Spot of Leymond Cha

5th Wedding Anniversary!

2011-12-04T22:59:00.000+08:00

We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary recently; time flies- 5 years already! We took the day off to spend some time hanging out- just the 2 of us. I was very excited at the thought of our outing and spent ages planning what to do that day, as well as how to use some of the vouchers that I purchased online! Haha.

Hubby got me these- I love the perfume, and isn't the bottle just too cute? He sent the flowers to my office the day before our anniversary, so that was a sweet gesture. :)

We started the day with breakfast at Jalan Imbi- yummy bak kut teh! We were sooo stuffed after that though. We then went to Pavilion to do some shopping before heading off to catch a movie. I was so disappointed that there weren't any shows that we really wanted to watch, so we ended up just choosing something that hopefully wouldn't be too bad. And so.. we watched Petaling Street Warriors. Hmmm. I certainly wouldn't watch that again. :p

Next up was a late lunch at Tenjin, Grand Millennium hotel, where we used the Groupon I purchased. The food was really delicious. The sashimi was very fresh, and even the simple green tea ice-cream was superb! I would certainly not hesitate returning to Tenjin to dine.

We had a spa appointment at Solaris Dutamas next; again, we made use of some vouchers. Hehe. Overall the experience was quite ok; although I probably wouldn't go for a body mask again- it just feels too sticky and uncomfortable. We were pressured to sign up for a package after we were done, but we managed to 'escape' in the end, so that was ok.

For dinner, we initially considered trying out a luxurious degustation menu at Millesime, but since it would probably take too much time, plus we weren't sure if Chef Max Chin would be cooking, so in the end we just ended up having a simple and quick dinner at OverTime. Hardly romantic, and the food was so-so, but we were quite tired and my tummy wasn't feeling 100%, so I guess it was the best choice.

A rare day out just by ourselves!

Thank you dear God for 5 wonderful years together; and we humbly ask that you grant us many many more blessed years of walking with each other, and with You. Amen.

Trip to Ipoh- Nov 2011

2011-11-27T22:54:00.000+08:00

We made a trip to Ipoh in November to celebrate my grandparents' birthday (yes, both of them); it was my grandfather's 90th (Chinese) birthday!

We stayed at the Tower Regency hotel; the apartment we managed to book was decent and spacious, although I have to admit the hotel is rather run down for a place that is relatively new (about 2-3 years old).

The birthday dinner was quite good; and we had a nice time catching up with the relatives. I hope my grandparents enjoyed themselves; I'm sure they were happy to have so many family members celebrating with them. There were 4 generations there that day!

The next morning, before we came back to KL, we decided to visit the Kek Look Tong Cave Temple, a tourist attraction situated in the natural and picturesque area of Gunung Rapat in the south of Ipoh. It was pretty nice walking around and exploring the area for a little bit. The air in the cave was cool, and there were many stalactites and stalagmite formations to admire.

A short overnight trip; but well worth it I would say...

16th East Asian Actuarial Conference

2011-11-12T23:31:00.000+08:00

Nothing much to blog about the conference, except that it was a great opportunity to catch up with friends.

Check out the menu for the farewell dinner! The food that night was dismal, though.

Trip to Genting Highlands!

2011-11-05T23:05:00.000+08:00

Hubby’s company organized a trip toGenting recently and we brought the whole family along. Actually, it was more of me helping hubby to plan the trip and everyone just followed the plan! Haha.

The drive up to Genting was surprisingly short, and it took us only about 45 minutes or so to reach Gohtong Jaya.We stopped to visit the Genting Strawberry Farm, where we had a great time showing the kids how strawberries were grown. Armed with a pair of scissors and a basket, we also had fun ‘plucking’ strawberries, which we later purchased (about RM 6.50 per 100 grams I think). The strawberry farm is a great place to visit with the family, I would say.

We also had lunch in Gohtong Jaya beforemaking our way up to Genting itself. Lunch was ok, although we did find a tiny worm in the vegetable soup! Yikes. Ah well, can consider it as protein.:p

Crystal fruit

Mushrooms

Giant pumpkins

We managed to get an early check-in,and we were pleasantly surprised to find that the Family Room was quite new and nice. It had 2 double beds, a couch, and plenty of space to walk around, so the kids could run around a little bit. Our room was right next to the Outdoor Theme Park though, so while it provided an interesting view, it was quite noisy with all the screaming from the thrill rides.

We had a fairly nice break in Genting although we did not get to do much. It was raining a lot, with strong winds and a LOT of mist; at times it really felt like we were in some English countryside! Visibility was so low that we could not even see the theme park from our window most of the time. At night, the wind howled and moaned, and it was a tad scary, to be honest. The Outdoor Theme Park was also closed since the weather was so bad, which meant that everyone just congregated in the Indoor Theme Park making it terribly crowded! :(

We paid for an All-Day Pass for the IndoorTheme Park, but only got to go on 3 rides! Gosh, what a waste of money! I thought we could do more rides, but with kids, it's hard to do much,really. They get tired and cranky easily, and everything just takes more time when you travel with young children. Ah well.

One big gripe I have with the 'resort' (if you can call it that), is that it is AWFULLY unfriendly to young kids (who need strollers) and people with disabilities. There are stairs and escalators EVERYWHERE, which makes getting around a real nightmare. After the first evening, where we had to haul our 2 strollers around (thank God we had help from from hubby's colleagues), we learnt our lesson and from then on, we only took the lighter one out instead. It was a whole lot easier even though one of us had to carry one kid at any one time.

Guess the kids need to be older to enjoy Genting a bit more....

Glow-in-the-dark bowling

More on our little girl...

2011-10-26T23:44:00.001+08:00

Gosh. Updates on our little girl are waaaay overdue. So much has happened over the last few months- where should I start? Hmmm.

She started walking at around 11 months, which was really exciting to watch. When she could walk around a bit more, she would hold both arms up- bent at the elbow- to balance herself, and toddle around, with each leg somewhat 'flapping' in turn, swaying a little side-to-side. A bit like a penguin. Hilarious!! At one point she also liked to pat herself on her chest while she walked. Feeling proud of herself, I suppose. Heh.
She loves to explore and play on her own; she's quite independent that way. Good girl.
She does get bullied quite often (sigh); her brother loves to snatch her toys away and sometimes shoves or smacks her as well. We're working hard on trying to get him to be more civil towards her, and we're slowly seeing some improvement, so we do hope that continues. She's learnt to kick up a big fuss whenever she gets bullied, and at the rate she's growing, she'll probably be big enough to defend herself soon! :p
She's a real screamer- her screams and wails are seriously deafening.. and she's a real drama queen too!
Her motor skills are quite good as well, and her physical development does appear to be faster than her brother's at the same age. One of the things she can do is to swirl a ball in a 'bowl', which is not really that easy because it involves a certain amount of control to keep the ball from swirling out of the bowl.
Dancing- she loves that! It's sooo cute to see her pointing her fingers to the music, bending her knees and shaking her head and butt, and turning round and round :)
For some reason, she drools A LOT! So much so that a bib is perpetually round her neck. Hmm, we never had that problem with that for No.1....
She likes to 'smack'/pat pat me while I nurse her :p
She loves bouncing on things; if she sees us lying down somewhere she would climb onto our backs or tummies and bounce away!
She also loves bouncing and playing on the bed, which is actually quite dangerous. She's quite oblivious to the danger, going very near the edge of the bed, expecting us to always be there to catch her. Also, she loves to plonk backwards onto the bed! Such a playful little girl.
Sad to say, she's a chronic thumbsucker. She sometimes even uses the other hand to pat pat her elbow, thus helping to keep the thumb firmly in her mouth. She sucked her thumb so much that a nasty looking scab developed on it. Yuck. We've since devised a way to help wean her off her thumb, using a sock tied firmly over the hand. Of course, we've had to substitute her thumb with a pacifier, so now she's hooked on the latter instead. Sigh.

May God bless you, our little darling!

No.2's birthday celebrations...

2011-10-12T21:52:00.001+08:00

Hubby and I took the day off on our little girl's birthday and took the kids to MegaKidz in MidValley. It was a weekday so we virtually had the entire place to ourselves, which was nice. The ball pit was being cleaned though, so that was rather disappointing, as the kids absolutely love playing with balls.

Scary-looking slide..

My dear mummy cooked a lovely dinner for all of us- featuring noodles, of course!

In addition to her birthday party, we had another 2 mini-celebrations for our little girl. Check out the makeshift 'cakes' we had- a muffin 'cake' and a doughnut 'cake'. Haha!

Hubby and I bought her a new toy, which was of course 'hijacked' by her older brother. Sigh. It's really tough trying to teach No.1 about sharing; we hope and pray that both kids will learn to get along better as they grow up together.

May our good Lord watch over you always, our little darling! Blessed birthday! :)

Our little girl turns ONE!

2011-10-09T22:14:00.001+08:00

Time flies- our little girl turned one in early October! We threw a birthday party for her the weekend before and both kids had a great time!

Our little boy was busy messing about with the helium balloons with his friends (the balloons were a real hit with the kids, and each kid got to bring 1 or 2 balloons home); and the birthday girl was smiling from ear-to-ear from all the attention she was getting as the star of the night.

We ordered a lovely cake from Choffles- complete with a Baby TV theme. Isn't it amazing? I got the decoration ideas from all the research I did online, and hubby drew a sketch for Choffles to follow. We were super-duper pleased with how the cake turned out; the looks on all the kids' faces (and all the oohs and aahs from everyone) when we unveiled the cake was simply priceless! Hmm.. looks like every cake we order from now on has got to top the previous one- oh no! :p

Check out the lovely gifts our little girl received- thanks everyone!

And to our precious little girl- HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! We love you so very very much.

*HUGS*

Beautiful Maddy

2011-10-05T22:36:00.004+08:00

I stumbled upon this blog about a year ago via Facebook. The writer and I have a mutual friend, and one day I chanced upon a comment that my friend left on her friend's wall, leading me to this amazing blog.

I truly believe God led me there. I was in my confinement period after delivering my little girl; and things were very hard. I was crying often and feeling crappy most of the time; partly due to the crazy hormones and the challenges of breastfeeding. Reading this blog actually made me cry even more, but it was a great reminder that the opportunity to be a mother is a blessing from God, and one that I would not trade for the world, despite it being a really tough job.

Maddy is about a few months older than my little girl, and she has Diastrophic Dysplasia, a rare form of dwarfism. This wonderful blog is mainly written by her mother, Nicole, and in it she displays an amazing amount of courage, optimism, strength and love. She writes about learning to live with their 'new normal', and her writing gives me a glimpse of her own motherhood journey. She writes about her feelings, her thoughts, Maddy's medical challenges, and through her writing I have learnt so much about dwarfism... but more importantly, what it means to be a mother.

As mothers we all hope for our children to be perfect and healthy, and sometimes, we may even take it for granted and just assume that will be the case. But sometimes, God allows the special mothers to be given special children, and along with it, He will supply an amazing amount of strength and grace. And that is why we read of mothers (and also fathers, of course) who will sacrifice anything and everything for the love of their child. And what amazing stories are those!

I have been so touched and humbled by this blog that I dropped Nicole a message on Facebook to tell her that, and she was gracious enough to send me a short reply. I still follow this blog closely and try to keep the family in my prayers; sometimes it feels like I 'know' little Maddy although I have never met her. She is such an adorable and beautiful little girl! :)

Do check out Nicole's blog if you can; start by reading 'Maddy's Story' and work your way from there. There is also one particular post written by Maddy's father- Bernard, which I guarantee will bring tears to your eyes.

May the Lord bless you and keep you always, lovely little Maddy!

Bangkok Trip- Day 4 (Last Day)

2011-10-01T22:55:00.001+08:00

We went back to the Platinum Fashion Mall bright and early the next morning; even the taxi driver snickered, saying that it was still closed. When we got there, almost all the stalls were indeed closed, save for a few. Hmm.

Nevertheless, we took our time walking around slowly, and watched as the mall slowly came alive. Most of the early morning visitors were those getting their stock for their businesses elsewhere.

Needless to say, we bought loads of stuff! Shopping is so much fun when things are affordable. Plus, shopping in the mall is so comfortable, as opposed to sweating it out in outdoor markets. That really tires you out after a while.

When we were done shopping (or rather, when we absolutely HAD to leave to catch our flight); we went back to our hotel, freshened up, and made our way to the airport.

The airport is actually quite nice, as you can see from the photos below. I was hoping to catch a foot reflexology massage at the airport, but we didn't have enough time. Too bad.

We had a nice trip, but we were glad to be going home. We really missed the children!

Check out the stuff we bought! :)

Bangkok Trip- Day 3 (Shopping and Eating)

2011-09-30T23:42:00.001+08:00

Our next stop after Dusit Palace was the Platinum Fashion Mall in Pratunam. We planned to have a quick lunch and then spend a bit of time shopping; the idea was to head back to the hotel before the traffic jams started.

Boy, we severely underestimated how much time we would take to shop there. First of all, the place is HUGE! The mall caters to wholesale buyers, which means there were loads of people dragging huge bags (the big China-stripey-plastic ones) around the mall. If you are a retail customer, you can usually still get items at wholesale prices, if you purchase 3 pieces from one shop (mixing of items is allowed). The downside is you cannot try the items before you buy them.

We went absolutely nuts in the mall. After 2 hours, we only covered 2 floors! And most of it was spent shopping for clothes for the kids, especially for our little girl. I bought sooo many outfits for her! Everything felt so cheap! I can totally understand how a business model like this could work; even after factoring in the air ticket cost, someone in KL could probably still make some profit by buying stuff here and selling it back home (say at a weekend market or something).

We had dinner plans, so we decided to tear ourselves away from the shops, head back to the hotel... and return to the mall the next day! We effectively sacrificed a trip to Chatuchak Market for this, but I guess that was ok.

Dinner was really yummy, and it was really wonderful catching up with friends. I had a strawberry+pineapple+mango+apple+lychee drink (no kidding!); so that was a bit of a laugh. The tom yum was really delicious- the soup had slices of coconut flesh in it, so that was quite unique. We had lots of seafood- big prawns, squid, fish, and other yummy dishes. I for one certainly ate until I was ready to burst!

Bangkok Trip- Day 3 (Dusit Palace)

2011-09-30T22:31:00.001+08:00

For the longest time, I could not decide on what to do for our third day in Bangkok. I contemplated visiting Ayutthaya, but that would have taken the entire day. In the end, the decision was to visit Dusit Palace instead.

Dusit is a district that is very different from the rest of Bangkok. It has wide avenues and a leafy, European feel. Dusit Palace is a massive complex of royal residences and palaces in many different styles.

Our first stop in the Dusit Palace complex was Vimanmek Mansion- touted as the world's largest golden teak building. We entered for free with our Grand Palace entry ticket (which remains valid for a week)- found this helpful tip on Wikitravel (absolutely LOVE this website). I'm so glad I spent time researching and planning; would never have known about things like these otherwise.

Vimanmek Mansion was quite interesting. It was quite odd seeing all the European-themed rooms inside a big wooden mansion- talk about a clash of cultures! We had to follow a compulsory guided tour, and visitors were only allowed to enter in 'approved' groups, so there was strictly no wandering around on your own. We even had to pass through metal detectors before we could go in! A bit overkill, I thought.

Vimanmek Mansion

Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall- a mix of Victorian and Islamic influences.

Used as an exhibition hall to display local arts and craft

The highlight of our visit to Dusit Palace was the Ananda Samakhom Throne Hall, constructed in the Italian Renaissance and Neo-Classical style of architecture. We actually stood in front of this huge building, thinking whether we should go in (we were so exhausted), but in the end we were so glad that we did.

The interior of the domes are decorated with paintings depicting the history of the Chakri Dynasty, which may not seem significant to anyone reading this, but seeing it is a totally different experience. Where do we usually see domes? In European churches, of course. So it was very odd seeing domes decorated with an Asian theme, haha.

This building houses amazingly beautiful arts and crafts made with traditional Thai techniques. The items on display were really exquisite- there were carvings, embroidery, and so much more. If you're visiting Dusit Palace, a visit to this Ananda Samakhom Throne Hall is a must. In fact, I think this is much more interesting than Vimanmek Mansion, which felt a tad overrated.

Too bad we could not take any photos inside! Sigh.

My gripe with Dusit Palace is that you have to remove your shoes and store ALL your belongings (no camera, handphone, etc) in the lockers before you enter EACH building, which gets really tiresome after a while. Plus, the palace complex is really huge, which means a lot of walking in the hot sun getting from one building to another. We didn't see all the buildings, of course; that would have taken waaay too long.

Phew, what a morning!

Bangkok Trip- Day 2 (Massage & Patpong)

2011-09-29T22:28:00.001+08:00

No.. it wasn't a massage in Patpong. Nothing quite as dodgy, haha.

We planned to go for a massage while we were in Bangkok, but the place I had in mind involved travelling to get there. In the end, we decided to just check out the massage outlets in the shopping mall across the road from our hotel, which made the whole affair far more convenient.

There were plenty to choose from, and in the end we opted for the one that looked the most decent, which was also the most expensive. Come to think of it, the price could have been rather high by Bangkok standards. 1350 baht per person for an aromatherapy massage and a foot reflexology massage; total time about 1.5 hours (if I recall correctly).

Couple room, complete with shower facilities

The massage was just so-so; not really that great. I actually had to request for MORE pressure to be applied, which is quite unusual, since my pain threshold is rather low. Haha :p

After getting a bit of rest, we headed off to Patpong to have dinner. I read about this Japanese curry place named Shin Emon, which I thought would be a hit with hubby. He likes Japanese curry, but I don't (think it's weird that curry tastes so sweet). Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised, as the curry was really quite yummy- not that sweet and with a nice peppery flavour to it.

