Mummy-in-training

Snake Grass

2011-12-23T15:57:00.001+08:00

I have always been interested in natural healing, or rather I have this constant urge to eat healthily. It's quite a battle though, because if you know me, I love to eat and I love to eat fried stuff, junk food, nasi lemaks,mcreamy pastas, and I LOVE my coffee I think my "passion" started when I first saw Kris Carr on Oprah a few years ago. She was diagnosed with an incurable cancer in 2003, and managed to fight it since then with lots of healthy eating, and a lifestyle change. In my free time, I love to surf the net and read up on wellness methods and healthy recipes. And it is from there, that I started juicing and even bought a Breville juicer to fuel this "passion" of mine lol. I have also started on green smoothies to up my vege intake and replace certain things in my kitchen. For example, I buy sea salt instead of normal salt. Normal salt has been completely bleached and leached of all its minerals, so it's quite unhealthy. When i make salads or pastas, instead of using parmesan cheese, I use nutritional yeast instead. It has a cheesy taste and it's yellow in color, so it does look like cheese. And it's yummy!! I also drink Apple Cider Vinegar daily and make lemongrass drinks and I try not to eat stuff that has lots of preservatives in it. So I try to avoid canned food / biscuits at all costs..food that has lots of scientific names on their packaging as its source. it's hard sometimes because I love my baked beans! I'm not a total health nut though. I still indulge in unhealthy food, but I do try to limit it. Basically, what I'm trying to achieve is to eat healthier; replace certain things in my kitchen for more healthier stuff, and be more aware of what I'm putting in my mouth. After all, it doesn't cost a lot to make this little changes. And I feel good about it!

Which brings me to this.. Have you ever heard of snake grass? No? Neither have I until recently when i was in one of my "surfing for healthy stuff" mode... i believe its origins came from Sabah, hence lots of people call it Sabah Snake Grass. Basically, it's a type of plant that's supposedly has cancer healing properties. If you google this name, you will see lots of mentions on this type of plant with many people wanting to buy it..apparently you can't get it that easily. Well, in KL anyway.

Called my dad up a few weeks ago because my dad has vast knowledge in agriculture as it was his career before he retired, and what do you know..he plants this in his "mini farm" behind their house at home! Told him I would like to add these leaves in my daily green smoothies so today he arrived from Kuching bearing me lots of this plants goodies.

He has thoughtfully dried up the leaves at home and bagged it, so I do not have to plant it. I just need to take the leaves from the bag and add it into my smoothies. Just like tea leaves but bigger hehe.

Looks like this up close.

After I've blend it with an apple and some ice. Very refreshing!!

A live one to plant..Wish me luck!!!

My dad told me there are some people who are willing to buy it for a couple of hundred ringgit (not from him..this are strangers he has met) I was like "sure boh???" Because according to him, anybody can plant this at home. So to pay for a few hundred bucks for it is a bit too much?

Well i don't think i can plant it cos I dont have green fingers, hence I was grateful when he gave me dried ones. And I'm glad I can finally have a taste of it!

It's coming to an end

2011-12-08T16:06:00.001+08:00

My maternity leave, that is.

I have been on a 3 months maternity leave and I have a taste of how a SAHM's is like lol. At first I thought I'm gonna get cabin fever because I'm someone that doesn't like to be confined at home. I like to be out and about doing things but yes, I surprised myself. I actually enjoyed my 3 months stay at home. Maybe because i'm too busy at home to feel bored, as I have stuff to do everyday!

Not counting the month of confinement, this is what a typical day for me is like.

10am to 11am - Wake up with the two kids. Shiok, sometimes i feel like lepaking in bed further but Peanut gotta eat lunch and I have to cook! have been waking at this time because I can only sleep at around 2am to 3am each night. If i'm lucky, 1am. So I don't know how i'm going to cope when I go back to work. Now the reason I've been sleeping late is because of Peanut. Peanut is STILL a night owl who hates to sleep. She doesn't nap in the day, and she fights sleep every night, and it's a struggle for us to put her to bed. And as for BabyD, well he's still a baby. I'll be lucky if I can catch some sleep when he sleeps.

11am to 1230pm - This is when i quickly do all my chores. My chores are bathing BabyD, cook lunch, wash all the bottles, and prepares stuff for dinner. And seriously i hate thinking of what to cook everyday!! I don't know how the other housewives do it, especially those who can cook lots of different, yummy dishes everyday. For me, sometimes I have to go online and google what to cook based on the ingredients i have on hand. My maid does all the cleaning and helps me look after Peanut on and off. I'm really thankful for all her help because without her, my house will always be in a constant, giant mess.

1230pm to 5pm - Peanut takes her lunch, while i'll be feeding BabyD on and off throughout the day and making sure he naps. Sometimes I surf the net for a bit, do spring cleaning, read some books, watch tv, cook dinner etc. I'm now an avid fan of TVB and Astro on Demand. I'm hooked!! Before this (my maternity leave that is) I've never really watched any TVB dramas because it doesn't interest me and I don't understand cantonese. But beggars can't be choosers and since the dramas look interesting and i've nothing better to watch, I've been watching them everyday with the help of malay subtitles. Auntie or what??! hahah. Let's see whether I will still be into it once I go back to work.

6pm to 9pm - Peanut takes her dinner, and i bathe her after that. And i wait for DH to come back from work to have dinner together.

9pm to bedtime - Lepak with DH and the two kiddos and getting ready all the bottles and stuff for bedtime and sometimes DH catches up on the dramas on Astro on Demand lol. He's hooked just like me. Only difference is he doesn't need subtitles wtf.

So that's how my day goes by everyday with the exception of weekends and the 2 to 3 days where I managed to ~~escape from the kids~~ go out shopping by myself, and suffice to say, it's been a blast.

First happy meal

2011-12-08T14:23:00.001+08:00

Peanut eating her first happy meal ever at 2 years plus lol. Don't know why but i was excited for her to get her first happy meal wtf. Feels like it's something off my checklist that she has to experience as a kid. Not a healthy one but it's a happy one.

The free gift is a scary looking Puss in Boots female cat. Don't know what character it is cos I haven't watched it yet.

Peanut loves eating fries, just like me. Ada kawan already when I order fries. Lately, she has stopped calling me mummy but instead calls me Mom, and then a few days later, Momma. It feels odd when she first calls me Momma but now i am liking it. It just feels more manja when she calls me that.

Instant roti canai

2011-12-06T18:47:00.001+08:00

On days when I feel like eating roti canai, and damn lazy to go to the nearest mamak because it's inconvenient when you gotta bring a baby and a toddler to the mamak where the tables are all so sticky...

I take this instant roti canai out of my freezer out to satisfy my cravings i.e. Kart's Roti Paratha!!

And it's so easy to reheat! Just put a bit of oil on your frying pan and take out a piece of the frozen roti and pan fry both sides for a few minutes. It'll then puff up slowly, taking on a color that you'll see at the mamak's. It's very soft and crispy too. And if you want it to be really authentic, you can "clap" the roti together so that it's even flakier. I usually "cook" this when I make chicken curry so can eat it together hehe. It's really tasty as it has a buttery taste. Better than some of the roti that I ate at the mamak's.

Selling for RM4.50 to RM4.80 (I think) at the local supermarket. There are 6 pieces inside, that makes it only roughly only RM0.80 per piece. Ooo hua!!! (Got value!!)

Peanut "praying"

2011-12-01T14:50:00.001+08:00

I have been teaching Peanut how to pray since she got baptised in 2010.Just taught her the basics for now. She now bugs me every night to pray before we sleep, so I guess the effort is somewhat successful...haha

Oh Christmas tree...(and a free tree)

2011-11-30T22:30:00.001+08:00

Wah am I on a roll or what? suddenly got so many posts haha. Found my mojo back for now.

Advice: You don't have to read the below if you are not a Christmas tree enthusiast.

I've been setting up Christmas trees almost my whole life when i was still living with my parents cos nobody else bothered to do it at home wtf and now I'm still doing it. I love this whole Christmas feeling..makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. I love Christmas songs too :)

Anyway..I've been searching high and low for a perfect fake Christmas tree. I have a 5ft tree at home, but I'm not so satisfied with it because it's quite bare and not bushy enough. And I want its fir to be a certain way (yes i'm very particular with how my Christmas tree looks) And I need a bigger tree too. So i've been searching high and low for the perfect Christmas tree in major shopping malls and I finally found it at Living Quarters. YES!! It's 6ft and has the type of fir that I want.

This is what I meant on the type of fir that I like. It's fat and "bushy". Actually are you supposed to call it fir or leaves?? *shrugs* It's actually mixed with the fir you normally find on most fake Christmas trees. The skinny version. At first I don't know why they mix it, but after i fixed my tree up..then i realised..i can't hang anything on the fat fir cos it's too slippery. Hence i can only hang stuff on the thin fir.

Anybody wants a 5ft Christmas tree??? (without the decor hor) If you're not particular with how bushy your tree is, you can have it for free, but deal is you gotta pick it up yourself. Drop a comment if you want! First come first serve.

The 5ft tree looks like this..the only picture i can find (last year's pic). Sorry got a Peanut blocking it. Thank you.

The many faces

2011-11-30T18:40:00.007+08:00

Babies' face sure do change very fast. They seems to look different week by week.

Taken at 2 weeks

Taken at 3 weeks

At full moon. Haihs..my poor little botak fella. Kena pressured to shave his hair off. I miss his hair so much...and its not true when they say shaving baby's hair off will make it thicker. It's almost 3 months now and Baby D's hair is still so little and it's not even!!!!

Not so happy face. He's a pretty serious baby. I've yet to capture any picture of him smiling.

Told ya he's serious looking. And he's got a funny belly button. It's an outie, not an innie.

Hair!! Please grow faster!

Getting your kid to like the baby

2011-11-29T17:56:00.009+08:00

Gotta confess, I have fears that Peanut would not like no.2 and that she'll be very jealous and throw tantrums and I'm gonna have a hard time and I will never get enough rest! Peanut is the first grandchild on DH's side, so she's literally the apple of everyone's eyes. Whatever she wants, she gets. She is always showered with tons of attention. When she say jump, everyone else ask how high wtf! Except me of course. I was scared she's not able to adjust herself to a new arrival because attention to her will be halved. Thankfully SO FAR all these fears are unfounded, because she's liking no.2. I said "so far" because i do not like to confirm anything ever because things can change in a hearbeat!

Months before No.2's arrival, I started "psycho-ing" her that there's a baby growing inside my tummy. She didn't receive this news with much happiness though. I remember she was extra clingy at that time, and was crying for no reason. I'm not sure whether it's because she's aware that a new baby is arriving or is it so ngam she was going through one of her terrible twos phase. Whatever it is, she was different lah. Most books suggested that I get ready a present for Peanut when baby arrives so that's what I did. I got her a baby doll (from the BabyAlive series), one of those dolls that comes with disposable diapers, cute toy toothbrush, toothpaste etc. I thought she could change the doll's diaper WHEN i changed No.2's diaper so she won't feel left out haha. Knowing that I bought a BabyAlive doll, Peichyi has very kindly bought an extra set of BabyAlive pyjamas and diapers as a gift for Peanut too .

I gave the presents to Peanut the day I arrived home from the hospital. She was very happy! But she was afraid of him wtf. She refused to go near BabyD, and i had to push her to BabyD so that she can touch him. She kept hiding behind me.

See, she refused to sit near him. That's the nearest she'll go. That's her "gifts" from BabyD behind her.

It took nearly two weeks for her to go and touch him willingly. She takes a while to warm up to strangers, and have i mentioned that she hardly spoke to the confinement lady the whole month she was there?..... Donno whether to laugh or cry T T Maybe because the confinement lady spoke to her in mandarin the whole time, and Peanut catches no ball because she's yellow as a banana.

Personally, i feel the gifts work because up till today, she still refers the doll as the "present from Didi", and she always tells me that Didi loves her because he bought her a present. Yahoo. Plan works!! There are other factors though which i feel plays a part in her not being jealous of BabyD. For now..

1. She's a girl, and he's a boy. Simple as that. I think there will be more sibling rivalry if they're both girls, because then she'll feel the need to be better or be different. To reinforce that I've not forgotten about her, I always tell her that she's my no.1 girl and BabyD is my no.1 boy. Both can be no.1s lah. If both your kids are of the same gender, then i donno wat you can say.

2. She's old enough to understand. This helps when i need to feed BabyD, and Peanut is pestering me for something. When i explained to her I need to feed her little bro first because he's super hungry and that she needs to wait, usually she'll do just that. She'll wait without much fuss. I do try to be fair to her sometimes. There are times when BabyD is crying, but I still attend to her needs first. No harm in letting BabyD crying a bit longer.

There are things that I don't say to her. For example, i don't threaten her when she's naughty and say "if you don't do this and that, mummy won't love you, mummy will only love Didi". Saying this will only make her aware that we're comparing the two of them, and this might spark some jealousies.

I gotta tell a little bit of white lie to her sometimes though. Some days, i will tell her "oh, Didi told me that he loves you very very much. Aren't you happy??" And she'll get all excited and respond happily "YES!!" Also, on and off throughout the day, when i have succeeded in putting BabyD to nap, I'll give her big kisses and hugs, and tell her it's her turn for me to sayang. And I get her involved in everything. And i mean everything including bathing time, and baby pooping sessions. Her job is to scoop water into the bathtub when i bath BabyD, and to open the diaper and hand me wet tissues when i wiped Baby's poop.

Now if only i can split myself into two or three.. I don't have time for anything at all!

Baby no.2's confinement

2011-11-29T17:36:00.005+08:00

My confinement lady is very fond of cooking. She's so passionate in her cooking that she can spend hours in the kitchen..thinking of ways to tickle my taste buds.

Evidence..

Agree?
As I joked to the parents, i felt like I'm dining at a restaurant everyday haha.

BabyD update: The birth

2011-11-23T17:49:00.007+08:00

Fuh..it's been 2 months since I last came here.. To be honest, I'm just too lazy to keep up with this blog, and there's too much stuff for me to do than sit down in front of the laptop to jot down anything.

BabyD is now 2 months plus and how time flies. It seems like a long time though because i've been home almost everyday taking care of him and Peanut. I guess i need to start from the very beginning..the day he was born.

As it's an elective c-sect, we've picked a date a while ago. We didn't go to any sifu to choose the dates though, rather we picked a date that was most convenient for us. Our Doc gave us a few dates to choose in my 38 weeks, so we picked a date that fell on a Saturday. Saturday is good, cos DH can be with me, and he didn't need to take any leave. And as he's given 3 days paternity leave, he could accompany us the following Mon-Wed.

The days leading up to the operation was very nerve wrecking for me. I was extremely nervous, worried, basically i had a lot of thoughts running through my mind. Things that can go wrong etc etc. You would think i'll be more seasoned and relaxed seeing that this is my second c-sect, but nah, it's the total opposite. I guess knowing what's going to happen at each stage culminating with the operation had me very nervous. I know the pain that i had to go through (multiple injections, drips), the embarrassment that I'm going to feel when the nurses give me the enema, the fear i will have when they wheeled me into the operation room. I also had fears that baby will not be okay (will he have jaundice, problems etc).. I'm a worrier, so yeah, i didn't have it easy the months leading up to it haha.

The night before the operation, I had a big dinner at Carl's Junior with DH. That was probably gonna be my last, fatty meal before confinement begins and dieting starts. I had eaten whatever i want during my pregnancy, not caring how i'm gonna lose weight after, because..obviously i never learn my lesson. Now two months post pregnancy, i'm now trying to lose weight again fml.

The morning of the operation, DH and me trooped to SDMC with all the essentials. We were finger-crossing that we'll be able to get a single room, but NO, according to the nurse, there were 11 patients ahead of us waiting for a single room. 11!!! Oh man...they put us in a double room while waiting for the operation and this was where it all began. One nurse came one after another; to sign forms, to give me the hospital outfit, to ask me which PD i prefer for our baby, to shave my *ahem* down there, to give me the enema wtf wtf and lastly the Anesthetist came as well to tell me the risks and for me to sign more forms. So many procedures! I don't remember going through that many procedures during my first c-sect, maybe because that time it was 2am in the morning..

When they wheeled me into the operating room, my heart was going beep bop beep bop loudly. Damn scared!! They wheeled me into open area to wait for my turn. There were a few other patients with all waiting for their operations. It was a common waiting area for operations, so there were patients with other ailments there as well, including a child who had appendicitis. So poor thing. All of us were lying on our respective beds that can be wheeled into individual operation theaters. It was here while i was waiting for my turn that I decided not to have a third kid ever. hahaha

I waited for about half hour before I was wheeled inside the theatre. I wanted to run away at this point but the baby gotta come out no matter what. i was asked to lean forward while sitting down, so they can administer the jabs on my spine. THey gave me 3 jabs all in all, and slowly i can feel the numbness going down my legs. Not long later my Dr came in his scrubs and he started...

I couldn't see a thing of course, as there was a huge cloth screen covering my tummy. The Dr was pretty vigorous during the operation, i can feel him struggling, and pulling baby out. I didn't know it was that tough to get a baby out of your tummy but apparently it's pretty tough, and he needed to use forceps! Whatever it is, it took a while, and i kept asking the Anesthetist who was with me the whole time whether the baby is out cos I can't wait to see him! Finally i could hear the baby cry, and i was pretty relieved. But actually, i only felt truly relieved when they brought BabyD to see me, and the nurse told me he's OK. he's Fine. Then only i breathed a sigh of relief. Phews!!

In the meantime, DH managed to get us a single room, which is really great because this means that he could spend the nights with us. BabyD was only wheeled back to us after a few hours so that they can monitor him. I started breastfeeding once they wheeled him in. A bit different this time round..I remember with Peanut i was really struggling with her latching on, but it was much easier with BabyD. The rest of the hospital stay was smooth and i checked out on Monday itself. I stayed for a total of 2 nights.

The pretty nurse getting BabyD ready so that we can leave the hospital

All bundled up like a worm

Ready to go! Sekian.

