Queen of Natalie-land

With her increasing understanding of the world around her, Natalie is quickly learning that she is the Queen of Natalie-land. Within her land, Natalie has many obedient subjects at her command (namely every adult she's ever encountered so far) and, as loyal subjects of Natalie-land, we must obey her every command or face her terrible wrath.

Just today, while trying to take a few nice pictures of Natalie playing happily at home, we made the mistake of trying to keep the camera from her. See resulting photos below. Yes, the Queen's fury is great. We have all quickly learned to jump at her every whim or have a very loud, unhappy, and determined baby on our hands.

Here is Natalie resisting when her daddy Clark tries to pose for a picture with her. She doesn't want to pose for pictures, she wants the camera! Whenever you try to hold her when she doesn't want to be held, Natalie will raise her arms in the air in hopes of slipping through your hands.


Gimme the camera or else! We gave her the camera, of course.

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Today is Natalie's birthday. Hard to believe that one year ago we were at the hospital anxiously waiting for her arrival, and today, we've MADE IT ...Natalie is turning ONE. She's no longer "zero" years of age and now has a proper age (which can be quoted in years instead of months).

Below are two pics that were taken and posted almost one year ago. You can see Natalie really has come a long way from her small(-ish) beginnings. Some things that have changed from one year ago:

• Natalie is no longer a cute baby lump, but a funny and happy toddler who interacts with others
• Natalie is almost triple her birth weight (from 7.5lbs - 22lbs)
• On the other hand, Tracy is 20% lighter than last year at this same time
• Clark no longer has to deal with a huge, hormonal woman while anxiously wondering if she's going into labour NOW. Or now? How about now?
• We have changed over 300 poo diapers and gotten poo on our hands numerous times
• Tracy and Clark have become more confident parents, and we're loving every minute of it

We still can't believe how fast this year has passed. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NATALIE!

One of the first pics of Natalie taken with my phone camera while at the hospital. She is only 1/2 a day old here.


Natalie home and sleeping soundly in her moses basket. This basket would be much too small for her today.

Walking holding on with one hand

We are super proud of Natalie. At dim sum a couple days ago, she stood on a chair holding nothing by herself for almost 10 seconds (with mommy's hands nearby, of course). She was too busy and didn't even seem to notice she wasn't hanging on to anything! And for the past couple of days, she's also been really happy trying to walk by holding on with only one hand. She'll even reach out for us to grab her hand so she can keep trying.

Watch Video 124 of Natalie hanging on with only one hand while walking. She's still really unsteady, but you can see how happy she is to be a big girl now and upright and almost walking. She still isn't confident enough to completely let go and stand by herself (even just standing, not walking), but she's definitely on her way there!

The cutie patootie playing with her mommy this afternoon. See below videos to see what she was up to.


Also, watch Video 122 of Natalie playing with her new toys while at dim sum. She even gives them little kisses and hams it up for the aunties and uncles.

Also watch Video 123 of Natalie experimenting with sound. She's holding a poker chip and will bang at the window grill which makes a "bing bing bing!" sound. Then she'll knock it against the window sill and wall which makes a "tck tck tck" sound. Then she gives the camera a big kiss. She's also really obedient right now. If we say "No, Natalie", she actually listens! We know this won't last much longer and are enjoying every moment while it lasts.

Dim sum lunch with friends

On Saturday, Natalie's first birthday was cancelled due to serious black rain. It was so bad in some parts of Hong Kong that they closed highways, shops were flooded, and people had to be saved from minibuses that had gotten stuck in a 70cm puddle of water!

Although there was no mega-glam party out on the waters, some friends were brave enough to venture outside and join us for a casual dim sum at Victoria Seafood in Citic Tower. It was a very yummy and chill lunch. Natalie received some very nice gifts from her aunties and uncles (and yes, you are ALL aunties and uncles now!) and enjoyed her first bite of a bum (traditional birthday bao). See pics below.

Natalie with her proud parents at dim sum. She can eat just about everything now (except nuts), including egg, beef, tomatoes, and even traces of seafood.


Natalie and our close family and friends enjoying the dim sum. If you ever eat at this restaurant, you must order their salt n' pepper tofu. We had three orders!


Natalie had a great time playing with so many aunties and uncles.