The restaurant is very very small, it's basically one lengthy bar where the guests sit next to each other. Just open the sliding door, and the bar stools are practically in front of you. That's how tight the space is.

Nightlife in Patpong

We walked through Patpong after dinner, but it didn't really feel like much was going on, possibly because we were there quite early in the night. Our main destination was actually the Jim Thompson flagship store on Surawong street; where we ended up spending a lot of time (and money). I later found out that the outlets in the airport sell the same stuff at lower prices (no VAT), so that was a real bummer! Of course, the selection was not as varied... (this is me trying to console myself). Darn.

What an eventful Day 2 in Bangkok! :)

Bangkok Trip- Day 2 (Wat Pho)

2011-09-27T23:24:00.000+08:00

Our next stop was Wat Pho, popularly known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. It is somewhat next to the Grand Palace, but somehow the walk there seemed rather long. Must be the heat, I guess.

The Reclining Buddha is enormous; getting a good photo was really difficult!

The amazing statue is gold plated, 46 metres long, 15 metres high, with inlaid mother-of-pearl soles.

There is more to Wat Pho than just the Reclining Buddha; it is apparently home to more than one thousand Buddha images, more than any other temple in the country.

There are also massage services at Wat Pho; apparently this temple is also a famous centre of education for traditional Thai medicine and massages. We did not give it a try though; Thai massages are really not my thing- I find them a bit too 'vigorous' for my liking. I wouldn't call a Thai massage relaxing! Haha.

Funny sign seen on the way to the pier :)

We also sought out the Museum of Siam, but when we finally got there, we found out that the entrance fee was something like RM 30 per person, which I thought was waaay too expensive. And so, we decided to give the museum a miss.

What next? Back to Saphan Taksin station via boat, of course! :)

Bangkok Trip- Day 2 (The Grand Palace)

2011-09-26T20:46:00.001+08:00

Our 2nd day in Bangkok was a busy one. We took the Skytrain to Saphan Taksin station and transferred onto the express boat, cruising down the Chao Phraya into Rattanakosin, the 'older' part of Bangkok. The boat ride was a really enjoyable and relaxing experience.

Wat Arun

The original plan was to visit Wat Pho before the Grand Palace, but we were running a little bit late, so we decided to see the Grand Palace first. And when I mean late- it was only around 8:45 to 9 a.m. when we got there! Thankfully we were there early; tourists visit the Grand Palace by the busloads, and you really need to get there early to have a bit more space to yourself.

The Grand Palace is really beautiful; the colours are bold and rich, and there are heaps of photo opportunities. This is my second time visiting the Grand Palace, but I still enjoyed it very much. The only dampener was the hot and humid weather. And this was in the morning! Gosh. Also, it gets really crowded by 10 a.m. or so.

Garudas and Nagas, decorating the exterior of the Ubosoth, the main building of Wat Phra Kaew- the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand, which houses the Emerald Buddha

Model of Angkor Wat

Chakri Maha Prasat Hall- built in a European neo-classical style, but with a Thai roof on top

We were exhausted by the time we were done with the Grand Palace. Next stop- Wat Pho, but not before stopping to grab a cold drink at a small cafe to recharge our batteries. More about Wat Pho in the next post!

Bangkok Trip- Day 1

2011-09-24T23:34:00.000+08:00

The last time hubby and I went travelling on our own was in March 2010. We really needed a break to recharge, and thanks to my parents- who kindly agreed to babysit the kids fulltime for a few days- we decided to make a trip to Bangkok.

I spent countless hours planning for the trip. People who know me well know that I love planning for trips. I read up on travel websites, did heaps of research, did the budget and planned the itinerary. All in all, I would not be surprised if I spent more hours on the research and planning, then the amount of time we actually spent in Bangkok. Seriously, I am not kidding. I basically know Bangkok like the back of my hand now. Hahaha.

At the airport

We stayed at the Holiday Inn on Ploenchit Road (as opposed to the one in Silom), and paid about RM 400 per night (we took the Breakfast & Beer promotion). These rates were a bit on the high side, considering this is Bangkok, and there are a lot of hotel choices at even lower rates. However, we had no regrets staying there- the location was excellent, in the distinctly more upmarket Ratchaprasong district, close to all the major shopping areas like Siam Paragon and Central World Plaza.

Hotel lobby

We then went to check out the Erawan Shrine, which was literally just across the road. There were many people praying and laying their offerings at the shrine, and it felt more like a local destination then a touristy one, even though it was right in the middle of the shopping area.

Flower garland offerings for sale

Next was lunch at the FoodLoft, this interesting 'food court' at Central Chidlom. A card is given to each diner; you order your food at the different stalls, get the card scanned, and then you pay at the checkout when you leave. Simple, and without the hassle of digging for cash at the different stalls. Photos are not allowed at FoodLoft, but we managed this, taken from the outside.

We headed back to the hotel room for some rest, before venturing out again in the late afternoon. I was feeling unwell; my throat was scratchy and my feet were hurting, plus some blisters were already beginning to develop on my feet. Darn. Don't know why this keeps happening to me when I travel.

We walked to Siam Paragon using the SkyWalk, an ingenious way of making use of the 'MRT' infrastructure, where another pedestrian walkway is built below the 'MRT' track, so both trains and people can 'travel' along the same route. This makes the area much more pedestrian-friendly, which is helpful for a congested city like Bangkok.

Bangkok's infamous traffic jams

We walked around Siam Paragon, which is this huge high-end shopping mall. It was quite interesting exploring the mall, but in general, things were waaay too expensive.

The food areas were the most interesting; there was a gourmet supermarket, a food court with aquariums (Siam Ocean World is in Siam Paragon), and many small restaurants in a 'food market' setting (but each with their respective dining areas).

Dinner was a simple and quick affair. Nothing fancy- pineapple fried rice, tom yum, and a interesting prawn & egg omelette.

We were quite surprised to find that the malls in Bangkok close quite early- around 9 to 9:30 pm. For the journey back to the hotel, we decided to take the train instead. It was only 1 train stop away, but distance-wise it's quite a long way to walk, which is not that much fun given the heat and humidity!

Celebrating mum-in-law's birthday at Chyniis!

2011-08-30T22:23:00.001+08:00

Chyniis.... where all the chinese go to eat (pardon the pun).

Anyway, we celebrated dear mum-in-law's birthday here back in August. Chyniis is in SStwo mall, this relatively new mall which hubby was involved in designing, and for which his company won an award, might I add! So proud of my hubby, heh :)

Back to the food. The food was good, as expected, but also rather pricey (again, as expected).

I like their Crispy Pork Belly with Rolled Chargrilled Cuttlefish. The textures of both main ingredients are quite similar though, i.e. both are crispy and sticky, so it might get too much for the palate after a while. Better in smaller portions, I would think.

We also tried their Baked Giant River Prawns with 'Dang Gui' and Butter; a rather interesting dish, but I'm not a big fan of anything 'herbal-ly' so I guess I'll stick to their 'sang har meen' if I dine there again. Now that, is REALLY good.

Overall, a great night out with good food, and good company.

Happy birthday mum-in-law! We love you! :)

Visit to the KL Zoo

2011-08-28T22:50:00.001+08:00

Believe it or not, but I've actually never been to the KL Zoo before. The Singapore Zoo yes, but not the KL one.

We thought it was a good idea to continue the experience with animals, so we decided to take the children to the zoo. The reviews I came across were generally not that good, so I reminded the hubby to go with lower expectations.

First up were the giraffes; we were walking round the bend and there they were- such beautiful, elegant creatures. Think No.1 was quite stunned to see them! Haha.

Free range birds? ;)

Some of the 'majestic' animals like the lions and tigers really did look rather sad. One lion looked like it was malnourished, poor thing.

Camel- aptly sponsored by AmBank Group

I think the orang utan enclosure was the most well-maintained one in the entire zoo. At least they looked fairly happy. We spent a lot of time there, since there was a small rest area where we could take a break and feed the children.

Call me weird, but my favourite section in zoos are the reptiles. There's just something about them- scary yet fascinating as the same time. And you can see them up close behind the safety of a glass window. Heh.

Overall, I really would not have that many good things to say about this zoo. Some of the enclosures were dark and dirty- as they were for the bears. I felt so sorry for them. Even I felt depressed walking through the area; can't imagine what it is like for those poor animals.

Then again, if I recall correctly, apparently this zoo is not really funded by the government, and they source for funding on their own. If that is true, I guess they're already trying their best, to manage with what they have.

Groupon craze!

2011-08-27T22:28:00.000+08:00

I've recently discovered the wonders of shopping online for discounted deals. It's highly highly addictive and it's come to the stage where I check all my favourite websites every day. Yikes.

And there are so many of them- Groupon, MyDeal, Everyday, Milkadeal, Streetdeal, ILoveDiscounts, etc!

I've made some purchases as well, and I've used some of the vouchers, including some for a Japanese meal, a big tub of Lecka-Lecka gelato at 50% off, hairdressing services and a massage. Not too bad, although one must be careful with the food-related discounts. I really didn't think that the Japanese meal deal was 'worth it'- so to speak- as it didn't feel like a genuine discount. Perhaps the portions were scaled down, or the original price of the meal on the discount website was inflated. Hmmm.

Overall, I think this new hobby of mine has resulted in me spending more $$$! Sigh.

Sing-Along!

2011-08-25T23:01:00.000+08:00

Our little boy loves to sing. When he was younger, he loved to do what I call 'fill-in-the-blanks' singing, which goes something like this:

Us: Twinkle twinkle little..

Him: *STAR*

Us: How I wonder what you

Him: *ARE*

....

You get the idea. Hehe.

Now that he's older, he's can sing entire songs, complete with a pretty decent tune, and it's just so cute to watch.

Some of the things that he can sing (either whole or in part):

- Twinkle twinkle little star

- This old man

- London Bridge

- BINGO

- Yankee Doodle

- ABC song

- Head & shoulders

- One, two, three, four, five

- Sing a song of sixpence

I'm sure I've missed some; but this is all I can recall off-hand...

His favourite? I would say 'Yankee Doodle', since he wants that to be sung to him at night when we pat him to sleep!

Sigh. He can be so cute sometimes! :)

Visiting the KL Bird Park

2011-08-22T23:16:00.003+08:00

We made a trip to the KL Bird Park during the fasting month, with the hope that there wouldn't be too many people there. And we were quite right!

We got there nice and early, and it was nice walking around before it got too hot. The park was shadier than I expected, which was a nice surprise.

The first area we stepped into was the Love Aviary. There were some birds flying freely, so that got everyone excited! Some of them were just gorgeous-Sun Conures, if I recall correctly.

Such a funny photo!

We had a really great time at the Bird Park. We had loads of fun feeding the parrots, and there was even an area where we could get up close and personal with little chicks and ducklings! I think it's a really great idea for kids to see and touch the little birds, especially for city kids who have rather limited exposure to nature. Needless to say, our little boy spent a lot of time watching them.

We managed to get some great photos as well, thanks to hubby, even though the zoom on our DSLR sucks. (We would really like to upgrade our lens, but it's sooo expensive! Sigh.) He made the effort to get close enough, and position the shot so that the cage wires don't look too obvious, which certainly takes some skill.

What a great day! :)

Going over to the dark side...

2011-08-19T23:18:00.005+08:00

On my journey back home to KL, the immigration line was again quite long; thank God I made it to the airport with enough time to spare.

I still had not bought any gifts for my kids yet, so I was really happy to see a Disney store there! I rushed to the baby nursery to express for a bit, and then ran over to the Disney store to pick up some bits and pieces. Gosh, everything there is so expensive! :p

After that I popped over to another store to buy some local delicacies, such as the famous 'wife cake' (loh por peng) and then started to make my way to my boarding gate.

And guess what I saw? Another Coach outlet!

With only 10 minutes to spare before boarding time, I decided to walk into the store. And then, I saw a bag which was very similar to the one I almost bought at Citygate, but this was in a colour I really liked, AND it was RM200 cheaper than the one in Citygate!

Was it an impulse buy? Oh dear, I certainly hope not (nevermind the fact that I decided to buy the bag in under 10 minutes, and then ran to the boarding gate like a madwoman :p).

And so, I went over to the dark side. Drat.

Trip to Hong Kong- Day 4

2011-07-30T22:28:00.007+08:00

My final (half) day in Hong Kong was a manic one. I got up really early in the morning as I planned to meet dimsuminthecity in town, and I needed to allow time for expressing (milk, that is), grab a quick breakfast, check-out, leave my luggage at the airport and catch the Airport Express to Hong Kong.

Phew.

Photos of the Regal Airport Hotel

On board the Airport Express

Taken during the train journey (the window panes were tinted)

I had a great time catching up with my friends, and it was wonderful seeing little J. He's such a cute little boy! It was nice to chat after such a long time; we only get to meet up once a year (at the most).

After that, I did the craziest thing ever. I got off at Tsing Yi station on the Airport Express return journey, and made my way back to Citygate! Sigh, I'm such a sucker. My destination? The Coach outlet! I spent the looongest time there, pondering first over which bag to buy, and then after that, in which colour. Groan.

I made my choice, queued to pay, and when I checked the merchandise, I found some tiny defects so I asked the sales staff to get me another bag. The next one had the same defect, and the next one as well! By this time I was getting really nervous as I had to rush back to the airport to catch my flight home. And so I changed my mind about buying and left the shop in a huff! I bet the sales staff really hated me! :p But hey, if something costs THAT much, surely I would expect it to be perfect?!? Hmmph.

And so, my money was safe.. for a while more.

Trip to Hong Kong- Day 3

2011-07-29T21:59:00.002+08:00

As soon as the conference ended the next day, we pretty much zoomed off to check out the famous Citygate shopping outlet; where branded goods are apparently available at huge discounts.

Now I'm not a big fan of branded goods; I just can't bring myself to spend THAT much $$ on bags/shoes/whatever. I do like this particular Burberry bag, but it costs RM2k+ and I think my money could be put to much better use. Like paying my mortgage. Or saving up for my kids' education. Hmmm.

Anyway, I did manage to buy some stuff at some of the shops. A pair of Crocs; and some other bits and pieces, so that was good. I did spend a lot of time at the Coach outlet, agonising over the thought of whether to actually buy something.

'Should I buy?' Yes, just buy- give myself a treat for working so hard!

'No, I don't need it! Don't go over to the Dark Side!'

And this went on and on and on. Until it was closing time. And so, my money was safe... Or so I thought.

Watch out for the next few posts! ;)

Trip to Hong Kong- Day 2

2011-07-28T22:24:00.001+08:00

The conference was held over the next 2 days, and it was a pretty good experience getting to know people in the other companies within the Group. I joined the Corporate Planning sessions; it was a small group and I pretty much already knew everyone there, so I settled in quite comfortably.

I found the buffet lunch really yummy- although the selection was not that extensive, there were interesting dishes like 'Lamb with Coconut' and 'Chicken with Strawberry Gravy', which were really quite nice. I had some mussels too- and they were delicious! Now I've had a lot of mussels in my time, but I reckon those were probably the best I've ever tasted. Amazingly fresh and sweet. Yummy!

Dinner was hosted by the conference organisers, and we went to this apparently famous place named Yue Kee, to try their roast goose. The food that night was just so-so, although there were lots of 'good stuff' like abalone, dried scallops, fresh scallops, etc. There was waaay too much food though, and it was such a pity to see so much of it go to waste.

Geese tongues in the bottom right corner.. ewww

One thing I saw for myself that night- the Japanese can REALLY drink! By the end of the night, most of them were practically just standing around and downing alcohol like there was no tomorrow. Haha.

Trip to Hong Kong- Day 1

2011-07-27T21:08:00.003+08:00

I had the opportunity to attend a regional conference in Hong Kong recently. It was a short trip, and I didn't have the luxury of extending my stay, so I had to try and squeeze in as many things as I could in the little time that I had there.

The few of us travelling together caught an early flight to Hong Kong, and by the time we cleared the long line at Immigration, and checked in at the hotel (which was only right next to the airport, mind you) it was already past 2 pm!

After settling down a little bit, we caught a taxi to Tsim Sha Tsui. Our destination (or rather, my destination; everyone else just decided to tag along)- the Hong Kong Museum of History! I really do have this thing for museums. It was a bit hard moving in a group; I really wanted to maximise my time at the museum, but by the time we got everyone together and reached there, it was already 4:30 pm! Sigh.

We even stopped to have a late lunch... I would have been quite happy to grab a bun and eat it on the go, but the others wanted to stop, and so we did. And how was lunch? Dreadful. A total waste of time. The broth tasted like peanut butter was added in, and the noodles were nothing to shout about. I had something like this before at Crystal Jade in KL and made the mistake of ordering this again. Cheh.

The Hong Kong Museum of History is really quite amazing. It features galleries that 'tell the Hong Kong story' in innovative and interesting ways. I read all the reviews and tips on TripAdvisor (luckily I did that), and skimmed through the earlier galleries because the later ones were more interesting. We only had 1.5 hours anyway, so we had to make do.

Towers of buns..

They even have replicas of boats and a tram, so the experience felt really authentic! I would highly recommend this museum to anyone visiting Hong Kong.

After the museum closed, we walked around the Tsim Sha Tsui for a bit, before settling down to have a quick dinner at a 'char chan teng'. I had a baked rice dish, which was pretty similar to what we can get here at Kim Gary. Overall, just a so-so dining experience.

Updates on our little girl

2011-07-24T12:14:00.010+08:00

It has been ages since I last blogged about our little girl's progress. She is 9.5 months now so I have loads of catching up to do!

