videos 2... Nura anak ayah

she just refuses to learn to say "ibu"... when i'm needed she just calls by grunting "ermhh... eerrmmhh!!!"...

also, kutnya, the fact that i'm always around makes it unnessesary to learn to say "ibu". like in her head she's saying "this lady is always here, why should i bother with a name for her" kindda thing.

now, when it comes to saying "ayah"... it's totally the opposite. she'll peep through doorways calling "ayah... ayah..." thinking chot is in the other room. n when chot gets home, i'll say "ayah, nura... ayah dah balik..." n she'll look around for her dad.

Nura is her father's daughter... here's the proof...

videos

EEEIIIIKKKK...

what a shocker!!!... this girl NEVER... i repeat... NEVER... took off her diaper before. i walked into her room after she woke up from her first nap, turned on the lights and my mouth just about dropped on the floor. she sat up n i saw her "pepet"... n before my mind could process this scene, i saw her diaper in her crib n POOP next to it.

POOP!!!!!!... oh my god!!!... there was poop on her fingers... n poop in her hair. she was also sucking her two favorite fingers. which made me pretty sure she had a taste of her no. 2. if all her fingers had poop crumbs, what are the chances those two fingers in her mouth didn't have some on them too... plus, she put everything in her mouth anyways.

i was blabbing to her how she can't take off her diaper again, bla... bla... bla... especially... especially when she just pooped, no!!!... no!!!... no!!!... dirty!!!... dirty!!! i told her. she only looked at me with her uninterested face. and after much wiggling n trying to escape from her bathtub (the kitchen sink), all wrapped up in her towel, was i able to let out the biggest laugh : D... HAHAHA... i went. followed by her hehehehe...

my my, what a day.

August 9th n 10th, Birthday Celebration in Peoria

i blame Facebook for the lack of updates on this blog : )... i only recently uploaded pics of nura's birthday celebration in Peoria, forgetting that not all friends n family n blog visitors are connected in FB... yup, that's u audra : )...

anyways, here's the story (what i can still recall). we were suppose to go to the zoo saturday morning but it rained, so was pushed back to sunday morning. only did the picnic as planned. i think all had fun.

peoria zoo is not the greatest, still... we managed to spend a couple of hours there. a few highlights like the sea lions n the friendly goat. i guess the main attraction at the zoo are the tigers since the location was way at the back, wanting visitors to check out other (lame, n semi-lame) animals before seeing the great beasts. but when we got to them, they were napping, just like nura who went to the zoo right on her nap time, n maybe, was still tired from the picnic the day before, fell asleep without any fuss.

next year, nura n summer will have a friend to join in their birthday celebration. Mus n Teng welcomed their second child, Aleena on August 5th 2008. YUP, Aleena n Nura have the same birthdate... how cool is that : )... just like Nura's ibu n mak ngah (my sister).

pics are here http://kemboja76.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album48

Nura is 1 Year Old

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NURA!!!

i'm gonna say, i can't believe she's one. actually, sometimes, i still can't believe she's mine. got a little chocked up thinking about it these past few days. all babies are miracles, she maybe a bit more with the roller coaster we went through. n now she's one??... nevertheless, it's amazingly sweet to get to this day.

while chot was still at work, i got inspired to dress her up in her b'day gift from auntie ellie. then, she opened a present from auntie emmy (i saved the biggest box for today... the other two dah selamat di enjoyed)... also got a doll from auntie bai, she kisses the thing everytime she see's it... thanks u guys!!!

after waking up from her nap, we got her ready for a 3 person birthday party : )... got her cup cakes with red icing. a poor choice of color with maximum effect. it was a mess but worth all the cleaning up afterwards.

gave her her bath, and all went out for dinner n later, a haircut for ibu.

what has she been up to?

little girl has been active, waking n falling well, always on the go.

n not being well, vomitted buckets n scared the shit out of her parents. diarrhea n teething (we think but still no teeth, being a cranky n clingy butt).

we went to Omaha 2 weekends ago. had a good time. unfortunately, forgot to bring our camera. But saved by ellie's ailing olympus : )... pics are here http://elliesookram.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album50. thanks auntie ellie, uncle mahesh n jeffrey!!!...

