Doctors + More Doctors

This past week has seen poor Kira trucked out to the Opthamologist and the family Doctors for her regular checkups.
She was at the Opthamologist last week Wednesday for her quarterly eye exam. The doctor didn't even have to put the eye drops in her eyes this time! She says that her eyes show no signs of weakening since her last check up. Kira also passed all her little "tests", the doctor was happy (not nearly as happy as I was). She will go back again in March and will get the drops again to check her prescription.
Today she went to the Doctor for her 9-month checkup. She is a few weeks ahead of schedule due to the holiday season. Her doctor likes to see the babies at 9 months so that she can have at least one visit where she doesn't have to give them shots, and also to check their progress. Kira is back down to 17lbs again, she has lost about a pound or so since she started crawling and climbing. The doctor was not concerned about this at all. We weren't able to get an accurate measurement of her height as she kept trying to eat/grab the tape measure, but I know that she has grown since her last check up as she no longer fits a lot of her clothing.
Due to our recent poor health, we decided that Kira should get her flu shot today as well (so much for a check up without a shot), she did very well and didn't even cry until we started laughing because she didn't cry. Figures. I also got my flu shot - just in case. As this was Kira's first flu shot, she has to go back for a follow-up in 4 weeks,which means another shot. Poor kid.
At home, Kira has turned into a crawling and climbing machine. It seems that everything exists for her to climb up. She is now starting to cruise a little bit too. She is one active kid. She is so proud of herself when she climbs up on her feet, everytime she breaks out into a huge smile.
Oh, and speaking of smiles - she is FINALLY getting her first tooth!! The bottom left tooth is halfway through her gum now! I'm so happy! I was beginning to think that she would be 2 years old with no teeth at all! She is handling it very well, she barely cries at night with it and when she does, a little baby Orajel usually does the trick. The best part is she has been sleeping more because of it! Woohoo! She has been sleeping until 7:00/7:30 most mornings, much better than a 6:00 wake up call!
This week I am going to try to get Kira's picture with Santa. If it works out, I will post it up here for you. Hope everyone is doing well.

Settling back in

Hello everyone!

Well, we have finally made it home. The flights home went well, thankfully Grandma Rose was there to help out. Kira did so well with all the traveling, she really was a trooper.

We are slowly settling back into everything here again. Kira is still having troubles adjusting to the time difference, but we have started adjusting her napping schedules and she is sleeping much better during the night now. Me, not so much. I am suffering from 4am-itis. That is, I can no longer sleep past 4am. I hope that this passes quickly.

While we were in Malaysia, Kira learned how to crawl properly. Since the floors are mainly marble, it was a little tough for her to drag herself, so she had to learn fast if she wanted to get anywhere. Within a few days, she had it mastered. Well, during the last week that we were there, she decided "enough with this crawling", and started to pull herself up. So, within 3.5 weeks, she learned how to crawl AND pull herself to her feet. I am worried, this one is going to be an early walker I think.

Thank you again to everyone in Malaysia for spoiling Kira rotten, and for everything else you did for us. We miss you guys already, looking forward to seeing you in June.

Pictures Posted

Hello everyone. I have posted some pictures from the vacation. The rest of the pictures will be posted on facebook and picasa when we get home next week.

There are 3 different posts - KL, Singapore/Indonesia, and Malacca.

Enjoy!

Malacca Photos

On the way back from Indonesia, we stopped in Malacca to visit some more family. This is Kira's cousin Matthew. He is very shy, but so cute!

Kira and Matthew playing together. Kira liked to pull Matthew's hair...

This is Kira with her Great-Grandma and Grandma.

Singapore/Indonesia Photos

In the car, beginning our 3 hour drive to Singapore. Kira has been spoiled here with this car seat, she will be rear-facing again when we get home. Poor thing.

When we reached the border to Singapore, we were delayed there for almost one hour while Uncle Bob was inside with the border agents. We had no idea what was going on and we were not allowed to leave the car. Finally, we were told that the "7" had fallen off the license plate, resulting in a hefty fine. They were going to continue to fine us until the "7" was replaced. So, after trips to hardware stores and gas stations proved unsuccessful, Charlie and Bob put their heads together and created a "7" out of a plastic spoon, knife, crazy glue, and scotch tape. And wouldn't you know it, the damn thing worked. On the way out of Singapore, no fine.

This is us on the ferry from Singapore to Bintan, Indonesia. Kira was such a trooper. The delay at the border meant we missed our ferry and had to take one 3 hours later. We had been traveling for over 8 hours at this point, but Kira was not fussing.

This is the villa we stayed at. Yes, we had the entire place. It was pretty much a 4 bedroom house. Pretty rough huh?

Oh, and it came with it's own private pool too...

Kira dipping her toes into the main hotel pool. After a little coaxing from Grandpa Charlie, Kira went in the pool and quite enjoyed it. 

Hanging out at the pool with Grandma Tracy

And at the beach with Grandma Rose

The last day that we were there, it rained. A lot. The last night, there was a thunder storm, followed by another, and another, and so on. In the morning, the rain had stopped, but just before we left, it just poured. These pictures show what the back yard of the villa looked like after only 10 minutes of rain. That's how hard it was raining. 

Hard to tell where the pool ends and the grass begins.

KL Pictures

Kuala Lumpur Photos:

Kira has been getting lots of visits from her Aunties and Uncles. She is loving the attention. I'm not sure how she will adjust when we get home...

We were able to borrow a stroller here, as you can see, Kira made herself quite comfortable in it. So elegant.

Grandpa Charlie took Kira on walks whenever he could. The heat and constant rain kept him indoors more than he would have liked.

The Petronas Towers. You can see that it was raining at the time of the photo. Be sure to hear the umbrella story from my Mom. 

This happened quite a bit. Random strangers wanting to hold Kira. Naturally, she loved all the extra attention. This was a restaurant where we were having lunch and the staff were passing Kira around for about 10 minutes. She was giggling and smiling the whole time. 

Hello from Malaysia...Part 2

We have already been here for 2 weeks! Time flies. Today Mom and Charlie are heading back to Vancouver. I think that they had a good time, but Mom still can't understand how they eat 24/7 here and stay so thin. Must be the heat. I know that Charlie has enjoyed the Carlsberg's in the sun. He is upstairs working on his burn right now while downing a beer. Rough life.

Kira has fully adjusted to the time difference now. She is getting a little fussy and has cried when there are large crowds of people in the house. We are thinking that she may be close to cutting a tooth. But for the most part she is full of smiles and giggles. She loves having Grandma Rose around and Auntie Leena + Uncle Bob. Just the sight of Uncle Bob and she is smiling and laughing. I don't know what she is going to do when we go home.

This week we went to Bintan, Indonesia for a couple of days on the beach. The second night that we were there the tail end of a typhoon passed through and brought some amazing storms. I have never seen rain like that in my life. The thunder and lightning went on all night, there must have been about 4 storms back to back that passed overhead. Absolutely wonderful. Kira slept through everything thankfully. The next morning the rain was still going on. The grounds looked like lakes and we couldn't go out in the rain as we would be soaked instantly. I got some great pictures and will post them when we get back.

After Indonesia, we headed back via Singapore. We'd never been to Singapore before and I dont know if we ever will again. It's very pretty but very expensive. I can't believe that they fine people for most everything. But that will be another post...

Once we left Singapore we headed for Melaka, where Jon's family is originally from. While there we visited Jon's Grandma, Kira's Great-Grandma. She was very happy that Kira gave her one of her big gummy smiles. Pictures to come soon.

Now we are back in KL and will stay here until we head out next week Monday. I hope that everyone is doing well and look forward to catching up very soon.