Time to Go Home

Dr Low gave me the greenlight to go home on Monday evening when he came to the room. Evelyn was with us in the room at that time. Happiness... That night daddy stayed with me in the hospital. And then he heard what I had been telling him. Evelyn's crying sounds arrived before she physically arrived in the room! The nurses would bring her from the nursery when you woke up in the night hungry. It was on average twice per night.

In the morning, she'd be given a bath at around 7am then brought back to mummy for another feed. That morning, Dr Mary visited us and told us that her jaundice level was at 180 and that she could go home (if it hit 200 that she'd have to stay on).

After lunch and a few nurses including those from the chaplain visited us, we were good to go. Daddy had settled the bill and you just needed to have one last injection before we could go off. While waiting, we got these pictures: 

The nurse helped to change Evelyn into her "going home" suit:

Evelyn was put into your carseat and this was her reaction whenever the car stopped:

Welcome home, Evelyn!

More Pictures of Evelyn

I stayed in the hospital alone (unless you count Evelyn) as you had insisted that daddy stayed at home and accompanied you. On Monday, daddy dropped you off to school and also headed to the office to clear up some work for the morning. That morning Ah Ma also came with your two Tou-tous and Boh-boh Poh to visit Evelyn.

Daddy came later on with my lunch and most importantly his DSLR. He wanted to take nicer shots of Evelyn. You had wanted to come visit us, but you needed to do your homework and you had tuition on Monday night. But in the end, as a reward for you we decided to cancel your lesson and so you got to visit Evelyn (and the iPad which was with me..) and have dinner with daddy and I in the hospital.  

While I managed to persuade daddy to go home and accompany you, you had very graciously allowed daddy to stay the night with me, saying that you'd sleep with Ah Kong and Ah Ma.

Here are some of the pictures daddy took:

Oh yes, I'd forgotten to mention, when I was wheeled into the room, I had a smile on my face as this was the same labour room I was in when I delivered you 6 years ago:

The Arrival of Our Little Evelyn

It was a usual Sunday morning and I woke up at 4.30am thinking I needed to go to relief myself (as usual). But when I went to the toilet, I realised that there was blood. I went back to bed and daddy woke up for a while, I told him there was blood, but nothing to be worried about. But despite my nonchalance, I was a little worried. Shortly after that I felt some discomfort and by the time daddy woke up at 7 all ready to go for his golf game, we wondered if it was advisable for him to head to the game or for us to go to the hospital. We could not decide if it would be a false alarm.

In the end, we decided that he'd come with me to the hospital for a check with Dr Low. I called ahead and informed the nurses at the OBGYN reception then headed to have a shower. By then, the contractions seemed to be 4-5 minutes apart. We quickly had breakfast and daddy arranged the NeatSeat and a towel (for fear of my waterbag bursting on the way) and off we headed to the hospital. As for you, you had just come back from a morning walk with Ah Kong and we managed to persuade you to stay at home and only come to the hospital later IF I was really in labour.

Daddy dropped me to quickly register. I informed the nurse again and they quickly informed Dr Low's nurse about me. I was to be the second patient as there was already one patient who was waiting for her turn to see Dr Low. I had given a urine sample and I thought I saw Dr Low's nurse come out to test it and made a quick dash back into the room before it was my turn to see the doctor.

A quick scan (baby was estimated to be 3.5kg) and a check showed I was 5 cm dilated. What?? That sure was a fast one.. as compared to what I went through 6 years ago...

A wheelchair was ordered and I was wheeled straight to the labour room while daddy went to make arrangement for the payments etc. By then it was about 9.40am. It's not very good when you are lying facing the clock and the minutes are ticking very slowly while the pain is coming more and more regularly!!

Daddy came back to me and stayed with me most of the time, making calls to let Nanna and also Ah Kong and Ah Ma know that your little mei-mei was planning to come soon. After drifting in and out from the painkillers, feeling so much pain and fighting a bout of nausea it was finally time for mei-mei to arrive.

I was 8 cm dilated by then (it was around 12pm). She had put in a catheter then burst my waterbag (which did not burst in daddy's car after all..). Then it was discovered that there was meconium in the water.. mei-mei had poo poo-ed already. Dr Mary (whom we had requested) was quickly informed and Dr Low was on his way. 

