Dinner at Victoria Station

We still haven't had a chance to celebrate your birthday with Nanna, Grampy, Ee-ee, Ah Teo, and Seh Ku, so we went to BM today to have dinner with them.

We left Penang after everyone had lunch. You fell asleep along the way so we took a long ride and went to Highway Auto-City to have a look at the choices of restaurants there. We still hadn't decided on where to go for dinner. After that we went to have daddy's car washed. You woke up in the midst of the car being washed. I guess the water jets was too loud. Luckily by then you'd already slept for almost an hour.

We went home and Ee-ee came over, so while daddy had a nap (tired as he had a golf game early in the morning) we went to see your 2 Ah Chors in town. You had a great time there holding on to the coffee table and walking around it. Your Uncle Jayden was there too. Except that you weren't too interested in him. You did share 2 of your biscuits with him before we went home.

In the end, we decided to go to Victoria Station for dinner cum birthday celebrations. You fell asleep on the way to the restaurant. You woke up when we arrived. So you had dinner first while we waited for our food to be served. Mummy cooked your moi moi today for you. Looks like my cooking skills have improved. Daddy said so too! Look at you with the napkin tied around your neck!


By the time our food arrived, you had finished your porridge. So mummy shared some of my dinner roll with you. You loved it. But I was worried that you may be too full, so daddy gave you your teething rusk instead. You were a good boy tonight. You slowly enjoyed your rusk while the rest of us ate our dinner. Then we took pictures of everyone while waiting for your Ah Ku to finish his dinner.With Ee-ee..


You got more gifts today. Nanna and Grampy bought you a little Mickey truck along with overalls, while Ah Ku and Aunty Mel gave you and ang pow.

You fell sleep in the car on the way to the condo. Mummy had to change you into your PJ's while you were asleep!

Courier Service for Mr Evan Ban

Wow! You received your first post. And it arrived by courier service. Double wow! Guess who it is from? Your Tua Ku (Uncle Al) and Uncle Troy.

Better late than never, eh? Your Tua Ku did admit that anything from him will always have a high chance of arriving late. (VERY high chance actually. He's very forgetful!!)

So here's your card along with the ang pow from Tua Ku and Uncle Troy!

Evan's Bag of Tricks@ 12 months

This would be the first time I'm writing on your milestones. As you can see, we're a little overdue. But.. better late than never. Let me see:

~you weighed 9.7kg when you last went for a check for your insect bite

~you have 4 teeth that you use to bite everything. Even able to bite off the cute little Meiji biscuits that your aunts bought for you.Only thing is mummy and daddy have to hold on to the biscuit for fear of you gobbling the whole thing and choking!

~pointing.. oh yeah.. very good at that. You tell whoever that is carrying you (especially Ah Kong, you big bully!) where you want to go. You can even point to your Magic Cup when you are thirsty.

~this pointing also leads to you being able to turn on the light (thanks to daddy!). And so now you will want to turn on the lights whenever you spot the switches.

~standing. You seem to be able to stand for a while with your legs wide open, before falling backwards on your bottom. You do this especially well standing on mummy and daddy's bed.

~dancing. You seems to love the biscuits that your aunts gave you. So you will do this little dance when we give you the biscuits!

~speech. You have been able to say "bye bye" while waving for a while. Other than that, you will sometimes say "da da da da" to no one in particular. For now, your favourite word is "Ohhhhh..." while pointing, of course!

~you are still cruising around. Otherwise, you can crawl for longer periods now. You used to have to stop after crawling a few steps. But getting better and better over the days.

That's all that I can think of. We'll see what else daddy has to input on your milestones.

Blocked Nose

You were a good boy last night. You slept earlier. By 9.30pm, you were sleeping. In fact you were yawning all the time when we went to the airport!

But around 11pm, you woke up screaming. I guess nightmare. Daddy managed to calm you for a while, but you decided to continue screaming.

Then you woke up for a feed at 1.30am. You seemed to have some problems latching. I think it sounded like you had blocked nose. But after a while you went back to sleep. Surprisingly you only woke up for the next feed at 5.30am. In fact, you made some noises, but continues to sleep on for another 5 minutes. But this time when you woke up asking for a feed, your blocked seemed to be worst. You cried a bit and couldn't latch on properly. Finally (after a few bites) you managed to latch and continue to sleep until 7.45am!

Ah Kong is off travelling again

You were a good little boy when we sent Ah Kong to the airport. You sat happily all the way to the airport in your carseat. When daddy wind down the window for Ah Kong to say bye bye to you, you just looked at him confused.. Nevermind, Ah kong will be back from Japan this Friday.

As we sat in the car, mummy was thinking of the times when Ah Kong went travelling. The first time Ah Kong went off to US was before your full moon. When he came back, you were too young to recognise him.

But if I recall correctly, when you were around 3 months, Ah Kong went to US again. And when he came back, Ah Kong reckons you stared at him a while before you realised that he was someone familiar!

This time, I'm sure you will be very happy when you see him on Friday. And Ah Kong would also be very glad to see you after his travels!

Holiday for Mummy and Daddy

It was a public holiday on Saturday, so today is a replacement holiday for us. Guess what we did today. Of course, daddy cannot miss out on his golf session to kick-start his day.

When he came back, we all packed into his car and went to town. It was heavy traffic all the way. I guess many other people are having replacement holidays to today too. Then again, it was also close to lunch hour. Worst still, we came out of Jelutong Expressway and hit Beach Street where all the banks are. And today is the 2nd of the month. Madness!!