Gas leak

2011-10-06T12:50:00.002+08:00

A friend told me recently that there was a mini gas explosion at her home because she didn't realise that the gas tank was leaking. Really scary..

Her gas tank was in the kitchen cabinet below the stove, so she couldn't smell anything. I guess if your gas tank is placed in the kitchen instead of in the cabinet, you might be able to smell any gas leakage more easily. Luckily the blast wasn't big, but it was loud enough for her neighbors to hear. She had some minor injuries on her legs, but otherwise she's fine and thank God her kids were in another room.

So lesson for me here is (since my gas tank is also placed in the kitchen cabinet), is to always open the cabinet door and smell smell first before turning on the stove!

Hello!!

2011-10-06T11:48:00.003+08:00

Super long overdue post but here it is finally !! Presenting BabyD :)

DOB: 10 Sept 2011

Time: 2:31pm

Weight: 3.03kg

Singapore 2011 part 1

2011-06-30T18:20:00.010+08:00

In May 2011, both Peanut and me went to Singapore to join DH who was there for a week for work. The only -ve point was that I had to bring Peanut alone to Singapore.. I was a bit worried, as I don't know whether i could cope. Even though the flight is just around 1 hour, I was kinda stressed as I am pregnant, had to bring a toddler who can't sit still, and a stroller, plus a handbag on the plane. Boleh kah??

Okay lah, actually can. Thanks to Firefly. hahaha I'm glad we used Firefly, because checking in at Subang airport is such a breeze, there's no crowd to fight with, the airport is pretty much empty, and everything is so clean and orderly. I can't imagine the horror of the crowd if we were to take AirAsia. Actually I didn't really plan much for our Singapore trip this time round. Lately, i don't really like to plan for things. Planning is a bit difficult especially when you have kids. What if Peanut gets sick at the last minute *touch wood*?? So it's just "go to Singapore and we'll see what to do there lah!"

Eating raisins while waiting to board the plane. Plane is half hour late!! The last time we went to SG via Firefly it was half an hour late too! But it's okay lah..the waiting area was comfy.

Before the trip, we were flip flopping on whether we should bring a stroller. We have 2 strollers. One is a big Peg Perego can-load-tons-of-shopping-bag-with-Peanut-still-inside-and-it-won't-fall-apart, and another is a Mothercare, super-basic stroller. Peg Perego is a no no because it's actually quite heavy and I dun think i can handle Peanut and a heavy stroller and a handbag by myself to the plane. Granted we can leave the stroller at the stairs at the foot of the plane but since it's Firefly, we definitely need to do a bit of walking in the outdoors to the plane. And Peanut is unpredictable lately. She either will sit or refuse to get on it...so imagine if she refuse to sit on it..one hand need to push stroller, another need to hold Peanut's hands and she has the tendency to run here and there...brrr...scary thought..

So yeah, ended up we decided to just wing it and just bring the smaller stroller and hopefully i won't struggle when i push it to the plane. Good news is, some kind hearted Firefly dude saw me, and probably kesian me cos he promptly took the stroller away from me and helped me push it right to the door of the plane. Score! Plane ride was uneventful..Peanut was really excited that the stewardesses was giving out apple juices and scones. From the way she was drinking..you would think she was deprived of apple juices..hahah ok ok seriously, actually she is deprived lah :P

We stayed at the Swissotel at Clark Quay. Great location..actually everything is so near in Singapore, so to me, nowhere's too far so long there's cabs and MRTs nearby. We arrived on a Friday lunchtime. DH met up with us at the hotel for lunch before he headed back to work. Peanut and me just spent the whole day in the hotel room just chillaxing..

As if. Chillaxing is difficult when your toddler loves to touch everything!! I ate quite a bit of crabs when i was carrying her..and old wives tales claims that if you eat crabs while you're pregnant, your kid will have busy hands i.e. wanna touch and hold everything. Don't know where there's any truth to it, but in my case, seems to be quite accurate lol.

One thing that she likes to do when we stay in hotels. Play with the phones. This drives me bonkers. I gotta unplug it each time we're in the room. And here she is, pretending to call everyone she knows in the world.

Like real only..lol

We scratched our heads on where to bring Peanut for "sight seeing". We've gotta do everything through our child's eyes lol. We didn't really wanna bring Peanut to shopping malls since we do that every weekend in KL, sp we decided to bring her to the zoo!! Now, if it weren't for Peanut, there's no way i will step into a zoo. That's the last place I wanna be..as i'm not really an outdoorsy kind of person..and looking at animals is just not my thang. But yes, when you're a mum, you gotta sacrifice, and that's where we were headed the next day.

In my opinion, Singapore Zoo was really really nice. I love it. Everything is so clean and well maintained, everyone from the Zoo is so friendly and helpful, i can see why Singaporeans go there every weekend. Well DH told me his friends will go there every fortnight with their kids. Siao boh? I dun think I can do that every 2 weeks lor no matter how nice it is! haha

Can't really remember how much was the entrance fees but it wasn't that expensive. And one smart thing that we did, or ahem, DH did, was to also buy tram tickets. There's tram stops around the zoo, so if you're too lazy to walk, like us, you can just hop onto the trams and reach various stops.

Peanut on tram

Tram prices. You can buy it at the entrance or at the tram stops

Believe it or not..this is only one of the few pics i took at the zoo. A lion wtf. We were on the tram and we were whizzing past.

Honestly, i don't think i make a good blogger. I hardly whip out my camera when we're out and about, because there's too many things to look after. Hence, that's why there's very little pics.. Actually i did take a pic of this orang utan. But it was in a cage, and it looks so sad and forlorn, that i didn't have the heart to put it on my blog. And opposite the cage was this zoo lady displaying a few orang utan skulls wtf. Wonder how the live orang utan feel...seeing his friends' skull on display...eee...maybe that's why he looked so depressed :(

We had our lunch Ah Meng Restaurant. Food was yummy..or maybe i was starving. But i'll definitely eat there again if i have the chance.. haha

forced smile

We also caught a couple of shows. I think the above is the Seals show and there were sooo many people! and it was pretty hot as well. I can see Peanut wasn't that comfy in the heat..so we had to supply her with ice-cream to cool her down hehe. She didn't really pay much attention or wasn't too excited about the seals either..maybe she's still too young to appreciate those animals or the heat was really getting to her.

Just waiting for it to be over..

Overall, the Zoo visit was good, we spent half a day there and was really pooped by the time we were done. There was this part of the Zoo where there was a huge waterpark. We didn't know about it, but there were tons of kids just playing there with water slides, things that spout out water and stuff. Kids were in swim suits running around. Peanut was definitely fascinated as she was rooted at the spot watching all this going on..poor thing. She didn't get to enjoy it cos Mama didn't know this existed. We had to drag her away screaming lol.

Peanut konked out in her stroller on our way to the cab. Oh..rite, I forgot to mentioned that she puked on the way to the Zoo. We just had a heavy breakfast at the hotel, and she mostly had yoghurt. In the cab..she was pretty quiet, very unlike her and wasn't talking much. 10 minutes before reaching the zoo..out spewed her breakfast and got it all over the cab. Before she could puked a second time, our cab driver, an elderly uncle, quickly passed a plastic bag and we managed to contain most of it inside. But alas..the cab now smells of vomit. We were so paisehhhhh and kept apologizing. The cab driver kept saying never mind never mind, kids are like that, and passed us this wet cloth. And we quickly wiped the seats with it. When we reached the zoo, I offered to run to the toilet to rinse the towel before passing it back to him..but he said no need. Aiya..the uncle is really nice and he wasn't angry at all. We were probably his first fare of the day and this had to happened to him..he probably had to go do another round of wiping after dropping us off.

And that was that...our day at the Zoo!

Pregnancy update: 26 weeks

2011-06-20T16:39:00.005+08:00

Went to the Doctor's over the weekend. Smooth sailing even though we were there at 12pm. We no longer wake up early on Saturdays just to be the first in line to visit the Doctor. We have boycotted this kiasu-sm of ours and we've decided to take it easy and just stroll in when we want to lah! Woke up late, and reached the hospital just slightly before 12pm. Great timing. Short waiting time; no long queues at the counter, Doctor's, or when we submit our urine test for analysis.

Did the usual, pregnancy weigh in: 62kg. I managed to get down to my pre-pregnancy weight right before I got pregnant, so now it's slowly climbing back up. Doctor asked me whether I want any of the milk samples that he got cos nobody seems to want it as they all feared putting on weight. Actually I'm also afraid of putting on lots of weight. In fact, I vowed that I will not eat as much as my first pregnancy becos trying to lose the excess weight after that was hell! But when I got pregnant with number two, all my resolve went out the window. Don't care anymore lah, i'll just worry about it later. I mean, when again can you have the license to eat as much as you want without feeling guilty? There's no better time than now! hehe And if i feel even a tad guilty, i'll just tell myself "the baby needs to grow!!"

But truthfully, this time round, my appetite isn't as good, and I feel nauseous if i ate too much. So even now that i'm in my 2nd trimester and nearing the end of it, i still get bouts of nausea when i eat too much..and I hate it, cos it makes me really uncomfortable. And just to compare my weight, I asked the Doctor to do a comparison of my weight with my first and second pregnancy. Let me see, in my first pregnancy i was 68kg at 28 weeks, as compared to the current 62kg at 26 weeks. Oh and I also gained a total of 18kg in the first one. Crazy.. I remembered the Doctor telling me to eat less then haha. Baby currently is of average size, but DH reckoned I should eat more, and I seconded that. i guess I didn't put on weight as fast as the first time round because I have to run after Peanut. I tell you, being pregnant and having to run after the little one is super duper tiring.. but it's a blessing, but still, very tiring. Like for example, just when I've given a drink of water to Peanut, and just when I thought she can finally settle down and wouldn't ask me for anything anymore and I l FINALLY have the chance to lay my big butt down the chair, in comes a flurry of demands from the lil fella. It's either to help her find her bolster, or to change the dvd, or that she needs me by her side when she does her big business. I tell you, i need to be ON 24/7 all the time!

I now delegate most of the tasks to DH when it comes to layaning Peanut but there's still instances where she only wants ME to do it. arghhh..Daddy cannot, only MUMMY!! Tiring anot! And just yesterday, when I was cleaning up something off the floor, the effort for just getting up from the floor to a standing up position is damn difficult and I'm not even that big yet!

And have i mentioned my breathing is really shallow now? I find myself breathing so heavily nowadays i sound like a killer on the run from cops. Very very un-sexy. Feet and hands are still of normal size, no swelling and i hope it stays that way. Updates will be in the next 3 weeks when i see the Doctor again at 29 weeks. :)

Peanut's birthday

2011-06-20T09:57:00.007+08:00

2 years 3 months old!!

Super backdated..

We celebrated Peanut's birthday amongst family in March. Got her a Minnie Mouse cake, since she's the biggest fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She even requests for me to download it on YouTube so she can watch the same episode over and over again. Thank God for the Playhouse Disney Channel; I don't think I can live without it now! It acts as my babysitter when i got things to do around the house :) .

yes yes, i'm aware she still has little hair but it's growing!! *defensive

Celebrated her birthday over the weekend as her birthday falls on a Wednesday. Ordered and cooked some stuff..

Star of the evening

The cake was delish by the way..Though the food coloring made her lips a bit black. Blame it on Minnie's skin color.

Her Gong Gong and Po Po got her a Chuggington train set, complete with train tracks lol! For a period of time, she was Chuggington's biggest fan. I can't keep track who she likes now. One minute it's Special Agent Oso, then Handy Manny.. Luckily she's not into Thomas & Friends. They look a bit creepy..

On her birthday itself, both DH and me took the day off from work so we can celebrate together, just the three of us. Great day, i love it we should do this more often! We woke up late, and went for an early lunch at Bangsar Village. Then off we went off to Kidz Sport, where she can create havoc and play all she wants inside. Best thing about this gym is that it only cost RM10 per entrance, there's no one around except for maybe another kid or two, very clean and there's a toddler area which means older kids won't be bumping into your teeny kid at all. She loves the slides and the mini see saw..And oh, you need to make sure both you and your kid has a pair of socks. Good idea, i hate the smell of smelly feet!

After we were done, went off to a cafe for some tea time. Ordered some cakes and a babycino for her, which she loves. It's essentially just steamed milk with chocolate powder on top but she enjoyed it thoroughly. I guess it made her feel like a grown up haha I don't allow her to hold the cup though. Her hands are still not steady enough. Confirm will spill!

We finished off the day with a buffet dinner at a hotel. Splendid day..just the way we liked it. Easy, simple, and we get to spend lots of time with one another.

Lost...and found!

2011-06-14T13:53:00.006+08:00

So...something really really stupid happened to me on the eve of Mother's Day. I remembered it was the eve because DH and Peanut were supposed to celebrate the occasion that evening with me, but it was somehow dampened by this incident.

On that fateful day...we went to One Utama and I hung my handbag on the stroller. My handbag do not have a zip, so basically everything is exposed..so as we were walking to the shops, i remembered DH clearly putting my wallet deep into my bag so it can't be seen clearly. Stopped at Topshop and Dorothy Perkins and I made the unfortunate decision to go in. I asked DH to wait outside the shops with Peanut as it was too crowded to maneuver the stroller inside..then i carried my handbag over the shoulder and walked into the shops. I was probably inside for less than 10 minutes. I then went and sit beside DH on the bench outside the store and that's when I discovered that my wallet was stolen wtf!!

And in my opinion, it's a really stupid thing to happen because I did not realised i was pick pocketed at all!!! I felt so dumb. I always wonder how those people can get pick pocketed so easily without realizing it and now I'm a victim of it. Geez..It was pretty crowded in the shops and there were a few people pushing me, so i supposed that's when it happened?

Immediately i started calling all my credit cards' banks and cancel my ATM and credit cards. HSBC was efficient, can't say the same for another local bank pfft..i had to repeat myself a couple of times, and when your wallet is stolen and you're in a state of "emergency", repeating yourself countless of times is the last thing you wanna do. We also went to One U's info counter to lodge a report, just in case someone dump my wallet somewhere and they can track it back to me. I knew it will be pretty hard to locate me if someone found my wallet because i do not have any contact details in my wallet at all. Lesson learned here: Please keep your business card in your wallet at all times! Even my IC is outdated. It still has my Kch home address wtf.

I also asked to see the cctv from the shops though in hindsight I have no idea why I did that because even I know who stole it, not as if i can find the person.. I guess I probably want some sort of action taken. A guard came and escorted me to both the shops. However, i wasn't allowed to view the cctv as I need a police report for that...

After that we decided to leave One U, cos no mood already, how to shop?! Credit cards also don't have. Went to TTDI police station, cos that's the nearest police station available. In and out in less than 10 minutes, cos it was so empty. Reporting to the police was pretty painless and i just had to state what was lost inside the wallet. oh ya, I lost around RM200, and various cards. My heart was more in pain for losing all the documents and wallet, not the money. That evening, DH still brought me out for a Mother's Day dinner, but alas..everything taste like cardboard. No mood at all for it!The next day we made a trip down to JPN in Shah Alam to do a new IC. How cool is that they open on Sundays..i do not need to take leave at all! Everything was done in an efficient manner, and i was pretty pleased with the service at JPN. No fine to pay at all too because i had my police report with me.

And i thought all is lost...

A week after the incident, we were in Singapore for a short holiday. Actually Peanut and me made a trip down to Singapore to visit DH who was there for work for a few days, so we thought we'll make a long weekend out of it. :) Great vacation by the way, and it was made even greater, when I received a phone call from CIMB through DH's phone. The lady on the phone told me that somebody found my wallet!! Wah I was in disbelief really. My prayers actually came true, thank you God. A shop assistant in Pull & Bear in One Utama had actually found my wallet in the changing room, and knowing there's no way that they could contact me (cos no contact details at all in my wallet) the next thing they did was to call CIMB because I had a CIMB atm card inside my wallet. And CIMB contacted me via DH's phone cos so happened i didn't switch on my phone in SG and DH was listed under my emergency contact. Well, everybody made an effort to get in touch with me and for that i'm extremely grateful to all parties. They could have given up halfway, right?

I called Pull & Bear after that and they confirmed they had my wallet, and the next day, i made a trip down to the shop hehe i was literally floating on air. I was so happy i bought them a dozen doughnuts to show my gratitude. Checked my wallet, and everything was intact, right down to my credit cards. The money was gone of course, and I wasn't surprised. I deduce the thief stole my wallet in either Topshop or Dorothy Perkins, walked to Pull & Bear's changing room, took the money out of my wallet and dumped my wallet there. It was another customer that actually handed my wallet to the cashier.. Got honest people out there after all. There's hope in mankind lor. :)

And that's how I lost my wallet and found it again!

Updates

2011-06-07T19:22:00.004+08:00

Gee, after being MIA for so long I really don't know where to start. DH will occasionally ask me when i will start blogging again, but i'm just too lazy to get my ass moving. Each day at work, i'll tell myself I'll write something at the end of the day, but truthfully, i'm just so brain dead on some days that I just can't bring myself to log on.

Peanut is now, let me see, around 27 months, or to non-parents, that's 2 years and 3 months old. And she's finally potty trained haha. We decided to potty trained her the moment she reached 2 years old, perhaps very late by some people's standards but to us, it's just the right age to start. The credit has to go to my MIL really, for she managed to trained Peanut in less than 2 weeks. What she did was to just let Peanut go diaperless during the day and let her wet herself. The first few times, she was reluctant to use the potty but after wetting herself a couple of times, and finding that she hates it, she started using the potty and it went on from there. My MIL was so successful in her training, that Peanut refused to wear a diaper at night and when we go out!!

I'm definitely not ready for her to use the public toilets when we go out because I'm pregnant (and that's another news :)). And you might wonder how being pregnant has got to do with bringing Peanut to the toilets, but let me tell you, i have my reasons. For one, i'm getting heavier by the day, and there's no way i'm gonna carry Peanut onto the toilet seat each time. I don't plan to let her pee on the toilet floor because the thought of the pee seeping onto her shoes is icky..
Also now that i'm tired more frequently, and need maximum hours of sleep when I'm already getting so little, I'm not going to get up every few hours at night to make sure Peanut does not pee in her bed. So yes, i'll leave that till I give birth. So we had to psycho Peanut and tell her that she needs to wear a diaper when she goes out and when she sleeps at night, and after a few drama episodes on that, she finally relented.

