More on our little girl...

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...

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!

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

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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!