We went to Rozel to order the dining chairs(finally!). The lady said they will deliver sometime this week. So that means another trip to the condo this week! You love that place. Then we went to the optometrist. Mummy wanted to get my eyes checked. But, the optometrist wasn't around. So we'll probably go this weekend.

Since we had nothing much to do, daddy took us to Bukit Jambul. It's your first time there. But nothing interesting and mummy hasn't had her retail therapy this week. So daddy brought us to Queensbay Mall. After all, we needed to buy daddy a new pair of sandals.

So we helped daddy choose a nice pair of sandals. That was a quick selection. But that's how daddy buys his things. Unlike mummy... Then we walked around and looked around for something to buy for Abby. Her birthday is coming soon in May.

Mummy spotted OshKosh having a sale. But daddy got really worried. In the end, daddy relented and we walked in to have a look. Guess what? You also got a new pair of shoes today:

Now everybody's happy and we went home after that! What a wonderful day.

Cheng Beng in Ipoh

We went back to Ipoh over the weekend. But of course, before we went back to Ipoh, daddy and Ah Kong played a round of golf first. So since you woke up early on Saturday, we went to the Pulau Tikus market with Ah Ma and Grand-Aunt Doris. Ah Ma even bought the pork that you'll be starting on the coming week.

After daddy and Ah Kong came back from golf and had lunch, we were off to Ipoh. Everyone was already in Ipoh by the time we arrived. It rained so Aunty Sue moved the car so that you did not get wet in the rain. You're so lucky, so many nice aunties and uncles, grand-aunties and grand-uncles to care for you.

As always you were very excited when you reached the Ipoh house. This is a place where you can roam freely. And guess what? Your aunts: Yvonne, Sue, Ashley and Natalie bought you a toy and 2 boxes of Meiji biscuits. Daddy let you try the biscuits and you loved them. This is what you got:

We went out to Menglembu for dinner at the East Ocean Restaurant. You also had your dinner there. Of course it was the yummy porridge that Ah Ma had cooked for you. You were a bit of a rascal during dinner too. When our food came, you decided (as always) that the high chair was a great place to stand. So in the end, daddy and mummy had to take turns to eat dinner while the other entertains you. Later on, we had more "volunteers". Your 5th Chim Poh, 5th Chek Kong and also Ah Kong helped entertain you, while we ate.

Went home that night and you were really tired. Yet, you refused to sleep. You decided that it was more fun to entertain your aunts. But when they finally left the room, you fell asleep almost immediately!

The next morning, it was you, Ah Tai, 6th Chim Poh, Aunty Leanne and mummy alone in the house while the rest of them went for Cheng Beng. Again, you were all excited when they all came home and refused to take your morning nap. By the time you fell asleep, it was afternoon. You had your siesta with daddy and all your aunts! Of course when you woke up, no one else was allowed to sleep. As you made A LOT of noise when you woke up.

We left Ipoh after dinner and reach Penang around 9.30pm. The traffic on the Penang bridge was heavy, but you wouldn't know. You fell asleep before we reached the Jelapang toll and never woke up until mummy carried to our room. Even then you slept for a while and woke up to disturb daddy while he was working next to you!

Birthday Events

You woke up several times throughout the night as if you knew it was your birthday and you were all excited about it. In fact last night you woke up after around an hours' sleep. Luckily you went back to sleep shortly after that.

You were up again at 5.30 and played a while in your cot before calling mummy to bring you to our bed. Then you played on our bed a while before falling asleep again. You slept until after 8am, waking up just before mummy and daddy left for work.


Since you were already up, we decided to do the "traditional" selection of items for your birthday. It's supposed to determine your profession in future. Only thing is that we weren't too sure of what we were supposed to let you choose. So we improvised. This is what we put: a book, a pencil, a ruler, a calculator and a golf ball (of course is daddy's idea!). Then Ah Ma came to see, and she said we needed a pair of chopsticks and money too. We were pretty certain that you'd select the red book, as it was the biggest and brightest item. But when mummy put you down on the bed, you moved forward and picked the golf ball to daddy's greatest delight (Tiger Ban in the making? We'll see..) But after that, you picked the chopsticks, then the calculator, then the ruler.. Er.. so is that considered a successful selection? Not too sure. Maybe we should do it again after finding out how to do it correctly on your Chinese Birthday. We'll see...

Nanna called mummy during lunch time. She thought that mummy and daddy would be going home to see you, since it's your birthday. She wanted to wish you a happy birthday. Ee-ee also called to wish you, but it seems you were more interested in your milk milk at that time. Surprise, surprise.. because I know that you love the phone...


For dinner, Ah Ma didn't cook today. We all went to TGI Friday's. Here you are all ready in your red shirt, waiting for everyone to get ready to go to Queensbay. As soon as we packed your dinner, off we went to Queensbay. We ordered our food, and also a free kiddy meal for you too. We picked Fish and Chips for you while daddy and Ah Ma had steak, mummy ordered grilled salmon and Ah Kong ordered chicken. Of course your order came first. But by then we'd already started to feed you your porridge. Daddy removed the crust of the fish fingers as they were too hard for you. While you initially showed your "throw up" face, you soon enjoyed the fish. Ah Ma says it's dory fish.


We had a great time today at TGI Friday's. We hope that you did too. Happy Birthday, our little Evan.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY EVAN!

Happy Birthday to our darling, Evan!

What goes "thud" in the night

Nope.. not monsters in the room or under the bed, but little Evan in his sleep.

Don't know how you slept, but at around 1.10am this morning, we heard a "thud". It was relatively loud that we both woke up from the sound. Daddy went to take a look at you were already sitting up, looking at him. I guess it was time to feed. Poor daddy tried to rock you to get you back to sleep. Instead you let out a yell!

