A Day in the Life of a Tai Tai

OH NO!!!

2010-06-23T19:51:00.000+08:00

SHUCKS. I've exceeded the total quota for photograph uploads on this particular blog. *sob Sob*. I think I shall go and create a new blog. Will post details here soon.

another trip back -eh sian boey???

2010-06-23T16:07:00.005+08:00

This entry is aptly titled because my fatherinlaw was hospitalised after a minor op to remove a growth recently. Because of this sudden ailment, we drove back to Singapore to visit him, just a few days after touching down on KL soil from Melbourne.

10 June 2010 (Thursday)

Alan got off work and the three of us got into the car and endured the long journey back again. It was around 6+pm when we got to Tiong Bahru Plaza - I had to make a stop to pick up diapers and puree for Ethan. We also popped by Eu Yan San to buy Ah Ma and Daddy some tonics.

We got into the Volvo again and attempted to drive away and head for my inlaw's but the car was too heavy and Alan had parked too deep into the lot and the bumper got stuck with the concrete divider. My goodness. It took a while before my Iron Man (Alan lah) solved the issue. Of course, although the human traffic was heavy at the car park, no Singaporean stopped and offered to help. It was expected.

We headed finally to Ye Ye and Nai Nai's house. By then, it had turned dark and was after half past 8. We chatted and after dinner left for my mum's place.

11 June 2010 (Friday)

After fetching my mum from her office and marking the start of her retirement, we drove again to YeYe's house. After a simple lunch, Alan met with a contractor to settle some renovation stuff. In the evening, we went to Great World City to pick up some plates necessary for a photoshot the day after.

Dinner was at Ichiban. I wolfed down by cold soba and then whisked Ethan away and the both of us had a good time in the beautiful Baby Care Room in the shopping mall, a stone's throw away from the restaurant. :)

12 June 2010 (Saturday)

Alan had an appt in the morning so my mum, Ethan and I headed to Great World City ourselves in a taxi. We settled all our bank stuff by noon and then went back to YeYe's house to view the photoshoot.

Next, it was to Yvonne's Fernwood condo for a swim with Ethan's cousin, Tyler. :) This was Ethan's first time in the big pool and he actually enjoyed himself thoroughly. He also sat in Tyler's blown-up toy car and started munching on the wheel. haahhaha.

After our showers, we had a yummy dinner at Chat Masala's - Jean's treat with her first pay cheque! :) Thanks Sis!

13 June 2010 (Sunday)

It was almost 1pm when we reached Millennia Walk. We had wanted to park at Marina Sq but the CP was full. Anyway, since Harvey Norman was having a sale (GSS) and my mum was complaining that her TV was making weird noises, we bought her a new tv for the living room. Now she will not entertain the thought of absconding with the one in my room :P

At 2pm, we met Kala (OMG Kala was the only one on time for once), Elaine, Leo and Wan Hui for lunch and dessert at the Japanese restaurant next to Billy Bombers at Marina Square. Alan and I enjoyed our scallop ramen and creamy icecream with dumplings and red bean paste. After chitchatting and showing them our Melbourne pics, we bade e/o farewell and headed to the baby department. I wanted a Baby Sign Language DVD for Ethan. I had read in the forum that since he hasn't developed talking, it would greatly aid communication between him and I (etc) if he could pick up sign lang and sign whatever he wants to tell me. :)

We popped into Swensen's next to pick up an icecream cake for my MIL's bday and then zoomed to Tung Lok at ECP (where we were to have dinner) to store the cake in their freezer. After picking Jean and my mum from home, we met Alan's side of the family at Tung Lok.

After getting irritated (that's putting it mildly) with my MIL for feeding Ethan birdsnest although I had insisted NO, the dinner progressed smoothly on. *sigh* I was VERY PISSED OFF over that incident and had a sleepless night that night. She kept asking me if she could feed him whilst I kept saying "NO" because I was unsure and I hadn't done any research on babies eating birdsnest this early in their lives. This happened for about three times until I was so angry - you could see my face turning red. My totally unaware husband was happily ordering food and blissfully ignorant. :PPPPP

It is suffice to say that in the end, The MIL had her way. So one wonders, WHY THE FUCK you wanna ask me for MY PERMISSION??? ok enough. I don't wanna think about this incident any more. *blood boil* It's good to live away from Spore and just visit once in a while.

14 June 2010 (Monday)

Yes, FINALLY I can return to peaceful KL. Alan wanted to pick up a bag to house his camera so he deposited my mum (who was going to enjoy retirement for a while in KL), myself and Ethan at Raffles City whilst he headed to Peninsula Plaza. We met Ye Ye there and shopped in The Market Place to use the vouchers Alan had received last year.

I picked up some stuff for the house and also purees for Ethan - those dessert type and some biscuits. When Alan finally joined us, it was time for lunch and we had that in Mos Burger. After that, we sent Ye Ye home and then zoomed back to KL - Home, Sweet Home!

Our First Long Family Trip to Down Under

2010-06-09T10:24:00.019+08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls.....

WE ARE BACK FROM WINTERY MELBOURNE! Hahahahah. I wanted to log on to update my blog since Monday but a couple of factors prevented that:

a) Too tired. The trip was as exhausting as it was fun and enjoyable so Alan and I caught up on our much-needed rest when we arrived home on 7th June at around noon.

b) Our internet is down. Due to a massive thunderstorm on 1 June, our phone line has been fried and we therefore cannot log on. Must thank my neighbour today, for 'lending' us use of his wireless internet. muahahaha. Hope the signal stays strong....

c) We headed for a massage on the evening of 7th June to relieve our sore muscles - it's not easy lunging a baby around, u know? and yesterday, Alan was still on leave and so we popped by Bill's for a hair cut as well. :D

Let me now relive the magic of our wonderful trip :)

27 May 2010 (Thursday)

Happy 3rd Year Wedding Anniversary to Alan and me! :D Uncle Raymond came over a tad late, for once, and he drove us in the Volvo to KLIA to catch our 650pm flight to Singapore. We transitted in Singapore for only an hour + and scampered to buy Alan's facial cleanser and then board our connecting flight at 9pm to Melbourne.

We sat next to a Taiwanese born JJ Lin look-alike who had been bred in Melbourne and spoke English with an Aussie drawl. He was very nice and accomodating and very interesting to talk to. Alan and him chatted most of the way whilst I struggled with Ethan, who fussed a bit and who pooped twice. Ethan, of course, refused to sleep in the bassinet and I carried him throughout the 7 hr flight. hahhaa. What a way to start the holiday!

28 May 2010 (Friday)

When we arrived at the MEL, it was only 620am. We lost 1 neck cushion of Ethan's which was attached to the stroller (which was placed in the cargo) *sigh* Strolling to get our car and in no particular hurry, we headed to Thrifty, just outside the airport. They allocated us a rather new SUV but apparently a maintenance message was flashed on the dashboard. Being Australian (read: very nuar), the guy insisted that it was OK for travel and did not offer to change the car for us. We, however, did not want to take any chances - esp since we were travelling with a 7 month old baby. So Alan insisted on a change. We were finally given another car. ;)

The GPS took us literally in circles for the start of the journey to Phillip Island. By the time we got to our hotel, we were certainly exhausted. We grabbed a wrap and a roll respectively and then popped into COLES to pick up some necessities. The avocados were HUGE and CHEAP and so I bought one for Ethan to try. I also needed purees for our baby. There were SO MANY different flavours that we were spoilt for choice. Finally, I settled on pear, pear and banana, apple, chicken noodles etc, mashed sweet veges, mashed golden veges etc...

then checked into Phillip Island All Seasons Eco Retreat. The studio was nice and lovely and all three of us proceeded to shower and catch up with lost sleep till around 430pm.

Then, we got ready for the exciting event - watching the Penguin Parade! We zoomed to the nearby Penguin Parade and collected our audio sets. We had paid around A$40/ pax to view the little furry sea creatures at close range and so we got to sit at the grandstands just next to the beach. The penguins would walk right past us on the boardwalk and head to their burrows. hahhaa.

Soon, dusk fell and the penguins appeared in herds (?) all of a sudden. It was like they were waiting 'backstage' for the lights to go off. They waddled in , wary of the peering faces but soon lost their fears. Off and on, one or two penguins would relax under the platforms where we were standing to wait for their lagging peers. haahha. Very interesting. Ethan was most amazed by the sight as well. Alan carried him very close up to view the penguins and he stared intently at them and then at Alan, as if questioning him about the birds' identities. hahahaa.

After hundreds of penguins had come in, we made our way into the warm building and browsed the Penguin Parade shop, buying a small keepsake magnet. Deciding that it was already too late (around 6+pm) to venture out to look for food, we settled dinner at the cafeteria and enjoyed our two free hot chocolate drinks and a lagsana and a delicious pumpkin salad. YUM YUM!

After we fed Ethan and all of us had our warm baths, we collasped back into the comfy bed and ZzzzzzzzzzZzzz.

29 May 2010 (Saturday)

Since we were allowed a later check-out, we checked out at noon and then drove back to the city. I suggested hitting QVM (that was around 1+pm) as I did not want to incurr extra parking charges in the hotel. We shopped a little (but it was nearing closing time) and bought Ethan a THREE DOLLAR 2-piece swim suit and some clothes. We were also thrilled to see that the fruits and veges were going for a song as all the stalls were about to close. We picked up some bananas and some grapes.

Rachel (Yeo), my ex-student, met us for a late lunch at ard 2+pm and we headed to Nando's. I didnt have a v good impression of Nando's as the ones in KL are not fabulous but the Australian ones did not disappoint. hahaha I guess there's a good reason why Singaporeans love their chicken from that restaurant.

After catching up, we checked into Causeway 353 Hotel at Lil Collins St. The hotel was very nice buttttttttttttt we had to park quite far away as there was no private parking facilities. OMG. It wasn't easy with Ethan and the two huge luggages and the stroller and etc etc... but somehow Alan managed it (admist cursing and swearing and sweating).

Dinner was downstairs at the restaurant and bar after we had fed Ethan in the room. Big mistake. We knew afterwards that it was much better to feed him whilst we were eating to keep him occupied. ahahaha. Alan had a delicious Scotch Fillet (beef) and I had a Duck Confit Salad ( during the earlier days of the trip, I was still concerned about my waistline.... :P)

30 May 2010 (Sunday)

We were supposed to meet my ex-colleage from CGS today but she cancelled last minute due to a leaking pipe in her new house. So three of us headed to the Arts Market at Southbank. The market was very small but we managed to buy Ethan 2 pairs of shoes for A$35 (discount $5) and 4 bars of soap and a beautiful wooden photo frame for A$15.

I carried Ethan on the harness as he did not enjoy sitting in his stroller ;P It was a good workout. We crossed the the bridge and walked to Flinder Stn etc then decided to walk back to the car. After parking the car again at the original car park it had been parked within walking distance to the hotel, we headed to Crumpler for Alan to splurge again. He bought a nice brown and orange camera bag which immediately housed our video camera and his GF1.

Then, we walked in search of Swanston Street to a fantastic and well-known Vietnamese 'restaurant', MeKong for our Phoa fix. We each had a big bowl of beef tendon and slices phoa and shared two huge rice paper rolls. Alan's iced coffee was delicious and my almond drink did not disappoint. After the meal, we were stuffed. Thankfully, Ethan slept throughout our indulgence, in his stroller. YaY.

We walked back to Causeway 353 after that and fed Ethan puree. Because our lunch was so heavy and late, we ate fruits for dinner hours later...

31st May 2010 (Monday)

Alan was majorly pissed off this morning. We checked out of the hotel at around 10am as we wanted to go GOR earlier. Ethan and I waited for him at the lobby whilst he went to drive the car to the hotel for us to load the luggages. He returned once, sheepish that he had forgotten to validate the car park ticket and proceeded off again.

Then, he returned again cursing and swearing because apparently the Indian lady at the concierge did not do a proper job in the validation and the ticket was still not validated! My poor husband spent the whole morning walking to and fro (from hotel to carpark and back). By the time we finally loaded the luggages onto the car and set off, it was already 1110am :P

We set off to the GOR but accidentall took the inland route which eventually got us to our destination abit faster :) Enroute to our self-contained cottage at Lavers Hill, we stopped by Apollo Bay to have lunch. There were a few cafes open but fate brought us to Apollo Bay Seafood Cafe. The decor wasn't much - but the fooooooooooood was gooooooood. Both of us had fish and chips and we added battered scallops to the sin as well. The batter was so light and the fish and scallops naturally sweet and fresh. I actually finished all my chips as well (I normally don't really eat fries) as they were made to perfection! 10/10!

We drove to the Fauna Wildlife Sanctuary and checked into our Wombat Cottage with Kirsten to welcome us. After poor Alan lugged the luggages from the car into the cottage using a not-so-well-oiled trolley, we took a short strol outside our cottage.

Just directly outside, we found two Southern Long nosed Wombats. They looked like pigs and not your typical wombat you find in the tourist shops as toy souvenirs.They gnawed at the carrots we offered them with surprisingly sharp and huge teeth. As we strolled around, we noticed some shy small kangaroo-like creatures (which Kirsten later told us were called Penny Melons or something like that). These were not as exciting and tame and bold as the creatures we had encountered at Yelverton in Perth a year ago and did not dare come up close (except for one who tapped on Alan's boot) to get our carrot-feeds.

We retired early that night in the small but cosy Wombat Cottage.

1st June 2010 (Tuesday)

We met Kirsten at around 10am (check out time) and she took us to meet the family of koalas residing in the sanctuary. I hadn't seen koalas for a long , long time and not this close anyway! We knocked ourselves out petting them as they fed on the eucalyptus plants (which hit poor Ethan in the head a couple of times). The little one did not complain as he was too busy surveying the koalas and petting them on the head. After petting one, he promptly put his finger in the mouth to my horror - thankfully nothing untoward happened after that.

We left the sanctuary and drove down to Port Campbell. Lunch was a delicious and decadent affair at Room Six, manned by a sweet couple. Alan had a yummy yum yum steak burger with salad and wedges and I had a big bowl of mushroom and leek and pepper soup with turkish bread on the side. Our compliments to the chef!

After an approximately half and hour drive, we arrived near our next stopover (Macka's Farm along GOR). We had to go into Timbon (a small town) to pick up some groceries (for our meals for the next few days and nights) and I needed puree for Ethan as well. We purchased $102 worth of groceries and then checked into Macka's Farm.

What a warm welcome we were given by their two farm dogs - Andy and Jack (two Jack Russells). Macka, himself, came to greet us at the door and show us to our lodge. We were allocated Lodge One and that, in our opinion was the best and it had the platform outside to bbq and to view the farm. It was also the one nearest to the barn but thankfully the smell did not permeate. ;P

We were taken for a quick tour of the barn and it was an amazing feeling - like stepping into the movie set of Babe. We saw chickens and roosters running around, small calves, as many as 7 cats (all soft and velverty), two HUGE pigs and many piglets and many, many cows.

Macka came to start up the fire for us in our lodge and then we went to see the cows come home (literally) to be milked. Macka's wife and farm help, Trudi, gave us a jug of freshly squeezed milk (still warm) as a welcome gift. hahaha. I didn't drink it as I am breastfeeding but it smelt of our milk powder.

Alan was so sweet and he cooked dinner for us (delicious beef steaks) on the verenda. I did my part by cooking the spicy tomato soup (read : open can and dump contents into a big bowl, add water and milk and microwave) and feeding our starving son. Ethan was introduced to a yummy Yoplait Vanilla yogurt this evening too. Everything was perfect - the sheets were Laura Ashley and very comfy but the nextdoor neighbours were very inconsiderate and made lotsa noise at 11+pm, when we were trying to get our rest. :P

2 June 2010 (Wednesday)

We slept in this morning and got up only at around 10am. After the usual routine, we left the lodge at around 1230pm and headed to the Gorge Chocolate Factory (a smallish place owned by a young couple). They were both very friendly.. hahaha The fella even greeted us with a huge smear of chocolate on his cheek, close to his lips.

Again to Timbon we headed , but this time to check out a widely recommended eatery - Timbon Railway Shed Distillery. We were still very full from brekkie so we ordered a piece of Lemon Meringue Cheesecake and two scoops of icecream (vanilla as usual and a delicious Turkish Delight which tasted like Bandung).

We arrived at the Arch and the London Bridge at approximately 4+pm and then left for the lodge to cook sphagetti for dinner.

3rd June 2010 (Thursday)

Again, we woke up around 10am and then left for brunch at the Distillery. I was very impressed when the nice and sweet lady owner actually greeted Ethan by his name. Alan had Fish & Chips which did not hold a candle to Room Six's and I had a Chicken Maryland which had a weird Indian spices taste.

After lunch, we headed to the Loch Arg Gorge. I harnessed Ethan again whilst Alan took his shots. Good workout to burn those calories. We arrived at the 12 Apostles a while later but it was too bright to take any nice shots- according to the professional of a photographer, Alan. Thus, we headed back to the farm after a while to cook our pre-marinated pork chops and sausages and soup for dinner.

4th June 2010 (Friday)

Alan woke up early (6+am) to shiver in the cold (possibly 0 deg C) at the 12 Apostles to take sunrise shots there. We left Macka's farm at around 11am n then Alan drove us to the 12 Apostles again to get some photographs.

We travelled inland towards Colac and there was a sudden dip in temp to 10DegC and a weird fog outside the car. *shiver* We drove and drove and finally got back to Melbourne city and embraced a lap of luxury at the Crown Plaza. (isn't that a great way to end the holiday?) We valet parked our car for $60 for three days and two nights - multiple entries and exits. YaY.

Our big room overlooked the Yarra River and beautiful architecture of the Southbank but we did not have time to enjoy it yet. We wanted to SHOP at the DFO (South Wharf) since it was Friday and Late Night Shopping was available. hee hee. Good planning , eh?

We arrived at the DFO easily (it was a stone's throw away) and tried to shop. Pumpkin Patch was a hit and we picked up quite a few items for Ethan of course. He's outgrowing all his clothing we had bought for him in Perth July '09. Alan savoured his FCUK deals and picked up Iron Man tees and a pair of berms and fell in love with a jacket which we would pick up from another outlet the day after. There was of course nothing for me, again. hahaha. It's oK. I'm happy when my boys are happy!!! :D

We savoured a delicious hot chocolate and latte and then decided to head again to MeKong for dinner. The chargrill pork and phoa (again) did not disappoint, obviously. Their slogan read: "President Bill Clinton had two bowls. How many can you have?"

After the filling meal, during which Ethan was an angel and entertained himself with the mirrors next to us, we headed back to the Crown PLaza to watch the fireball shows from our hotel window in Room 409. :D

5th June 2010 (Saturday)

The breakfast spread in the hotel was much better than the ones we had been offered in Causeway 353 and Alan and I had freshly squeezed juices, eggs, sausages etc etc. After sinning at the table, we headed to the Crown Casino (not to sin at another table but) to pick up Alan's FCUK jacket. I finally found myself a top for $80 and our total FCUK bill combined with the previous day's purchases chalked up to around $400 - enough to claim VAT 10%!

Another trip was made to Queen Victoria Market and it was surprisingly quiet and not crowded at all. Perhaps it was because of the gloomy weather and the slight drizzle. We bought many t-shirts for little Ethan and ourselves and soaps and creams and nuggets and nuts and raisins. Then, it was closing time again at 2pm at the fruits and vegetables section and we picked up another bunch of grapes for ourselves to feast on.

It was 3pm when we sat down to lunch at Nando's again. Sad to say, it started to POUR when we had just finished our lunch and Alan braved the rain to get to the car park whilst Ethan and I waited in the restaurant. We headed back to the hotel reluctantly as it was difficult to walk on the streets whilst it was storming and with Baby Ethan.

We realised only in the hotel that my friend Hidayati had messaged us a couple of hours again. Yati is my secondary three and four classmate and we had been rather close. However, due to the lack of mobile phones then, we had lost touch 17 years ago! Recently, we 'reunited' through Facebook and arranged to meet in Melbourne for a rendezvous and reunion. ahahhaha.

Happily, our two families (she was travelling with hubby and two young 'uns on 3 and 5 years of age) met at the bustling Crown Casino and we walked to Southgate which was much quieter and settled for a foodcourt dinner. I was still very full from the Nando's and had my Boost juice as dinner whilst my hungry husband wolfed down half a wrap and half a slice of glorious cheesecake.

6 June 2010 (Sunday)

All of us woke up at around 830am and had breakfast at the hotel's restaurant again. Alan was adamant about making strawberry juice and clogged up the juicer. hahhaa. It was delicious, by the way!

We parked at QV and walked around the streets aimlessly trying very hard to shop. There was nothing much to offer in the boutiques though. In the end, we walked into David Jones and picked up two jackets for Ethan (for his planned trip to Taiwan in Dec haha).

Lunch was delicious and at Yoyogi along Swanston, a stone's throw away from MeKong. I chose the easy to eat beef don and Alan had a bowl of ramen. Both portions were HUGE! We also shared a side dish of sotong.

It started to drizzle a tad and after Alan visited a few camera shops in the vicinity, we made a beeline for QV and popped into Big W (Elaine's recommedation) and was wowed by the baby clothes. Of course, I did not waste any time in selecting quite a few rompers and shirts and pants for Ah Boy! :)))))

We had extended our stay in the Crown Plaza for the day and so we headed back at around 430pm to shower and feed ET before checking out at 6pm. A mistake we made however was to purchase the latest timing plane tickets for the day (0005hrs on 7/7) to maximise our stay. We were bored to bits after checking out as all the shops had closed for the day.

We took a drive around St. Kilda's and saw the Luna Park in the dusk. Then, I suggested heading to Chinatown, for the lacking of something better to do. We parked and walked there and bought (wrongly) a small bag of green tea nuggets for Zesa. ;p Then, we decided to do dinner at Crown Bakery along Swanston.

Alan had a delicious Lamb Shank and I could only stomach a fruit tart as my lunch had not been entirely digested. Then, we topped up petrol at a station in town and commenced our journey to the airport.

Along the way, our trusty garmin GPS screwed up and constantly 'recalculated' the route. Alan was cursing and swearing whilst I silently prayed in the backseat. Thankfully, after a while, it finally decided to show us the way to MEL.

Upon reaching MEL, we dumped the car at Thrifty and shivered in the rain (it was FINALLY cold enough to make us shiver) before checking in our baggage. Alan was impressed by how neatly and thoroughly wrapped our car seat was for A$10 and I missed an 'interesting show' whilst in the loo - a lady ( woman more like it) had missed her flight and was kicking up a big fuss in the airport, alternating between fucking e'one and kneeling down at the reception to beg to be allowed on the plane. ahahha. Ethan also tried to entertain a surly Chinese lady next to him, bearing the hopes of being offered a slice of the apple she was munching (to no avail, of course).

We got on the plane and horrors of horrors the bassinet seats were DIRECTLY next to each other. Poor Alan slept in between Ethan and a very irritating 9 month-old Indian baby who spent the 7 hours (a) kicking Alan, (b) blowing saliva at Alan or (c) kicking AND blowing saliva at Alan. He also fussed throughout the whole journey incessantly and our poor Ethan, who was all knocked out from the 12 day trip and who was sleeping soundly in my arms for most part of the flight, woke up a couple of times because of the bugger to sigh and then close his eyes and go back to slumber. Poor thing!

This was (I think) my 4th trip to Melbourne and 3rd to the GOR but I thoroughly enjoyed myself and so did Alan. This trip did Ethan a whole lot of good and our lil' one has come out of his shell and is a much friendlier baby than previously :) Hurray!

Learning Points:

1) GPS can screw up, so do get road maps ready - just in case!

2) Australians are SO MUCH friendlier than Asians and Ethan enjoyed interaction with them probably because of their bright and sincere smiles and also their high-pitched singsong voices when talking to him.