As at mid-June (about the 8-mth mark):

Noticed her first tooth emerging
Oh, and she could clap her hands too! So fun.
She could crawl (sort of); and she does it on her knees (NOT like an army crawl, if you know what I mean)
She used to get into this cat-like position; like a cat stretching. All four limbs are straight and the body is off the ground. (Now that she already can crawl, the opportunities to get photos of her doing this are virtually nil! :p)
She could revert to a sitting position from a crawling position.
She regularly tried to pull herself up to a standing position.

She started crawling well at 9 months, and could finally stand up by herself at the end of June. And now, as I write this, she is already 'cruising' all over the house!

Looks like girls really do achieve physical development milestones faster than boys! Haha.

Kuching Trip- Day 3

2011-06-07T23:15:00.002+08:00

There wasn't time to do much on our last day in Kuching. After breakfast, we decided to go in search of the famous cat statues. For some strange reason, we had not seen any yet!

We only had time to see one; since we didn't know where the others were, and we had a flight to catch. One is better than none, I suppose... Heh.

The only cat statue we managed to see

Hornbills in the hotel lobby

Checking out was quick and smooth, and soon we were on our way to the airport. The little one was so tired he fell asleep in the stroller while we browsed the shops at the airport.

Watching a plane getting a 'shower'

This time he stayed awake throughout the flight, and he coped well with the take-off and the landing. Thank God. I was so afraid he would have motion sickness or have a meltdown and refuse to stay in his seat.

Overall, it was quite a good trip. We did not get to do much, but I really enjoyed the time we spent with our little boy. I think he enjoyed having the both of us all to himself as well (just like the old days before his sister came along).

For me, the trip gave me some much-needed exclusive time with my son, and I am very grateful for that time of bonding. He seems to be closer to me after our Kuching trip; and for that, I thank You, Lord.

Kuching Trip- Day 2

2011-06-05T23:03:00.001+08:00

We started the day with a buffet breakfast at the hotel. We fed him whatever we could- yogurt (one of his favourite foods), a little bit of noodles, crackers, etc. Not much, really.

We then made our way to the Sarawak Museum. I was quite excited about that (I have this thing for museums). Heh.

Unfortunately, we found the museum poorly maintained- the exhibits were dusty and falling apart, and the display cases were really dark (poor lighting), which just made everything rather depressing. A shame, really, considering Sarawak has such a rich cultural heritage and such wonderful flora and fauna. Even the windows and blinds had thick layers of dust, so it was really quite gross. Is this how we showcase our country to tourists? Oh dear.

One of the more interesting exhibits

We ended up just visiting the old wing, as the new wing was across the road and we had to use an overhead bridge to get there. No mean feat, considering we had a stroller with us, so we decided to give it a miss. We were quite tired, in any case. Chasing a toddler around a dusty museum can be quite exhausting! :p

We then went in search of some Sarawak Laksa (the only 'local' fare we had during our trip- so sad, I know), and found the famous one at the Lau Ya Keng foodcourt (at least I hope we got the right place- the signboard wasn't in English so we couldn't tell for sure). But the directions did say it was opposite a chinese temple, with a famous pisang goreng stall in front, so I guess we did eat at the right place! Haha.

The laksa was really yummy- it was sourish and peppery; interesting. The pisang goreng was delicious as well; it literally melts in your mouth! Mmmm. Just thinking about it makes me hungry.

We picked up some souvenirs along the Main Bazaar, and walked all the way back to our hotel again. We hung out at a really small shopping centre for a while (while the little boy napped in his stroller), had lunch after that, and made our way back to the hotel. Needless to say, we were soooo tired.

We got some rest in the afternoon, and at night we went for our friend's wedding dinner. I was quite impressed to see that people in Kuching actually came on time for the dinner; perhaps being late for wedding dinners is a KL thing? :p

The dinner flew by in a blur for us; I didn't get to chat that much with my ex-colleagues, since the little one was tired and cranky, and even made a scene during one of the speeches. Fortunately we were seated at the back, near the door, which made going in and out of the ballroom a whole lot easier. Gosh, we didn't even the chance to take a photo (using our own camera) with the bride and groom! So sad.

Phew- what a tiring day!

Kuching Trip- Day 1

2011-06-03T22:05:00.000+08:00

We started the day really really early, getting No.2 ready for the few days with her grandparents, and No.1 ready for the busy morning ahead. We caught the KLIA express to the airport, and being No.1's first time on a train, he was really excited! He behaved really well, looking out the window and chatting loads. We even managed to see a rainbow! It was all very exciting for him. He ate his breakfast on the train as well so that was good.

Check-in at the airport went smoothly, and we spent some time wandering around the shops. He was rather fascinated by the big Toblerone ferris wheel, and spent quite a bit of time playing with the M&M's candy fans. After all that excitement, he got tired and cranky, and started acting up. He had a meltdown, wanting his daddy to carry him; and when we would not give in, he screamed the place down, sitting on the floor and clinging on to his daddy's leg. Yikes. Thank God he calmed down after a while, and we managed to make our way to the boarding gate.

The little guy managed to stay awake until we boarded the plane; he was so exhausted that he fell asleep while the plane was taxiing on the runway. He slept for most of the journey, and woke up only when there was about half an hour of flying time left. He did get the chance to look out the window and got all excited at the sight of white, fluffy clouds. Heh.

Travelling to our hotel by taxi was also fun for him; he was talking non-stop about anything and everything! So cute.

Our room at Pullman Kuching was nice and spacious, with a great view to boot.

The luxurious bathroom

We had a quick lunch at the small shopping mall connected to the hotel, and then took a much-needed nap. All of us were soooo tired!

Later, we took an evening walk down the Kuching Waterfront, which was rather interesting. However, our hot and humid weather does make going outdoors quite uncomfortable after a while.

We ended up having dinner at The Junk, which serves western fare. It was quite hard to find, and we were about to give up and go back to the hotel to dine, when we suddenly caught sight of the restaurant. We had lamb shank, fish and chips, and our little guy had some bread with asparagus soup, as well as some chips. He's not very adventurous with food, so it was quite tough trying to figure out what to feed him.

We walked back (uphill) to the hotel after dinner; and realised that we must have walked something like a few km with the stroller that evening! Luckily our little boy behaved himself and stayed in his stroller- I can't imagine carrying him all that distance! Yikes.

I had to pump and dump during our Kuching trip, but I managed to sneak some into the little guy's milk feed at night, so not all of it had to go to waste. He didn't notice it though, so that was good. Was half-afraid he might reject the whole bottle on account of it tasting different. :p

Coffee, tea or juice?

2011-06-02T21:28:00.001+08:00

We made a trip to Kuching last month, and we brought No.1 along. It was his first time taking a flight, so it was very exciting for all of us. We tried to prepare him for the flight by telling him what to expect, and one of the things we had the most fun with was this:

Us (pretending to be the air stewardess): Hi boy, do you want coffee, tea or juice?
No.1: Juice please!
Us: Apple juice or orange juice?

And then he would reply stating his preferred juice (for that moment). Hilarious!

We also told him that he had to stay in his seat with the seatbelt on, be a good boy, etc etc. I also went online to do some research on flying with toddlers, which really helped.

Being new at flying with a toddler, it was rather manic for all of us. We planned and re-planned our travelling schedule, packed loads of stuff (in case of an emergency), and tried our best to get him involved in the whole process.

Needless to say, he was really excited and looking forward to the big day! More about that in the next post! :)

The Club By Harry's Hospitality

2011-05-30T22:02:00.005+08:00

I recently travelled to Singapore for a regional conference and stayed at 'The Club By Harry's Hospitality'. A mouthful, I know. The organisers recommended this, and at first it did seem like an odd choice of a hotel, but I soon discovered the shortcut that made the walk to the office last only 10 minutes or so. Very convenient indeed!

The facade of the hotel

The hotel was undergoing renovation during my stay there, so that was a bit of a bummer. But since I was on a business trip anyway, it didn't matter all that much. The interior had nice touches here and there; even inside the lift. Cool, and cute as well. :)

I received a complimentary upgrade to a bigger room (they ran out of rooms with King-sized beds), so that was a nice surprise.

I really liked the room- EVERYTHING was in black and white so that was really unique. There was so much space, and it felt really luxurious. I loved the bathroom the best- there was a rain shower, a regular shower, and 4 little shower heads attached to the wall that aimed to spray you from all directions! Left and right upper body, left and right lower body! Bliss. I think I tried ALL of them one night and ended up flooding the bathroom! Muahahaha.

Cool signs on the door

Overall, I had a good time in Singapore. It was quite nice to have some time to myself, away from the kids and the busyness at home.

I met up with Harry Potter for dinner, and had Italian food (Sicilian, to be specific), which was really good. I tried 'spaghetti con bottarga' (the unique ingredient being mullet roe) and that was really delicious! Having said that, not everyone might like it though; the overall taste IS rather strong, but I loved it. Was really pleased that I tried something different; and Harry Potter 'belanja' some more- thanks so much bro!

Amazing view from the top floor of the office

All of us attending the conference also had a lovely dinner together- complete with cocktails. I had quite a lot to drink- 3 beers, 1 glass of wine and 1 lychee martini, if I recall correctly. *hic*

Needless to say, I was 'happy' throughout the evening! Haha. Since I'm still breastfeeding No.2, opportunities to drink are few and far between, so I was glad for this night out. I had to 'pump and dump' of course... :p

I thought I would sleep really well that night, but it turned out otherwise. My body felt so warm and I was really uncomfortable. Too much alcohol after a long hiatus maybe? >.<

Celebrating mummies!

2011-05-29T23:16:00.001+08:00

Mothers, that is... not the Egyptian dead bodies. Heh.

I was craving ice-cream cake for some time, after repeatedly watching the Baskin Robbins Ice-Cream Cake ad on TV. Goes to show how powerful advertising is, huh? :p

Anyway I told hubby about my craving and I was presented with a yummy ice-cream cake! He drove to the nearest Baskin Robbins cafe- which is literally down the road- and picked one up. Vanilla sponge with Jamoca Almond Fudge... mmm.

I didn't particularly like the design of the cake, and the vanilla sponge seemed a little bit dry, but hey, the ice-cream was delicious! Perhaps I should have just bought a tub of ice-cream and stuck a candle on top? Hahahah.

My mum's birthday is in May as well, and we had a lovely lunch at Zipangu to celebrate. We got her a small cake on the day of her birthday- black sesame mousse; interesting isn't it? It wasn't too sweet which I think she liked, although I did think it wasn't sweet enough! Ah well, but that's just me.

Thank you mum for everything; hope you had a great birthday and we love you so so much! Now that I am a mother myself, I think I really understand my mum so much more. Love you to bits, my dearest mummy! *hugs*

Our (not so) little girl...

2011-05-28T23:21:00.012+08:00

Our little girl is almost 8 months already. Wow. I absolutely love her to bits; and it's really bittersweet watching her grow up so quickly. Sniff.

She saw the doctor on 26th May, and she tipped the scales at 9.8 kg! Haha. I'm still breastfeeding her exclusively, but I'm not sure how much longer I can last. Am seriously 'drying up'... DRAT.

Some random stuff:

She can sit really steadily now; we still try to hover around her, just in case she topples over.

She likes to swing and tap her feet on the floor alternatively when she sits in the Bumbo seat. It's just too cute to watch!

She likes 'rocking' to and fro, especially when she's excited. Hilarious!

It does look like that she might be able to crawl soon. She's already going places- she gets around by going backwards, turning left and right, and flipping over and over to get to where she wants to go. She can cover most of the living room floor with all that; cool huh? :)

Hmmm.. this girl of ours has a temper! She screams her head off when she's upset- e.g. when we take a toy away from her, stop her from sucking her thumb, when she's being bullied by her older brother, when she's hungry, at the end of her bathtime, etc. A real screamer, this one.

We started her on solids when she was about 6 months or so. She took to them very well, screaming her head off (again) when she wanted more.

And gosh, she's seriously addicted to her thumb! How are we to wean her off? Alamak...

She sweats a lot when she's having her last feed of the day, right before she goes to sleep. The back of her little head can be soaked in sweat. And this is even with the fan and the air-con on!

Character-wise, she seems to be more assertive and 'fiercer' than the older one at this age. Maybe it's part of being a younger sibling; one does have to learn to fend for oneself! Or perhaps it's because she's a 'Tiger baby'? >.<

No.1's 2nd birthday continued...

2011-05-05T00:04:00.004+08:00

We got our little boy an assortment of gifts, which we wrapped in a big plastic box. He loves the DVDs! :)

We had dinner at My Elephant- a new outlet in Sri Hartamas; very convenient for us indeed! The food was yummy- but REALLY spicy! *phew*

Bought some teeny-weeny cupcakes in place of a birthday cake proper. Just to provide a platform to stick a candle in for him to blow out. Check out the butterfly on the cupcake; in line with our trip to the butterfly park earlier that day!

So cute!

Trip to Butterfly Park

2011-05-02T23:48:00.001+08:00

We took the day off on the little guy’s birthday to spend some time with him. We decided to visit the butterfly park, hoping that the weather would not be too hot.

I have to say that the place isn’t really all that friendly for young children; we had to bring a stroller for No.2 and my, oh my, it was tough! The main problem was navigating all those steps! :p

That aside, I think No.1 had a good time. He had fun feeding the fishes and admiring the little butterflies. I'm glad we went, although it was really tiring for all of us. It was so hot and humid- we were literally raining sweat!

Wow!

Our little boy turns 2!

2011-04-30T22:21:00.004+08:00

Our little boy turned 2 recently, and we had a simple family get-together on the weekend before his birthday to celebrate.

Hubby got some helium balloons to decorate the house, and the birthday boy was so fascinated by them! Those things kept him occupied for hours on end.

We ordered a chicken pie and bacon quiche from Fatboy- both of which were delicious. We also bought some satay from Satay Station in Mont Kiara- rather pricey at RM1.10 per stick, although they were larger than the average satay elsewhere. I also found a recipe for bacon-wrapped prunes; which sounded rather interesting so I decided to give them a try. They turned out pretty decent; glad I found another addition to my pathetic repertoire of party food! :p

The birthday boy received loads of lovely gifts! A tricyle, a remote-controlled Lamborghini, a pair of sandals, angpows, and a 'Thomas and Friends Big Big Loader'! And all this is not even including what his mummy and daddy bought for him. We adults had SO MUCH fun figuring out how to assemble the 'Big Big Loader'; and watching it go round the track was simply amazing! It could go up and down, round and round, load and unload stuff, plus reverse and perform some sort of 3-point turn to go the opposite direction! Wow, toys have really come a long way! O_o

'Canggih-manggih' toy!

Check out the birthday cake- incorporating planets (which he loves) and Elmo in a rocket! Cute huh? I surfed for ages to find a suitable image of the planets, and another image of Elmo in a rocket; and merged those two together. Hubby did some further touch-up using Photoshop. The cake itself was from Secret Recipe, and it cost us another RM25 for the icing picture. The cake wasn't anything spectacular (Chocolate Banana), but I guess the fun part was the customised picture... :)

Happy birthday darling! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Another year older...

2011-04-17T23:24:00.000+08:00

We had dinner with family members at La La Chong for my birthday, and it was great, as usual. No photos though, since we did not bring our DSLR.

But here are some photos (taken using a handphone) of the delicious birthday cake from Lavender bakery in MidValley; with chocolate and orange flavours, and crunchy biscuit bits inside! Reminded me of the Jaffa Cakes I used to eat in London when I was a student.Very nice indeed.

Thanks hubby for planning the dinner!

Sigh.. another year older. Birthdays can get depressing really.. when you think of it as another year closer to the grave. Morbid, I know, but it's true, isn't it?

SIGH.

Birthday lunch at Zipangu, Shangri-La Hotel

2011-04-16T17:00:00.001+08:00

I have been dying to try out the Japanese buffet at Shangri-La’s Zipangu for the longest time, so we decided to dine there for my birthday last weekend. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they were having a Sakura Spring Promotion from 4th April to 14th May 2011, and that the buffet was 50% off! What a steal!

We were a bit hesitant at first, given the recent situation in Japan, and any potential of consuming ‘radioactive’ foodstuff. We were assured by the staff that the hotel imported food from other countries, so we decided to go ahead.

Posters everywhere explaining that the food was not sourced from Japan...

I really enjoyed myself at the buffet. The selection was rather limited compared to other buffets, but the food was good. The sashimi was delicious and fresh; with a good selection available. The oysters were of a nice size (bigger isn’t necessarily better when it comes to oysters); and there were scallops as well! I didn’t see my favourite grilled eel- ‘unagi kabayaki’ until much later (after I had dessert!), so when I went back to try that, it tasted yucky! Not surprising, since I was virtually bursting at the seams, and grilled eel has a rather mushy texture which does not go down well on a VERY FULL stomach.

Other highlights were the teppanyaki dishes- in particular the lamb rack teppanyaki. That was really nice; tender and flavourful. The prawn tempura could have been improved; I felt that the batter was slightly too thick, lending it a rather chewy texture. I wouldn’t have said anything if this was any other establishment, but hey, this is the Shangri-La.

And ohhh… the desserts! Again, the selection was not extensive, but I really enjoyed them. Especially the HUGE strawberries! That was absolutely lovely with the cream… ahhhh, strawberries and cream- what a girly dessert!

The ice cream (which you had to order, but is included in the buffet) was delicious as well, especially the green tea flavour. I also liked the various cold fruit-flavoured teas that were on offer- there was cranberry, apple and lychee flavours. Nice and refreshing.

