Just mummy and Eryn

It was Mother's Day. I didn't go back to my hometown but chose to stay in KL. DH was away in Germany for 3 weeks and thus, I decided to spend Mother's Day alone with Eryn all alone. Brendan called early in the morning from my hometown to wish me Happy Mother's Day and he said that he's eating cake and would be going for a sumptous lunch!!

My brother and his wife were planning to take my mum out and that, to Brendan, meant going out jalan-jalan and makan-makan.

Anyway, I took Eryn to Lake Gardens for a 2.5 hours outing. That was only my 2nd time there and I was kind of surprise that it is such a fun place for kids.

Eryn just loved playing there. It gave me a moment of pleasure, thinking of days when I was a kid. We were just happy going to the playground with only 2 swings, a see-saw and a merry-go-round. Kids these days have so much things to look forward to..

Half day trip to Genting

I was given 4 complimentary tickets to watch the show "FLY" in Genting. I gave the tickets to my mum, sis, brother & sis-in-law to watch the show while DH & I took the kids to the indoor theme park.

On that particular day, the kids knew we were going out and didn't take their nap the whole afternoon. By the time we arrive Genting, it was around 4pm+ They were too excited to sleep and was amazed at the huge, colourful playground around them. Their heads were turning here and there and they were jumping up and down.

By the time it was dinner, the kids were extremely tired and sleepy, but still wanted to play. They sat in most of the rides, going round and round, walking here and there, stopping to see this and that, and by the time my family came out from the show, it was almost 11pm.

Gosh, upon entering the car, they slept immediately, all the way back home.

As it was an Easter weekend, all rooms were fully booked. So, we've got no choice but to drive back on the same night.

Boyz II Men

Quite recently, I had the opportunity to meet Boyz II Men up close and personal. I loved their older albums and their songs are part of my favourite collection - A Song for Mama, End of the Road, I'll Make Love to You, On Bended Knee, One Sweet Day....

I don't have any specific favourite singer or groups and mostly go for songs that I like. I've met a few artistes and singers but meeting Boyz II Men is like a dream come true.

Open your mouth

"Show me how you laugh", I said, and the kids laughed and then freezed with their mouth open wide! They love doing this and I don't know what's so interesting about showing what's in your mouth. Hmm..... since it's quite difficult checking their teeth and tongue, maybe taking photos is a way for me to make a clear analysis on how clean their teeth and tongue are!

CNY in Kluang

Brendan and Eryn are usually in their old clothes. So, it's always nice to see them when they're dressed up quite presentable for the camera.

They seldom wear socks and wearing socks is like being so "cantik". They would proudly parade around the house and stare at the socks on their feet! But it doesn't last long cos the heat would make their feet all sweaty and uncomfortable and they would asked it to be taken out.

Eryn wearing mummy's old dress

My mum will clean and rearrange her cupboard once in a while and 4 months back, while cleaning the cupboard, she took out 2 cute little dresses that was once worn by me more than 30 years ago. My mum kept a lot of our baby clothes, and she has sewn many lovely dresses for me and my sis, but somehow most of it disappeared, or got stolen, when she left it at my grandma's place.

Here's Eryn in one of my baby dress - photo taken about 4 months back when Eryn was 16.5 months.

This is when I wore it many many moons back!

Here's another one of Eryn wearing my dress.

My late grandparents' house

In one of my trip back to my hometown last year, I took my mum and kids to my late maternal grandparents' house just to 'see-see-look-look'.

The house brought back lots of memories and was very nostalgic especially to my mum. This was where my grandparents brought up 13 children. At that time, it was the only big wooden house in the middle of nowhere. There were trees and vegies everywhere - rambutan, durian, papaya, coconut, ciku, pineapple, lime, lemon, even rubber trees and those red biji saga trees (not sure what it's called in English) and many kinds of animals and insects - very filial dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, 2 geese, cobras, pythons, huge biawaks (they feast on the chickens), big fat buzzing bumble bees, monkeys, owls, squirrels, etc.. We love the rambutan season cos the grandma has one particular rambutan tree with seedless rambutans and another with yellow rambutans. In fact, all the rambutan trees (and the papaya trees) bore sweet fruits.

My grandparents were from Hainan. Their marriage were arranged. My mum said that grandpa was a very handsome man and many families tried to match-make their daughters to my grandpa, but my grandpa had eyes only on my grandma. They were married at a very tender young age and grandpa left for Malaysia and set up his own bread factory in Kluang (now taken over by my uncles). Grandma later came to Malaysia and together they settled down in this little town.

It was during the Japanese occupation and things were rough. I used to hear stories of Gurkhas in town and how the Japanese imposed a curfew to avoid any mishaps.

Cooking were done in another section of the land, in a custom-made kitchen as big as the hall in my apartment, using firewood and charcoals over a big wok as big as a tractor's wheel! Ya, grandma and aunts had to cook for the factory workers as well.

There's around 43 grandchildren (or more) and about 12 great-grandchildren now. I am the 10th grandchild and we, the older grandchildren share some fond memories of our childhood at my grandparents' house. We loved playing there, sometimes climbing the mango and rambutan trees, or go searching for "bao fu" (spiders), or simply walk along the big, huge longkang looking for fishes and tadpoles... We played lots of our childhood games here - galah panjang, hide-and-seek, police & thief, etc....

Sometimes, we go under the house, digging to see if we can find some old coins. I used to keep some odd-shaped coins and some with a hole in the middle but have misplaced them. We didn't know how valuable such coins would become.