3) There are so many more choices of baby purees and yoghurts etc in Australia than in Spore / KL.

4) Go to Queen Victoria market when it's closing time to pick up super good bargains of fresh produce. E.g. (and I still can't get over it) one BIG CARTON of avocados (the size of my palm each) for A$2 at 2pm. The hawkers will slash their prices and compete to finish selling their wares.

5) Fresh milk from the cow's udders smells strong and of our tinned full cream milk powder.

6) Fresh farm eggs have such BIG yolks and are of a bigger size than the normal ones you purchase in the cartons.

7) Cows do come home, after all!

8) Don't have to overbring diapers - I brought a total of 57 and used miraculously 56! *clap clap* Talk about the powers of estimation.

9) Invest in good seats for the penguin parade. The A$80 we paid in total was worth it when we saw Ethan staring face-to-face at the little feathered creatures who came home at dusk.

10) Family trips like this are exceptionally good for bonding - especially betw Father and Son! :) Alan is much more affectionate and patient towards ET now and the latter is also more accomodating towards him. hahahaha. YaY

Now, to look forward towards Taiwan December 2010! *Beams*

Bye Bye KL, Hello Melbourne (again)

2010-05-26T13:59:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone,

An hour after this time tomorrow, Alan, Ethan and I will be in the cab on our way to KLIA. We are bringing Ethan to chilly, wintery Melbourne! This is our first trip away with him (excluding Singapore and Cameron Highlands etc) and we are very excited but also a little worried (petrified, more like it). Just hope everything goes according to plan and he will behave himself and be an angel. :)

We are leaving KLIA for Spore (transit 1.5hrs) and then taking SQ direct from Spore to Melbourne, arriving in MEL at 620am. We will then collect the car and try to make our way successfully to Phillip Island 2.5hr's drive away from Melbourne airport. The adventure will begin then!! OOOOoOooo How exciting.

ANyway, Ethan turned 7months old today. How amazingly fast. and tomorrow, Alan and I will celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary on board the plane. haahahha. How lovely! *claps* OK just a short update - have to go n stuff MORE things into the suitcases ---> It's certainly NOT easy packing for a 10 day trip which comprises a 7month old kiddo. :(

I think this will be my 4th time placing foot on Melbourne soil. ahahahaha.

Ethan has a COUGH :(

2010-05-25T09:16:00.003+08:00

Yesterday, after Alan knocked off, he came home straight and brought Ethan and I to MVMM. Ethan was suffering from an intermittent cough and we wanted it treated so that he can enjoy the chilly wintery Australian air soon.

We went to Medicare on the 2nd floor of MVMM and although the clinic was empty, we had to wait for quite long for ET to be seen - such efficiency. The doctor, to my disappointment, wasn't the Chinese young man we had seen when I wanted confirmation for my pregnancy. He was a blur looking Indian doctor with VERY hairy arms.

Anyway, he took ET's temp (3 times) and then listened to his chest and also got him to open his (screaming) mouth. Then prescribed some medication for the inflammation. Then, again we had to wait for a long time to collect our meds. :P

Next stop - ZA ALtera. Alan needed to collect his jeans that had been sent for alteration. We stopped by the bank to change money as well and chatted with the over-friendly lady selling chinese cookies at the pushcart and next door to check about dowloading the Australian map onto the GPS.

Then, I popped into Cold Storage and picked up two avocados for Ethan and we quickly left for home so that I could feed him his dinner.

Sunny Sunday!

2010-05-24T12:51:00.002+08:00

We slept in- with permission from Master Ethan, of course and got outta bed only at around 10am. :) YaY.

I tricked Ethan into finishing his sweet potato today with a small cube of laughing cow cheese - that did the trick! :D *Happy Mama* He also polished down his ounce of sweet corn puree with a knob of butter. The Father was impressed! :)

We wanted to sneak outta the house after that but in the midst of our dilly dally, Ethan had his 20minute power nap and then woke up just as we were about to leave. Hahahah. That prompted us to bring him out.

Making our way to Bangsar Shopping Centre, we spotted the Pets Lovers Centre in an obscure area in the car park! What a weird location! Anyway, we are thankful that we don't have to travel that far to buy dog food etc anymore ;)

We roamed aimlessly around with nothing in mind and also trying to decide where to eat. Exploring the new wing, we discovered a couple of stores had opened - Mothercare, Times the Bookstore and also a huge Guardian. Cool. Still purchase-less, we opted for Chilis for lunch.

"Disappointing" would be a good word to describe our meal - I had grilled chicken sandwich which came in a burger form. I was misled by the pic in the menu and had thought it was to be served with toasted bread like a club sandwich. And Alan, went against my wishes, and had his red meat as usual - mushroom swiss. I think the ones in BK taste MUCH better.:P The drink was shared - a sour milkshake of a variety of juices.

We headed into Cold Storage next - the real reason for coming to BSC. I picked up Ethan's RUSK teething biscuits (which will be brought to Australia) and also a small bottle of puree to feed Ethan at KLIA before we board our flight to Singapore (to transit to Melbourne :P)

After that, we headed home for Ethan to rest (read: roll all over the bed and pretend to sleep).

In the evening, after En returned from the pasar malum, she took over Ethan and I went out for dinner with Alan to have his favourite (read: can eat e'single day) fish head beehoon soup. We picked up 5 blurays to stock up as well and went into Sri Kota for some chicken.

A Special Saturday Morning

2010-05-22T12:43:00.005+08:00

This morning, we did something different. Ethan roused us early again and we took a lovely walk in the neighbourhood again. I carried him on the harness, instead of the stroller and Alan took charge of JCo. :) We made our rounds and woke up the neighbourhood with the barking dogs and then headed home so that Ening could bathe Ethan.

Alan and I then took off for an early breakfast at OUG - he wanted me very much to try this bachor noodles soups that his colleagues had brought him to savour near his office. We ordered kuayteow soup and had a big bowl each, washing it down with a tea and coffee respectively. Not bad... 7/10! Ingredients were generous - cabbage, minced pork, lean pork slices, prawns, sotong and some minute pieces of pig stomach. The soup did not leave us thirsty as well. :)

It started to pour just before we left the coffeeshop and we braved the rain and skipped to our car, not beforing stopping along the way at a wet market. We picked up a carton of eggs and roamed deeper into the market to see cages of live chickens! I haven't seen this scene in a wet market since I was a little girl!! The unfriendly lady manning the chicken coop chided us for taking photographs whilst she captured a squawking bird, ready to be slaughtered for RM11/kg. :P I was traumatised and looked away quickly, saying a silent prayer for the feathered one. ;p I

We stopped by a big fruit stall as I wanted to pick up fresh fruit for Ethan's puree. He has a slight cough and I did not want to aggravate it by feeding him the mango I had already pureed for him. I picked 5 red apples initially intending for ET. We also bought two persimmons and some grapes. Then, I caught sight of some huge pears and selected two for Ethan's snacks in the evening.

We then drove home in the drizzle and I pureed the sweet pears for Ethan and enjoyed watching him wolf them down . :D

Friday Night at Bangsar

2010-05-21T23:34:00.009+08:00

After tuition this evening, Alan came home and we brought Ethan out. We are trying to bring him out of the house more often to socialise and also to 'see the world', just in case he thinks that the world is made up of only two bedrooms and one living room.

We had nothing to buy, for once. But I wanted to play blowing bubbles with Ethan in our garden so we proeeded to Toys R' Us at Bangsar Shopping Village. I found the bubbles and they cost an amazing RM7.95 for each bottle. I refused to buy them! Gonna make my own, albeit outta soapy water. I havent decided what item can be used to blow the bubbles from - Ening said that in her kampung, they use papaya leaves~ Interesting eh?

Alan looked like a tourist with his GF1 hanging from his neck and he snapped pictures of Ethan like a paparazi. heehe. The Husband is pleased with his new toy and is practising for our trip to Australia. hahahaha.

ANW, we left Toys R' Us and popped into the dvd shop Rockcorner or something like that. There was nothing to add to our collection. We walked around aimlessly, trying to decide where to have dinner. For Goodness Sake (the Jap liquor) beckoned and we decided to give it a shot. Both of us had cold noodles and shared a plate of deep fried oysters and a plate of beef-wrapped asparagus. Nice. The service was so good that they got their chef to slice us wedges of fresh carrots when we rejected their appetiser dish of cabbage and dip. The damage was around RM60 only and Alan tipped them gratefully. :) Ethan was also v cooperative and lulled himself into a slumber just before we started on our meal and roused just after we dabbed our mouths with our paper napkins after polishing off every morsel of food.

Video Ezy allowed us to purchase our evening entertainment - a Chinese movie (Fire of Conscience) which boosts many well-known actors such as Leon Lai and Richie Ren.
Our next stop was The Village Grocer. Ethan was enthralled by the wide array of colourful
vegetables and fruits. I wonder when he can sit in the trolley and be pushed around? hahaha

I wanted to check out their yogurt selection as it will almost be time for Ethan to be introduced to this yummy delight. All their frozen yogurts are low fat or no fat but they have the non-frozen pasturized type which they displayed above the formula milk for babies. Maybe that is suitable? I need to do more research :D

We bought a box of Laughing Cow cube cheese though. I am going to try and 'trick' Ethan into finishing his sweet potato puree with that. haahha. Wish me luck!

Have a Little Faith

2010-05-20T13:55:00.003+08:00

In line with my endeavour to read more and enrich myself, I have been reading Mitch Albom, my favourite author's most current creation, "Have A Little Faith". So far so good. Have gotten till page 75 (out of 249 :P) I wish sometimes that I could find the time and opportunity to read more. We've subscribed to Reader's Digest again but I again can't seem to find windows of opportunities to tuck my legs under my ass, curl up and just enjoy. Ok ok... I better spend less time on facebook hor? hahahaha

Anyway, Ethan has been introduced to quite a variety of foods - *proud mama beams at this juncture*. There are three vegetables - carrots and sweet potato and corn. And 5 kinds of fruits - banana, papaya, avocado, peach, apple. In another day or two, he will try his daddy's favourite fruit MANGO! It's all pureed and waiting for him in frozen freshness. :) He tried sweet corn with a knob of butter today and polished everything off the plates quite promptly. I am thankful. :P

We will be leaving for Melbourne in a week's time. I've got to get off my ass and start packing!!! My goodness. There will be tonnes to bring this time and since it's chilly winter there, I must be well-prepared to brace Ethan for winter! :) Our itinerary has been planned and it's pretty much flexible and easy-going. Nothing to strenuous for Papa and Mama Bear since it's our first trip with the little one and we are not sure how good a traveller he'll be.

Gastronomical Sins

2010-05-18T14:12:00.005+08:00

Saturday 15 May 2010

A lovely start to the day was a trip down memory lane. Alan and I had once volunteered our Tuesday evenings at a home in Desa Petaling called Ti-ratana. I used to conduct English tuition classes for a group of teenagers every week with Mr Iron Man Tan as my assistant and IT helpdesk operator. hahaha. Sad to say, we no longer continue this because of personal reasons (read: Ethan Tan)

Anyway, I was forwarded an email that the home needed confinement foods (they also house unwed mothers, infants, elderly- even stray dogs!) and I wanted to hand them my leftover rice wine, black vinegar etc etc. I also packed tonnes of clothes Ethan has outgrown as giveaways too.

We passed the stuff to Raj, the i/c there and then quickly headed to The Gardens to pick up a late lunch at 1pm. Again, Alan wanted to eat Oh Sushi and I reluctantly agreed for the lack of a better option. We overordered this time with butter corn ramen (it SUCKED) for me, and garlic rice and a plate of pork for Alan. We also shared a pan fried fish and salmon nabe. *burp*

Immediately after that, we were slated to go for facial (for me) and a massage for Alan at Cres. Alan had to wait for me (and he spent his time wisely at the MVMM photography fair) as I had a longer treatment time than he did.

I then popped into Isetan, which was on SALE and bought Ethan three pairs of thick socks for Australia. Alan met me at Cold Storage and we went to the fruit shop nearby to pick up 3 (for RM20!!!) small peaches and 8 big and juicy mangoes (for RM40). Guess what Ethan will be having for snack next week??? heeeheee

Sunday 16 May 2010

After Ethan was cooperative and had his breakfast, we got him ready and then left with Jay Jay and Coco for Dogroomz. The two furry ones needed their full grooming - Jay Jay can hardly see with his fringe covering his big round eyes! Hahahaha.

Once we had unloaded the two dogs, Alan sped us to Noble House at Imbii for my "Mothers' Day lunch". hahaha. He had wanted to buy me this meal last week but the restaurant had been fully booked. We had a voucher for one person to dine free for this buffet. It cost RM 45 (cheap untilll) per pax and came with a yummy bowl of shark fins soup.

We opted for the double boiled shark fins soup- the fins were stuffed into a chicken wing and had to pay extra. But it was certainly worth it. The rest of the buffet spread included big succulent prawns, soups, dim sum, appetisers, scallops with cheese, escargot with cheese etc. They even had lobsters in the buffet but apparently they were all served up when we had got there at around 1245pm. The moral of the story? Book your table for 1130am, when the buffet has just begun!

Anyway, we didn't stuff ourselves silly because Ethan was a tad cranky. Just a tad, which was handleable. ;P Sally, the waitress tried to entertain him but at the end of the meal, he was already in tears. I fed him in the car whilst we made our way to Pavilion Shopping Mall.

Popping into Tangs straightaway, we collected our free RM 50 voucher (membership really has it privileges in this country). The voucher expired today and Alan was 'forced' to spend. He did not disappoint and selected (albeit too excitedly) two Iron Man FCUK T-shirts (which cost altogether RM200) - my husband can REALLY SHOP! The salesgirls took turns to entertain Ethan as well but he cried and cried. haahaha.

Next stop, PARKSON. I wanted to buy shoes for Ethan for OZ - to keep his feet warm. I selected a pair and mistakenly bought a pair of jeans for Ethan which I thought was on 50% off. It was , but the price (Rm39.90) was already discounted. Oh well....

We went down, down, down to the basement:

On to Watsons - I needed some personal stuff. Popped into Caring Pharmacy for some pills too.

Coffee Break was at Old Town White Coffee. I had a ice blended mocha coffee and Alan had a hazelnut iced coffee. Both were delicious and pick-me-ups.

Next stop- Chinese Medical Hall to replenish our dried scallops stock and we bought a big box of green raisins to serve as munchies in front of our goggle box.

Then, it was home sweet home to rest and feed Ethan his avocado. After I bathed him, again we set off to Dogroomz to fetch the two naughty boys back home.

Monday 17 May 2010.

IP MAN II beckoned in the evening. We polished off two hotdogs and a small popcorn during the show. hahaa. Decadence with a Capital D!

The show was still very good and exciting and touching - even though it cannot hold a candle to IP MAN I. Quite impactful, I must say. I had seriously wanted to slap the angmoh sitting next to me when Twister was on the big screen. haahah

After visiting Altera to send Alan's jeans for alteration, we grabbed Subway home for a late dinner.

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY 2010!

2010-05-09T23:16:00.009+08:00

Today is a special, special day! It's MOTHERS' DAY!! Happy Mothers' Day Mother!!!!! Hope you had a wonderful day out with the family! :D It is also my VERY FIRST MOTHERS' DAY as an official MOTHER! :P

Alan and I were so tired out this morning (around 1030am). Ethan was put to bed early last night and he woke up at around midnight to do his business and sing loudly. hahahaha. Yes , he sings at the top of his voice and chooses unearthly hours too! Anyway, after Alan changed his diaper, I fed him and then he pooed AGAIN. By the time his eyelids drooped, it was almost 230am. OMG. I was absolutely zonked out. Unfortunately, he roused again a few hours later, to have his milk again. THEN, at 730am, he woke up and started singing (me a Happy Mothers' Day song) and after another feed, all of us collasped until 1030am.

Unfortunately, Ethan had no appetite for his sweet potato puree and millet cereal this morning and hardly touched any. I was so exhausted that I was keen to call off the outing we had planned.

After a cuppa tea however, I was revitalised and we decided to leave the little one at home and make our way to The Curve/ Ikano Power Centre and IKEA. I know it's ironic to leave ET at home to celebrate Mothers' Day, but it was a good idea because Alan and I really enjoyed ourselves. hahahaha

Lunch was a decadent affair at a Taiwanese restaurant at The Curve. I hadn't had any breakfast and so I was famished. It was 3+pm when we sat down for the meal. I ordered the usual meesuar and Alan had a pork chop rice. We shared a deep fried chicken roll, stir-fried chilli lala, mini BUddha Jump over the Wall and a yam bubble tea. Ohhhhh.. Delicious! And definitely easy on the pocket! Good Choice!

We roamed back to IKEA after our waistline-busting meal to pick up a couple of items in the crowded IKEA. We needed a RM45 high chair for Ethan for him to join us for meals at home, a big plastic box container to store his food and drink cutlery etc when not in use and etc. We were very much on task and got the two items, plus an extra cute cushion for Ethan for his high chair in a jiffy.

After placing the items in the car, we made a beeline for the Pet Safari at Ikano Power Centre. We needed dog food and Jay Jay's Eye Envy lotion had run out. I chose bags and bags of doggie treats for the furry sons as well. The damage, after discount, was a hefty RM300+!!!

It was nearly 530pm when we arrived home, exhausted but very, very fulfilled. hahaha.

p/s: The husband is a sweetie and 'surprised' me with a pair of Destinee (Lee Hwa) ear-rings for Mothers' Day! Xie Xie Laogong! I Love You!!! :D

8 May 2010 (Saturday)

This morning, at around 1030am, the Tan family popped by again to kindly pass us big bags of books for Ethan. Now, if you must know, the Tans have produced a doctor and a dentist and the books are a promising start for Ethan to be groomed as Dr Tan Ee Hom, Ethan. ahhahaa. They are about the Human Anatomy and etc. There are a couple of books about animals as well. :) These friends of ours are indeed very, very sweet and kind. How lovely to have such people as pals!!! :D They also invited us to join them trekking (they don't know us v well hor?) at Gasing Hill. But we politely declined.hahahahaha.

After I fed Ethan (sweet potato puree and carrot puree - OMG so ORANGE) today, he bathed and had a nap before we left for MVMM. Alan wanted to eat Oh Sushi again so there we were. it was a good meal which was healthy and not too filling. :) Ethan self-entertains in Mommy's arms. First time in a high chair... Ethan telling Mommy which sushi he wants... Portable entertainment rox!

Off we sprinted, after our late lunch, to the Moms and Babies Expo at the top floor of MVMM. I was itching to see what the fair had to offer and hoped to pick up some stuff for Ethan. However, it was disappointing and we left , after a few minutes, just picking up some old copies of Parenthood- a magazine in KL about babies / toddlers. They were at 3 for RM10. Sad to say, our only other purchase was a packet of wet wipes. ;p

We were already very exhausted after that saga but decided to shop around for Ethan's cold wear for our Melb trip. Finally, we spotted a suitable light wind-breaker (the other shops did not carry his size) at Adam's Kids, which was miraculously going for 70% off~!! YaY!! Of course we bought it!!

After that, we popped into a pharmacy and bought Vaseline for all our potential chapped lips (in lieu of Melb's wintery chill) and then left for home, satisfied. :D Clowning around after returning home from MVMM.

Sweet Potato & Apple Puree

2010-05-07T12:49:00.003+08:00

Today I sent Ening to the market/ supermarket early and she came back with some treats for Ethan. :) She bought HUGE ( i have seen any others that rival them in size) sweet potatoes in the market and a bag of apples from USA from TMC.

I got to work in the kitchen whilst Ethan took his nap. I peeled two and a quarter of the 5 sweet potatoes (the other 3/4s I cooked for lunch). Then I chopped them into smaller pieces. They totalled around 400g in weight. Off to the steamer they went. I did the same with around 4 apples. They are not of a good quality though. What do you expect of the brand "First Choice" ironically. Told En not to buy those anymore. But they actually made quite good puree.. ahahaha

After the sweet potatoes and apples were steamed till tender, they were pureed into a pulp. I put around 45ml into each baby cube (normally I will fill it with 30ml but there was just so much). There was some apply puree remaining and insufficient cubes so I fed that with a cube of carrot puree to Ethan for lunch. He finished every bit! :D

This is what the top half of my freezer looks like. haahhaha.

The Weekend in Brief

2010-05-05T11:48:00.002+08:00

I am certainly looking forward to the weekend. WHY? There are interesting events taking place this particular weekend in lieu of Mothers' Day!

Mid Valley Mega Mall expo is having a huge exhibition and we will head down there on Saturday to check out what is available and see if there's anything to buy. Hopefully they will carry coldwear for little tots so that we can pick up a windbreaker for Ethan for his upcoming trip to Melbourne. I think he will enjoy the wintery chill though, as being a sweaty baby, he is more adverse to the heat and humidity in KL / Singapore. Needless to say, we will bring him along to MVMM. :)

On Sunday, we will probably bring Jay Jay and Coco for a much needed grooming session at DogRoomz and then head over to the Ibu (mother) fair at Bangsar Shopping Village to see what is being offered. Nothing much, I don't doubt, but it will be more relaxing as there will be less of a crowd there, I hope.

Ahhhh there's also IP Man II to catch too. And we will see how to slot that in... Not easy as now we can't catch midnight movies like we very much enjoy to, because of Ethan.

Baby carrot puree - YUCK

2010-05-04T13:28:00.002+08:00

I just tried (excitedly) to feed Ethan pureed baby carrots - "tried" being the key word. He hardly enjoyed them, spitting out every single mouthful. *sigh* The puree was quite dry and lumpy (as compared to papaya puree) but I added quite a fair bit of water into the mixture (4 tsp millet cereal + 30ml milk).

Tomorrow I will add more milk, maybe 60ml and see his reaction. I've read somewhere that once or twice or three rejections doesn't equate to the baby not liking the particular food you are trying to introduce. It will take around 10 - 15 tries. God bless us all.

Iron Man II

2010-05-03T23:44:00.000+08:00

We bought tickets for The Gardens Signature cinema to watch the much-anticipated Iron Man II today. We were thoroughly enjoying the movie when 3/4 way through the show, the lights came on, the canned music was played and the curtains were drawn shut. Amazing, but true. And this, at a PREMINIUM cinema in KL.
Sigh, thankfully, the wait lasted not more than 10minutes and everything was resolved. I think this is the second time in KL that this has happened to me. :P
After the movie, we hurried to the foodcourt to pick up some dinner and rushed back to be with Ethan. ;)

Ethan, Have you Eaten Already?!?!!?

2010-05-02T17:51:00.003+08:00

This is my Xiao Guai Guai on various occasions, preparing for his luncheon. :D

Another Stay- In Sunday!

2010-05-02T17:21:00.004+08:00

Hello folks!!! My husband is finally home after a looonng absence. He left on Tuesday at 530am to drive back to Singapore for business. And just returned home to KL on Saturday at around 2pm. I opted not to return with him because Little Ethan had just started on solids and I didn't want anything to disrupt his schedule. What's more, he started his solid meals with breast milk (which I had pumped and stored in the freezer).

Poor Alan was feeling very unwell on his drive back to KL. He left my mom's place (where he was putting up) at around 7am but had to stop manyatime to visit the loo at various locations enroute from S'pore to KL. He had food poisioning and had diarrhoea and vomitted too. So poor thing!!! There was a massive jam in Malaysia too and also at the causeway. Oh my... :(

Although Ethan and I had been cooped up over the weekends, I opted to let Alan rest today, although he gallantly suggested we go to Ikano Power Centre to shop. I need to buy Ethan his feeding chair and manyablog of mommies had recommended the cheap but very effective feeding chair. :D I think it costs around RM40+ only. My goodness! I also want to buy him a waterproof bib.

Anyway, Alan and I went for our usual breakfast and visited one of our best friend's shops to add to our collection before heading home.

