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
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