As for myself, i'm now 24 weeks pregnant, and it's not been easy. Well, definitely not easier compared to the first time, as i feel more sickly this time round. First trimester was difficult because I felt quite nauseous all the time and could hardly keep any food down. I can't swallow plain water either so it's been horrible because i need to drink water but I can't. So i usually drink ribena or honeyed-water but sometimes i still gagged from it. And instead of getting morning sickness, i get night sickness. I will puke my dinner out if i ate too full so my appetite wasn't really that good in the first three months. And yes, i've got constipation in the first trimester..what lah. People get severe constipation in the 3rd trimester, I GOT it instead in the first few weeks.

there's one episode which will forever be etched in my mind. You can skip this part because it's gonna be quite gross. That time, i had not been able to pass motion for 3 days. In the 4th day, I knew I had to go and i had the urge for it anyway. So i sat on the toilet for 15 minutes. Nothing came out though i felt "something" is on the way. So i got up walked around and returned to the toilet and sat down for another half hour. Still nothing came out even though i still felt something was stuck there. This went on for the next 3 hours. Nothing came out! By that time, i was feeling really stressed and uncomfortable because i knew the motion is on the way out, but it just couldn't come out. Can't describe the feeling but it's darn uncomfortable. I can't even sit down normally because i felt something down there, but when i go and sit on the toilet, nothing's happening. By 3am, i was really desperate and I woke up DH. And he asked me to try again..after another hour passed by i finally gave up and told DH to bring me to the emergency ward as i felt i need an enema. So we had to bring Peanut, my poor little darling, who was still in a deep sleep and drove to SDMC.

Grateful for the staff there, who gave me an enema. Worse part is, they gave me the enema, and I went to the toilet straightaway, and only water came out wtf. The shit is still stuck! I was on the verge of tears by then because i was so desperate for it to come out then i felt like digging the shit out. Damn gross i know but at that time, i was willing to do anything to end my misery.. Doctor suggested i get another enema, and this time he asked me to wait longer before going to the toilet. I agreed...and waited slightly longer. And this time i was successful! Phew omggggg i was so relieved. Instantly, i felt such a wave of relief that I could kiss the ground. I could see DH was relieved as well, as that means we could finally go home. By that time, Peanut was awake and nurses was giving her stickers to keep her busy.

We drove to to my in-laws after the hospital visit so that we could leave Peanut there and we could go home and take a rest, since none of us had enough sleep. You know, the moment we reached my in laws and I stood up from the car, I had to rush to the toilet again. Sigh..oh well, beggars can't be choosers. I rather have everything come out than it being plugged inside me. We still had time to go for a canai breakfast after that before going home for a deep sleep lol...Drama or what!! And since that episode, i have learned my lesson and have totally changed my diet. For the first few weeks after that i had loads of fruits and vegies everyday, supplemented by prune juice and lemon juice twice a day. I guess it works because up till today, i no longer have any constipation problem. *touch wood* I had severe constipation in first pregnancy which warranted an enema and a hospital visit too, and it happened again this time round. Scary shit. I'm officially traumatised.

More updates next time!

H1N1 scare

2011-02-22T15:51:00.006+08:00

Gosh it's been so long...Lots have been happening actually especially the beginning of the year. Hence I was not in the mood, or in the right frame of mind to blog.

Where do i begin..Somewhere in mid-January, DH went for this company trip, an overnight trip but as soon as he came back, he started feeling unwell..it started off with a sore throat, which turned into on and off coughing, which turned into a full-fledged fever by the third night. That third night, he woke up at around 3am complaining of a fever..thinking it was nothing, he just popped 2 panadols, and well, i thought it will go away within a day since that's how fevers are to me. At most it'll be gone after popping a couple of panadols.

The next day, he slept in, and luckily it was a public holiday because at least i was home. And it was also the day Pei Chyi came with Zachary and her maid to teach me some baking basics. I now know how a cake batter is supposed to look like. Suaku or not? :) hehe thanks PeiChyi!!! DH stayed in bed the entire day, with me sponging him every one hour, and feeding him more panadols. BUT the fever never came down. Instead it went higher and higher reaching 40c and he started shivering!! So that's when me and my SIL decided to send him to the emergency ward at the hospital that evening cos I was thinking if you take medicine but the fever is still not budging, means it's something more serious right?

So we took him to SDMC emergency ward. Lots of people there, but still orderly..and thank God no patients with broken bones or blood..no gory scenes. Don't think my heart could take it that night.. Waited for at least half an hour for our turn..though i hoped it could be faster because DH was still shivering non-stop. By this time, i was very worried. The nurse finally saw him, and got him to lie down in one of those hospital beds, and took his temperature. Not long after, the Dr came to see him. We explained everything to him, where he'd been, that perhaps it could be dengue because his company trip took place in some jungle *_*. Anyway, Dr got him to do a blood test and a swab test and told us that the results will only be out 2 hours later. Sigh.. more waiting.

And in the meantime, while waiting, as per Dr's instruction, we were to load DH up with lots of 100 plus to rehydrate him. And we cannot cover him with a blanket even though he was shivering as that will not make his temperature go down. Luckily there was a 100 plus vending machine just outside the emergency room. I guess they have it there for this kind of situations? By the way..the Doctors at this emergency wards are quite professional looking. Just saying. They were all well dressed, spoke professionally, look smart and know what they're talking about. So somehow it instilled some confidence for me in them. Quite different from the time i was admitted to another emergency ward (also in SDMC but a different section) and was attended by this houseman, whose shirt was not tucked in properly, the hair also not combed properly and he has dark smudges all over his doctor's coat...

Anyway..... 2 hours later. The report came. By a grim looking Dr wtf. Okay la, not that grim but he did give me that look. Anyway, he showed me the report and apparently DH has been tested positive for Influenza A. Damn. H1N1!!!! And just a minute ago, DH was coughing right into my face. When my mouth happened to be open too. Am I gonna get it too?? Dr gave DH two options. He can either stay at home and monitor his fever, or he can stay in the hospital. But Dr said he's okay to stay at home, he just need to quarantine himself. And he will be prescribed the tamiflu And me included, as a prevention. The only difference is that I take 1 pill a day and he takes 1, twice per day. And we must finish the dosage. But the thing is, I couldn't take the tamiflu for a reason. Drat.

Next thing to do after that was to make plans for Peanut, as we don't want her to get infected cos she's still a baby. Okay she's a toddler now but she's still my precious baby in my eyes. So we put her at my in-laws so that she won't get infected as I'm now officially the "nurse" for DH.. and I could only pray that i don't get it either :(

Once we reached home, DH took the pills immediately.. and by the next day around 3pm, the fever started to subside . it was a relief. Great relief. Guess the meds are effective. I read somewhere tamiflu is most effective within 2 days of symptoms so I guess it worked in his favor. And now we only hoped that Peanut didn't get it either..Things however, weren't meant to be. 2 days after DH got the fever, Peanut started coughing. and then came the dreaded fever too! and it's a high fever, reaching 40c. Sigh...was so so worried..brought her to the same emergency ward with my BIL and his wife and my MIL , and the nurses quickly undressed her and started sponging her, and put a suppository up her butt to bring down the fever. And we told the Dr what happened to her dad, so they did a swab test on her as well.

Up to the time they got swabbed, i never knew how a swab test worked.. I thought a swab test meant putting a spatula down your throat and scraping some cells off. But no....it meant taking a very long, thin, cotton bud look-a-like thing and putting it deep inside your nose. It looked scary and I didn't know how my Peanut could handle such a procedure. The nurses had to hold her head still, while the Dr dipped the long cotton bud thingy into her nose. I think the thing was at least 10cm long, or maybe longer than that. Dr assured me it won't hurt but it'll be ticklish instead. But still, Peanut burst into tears. Guess she was scared..if me I'll be scared too. And yes, we had to wait 2 hours for the swab test results, and during that time, the fever started coming down to around 37 because of the suppository. And what do you know, she got H1N1 too. Sigh..:( i was so, so distressed. Imagining the worst. Tears started falling down..

I was motionless when the nurse called me to collect her medicine. Can't move. My mind was whirring with lots of scenarios. All bad. I couldn't think properly, cannot think straight. All i could think of was to pray. To have both your loved ones down with H1N1 was a very scary feeling. I collected the medicine. She was also prescribed the tamiflu, but in liquid form. 2 doses a day. And because both of them now has H1N1, Peanut came back and stayed with us as i didn't want her to infect the rest of my in-laws, especially my FIL who was diagnosed with 4th stage cancer in December. So I became a nurse to both of them for 1 week where we all quarantined ourselves for a week at home. I didn't go to the office..And i also slept in a separate room for an entire week. I was so paranoid. Haih. Thankfully, Peanut's fever came down after 2 days where it hovered between 38c to 39c.

And what do you know, not long after that, my FIL also had fever. OMG. I almost cried at that stage. Is it that infectious that everyone will get it? In my heart i was so worried that i'll get it too because of my ongoing situation. FIL was quickly sent to the emergency ward as well, and I was worried about his condition as he's got cancer, and his immunity will be much lower. Doc did the swab test, but he didn't test positive for it. Phew...but still..gotta find out why he got that fever..turned out he has an infection somewhere in his body..

AND! my MIL got it too. Gosh...she started the same way as the rest..coughing..and soon came the fever. She didn't go to the hospital the first two days after she got the fever, thinking it'll go away. By the third day with the fever still not going away she finally went to the hospital, did a swab test, and yes, tested positive for H1N1 as well. Sigh... My mood really plunged when i heard she got H1N1 as well..it was a very bad week for us. And it was the week before CNY but I had no mood to think about CNY at all. We were due to go back to Kuching for CNY and I was so worried that we won't get to go back at all. And most of all, I was so worried i'll get it as well. Nothing was prepared at our home. We didn't buy any cny cookies, no drinks, no cny decor, and i didn't even finish any of our cny shopping, hence no new shoes for Peanut. We just didn't have the mood to do anything at all..

During that week, I really did all the necessary precautions. No sharing of utensils with Peanut and DH, I washed my hands almost every 15 minutes till my hands were raw, didn't hug and kiss Peanut (DH did all her bathing and feeding) I wore mask almost 24/7a day, ( i even fell asleep in it) , bought lots of hand sanitizer, stopped turning on the air conditioner but instead opened all the doors and windows to let the air circulate, and I drank lots and lots and lots of hot water.and fruits for vitamin c.

And I guess, everything went well because we get to go back to Kuching for CNY. You have no idea, how happy and relieved I was that we get to step on the airplane that morning. :)

Peanut: 22 months

2011-01-09T21:56:00.006+08:00

Weight: 12 kg
Height: Not too sure, can't get her to stand long enough for me to measure her but she's kinda tall for her age, so not a concern at this point..
Hair: Growing, EXTREMELY slowly but yeah, it's growing. Phew.
Food: Started eating rice instead of porridge a few months ago, and very into soups especially ABC soup.

22 months and she has, plenty of patterns!! She can't sit or stand still and I run after her most of the time. And she runs like a chicken. I have no better word to describe it haha

Can berposing-posing already.. haha with one leg on top of the other and one hand on the side. Reminds me of some old photo shoots in the sixties.

omg i love her so much!! :)

Goals for 2011

2010-12-30T15:37:00.004+08:00

Tons have happened this one month. Sad stuff, thus have not been in a blogging mood for quite some time. But 2010 is coming to an end, and i want to write up a list of resolutions for 2011 so that i can have some goals for the new year and so here goes:

Eat more healthily - No more junk. Frankly this is quite hard to do because i love food! I love fatty fried stuff, junk food, breads, fizzy drinks, ice creams, you name it, I should like it! As I'm getting older and older (dammit!!), it's time to watch what i put inside my body. I should take care of it. Though i don't think i can stop completely, but I will try to limit myself as often as possible. especially:
- Fizzy drinks - Less coke, coffee and more fresh juice and water
- Food filled with preservatives nonsense i.e. canned food, sausages, bacons, chips etc.
- Meat - For health reasons, i shall eat less meat
Send Peanut to a weekend playgroup / class where she'll get to socialise with other kids. When i was back in Kch, i went out with a couple of friends who had kids already and I could see Peanut was really enjoying herself. She was running around, screaming happily. It was really nice to see her having fun. And when my nephew was here recently, she had so much fun playing with him.......and his toy trains.
Shopping - I am frankly, an impulse buyer. If I like it, and the price is within my budget, I'll buy it immediately, without any second thoughts. And if i feel guilty for buying something, i will usually tell myself that life is too short wtf. I need to pamper myself too! It comes with some perils though, buying on impulse means sometimes i tend to have similar stuff at home already. So for 2011, I will try not to be so impulsive and will only buy stuff only if i do not have something similar at home. Which means, for eg. I've gotta stop buying black / white/ grey clothes cos i have too many of those at home. And that goes the same for groceries too. I like to buy things way in advance even when the stuff at home is not finished yet. So yes, time to be a more careful shopper!
Learn how to bake a cake successfully!
Exercise more regularly - Bet this is on most people's 2011 resolutions too..Easy to say, but most difficult to do. For me anyway. I hate exercising. I can be huffing and puffing after doing a 30 minutes walk around the park, but i can walk for hours and hours in a shopping mall. Talk about priorities.. So here's to more hours walking in the park for 2011.
Spend more time taking care of my skin. I do not have a routine for skincare. If i remember, I'll slap on some moisturizer and eye cream on before i sleep, but most of the time, I'll forget about it. Bad..very bad!! I will be very gung ho when i come home with new skincare products, and will religiously put it on for a week.. after that i'll get lazy..Hence i have loads of unfinished bottles of skincare at home.
Go to church more regularly too.
Do something exciting every month. Donno what yet, but i think it's time for us (as a family) to be more adventurous! I need to stop living life in a blur. My days are spend working and working except (for the weekends thank God), and very little on living "life" itself. Well, i still need to work for sure, but I will need to spend my off days more fruitfully.

I guess that's my "resolutions" or goals, whatever you'll like to call it, for 2011. There's something else I would like to add to this list but i'm a bit hesitant to put it on as i do not want to jinx it. I'll keep it in my heart for now. *wink*

xoxo Happy 2011!!

20 months

2010-11-17T10:00:00.000+08:00

Lost bunny. Age: 20 months.

Omg...4 more months before she turns 2.

At 20 months, she has lots of teeth. And it's mighty sharp. So beware, don't put your fingers in her mouth because you're gonna scream bloody murder. I'm not kidding.I'm not sure how many teeth she has. I stopped counting after I saw she has at least 8.

She can sing a couple of songs, with jumbled lyrics. One minute she can sing BINGO, and the next line will be London bridge is falling down. I think she is konfiused.

Forced smile

She likes to eat on her own, and she loves to drink soups, true chinese baby or what hehe but with disastrous results. Just imagine oily soups dripping down her chin. Ack. But sometimes you gotta let go, you know? She needs to learn. So i'll just her drink and eat..and i'll try to close one eye and clean up the mess later. At least it's just confined to her high chair.

I gotta watch what i say nowadays. The other day i overheard her say "So many flowers, man!!" Yikes, when did the 'man' pop out?? And she uses a lot of "nehhhh" when i ask her where's this and that. And i had to correct her and tell her that she has to say "over there", not neh. Yes, she has picked up some distinctive malaysian english. and she uses a lot of "mahs" at the end of her sentences..oops..... Must make a concerted effort to speak proper english.

Ok gotta admit. I've not been diligent enough in potty training. I keep delaying it. She does use the potty sometimes, when she sees it in front of her. If it's not there, then it's out of sight, out of mind. So since she's already 20 months old...i think it's time for me to get serious on this. Starting this month.

Told her i'm taking her pics and she quickly screamed "where's miao miao???" Miao miao is her bolster's name (that has a face of a cat at the end and a tail), which we christened for her. And that's why me and DH can never be in PR or Advertising. Lack of imagination.

Anyway, she AND miao miao must take the picture together. These two are inseparable. Well, i'm glad she has a best friend and not some "imaginary friend". That'll freak me out.

The love of my life :)

Solution for messy drinkers

2010-11-16T22:52:00.002+08:00

Cleaning up after Peanut after each of her meals is no fun. She insists on eating her own food now, from her porridge to her biscuits...leaving a trail of crumbs, wet smudges and unidentified lumps in her wake. And i have to run after her with a wet hankie to wipe before everything hardens, or worse, i forgot about it.

To help me minimise the mess, I bought this packet drink cover in Daiso a few months ago. It fits small packets of drinks meant for toddlers i.e. Like the mini packs of milo. I usually give her one of these when I'm having the same thing, but regular size, of course hehe. This is also, by the way, one of my favorite drinks :) Love it when it's super cold.

Just pop it into the plastic container, and snap it close.

And she won't be able to accidentally ter-squeeze it when she gets too over excited with her drink. No spills. :)

Well, the downside is that it only fits those mini pack drinks. I probably need to find those regular sized ones soon..

New diaper bag

2010-11-16T22:43:00.002+08:00

Found this diaper bag and a matching bottle bag in an obscure baby shop in Sg Wang. All for RM40.

:)

Life updates and Peanut

2010-10-29T15:30:00.006+08:00

What? Has it been 2 weeks since my last post? It really seems like just a few days ago. i tell you..time seems to fly at a rapid rate. I wake up early everyday, spend the whole day at the office, pick up my Peanut and will only reach home at around 9pm. Sounds tough eh? But I got used to it. Well, we got used to it haha . Even Peanut, who has to follow us to her Popo's house every morning when the sky is not even bright yet..Well, what can I say, thank God for the weekends :) And i'm not complaining because really, what is this compared to other worse stuff and tragedies that is happening around the world. I'm grateful for a lot of things, no matter how small and inconsequential it is and I do not want to take things for granted.