Some pictures of Ethan munching (or sucking) on his teething rusk biscuit:

Winnie The POO

2010-04-30T09:25:00.003+08:00

OMG, Ever since Ethan has started on solids, there has been a change in his bowel movements. They are an alien green, can take place at the most unearthly hours (in the wee hours of the morning) and they also smell SOOOOOOOOOO BAD. *pinch nose*

And that's only after formula milk + millet cereal. Today I will be going him PAPAYAAAAAAAA. God Blesssssssssssss

I've blended 1/4 of the papaya two days back (because it was getting too ripe) using the new Phillips Blender we bought a longggggg time ago for this purpose at the GSS. And then transferred the contents into the baby cubes I had purchased online at www.motherslove.com.sg :) The nice lady, Natalie, delivered them to my house without me requesting, because I was in a great hurry to get them and my Mom was flying up to KL the next day. So sweet of her!

Anyway, the papaya has been frozen and I'll microwave (EEEEee) it for Ethan later to be mixed into his cereal and milk.

Come back Soon, Laogong!

2010-04-27T10:22:00.003+08:00

Alan left for Singapore early this morning. So now, it's just the three of us and the two dogs. *sigh* It will be a couple of days before he will be back. :(

Anyway, I'm running a bit of a fever. Think I have a blocked duct. Hope that it will clear ASAP. Ethan is doing well at the lunch table. He has eaten solid food for the past two days and soon I will introduce puree. :) It will be fun to prepare real food for him, instead of just mixing milk with cereal.

Last night, ALan and I went to MVMM for a short while to change currency to pay bills and also to have dinner. We checked out OhSushi and had a delicious meal consisting of ramen , salmon head, unagi and tofu salad a small side dish of soft shell and four slices of delicious but fatty pork roll.

Ethan's first "REAL" MEAL.

2010-04-25T22:42:00.005+08:00

Today was SPECIAL - Ethan tried solid food for the first time in his life! He had recently shown great interest in what we had been eating and even tried to take and put food in his mouth himself. These are two of the many indicators of the baby's readiness to start on solids. I am glad I followed the doctor's advice and stuck to giving him solids at 6months. There have been MANY people nagging at me to start giving him solids earlier because he seems small and is not putting on weight at a rapid speed.

I must say, I don't appreciate such pressures. I think lots of new mums go through the same kind of pressure for the same and many more different reasons. These 3 gu 6 por had used their "old school" way of bringing up children and try (very hard) to get the new mums to subscribe to them. Alan's grandmother constantly asks me if I've enough milk or not. Sometimes I want to squeeze my breast in front of her just to prove that there IS! :P

Anyway, I digressed (again) hahaha. OK back to the current topic:

I fed Ethan milk in the morning and then, after a short short nap, he woke at around 1230pm and I thought that was an ideal time to introduce solids to him. You should do it at lunch time. I milked 2 teaspoons of rice cereal with 40ml of breast milk but it was so watery that I decided to add in another teaspoon of cereal. All throughout the preparation, Alan videoed the process.

After stirring to eradicate any lumps in the mixture, we put on Ethan's huge waterproof elephant bib we had bought in Australia before he was born (!) and sat him in his Bumbo Seat and started the feeding experiment. Ethan showed great interest in his food but had problems (naturally)trying to keep the food in his mouth. He's so used to the tongue thrust reflex that it is going to take a while for him to get used to putting food in the mouth and swallowing it.

We took half an hour to feed him and half of the meal probably went onto the bib and down his neck but both Daddy and Mommy were very pleased. :) Our little boy is all grown up now and is eating SOLIDS!!! We caught the feed on the video cam of course!

We tried something new today...dinner at SmokeHouse at Bangsar Telawi 3. The decor reminded me of Lakehouse in Cameron Highlands - the place we celebrated my birthday a couple of years ago. Very quaint and victorian styled, complete with dirty-looking flora printed sofas and a fake fireplace with logs that were (literally) lighted up. hahha

I opted for the Phad Thai (RM15) (yes, they have hired a chef from Thailand) and Tom Yam Kong (Rm12). The soup came in a small bowl but was very satisfying and 4 big prawns floated in the spicy red soup. The main course was nutty and very sweet, quite delicious if I may say so, but it will leave you feeling full halfway through the meal.

Alan had his usual red meat - this time it was the very affordable lamb shank (RM32) whose meat was so tender it slid off the bone and cream of mushroom soup (RM12) - not worth the money cause I can make better ones.

After we dined, and before we left, we were informed by the waiter that next month they were celebrating their anniversary and all items on the ala carte menu will be on 20% off! WooohOooo.
We popped into Bangsar Shopping Village to pick up a couple of items:

(A) We wanted to buy two short hoses - one for the front garden as it was leaking and one for the back garden for Ening to water the plants with more ease. NOT AVAILABLE.

(B) We popped into the Organic shop next door and I chose a box of millet porridge. I had found Ethan's rice cereal (Nestle) to be very sweet and I wanted to buy something more expensive and organic for a greater peace of mind. ahahaha. Kiasu! :P I also didn't like that the Nestle rice cereal I had bought contianed traces of gluten and soy. :(

After comparing rice / millet/ semolina porridge, I read that millet contained the most protein, fat and iron and the least fibre (which makes the kiddo full fast) and sodium. I bought Holle Organic Millet Porridge, 250g for RM19.90. The nice lady at the counter gave me two packets of samples (spelt porridge and semolina porridge) to try as well. :)

We proceeded into Toys R' Us next to buy Coco and Jay Jay a ball - They (Coco especially) had shown so much interest in Ethan's ball that we wanted to give them their own personal one as well. :) Also, sadly, because the silly dogs keep going upstairs to poop on the green furry carpet( which I think they mistaken as grass), we had to buy a safety gate to prevent them from doing so. The bloody gate cost RM299.95 and the manufacturers purposely made it a tad shorter than the normal standards so you HAVE to buy the extension (another RM64.95). I had thought the cheaper alternative was to give away the dogs ;P hahaha

Anyway, after spending a bomb at Toys R' Us, we zoomed home to be with our son who was still having a slight fever from the two injections the day before.

Ethan's Jab No. 3

2010-04-24T19:18:00.005+08:00

Ethan was due for his third 6in1 jab today. We did not want to go back to Dr Yong's clinic and be subjected to Pantai's atrocious charges so we had no choice but to head back to Dr Lim's clinic at GlenE.

Again, the whole clinic was PACKED by the time we arrived at 11am and we started our long wait again.

Monkeying around in the clinic again.

Thankfully, this time it wasn't that bad and by the time Ethan had his ass pierced twice (6in1 and Pneumoccocal) and drank the horrid liquid (Rotateq), it was only noon. The offensive tools of torture...

The poor dear was tired out and fell fast asleep in the car. We got home swiftly and then Ening took over looking after him whilst we zoomed off to MVMM for some lunch at Ding Tai Fung. Alan had his usual beef noodles and I opted for my usual fix of hot and sour noodles. We shared some pork wontons and also an appetiser and a dessert of red bean paste with two sesame dumplings.

At 2pm, we popped into La Mode for our haircut. It was our last opportunity to use up the 50% discount (till the end of April) as Bill was going off to Jakarta for a performance. :) After the haircut, Alan headed to Ace Hardware to pick up fertiliser for our garden and I bought a ball for Ethan from Toys R' Us next door.

Alan and I shared a gelato and bought two dvds (Avatar and Baby Can Read Volume 2) and then went home satisfied. :)

p/s: I have since given up the chase of Ethan's length / weight etc. hahaha. Just a quick update here that he only put on ard 200g since 16/3/10 and his length is 62cm now. The previous measurements at Pantai MC were utterly inaccurate :P Picture mirroring Mommy's agony when taking Ethan's measurements :P

Strawberries are a No No!

2010-04-22T20:09:00.004+08:00

The grandparents have left last evening and the house is a quieter and less active one... at least there's no one to ask Ethan to do monkey tricks (e.g. jump / kick / touch his nose etc). I think poor Ethan was tired out from all that attention. He slept sooooo much today that I was a bit concerned. hahaha He hardly naps at all normally.

Anyway, the excited grandparents let Ethan try sucking on a cut strawberry last evening against my wishes and his poop changed colour / texture immediately to a weird green (instead of mustard yellow) colour and there were strips of solid poop lining his diaper - normally all is liquid. AND THEN, my friend told me today that berries should not be given to babies till they are 1 year old due to their likelyhood to trigger allergies. *faint* " Come, let por por and nai nai feed u some strawberries!"

Our Water Baby

2010-04-21T12:58:00.005+08:00

I am Ethan Tan, the Waterbaby!

The sun was out again this morning and I decided to let Ethan try out his swimming pool for the second time. Ening and I busied ourselves filling the pool with buckets of pipping hot water and soon, the water was a delicious temperature. :)

Again, Ethan was changed into his cars and trucks red swimming diaper and nai nai put on the float for him. Then, I got into the pool and in he came right after me. After only a few seconds, I could see that Ethan was not adverse to the water and etc and so I got out of the pool. True enough, our little water baby started enjoying himself. He kicked and did turns and took turns to pose for the different cameras / video cameras held by every single one of us. hahahaha.

I am glad he had a good time. :) Thank you Ye Ye and Nai Nai for the useful and wonderful present! :))))))

A Feast at Robson's

2010-04-20T23:26:00.000+08:00

The grandparents devoured two dvds and played with Ethan today. We had En's speciality Mee Siam for lunch. Alan came home (finally) to bring us out for a scrumptious dinner at Robson Heights. Luckily, he did not order like there was no tomorrow and the five of us had 2 crabs (salted egg and chilli), sea cucumber and fish maw with mushrooms and brocolli, stir-fried kailan, a steamed cat-fish. It was certainly a delicious meal and everyone went home with smiles on their faces.

The pictures are not representative of the satisfaction of the photographer after consuming the meal.

Ethan's First Swim

2010-04-19T00:12:00.000+08:00

Ethan didn't really enjoy his first dip in his new swimming pool today. I think the below were at fault:

a) The water was too cold - he always bathes in VERY warm water.

b) The neck float was irritating the $h!t outta him.

c) There were too many peering eyes (Grandfather's, grandmother's x 2, father's , mother's and maid's).

In the evening, we left for a massage at Liang Xin Massage Parlour at Jln Alor. For two sessions per pax, the damage was only RM84, instead of the usual RM110. PROFIT! *claps hands excitedly*

After that, we picked up En and Ethan from home and then headed to MVMM for dinner. Mum 2 wanted to make a pair of specs but didn't in the end as she would not be in KL to collect it 2 weeks later. We then decided to have dinner at Canton-I.

We ordered and ordered and ordered. There was this promotion and we could buy a roasted chicken (whole) for only RM1! PROFIT II! We were stuffed by the time we exited the restaurant.

HELLO GRANDPARENTS (cryyyyyyyyyy)

2010-04-18T22:35:00.002+08:00

Ethan's grandparents are in town. We drove (it seemed for hours) to and fro to LCCT to pick them up from the airport. Alan parked illegally and sprinted towards the car when he saw Uncle Sam (what do they call them here in KL?) whip out his notebook eagerly whilst approaching our Volvo.

Finally, they appeared (carrying Ethan's swimming pool) and we drove home in time to enjoy a delicious spread of steamboat - nutritious and oh-so-yummy! Now they are luxuriating in front of our 50" TV and watching "WooHoo".

Ethan's not taking too well to all of them though. Especially they love to come up close to him and STARE... They have become unfamiliar faces to him already since we are living in KL and worse still, he has come of age to recognize faces and clings to me now like my personal Koala. *big sigh* Hope things will improve in the next few days...

A beautiful Saturday out w/o Ethan

2010-04-17T22:12:00.003+08:00

Today, Alan and I had a wonderful day out on our own. We drove to The Gardens at around 2pm and hit the shops. First, we entered Robinson to utilise some vouchers they had sent to me, their privileged member.

We bought lotsa stuff from the home section - coffee beans, a towel for Ethan, chopping board for Ethan's food etc etc. and that was BEFORE we entered the Children's section. ahahha. I piled the wet wipes , weaning bottle with teat etc into our basket and then we headed to the cashiers to cash out.

Famished, we headed to the foodcourt for a good and cheap meal. Again, I enjoyed the thai food and satisfied my craving for pineapple rice. Alan had his usual unagi bento. After polishing off all the food, I headed into Borders and picked up two Chinese books for Ethan and Alan went into Art Friend (AGAIN).

Then, we made a beeline for CRES (we were alittle late) for our 4pm appointment. After our faces were polished and relieved of all dirt and whatnots, it was off to Cold Storage we went. I wanted to check out if they carried NAN HA1 for little Ethan and they did indeed. I also picked up some rice cereals and teething biscuits for Ah Boy.

We dragged our numerous bags and quickly headed to the car. It had already been 4+hours since we had left home!!!!!

Ethan's Second Visit to the Salon

2010-04-14T22:05:00.000+08:00

I had made an appt with "Uncle Bill" to trim Ethan's unruly mane this evening but because of Alan's engagements, we could not make it in time for the 6pm appt. ET waiting for Daddy to come home to bring him out. @ the fountain outside , in btw The Gardens and MVMM.

However, eventually we did manage to bring our moody son there! It was around 730pm when we arrived at La Mode and thankfully it was relatively empty.

Bill proceeded to whip out his equipment waist pounch and Alan bundled Ethan up with a towel. Ethan's mood worsened at lightning speed and sure enough, as Bill began a series of 'tortures' on ET ~~ THE MONSTER WAS UNLEASHED!!!

Seconds before the the premiering of Monsters Inc.

If I hadn't known what the phrase "crying buckets" meant originally, I had it personified right in front of my very eyes that fateful evening. :P ET wailed and wailed as though it was excruciating - he doesn't even cry that violently and for so long when at the Doc's for a jab in the ass!!!

Poor Bill suffered thru' the ordeal and all of us emerged (from the scene of crime) partially deaf and very hairy (we had given up on the towel after a while...)

After leaving the torture chamber, we popped into the Toys R'Us next door. I wanted to buy a ball for Ethan but emerged from their sale with a single packet of wet wipes and a travel set of 2 forks and 2 spoons to bring to Australia.

Dinner as a speedy affair at Little Penang Kafe (yes, they spell it like that) and after that it was home sweet home to embrace the peace and quiet and to tuck the little one into bed. At the cafe, still furious after his ordeal. Forgetting the trauma in a jiffy~

Ethan's pics

2010-04-13T14:41:00.001+08:00

Some random photographs of Ethan taken today, in his bedroom.

A lovely weekend

2010-04-11T15:46:00.009+08:00

Hello folks. It's nearing the end of yet another weekend here in KL!

Yesterday Saturday 10 April was a lazy one. Alan and I left Ethan at home with En and then went for our usual breakfast fix at Bangsar. Then, we headed to the market and TMC to pick up some groceries before adjourning home.

I fed and kept Ethan company whilst Alan spray painted his R/C car (red) and then promptly left to the nearby basketball court to have a good time. He amazed a little boy and a teenaged girl with his skilful drifting and they struck up conversations. :)

In the evening, we caught Sherlock Holmes on DVD although Ethan interrupted the home-movie a couple of times. hahhaha.

Sunday 11 April 2010

We are trying to get the little one used to his harness and sitting in the stroller so we have been bringing him out more over the weekends. It's good that he gets to see the world beyond the walls of his room also. He is always intrigued by the sights and sounds outside the confines of our humble abode.

Today, our decided destination was KLCC. I think I have not been there in more than a year. If you read my previous entries in 2007, you will see that Suria KLCC was a shopping mall Alan and I frequented. We used to stay in Lanson Place Service Apartments in Jln Ampang, just a stone's throw away from KLCC. I used to call the concierge for them to get me a cab to the mall. Very convenient!

Anyway, the mall wasn't really crowded at 11+am when we arrived. It's great that we always wake up early (not by choice, if you hadn't realised) on a Sunday and make our way outta the house before noon. Brunch was at Nippon Tei, a Japanese restaurant. We were their first patrons that day.

I ordered the Sukiyaki set and Alan had a Beef Steak set. We both shared pan fried gyoza. The food was delicious and the prices were right. The portions were huge too and we fought to finish what was on our trays individually. Thank heavens we had not ordered sushi to accompany our meal!

Ethan was amazingly well-behaved (pls see last Sunday's nightmare outing) and he sat in his stroller quietly, playing with his cube toy (biting it more like it). We enjoyed our meal tremendously at a surprisingly leisurely pace! How nice if all meals were like that (and not messy, indigestion-inducing gobbles)!

Anyway, after savouring the Japanese cuisine and inwardly thanking The Lord for Ethan's behaviour, we left the restaurant and popped into Kinokoniya. Alan wanted some magazines for browsing (about remote control cars and airbrushing etc - what else? ;p) and I was keen to purchase some causal reading material. :)

My favourite author, Mitch Albom's book "Have a Little Faith-A True Story" was on sale. (take 20% off RM69.95) and I eagerly grabbed it. And since Ethan still was in a stupor (aka we can shop somemore), Alan joined me in the children's section.

I looked high and low for "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle - a good book to teach your children about transformation, I guess. And also inner and outer beauty and the superficiality of Life. ahahaha (ok too chiem for a 6month old now, I agree..)

This helpful sales assistant persisted in helping me locate a book after a lot of effort. How nice! How certainly surprising! Very unlike the masses of sales personnel in KL. Normally, without checking, they will tell you that whatever is on sale is already on display. Or in their very own words, "dunch habe already!" :P I've come across so many of these nonchalent sales staff in my 3 years in KL that I've come to expect very little of the service in this country. (The less you expect, the less disappointed you will be in the end!)

Ooops, I've digressed again. Anyway, (and a huge and resounding " Yay") the RM32.95 book on the furry creepy crawlie was on a 25% discount!) Weeee. Alan also picked out a huge yellow book of 8 Favourite Fairy Tales for Ethan as well. The book is bright yellow and has the picture of a nasty wolf about to devour Little Red Riding Hood up on its cover. hahaha. There is the big red word "YUMMY" printed above the wolf as well...The stuff of which traumas of childhood are built on....

At the cashier, I was amazed to find out we had chalked up a bill of RM210 for books and magazines. Ahhhhh But they say, knowledge doesn't come cheap, don't they? As an ex-teacher, I know how important reading is to kiddos and I am determined to make sure that Ethan will enjoy reading as much as I used to when I was a toddler. I remember going everywhere with a book in my hand...

After changing Ethan's dirty diaper (yes, he had started to fuss) just at the entrance of Kino, we waved tata to the friendly security guard at the door and left in the general direction of Coffee Bean for a coveted cuppa.

However, Parkson caught our eye and we decided to take a gamble and see if they sold the cappuccino / latte machine that we had wanted to get for the longest time. OhHHH They did!! Amazing, but true!

So without further ado, we promptly purchased the machine (RM529) and were rewarded with two free big mugs as gifts! (distant applause pls). By this time, Ethan was quite restless and exhausted. He had been busy looking at colourful toys in the toy section whilst Alan was inspecting the coffee machine. He had intially giggled out loud when interacting with Baby Alive but at the second encounter, minutes later, he started crying, obviously frightened by the scary-looking thing. hahaa Ok let's stick to Transformers and Iron Men, shall we?

We decided to get a bag of beans from the Coffee Bean nearby and then head home. Before we lined up for the coffee beans, we popped into Poney (which was having a sale) to see if I could buy some warmer clothes for Ethan for our up-coming trip to Melbourne. I tried on a beanie for him and hahaha he pulled on its price tag and the beanie covered his eyes. hahaha. It was such a cute sight that even the salesgirls were stifling their giggles teeheehee.

At CB, Ethan started crying loudly and all the waiters and waitress tried to pacify him. Alan bounced him up and down when he was in his harness and then he promptly fell asleep in my arms, with the beads of tears still coating his little face. Poor baby, all tired out!

We made a beeline for the car and then headed for home sweet home (to savour a deliciously frothed cuppa! :) What a lovely Sunday afternoon!!!! :D

What Ridiculous Charges!

2010-04-08T14:59:00.003+08:00

We brought Ethan to see Dr Yong again at Pantai MC this afternoon. He is suffering from VERY BAD rashes - his chin, his neck, his chest and even his back. Heck his left arm near the elbow also is dotted with the nasty rashes!

Of course I was glad that the doctor could fit us in at around 230pm. First disappointment of the day: Ethan's weight. From 16/3 till yesterday 7/4, almost 3 weeks' duration, he had only gained 200g (and I am rounding it up HOR). WTH.

Ethan has been waking to feed at least twice e'night and even in the daytime, I am with him most of the time and he feeds I would say at least 50% of his waking hours. hahaha. So now, I am forced to reconcile with the fact that it could be the quantity or the quality of my milk ! :P

Anyway, the wait in the queue was short and again Dr Yong was patient n kind. He examined Ethan and prescribed Travacot and some Anti hystemine for his 'red and angry' rashes. Then, we left to pay and collect the medication.

Once outside and at the payment counter, the saga started. APparently, the nurse had forgotten to charge us some 'consultation' fees from the previous encounter. The charging system in this hospital (or maybe for this doc?) is SO WEIRD. He will charge his normal consultation fee to see you. And then if you hv brought your child for a vaccination, there's an additional CONSULTATION FEE for jabbing Ethan in the ass. And ON TOP OF THAT, there's also ANOTHER procedural fee just to carry out the injection. And please, we have not even mentioned the charge for the MEDICATION in the freaking syringe!??!

OMG, I don't think I've ever encountered such an absurd charging system? Moreover, it's PANTAI MEDICAL CENTRE and not even Gleneagles!!! The previous doc at Gleneagles (although he's pretty flippant about Ethan's needs) charged us SO MUCH LESS and he was from Gleneagles! Needless to say, I was very disappointed at being forced to change a peaditrician again for Ethan. *sigh*

Mommy's Little Monster @ Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall

2010-04-04T23:02:00.000+08:00

Because Ethan was so well-behaved and such a sweetheart on Friday evening when we brought him to Bangsar, we were excited to bring him out again. This time, we wanted to go to Sunway Pyramid for brunch and also a little bit of shopping.

We left the house late, at 130pm, after settling some unpleasant stuff and then made a beeline for SP. Deciding to try something new, instead of going for a meal at our usual haunt, the Vietnamese restaurant near the ice-skating rink, we tried out the Hakka restaurant which had lured us in with their advertisement posted in the car park.

Surprisingly, I wasn't very hungry and stopped Alan from ordering to feed an army again. We had a huge claypot toufu with meat patties, a plate of braised pork with black fungus, a plate of Shuan Pan Zi and each had a bowl of soup - I had a very salty scallop soup (of minute portions)and he had a bowl of tasteless herbal chicken.

Ethan was still v well-behaved and in a good mood when I took these pics.

The portions (excluding the toufu) were very small and that was a good thing because before we ended our meal, Ethan started fussing. We then tried to get him secured in the Baby Bjorn harness but he refused. And then we tried the stroller and of course he rejected that too. :P *sigh*

Finally, he settled down in his harness and Alan carried him whilst I pushed the stroller. We went to the Children's department and I bought some cotton wool / nursing pads in Annaku. Then, we went downstairs to Pets Lovers Centre. Ethan seemed enthralled by the rabbits hopping around in their glass cage and reached out trying to grab them. haha.

We headed into Giant to pick up some groceries and necessities, such as diapers :P After 10minutes or so, Ethan started wailing loudly. *sigh* Alan continued to shop whilst I pushed him in the stroller (still wailing and turning red) into the ladies to change his diaper. :P

As I calmly maneourved the stroller into the loo, everyone turned to stare (and give me the DIRTY LOOK) as Ethan continued to scream and kick his legs. I carried him up and he quieten a bit but once I placed him on the changing table, he commenced again to screech and kick in fury. The loo was as silent as the graveyard (sans Ethan's violent tantrums) and the tension was rife. I had my back facing the people (as the changing table was in the corner at the far end) but I could feel the eyeballs boring into my back.