We’re going back again for lunch in May; am definitely looking forward to it!

Craving for a holiday...

2011-04-03T11:01:00.004+08:00

I have just spent a week at home with the kids. It's a company policy that I have to take some block leave every year, so I coincided it with my parents' holiday to China.

It has been a rather physically tiring week, with lots of yelling- i.e. phrases like 'Don't play with the wires', 'Cannot beat mei-mei', 'Sit down!', 'Don't put your fingers in your mouth', etc etc. Phew. I really wonder how stay-at-home-mums cope. Hmmm.

I'm seriously craving for a holiday. We're hoping to take a quick break sometime in end Aug, after hubby's exams. I've done loads of research over the past week- we're looking at either Bangkok or Bali. I've even reached the stage where I've drawn up an itinerary! :p

Hopefully we can sort out the babysitting arrangements for the kids...

Family Day 2011

2011-04-02T22:58:00.004+08:00

My company organised a Family Day at Sunway Lagoon last weekend. We brought No.1 along (not No.2 though- she's much too young); and we had a great time!

Walking around with 2 backpacks and a stroller was not easy- no thanks to the terrain and the many steps we had to negotiate. Hmmm, not very toddler-friendly.

Our free time started only at about 11 a.m- we did struggle for a bit when the little one was fighting off sleep (he tried, but could not fall asleep); when that passed, he was up and about again. We headed for the Wildlife Park, gazing longingly at the water attractions along the way. It was SOOO hot- wished we could dive right in! And the slides and 'water features' looked like so much fun!

Isn't this water playground so cool?

Our little boy had fun at the aviary, where birds were free to roam around. He followed some birds around, saw chickens (!), swans, etc.

The funniest thing happened when we were at the mandrill (a species of monkey) enclosure. One of them came up to our little boy against the glass and showed its huge pink butt! A 'game' then ensued between monkey and boy- where one paced up and down inside the enclosure, and the other followed outside! It was absolutely hilarious to watch.

The resident pelican

Freaky-looking hairless mouse

We then had a quick lunch (KFC) and went off to explore the Surf Beach. It was our little boy's first contact with sand, and he just sat there, diligently scooping the sand into his yellow pail. We did let him soak his feet in the water for a while, but it was way too hot and he was getting tired, so we decided to get changed and head home. Phew- changing a toddler there was a real challenge. The restrooms were not well-equipped and were not very clean. It was hard wrestling with a wriggly toddler- trying to clean him, change his diaper and clothes, all with him seated in the stroller! >.<

We only managed to see a tiny fraction of the park though, guess we'll be back in the future when the kids are older!

Chinese New Year Tree...

2011-03-21T23:00:00.004+08:00

Since the tree was already up, it made sense to leave it out for a bit longer, right?

Check out our Chinese New Year tree! Hahaha :)

Chinese New Year Goodies!

2011-03-21T20:48:00.015+08:00

Yes yes, I know Chinese New Year is looong gone, so this post is seriously outdated. Ah well, it's ok- this is to remind me of all the wonderful food we had during the festivities.

Cute bunny cookies from sis-in-law :)

Mum-in-law also cooked up a storm on the 2nd day of the new year; there was SOOO much food! We really stuffed ourselves silly... *burp*

We also had dinner at The Ming Room (Bangsar Shopping Centre); and the food was really quite memorable! We opted for the set menu and here are some of the highlights...

Loved this- Braised Coral Shark’s Fin Soup with Crab Roe in Pumpkin

(felt bad about eating shark's fin though... :p)

Pan-Fried Chilean Cod Fish with Pomelo Sauce

(interesting dish.. but truth be told- what a waste of cod!)

Braised Imperial Beancurd with Spinach & Seasonal Vegetables

Wow, No.2 is 4.5 months old already??

2011-02-03T23:14:00.007+08:00

Babies really don't keep; they grow so unbelievably fast. In a blink of an eye, No.2 is 4.5 months old already!

I'm quite relieved that she's looking less 'cheesed-off' these days- probably because she can respond to her surroundings; cooing, smiling and chuckling. Previously she seemed to be perpetually grouchy- gravity tends to do that to fat and chubby cheeks! Haha :p

The first time she chuckled, hubby and I burst out into laughter- it was hilarious beyond words! Hubby was saying something funny at that time and suddenly we heard this funny noise; took a while before we realised it was our little girl chuckling!

She's developing really well too. A couple of milestones:

At 2.5 months, she could already get a good hold on her thumb. Enough to pacify herself; and in the last month or so, she could do enough to soothe herself back to sleep. Which means no more middle-of-the-night feeds for me! Yahoo!

At about 3 months, she could reach out, grab and grasp things- her motor skills seem to be doing ok so far.

Oh, and at 3.5 months, she started turning over! Just a little at first, but she quickly learned to turn the whole way and mastered the skill of 'releasing' the trapped arm in no time at all! Clever little girl. Even the doctor was impressed, heh :)

So far, it does seem that No.2's developments are progressing at a faster pace than No.1. Either that or we're less 'kan cheong' this time (or maybe too busy?) to keep track of all the details!

Oh, and did I mention she weighs 8.3 kg at the 4.5-month mark?? Gosh! :)

Praise the Lord that she is growing so well!

Celebrating hubby's birthday- 2011

2011-01-28T18:43:00.003+08:00

We celebrated hubby's birthday recently, and we invited a handful of dear friends from our old bible study group over to our place. We got ready some simple fare (mainly bought)- egg mayo sandwiches, KFC, yong tau foo, yam cake, and dearest mum-in-law cooked some fried noodles.

We had a really good time; it was great to be able to catch up with friends whom we had not seen for quite a while.

Hubby's birthday cake was ordered from Fatboy- a DELICIOUS durian cake aptly named Aroma Therapy.

"Layers of lightly flavoured durian sponge sandwiching layers of durian cream lightened by a hint of whipping cream" (as described by Fatboy himself). Check out his website for more cakes!

Just thinking about this makes my mouth water... yum...

Happy birthday dear- I hope you have a great year ahead and may all your wishes come true! Love you loads.. *hug*

Experience Italy at Favola, Le Meridien

2011-01-18T20:40:00.007+08:00

Thanks to the heads-up we got from CP and CE (I call them the 'buffet hunters'.. haha) we heard about this lovely dining experience at Le Meridien hotel. We managed to make time to give it a try; my mum kindly agreed to watch the kids for us while we took some time off to enjoy lunch (in celebration of hubby's birthday).

The selection was not extensive, but the food was really delicious. Aside from the cold starters and the dessert, everything else was served to our table. We placed our orders from the menu, and they arrived freshly made and piping hot!

White Bean and Mushroom Ragout with Pan Seared Scallops

The scallops were incredibly delicious; plump, fresh and sweet. They went really well with the mushrooms and even though I thought the white beans would make the dish too 'heavy', it somehow gave a nice balance to the scallops. The dish came drizzled with a really tasty sauce on the side; I could not tell what it was- something containing balsamic vinegar maybe?

The next dish that I absolutely loved was the clams. The broth... oh... the broth- thinking about it just makes my mouth water. Yum. It was so delicious I was literally drinking it- oil and all! I dipped pieces of bread into the broth, and enjoyed every last bite. I would have ordered another helping, but hubby probably could not help me with it so I decided against that and saved space for something else.

Clams and Crab Cooked Vongole style with Garlic and Italian Parsley

Chicken and Spinach Crespelle with Smoked Tomato Coulis

The crespelle was really nice too. It looked like a single lasagna sheet, rolled up and stuffed with chicken and spinach. Simple and delicious.

Next up was pasta; we chose only to try the non-vegetarian ones, and this one came with smoked chicken pepperoni, giving the pasta a nice, distinct flavour.

The next dish was not great, despite the yummy-licious name. The fillings did not stand out- a shame considering it was supposed to be prawn and lobster. The edges of the ravioli were a little too thick for my liking as well.

As for dessert, there were only a few choices. The tiramisu wasn't memorable; the same went for the tiramisu-flavoured gelato. The other gelati flavours available were straciatella and rum & raisin, which were delicious, fortunately. The fresh fruit compote was light and refreshing, and the bread and fruits pudding was quite nice as well.

Spaghetti Pizzaiola

Homemade Prawn and Lobster Ravioli in Spiced Crustacean Cream

All in all, a spectacular meal! And at 98++ for two (thanks to my Starwood Privilege Card), it was a real steal!

Dinosaurs at the National Science Centre!

2010-12-27T23:19:00.007+08:00

I'm a HUGE fan of dinosaurs. When we found out that there was a dinosaur exhibition at the National Science Centre, we decided to bring the kids there to have a look. Apparently some of the exhibits could move, so it certainly sounded very promising!

We went there around lunchtime and the place was packed! Not surprising, due to the school holidays.

The resident T-Rex; it moves and roars! Cool...

No.1 seemed only mildly interested in the dinosaurs- he wasn't as excited as I hoped he would be. I was a bit worried that he would be frightened by the scary-looking beasts, as well as their roars, but he wasn't disturbed at all.

Rather disturbing exhibit of a Megalosaurus devouring its prey

The infamous Velociraptor- star of the Jurassic Park movie

The T-Rex and the Apatosaurus

The exhibit is on until May 2011, I think. Do check it out if you can!

Christmas Decorations at MidValley

2010-12-25T18:10:00.003+08:00

It's the time of the year where malls are decked to the nines with all things 'Christmas-sy'. I wonder if there is some kind of competition going on each year, considering how much effort is put into the whole affair.

The decorations in MidValley are usually very nice; and this year's was just superb. The entire Centre Court was transformed into a magical toyland- with HUGE teddy bears, toy soldiers, a carousel, jacks-in-the-box and other cute stuff!

We made a trip there for the children, and took the opportunity to take some photos. It wasn't easy- with 2 strollers, trying to pose, handle the camera and run after No.1. Thankfully we went really early and left before the crowd came pouring in. Would have been impossible otherwise. At the end of all that photo-taking, both of us were exhausted and sweating!

Well worth it though- No.1 really seemed to enjoy himself....

Notes on No.2

2010-12-20T13:20:00.001+08:00

No.2 is growing very well indeed. 6.25 kg at the 2-month mark! Amazing. Our cute little fat girl with her triple chin, haha!

A couple of things to pen down:

When I feed her direct, she likes to keep one eye open and the other one closed, which is quite funny.
She makes a whole array of funny noises when she sleeps- including some that make her sound like a trumpeting baby elephant! Hilarious. Sometimes it feels like we’re sleeping in some sort of zoo…
She loves to be carried, especially when we’re seated in the rocking sofa. Good buy; that piece of furniture…
She has the habit of crying / whining with her eyes still closed; we gathered she’s struggling to fully wake up from her sleep.
She can follow objects with her eyes very well, and can turn towards the source of sound that she hears.
She’s recently learnt to put her little hands into her month, which leaves her with very damp mittens! Yuck.
When she’s in the car, she whimpers/cries when the car is stationary, and stops crying when the car starts moving again. The start-and-stop crying makes us laugh everytime. :)
Oh, and she just learnt to suck her thumb; which is so fun to watch!

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 1

2010-12-01T20:38:00.003+08:00

Hubby and I managed to take an afternoon off away from the children to have a quiet lunch and catch a movie. I can't remember the last time we went to the cinema or had a proper meal, so this was a really nice break.

We had a nice buffet lunch at 'The Living Room' in The Westin Hotel, where I finally got to eat sashimi after a loooong time! It was incredibly yummy; I must have had about 7 slices or so. Should have had some more; darn. Haha :p The buffet spread wasn't really THAT spectacular, but then again, one can't really eat much for lunch...

We then made our way to catch the latest Harry Potter movie; something that I was dying to do for ages. Overall, I found the book much better than the movie; parts of the latter seemed a bit slow. Plus, the exciting bits in the book were not given enough screen time. Also, somehow those felt a whole lot more exciting in the book!

Nevertheless, I'm still looking forward to Part 2 of the movie, especially the final battle scene. That was seriously heart-stopping in the book; wonder how that will turn out in the movie.... Guess we'll find out next year!

Going nuts!

2010-11-20T22:22:00.003+08:00

I knew having 2 young children would not be easy; but frankly speaking, this is really really hard. Maybe it's my hormones, but I am really finding it exceptionally difficult to cope. No.2 seems to be always feeding, feeding, and feeding; leaving me so incredibly exhausted and having no time or energy to spend time with No.1. At least I have some help (my mum/hubby, etc) with the older boy, but I do feel sad that the situation seems to have resulted in him distancing himself from me (not that he was really close to me in the first place). Sigh.

The past few weeks have been hard; filled with tears and screams. It's tough being a mum; and I really do think I'm hopeless at it. My capacity for patience is really low, and admittedly, I don't do so well at keeping my temper in check.

Dear God, please help me to do better...

Words, words, words!

2010-10-28T12:37:00.008+08:00

It's been really fun watching our little boy learn to 'talk'. He's got quite a decent vocabulary now; in fact for the 2 days when we were away (in the hospital, delivering No.2), it seemed like he added a lot more words to his word bank!

He's progressed from his favourite word- 'Star' to also include 'Moon', heh.

Other random words:

Up, Down (he says 'Up' and raises his arms when he asks to be carried)
More (e.g. if he wants more biscuits), Gone, No More
Don't Want
One, Two, Three
Hair, Knee, Toes
Elmo, Einstein (as in his Baby Einstein DVDs)
Clock, Pear, Hole, Cut, Book, Hot, Cold, Wet, etc
Spoil (we use this since he isn't exactly gentle with his toys.. :p)
Por (maternal grandma), Kong (maternal grandpa), Mama (paternal grandma). But he can't say Mummy! He uses 'Mama' for both me and his paternal grandma. He can manage 'Papa' or 'Daddy' fine though. Hmmph.

These are what I can recall at the moment.. it's so fun to see him learn and grow! :)

One of my favourites- he can answer to A is for 'Apple', B is for 'Boy'/'Ball', C is for 'Car' / 'Cow'; and for D? His answer- 'wowow' (i.e. dog barking). Simply precious.

Also, he's really into tennis! We can see the tennis court from our unit, and he loves watching people play. Hubby got him a small plastic tennis racquet, and he loves swinging it to and fro, or hitting some small balls- going 'pok', 'pok' (that's the sound a tennis ball makes when it hits the ground). He's nuts about 'pok', 'pok' alright...

No.2 is here!

2010-10-20T18:36:00.003+08:00

Our little darling arrived on 7th October 2010!

After an examination on the 6th, the doctor remarked that the baby's head was so so so low that I could probably feel it myself. Yikes. And so she suggested that I check myself in the next morning, get induced and get things going, in order to better manage the labour.

I was only at 2 cm the next morning, and the epidural was administered soon after. Strangely, the epidural administration seemed rather traumatic for me; maybe it was because I was wide awake and not drowsy like the last time. I was very concerned that the nasty side-effects that I had the last time would occur again; thank God it was much more manageable this time round. I only threw up a couple of times- no fever nor shivering; praise the Lord!

I was hopeful that the labour would not be long, but I was still stuck in the bed for almost 12 hours. Nothing 'exciting' really happened until about 4 pm or so; up till then nothing much was going on and the contractions were not really that strong. It felt like a really loooong day and I kept looking at the clock, hoping that time would go by faster...

My doctor helped to 'manually' speed things up by increasing the dilation, and soon it was time to push. Yikes. I did better this time round, and the baby came out after what seemed like an eternity of pushing. The part where she was actually coming out was a tad scary for me; I could see and feel (a bit, despite the epidural) it as she emerged, and I remember letting out a scream!

Overall, I really thank the Lord that the delivery went smoothly. The post-delivery healing seems to be taking a bit longer, but apparently that happens- it gets harder every pregnancy. Hmmm.

Wow- it's so amazing to say that we have children (instead of a child) now. What blessings from God indeed!

Waiting for No.2 to arrive...

2010-10-06T09:06:00.002+08:00

I rushed to see the doctor last Thursday (30th Sept) because I was feeling a bit weird. Contractions were quite strong and I was unusually short of breath. A brief examination showed that the baby's head is very low; and I should expect her to arrive early to mid this week.

There were a few instances when I thought the time to go to the labour ward was near; but those instances came and went. And now it's already Wednesday....

My little darling- can you tell Mummy when you would like to come out and see us? :)

Weekend at Le Meridien Hotel

2010-08-31T13:01:00.003+08:00

We stayed a night at Le Meridien Hotel recently, with baby in tow, and it turned out to be quite fun! Tiring, but fun.

We checked in around 2 pm, and the little one was so excited checking out the new environment (looking out the window, bouncing around the bed and fluffy pillows, poking the reading lights, etc), that he refused to settle down for his afternoon nap until about 3:30 pm. We took a walk around the poolside when he woke up (it was a bit too cold to swim), gave him a bath and then fed him his dinner before we headed out for ours.

We had dinner at Prime, which was a pricey affair, even after a 50% discount with my Starwood Privilege Member card. Hubby tried a ‘combo’ main course, which featured the following:

4 oz / 110 g Australian Black Angus
200 day’s grain fed center cut filet mignon
Grain mustard sauce, grilled tomato and warm porcini salad

4 oz / 110 g Australian Black Angus gourmet pasture fed beef ribeye
Chimichurri sauce, sea salt and green asparagus tips

4 oz / 110 g Wagyu sirloin
Béarnaise sauce, roasted baby potato

Sounds really yummy right? Sadly, the Wagyu sirloin was really disappointing as most of that particular cut of meat was virtually inedible (you know how it is when the meat is so chewy, filled with the tendons or whatever it is, and you can’t bite through it?) Terrible- I had a half a mind to complain, but we were too busy rushing through dinner while minding a fidgety toddler, to bother.