I have been doing lots of cooking over the weekends. This is quite a surprise even to myself considering that i'm actually enjoying it. My mum will fall over her chair if she knows how much i cook now. And i'm so into it that i even got Jamie Oliver's latest recipe book: Food Revolution. Love it, i plan to go through the book, one recipe at a time.

Peanut, I love her more and more each day. She's truly the joy of our lives. 19 months old, is stubborn as a bull, doesn't have much hair, wants to do everything herself and I mean everything!! But of course, she still can't do it well so i still need to be the Peanut Monitor. She likes to wear her own clothes, but still very salah cos the other night she tried her hardest to put her leg through the t-shirt's neck opening, thinking it's her pants.....She's really curious, as most kids her age are, which means i have to watch her like a hawk. She opens the fridge like a pro even though a child lock has been installed, taking out her own little boxes of milo. Defeats the purpose really, this child lock. I got it from Daiso. Don't buy it from there! You've been warned.

Ah..motherhood. Full of ups and downs :)

Cameron Highlands

2010-10-13T21:02:00.008+08:00

Went to Cameron Highlands a week plus ago for a night stay together with the in-laws. It's been 2 years since I've been there and things are still pretty much the same except there seems to be more cars and many people!! It's not even the school holidays so I can't imagine how it's gonna be like during the school holidays / public holiday. Two words: STAY AWAY! Packing to go for a night trip is a nightmare, as usual, as I seems to want to bring everything for "just in case". The packing alone took me around 2 hours, and mostly, it's Peanut's stuff. I have to tihnk of what kind of clothes to bring for her, diapers, snacks, her favorite bolster etc.

We left the house at 8am, but not before going for a bak kut teh breakfast :) The drive up there was smooth except that I got really really dizzy because of the winding roads. I have really bad motion sickness. We had to stop at this shop somewhere so i can buy some sour stuff. And i think Peanut is the same as me..cos she puked *_*. I really didn't see this coming. She was quite fidgety all the while, and suddenly she just went quiet and was very still...and before you know it, out came her porridge from lunch and went all over her cardigan. and me. I was pretty calm though haha I just let her finish puking, took off her cardi and wiped her with wet wipes. She was her usual self after this "incident".

View from our balcony

We stayed at the Cameron Highlands Resort. Nice place. We didn't go to any tea plantations because we went there 2 years ago. All i did was buy strawberries and cherry tomatoes, ate strawberries icecream, and just walk around in the cool air. And my goodness they had everything strawberry related over there. I couldn't resist because it was just too cute. And when you have a daughter...you will buy these:

A strawberry plastic ball, strawberry bedroom slippers, strawberry soft toy, and a strawberry umbrella lol

There were many strawberry umbrellas but I picked this one because of the handle...so cute!

And we had steamboat too, cos it seems to be the thing to do when you go up Cameron Highlands. Which i think was highly overrated cos our steamboat kinda sucked. And there were many steamboat shops around and all of it were super packed. All of it! We managed to squeeze into one, which looks good from the outside. But when we sat down, no one took our order; they just plonked down a steamboat set dinner for us, and the soup was tasteless. Normally when i go for steamboats, i look forward to their condiments because their chilli sauce are usually quite nice. But at this particular steamboat place that we went to , their chilli sauce came from a bottle. Yeah, those kind of chilli sauce that you eat with chicken wings fml.

That night, we brought some snacks out to the balcony and just ate there And to enjoy the cool breeze too.

Eating in the dark

A very tired Peanut after a walk around the morning market

Eating her daily dose of fruits

Breakfast for myself. The poached eggs were really nice.

it was a great trip overall..super relaxing. I think Peanut enjoyed it, with the cool air and all. Except the wind were really strong..whipping my hair around 24./7 wtf.We stopped by in Ipoh for a late lunch for some chicken hor fun. It was around 230pm when we arrived and again, there were so many people. But gosh, it was really yummy. The hor fun was so smooth...*slurps*.

I wish I took more pictures. But when you have a toddler, it's pretty difficult to take a camera out and start snapping photos. And I also want to enjoy the moment with her and DH. I want to "experience" rather than start fretting with the camera and documenting every photo op. So yeah, that's why you don't see much pictures of Cameron Highlands.

Next: Our trip back home to my "kampung" :)

Crushed Peanuts

2010-10-13T20:57:00.003+08:00

This is one of my favorite childhood snacks i.e. Kacang Tumbuk. But i have a way of eating it. Others might eat it once they take it out of the plastic packaging, or at least store it into a container so it won't "lao hong".

I prefer it "lao-honged". So i'll open the plastic packaging, make sure all the kacang tumbuk is exposed (without unwrapping it), and let it air for at least a day. After a day, it'll somewhat caramelized, and it'll be very chewy. And that's when it's the best. and it won't be messy too. No messy peanuty crumbs on your clothes or on the floor.

It's really really good. Try it!

18 months

2010-09-26T21:13:00.004+08:00

18 months, how time flies.

Parenting is not easy. At times, I'm left exhausted, and just need a time out. But it's so rewarding to see her grow and bloom.

Sometimes she'll drag me and ask me to push her on her tricycle.
Or ask me to open the book and "mummy see book".
Or she'll asked to sit on me when I'm in the midst of doing something.

Many a times, I wanted to tell her "Eva...wait!!!! mummy's busy /tired ". But i managed to catch myself in time, and tell myself i cannot miss this opportunity.

Peanut..

Her favorite pose nowadays when a camera is aimed at her.

My little helper

2010-09-12T22:37:00.005+08:00

It's getting more fun as Peanut as gets older. She more or less understands us now so telling her to do stuff, is quite a breeze. Most days.

She's getting cheekier by the day too. Last night I reprimanded her for opening the drawers, so i gave her the "angry mom" stare. Where i tried to make my eyes as big as possible and stared at her. She looked at me and said "eyes big bigggggggg oh". Haha any anger that i have in me dissolved instantly. I'm surprised she could tell the difference though because frankly, my eyes are quite small -_-

Yesterday, she squeezed the empty milo box which was in the trash can. And as expected, there were little drops of milo all over the floor...which exasperated me to no end. So the lil one quickly took a piece of wet wipe and start wiping the floor. Ah..how to be angry at her wey..

While she was wiping the floor, i quickly took the camera to take her pics...

Wonder whether she'll be still smiling so happily when i ask her to sweep the floor in 10 years time. Heh.

Self feed

2010-09-05T21:48:00.003+08:00

Peanut has recently started to want to feed herself. One day, she just took the spoon from us, and started shoving food into her mouth. She makes a lot of mess and most of the time the food ends up everywhere but in her mouth, but we're cool with that. After all, it's a stage that they need to go through. And it gives me a breather, asI have more time to shove food into my own mouth instead lol, though the cleaning up after that is a killer.

Totally unglam shots of her eating her spaghetti:

Yellow lights

2010-09-05T21:15:00.004+08:00

Long long before when we move into our new place, i told DH that there's one thing that I won't compromise on when we did the renovations. And that is all the rooms in the house need to have yellow / warm lights. No white lights for me! It's a no no ehehe. I cannot live with fluorescent lights because it makes a place seems so sterile, or hospital like. So yes, all our rooms now, including the bathrooms have yellow lights. it just makes the home seems warmer, and everything looks nicer. Even myself, when i look into the mirror lol

Even when we go to mamaks / cafes, i tend to be drawn to those that have warm lighting so yes, to me lighting is very important!

oh hello..

2010-08-29T20:15:00.002+08:00

Long time no see!

I finally reached 56! ;) 1.5kg more to go.

find out how here!!

Slowly but surely

2010-08-13T17:11:00.005+08:00

So.......for the past one month, i have been wearing this corset. Actually buying this was my only hope to lose weight. My last hope. I don't have time to go to the gym. I did join the gym before a few years ago, but unfortunately, i was too lazy to go to the gym everyday. More so, even now, when i go home late from work everyday, and my weekend is just too precious (gotta spend time wif Peanut) to spend it at the gym hahah and also, i want to give my MIL a break lah. I can't expect her to take care of Peanut in the weekends too rite, while i slog it out at the gym...

Been trying to go on diet too..For the longest time, since Peanut was born, i have been trying so hard to lose weight. I eat one scoop of rice for lunch everyday with vegetables and stuff, and same for dinner too. Occasionally, during the weekends i'll eat more than that of course... But still, my weight just never budged..despite all the controlled eating. It just stayed stagnant. I imagined my "fats" have turned into solid lard in my body..lol hahahhah..

So i bought this Premium Beautiful corset finally. Desperate de. Wanna lose some weight by September. For reasons only known to a few people *wink wink*. So i started wearing on July 12.

After a month of wearing my Premium Beautiful corset, I managed to lose from 59.2kg to 56.7! a 2.5 kg weight loss..so happy. I feel even more motivated now. I wear this corset every night without fail. At first, it was uncomfy. Cos i'm not used to something gripping my body..I would say the first day is the hardest. But by the 3rd day, my body got used to it. I can walk, bend down, everything as per normal. And it's not the wear until u wanna suffocate kind. No no..it's the kind that just flatten your tummy and grip at all the places that it's suppose to grip. For example..lift up your buttocks and boobs (wah, like Madonna's spiky bra type of height just that it's soft), and push all your fats into the right places.

Gradually i could see the result. My tummy became flatter, my pants and jeans become looser, i can feel my waist de..doesn't feel so thick anymore. Frankly, and to be honest, i really love it! In fact, i can't go to sleep without it already, feel as if something's missing if i'm not wearing it. It's very comfy. I feel it's a very very worth it purchase. I'm not saying it just because i'm selling it. But because i can really see and feel the result. Best part is, it has a lifetime warranty. So if the stitches unravel, or it's torn, no worries, can send back to the stockist and they'll fix for you! For free. That's one of the thing that sold me lah. That and the fact that I can use this forever and ever. Unlike, for example, if you were to go to one of the slimming centre. This corset is also good for health too, it helps to reduce your stretchmarks, reduce bloatedness as it can really expel all the wind in your body, heals your backache and much more. The first week i wore it, i can feel I let out *ahem* gas a lot. Sorry, gotta say it. Really buang angin lor. I feel not so bloated anymore.

Now let's hope i can reach my target weight soon!

Novena of Confidence

2010-08-11T10:37:00.002+08:00

I discovered this prayer a long time ago, in a leaflet in an old church, placed for people who come in at all odd hours to pray. In moments of worries (and you know i worry a lot lol) desperation and sometimes sadness,I have used this prayer countless of times. All good things must be shared, so here, I'm sharing this wonderful prayer with you, the Novena of Confidence.

O Lord Jesus Christ,
To your most Sacred Heart,
I confide this/these intention(s):

(State you intention(s) here...)

Only look upon me,
And then do
What your Sacred Heart inspires.

Let your Sacred Heart decide
I count on it
I trust in it
I throw myself on Your mercy,
Lord Jesus!
You will not fail me.

Sacred Heart of Jesus,
I trust in You.
Sacred Heart of Jesus,
I believe in Your love for me.
Sacred Heart of Jesus,
Your Kingdom come.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus,
I have asked you for many favors,
But I earnestly implore this one.
Take it.

Place it in Your open, broken Heart;
And, when the Eternal Father looks upon It,
Covered with Your Precious Blood,
He will not refuse it.

It will be no longer my prayer,
But Yours, O Jesus.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus,
I place all my trust in You.

Let me not be disappointed.

Amen.

16 months

2010-08-07T23:34:00.002+08:00

Peanut is almost 17 months..and i have yet to update her progress for 16 months yet..My bad.

Anyway, she has finally managed to walk without our help! Though she looks like a drunk when she walks..she wobbles left and right..like the "drunken kungfu" style lol.

Her vocabulary is expanding.. she can say quite a few words now. Among those that I can remember are

* laptop
* bicycle
* uncle / auntie
* camera
* flower
* scared
* don't want
* Monday to Sunday..though not necessary in that order
* she knows how to count 1 to 10, in english and malay.

At least we can understand her better now, and better manage her needs. she has a voracious appetite, and she eats almost anything so far..definitely her mother's daughter haha

Here's a short video of her. Until i learn how to rotate the video, you'll have to bend your head to the left..

Here, she counts 3 to 10 in malay..

She spells her name

Remembering

2010-08-06T11:55:00.004+08:00

Once in a while, on a long drive home from work, a memory will spark in me...

I remembered her from work. She was around 19, a sweet young thing, and she always come around with her friend. Once in a while we will have a quick chat. I don't know her well, but she always looked happy..

Then one day out of the blue, came the news. She was hit by a van while crossing the road to get to the other side. Her dad was waiting on the other side of the road, to pick her up from work. She was standing in between two lanes on a highway, unsure on whether to cross the rest of the road when suddenly a van came zooming by. I guess the van driver did not see her. The vehicle banged into her, and the impact caused her to fly up in the air before landing on the road. Her dad, who saw the whole thing, was screaming when he came to her. She died.

The news was made even sadder, when i heard almost a year before, her brother, too, died in a car accident.

How cruel life is sometimes, and it's times like this, when I remember and remind myself not to sweat the small stuff, and to just live life to the fullest.

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle" - Albert Einstein

One of those days

2010-07-26T18:38:00.003+08:00

i get very down, emotional, bordering on depression almost once a month, and it can last for a few days. Just as it comes suddenly, it goes away easily too. I had a bout of the "attack" a couple of days ago. I called it "attack" because there's no other words to describe it. I feel really down, sad, for no apparent reason, and i feel really negative as if the world is closing on me. That nothing seems right. These are the times when i need people around me physically. Just to be there so i don't feel so alone.

Strange eh? I'm usually a very happy person so I hate it when this happens and I feel like shit. And i can only blame it on one thing. PMS! Just two nights ago, I told DH while we were lying in bed I think I'm gonna get my period soon cos i feel down. And my guess is right when my period came today. PMS is real and I'm glad it only happens once a month. Once it's over, i feel like singing again and screaming I love life! wtf

Short weekend in Singapore

2010-07-21T22:31:00.005+08:00

Over the weekend, we went to Singapore for a short working holiday. The work part belongs to DH of course :) me and Peanut just tagged along. We sat in Firefly for the first time and my goodness, the plane is really tiny! Since the plane is tiny, the trip took longer than usual. 1 hour 10 minutes instead of the usual 45 minutes if you use MAS or SIA. Flight was good. Stewardesses were very friendly. But there was a marked difference this time with Peanut as compared to the flight we took back to my hometown in February this year.

She just refused to sit still! Thank God she didn't throw any tantrum or was cranky but I had a hard time entertaining her in that short flight. I had to bring out all my 'special weapons' to placate her lol. This includes raisins, tissue paper, magazines, and her "tiger" soft toy. She wants to stand up, she wants to drink our drink, she wants to look out the window, she wants to climb all over us! She's so freaking fidgety!! I wonder how parents take care of their toddlers during long haul flights. Can't be easy.

That Saturday morning, DH had to meet his colleagues for a workgroup meeting so...I braved myself and took Peanut shopping by myself. This is the first time I brought Peanut out by myself since she was born lol, and using public transport no less. I didn't want to be stuck in the hotel for the whole day since DH can only be done by 5pm. So since our hotel was on Clark Quay and there's nothing much to see around there, we took a taxi to Ion Orchard. The thought did cross my mind on how I'm gonna cope with a stroller, a hyperactive toddler, and a big baby bag alone, but i told myself to just do it, and worry later! The lure of shopping is stronger haha

Luckily I met some really nice Singaporeans. They helped me carry the stroller up and down the stairs when there's no ramp, they help me open doors, and taxi drivers willingly come down and help me collapse the stroller and open it up again when we reach our destinations. I'm really grateful. It's not easy juggling a stroller through a massive crowd of people, and in a shopping mall that i'm not familiar with no less. I now have a new found respect for mums who go out with their babies alone using public transport! Salute!

DH's meeting ended at 5pm and so we spent the rest of the weekend just chilling...We took Peanut for a walk around Clark Quay at night, spent half a day at Orchard again on Sunday, and took Peanut for her first train ride lol before departing back to KL again in the late afternoon. Super short holiday, but it's able to rejuvenate me again :)

Peanut goes into a frenzy every time she sees a glass with a straw in it. I had to ask the waitress for a glass of water and to cut the straw shorter, so the little munchkin can have her own drink.

*taste taste*

*auummm*

* Love it mummy! *
iIn the cab on the way to airport
Always the same ribbon eh? hahaha these are one of the very few hair ribbons that she wanna use

New adventure

2010-07-21T09:13:00.003+08:00

It's been around 2 weeks plus that we've been staying at our new home. To have your own home again, after 16 months, is quite liberating :) .I can finally take out all my stuff out from storage and put them on display, I can finally cook my own meals, and i can be a sloth! Not that I cannot be a sloth in at my in-laws but you know lah rite, not so nice kan :)

Our schedules have also changed. Before, when we were still staying with the in-laws, we will just hand over Peanut to my MIL before getting out of the house at 7am for work, but now, yours truly needs to wake up at 5:45am to get ready for work, just so that we can leave the house by 640am. We will then deposit Peanut at my in-laws' place before heading to work. Their house is ngam ngam 10 minutes away (i timed it every morning). After work, DH and me will return to the in-laws for dinner, and then we'll bring Peanut to our own place after that. And we will usually reach home around 9pm. Phew! It sounds tiring physically but surprisingly, we're adjusting pretty well. Before, I thought i wouldn't be able to get used to the new punishing schedule.

i have to drag a sleepy Peanut out of the bed early though, but so far she doesn't seems to mind, as there is no cranky episodes. Yet. She will usually go back to sleep again once she reaches her Toto's (that's how she calls her Popo) house.

So, life is so busy that we still haven't find the time to shop for our ground floor toilet door and replace the current bathroom doors. Yes, you can't pee in our toilet at the moment cos there's no door. We still need the painter to come and touch up the walls. We still need to fix timers for our porch lights. Minor stuff, but we still got to find time to to do it.