I guess people were thinking "what kind of mother is she, can't even control her baby". Hai. Finally, once the (literally) dirty deed was done, I turned around red-cheeked to face the crowd and wheel him outta the loo. One Malay lady looked into my eyes and gave me a shake of her head as if to say "oh my dear,I truly sympathize with you for having a Monster as a son" and then I noticed another Malay lady QUIETLY changing the diaper of her daughter who was of course lying SILENTLY in her pram and very compliant with her mother's actions and wishes. The rest of the loo-goers's expressions were are mixture of pity, disgust and bewilderment. (A far cry from the looks of admiration we had been bestowed with on Friday evening in Bangsar!)

That very moment, I silently asked myself (for probably the millionth time since 26/10/09) why I had gotten myself into such a permanent fix. *big huge sigh*

Anyway, after I emerged with the screaming Ethan from the loo, Alan was about done getting our groceries and then we headed for the car. On the way, Alan popped into the loo himself and once he came out, Ethan had falled into a slumber already. The poor fella probably was v irritable because his diaper was wet and he was hungry and exhausted. Oh well.. This is making me think v hard whether I want to bring him to Australia or not. But if he doesn't come along, how am I supposed to leave? I don't have good and trustworthy help and the worst thing is, I am breastfeeding! :P

Enough of grouses- I digressed. Once Alan came outta the loo, I popped into GNC to replenish my calcium tablets and then we left promptly for home, exhausted and moody because of ETHAN TAN EE HOM!

note: This was the first time that Ethan had put on his new romper (given by Auntie Julia) that proudly printed "Mommy's Little Monster". I have made a mental note NEVER to let him wear this romper EVER AGAIN!

Family Friday!

2010-04-03T13:43:00.005+08:00

Last evening, after tuition, Alan and I brought Ethan to Bangsar Shopping Village. We wanted to try out the new Baby Bjorn harness that we had paid a hefty SGD299 for in Takashimaya, SIngapore but brought his stroller along, just in case.

Once we arrived at BSV, we harnessed him and boy did he look cute! :D Many passersby gave him lingering glances and smiled at him and one Indian lady pushing a pram with a toddler inside did a detour around Ethan and us just to take another look! hahaha

Dinner was a meal at Fish & Co. I opted for the healthier choice of grilled dory fish with coriander sauce and Alan had his usual Best Fish & Chips in Town. We shared a drink and a cream of fish soup and a platter of cheesy mussels.

Ethan was a good boy and sat quietly in his stroller for around 3/4 of the time we spent in the restaurant. However, once he got bored and restless, he started to fuss and then we had to carry him AGAIN.

After the meal, we went into Toys R'Us and Ethan was enthralled by the wide array of toys. He posed cutely with the Martian family and stared at the colourful display of fun things. We wanted to buy him a small swimming pool to sit in (in our garden) but I've decided to wait till he can sit up properly by himself instead.

We left Toys R'Us empty-handed but discovered that window shopping can be fun too - esp since baby's in the harness and both our hands are empty! :) I'm so glad we invested in the harness. :)

Next stop: The Village Grocer. I wanted to take a look at the baby foods and etc. And also bought two packets of white fungus for our soup in the evenings. I had thoroughly enjoyed drinking soup at my inlaw's place recently and wanted to replicate Gina's soups.

Whilst we were browsing, two kids ( separately ) pointed Ethan out to their parents. One even mentioned loudly, " Cute little baby". hahaha. Such nice compliments to hear. I am thankful that Ethan is such a loveable boi (esp since he has lost his jaundice and his horrid tan). Ethan helped Mommy to carry her plastic bag of white fungus after we left the supermarket! Such a helpful boy! :D

After short visits to Ace Hardware and the Organic Food Shop, we made our way home contentedly. :)

Our Busy Trip Back to Spore

2010-04-01T13:41:00.003+08:00

Wow. The recent trip back to Singapore was indeed hectic and tiring. I think Ethan lost a bit of weight there... :P

Friday 26 March 2010 (Ethan is 5 Months old today!)

We left for home at around 245pm today. The drive was painfree and we arrived at around 6pm. First stop was NUS Temasek Hall to pick up the princess of a younger sister. And then, next stop was Tiong Bahru MRT station taxi stand to pick up the Empress of a Mother. Then, we all headed hurriedly to my inlaw's place for dinner.

The after-dinner plans included a family biz discussion and also viewing of the successfully rented central kitchen with some contractors. Then, it was home to 110B where we all collasped.

Saturday 27 March 2010

Alan had stuff to do in the morning so I took care of Ethan at home. Then, at around 6pm, we went to fetch my mom and all gathered at the Changi airport T3 for a good dinner.
We decided that Dian Xiao Er was a good choice and waited for almost an hour (it felt) for a suitable table to accomodate two baby strollers.

Dinner was a big clay bowl of soup each and their famous roasted duck, cod fish, toufu, vege, pork ribs etc etc. YuMZ! After the good food, we decided that some dessert should be enjoyed but everywhere was PACKED. T3 seems to be the new hang-out for all Singaporeans - especially those with young children. :P T3 car park even has this amusement area for little kiddos to drive around in big giraffe / tiger floats! I am amazed.

Anyway, I digressed. We ended up having a light 'dessert' at Jollybean - not that delicious but a healthier option definitely- and then heading home.

Sunday 28 March 2010

Again, Alan headed out in the morning to meet with some people. Ethan and I slept in a bit and then I bathed him. It was then off to Azlin's to see Baby Danial. :) We drove and drove to Bkt Panjang area (OMG so far) and reached her place at around 2pm.

It was almost like a mini-CGS gathering. Elaine, Leo and Wanhui were there and soon after we arrived, Zhao Fang, Alexis, Eileen and Mas popped over. After we went googoogaga over Baby Danial, Ethan started fussing and we left promptly so that I could feed him in the car.

Next stop: Waterina. We met up with Ester, our friend's housing agent who had just sold his unit for him. She was to help us in the sale of Waterina also. We brought her over to our unit and enjoyed reminiscing about the past. I quite miss living there. It's a really nicely done-up place (Alan has an eye for detail and we share the same tastes.) and I was a bit sorry that we were to let it go. But hey, must take adv of the soaring property prices, right? hee hee.

Anyway, after Esther left, Ryan (our other marketing agent and my long-time friend )came over and brought 2 other potential buyers. I went over to Keekiat's house to give Baby Ethan a wipe down as he was sweating profusely and very uncomfortable indeed. Little Raeann helped - she's such a dear. :)

Once all the property-stuff was attended to, we met up with the rest of the family for dinner at Furama Hotel for a buffet dinner.

Monday 29 March 2010

Today was designated for SHOPPING! We initially had wanted to buy a walker for Ethan but at the last minute, after conversing with a friend, gave up the idea. :) Don't wanna impede Ethan's developments. Let him progress naturally :)

First , we headed to POSB on the 4th floor of Takashimaya to open a bank account for Ethan. Finally, all his angpao money can be deposited! It took us quite a while to do the necessary and after we were finally done, we were all famished!

Lunch was at Central (HK cafe) at the basement of Taka and Mum joined us there albeit suffering from a mump-like syndrom. We polished off beef horfun and fishhead beehoon soup and 4 layer toufu cake and a polo bun before washing all the grease down with tea and coffee.

We had $200 Taka vouchers to spend. Sad to say, the day before was the last day of the Baby fair which was held in Taka atrium :P Alan wanted to invest in a coffee latte maker but could not find the specific model we had been searching for. After a while, a call came in---

ESTHER HAD SOLD OUR WATERINA CONDO!! :O My goodness, this girl is super efficient! She had sold the condo in barely 24hours! *claps* She then arranged to come down to taka to pass ALan the cheque and get him to sign some papers.

Before Esther came,we popped into the baby section of Taka and bought mustela shampoo and facial cream for Ethan again. Ye Ye also picked up 3 (for $10) cotton tops for Ethan's home-wear. Another DVD and a set of Baby Einstein flash cards went into our shopping cart as well. :)

At Cedele, Alan signed away his beautiful condo unit (sob) for a good price (cheer) and we all enjoyed our drinks and chatted with our efficient housing agent.

After a short discussion after biding Esther farewell, Alan and I decided that we had better not save the $300 and invest in the Baby Bjorn carrier. :P We are going on a holiday soon and carrying Ethan out and about gives me great aches and pains (arms / shoulders/ back). So if we are going to enjoy ourselves in Australia in the near future, better invest in a proper carrying equipment! :P

Soon, it was nearing 5pm (time really flew by that day) and my MIL strolled over in the rain from Mt E where she works, to join us in Taka. My Mom left for home to rest and recuperate. We all went to my inlaw's place again for a home-cooked meal and Ethan and I fell promptly asleep before dinner whilst the rest of the family headed to the central kitchen (in the flat nearby) to do some measurements and calculations. ;D

After dinner and discussion, we all watched Ethan on the video cam and laughed at his antics.

Tuesday 30 March 2010

We woke up at around 830am and got ready to leave for the beach. I wanted to show Ethan the Singapore beach and had promised Ash that we would bring him along that morning as well. :D
The weather was lovely and a tad cloudy and there was a soft breeze that ruffled the leaves of the trees.

It was fantastic too that it was a Tues morn and there were very few people to crowd up the place. We greeted an AngMoh lady with her 2 year old son. She was very interested in Ash and less so in Ethan. ahahhaha.

Ethan enjoyed his walk but started sweating a fair bit even with his portable fan pointed directly at him. haahha. Alan and I wanted a late breakfast but realised Mac's would not allow Ash on its premises. So we bought Subway instead and brought it back home.

After eating my sandwich, I proceeded to shower Ethan whilst Alan spoke to Esther who had arrived to finalise the sale of the condo. Then, we bade Mum farewell and left to Tai Sing for Alan to pick up more spare parts for his RC car AGAIN!!!!!!!!

I tasted out the Baby Bjorn sling and it was certainly appreciated as I could have both hands empty to shop around. There were many toys in the shop and Ethan and I had a great time. An Iranian lady was very interested in Ethan and talked to him and asked for his name etc. hahaha. He charms people from all walks of life, hor?

Well, once Alan was done. I decided that I was too tired to go to Raffles City to check out the baby foods section as we had initially decided. So we headed for the causeway straightaway w/o lunch.

After hours of smooth driving, we stopped at KFC at around 345pm to grab a bite and fill our ravenous bellies before zooming back home to Bangsar. :)

Yam Cakes & Macademia Nut Chochip Cookies!

2010-03-25T17:20:00.003+08:00

It's thunderstorming now. The kiddo's asleep. He woke up briefly, startled by the thunder and lightning. He opened his eyes big bigggg.. Then, realising that Mummy was lying beside him and patting him, he promptly decided that the weather was too good and fell right back to sleep. I just sneaked away from his bedroom.

Nowadays, we have naps and playtime during the day in Ethan's bedroom, surrounded by lotsa fun things - e.g. baby posters, wall stickers, lamaze play gym, ABC mat etc etc. And then, at night, he will sleep in Dad and Mom's room on our bed. I hope to wean him off slowly from sleeping on our bed but the fact that I nurse him to sleep doesn't give me the incentive to do the former. hahaha Lazy Mommy!

Yesterday, I made steamed yam cakes for our dinner and Alan's breakfast the following day. They turned out quite yummy, I must say! And because the servings were huge, Alan brought the cakes into the office to feed his staff this morning! hahaha

The day before, I also baked Macademia Nut and Choco Chip cookies for Alan and Jean. But sad to say, the hubby thinks they are 'as hard as doggie biscuits'!! (Ethan doesn't seem to think so though!)

IT'S MEESIAM MONDAY!

2010-03-24T17:49:00.002+08:00

En made her fabulous meesiam today for dinner. It's my Mummy's recipe but too bad she's not here to cook it or it would have been tastier. :( But still it was good :)

Something Different

2010-03-21T23:29:00.000+08:00

To continue in the theme of doing "something different", Alan and I and Ethan took a walk this morning in the neighbourhood. Actually, I had woken up at around 8am and toyed with the idea of going for a stroll for at least 15minutes... Then, the son and husband stirred and so I mooted the idea.

It was indeed a lovely experience. There were clouds in the sky and it wasn't hot at all. Jay Jay and Coco formed the entourage as well. I had slapped on mosquito repellent for Ethan as I know how vicious the mozzies are in this neighbourhood.

A few months ago, when Ethan was even "littler", ALan and I had taken him on a walk. We placed him in the stroller and immediately he started screaming his head off. Needless to say, our walk did not last very long. :P

Today was different though. Ethan squinted in the sunlight but did not protest as we placed him in the stroller. He proceeded to stone his way around the neighbourhood and after a few minutes, the movement of the stroller lulled him into a deep sleep again. hahaha. What a babe!

After the walk, Alan and I left to have bf at our usual coffeeshop. I decided to have toasted bread instead of my usual noodles. And then we went to TMC to pick up some items. Along the way there, Saw Hoon called and they wanted to pop over to bring us the toys they promised.

We hurried home and strawberry tea, strawberries and kiwis were served to our guests. :) We had a great time laughing over the videos of our previous Morib Beach day trip. :) The Tan family gave us a few wooden jigsaw puzzles, a toy lawn mower and also an 'egg'citing toy that sharpens the child's counting skills. They also gave me a book on what toys are useful ones to buy from the birth to two years of age of your child. Their son is a future doctor and their daughter is a future dentist... I think I shall get Ethan started on the toys in no time. hahahah. Joking lah.

In the evening, Ethan was all tired out and he fell asleep next to Daddy on the rocking sofa. How cute! hahaha

Avocado Milkshake :)

2010-03-20T21:11:00.004+08:00

Today we did something special at home... we made AVOCADO MILKSHAKE!

Recipe for 2.5 big glasses of milkshake:

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocados

some melted gula melaka (to taste)

500ml of milk

ice cubes

Method:

1. Blend the milk, avocados and gula melaka together.

2. Add in ice cubes and blend again.

3. Pour out and ENJOY!

Simple and tasty! :D

This evening, we went to Bangsar Shopping Centre to check out its new wing and at the same time to go to Pets Lovers Centre to buy dog food. However, there was NO Pets Lovers Centre there. How diappointing! We had originally learned that a branch was going to be opened at BSC in Dec 2009 but I guess they pulled out last minute! :(

Very unfortunate as that would have been a very good place, a near home, to buy dog food and the likes. Anyway, we roamed and roamed around and got some spices for my cooking of lamb curry tomorrow and then went into Cold Storage and picked up some sushi for dinner at home tonight.

Hair cuts

2010-03-19T23:42:00.003+08:00

Alan and I took a short breather from Ethan tonight and went for our monthly haircut at Bill's. I finished tuition at around 530pm and fed Ethan for all of 2 minutes before Ening carted him away to bathe and we made a beeline for La'Mode.

We sat there for our hair wash and cut till 8pm! And then I went into MPH to exchange a book I had bought for Ethan which was torn and tattered inside :( After that, Alan and I had a Vietnamese dinner at the top floor of MVMM.

I ordered a set dinner of a prawn rice roll, beef phoa and a dessert of 3 layer shaved ice chendol. Alan ordered (mistakenly) a bowl of mixed beef phoa and a bowl of beef balls phoa. We polished everything off our plates / bowls / glass. Satisfied, we then went on our way home to a crying and fussing Ethan. :~( We saw this exhibition of Alice in Wonderland at the forum of Mid Valley Mega Mall. :D

Ethan @ Pantai Medical Centre

2010-03-16T10:19:00.005+08:00

Good morning folks! It's a lovely Tuesday morning. ;) Today, Ethan's due for his second jab and this time we will be going to Doctor Yong Sin Chuen at Pantai Medical Centre. I'm a little jittery about the jab part but in anticipation of a new (and good - he came highly recommended on the expat forum) doctor. I also can't wait to get Ethan measured. It's been a long two months since the last time he was weighed and measured for length. hahaha You know (if you don't already), Moms always measure their success at parenthood of their newborns by their baby's weight and length. ahahhaha. Soon it will be the number of As they are getting in their report cards and the number of instruments they play and have mastered musically etc.. :P *sigh* Hence begins the mindless and completely meaningless race.

I will drop updates later (for the excited grannie to read). Tata for now.

1030pm:

Ethan's fast asleep from all the trauma. He hardly slept the whole day (although he woke up late at 10am this morning). We went to Pantai for our appointment with Dr Yong at 230pm. Unlike the Gleneagles doc, we did not have to wait very long (thank goodness~). After registering for Ethan as a new patient, we waited outside Dr Yong's clinic.

A nurse came to take Ethan's weight (6.02kg) and length (63.5cm) and then we waited outside the clinic again.

Doc Yong stood up to greet both Alan and myself and shook our hands sincerely. Immediately he put us at ease. He was also tremendously gentle with Ethan and very warm and caring. He proceeded to ask us for updates of Ethan's first 4 months on earth and was very detailed in his questioning and note-taking. He asked us developmental milestones of Ethan's, such as grasping of things / putting things into his mouth / flipping over etc etc. He was also concerned when we told him about Ethan's jaundice previously.

Then, he gave Ethan a general look-over and pronounced him healthy and well :) Although Ethan is still on the slightly small side, he reassured us that everything was normal and fine. :) After giving Ethan the oral drops for the Rotarvirus, I braced myself for the jab. It was over in no time. Ethan didn't even have time to react - I think he gave a short 3sec maximum cry and then it was over. hahaha. :) Brave Mummy did not even shed a tear this time~!

The Doc's clinic was plastered with lotsa big wall stickers and Ethan was tremendously entertained by the lion / tiger / elephant, giggling and exclaiming loudly to himself everytime I carried him near the stickers. hahaha Doc Yong was amused as well. hehehe.

Ethan's third vaccination jab is slated for 26th April 2010. :)

The Weekend in Short

2010-03-15T12:33:00.009+08:00

Ethan looking at ants scamper by

Ethan watching tv with big bright eyes

Ethan bouncing on Daddy's lap

Last weekend was quite fulfilling. It all started on Friday 12 March 2010 evening when Alan came back home earlier than normal. It's great that he has moved his office. It's much nearer home and to get from Office to Home and vice versa, he can successfully avoid the common jams in KL.

We contemplated going out for the evening but luckily decided against it, even before he got home as a thunderstorm was brewing. We spent our evening indoors and watching a DVD. :)

Saturday 13 March 2010

I was zonked out after waking up as the night had been long and Ethan had been feeding. I've got to ask the doc tomorrow, during Ethan's checkup cum injection, whether or not it's time to start him on solids. I know some docs advocate introducing solids from as young as 4 months but in general, I think the average age to feed babies solid food is around 6 months of age.

Anyway, we had decided long ago to hit town and BUY BUY BUY. KL is having some massive sales and we decided to go to 1-Utama to shop. Parkson, the major departmental store was having a Mad About Kids sale and I wanted to look for a walker n etc for Ethan.

All of us bundled into the car at around 11am and headed for 1-U. ALan was craving for Nonya food so we went to our usual haunt, The Peranakan Place at Level 2. We realised it had been refurbished and it looked much classier and we quite excited to enjoy the good food it served again.

Unfortunately, we were very let down. The standard of their fare had plummeted. We ordered 5 dishes to share - Devil's Curry, Sambal Belachan Kangkong, Lala Egg, a Nonya Braised Toufu and sambal prawns.All the dishes were found wanting. :( I think my hot barley water was the saving grace. ;p

After the gastronomical disappointment, we suffered another disappointment. The baby/kiddo section in Parkson, 1-U was sooooooooo pathetic. :P It did not house many brands, to begin with. And also did not have a baby walker section. *sigh* We browsed and went away with 2 bottles of baby wash and a packet of wet wipes ONLY. My goodness.

MPH was next door and I proceeded to renew my membership for RM20. Alan bought me the book I had been wanting to get (Diary of a TaxiDriver) and I bought Ethan a couple of pop-up books etc more (remember my ambition to fill up his bookshelf??!) Alan also clamoured for molten chocolate cake / muffins and so we bought 500 Cupcakes and Muffins book for their recipes.

By then, my body was aching as the stroller had been empty and my arms laddened with "little" Ethan. We proceeded to the baby nursing / changing room to feed Ethan who was fussing. Wow. Impressive! I didn't take a picture but let me describe...

There is a lcd tv inside the room and a play table and chairs to entertain the toddlers whilst mommy feeds, coupled with a sitting area for the daddies. Inside, there is a line of changing cushions and bins for babies' soiled diapers to be changed. Further in, there are 3 or 4 nursing rooms. Each brightly coloured and decorated with wall stickers. Also, (and I don't know why but it's a nice touch), there is a cradle bouncer in each room. This is so far, the best nursing room in KL! *claps*

After Ethan was satisfied and partially falling asleep, I changed his diaper and then all of us proceeded to the shops to look for MORE CLOTHES for Ethan. hahaha His wardrobe is overflowing with clothes but he is certainly outgrowing more and more.

Finally, in F.O.S. (Alan calls it full of $ht), I found some great deals. I bought altogether 6 rompers for Ethan. 4 at 2 for Rm20 and a pair at 2 for Rm16. Yay. They will last him beyond 6months and are longer than most of his current ones now. Ethan's Baju from F.O.S. (RM56 in all)

Thirsty and exhausted by now, we decided that Juicewerks was a better option than Coffeebean because it was healthier. It was certainly pretty pricey though and 3 drinks (one for the maid too) came up to be RM25+. Wow. Health indeed comes with a price. hahahaha. Resting in Mama's arms in Juicewerks

Home welcomed us with opened arms when we arrived at around 4pm and the two furry ones were extremely relieved to be let out of their cages.

Sunday 14 March 2010

We woke up at around 10am, amazed by how let it was. Quickly, Alan made a phone call to our local butcher to order some pork. We were going to have a home-made steamboat tonite! :D

Ethan was left in the care of En and we headed to the market and the supermarket to pick up the usual and more. Someone Someone had requested for me to bake bake bake so I picked up a few more items in lieu of this. Butter, amazingly had gone up by Rm2/ slab!

Anyway, after we left TMC and dropped the stuff off at home, we headed to (where else but) our usual Sunday brunch place for (what else but) fishhead beehoon soup. The only thing about eating this so regularly, I can say is that at least it's health food! hahaa. Our best friend had not opened to our disgust (it was already 1pm) and we could not do an exchange of our purchases. :(

We went into Desa Sri Kota to buy ladles for the steamboat as well as a few other items then headed home for me to take a quick shower and then feed and be with Ethan. I had a luxurious 1.5hour nap with him - I had been suffering from a sleep deficet and I had needed a power nap desperately. Alan had his "Me Time" and had a good time with his RC cars. After that, he proceeded to prepare the stock etc for our steamboat dinner.

At approximately 630pm, we started on our steamboat and had a tremendously enjoyable and delicious meal. :D

I Deserve IT!

2010-03-12T13:44:00.002+08:00

I've a sore throat, entirely by my on doing. Alan brought back 2 mao shang wang a couple of nites ago and we went at it. haha. Apparently, the durians were so filled with seeds that we couldn't finish and had to put the remaining in the fridge. There were so many seeds leftover that until today, there are still a few in the box lying forlornly in the fridge.

Oh, I digressed. My throat's itchy and scratchy entirely due to the above. Sigh. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the weekend. :)

Some rambling

2010-03-09T14:16:00.002+08:00

I am FINALLY starting on a book - the modern day classic "The Alchemist", after years of inactivity. Just the other day, I roamed into MPH (because it was having a great sale) and found myself just restricting myself to books for the kiddos. My goodness. Sad, but true! I vow to read more and educate myself more whilst I am still in KL and have the time.

