Ain't she sweet

Mya age 2 plus 2 months. Recently taken with Roundhay Lake as the background.
I have made this as my wall paper in my desktop at work, and will no doubt put a constant smile in my face .
Picture courtesy of the other half.

Lollipop

"Mommy, I want lollipop." This was what she said to me when I was about to leave for work this morning. And I promised her I would buy one when I get back.

For a 2 year old, I think she is quite a talker. She likes to echo everything I said. Like this morning when we were still in bed, I was asking her daddy what time was it and she quickly followed saying "What time is it daddy?" but in half asleep state.

Last weekend, we were browsing in the shops and I was just right behind her. And I heard her asking some strangers very enthusiastically, "Where's my mommy gone? Where's my daddy gone?". And of course the strangers politely obliged directing her to me. And she said in reply "Owh..." with a cheeky smile.

Her funny little sayings and expressions are endless source of delight to me. Among her favourite questions to entertain her curious mind are "Mommy, what's happening?" "Mommy, what have you got there?" "Mommy, what are you talking about?" Quite a busy body eh...

She seems to take the word 'NO' as a complete opposite meaning. Though sometime she can be really nice and understanding. But most of the time, it was also quite a challenge to tell her what not to do. Or what she should be doing. Sometime in my attempt to get her to do something say for example to finish up her meal, I would promise her that we can go to the park only after she has eaten her meal. Though I know, making promises or rewards like these are not really good practice.

I am doing my best to make her life full of love, laughter and wonderful times. And yes there are difficult moments when she wants to be independent and grown up one minute, and a baby the next. And I do really want to enjoy this phase of her life as I know these toddler years will be over all too quickly and I just don't want to feel real regret when school days begin.

Now I better remind myself to buy that lollipop I promised.

Her favourite place in town

She has been begging us since the day before and she kept saying with all her cuteness "Mommy, I want to go to town, pleaseeeeee..."

We finally went on Sunday and after almost 2 hours walking around various shops, we stopped by at her most favourite place, the book shop. And she just loves this place, never got enough of it and after an hour it wasn't easy to persuade her to leave. But we somehow did, though not without her crying scene and she gave in only because she was hungry and wanted something to eat.

.

That's my little darling

What are you reading darling?..

She is just 2. And she can (pretend to) read!...

Belated 2nd Birthday

A rather late entry but better than never. She turned two about six weeks ago and the celebration was modest. Being a happy kiddo as she is, she just brings me a whole different meaning of happiness.
My precious sweetness in life. I thank God everyday for blessing my life with such a pure, sweet innocent child. I pray everyday that God watches you day and night, keep you and protect you from any harm. My sweet beautiful child, mommy loves you soooooooo much!.....

Shabby Chic

I always love this. Anything vintage, anything with roses on, anything old and distressed looking, I'm into it. I'm hoping one day when I finally own my dream home, this style of interior design will definitely be incorporated in at least one or two of the rooms.

So, what is Shabby Chic anyway. Think casual, pastel colours, lots of white, vintage items, rod iron, distressed worn out furniture and colourful prints. The style started in Great Britain and evokes the type of decoration found in large country houses where there are worn and faded old chintz sofas and curtains, old paintwork and unassuming 'good' taste. The end result of shabby chic is to achieve an elegant overall effect, as opposed to the sentimentally cute Pop-Victorian. Neither is it an expression of caring fo rthe environment through recycling, even though recycling olf furniture and fabrics is an important aspect of it.

Now, I think this is perhaps a good idea for me to blog about. I have found few vintage treasures myself, all by unbelievably frequent trips to various carboot sales around Yorkshire. And I now intend to start my own shabby chic interior decor collections. I must admit I am laughing inside as I probably have no idea what I'm talking about!

Supermom...i wish.