Seems like these days you move around a lot when you sleep. Unlike before when you just turn left and right in your cot. Worst still when you sleep on our bed. Poor daddy had to sleep on the bottom of the bed this morning, because the blanket was not big enough.

*Countdown: 1 day to your first birthday*

No more swollen hands, still need antibiotics

Went to see Dr Mary as she said on Thursday she wanted to see you again to make sure that you're healing properly.

She was very happy to see that all have cleared well. But to be on the safe side, you have to take the antibiotics for another 2 days. Oh well.. as long as you are OK. Now that there's no more puss in the wounds, we can continue to put the Elomet for you.

After that we went to Penang Plaza to buy a few things before going home. You were yawning all the way back but refused to sleep. Instead, you screamed occasionally and mummy had to give you all sorts of toys to keep you distracted!

At home you took your antibiotics willingly and went to sleep shortly after that. Our sweet little angel!

*Countdown: 2 days to your first birthday*

Evan's FIRST Birthday Party

Today is your birthday party. Of course everyone is busy rushing around trying to get everything organised before our guests arrive. And you are so helpful. You refused to take a nap. So at any one time, there has to be someone "entertaining" you. Sigh.. Perhaps you could sense the excitement in us too.

And since Ah Tai, 5th Chek Kong, 5th Chim Poh and Kor Poh came early, we even had time to go to Lorong Selamat for Char Koay Teow and ice-kacang.

By the time evening came, you'd only slept for half an hour. How are you going to survive the night and not be a grouchy baby? Well, mummy had a talk to you and soon, you fell asleep at 6.30pm. And our guests were expected to arrive at the condo at 7pm.

So when everyone arrived, you were still asleep. But you woke up just on time at 7.30pm, had a bath then Ah Ma arrived with the goodies she cooked for your party. Soon you made your appearance wearing your little yellow Yukata.

Our guests were served pan fried prawns, fish fritters, joo-hoo char, too kar (pig trotters)and daddy also bought Hokkien Char and belacan chicken. Ah Chor even cooked her famous Char Tang Hoon. And most importantly there was the customary birthday red eggs. Not forgetting dessert of Häagen-Dazs ice-cream too.

Everyone enjoying the food.



Although you could not eat what we ate today, you had your yummy moi with chicken and broccoli. Never mind, you can join us next year.


Soon, it was time for the birthday cake. We put you on your highchair again and placed you in front of the cake. You seemed a bit confused but behaved very well as we sang the birthday song, help you blow out the candle and even helped you cut the birthday cake. I hope you remembered to make a wish!


Next was the best part of this birthday (to mummy anyway.. I love gifts). Time to open the present. You had a chance to tear apart the wrappers. Of course, you also had 2 assistants to help you open the presents: Anna and Abby. See the presents:


You got so many gifts from Ee-ee, Uncle Sin Tien, Aunty Ean Na, Uncle Sin Chuan, Aunty Amy and Abby, Uncle Sin Jeow, Aunty Jamie and Anna, Uncle Eu Jin, Aunty Lourdes and Aunty Lee Mei, and of course mummy and daddy. On top of that you got ang pows from Ah Kong and Ah Ma, Ah Tai, Kor Poh and also 5th Chim Poh and 5th Chek Kong.
And here you are posing with all the opened gifts:


After an exciting long night and goodbyes to everyone, you finally fell asleep at 11.30pm.

You are one lucky baby. So many relatives came to celebrate your birthday with you and also brought you so many wonderful gifts. Even your uncles and aunts who could not make it were there with us in thought (and gifts). Even Aunt Natalie and Aunt Ashley called to wish you a happy birthday.

More pictures of the birthday party

*Countdown: 5 days to your first birthday*

"Forced" Shopping

Ah Kong, Mummy and daddy took leave today. We had some last minute things to do in preparation of the birthday party tomorrow. In the end we were at the condo until Ah Tai, Kor Poh, 5th Chim Poh and 5th Chek Kong arrived at around 4.30pm.

Then we went out to Parkson for a "forced shopping"(as daddy calls it). Ah Ma dropped us there while she took Kor Poh to buy her favourite ice-kacang.

So you went around with daddy while mummy quickly picked some things for the condo and the party. Guess what? Daddy said one minute you were happily "chatting" away, and the next minute there was no sound. You had fallen asleep! Poor little thing. You didn't sleep the whole afternoon, so I guess you finally tired out. Pity we didn't have a camera with us to take a picture of you sleeping in your stroller. It rarely happens, as you usually seem to be very interested to take in the sights as we go shopping.

Swollen hand and antibiotics

We rushed back yesterday afternoon after Ah Ma called to say that your hands were swollen. But decided not to bring you to see Dr Mary then, cause we know she'll only prescribe Elomet again.

But come evening when we went home after work, your left hand had swollen even bigger and even had a BIG blister starting. So we quickly had dinner and rushed over to Adventist to see Dr Mary. It was raining so heavily.

When Dr Mary took one look at your hand, she said it's quite bad. What a scary thing to hear. So she prescribed antibiotics for you to be taken twice a day for five days and told us to go back to see her next Tuesday so decide if you needed more antibiotics.

You fell asleep on the way home before taking your antibiotic. Too bad that mummy had to wake you up to take the medication. But I don't regret doing that. Your hand looks a lot better today and you also woke up without making a fuss. You even took the medication willingly. Phew...