It's sad seeing the place in ruins now...

Raisin-lover

Actual post dated 30th Oct. 2006

Oh, gosh! Eryn just loves raisins. She'll ask for raisins in the morning, in the afternoon and at night. The moment she spots the Sunmaid raisins on top of the shelf, she'll ask and ask and ask until she get her raisins shot.

She'll happily munch her raisins on her own and the satisfaction on her face shows it all.

Despite it being sugar-free and preservative free, I'm wondering if it's actually safe for consumption on a daily basis.

Munch munch munch

Actual post dated 23rd Oct. 2006

Eryn loves munching and she’s always asking for food to much, despite being so small-sized. She doesn’t really have a big appetite and doesn’t eat a lot but she just loves munching. Every hour or so, she’ll ask for biscuits or bread and for bites whenever we have our meals at the moment. She’ll munch on grapes, raisins (one of her favourite), pear, apple, prune, carrot, etc.

Hmm….. maybe because she’s born in the year of the goat….

Piano Duets

Actual Post dated 20th Oct. 2006

One pretending to be Beethoven, one pretending to be Mozart? All I know is there love banging and banging and banging on the piano.

Ahem! Mummy here is a good pianist and they’re trying to take after mummy, I guess. For now, I just have to bear with the “lovely” tunes that come under their little, fat, fingers…..

Christmas 2006

A lovely picture of Brendan hugging Eryn on Christmas morning.

Christmas party

Brendan and Eryn had a good time dancing away at a Christmas party in a golf club in mummy's kampung. It was their first time watching Christmas Carollers singing away. While all the other children were playing games and watching for Santa Claus and the adults sitting and chatting among each other, Brendan and Eryn were the only listeners and supporters of the carollers.

Long Deeparaya break

2 weeks before, I was undecided whether to go back to my hometown in good ol' Kluang. I didn't want to take any unnecessary leave when my work is all piling up. And then, the announcement came, that all staffs are required to take compulsary leave. Since we have to take a forced leave, it made my decision more clear-cut.

And so, the exodus began. I drove back with the kids early Saturday morning around 7:40am. Traffic was building up along the North South Expressway but it wasn't jam. I later heard that later in the same afternoon, traffic was so bad under the heat.

It was a good weekend again in Kluang. There's always tons of home-cooked food and tons of shows to watch on Singapore channel. We seldom tune in to Malaysian TV whenever we are in Kluang as we get clear reception of the Singapore tv channels. The kids love playing with kong-kong and their Uncle Kim Leong and Auntie Fannie.

This trip, I missed the breakfast at Kluang railway station again, and missing Kluang's yummy beef noodle and botak curry mee. How to go out an eat when there's abundant of food at my parent's home?

We spent Brendan's 3rd birthday in Kluang as well which fell on Monday. It was a small celebration at home but it's a meaningful one definitely.

On the first day of Raya, we went to a prominent businessman's open house who happened to be my dad's friend. It was a lovely makan love-affair as the food was just simply yummy. I've not been to any raya open house for many many years and attending it for the first time together with my kids reminds me of the lovely racial harmony that we enjoy.

We've never been to the extremely big Zenxin organic farm despite being a Kluangnite and took the opportunity to visit the farm in Kluang. It was really a surprise for us to see that Kluang has a huge farm. I think they specialises in the planting of the red dragon fruit there.

I used to buy the organic brown rice powder from a Zenxin shop in Kluang 2-3 years back and am surprised at the growth of the company.

When the time came for us to come back up to KL, I really dread having to drive up in the jam but it's a decision I made and I have to face the journey. The usual almost-3 hours drive turned into a 4.5 hours drive up to KL.

Whatever it is, I don't regret going back.

Copycats

My mum love sewing pants, batik shirts and pyjamas (doesn’t matter if it’s not matching) for my kids. Even when we were small, my mum always spend her free-time sewing our dresses, School uniforms, pyjamas and shirts for us.

That’s a pic of Brendan & Eryn in matching cotton, checked pyjama tops. Hey, they’ve got matching smiles to go with too!

Siblings Rivalry

Brendan and Eryn have this love-hate sibling relationship. Well, can play and laugh together one moment and then hit at each other at the wink of an eye!

I love it when they play together. Eryn will sometimes go ‘sayang' kor-kor and Brendan will then ‘sayang’ back mei-mei. But when Eryn starts kissing kor-kor with her wet, salivating lips, Brendan will start screaming and hit at Eryn. That’s when the headache starts. Each will take turn hitting at each other and start screaming and shouting for mummy’s attention. Both will come running to mummy at the same time, wanting to be carried and wanting to sit on mummy’s lap at the same time! Yes, at the same time….. They rather not take turns but would rather go at something together……

Here, you can see a pic of Brendan hugging Eryn till she’s almost out of breath! Haha

My brother's wedding

My one and only brother finally got married about 3 months back. So, this is an overdue post.

My sister-in-law is someone who is really down to earth, maintaining a very low profile and is always ever so generous and kind-hearted, never failing to be nice to everyone around her. She's got this lovely glow on her face, being so patient and understanding.

The wedding was quite a big affair for the family, with the dinner guests totalling 50 tables. My mum's side happened to be a big group as my late maternal grandparents had 13 children. It was a fun affair especially for the younger children, which means it's playtime with lots of balloons, running around and abundance of fun with all the grand-cousins to play with.

self-feeding

As Eryn grows older, she likes to "show off" the things that she can independently manage on her own, like having her own meals.

She'll insists on holding her own spoon and eating on her own, sometimes messying herself and everywhere.

