Past couple of weeks...

It's been a super busy couple of weeks since I've returned to work and am readjusting to the new schedule. Still managed to squeeze in a video and some family photos :)

See Video 344 of Natalie making Lauren laugh.

My girls on the sofa. Natalie loves to hold Lauren and offered to hold her and look after her while I went to the kitchen for a quick snack.

This is my favorite photo of the two of them. Super sweet.

Today, Lauren has been busy trying to roll over (from back to front). She's almost there!

Someone's getting chubby...

Hee hee.

Lauren and me.

Lauren and Ba-ba.

The Real Zoo

A couple weeks ago, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and take the whole Wang Gang to visit the Central "zoo" which features mainly monkeys and lemurs.

Lauren, Natalie and Clark looking at something.

Flamingos!

Suparti with Lauren.

Suparti and Lauren with a huge bird.

Natalie and Clark looking at the huge bird, too.

Natalie wore a little necklace she made herself from a make-at-home kit.

She was really excited and happy to be out and about.

"It's too bright!" We could hardly open out eyes for this picture with the beautiful flowers in the central garden.

Clark poetically juxtaposed the garden and fountain with the HK cityscape in the background.

A monkey hanging around.

More monkey.

And more monkeys, this time yellow ones.

Natalie enjoyed the view from Clark's shoulder.

Two monkeys hanging around. Listen to them singing in this video.

Big large gorilla.

Ugly hairy creature.

Natalie really liked sitting on Clark's shoulder because it made her really "tall".

Lemurs.

Lemurs - feeding time!

Natalie and Clark watching the lemurs eat.

Finally, it's break time. Natalie enjoys and shares her blueberries with us.

Lauren's world

As the second child, sometimes we worry about Lauren getting left out because if we had to choose just one child to bring out with us, it would most likely be Natalie since she's older and "gets more" out of being out and about. But lately, we've been doing lots of family stuff and trying to be fair to both our girls. Below are recent photos of Lauren hanging out.

After out-growing her moses basket, we finally gave in and bought a little small crib for Lauren which fits perfectly beside our bed.

Lauren also got a new toy! It's one that lets her bat at objects and also has some flashing lights and music to reward her for a "good job" (as Natalie would say).

Natalie likes the toy, too. Actually, she liked watching and encouraging Lauren play with it more than anything else and frequently asks us to put Lauren "in the toy".

See Video 343 of Lauren (and Natalie) playing with her new toy.

Lauren hanging with Clark.

Proud Ba-ba.

Lauren with Marian yee-yee and holding onto her thumb.

Natalie and Lauren with her 4 cousins over the CNY. It's a zoo! But we love it :)

Happy Chinese New Year

Before breaking for the Chinese New Year holidays, Natalie's school held a party at their school. See videos / photos below.

See Video 342 of Natalie as she marches around the auditorium with her class during her recent CNY party. So cute how the students hold hands.

See how packed the auditorium is with teachers and students. Parents sat near the back and around the edges.

The parents. It was a frenzy of paparazzi-worthy cameras, shouting of children names and flash-bulbs flashing.

Natalie looking pretty in her cheurn-sam with her classmate Elsa.

After the event, the classes took turns posing on stage for photos.

Class photo with the teachers.

Natalie learned a really cutesy smile somewhere, somehow.

After the event, the students enjoyed cakes and juice back at the class.

I asked Natalie to take a picture with all her teachers. Here she is with Mr. Ian the English teacher.

Ms. Shur lao-shi (not sure of spelling) is the main teacher.

Liu lao-shi (again, not sure of spelling) is really sweet with Natalie.

Ms. Chun lao-shi is another teacher from her Chinese class. Natalie loves watching "the lion dance".

Natalie and Nicholas

See Video 341 of Natalie playing with her little cousin Nicholas at the park. So cute they hold hands to go down the slide together! Also check Nat's crazy static hair.

These two don't always get along, but when they do, they make great play mates :)

Thanks to Carol for the video and the great pics below!

Strong girl

Natalie loves her stroller. At 3.5 years old, we try to encourage her to walk more, but she loves to sit in it and be pushed around. She loves it SO MUCH that instead of allowing me to push a large bag of laundry to the cleaners, she insisted on sitting and holding onto the bag the whole way there. A lot of the people we passed on our way there looked at me with strong disapproval, no doubt thinking thoughts of child labour. Honestly, she WANTED to do it, she was happy!

Lauren growing and giggling

Lauren is getting cuter and more interactive every day. See videos and photos below:

See Video 338 of Lauren chatting with me and Video 339 of Lauren's first little giggles caught on camera with Suparti.

Also see my current favourite Video 340 of Lauren giggling with Lisa yee-yee.

Lauren's neck has become strong enough for her to sit in the bumbo-sitter. Here she is keeping her cousins company while they eat lunch.

At 4 months, she's interested in the eating process but still doesn't seem ready to start it herself just yet.

Lauren with Suparti. Her hair is getting longer (and crazier) and she is getting chubbier. I love chubby babies!

Now that her neck is stronger, we are letting Natalie and her older cousins carry Lauren more often. Here Vanessa is helping to comb her hair. Not sure Lauren is a fan.