Balik Kampung Part 3

During our 5 days stay in Kuching, we did a lot of stuff. Attended a cousin's wedding, did a family photo shoot with a photographer friend, met up with a couple of longtime friends, ate all the food that I miss, and generally spend more time with my parents.

Peanut, thankfully, was quite a good kiddo. She took long naps during the day (surprisingly) and slept early at night without much fuss. Thank God. But i think because this was also the first time after a long while that i was with her 24/7 for so many days, she became quite clingy to me. Basically she didn't want me to be out of sight and will scream for me if I dare take a step out of her view. But that's cool, after all i'm her mother ya? :)

Hanging out with us for breakfast

It's quite rare I sempat take a picture of her crying hehe

We took some family pictures together with my parents, my bro and my sis and her family on the 3rd day. It was a semi-casual shoot, but oh man, taking pics with an almost 8 month old baby and a 3 year old (my nephew) is so tiring lor!! When one kid is smiling, the other will be sulking. And vice versa. So to have a perfect picture of all of us looking at the camera and smiling at the same time is quite an impossible task. So no choice la, cannot be perfectionist in this matter. We'll just settle with however the pics come out.

One of her outfits for the photoshoot.

The second outfit.

There's a third outfit, but am too "man chang" to take pics by then. It's quite rare I dress her up in frilly clothes so..everybody, take a closer look!! Only on special occassions!! I guess i'm not really a frilly / lots of ribbons & flowers type of person, so I tend to dress Peanut the same way. Maybe that's why I have lost count on the number of people who have asked me whether she's a girl or boy. Even though she was wearing a pink t-shirt or pink socks or pink whathever haha, and the second most favorite question after that is: How many months is she?

The photoshoot took about only an hour, but i think that's good enough. The little ones has lost concentration by then. Talking about my nephew, that little dude is one jealous kiddo! During the few days we were back there, he didn't want to let my mum go literally. Basically he was clinging on to my mum like a koala bear. And when my mum carried Peanut, he'll try to climb all over her. And he didn't want to talk at all to anyone and according to my mum, he was super happy when we left for the airport haha. 3 years old also can get jealous wey. Poor thing. I wonder how my sis is gonna cope if she gonna have a second child.

We left Kuching on Monday morning, this time less apprehensive to get on the plane with Peanut, maybe because I sort of expect how it's gonna be. And after all, it's only less than 2 hours flight. So no problemo!!!

Us at Coffee Bean, Kuching International Airport where i fed Peanut her brunch before takeoff.

The flight back to KL was pretty smooth. Peanut slept most of the time on me. Though we sat at the last row, the stewardess served our meals first so that as she puts it "one of us can take care of the baby while the other eats". Aww...okay my faith in MAS has been restored. ANd during the whole flight, they checked on us once in a while, asking us whether we needed a blanket or pillows. Though I do wonder why we need to pay money for Peanut's ticket, when all she did was to sit on me. She's not taking an extra seat right? Maybe it's for the rental of Peanut's seat belt?? Or maybe it's to pay for this hehe:

Pretty expensive toy then!

And how come I only get it from KL to Kuching but nothing from Kuching to KL?? Maybe pretend to forget la, to cut costs.


So...that about sums up our balik kampung trip!!!

Balik Kampung Part 2

Back in Kuching, life is really much slower and at a slower pace. Everyone seems to be walking slower, cars move at a leisurely pace, everyone eats dinner earlier. Like 5pm to 6pm. I think losing weight in Kuching is easier compared to KL cos I don't have to eat that late. Back in KL, I sometimes eat dinner at 10pm and goes to sleep less than an hour after that. Sei mou? My mum and friend said i'm "meatier" T_T . Yeah, both used that exact same word and in hokkien i.e. "kak oo bak". Haiz..

Us at KLIA

Feeding time while Peichyi took our pic

This is really a whirlwind trip. Every morning I woke up at around 630am, cos we seems to have things to do every morning. And Peanut seems to wake up much earlier as well. Perhaps because it gets brighter here earlier too. I think we had laksa & kolomee every day and I don't think i'll ever get sick of it cos it's too yummilicious!! We also brought the Wangs to eat at one of the more popular spots for laksa.

On our way to one of our many breakfasts. Peanut readily lets my mum carry her when she's in the car or when we're out. But she cries when my mum carries her at home. I still can't figure out why.