I had the Prime Surf and Turf, which was quite nice. I also had a side order- Truffles Mashed Potatoes, which were simply delicious!

We tried the Venetian Seafood Buffet Lunch at Favola the next day, and that was quite nice, although I had expected a wider selection for the main courses (which they freshly prepare and dish out to diners instead of us taking it from the buffet table). The pasta was lovely and the dessert (cassata) was refreshing and not too sweet. We ate our fill, but I suppose we didn’t really enjoy it as much (how to when the little one just can’t sit still?)

Gosh, these days it’s getting really hard to take him out for meals when it’s just the two of us… How will we manage when our little girl comes along? I think we’ll probably never see the inside of a nice restaurant for a long, long time. SIGH.

Anyway, overall I think the stay was a nice experience- mainly for the little one! :)

A stranger in our home..

2010-07-27T23:05:00.001+08:00

We sent our domestic helper back to the agency today. After a year of relatively good work, things starting to turn a bit funny 1-2 months ago. We were so thankful when she first arrived- the best bit being that she spoke decent English- enough to understand us and make herself understood. She was also doing ok in her work and generally had a reasonable attitude. She was also fairly smart, and from what I could gather, she was saving up to further her studies when she got home, and hoped to hold an office job someday.

Of course, she wasn't perfect. There were times when she seemed to take ages getting one thing done, and she could sometimes be a tad rude when she spoke to us. But all in all, it was ok- we kept one eye open and the other eye closed most of the time. We were even hoping that we could convince her to extend her contract with us for another year.

I would like to think that we treated her well. We took her out for nice meals, bought things for her, allowed her to call home regularly (FOC), brought her along for short family trips, etc. We also gave her a bonus at the end of her 1st year; I still remember the surprised look on her face when she thanked me and gave me a hug...

When she wanted to send money home, we bent over backwards trying to find out the best way of getting it done, so that it would not have to cost her an arm and a leg. We spent quite a bit of money calling her family and also banks in Cambodia to try and sort things out.

Anyway, one fine day she came up to me to say that she wanted to go home. The reason? Apparently her mother 'found' her a boyfriend back home, and she was supposed to go home to get married. After talking to her a bit more, I realised that this guy was willing to wait until she 'finished studying' before getting married. I explained that she should stay focused on her goal of furthering her education so that she could have a better life, and if this guy could wait a few years, what's a further few months (until she finishes her contract here and goes home)? And so, after giving it some thought- she agreed that it made sense for her to stay on. And guess what, she later confessed that the reason she gave me about the guy was a lie!! Nevermind, I thought- I put it down to her missing her family and not being able to tell me just that- the simple truth.

And so, life went on. Things were still ok until we helped her to send some money to her parents, and then she came up to me and said she still wanted to go home. The reason this time? A whole lot scarier. She said she 'liked one of my relatives' (whom I shall not name in this blog posting); and she felt she had to go home before 'something happened'. That seriously freaked us out. So we told her fine we'll send her home via the agency, and then she got a bit scared and said she didn't want to go home after all, and that the story about her 'crush' was a lie. I told her I was tired of her nonsense; I'd already spent hours trying to talk things through with her, trying to help her sort out her obviously cluttered mind, and that there was little point in asking her to stay if her heart was not in the job anymore. I cannot afford to deal with her 'see-saw' behaviour, especially not when I'm due to have another baby soon.

There were other things that happened of course. She got progressively distracted while doing her routine work, one day she didn't eat anything- saying she wasn't hungry, she cut her hair one day using the kitchen scissors (and mind you, she previously gave me a long face when I took her for a haircut months ago, since she wanted to grow her hair out), and the very next day she cut her hair even shorter, looking like she had been bitten by a dog. The scary part was that we're 80% sure she cut her hair- the 2nd time- in the dark (since her room light was off, while the previous night it was on till about midnight where we later found out she was cutting her hair- the 1st time). On top of that, she previously confronted me and demanded to know if we were spying on her via CCTV (which we were not); and that was the one time when I ticked her off for hurling accusations, for being rude, and spending her time entertaining bizarre thoughts as if the whole world was against her. Later I found out that she accused my dad of the same thing, and even after explaining to her that none of us have CCTV, she still harboured the thought (we deduced that from her passing remarks/mumblings which she thought we did not hear). Everything that happened really got all of us thinking whether she was emotionally or mentally stable...

It was really unsettling living with the thought of a potential danger in our home. After all this time, we were like family- we treated her like she was part of the family, trusted her with our child.. and she suddenly morphs into this stranger that we did not recognise. We were worried and afraid; locking our bedroom door at night (which we have not done since we moved to this place), and did not dare to ask her to mind the little one anymore, not even for 5 minutes.

We sat her down once and for all this morning, and asked what her final decision was. She said she wanted to go home, so we told her to pack her bags immediately and we sent her off to the agency to sort the paperwork out.

With the benefit of hindsight (all 10 hours of it :p); we have a sneaky suspicion that all this could have been a ploy to get us to agree to let her go home. Guess we made the mistake of helping her send money home (the agent told us today that we allowed her to send too much); it could be the case that her parents saw all that cash and asked her to come on home instead. If this whole 'behaving-a-bit-crazy' thing was just an act, then I must have to say she is quite an actress. We probably would have held out if we didn't have a small child, with another one on the way, and opt for her to attend counselling sessions at the agency (which apparently is quite effective). Given the circumstances though, we thought it best not to take any chances. Well, sneaky ploy or not, we will never know. Perhaps being away from her family for so long (depression maybe?) caused all this to surface.

Personally, I am disappointed and really upset with her; having taken a lot of time, effort and financial resources to extend our care and friendship, and to demonstrate kindness to her, only to be sadly reminded that kindness does not always beget kindness. And so, we are now without domestic help; it'll take some getting used to, but I'm sure we'll manage. Hopefully we can get a replacement before our baby girl arrives...

Sigh.

Some exciting news to share!

2010-07-04T12:11:00.002+08:00

Well, this isn't exactly 'new' news, especially if you've seen me around on a relatively regular basis... but hubby and I are expecting Baby No.2!! We found out during Chinese New Year this year, and that was very early on- at about 5 1/2 weeks. I'm already at 25 weeks now, and the EDD is Oct 18. How exciting!

Oh.. and it's a girl!! My doctor just confirmed that last weekend. A little boy, plus a little girl on the way- God is good to us indeed!

This 2nd pregnancy has been going ok so far; will keep praying that it stays that way. It's tiring of course, having to care for one with another in the womb. Physically it's been definitely tougher; previously I could just lie in bed when I was tired. Not this time. I try not to carry and lift the little toddler too much though, since it puts quite a fair bit of strain on my back and also my tummy.

All that aside, I do enjoy being pregnant... The most wonderful bit is feeling the little kicks; that truly is an amazing experience that cannot be adequately described by words. A wonderful reminder of the miracle of life, and the greatness of our God the Creator.. who blessed us with this little being growing inside me. Her little kicks bring a smile to my face almost every time :)

I'm worried about actually delivering the baby, of course, even though I've done it before. I'm trying not to think too much about it for now, and enjoy the rest of the pregnancy. Time does fly by! Hopefully the delivery will be better than the last time...

Would greatly appreciate your prayers! Thank you so much.

Watch this space for more updates :)

Happy 1st birthday to our little darling!

2010-06-20T22:04:00.001+08:00

We have been so blessed that the little one was relatively problem-free, health-wise, for the past year. He coped with the various vaccinations well, and did not develop a fever for any of them (if I recall correctly).

As such, it was really worrying when he developed a fever on the night before his birthday party (!) and was even vomiting. We ended up searching for a 24-hr clinic in the middle of the night; where he was given a suppository to bring down his temperature. Even then, he was still in relatively good spirits, and did not seem too unwell, save for his elevated temperature.

The next morning, he didn’t really seem to be getting better, hence we decided to make a trip to the hospital to consult his paediatrician where he was diagnosed with gastroentitis. Sigh. Poor little fellow. It was scary to see him vomiting after only a small meal, and also when he was given medication; in fact, I recall I could feel and hear his stomach rumbling before the contents were emptied. :(

With all that going on, we weren’t really in a mood for a party, but everything was good to go so we decided to go ahead. Thank God the little darling managed relatively well, and did not really make too much of a fuss. It was stressful for us though; getting ready for the party and taking care of him as well. The scariest point for me was when I gave him a quick bath before the party and he suddenly started shivering and his lips turned blue! Yikes. I really freaked out. Fortunately my sister (who is a doctor) and my mum were around to help. We quickly dried and dressed him, and wrapped him tightly to keep him warm. We really thank God nothing serious happened…

So what about the party? It went quite ok, all things considering, although a few guests could not make it at the last minute because their kids were ill. We had HEAPS of food left over as a result!

We opted for a jungle safari theme; and I spent so much effort fashioning vines, branches and leaves out of brown paper, green construction paper and green ribbons. Took me a few late nights, phew. I also gathered as many animal soft toys I could find; even picking up some at the flea market organised at the office. Hubby and my brother helped to put up the decorations, and I thought it was really cool that they hung some of the toys from a line stretched across the function hall! A whole lot of dark green, light green and yellow balloons completed the jungle look. Admittedly, we could have done more with the decorations, since the hall still looked rather bare; but it really costs so much time and money! Ah well. Truth be told, it all started with the idea for the birthday cake.. and somehow it morphed into an entire jungle safari theme for the party! (I actually tried to make coconut trees but we abandoned that idea after giving it a try... :p)

The birthday cake from Just Heavenly was a huge hit- complete with a monkey climbing a tree, an elephant and a hippo swimming in a lake! We chose them since the little one has a particular liking for his ‘Monkey See, Monkey Zoo’ soft cloth book, which has various cute animals featured inside. The cake looked fabulous and was really delicious too! It did not come cheap; but we wanted to have something special for the little darling’s very first birthday! :)

It was nice to be able to celebrate with a small group of family and friends; wished he was feeling 100% though... We do thank God that he was at least able to attend the party, and was not THAT unwell he had to be stuck in bed.

Lovely gifts from family and friends :)

On the actual day of his birthday- 28th April, we rounded up a couple of cute cupcakes and a candle just for him...

Happy Birthday my dear little sweetheart! Mummy and Daddy are so blessed to have you!

Bedtime stories

2010-06-13T17:00:00.001+08:00

For some reason, at about the 1-year mark, the little one started to kick up a big fuss whenever we put him into this cot. He absolutely refuses to sleep in it and would cry most awfully when he put him down after his last feed, which is something that we’ve been doing for the longest time. As a result, we’ve had to make do with settling him in our bed, and transferring him to his cot after he falls asleep. In fact, sometimes even that has not been successful- i.e. he wakes up and starts screaming his head off; so we had to let him sleep in bed with us for the entire night. Guess he considers his cot as some kind of prison- he really hates it that much.

Getting him to sleep in his own room has always been all the cards; guess all the signs were already pointing in the right direction. And so, we took the plunge and began to settle him into another bedroom, and took turns accompanying him throughout the night.

We’ve moved on to buy a guardrail for the mattress so that he doesn’t roll off it, baby-proof the room as much as possible (it’s amazing how much padding one has to prepare, considering how babies can get themselves into the most awkward of situations/positions and hurt themselves), as well as invest in a baby monitor with video function. This was put in place to get him to eventually sleep by himself.

We're pleased to say that he seems to be settling quite well in his own room. Praise God! Although it has only been a few days, we certainly hope he's gotten used to the idea. Of course, one of us still has to accompany him until he falls asleep, and we still have to do a fair amount of shuttling to and fro in the middle of the night (at least twice a night), but hopefully we persevere through all of it. It was been really tiring and rather stressful; but we will commit this to the Lord.

He's unwell as I type this; so one of us will have to sleep in the same room with him until he gets better. Hope he doesn't backtrack; otherwise it's back to square one again for all of us. Yikes. Keep us in prayer!

Long overdue update on the little one

2010-06-12T17:10:00.005+08:00

It’s been ages since I last posted an update on the little one. So much has happened in the last few months! He celebrated his 1st birthday (more about that in a separate post); and he has really grown and changed a great deal. It is simply amazing to be part of this.

Some random bits of information:

Sometimes he likes to sit on the floor and pivot himself on his bum. Round and round he goes- so funny!
Over the last few months he's learnt to do things like wave bye-bye (although he doesn’t seem to be so keen on that nowadays), clap hands, and do ‘dim chong chong’ (say that in Cantonese). Cool.
He can crawl amazingly fast now.
He also has quite an innovative way of playing his toys- in particular things that can roll- e.g. balls, bottles, etc. He throws them and then crawls to chase after the rolling object. This can go on for a while; so we're not complaining!
On the downside though, he simply enjoys chucking everything around.. But apparently this is normal; ah well..
From about 11 months or so, he’s learnt to ‘cruise’- i.e. walking as he holds on to furniture. He doesn’t quite have the confidence to let go and walk on his own yet, although there have been a few times where he did let go as he moves from one place to another (e.g. from the nearest sofa into someone’s arms; the distance of 1 step or so, haha).
My mum's house has a staircase; ever since he could crawl quite steadily, he made it all the way up to the top of the staircase, and recently he's learnt to come down as well. His favourite thing to do now is to climb the staircase and bring along a toy with him as he goes.
We finally managed to buy a suitable pair of shoes- he hated them at first but now he's finally gotten used to the idea of wearing shoes.
He’s finally at 5 teeth, after being stuck at 4 for the longest time. And it looks like 2 more are on their way!
When it comes to sleep, he has to have his bolster. He sniffs one end, sucks on his lower lip and mumbles ‘mmmmmmmm’ in a sing-song manner. So much so that his bolster looks and smells kind of gross and we've started to refer to it as his 'yucky-yucky'. We really should post a video of him and his bolster on Facebook at some point. =)
Some time ago we discovered he could identify things like the fan, aircon, mirror, etc. We asked him where it was, and he would like in the direction of the item. Cool! He then progressed to pointing at the item; and over the months he's learnt to identify a whole lot of other things- cupboard, bolster, pillow, mummy's handbag, clock, his toys (e.g. ball, bear, star, bus, etc), piano, and so many others. This has since progressed to him signalling to us when he wants to be picked up, and then he would point where he wants us to go! His favourite spots are the fridge (to see the magnets) and Grandma's keychain collection. Absolutely hilarious. Hubby likens him to a compass! Hahaha =) Oh, and he can also pick out specific items- e.g. Grandma's pitcher plant keychain, Turkish eye key chain, etc.
He's also quite a 'talkative' baby; not that we understand him of course, but it sometimes seems like he has a LOT to say. For now at least he can say 'star' (although it comes in variations of 'ar' and 'tar' at times). We've also heard 'da-da', 'ma-ma', 'mam-mam', 'ba-ba', 'deh-dee' so it's been quite fun to watch.
Food-wise, I've started being less paranoid and let him try different stuff that we adults eat- e.g. small bits of mango, banana, kiwi fruit, apple, pear, orange, watermelon, ice-cream, cake, chocolate, etc. I remember the look on his face when he first tasted ice-cream; oh, how it screwed up! Hahaha. Now whenever he sees me eating, he'll come right over, hoping to get a taste.
My mum had a decent amount of success trying to start potty-training him; in the sense of encouraging him to poo when she made him sit on the potty. However, over the last few days, he's been rather naughty and insisting that he didn't want to poo (by vigorously shaking his head or refusing to sit on the potty), but would then progress to do his business a mere 10 minutes later! Standing up quietly in a corner, no less. Suffice to say, my mum has been exasperated over this. :p

He's now about 13+ months old; and it's amazing to see how much he has developed over a short 4 months! I guess in baby terms, 4 months is really quite a long time. I really ought to blog more consistently; I'm pretty sure I'm missing out a whole lot of stuff...

Praise God for our little darling! :)

Leaving Langkawi

2010-04-30T22:42:00.002+08:00

We spent the morning enjoying a leisurely breakfast and caught bits of the Academy Awards on TV.

We left Langkawi with a heavy heart, but we certainly looked forward to seeing the little one again. Nothing really exciting happened on the way back- except that the guy sitting next to us on the plane threw up! He tried to make his way to the toilet, but couldn't get there on time, so he threw up all over the cabin floor! Can you imagine that? Don't know why he didn't grab one of the barf bags on time. GROSS.

We watched the poor air stewardesses grit their teeth and got down to the job of cleaning up the mess. Not an easy job since the cabin floors are carpeted. O_o

Luckily no one was seated in the area where he did the deed; still, I was close enough to see that he had udon for his last meal! Yuck yuck yuck.

Langkawi- Day 3

2010-04-10T10:18:00.000+08:00

We went sailing on our 3rd day in Langkawi. I was really looking forward to it, after reading heaps of glowing reviews on TripAdvisor. We were supposed to go sailing on the Damai Indah- a lovely wooden boat captained by a German lady named Eva, but unfortunately, some emergency repair work had to be done, so the boat was stuck in Bangkok.

As an alternative, Eva arranged for us to sail on the Wilmi instead- owned by a French couple who has lived on their boat for 25 years. Even their daughter was born on the boat, and she speaks English with a Malaysian accent. How fascinating, eh?

It was a rather small group- about 10 of us, so it was just nice. Quite a few Germans, and an Australian couple on their honeymoon.

Top left: Getting to the Wilmi in a rubber dinghy

Top right: Eva showing us the sailing route

The interior of the boat.. they sure know how to maximise space!

It was a really hot day, but once we sat in the shade and started sailing, it was really nice... with the smell of the sea and the wind in our hair. Hmmm. We sailed past the little islands with their limestone cliffs, and even saw a dolphin or two.

