Happy Merdeka!

It's Friday at it's Merdeka. That means it's a long weekend for us all. I love weekends, especially long ones. I get to spend more time with you... We decided to stay at the condo this weekend. The plan was to go over yesterday night, but Ah Kong had some work that he needed to do, so we went over to the condo after Ah Kong and daddy came back from their morning golf game.

You started to fall asleep while daddy was driving, but the moment you heard mummy zap the entry card at the condo entrance, you were up in a flash. Why? Cause you wanted to press the button on the lift! Yup.. you love to press the buttons for us whenever we get into a lift! And of course you "reset" the moment we got into the condo.. you no longer felt sleepy, even though you only napped for 20 minutes or so. Luckily daddy took a scenic route to get to the condo!

We lazed around and went for a quick swim before getting ready to go out for dinner. You fell asleep on the way out (obviously..) and since it was totally jam to get to Gurney Plaza, we tried our luck with Queensbay Mall. But no such luck, so we ended up in a little restaurant for dinner, where you sat on my lap lost of the time as you were still grumpy from being woken up from your sleep.

What a way to spend our Merdeka. By the way, Malaysia is 50 years old today, while you just turned 17 months old 2 days ago.

You won a prize!

We rather disbelieving when the shop where you took your photograph at said that you had won a prize. Anyhow, we decided to go to the Sunway Carnival Mall where the event was held to find out. By the time we arrived at the mall in Prai, you had fallen asleep. So we put you in the stroller and went to look for the place where the prize giving was to be held. Nanna had told me the night before that it was outside Parkson. Good thing about this mall is that it is brightly lit and also they have a travelator, rather than and escalator.

After going down and down and down (we parked on the 4th floor) to the basement floor, we finally found the place. Aiyo.. Nanna was mistaken, it was near Giant not Parkson! Anyway, they said that they were not ready for the rehearsal so off we went to explore this new shopping complex. Yup, it's our first time there.

Can you find your picture?

Now can you find your picture?

We walked around Parkson and some of the shops outside when you suddenly woke up. Maybe the music that was playing was a bit too loud. You cried a bit before calming down. So we continued our shopping and you even danced away to the music when we walked near the center atrium. Daddy let you walk around the shopping complex and it was very tiring. In the end, mummy had to bribe you with a toy to get you to sit in the stroller!

Finally it was nearly 3 and we headed for the basement again. You were given No 18 to collect your gift. When it was nearly our turn, mummy went up on the stage and held your hands to do a little "catwalk". You were so excited, perhaps when you saw, Ah Ma, daddy, Nanna and 2nd Ee-Poh you even waved and gave flying kisses to the crowd!. Mummy thought that was the end of it. But.. I found out too late that it was only the rehearsal. We had to walk (parade?) around the mall before the event officially started.

Again, while waiting you ran around while poor daddy followed you everywhere. And you discovered something new: spitting! Eewww... You'd dribble on the floor and tell Ah Ma "Ooo.." Gosh.. Finally it was the real prize giving ceremony. It was over in a jiffy. We managed to get this picture of you and Ee-Poh. Surprisingly you let her carry you.. while mummy went to the loo.

And what did you win? Ta-da... A trophy (the first one you've won), RM50 voucher and the photo frame

By the way, you have already drank from the trophy while waiting to be photographed on stage. You seem to think that is is a cup! Of course when you didn't get any drinks from it, you threw it on the floor!

It's Saturday!

You woke up early this morning (upon Ah Ma's request?) so we decided to get you ready to go to Pulau Tikus market with Ah Ma and Grand-Aunt Doris. Too bad, it was a morning of mishaps. Mummy was walking into the bathroom with you, and you slipped and hit your head on the floor. I was holding your hands and yet you hit your head. After that, mummy got ready and when I turned to look at you, you somehow lost your balance and hit your face on the side of our bed. That was the scariest moment. You were screaming and mummy say that there was blood in your saliva! Luckily Ah Ma was just outside and she carried you while mummy fed you warm water to calm you down. You took the water, so the blood was probably only as a result of you biting yourself as you fell. No major injuries. Phew!!

We left after you calmed down. You seemed quiet on the trip to Pulau Tikus. But you were happier when mummy carried you in the baby carrier and you got to look at the people and things all around the market. You were back to your normal self on the way home. I was so glad.

After daddy came back from golf, we went out to run some errands with Ah Kong. You instantly fell asleep as you woke up so early this morning. And we drove around to buy things for almost 2 hours and you slept all the time.