*Countdown: 1 day to your first birthday party, 6 days to your first birthday*

Tag: My 5 Wishes for Evan

Got tagged by Shooi a while back. But of course, I'm very outdated (when it comes to reading blogs)and also a big procrastinator. Here goes:

- Sleep through the night: I think that is every mummy's wish. Some lucky mums get to sleep through the night earlier than others. I hope my turn comes soon

- Have lesser falls & injuries: Seems like you are getting quite a lot of bruises from falls. Hopefully you will have fewer such painful experiences. Then again, daddy says you look more macho (?) with the bruises. More like a boy! On top of that, have a better skin that won't react badly to bites.

- Get to enjoy mummy's cooking: Sadly mummy cannot cook very well. Or should I say "cannot cook at all!". I remember the first time I cooked moi for you in nanna's house you made your "throw-up" face throughout the meal. So looks like I need more "training" from Ah Ma.

- Be potty trained: So far you are able to poo-poo and pee-pee when we take you to the toilet and ask you to pee-pee or poo-poo. Hopefully, soon you will be able to indicate that you want to go pee or poo.

- Health and Happiness always: Of course every parent wishes this for their child. And you are no exeption. We love you a lot and wish nothing but the best for you always.

There.. phew.. I thought that it would be simple, but when forced to sit down and think... next time I will write more when I think of it.

Won't be tagging anyone, but if any of our reader likes this, please post your 5 wishes for your baby and share them with us.

Bitten all over

Luckily you didn't have a black eye after the fall in the bathtub, but you still had a swollen eye. Looks like it was from that bite just over your eyelid. So now the eyelid of the left eye (yup.. again) is swollen this time. On top of that, you also have 2 swollen fingers. 2 bites on your knuckles! Sigh...

Yesterday night when mummy was getting you changed into your pyjamas at the condo, I noticed several bite marks on your left arm too. So before putting you into your cot, we put elomet on your bite marks and even let you wear booties (on your hands, since the mittens are too way small) so that you don't rub the cream everywhere. But of course by the time you woke up for your nightly feed at 2.30am, you had already somehow removed them!

Today, we rushed back home to take another look at your arm, as Ah Ma called to say that your left hand was slightly swollen. Poor thing. Hopefully it will recover quickly.

*Countdown:2 days to your first birthday party, 7 days to your first birthday*

Favourite Song?

Mummy and daddy have been following the cantonese serial "Life Made Simple" and yesterday was the last episode when we realised that like your daddy, you like the theme song to the serial too!

You will be sitting on the bed playing and the moment the show comes on, you will stop and stare at the TV. Even when the show stops for advertisement and a small portion of the song is being played you will stop to listen to it!

CNY Photos.. finally!

Finally took the time to organise the CNY photos that I had downloaded (a long time ago).

Evan's CNY Pictures

Black Eye Again?

I hope not. But from the looks of the nasty fall you took this evening while taking a bath.... Sigh.. and we're going to have your birthday party in 4 day's time.

Mummy's carelessness again. Didn't hold you properly when you reached out and tried to grab at the stool that I was sitting on and slipped. Haih... We'll know the outcome tomorrow morning.

Of course, you're now standing in your cot as if nothing happened. Cheerful as ever!

Pointing

You have learned a new trick last week. Daddy said he just noticed you doing it after he came back from Ipoh last Monday. Pointing!

And now, you are a master of pointing. You will point here and there to tell whoever that's carrying you that's where you want to go. And even pointing to the lights. No ceiling fan in our house, so you don't have a fan to point at.

You also seem to be VERY fascinated with the lights. You will go "aaahhhh" when we turn on the lights.

Haha.. you seem so easy to entertain. But I guess as you grow older, we will need to come up with more things to keep you entertained and occupied!

Almost no more black eye

Dear Evan,

I feel so guilty about your black eye. But shortly after I posted the blog about your black eye, I had many friends asking how your eye was. Makes you feel so happy that there are so many people who are so concerned about how you are.

To all our relatives and friends, Evan's black eye is getting better. Thanks for your concern. And thankfully his eye should recover before his first birthday!

The Black Eye

While you were in mummy's sole care (for only a few hours) on Saturday morning, you had a fall. You were in the cot while mummy was having a bath, when you fell face forward on the bars of the cot. Sigh.. First it was one big and one small eye:


Took this photo today. Can you see the black eye?


Poor little baby. Hopefully it will clear off before your birthday party next weekend!

Visiting Kenzie

In the middle of the night, daddy, Ah Kong and Ah Ma had to drive down to KL to see your 6th Chek Kong. So we were left in the house with kakak.

So at after work, Ee-ee came and picked us up to go stay with Nanna for a few days, while daddy, Ah Kong and Ah Ma attended the funeral in Ipoh.

Before we reach Nanna's house, we made a detour to Ee-ee's house and Kendric and Kenzie were there visiting their Ah Ma. It was a funny sight. The first thing Kendric did when he saw you: Run and sit with his Ah Ma.

Kenzie is just a day older than you. So he gets to be called "ko-ko" still. He just sat there stunned, watching you. He sure is a lot bigger than you. But he seemed to be terrified of you too. On the other hand, you were happily roaming the house, exploring the floor and even playing with other people's toys! In fact you were so friendly, you even gave Kenzie a slap!

Ee-ee tried to take pictures of the both of you with her new camera. It's not an easy task! She finally got one the you both sorta looked at the camera:



Kenzie has started being potty trained. I wonder how soon you will also be potty trained...

Bye Bye Iron Supplement

Early in Jan when you went to see Dr Mary, you had your blood sample taken. Results came back indicating your iron level was borderline. So you had to take iron supplements when you have your meals.

We decided to give you the iron supplement with your dinner. So every evening, halfway through your dinner, you will take your iron supplement in liquid form. You have always been a good baby; taking you iron, willingly without making much fuss.