We anchored near a secluded beach and took some time to relax. It was a really small area so there wasn't much to see, so we just spent the hour or so soaking in the sea and looking for seashells.

Meals were served on the boat, and we had a really yummy chicken and seafood paella for dinner. Drinks were free flowing as well throughout the sailing trip, so that was nice.

We sailed to a nice spot to watch the sunset; and it was amazing to watch the sun go down as if it was melting into the horizon. How beautiful.

The sailing trip cost us a small fortune, but it was a really unique experience indeed! Plus, since we didn't get to sail on the Damai Indah as promised, Eva offered us a free trip on her boat the next time we're in Langkawi! :)

Langkawi- Day 2

2010-04-03T17:44:00.007+08:00

We started the day with a lovely buffet breakfast, which offered free-flowing sparkling wine! Cool, huh? :)

We wandered around the hotel grounds after breakfast, taking some photographs along the way.

Can you see the rainbow?

Underwater World Langkawi was our next destination. It was actually quite a nice place to visit, and we spent almost 2 hours there. The penguins were so fun to watch!

African penguins

Rockhopper penguins

We had lunch at this Indian Restaurant next to Underwater World- called Pappadam Ria. The food was quite nice but I thought it was waaaay too pricey. About Rm120 for the two of us!

Our next stop was Galeria Perdana, a museum which houses an impressive collection of over 2,500 state gifts and awards presented to Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his wife. It was an interesting museum, but there was something wrong with the air-conditioning that day- so it was really stuffy, warm and uncomfortable inside, which made the visit rather unpleasant. What a shame... :(

Sunset at the Westin..

A fruitful but tiring second day in Langkawi!

Langkawi- Day 1

2010-03-28T10:23:00.010+08:00

Hubby and I had the opportunity to head off to Langkawi for a short break early this month. We didn't bring the little one; my mum kindly agreed to babysit him overnight for a few days, so we could have a less stressful holiday.

I spent a lot of time planning the trip (it's an obsession of mine), to make the most of the time we had. We were there for 4 days and 3 nights- all in all, it was a rather nice break- except for the weather, which was waaaaay too hot!

The flight to Langkawi was a slightly delayed, but that was ok. I bumped into a colleague who was also going to Langkawi- with twin babies in tow! 3 adults with 2 babies- wow. For a moment there I really felt bad about leaving the baby at home. Yikes.

Anyway, we touched down and proceeded to rent a car to get around Langkawi. Driving around Langkawi is really easy actually, except that one needs to watch out for the animals that might be crossing the road, heh. We drove to Langkawi Fair Mall, which apparently is the biggest mall on the island.. which turned out to be really really small. Okay- guess we have to cut them some slack and not compare the malls there with the ones in KL.

We had lunch at a quaint little cafe filled with paintings, which were also for sale, incidentally.

Lunch at Arts Cafe

After lunch, we drove to Dataran Lang, which was on the way to our hotel- The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa. I rarely go outdoors, so this trip really reminded me of how hot and humid Malaysia is. Gosh. Walking around under the scorching sun is seriously uncomfortable. No wonder I tend to stick to cooler destinations for holidays!

Did you know? The name Langkawi is a combination of “Lang” and “Kawi”. “Lang” comes from the Malay word helang meaning eagle and Kawi means red or brown. Hence, the gigantic statue of a brown eagle at Dataran Lang.. =)

We headed for the hotel after taking a few photos at Dataran Lang; it was just too hot to hang around outdoors. We arrived early, but they managed to sort out our check-in so we could get some rest. Service was great- we were given cold face towels and refreshing drinks to cool off while we waited to be checked-in. Nice.

We were so warm and tired that we seriously considered staying in for the rest of the day- haha. Still, we managed to drag ourselves out of bed after a short nap, although it wasn't easy! We then drove all the way to the Oriental Village to take the cable car up Gunung Machincang. It was almost closing time so there wasn't a queue, which was nice. The ride up was s-c-a-r-y! The cable car swayed so much in the wind, and it was unnerving seeing the cables swing up and down with the attached cable cars bobbing along with them.

There is also a cool-looking suspension bridge that one can check out, but we decided it was too far a walk to get to, plus it was getting late and we had dinner reservations elsewhere.

We had dinner at La Sal, a restaurant at Casa Del Mar, a pretty little hotel situated on Pantai Cenang. Our table was on the beach, with a lovely view of the sunset. The ambience was really nice and romantic.. until the sun disappeared in the horizon.

After that, we were attacked by mosquitoes (although the restaurant did provide repellant) and the night turned warm and muggy. And there was no longer any breeze! Darn. Should have remembered my Geography lessons on 'bayu laut' and 'bayu darat' ... :p

Ah well. And how was the food?

The appetizer we ordered was really yummy- Deep Fried Kataifi Prawns on Avocado, Grapefruit, Mango Salsa with Curry Lime Mayo. Too bad there were only 2 prawns though- and this cost RM39!

Hubby's Australian Beef Fillet with Chive Mash, Beans, Watercress, Hollandaise & Shallot Jus was wonderful. The beef was tender and just right. An excellent choice indeed!

I ordered the Seared Sesame Tuna with Edamame Potato, Asparagus & Bean Salad & Wasabi Aioli. I made the mistake of ordering it 'well-done' (didn't want to risk eating anything raw-ish while on holiday, given my sensitive tummy), which meant it turned out like a thick slab of tuna instead- way too 'dense' for my liking. Sigh, what a waste. I can imagine how wonderful it would have tasted just seared. Arrrghh!

On the upside- the Edamame Potato was delicious...

Ushering in the Year of the Tiger

2010-02-20T23:06:00.002+08:00

It's baby's first Chinese New Year, and we had the opportunity to travel back to Ipoh this time. So exciting! It's been a while since I've joined my family for the reunion dinner (mum-in-law decided she didn't want to cook this year hence the chance to go back to Ipoh earlier), and I was really looking forward to it. Plus it was a chance to introduce our little darling to the clan.. what fun!

We were a tad worried that the little one fuss or freak out at meeting so many strangers, but he was really really well behaved. He enjoyed playing with the children, ate and slept well, so that was a real blessing. My only gripe with the whole trip really was that it was just waaaaay too hot! The heat was simply unbearable. Gosh.

After a couple of days away, we were so glad to be heading for home. The trip turned out great- with good traffic and good food, but home is still the best, eh? :)

Our little tiger :)

Happy Chinese New Year!

9+ months on...

2010-02-16T23:15:00.000+08:00

So much has happened over the last few months!

First tooth made an appearance in December. Up till now, he still only has one tooth. The other one can't seem to break through the gums! Hmm.
As a prelude to crawling, he learnt to 'swim' on his tummy to propel himself forwards. Hilarious!
After a bout of 'swimming', he's finally learnt how to crawl, and since then, he's been going places! He now realises he's a lot more mobile and is always trying to wriggle about and climb over all kinds of stuff. It's getting a lot more tiring to watch him these days. Changing his diaper can be a workout in itself! Wow, wonder what it would be like when he learns to walk and run...
Oh, and he can pull himself up to a standing position too!
Strangely, he likes to burrow the back of his head into the pillow and mumbles 'mmmm' when he's about to sleep. He also likes to place something soft against his lips (e.g. pajama sleeve, bolster, etc) as he drifts off to sleep- just like his mummy!
We're trying to teach him to feed himself with a spoon. You can imagine the mess he makes! But I guess we should not stop trying, eh?
For some reason he's started to dislike drinking water. Not even from a bottle. We've tried various different cups, but to no avail. Sigh. The best way appears to be feeding him with a spoon, but I think he spits out more than he takes. He likes to go 'boooo' and 'phhpppt', and loves seeing the water spray all over the place! Naughty fella :p
We've taken him swimming a couple of times- he seems to enjoy it. Nice :)
He's quite fascinated with little things like labels, strings, ribbons, wheels, screws, etc. Give him a toy and he'll play with the label. Haha.
Loves tugging his own socks off. Absolutely hilarious to watch.
He's learnt to play with his tongue- stick it out and roll it about in his mouth. And he can 'flip' it too! Just like mummy :p

Ever since he started crawling, things seem to move along much faster- his development I mean :)

Latest Recipe at Le Meridien KL

2010-01-26T23:43:00.003+08:00

We recently took a day off from work to spend some time together. My mum kindly agreed to babysit while we had fun, so that was really nice.

We watched 2 movies- 'Legion' (which was errrr... rather strange) and 'Sherlock Holmes' (which was absolutely great). That was followed by a Thai massage, which was not too bad, but not relaxing enough. Think I should just stick to aromatherapy massages.

Anyway, we capped the day off with a fantastic buffet dinner at Latest Recipe, Le Meridien KL. A special seafood buffet was featured for the month of January, and we had a marvellous time tucking into the prawns, scallops, abalone, oysters, and so much more!

The fresh oysters were plump and juicy; I should have eaten more at the beginning of the meal because it's just impossible to enjoy something as raw and slimy as oysters on a full-ish stomach. Made me gag when I had some more later in the meal. I loved the tapas- not many choices, but there was one featuring a whole scallop coated with sesame seeds which was really nice.

The seafood teppanyaki was a little bit on the salty side (too much sauce I suppose); could have been much nicer if we ate it with the garlic fried rice.. but hey, eating too much carbo is a waste at buffets!

I was sold the minute I saw the 3 chocolate fountains- check out the plump strawberries!

Yummy!

I didn't fancy having salad (what a waste of stomach space) even though the dressings were creatively presented and looked oh-so-yummy. Talk about trying to get diners to eat their vegetables. Haha!

Test tubes?

Hand lotion, anyone? (The orange liquid is actually thousand island dressing..)

Although I didn't have rice, I succumbed to the call of the pasta station. A few strands of squid ink fettucine, with small chunks of all things seafood, served in a creamy pesto sauce. Nice. So much for the no-carbo rule at buffets. Sigh.

I loved the desserts at Latest Recipe as well. Having 3 chocolate fountains certainly caters to everyone (unless you don't like chocolate of course); after all most people usually prefer one type of chocolate to another. And the strawberries were large and juicy so that was a huge plus.

Also, the teppanyaki ice-cream counter was so much fun! You can choose all the different stuff you want to mix in with your choice of ice-cream flavours. There were all kinds of nuts, dried apricots, dried apple slices, raisins, wafers (remember those shaped like a fan?), M&Ms, marshmallows, chocolate balls, chocolate chips, sprinkles.... the list goes on. The teppanyaki ice-cream turns out a bit like 'rojak' but it's really quite nice tasting the creamy ice-cream with bits to nibble inside.

Spoilt for choice!

While waiting for the teppanyaki ice-cream I saw this.. so cute isn't it?

But should one just take the chocolate, or the whole spoon? Haha :)

We used the complimentary dining voucher from my Starwood Privilege Card so it was really worth it. Otherwise it would have cost us RM118++ per person!

We really really enjoyed ourselves at dinner. I was still thinking about the yummy seafood for days afterwards!

My new Starwood Privilege Card

2010-01-25T23:49:00.001+08:00

After mulling over it for the longest time, we finally decided to sign up for the Starwood Privilege Card. The benefits appeared really attractive, and I wanted to get it on time to utilise some of the benefits for hubby's birthday.

At RM620 for a 13-mth membership, we get to enjoy:
- One complimentary dining certificate for 2 at Le Meridien KL
- One complimentary dining certificate for 2 at Sheraton Imperial KL
- One complimentary dining certificate for 2 at The Westin KL
- Dining benefits (2 pax 50% off, 3 pax 33% off and so on)
- One night complimentary stay at any of the 3 Starwood hotels above
and much more!

We've since used one of the complimentary dining certificates- more about that in my next post! We're also planning a trip in early March, and I tried to utilise one of the accommodation benefits, but I was a bit miffed to find out that I could not do so, due to some conditions that I didn't know about. Hmmph. Oh well, we got another deal that seemed quite reasonable so hopefully it works out after all.

Celebrating hubby's birthday with dinner at Duck King

2010-01-23T23:35:00.000+08:00

We celebrated hubby's birthday recently with a simple meal at Duck King. It was a weekday so a simple dinner was all we could do.

Food was relatively nice, but it was a bit tough to really enjoy the meal because the little one was fussing quite a bit. Fortunately my parents came along, so we managed to take turns eating.

Eating duck at Duck King is a no-brainer..

Frog legs- way too salty! And the photo is not blur- that's steam..

Loved this dish- I have a thing for 'tau kan'! =)

Got a lovely birthday cake from Fatboy for hubby, which was simply delicious. Nutty Boozey Spencer- so chocolatey and stuffed with macadamia nuts! Yum...

Strawberries were our own... :)

A home-cooked meal for Christmas

2009-12-30T23:00:00.001+08:00

I don't cook much, so it was great fun (although it was a tad stressful) to do a bit of cooking for Christmas. Nothing fancy really, just some simple fare. I wouldn't say the meal was a resounding success, but I guess the food was edible. Or my family was just being polite. Hmm.

I made a Seared Scallop Salad, although the scallops were anything but seared. Darn. I think they just kind of 'boiled' in the butter. I always find it so hard to cook scallops (not that I try often; those things are much too expensive for me to keep getting wrong, haha). Anyway, the salad wasn't too bad- with scallops, walnuts, pears and rocket leaves, the different tastes and textures went quite well together.

For the main course I made pasta- with homemade pesto and bacon and mushrooms. Yummy! The pesto was a pain to make because I had so much trouble finding basil leaves, plus my blender was too small so I had to make them in batches.

With some simple cheese and smoked salmon on crackers plus a delicious 'cocktail' of Malibu rum and pineapple juice, I guess it was a decent meal after all. Ah well, by my standards anyway.

Christmas around KL

2009-12-28T22:50:00.001+08:00

Being the little one's first Christmas, we made the effort to trawl the malls to show him some bright lights and Christmas decorations. Not that Christmas is about all that of course, but we thought it might be a good way to entertain him.

Pavilion was our first stop- lovely decorations with a red and gold theme.

Fountain outside Pavilion

Cute!

Gardens opted for a pretty winter garden theme, complete with white butterflies and lamp posts (Narnia?), although I felt the area decorated was a bit too small.

Not your usual Christmas carollers =)

MidValley went for a medieval theme- with castles and princesses and all. Interesting.

Here are some photos taken at The Curve...

Check out Ikano's Underwater Christmas! Cute.

Best of all? Our humble little Christmas tree, set of specially for our little darling.

Our 3rd wedding anniversary!

2009-12-21T10:13:00.001+08:00

We celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on Dec 2nd. The past year has been eventful- preparing for the arrival of our little one, celebrating his arrival in April, and watching him grow over the past few months. Hubby is simply amazing; he is such a great husband and father. Watching him care for and interact with our child makes me thank God even more for this wonderful gem of a husband...

My mum was kind enough to watch the little one while we went for a quiet dinner that day. We opted for Michaelangelo's at Solaris Mont Kiara, after reading an article about the restaurant. The food sounded good, plus there were some offers for Citibank credit card holders, so off we went.

Lovely flowers from hubby..

...that came in a nifty cardboard 'vase'!

A reproduction of Michaelangelo's 'The Creation of Adam' in the Sistine Chapel

For starters, we had the Carpaccio Filetto- paper thin sliced beef topped with shaved parmesan, rocket salad and mushrooms. Absolutely delicious! We ate every last morsel on the plate in record time. Looks like there were lots on the plate, but the beef really was paper thin. Yummy! :)

Hubby had the Aragosta Alla Pomodoro- half lobster cooked in a spicy, creamy tomato sauce, topped with cheese and served on a bed of spaghetti. Very nice as well.

Can't recall the exact name of the pasta I had- but it was nice and tangy with lots of capsicum and tomatoes, topped with slices of smoked duck. The smoky flavour from the duck balanced the tangy flavours quite nicely; it tasted a bit sweet towards the end (the effects of diminishing marginal utility I suppose) but the pasta portion was quite manageable so it was fine overall.

Chocolate lava cake with ice cream.. fabulous way to end a lovely meal!

Michaelangelo's is definitely a place we would go back to.

May the Lord continue to watch over our marriage and family... Soli Deo Gloria! :)

A weekend in Bukit Tinggi

2009-12-19T10:06:00.005+08:00

Hubby organised a company weekend away recently to Bukit Tinggi, and all of us tagged along. And when I mean all of us- I really mean ALL of us. Hubby, myself, baby, my parents, his mum, and our domestic helper. 6 adults to 1 baby, haha.

It was really really great to have all the help. Travelling with a baby is no mean feat, I tell you. Seemed like we had to pack the entire bathroom and kitchen on his account!

Colmar Tropicale looked ok on the outside- this 'French village' was definitely nothing to shout about, but entertaining enough for a short stay with a baby (since babies are quite easily amused anyway). It was really just that one street, and that was it. It was nice and cool that day, so at least that was a plus.

We set our expectations really low after reading all the bad reviews online about the Colmar Tropicale hotel rooms. We occupied 2 rooms between the 7 of us; the one bedroom suite was decent and spacious, but the family room was rather awful. Especially the bathroom. Ewww. I shudder just thinking about it. Plus, there was some awful karaoke going on until late at night so I barely got any sleep. Throw in a cranky baby and well.. you can imagine. Thank God it was just for one night.

Resident swan at Colmar Tropicale

There were a few game stalls on the main street, and since there was not much to do, we had quite a bit of fun (and spent a lot of money I think) playing the silly games and trying to win prizes. I think the one who had the most fun was my mum! Haha.

Our cute prizes =)

The next day we popped by the rabbit farm; nothing much there, but hey, it was for the kid. Next was a trip to the bowling alley, where I bowled the worst game of my life... *shy*

It was a really tiring weekend for all of us, even the little one- who was still sleeping off the excitement for a few days after we got home!