And that's life up to now :)

Recent happenings

2010-07-08T10:22:00.002+08:00

Wow, so much has happened since I last updated. Okay, it's not a lot actually, but when you have a baby and you're working full time, you have very little time to do anything else.

So what has been happening?

We've finally moved into our new abode!!! Finally! We actually got the house keys two years ago, but Peanut "happened" not long after that, so we had to stop all planning and renovations while I was pregnant, and we moved into my in-laws' place from our rented condo the night before I gave birth. Talk about good timing eh. And I think we got a tad too comfortable at the in-laws because renovations at our new place only started when Peanut was around 8 months old. And we've been doing things at a leisurely place. As we are both working full time, we only have the weekends to go hunting for tiles, kitchen designers, bathroom accessories, wall paint colors, curtains and we need to go to each place a couple of times! Talk about time-consuming.

Thank God, everything went without a hitch. Our contractor is very reliable and fast and he didn't give us any problems. In fact we hardly have to monitor him. My FIL will go to to the site once in a while but that's it. The people who lay our tiles are very efficient too. They got everything done within two days, and no mistakes were made.

Things only went fast paced last week when my Mum decided to go and see this person ( I don't know what you call this people) to find the best date for us to move in. She reasoned that we're only moving house a few times in our lifetime so we might as well make the best out of it. So when she gave me the date last Wednesday and told me we have to move in the following Monday, everything really speed up. We cleaned up the place again (for like the 100th time), hang up all the curtains, make sure all the lights are working, move our stuff over from our in-laws place and we officially moved in on the 5th of July 2010. I guess it's good that we have a deadline if not we'll be dilly-dallying till the cows come home. And that's how we move in finally!

Phew. We still have minor stuff to do. Like, we still need to get Astro installed. Ok this Astro thing is causing us a problem. We got a new tv which offers free Astro Byond service for the first year. So the Astro Byond installer came to our place last week but he said he can't install Astro Byond for us because we do not have our old Astro dish at our new place. We do have the dish and our own account at our in-laws, which is separate from theirs. So this installers, want us to install our OLD Astro dish into our new house (and they can't do it for us some more as they're not supposed to, we need to get another Astro installer who's an expert in this WTF), make sure our account is active and everything's working, then only this Astro Byond installer will take it down and install the new Byond Dish for us. Where is the logic lor??! Essentially, they want us to get another person to install our old astro dish up, and in effect, pay around RM100 to RM150 for this to be done, only for these Byond installers to take it down after that. Huh? I was in disbelief when they told me this, so I called the Astro hotline up, only for them to confirm that this is the procedure. Wow, talk about bureaucracy eh? We managed to resolve it finally, but I just think this procedure is so strange and redundant.

Let's just hope when they come again this weekend, everything will be okie!

Pleased as punch

2010-06-23T12:45:00.004+08:00

Last night i told Peanut to throw her soiled diaper into the trash bin. So she took the diaper from my hand, crawled to the bin, and dumped it in.

I gave her a round of applause and shouted bravo cause she understood me and she did it right. She was very happy and she clapped her hands after and we both giggled. Simple pleasures. Before having her, i never understood how exciting and fulfilling it is to experience the world through your child's eyes. I now do.

Penang, again

2010-06-22T18:33:00.001+08:00

Two weekends ago, we went to Penang for a long weekend. My MIL went for a retreat with my FIL, so she won't be able to take care of Peanut. So me and DH took two days off from work and we decided to go there for a short getaway. And also, we need a break!

View from the Penang bridge. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy when we arrived. Otherwise, it would have been gorgeous.

The next morning. Check out the blue skies. So nice..*sighs*

This street reminds me of Phuket and Pattaya. These sidewalks are filled with stalls at night.

Still jolly even though she was in the seat for close to 5 hours.

Overall, it was a great trip. Relaxing, fun, and very laid back. All we did was to eat, sleep, played in the pool and walked around the night market. And oh, we went to a mall too. I think Penang is one of my favorite states because it's surrounded by the sea. I love beaches! It gives me such a warm, nice happy feeling when I see one. We stayed at the Holiday Inn which is right next to the beach so that was great. And we ate tons of food. From orr-chien, to plates and plates of char kuay teow, cendols, asam laksa, you name it, we should have eaten it!

It was a great, manageable trip and I look forward to bringing her to more places in the future.

Readjustments

2010-06-21T16:27:00.004+08:00

When you have a kid, it's all about readjustments in your life. Below are a couple of "areas" which i think needed major readjustments when Peanut first came into our lives:

a) Sleep
The No.1 major change you need to do. No longer can you wake up whenever you want. Think you can laze around in bed till 10am, while sipping a cup of hot coffee and reading the papers on the weekend? Think again. You'll be lucky if you can sleep past 7am, or she doesn't slap you awake first, or knock your coffee on the bed. I have been the unlucky recipient twice when she whacked my face cos i was still sleeping. And no, pretending to sleep doesn't work when she's all awake and bushy-tailed and might get herself into trouble if she's left on her own device.

And bedtime. For the most part it's been okay. Some days she just needs to drink a bit of milk before she falls asleep. There are some days when she's still rummaging through my drawers at 1130pm at night. I have tried various means to make her go sleep. From counting sheeps, to pretending to sleep, to holding down her down on the bed (gently la of course) so that she'll get the signal that she's supposed to sleep, to singing various nursery rhymes. Most of the time i'm successful; other times i'll be too tired to try, and will just try to stay awake until she gets too tired and fall asleep herself.

b) Eating
Yes, meal times are no longer the same, especially when she's older ( 1 year plus and above). She now wants to be "'part" of mealtimes. If I drink something, she wants to drink as well. And God forbid if there's a straw in my cup, for she'll be drawn to it like a magnet and will want to start stirring the drink and drinking from it. So i have to get the waitress to get me a cup of water with a straw in it, just so that she can have her own drink too, and leave my coffee or tea alone.

And I now order baby friendly food. Meaning, i'll eat food that i can feed her with too. No curries or other spicy stuff .And me and DH are still not doing the "you take care of her while i eat first". We like to eat together so we try our best to fit her in into our mealtimes. Not easy, but still doable for now.

c) Going out
My gosh, going out. It's like preparing for war. Before we even step out of the house, there's a whole bunch of things on the checklist which we need to get ready. Milk bottle, water bottle to refill her water, sippy bottle, hankie, milk powder, porridge (and if we're going out for the whole day, two set of thermos for lunch and dinner), a small blanket / cloth, extra clothes just in case she wets herself, small toys, her snacks, wet wipes, diapers wtf! I no longer bring my handbag out. I just toss my wallet and phone into the diaper bag, and hope I don't forget anything. I'll usually bring two bags out. One diaper bag, and one of those recycle bag so i can chuck those stuff that needs to be within reach fast inside. By the time i'm done, i'm exhausted. And coming home after a day's out is another event. I need to wash the bottles (i prefer to wash these myself, rather than asking our helper to do it) and unpack most of the stuff. Phew.

d) Choosing your destinations
Nowadays, we tend to go to places that has more space. Places that can accommodate our stroller. Like those cafes and restaurants. And places that has clean baby changing rooms. I think Gardens by far has the best baby changing rooms. The room is clean, it has a sink and toilet in it, and it's spacious. In baby changing rooms in other malls, they tend to just have the changing table and the sink. No toilet. How in the world do they think mothers who are out ALONE are gonna use the toilet and pee?? We can't possibly push the stroller into those normal toilets. These toilets are usually very cramped, and there's no way you can park a stroller inside.

e) Your shopping habits
There's no more time for facials, massages, or whatever u wanna pamper yourself with. And shopping? I think online shopping is a haven for mums out there. And even when you wanna go out and shop with baby, i always feel that i need to be fast when browsing for stuff, and you know some shops are just so small to bring the stroller in you'll be bumping into those clothes racks, and mannequins? And oh ya, you gotta pause and stop when salesgirls chat you up with the usual questions "berapa umur bayi you ni?? Can walk already? Lelaki ke perempuan?" Oh and these doesn't happen in shops alone. It happens in restaurants and lifts too! I don't mind la actually, who doesn't wanna talk about their own baby right? :) And you can get interesting info and facts from other mothers out there too at the same time.

f) Your outfits
Cannot wear high heels anymore when you're out with a baby!!! I don't want to trip over and fall when i'm carrying Peanut. So it's all flats. And I normally wear a blouse with a not so low-neckline, lest your baby pull your collar and expose you for all to see. :P

g) You gotta have four, scratch that, SIX pairs of eyes and a new pair of lungs.
Peanut is at that age where she's curious about everything. She'll stick pencils into her ears, attempt to drink my hot water, open and close drawers, pick things up from the floor and put them into her mouth and goes Yummm and it's all up to us mamas and papas to shout "NOOOOOOOOO......" "STOP IT" "DON'T TOUCH THOSE!" "DON"T GO NEAR THERE" I feel myself turning into my mum screaming at all of us when we were kids, but honestly peeps, there's no other way to do it other than raising your voice when you see them picking up some dirt on the floor and putting them into their mouth when they're like 10 ft away and you're too far away to physically stop them. So, shouting a bit, helps. It helps to distract them before it happens. And your eyes need to be on them 24 /7 like a cctv in the bank. No compromise.

So many things to change eh? But that's life when u turn into a momma. It's all about changes and it's all worth it! xoxo.

15 months update: Taking instructions

2010-06-16T23:18:00.012+08:00

Peanut is beginning to take instructions quite well, but that really depends on her mood. If she's happy and thinks you're the best thing since milk, then you're in for a treat. She'll do whatever you ask her to do. Otherwise she'll just ignore you. She's getting more and more demanding, she knows how to tell you if she's wet and hating it, she knows how to ask for milk, she can point to a flower and says "fawerr", she knows how to say "baby" if she sees one on tv, and she calls men "uncle" and women "auntie". Even though you're only 20, so don't be offended if she calls you one :)

She can walk a few steps, only to falter and sit down. So she's not really running like a road runner yet. She's very curious. She opens up all drawers, books, bags, whatever you have with you at the moment. She hates being hugged tightly. Her face will turn red and she'll start screaming. She always laughs in delight when she sees her picture on our phones. She kisses everything. Her pictures, her bears, books, our mobile phones; she'll kiss them when we asked her to kiss it. But ask her to give you a kiss, she'll extend her forehead out to you, and yes, you'll have to kiss her instead. She's quiet around strangers and people she doesn't know well; she doesn't even make a squeak.

At 15 months, she discovers how to use a straw. So she'll want a taste of everything that you're drinking, which is not that great cos i'm constantly drinking coffee. I now have to opt for healthier drinks when i'm eating with her, just so that she can take a sip of it too. She wants a piece of everything that we eat too, so eating peacefully has been quite difficult nowadays.I'm not sure how heavy she is at the moment. We only weighed her at the doctor's during her vaccinations and even that is a struggle to put her on the scale. So I'm now estimating her weight to be around 11+kg, as she's getting heavier and heavier.

She imitates whatever we do, so we gotta be mindful of our actions. If I take my vitamin pills, she'll take the bottle and pretend to throw a pill in her mouth. She likes to pretend to drink from a cup, and she loves taking her ear temperature, just because I constantly uses the ear thermometer when she's sick.

So it's pretty easy to teach her some actions. You just got to demonstrate it a few times and she'll do it the next time you tell her to.

This is the "elephant"

This is the "flying kiss"

This is the "lion"

This is the "chicken dance"

This is the "bunny"

And this is "lift up you legs"

She's not really looking at me in the pictures. Her eyes were glued to the tv. Some korean boy band with like 10 to 13 members wtf were on tv dancing and singing. A future groupie or what?

Hot Springs..

2010-05-29T23:33:00.005+08:00

A few weeks ago, we went to Sungai Klah hot spring. It's DH's office trip, so we tagged along with his office mates since it'll be Peanut's first "picnic" trip ever. I thought it's high time we join in the fray and start going to parks, zoos , beaches or whatnots since it's time to broaden Peanut's horizon.

We woke up bright and early for this trip. It was very difficult for me to wake up at such an unearthly hour and moreover, it was a Saturday. But someone else is all bright and perky.

The journey took around one hour. And since it was cloudy that morning, it was quite cooling.

Grumpy old woman.

I imagine this will be my face if I were to talk to Ms Turtle on the phone.

Popeye...

Testing the water.The water in this section (there's a couple of sections) is quite warm. The temperature is somewhat like the water that you will bathe your baby in. Not too cold, not too hot. :) There were quite a few people soaking themselves when we were there. Apparently soaking in the water can cure you off some ailments? There were 3 old aunties who were just sitting in the pool, water up to their shoulders, and gossiping about someone's friend's auntie's son's daughter. A good place to gossip eh?

No idea what she's trying to say here.

This is a path where you can walk bare foot and massage your feet on the pebbles. I tried it and I can only manage a couple of steps. It was super painful lor! They cordoned off that pool because the water is extremely hot and just in case you fall in because you were clutching your feet in agony.

They even have a small pool where you can boil some eggs. There's a lady that sells eggs at the corner, but you can bring your own eggs too. And if you're more adventurous, you can bring your own soy sauce. We saw quite a few people doing that. Heck, i think if it's allowed, there will be a whole buffet feast going on there.

A sign to tell you how long to boil your eggs depending on how you want it done.

The water is really hot just in case you're dumb enough to soak your feet in it.

By 12pm, it was really, really hot. We had a small lunch at one of the cafes beside this huge fish pond. We sat at this table next to the pond, and bough some fish food from one of the stalls to feed the fish. it's all about experience okie? I won't have feed the fish if it's not for Peanut. Love to see her face when all the fishes started fighting for their food. :)

We left after less than 3 hours in there. It was an experience definitely, and if you have muscles aching, or your backache is bothering you, you can definitely try and soak in there. But it's best that you go early, because by the time we were leaving, there were so many people who were just arriving.

Peanut's Baptism

2010-05-29T22:48:00.011+08:00

It has always been my wish that Peanut be baptised when we first had her. I'm a Catholic but DH is not but he's also a Christian. I broached the subject of baptising Peanut in the Catholic church last month to DH, and thankfully, DH readily agreed. I called up the church and asked for the baptism ceremony date and i what I would need to prepare. The baptism date also happened to fall on my birthday. What a coincidence eh? I would like to think this as God's birthday gift to me. To have her blessed and baptised in church on my birthday. Double joy! :)

The registration is pretty simple. All i had to do was to fill in the registration form, and attend a one hour talk on Baptism which in hindsight is a good thing. It prepares you for the real day itself, and it reminds us on why Baptism is very important and its key purpose. And oh, we also need to appoint a Godmum for Peanut.

And guess who we got??

It's Josie!! She's the perfect candidate, really. She's Catholic, she love Peanut and have seen her when she's just a little baby, AND she's a Sunday School teacher. 'Nuff said. I don't think I can get anyone better than this; someone who can also teach Peanut the Bible and about the Church and she'll probably do a much better job than me.

To prepare myself and as a gift for Peanut, I got her the Bible above :) . I LOVE this Bible. It's like a story book. it's colorful, the words are big, there's lots of pictures, and it makes Bible reading so much more easier and I had a great time reading it. Really good buy i must say.

On Baptism day itself, we dressed her in white and we were in the church by 9am as the ceremony starts at 9:45am. There were around 20 babies / toddlers there as well, waiting to be baptised. It took around one hour for everything to be done.

Father Paulino was the Priest that did the Baptism. I got him to bless me when i was pregnant for a safe delivery; and I also got him to bless Peanut when she was a few months old so I was very happy when i knew he was baptising her.

I really like to attend his Mass. I credit him for bringing me back to church more regularly. He's very passionate and inspiring; for example, when we say "Peace be with you" during Mass, and his response will be "and also with you", he will also extend his arms really wide and you can tell he really means it. I don't know how to verbalise it, but he does make me feel closer to God. And when i receive the communion from him, I'll usually bring Peanut along with me because he'll bless Peanut first, before giving me the communion. Such a great feeling when he does that. :)

Each of the baptised child received a cross.

We also got a small card from the Sunday School kids. Each child has a card drawn from scratch from the kids. Cute.

And Peanut's Godma gave her this cross. Thanks so much Josie. We love it!!!!

Short updates

2010-05-15T23:55:00.009+08:00

There are lots of things for babies / toddlers in the market and I'm always tempted to buy them. Some are quite unnecessary but if it makes my life a bit more convenient and colorful, i'll say, just buy it!

Peanut needs to take more porridge nowadays so my measly small thermos that i used to use is now redundant. We take her porridge out when she needs to eat her lunch or dinner outside. So we bought the above which comes in set. A thermos food flask, a pair of chopsticks, and three small containers to store more food. I think the Japanese probably uses this kind of bento set for their lunch everyday at the office, hence the dark, gloomy thermos bag.

I don't really like that color so I bought a thermos bag to carry all the food stuff above. I love it so much because it's a bright, cheerful pink with a happy looking bear in front lol. it looks like a takeaway bag and it's insulated so all your food will be kept cool inside.

Bought this baby toothbrush. Peanut now has lots of growing teeth, so it's time to keep her teeth hygiene in check.

A wrist toy my mum bought for her.

I'm using this lotion for her skin now. Some parts of her skin is quite dry, and this seems to work really well as it's really moisturizing. Cheap and good. I can feel her skin is so much better and smoother even after putting it on for one day only.

Bought this because the illustrations are really pretty and because I need to brush up on my nursery rhymes.
Random stuff i bought from Daiso. This container is to put your packet drinks inside, so your kid can't squeeze the box and spill the drink.

Best purchase of the month, also bought from Daiso (dolpin not included). This is an anti-static rod and I really need this! I got this because i keep getting static shocks from pushing the stroller wtf. It got to a point where I'm afraid to touch Peanut because i can literally see a bright spark from my finger on contact with her skin and it's darn painful. I'm not sure whether it's hurting her or not because I don't see any reaction from her. I just need to touch the rod on the stroller before touching her, and all's good after that!

Got a bracelet with her name for myself at those beads shop. It makes me feel closer to her during work :)

Got one for her too to remind her of me during the day wtf. It's supposed to be a bracelet but unfortunately it's a bit too big so she's using it as an anklet. It has a bell too.

