquidy as is.. and the direction on the jar tells you to add another 8 oz of water (which I didn't). Wish the sauce would be thicker. $2.29

The 3-flavor fruit bar solves the problem of having to choose only ONE flavor.  It's raspberry, lemon, and strawberry all on 1 bar.  I think it's only OK - I didn't like the lemon one bit. It was too sour for me.  I was so happy to be done with it and move on to the strawberry!  $1.99

Great snack - crunchy and the cheese is really rich and flavorful.  May be too salty for some people, but I  like my snacks salty. The crackers stick to your teeth though.$1.99

These are delicious! Perfect with tea. They come in a small box and is easy to devour in a day! Wafers with cocoa cream inside.  They kinda reminds of me the Chinese "Hello Panda" cookies, but the wafers here are lighter and crunchier.  $1.49

Parents Magazine "magic window"

I subscribe to Parents Magazine and found this month's issue interesting to share. The article is about finding the right magic window timeframe to transition your baby...

Here's some rough guidelines the article highlighted (roughly paraphrased):

2-4 weeks: give a bottle to a breadtfed baby

4-6 months : get baby to sleep through the night ie., sleep train baby to fall asleep in his own

7-9 months : use a sippy cup

Around 6 months : start solids

12-18 months : introduce a lovey ie a soft blanket, stuffed animal to help with separation anxiety

12-23 months : take away the pacifier

2-1/2 to 3 years: move from crib to a bed

2-1/2 to 3 years : potty train

3 to 5 years : end naptime

5 to 7 years : take off the training wheels from bicycle

6 to 7 years : bathe by herself

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A Letter to Sarah at 7 months 10 days

To my dear little Sarah,

Recently,

1. You’ve got a tooth!!!  Or should I say you got a little grain of rice sitting out of your lower gums?! The little white thingy peaked out last Sunday (Jan 9th)… well, at least that’s when I noticed it.  You didn’t cry, whine, or fuss before or after. And thank goodness you didn’t have a fever either.  I sure hope that the rest of your teeth will come out this way.
2. You are a solid sitter now.  But sometimes you would still fall back or on your side – you look so cute when you fall because it’s like seeing Humpty Dumpty falling off the wall!
3. You got your first haircut on Dec 28th. You look like a boy now due to your Daddy’s horrible hair-cutting skills.  He now regrets cutting your hair so short because he often asks why your hair is growing so slow?
4. You actually can suck water from a cup through a straw.  I find it amazing that you can do that, but you would do everything for water. You absolutely love it, though we have been limiting your water intake because we don’t want you to get filled up and not drink your milk.
5. You drink 7 oz of milk, 4 times a day and eat 3 tablespoon of rice cereal or oatmeal (+2-3oz of formula to mix), and a 2.5 oz jar of Stage 1 fruit or vegetable.  You seem to love eating. I want to add 1 more jar of fruit/veggie into your meal plan, but it’s been hard to work out the schedule.  We’ll continue to work at it.
6. You love to play – especially now that you got some toys for Christmas. Your favorite so far is the toy piano, which is actually a hand-me-down toy from your cousins.  But you love it regardless.  It plays music and lights up.
7.  Of all the toys and things to do, you are guaranteed to get super-excited when you sit on your Daddy’s shoulders.  You have the instincts to hold on, which is to pull on his hair.  You squeal loudly with excitement and smile with your famous watermelon mouth!
8. You have too many nicknames. I think one day you will probably get confused. In addition to your English name, Sarah, we call you by your Chinese name, Kay-Kay.  Then we also call you “mao-jai” (little kitten) because you purr like a kitten and you love to lick everything.  Daddy also calls you Silly Girl, and then Mommy calls you Little Girl. I hope you continue to respond to every name or nickname we call you.
9.  You still don’t like to do tummy time and would rather stand.  We think that you might bypass crawling and go straight to walking one day.  Either way, mommy is not in a rush to get you mobile just yet! 
   
10.  You continue to brighten our day, everyday. We are so blessed and lucky to have a daughter like you.

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Sarah is standing, with a little help from Daddy, of course

Reminiscence

I've been back at work for three weeks now, and have pretty much integrated back to the office routine. My line of work has always been stressful and even though some things have changed during my absence, the stress part of my job,did not. Almost everyday I am busy. Every minute of my day is filled with work, from answering emails to writing orders to meetings. I have no time to check my personal email or check Facebook. And sadly I don't have a free moment to think about and miss Sarah...

Today, after yet another busy day at work, I realize how much I miss my maternity days. Boy, do I miss them. I miss the times when it was just Sarah and me, at home. I miss our daily walks around the neighborhood. I miss spending all day with her period. Life was good back then. It was fun. Oh, how I wish I can rewind time!

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Happy 7 Month Birthday!

Sarah's 1st (unauthorized) haircut

When Sarah was sick during the Christmas holidays, she rubbed her eyes and face a little more often than normal.  The poor girl is probably sleepy and tired, not to mention congested and irritated. My husband read all her rubbing actions as a need for an emergency haircut.  Yes, true, her bangs are getting a little long, and they do get into her eyes a little bit...but we managed by clipping up her hair to get them out of the way.  But on 12/28 at 7:30 in the evening, my husband had the Eureka! moment - the bangs GOT TO GO. No, the clips suddenly don't work anymore.  No, it absolutely can not wait until tomorrow morning to go to the hairdresser to get it trimmed. Out came the scissors. Friskars, mind you.  These are the same pair of scissors we use to cut paper, strings, and everything else.  Chop, chop, chop, cut, cut, cut.  Oh...my poor baby's precious, silky hair...!  Off they went!  Of course, the baby moved.  Of course, the bangs were lopsided. Of course they came out shorter than expected.  Poor baby girl now looks like a boy!  I'm trying hard to console myself by thinking that Sarah didn't get a bad haircut, she just got one of those popular pixie cuts. She's now a trendy baby.  Yea, that's it!

     

6-month portraits

Late in posting these... we brought Sarah to JcPenney's this time for her 6-month portraits.  This time, SQ and I decided to be in the pictures so we took some family pictures as well.  The pictures turned out satisfactory.  We were able to make Silly girl smile on a few of the photos.  She wasn't as cranky as the last time, which makes it a decent photo shoot. We dressed Sarah in the red little dress again. We ended up buying the copyright to all the images, as well as get a whole bunch of sheets and got a 20x20 framed collage (below). Although we spent more money here than we did at Sears, we definitely got more bang for our buck.  They gave us a $50 gift certificate to use for the next portrait session - so guess where we'll be going for Sarah's 9 month portraits?  I sure hope that next time when we go, we'll just spend within the $50 gift certificate amount! 

Here are some of the photos to share:

New Beginning!

Today is the start of the new year 2011 - New Years Day is always a start for a new beginning! Despite the howling wind, the freezing rain, and chilly air today, I still feel warm inside... especially when I'm at home, with my dear husband and adorable daughter!  P.S. The heater turned on at full blast helps a lot too!