Yesterday the sky was dark and gloomy all day. The wind was blowing threateningly, and you could see the gathering storm overhead. When it came, it came in the form of huge ice balls falling from the sky!

It was the heaviest hail storm Melbourne has had in a while, and the hailstones that fell down were as big as golf balls!

Here’s some my dad collected, they were bigger but melted by the time he took them in:

And here’s Keira quite impressed with the ice balls:

So that was the excitement for yesterday. I haven’t been doing much else lately. Just getting more and more nervous about when the baby will come.

Nowadays I always get indigestion at night. But I worry that it is the beginning of contractions, so here I am trying to time my tummy ache, to see if there is a regular pain coming and going, until the acid settles down, and I sigh with relief that it was just a stomach ache. Sigh!

Have been preparing my maternity bag to take to the hosipital and buying all the things I will need. Nursing bras, nursing clothes, and now looking for a baby carrier on ebay.

I’m eyeing the Baby Bjorn Active Carrier, as my sister has one and says it is very good. But am a newbie at bidding for things on Ebay, and have discovered that it is very competitive, especially in the last 5 minutes - the price can double!

Quite exciting though.

I also need a new wardrobe. Most of my clothes are from my younger days.. you know all those skin tight tops and short dresses. All the stuff I can’t wear anymore because I must have been skinnier back then and also not suitable for a mother of (almost) two kids, right?

Anyway nothing at all practical for breastfeeding. I don’t know what I wore when I was breastfeeding Keira, but they seem to have been lost in transit somewhere in between London to KL. I think they’re also all winter clothes, too hot to wear now or in Malaysia.

So as I said I need new clothes! But no opportunity or money to go shopping here, so I’ll end up in old t-shirts I think. Ah well…

We’re in the last few weeks before a new little soul comes into our lives, and I personally CAN’T WAIT to get this baby out of here!

Compared to Keira, this boy is making me so uncomfortable.

He kicks and dances and does multiple karate moves inside my belly, almost all day. And then around midnight, just when i’m trying to settle to sleep or have some quiet time, he starts kicking UPWARDS, into my lungs and ribs! Ai Yo.

With Keira, I was as regular as clockwork. Now, I’m constipated.

My legs cramp up when I sit down for too long, my bladder is in love with the toilet and must go visit it all the time, sometimes I am very hungry, and sometimes, when the baby squashes my stomach, I feel sick and have no appetite at all.

There’s 10 kilos of extra weight pressing down on me all the time. I feel old, look haggard and there’s all kinds of strange spots growing on my face.

And I’m sorry to pour all my complaints here. But that’s the pregnancy this time round. Besides the gaining of weight I didn’t get any of the above with Keira, she was a good little foetus, so second time is very much different and harder and more exhausting… Hopefully the boy will come out to be a good baby in contrast!

Anyway onto some nice pictures now

While CY was here for CNY week, we managed to do a few things around town.

First we went to Crown Casino to check out the CNY festivities. Their laser light show featured this huge dragon.

Outside, along the river bank there were lots of stalls selling the usual food and CNY stuff, and rather incongruosly, this little pet farm, where they were letting kids go in to pet the animals.

Here’s CY, Keira and a llama.

Another day, we went to visit a real farm, where the kids got to feed the animals.

The guinea pigs were the cutest!

And the cousins continue to enjoy each other’s company and warm our hearts every day. They are best friends now.

They’re going to miss each other when we leave

Matching outfits, holding hands… guess who were the center of attention during our CNY family dinner?

Guess who had great fun getting all the ang pows? (Actually all of us had fun, cos we made them say “gong xi fa cai” lots of times before giving them the red packets. hehe)

And guess who were the happy grandparents?

I can’t get over how she has grown every time I look at her. Keira is a big girl now.

In her behaviour, her speech, her conversation and mannerisms, I see the glimmering of the person she is becoming.

I’m missing the baby girl already! Luckily there’s another one on the way to cuddle for another year or two. Hehe.

So at 2 & a half years old, Keira finally voluntarily gave me her first proper hug. She’s not a hugger you see. She likes to be hugged and carried, but never really hugs back.

Until today, when she wrapped her arms around my neck and said “I want to hug mummy.” It was a happy moment for me

She does show her affection in other ways. One night, while I was groaning about how uncomfortable this big bump is making me, Keira said, “Don’t worry Mummy, I take care you.” *smile*

Her increasing vocabulary shouldn’t surprise me anymore, but it still does. Her latest words and concepts - “Maybe”, “Could be” and “Later”.

And she has gotten the idea that when she is bigger, she can do all the things she can’t do now. Eg. “When Keira grow bigger, I can eat lollipop!”

Keira is still an eating machine. Some days it seems like she doesn’t stop eating! Everytime she sees someone with food, she’ll want to have some too. But there are some things we have established she doesn’t like. She doesn’t like durian. And of course any vegetable, and it is still a struggle to get her to drink water.

She is quite independent in some things, like wanting to feed herself and brush her own teeth. But she doesn’t hesitate to grumble for help with the things she can’t do.

She is as demanding as ever in terms of needing attention and interaction, and is still a bad traveller. I really hope No. 2 will be able to sit still in the car seat for more than 5 minutes without complaining!

Well, that’s the two and a half year progress list. Other than getting potty trained, (which she still hasn’t been) Keira is well on her way to becoming a playful, cheeky, talkative three year old.

And there’s nothing I can do about it. She is growing up too fast! Sigh…

Anyway, that’s all, Happy Chinese New Year folks! This is definitely a year for the baby Tigers to roar!

I had the longest conversation I’ve ever had with Keira last night. It went something like this:

Me: Keira, are you cold?
K: No, I not cold.
Me: If you’re cold, tell me and we’ll wear your jacket ok?
K: Ok, I not cold, later I cold I wear jacket.
Me: (Astounded that Keira knows and understands how to use the word “later”) OK.
K: Mama, you cold?
Me: Yes, that’s why I’m wearing this blanket.
K: I warm, no need wear blanket.
Me: Ok.

She’s growing in leaps and bounds.

So we’ve been here two weeks. Keira has gotten homesick once or twice, when she remembers all her toys at home, and Daddy at home, then she’ll say “I want to go home now.”

I sort of encourage it by saying “When we go home Daddy will buy you a kite OK?” Just to keep her mentally prepared that we will have to leave all the fun and games of this “holiday” in Australia eventually.

She wants a red kite.

I’ve taken lots of pictures and videos of Keira and Yong Hao together, but can’t upload now, cos of slow internet… will put them up later.

CY will be coming over in a week plus time for CNY, yay! Looking forward to us taking Keira around Melbourne, and showing her all the sights:)