And tonight marks the last day of your iron supplement. You have finally finished it, and Dr Mary says you need not have your blood iron level re-checked as it was only borderline.

Happy Chap Goh Meh!

Dearest Evan,

Today is the 15th and last day of Chinese New Year. So off we go back to Ipoh for dinner with the Bans. We initially planned to go home yesterday, but everyone had plans, so we left for Ipoh early this morning. You woke up at your usual 7.30am. So we left Penang around 8.30am.

The moment you reached Ipoh, there were so may hands waiting to carry you. The first person to greet you was your 5th Chek Kong. And you happily let him carry you. Soon you were busy crawling on the floor. It was so hot you were sweating.

Mummy forgot to pack your Bumbo today. Luckily the Ipoh house still had the old baby highchair that was used by your aunties and uncles. See? You enjoyed your lunch on the highchair. I think you like this chair. It doesn't have a strap to keep you in the seat!


After that, you went to have a mop, as you were all sweaty and off we went to Bercham with Ah Ma and 5th Chim Poh to pick up the 'popiah' skin for tonight's dinner. When we reached home, you went upstairs to enjoy the air-con with Ah Ma and went to sleep after a while. Mummy napped with you and after you woke up, we were off again.


Went to try out the new Wah Nam Kopitiam. But it was too hot for you. You were sweating bullets! Poor little guy. So went home after that as 5th Chim Poh needed to pray. Soon daddy, Ah Kong, 5th Chek Kong and Uncle Jack Hou were back from golf.

Since it was too hot, we decided to let you play until closer to dinner time before giving you a bath. In the end, this was what you wore while playing around and waiting for bath time:
After you had your dinner in the air-con comfort, it was daddy and mummy's turn to have dinner. Sorry, no picture of the popiah. Too excited. Nevermind, we'll take some pictures another time.

It's been a long long day for you today, all that crawling, falling and also climbing up the staircase. Yup, up a few steps (supervised of course). You fell asleep on the way home. And you are still asleep in your cot now as mummy is typing this blog.

Sweet dreams, sweetheart. *kiss*kiss*

By the way, we have invited the Ipoh Ban's for your birthday celebrations!

First Birthday Party

Guess where we went to today for dinner... Joshua's birthday party. He's ONE year old. Just 3 weeks older than you, Evan.

Auntie Angela gave us the invitation card before Chinese New Year. See, it's being held in the Greenlane McDonald's. Though you're too young to eat anything there, it's a great opportunity for you to go meet Joshua.


While daddy and mummy had our usual burgers and coke, you enjoyed your moi moi. In fact you seemed so comfy in their baby highchair. Too bad mummy didn't bring the camera along. I hope Auntie Angela will send us the pictures soon. You had quite a busy day there. You fell asleep just before we reached, so you were a bit grumpy when mummy moved you out of the car seat. On top of that, you also had to do a big BIG poo poo, so back to the car we went as we needed to change you. That place doesn't have baby changing facilities!

Here's what we bought for Joshua:


And you even got a gift for attending the birthday party:


Happy Birthday, Joshua from all of us!

Early this morning

It's been a while but these past 2 days you have been waking up rather often again. I think it's the air-con. Even mummy's throat feels rather dry. Poor little guy.

But this morning at 4.30am, afetr your feed, you heard the dogs far far away barking. So you decided it was time to wake up!!

You played a while in your cot, until you got bored and called to mummy. I had to stand there to watch you, as you did not want to leave your cot. In the end, I was too sleepy, so I brought you to our bed where you played.

Daddy was asleep. Poor daddy, you slapped him twice while he was sleeping!

Thank goodness you finally fell asleep again at 5.30am! Please sleep through longer tonight.

9th Day of CNY

Dear Evan,

You poor little thing. You woke up crying away at 12 this morning when people started to light the fireworks. Too loud for you. Luckily you calmed down and went to sleep after 1/2 an hour. But we were worried that they might start lighting more fireworks, so we let you sleep with us on out bed.

You see, today is a big occassion for the Hokkiens. By the way, you are Hokkien lang, like your daddy and Ah Kong. Maybe next year we will be able to go back to Ipoh to celebrate "Pai Tee Kong" with the Ban clan.

CNY Visiting

While Ah Ma was busy cooking, we went to visit Aunth Cath and Uncle Andrew along with the 2 che-che’s, Beatrice and Bernice. Too bad you’re too little to play with them, but you got to meet many other babies.

They were nice enough to share with you their toys. But you only needed one little block to keep you entertained. You went to their playroom to play for a while before you got tired.

After making a bit of noise, you decided to take a nap, and let daddy gamble. So while daddy as on the floor gambling, you were on the sofa taking a nap. You let daddy have an hour of peace and quite of gambling before you decided that you’d gotten enough sleep and it was time to go home to get prepared for our dinner with the Phuah family.

But on the way home, we stopped by Queensbay Mall to buy some drinks for the dinner.

Dinner with the Phuahs

Today we had dinner with our family on Ah Ma’s side. Ah Ma was busy cooking up a storm the whole day since morning, starting with a busy day at the market to buy all the necessary stuff to cook her yummy dishes.

While Ah Ma and Kakak were busy preparing for the dinner, we went visiting.

After that we quickly went home to bathe you and for you to eat your dinner before everyone comes.

Look at the feast that Ah Ma prepared.. Makes you feel hungry huh?


I’m sure next year you will be given a seat and you can join us for dinner. Here you are in you high chair near our dinner table


You got tired of sitting on your high chair so in the end you entertained yourself in your baby cot. Later Abby joined you in the cot too. Did you enjoy her company?

