Regular Hero

I'm so proud of my hubbie - he helped to catch a "crim" today!

We three were walking down George St., Sydney, this morning when we saw a man attack a woman and her child. Who would do such a thing?! (In retrospect we think he may have been trying to rob her.) First he hit the child (just a bit older than Raina) on the head with a full beer bottle and then he kept circling around them taunting them with his bottles and threatening to hit them again. The poor kid was screaming with pain and fear and the mother was just beside herself. We were so shocked to see this happening in broad daylight! A few pedestrians rushed to her aid, including Darwin, and the crazy guy just sauntered off watching the mayhem he was leaving behind. When it looked like the woman was being taken care of, Darwin and two other men ran after him, and the chase was on.

They chased him for quite a few blocks until he disappeared from their sight, but luckily Darwin had been calling the police on his cell phone while running, so the downtown cops immediately ran out of the station and nabbed him!! Woohoo!!

Translator's Guide

We now have some new vocabulary in use in the Price household thanks to an ever-babbling Miss R:

mamone = watermelon
popoje = porridge
mook = milk
chi-chi = cheese
bape = grape
shishen = chicken
hoot = hot
bubbee = rubbish
bah = bath
I'd know = I don't know
I see = I want
bye-bye-dom = the state of being finished with something

Raina has invented a new sport: Mop-Jousting!

So She Thinks She Can Dance

Raina has developed her own style of dancing. It's called the Cute Step. Problem is, she gets a bit dizzy and falls over.

Mummy Tactics

Since Miss R came along I have been in rigorous on-the-job training to be a Life Coach. These critical strategies are slowly sinking in:

1) The Art of Distraction

"Sorry you can't jump in that pond (and surely sink to the bottom) right now, but WOW look at that big aeroplane in the sky - WHOOSH!!" - said with great enthusiasm and vigorous hand movements. I think all parents learn this one pretty quickly.

2) Practical Redirection

Miss R has a very frustrating habit of throwing her stuff - food, cutlery, dishes, anything really - on the floor when she's finished with it or just plain bored. Ignoring her didn't achieve anything; "don't do that!" just made her want to do it even more and with an evil glint in her eye; so eventually I came up with a new tactic - to ask her to give whatever it is to Mummy when she's done. Hooray, it's starting to work!

3) Loving Repetition

As a dear friend and very wise man repeated often: "Repetition is the mother of all knowledge." It's so true. Getting the loving part every time is tough (especially when you're sleep-deprived)!

If you have any successful tactics to share, please do!

My Dad

In a bit of surprise, my dear Dad had a triple bypass yesterday. He has come through the surgery remarkably well and though he's still in the ICU, drugged out, and hooked up to all sorts of important-looking machines, there was some colour in his cheeks when I went to see him this afternoon, which was heart-warming. Thanks for all the prayers and warm wishes for his speedy recovery!

A melodramatic side note: I was sitting next to my Dad holding his hand, when I suddenly felt quite dizzy and nauseated, and ended up fainting on the floor. In the blink of an eye, I had one nurse taking my blood pressure, another one doing a blood sugar test, and a doctor checking my vital signs. I tell you, the ICU is the best place to be if you want some attention. My Mum has been joking that I was jealous of my Dad in the medical limelight! After a cup of orange juice and some time on the couch I was fine. The nurse said that it's not unusual to experience such a thing when you see a loved one in a delicate state and I was the 2nd relative that day that had ended up on the floor :) A bit embarrassing, I must say!

This one's for the girls

I did my bit for equality today.

I went to look at a house for rent (we'd like a bigger place) this week. It was an old Federation-style place with large rooms and ornate ceilings. I thought it was in pretty good condition, although untidy, until I got to the kitchen and bathroom. The real estate agent apologetically said that the current tenants - 4 bachelors - were a bit "messy". I won't go into all the yucky, filthy details, but let me just say I honestly don't think the kitchen floor had been cleaned in many months.

One of the tenants arrived home while I was still there. He seemed to be a nice enough fellow and he also apologized to me for the "mess". But then he added with a grin: "There's no wife or girlfriend here!" Well! I just HAD to say something..."That's no excuse! You're a human being; you can clean whether you're a man or a woman!"

The female agent said to me afterwards: "You're game!" I'm just sad that his apology - to a woman - was followed by such a blatant sexist statement.

The big, bad, scary....vacuum cleaner!

We thought she was over it, but apparently not. We usually vacuum (hoover) when one of us can hold her and make the vacuuming exercise into a bit of an entertainment, but I had to go it alone the other day after the carpet was strewn by hundreds of muffin crumbs - quite on purpose, by the way, for our little girl has a penchant for seeing her food in the clutches of gravity.

