Saturday, December 26, 2009

Visiting mommy's office

The other day, while Clark was on a holiday, he brought Natalie over to have lunch with me and they popped into my office for a little visit. Here are pics of her (looking very girlie with her pigtails and hello kitty clips) sitting in my office chair.

Natalie finally gets to see what it means when "Mommy is working".


I love how cute and girlie she looks with her little pigtails. She calls them putting on her "long hair".


I want to wear my Christmas Party dress!

Natalie has a very long memory. Before getting sick, she was rehearsing for a Christmas play at her school. As part of the school play, she received a costume and was told she could wear it for the Christmas party. Unfortunately she was in the hospital, she didn't make the school party, but she never forgot about her costume. When we told her we were going to a Christmas party earlier this week, she looked at me, looked at her clothes and said, "I want to wear my Christmas party dress!". And so she did.

Natalie wearing her "Christmas Party dress" and posing in front of a small tree in Pacific Place mall. She LOVES it and thinks it makes her look like a princess. As soon as we put the dress on, she starting smiling and twirling around and her pose includes lifting up the many little layers.


You can see how happy she is to be wearing the dress. She was even willing to wear the "matching" headband.


Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! Hope you have a fun and wonderful time with your family and friends.

A few weeks ago, Nai-nai and Yeh-yeh came to visit. It was a great trip leading up to the holiday season.


On Christmas Eve, the whole Tong family descended and we had home-made roastbeef with gravy (and tons more!) over dinner followed by a flurry of gift-giving where all the kiddies ended up with almost 10 presents each! (Videos to come.)

The Little Singer

Natalie LOVES Christmas! She loves Santa, snowmen, reindeers and especially presents! She also really likes the fun Christmas songs. Listen to her singing "Jingle Bells" in Video 259.

Monday, December 21, 2009

School photos

Here are more photos taken from the facebook page maintained by Natalie's school teachers.

I love all the great activities Natalie is exposed to while at school. Here is one where the students pass a ball around a circle. Since they can't throw (in the right direction) or catch, they roll the ball around.


Not only do they do different physical activities, but they also do various art work, too. She's coloured, drawn, painted, folded, glued, and glittered various masterpieces which decorate a wall in her room.


Every month, the class has a birthday day to celebrate all the birthdays that happen that month. The kids can dress in their normal clothes (not their uniforms), sing the birthday song, and eat cake! Here they are posing with the birthday cake.


Can you find Natalie?





Here are more photos

School pictures

Natalie's teachers are wonderful and post photos of the class on facebook every once in a while. Check out the Hallowe'en photos below.

Can you find Natalie?


She's the amazed cat sitting next to one crying snow white and an awed snow white.


Here they are enjoying some Hallowe'en snacks together. Summer, her friend, wore her snow white outfit (of course!).


Natalie poses with a cute little pirate boy. Her shoes really make the outfit work.


Some other kids posing, including Summer. Haha, it's like an ABBA pose!


Saturday, December 12, 2009

Hospital

This blog has been very quiet for the past couple weeks because Natalie was sick. From last week Tuesday, Natalie started to to burn a fever (she hit a high of 41.4 oC!) and the right side of her cheek swelled up and became red and very firm. After almost 5 days in the hospital (Monday to Friday), we are super happy to have her back home, happy and healthy. Here are a few pics of her stay at Queen Mary Hospital:

This is the first night we checked in. You can (kinda) see how red and swollen her right cheek is.


Here we are the next morning. Natalie was tired and slept a lot.


A better look at her cheek. We could feel two lumps beneath the skin next to her mouth and a little lower (and she told us they hurt). We think her lymph-nodes became infected and swelled, but the doctors weren't sure what was wrong. Good thing anti-biotics helped alot!


Her pacifier was over-used and we had to buy new ones (the rubber changed color and became almost white from over-use since Natalie refused to part with it).


Our little corner of the ward.

Natalie's IV. She liked to call it her "robot arm" and give "robot fives" (up high, down low, on the side).


Clark brings Yehyeh's netbook and mobile internet to entertain Natalie. She loves watching "Wheels on the Bus" youtube video.


On day 4, Natalie is more alert and looking much better.


There's the little smile we miss! She spent the day playing in the crib, drawing, reading, and sticking stickers everywhere.


Natalie's appetite came back and she was allowed one night "home leave" before being formally discharged from the hospital the next morning. It's great to have her home!