Life has been super frenzied lately. We just moved place 5 months ago and I still have few unpacked boxes lying around, some are cleverly hidden in the cupboards which mostly are probably junks. This new place is always a mess, the living room is always scattered with toys partly because my 2 year old kiddo is not able to exercise tidiness yet, nor understand it. But it is also mainly because finding time to actually DO the work around the house and keeping the place tidy and organised is hard to do. I get up in the morning, I go to work and I get back. Eight to Six, Monday to Friday. I look after my child's needs, I cook, clean, I do laundry, I buy groceries and I pay bills. I eat, I sleep and I watch TV. I plan and I organise, and I feel that I am living an organised chaotic life. Yeahh I could do with possessing a bit of super power right now!

And I do get frustrated that I can’t do all the things I want to do. I get frustrated that I’m not even really sure what I really want to do. I feel constrained by mostly my own self-imposed limitations and societal expectations, and I like to naively believe that my situation is unique. But I know I’m not the first one on this planet to experience all of this, I guess I will have to forge a way to sort my life out. And in the mean time, my super sweet little kiddo is the only reason I can still hold my sanity intact.

Songbird

Loving this.

Remind me....

If you find yourself stuck in traffic; don't despair. There are people in this world for who driving is an unheard of privilege.

Should you have a bad day at work; think of the man who has been out of work for years.

Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; think of the person who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.

Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; think of the woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed her children.

Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance; think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.

Should you notice a new grey hair in the mirror; think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.

Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all about, asking what is my purpose? Be thankful. There are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.

Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; remember, things could be worse. You could be one of them!

When you think you have it bad, there is someone out there who wishes he or she had it as good as you do.
If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do not attempt to resolve it. Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. All situations will be resolved, but in His time, not yours.
And once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.

Bingley

Last Sunday turned out to be a great outing for us three in which we coincidently visited the 3 & 5 Rise Locks on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal in Bingley. Built in the 1700s, they were such an engineering marvel at the time.

Back in the days, river navigation couldn’t solve all the transport problems of industrial Yorkshire, so artificial waterways, or canals, were cut into the landscape. With the Pennines being so hilly, locks had to be introduced to raise or lower the level of the canal. Bingley Five Rise lock, which alters the height of the water by almost 60 ft, is the most impressive in Britain.

An 18th century engineering masterpiece, these five locks operate as a 'staircase' flight in which the lower gate of one lock forms the upper gate of the next. When completed in 1774, thousands gathered to watch the first boats make the 60 foot descent. Now, over 200 years later, the flight is still in daily use providing access to 16 miles of lock-free cruising on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal in the glorious scenery of the Yorkshire Dales.

my little one was admiring the canal

Mya as usual, being her self-willed cheeky self, insisted on picking up little stones as we walked along the path and throwing them into the canal and I equally insisted on not letting her near the canal's edge in case she tripped and fell over. And at one point she was crying her trademark cry for more..more...because she had forgotten even though I kept reminding her that she should never go close to the edge. I physically had to stop her from enjoying her little games.

Just another example of how this tiny little cutesy of mine always seems to know which wrong button to push.

"Mya..not to close to the edge please.."

"ok..that's it now"

"Mya...you are not listening.."

"more mommy..more..."

"making up time"

"now daddy's turn to watch over me..."

say cheese...

say cheese...again...

"...you are so heavy now Mya.."

happy face.....Muahhhh darling!

Twenty Two Months

I love her to bits. Sometime, she likes to push the boundary a bit far but I know there is nothing wrong with that. The only issue is me. Sometime I felt like I just didn’t have the wisdom nor the patience to tolerate her normal toddler antics and I snapped. And then my guilt would just take over soon after. She is very apologetic too so my hearts would just dissolve whenever she says “Sowiii…kiss?…kiss?”. Sometime even when I did not mutter a single word but looked cross and upset, she could sense it immediately and apologise, even when it was not her fault.

She is a keen helper too. I always send her on simple errands and she just enjoys being helpful and getting it right. She likes helping me finding the remotes and whenever dinner is ready she would help calling her daddy out loud to let him know that it is time to eat. What a delight.

At 22 months, her ability to communicate is progressing remarkably, and I am always impressed at how quick her brain could pick things up. She is learning to count, she has not quite grasped the concept yet but she can pronounce the numbers from 1 to 10 though not in the right order. She is now able to put 2 or 3 words together for example, “mommy, come back”, “mommy, look”, “mommy I want this, please”, etc. She sounds so endearingly cute when she speaks but I suspect the last example would probably do more harm to my hard-earned cash later on.