However, admittedly, taking care of Ethan does take up most of my waking (and semi-awake) hours. I try now to develop him in all aspects. Let's see... there's TUMMY time which he is placed on his belly and tries hard to flip frustratedly...there's Reading Storybook time..he is exposed to different types of books - books that have accompanying sounds/ flap-up books/ pull-out books/ touch-touch books etc..All his books are very vibrantly coloured. Then, there is also Music time. Little Ethan does enjoy his musical toolbench (Fisherprice) very much and sings along with the music and kicks his legs. hahaha. Ethan hardly enjoys watching TV though, and is certainly not enthused by his Baby IQ disc. His attention span is still very, very short for now.
Most of the time, it's now Drooling and Biting Time.

Think Ethan's teething and hence the drool. Also, his has cultivated a bad habit of sticking out his tongue. Just discovered this yesterday. :P literally! He also enjoys playing with his saliva and sucking on his digits. Ahhh.. The mountains of used tissue paper we had to throw away!

This weekend, PARKSON is having a kiddo sale. Sad to say, the Lamaze Space Symphony play gym we purchased a couple of weeks ago online is going at a song from 12march till 23 march at a couple of Parkson outlets. *big sigh* Anyway, we will head on down and pick up some necessities and some wants. hahaha.

I love buying clothes for Ethan. I know it's an extravagant hobby because he will outgrow them in no time. But seeing cute lil' baju for kiddos makes me SMILE :D ok he's woken up..tata

2010-03-08T19:53:00.000+08:00

I baked a fluffy banana cake today! :D

More of Ethan!

2010-03-08T14:35:00.001+08:00

Ethan playing with his Space Symphony Play Gym.

A Special Sunday at Morib Beach

2010-03-07T21:44:00.006+08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUMMY DEAR!!sorry we were not able to make a trip back to surprise you this year. The surprise was : THERE WAS NO SURPRISE!!! Hahaha.

Amazing! We have to travel 1.5 hours to get to a beach from KL. hahaha. We had been invited by the Tan family to go to Morib Beach for lunch and a get-together today. I wasn't all for it as the weather had been SO FREAKING HOT recently.

I mean, it's bad enough that I sweat buckets in an airconditioned room let alone under a cloudless sky with no airconditioned shelter. The Tans had repeatedly offered a disclaimer which came with their invitation - that the beach was a muddy expense and so I had already a negative impression of Morib.

I woke up at 745am and quickly took my shower and then roused the husband and the son who were sleeping peacefully. Ethan looked so comfortable in our huge bed that I almost did not hace the heart to wake him up.

Anyway, we were on our way by 920am but the silly GPS brought us round and round and we were unable to locate Pantai Morib. FINALLY, after many wrong twists and turbs, we finally got there in one piece.

Golden Sea Restaurant was not as its name suggests, along the beautiful golden sea. The restaurant consisted of quite a few small pavilions along the beach. Although I had been starving during the journey there, I promptly forgot my hunger when we arrived and went to explore the beach with the rest of them.

Ethan enjoyed the sea breeze caressing his hair and looked about his surroundings with interest. He had been a good boy in the car and had had his Happy Meal during the journey. :D We watched as Uncle Meng Khoo tried to fly his wooden eagle kite from Bali and as Coco tried to play with a group of children. Jay Jay stuck close to us though.. hahaha He is a guniang dog :P

It was finally time for lunch! Uncle Meng Khoo ordered a starchy soup, banana chicken, crabs, toasted bread, vegetables and chilli lala. Unfortunately, after finishing the meal, Alan and I were not satiated at all. *sigh* We have big appetites indeed. ahhahaha.

After lunch, we all headed to the sea. The tide had subsided so much that we could walk for about 500m outwards to sea, on the seabed! That was certainly an interesting expedition! A net had been put up by the fishermen which was a few metres long and after the tide had subsided, many fish and etc were caught inside. The sea creatures had all died though because of the shallow waters and the hot sun.

Ethan saw many different kinds of fish, some prawns, small crabs, etc. We even saw this creature that looked like a stingray but had a hard shell covering. Unfortunately, all the above had died because of the inconsiderate fisherman who had not removed the net after gathering his catch. :(

Jay Jay and Coco had a whale of a time too, with Chloe. Chloe had been to the beach thrice and dispensed with the formalities and happily scampered around. She also barked at Coco to join in the fun and he did not disappoint. Our dear furry son, Jay Jay, though was labeled a 'sissy' but the Tan family. He followed me around under the shade of the umbrella and just looked on as Coco and Chloe enjoyed themselves. Most of the time, he was preoccupied with getting rid of the small ants which were feasting on his legs. Poor thing.

After the educational walk, all of us washed our muddy selves clean and then had a RM4 coconut each to quench our thirst in the shade. What a good way to spend a Sunday. :) I was immensely surprised .:)

That evening, Alan and I made our way to a favourite haunt we had not patronised for a very long time. We had steamed assam fish and bakuteh under the bridge for dinner again. :)

The Reunion

2010-03-06T13:52:00.007+08:00

We decided to shy away from our usual barchor noodles for brunch and try something more special this late morning. By the time we had left the house after bathing the little one, it was already close to noon.

Mrs Kua had mentioned a long time ago that The Reunion in BSV was a very pricey dim sum restaurant. Pricey, but delicious. We decided to give it a shot today.

The restaurant was divided into two halves. One was the brightly lit and open area where passersby could see what you had on your plates and the other was enclosed and very dark (for a dimsum restaurant) which long flowing curtains and dim lights. Classy, we thought.

We chose the dim dark and were seated. Then we began to order - charsiew pau/ prawn rice roll/ lean meat and salted egg congee/ panfried turnip cake/ ha kao chicken feet/ roasted pork etc etc. All these delicacies filled our table. The food was good and not that expensive also and Alan and I had a good brunch. :) A special touch was given when, at the end of our meal, we were served with a fortune cookie each! It is interesting to note that my fortune " A pleasant surprise is in store for you." would come true the next day. :) *Please see blog entry dated 7/3/2010. :D

IKEA!

2010-03-05T22:22:00.003+08:00

Today, after running a few errands, Alan brought us to IKEA for lunch and to shop! I was excited because I had chalked up quite a few items to buy and I was fighting (and losing) this immense cravings for their MEATBALLS! hahaha

We arrived at IKEA and made a beeline for their cafe. The queues which snaked from both sides of the counter amazed us. It was as though the restaurant was participating in the SALE IKEA was having! :P

I decided to have my main dish healthier and share Alan's 15 meatballs with him. I chose the poached salmon in a buttery sauce. We bought a baked chicken drumstick for Ening. Our maid has been putting on a lot of weight ever since she has moved to KL to help us! :P To add to the menu, Alan also bought chicken wings.

Sad to say, the food in IKEA disappointed us big time. Sigh. My salmon was dry and flakey and the meatballs were tasteless and hard. Only the chicken wings were delicious and the saving grace of the meal. :P Both thumbs down for the food, I must declare. Please remind me never to eat at IKEA (KL) again. Normally, we will have Thai food at Absolute Thai in Ikano POwer Centre before heading to IKEA and that's what we will stick to doing next time :P

ANYWAY, after the miserable meal, we popped immediately into the toy section of IKEA, right next to the restaurant. Ethan was tickled literally and figuratively by the different toys he saw. We also picked up a blue 'giraffe', a small cute little white mouse and 7 tiny animal toys (RM 2.90 each).

My main purpose of coming to IKEA was also to pick up some containers to put Ethan's toys / books / etc in. So we did. We finally settled with 2 plastic containers - a smaller red one and a bigger blue one . The former would be placed downstairs in the living room and the latter upstairs in his room. That's where we spend most of our waking hours. :)

We also chanced upon a bookshelf for RM79 and of course we bought it to display all of Ethan's books. hahaha. We roamed IKEA somemore after that and bought a big car rug for our room. Ethan now tends to be very cheeky and kick his legs intentionally in the bathroom. He enjoys making us exclaim by doing that. The louder we exclaim, the harder he kicks (oh, the irony!). So anyway, the rug would be placed under his bath tub to seep up the spilled water.

By the time we left IKEA, it was already 3+pm. We headed to the nearby Starbucks for a drink and gave En permission to go shopping. She had earlier told me that she needed to buy a pair of pants. En went to the nearby shops / bazzar and we savoured our Cammomile tea and ice blended chocolate drink. Ethan made a big stinkie in the cafe (good timing) and we proceeded to change him.

After around half an hour, En came back with two pairs of pants and we made our way home to drop the son and her off. Alan and I then left again for Liang Xin, our favourite massage parlour situated at Bukit Bintang. :)

It was 1.5hours of extremely painful pleasure and we left rejuvented but sad, knowing that our two favourite massage therapists are leaving the parlour for home and Spain respectively. :(

Flip (not flops)!!!

2010-03-04T19:16:00.004+08:00

I'm so, so proud of my baby! He has reached a new milestone of his life. hahaha Just now, I put him on his tummy on the changing table for some 'tummy time'. It was so funny though as he rested his head on the side of the table - very slanted. Normally, when placed on his tummy, he was struggle and complain and then burst into tears. However, today was a tad different. He looked like his mind was far away and he had that hint of a smile on his lips.

Using my imagination, I thought that was his hint for flipping and just wanted to try my luck, so I carried him and placed him into a much safer place to turn - his cot. I placed Ethan on his tummy and without further ado (and only a little encouragement from the Mommy whose heart was palpitating), he flipped himself over. hahahaha!!!

It was no fluke ok! He did it a couple of times and then once more when placed on my bed! *three cheers* heheheh. I shall post a video of it soon.

The Great MPH Sale!

2010-03-04T16:41:00.003+08:00

Last night, because it was SALE time at MPH (good excuse?), we brought Ening and Ethan out to MVMM and The Gardens.

Alan came back early (these days he does not linger in the office as they are moving out and the dust is overwhelming) and we bathed Ethan together before dressing him in his Hallmark shirt (which is going to be too small for him soon) and his long pants.

Dinner was at the Jap restaurant at The Gardens. Alan's choice AGAIN. We had gone to the Taiwanese restaurant two nights ago and THAT too , was of his choice. It's NOT FAIR *stamp foot on ground and cross arms with pout*. hahaha. Not complaining lah. I would have chosen the food court in a bid to save moolah. Oh well...

We ordered and I satisfied my craving for unagi. Both En and I gobbled down our food but she won and she volunteered to bring Ethan outta the restaurant (he was starting to struggle and show his horns, again). We thankfully agreed. After Alan and I had polished off our rice, we waiting a bit impatiently for the scallop / volcano sushi etc to be served. We left a few pieces of sushi and a scallop for En and Alan then went out to look for her.

TO HIS HORROR, she (and of course Ethan lah) were no where to be found. He searched for them but it was futile and then came back to report to (and scare ) me. I promptly left the unfinished food and pushed the pram out to the counter at the entrance to pay.

Weird thoughts were running through my brain. This is Malaysia, mind you. BTW, have I related the story of the uncle whose son was kidnapped? That's another story...you can PM me if you want the gory (yes I mean all of that word) details. :P

Anyway, finally the maid and the kiddo were found. SHe had brought him into Borders, just next door. My freaked out husband gave her a tongue lashing (in relief). sigh.

After the scare, we headed to MPH to capitalise on the SALE. I had received an SMS (as a member of MPH, Malaysia) that 3/3-5/3 was big sale period for MPH members. The sale would last till 7/3, actually but the first three days had greater discounts to be enjoyed.

True enough, we picked up some great steals. There were 3 First Word books for Ethan, some touch-touch books, pop-up books and also a book that emitted wailing of a siren etc etc. I also bought a book for TK and Ening each. hahaha. My goodness.

Then came a short visit to Ace Hardware and after that, because it was still early, and Ethan was drowsy, we decided to head to PapaRich and give it another shot. The first visit to this outlet had not satisfied but we were bored and thirsty and it was early 8pm only, after all.

Alan had a red bean ice with chendol drink and En and I both had tau huay. My order did not delight, AGAIN.

Updates on (not-so- lil') Ethan

2010-03-01T12:09:00.009+08:00

It's Monday again. Can't believe how time seems to be flying past us. Lil' Ethan ain't that little anymore, I must admit! He's a big little boy now and I am finding it more and more difficult to feed him in the car.

He enjoys his baths now by kicking his feet and playfully threshing his arms in the tub and hence splashing water all over our wooden floor. Today, the naughty fella peed twice in the tub and poor Daddy had to refill his water twice. :P I raised my voice and told him to look at me whilst staring into his eyes and he absolutely REFUSED to meet my eyes, cheekily staring elsewhere in our white bathroom. Wah Such a NAUGHTY fella! *click tongue* He will also give you the 'I Know I'm Being Naughty' slight grin that tips the corner of his mouth slightly. hahhaah. Very amusing.

He can also play with Mommy and Daddy now. We play the "Kissing Monster Game" where Mom / Dad showers kisses VIOLENTLY onto his tummy and he will pretend to be tortured whilst enjoying every moment of it and exclaiming "AiYah AiYah" loudly! hahaha He can win an Oscar at his age!

Ethan enjoys sitting in his lime green bumbo chair as well and sometimes we turn on the TV (barney / baby einstein etc) . But he has a short attention span and after a while will be clamouring to be carried out of his throne.;p

Oh, he also can pull the cord attached to his rocker chair now and switch on the 'twinkle twinkle little star' music by himself now. I taught him by placing his hand on the cord a week ago and he has been practising every day. :)

Ethan likes his space symphony play gym too. It's made up of many dangling toys and a little mirror in the shape of the sun. Also, the structure sways with the music and it's as though his little space gym is orbiting around Ethan. haha. Quite interesting.

We have postponed Ethan's second Vaccination jab (which is due around now) till 16th March 2010 because we want to change pedatricians - from Dr Lim MK at Gleneagles (who I feel is too busy to give us the time of day) to Dr Yong S C at Pantai who has been strongly recommended by an expat parent on the expat forum. Another reason to change docs is Pantai Medical Centre is SO CLOSE to home! We shall see on 16th March if this new doc will meet expectations. :) I hope so!

Bye bye Ye Seong

2010-02-27T00:36:00.001+08:00

Tonight's the night (technically it's tmr morn) that Ethan's godpa is flying off to Shanghai for a one year stint.

He's leaving behind a distraught gf n two doggies. We treated them (excl dogs) to a meal at Food Foundry last nite, coupled with millieu crepe cake as dessert. Yum!

Hope the couple will be able to get thru the long distance and maintain their relationship! Jia u!!

Today's also the day I ended my recluse and started my tuition with my last two remaining students. Their taitai mum bought ah boy a lot of clothes from Paul Frank, two bibs n even a cute lil pair of shoes from obaibi! For the mum, a body spa package was received! What generosity!!!:)

Ethan's First Holiday (Cameron Highlands Feb 2010)

2010-02-24T22:45:00.010+08:00

It was Ethan's first holiday trip and we show took many pictures to commemorate the occasion!

18th February 2010 (Thursday)

AGAIN, we had to wake up a tad earlier. But since Alan was driving, I tried to let him sleep in more. We actually left the house around 930am, headed to TMC to buy batteries (for the GPS had konked out on us) and then started our journey.

The drive was smooth and the son was cooperative (touch wood) and by the time we got to Avant choco factory in Cameron Highlands, Ethan was still asleep. I wrapped him in the sling and introduced him to the chilly air.

It was very unfortunate that there were SO MANY tourists in CH. Apparently many will visit during CNY period (we had already been forewarned). This totally spoiled the quaint charm the place had..but , like Alan said, the business have to survive, right???

We headed straight for Hotel De La'Ferns, a relatively new establishment. Not too bad, considering the price was right. We retired to bed after our lunch of beef horfun and lamb rack and woke up at around 5+pm to get ready to head out for dinner. We roamed around the area and had a drink at the sweltering Starbucks Cafe (which was not there previously when I visited the area 2 years again). Then, had our zichar dinner at Mayflower Restaurant.

19th February 2010 (Friday)
We woke up ard 8+am and had a leisure breakfast before heading out. First stop was EQ farm. We paid Rm20 for an empty styrofoam container and then proceeded into the garden to pluck their minute strawberries. Sad to say, they paled in comparison with those we had plucked and fed on in 2008. Now, due to the influx of tourists, the strawberries left were small and sour. SIGH.

A KS aunty squeezed me into the corner and I was carrying my LV (diaper bag) , VideoCam bag and Baby Ethan. So my LV ended up squashing some strawberries on the plants and the juice actually stained the bag. :P Stupid KS Aunty :P

I gave up trying to carry all the barang (including kid) and pluck strawberries so I left the garden with Ethan and let Alan pluck till his heart's content. hahaha He emerged pretty victorious, considering there was nothing much left to offer him in the first place.

After the unpleasant incident, we left and ventured to the Big bee apiary. Nothing much. We decided to save our RM for Uncle's Bee Farm (ok that's not the real name hor...) Two years ago, we had visited this farm and enjoyed bottles of honey there. Alan had bought bars of soap that have magical effect on his bodily issues. hahaha.

We bought and bought like there was no tomorrow and left the farm with 6 big bottles of honey (1 small bottle free), 3 small jars of honey and 11 boxes of soap (buy 10 , 1 free). hahaha. Alan taught Ethan about the birds and the BEES at the farm too. ahhaha

We headed next to Water Cress valley and were fascinated by the beautiful plains of water cress in the valley and esp by the charcoal steamboat. Alan immediately paid a deposit to make a Reservation of that evening's dinner meal. hahaha

We left for "59" a mark we had made on the GPS to look around. It was a small lil' market-like place (one of the many in CH). But it had nothing to offer. So we went back to our hotel for a rest.

Back at the hotel room, we introduced Ethan to "strawberries". He held them in his minute palms and smelled them. hahaha. So cute.

Our dinner appt was at 7pm and the place was pretty crowded. Ethan woke up just as the food was served. Initially he was OK and sat quietly, enjoying the chilly air. THEN he started his Monstrous Ways. He wailed and wailed and e'one was staring.. Sigh. Alan and I agreed that if we ever (CHOY) had another child, there wld be NO ONE eating at the table (as we two wld be too busy carrying and cajoling the children). Heaven Forbid that from Happening!!

By the end of the dinner (9pm) we were exhausted and so was little Ethan. Back at the hotel, we found out that he had made a stinkie - the real reason for the wailing. :P

20th February 2010 (Saturday)

Having slept in and getting ready for breakfast only at 10am, we felt more well-rested than before. After the check-out, our first stop was Healthy Strawberry Farm. deciding against self-plucking, we purchased 7 small punnets of strawberries for only RM30. Also, an auntie was selling organic veges and fruits. I bought a bag of cherry tomatoes / sweet potatoes/ 7 sweet corn. YUM.

Alan stopped his car along the roadside a couple of minutes later (because our car wasn't full) and bought 6 small honey melons and a huge watermelon for personal consumption. hahaa. Then, we headed for the renowned BOH TEA plantation and cafe II. We had wanted to visit this particular one because of the beautiful scenery but had taken the wrong turn the day before and ended up at another not so spectacular one. Initially, we hadn't even realised that there were TWO!

After a long queue to buy our scones and apple strudel, we left Cameron Highands for Home sweet Home.

Chinese New Year in Singapore

2010-02-24T21:44:00.009+08:00

Because my Vaio has given way and has been sent for repair, I've been procrastinating to update my blog. Alan has generously lent me his Apple and I am trying not to 'kill' it. hahaha. V disappointed with the Vaio. It was bought only last June and yet has given way so quickly. I did take good care of it (I Promise!), but still.... it will only be ready for collection next week. :P

Now, on to something more pleasant...let's recap the Past:

11 February 2010 (Thursday)

This morning, we woke up very early (615am) to prepare for our flight. I quickly showered and got ready and then tried to rouse the sleeping Ethan. Hahhaha. The lil' one was sleeping so soundly that it was pretty difficult to wake him up. But thankfully, he allowed us to wipe him and prepare him.

Uncle Raymond, the trusty taxi-driver, reported for work bright and early (at 730am) and whisked us off to the airport (KLIA). We were excited (and apprehensive) since this was going to be Ethan's maiden flight. Good that it was via SQ and not budget airways t00.

Upon arrival at the KLIA, Uncle Raymond good-naturedly present lil' Ethan was a red packet for good luck. How v sweet of him! We strolled into the airport leisurely, since we had already done an internet check-in the night before. :)

After checking in our luggage, we made a beeline for our usual breakfast fix (Mac Donald's). Ethan even had a chance to take a pic with Ronald just outside the restaurant! :) After his poo poo and diaper change (great timing, I must add!), we went into the departure waiting area for our 1025am flight.

All was well on board the flight and the lovely stewardess helped buckle Ethan's seat belt to mine. I fed him almost all the way through (also to prevent ear aches due to the air pressure during take off and landing). Lil' Ethan's inaugural flight was pretty smooth, Thank God for that!

We landed at around 1115am and decided to treat ourselves to a lunch tonic at Soup Restaurant. Luckily, we arrived early for 15mins after we got seated and ordered, the lunch crowd milled in. Ethan was not very cooperative in the restaurant and we got quite a few sympathetic stares as a reward... ;p

Finally, we arrived home at 110B and after a quick bath, we all took a nap. Sad to say, Alan had to attend a dinner function for CNY at the Spore HQ office. Yvonne and Paul and Tyler were to come for dinner though. :)

Thankfully, we have great friends who also have 2 cars and KK and Julia so generously offered to loan us their Lancer for the period of stay in Spore. I dread to think how we wld survive w/o a car, lugging the baby/ stroller/ oranges etc around the whole of Singapore. :P Thanks for your generosity, guys! Much appreciated!!

12 February 2010 (Friday)

Today started off with something v exciting! We were to bring Ethan to Crescent Girls' School (where I used to teach) to attend the CNY Concert. Of course I wanted to pay a visit to my dear ol' friends and to say hi to one and all as well!

We arrived at 10 minutes to 11am and Vashoo, the security guard who seemed to have aged a fair bit, let us in without further ado. We headed into the staffroom to say HIIIIIII...Ethan was enjoying himself and all the attention until Zhao Fang sucked on his fingers. hahaha. The poor fella then started to waillll. hahaha. I can see he's very possessive about members of his anatomy! ;p

We brought Ethan to the school hall and by then the lion dance troupe was at it on stage. The resounding "dong dong chiang" seemed too much for our baby son to bear and he let out a wail (just as the dong dong chiang stopped) so loud, enough for the whole school hall to turn and look. hahaha. Oh my. I quickly retrieved my husband (who was busy watching the show) and we made a beeline back to the staffroom for some reprieve. ;p

My ex-4C1 gals came specially to say HI and to meet Mr Ethan. hahaha :D Thanks sweeties :D

When everyone had returned to the staffroom and we had said hi and bye to most, the three of us left for Turf City. It had turned out that my dear husband had bought a (HUGE) box to contain his RC Cars and he had been mighty disappointed that it had not been delivered to 110B. So we had to go down to collect it ourselves.

We soon found ourselves in Turf City "shopping complex". We located a loo where I changed Ethan's soiled diaper and then had a quick Spanish lunch at a small child-friendly cafe. I enjoyed my tapas whilst Alan dug into his Aglio Olio with gusto. We also admired the troupe of Jap mothers (and children in tow) who gallantly put all the toys and books their children had been playing with in the play area back neatly and to their original positions. Sad to say, we Singaporeans would probably never be that civic-minded, huh? We must definitely take a leaf from their books!

Anyway, once I had found out exactly how huge the box was (and rolled my eyes heavenwards a couple of times), we lugged it and our tired bodies back home for a short nap.

Dinner was with my JC friends at Ochard Central. The mountain turtles in my husband and I emerged as we had not been to the newest additions of Orchard Road yet. Otoya (8th floor, OC) was highly recommended by Felicia for its affordable and healthy Jap cuisine and it did not disappoint. But a warning: It will get crowded after 615pm and they do not accept reservations. Also, they will only seat you if half or more than half of your entourage has arrived.