Tanglungs

Just a memorable week of the kids having fun with lanterns, doesn't matter if they're lighted up, squashed, torn, burnt, etc... For Eryn, she's even happy just holding the stick without the lantern!

Music please.....

Over the weekend, we took the kids out to Midvalley for a short visit. We had to send my sis to a wedding dinner in Bangsar Seafood Restaurant and thought that we could spend a few hours in Midvalley while waiting for my sis.

The kids seldom get the opportunity to go to shopping malls and they had tons of fun there. There was an 'iceless' skating rink and the kids enjoyed watching the people skating. As the music beats away, the kids danced around the exhibition hall for all to see.... *Mummy had to hide face*

Eryn's little 'acrobat' performance.

Eryn is one little dashyat baby. Turning 16 months old this Sunday, it's a wonder how she can perform her little magic.

Tell her to do tai-chi and she'll put her two hands down on the floor, one leg down and the other leg up in the air, then she'll twist her body a little like a acrobat stunt. When it comes to yoga, there's a more dramatic effect - the same taichi stunt, but with an added 'lifting up her head' effect.

There's this big cute Crayon Shin Chan doll that we have at home where Eryn will just jump on it, squeeze the neck with her knees and start riding it and she'll goes "sit hooss..." (sit horse)

She can climb up the chairs, tables, hide under the sofa set and the stuffs that babies do without any thoughts of danger coming to their minds. Oh, and she loves twirling around the curtain at the sliding door.

Check out the picture on the right. Eryn’s shirt is lifted back and you know what? She did that all by herself!!

Weekend get-away at D'Paradise

I was given a free night stay at D’Paradise farm in Melaka. Since the complimentary stay is valued at RM1,000 I took my mum, sis, maid and the kids for a short weekend get-away there.

We stayed in a nice little “kampong” like house on a hill. The bathrooms were attached to the 2 rooms with an open-air environment, where you can look up and see the sky while bathing. We didn’t dare take the chance to do that at night. Who knows, we might just suddenly see eyes popping out of no where.

We were quite concern of the insects as we were scared that the kids will get bitten. There was a bee flying around us and a black, furry caterpillar that was in the house. So, we had to keep a lookout in case the kids start picking on the insects and putting them into their mouths.

In the daytime, we took the buggy and drove round the farm. It was basically a tropical fruit farm. Brendan and Eryn were especially thrilled at the sight of the deers and ostriches. They were just so tame and came up close to us. I was actually surprised that the deers love nangkas (jackfruits). They came running to one huge nangka that were thrown to them and they happily tore it open and ate everything.

Overall, it was a nice get-away though I wouldn’t purposely pay to spend a night there as I get to see these fruits since I get to see lots of it back in my hometown.

Zoo again...

Brendan had the opportunity to visit the zoo again on 26th August. Eryn tagged along and it was her first time. Daddy came along as well since he seldom take the kids for outings like this.

I remember the last time I went with Brendan alone, we took our time enjoying watching the animals and leisurely walked at our own pace to let Brendan has his “oohhhhs” and “aahhhhs”. This time, with daddy around, it’s like he’s walking so far ahead of us and we having to catch up with him. By the time we reached where he was standing, he’ll say “ok, come, let’s go….” Eesshh……. How impatiently can he be. Eryn didn’t get much chance to see some of the animals as time seems to be running out for daddy…..

Sigh! Can’t daddy just learn to s.l.o.w. down and enjoy that few hours of fun for the kids?

To think that I’ve never been to Zoo Negara and this year alone, I actually went there twice!

"RRRRRRRR...."

Oh my, Brendan can't really seem to pronounce his "r". Check this out :

Daddy : Brendan, how to you say rrrrrab-bit
Brendan : Brrrrrrr........ Wabbit!
Daddy : What about Brrrrrrrrrrren-dan?
Brendan : Brrrrr..........Band-den!!
Daddy : How about ae-rrrrrro-plane?
Brendan : Brrrrr........ Aewooplane...
Eryn : Brrrrrrr.... Brrrrrrrr.......

On a separate issue, I'm surprised at the no. of syllables that Eryn can input to her list of "Pronouncable" words at one year old. Brendan could only manage sign languages when he was one and a few monosyllables....

Quite recently, Brendan was playing with an empty bottle and making lots of noise with the bottle by banging it on the floor. After a while, Eryn shoke her head and said, "Noooo.....Pe-Cah!"

She's been nodding her head and say "Yes", shaking her head and say "No" or "Can-not" and her latest word to her vocab "Ma..... ma.... ma.... ma...." Problem is, we don't know if she's calling me or calling Ah-Mah (her paternal grandma).

Eryn's birthday party

We celebrated Eryn's first birthday 3 days after her actual birthday. We had a small celebration at a Pizza restaurant in USJ with a room all by ourselves. I think the kids who came had tons of fun especially after the dinner. For Brendan, he was so engrossed into playing instead of eating.

For some of the children, it was a party weekend as the day before, we attended little Qiqi's 2nd birthday.

After our relatives and some of our friends left, the REAL party began. It was more of a balloon party than anything else after the dinner. Spaces were made to cater to the kids to play and run about.

Eryn had her fair share of all the fun despite being only one year old. She couldn't stop running here and there. My gal has grown.....

Eryn turns one!

Eryn turns one today!

For the past few weeks, I've been keeping this in mind - that my gal will be one soon... This morning, she woke me up with smiles and gurgles and with stories to tell. I actually forgot about this special day until I received a phone call from my mum a few minutes later, wishing Eryn Happy Birthday! Gosh..... my memory is failing me.