So there I was trying to fix the muffin situation asap, while Miss Thing was so terrified that she was wailing and clutching her head and falling to the ground as if she was witnessing a most horrible catastrophe. There may have been some gnashing of teeth too! Well that's my excuse for not being able to do the vacuuming, what's yours?

Here are some photos from a more enjoyable time: in Grandma's garden.

Chomping on the doggie's ball was fun

Throw away all those fancy plastic toys...pegs in a pot are the best!

As of this week we have officially entered the "no" period. Oh oh! Raina's emphatic "no"s are accompanied by a fat-lipped pout and big frown. Any reprimand doesn't stand a chance in the face of such determination! Her baby-sign repertoire is steadily growing too: 'eat', 'drink', 'more', 'milk', 'thank you', 'book', 'sleep', 'prayer'; and we are working on 'cracker' at the moment. It is just so cool to see language and understanding unfold.

Now it's time to cheer and applaud: date night is back! After almost 14 months Darwin and I went out to a party TOGETHER last night and had a fabulous time! Happy Birthday again Corinne :) We were nervous, liberated and excited to be out amongst charming company and having lots of mature conversations. Thank heavens for grandparents!

Susu Mamas

In case you don't know Pidgin-English (spoken throughout the Pacific), "susu" means "milk" or "breast", and in PNG the Breastfeeding Association is aptly named, yep you've got it, Susu Mamas :) Well, this susu-mama and Raina celebrated World Breastfeeding Week with our local Susu Mamas group and ended up in the newspaper!

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall!

My calm-mother vibe was tested today when I saw Raina's screaming mouth fill up with blood after she lost her footing and fell over. At first I thought she had just cut her lip, but later realized that her top 4 teeth had made quite a dent in her tongue. My poor little sausage! The doctor said only time will heal it, they don't stitch up tongues. And it was the first time I've heard a doctor prescribe an ice cream and yoghurt diet! Okay, so the first fall is over. I am definitely not looking forward to the next one!

Walkabout

Raina is up and banging at the front door to go out walking as soon as breakfast is over. It has been amazing to see how confidently she is walking in just a matter of days...

One Year

Finally, some photos from Raina's birthday... has it already been a year?! Here's the whole album.

Cousin Lachlan helped Raina blow out the candle on her bunny rabbit cake

Here's Raina having a "Po-Knee" ride on Daddy's knee - he even gallops and neighs when you press his ear, a very entertaining pressie from Aunty Melanie and Uncle Leon.

Reading a new book word by word!

Raina takes Bus Number 11

Since last Friday Raina has been exploring the world on two feet instead of two knees. We had just borrowed some baby knee pads for her as her knees are all blistered up, but then she decided to take the plunge and really get walking. It's incredibly exciting to see the delight in your child's eyes as she makes it across the room, albeit teetering a little, but without any help. Perhaps hanging out with big cousin Lachlan that day provided some healthy competition!

Raina Joins a 12-Step Program

Tonight we saw Raina join a 12-step program. Twice she walked a total of twelve small steps on her own! It's very important not to count, make gestures or get too excited when she gets up on her feet, as she gets distracted easily and plops down on her bottom immediately. And you can't coax her to her feet; it all happens in her own good time. But it looks like she's going to be very mobile very soon - so watch out everyone!

On The Day That You Were Born

“On the day that you were born
the angels got together
and decided to create a dream come true.
So they sprinkled moondust in your hair
and golden starlight in your eyes of blue…”

We love you Raina! Happy 1st Birthday!

Not Sleeping, Waving

This morning, Raina was brought into our bed for an early feed. I awoke to find her next to me waving hello. What a nice way to start the day.

Tonight we saw Raina take two small, confident steps. She was in a great mood just before bath and bed time and she courageously took the steps between her Pink Cadillac and me. Precious moment!

A very important thing about today - July 11 - is that this is the date, four years ago, that Mei-Ling and I officially became engaged. We were in Nashville at the time and her parents were in Australia and my mother was in Germany, so rounding up everyone was a geographical challenge! Well, four years ... my how time flies.

Raina Likes...

...walking on her knees, pulling Mummy's hair clips out, riding on Daddy's horsey back, watching Grandpa's mobile phone light up, getting tickled by Grammie's white whispy hair, bananas, and bunny rabbits :)

Sunshine Escape

After such an eventful year of moving, new job, new baby, we decided it was high time for a relaxing getaway... Raina's two Grandmas joined us and we escaped the Sydney thunderstorms to spend 5 lovely days in Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. There were a lot of firsts for Raina - first plane trip, first swim, first spa, first time on the beach eating sand and chasing waves, boy that made her giggle! One of the highlights for us was going out to dinner, just the two of us, for the very first time since Miss Thing was born! Hooray for Grandmas :)

First plane trip for Raina!

Taking a stroll by the river...