After CNY

Chinese New Year is not really considered over. But we're back in Penang. Ah Kong, daddy and mummy have all gone back to work. Took you a while to get back all the sleep and get back to your routines heer in Penang.

After all the hooh-haah and anticipation of Chinese New Year, it has come and gone. It was a wonderful and exiting CNY for all of us. You got to meet most of our relative, got to receive wonderful gifts and also loads of ang pows.

And one thing mummy will miss is the many willing hands around to help keep and eye on you and also entertain you. They were a great help.

Our next important celebration would be your coming birthday in March.

Dinner at Ocean Green

We went to Ocean Green, mummy and daddy's favourite place for seafood, today with 5th Check Kong and Chim Poh along with Uncle Jack Hou and Ah Kong and Ah Ma for dinner today.

We could not get a place nearer to the beach, which would be windier but luckily the guy gave us a table right under the fan. So it wasn't too hot. But you naughty little boy, refused to sit on your high chair. And since it didn't have a strap, you decided that standing on the chair was more fun.

So we took out your teething biscuit and you tried it for the first time. At first, you were a bit hesitant to take it from mummy. Then when I let you taste it, you happily took it from me. But of course, that didn't last for too long. A short while later, it was on the floor.. Sigh... Then we gave you the other piece that daddy and halved. Of course both halfs also ended up on the floor and in the end, we had to take turns carrying you around to have a look at the fishes and crabs and prawns.

By the time dinner was over, you were so tired. So shortly after getting into the car, you fell asleep. Poor little thing.

2nd Day of CNY

Today you woke up later. 7am. Phew, so Ah Kong, Ah Ma, daddy and mummy also got to sleep in a bit.

Then it was time to queue for the bathroom. You see, since yesterday we had some problems with the water supply in some bathrooms in the house. So there were about 13 people waiting to use the bathroom, before we went out visiting at 10am. Of course, you could jump the queue as you decided to poo-poo before your turn came. Who would dare to stand in the way of a baby.. especially one who's bum has poo-poo?!! Hahaha...

So here you are in your little overalls and sexy sleeveless shirt (daddy and I call it your "Mr Muscle" shirt):


Soon, after everyone was ready, we all packed off in many cars to go visit your Tai-Kong (Ah Tai's brother) in Chemor. You fell asleep on the way there. This is your first time meeting them. Unless you count the last visit last CNY when you were in mummy's tummy...

After collecting more ang pows, and charming people with your "bah bye", we went home. So many people to entertain you and keep an eye on you. Such a tiring day, and you soon fell asleep.


After dinner, we all packed into daddy's car and headed back to Penang.

The First Day of Your First Chinese New Year

Maybe you could also sense the excitement of Chinese New Year, because you woke up at 6am again today. Then again, you slept early yesterday at 7.30pm! Too tired from playing with everyone I guess.

We had to wait in line to use the bathroom. After that when you were all dressed up in your little Chinese costume, we took pictures with you before Ah Kong and Ah Ma gave you your first ang pow, followed by the ang pow from mummy and daddy.
With mummy and daddy

With Ah Kong and Ah Ma

Then we went down for you to show off to the rest of the Ban clan and for you to collect your ang pow. Ah Tai (great-grandma) was waiting for you. Her ang pow all ready for you. See:


After that we had the lion dance troupe performing in the house. It was really loud but you seemed OK with the noise. But in the end, you and mummy sat in daddy's car and watched the lion dance from inside the car.

Later it got too hot so we took you up for another change of clothes. Wow! Little baby Evan having a fashion show! Here you are in your Yukata that your 2nd Pek Kong bought for you:


Many aunties and uncles took photos with you that day. In fact, you were even invited to join in the family photo of 5h Chek Kong and the family:


After a long, tiring day, you had your chicken porridge before going to sleep at 8pm. Another early night.

CNY Eve

You woke up really early today, so mummy and daddy had to take you out of the room, but too late. You'd already made so much noise and Ah Kong and Ah Ma woke up too. Then next thing you know, your 5th Chim Poh woke up too. She heard daddy trying to turn on the lights. You greeted her happily with your usual cheerful "hi!" like some long lost friend.

Later after a bath, you were being entertained by Ah Kong when you crawled into the wall! You bawled so loudly I think you woke up the rest of the household. Poor little guy... you even had a little "bungalow" on your forehead. Lucky it went off after a while. Mummy had to put a little piece of ice on it, only for a while as you didn't want me to touch your forehead.

Soon you got to meet up with your grand-aunts, grand-uncles, aunties and uncles. Some that you had met during your full moon party, others that you haven't met before. And lucky you... more presents from them. Look:

It's Christmas all over again!

You also had your "reunion dinner" of fish porridge with broccoli and carrots too. Before you had an early night, in anticipation of another busy day tomorrow.. collection ang pows!

Enjoying your dinner

This is what we had for our reunion dinner

CNY Reunion Dinner in BM

Mummy and daddy had a very busy day preparing for the coming Chinese New Year. We went to the condo to clean up a bit as your Ah Koo (Uncle Al) was planning to stay there with his friend, Uncle Troy and maybe Nanna will be joining them there too.

Then later we all went to BM to help out Nanna and Grampy prepare for our steamboat dinner. Yummy... Ah Koo came in from Singapore on a late flight so you seemed a bit tired. You are so lucky. They brought you so many gifts. I especially like this teddy bear that Ah Koo bought from Japan. Maybe you will want to share it with mummy..