some pics of nura behaving n misbehaving at home...

writing on her mouth

first HUGEST bump aka benjol on her forehead... took a good 3 weeks to completely dissapear.

waking up from her many naps. that's ballerina, her sleeping buddy. ballerina has been hanging around for the longest time, but nura only took a liking to her since 2 months ago. i think it's cute... chot is accepting the attachment to pink.

sharing a popsicle with chot n demanding more.

this was taken a few days back. she was terrorizing the sage bush.

wearing a dress her tok mama (chot's mom) made.

walking in shoes is not easy.

has been refusing to take her 2nd nap 2 days in a row. prefering instead to run around the house 3/4 naked : )...

everything is a toy...

Pictures

News Flash

- Downtown Waterloo is flooded. I watched in disbelief : (... many towns in Iowa are also facing the same situation.

- Nura took her first baby steps today. I watched in disbelief : )... i called chot right away to share the good news (good news ka??... ok la good : D )...

- she learned a new trick. when i say "kiss kiss, muah muah" she came close n lean over for me to give her a kiss. this evening, we both gave her the cue n she gave us her forehead to kiss. we melted : )... chot asked her "ok nura, what new toy u want?"

also, news that's not so new...

- On Saturday, water came into our basement for the 3rd n 4th time. once in the morning n once more that evening.

we have so much water... we should send some to California.

- nura is climbing.

10 months

and tomorrow, nura is turning 10 months old. so that leaves me 2 months to shape up. it's pilates EVERYDAY or so help me god i'd just die showing up at nura's birthday party looking like a whale.

nura is bigger n taller (although only 25 inches, she's grown so much in my eyes). she is losing her chubby cheeks, face is squarer n we can see more of her neck. is standing unassisted in about 5 seconds intervals, macam teror ajek lepas2 tangan mula2 tu. but now doing it like it's nothing... still falling on her butt of course. trying to climb... she'll stand in front of an obstruction n lifts one knee... "no nura, u can't climb onto that box. it's as tall as u, silly girl"... n then she'll turn n gives me one of her toothless grin.

oh ya, still no teeth...

she is eating more too... recently, i had to include a light snack of fruits n/or dry cereal coz when she wakes up from her 2nd nap, she'd be bulldozing my chest even after i gave her milk. i can't keep up with her growling tummy...

also, i've started giving her meat for dinner. this week it's beef which i cook with rice n malay spices n garlic n ginger. she's soooo done with chicken. she's been eating yogurt for breakfast for the past 2 months n getting tired of it. i need to make breakfast interesting... the doctor did suggest cottage cheese, i need to remember to buy some.

so, that's 3 meals + 1 snack + water that i make her drink + water she accidentally swallow while playing with her cup + 5 milk sessions.

++++++

onto other news...

chot n i are in the middle of changing flooring in this old stinkin house. i can't remember when we started ripping out the vinyl n underlayment in the office. anyways, while working on ripping out the carpet n deteriorating padding (no wonder we always get sinus allergy. it's all this padding dust!!!... and gasp!!!... is that mold??... i hate this house) n underlayment, we found a sloping sub floor (that's the main/base floor... the one that keep u from falling into the basement).

the sloping sub floor is adding a good month (maybe more) onto these weekend warriors' schedule. we talked about some possible solutions, searched on the internet, tried at shimming the planks to make the sloping gradual but that is too much work. we're gonna try doubling up the underlayment (that's the plywood) n go from there.

what are we putting in?? laminate wood flooring. ordered it online, quite cheap for the 10mm thickness. came all the way in a big truck from Canada. BUT it's made in MALAYSIA... i wonder if i have wood parts from the illegal logging trade. they steal trees n gov people n news people only realized it after everything is completely gone. for goodness sake, they're stealing trees, takkan tak nampak kut!!!

some fat gov officials should get their asses whip... bad bad people for letting this happen. chot says they may be bribed to look the other way. that's very possible... ok, digressing...

so, wish us luck on the flooring project. we might get close to killing each other but we'll get it done eventually : )...

and previous entry. when my cousin post an old pic of us on FB, i really2 felt i was looking at nura. and then i put that pic n nura's pic n a grown up pic of chot on that look-alike meter, it says nura look like more like chot by 4%. waahhhh???... darn it!!!

also, that one huge clump of sentences up there. it should be 3 paragraphs. blogspot won't let me pull them apart. i bet this two last paragraph are merged also... if there's none... eerrr... nevermind.

what do u think?

Nura is 9 months

she turned 9 months old 2 days ago.

is more mobile. crawling and pulling herself up like a pro... and falling like one too : D... she's into climbing now, when i feed her, her mouth is still attach but her body wants to go elsewhere. she'll climb on me, over me. also, likes to pat my jello tummy n lick n give me raspberries. i would shrill and she'll look up and give me a toothless grin.

i asked chot to exposed his tummy to nura but she wasn't even slightly interested. maybe she feels that bond with my tummy : )... must be... hehehe.

on accidents. a day before she turned 9, she got her first major bruise on her forehead. because she was in chot's care, i was a bit crossed. so i took her into her room and not 5 minutes later, elbowed her head... what fine rescuing : D...

and what's worse, that evening, while i was picking out something for her to wear, she flip herself off the footboard. one second she was sitting pretty on the bed and the next second, lying on her back on the floor. oh boy, my heart stopped and i felt soooo bad.

i knew falling off the bed is somewhat of a right of passage, a pre-requisite into childhood... so she has that under her belt. she's fine alhamdulillah. her room is carpeted.

as for her first cold. it dragged onto day 16. so i took her to the clinic. doctor think it might be from an allergy... because there was atopic dermatitis around her lips, it might indicate an allergic reaction. she is taking antibiotics. seems to work... her runny nose is not as runny. she's cranky though today... i wonder if it's from eating spinach...

see all this while the only vegetable she gets is sweet potato and squash. she gets symptoms of food intolerence from eating sweet peas. so i figured i shouldn't give her peas too. that leaves green beans... absolutely refuses to eat that. so doctor suggest spinach. geee... i sure hope it's not causing the crankiness.

anyways, chot is also sick. he was well enough for a soccer game but unfortunately fell ill again afterwards. i did feel a bit off but i refuse to get sick... i just can't... it's hard on everyone.

++++

MAY 11 IS MOTHER"S DAY...

my first one. so i was thinking, we'll commemorate it (and father's day) in a special way. make it extra special since it's the first. and asked chot to surprise me.... hahaha...

it's hard b/c i don't really have stuff i want. i don't casually say out loud "i want this, i want that". even when i do what something, i keep it inside n after awhile, it stop being a "want"... n more into a "i don't really need it".

a complete opposite to him. i have no problem getting him something, no problem at all. from a gps, to tools to more tools, to gadgets... he lets me know n i ignore him.

anyways, he began asking "so, do u know what u want yet??"... n after a good week of racking my brain (he basically gave up on the surprising me bit), threatened me with a GPS gift. so, i asked him for a handbag... hey, i always need another handbag : D...

he is getting tools... 2 sets he tells me... we'll see : )...

aaammmm...

chot is out playing soccer n nura is asleep. i'm praying she sleeps through the night but realistically i so feel it's another sleepless night for her n me. she's starting to cough, deep rattling painful sounding cough... poor baby. in an attempt to give her a better night's sleep, i've called the clinic and asked if i can "drug" her with benadryl. they don't suggest it but said 1/2 a teaspoon is ok... maybe it'll work to clear her runny nose n she won't be awaken by mucous plugged nostrils.

on my end, i'm turning into a bit of a zombie. when i have time to nap/ sleep... i can't doze off... oh well...

the basement. so far, we're watching the weather closely. they say no more rain. and by mid week, the water situation will ease up. so much water from the melting snow n downpour raised the watertable n water backed up into buildings da... da... da...

so, the logical thing to do is to install a sump pump... and to do that, we need to tear down the basement bathroom. and i'm kindda happy that it's happening. that bathroom is a bit creepy for me n now we're getting all new stuff. new stuff cost money but pejam mata jek lah...

hmmmm... with the weather getting better, my mind is racing, thinking of home improvements i am going to do. i'm ready to go!!!!... slap on a lot of paint, tear out old flooring, put in new one hahaha... ehm ehm... hope my enthusiasm lasts...

and now, pictures : )...