Random bits on the little one..

2009-12-18T09:37:00.003+08:00

Some random bits on the tiny tot:

- He's starting to shake his head; maybe because we keep saying 'No, no, no' ;p
- He loves babbling; recently he's going 'nyeh.. nyeh.. nyeh'
- Did I mention he can suck his big toe? :)
- Quite an observant little kid. Spends time entertaining himself with his toys.. plus he's learnt to tug at knots until they come undone.. Heh.
- Seems to understand 'High Five'!
- Starting to slap his hands on the table; so now we have to move everything out of his way
- Loves looking at books (hopefully this continues.. haha)
- Can't crawl yet; although he's starting to shuffle.. backwards!
- Oh, and he can do mini ab crunches!!

=)

Sun Motor Hunt 2009

2009-12-11T22:51:00.004+08:00

Some of you may know that we are fans of treasure hunting. Not the type involving maps and shovels and 'X marks the spot' of course, but those involving tulips and cryptic clues! Not surprising, since I am a huge fan of word games. I absolutely love games like Scrabble and Boggle; my mum taught my sis and I how to play when we were little kids, and I've been hooked ever since! :)

Back to hunting- well we don't get to hunt much, but it certainly is something that we would like to get into more. This year, we finally had the opportunity to join the famed Sun Motor Hunt; and boy, what a great time we had! I was looking forward to the hunt for weeks and we made the necesssary care arrangements for the baby so that we could have a day off to go hunting. The hunt was stressful and tiring of course, but it really was so much fun :)

The hunt was divided into two legs- with Leg 1 further divided into two parts. Our time management was rather poor and we spent more time than we should have at Part 1, resulting in a domino effect that saw us rushing through the last few questions of the hunt, thus missing some simple questions! Drat. Ah well, I suppose practice makes perfect....

Almost 300 cars participated in the hunt..

We ended up in the top 100, and given that this was our first attempt at the Sun Motor Hunt, I thought this wasn't too bad at all. We won Samsung vacuum cleaners, which we gave to each of our mums, since they both could do with one :)

Here's a question that drove us all nuts:

Q: Property of topsy turvy fish found right here
A: Lot 733

Stumped? Read 733 upside down...

Guess we have to pay a lot more $$ in treasure hunting tuition fees! (I.e. pay $$ to enter more hunts to learn)

Our new Nikon D5000

2009-12-07T12:05:00.002+08:00

We finally decided to go out on a limb and buy a DSLR camera, despite our Panasonic Lumix being only about 2 years old. The excuse? Indoor shots of the baby look so much clearer. Ahem. Plus, there was a Nikon Fair at Midvalley, and there were pretty good deals on offer, so it seemed like a good opportunity to get one.

After much research, we settled for the Nikon D5000. It’s a pretty decent camera with Live View mode and video recording.

Suffice to say, we're having quite a fair bit of fun with it...

Has it been almost 7 months already?

2009-11-19T22:43:00.006+08:00

The little one will be almost 7 months old soon. Wow. It seems like only yesterday when he was this tiny little thing that could fit into the crook of my one arm. He's growing well and fast; praise God. He looks like a little boy (as opposed to a little baby) already... Children really grow up too fast; sigh.

Some updates:

He is rolling all over the place now, so we have to watch him even more carefully. He's also sitting rather sturdily, although he still topples over sometimes. Haha.
We've managed to wean him off his pacifier, which has not been an easy task. Phew. He has taken to sucking on his lips instead, which is quite funny to watch. Without the pacifier, putting him to sleep can be dreadfully tough at times, and sometimes I just feel like screaming my head off. But we haven't caved in yet.. hope it stays that way. The downside is that we need a bit more time to put him back to sleep when he stirs in the middle of the night (sometimes I have to cradle him for a while), plus somehow he always seems to get up around 5-ish, and we end up putting him on our bed so that we can continue to get some sleep. All in all, that makes it two wakings for me- and although short, they are certainly disruptive to a good night's sleep. Am feeling more tired than usual as a result. Sigh.

That aside, it has really been lovely to see him grow and develop.

He has a rather peculiar habit of curling up his toes and clenching his fists when drinking milk. So 'kan cheong'....
He loves exercising his legs- he kicks really hard, sometimes even when he is being carried; his legs can look like fleshy windscreen wipers! Our dear Michelin baby :) He also enjoys swinging his legs, which he can do quite well when he's sitting on the edge of a lap and his legs are free to dangle.
Blowing raspberries is another favourite pastime of his. There are days when he's at it all day..
He likes to 'talk'. So much babbling- not funny when you're trying to sleep! Yak yak yak :)
He's been eating solids for about a month now, and he really loves it. Yum. Except broccoli. He cried after just one spoonful. Can't blame him, I'm not a big broccoli fan either. :p
Bathtime is something he really enjoys- especially when it comes to kicking up a big splash. Tsunami in the bathtub I tell you...
For some reason he's starting to make 'smacking' motions with his arms.. thus ending up 'smacking' himself on the tummy or his sides.. or our faces! With his arms flailing wildly, looks like he's trying to fly! :)
He's figured out to turn himself in all directions in his cot, sometimes ending up with a hand or leg stuck in between the bars. So dangerous, gosh. Cot bumper? Doesn't help much. He now folds the thing up to check out the scenery outside the cot.. and plays peek-a-boo!
Absolutely adore his chuckles.. he enjoys us tickling him, blowing on his tummy or face, making funny faces, pretending to nibble on his toes or dancing while being carried in our arms. So cute.

We love him so very, very much.

Teambuilding retreat in Kuantan

2009-11-01T19:25:00.001+08:00

Recently I had the privilege to join my company's senior management team for their teambuilding retreat in Kuantan. There was lots of eating, singing, dancing, and many cool games.

The most memorable game was the 'Caterpillar Walk', which featured team members sandwiching balloons between them and completing a walk that involved picking stuff up from the ground. Not easy when there are 5 people moving up and down in tandem, while trying not to drop or burst the balloons! Plus... picking up a large coconut with one hand makes the task harder.. haha :p The grand finale to this game involved crushing against each other to break the balloons; now this was really really hilarious! I bet some of the photos, if seen by others who were not there, could easily lead to- *ahem* -dodgy conclusions!

We were also given the task of building a rollercoaster out of straws and masking tape.. and here is our creation! Cool, huh? Thanks to our team leader, who is, amongst many other things, an engineer by training as well...

A rollercoaster by another team; note the disconnected track..

which they argued provided a thrilling twist to the ride! Haha :)

We didn't win this challenge however.. we lost points for using up too many straws! Not environmentally-friendly enough, apparently. Cheh. We were most unhappy with the result. Hmmph.

We also had a 3km beach run at 6 a.m. on the first morning! Imagine that. Plus all the other games- bowling, beach volleyball, etc.. it was really tiring. Most of us were limping towards the end of the retreat, haha.

It was hectic, but I certainly had a few fun-filled days. I also had the opportunity to get to know my colleagues better; it was certainly eye-opening to see their quirky sides :)

And hubby managed the little one all by himself while I was away- well done!

Mooncake Mania!

2009-10-28T23:02:00.003+08:00

For some reason we ended up having a lot of mooncakes this year. Too many, I might add. In fact, I think I still have 3 in the kitchen.. I blame the mooncakes for my recent weight gain. Cheh :p

Anyway, I didn't realise that mooncakes came in so many flavours these days! There are even some that come with meat floss, which sound odd but actually taste really nice. Another one of my favourites is Tai Thong's Jade Custard. I tried their new Honeydew & Peach flavour- and truth be told, that turned out to be quite yucky. Definitely not my cup of tea.

Here are some lovely snow skin mooncakes that were yummy.. with exotic names like 'Red Lantern- Snow Skin Kirsch Lotus Paste with Cheese & Raspberry' and 'Blue Moon- Snow Skin Lotus Amaretto Paste with Blueberry Cheese Feuillantine'.

And the packaging! So elaborate. I ended up buying this box of 4 since the pink box was just so cute. One particular flavour here stood out- 'Bamboo Charcoal Hazelnut', which had a pitch black exterior and a lovely chocolatey centre.

Can recycle this to store little trinkets..

We also considered buying a lantern for the little one to play with, and checked out the new canggih-manggih designs that were out there for sale. Wow, there are battery-operated fish lanterns that have wheels, plus moving fins and tails! RM30+! Crazy. Toys have certainly come a long way since the time we were kids. Hmm.

We didn't end up buying a lantern in the end (will wait till he's older).. but his grandma surprised him with one. How sweet :)

A chicken that flaps its wings and turns its head; plus it does something rather strange- it tilts forwards and the beak touches the floor, thus causing the chicken to go backwards! Until now we're not sure if that's how it's supposed to work.. but hey, it keeps him occupied! :)

Our little darling turns 5 months old today...

2009-09-28T22:42:00.003+08:00

Time flies. The little one is already 5 months old. He's growing well, and so far, he's a pretty good-natured baby. Hope it stays that way...

According to my mum, he's already learnt to turn over, but I'm still waiting to see it with my own eyes though. Hmm. A bit sad that I don't have the privilege of witnessing that first turn, but hopefully I don't end up missing too many 'firsts' along the way. Sigh- the downside of being a working mum.

There's really nothing better than to give him a cuddle at the end of a long day at work (though I suspect it probably benefits me more than it does him.. haha). Better give him as many as I can while he still lets me...

Thumbs up for Up!

2009-09-11T22:48:00.002+08:00

Have you watched Up yet? If you haven't, you really ought to see it. It's a lovely movie; funny, heartwarming and thought-provoking all at once.

*spoiler alert*

Flying away with the help of balloons? Cool! Talking dogs? Errr... And the scene with the two old men fighting was just hilarious! Incidentally, Russell- the little kid, made me think of my little boy.. round face with 'no double-eyelid eyes' (Where are they?? They keep disappearing when he opens his eyes wide. No hope la...) Haha :p

On a more serious note though, I wonder what a scrapbook of my life would look like. What will I file away under 'Stuff I'm Going To Do'? Hmm. I remember the exact moment when old Mr Fredricksen discovered his late wife's cherished memories.. and it got me thinking. Life may not turn out the way we expect it to, or the way we hoped; but there will always be something wonderful to be discovered, if we choose to open our hearts to it.

p/s: If you're going to watch Up, remember to be there early. The short film screened before the movie is just precious :)

Back to Banquet

2009-09-07T22:55:00.001+08:00

It was mum-in-law's birthday recently, and we ended up having a quiet and pleasant meal at Banquet, Bangsar Village II. It's quite a challenge to bring the little one out; there are other factors to consider when deciding on where to eat, besides the obvious- the food! Haha. Banquet is quite spacious, and Bangsar Village II is rather nice and quiet, unlike some other malls which are insanely crowded.

We had the Baked Escargot with Parsley Butter Sauce and the Honey Truffle Prawns for starters; the escargots were yummy and garlicky, and the prawns were simply divine! Lightly fried and coated with honey, this was definitely the highlight of the meal for me. I virtually ate all the vegetables that came with the prawns and used them to mop up the sauce! *drool*

Garlicky escargots

Honey Truffle Prawns- delicious!

I went for something rather boring- pasta; so I won't bother to go into details here. I'm just a huge pasta fan.. sometimes I really have half a mind to move to Italy. Anyway, hubby went for the Burgundy Cheek of Wagyu, which I thought was nicer than the one we tasted at Café Café.

The best part was that our little boy fell asleep when we started our meal, and stayed asleep throughout until it was time to cut the cake. Such a dear, huh? :)

Harry Potter, Angels & Demons

2009-08-23T18:48:00.007+08:00

After a fair amount of planning and co-ordination, we managed to find time to watch 2 movies recently- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Angels & Demons. Harry Potter wasn't really that great; it was more of a teenage love story or sorts. Plus, it was rather weird seeing sweet and smart Hermione getting her knickers in a twist over Ron. Hmm. I went back and ended up reading the last book just to refresh my memory on what happens next. Oh gosh, I'm so excited- can't wait for the next 2 movies! In case you didn't know, they're breaking the last book into 2 movies. Hope they are as action-packed as the book.. :)

Angels & Demons was also a bit of a disappointment. Director Ron Howard certainly took quite a few liberties with the storyline. There were just too many 'Eh?' moments for me. What a shame- the book was simply amazing. I remembered being glued to it, devouring page after page. The Camerlengo's speech in the book was wonderfully heartfelt and thought-provoking, but it was hardly featured in the film (if my memory serves me right).

Ah well, at least Rome was captured beautifully in the film. And Tom Hanks' hair looks less ridiculous now... Heh.

Cute cupcakes!

2009-08-15T11:26:00.001+08:00

I ordered these gift sets for my colleagues; didn't make it in time for the traditional full-moon, but hey, better late than never. The problem was there was no delivery service available, so I had to go and pick them up myself.

The cupcakes looked so cute, and they tasted quite nice as well. Not too sweet :)

Took a photo of all the different designs, don't they look too cute to be eaten? Haha.

11 weeks on...

2009-07-14T21:28:00.004+08:00

and baby is just doing beautifully. He has been sleeping through the night without needing to feed for a while now; praise the Lord! Hope it stays that way.

Sleep is still rather choppy for me though, as he tends to fuss a little starting from around 4 to 5 a.m, but usually the pacifier is sufficient to help him get back to sleep.

He is smiling a lot more now, and 'talking' quite a fair bit too! 'Angku' seems to be his favourite word, haha. Recently he's developed a whole new cry- this pitiful, high pitched cry that just melts your heart. Awww, the little darling. Guess you already have mummy wrapped around your little finger. Hmm.

We're really grateful to both my mum and mum-in-law for being so gracious in extending help to care for the little one. From now on my mum will be caring for him during the day when we're at work, and we get to spend time with him every evening and on weekends. So far, so good.

God is gracious indeed.

Hubby is a great Daddy!

2009-07-14T21:21:00.002+08:00

Hubby is such a great help with the little one. He can do everything that I can (except breastfeed, obviously- haha). Nappy change? Check. Bathing? Not a problem. Dear hubby also wakes up in the middle of the night when I need help.

Baby and I are so blessed!! =D

It still feels a bit odd...

2009-06-20T22:00:00.005+08:00

...to say "I have a son". At times I can hardly believe that I'm a mother now, (though it doesn't take that much to snap myself back to reality, heh).

Motherhood has been a rollercoaster ride so far (and it's only been 8 weeks or so!). The first month was tough; things are getting better now, as I learn to understand the little one a bit more each day. Am still trying to come to terms with the fact that not all the expectations of how to care for baby would be met. Like using the pacifier, for example. After a few weeks, we decided it was time to buy one. Ah well-pick your battles, as they say...

A couple of things to pen down, before they become distant memories:

His neck control is really quite good; even in the early days he could lift his head up, much to our surprise. Recently we have had quite a few laughs watching him shift his head from left to right (while lying on his tummy)- which involves lifting his head first, and then shuffling face down to the other side. Hilarious.

His lower lip quivers pitifully sometimes when he's crying. We noticed it right from day 1 when he was born. Aiyo, so drama.

Screams the house down sometimes if we're late in giving him his milk. Goes all red and screams until a point where there is no sound- scary. But after that he realises it takes too much energy, so he quietens a bit thereafter. At least the screaming doesn't last too long.

Sometimes he's content to suck on the pacifier while waiting for his meal. Wonder how long we can continue 'conning' him...

He pecks or headbutts when he's hungry- just like a little bird. And the way he latches on to the bottle (or me :p) would give piranhas a run for their money!

He waves (more like punching) and kicks quite comically when he's not happy- i.e. when he's sleepy or hungry. He packs quite a punch too!

Sometimes he makes a 'fish mouth' (like he's trying to whistle) when he wants to poo. Or he goes really quiet.. as if he's up to no good. Haha.

He makes a lot of noise when he sleeps at night- grunts, etc. In the early days we used to get up to check on him all the time, worried that he might have vomitted or something. Now we're wiser- it's just how he is, so we don't bother so much.

And oh.. that smile. Just melts your heart. (Never mind that at this stage the smiles are probably mostly involuntary- but hey, I'll take what I can get. It's one of those things that keeps me going.) Also, recently he has been chuckling as well.. which sounds like a quick series of hiccups, except that they are coupled with a broad smile. Awww..

Sigh. :)

Welcome to the world

2009-05-24T21:50:00.000+08:00

Thought of writing this down so that many years from now, the little one will be able to read for himself what I went through to bring him into the world.. heh.

We visited the gynae in the morning of Monday, 27th April, and learnt that I was already at 2 cm, and the baby's head was already very very low, so things were looking good. Soon, we were told. And so we waited. The contractions got stronger throughout the day, but they still weren't close enough to warrant a trip to the labour ward just yet. We were hoping to hold on out until the next morning, since we didn't fancy going in to the hospital in the middle of the night, but at midnight I decided I really had to wake poor hubby up, and off we went to the hospital.

I had thought the whole thing would move along quite quickly, given the baby's position and all.. but it still took 12 hours. Gosh!

It was quite frustrating to learn that I was still at 2 cm at midnight; so there was nothing to do but to wait. The painful contractions were occuring every 5-10 minutes, which meant I could not get any rest, and neither did poor hubby. At 4 a.m. I was STILL at 2 cm...there was still a long way to go, and I was worried at being exhausted by the time it came to pushing the baby out, what with no rest throughout the night and all. Drat.