Most pictures taken now are of her in the car seat.. That's the only place that will keep her still, and where she'll willingly sit and where I'm sane enough to take some pictures!

Progress Update: 14 months

2010-05-12T09:34:00.004+08:00

My love has turned 14 months on Mother's Day. Mother's Day was great. Lots of freebies when you're a mother eh? I got a free flower from the lady who sells Enfagrow milk powder, I got a candle that smells of apples from Sunday morning mass and lots of Happy Mother's Day greetings from children wtf (feel so old) and free cupcakes from Cupcake Chic at Sunway Pyramid, plus a Happy Mother's Day dinner from DH the night before; just the three of us. We also celebrated Mother's day with his mum and the rest of the family at Zen on the day itself. And since Peanut's monthniversary falls on Mother's Day itself, we let her blow the candle on the cake my BIL bought, and we even sang her a birthday song. Muahaaaha saja only lah. It made Peanut very happy though :)

No pictures though. Recently, it's been quite tough snapping pictures of Peanut. Cos she.just.can't. freaking.sit.still. And it's driving me insane. Put her on the stroller, she'll try to stand up. Strap her in, she'll scream as if we're torturing her. Let her sit in the high chair, she'll grab at everything in sight, and she'll attempt to stand up. Let her loose in the room, she'll open up all my drawers and take everything out. And dinners are getting stressful. I've reached that stage where either me or DH need to eat first, while the other person takes care of Peanut. Though there are times we just ignore her and continue eating lol. Cannot always give in okay? If not, she'll think she has us eating out of her hands.

She does have her endearing moments though. When she sees an old lady on tv, she'll say auntie though it sounds more like ann teh. She sees a big poster of a face in the shopping mall, she'll point to the eyes on the poster and say "eyes". She will stand up on her own and then start clapping immediately with a huge grin on her face cos it's such a feat for her that I can't help it but clap along as well.

She's still cruising, can't walk yet; When we ask her to smack daddy, she'll scream "smeggg!!!!!" and gives him a tiny slap on the hand. Lol, so funny and yet so wrong. Or when she's doing something naughty and I'll tell her "mummy's gonna count 1 to 10 and you better stop doing it before i reach 10!!" , and when I do start counting 1, she'll continue on with 'two...three...four...ten!!!" skipping five to nine effectively.

I really wish i can spend more time with her each day. As she grows older and time seems to fly by so fast, I really do wish I can spend the whole day with her, nurturing her, teaching her on the wonders of the world, making lots of different types of food for her and just watch her grow. Working full time just can't let you do that. Sometimes when I reached home after work, I'll be so tired I'll just watch her play while I catch up on finishing some mundane tasks that needs to be done. My MIL is doing a very fine job taking care of her, but I just wish sometimes that I can play a bigger role in her life.

We're gonna move to our own place pretty soon. Paint job is done; light fittings, air-conds, fans; all are fixed up. We still need to install an alarm system, a water purifier, get more furniture, get the painter to do final touch ups, and i think we should be done. :) And oh, lots of moving and unpacking. Perhaps, once we have a place to finally call our own, I can think of how I would like to take things forward.

Sticky rice cake anyone?

2010-04-28T10:07:00.007+08:00

Recently, for the past three weeks or so, we noticed that Peanut has become very sticky. UHU glue, glutinous rice, post-its kind of sticky. Where she only wants me, me, me!!! Not that I'm complaining, I'm kind of secretly enjoying the attention from her. Who knows how long this stage will last though. She might not want me anymore when she turns 3 or something *brushes away scary thought*

Everytime i come home from work, she'll struggle to be free from whomever is carrying her and insists that I hold her. And if I ignore her outstretched arms and puss-in-boots-from-shrek face, she'll come crawling looking for me while crying in this very ke lian way. You tell me how to resist her la, a heart of stone also can turn into tofu lor.

Am i spoiling her though by coming to her everytime she cries? I want to ignore her but she sounds so heartbroken each time that I I feel compelled to pick her up and assure her everything is alright. And i read somewhere that "babies cannot meet their own needs, and those who have their needs met at an early age will grow into secure, independent children. And just as fruit that is left on the counter too long will spoil, babies "spoil" when parents don't give them all the love and comfort they need."

I'm now looking at some playgroups that I can bring her to; to play and familiarise with other kids her own age, so she won't have a problem socialising when she goes to Kindy in future :)

******************

Over the weekend, we paid a visit to Pei Chyi and David for their baby's fullmoon.

Say hello to Baby Zach aka Muffin everyone. Congratulations to you both on this beautiful bundle of joy.

The past one week

2010-04-20T22:25:00.006+08:00

The past one week has been quite eventful. Exactly a week ago, Peanut fell down the stairs. 3 steps down to be exact. it was very early in the morning when it happened. I was just coming out of the shower when I heard a loud thud. I looked into the room and discover that the mosquito netting door was opened and as I rushed to the stairs, i heard Peanut crying very loudly. I found her lying on her back, screaming her lungs out. She had woken up, and realizing that i was not around, she had come looking for me.

I shouldn't have left her alone :( . She was still deep in slumber when i woke to get ready for work. Usually when I go and shower in the morning, I will get DH to look after Peanut. However, that whole week, DH was away in Indonesia for work. I should have asked my MIL to look after her while I shower but she was still sleeping in her room. Never would i imagine that Peanut will actually woke up, climbed down the bed, pushed open the mosquito netting down and attempt to climb down the stairs. Cos usually when she wakes up and realised we're not around, she'll cry or shriek or whichever. That's why I left the wooden door half open and the mosquito netting door shut, so in case she cries, my PIL can at least hear her while i shower.

Thankfully and thank you God, she's alright. I brought her to the pediatrician that morning. The PD asked me a few crucial questions like did she faint?, (no) did she vomit? (no) has she peed since the fall? (yes) is she active? (yes). After checking all her limbs and reflexes, the pd certified her fit and healthy. *phew* She had a bruise on her forehead as a souvenir though, which went away after a day.

However, until today, I still can't get over the image of her at the stairs. It sends chills down my body every single time i think about it and it still upsets me. I'm thankful that the stairs has two turnings, so she didn't tumble all the way down the remaining flight of stairs. So, never, never assume that your child will be alright alone, even though she seems to be in a deep sleep. I have learned a very hard lesson, one that i'll never forget :( *goes and sit down in a dark corner*

A few days after the incident, Peanut got a fever and a slight runny nose. The fever hovered between 37c and 38c throughout the day. Every time she takes her pink colored medicine, her fever will go down, but a few hours later, it'll go up to around 38c again. Seeing that the medication didn't really work, my mum asked me to try the egg method. Which, i'm happy to report, is very effective! :) What is the egg method, you might ask? If you want to know, below is a step by step guide; an old wives method to bring down a fever in your child.

How to bring a fever down using a boiled egg

Get an egg, which has not been refrigerated. This crucial step is very important okie! It has to be an egg in room temperature, which has never been put inside the refrigerator before. Not sure what's the science behind it, but just do it lah.
Boil the egg.
Peel off the shell.
Wrap the egg with a handkerchief, and dab a bit of medicated oil /axe oil / parrot oil on the hankie.
Undress your baby.
Start with the head. Rub the egg gently from the top of the head to the chin in one sweeping motion. Rub the egg only in one direction. DO NOT go back and forth. Basically you rub as if you're throwing out the bad chi in the body away.
Once you're done with the head, you do it from the shoulders to the tip of the fingers, then from shoulders to the side of the chest, and from the buttocks the to the bottom of her feet. Front and back.
Then that's it! Throw the egg away. You won't want to eat a medicated egg. And who knows you might get the fever instead haha

This old wives remedy is taught by my mum who used this method on us when we were young. And weird as it sounds, it really works. Once I was done rubbing the egg on Peanut, her temperature went down steadily. From a reading of 37.4 before I rubbed the egg on her, it went down all the way to 35.8 half an hour after I rubbed the egg on her. Frankly, it was quite miraculous and you gotta see it to believe it. I should have just skip the medication (which didn't work) and work with the egg immediately. Having a sick child is just very stressful and worrying and I'm just thankful the whole ordeal is over and she's been fine ever since.

Our helper, who is Cambodian, saw me boiling the egg and when i told her what it was for, she told me they do the same thing back in Cambodia for fevers. Fancy that. Except that they don't peel the egg haha. Is this some universal, asian, folklore remedy which I'm finally privy to?? It's weird right, there were no internet, no google and all that before. How do these mothers, from vastly different countries, know how to use these methods long long time ago?? Who started this things? Who taught them? I guess we'll never, really know.

We brought Peanut out after she's well. One minute, she's happy and jolly, and the next..

..she's fast asleep. All within a span of a minute. If only I can fall asleep that easily. :)

Eating her favorite biscuit. She gets very excited every time i open a packet up.

The culprit. You can find this in many flavors in major Japanese shops selling food stuff. It's very similar to Baby Bites (it melts in your mouth so babies wont' choke on it), but Baby Bites is made in China, so no, I'm not giving my child any food made in China. *scrunches nose*.

Taurus: The baby on the packet reminds me of Amelia hehe

In one of her tantrums. She either wants to get out of the stroller / wants whatever is on the table / wants water / wants to go for a walk.

This time she wants my phone. *hi grandma!!!!*

And that's how my week went.

Bedtime

2010-04-12T21:12:00.004+08:00

Bedtime is always a crazy affair for us. She'll go through my bag, she play with her toys, tears my books and the magazines, throws her flash cards around the bed, climbs up and down AND if I just take my eyes off her even for one minute, I can guarantee she'll be up to some mischief. She'll either be standing precariously on some magazines trying to grab something off the bedside table, or she'll be attempting to go near the tv which is a NO-GO zone. I can easily get a heart attack with all her antics.

AND if i ever take her away from all these fun, she'll scream so loudly the neighbor might think i'm abusing her lol. And the only way to pacify her is to give her a bottle of water. My gosh, she just loves water i swear! It's like my bribe to her. Offer her water and you'll definitely have peace.

She and her water. If I don't stop her, she'll finish the whole thing in one sitting. And her tummy will be so full of water you can hear the water swishing around in her tummy when i carry her *_* Her left cheek is a bit pink cos she fell on her cheek that day itself.While crawling wtf.

Getting sleepy. Always a good sign :)

Fast alseep. This is her utmost favorite position.

Oh and if you ever ask her how does her daddy sleep, she'll "snore" for you cos DH snores when he sleeps haha. Moral of the story is, don't do it if you don't want your kids to follow you wtf.

Byeeee!!!! *abrupt goodbye cos need to change Peanut into her pyjamas*

Progress update: 13 months

2010-04-09T14:49:00.005+08:00

My eyes are really tired nowadays. I can feel it watering by afternoon. I think I still don't get enough sleep, 13 months after Peanut is out. But it's okay, anything for my baby! Even if i need to go through the day half alseep with loads of coffee. Perhaps this is causing my absent mindedness, you think?

The reason I don't get enough sleep? Most nights she doesn't sleep till 11pm no matter how much I make her, and she wakes up at least once during the night. Not for milk, but just for the sake of waking me up? it's usually around 4 to 5am in the morning and sometimes I'm so awake cos i'll be looking for her bottle or pillow or whatever and afterwards I'll have a hard time falling asleep. *yawn* This little jellybean seems to have boundless energy. She can never stay long in my arms and she always wanna get down and crawl on the floor. She still can't walk yet, she can only stand up with aid. Though she understands when I tell her to "stand up", or "sit down".

Other phrases that she understands: Lift up your legs (very useful when i'm changing her diaper haha), where's the fan or the tv (she'll point it to me), put down your legs (this one is for when she put one of her legs up over the high chair table like a samseng during dinner), finish up your milk (cos sometimes she'll drink halfway and go off to play and i have to tell her to finish her milk. She'll then go and find her bottle and finish it up). She understands "legs first!" everytime i see her nearing the edge of the bed. she'll then turn around and put her legs down on the floor first. Phew.

She knows how to point to her ears and stomach when we asked her to point it out. There was one time i told her to stop drinking so much water (she loves plain water) cos her stomach is so big and I tapped her tummy. Immediately she cried. Vain or what. And she knows how to put our mobile phones to her ears and says "owo". Pretty cute, she does new things everyday I'm so fascinated. I do wish i can spend more time with her, but being a working mum, there are things that you just have to let go.

She knows how to call me "ah ma" or "mama" and i know she meant me cos she'll point to me haha. And yes my heart melts each time she says it cos it just sounded so.....sweet. And after she says it each time I'll give her a big hug cos so terharu mah.

She also knows how to call Dada for DH, and Goo Goo for her Gong Gong. Can't say Popo yet, probably because it's harder to say it.

And everytime I say "give mummy a kiss!!!" she'll obligingly bow down her head slightly so her forehead is tilted forward and I will then kiss it. But she hasn't master kissing me yet though *still training haha* oh and she does it to her Minnie Mouse too. She'll bend down her head and let her forehead touches Minnie Mouse's nose.

Food wise, she eats everything we offer her so far. Bananas, papayas, rice, bread etc. But we still do not give her anything overly sweet and we still don't use salt in her porridge.

So yes, that's about it. it's getting more and more exciting each day!

New name

2010-04-07T10:30:00.003+08:00

I have decided to give BigB a new moniker on my blog. From now on, he's now known simply as DH for Darling Hubby :) BigB seems to conjure up a wrong image. It makes him sound like he's a big, gorilla sized man, which he is not haha

Thought of the name 'Free Willy' but I don't think he will like it lol. Free Willy is a actually a famous movie in the early 90s and it was quite a huge hit. Anyone watched it or were you all still too young??! Lol. I always thought Willy is a dolphin until I googled it. It's actually an orca (killer whale)?? oh-kay, whatever, a dolphin would have been cuter but it was a really, heartwarming, feel good movie.

So yes, BigB, you're now officially DH! :)

Commuting

2010-04-07T10:07:00.003+08:00

Since Monday, both BigB and me has been commuting to work together. This week is a trial run to determine whether we should do this long term, or until....*ahem* So far so good, though i need to wake up earlier, just so that we can leave the house by 7am. Well, the only 'setback' is that I need to stay back in the office to wait for BigB to finish up work. He works in a bank, and the hours are pretty unpredictable so I can't leave at 5:30pm on the dot anymore *sniffles*. It gets pretty lonely in the office though. 99% of my colleagues also leave at 530pm sharp except for this one guy, so the office is kinda quiet...

Well, on the plus side, the journey to work and home isn't that boring anymore. And we get to spend more time together. And the jam isn't that bad by the time I leave office at 7pm. :)

For you

2010-03-24T16:29:00.006+08:00

It's not Valentine's day, neither is it his birthday, but today, (self-declared) is Husband Appreciation Day!

To my husband, my best friend, my life partner, I might not tell you enough, but thank you for..

working hard for the family! Those late evenings are a killer but know that we appreciate it :D
always helping me with Peanut when I need some help, or am busy, or just wanna chill while I watch you change her haha
making me drinks before i go to bed. it's really a nice feeling. Feels like i'm home with my family. and i'm 10 years old again wtf
spending time with me in the kitchen while i wash the dishes everyday
forcing me to eat papayas cos you know I need it *embarassed*
bringing me out on a date night every Friday
going to my church even though you don't belong to the same church as I do :)
bringing me and Peanut out every weekend for family time cos you know how I hate staying at home with nothing to do
listening to me patiently when i bitch about the traffic. Which is almost daily
going out of the way to bring me to change my books every few weeks
emailing & smsing & bbm-ing me throughout the day everyday just to ask what I'm doing, what i'm eating for lunch, or just to tell me that you can't stand that auntie who can't stop talking about herself wtf
always being more than happy to bring my Parents around everytime they're here, with no complaints even though you need to spend hours at the shopping malls

There's plenty more for sure, but my memory has gone to the dumps; I can't even remember what i ate for lunch yesterday without pausing and thinking for a good 20 seconds. Gingko biloba anyone??

Happy Birthday Part 2

2010-03-20T23:05:00.011+08:00

This post is a bit delayed...but as they said, better late than never!

Peanut's second part her birthday was celebrated at my in-laws' place. They got a second cake, whipped up some dishes, and yours truly, managed to cook mee suah. My family eats mee suah for every occassion - birthdays, farewells, welcome backs, relatives coming over, someone's getting married, whatever the ocassion-lah, the mee suah is definitely there courtesy of my mum.

So to replicate this tradition onwards in my own family, I've decided to cook the mee suah for my Peanut. Not easy considering I felt pressured as i'm cooking food for the first time which will be eaten by others other than BigB.

Some pictures.

The mee suah. Pretty good I must say *ahem*. Almost like mum's!

What's a birthday celebration without red eggs?

Playing with the eggs.

Other food.

One of Peanut's birthday gifts. It's a doll that can pee. And it has a diaper too *_* Toys are so advanced nowadays. The other day I was at Toys'r'us, they even have baby bathtubs for dolls.

Peanut attempting to comb its hair.

A gift from Peichyi, Josie & Taurus!! Thanks guys. It's really a great gift for Peanut and she loves it!

Posing. Miss Pony 2010.

A big Minnie Mouse, almost the same size as Peanut. She's Minnie Mouse's biggest fansee, just like her fwen, Taurus

An electronic singing nursery rhymes book. Very useful cos it saves me from singing.

A pandan flavored cake.

So fierce one. Like going to war.

Got some angpows too.

And had a taste of cake.

And that's the end of part 2. And I wondered why I took so long to post it. I blame it on laziness and twitter.

Buais!!

New Fella

2010-03-17T10:07:00.003+08:00

Our new helper is coming at the end of this month from Cambodia and I'm having very mixed feelings about it.

Her role is to help my MIL with the house chores, and not with the baby as my MIL will be the sole caretaker of Peanut during the day.