When they arrived with your younger Ah Koo.. we were all so hungry. But you were tired and grouchy and refused to sit in your highchair. Mummy managed to eat a few bites before you screamed to be carried. For the rest of the meal, you either sat (or was it stand) on my lap while I ate, mummy or daddy carried you while the other ate or even Ee-ee carried you a while too. Luckily you let her carry you for a while.


After dinner, we left to go to Ipoh. It was late so you fell asleep almost immediately in the car. When we reached Ipoh, many people were still awake waiting for you, but you slept right through until 6am the next day (with your occasional feeds). And of course everyone else had to wake up and entertain you.

3 days to Chinese New Year

We're going to have dinner at Nanna's place tomorrow before going off to Ipoh directly from BM. So today will be the last day of working for mummy and daddy. We've got some last minute things to do tomorrow. Along with re-packing too.

So to all our family and friends, Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day Evan!!

You slept quite well last night. From 9pm till 7.10 this morning. What a good boy. And in such a cheerful mood. So ever willing to say and wave "bye bye" when Ah Kong was leaving to work.

Have a great day ahead...

Jumping Jacks

Remember how I told you daddy had cramps after he did jumping-jacks with you when we went to visit your great-grandpa in the hospital? Well this is how it's done.

First daddy lets you sit on his shoulders like this:


Then he will squat and stand and squat and stand and squat and stand and..... You won't let your poor daddy rest after he starts with this game. You will laugh and laugh and scream at daddy when he stops! That's how he came about with the cramps! Hahaha!!!

Miss you while we're at work

Just finished talking to you over the phone. Ah Ma called to ask me where your knee guards were. Sounds like you're going for your "exercise" in the little room upstairs. I should take a picture of you in those knee guards that ee-ee bought you.

Mummy, daddy and Ah Kong love talking to you over the phone. It seems like the phone is also one of your favourite things in the world. You seem to want to grab at the phone when we call home to ask Ah Ma anything. But it makes us wish we were home, playing with you, rather than stuck here at work, staring at the clock, willing time to move faster!

Cut The Finger

It was a busy day. Daddy, Ah Kong, mummy and you went to the new home to do a bit of cleaning in the afternoon while bringing some things to the house that we had bought yesterday when we went shopping in Carrefour.

You were happily crawling and cruising around the house with one of us watching you. Then it was mummy's turn to watch you while daddy and Ah Kong try to fix something in one of the bathrooms.

The next thing I knew, I noticed some bloodstains on the floor. Somehow you had cut yourself but had not made any noise. Quickly I carried you to the bathroom to wash your fingers. But it kept bleeding non-stop! What a scary sight. Daddy took over trying stop the bleeding. In the end, we put a plaster on your little finger. It was way too big, but better than nothing to cover the wound. It continued bleeding and we needed to change another plaster before it stopped bleeding.

By then, you were crying and making a lot of noise. Not too sure if it was the cut that sting after being rinsed or was it that you sensed panic in mummy and daddy.

Luckily, you were fine and on the way home, you removed the plaster yourself! Look at your cut finger:

Early morning greeting

Dear Evan,

Ah Ma has been teaching you new things. You now know how to do "Gong Xi Gong Xi", wave (and sometimes say) "bye bye", wave "hi", clap your hands(there's sound even!) and purse your lips to make a sound!

So I guess I shouldn't be too surprised when you woke up at 4.45am this morning (YES! 4.45am) made some noises and when you saw mummy peeping at you, wave hi and clap your hands to me! Haha... how to stay angry at you?

Have a great day ahead darling. I think Ah Ma has got more little tricks for you to learn.

Blogging

Ever wondered why mummy and daddy decided to start this blog? Actually, the task of blogging is mummy's "job" while daddy enjoys reading the blog while adding a "suggestion" or two here and there(daddy claims giving suggestions is his job!). And also asking mummy when the next blog will be.

Mummy's friend introduced her blog to me and I decided to attempt to blog too. Initially, mummy wondered where I would find the time, with work and caring for you. Amazingly, the blogging bug bit me. And now, I try to blog whenever I have the time.

Mummy used to keep a "manual", handwritten journal of what you have done. So that is my reference point for back-dated blogs. (I just seriously stared to blog not too long ago).

To everyone else reading this blog, Ben and I hope that you enjoy reading this blog about our little Evan as much as we love sharing with you all our experiences with out little bundle of joy, Evan.

2 weeks to Chinese New Year

The countdown begins. It's 2 weeks to Chinese New Year, and mummy is starting to panic!!!

So many things to do, so little time. Lucky Ah Ma will be helping us exchange new notes for the Ang Pows. Mummy needs to get a special ang pow for you.

I have taken out all the clothes that you will probably wear during Chinese New Year in Ipoh. As usual, there are a lot of things to bring along for you. I plan to make a list of what to bring in an Excel spreadsheet.. but never got to completing the list. I better do it, otherwise, I might leave out something and daddy will stare daggers at mummy! *wink*

Everyone is looking forward to Chinese New Year. They have not seen you for a while.

Visiting Great-Grandpa in hospital

Dear Evan,

You woke up very early yesterday morning. And half an hour later, your Ah Ma came knocking on the door. Great-grandpa had fainted and hit himself on the face near the eye in the toilet at home.

So in a rush daddy and Ah Ma went to Auntie Jamie's house to bring him to the hospital.

And later in the night we braved the traffic jam (as it was Thaipusam) to go to town for dinner and to visit your great-grandpa in Adventist Hospital. Poor thing, You were a bit shocked when you first saw him, as his right eye was very bruised. But later after that, you grinned at him and even stood on great-grandpa's bed.