Dinner was delicious but it was pretty warm in the restaurant and soon Ethan showed his horns. :p This sweaty little boy , once uncomfortable, will start squirming and then wailing. Alan and I quickly gobbled down our food and brought him next door (Heaven's Loft) where we would all adjourn later for desserts.

The waitress in HL was so friendly and she whisked Ethan away to show him off to the rest of her colleagues. When he started crying again, she showed me a quiet VIP room for me to soothe him. Such a nice gal! :> 10 points for service!

All of us caught up and chit-chatted. Such opportunities are rare, especially since two of us gals are based overseas!! It was fabulous to meet up but by the end of the night, the recent activities had taken their toil on me and I was exhausted and ready to jump into bed!

13 February 2010 (Saturday)

This morning, I relinquished Ethan to the maid gratefully and Alan and I met up with Leo , Wan Hui and WeeSuan for brunch at Cafe Cartel at 10am. The cafe had recently seen a revamp and they can cleverly accommodate more customers now. Sad to say, the service was not upped and we waited possibly 1/2 hour for our breakfast sets to be served.

After chatting, we bade WS farewell and happy NY and the 4 of us adjourned to 110B. Wan Hui endeavoured to show me who to transform fats into abs and her bf was rewarded with a bottle of pineapple tarts. hahaa

When they left, we packed our bags also and got ready to go to Amara Hotel. Dad met us there and checked us into room 808. We loved the super king size bed but to our disapproval found that the mattress was sunken in. Since we were to sleep in the hotel for quite a few nights, we requested a change of room.

The next room given was 927 but the bed was queen sized. That would equate, again, to a tight squeeze for the three of us. No point, right? Change Room, please! Finally, after hours, we got what we wanted in Room 909. :) By then, it was already 630pm.

We hurried to shower the kiddo and ourselves and rushed to Centrepoint, Teochew City for our Reunion Dinner. Everyone had fun staring at Ethan and he was the constant source of entertainment. Alan and I were zoned out though. hahaha

The meal, sad to say, tasted very mass produced. The quality suffered due to the immense number of patrons, all celebrating CNY. Only the promfret was delicious and up to par. By the end of the meal, I was quite happy to return to the hotel to relax.

14 February 2010 (Sunday & Happy Valentines' Day)

We headed for Dad and Mum's place late, around 10+am. And then, it was to the temple for blessing we went. The place was packed and we wormed our way into the aircon eatery for the meesuar we would eat yearly.

Next stop: AMK Ah Ma's place. Sad to say, this year, I was not to play MJ (and win the other players' $) I had not packed Ethan's clothes for a change and I clamoured to go back to Amara Hotel. So Alan, TK, Ethan and I went back.

At 5+pm, we headed back to Ah Ma's for dinner. Ah Ma's pig organ soup was to die for and even more delicious than the shark fins soup she had cooked. YuM! I decided promptly to diet another day....

It was almost 7 when we left for Lorong Chuan, my grandmother's house. When we got there, the many children were screaming and running around. The food did not tempt (esp since a coarse-mouth cousin loudly exclaimed how my sister and I had lost our beauty and figures since we had delivered). :P

All the irritating Aunties also claimed that since I was already fat, I "might as well" had Number 2 then diet. hahaha. Wasn't it just last year that they were nagging me to have children? I really give up man. WTF. My husband affectionately nicknamed them as "CB-mouths". I fully agree. ;D

I was glad to return to Amara Hotel at 10pm to get away from the irritants. If I had my way, I frankly wouldn't even wanna come back to Spore to celebrate CNY. I shall clamour (and get my way, of course) for the husband to whisk Son and Wife away to somewhere nice in 2011. No More Nagging.

15 february 2010 (Monday)

This day was spent in a daze and at my inlaw's house. There is simply nothing much to write about. Just that I lost $10 in MJ to my husband whilst playing and breastfeeding Ethan. haha Mr Ethan also enjoyed sleeping on ye ye and nai nai's bed most of the day.

16 February 2010 (Tuesday)

We had brunch at BK downstairs and the 3 Flowery Fairy Children came from different parts of Singapore to bai nian and play with their Fairy Didi. hahaha. :D After force-feeding them with bakwa and pineapple tarts etc, we all made a move.

We fetched Mum from her workplace in Tampines and adjourned to Aunty Florence's place. After that, we left for Waterina to visit KK & Julia and their 3 children :) Then it was to Eugene and Michelle's condo near National Skin Centre.

After a quick shower in Amara, we headed for Pan Pacific Hotel for a glorious dinner feast hosted by Yvonne. :D We celebrated her hitting the Big 3-0 as welll!

17 February 2010 (Thursday)

It was finally time to return to KL!! I didn't mind one bit. All the travelling and visiting, with kid in tow was certainly exhausting!!! Poor little baby Ethan also felt the brunt of it. He missed his night feeds, opting to sleep right through due to exhaustion. I think he lost weight :(

Anyway, Zesa came to visit at 1030am. Ethan enjoyed her company and posed for a few shots of the camera as well. haha

We checked out of the hotel at 1130 and proceeded to 110B to collect stuff. Then, we went to Jln Senang Temple to pray to my dad. It was Ethan's first visit to see Kong Kong as well. :)

After returning the car to Waterina, we all headed to Changi Airport. Daddy drove us, albeit feeling under the weather...and Jean joined us for lunch at Crystal Jade restaurant. All of us had porridge and we shared the charsiew and silken toufu. Yumz.

After bidding them goodbye, Alan and Ethan and I took the 5pm SQ flight back home.

SUNDAY

2010-02-07T21:48:00.003+08:00

Today started out well. We bathed the babe and then left the house for some delicious hawker fare at Bangsar Lucky Garden's coffeeshop.

Alan and I had our coveted fish paste, bar chor noodles. I had mine soupy as I was feeling a tad under the weather. Alan had his dry ones as usual. Then, we picked up our pork (we had ordered prior to our bf) and went into TMC.

We made a beeline to the diaper section as our little one was running outta MamyPoko. And YES, it was on sale again. ahhaha. The simple pleasures in life :P Then, we bought a few more non-essential items and joined the queue to pay for them.

Back at home, Alan started spray painting the body shell of KK's birthday present and I busied myself with entertaining Master Ethan Tan. En left again for the pasar malum (she has inherited this duty from us) with her best friend and came back around 6+pm and proceeded to cook us our dinner.

Our New Neighbours!

2010-02-07T13:59:00.003+08:00

Something special is happening in our garden!!! A few weeks ago, we spotted Mr and Mrs Bird flying in and out of our bonsai plant in our garden. Sometimes , we spied them carrying bits of string / dead leaves / twigs etc. They were building a nest!

So Alan and I peeped in once and we saw some odds and ends but nothing that resembled a nest. That was in mid January. However, we were pleasantly surprised, when we peered into the bush again 3 days ago. The nest had TOP-ed!!!

Then, yesterday, we sneakily spread the leaves of the bush and there they were- two cute little white eggs, as if dotted with black ink. Mrs Bird had given birth!!

Horrors of horrors though - I saw a chipmunk pop into the other bonsai plant next to the Bird condominium and shake the bush as if he had just popped an ecstacy pill! I hurriedly shooed him away (with Mr Bird watching appreciatively in the tree nearby), worried for the safety of the eggs and the would-be "birdlings" (is there such a word??)

Ethan's First Hair Cut!

2010-02-07T13:13:00.006+08:00

The week flew past and we headed into another weekend here in KL again. It's scary, certainly, how time flies and leaves tracks on your face / hips / thighs... Or was it the Nasi Bojari I just ate? :P

Anyway, two days ago, on Friday 5 February 2010, we did something special - Ethan had his very first hair cut!!

Filled with trepidation during the car ride to Mid Valley Mega Mall, I prayed that Ethan would sit still in the car (on Daddy's lap) and not wriggle around and have his ears shaved off / scream at the top of his voice and lose his voice just in time for Chinese New Year :P

I was glad that my son was in a stupor before we left the house and during the car ride. This stupor lasted for quite a while into the hair cut, as well. :)

At La Mode Salon, Uncle Bill ran his long fingers through our son's hair. Ethan, since birth, has been very well-endowed with thick and even unruly hair. Hell, even his back was hairy (but that's another story and thankfully it can be told in the past tense)!! Uncle Bill always jokes that there's no need to shave our son's hair in the hope that he will have a thick mop of hair in the future- He is our stylist and he always has to deal with both Alan's and my thick (and coarse) hair. hahaha

Anyway, we attacted a mob of spectators and Ethan got his hair cut. Bill used the layering scissors and etc and after he was done, Ethan still had his bed-head look. So we decided to shave the sides shorter.

Ethan was cooperative for half the session (it really took a while) and was still, balancing on the head rest of the salon chair, uncomfortably, with Alan holding him up. However, he started crying loudly when he came outta his stupor and at least two more salon assistants came to cheer him up. hahaha. Soon, there were sweet young things, heavily made up women and even a pedicurist joining in the fun. hahaha.

After the ordeal, Ethan looked so much cuter and more mature! I carried him whilst Alan had his hair wash and cut and fed him in the enclosed room behind the salon. :)

We rewarded ourselves with dinner at Madam Kwan's and , as I had skipped lunch, I opted for a nasi Bojari whilst Alan had assam laksa. We both shared a dessert of sinful bur bur char char.

Mall Stratagems

2010-02-06T23:01:00.002+08:00

Today, Alan and I left the house for MVMM with a vengeance.

I was to have my hair cut. The day before, if you remember, Ethan had his virgin hair cut and Alan had his usual hair wash/ massage / cut. I, however, had no luxury of opportunity - I had to take care of the baby. Even with the maid around, I will be the one carrying him, mostly because an offered breast in his face would usually keep him quiet and satisfied. hahaha.

Anyway, I had to sit in the chair, after my hair wash and massage and wait for Bill for all of 1.5hours! My God! To think we had already turned up on time at 1230pm! :P It was nearly 3pm when I got outta the chair and stretched my numb legs. *sigh* Alan in the meanwhile had left the salon to self-entertain. And in due course, bought himself 200g of roasted bacon!

I had another agenda. I had to buy a pair of comfy new shoes (for CNY). A pair which would allow me to carry Ethan confidently without worrying about balancing and falling down and also let me climb the zillions of stairs at the temple we would always visit on CNY Day 1. After popping in and out of many-a-store, BATA (OMG) had the pair to offer. A marie-clare brown pair of chunk heels! At a steal, I might add of Rm 78!

After we had e'thing in order, we left MVMM for The Gardens as we had decided that lunch was going to be at PapaRich. I tried their prawn noodle soup and again ordered the red bean ice. Sad to say, both were found wanting. Alan had a plate of cold oily char kuay teow dished up for him. He washed down the generous serving of oil with his iced coffee.Thumbs down for this Papa Rich franchise! The one in Bangsar is so much better!

Our Long Weekend

2010-02-04T09:38:00.005+08:00

We embraced the long weekend by doing nothing substantial - we just enjoyed each others' company and enjoyed the serenity of our house and our 50" TV!. :)

Saturday 30th January 2010

We demolished a couple of DVDs at home and then, had an early dinner at Harbour Steamboat at Sri Petaling. We invited Ye Seong and Sheena to come along and after a quick wash up, they did. hehe

I wasn't very famished, sad to say and did not enjoy the steamboat as much as the previous time (the night before I delivered Ethan). After that, we bought yummy Ipoh chicken rice for Ening from the nextdoor stall and returned home (to find that our dear son had yet again rejected the bottle). :P

Sunday 31st January 2010

Again, brunch was at home but we left for The Gardens at around 330pm for our facial. My skin is as dry and rough as sandpaper because of the lack of care (Ethan is a clingy baby!) and also because of the once-in-a-while swimming sessions.

After the facial, we had no other option but to return home immediately. We sighed as normally (read: w/o a baby at home), we would have wandered around aimlessly and treated ourselves to good food and etc.

Upon reaching home, we picked up Ening and sent her to the Pasar Malum nearby. Ethan joined us then for a delicious dinner at D'Lish. I chose the RM33 3-course dinner and Alan (surprisingly) chose a Seafood Marinara.

My Beef Wellington did not arrive until after we had almost polished off Alan's sphagetti. And amazingly, my Minestrone soup FOLLOWED the beef. Oh well... Thankfully, everything was delicious, and I had no further complaints. This is Malaysia, after all. I learned not to expect too much, in terms of customer service.

The dessert was a huge piece of Orange cake which was OH-SO-GOOD! It was light and moist and melted in the mouth.. OOoOlaLaaaa. I LiKE!! Good choice, hubby! And Bye Bye Diet!!!

Monday 1 Feburary 2010

I don't know why today was a public holiday (only in KL) but I am thankful for it. :) Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to have my hubbie around the house and interacting with our lil' one. :)

We decided not to laze today away and got e'one ready (En included) to leave for our 'jalan jalan' at MVMM.

It was 1130am when we arrived and we headed for brunch at Din Tai Fung. Alan ordered a 6 xiaolongbao + 6 crab meat bao platter, spicy jelly fish to share and we each had a big bowl of noodles. :) Ethan was caught staring at the colourful menu too, as if deciding what he wanted to order. So cute!!

We made a beeline for Robinsons to do some research on Ethan's future feeding chair and walker. But there was only a v small range.

Then, we proceeded to Ace Hardware where Alan finally picked up a proper Vernier Callipers (for his r/c car AGAIN!) and then I popped into Watson's for everything else. It was almost 3pm when we opted for Jonker Street Sweets (The Gardens) and were once again disappointed by the quality of the desserts. I doubt I'd ever patronize the stall again. The pictures of their products for sale truly misguide any potential customer!!

Everyone was dead tired by the time we got into the car and went home. ZzZzz

p/s: ANOTHER long weekend is coming. 26th feb is a pub hol again!! Weeeeeee

My XX Birthday!

2010-01-28T11:36:00.009+08:00

I think I should stop celebrating my birthday and pretend the 26th January every year does not old any significance. I heard that once you reach 30, it's downhill all the way..ahhaha. I've stopped counting since then...

Anyway, the day started like any other. I bathed little Ee Hom and we relaxed in the 'splendour' of our house together. As the hours flew by, the day seemed as ordinary as any other... until at around 430pm when the doorbell rang.

My initial reaction was that Alan had bought ANOTHER SOMETHING again to 'cherng' his rc car. But noooooooo.. I was surprised indeed when Ening came up with a huge bouquet of blue roses and an evil looking bear buried in the bouquet. hahaha. My husband has 'sim'. :)

When Alan came home, we headed for Aurora at Jln Telawi nearby for our 2hour hot stones treatment. It was OK, I guess. Was splattered with oil all over and then, shocked by the heat of the stones when the therapist rubbed them all over.

After the 2 hours of pleasure and pain, we headed to the long alley of atas restaurants. Finally, after strolling down the alley, I decided on Cungdinh Vietnamese Restaurant. :) Good choice!

I had duck noodles and Alan had his usual beef phoa. :P We shared an appetiser platter and also a sizzling beef side dish which was served on a flaming dish. interesting! Alan had his usual Viet coffee whilst I had a soursop juice. The bill was around RM160+ and the ambiance and food make it all very worthwhile.

Thanks for the lovely evening , Laogong!

(YET ANOTHER) Trip back to Singapore

2010-01-25T01:06:00.006+08:00

Long distance travelling is getting tiring indeed, especially with the little one in tow. He absolutely refuses to sit in his expensive (white elephant Graco) car seat and prefers to continuously suckle at my breast for the 3-4hour long journey. Because of the lack of space (read: car seat in the centre, mum on the left and maid on the right), I can only feed him on the left breast and I am sure my supply will not last 3hours!!! :p Anyhow, he is contented just sucking (air).

Let me state the reason for this trip back first because going into the details: Alan's work permit expired on 23/1/10 and his office was tardy in the renewal...Hence, we had to pack our bags and return to sunny SIngapore! :PpPPpp Ethan and I couldn't stay in KL, even if we wanted to because our dependent passes are tagged to Alan. And our maid too couldn't stay because of her work permit being tagged to Alan's EP.

22nd January 2010 (Friday)

Alan, unfortunately, had a meeting at 10am in the office and so we could only leave for Spore later on in the day. It was nearly 3pm when we embarked on the journey. Everything was as smooth (as Ethan's backside) until we reached Singapore. Interestingly, we took less than 3hours to get from our Bangsar home in KL to the Singapore checkpoint.

I waited 1/2hour in the car though, at the Malaysian checkpoint as Alan had to settle our maid's entry permit for our return trip. And by the time we left the Tuas checkpoint, it was the after-office-hour jam! The system indicated a 'massive jam all the way to tanjong katong' and we were only in woodlands then! MY GOSH!

After an hour long journey from Tuas to my Upper EastCOast Road apartment, we were all moody and exhausted. Poor Ethan. He is certainly a cross-country baby! :( Anyway, we arrived at around 730++PM and by then, Pearlyn, Edwyna and Peiting were already slated to arrive.

I hurriedly gave Ethan a wipe down to make him more comfortable because going down to greet the girls. :) We had a pizza party and chatted (read: bitched) over Hawaiiwan and Tandorri Chicken pizzas, chicken wings, calamari rings all washed down with rootbeer. *burps* (I shall start my dieting soon lah; p )

Time flew by admist complaints, Taboo etc and they presented me with their sweet birthday 'card' and very useful and thoughtful birthday present (a baby puree book! exactly what I needed! :)))

The girls left at around one am and amazing, I was still very alert. Ethan had collasped already since 8pm and at 1am, I fed him and Alan, Ethan and I squeezed into the queen-sized bed and started snoring...

23rd January 2010 (Saturday)

I promised myself to take it easy today and sad to say, with the little one almost glued to my breast 24/7, it was almost impossible to schedule get-together sessions with my pals (something which I would definitely do whenever I returned to Singapore in the past).

HOWEVER, although tricky, I still endeavoured to meet Gary after his training. He was (as usual) late in fetching me, this time in his spanking new, black Merces coupe and we took off to Siglap for his lunch and my afternoon tea at around 220pm.

We decided to go for HK cuisine this time round and settled for the HK cafe. I cooled off with iced yinyang and we shared a red bean ice whilst he polished off two half-boiled eggs and some noodles. We chatted and chatted until almost 4pm when he reminded me I had to go home to feed Ethan!

Lil' Ethan was still asleep (praise the lord!) when I arrived back home and I showered and then fed ET his milk. Alan was still outside (he had left in the late morning, after we bathed ET in our sink! to play his remote control car in Rivervale Crescent's track. So, Ethan and I lasped into a stupor again...

Dinner was in lieu of my birthday and at Coffee Club Siglap. Mummy treated us to some yummies. Thanks Mum! I had shellfish bisque and coffee pork ribs. I found the coffee taste to overpowering though. Had wanted to eat at Cartel but CC was a quieter alternative (as both Tyler and Ethan were brought along).

24th January 2010 (Sunday)

All of us woke up at around 8+am, roused by Ethan. We proceeded to bathe him again, in the sink, and then set off with MUm for Marina Square to pick up some essentials and do some shopping.

We settled brunch at 11+am at Swenson's because it was quiet there. I fed and put Ethan to sleep in his stroller there too, before polishing off my crayfish pasta and helping ALan with his Topless 5.

Ethan was making noise again , as we left. We hit a bazzar by John Little at the atrium and I bought (at lightning speed) a pair of track pants and a top. We also bought some pills (fish oil for Alan and Calcium for me) at a discount. Mum got a pair of shoes too.

Into Nature Farm we went next and because it was my birthday month, I was entitled to a 35% discount. We picked up two bottles of DHA capsules and mum bought some glucosamine. By this time, Ethan was fussing big time so I decided to feed him.

We brisk walked to our favourite nursing room in Marina Square and Ethan and I spent a quiet 20mins (at least ) there. I fed him and then thankfully he pooped almost immediately so I lay him down for a change.

What I discovered, which was different from my previous trip to Spore, was that Ethan could now look and see what had been drawn on the ceiling of the nursing room (blue sky/ butterflies / clouds) and once I lay him down for his nappy change, he looked at the ceiling and immediately smiled... awwww. :D

After the change, we met up with the patient por por and the extravagant papa (who had gone quickly into Ace Hardware whilst his wife was not around to pick up something ELSE for his RC car), we headed for Kiddy Palace and MotherCare. At the former, we picked up a bath tub that would last ET till toddlerhood and also other smaller items like wet wipes etc. And then, at the latter, I bought some shampoo/ bath foam / liquid talc and also sunblock for the baby.

Amazingly, time had flown by and it was almost 3pm when we left Marina Square for home.

I bathed ET in his new bath tub when we got back and proceeded to feed him. SHaron dudu came over at around 4pm and Alan and her discussed some business plans.

It was 5+pm when Ye Ye, Nai Nai and TK came over and then the big discussions started. ET was asleep all that while and for that ,I was thankful. Chris came in at around 7+pm. And then they went out to buy tze char back for dinner at 8pm.

Too bad jean didnt make it in time for the birthday song and more importantly, the birthday (awfully chocolate) cake. yumz. Thanks Sharon for the cake! And after I collected two generous angpaos, we retired upstairs...

25th January 2010 (Monday)

ALan brought EN to the Malaysian Embassy in the morning to enquire about her returning to KL. Ethan and I slept peacefully and lazily till 11am (!!) and then I bathed him myself. :) The bath tub is bigger than what he is used to in KL and a couple of times he thrashed about with the perceived notion that he was falling. Poor baby. However, after a while, he was fine and started enjoying his warm bath again :)

Alan came back at around noon with my lunch of meepok and some hae piah. We proceeded to stuff our faces. Then, I fed Ethan again whilst Alan snoozed. We had to go back to the embassy to collect the 90 day visa for En for entry into KL at 3pm.

I initially wanted to visit Crescent, since the Embassy was at Jervois road, a stone's throw away from CGS. But too bad, all my kakki were too busy to meet me. So sad, right? *sigh* Anyway, I will go back for CNY!

After collecting the visa, we zoomed to Tuas and then were back in KL after 4 hours. Home sweet home :)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After giving Ee Hom his wipe-down in the evening, I fed him whilst lying on the bed in the masterbed room. I smiled at him, and he gave me a wide grin after a while whilst looking into my eyes. That picture formed was so cute that I laughed out loud, tickled. Apparently, my laughter (or the rumbling of my tummy which was touching his) was infectious and little Ee Hom burst out into peals of laughter himself. hahaha. What a lovely experience, sharing a laugh with my loved one. :)

God Bless

2010-01-19T12:40:00.005+08:00

I went for a swim alone this morning and boy do I feel good now. It's that nice body ache you get that makes you oh-so-relaxed. :) Did 25 laps today and also realised that even at 10+am, the sun isn't that sweltering and it's pretty suitable to exercise.

Recently, I've been receiving a few smses (to date 6) also from a friend in Malaysia - shall not name names. She has absolutely ZERO confidence in helping her son achieve good results at school and therefore has enlisted the help of MANY (I mean it) tuition teachers to help him, even though he is truly capable of getting good grades himself and even though he just turned 7. *roll eyes heavenwards*

Anyway, this friend of mine keeps smsing me and asking me to re-commence giving her son tuition. I politely declined around twice and today, another long, long sms came in, with her practically begging for classes. Apparently, the boy has a project coming in and she has zilch creativity and imagination, both of which are necessary for him to complete the project (and excel above his peers) - mind you, the teacher gives free rein to the child (parents) to interprete the topic and explore in depth the subject matter.