And so I signed the consent form for the epidural; hubby and I praying very hard that the anaesthetist who was going to administer the epidural would be alert and awake enough not to mess things up. After all, it IS an injection into the epidural space, which is part of the spine.. :p

My legs were all warm and tingly after the epidural; more importantly, I couldn't feel the pain of the contractions, which was absolute bliss. Should have taken the epidural earlier. Haha.

Managed to get a few hours' of light sleep after that; my gynae came in at 7 a.m, announced that I was at 3-4 cm (only??), and proceeded to burst my water bag. (We thought it had already burst, but she said it was still intact, and prodded it to show me. It felt like a water balloon going round and round... eww.)

After that, things got a bit weird. I developed a slight fever, started vomitting and also started shivering. Apparently, these were all side effects from the epidural. I couldn't even keep a sip of water down, and I was shivering like crazy. We had to switch the air-con off, and I was under 2 blankets, but I still felt like my bones were freezing. Those few hours were TERRIBLE. It was like having severe food poisoning (which is something that I am quite susceptible to); but on top of that being in labour, with blood and fluid leaking everywhere, and the lower body nothing but a helpless deadweight. Also, I could feel the epidural 'wearing off', since I could feel my contractions again. I was distressed almost to the point of tears, and wondered how I would find the strength later to push. Goodness.

It finally crossed someone's mind to give me some anti-vomitting medicine, so that I could also take the medicine to bring the fever down. They topped up my epidural dosage (the tube was taped to my back), and that helped somewhat. Thank God hubby was there to help take care of me. He sponged me with a towel to get the fever down, and later to help me cool off when the medicine took effect and I started to sweat profusely. By then, I was about 5-6 cm.

The next thing I remember was being at 9 cm, and then there was a flurry of activity in the labour ward. I was re-positioned, poles were put in place for my hands and feet, the gynae's equipment was laid out, etc. Everything happened so fast; the gynae suddenly appeared and the next thing I knew, it was time to push! It was tough; I couldn't seem to get the technique of coordinating the breathing and pushing quite right.

There were 8 other people in the labour ward; and I recall there was a lot of cheering from the 'spectators'- loud cries in unison spurring me to push, push and push some more! Thanks to the epidural, I remember this scene quite vividly since there was only a dull pain (thus my mind had time to wander..) and I recall thinking how ridiculously funny this whole affair would be- if I wasn't the one stuck in the unflattering position with an entire cheerleading team watching me! :p

After about half an hour or so, the gynae informed me that she might have to use a vacuum to help baby out, since he had already passed motion (she could see the meconium stains) and that wasn't a good sign... I was warned that it didn't mean that I could stop doing any 'work'; I still needed to push, and with the help of some fairly low suction, baby was out!

It all happened so fast; suddenly there was this slimy, greyish thing slapped on my tummy, and there was a commotion as hubby rushed to cut the umbilical cord and the nurses ran around to attend to baby. I don't even recall seeing his face at that point; and he was taken outside the room to be cleaned, checked, etc.

Baby was brought back into the room after a while, and I remember how weird it felt to see my baby for the first time. He seemed like a little stranger (or maybe I was just too dazed and confused to think clearly); and if you're wondering.. no, I didn't have one of those 'movie moments' where I cradled my newborn in my arms while shedding tears of joy. I did envision that, but it was not to be. Talk about a reality check. :(

Instead, baby was whisked off to the neonatal ICU, since the concern was that he might have breathed in some meconium (which is essentially his own poo) which could lead to infection in the lungs. Poor baby had to have an x-ray taken, an IV inserted for a glucose drip and antibiotics prescribed. It was quite distressing for me and hubby; and it was heartbreaking to see all those tubes sticking out from his tiny little body...but we thank God that everything turned out alright in the end- thank you all so much for your prayers!

On April 28th, 2009, our lives changed forever. May God give us the strength, wisdom and perseverance to journey on together...

Anytime now...

2009-04-26T00:11:00.000+08:00

and baby is going to arrive. Scared to death, but excited nevertheless :)

A picture of my bump.. before it turns to flab :(

Do keep us in prayer...

Milestones...

2009-03-08T22:34:00.004+08:00

Phew.. I've finally made it to this entry. Thought I wasn't going to be able to pen down what happened for the rest of 2008... haha.

We moved in to our new home at the end of August, after months of effort to get the place ready (and we didn't even do that much- i.e. no major renovation involved). We got the built-in wardrobes done, the lights installed, and the furniture delivered (after a lot of shopping around of course). We had some drama with regards to painting our ceiling; looking back now we can laugh about it, but it sure wasn't funny then. The installation of the lights involved some hacking, and the resulting paintwork over the patched areas was rather unsightly- no matter how many times we tried to fix it. And so we decided to paint the entire ceiling. On our own. Suffice to say, it was a BAD idea.. and in the end, we had to pay the professionals to do it anyway. Cheh.

September 20th was a big day for us- we found out that I was 7 weeks' pregnant! No wonder I was feeling like crap for weeks; I thought it was just the work stress getting to me. We were both stunned to see the little sac on the ultrasound, and we were just blown away by the miracle of life. Praise God for His wonderful gift!

I'm in my 32nd week now; and our little sweetheart is due to arrive in early May. We thank God that the pregnancy has been going relatively well. I didn't really have any morning sickness in the first trimester (save for nausea when I ate too much, but I guess that's normal :p). Of course, there are aches, pains, heartburn, breathlessness etc etc but overall it hasn't been too bad. At the moment the shooting pain up my nerve in the lower back has been causing me some grief; but I hope it's nothing too serious. Hmm..

There were times earlier on where I got worried when people commented that my baby bump was so small, and I didn't seem to be gaining much weight... but now it looks like I have to watch my weight! My gynae made me take a glucose test to check for pregnancy diabetes, since my recent weight gain was a bit too much- but fortunately things were ok and I'm fine. I blame the weight gain on all the goodies I consumed over the Christmas and Chinese New Year period! :p

It has been amazing seeing our baby grow over the past few months. We saw him (yes it's a boy!) bouncing about like a jumping shrimp earlier on, waving his hands, stretching his legs and rolling about as he got bigger. I remember one time we saw him open his mouth (a yawn maybe?) followed by some lip-smacking afterwards. Even my gynae was amused, heh.

I can't quite recall if I ever felt the 'quickening' feeling mentioned in the books.. but the kicks have been unmistakeable! He's quite the active little dear- kicking and moving about ever so often. One of the funniest things I'm experiencing now is his tendency to kick me on whichever side I'm sleeping. If I sleep on my right, he would kick me there to get my attention. Feeling bad that I was squashing him, I would turn to lie on my back for a while and try a bit later to sleep on the left instead. And guess what- he would then proceed to kick me on my left! Basically I think he's trying to protest that I am depriving him of his space- there's no pleasing this little guy! :p

8 weeks more to go; we're praying that everything will continue to go smoothly... would value your prayers too! :)

Haywards Heath

2009-02-02T23:43:00.000+08:00

I've finally come to the last of the series of blog entries on our trip to UK waaaaay back in May 2008. I can't believe this has taken me this long :p

We made a trip to Haywards Heath (about an hour's train ride from London) to visit a dear friend and his family. It was lovely meeting up again after all these years, and I was thrilled to see his beautiful girls for the first time. After a quick lunch, we ended up joining them to take part in a procession (their village was having a funfair that day), so it was all rather fun!

The theme of our group was the story of Jonah :)

What fun!

We left for London in the afternoon.. and soon it was time to say goodbye. We had a great time in the UK; but now it was time to head home. London has changed; and I have come to accept that my most recent experience of this city cannot possibly be the same as when I was there studying. You know what- I think I have found the closure I was looking for...

New Fellows' Presentation

2009-01-31T23:07:00.006+08:00

Staple Inn

The New Fellows' Presentation held at Staple Inn was one of the reasons for our trip to the UK, so I was rather looking forward to it. The ceremony was quite interesting, rather like a graduation ceremony- complete with inspiring speeches and of course, champagne and canapés! :)

One thing that was really noticeable was the look of relief on the new Fellows, and their accompanying family members as well- haha. I guess the past few years have been challenging for most of us; and what a journey it has been! But then again, I'm reminded that qualifying as a Fellow should be viewed as the beginning, and not the end. How true.

After the presentation, we met up with my dear university friend PS, for lunch. It was great seeing her again after all these years. Sigh, how time has flown by...

Greenwich

2009-01-30T22:40:00.000+08:00

Poor hubby wasn’t feeling well the next day so we stayed in till late morning. We eventually managed to make our way to Greenwich by bus, arriving in time for lunch. Our first stop was the National Maritime Museum, which proudly displays Britain’s seafaring history. From there it was a rather steep walk up to the Royal Observatory, the renowned monument to navigational research. It is the original home of Greenwich Mean Time and is famous for being the source of the Prime Meridian line that divides the East from the West (longitude 0° 0' 0'').

National Maritime Museum

The famous line

Ooh look, Kuala Lumpur gets a mention :)

Y&A dropped by to join us until closing time, and then it was off to a nearby village to grab some tea. It was raining rather heavily, so that was one wet and cold walk! Well, at least there was something warm to look forward to :)

We managed to catch another musical later in the evening- Hairspray! We decided to take a chance and just turn up at the theatre counter for last-minute tickets, and were pleased to find 2 suitable and affordable seats left. Hurrah! Hairspray was just so much fun; we really had a blast. There was so much colour and energy in the music and dancing; it was difficult not to groove along!

We got lost in Rotherhithe late at night while trying to get home by bus, so that was a bit scary. Thank God we managed alright in the end! Phew.

South Bank Walk

2008-12-29T21:45:00.003+08:00

The next day saw us taking a long walk along the South Bank. We started at Westminster, crossed over to the South Bank, walking past London Eye and right up to the Tate Modern, then back across the river via the Millennium Bridge to St Paul's Cathedral. Phew!

Houses of Parliament

Buskers at work

View of the Millennium Bridge and St Paul from inside the Tate Modern

We had a look inside the Tate, and it was rather interesting, as always. Hubby and I played a game where we tried to guess the names of the exhibits on display; and we would come up with names like 'Circles in Squares' or 'Block of Wood' or something along those lines. Ahh.. modern art. :)

Our walk didn't end there.. we continued from St Paul down Holborn till we reached an old haunt (Kam Fung) for dinner. It was nice to have a warm, satisfying meal at the end of that long, long day!

Stonehenge & Salisbury

2008-10-31T09:04:00.003+08:00

It's quite strange seeing this major tourist attraction just standing there by the highway. One can actually see the entire structure quite clearly without paying the entrance fee; which loads of people just did. We did pay to go in; the experience wasn't really great, but it wasn't too bad though. We had the most fun trying to figure out which angle the photo featured on the brochure was taken from (we tried to take the same one). Pretty soon others caught on to what we were trying to do; seemed to think it was a great idea, and so they did the same. Hehe.

We then headed for Salisbury, famous for its cathedral which has the tallest church spire in the UK. Salisbury is quite a pretty place, but we weren't there for long since we didn't want to get back to London too late.

I managed to drive part of the way and made it to the car rental place to drop off the car (it was stressful though- given the rush hour traffic). So now I can say I drove in London! Haha :p

We met some dear friends for a late dinner, and had a great time catching up. I met cute little George for the first time- and he is ever so adorable!

Gorgeous George :)

Penzance to Tintagel

2008-10-31T08:45:00.002+08:00

The next day saw a drastic change in the weather. It was cold and rainy, with strong winds all round. Not so pleasant when one is near the coastline! :(

We drove to St Ives , but didn't get a chance to see much of it because it was raining so heavily. We sought shelter at the Tate St Ives for a while but finally decided to go on with our journey because the rain and wind showed no signs of abating.

So on we drove to Tintagel, which took a couple of hours- given the weather conditions. Tintagel turned out to be a really touristy place. We took the walk to the castle- only to find it was closed!! They couldn't let anyone go up there due to the strong winds. We were so disappointed, but just had to make do with exploring Merlin's cave and wandering around the area a little bit.

Leaving Tintagel, we drove back to Plymouth, ending our trip to Cornwall. The trip was lovely- but shame about Tintagel Castle! Sigh.

Cornwall: Minack Theatre & Land's End

2008-10-14T21:20:00.001+08:00

We left Marazion and drove to Porthcurno to see the Minack Theatre. The drive was a tad scary, as the roads were narrow and winding, with either stone walls or hedges on both sides (thereby leaving no road shoulders). It was a bit stressful when cars came up close behind us (probably the locals) and we had to find suitable spots to pull over and let them pass. Plus, it was quite unnerving to suddenly go round a bend to see a car coming headlong towards us! Not for the faint-hearted, that drive.

We were so glad when we arrived at Minack Theatre. I would never have known about this place if not for my mum- who saw it featured on her favourite travel show, hosted by the ever-so-entertaining Samantha Brown. Minack Theatre is an amazing open-air theatre created from the cliffside at Porthcurno with spectacular views of the bay. The theatre was built by a lady named Rowena Cade- who actually transported stones from a nearby quarry in a wheelbarrow; thus building it with her own hands! Wow.

The scenery from the top of the cliff was simply breathtaking. We were so blessed to have beautiful weather that made the visit such a wonderful one. When we saw the theatre, I was shocked at how steep it was! I am terrified of heights, so walking around and looking down (especially near the edge) made my knees go weak... :p

Can you think of a more gorgeous way to enjoy scones? :)

Leaving Minack Theatre, we drove on to Land's End- the most westerly point in England. The views of the rocky cliffs and the ocean was breathtaking, and it was lovely to see locals and tourists alike out enjoying the beautiful weather.

Cornwall: St Michael's Mount

2008-09-14T21:22:00.004+08:00

The next day saw us driving from Plymouth to Penzance, and then on to Marazion to see St Michael's Mount. I was quite excited at the thought of visiting this unique, rocky island, which you can walk to when the tide is low. It was drizzling when we arrived, and the weather was just awful and miserable.

We wandered around a bit while debating whether we should take the short motorboat trip over to the island (the tide was in). It was so cold and I wasn't keen on climbing up the hill to see the castle. The thing that I was really hoping to do was to walk across the causeway at low tide, but obviously, one needed to be there at the right time. We finally decided to go over, and I was so excited to hear that the tide would be out in about an hour's time! Yippee!

We had so much fun walking back along the causeway; it was such a great experience. It was like this yellow brick road fully revealed at the parting of the sea! :)

Some people removed their shoes for the walk, whilst children poked around for crabs and stuff amongst the exposed seaweed and rocks- buckets and spades in tow. Even vehicles could drive on the causeway! It was quite amazing to be walking along this road with the sea at the edge; it was certainly a memorable experience for us.

By this time, the sun had broken through the clouds and the weather was warm and gorgeous. We joined the masses who decided to camp out in the sunshine and admire St Michael's Mount against the backdrop of a beautiful blue sky... while sipping beer and enjoying a lovely lunch! :)

Jacket Potato with North Atlantic Prawns

Roast beef with roasted vegetables; the parsnips were simply delicious!

Pretty Plymouth

2008-09-13T23:30:00.001+08:00

Early next morning, we went to pick up our car from the car rental company. Hubby rented a Vauxhall Astra, but they decided to offer us an upgrade because there was this other car that needed to be sent back to London (our drop-off point). The upgrade? A C180 Mercedes Benz! Ooo. We took it.

Anyway, the drive to Plymouth wasn't too bad, although traffic was heavy, it being a Bank Holiday weekend.

Plymouth turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise. We really enjoyed strolling along The Hoe; taking in the fresh air and the lovely view of Plymouth Sound (it's a bay). Some of the famous landmarks in the area such as Smeaton's Tower and the Royal Citadel also made for good photo opportunities.

Smeaton's Tower

We continued walking until we came to the Barbican Maritime Village, which I thought was rather quaint and pretty. It might be a bit touristy for some, but I found it quite interesting in its own way- with little sailing boats crowding the waterways and narrow streets lined with little shops and galleries. Of course, we didn't miss the famous Mayflower Steps, said to be the place where the Pilgrim Fathers boarded the Mayflower and sailed for America in 1620.

We had Fish & Chips and pickled eggs for lunch, which was quite nice. There was one item on the menu with an unusual name.. turned out to be meatballs in gravy. Yes, I did have to ask someone at the counter to find out what it was.

That aside, we also treated ourselves to some ice-cream with clotted cream, which I thought was yummy, although hubby didn't think so. Heh.

Our last stop for the day was the Plymouth Gin Distillery, where we joined a short guided tour to find out more about its history and also how gin is made. It was quite fun learning about the different spices that go into Plymouth Gin, as we got to touch, smell and taste them.

What a lovely day! :)

A quiet day in Bristol..

2008-09-13T22:35:00.001+08:00

My course lasted another day, so hubby spent most of the day exploring Bristol by himself. He went to see the SS Great Britain- said to be the world's first great ocean liner. Launched in 1843, it was the first ocean-going ship with an iron hull and a screw propeller. It is now an award-winning visitor attraction and museum ship in Bristol Harbour.

I was so glad when my course ended. More of the fun stuff in store for us! :)

Bath

2008-07-27T19:57:00.003+08:00

While I was stuck attending a course (which wasn't particularly enjoyable- for a host of reasons), hubby went off to see Bath, which was a £5.50, one-hour bus ride away from Bristol. Hubby enjoyed himself in Bath (which I've visited before) so it was a good place to keep him occupied for the day!

Bath is a World Heritage City, and as such, it attracts a lot of tourists. Legend has it that Bath was founded in 860 BC by King Bladud, who was miraculously cured of leprosy when he stepped into its natural hot springs!

There is quite a lot to see in Bath- but be prepared to do some walking! The most popular attractions include the Roman Baths Museum and Bath Abbey, plus walking around the city is quite pleasant too :)

So cute!