You can tell from this shot that Natalie's the star of the day with everyone watching her, waiting to jump at her every command. When Natalie claps, the whole table must clap with her.


Natalie hanging with Serena, Vivian, and Marian. Natalie is holding on to little cute finger puppets from Gerald and Marian. One of the puppets looks just like bam-bam from the Flintstones. There is a tiger finger puppet that Natalie likes to kiss.


Natalie with Uncle Jason and Auntie Corine. The last time Natalie saw them, she fell asleep on their guest bed with her bum in the air. Since then, she always sleeps with her bum in the air now.


Natalie with Dom, Lieny and little baby Evana. Evana is less than 3 months old but she is really big already!


Natalie smiling at the camera with Cindy Yee-yee.


The three babies Vicky (4 months), Evana (2 months), and Natalie (12 months). It's probably best not to say how many months Tracy and Lieny are.


Look at baby Evana's super cute and super round face. She's quite young, but already she knows how to smile and laugh with people now!


Natalie and Evana "playing" together.


Baby Vicky taking a nap in her sling. So cute.


Natalie and Cindy playing with a really cute bowling set given to her by Dom, Lieny and Evana. Just today Natalie was playing with them by herself and giving each of the bowling pins hugs and kisses. She has become more affectionate lately and will crawl over to give us kisses. We love it (of course)!

Natalie posing with her new dress from Auntie Vivian. It's soooo nice, we love it! And it looks like a perfect fit with a little room to grow. It's also very appropriate for the next time we go on a yacht :)


Natalie's new ralph lauren dress from Corine and Jason. Thanks guys, it is sooo cute! She's just like a little lady now!


When Natalie's bum (traditional birthday bun) came out, we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her. While we were singing, Natalie kept looking around with a "what's going on?" expression. After we finished singing and clapping, Natalie smiled and clapped her hands, too. Happy Birthday Natalie!

Black rain on my party day

Today was supposed to be Natalie's sweet one birthday party on the Prive Yacht. We were really excited to celebrate her birthday with family and close friends, but when we woke up this morning, it was raining outside and not just any rain, but BLACK rain! A little rain is alright, but, as daddy Clark would say, "This is aggressive!"

Little Nat had no clue we had just cancelled her very first birthday party and was cheerful as usual hanging out with us this morning. She was especially happy sitting on the sofa with us, reading a few books, and playing with our blackberries. Here are some pics below.

Natalie smiling at us. She loves that we let her play with our blackberries. She'll push the little buttons with her little fingers and grin at us and wave it around when the screen lights up.


More blackberry action. Look at the intense concentration. Doesn't it almost like she knows what she's doing?


Natalie trying to show her daddy what she can do with his blackberry.


Natalie crawling around on the sofa while she's, yup, hanging onto the blackberry.

Jackie's Birthday at Top Deck

On May 25, we went with friends to Top Deck on Jumbo for Jackie (JC)'s birthday. We were outside ALL DAY from 11:00am - 6:00pm. Tracy had to run to dragonboat practice for a couple hours, but otherwise, we didn't move from the table at all. Natalie was so well behaved, just like a little lady, and she gave her daddy a 2-hour break when she napped in her stroller. Below are pics from the day.

Cutie patootie holding a piece of lemon. We know Natalie's full when she stops eating and all the food we give her becomes mushy toys instead.


Somewhere, somehow, Natalie has learned point her little finger at things that either interest her and she wants us to give it to her, or to where she would like us, her ever obedient slaves, to bring her. Here she is pointing at her ever-favourite the camera. This is pretty much the only thing she can't touch.


Natalie chilling out with Uncle Kevy.


Natalie hanging out while her daddy takes more picturs. That piece of lemon is officially becoming a piece of mush.


Natalie's happy little smile. It was a good day out.


Natalie running her little nails along the material of the sofa. It makes an interesting sound! Look at those strong, muscle-bound arms. Those little biceps are deceptively stronger than they appear.


Natalie laughing at the table of adults who are playing with her. All-in-all a great day to be outside. And don't worry, Natalie was mainly kept in the shade so she hardly tanned at all.