Finally after a lot of pushing Evelyn finally arrived at 12.38p.m.. I didn't get to carry her like I did with you. She was quickly put on that little place to be cleaned and checked by Dr Mary, while Dr Low stitched me up. It was worrying as I didn't get to carry Evelyn but I could see her. Dr Mary checked and she informed me that all seemed well with her, but there is still a worry about meconuim in her lungs which will show in the next 6 hours. I finally got to carry and cuddle her after a while and tried to feed her. Then she was taken away for a bath and I was resting in the labour room while waiting to be moved to my room.

By then, daddy's WatsApp was busy buzzing with messages from your Kor-kors and Ah Peks. We didn't even know her exact birth weight. I got back to my room to have my lunch and you were already there, happily playing on the iPad but happy to see me too. Then you all went to the nursery to take a look at Evelyn. At long last after I had my lunch, Evelyn was brought to the room for a cuddle with mummy and to be fed by me, now officially known was Evelyn's "moo-mmy"

The Delivery Box

I didn't know it but it looks like it... my mummy must be a delivery box. It was Sunday and I had gone for a morning walk with Ah Kong. When we got back, daddy was telling Ah Kong something about "going to deliver" and "false alarm". I wanted to go along to the hospital to see the picture of mei-mei when Dr Low scanned her tummy. I liked looking at the scan because mei-mei likes to do funny things. But this time, mummy asked me to stay at home as I hadn't taken a bath. Luckily Ah Kong said he'll bring me to the hospital later on.

I waited for mummy to come home but she didn't. And again, I heard Ah Kong and Ah Ma mention the word "deliver". I wonder who is delivering what..

Later on, we left to have lunch. I had my favourite "char kuey tiau" and they even packed lunch for daddy. Then we went to Adventist Hospital. Nanna was also there in the hospital. We waited around and I had the iPad to keep me company. Then suddenly they said it again "She has delivered". Delivered what??

Next thing I know, I was told that I am a big kor-kor and my mei-mei is here already. Waitaminute.. I thought mummy told me she was supposed to come on the 29th? Oh well.. I've been waiting to see her anyway. I was so excited. It was a long while though before mummy came to the room and even later before we got to see mei-mei in the baby bassinet after her bath.

Good thing daddy had his camera. He showed me pictures of my mei-mei. She's so cute.

I already knew her name by then: Evelyn. Mummy says her full name is Evelyn Ban Yen Xin:

Here's a picture of my mei-mei, don't you think she's cute? 

See? Told you my mummy is a delivery box. She delivered my mei-mei.

Another Missing Tooth

About a week after your tooth fell off (with daddy's help) another fell off (7th September). This time it's the right lateral incisor. You just suddenly showed daddy your tooth. It seems you were "playing" with the tooth and the next thing you know, it's in your hands!
Here's a picture of you taken the next day when we had dinner in Euro-Deli:

Daddy secretly took a video of you eating. It was so hilarious as food kept falling out and you didn't really seem to notice that happening.

Evan's First Steak

As I was dying for steak and we thought that there may not be any more opportunity this trip to have steak at our favourite place, Jake's Charbroil Steaks we headed there for lunch after the tea ceremony on Saturday while most of the Ban clan headed to Li Yen for dim sum.
How can we be a stone's throw away from Jake's and not feed ourselves steak. We didn't care that it was odd to have steak for lunch but who cares.. So off we went after a change of clothes for you and daddy. We settled down and took a look at the menu. They had kids steak too. And to our surprise, you agreed to try out the steak. I guess it's the allure of the fries more than the steak which enticed you to try!
Here's your steak:

And here's daddy's XL steak:
We polished everything on our plates. And then we had our desserts.. Burp.. that was the yummiest lunch ever! And till now you'd occasionally ask daddy when we'd be going to Jake's for more steak. Looks like we've converted you to a steak lover too *grin*

The Wedding Day

The next morning, I woke up earlier so that I could have enough time to get ready and also to get you ready. As the night before was a late night for you, it took me a while to get you up. Finally we were all ready and headed to Ashley Kor-kor's suite to await the groom's arrival. Here's a shot of us together which daddy took before we went to "hide" in the bridal room i.e. to take care of the door. Yup, we're the second barricade consisting of 1 heavily pregnant lady and two 6 year olds!