I always wonder if her amazing progress is as normal as any kids her age would have. But I know being a first time parent will always have something to do with that wonder. Though sometime I try not to get carried away into thinking that my child will be a super genius toddler who will graduate with first class degree in quantum physics from Oxford by the age of 8.

Her lovingness always touches my heart. Every morning before I set of to work, we would do our daily routine of kisses and cuddles. But this morning, she gave me extra as I was about to go out the door. She came running back to me and adoringly gave me another big hug. And it just made my day.

Precious Gift

When times seem too hard to bear & I l feel like giving up
I vision your beautiful face, the twinkle of your eyes and things of such
The bond we created from my womb to the day you were born
Is a mother and daughter bind that can never be torn
With the strength and guidance of God and the blessings he pours down from above
I want to be the best mom I can be to you and embrace you with all my love
You are as precious as a flower and as gorgeous as a rose
You have been specially made to the very tip of your nose
You are as sweet as honey; such an innocent young child
You are brighter than any star in the sky every time you smile
I want you to be proud of who you are and strive to be the best
Put forth your efforts to achieve your goals and let God do the rest
I will always be your mother first, but I'm also your friend
Your are the most precious gift, that I've ever been given

With All My Love,

Mommy


© Sherri Lawrence

19 Months

At this age, she is actually quite chatty and friendly. And being in a multilingual household, her range of vocabularies is quite a mixture. These are her current expanding list:-

1) Mommy
2) Daddy
3) Kakak (big sister)
4) Nenen (milk)
5) Mamem (eat)
6) Pepet (pacifier)
7) Hello….Hi ya…
8) Bye Bye
9) Come.…come…Walk..walk…
10) Up..up
11) Hot
12) Car
13) House
14) Sleep
15) Kiss
16) Nana (banana), apple, yape (grape)
17) Sky
18) Snow
19) Amau (anything scarry)
20) Hair, Eyes, Head, Mouth, Nose, Hand, Perut (Tummy) , Tummy, Teytek (Breast)
21) Akut..akut ( I’m afraid)
22) Aaakit…(it hurts)
23) Sowiiii (Sorry)
24) Aii…yu…( I love you)
25) Aaa…kiu (Thank you)

I always encourage her to speak and to tell me what she sees around her by asking ‘Whats’s that Mya?’ Sometime she gets it right and sometime she would just murmur anything. Last couple of days, whenever we watched the telly together, I noticed she kept saying the same words over and over again, which sounded so familiar but I couldn’t quite figure it out.

Only last night did I realized that she was actually asking me ‘What’s that?’

Well I guess she now understands the concept of questions & answers. Or perhaps she is just being her normal copy-cat self. But either way, she just makes me smile all day…

Silly Idea

Just because some people eat more chocolates than others, it was proposed that chocolate tax should be introduced in order to put people off buying them. So, to combat obesity, cutting out chocolate is deemed to be one of the solutions? I get the point but this is just absurd. Ridiculous.

So utterly fabulous

I really should not spend a penny on these but they are so irresistible. The moment I tried them on, I was surprised of how well fitted they are on my feet. And at an unrealistic tag of £12.00 I think that’s an absolute bargain. Sod off credit crunch….

But too bad I don’t have a pair of long gorgeous leg to show them off. Let alone the occasion.

Sad News from Home

I received a very sad news from home today. A dear aunt has passed away due to cancer which was found too late.

And my thought goes out to my dear uncle Anyie and all my dear cousins Mildred, Julian, Brian, Adrian and Joel as well as the rest of the families. Please be strong and may God's strength guides and leads us always in this very painful and difficult time.

To my dear aunty Helen, you will be greatly missed. I will always remember your beautiful face and your great kindness. May you rest in peace.

Difficult time

I knew juggling between fulltime work and being a mommy would be hard but I never imagine it would be THIS hard. Now that my little one is suffering from severe eczema, this is even harder than what I would anticipate. The thought of somehow, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel is very comforting....