Playing in QQ Club Center

With her enrollment in Kindermusic, Natalie also has unlimited access to the play area downstairs in the QQ Club Center. It's sooo convenient because it's located literally just downstairs from us. She goes at least once every week to hang out and play with the toys there. They mainly have lots of toy cars (like those pictured below) and a reading center with lots and lots of books. The books are mainly the paper variety though, and we don't trust Natalie to quietly read them without (accidentally, of course) tearing out a few pages here and there, so for now, she really enjoys playing with the more durable cars; walking and pushing them around, and sitting on them and checking out all the little buttons and knick-knacks and do-dads.

See Video 121 of Natalie walking while pushing the car. She pushes it for a little bit and then I think she wants to sit down on it, but can't figure out how, so instead, she pushes it back the other way. In the end, we help her back on and she plays with the buttons for a while.

Below are pictures of Natalie on her current favourite car.

Forgotten photos

Digging around on my work computer today (yes, while at work early this morning), I found a few photos I'd forgotten to post from the mommies group's babies' joint birthday party. Here they are below.

The daddies and their birthday babies.


The babies limbo. Go Natalie! This was easy for Natalie, hard for me.


Sweet Natalie looks up at us.

Natalie says "Da Do!"

Natalie is starting to really "talk" now and is experimenting with new syllables and stringing them together. Her favourite word so far is "da do!" She says this over and over and over again every day. We're still trying to figure out what it means, but I suspect Natalie is saying "Thank you!" because that's what we say to her A LOT, especially when she gives us things or when she "maht day" or when she hi-5's us or when she kisses us (which she can now do with a delayed kiss sound by putting her head against our head and then pulling away and doing a high-pitched "smkkt!" sound with her mouth). Clark's not so sure and thinks it might be something else. I still think it means "Thank you" because this morning, she was blowing kisses good-bye to me through the gate and after she blew a kiss, she said "da do" so I'm pretty sure because whenever I blow a kiss to her and she blows a kiss back to me, I always say "Thank you", hence she would say "da do" (pronounced dah-doh).

Also, every morning when Natalie wakes up in our bed (we bring her over to sleep with us whenever she wakes up in the middle of the night) she'll sit up in between us and start chatting to her sleepy (and sometimes still sleeping) parents. She may smack Clark in the face a few times to get his attention, or pull my hair. And of course, when we look at her groggily and mumble to her "What's up, Natalie?" she'll look at us and say "Da do".

Lisa Yee-yee passed on this really nice family photo of my parents (the grandparents) with their three grand-daughters Vanessa, little Vicky, and Natalie.

Swimming at Four Seasons

Today Natalie, her mommy and daddy, her cousin Vanessa, auntie Lisa and auntie Carol all went for a dip at the four seasons hotel pool. We had great weather (not too sunny, not too cold) and it was the perfect opportunity to try out Natalie's floater swimsuit (with foam pad inserts all along the body) and Vanessa's life jacket. Tracy was a little under the weather so didn't swim as long as the others, but she did enjoy the heated pool.

Watch a brief Video 120 of Natalie and Vanessa swimming.

Natalie keeping her head above water. She was awesome in the water and didn't seem to mind at all when water got on her face. It was a bit chilly at first, but she's wearing three layers!


Natalie going for a swim ride on her Daddy's back. She likes it!


Natalie and a cute little pout. How come my swimsuit's so bulky!


Natalie posing with her daddy. Look at the great view behind them.
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Auntie Carol and Natalie with Daddy Clark swimming in the middle of the pool. Mommy Tracy sits on the side and takes pictures.


A bit of water on the lens, but you can see still how much fun Lisa, Vanessa, and Carol are having. Vanessa was a real star in the water today. She loved it and was kicking and splashing water. Her life jacket is a perfect fit.


Carol laughing while Natalie hangs out.


Natalie, Carol, Vanessa, and Tracy. Vanessa's expression is hilarious, very cute :)


The kiddies love playing with Mr. Frog. If you wind him up, he kicks his legs and swims around the water.


Daddy Clark underwater while holding Natalie. Natalie is holding Mr. Frog.


Natalie is out of her bulky-but-safe floater swimsuit while relaxing in the warmer waters of the jacuzzi. The bubs all had a dip in the jacuzzi to warm up after swimming the cooler waters of the bigger pool.


Vanessa closing her eyes in anticipation of a big splash. Not much happening here, but look at the water movement we captured.