At last Uncle Dennis and his buddies got through the "test" eating all the scary concoctions prepared for them. Then time to get through our door. The bribe was SGD1000. We pocketed it (but was later confiscated) and opened the door for him to come in and claim his wife.

When all the necessities were settled in the bridal suite, they headed to the special room provided by the hotel for the tea ceremony. After the tea ceremony, we had group pictures taken. Here's one of our family with the bride:

After that, we headed back to the room for a quick change and then headed to Starhill for our steak fix. Then mummy went off for some retail therapy and you and daddy went back to the room for a snooze.

We woke up refreshed and went to the pool again for a dip. Then started to get ready and have a light snack knowing dinner was to start late. It was a good thing that you were excited about dressing up. So at around 6pm you pulled on your long pants and behold.. mummy had packed the wrong pair. This was a VERY small pair! Oh no. You told me it was fine, but you looked really odd in the pants. So we quickly changed and "ran" (almost.. how to do it with my big belly...) to Pavillion. And I tell you, searching for black slacks is no easy feat! In the end, we settled for something black and decent enough to pass as slacks and headed back to the room to change and get ready.

Phew.. very stressful. But we were on time. Everyone was still mingling around having pre-dinner cocktails. You stayed with Ashley Kor-kor's friend who briefed you and her son along with Hailey and Jamie on what to do later when dinner commenced. Yup, the 4 of you were the page boys and flower girls.

Ta-da.. here's the bridal couple making their entrance:

Dinner was a pleasant event. It continued way into the night and after a while, we headed back to our room first. You KO-ed almost immediately, despite the afternoon nap. And I soon joined you. Daddy who had changed continued in the suite for more alcohol and laughter with the aunties and uncles before heading back to the room to sleep.

Going to KL

We all took Friday 10th August off to head to KL. This time mummy had to sit in the front passenger seat as my everywhere has swelled up so I'm not able to squeeze at the back with you in your car seat and Ah Ma. Way before our trip, I had to work on you so that you don't complain or make a fuss come Friday.

So early on Friday morning you woke me up before my alarm clock rang. Guess what the time was? 4.30am! Yikes.. it was dark outside and I told you to go back to bed. When it was the "real" time to wake up, it was easy for me to wake you up, as you were so excited to go to KL.

When everyone was finally ready, and the car was packed, off we went. It was close to 9 by then. Hhmm.. we planned to leave by 8am, but that was not to be.

We took a leisurely drive and had a stop in the Bidor rest stop to stretch and also to use the facilities. Through the ride, you reminded me to exercise my feet just as Dr. Low had advised and you even demonstrated to me how to do it.

At last we arrived to our first stop. It was Empire Shopping Gallery. Yup.. you had not forgotten the slide, so off you went 3 round. After that we were caught in a slight traffic jam, seeing it's Friday and lunch time. Next stop was Ikea for lunch and to pick up a few small items (boot was too full for anything bulky anyway..).

Finally, we headed to the hotel off Jalan Bukit Bintang. By the time we arrived, most of the clan had already arrived. There was a wait for our hotel room. And at long last we were given our room. Here you are checking out our bed:

As the reception knew that we were getting angry from the long wait for our room, they offered to give us a room with king sized bed and an extra bed for free. The bed was brought in after we'd left the room to go for a swim. Here's your bed complete with the toiletries for you:

Daddy managed to get a nice picture of Eason who was smiling happily for the camera.
Daddy also took a shot of the bride, Ashley Kor-kor:

I got a shot of Uncle Dennis trying to relax before the big day:

And here's one of us together before we headed back to the room to shower and get ready for a little kai-kai before dinner:

After our shower etc, we headed to Mercato in Pavillion to pick up some milk for you and me, some snacks for you and some wine for everyone. Went back to drop the items in the room before heading to Li Yen for dinner. For dessert, I ordered mango pudding, my favourite dessert. You took one taste and decided to tax my pudding. But you were so excited with it that you choked and all your dinner came out with the pudding. Aihh.. good thing I noticed your "funny face" and pushed the bowl in front of you, so good thing there was no mess on the restaurant floor. Sigh...

