Our (not so) little girl...

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...

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

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!

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...

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

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...

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

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...

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!

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