As with all new changes in my life, i can't help but worry about things everytime a change comes along and this one is no different. My newest fear: That the new helper will be a psycho, and that she'll help herself with Peanut's porridge during the day(her porridge is kept in a slow cooker throughout the day) when no one's looking, or even spike Peanut's porridge if she somehow or rather is not happy with us *_*

Am I crazy boh? But my fears are quite real, cos i've heard of maids putting detergent into baby's milk and we can't possibly monitor the helper in the kitchen 24/7 rite.

So yes *fingers crossed* and hope that she's a saint.

Tangled up

2010-03-16T15:58:00.005+08:00

Last evening..Peanut was playing with my mouse. She was fascinated with the mouse cord which was kinda long, and she kept pulling at it until the cord wound at her wrist and she couldn't free herself. So she struggled with it for a good minute.

Me and BigB were sitting behind her, and we were snickering at her. And she probably knew she was in trouble, so she didn't look for us for help just in case we'll scold us but instead she concentrated on freeing herself. But she heard our laughter, and so she started crying.

I told myself to harden my heart; and to just let her get out of the mess herself, but her pitiful cry really broke my heart. So I rushed to her, untangled the cord around her wrist and scooped her up and smothered her with kisses and told her it's okay, i'll help you.

*fail*

I'll let her grow up another day. For now, she's still my baby.

Thank you

2010-03-11T22:03:00.008+08:00

To thank everyone for the gifts for her birthday, I decided to get her to pose with a "thank you for the pressie!!!"sign so that I can give a thank you card together with a print out photo for them.

The cards were easy to get...

But not the picture. It took many many shots...

This one a bit too solemn...

This one she's not looking at the camera. She was looking at BigB who was waving like a siao lang to catch her attention...

Okie..but still not perfect..

She threw the card away after that

The sign was a bit blurred AND she's still not looking at the camera..

Stoning..

Nope..

FINALLY!!!!!! Though she needed a bit of help :) And this is the picture that was given out to everybody.

Hard work, ain't it? Part 2 when I'm free la.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Birthday!!! Part One

2010-03-08T22:04:00.002+08:00

We celebrated Peanut's birthday few days before her birthday, cos the actual date falls on a Tuesday. We did not do a big birthday party cos we're low key like that *ahem*, but I doubt we can get away with it when she turns two. And also when she has more kawans * double ahem*.

So we booked a chinese restaurant for the dinner, ordered a cake and off we went off to celebrate on Saturday night with immediate family members.

Before setting off for dinner, I took the obligatory photo of her in her new dress. It's getting harder and harder to make her sit still while i take pictures.

Her uncle and future aunt got her a big pressie with a card. She's quite thrilled by it. With the card I mean.

Very engrossed by it actually.

She couldn't put it down even after 15 minutes.

And yes dear, we know you're one now! *mwuacks*

Her birthday cake which we got from Rui Patisserie.

Another look; the stars reminds me of Care Bears Movie.

It's supposed to be a red velvet cake, and velvet cake is supposed to be really red in color so I was a bit surprised when it wasn't as red as I expected it to be. Looks more like a normal chocolate cake.

It should look like this, but I guess it's good that it isn't that red :) . Less coloring, and suitable for Peanut to eat (image curi-ed from google).

Oh ya, Peanut had her first taste of cake! She's never eaten anything else except porridge, fruits and rice crackers for the past few months so that's her expression above after eating cake for the first time. Good news is, she swallowed it. She also ate rice for the first time that night. It's a night of firsts yo.

And we did all the Happy Birthday singing, blowing off the candle, eating the longetivity noodles shebang but no pictures cos I was busy helping her blow the candle with BigB wtf cos babies still can't blow yet.

I took out those icing figurines off the cake, popped them into a plastic bag, and put it into the freezer at home. C0s I don't know what to do with it. Throwing it away seems a bit sayang cos it's so happy and cute, so might as well keep it and show Peanut when she turns 2 lol.

And that's part one of her mini birthday celebration. Part 2 will be on the actual date itself (tomorrow).

The evolution: Birth till 11 months old

2010-03-07T21:50:00.000+08:00

Few hours after birth..

5 Days Old

Full Moon, One Month Old

2 Months Old

3 Months Old

4 Months Old

5 Months Old

6 Months Old

7 Months Old

8 Months Old

9 Months Old

10 Months Old

11 Months Old

11 months

Can you believe it, it's been one year since the little Peanut came out. Loads have change. She's gone from a lil Peanut to er..a bigger sized Peanut, and she's truly, truly the light of our lives.

Dilemma

2010-02-22T09:11:00.004+08:00

I've been thinking lately. With our new house almost ready, some changes will need to be made in our daily schedule.

Right now, I go to work every morning around 7am *_* as it takes me around one hour to reach my office. And I don't like to be late, hence me leaving so early. But since i'm staying with the in-laws at the moment, things are pretty easy with regards to Peanut. I'll just pass Peanut to my MIL before i go off to work. And i'll takeover again i.e. taking care of Peanut when I reached home in the evenings. No need to do any cooking, as i'll just eat whatever my MIL has cooked. Easy rite?? Cos there are days when i'm so tired when i reach home that i can't do anything except lie on the bed and chill with Peanut thanks to the stoopid jam.

But now that we'll be moving out to our new place..logistically, it's gonna be quite difficult. And tough. Now if I were to practice whatever I'm doing so far every day, that is to send Peanut to my MIL everyday, i would need to leave my house at 6:30am just so that I can reach my PIL's house by 7am. Our house is around 15 to 20 minutes away from them. Which means, including time to get to work, I'll spend almost 2 hours in the car to work everyday. And after work will be stressful as well. I'll need to pick her up, and bring her back to our new home, and then, i'll probably need to cook dinner as well. Frankly, i find it not feasible, and i feel tired thinking about it already. So what am I to do????????? Leaving Peanut to spend the weekdays and nights at home with my in-laws is not an option. I don't want to be a weekend mum. And i'll miss her too much. I'll probably cry myself to sleep if Peanut is not with me, which will probably distress BigB greatly hahaha

So emm..let me lay out my options down here:

i wake up even earlier, and send Peanut to my in-laws, and bring her back after work everyday.
BigB sends Peanut instead to my in-laws and I pick her up.

The two options above will require us to leave the house even earlier everyday, and i'll need to bring Peanut home after work which will means us reaching home only at around 730pm to 8pm everyday and have me cook dinner on top of that for us. Food catering is not an option here. Tapauing food from my in-laws is possible, but a bit mafans. *haiz*

3. BigB suggested that his dad come and pick up Peanut everday from our home instead.

Hm...I don't think that's a good idea. For one, he'll need to wake up really early to come to the house. Quite poor thing leh if we were ask him to do this everyday.

4. I become a SAHM.

Er..definitely not a good idea yet. We need two incomes!! Having a child is not cheap.

5. I become a WAHM i.e Work-At-Home-Mom.

I donno any jobs that i can do from home, and still earn the same salary.

6. We spend the weekdays at our in-laws and the weekends at our own home.

Is this a good idea? That begets the question on why are we even having our own place in the first place. But it does makes things easier for us, but which will also leave the house empty during the weekdays. People might notice.

7. Suck it up and just sort of survive through all these drivings, and rushings and stress.

********

I'm probably thinking a bit way ahead, but there's other things to consider in future. Who's gonna drop Peanut to playschools, playgroups and schools in future? Who's gonna help her with her homeworks? And what's gonna happen if i want to have a second child? haih..no wonder there's always an ongoing debate among mothers. Career vs Family.

*******

Actually, from the options above, I already know which is the best for me, and which is the one i want most. And BigB is equally supportive of it as well, if not more. Now, all i have to do is to get the ball rolling..

The holidays are over

2010-02-17T19:41:00.005+08:00

How time flies, just last week, i was busy packing to balik kampung, now I'm preparing to go back to work tomorrow *uhuk uhuk*. We landed back in KL a couple hours ago, and already i'm missing my home, my family, the noise, and the abundance of food everywhere. My parents like to stock food at home like it's going out of fashion. You'll never go hungry in their home wtf.

Some pictures:

Busy splashing water

awww...how to scold you liddis??

Check out the pink pajama top above. I wore this 30 years ago!! My grandma tailor made this and it's still in pretty mint condition.

With Meow Meow the bolster

Not sure who she looks like. Opinon is 50-50.

On the tricycle at home

Busy watching tv

At KIA

After the CNY, there's no more festive season to look forward to. *sigh* BACK to the daily grind.

Happy Chinese New Year!!

2010-02-12T22:17:00.005+08:00

What do you know, it's CNY again. My second favorite season after Christmas cos there's tons of good food around wtf!

So i've been searching high and low for something 'traditional' for my little pumpkin and I finally found it! And the stock ran out fast luckily i managed to get one in her size. Eeps, so many mums out there also wanna dress their kids in traditional costumes and take photo kah? *shy*

hewwo...can you imagine some mountains behind me??

Can you hear the birds chirping ?

Woh!

It's damn hard to take picture of her nowadays cos she moves around a lot. And this is the only shot I'm able to take of her doing the gong xi gong xi hong pao na lai!!!!!!!!!! I was sweating after taking pictures of her on the move. Not easy wey, lao niang old de.

And to everyone who reads this blog, a very happy Chinese New Year to you all. May peace and love prevails above all and may there be less sufferings, less sickness in this world. Sounds like beauty queen drivel eh but it's true. I really mean it from the bottom of my heart :)

XOXO

Updates - 11 months old

2010-02-08T21:49:00.005+08:00

You mish me??

Posing. Fail.

Oh hi.

Yesh, another 1 more month and she'll hit 1 year old. ONE FREAKING YEAR OLD!! It seems like just yesterday that my water broke and we had to rush to the hospital. It feels like just yesterday when I had to stay up the whole night tending to her because she wouldn't sleep cos the confinement lady just left. Ah, those were the days. Tough, but memorable days indeed.

So at 11 months,

she still has not much hair
Has a daily diet of porridge with various ingredients daily such as brocolli, fish, carrots, peas, cauliflower, vegies. Depends on my mood on that day lah. And oh, she has an apple (pureed) a day.
Has two lower teeth, and one upper tooth
Technically can say mama but not in reference to me. It's just mindless babbling.
Finally mastered the gong xi gong xi gesture just in time for cny
Can't walk yet, but able to stand
Eats everything that's shoved into her mouth
Poops twice, sometimes three times a day. She's a pooping factory.
Can sleep through the night mostly
Still naps less than 2 hours in total during the day
Knows how to point to the tv, light, fan, phone, various members of the family except me wtf
Has a ferocious temper if she doesn't get her way, but is a sweetheart most of the time
Loves phones, laptops and everything electronic. She always wants to take over if I'm holding one of these.
Can't sit still most of the time which sometimes drives me crazy

Tat's all folks. And I love her to bits!

it's good to bring baby out

2010-01-26T15:01:00.004+08:00

Well, besides the obvious bonding that you'll do with your baby when you're out, there are quite a few benefits that i've received when i'm out wif Peanut:

You get to park at the 'family parking' designated spot so you don't have to lug all your baby stuff from one end of the parking to the entrace
You get to go into those so-called uppity, a bit higher class boutiques and you don't have to worry about them staring at you up and down cos they'll focus on your baby. I've seen stone faced-nose-in-air salespersons instantly smile and making googly eyes at Peanut while i look through the clothes or whatever is in the store quickly before getting out of the store. And salespersons are generally friendlier and nicer when you have a baby with you. I swear.
You get to enter the plane first, need i say more? and stewardesses are nicer to you too.
Our kitchen contractor gave us a box of cake cos we had Peanut with us when we went to their store. I know she can't eat it but who cares?? WE get to eat it! lol
People in general, and I mean strangers that you meet outside, are naturally friendlier, and smile at you more often than when you're alone.
I am not good at making small talks, and neither do i like doing it but having a baby helps u to make "small talking" much easier. You can discuss about your baby's sleeping hours, their milestones, type of solids you're giving to your baby, basically anything and everything la, just to kill that awkward silence. And even if they're single, it still helps IF they're the one asking you questions, and you can just answer without even having to think.
But please do not bore your single friends with talks about your baby cos no one needs to know how many times ur baby poos in a day. I generally do not talk about Peanut with my single friends unless they asked me first.

That's all for now. Brain cells can't think. I'm getting more and more forgetful. The other day, I looked for a container to put an opened packet of sausages that is suppoesd to be refrigerated. And i kept it in the fridge. Or so I thought. A few days later, i wanted to cook fried rice, so i went to look for it in the fridge. And i couldn't find it. And guess where i found it? In a storage cupboard, together with other empty containers *_*

10 facts

2010-01-22T14:26:00.010+08:00

10 facts. Go ahead and read if you've nothing to do lol. Anyway here goes!!

I think ghosts exist? I once witnessed this in my school. A girl had apparently killed herself. She was really pretty, and extremely talented and smart. But stil she chose to die becos she quarreled with her bf. The bf also killed himself unfortunately :(. Anyway, the day after she died, we had an impromptu school assembly where the headmaster told us about the news. And suddenly, the light above her classmates (it's those long fluoroscent lights that were being held by two long chains at each end) started to swing vigorously. Like really swing wildly type lor. Like someone is pushing it. And I remembered looking out the hall just to see whether the trees were swaying or not, and whether the wind was that strong that it could moved that light. Well it was a hot day outside, and everything was very still. The hall had like 10 other lights, but only the one above her classmates was moving. And it moved during the whole duration of the assembly. Close to half an hour and it only stopped when the assembly finished. It's something that i will never, ever forget.

My mum forced me and my siblings to learn how to play the piano when we were young, just in case we failed our studies in the future and cannot find a job and so we can become piano teachers instead. *_*. I also learned how to play the organ, violin & clarinet.

I'm deathly afraid of any animals with feathers. Chickens la, birds, turkeys la, i think ostrichs are the worst. So much feathers!!!! Gross. They scared the shit out of me and I refuse to hold or be near any feathery animals.

The only 'celebrities' i ever met in my life are all Malaysians FML. Ella, Elaine Daly, Sheila Majid. I'm surprised I even know their names or that I could recognise them *_*

My first dog was a mongrel and my mum named it Terror cos he terrorised the whole family.

When i was around 9, i once watched this chinese drama where the Japanese invaded China and they killed and tortured everyone. And i was so worried it'll happen to me so I asked my mum whether the Japanese will invade us again or not. Instead of pacifying me, my mum fuelled my worries by saying "yeah, who knows. Maybe they will again". So I worried myself silly for like almost a month and then one day the worry just disappeared. Just liddat. Buang masa.

I was also worried that the ozone layer will deplete and kill us all and i was quite sure the world was gonna end cos that time ozone layer depletion was a very "heng" topic. So you can see, my "worry penyakit" started from young.

I have 3 front tooth. To put it simply: My left front tooh, well I had three of them. Two of them were baby teeth. When I had my second baby tooth, my dad took me to the dentist cos i had a mini accident. The doc took an xray for me and said i had a third tooth, still in my gums, which is gonna come out. So he pulled the second tooth out. Thank God the third tooth really came out, if not...well, i cannot imagine.

i've eaten snakes and bats before. Cos my mum said it's very "pu". She made the soups for my sis actually cos she had lots of sickness when she was young. So we were forced to drink with her. All for one, and one for all.

I really, really believe in the power of prayers because I've experienced it personally. Amen.

On a roll

2010-01-20T15:44:00.003+08:00

Ooooo check out this pics that Pei Chyi snapped of Peanut while we were in Penang. Again, what a difference a DSLR makes compared to the point and shoot camera. I think all new parents out there should get one instead of hiring a photographer to take portrait pics of their babies. Cos the money spent on hiring photographer can be used on getting a DSLR camera instead. But of course it costs quite a bit of money to get one and I dun have $$ to spare de. I’m broke !! *sob sob. pulls out empty pockets to show everyone*

Btw, thanks Peichyi for giving me the pics!!!

I have finally switched from Maxis to Digi cos they have this awesome package for blackberry phones. I have to say, with this package, twittering, msn and surfing the web on the phone is really quite affordable. Only RM58 per month for unlimited email, IM, web browsing, everything lah! (compared to Maxis’s RM120 for unlimited plan). No need to calculate you already know there’s a big difference in the numbers lor. One has two digits and another has three. And the best part is, you only pay for SMS and calls that you’ve used. No commitment fee, no nothing! And with most of my friends, (in KL anyway) on twitter, SMS has become almost obsolete for me de. Save even more money! *suddenly on a saving money crusade*

Also I had to get a new phone cos my previous phone really cannot make it de. I mean, really, reaally cannot make it. Even my mum asked me to change my phone cos it’s embarrassing to carry around. The paint on the phone was coming off, lots of scratch marks, one part of the keypad is missing; I don’t even know how I lasted with that phone. But peanut loves it then though, cos she can bang it all she wants and i won’t even flinch lol.

And..CNY is around da corner and guess wot, we’re going back to Kuching. I mean, yes, we definitely have to go back cos it’s CNY yo and we’ll do that every year, but the thing is, my MIL has kindly asked us to go back on the first day of CNY instead of the second day; as is the “custom” for most Chinese folks. Where daughters usually have to spend their first day of CNY with the in-laws, and can only go back to their own family home on the second day.

Her reasoning being, that my parents don’t see Peanut often enough while they get to spend everyday with her, so why not go back on the first day so can spend as much time as possible with them. I was quite terharu lah.

Talking about MILs, I was at this Tau Sar Pneah shop at Macalister Road in Penang and when i entered this shop, this auntie who’s one of the salesperson there immediately zoomed in on Peanut and started talking to her. This auntie is probably in her 50s or 60s, and within a space of a few minutes, this auntie sort of started giving me “advices”, through Peanut. You know talk to Peanut, but actually trying to get the message to me instead?

First she told me that I carried Peanut the wrong way. I was carrying Peanut at my side, where each of her legs are sort of like hugging my body. Cos she said she’ll walk terkangkang in future *_*. Ohkayyy....whatever. And then she went on and say “babyyyyy are you hot or not??? Why your mummy let you wear headband in this hot weather? Ask your mummy to take it off. Later you sweat okayyy”.