In the evening, we went out to exchange the gate and on the way back, we brought you to the playground. It is your first time going there. Mummy thought that you may not like it, as Ah Kong has tried to bring you to our garden and the garden in Ipoh, where you refuse to step on the grass, unless you wore shoes. Surprisingly, you were so excited when we brought you to the playground. We let you play on the seesaw and on the slide. You even enjoyed running around, chasing you shadow!

Dinner was Thai food. You were quite good throughout dinner. Of course, mummy had packed your moi moi with us so that you could have dinner with us. As we finished rather early, Ah Kong suggested that we went to Queensbay Mall for a while. You squealed in delight when you realised we were going kai kai. Luckily we packed your stroller. We went to Toy's R Us to buy another safety gate, as the one that we bought this afternoon was damaged even before we put it to use. You were so tired, that you fell asleep in your car seat within 5 minutes of getting into the car!

That is so interesting..

Took this picture of you reading the newspaper. So engrossed in the news, eh? Only thing is.. the newspaper is upside down!! Hahaha...

The Pictures are Finally Here

The lady from the photo studio finally called mummy on Saturday when we were in Ipoh to tell us that your photos are finally ready. Imagine after waiting for more than 2 months, they're finally ready. Phew.. sure took them a long time to develop the pictures.

Here's the one that we enlarged:

Aunty Joanne was kind enough to scan the pictures for mummy. More of the pictures on the sidebar..

Wearing nappy

Mummy is proud to say that you are still wearing nappies. After all it is good for the environment. Hehe.. environmental friendly baby. Of course, you'd still need to wear diapers when you nap in the afternoon because Ah Ma says if you wee wee while sleeping, it will interrupt your nap. Other than that, you will also wear them at night while you are asleep and also wear disposeable diapers on weekends too, because we go out then.

Now that you have grown bigger, the nappy is rather small. That's why Ah Ma likes to let you wear shorts over the nappy while you are playing. On the other hand, when you are with mummy, I will just let you go around the house with your nappy on. And so this is what happens:

Uh-oh.. it's rather drafty..

And you will tell us when the nappy "chau kui". You will be holding the front up and telling us "ko-ko" (said in a sing-song tone). Haha.. Maybe it's time for us to get the larger sized nappy that we had been putting off for so long.

Back to Ipoh

It's been a while since we've been back to Ipoh, so we went back to visit Ah Tai, Kor Pohs, Chek Kong and also Chim Pohs. I'm sure they all miss you. Of course, now you are not so shy (or were you ever?) and you happily roamed around most parts of the house, but of course with someone watching over you. You tried to climb up the stairs a few times, but luckily Ah Kong was around to catch you.

When daddy, Ah Kong and Chek Kong went off for golf, we also went out with Ah Ma and Chim Poh. We made many stops. First stop was Ipoh Specialist Hospital as Chim Poh has to pick up something, then went to Menglembu to buy "Kaya Kok". You fell asleep on the way there and only woke up when we reached Ipoh old town to collect Chek Kong's passport photo. Since you were up and it was past 1pm, we went for the famous Ipoh coffee where you had to sit on Ah Ma's lap as they had no baby chair while mummy fed you your lunch. You didn't seem hungry, probably because we already had dim sum for breakfast. Of course you preferred our snack of toast with margarine and kaya. One last stop we took was the fruit shop where Ah Ma went down to buy a pomelo and some snacks.

Since you already had your nap, Chin Poh took you up to her room to enjoy the air-con and watch your cartoon channel. Everyone was tired, but not you. You were happily playing in her room, with the toys, opening the cupboard doors, wiping the floor...

We went out to buy roast pork and you fell asleep again, by the time we reached home. You slept a while until we tried to move you while you were asleep. That was the end of it. You were up and GROUCHY! Luckily you calmed down soon, and had your bath and dinner.. and after we all had our dinner, it was time to go back to Penang.

Favourite Pillow

Here you are with your favourite pillow. You will cuddle with it everytime we tell you to "love Winnie". It's a Winnie the Pooh" pillow that was given to mummy for Christmas. I guess now it's yours.

Passport is Made

As planned, we took half the day off today to bring you to the Immigration Office. Of course, by the time you woke up, and daddy woke up and we were all ready, it was 9am! So off we went with your lunch packed (Kakak Wati is wonderful, she'd already cooked the moi moi by 8am), stroller and also all the necessary items for your passport application.

It was a quick affair. All done within an hour. As mummy had already printed and filled up the form, photocopied your birth certificate and daddy's identity card and brought along your photograph, we were given a number immediately. I was wondering why the man at the information counter clicked on the "Lain-lain" (others) button instead of "Passport Antarabangsa" (International Passport). Then we found out that we were given the "priority counter"as you are under 2 years old. It is for old folks and disable applicants also.