Beach Babe :)

Four generations of women: We spent some special time with Grammie Featherstone - Mei-Ling's Grandma

On Sunshine Beach without much sun, but it was gorgeous just the same!

View our holiday photo album

5-Second Stand

Raina just hit 11 months and is now standing quite steadily on her own for about 5 seconds. When we get all excited and start applauding, she gets distracted and loses balance :)

Every day I am amazed at how much she knows already. Today we were sitting on the floor in the kitchen (one of our favourite hangout joints) and she was a bit whiny, so I asked: "Do you want a drink? Where's your water bottle?" Immediately she turned around and crawled into the living room. When I followed, I found her sipping water from her bottle. She knew exactly where she had left it, and it was the first time she demonstrated understanding "water bottle".

For the record, these are the words we know she understands so far:

• No! (Not sure about Yes yet)
• Bye-bye
• Car
• Walk, outside
• Hot
• Water, water bottle
• Ball, Bucket
• Hug, Kiss, Blow a Kiss
• Susu (milk in Pidgin) - she can also sign for milk and uses it for all food
• Nose, Fingers
• Raina, Daddy, Mummy, Grandpa
• Funky Monkey - her furry bedfellow
• Bunny Rabbit, Birdie, Fireflies, Doggy, woof-woof!

A Grand Adventure

My little brother left this week for a Grand Adventure in Ethiopia (via Dubai where he is visiting big sister Seff for a couple of weeks) ! He'll be doing a year of volunteer work at the One Planet International School in Addis Ababa. What a year it will be. We miss you already Bro!

Our latest family shot, taken on Mother's Day

On the homefront this week we had a 'Biggest Morning Tea' at Raina's little playgroup to raise money for the Cancer Council. Sohret put on a great spread and we all went home with delicious doggie bags. The kids had a great time trying out Halil's new see-saw and slippery-dip!

Raina and her boy-friends Tomas, Halil & Joshua :)

Why so serious, girl?

Happy Little Vegemite

Raina is definitely an Aussie kid now - she eats Vegemite on toast for breakfast and loves it! For all you non-Australians: yes, it may look like black tar, but it tastes great and is high in Vitamin B! Read a little history.

Pink Cadillac

Thanks to a little pink car from Aunty Su-Yin, Raina is taking her first steps. She just loves pushing her 'cadillac' around! She is 10 months old now and gets so hyped up playing chasey with Darwin and Grandpa Leong when they come in the door after work. She's also waving goodbye quite proficiently and likes to feed herself, thank you very much!

Driving Miss Raina

One doesn't get much of an opportunity to be spontaneous with a baby in tow, but today we did and we had a very enjoyable time pedalling around Centennial Park on a big bicycle that looked more like a golf buggy. Raina just loved it! Here's a short clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqS6lbArgOc

Hung Over!

Raina came home "hung over" today after hanging out at a swing club with Grandma Leong :)

Top Rack

Miss Thing is tripling her teeth right now - 4 new ones are coming down at once! Celery sticks and plastic bottle tops are the favourites for gnawing practice. Just as long as it's not Mummy!

Uncle Kim came over today and delighted Raina with funny faces and boat rides around the living room in the laundry basket. All the while we ran around the house cleaning frantically - it's amazing how much more you can get done without a little person underfoot.

Out As Long As In

Today Baby Raina is 9 months old! Naturally, we can hardly believe it; where do the days, weeks and months go? On the weekend just past, Grammie Nonna came to visit and taught her to say "mamma", which she can now say quite well, although she just doesn't know when to say it.

Raina is also very enamoured with the letters of her name, which are attached in very colourful designs to her bedroom door. Every time we carry her past, she has to play with them. We teach her "R..A..I..N..A spells Raina"!

On a sad note, My uncle Julian passed away over the weekend. He was 83 and had been doing quite poorly for a long time. He lived in LA with his beautiful Swedish wife, Margaretha, who took care of him for many years while he battled emphysema and cancer. Julian was a film producer and worked on a number of pictures, including "Unforgiven" with Clint Eastwood. The whole family will miss him very much.

Here is a picture of Uncle Julian, looking very happy and radiant!

Cute As

A lot of people having been saying lately how much Raina looks like me, and how cute she is. Well that's certainly true -- she does look a lot like me. But the cute is all her mum - her beautiful, charming and, yes, cute mum! - Darwin

Little Fingers

We started giving Raina finger foods this week and after several days of pushing/squishing/dropping it, yesterday she mustered up enough dexterity to put a piece of banana in her mouth. Bingo! It's so cool to see her mastering new skills.

RESPECT!