She loves to snuggle up to my mum. My mum bought her a pink cap cos it's so, so hot outside!! i think i'll get a heat stroke if i stay out too long.

My sis has also brought her son's walker and bumbo chair to my parents' house so that Peanut can use it while she's here.

She seems to love the bumbo chair now. Kinda regret selling off the one I had.

She doesn't like this walker though.

While here, I discovered that my mum is a huge fan of Hikosen.

She bought this orange mattress thingy just for Peanut so she can lie on it while she's here. I like it cos it's really comfy.

She also bought this bolster...

to this quilt cover for their room..

to this pillows...and many more. Even the pink cap that she bought from Peanut is from there.

Young at heart la, my mum.


Okie, time to log off. GUess there'll be a part 3.

balik kampung part 1

Hallo everybody! Guess where BigB, Peanut and me are at??

In my lil' old hometown. Meow Meow city!! Okay that was lame.

Moving on..

We reached yesterday at around 2 something after a 1 hour delay. Dem tulan with MAS. It seems all my flight delays has always been with MAS. The longest i was ever stranded in KLIA was close to 8 hours. Thank goodness we had The Wangs with who are also going to Catcity for a short holiday, so it wasn't boring at all.

This is my first time I'm bringing Peanut on the plane so naturally I was a bit nervous. And it took me 2 whole nights to finish packing cos I wasn't sure what to pack for Peanut, so in the end I almost brought all her stuff back. Stuff like her blanket, bolster, her many clothes, wet wipes, thermometer, medication, ajjor, macam macam ada lah. Brought her blanket & bolster just in case she can't sleep at my parents' home cos don't have her "smell" here.

So, with a baby, naturally we get to board the plane first. And i was a bit worried of who's gonna sit beside me cos I'm sure you would want a more motherly person to sit beside you right? Someone who can tolerate a crying baby and go awww... So...i was a bit scared when this tall dude wearing all black, like rocker, wearing sunglasses and his sunglasses got a picture of a skull at the rims there some more sat down beside me. Until he took out his Men Are From Mars, Women are from Venus book. Nuff said.

The ride was pretty smooth, cos Peanut fell asleep during takeoff and only woke up when meals are being served. Unfortunately midway, she decided to do her number 2 in her diapers. Die mans. I could smell her and it ain't good. But I also didn't go and change her in the tiny toilet cos..so small leh, how to change?? And i'm scared it'll make me nauseous standing in that small cubicle trying to catch my bearings. and we we were gonna land soon anyway and my parents' house is pretty near the airport, so i thought i can go home to do it. Plane rides alway makes me nauseous, especially its food. Jer...sorry, i'm not a big fan of airplane food, cos it smells funky, and i think Taurus can agree with me on this. Donno how all these stewardesses do it la.

So until we landed, i was quite embarassed, cos donno that emo rocker dude next to me can smell her or not. And i kept asking BigB whether he can smell it. Unfortunately he can, so we had to act bodoh and just pretended nothing happened. but overall, it was a pretty smooth ride cos Peanut was pretty chillax. Thank God. And that was it! Let's hope the ride back to KL is as smooth as this.

stay tuned to part 2. If I got time to blog while here that is :)

xoxo

7 months 3 weeks

For posterity's sake, I need to record down what Peanut can do at the moment. So at 7 months 3 weeks:

• She can crawl.
  
• Still eats a lot.
  
• Still no teeth.
  
• Still bald.
  
• Can kinda respond to her name.
  
• Can sit for a pretty long time.
  
• Sleeps at inordinate times at night.
  
• Sleeps only for an hour at the most during the day.
  
• Likes to scream and pretends to cough for attention.
  
• Can clap her hands and feet.
  
• Difficult to wear clothes on her cos she likes to twist and turn.
  
• Sits at her highchair during meal times with us.
• Uses the potty to do her big business.
  

Ah..I have become one of those mothers who likes to record their babies's milestones on blogs. I shall welcome myself to the club.

Bye bye.

Manuals & stuff

Lately, it seems that I have tons of things to read on, but which I do not have the time to do so. Like for example, my camera which I bought it for like 4 to 5 months ago, but till to date, I have yet to explore its full potential. It takes up a lot of time reading the thick manual, and also to fiddle with it.

Oh well. Played with the camera today.

Pin-hole mode. And a very boh song looking Peanut.

Blanket to cover her botak-ness.