We went back to the room to rest and also have supper. We decided on pizza and even called daddy to come back to the room (he was off for a drink.. or two.. or three.. or more) to join us for some pizza. Then it was time to call it a day and go to bed.

Merdeka Celebration in School

The school had plans for a Merdeka day celebration. So on Tuesday you had already told me that you were supposed to wear traditional costume and that you wanted to wear your Chinese costume.. "the one with the dragon".

So on Thursday morning, you woke up earlier got ready and dressed up in your costume. We even had time to take a picture of you before having breakfast and heading to school:

Of course when you got back and we asked what you did, you could not remember. Sigh.. the only thing you remembered of the day was getting a badge with the "1 Malaysia" design. Anyway.. Happy Merdeka Day!!

Welcoming the Tooth Fairy Tonight

Yup.. looks like the tooth fairy will be visiting our house again tonight. As usual your tooth has been shaking for a while and you take pleasure in showing me your very shaky tooth. Took the first picture this morning and less than 10 minutes later, the tooth is gone. It was hanging and I was worried that it might drop while you were in school. So when daddy came down, he offered to help you pull at the tooth and then it was gone. You didn't even realise the tooth had been removed. There was a little blood but that was all. You rinsed your mouth and then finished up the rest of your breakfast.
So look forward to the tooth fairy's visit tonight sweetie!

Crafts @ Art Class

I think I have not mentioned before that you have been attending art class for almost 2 years actually. It was during your school holidays and you seemed bored, so when my friend recommended this art school, we brought you there and that's how your journey with them began. This last program is "Craft" and you seem to enjoy it a lot. Here's something you brought back:
Yup.. a family of chickens. Cute..

Our Little Art Project

Aunty Wooi Sin bought you this little project which just needed a little assembly by you. It was easy and lots of fun. You just needed to be extra careful when removing the little pieces to ensure you don't tear the foam pieces.
Here you are in action:

Trying to "frame" yourself

Focusing on removing the double sided tape

Little parts to fit

Ta-da... The end product

It didn't take you too long to finish.. a really simple but fun project.

Another Golfer in the Family

Ah Kong had bought you this single golf club a while back. You played with it for a while and then lost interest. Lately, you started to develop an interest in playing again, so he brought out his practise golf balls for you to hit. But er.. it went out of the garden into the football field across the road. Thank goodness no one was hurt.. there wasn't anyone there.

Here are pictures of my little "Tiger Ban" in action:

A Little Celebration

It's time to celebrate again. We could not decide on where to go to celebrate and in the end (after a lot of persuasion from you) we opted for Feringghi Grill again. The hotel was very sweet to even call me a week ahead to wish me a happy birthday and to "remind" me that we can celebrate my birthday there.

Made the reservation 2 days ahead and we were lucky to get a table and as I had requested for a window table, we got that too. Service as usual was impeccable. Our server could recognise us the moment he saw us and as usual a pillow was whipped out for a certain little shortie to sit on.

Our orders were taken and you ordered your own food too. This time after much persuasion from daddy you opted for the grilled salmon. After we finished all our food it was time for the birthday cake. Sweet...

But this time there was a surprise! They had someone sing the birthday song and was accompanied by a guitar. Wow!

After blowing the candle and cutting the cake, the waiter took the cake to be cut and served to us. This was my slice of cake:

And this was my little "dirty cat" with a chocolate ring around the mouth. As we were too full from dessert, the waiter even made a little bag for you to carry all our petite fours home.

It was a lovely birthday celebration. Thank you, Evan for this great suggestion and thank you daddy for being the "financier" for this dinner. And thank you to Ah Kong and Ah Ma for joining in and making this celebration even more meaningful. Muakks and hugs to you all.

Babies

I thought that you wouldn't be curious or did not want to know or it did not occur to you. But early this morning you caught me off guard.. again. It's not your first time asking but this time you were more persistent!

Yup, the inevitable question of how the baby is in mummy's tummy. So this was what happened early this morning:

Evan: Mummy, how did baby get into your tummy?
Mummy: I ate baby, so now it's in my tummy...
Evan: NooooOooooOOOOo.. tell me the truth
(oops.. making a joke out of it is not working!!)

A while more in the bathroom:
Evan: So mummy, you didn't tell me how baby got into your tummy yet!!
Mummy (taking evasive action #1): Quickly rinse your mouth and I'll help you shower. (and growling to daddy to help me think of how to explain to you)

Phew.. you didn't ask me while I was giving you a shower. And then...
Evan: Mummmeeee.. you still haven't told me the answer!
Mummy (oooOOoo.. time for evasive action #2): Quick, you need to get dressed and eat breakfast or else you'll be late for breakfast.

No more questions after that and we happily ate breakfast without anymore questions.

Then we got into the car and as you were climbing into the car:
Evan: Mummy, you still haven't told me how baby got into your tummy!!
Mummy (trying luck again): I told you.. I ate baby up!
Evan: NooooOOOOOooooo... telll me the truth!
Mummy (no more alternative.. I need to get an answer): Well you know it's like a seed in my tummy. And do you know how baby gets food?
Evan: Yes.. through a pipe.
Mummy: And where is this "pipe" attached to the baby?
Evan (grinning cheekily): To the mouth! Muahahahaha
Mummy: Are you sure?
Evan: To the eye!! Wahahahaha
Mummy: Maybe to the nose??
Evan: Wahahahaa

Then daddy turned up the radio a little and you distracted and that was the end of our conversation.. for now. I'm wondering if you'll ask me again.. for more details next! What should I actually tell a 6 year old?

Music Class Book 2

You're already coming to the end of Book 2 of your JMC series and it is really amazing that within 1 year you and your classmates are able to play songs with both hands. Yes, the songs are simple song, but it's an amazing achievement. You started playing both left and right hands on the lower keyboard and then one lesson, you all played with the right hand on the top keyboard and the left hand on the bottom keyboard:

I hope that you'll continue to learn more music. For now you have been very keen on attending the classes and practising (almost) every day.

My Precious

My precious little boy. I'm so proud of you. With our little baby coming along, you have been very understanding in so many ways:

1. When I could not take any smell during my first trimester: You pinched my nose whenever someone wearing perfume walks pass us

2. Bath time: As smells were a no-no to me, I had to "remotely bathe" you. I sat further from the bathroom and gave you instructions on bathing yourself and you never complained.

3. Cannot carry you anymore: In fact you've been getting too heavy for me for a long time, but with this pregnancy, I've not carried you at all. We never say that I cannot carry you because of the  baby, but because you're getting bigger and heavier by the day. And you have not complained about it.

4. Sleeping early: When I was tired most days especially during the first 3 months you were understanding and would allow daddy to sleep with you. Otherwise, you'd sleep on the bed with me and then daddy would carry you to your bed later on.

5. Falling asleep by yourself: I should have started this earlier, but better late than never. You are now slowly started to go to sleep in your bed alone. We started with 1 day a week adding more and more. As mu belly is getting bigger, it's really difficult for me to get off your mattress each night.

6. Kisses unlimited: I love it that you give me kisses all the time. Especially when I'm asleep and your not (very often so..).

7. "I love you": This is something I love to hear from you all the time. Especially a great greeting when I wake up first thing in the morning.

McMummy Meal

For the whole of last week, you had asked me to make egg sandwiches for you. Obviously there was not enough time for me to prepare it for breakfast on a weekday. So we finally agreed to have it on Saturday, before heading to Ipoh. In the end, you had 2 sets of egg sandwiches. One at home and another in Ipoh.

Here's your McMummy Meal:

It comes with a box of Milo, egg sandwiches and 2 hash browns (all wrapped up just like what you get from the shops). Upon special request from you, mummy added a label "Evan's McMummy Meal" along with a "gift". Can you spot it?

It was fun preparing this meal. And I'm glad that you enjoyed this meal.

The Main Attraction

The highlight of the trip to KL was to Empire Shopping Gallery. There's actually nothing of interest to you in terms of the shops, but something else was very interesting to you. The LEX slide. I had shown you the slide a long long time ago and so that was your target when we went to KL. At the time when we showed you the slide, you were under the height limit (which was 110 cm). Ahem.. that was a good way to encourage you to eat more veggies.. what for? To grow tall faster.. what else?

In fact as we were walking up the escalator, daddy and I also told you that in case you did not meet the height criteria, that you should not cry and we'll try again in August. But as we walked to the slide on the 5th floor, wow! You just made the 110cm. Yippee...

Actually, I wanted to be sure and I asked the Che-che who was in charge if she needed to confirm if you could go on the slide, she told me that you could as long as you're not afraid.

So in you went and we waited while the 3 girls ahead of us took their turns to go down the slide. I wanted to confirm that you would not back out in the last minute. And no you didn't. The che-che gave you instructions and told you to cross your arms and then she gave you a push.

The last thing I heard from you was "wooo-hoooo" and off you went:

This was the video which Ashley Kor-Kor took of you going down-down-down.

And this is you smiling on the way out of the slide. Daddy got this picture.

And so we thought that was the end of it, but NOoooOOo.. you wanted another round. So this time, daddy went up with you while I waited with Ashley kor-kor at the bottom.

Two rounds and enough.. this time. Looks like we'll be making a stop at Empire Shopping Gallery again in August. This was certainly the highlight of this trip for you as you were talking about the slide non-stop. We're glad you enjoyed it. Muakkss.. 

School Holidays

Wow! Today is the first day back to school for you after 2 weeks. The first thing you said on Friday (the last day of school) was "No school.. yay!! No homework.". But too bad for you. Ah Kong reckoned you looked bored, so we had to give you some work to do on the many workbooks which are sitting in the house. Although I'd say that you were happy enough to stay at home watching TV or playing on the iPad for the whole day. No need to go out even.

Anyhow, we tried to do something more entertaining for you those two weeks:

1. Took the day off to go to Butterfly Farm. As we arrived in Teluk Bahang, it decided to start drizzling and you said that since you've been before you didn't want to go!!

2. Ah Kong and Ah Ma brought you to Penang Hill. The queue going up was SOOOOOOo long, they gave up. Ended up in Gurney Plaza eating Sakae Sushi, with you polishing 4 of the 5 pieces of raw salmon!

Looks like the plans didn't go too well. So in the end, mummy insisted that we make a trip to KL. We stayed in "Hotel Uncle Dennis" for 2 nights. We started the holiday with a LONG walk in Ikea. It was quite crowded for a weekday (Friday). Had dinner in Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. with Ashley Kor-kor. Before heading home, we stopped at Ben's Independent Grocer in Publika to pick up some foodstuff and "drinks".

Lunch on Saturday was dim sum in Grand Imperial in Plaza Damas. Dim sum is something we never miss when we visit KL. And the food there was amazing. Before we started, you had some fun with the camera.

And this is the "zhang" which we ordered. You love glutinous rice and so you ate quite a bit of this:

Next stop was Empire Shopping Gallery. Had a little fun, walked a little, sat for some desserts (ice-cream and coffee) before it was time to head to Jack Min Ah Pek's house to visit your newest cousin, Vianna. We had a yummy seafood dinner before heading back to Hotel Uncle Dennis.

It was another round of Dim Sum on Sunday (yup, we're never sick of it...) this time we wanted to go to Crystal Jade in The Gardens, but it was closed! Eeeks.. so where to go for our Dim Sum fix? We tried out Din Tai Fung instead. We had to wait a while before we got our table. The dim sums were great. We also tried some of the noodles along with a plate of fried rice. You loved the Xiao Long Pau. But when daddy let you try the Shao-Mai, you instantly switched loyalty to the Shao-Mai *grin*.

We walked around a little before it was time to say bye-bye to Ashley Kor-kor and Uncle Dennis. It was a long drive back to Penang, but a good thing the traffic was relatively heavy but smooth flowing.

Music Class

I've just realised that you've been attending music class for almost a year and I have not mentioned it at all in this blog. Well, we were not too sure how long you'd last in the class, but so far the signs look good. You are quite willing to practise the music (not for too long.. but better than none)..

After 6 months of classes it was time for a little "performance". Each child in the class has to sing a song and play 2 songs from the book. We practised in Ipoh during Chinese New Year and when we got back it was time for the "mini concert". It was fun.. and I'm proud to say you did quite well.

It's almost time for the next "mini concert" as we approach the end of Book 2. I must remember to post the pictures/videos sooner... Arghhh....

Happy Teacher's Day

In celebration of teacher's day this year, I helped you make a pencil holder and bought the stationery to put in as you had requested: 2 markers (in black and blue) and one red pen. This was Mrs. Shanti's present. On top of that, the card was to be yellow paper and I bought an orange envelope to go with it.

For Ms. Fong, you made a heart shape using pyssla beads and then we stuck it to cardboard. The card was green as you had requested and a matching green envelope.

 A simple gift to your teacher, but I'm sure they'll love these presents especially made by you for them.

Evan's Poem

Here's a video of you reciting your poem to us the night before:

What a Mess

Today was the day that you had to recite a poem which you had been working on for over 2 weeks. It was a "Story telling competition" in school.. and well somehow poem was also acceptable. Mrs Shanti had picked the poem for you as the story you wanted to recite was too long.

The day before Mrs Shanti had asked me to dress you in shirt and long pants for the competition. You seemed rather nervous but daddy and I had worked hard to go through it with you and let you overcome your fear, practising and practising and getting you to recite as clearly and confidently as possible. We didn't want you to be frightened and let this be a good practise for you to speak in public with no fear.

So after going through your clothes, we decided on a simple short sleeved shirt with jeans. Well, to us it was "formal" enough. Off we went to school at the usual time. Then on the way you went "cough cough..... uweeekkkk". Oh-kayyy.. you vomited all over nice clothes. Yikes. It was a good thing you had a change of clothes in the school bag, but it was certainly not suited for the poem recital. So we changed in the car, dropped you off in school and after explaining to Mrs Shanti that we'd get you a change of clothes from home, headed home to get something nice for you to wear.

Before we reached home, Mrs Shanti called to ask if you had a bow tie. Of course you do, you wore it for Yvonne Kor-kor's wedding. Wah.. need to wear so formal. So I brought all your clothes.. the works including the shoes. Mrs Choo brought me up to your classroom and Mrs Shanti gave me a room to help you change into the clothes. When we went back to class, your classmates went "Wahh.. Evan Ban wear so nice.." so sweet.

I'm sure the nice clothes also gave you more confidence to present your poem. When we saw you during lunch, you proudly showed me your trophy. Great job, little boy!

Goodbye Sue

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. ~Carol Sobieski and Thomas Meehan, Annie

Tuesday which was a public holiday for everyone turned out not to be as expected. At around 5pm, daddy received a call which left us all in shock. Sue Kor-kor had passed away.

How could that be? She's only so young. We were all in shock and we were all worried as to how 5th Chek Kong and Chim Poh would take the loss.

Sue Kor-kor aka Ah Nee Kor-kor was among the first Ben's I met after getting to know daddy. That was so long ago.. 16 years. Wow! We continued to meet up as we all lived not too far apart in Australia while were studying. She's sometimes cook, and wow she was a great cook. And of course we'd meet up in Ipoh or wherever there was a Ban function.

Even all the Chinese New Years she would always be in the kitchen helping out to cut, cook and most importantly to prepare the ingredients for the famous Ban's "longan lychee" drink which was the customary dessert.

It's hard to accept that she would leave us at such a young age. We tried to explain to you that she is no longer with us.. physically, but always in our heart.. but you did not seem to understand it. No matter what you do know that she loved you a lot. Like all your Kor-kors she would buy little things for you and you'd have so many things whenever we meet up. 

Goodbye dear Sue. You'll be missed.

The Italian Way

I love baking. And pizza is one of the easiest thing to make. So one of the Sundays, we decided to have an "Italian Night" which was complete with wine (none for you and me.. ).

Here's the pizza you made for yourself "4 cheese pizza" baking in the oven:

Here's our 4 Cheese pizza which had olives:

On top of that, we had pesto pasta. My first attempt at it. Of course, with it looking so green, you didn't want to try it, preferring your cheesy pizza only.

Ah Ma also made some garlic bread as there was leftover baguette:

I wasn't too sure if Ah Kong could take the pesto and obviously the pizza was out of the question for him, so we also had some ciabatta which we'd bought smoked salmon to go with it.

We also had baked potatoes. What a feast!

Dinner was fun to prepare and I'm glad that everyone enjoyed something from dinner.