Chinese New Year 2011

Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year, 2011 was really exciting for us. I believe every 'first' celebration together as a family is really exciting. I remember buying new clothes for both father and son really early. I believe I bought the clothes 1-2 months in advance! And yes, I was worrying quite a bit - what if Blake outgrows the clothes before Chinese New Year? Fortunately, one of the outfits was still a little big and the other fitted nicely :)

2 February 2011: The eve of Chinese New Year (CNY) was a belly-full event. We had steamboat at both our parents' place for dinner! Travelling with Blake was not much of an issue for us as our parents stay really near us, we could walk most of the time :) It was also really sweet of my dad for loaning us the car, just in case the weather changed or something.

From L to R: My father-in-law, Sean carrying Blake, me, and my mother-in-law

Didn't take any with my parents that year cos we were all so busy catching up!

3 February 2011: Day one of CNY was spent with the family. The morning was pretty rush for me as I had to get everything ready before Blake woke up. I have since come up with a smarter, and not so rushed, method of doing things. Pack everything the night before! I will be able to get more sleep too :P And if I throw in the clothes to be worn as well, there will be less to think and do the next day!

Once we were all ready, we stepped out of the house and walked over to my mother's place, where we had lunch with my cousins, uncles and aunties (Blake's aunts and uncles, grand-uncles and grand-aunts).

The star of the day was none other than Blake! Everyone wanted a piece of him, but the little boy is picky when it comes to who can carry him. I think only people with similar body structures to me or Sean were able to carry him.

4 February 2011: Day two of CNY, we did a little visiting.

We went to my paternal grandma's cousin's place. We call her Bei Po, which means elder grand-uncle's wife (I think. That's what my mom taught us to address her, from the time we could speak). I remember going to her place every year for CNY growing up, and visiting her place was always fun cos there will be tons of goodies for children to eat!

That year, we went over to her new place to pay her a long awaited visit, and to also introduce Blake to her. She became a great-grandmother not too long ago!

Here's my mom with Blake on her lap, giving mandarin oranges to Bei Po. It's a way of exchanging well wishes and greetings over CNY :)

We had an awesome time there. Blake really enjoyed himself! Good company makes babies feel comfortable and relaxed :)

After spending some time there, we went back home to enjoy the rest of the public holiday as a family, where we taught Blake how to hold the oranges. Hehe.

Gong Xi Gong Xi (our way of saying "good luck")