Film grain mode. Em...Ju-On??

Peanut not so likey.

Secondly, the parenting book that I bought. I had to put it in my car to read during the terrible jams back from work. Yeah, sad la, my life; my life is all about jams *sob sob* . But at least I am killing two birds with one stone. And I guess my motion sickness has improved by leaps and bounds becauseI no longer get nauseous that often when i read in the car.

I feel like there's so many out things out there i have to read up on. More homemade recipes for Peanut. Types of activites to start her with. Improve my parenting skills. Macam macam ada out there man. How do parents do it?

Going green?

Reuse & recycle is the way to go la.

These are my favorite bags at the moment. My envirosax. The one on the right is mine. But since BigB refuses to carry it when we're out shopping, i had to buy a more "manly" one just so that he will carry my shopping *haih*




These bags are super convenient as it can be folded and i'll put them into my handbag before I go out. I only take it out when i buy stuff. It helps me to reduce the amount of plastic bags the shops gives me.

Folded

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BigB's family likes to reuse mineral bottles to bring along water to drink when they drive. I don't really like it cos it's hazardous for health to reuse plastics over and over again to store your water and food. Most of these bottles contain bisphenol A (BPA), which leaches from the plastic even at room temperature and has been linked to chromosome damage and hormone disruption. In other words, it can cause cancer.

Plastic is everywhere, we definitely cannot avoid it fully but we can try to use alternatives if there are choices.

So I was damn happy when Bros came out with a stainless steel range. And this one only cost a fraction of SIGG's. Damn value! In my opinion, it's better than the SIGG bottles cos SIGG's mouth opening is so small, you can't even wash it properly. It must be quite difficult to wash since SIGG also sells the bottle brush separately.

SIGG. In case you don't know what i mean.

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For the past two Sundays, we've been bringing Peanut to church. I know we're a bit behind, but better late than never, cos we're more prepared now. When she was younger, i was a bit apprehensive to bring her out, because yeah, useless me is a bit of a kan cheong queen and H1N1 was at its height too.

And so far...it's been good. No outbursts or loud crying. We can sit together with the congregation; and not in the baby room like pariahs hehe. Usually after church, we'll go and have lunch together, just the three of us, have coffee after and just roam around shopping malls after that.

Us at Austin Chase. Pretty good coffee I must say. Thumbs up!

Toffee & Hazelnut Lattes. Yums.

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Peanut also plays her part in reusing and recycling. By ignoring all the toys I bought her and shredding all the magazines into pieces instead for fun. Great stuff though, these magazines. Saves me lots of money lol

Caught in the act.

No idea what this face means.

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It's 9:40pm and I'm dead tired. Is it because of the long commute to work? Stress at work? Or is it because I wake up once or twice each night just to feed her? Or is it a combination of all three. A working mum is a very tiring job, and there's no break at all, but it's all worth it when you come home to this:

xoxo

Peanut's hands and feet sculpture

A month plus ago, we brought Peanut to have her hands and feet to be casted into sculptures. We feel that this is going to be a great keepsake for us. After all, she's at this age only once and babies hands and feet are especially cute at this age and we want to have something to remember by forever.

So we made an appointment with Melissa, the lady who's going to do the sculptures, and went to her home on a Saturday afternoon. She promises us that it's only gonna take 10 minutes, and it's going to be very quick and painless (sounds like the Pedaetrician when she's about to give Peanut her shots). Once we arrived, we waited for a bit while she started making a pot of pink paste.

Waiting to be "casted"

hands first

Melissa started off with Peanut's hands first. Basically, she wrapped a glob of pink paste around her hands and waited for a few seconds before removing it gently. Ditto to her feet as well. I can't remember but she did either the hands or feet twice as standard procedure, just in case the first moulds cannot make it. *pats Melissa's back for good risk management strategy*

feet next!

Once it's done, we chose the frames, the color of the scupltures (either gold or silver), what kind of inscription do we want (we chose to put her name, birth date and her current age) the background color to mount the sculptures, paid the deposit and we're done!!!! Easy peasy! And Melissa was also very easy to work with. She was very gentle with Peanut so she never cried at all. In fact she was quite happy.

*Proof*

We had to wait for a month plus for the whole thing; presumably to wait for the casts to dry properly, to get it colored and to have it mounted and framed. So we finally got it today.

Jeng jeng jeng!!!!


*Satisfied!!!!*