2 nights ago, she discovered how to climb up the sofa and get down again. I didn't actually noticed it. Eryn was playing beside me while I was reading the newspaper. Suddenly, my maid asked "Eehh?! Macam mana Eryn naik atas sofa?" I was so engrossed in my papers that I didn't even noticed that she has climbed onto the sofa! I looked at her and she was smiling, happy that she's learnt another new found "skill"! She then slowly and carefully got down from the sofa and smiled again. Then, it all began. She climbed up, she came down, she climbed up, she came down, etc... And she's been doing it for the past 2 days.....

We won't be going anything much today as we are having a small celebration this coming Sunday.

Mummy wish you, Eryn, a HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY! *kisses* & *hugs*

Langkawi videos

Before we depart for KL from Langkawi, we spent some time by a beach near the airport. The owner of the restaurant which is located on that beach told us that Dr Mahathir and his family loves prawn-fishing there and they can catch up to 20 kilos of prawns within one hour!

The beach is not as beautiful as the other beaches in Langkawi, but the air is very breezy and the waves quite strong.

As for Brendan and Eryn, they just love running around as seen in the videos here......

Langkawi trip

We had pre-planned to go to Langkawi since January this year. However, I didn't really have the mood to go when Eryn was down with fever and Roseola.

The night before we left, her rashes subsided a lot and we headed to Langkawi on the 24th May. We rented a Wira at RM120 for the whole 3 days and stayed at Berjaya Langkawi Beach & Spa resort. It was a wonderful trip for the children and they loved the whole trip, right from the packing of the bags, the wait at the airport, the buggy rides at Berjaya Resort, seeing aeroplanes, boats, yatchs, monkeys, donkeys and the visit to Underwater World, Telaga Tujuh (Seven Wells), the many beaches, the Hot Spring and many other smaller places. Oh, not forgetting the many places to run about, the jumping on the bed, the shower in the bathtub and many more...

Believe it or not, it was actually my first time to Langkawi (how sad....). I didn't expect much out of it but am surprised at the lovely island. I think it must be due to the presence of my children that made me enjoy my stay more than I expected.

We practically drove around the whole Island, my favourite places being the Telaga Tujuh waterfall and the beaches, esp. Datai Bay and Berjaya beach. Too bad we didn't get to reach Telaga Tujuh at the top due to some light drizzle. For batik lovers, shopping at Beras Terbakar (Field of Burnt Rice) is a must as they batik materials from Java are of good materials and are very cheap.

Eryn's first high fever

I had a scare when Eryn had high fever last week. Went to see the dr and he gave some fever medicine and an anti-inflammation medicine for her throat. Her restlessness made me lose sleep until her fever went down yesterday.

But then, the reddish spots came out. Called my mum last night to seek her opinion and she said that I should go to see the auntie staying on the ground floor of my block. Lan Jie was very helpful and I got some tips from her. In fact, I suspected that it was Roseola (or 'fake measles' in chinese). She confirmed it and gave me some tips.

To put myself at ease, I took Eryn to the dr again after work today and the dr too confirms that it was Roseola. Have to pay another RM45 just to see him the 2nd time, but I take it that I learnt something from the dr today, by differentiating between the normal measles and roseola.

On a separate issue, it's Eryn's chinese birthday today. We have a simple 'birthday game' where you lay some items in front of the birthday child for her to pick her so-called expertise. We don't really believe in it but did it out of fun.

Hectic Weekend

Didn't manage to find time to post this up until now.

I actually drove down to Kluang with my kids last weekend. I was already dead-tired and was initially worried how I was going to cope over that weekend. My MIL was spending the long weekend at her eldest son’s place and my hubby was away in Penang. So, it’s just me alone with the kids plus the maid.

Thursday, 11th May 2006

My sis was due to arrive at 11:15pm at the LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) on thisThursday day night. I was constantly thinking whether I should leave the kids alone at home with the maid and drive to LCCT alone. I normally directly breastfeed Eryn once I get home from work. The kids usually goes to bed between 10:30pm-11:00pm and Eryn must suckle before she goes to bed, getting up occasionally for more shots in-between bedtime and before I go to work. Then, there’s the worry of Brendan disturbing his mei-mei and I really don’t think my maid can tahan with these 2 kids alone at home. I was thinking of taking Brendan alone with me so the maid can just keep on eye on Eryn, with or without direct breastfeeding.

To make things worst, my sis called to say that her flight was delayed and she would be arriving around midnight!! Gosh!! 10:30pm came and the kids are still very much active. Getting them to sleep was quite impossible that night. So, at 11:15pm, all of us went to LCCT together. While I was driving, I had to constantly raise my voice at the 2 kids at the back, happy at the thought of going kai-kai in the middle of the night. LCCT seems so much more further than the KLIA terminal.

Upon reaching there, my sis was already waiting and the kids had just fallen asleep. We reached home around 1:00am.

Friday, 12th May 2006 (Wesak day)

At 5:00am, I got up, breastfed Eryn and quickly packed some of the things in the car. By the time I finished packing, it was already 6:00am. I then carried Brendan and the maid, Eryn, who were both still sleeping to the car and headed for the early morning 3 hours drive home to Kluang together with the maid and my sis. We reached Kluang around 9:00am with the kids wide awake by then.

