Life of a yummy baby ... and now there are 2!!!!!

With Morgan around, Christmas seems to take on a whole new meaning. Firstly we have our usual family reunion and secondly, a special Christmas service to celebrate the day that Christ was born. Christmas is an especially magical time for children in cold countries because one can look forward to the lights, snowmen, angels and christmas tree, ..... and Father Christmas sliding his way down the chimney with his sackful of presents - ho ho ho! I am not a believer of Father Christmas, neither do I come from a background where people celebrate Christmas as a yearly tradition but I actually find myself enjoying Christmas like a little kid! The reason being I have always lived in a hot country all my life. The days of counting down to Christmas, waiting for snow and passing winter solstice (the shortest day was on the 21st December) is all part of the excitement working up to 25 December.

I tried to involve Morgan to contribute his first artistic masterpiece for grandma's dining room, with some help from mummy of course. This year - we reuse and recycle - so we used every bit of whatever resources available to make the decorations look fabulous at no extra cost. We also helped to wrap presents, put up the lights and decorate the Christmas tree. In between which I had to stop Morgan from pulling off the decorations, dragging tinsels about and kicking the presents around like footballs ... argh!













Some excerpts on Christmas Day -


Mam-gu's getting tad-cu to finish off the sausage bacon while Morgan was busy eyeing the turkey.

Christmas crackers and party-hats are good ideas to liven up the party though we could hardly keep the party crown stay on Morgan's head!












This Christmas Morgan learnt to enjoy the thrill of unraveling his presents through tearing up the wrappers in the most merciless manner. Thank you to many of our friends and relatives, from near and overseas, for sending him your thoughts, gifts and heaps of presents. We are so lucky that he's so loved by everyone we know.

On Boxing day we were extremely fortunate to be paid a visit by Lewis's cousin, Catherine Brown who, from all the way in Canada, had come to visit Morgan, accompanied by her nieces Rachael and Miriam. Watching the gulls, recollecting thoughts and meeting old friends - it was a lovely way to end the day and to a beautiful year of 2007.



Here's what we did for Morgan's first Christmas .....

Christmas is only about a week ahead. Lots of playgroups are getting kids to make Christmas crafty stuff such as their own cards and party hats. The build-up to Christmas for kids is always an exciting one 'cos lots of parties are happening all over the place! Morgan's already been to 3 parties and met Father Christmas twice ... so much for the magic of Christmas huh? No wonder kids these days don't really buy into the idea of Father Christmas anymore.

At our local playgroup, Morgan's been learning to make his daddy a super Christmas poster, with glittery stars and paints.

However in less than 2 minutes of sitting down, Morgan gave up on using his paintbrush and resumed his play with tractors and train tracks. So we never managed to get this Christmas poster finished !!!

When Father Christmas made an entrance at the Rainbow Club playgroup, Morgan and his playmate Sarah, who's turning 2 by the end of Dec, weren't sure what to make of it all.

I personally feel that at this age, they still can't appreciate Father Christmas as much as the junior kids. Quite a few little ones were just mortified to see this huge-bellied red-suited white-bearded man-looking creature ... striding about the room booming out 'ho ho ho' to them all while giving away presents. It just seemed all too strange and scary to the little ones!
Sarah and Morgan both eventually received their pressies and Morgan wasn't terribly impressed with Father Christmas. Still we had a great time at the party and I believe he particularly enjoyed the party food!

Morgan is currently obsessed with trains. Big trains, small trains, wooden trains, long trains, any kind of train - he gets really excited. I know its cliche to say - this is such a boy's kind of thing but when it comes to trains, Morgan is just mad about them! Just over the weekend, we visited friends living in Oxford. They have a little boy James who is about 4 years old and his little sister Eleanor who is 1 and a bit. Morgan played really well with them both and had great fun, especially with James and his lovely train set! What we found interesting was that we girls were downstairs in the dining area having a chat and a cup of tea while the boys - Morgan, his Daddy and James - were busy in the play room upstairs ALL AFTERNOON trying to set up undulating train tracks with the help of lego blocks and whatever they could find. I mean they were seriously occupied for a long while.

I think we have just discovered what to get Morgan this Christmas ....

Morgan is beginning to enjoy his trips to Morrisons more and more. His favourite activity was to sit himself in the shopping trolley and watch me do the shopping. These days he'd still get into the shopping trolley but would get restless very quickly. So I put him in the goods compartment and he would help me stack up whatever I shopped. And then it got to the point where he was helping me pick things off the shelves ... even when I don't need or didn't pick them myself. So much for the shopping enthusiasm of a 1.5 year old.

The rides placed by the entrance of Morrisons have become his focal point. Everytime we come here, he wants to go for a ride before he leaves the place. So I always let him sit for abit ... without putting in any pennies (of course!) ..... and still works! Sigh ... I don't know how long this will last before he starts fishing into my pockets to for penny-rides!

When people ask me what I do for birthdays, I always get excited and be the first to suggest places for parties, organise outings and get presents. But when it comes to my own, the child in me refuses to grow up after turning 25. I never like to make a fuss about birthday celebrations - partly because it's not my style to make a fuss ... and partly you can say it's that little child deep in me that refuses to wake up, get real or take responsibilities!
Then again ... turning 30, becoming mummy, and having Morgan; you can't get more real than that, can you?!













So my wonderful family took me out for a birthday lunch in a private elegant country-house hotel in the Welsh woods 12 miles outside Aberystwyth. Named the Conrah Hotel - it's a family-run business, the food is excellent and stunning views surround the hotel. All was great except for the 'personalised' service which I would not give full marks for. But we had an enjoyable meal and had the whole place to ourselves, I really can't complain!!!

And now for the real views ... shame that it was raining and foggy so the view wasn't flattering.










That evening - we decided to let loose and took Morgan to the local funfair instead of putting him to bed early. Most of the rides were too adult for Morgan anyway. So we sat on a stationary train, had a toffee apple and pretended to be on a ride. We were watching this ride full of screaming teenagers continuously freaking out while the giant pendulum swings from one end to the next before making a couple of 360 degrees turn. It was enough to make your own stomach guts turn inside out watching them scream their lungs out on the downturn - and besides, they really love the adrenalin rush ... which, I suppose, is what seperates them from us oldies. Can't imagine Morgan becoming a teenager .... can you?