Lol, first of all, it’s quite obvious that Peanut has no hair lor, so I don’t think she’s even sweating at all, or feeling hot and I don’t think wearing that headband will even cause her to be any warmer. The auntie also said something else to me, but having mummy brains, i also forgot already. But I walked out of the shop, thanking God that she’s not my MIL. Can you imagine her lecturing you and giving you unsolicited advice through your baby every day? Hahhahaha i think i will faint trying to keep my face straight lor.

Damn, my eyes are a bit watery at the moment. I get this when I’m generally not feeling a bit well, but i feel fine, so i guess it’s my contacts again?

Till then. Toodles!

2010

2010-01-18T20:53:00.006+08:00

It's January 18, 2010 already and i haven't even blogged since the new year. I've been quite busy with a lot of things but if you ask me what i'm busy with, I don't really have a specific answer. Not as if I'm saving the world or anything also. But let me put things into perspective.

Since the start of 2010, we're still busy with the house renovations. It's quite daunting really. Two greenhorns who don't know anything about 1st grade and 2nd grade tiles, to piping and plumbing and wiring have to speak to our contractor, plumber, electrician who only converse in cantonese and try to make sense of what they're trying to tell us and us trying to act not so suaku in order not to be ripped off. Yes, it's a challenge, but I guess BigB has it harder cos he's the man and he has to make all the decisions *smug*. But it's coming along and they better not screw anything up if not i'm gonna be a pissy dragon lady.

Also, this month, i had to take about a week's leave from work since last Monday because my parents-in-law went to the UK for my SIL's graduation. Someone has to take care of Peanut and tat person is me :) :) !!! I'ts really a great time for a bonding session with Peanut and I get to experience what a SAHM's life is. BigB has kindly taken a few days leave also to accompany us and so that we can go out *secret revealed: BigB doesn't allow me to go out alone with Peanut cos he's afraid I can't handle it ie. Peanut, stroller, baby bag, shopping mall, toilet breaks all at one go* . He's right, I don't think I can cos i tend to be a bit of a kan cheong mama when i'm out. I might leave something behind in the shopping mall if i'm not careful *_*.

On the days when BigB went to work, and leaves only me and Peanut at home, this is what we did.

8am - wakes up and drink kohfeh while Peanut drinks her milk
10am - Hang the laundry in the garden while Peanut is stuck in the playpen watching me hang clothes
1030am - We shower together gether
11am - Peanut eats her porridge and takes a nap while i quickly prepare stuff for dinner and wash up some things
11:30 till 6pm - LOST marathon, with peanut taking a nap at around 3pm and i go and cook dinner.
6pm - Peanut has her dinner and then onto shower
7pm - Kill mosquitoes while waiting for BigB to come back so I can have dinner
11pm - Everyone sleeps!!!!!!

So you can, see, nothing interesting happened; i managed to finish LOST season 5 in a period of a few days, don't have the chance to read newspaper or blogs and i sorta lost touch with the world. So i think i can understand what they mean when they say some housewives tend to "lose" themselves in the process of taking care of the home. They have no one to talk to except to their children, doesn't dress up anymore ( my hair was in a mess and i was in "house clothes" the whole day that smelled of pee and splattered with food) and have nothing to talk about when their husbands reach home. All I asked BigB each day he comes home was "is my cooking good or not??" lol cos i'm too tired to have a decent conversation and i need somebody to praise me lor haha *earnest need to feel validated and appreciated*

SAHM is not an easy job. It's a 24 hour thing, no breaks in between, no leaves. This is really true, not something that is made up by disgruntled SAHMs. I guess only when u're a mom would anyone know the feeling. And i really salute what they do everyday, and especially if they have 2 to 3 kids of around the same age. Not to say those working mums have it easy also la. I'm just saying SAHM is under-appreciated sometimes by many people.

Oo and during the weekend, we finally managed to go to Penang for a short break with the Wangs, Josie, Taurus and Keattie. I've always wanted to go to Penang for a long long time but never had the chance to. I think the last time i was there was when i was like 10? Well, i can't remember anything about it, but my mum said i've been there..so there you have it. To me, Penang was truly beautiful, except for the jams and the drivers la. Penang feels very holiday-ish to me cos of the beaches around it. I love it, and the food, was a major plus point. We had a great time there, and the company was great. didn't take any pictures tho. :P Definitely will go back there again. We (without the rest of the gang), went on to Ipoh after that to visit BigB's friends and only got back today. Peanut was great throughout the travel, no tantrums despite us having to walk in the sun to eat at hawker food stalls and cafes.

And i have to go back to work tomorrow. Major sigh. *_* I'm really gonna miss Peanut.

Pictures i took of Peanut one day when both of us are bored at home. Her 'many expresssions' series:

Series ends here. Good nite everybody!!!

Oh hi Spikey!!

2010-01-01T20:38:00.002+08:00

Oops...can't help it. I bought another baby bag.. :) The little dino was beckoning to me. I had to make it mine...

Spike joins the babybag family

Our Christmas

2009-12-27T19:44:00.013+08:00

Gee..it's been a while since i've blogged. With Peanut all healed from the chicken pox, we've been bringing her out and basically just to soak in the Christmas 'feel' in the shopping malls. She's still got a couple of scars on her hands and back. Nothing bad, they've turned slightly pink. Battle scars, these are.

Not to scare you all..but this is a picture of her then with the pox. BigB didn't allow me to put up her pic cos he said her saham will turun. But....we must have the good with the bad hoh? This is a reminder of how her her skin was. :)

hi..iz was me..*waves weakly*

My parents and bro were in town for a couple of days so we've been spending time with them.

Hanging out at the hotel room.

At 9 months 3 weeks, she now goes "eh.....". Eh.... EHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! when she tries to talk to you. I've been trying to "discipline" her by telling her that we all have a name and not to "Eh" us. Cos it's kinda rude when she screams "Ehh!!!!" to your PIL? Lol though I doubt she can pronounce anything else except Dada and Vava at this point of time.

She can now stand up by holding onto ledges so i can no longer put her in the crib when I go and shower. But she can't walk yet and she can't sit still. Oh my. Everytime i have to coax her to "sit like a little girl should" because she's so rowdy. She'll twist and turn, arch her back, legs and arms flailing in the air, wanting to be let off our iron grip. She really can't sit still. Who says little girls are quiet? Not her, madam.

On the home front, the house is 70% done. The floor tiles are up, plaster ceiling is done, we've confirmed our kitchen specialist, wiring is completed and we still have lots more to go. I doubt we can move in by CNY but that's alright. We're not in a rush.

And on her very first Christmas morning...

Posing with Josie's gift for her. Thank you so much!! Peanut has been having wrestling matches with this bear. By holding the bear's paws and flinging it across the bed and screaming at it each time lol

Merry Christmas and a happy new year everyone!!

xoxo

Chicken Pox

2009-12-11T08:56:00.007+08:00

Peanut had chicken pox for the past one week, and the poxes (is that how you call it??) are finally clearing up! phew!!

So how did Peanut get chicken pox?? Our only conclusion is that she got it from BigB who had shingles a couple of weeks ago. Shingles is a "sister disease" of chicken pox, so if someone who never had chickenpox in his / her life before is in direct contact with someone who has shingles, that person will get chickenpox. Prime example: Our little Peanut. But if you had chickenpox before, you cannot get shingles from another person.

We knew that BigB's shingles is contagious especially since Peanut has not gotten her chickenpox vaccination yet, so he slept in a separate room for a week and did not hold Peanut. But I guess we miscalculated BigB's recovery period. *_*

It all started with a spot on Peanut's shoulder. I saw the spot last Wednesday when I was putting Peanut to bed, and stupid me, i thought it was a mosquito bite. By Thursday evening, when I came home from work, a few more spots appeared on her head. I was quite concerned by then and suspected that she chickenpox, but decided to wait for one more day before bringing her to a doctor because she had no fever then. By Friday, more spots started to appear on her torso, and we brought her immediately to the doctor.

After the nurse saw Peanut, and we told her that we suspected her to have chickenpox, she straightaway sequestered us in a different room, away from all the other patients..And the doctor confirmed that she has chickenpox. Haih...honestly i was quite upset because i knew we could have prevented it. And we were quite worried as she is only 9 months old. The doctor told us to just put calamine lotion on her, and gave us some anti-itch medicine to be taken at night before she sleeps so she won't scratch herself. And that the chickenpox will reach its peak by the weekend (meaning more spots will come out during the weekend before it starts to subside). Because of this, we had to miss Taurus's wedding in Singapore. By the way I like how the clinic takes infectious diseases and cleanliness seriously. Instead of putting Peanut directly on the clinic's bed, they lay her on this mat. The moment we're done, two nurses came and start spraying and wiping the area down with the dettol spray. The whole time we were talking to the doc, they kept rubbing the whole place down. lol

Anyways, true enough, a hundred more spots appear on her by Saturday. Well it seems like a hundred because there were so many on her back, front, head and face. My poor little Peanut. it was upsetting to see her in such a state, especially when she started to develop fever after that. And she was really listless and not her usual self. Cos when I lift up her arm, it just flops down. And when i try to call her name, she never even looked at me. She basically had no energy to layan me la. *uhuk uhuk*

But all is well now! *pumps fist into the air!* She's back to her normal self, and is crawling all over as usual, and is learning new tricks. She's learned how to say goodbye and can clap when asked to, and is starting to babble "wa..wa..wa...".

So i guess the only good thing that comes out of this episode is that she'll probably develop a lifelong immunity against chickenpox. And because she's a baby, she hardly scratch herself and she'll no longer need a chickenpox vaccination after she reaches a year old. :)

Teeth check

2009-12-02T21:49:00.007+08:00

Almost everyday i'll check Peanut's mouth for her teeth to see if a new one is growing. At 8 months 3 weeks, she only has a tooth. Yeah, satu saja and I think another one is growing, but I can't be sure.

So this is what happens:

Coaxing her to open her mouth..

I'll tap her mouth lightly, and say "Eva....please open your mouth"

Usually she'll glady oblige and show me her tounge first. I have been sorta "washing" her tongue since she's a baby so she's very used to it.

Yup, no new teeth. Still one tooth. And the face so boh song.

Yesh! Happy the ordeal is over.

So at almost 9 months, she can now crawl at supersonic speed. Okay, i'm exaggertating but you know what I mean. I cannot take my eyes of her, cos one minute she'll be here, the next minute she'll be at the other side of the room. Or at the edge of the bed. She's given me multiple almost heart attacks.

Most importantly, she's a normal, healthy, happy child. And that's all that matters so cheers everybody!!

Happy.

Baby glass bottles

2009-11-30T22:31:00.004+08:00

This post is dedicated to Peichyi wtf.

Peichyi is now 5 months preggers (Eee i'm so excited for her!) so she's been doing loads of research on baby stuff. And this week it's on baby bottles. Every new moms out there will know that there are tons of choices out there for everything: from cloth diapers, to bottles, to strollers to breast pumps. I had a headache last time choosing things for Peanut, cos everything has its pros and cons, no?

Anyway, Peichyi asked me about glass bottles today, and coincidentally I have just started using it. Actually, I bought these glass bottles way before Peanut was born, but since we also bought the Avent sterilliser and it comes with free bottles, we've been using those instead..

So..let me see. As i've said, everything has its pros and cons, so let's start with the pros first.

It's probably gonna last you a lifetime provided you don't break it.
Guaranteed no nasty plastic chemicals will leach into the milk. Very safe!
You don't need to change your bottles every few months.
Very easy to clean.

and the cons:

it's breakable.
Heavy
Markings on the bottle not tat clear
Small opening

This is how it looks like. It also comes with a silicone sleeve to prevent the bottle from breaking that easily and to help you hold it better. Hm..looks like a sports bra. *_* . Not sure about other glass bottles but the markings on this Evenflo bottle is very faint; so i need to squint each time I need to make milk to make sure I get the amount correctly. And the opening of this bottle is pretty small, so if you're making formula milk, you need to make sure you're very careful when you're scooping milk powder into it. Recipe for disaster if you're doing all these in the middle of the night, half awake. :P

Peanut can hold it...

..but not for long, so need pillows to support it.

This will most likely happen eventually. Too heavy to hold, so need to rest it at the side.

Despite all these, I'm still going continue to use the glass bottles because it's safer lor.. So there you have it, my take on glass bottles! :)

And the wedding season has begun!

2009-11-30T11:49:00.006+08:00

Besides overseeing the house renovations together with BigB, we've been busy with weddings. I've been attending wedding dinners every weekend since mid-Nov and this will continue until mid Dec. This weekend alone, we gonna attend two weddings back to back. One in Singapore, one in KL. Wooo....!

I attended Taurus's wedding last Saturday at the Westin and it was really nice! Initially, i was quite scared to bring Peanut along to the dinner, cos I'm not really sure how she'll behave. But Taurus and Peichyi assured me it'll be fine and because we were gonna meet many of our friends who haven't seen Peanut yet and they were requesting to see her, we brought her in the end. Might i say it was quite disastrous?? lol.

The evening began quite well. She was all happy and chummy to those who carried her during cocktail hour. Until we entered the grand ballroom. not sure whether it was the flashing lights, or the speakers, or her tooth is growing hence the bad mood, but she was quite cranky throughout the rest of the night. She cried so loudly during Taurus's and Keattie's speech *damn pai seh* and you know how when someone is giving a speech, it will be silence all around right...so there i was, trying to stop her from crying by giving her the pacifier but she spat it out each time and continued to bawl *uhuk uhuk* and the entrance was so far away, I couldn't bring her out of the ballroom without everyone looking at me. Thank God nobody shot me daggers with their eyes. Our table mates tried to make us feel better by saying they couldn't hear anything. Right. hahahahaha. Anyway, i was quite stressed so i didn't even take any pictures during the dinner. It was only towards the end of the evening, that she managed to fall asleep in her stroller and I could finally eat my desserts in peace. Love the ginger ice cream too :)

This weekend, BigB and me will be off to Singapore for Taurus & Keattie's Singapore wedding and we won't be bringing Peanut. This will be the first time we are going to spend the night without her, and I'm definitely gonna miss her tons. Not sure about her though haha. We're gonna drive to the airport, and leave the car there, cos when we arrived back in KL, we have to zoom to Covershots for another wedding dinner. Hm..I know they do wedding photography, but I didn't know they host dinners as well? it's probably going to be a buffet type of dinner though.

And em..so no pictures again in this post, cos yours truly is stressed with everything that's going on with the house now. Nothing biggie, but i tend to get stressed with big events in my life = worrywart.

Happy Monday!

Busy bee

2009-11-25T17:03:00.003+08:00

Our weekends have been spent looking at tiles, toilets, kitchens, sinks etc. I hate having too many choices, cos I tend to want them all.

Renovating a house is no joke. It's not very fun. Only the decorating part is.

Oy vey.

My favorite Christmas movie..

2009-11-16T22:22:00.004+08:00

of all times is Home Alone. Yep, that movie about the kid being left home alone after his large group of family and relatives left for the airport in a hurry. :)

I really love this movie to bits.

Random fact : *just asked BigB to calculate how old I was when this movie first came out. I was 11 years old! Which means this movie is 19 years old already.*

Oh man, suddenly I feel so ancient. And has it been really that long ago? Though I can still quote verbatim some of the phrases used in that movie haha. I remember my sis and I were so crazy over this movie that we bought the video tape copy of it and I must have watched it at least 5 to 6 times then. To me, this is the best Christmas movie ever.

That day i went to to Speedy to get another copy of it since Christmas is near and I need to reminisce and I watched it again. After watching it, I now feel like getting Home Alone 2.

It doesn't take much to make me happy :)

Just my luck

2009-11-13T16:31:00.006+08:00

Few days ago, i had the unfortunate luck to receive a traffic summon from the PDRM in an official looking mail.

i was very surprised to receive the summon; cos that "traffic violation" happened on a Tuesday morning, at 10am at PJ's Jalan Othman (PJ Old Town). Surprised cos:

a) I never did receive a ticket stuck on my windscreen like how it's supposed to happen. Instead, I received that mail 2 months after the supposed violation.

b) I had no idea where Jalan Othman was and since I'm not from KL, I am not very familiar with KL roads, despite having lived here for around 5 years now. And since I do not know how to get there myself, the only other person who will ever drive my car is BigB and he was in an office training the whole day that day. And he has his own car.

c) Since i have a lousy memory, and i can't remember whether i was on leave that day, I had to go check with my office on my attendance on that said day. Unfortunately, and coincidentally, the door access recording system is down on those dates. Haiz..

d) I then went to check my office emails 'sent items box', to see if I did send out any emails on that day in the office. i did. There were tons of emails sent out.

e) I also checked to see if my car is listed on the traffic summons website. It is, means the traffic summon I received is not fake.

f) Since I parked in my office's building, I then went to check with the management office, to see if they have any records of me and my car entering and exiting the building. They did. I was in the office that day and i was never out of the office at 10am that morning.

So means, I was in the office right? So how did I get a freaking summon when I'm at the office that day with my car?!!

So tulan. Luckily it's only RM30, but still!! I'm paying for something I didn't do. The only scenarios that I can think of is that either someone has the same car plate number as me (fraud la like this), or the traffic police was blurry eyed that morning, and wrote down the wrong car plate number, and that wrong car plate number happened to be mine . And since the traffic summon letter i received did not mentioned the make of the car, or the color, I don't know whether they have made a mistake..or..orr!!!!.....there's really something fishy going on out there...hm.... some syndicate going on ka?

So..should I dispute it or just pay that RM30 and get on with my life? I did get a print out from the management office, but how the hell am I gonna proof that I enter the building with my car with that registration plate number that was recorded in the summon? The print out does not mention my name or car number. it only registers my parking access card's number.

But I'm going to listen to Mrs Wang and at least try to dispute it. At least try la hoh. * ish ish*. Made me so tulan.

Just my luck.

Balik Kampung Part 3

2009-11-04T20:05:00.004+08:00

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

2009-11-03T13:58:00.009+08:00

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

2009-10-30T16:30:00.005+08:00

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

2009-10-25T21:57:00.007+08:00

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.