Apparently, this lady even approached another mother of my other ex-student. The child had completed the same project (they are from the same sch, different year) with me and had impressed the teacher with 'his' creativity and beautiful project presentation. So this lady wanted to borrow the project as a 'reference'. But you know what? hahaha Mother 2 did not allow that!! *my god*

Sigh. Such are the Singaporeans who are (A) Kiasu beyond words and (B) brought up not to think out of the box. For me, I embrace creativity and I like to think it comes naturally. I also enjoy Art and Craft and take pains in the presentation of any project. I am sure Ethan's teacher will be impressed (in due time of course)!! hahaha.

In the meanwhile, GOD BLESS U , MY FRIEND :P I'm taking my 4 months worth of maternity leave (because I am a SINGAPOREAN). MUAahahah

My Lil' AnGeL

2010-01-18T13:13:00.005+08:00

Ethan Tan growing up....

OoOOo..

Chuckle Chuckle

Let me at 'em, let me at 'em.

Come any closer and I'll BOX you ahhhh!

We, the citizens of Singapore...

I'm a water baby!!

No Wonder Papa is Rich!

2010-01-16T20:46:00.003+08:00

We didn't do anything significant today. Alan and I zoned out at home because Ethan didn't sleep well last night (again). *sigh*

Anyway, we caught Phobia 2 on dvd today and ended up laughing because the last story was so entertaining. ahhaa.

Dinner was out because lunch was in. We spotted a best friend's shop along the way and picked up 6 more movies. I'm still waiting for Feng Yun, Avatar, Sherlock Homes etc to be out. :)

We decided to give PapaRich a shot and it was very worth while. I had a chicken drumstick Ipoh Kway Teow and a red bean milkshake (I seem to be addicted to this drink nowadays) and Alan had curry noodles and a ABC durian ice-something lah. All for only RM42. Cheap and good.

The red bean milkshake was creamy and luxurious and filled with alnatural taste. :) My Kway Teow was tasty too and the chicken succulent. Alan's curry noodles was spicy to taste and had quite alot of ingredients. The ABC special was very interesting. Apart from shaved ice and gula melaka, it had ingredients such as a scoop of durian icecream, sweet corn, peanuts, raisins, red bean paste, the green "worms" you find in chendol and also cincau. Very exciting.

By the time dinner was over, I was stuffed beyond words and felt like Ethan after he had been put to the breast for half an hour.

Great Company on a Friday!

2010-01-15T23:00:00.004+08:00

Today, Ethan and I had many visitors. First, at around 6pm, Dania and her mother very kindly came to visit. Dania is my student who will be leaving for Australia to study on 23/1/10. She came to bid me farewell and also to visit Ethan. :) Dania's mother had generously bought Ethan a Learning Toolbench from FisherPrice and a Lamaze cloth book to add to his collection. YaY!

The three of us chatted all the way till around 645pm with Ethan entertaining them with his cuteness. ahahha. He refused to 'speak' though - I had told them that Ethan responds to me by saying "oooooo" "ooooOOoo" when I tell him stories. But at least he didn't entertain them with screams / wails. hahaha. Ethan spent the 45mins staring at me hahah. I also entertained the mother and daughter with stories of him and etc. hahaha. It was fun.

At approx 730pm, Ethan's godparents came. Poor YeSeong has undertaken a stint to work in Shanghai and Sheena will be alone in KL (with Bizzy and Myra their two dogs). Alan had retrieved a couple of boxes of them (they are moving house) and they also came to borrow our suitcases.

We treated them to a farewell dinner at O'lish. The RM33/ set dinner promo was on and what great value for money it was! Alan had the fried calamari for starters and I had the crab cakes. Then, for the main course, Alan had beef wellington and I had a very good salmon steak. There was even dessert - a huge piece of cake each. I chose the carrot whilst he had the more decadent cheese.

The company was great too and we giggled over how silly Ethan would look in a huge remote control car drifting by and exchanged ghost stories as the night passed. Then, at 10pm, we returned home to have some fruits before I had to bid them an "early" goodnite and retired to the bedroom to feed Ethan.

Ethan is GrOwInG uP!

2010-01-15T11:53:00.004+08:00

I realise that I have not been updating you with pictures of my little 'angel', so here goes:

Ethan has been more and more responsive recently. He enjoys listening to the stories I tell him - seldom from the storybooks though (as he delights in watching my facial expressions). He also contributes to the stories with audible "oooooooo"s. hahaha It's super entertaining, I tell you.

He has a current favourite toy too. I just introduced him to Dog Dog (given generously by Aunty May Yin) yesterday. Dog Dog has different textures and has a rattle and a bell sewn inside it. It also bounces up and down and , when you press down hard on his nose, he will 'bark'. haha.

Ethan smiled and laughed out loud today when he played with Dog Dog. hahha

Sitting on the sofa with my Favourite Toy, Dog Dog!

Oh yah, tonight we will be going out with Ethan's GodPa and GodMa. Ethan's Godpa, Ye Seong will be leaving for Shanghai (for a year of work) in a month's time. So we will throw him a fare ye well dinner this evening, when they come over to collect boxes from us to pack their stuff.

A Disappointing Meal at CODO

2010-01-13T23:50:00.004+08:00

I was looking forward to a nice non-home-cooked meal. So, I took the opportunity to suggest dining out as we had to go to MVMM to change currency. The Husband obliged. ;D

My choice of cuisine? Vietnamese. There were two restaurants both at the top storey of MVMM near the cinema. We chose Codo as we wanted to try something new. BAD MOVE!

Although the decor of the place was very elegant and we had an aerial view of what was going on in MVMM, everything else left MUCH MUCH MORE to be desired.

We were greeted by an enthusiastic Chinese waiter (whose actions povided the saving grace for the restaurant). He took our orders - stir-fried clams on rice (a so-called 'Must Try') for me, Phoa with mixed beef for Alan and a platter of side dishes (lamb, crab stick & mango parcels and vietnamese spring rolls). Feeling decadent, I also ordered a red bean smoothie to wash down the oil. (And trust me..there was alot of oil).

We waited and waited and waited for our orders to appear in front of our faces. But the lone chef (pronounced 'chehft' by 9/10 Malaysians) could not impress. Alan guessed that the rest of the workers had probably gone to (a) fag in the loo , (b) gamble in the stairwell or (c) a Fag in the loo and THEN gamble in the stairwell. :P

20minutes after he had taken our order, our dutiful and polite waiter brought the iced water for Alan (ahem.. he had asked for warm water). I told my husband not to change his order though, if not his warm water would take another eternity to be placed on our table. We then proceed to wait and wait somemore. Not-so-soon, my stir-fried clams (extremely countable in number) clams were served on a bed of chunky non-fragant, probably overnight white rice and endowned generously with wind-causing fried and oily shallots. Two stems of lifeless greens lay beneath the blackened shallots, as if placed there to surprise the unassuming eater.

I ploughed through my meal, unimpressed. It was definitely NOT worth the RM12.80 and NOT A MUST-TRY in my humble opinion! :P Alan's beef phoa came next (after another 10minutes of waiting). The soup was lukewarm and unappetising. It tasted of the swollen kuayteow that was swimming in it, rather than the beef. The stomach of the cow was likened to plastic and the raw beansprouts were given a miss because the cold soup would not have softened and cooked them.

All of a sudden, there was an influx of workers who returned from doing (c) - please see above, to pretend to help the hapless cook (who lacked drive and speed to say the least). There was a Ma-chik who emerged out of nowhere to wash the dishes. And a chinese-looking man who looked to be the ASSistant chehft, and a slow-moving, disinterested Malay waiter (dressed in traditional Vietnamese get-up, no less) who dragged his feet wherever he went. The first thing he did after appearing was to pour himself a glass of water from the side table which was used to serve the guests of the restaurant. TERRIBLE!

THEN, my red bean smoothie came. For Rm9.80, it was painfully small but thankfully tasty. I will learn how to do it so that I can savour the likes of it at home. :P

FINALLY, (after apologies from the hardworking waiter), our side dish platter came. Normally, appetisiers are to be served first, you'd think?! The lamb was overdone and rubbery, the mango & crabstick parcels were oily and tasteless and the Vietnamese spring rolls were blackened and oozed oil. It was absolutely not worth the Rm24!

Alan and I left the restaurant shaking our heads. We will NEVER EVER go back again.

We headed to CarrerFour next to pick up a few items. We bought our dear Ening a trolley - she is always borrowing the neighbour's maid's one to do our shopping hahaha. Poor thing. Then, we picked up 1 packet of Fitti diapers, 1 packet of Pet Pet diapers and 1 packet of Pampers diapers. Our Mamypoko diapers always leaks nowadays and I am trying to find a better alternative. If those don't work, I will just have to resort to tying up Ethan's legs so that he can't kick them and therefore losen his diapers. :P

SUPER SUNDAY

2010-01-10T23:21:00.003+08:00

Today started at 1030am. When we woke up and I glanced at the alarm clock, I was shocked. ahahha. Ethan had woken me up at around 4+am and then proceeded to play and be very animated. ahahah I couldn't help but join in the fun, even though it was at an unearthly hour. He's super cute nowadays and 'talks' to you when you look at him in the eye and speak to him. ahhaha.

After rubbing the sleep from our eyes, Alan and I proceeded to give our baby his coveted bath of the day. hahaha. Then, En helped us take care of him whilst Alan and I went to devour (again) Alan's favourite fishhead beehoon soup and top up our stash of DVDs.

When at home, we watched Mulan. Great performance by Zhao Wei! It was drizzling and there was Super Sunday on Astro so in the end we did not go for our planned swim. :(

Facial Relief

2010-01-09T22:33:00.003+08:00

Today was a good day. :)

Ethan initially had woken up at around 7am. I changed his diaper and played with him a bit. He's getting very interactive now and will respond to our voices and what we are saying. He always stares intently at his mobile in his cot and watches the little animals go by. His favourite is the blue little elephant and he actually gets slightly distressed when the elephant goes by him in whilst doing its rounds. hahahaa. I also put the unbreakable mirror in front of his face this morning and he smiled a bright big smile. ahahhaa. So adorable!

Anyway, the long and short of it was that we all went back to bed again and rouse only at around 10am. We quickly bathed Ethan and then Alan and I went for a swim. We did 20 laps this morning. I swear my pants are getting looser. :D

Lunch was a healthy sweet potato and meatball porridge afterwhich I put Ethan to bed with me and Alan went about his r/c car business. At around 320pm, he picked me up and we left for our much-coveted facial at Cres. Sad to say, my regular facial beautician had left and the one who was arranged to take her place today for me was not up to par. :(

After the facial, Alan and I had dinner at the foodcourt and then went to browse at Borders before picking up our car from the car wash and zooming home. We watched The Orphan on DVD and it was indeed a long but extremely thrilling movie. phew.

Our short trip back to Singapore

2010-01-07T23:05:00.002+08:00

5 January 2010 (Tuesday)

We drove back early (left the house at 1040am) to Singapore today. It was around 2+pm when we arrived in our homeland and 240pm when we arrived home in Siglap (after tapaoing meepok from East Coast Road).

The insurance agent, Jane, came at around 3pm, and Alan bought a 21year plan for our little one. When he hits 21, he can get his hands on almost $50k, but with the inflation and all by then, one really wonders if that sum is enough to see him through the university, his PHD etc. hahaha. We plan too far ahead, again.

After the agent had left, we zoomed down to Everton Park to meet with my long time friend cum housing agent, Ryan who showed us two units for rental. We are expanding Harriann's business (finally) and looking for a location to house a central kitchen. :)

After that, we visited Ah Ma at home and she beamed from ear to ear when carrying Ethan (who played his cards well and entertained her w/o crying). After that, it was a visit to The Pinnacle at Duxton as Sharon and Chris and just collected their keys today.

We viewed their new home and the sky garden on the 50th storey was bated breath and then hurried for dinner in Tiong Bahru. After that, and the family meeting, we left for home and Alan commenced his preparation of a ppt prezo he needed the day after.

6 January 2010 (Wednesday)

We all (except the dear husband) slept in today and I decided against bringing Ethan out. I wanted him to recuperate from the long drive the day before and the rushing from location to location. Poor little fella. :(

I bathed him at around 10+am but he persisted to cry in the bath tub - very odd for he loves his bath. THEN I found out why...when pieces of poo started floating to the surface of the crystal clear water. :P He continued to wail and my mum helped him outta the tub and I changed the water grudgingly. :P

At around 5pm, after posting Dot Dot's present to her at the nearby PO, we all made our way to Yvonne's house (not before stopping at the nearby 7-11 to pick up two tubs of Ben and Jerrys. :)

The pizzas had already arrived by the time we rang her doorbell. Tyler was sleeping after a traumatic day at the doc's during which he received his 6-in-1 jab. Ethan was his usual pesky self and alternated between feeding and crying.

After a couple of hours of good food and conversation, we all left - Alan to Waterina to meet Keekiat and analyze how to drift an R/c car and the rest of us, home.

Tonight, Ethan slept through from 10+pm till around 5am. A first for him (and for me) :P

7 January 2010 (Thursday)

Brunch was at Tiong Bahru market with Dad after we bathed the little one and left home. Then, it was F1 driving again. We left the causeway at around 1230pm and arrive in Bangsar at around 350pm. Well done, hubby! Ethan refused to sleep in the car seat again and I had to carry him most of the journey. I swear my biceps are getting more pronounced. :P

After dinner, we ignored the pitiful cries of the 2.5month old and made our way to Liang Xin spa where we treated ourselves to a 1.5hour heavenly full-body massage. The Masseur, Fu Gui, rubbed my woes away and stepped all over me (literally). I could hear the cracking of my joints quite audibly I must say!

An Exhausting Sunday (at Pavilion)

2010-01-04T10:15:00.008+08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen~~~

Our little one is wearing size SMALL Mamypoko diapers, instead of "NewBORN". *clap clap clap*

Anyway, yesterday 3 January 2010 (Sunday) was an exciting day for us. Alan , Ethan and I got ready for our escapade as early as 9+am. After Ethan's bath, we took lotsa pictures to commemorate the occasion and then hopped into the VOlvo and sped off to Jalan Imbii for our Dim Sum at Imbii Palace. Yumz.

We ordered and ordered like there was no tomorrow. And every dish was relished and savoured as the little one self-entertained in his detached car seat. After most of it was polished and Ethan cried for his feed and was satisfied , we left and headed to Pavilion for our day of SHOPPING.

Tangs was having their SALE and it was the last day. Our dear Alan took heed of the Deejay's suggestions and started his rampage. He walked away with two FCUK shirts on sale for CNY :)

I couldn't find any clothes that I thought I looked good in - it's Me and not the clothes this time :P

We then popped into Parkson but the swim wear didn't agree with us. So Alan bought his trunks at Stadium and I bought my costume at Sun Paradise. Then, we headed back to Parkson into the baby section this time.

Alan got distracted again and picked up a pair of gay looking brown shoes. Then FINALLY we went to the baby section and bought a car window shade, baby rattle (combi), baby teether and container (combi) and a Lamaze cloth story book for our Ah Boy. Apparently, the more you buy the more you save and we qualified for two free RM10 vouchers. :)

By this time, all our limbs were aching as Ethan had not been a very cooperative kiddo. He had wailed and wailed loudly and refused to sit in his stroller for most of the time. So Alan and I took turns to carry him in our arms. As we strolled along the aisles of the huge shopping mall, we saw many an empty stroller or strollers filled with shopping bags, coupled with moms carrying their babies. hahaha. I also wonder why the management does not equip the nursing rooms in malls with airconditioning. It was indeed very stuffy inside and I felt faint whilst Ethan was at it.

It was 4+pm when we finally left , Ethan in my arms and lotsa bags piled on the stroller. hahaha We picked En up and drove her to the pasar malum and then I gave Ethan his wipe-down before both of us collasped on the bed.

Dinner time came and Alan and I gratefully left the little (noisy) one at home and went to the Banana Leaf restaurant in Bangsar. We got a table to ourselves after a short wait and then ordered chicken masala, mutton curry and sambal sotong to go along with our rice and side dishes. The lassi was delicious as usual too. :) YAY

A "milestone"

2010-01-02T21:33:00.003+08:00

Today marks one of the milestones in little Ethan's life. He 'upsized' his nappy protector from size New Born to size Medium. ahhahaa. Don't ask me how come he skipped a size - they don't make nappy protectors in size Small, if you haven't realised... It's like that in KL AND also in SIngapore!! hehe.

Anyway, one thing special I did today, on the second day of 2010, was to go swimming in the Bangsar sports complex a stone's throw away from my house. I was feeling very lazy again at 3+pm, after watching the DVD thriller Law Abiding Citizen. But I cajoled my husband to accompany me to the swimming pool nearby.

When we got there, the lazy people in-charge said they they had closed. It was 4pm but the official closing time was 430pm. Alan paid for my entry and I swam for a straight 20+mins to make my RM3 worth. :P By the time I got outta the pool, I was tired enough to feel rejuvenated by the swim. Oxymoron. heheh.

I accompanied the loving husband next to the nearby basketball court for me to witness his drifting techniques but soon it started to rain and we made a beeline for home. I shall endeavour to get out of my house more and hit the pool more often. I think I have to buy a swimming costume though - bikinis in a public pool should warranted more attention than necessary and wanted. :P

After my shower and feeding Ethan, Alan and I headed to The Gardens. We ended up shopping at Robinsons (which was on sale as well). We bought 3 tops (on 50% off) for Ethan to wear at home, 7 packets of wet wipes and 2 bolster cases. :) I also signed up for the R card for rebates!

Dinner was unagi bento at the foodcourt and then Alan went into Art Friend for a minute to pick up a cutting board.

We arrived home ard 8pm , relieved to find out xiao guaiguai still fast asleepnon his vibrating rocker chair.

Happy 2010 Everyone!

2010-01-01T14:15:00.006+08:00

My New Year's Resolution is to be a better Mother, Wife and Daughter. :) Think one resolution is enough, instead of making tonnes which I won't put my heart and soul into fulfilling. hahaha Oh, and of course, another could be to lose the tonnes of weight (read: 13 more kg) I've put on during my pregnancy? *big sigh*

We started the new year right by getting up early, leaving the house early and ... HITTING THE SHOPS. :D Isetan was having a sale whereby they have 'lucky bags' up for grabs. Different merchants would package random items into bags and these bags would be sold at a huge discount.

We turned up at around 945am when Isetan opened at 10am and waited patiently. By 950am, more and more people had gathered and when the shutters were risen, the mass of people dashed in.

Pumpkin Patch had packed only 3 bags and we did not manage to get any. We ended up with a Guess bag and also a Barbie bag. The contents of the Barbie bag will be TK's 8th Birthday gift. :)

Alan and I then bought a shirt for our little one from Pumpkin Patch at 50% off for CNY. :) Then we strolled to ToastBox for our meesiam breakfast, washed down with coffee and tea.

Two Months Length & Weight

2009-12-31T00:07:00.002+08:00

I am continuing my records here in my blog:

Ethan, at two months and 3 days old weighs 4.435Kg and is 54.4 cm long!

Vaccination (6 in 1) & a Blood Test (OUCH)

2009-12-30T12:34:00.005+08:00

29 December 2009 (Tuesday)

Today was THE DAY. We had to bring Ethan to the paeditrician for his cocktail jab for vaccination. E'thing was well in the morning. We bathed him and dressed him and after a banana chocochip muffin each, Alan and I raced down to Gleneagles for our 11am appointment.

We asked Dr Lim Miin Kang about Ethan's prolonged jaundice. Since Ethan's first week of existence, we had noticed his skin turning yellow. We had brought him to see Dr Lim TWICE with regard to that but Dr Lim always insisted (after barely glancing at our boy) that all was well and we were making a mountain outta a molehill.

After our full moon celebration for Ethan though, during which 9/10 guests commented he was jaundiced, we approached the doc again and wanted something to be done.

So Dr Lim drew some blood for a blood test. Ethan was a brave little boy and merely cried a little but when I saw the neddle inserted into his little hand, the dam broke and my tears flowed freely. I was ill-prepared for THAT kinda pain! After that trauma, he still had to have his vaccination and also injested some medication to prevent Rotarvirus.

We left the clinic and proceeded to my gynae's for my checkup. After the scan and a cervical smear we left and returned to Dr Lim's clinic to wait for the blood test results. All was well and Ethan's Bilirubin levels were within normal range and thankfully there was no cause for concern. Perhaps what i've been eating could be the cause of my yellowing son??

A quick lunch followed at Olio Dome cafe at the hospital. We were too tired to hit Pavilion (our initial plan) to shop and polished off our Fish & Chips, Chicken Foccacia and Strawberry milkshake before returning home to collaspe onto the bed.

Ethan had developed a slight fever by nightfall and we tended to him by sponging his body and feeding him medication. Our poor boy has alot of phelgm as well, stuck in his throat and with the help of the nasal spray, most of it was eradicated through his bile. :~(

Daddy & I at the Clinic Doing the Burpies!

X'mas and Boxing Day 2009

2009-12-28T18:06:00.006+08:00

25 December 2009 (Friday)

It was a long and eventful X'mas weekend this year. We hosted Alan's good friends, KeeKiat and Julia and their three children Myron (7), Raeann (4) and Kaitlyn (7months). Their maid I-Is came along as well.

Their stay commenced when they arrived on X'mas evening after a long drive here. We took them to Robson's for a welcome dinner and ordered to feed an army (as usual). We had 2 sweet & sour crabs, 2 salted egg crabs, lala, vege, toufu, deer meat and a huge succulent fish. After the satisfying dinner (which I had to eat with one hand whilst I nursed Ethan), we all made our way back home to rest and relax the remaining of the X'mas evening away and open presents. (Ethan didn't seem to like his Bedtime Bear X'mas pressie from Daddy)

26 December 2009 (Saturday)

After a breakfast of home-made chocochip muffins, we all proceeded to Sunway Pyramid for a day of shopping. All the shops were still not open when we arrived at 930am and so we headed to the nearest Starbucks to sit and enjoy a cuppa. I had this bottle of juice (morning glory= kiwi + dragonfruit) that tasted like puke.

The shopping commenced and lasted for hours till we were all tired out. Lunch was at our favourite Vietnamese restaurant again. By the time we crawled back into the car at almost 3pm, my back and calves were hurting big time. Ethan had slept mostly through this expedition, thank God!

After resting for a couple of hours, we ventured out for dinner. Shabu Shabu here we come! We did not make reservations and had to sit at two separate tables. Myron sat with us and we were amazed and impressed by how much he can eat. hahaha.

27 December 2009 (Sunday)

We got to sleep in today and leave for MidValley a little later. We had brunch at the Taiwanese restaurant in The Gardens. Again, shopping followed. And coffee at CoffeeBean. I bought some fruits at the nearby fruit shop and then we returned home.

When our friends left for Malacca, ALan and I (and Ethan) collasped onto our bed and ZZZZzzzzzzzzZzzzz. What a tiring weekend!

Ethan's Full Moon Celebrations

2009-12-23T14:14:00.016+08:00

18th Decemeber 2009 (Friday)

We woke up early and gave our little one a bath (yes, we had lugged the bath tub back to Singapore) and then left for ICA to pick up Ethan's passport. Alan and I were suitably inpressed with the efficiency of the personnel and within no time, we collected our son's spanking new red passport. :) YaY.

After that, all of us (including Rose Por Por) headed to Marina Square for breakfast. NOthing else was open except Yan Kun and so we settled our meal there. I had a set breakfast of kaya toast and tea (and donated my half-boiled eggs to Alan). YuMz. After that leisure meal, we strolled towards the kiddie's section where I picked up 4 nursing tops and 1 pair of 3/4 pants and a set of mittens and booties for Ethan again.

By then, Jean had joined us, and after my nursing session in the squeezy and stinky nursing room, we all went for a 1-for-1 lunch at Durty Nelly's. The food was good and the citibank discount was fantastic and after that we paid a deposit for Ethan's full moon celebration luncheon which was to be held the day after.

After that, we headed for my father-in-law's place where we presented Ah Ma with her great-grandson and then left for Amara Hotel where we would be spending three nights.