Everyone took a quick shower and were rushing for my brother’s ROM (registry of marriage) scheduled at 10:00am!! While we were all busy taking turns to shower, the kids were busy running here and there and playing with their granddad, screaming and laughing away…

By the time we were at the ROM, it was another long wait. This time, the kids were having tons of fun running all over the place while I was getting really dead-tired. The ROM started almost around 12:00noon. After that, we went back home and put the kids to sleep.

7:00pm – Family dinner at Prime City Hotel , Kluang nicest and biggest hotel. Again, the kids were running around the restaurant. I really wonder where they get their energy from.

Saturday, 13th May 2006 (My mum’s birthday)

We spent our day at home. My brother got some new furnitures for his room for preparation for his wedding day. Everything’s in a mess. The air-con people came. The electrician came. It was drilling here, knocking there, cleaning everywhere and the kids!!! – running around the house again! The only time they were quiet was when they’re both asleep. Brendan and Eryn later had a good, long 4 hours nap, giving me my much needed rest. My sis and I took the opportunity to go buy a yummy Tiramisu birthday cake for my mum.

Sunday, 14th May 2006 (Mother’s Day)

Spent a nice and quiet time at home before we drive back to KL at 4:00pm. There was a jam at Seremban. So, it took us longer than usual to reach KL. We went straight to LCCT to fetch my sis there as she had to catch a flight. By the time we all got home, it was around 9:00pm.

Aaahhhh…… relieved….. zzzzzz………

Wearing shoes before turning one

I've bought a nice pair of new shoes for Eryn but old folks are telling me that I shouldn't let Eryn wear shoes before she turns one. Why? I wouldn't know. So, my mum suggested that I celebrate Eryn's chinese birthday in order to let her wear her proper pair of shoes!

I've heard of this old folk's belief, but anyone know what the reason behind this superstitious belief?

Here's more videos of Eryn, trying to grab the camera from mummy!

What's in my handbag??

Kena tagged by Jess again. I have a few handbags but I normally stick to my Bonia or TODS handbag for work due to the bigger size. For shopping, I'll just take out my purse and put it in another different bag.

These are some of the items in my bag at the moment (no photos)

Handbag Bag

• Purse
• handphone
• car keys
• a small card holder (for cards that I seldom use)
• a name card holder
• a small little purse holding my pen (3 pens??), lipstick, some namecards (what are they doing in there?), a Carrefour receipt (haiyo, just threw it away!)
• A Metrojaya voucher
• Some letters
• Thumb drive
• Tissue paper
• More receipts!!
• More bits and pieces of papers!

Purse Bag

• Credit card
• Medical card
• Blood type card
• Cash and coins
• Cards (bonuslink, MPH, Macdonalds, ATM, phone card??)
• Stamps
• pieces of papers and vouchers here and there

Cosmetic Bag - I don't carry a cosmetic bag except when I go travelling :

• Foundation & face powder
• Lipstick
• Lipbalm
• Eyeliner
• Eyeshadow
• Spectacles

You're tagged!!

Beatrice

Vichelle

Rachel

Cha Wei

Gene Ni

Eryn is turning one soon..

My gal is turning one soon! I can't imagine where has all the day-to-day development gone to. It's like a hurricane has come and suddenly turned a little helpless catepillar into a free insect - the butterfly - fluttering here and there. Eryn is just like that. I still remember giving birth to her and how she'd struggle to crawl and turn and stand and.... now, she's walking and running and dancing and having a mind on her own
.

Brendan goes to the zoo

It was Brendan's first trip to the zoo last Saturday. I've never been to Zoo Negara before. In fact, I've only been to a zoo once, and that was when I was in primary school. My dad took us all to the Singapore Zoo and we loved it.

I didn't have a good impression of the zoo all these while. However, the trip 2 days back was indeed an eye-opener and I have to say that I'm very much impressed with our zoo! We were there at 10am and by the time we left, it was already past 5pm! I even told my friends that we should be there for about 2 hours only.

It was a good educational day for Brendan and his friends, Xin-E, QiQi and 2 other bigger jie-jie and kor-kor.

Walking marathon baby

Ever since Eryn discovered her "supernatural" skills in walking, she's been walking here and there and up and down and even tried putting one leg up the sofa to climb onto it. She'll walk to the kitchen, to the bathroom, to the rooms and even under the table!!

Hubby calls her the baby who walks non-stop.

Jumping beanies....

One of the kids favourite past times..... jump! jump! jump!

As Eryn doesn't know how to jump yet, she'll bend her knees and squat halfway and tries to jump with her feet stuck to the ground, wondering how in the world kor-kor jumps so high like that.

So, we'll give her a helping hand and "guide" her in her jump.

Babysmooches in Her World

I've just received a surprise email on BABYSMOOCHES blog being featured in the May 2006 issue of Her World's magazine. Oh, how honoured I feel.... Thanks for the highlight, Her World...

Brendan stays strong

Brendan has always been more matured for his age.

After sending poh-poh to the bus station yesterday, Brendan was very much quiet in the car. He didn't really ask for poh-poh nor did he made any big fuss.

In fact, he didn't even cry for poh-poh upon reaching back home. The whole family spent a very quiet time together in the hall at home last night. We were all watching TV at one point in time when Brendan suddenly took up a big toy watch and put it up his ears.

He went, "Hello? Hello? Poh-poh.... come home. Hello? Hello? blah..blah..blah.."

We were all staring at each other and not wanting to create any confusion as to why poh-poh has left him, I quickly said, "Brendan calling poh-poh is it? Poh-poh now in Kluang. Poh-poh has lots of things to do in Kluang. Poh-poh sayang Brendan very much. Brendan misses poh-poh is it?"

He turned and smiled at us and then he walked away to a corner, continuing his "conversation" over his big toy watch which he treated as a phone. He has tears in his eyes, but he stayed strong..... In fact, for the first time, well... 2nd time actually, he slept without his poh-poh beside him and this morning woke up without a fuss.

My boy has grown...... *sob* *sob*

Poh Poh goes back Kluang

My mum went back to Kluang yesterday afternoon.

As we were on our way to Puduraya, there was a terrible jam. It took us one hour just to reach Puduraya. My mum had 5 bags to carry. Her bus was to leave at 2pm and it was already 1:55pm. My hubby left us at the roadside, asking me to take 3 bags first. Brendan was in the car wailing away, wanting to come down as well. My mum carried Eryn and we (my mum, Eryn and myself) all rushed to the bus, to tell the driver to wait for a few minutes while my hubby went into the carpark to find parking. After putting the bags in the bus, I quickly pushd my way through the crowd to wait at the bottom of the staircase leading to the car park. At 2:10pm, my hubby came rushing down with the other 2 bags.

He left Brendan in the car with our maid as there was no parking.. So I quickly grabbed the bag and once again, pushed my way through the mad crowd. The bus was about to leave when I reached it. I said a quick bye to my mum, carried Eryn, and quickly walked back up the stairs, again, pushing through the crazy crowd with Eryn tight in my arms and crying with all the strangers around us pushing here and there. I was hoping to drive out of the place a.s.a.p. to let Brendan catch a glimpse of my mum at the bus station exit.

Upon reaching the exit, the bus was already right in front of us. I was crying away, missing my mum already, but more so because Brendan didn't get to kiss and say his goodbyes to my mum - Brendan's precious poh-poh whom he has slept with for the past 30 months.

Hubby made a crazy rush to chase after the bus. We did caught up with it, but couldn't see inside the bus. We then headed home, with my eyes all red and Brendan blurry about what is happening.

It pains my heart to think of the wonderful times Brendan shared with his poh-poh and the wonderful job my mum did in helping us out with the kids. I couldn't help but felt guilty of not taking Brendan down instead of Eryn.

I think I'll probably take the effort to drive back home in 2 weekend's time to spend mother's day with my mum and the children..

My mum's leaving for home tomorrow.

My mum is leaving for her kampung tomorrow afternoon after staying with us in KL for the past 9 months, after my 2 months maternity leaves.

Brendan has been exceptionally close to his poh-poh (my mum) as he sleeps with my mum for the past 30+months (except during my maternity leave after delivering Brendan and during my weekend trips to my hometown before I delivered Eryn).

My mum did a fabulous job in taking care of Brendan and Eryn and it's really going to be hard for us all, esp. Brendan, not having his darling poh-poh around.

To him, poh-poh was the best cos she takes him out for his morning stroll, takes him to buy newspaper, cared for him, played with him, taking him out to the park downstairs of our apartment almost every evening and made lots of new friends. I've never known any of my neighbours until my mum moved in with us temporary. She made so many friends with children of Brendan's age and automatically, I too made friends with them.

For the past 1-2 weeks, Brendan had been crying wanting to go back to Kluang, saying "poh-poh goes back Kluang, Brendan goes back Kluang!" He'll scream until we changed topic. He even woke up once screaming "Brendan goes back Kluang! BRENDAN goes back KLUANG!". We knew that it's going to be difficult for him to let poh-poh leave for her home.

Brendan's home is with his mummy & daddy but deep down in his heart, his love for his poh-poh (and kong-kong too!) will stay embedded forever....

Fun n Go Tag!

The moment I went into my own blog a few minutes ago, I saw a tag by Jesslyn!! Very pandai some more, tag me via a reply in my latest posting dated 3 weeks back.

Well, oklah, since I've not blogged for quite a while, here goes.

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn on page 18 and find line 4.
flavours and to the enjoyment of chewing (nolah, not x-rated lah, this is from a parenting magazine)

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can.
Ouch! @#*$& My left arm banged against the board beside me.

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
Top model .... something.... on 8TV

4.Without looking, guess what time it is?
Looks like it's 3pm, but I think it's somewhere 6pm.

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
6:25pm (oh no, almost time to go back home)

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
The air-con and the the typing of the keyboard

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
Around 4pm to a discussion in a client's place.

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
Read some replies on my blog, saw Jesslyn's tag and then went to her blog to copy the questions.

9. What are you wearing?
Working clothes (and my bra and panty underneath) plus my watch, make-up and a pair of high-heel shoes.

10. Did you dream last night?
Not last night, slept well except when Eryn wanted to get up for her breastmilk.

11. When did you last laugh?
about one hour ago, after I came back from my client's place.

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
Printed papers of some work related stuffs as well as some photos.

13. Seen anything weird lately?
Can't really recall. Too many things I've been seeing. Oh, well, this morning I saw a Nissan Sentra in front of my with the Sentra spelt as "Sentar".

14. What do you think of this quiz?
Quiz?! You call this a Quiz?! hehehe

15. What is the last film you saw?
Film? What film? No time to watch any films. Let's see, I think the last one I saw a film was on DVD - the one featuring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie - err... forgot the title :P

16. If you became a multimillionaire overnight, what would you buy?
I'd change my car to a TOYOTA WISH! (and settle all my house loans)

17. Tell me something about you that I dunno.
Lots of things you wouldn't know actually, like I am a good pianist (or used to be cos now my fingers all like kayu already).

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
No hatred, no gossips, no colour or race and no hard-up feelings of wanting $$$

20. George Bush.
President of USA.

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
The first letter in her name to be the same as the first letter in my name....

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
My first child is a boy and he's called Brendan, but that was not at the top of the name list.

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?
DID. Did consider before I got married, but not anymore.

24.What do you want GOD to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?"
"Welcome, my child!!"

25. Five (5) people who must also do this meme in their journal.

Chanel

Harvynna & mummy (Rina just delivered her 2nd baby)

Vichelle

Chieftat

Onthebeat

Have a good long weekend :-)

No money loh....

With prices of most things shooting up, we try not to spend unnecessarily on unnecessary stuffs to avoid unnecessary wants, such as branded goods, toys (most are hand-me-downs), going to expensive restaurants, etc.

Poh-poh (my mum) is a very thrifty person and every morning, when she takes Brendan out to buy newspaper from the cafetaria, she'll tell Brendan "You need money to buy newspaper. No money, no newspaper". Brendan will grasp the RM1.20 very tightly in his little tiny fist and proceed to pay the auntie at the counter.

When Brendan doesn't finish his milk, poh-poh will say "Finish your milk, afterwards mummy no money buy milk". Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't.

When Brendan doesn't finish his food, poh-poh goes "Finish your food, afterwards no money mum-mum. You see that boy on TV or not? No money, no food to eat loh. Thin Thin Sick Sick" (referring to one news feature of an African boy who was malnourished).

This doesn't happen all the time, unless Brendan is extermely degil (stubborn).

Brendan sometimes has this habit of climbing on my lap while I'm having my dinner. So last night, he took my spoon and ate the rice from my plate. Then he continued pressing the rice and giggling at the rice splattering all over the plate.

"Brendan, mummy is hungry and mummy wants to eat. Please get down", I said to Brendan.

"Clang clang clang...... Brendan cooking", Brendan replied.

Some grains of rice was on the table and the floor and this got me a little worked up.

I told him in a stern voice, "Brendan, see what you did?! Don't play and put the fork and spoon back on the plate! Afterwards mummy no money buy rice, Brendan eat what?!"

Brendan replied in that sweet little childish voice with an innocent look, "Eat tahi lor....!"

Gosh..... I really had to burst out laughing. sigh!

Daddy is back!

Daddy arrived from Frankfurt early this morning when everyone was still asleep. I heard the room door opening and squint my eyes to see Daddy peeping into the room. I continued lying on the bed, watching Eryn who’s still deep in her sleep, like I always do, every morning before I take my shower.

After a while, Eryn tossed and turned and opened her eyelids and saw Daddy. She cried immediately and could have wondered why there was a strange face looking at her. I then carried her and calm ed her down. She then stared at daddy and started to smile and gurgle. Not long after, Brendan woke up and clinged at daddy’s leg, telling daddy tons of stories which sounded like rubbish to us.

The children didn’t really asked for daddy while he was away cos they were preoccupied with their own stuffs. Now that daddy is back, I’m sure they’re gonna bug him, climb over him, kacau and play with him.

*Yes!* Mummy can rest for a while these few nights…

While daddy was in Germany

While daddy was away,
Brendan gave everyone a scare
The spots were red, the sign was there
The fever came, the body bare

While daddy was away,
Eryn too had mild fever
Though not so severe
Mummy still had her fear

While daddy was away,
Eryn’s teeth sprouted out
Giggling in a voice so loud
Baring one gigi in her mouth

While daddy was away,
We all went to a family day party
We saw a clown, he was so funny
We went back home and felt so weary.

While daddy was away,
Mummy took us all to Smart Kids
With just 2 hands she took the lead
Our mummy darling, her advice we heed

While daddy was away,
So much have happened
We played, we learn,
Daddy don’t you miss us darling children?

Missing

I almost had a big heart attack yesterday.

Last night, my maid said that she wanted to buy a RM11++ jeans from Tesco. She saw that in the Tesco brochure and told my mum that yesterday was the last offer day. So, after dinner, I took her, the two kids and my mum to Tesco, doing some grocery shopping at the same time. After almost one hour of shopping, I queued up waiting to pay at the far end of the cashier counter. I then turned to where my mum & the kids were and asked, using our own sign language, “Where is Brendan?”

My mum looked around her & showed the “not here” sign. I thought she was joking until I realized that Brendan was missing! We walked up and down the aisle and I even peeped under a nearby table covered with cloth and Brendan was nowhere to be found. I didn’t dare to venture far from where I was incase Brendan was playing hide-&-seek.

My maid, carrying my little gal, quickly ran to the market and vege section cos Brendan likes seeing the fruits and veggies and fishes. My mum quickly walked around here & there and finally when down the escalator to the car park to find him. Everyone was staring at us. I finally went to ask the Guard at the exit of Tesco if he has seen a little boy of my given description. He said he didn’t see him and request that I made an announcement via the P.A. Reluctantly, I went to the Information counter.

My mind was racing. My heart was beating fast. My pulse irregular. At first, I was pretty calm, but the calmness turned to panic when time passes by.

This is SOOO unlike Brendan. He is not the type who would usually wander away, though he has the habit of slowly taking his own sweet time walking behind us and stopping to see the things around him. He dislikes strangers too and any strangers who carries him will throw him into a fit of tears!

So, I was keeping my ears opened for any crying children and any announcement of a missing boy.

Back at the Information counter, I was hoping to see a little boy crying, but I didn’t.. I called my hubby in Germany to inform him that our son is missing.