And I guess the highlight of the day is when daddy did jumping-jacks with you sitting on his shoulders. But today, he's suffering the effects. His legs are aching. So no more jumping-jacks for a while till his legs recover!

Sleep... sleep at last!

Dear Evan,

You were a good boy last night. You only woke up 3 times after you went to be before 10pm. And each time you woke up, you had your feed and went straight back to sleep, without kicking a fuss.

In fact, daddy slept right throught the night too. He didn't wake up a single time when you woke up last night! Poor daddy, he must be very tired. We all were sleeping by 11pm!

Hopefully this will be your new sleep pattern for a while, until you learn to sleep through the night.

So sleepy today..

Evan.. oh Evan.. Why did you wake up so early this morning. My dear baby, at 3.30am, even the roosters aren't up! So why should you, a little baby, be up so early??

Now mummy and daddy feel so tired sitting here at our desk, trying to work.

Although you were up at such an unearthly hour, it was difficult to stay angry at you. Your one little grin, melted our hearts. That's why you got away with playing on our bed, hitting the wall behind our bed and rolling around. You stayed up till 5am when you finally dozed off and mummy also got another 2 hours of shut eye.

I hope you don't intend to pull this same trick again tonight. Daddy and mummy are VERY VERY tired. Unlike you, we didn't get to have a morning and afternoon nap!

P/S Daddy says you cannot sleep too early tonight.

Happy 10months birthday Evan!

My dear.. in the blink of the eye, you are now 10 months old.

Our little baby
Ever so tiny
When you were born
We could have sworn
The most beautiful thing
We have ever seen.



You're 10 months in January
Chinese New Year is in February
And soon we will celebrate
The day you will turn one.



I guess mummy will never be a poet. But I hope you like it. Not very good at rhyming. But wanted to give a different twist to this blog. Happy 10 months birthday to you darling.

More sleepless nights..

Dearest Evan,

Mummy feels so, so tired today. You were up every 2 hours. And the 2 hours starts counting from the time you woke up earlier, and not AFTER you went to sleep.

I think it's probably because of the dry weather. Daddy was just commenting to me this morning that the real Chinese New Year weather is here. So with it being dry, you had to wake up for a drink. And longer drink too. Poor Evan..

We'll try to put out more bowls of water. Hopefully that will help you sleep better. And longer too. You woke up at 5 this morning hoping to play! Luckily you went to sleep after a bit of coaxing, although you only foudn the comfy spot with your legs facing us!

Standing & Walking

Dear Evan,

We didn't even notice you cruising often. But all of a sudden, you stood up unaided on our bed last Friday. And the next thing we know, you took 2 steps while standing on daddy and mummy's bed last night! Wow!

I guess very soon you will be moving around, walking everywhere. And pulling everything within reach to the ground!

Sigh.. our little baby is growing up so fast..

Sleepless nights...

My dear Evan.. I am still wondering how come you never read the "baby manual"? Don;t you know that babies are supposed to sleep long hours. At your age, I think it's supposed to be around 10 hours during the night.. Of course you are expected to wake up sometimes for feeds.. but better still if you are able to sleep though the night.

You woke up at 1am this morning and refused to sleep.. It took you more than an hour before you could find a comfy spot in mummy's and daddy's bed! But of course not before you sat up and give daddy a big fat knock on his head, followed by the loudest howl ever from you..

Teething

My dear Evan,

My friend said it was easy for her to see whether her son was teething. His teeth shows everytime he smiles. Sigh.. for me, it took me a long time and I have finally managed to get a picture of your two bottom teeth.. with the help of your daddy & Ah Kong who encouraged you to go "bang bang bang" on your high chair.



And last Thursday I caught a glimpse of your upper tooth growing. Yup, for some unknown reason, there's only ONE tooth growing. Didn't you read the baby manual? Your supposed to have both upper teeth growing together. I wonder when we'd be able to get a picture of that tooth.

Chinese New Year is coming!

Gosh.. I don't know if you are excited about Chinese New Year, but I am. Other than the downside of giving out ang pows, it would be the first celebration for you. I'm sure you would have loads of ang pows this year. And you will get to meet the whole "Ban Clan". Trust me, the word "clan" can be considered an understatement! It's a very big family.

Wow.. so much to do, so much to get ready. Lucky for you, Ah Kong and daddy bought loads of clothes for you when they went travelling earlier on. So all mummy needs to do is start packing... Hmm.. is that too early?

Photo Session Day

It seems like a long time since we've taken photographs with you. So today mummy and daddy went home for a quick lunch and also to have a photo session with you. Here's the pictures we took with you:


With Daddy..


With mummy


And with Ah Kong

Ah Ma is camera shy today. She says her clothes looks messy because you've been pulling at it the whole day. Nevermind, we'll take another picture with Ah Ma another day.

Our New Home

Today we officially "jip choo" (move into our new home) in Tanjung Bungah. Very far from our current house, but it's a nice place by the beach. Lucky you woke up early as we needed to be in the house between 10 and 11am! Nanna told us that it was the best time.

The condo is still relatively bare, but we are slowly furnishing it. Most importantly we brought along your play mat. So you could entertain yourself while we have the workers put up the curtains and do some final cleaning of the condo.



And after a long day of playing in Ah Ma's room, you fell asleep on mummy and daddy's bed:



That was fun. So we will be going over again to spend a night there this weekend. I wonder when you will get a chance to use the swimming pool...

Food upgrade

It's time for you to promote to eating moi. Ah Ma is all excited. She's went out to buy fish for you from the market. She bought "kah lat hoo". Don't ask me what type of fish that it. All I know that it is "a fish"!

So the time came and Ah Ma cooked your yummy moi. But look at the face you showed: