1st Birthday

Valerie is finally ONE! Being the first birthday, we, the parents wanted to throw a nice party although knowing she won't remember a thing when she grow up. Since being at home is the best environment for her, we decided to hold a small one with just families. I surveyed a couple of birthday cake options and decided on a Minnie Mouse theme (since she's born on the Year of Mouse). The cake was ordered from Pretty Frosting. Everyone said the cake looked really nice but a few guests commented on it being too sweet. Oh well.. we couldn't please everyone :p

Next, we saw some nice ballons at Balloon Buzz and Ivan couldn't help himself and ordered some. We spent about RM100 on it, but when the balloons arrived, I have to admit, they were really cool and sure brought out the party mood for the night. We also had a few small ones floating up to the ceiling so the kids could pick one and play whenever they liked.









Nanny dressed her up really cute that night with a band on her head. Doesn't she look like an angel? :D :D



This is Valerie's Nanny and her daughter on the right, the other girl in the pink shirt is the kid she's been taking care since born. So these 2 ceh cehs are her usual playmates during daytime. Luckily she was around to help look after Valerie while I went about entertaining the guests...


Cake cutting time! Someone said the photo looked more like our birthday than hers. Hehe...



One of the rare photos where you could see Valerie smiling. She was a bit 'scared' that night seeing so many strange faces. She would stick to either nanny or myself.


Open pressies time!! Look how busy was the birthday angel with angpows, toys and clothes.





The many 'wannabe' engineers trying to set up Valerie's new bike.


Valerie's Harley Davidson...


Grandma trying to make Valerie walk but to no avail. Guess she's not walking on her birthday yet... Hehehe...

At the end of the birthday party, I sat back and pondered that Valerie was finally 1 year old. I've always thought a big change would happen when your baby turns one. Or maybe I would be more free by then. But, she's still very much the same. I thought I'd weaned her off from breastfeed at 1, but well.. she's still at it and she showed no sign of losing interest in it. She's still waking up middle of the night for a feed, still likes to be carried, still looking for attention all the time, still can't walk, still whines when she has to sit longer in a car seat and still wants me to accompany her to sleep (and wants to sleep in between us when she wakes up at night). Oh well.. she's still very much a baby :P

Daddy Comic Strip 7

Baby Valerie : *day dreaming* Come and pick me up when it is time for food.......


(Published by Papa Bear Production Ltd)

@11 months

What can Valerie do at 11 months?? Well, here is the list:

1. She can wave goodbye to anyone who wave at her. Her goodbye wave is more like a Ms Pageant wave.

2. Claps her hands when she's happy

3. Make a piggy face and blow bubbles

4. Tries to hide away when daddy attacks her as a 'Kangaroo'

5. Grabs your spectacles

6. Hit you in the face, the more you respond, the more she will hit. Not good, not good.

7. Hold 2 objects at one time. One hand will always be holding something that she likes, the other hand grabbing and throwing new objects around

8. Enjoys taking things out of boxes eg. taking tissues out of tissue boxes

9. Starts to flip through pages and look at the picture book instead of just sucking the corners

10. Stand supported and cruise around while holding on to furnitures












11. Sways left and right when you sing her nursery rhymes especially 'London bridge is falling down'

12. Scrap some apple flesh with her 4 teeth and eat a quarter of an apple

13. Say 'mum mum' when it's time to eat, cry 'ma ma' when she wants mommy

14. Throws objects down from her high chair and then look at them falling. When you pick them up for her, she will just throw again

15. Still sings herself to sleep

16. This is the #1 killer. Curl her lips and then cry few seconds later after you have scolded her for a misdemeanor. Nanny and her kids find this really amusing and have been abusing the scolding part to see her reaction, much to Ivan's disapproval





What Valerie still can't / refuse to do:

1. Drink any other form of liquid besides mommy's milk and water

2. Drink from a straw / sippy cup

3. Chew her food before swallowing

4. Play by herself while mommy leaves the room. This is a big No No, somehow she's very alert when I walk towards the door

5. Crawl around. She's very complacent just sitting and playing with her toys although she can crawl very well. If I put a toy a few steps from her, she will crawl to get it. If it's like far end of the room, she will assess that it's too far to make the effort, then she'll just ignore the toy. Hmmm.. maybe I should put a laptop at the end of the room??