THEN….. at the far end corner, totally away from where we were standing, was a little boy who looks like Brendan. It was indeed Brendan! He was squatting near the toys section, near the entrance of Tesco, observing some dunno-what-toys, definitely unaware of what was happening.

“BRENDAN!!” He turned and looked at me. “Why are you here, Brendan?! Why did you walked away from mummy? Don’t do that to mummy anymore ok?” He stared at me with blurry eyes and kept very quiet.

I was crying and laughing simultaneously, oblivious to the stares from those around me.

I proceeded to carry Brendan to where I left my trolley and put him in there while I make the payment. After a while, my maid and mum turned, with faces all pale but was relieved to see my smiling face. My mum gave Brendan a HUGE BIG scolding to the amusement of the cashier and the people queueing up behind us.

THAT one particular incident gave me one big hit in the head.

How's my car?

My hubby is not the type who will buy gifts on special occasions. Nor is he the type who will call every single night to check on us whenever he’s outstation.

He’s now in Germany for a 3 weeks’ training. And he only calls once a week, if not every few days. Sometime last week he called, and the conversation went like this :

Hubby : Hello! How’s everything at home?
Me : Fine. ….. blah blah blah
Hubby ; How’s my car?
Me : What?! Your car?
Hubby : hehehe… I dreamt that my car got stolen last night.
Me : Oooo….. so you’re only calling to ask about your car …. Useless……
Hubby : No lah, but scared my car get stolen mah……
…………………..

See? This kind of chinaman hubby also got wan….

Setting goals

I've set goals in my life... Empty goals, to be exact.

In school, I didn't really set goals to reach a certain no. of As or Credits, or passes.....
Upon graduation, I didn't really set goals to what I want to do in my career life....
When I got married, I didn't set goals as to when I want to start a family until baby came....

BUT, when I became a mother, I set lots of goals. Some met. Some not. One of which is to breastfeed Brendan until he reaches 6 months. I did, but not 100% cos by 4 months I had to supplement with formula. I pumped, travelled every Friday night from KL to Johor by LRT, then by bus, carrying a cooler box FULL of frozen breastmilk just to let my dear son get his breastmilk. I did that every weekend. It takes between 4 hours to 6 hours max. to get home to Brendan who was with my mum at that time. Even after I stopped breastfeeding, my weekly journey continued up to the time I was 8 months pregnant with no. 2.

By the time no. 2 came, I set a goal to breastfeed Eryn 100% until 6 months. I did. Then I set it even further - to breastfeed Eryn until she's1 year old. Eryn is almost 10 months now and she is still 100% on breastmilk and haven't started on formula yet.

That's really funny. Imagine your priority and sacrifice as a mother. To think I wouldn't really care less about setting goals and meeting them. For the first time in my life, I'm proud to say that I set it, despite all the obstacles, and I did it! How? I did it MY WAY...

F.E.V.E.R.

What's with all these fever nowadays? No, it's not the football fever I'm talking about.

Last Sunday, Brendan was feeling extremely lethargic and was lying on the mat the whole day. His body was a little hot when he woke up. He didn't have the appetite to eat. In the afternoon, his fever shot up real high. We gave him the fever medicine and the next day, his fever has gone down a little. I then noticed lots of little ulcers on his mouth and scary thoughts ran through my mind. HFM disease first came to my mind and I asked some friends who had gone through the HFM experience with their children and nieces and nephews on what to do and stuffs like that.

Brendan's symptoms were a little different. Prior to the fever, he had lots of rough red spots on his body for more than a week. We knew it was heatiness, cos he's gotten that before. The spots spreaded to his neck and by the time it reached his forehead on Sunday, he immediately had a fever and the spots almost disappeared by itself. To make things worst, I too had small ulcer on my mouth. Then my maid had it too. Gila kah?! What kind of an endemic is this, I wondered.

On Tuesday, Eryn pulak had mild fever. But she was very much ok the next day. Then, I hear of many children around my area having fever and ulcers and body aches. I mean, many.... not one, not two or three... but many! Last night I heard that my cousin in Johor is also having fever and body aches. This morning, my sis called to say she had fever yesterday.

So, this fever here fever there is really making me wonder what kind of virus is this? It's not HFM.... It's not bird flu.... It's not football fever.... What then? Scary......

Blog Sweet Blog

Home Sweet Home.... Work Sweet Work...... Blog Sweet Blog..... Yup, that's right! You know what I meant.

"Hey, what happen to your blog? Died a natural death ar?"
"Why haven't you update your blog?"
"Long time no see, no hear, no touch your blog..."

I know... I've been away for quite a while. I've lost touch with the blogging world. In fact, I miss updating my blog. I've just started work in a new place quite recently. Into my first week at work, I've already gotten busy working. Really! And got my first sales within the first week too! Really!

Lots have happened since I left my old workplace... sob! sob! Life has to carry on and I have to take the step to move forward instead of keeping my mind stagnant. It's like you're a river and this river leads out to the big ocean. If the river is filled with dirty water caused by blocked rubbish, you get nowhere. In order to be out in the ocean, someone gotta rid those rubbish to the ocean out there. So, this river got cleared and is now flowing into the ocean. Mind you, it's not still and clear waters out there... There's the bigger picture you have to look at when you're out at the ocean. It's quite scary and exciting at the same time.

Look at it this way - It's hard to be a radarless boat seeking direction. So, you have to have the instinct, some form knowledge as where to head and some guidance from circumstances around you.... guidance from the wind, from the sunrise and sunset, the compass, and most importantly, from above...