After that, we had nothing to do while waiting for 2 hours to pick up your passport, so we went to Gurney Plaza to kill some time and to have lunch too. So after buying a few things we headed for Chillis. We all had lunch there. Even you. Daddy ordered Macaroni and Cheese for you. So while waiting for your food, mummy fed you some of the moi that kakak had already cooked for you. And when the macaroni came, you happily ate that. Of course it was a very large serving, so you could not finish all the food.

Soon it 2 hours had passed and so off we went to pick up your passport before they closed for lunch. It was a quick one, you had in fact fallen asleep as soon as we left Gurney Plaza and mummy had to wake you up as you needed to be present to pick up the passport.

We reached home in time for mummy to relax a while before going off to work. Daddy decided to take the rest of the day off. And Ah Ma took the opportunity to bring great-grandma to the physiotherapist. So you spent quality time with daddy i.e. bullying your poor daddy. We expected you to fall asleep soon since you were already drowsy on our way home from the passport office, but you proved us wrong. Instead daddy had to entertain you until 4pm.. when you both finally fell asleep.

Phew.. daddy says it's been a long day!

It's the weekend again

And another busy weekend it was. Ah Kong's friend, Uncle KK and his wife, Aunty Ruth was here to visit us from Singapore. They came with a large group of friends on Wednesday evening. But you only got to meet Uncle KK and Aunty Ruth on Saturday morning.

We were supposed to have dinner together on Friday evening but dinner was rather late, so we settle our own dinner. By the time the whole jing-gang arrived back at our house, you were already asleep as it was past 10pm. They had a "durian party" before going back to the hotel.

On Saturday, you woke up early, so mummy had to entertain you, had breakfast before Ah Kong took you out to play in the garden. He said that you refused to walk on the grass, suspecting that you didn't like the grass tickling your toes. So we let you wear your shoes and you happily played outside for a while until you got all sweaty. After you cooled down, mummy gave you a shower and we all got ready and off we went to the condo.

We had lunch at Great World Park then daddy drove us home, as he had a golf game and mummy thought that you would be tired, since you were up since 6am. And we predicted correctly, you slept before we reached home. But in total you only napped for 1 hour. By the time Ah Kong, Ah Mah, Aunty Ruth, and Uncle KK reached home, you were awake again. And so we went off with the 2 ladies for some retail therapy while the men went for golf.

Dinner was at Kashmir, the restaurant that serves the most delicious northern Indian food. Yummy. Too bad you could not take the food, as it was mostly spicy. So you had papadams. And you loved it too.

We had our Sunday brunch at our favourite kopi tiam near Jones Road. Daddy and mummy loves the char koey tiau. Yummy... and the coffee there is also the best. Yup, coffee.. mummy takes coffee mostly on weekends with my brunch. Luckily you do not react adversely to the coffee in my breast milk! Haha.. Ah Kong and Ah Ma had gone to join our Singapore visitors for Bah Kut Teh..

After that we went for a ride, looking at houses and just driving around aimlessly. You had fallen asleep and since it was still early, we bought some time for you to nap in the car. And luckily too, cause you woke up the moment we reached home. So you managed a nap for almost an hour.

We went with daddy to the golf course as Ah Ma needed a ride back. And since you had your afternoon nap, we went shopping. Ah Ma wanted to go to the hairdresser's so we were dropped at Gurney Plaza. Mummy bought a few things for you and walked around until it Ah Ma called. Went home to relax and play with you while Ah Ma went out again. We were supposed to have dinner with our visitors but while waiting for them, you fell asleep in the car. So we could not join them, but they managed to sneak a peek at you, and "ooh" and "aaahhh" over you.

Dinner was romantic hawker food with daddy and you *grin*. Ahh... another weekend has come and gone.

Passport

Ah.. we're getting ready for our trip to Singapore in October for Uncle Eu Jin and Aunty Lourdes' wedding. So the first step is to have your passport done. We brought you to the photo studio on Sunday evening after dinner to have your picture taken. You sat on mummy's lap while they took your picture. Daddy was standing behind the photographer trying to make you smile, but you gave them your most serious face. See:

Today, mummy printed out the necessary forms and photocopied all the documents so that we can settle it faster at the immigration office tomorrow. Hopefully we can pick up your passport on the same day too, since we only plan to take 1/2 day leave while Ah Ma goes for her check-up.

Introducing.. New food again

Today Ah Ma cooked a new dish for you again. It's stir-fried noodles. She bought the noodles from the organic shop as they were out of your mee suah. Mummy and daddy left work a bit late, so you were already bathed and waiting to be fed dinner.

