ashley's 1st national day party!

this was an instant photo print taken at the event itself. yay, another one to add to the collection of family photos! more photos to come once i find the time to sort them out!

celebrating the mighty lion's birthday

it was planned surprise for the birthday girl - she thought we met up mainly to shop for her present and didn't expect a birthday surprise and what's more at EQUINOX, with jack showing up with a huge bouquet of lilies - nice! like what ig said, he just helped to set the bar higher (aka spoil market!), haha! anyway, the high tea food choices at equinox was not that fantastic, although the view was simply awesome, and we did catch some parts of the parade.


(1) the birthday cake - super chocolately but costs a bomb at $20 for such a small piece. eh, what to do, it's equinox!
(2) lovely homemade card by the sheep! hey sheep, please reserve a bear sticker for my corner next time. :-P
(3) our first plate of food was japanese.
(4) birthday girl and the master planner.
(5) the view from the 70th floor - can you see the sea of red/white at the padang?
(6) the four girls. :-)
(7) family photo, in red/white for national day.
(8) ashley trying to see what daddy is reading.
(9) mummy and her little squirrel. :-)

anyway, we took quite a bit of photos for the little girl, so here's a dedicated collage for her. like what the aunties mentioned, some of these are potential blackmail photos for future use (i think they were referring to the 5th pic, haha!)! but isn't she expressive, and very cheeky looking?!? check out her "kungfu" pose with her ikea spoon - ah, my little girl in red. :-)

can't believe she's already 9 months!


hmmm, haven't done this milestone thingy for a while.

taken from here:

- Your baby now can pull himself up to a standing position from sitting down.
check! ashley managed to master this since she was about 7 months old.

- He can stand while holding on to someone or something.
check! she's forever doing this. but she's not that steady so we have to stand behind her in case she knocks her head.

- Baby uses the "pincer grasp" holding tiny objects between his thumb and forefinger.
check! tested it with a few almonds sometime back. :-)

- He can walk while holding onto furniture.
check! she "walks" while holding onto her cot.

- Baby drinks from a cup.
not yet!!! we didn't let her practise drinking from a straw often enough. hmmm, i guess we need to let her drink from the cup more often.

- He can stand alone for a few seconds or perhaps longer.
well, i think the record i've seen is like two seconds?

- Baby says "mama" or "dada."
check! she started with "papa" at about 7 months. now it's "mama", "dada", "mehmeh", and some other strange sounds, heh!

- He understands the meaning of "no."
i should think so, but not too certain.

- Baby responds to simple commands (such as "Give Mommy the toy").
check! she responds to "ashley, clap your hands" and "ashley, where are your ears?", including the mandarin version.

well, i guess she's doing fine, just got to be more mindful and start training her to use a cup!