After checking in and relaxing for a bit, everyone joined us for dinner at the Japanese restaurant nearby and we all enjoyed a fun time laughing and savouring the yummy meal.

19th December 2009 (Saturday)

Today was an exciting day as little Ethan was to hold his first full moon celebration at Durty Nelly's Irish Pub, Marina Square. We got there admist the rain at noon and then the frenzied entertaining of guests began.

Everyone showered our little one with gifts and clamoured to carry him and he put on his best behaviour to please the crowd. hahaa What a relief. I was going to ask the waitress to turn up the volume of the music in the pub if Ethan made a din. Ethan was passed from one excited and passionate aunty to the next and showered with kisses from Aunty Alexis who claimed she had just been to a dentist and therefore she was deemed 'clean' enough to kiss him. One wonders if the dentist scaled her lips instead of her teeth? hahaha

It was 4pm when e'thing was over and we all left with loads of presents and leftovers. Thankfully we had my 3 fairy children to help us cart e'thing to our car!

In the evening, my inlaws joined us and we polished most of the leftovers off for our dinner, too tired to leave the hotel.

20th December 2009 (Sunday)

Again, we had to wake up early and get our baby ready for yet another celebration. Today's luncheon was held jointly as a full moon celebration for Ethan's new born cousin, Tyler too!
We arrived at Fernwood Condo at around 1145pm and I went up to Yvonne's place to feed Ethan first.

We all went down to the function room at around 1230pm to welcome the guests who had started to trickle in. Soon, the small function room was bustling with life and activity. We collected yet another round of angpaos/ gifts and tried to savour the good food catered specially by Rose Por Por.

At 3+pm, the party ended and we left exhausted and returned to Amara Hotel for a short rest. Our next stop was Vivo City where the whole family gathered again for dinner. Prior to dinner, we brought TK to Toys 'R Us to pick a barbie doll for her X'mas present and then had a delicious but horrifyingly expensive dinner at Tung Lok restaurant. Then, it was back to Amara to crash.

21st Decemeber 2009 (Monday)

Deciding last minute to return to Singapore one day later, we spent the whole of today in ORchard road after we checked out from Amara Hotel. First, we headed to Tang's but the children's section was so puny that I ended up just buying wet wipes and cotton wool. Ethan started getting fidgety and so we returned to the car and I fed him.

Dad came down and we all headed to Centrepoint (as Paragon's CP was full) and I met Yvonne was tea there at Starbucks. Over iced tea, we exchanged details on how our lives had altered significantly with our sons in the picture and time flew by.

It was 415pm when Alan called me and I quicked scampered down to meet them (my mum included). We headed to M1 to pick up a new phone for my mother and was stuck there for HOURS. Alan and Dad headed over to Singtel at Taka to choose a new hp too and they were served at a MUCH faster rate. :P

DInner was a delicious Teochew cuisine at Teochew City restaurant at Centrepoint and we all decided that this would be a great place to hold our yearly CNY reunion dinner. ;)

Jean's here to stay

2009-12-23T11:51:00.004+08:00

15th December 2009 Tuesday

Jean came over to stay for a bit and we (Alan, Ethan and I) went to fetch her in the pouring rain. There was a massive traffic jam to Jln Ampang, Corus Hotel, where the Aeroline coach stopped and by the time we got there, Jean had just disembarked too.

Dinner was at Robson and cost a hefty RM250 (that's how much we spend, as a family for a whole week of groceries and fresh food!!). We had pork ribs, a soon hock, vegetables and thick thick fish maw soup.

16th December 2009 Wednesday

We decided to send JayCo earlier to the boarding hostel and so we took them this evening. After depositing them at Dogroomz, Alan and I brought Jean for dinner. Sad to say, our favourite steamboat porridge place (Eastern Delights) had closed down so we ventured on to greener pastures.

The ShabuShabu place was a buffet joint so we gave that a pass and ended up at another steamboat restaurant (I can't rem the name but it has something to do with 100). We could each choose our soup base individually. I had the milky fishhead soup and so did Jean and Alan chose golden porridge. We ordered a set and added some items. The drinks were also to die for. :)

17th December 2009 Thursday

We headed home to Singapore and commenced our journey at 5pm sharp. After going through the Malaysian customs with ease, we had to bring Ethan outta the car at the Singapore checkpoint and present some documents. You see, our son was born in Malaysia and has a Malaysian BC. But we applied for his Singapore citizenship and passport (the latter could only be collected in Singapore on the 18/12).

Finally, we got through the customs, after presenting little Ethan and all his documents (e.g. Document of Identity etc) and then we zoomed back to Siglap and unloaded all the stuff whilst Jean picked up take-aways of bowls of delicious beef noodles soup for our late dinner at 930pm.

SALON and Shopping

2009-12-14T21:01:00.003+08:00

12 December 2009 Saturday

We quickly had our brunch at Canton-I and then proceeded to Bill's at La Mode to trim our hair. The hair wash and massage was great and Bill was his usual professional self.

Then, we walked around Mid Valley and found out that Pumpkin Patch was on sale (again). We picked out shirt after shirt for our little one and also a pair of pants. The more we bought, the more we saved! :D

For a quick tea, we had some tea and also some tasteless blueberry and cheese roti boys. :P NOT NICE! Then, I popped into Guardian Pharmacy to buy some hair dye.

Guilt wreck our souls then and we hurriedly left for home and back to our little one. ;)

Japanese Dinner

2009-12-10T22:01:00.001+08:00

To quell the cravings, Alan took me to eat a Japanese dinner. We went to our favourite hangout at Taman Desa and ordered and ordered and ordered.

I had an unagi set (cos I had heard that unagi increases the supply of breast milk :P) and Alan had a plate of sashimi. We shared seafood soup in a claypot and also unagi sushi and soy peas. We washed everything down with a vanilla and red bean milkshake. YUMZ And after dinner, we visited Alan's Best Friend's Shop! :)

SMILE and the WORLD smiles with YOU

2009-12-09T10:57:00.003+08:00

ohhhhhhhh this is so exciting. We JUST discovered last night (or shld I say early this morning) that Ethan can S-M-I-L-E in response to what we do already. ahahaha For the past 5+, 6 weeks of his life, his so-called 'smiles' were merely muscular twitches. But in the wee hours of this morning, when Alan blew hot air onto his belly, he gave Alan a BIG BRIGHT GRIN. hahaha. And now, he bestows upon us sweet smiles when he is happy with the things we do - e.g. sing / talk to him etc. hahaha. SO so cute lah.

Please Vote:

2009-12-07T13:31:00.003+08:00

Topic of the Day: Should We Shave Ethan's Head?

Please enter your votes via the 'comments' button. "YES" - I think he looks damn weird with his long but sparse locks. "NO" - That's an inhumane thing to do. How would YOU like if someone shaved you bald??!

Vote NOW and stand a chance to win one out of twenty soiled (Winnie the PooPoo) diapers! Thank you for your kind participation. Stay Tuned for the results....

Sleepless in KL

2009-12-07T10:39:00.002+08:00

OMG. Yet another sleepless night (or should I say wee hours of the morning). Yesterday, I did everything 'right'. I put Ethan to bed for a long nap from around 5 to 630pm. That's his usual routine. And then he fell asleep in front of the tv again in the evening. En carried him up to me at around 1130pm and I was hopeful because that timing followed his 'usual routine'.

After feeding, Ethan promptly fell asleep for all of one minute or so and then started wailing again. This behaviour (feed - fall asleep for v short while - wail-feed- fall asleep for v short while ...) lasted from 1130pm till 330am. OMFG.

Don't Jinx It!

2009-12-06T11:47:00.004+08:00

Yesterday , whilst on the phone with my MIL, I replied her question that Ethan is "very guai, I can't complain" when she asked me how he was behaving. And true enough, that very night itself, everything went haywire.

Actually, it all started in the day time - the little rascal didn't get a good nap like he normally does. So he fell fast asleep at 8pm whilst I watched Kungfu Panda and Shrek the Third on HBO in peace. and then didn't wake up at his usual 1130pm time slot. After waiting and waiting, I decided to carry him upstairs at around 1215am.

He had a quick feed then and then went back to sleep. BUT, at 3+am, Ethan woke up. and was STARVING. He fed and fed and fed and wouldn't stop, even after vomitting milk a couple of times. Kept crying for MORE MORE , MUMMY MORE! Hence, I got a sprained neck (from climbing in and outta bed) and a sleepless night. It was only around 6+am did he decide that enough was enough and fall back into a deep sleep. OMG.

Both of us woke up at around 10+am and I just lay spreadeagle in bed without the energy to pull myself up. Until En knocked to say she was going to the market. Definitely NOT before helping me bathe Ethan!!

It's just one of those days...

2009-12-05T15:30:00.002+08:00

Another weekend which feels like a weekday. Alan's back in Singapore for work and a wedding dinner and Ethan and I are coping well w/o him around. The Burping Duties are taken over by the Mother who sometimes just cannot, no matter what, instigate a burp. haha.

He's finally asleep now. Fell asleep in the baby sling around me. This lil' fella enjoys that alot and I have no regrets buying that bright orange sling for The Baby Loft. Paid almost RM100 for it though. :P

I'm going to take a nap now.

The Price of Vanity

2009-12-04T13:14:00.005+08:00

Nothing much to update. Alan left for Singapore at 2pm yesterday afternoon. So it's Ethan, the maid and me for the next few days till he returns on Monday! At least there will not be a squeeze in bed for the next few nights. (I am looking on the brighter side of things nowadays.)

Time really flies now that Ethan is here. Just when I think I can get a breather, he will cry again and demand to be fed/ changed/ showered kisses. But he is a cutie and I am happy to have him around. I love to hug him to sleep, whilst he is nursing and then watch him fall asleep on my chest. This feeling is irreplaceable. Considering that I never wanted children, I think I have come a long way :P

Today was my third urut session and it was a more humane more (as I had fervently requested for). I was all bruised and battered from my second (just yesterday) and here the burly woman was again, tormenting me outta my skin. OMG.

My urut lady has a weird problem with time though. She was supposed to turn up at 11am yesterday but at 1145am she had not come. So I called her and she said that her daughter was having tuition and could she please come at 1230pm instead? HMMmmm.. She never bothered to call me to rearrange the timing. :P

And then today, she was supposed to come at 1130am but 'ding dong' my doorbell rang at 11am. omg. Maybe she can't tell the time very well? no leh.. she leaves on the dot, after our 75minute session. hmmmmmmmmm

Urut- OUCH!

2009-12-02T13:06:00.002+08:00

wooooo.. I just finished my first urut session and boy was it painful. Interestingly, I thought that the stomach area would be the most painful to urut but in actual fact, the thighs and arms area hurt the most.

I will be having a session (75mins) daily (excluding this coming Sunday) for a total of 10 sessions. The husband will be forking out RM800 (that's around sgd$36/ session) in total and I will be given an ikat cloth. This cloth acts like a girdle and binds the bountiful belly. I am supposed to wear it for at least 8hours / day. The privileges of Motherhood! :P

Failed Urut & Sphagetti Marinara

2009-12-01T21:00:00.005+08:00

Today, the Urut lady, who was supposed to come at 11am for my first session, decided that she was too lazy and therefore smsed me 45mins before the session to tell me she was not coming. *sigh* :P

Anyway, I sneaked out together with Alan to Bangsar for lunch. I wanted Japanese but after climbing up to the second floor of BSV, we realised that Sakae Sushi had closed (DAMN). We walked here and there and finally settled for D'lish.

I wanted Salmon Teriyaki but in the end, had what Alan ordered (Sphagetti Marinara) because of time constraints. By the time we got home, Ethan had woken up and gone back to sleep (w/o drinking any of the expressed milk in the fridge).

Here are some more pictures of Ethan, taken today - to satisfy the excited grandparents. :)

Our little Prince, Ethan - After one month

2009-11-30T14:57:00.007+08:00

Today, after a long long time, En and I were left at home alone with Baby Ethan. Alan went back (relunctantly) to work in the morning and the responsibility of taking care of the little one, fell heavily upon both our shoulders. So far so good though, thankfully.

The normal routine (if there is one) is to bathe him after he wakes up. During the first month of his existence, bath time was roughly around 9am and the Confinement Lady would take that shift, after she baked him in the sun for a short while. I would then quickly wash up and prepare the udders in anticipation of another feed after he got cleaned and sweet-smelling.

After the CL left, and for the past one week, Alan and I bathed him diligently. And today, En and I did a good job. :) Ethan's bath time is getting later and later though. ahhaha TOday it was at 10am. But then again, we don't have a plane to catch!

After the bath and dress up session, Ethan will have his feed again (or if he is drowsy, we will skip that till later) and then be put to bed- alone this time. I am afraid he has become very dependent on me. He's always sleeping on our bed (thank god it's king sized!) and in between Alan and I. (There's truly a third party in my marriage!) Ethan loves to have a warm hand placed on his chest for a sense of security whilst he sleeps. And most of the time, he falls asleep just like that (hence the creation of the aching-hand-syndrom) whilst facing me. :) It's a great feeling to drift off to slumberland whilst looking at your little one. Reminds me of the song in Ammagedon, "I could stay awake, just to watch you sleeping.." Just scrap the 'stay awake' part, cos I can hardly keep my eyes open.

At 5+, 6pm, it's time again, after countless of feeding sessions, to have a wipe-down before "bedtime". This little prince is a night owl though and most of the time, his 'bedtime' is after midnight. :P To keep my sanity, I try to have a short nap or two throughout the day.

Both Papa and Mama have distinguished a couple of his cries as well. His "I-want-milk-NOW" cry goes like this: "O LEHHHHHHH O LEHHHHHH" hahahah. It's quite comical, really. And his "I-have-poo-poo-in-my-pants" cry is an urgent cry of distress coupled with arms and legs thrashing in mid air. The face he makes whilst he burps is a classic though, and my favourite. hahaha. If he's really sleepy, he will attempt to look up at his burper (the person burping him) and little fine lines will appear on his forehead. He will (try) to hold his head up as well. And of course, he will turn tomato red. hahaha. CUTE! The little Darling's Poo poo is a fish curry (yes the type you dip your crispy prata into) colour and it is excerted in loud and forceful spurts. hahahha. The deaf also will be able to hear him go after a big meal. He has a tendency to pee after his bath as well and the degree of projectile will surely impress. So far, he has treated a couple of people to "tea" already.

Ethan's favourite sleeping place in the house is in our hall. I think he much prefers the ceiling fan to the airconditioning. Also, he absolutely adores his rocker chair (courtesy of Grandpa and Grandma) from Fisherprice and he snoozes in the chair a couple of times a day. Jay Jay and Coco however, make it difficult for Ethan to get a good nap. They are very concerned about him and come up close to check on him every now and then. They also sleep by his side in a bid to protect him. But, they do bark loudly at strangers outside the house and this startles Ethan (arms flung out -> eyes open -> loud wails) and therefore does not make this sleeping arrangement very conducive. :P

He has begun, a week or two ago, to make weird animal noises as well. ahahha. Very hard to describe but super entertaining. This occurs during burping sessions or certain pockets of time when he is alone in his cot and entertaining himself.

Baby Ethan's "smiles' are still muscular twitches (the baby book says that only after 6 weeks old will a newborn's smile light up his eyes) but there was once, last week, when he was lying on my lap when Ethan gave me a BIG BRIGHT GRIN (that reached his eyes) suddenly. I was mesmerized and went 'ooooohhhh" and ' ahhhhh' and then, seconds later, I found out the reason for the glee - he had peed on my pants!!! ahhahaha. The cheeky monkey!! Luckily he's too cute for me to exact revenge on!

Alright, before I go on and on gushing about my son, I better pen off now and take a quick power nap. ;)

2009-11-29T20:32:00.002+08:00

hahaha This is how little Ethan looks when he is being burped by Daddy. :)

One Month Weight & Length

2009-11-29T11:28:00.002+08:00

Oppps. I forgot to update something really important: That the stuff that mothers and fathers judge their success of parenthood on for their newborns...

Ethan was born on 26th October 2009 and weighed 2.49kg and had a length of 44.5cm then.

A week later, when we brought him to the doctor, his weight had plummetted 300g to 2.2kg and he was 45.5cm long.

Yesterday, at the doctor's, we weighed him with bated breath and he had put on almost a cool 1kg in 3 weeks to reach 3.245kg and his length is 48.7cm! *clap clap* I am glad he is getting somewhere with my breast milk :P

Jaundice & Ginseng Chicken

2009-11-28T15:12:00.005+08:00

Baby Ethan is getting more and more yellow by the day. His worried parents will therefore bring him to see his paedetrician later today. Since the doctor is so busy, and we are walk-in patients, we were given the 5-530pm slot to go to Gleneagles to see Dr Lim MK.

Ethan has not been sleeping well for the past two days. Since the CL left on Wednesday, he has ceased to take afternoon naps. Thankfully today, this phenomenon has ceased and he is now in his rocker chair snoozing. *phew*

The days and nights do not have any perforation any longer. They all merge into one long feeding session. hahaha. One wonders how much longer it will take for me to morph into Panda Woman!! 930pm - Home again We have returned around an hour ago from the hospital. We waited from 515pm till around 645pm to see the doctor for about 5mins. He confidently / arrogantly / borchuply told us that there's nothing wrong with Ethan after "examining" him for a few seconds.

Ethan sleeping soundly in the doc's clinic

Anyway, it's good that there's nothing wrong with Ethan. We paid RM60 to hear the doctor say that. Well, since we were out and had to eat anyway, Alan brought me to our favourite Korean restaurant in Ampang. We last visited there on our 6month wedding anniversary - so you can imagine how long ago that was! Both of us had Korean Ginseng Chicken (with glutinous rice inside) and I had a carrot juice and ALan had a citrus tea. Yumz. Our little one was an ANGEL and slept throughout the dinner. He enjoys the rides in the car seat as well, we think. It's so cushy and comfortable! He slept all the way till we got home and continued sleeping somemore until we woke him up for his feed. ;)

Factory is CLOSED

2009-11-26T22:23:00.004+08:00

Everyone!! Ethan is ONE MONTH OLD today! *clap clap clap* We survived!!! I survived the smelly herb baths, the meaty lunches and dinners, the heaty longan and red date teas and the eating of fish by the oceans...That all excludes the sleepless nights when Ethan will feed and feed, the changing of pee /poo ridden diapers and nappies and the deafening wails and screams that resound throughout the day and night. YaY.

My confinement lady left at 1pm yesterday and she left me her 'namecard' and asked me to call her if I needed her help again because we are such good employers. Alan gave her two big angpaos (one to welcome her and one to bid her farewell - customary, both) and my inlaws also gave her another angpao when they were in KL. Not to mention, the CL (Mdm Lim Suey Huey) also had my maid to help her throughout the confinement - even during the late-night-feeds. OF COS she would wanna come back to work for us. Hahahah But TOO BAD, this factory is closed. Enough. I am stopping at ONE, thank you very much!

Relishing some pockets of Freedom

2009-11-24T17:14:00.003+08:00

Today, Alan had to go back into the office for a while but after that, he promptly picked me up for a late lunch at 145pm. We headed to the Gardens again and decided to try the Korean food eatery at the basement for once.

I had stir-fried tanghoon (I am sure they didnt call the dish that on the menu) and Alan had chilli cuttlefish with rice. I do miss eating chilli and curries *sigh* But what to do? If I indulge, I am sure poor little Ethan's belly will be on fire once he feeds. :S Must sacrifice for Motherhood (lah).

After having the unsatisfying meal, we headed to MVMM to change currency and also to pick up some stuff at Ace Hardware. I bought a weighing scale to see how many pounds I (didnt) (lose) and also to weigh Ethan and Alan bought some miscellaneous items. Then, we headed home as both of us were zoning out due to the lack of sleep. haahhaa. DuH

Happy FULL MOON Ethan darling!

2009-11-24T13:15:00.002+08:00

22 November 2009 SUnday

Today we celebrated Ethan's full moon in advance. :) Alan and I woke up a bit earlier than we usually did on a Sunday and Alan left for the market to pick up some fresh food whilst I gave our precious little prince a bath. :)

Ethan was his usual water baby self and after his bath and when he was sweet-smelling, I brushed his long locks and snipped off a bit of hair at the nape and put the hair into a red packet. The red packet is now in a scrapbook (which I had bought in Australia) I am keeping to record all Ethan's important moments and cute pictures. :)

After Alan Daddy got home, he marinated the pork chops and cooked the sphagetti whilst I nursed Ethan etc. We then went out again to buy a big Chocolate Indulgence cake from Secret Recipe to celebrate our godson, Hayden's 7th birthday and also Ethan's full moon.

At around 230pm, the Kua family arrived and we all dined together. Our little one was an angel and fell fast asleep just minutes before the doorbell rang. After we devoured the Aglio Olio and the pork chops with mushroom sauce and the chicken soup (courtesy of Campbell - I have no time to make my own soup nowadays), we brought out the cake and sang the birthday song.

Then, the doorbell rang and the delivery man was here with the cakes for the full moon celebration we had ordered for our friends and Alan's colleagues. So after lunch was over and our guests had left, we went to Meng Koo's and Christine's to deliver the cakes. On our way back, we passed our neighbours each a box as well. :)

I can't believe how time has flown by and now our little one is almost a month old. Amazing. Very soon, we will have a tumbling toddler in the house! :)

It wasn't a Moody Monday!

2009-11-23T21:24:00.000+08:00

23rd November 2009 (Monday)

Because the confinement lady is leaving on Wednesday, my dearest husband has taken the week off to keep me company at home and for me to phase in the changes and enable En and I to cope better. The other most important man in my life bought us both delicious beef horfun for lunch after we had eaten the chocolate indulgence for breakfast. hahaha. I don't think I shall ever get back my waistline :P

With the sudden surge in milk supply - god knows why- I was able to leave the house confidently for a couple of hours. We booked tickets at The Gardens to 2012 and zoomed off at 230pm for the 3pm show. Thank goodness the mall is so nearby!

The movie was cool , in my opinion. The special effects were wonderful. It's also a story of how humanity behaves in adversity. Touching and inspirational. :) I enjoyed all 2hours and 40mins of it, albeit tortured by the guilt of leaving Ethan behind at home with the nanny and the maid. *sigh* It looks like it will take a long long time before I will be able to enjoy myself out w/o the kiddo.

After the movie, Alan and I rushed home (beating the Bangsar Jam by going the Brickfields way) and heaved a huge sigh of relief when we found Ethan well and satiated by the milk I had pumped for him before leaving the house. Yay.

Some updates

2009-11-14T19:31:00.007+08:00

Having a Sweet, sweet Dream
YAWNZZzzzzzzz
Boo!

Alan FINALLY got back from Jakarta last night at nearly midnight. He had been there since Monday early morning. *sigh* The poor fella has been away from his little newborn son for the longest time!

Yesterday at around 5pm, Christine, my ex-student from CGS (2001/2002) came a-visiting. :D SHe lives a stone's throw away in Bangsar as well. We exchanged notes about KL living and bitched about life etc. hahaha

Ethan enjoys being told stories to - his favourite is Jack and the Beanstalk and his favourite song whilst being rocked to and fro / put on mummy and daddy's bed is Old Mac Donald Had a Farm :P Now, I can experience childhood all over again!

This morning , our breakfast was a TREAT! We had Mac Donald's!! Yay I had a sausage egg macmuffin and hash brown and a vanilla shake (Oooooooooooo- shhhhhh don't tell the confinement lady!) and Alan had a fillet-o-fish, hash brown and strawberry shake.

For Lunchtime entertainment, and because I have been released from the bars of watching horror movies, we chose a blue-ray entitled The Unborn. Sad to say, it was BORINGGGGGGGGG. Nothing is really scary in the movies nowadays. Anyone has any recommendations for horror movies????