Smile :)

I just had to post this picture. Just to keep everyone who is reading this updated. Kristen. Two and a half months. She no longer looks like the newborn picture in my last picture post.

 

And this picture. Don't you think she looks like a splitting image of her sister? By the way that is Caitlin in the framed photo.

Happy Anniversary....in advance

Nine years. We have been married for nine years! Seems like we were married only just yesterday. But you know what? I got the dates wrong in my diary. 11 Nov 2010. I marked it out in my diary and drew wedding bells. And then wrote, book dinner! But hey, my anniversary is on 10 Nov. Thankfully KM reminded me today and suddenly I am making all these last minute booking and babysitting arrangements. Thankfully, all 3 girls are asleep. Although I really should wake them up now (it is 5:30 already) if not I will definately regret not doing that tonight.

(Ok two girls are up. Can't write now.)

(Back to blogging.)

Planning for dinner sans kids is a major military operation. There are the grandmothers to call for babysitting. Checking KM's schedule. Finding a match between the grandmother's schedules and our own.

Not dinner on the 10th (our actual anniversary) because grandma (my mom) has her gym class. She has a personal trainer and usually makes these appointments way in advance. Not lunch on the 10th because granny (KM's mom) has another lunch date. How about Tuesday night the 9th? Grandma has work the next morning and has to go to bed early. At 6:00pm my mom calls. How about tonight?

Tonight? I exclaim, but isn't that a bit last minute? I am hot and sticky with my phone in one hand and my eyes on the laptop, scouring the restaurant reviews. I am not in any mood for a wedding anniversary celebration. But if the babysitter is available, tonight it will be. Suddenly the last minute arrangements for an anniversary dinner 2 days away become last minute arrangments for an dinner 2 hours away.

I call Sage. They are closed for the night. Then call Buko Nero. They are closed for the week, anyhow you usually need to book a month in advance. This must be the time of the year when Chefs take their holidays. So its down to our third choice, Jaan. (without Chef Andre who left earlier in the year to start a new restaurant.) I wonder if dinner will be as delightful as last year's.

It is 7:00pm. My mom arrives. I am combing my wardrobe for something to wear. My post-pregnancy body can only fit into 20% of my clothes. The Pucci lookalike sheath cannot get past my shoulders. Then I remember a little black dress at the back of my cupboard. I had insisted on getting it at a sale although it was too big at the time. Fortunately, this was the one thing I could now wear. I fish out some bling, whip out the oft not worn heels and in ten minutes, feel like a million dollars. It doesn't matter if I can't find a matching handbag or a wrap to hide my plunging neckline.

The dinner doesn't disappoint. Starter appetisers, and an array of desserts- raspberry sorbet balls, a selection of pastries, pralines, and a surprise anniversary birthday cake, thrown in on top of our 7 course degustation meal. Yum! By the end of the night I am so full I half-regret having asked for those extra black truffle brioches.

Two hours of frantic planning for a wonderful evening with the man of my dreams. Definately worth it.

First steps towards chinese literacy

I have been getting a little worried about the state of affairs at home with regards to learning chinese. Everyone seems to be doing something or other about this whole learning-to-speak-chinese thing. I speak what I can occasionally at home and the girls love their Chinese story books. But what I speak, I am embarrassed to admit (after 10 years of chinese classes at school and tuition) can only be at best rudimentary and I have come to realise, pre-school level. It doesn't quite go beyond basic single sentences. So whatever the girls pick up at home will remain at that level. My friend C says, "Don't speak mandarin at home, you will teach them the wrong things!" But I figured that some mandarin (albeit bad) is better than none. At least the girls are not averse to learning the language. Oh, they love the cheesy chinese karaoke DVDs.
A good friend J and I have kids around the same age so we are getting a chinese class going and having a native chinese speaker come in to run a weekly class. I really hope this works out with the teacher coming over. Ellie just doesn't like unaccompanied classes and I am trying not to make babysitting arrangements everytime one of the older girls go for classes. And hopefully Ellie and Caitlin will learn to speak chinese on their own, and that I too will get some practice with a real chinese speaker.

Word Mix-up

Papa: What do you want to read tonight?
Caitlin: The big testament.
Papa: Er there is no big testament. Only the new and old testaments.
Caitlin: There is!! The big testament.
(Caitlin has the book open at the contents page).

On another occasion:
Ellie: The food goes down this way, into the small testament, then big testament.
(What Ellie really means is intestine)

Kristen is 2 months old and almost doubled in size and I haven't even posted any pictures! My excuse is that I am too busy looking after 3 girls under 5.