We had a lovely time this past weekend catching up with a dear friend from Nashville - Dorothy Marcic. She's down under to promote her musical "Respect: the Musical Journey of Women",
starring Rhonda Burchmore. We've been blessed to see it grow from a one-woman presentation to a four-woman show (starring our nieces Emily & Rachael), and now to a fabulous stage musical with live music, the whole works. You rock Dorothy! You must go and see the show if you have the chance. It is so inspiring. Here's a short description:

From "Someone to Watch Over Me" to "I will Survive." It's the journey of women, told through Top-40 music in the new musical production RESPECT: A Musical Journey of Women. From the codependence of "I will follow him" to the anger of "These Boots are Made for Walking," to the cynicism of "What's Love Got to Do with it," and finally to the strength of "Hero." Combining excerpts of 60 songs with women's own stories about finding dreams, lost love, relationship issues, entering the workforce, gaining independence, and more, this show is "exhilarating!" It's more than just a story worth telling, it's a must-see and must-hear.

Dorothy with Raina and Lorraine (Darwin's Mum)

Don't think that lemon will fit, Darlin'!

But she had to at least try...

Our "Coathanger" is 75!

For our family and friends outside of Australia, you might be interested to know that one of our most famous landmarks turns 75 today - the Sydney Harbour Bridge, lovingly called "the Coathanger"! Check out this photo of the harbour that was taken a couple of weeks ago during a pretty amazing electrical storm... amazingly, Raina slept right through all the booms and rattles!

Splish Splash

Kiddie pools were on sale today as we came out of the grocery shop so we couldn't resist! Cousin Lachlan came over and joined in the fun. Now we'll have to invest in a little swimsuit for Raina.

Now which book shall I read?

Our little girl just wants to stand up and see the world rather than study the carpet on all fours. Her favourite thing to do is to pull all the books and toys off her special shelf one by one. Her next favourite thing to do is to blow raspberries while chomping on a mouth full of food (she has two teeth now). Dear Daddy was covered in mashed potato the other day!

Happy Ayyam-i-Ha!

To celebrate these special "days out of time" we BBQed, exchanged pressies, had a star-decorating competition, and listened to 'Grandfather' Sears - can't have Ayyam-i-Ha without his fabulous storytelling!

Rachael Price Sings!

Check out our niece's new website: http://www.rachaelpricesings.com/

We may be a bit biased, but she's a fabulous jazz singer! Enjoy...

"...it was impressive...she is clearly a talent with extraordinary potential..." ~The Los Angeles Times

Toothy Grin

ANNOUNCE EMERGENCE PREMIER TOOTH BOTTOM JAW RAINA ROSLYN!

Australian Crawl

For the past couple of weeks Raina has been inching herself around the place and doing the "commando" thing, but yesterday she mastered full-coordinated crawling. Now she loves to follow us to the toilet and bathroom and lick the floor tiles! Our shoes and the pram wheels are also amongst her favourite taste-testing items.

In keeping with all this amazing development, Raina started clapping today. Yet another example of her learning something without us even trying to teach her. Naturally, it is so cute to see (and hear) a 6 month old baby applauding. We'll have to try and capture it on video some time!

Here is a short video of Raina crawling:

Half a Year Old!

In honour of her 6-month 'birthday' we fed Raina her first non-breastmilk food... guacamole! Well, it was actually very runny, mushy avocado, and she loved it. So far, so good with big people's food :) See a short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjTrDnOEHIw

She's on the Move!

Raina is pushing up on to her hands and knees now - she's a little wobbly, but determined to get moving soon! We saw her do her first official crawl move yesterday. She is so smiley these days and starts blowing rasberries from the moment her eyes flicker open at 5:30am, as if to say 'hey, what are you two doing still sleeping?' Sleeping in seems like ancient history! And hooray, the excessive drooling has subsided thanks to the introduction of a sippy cup - she has figured out how to swallow, even if most of the water ends up on her clothes at this point. We're just happy not to be washing so many bibs.

The Nashville-Sydney Connection

The Darling B&B has been busy in the last month with some very dear Nashvillean visitors: first Lishy Price, and then Marabeth Reichel.

Also popping in for a few days were Millie & Shahram, whose wedding we attended in Nashville, but who are now living in Holland. We had a fabulous time with them all, enjoying the company and catching up on all the news of our old hometown. Who wants to visit next? We're waiting for you!

The Jolly Season

It has been Christmas party time! Mei-Ling & Raina celebrated with the other mums and bubs at the early childhood centre...

...the Leongs had their traditional baked dinner with special musical entertainment from the Chandra counsins...

...and Santa got some extra elfin help this year...

If you're thinking, 'but Mei-Ling & Darwin are Baha'is, why are they celebrating Christmas?' then check this out: http://info.bahai.org/article-1-4-0-4.html

High Chair Yoga

Get fit in the new year! We are pleased to introduce High Chair Yoga by Swami Rainasvati. Personal training sessions available during mealtimes. Please bring your own high chair :D