Ah Ma boiled the noodles first before stir frying them in olive oil with some mince meat and cauliflower. On top of that, your soup was already cooked. It was ikan bilis stock with carrots and veggies.

Of course the task to feed you was mine to do. Luckily the bib that was used had a plastic backing. Otherwise, your shirt would have been very wet, as the soupd dribbled down your chin as mummy tried to feed you. Of course you happily took the soup especialyl when mummy showed you that it had the carrots in the spoon! You also loved the noodles, but as Ah Ma had to cook one whole piece, which was too much, daddy added some soya sauce to the balance and finished it. Mummy got to taste it too. It was yummy, and you even managed to finish almost half of the noodles along with a bowl of soup.

Doesn't this look yummy?

You're so lucky to have a wonderful cook like Ah Ma and daddy to prepare these food for you.

Busy Weekend

We left for the condo in a hurry on Friday evening as daddy was having a dinner with his friends nearby. Ah Kong and Ah Ma also had their own plans for the evening. So it was just you and me in the condo. Of course, mummy had to clean up the house a little as daddy's friends were coming over after dinner.

You behaved very well while mummy moped the house. Daddy had already helped to sweep the house while mummy was feeding you. Good thing about the condo is that there are no steps, nor fish ponds like our house. So mummy could go around and not worry about you. I was initially worried that you may slip on the wet floor, but I noticed that you will walk more carefully when mummy tells you that the floor is wet.

You were a little shy when daddy came over with his friends, but later you even let some of them carry you. Of course, you were smothered with kisses too!

Saturday was a lazy day. We relaxed around the condo in the morning, went out for lunch and while daddy and Ah Kong went for their usual golf game, we went out to run some errands with Ah Ma. Of course since it was your nap time, mummy had to carry you while you were sleeping. Ooh... my arms are still aching. Dinner was even nearby, at Tanjung Club.

Sunday was a little different. Ah Kong and daddy's game was in the morning. We slept in a little until we were woken (again) by the piling being done nearby. Sigh... After breakfast, we went out to pick up great-grandma's X-Ray from Adventist Hospital. Since we had to wait for an hour, the 3 of us went to the nearby Pulau Tikus market to buy some veggies for the week. After picking up the X-Ray, we went to buy lunch as daddy and Ah Kong were on the way home. We lazed around the house until late evening. But before we left, you had a "souvenir" from the kitchen door:

You did it yourself. Under whose watch, I will not mention. You opened the door into your own foot! Daddy could not understand how that could happen, as the door was very low, until he took a look at your little foot. Poor thing. You made a big fuss, but a closer look, showed only your skin came off.

I need... sleep

You kept mummy up for so long last night. You woke up at 2+ and only slept more than an hour after that. Daddy got up to carry you, but you looked at him and pointed to our bed, telling him you want to sleep on our bed!

And since you kept moving around our bed, mummy had to keep an eye on you. I was so worried that you might fall off the bed, even though you were wedged in between mummy and daddy. And you are really cheeky. You will not move for a while, tricking mummy into thinking you had fallen asleep and then just as I was thinking of moving you back to your cot, you start crawling around. You finally fell asleep lying right on top of mummy and I dare not move for quite a while to ensure that you were REALLY asleep.

Around 6am, you were up again to resume the torture session. Your eyes were wide open. And so you started to move around our bed again. Sigh...

Now I feel so sleepy. Lucky daddy. He slept early so he should not be as tired as mummy!

Riding the horse

It's been a long time since we took pictures of you. You either close your eyes when we take the picture, or too interested in the camera to allow us to take pictures of you. Tonight, mummy managed to take these 2 pictures of you while you were riding the horsey (daddy).


You both seemed to be having such a good time. You were laughing all the way:



Of course, everytime daddy stopped, you wanted him to repeat your "ride" on his legs again. And now, you are sleeping.. and so is daddy.. he must be tired out too.

And tonight's chef selection is...

We noticed that you didn't seem to be too enthusiastic about your dinner lately. So this morning, Ah Ma sugested that we made you cheese omlette. So we came back after work, mummy gave you a shower and daddy prepared dinner for you. The soup was already prepared by Ah Ma. It was chicken with tomatoes and carrots.

And let me tell you a secret, cheese omlette is mummy's all time favourite egg dish. And the best person to cook it is daddy. He cooked this specialty for mummy when we were studying in Australia and also when mummy was pregnant with you. See:

Looks yummy eh?

And your judgement for this dish?

Still trying to decide..

You didn't eat too much, or maybe one whole egg with one slice of cheese was too much for your little stomach. I guess we need to look for more varieties of food to cook for you.

Party Pictures

Here are the pictures taken when we had daddy's friends over to the condo: