Allergic Reaction

We picked you up from school yesterday as we were nearby, picking up daddy's car. Then after your shower when we returned home, you came to my room and whispered "Mummy.. I am moonface again.. ssshhh... don't tell daddy". So I opened the Tiger Balm and turned on the room light to have a better look and got a shock of my life.. it wasn't just on your chin, you had an allergy breakout on your chin area as well as your forehead. 

Later that evening, I realised that the rash had spread to the back of your body. Had to tell daddy and see what he thinks. He said to give you the antihistamine which Dr Mary had prescribed last time before we went to Perhentian. It was just half of the tiniest tablet. Took you a while to eat it, but certainly faster than the antibiotics!

This morning, you looked better and I gave you another half to eat.

In the evening, I received a missed call on Messenger and later saw this message:

We went home to discover your whole face was swollen. Called the hospital to check on the doctor available for night clinic as well as doctor on call in ER. Found that we wanted to see the doctor on call, so we ate dinner, showered then headed to the ER. Took a while before it was our turn to see Dr Khaw. 

He asked a few questions, checked your body and concluded that it was an allergic reaction as there were no blisters on your rash.. *phew*

He prescribed some medication, including something for what he deemed to be a prolonged sinusitis and then said that you should take a jab for the allergy. Then he left. The nurse came later to give you a jab which she said could be either given on the thigh or buttock. You opted to have it on your thigh. 

All done and then it was time to pay and wait a little for the nurse to come explain on how to take the medicines. 

Went home to give you the medicine (1 extra now on top of the antihistamine) which took a little longer and some scolding from daddy while I was in your room getting your clothes for school the next day. Then you went straight to sleep.

*By the way.. you cried when daddy said that you need not go to school tomorrow if your allergy did not clear.. It's Children's Day celebration and you were looking forward to the event

Evelyn goes ice-skating

At long last, you have your chance on the ice skating rink again. This time in Sunway Pyramid. You had spotted the rink when we came early this year, but had no opportunity to go. 

This trip, you were very good and patient with the changes in plans and today, we made sure to make it to the rink.

We left Denai Alam early this morning at 7.40am. After dropping Ko-ko off at college at 9am, we headed to Sunway Pyramid. As it was still early, we headed to the canopy walk to discover how the walk is for Ko-ko from college. Hey.. it was just a 5 minute walk. No wonder he hangs out here so often. 

We then went back where daddy paid for the two of you and off you went in to collect your skates and get onto the ice.  

Waiting for your skates

Slowly skating by holding the sides

I sat down in McDonald's for a drink before going for a walk around the mall. As it was early in the day and on a weekday, the mall was relatively quiet. 
Shortly after 11am, Ko-ko messaged me to say that he was done with the morning lessons. I told him to take a Grab over, but he opted to walk. He then went to have a look at you both skating before joining me at Zara. 

By then, daddy and you were done and we got ready to head over to Grand Imperial for lunch. As you were both already hungry, daddy ordered some items first while waiting for Ashley Kor-kor and Uncle Dennis to arrive. 

When they arrived, Kor-kor ordered more items and we ate and then headed back to Denai Alam. Ko-ko was too exhausted from the morning lessons and not well enough to attend the classes in the afternoon. 

We will be heading back to Penang tonight after dinner and dropping Ko-ko back to the hostel.

Jyuraku

This place is everyone's favourite when in KL. We did not plan to go anywhere fancy, but in the end, with your consent (you didn't want to go.. you said the toilets there weren't the cleanest) we went there for dinner to treat Ashley Kor-kor and Uncle Dennis for their help and caring for you up till the time we arrived in KL.

It was raining, so the traffic headed there was horrendous (it's relatively near for KL standard) . We ordered some nice Japanese food and even packed Garlic Chahan for you. 

Mei-mei pretending to eat the decorative flower

As it wasn't a planned dinner, by the time a booking was made, we only got the table/room upstairs. It was tatami dining. 

She wanted this photo of her so "tall" as she's near the lamp

Wednesday Change in Plans

The plan today was to go have a look at an available room in Nadayu since we're around and Ko-ko was still on sick leave. We took at look at that room, and another unit which was available for rent soon, then walked around to look at the facilities.

Then we headed to Sunway Pyramid to have lunch. We parked quite a distance and walked to Ma Maison. We could not decide whether to eat here or Din Tai Fung. In the end Ko-ko said that he's able to eat here (maybe he knew you have been wanting to eat here since the last trip).

But when the food came, he could barely touch the food.

My katsu

In the end, we had to abandon plans to go ice skating for you. We had initially planned for you and daddy to skate while I walked around with Ko-ko and he could Grab back to the hostel if he got too tired. 

But in the end, we had to abandon the plan and head back home after lunch. He was feeling nauseous and you were good about the change of plans.  Such a sweet girl 💖

Big Tofu

You sent an early morning message on Sunday (well, early by your standards) saying that you had diarrhea. Then we chatted and I suggested that you ordered Vietnamese Beef Noodles by delivery. You did that and then I headed out to Adventist Hospital to bring Mei-mei for her flu vaccine. 

Just as it was her turn to see Dr. Mary, you called me to say that you did not feel well and that you felt like you needed to vomit. And 5 seconds later, you vomited (while in the call with me). By then I was in Dr. Mary's room and so we hung up. A while later, you called to say that you felt much better. But I suggested that I'd ask Ashley Kor-kor to bring you to see a doctor. So I quickly called Kor-kor and she said that she'd do that. 

Luckily Kor-kor also asked you to bring a change of clothes so that you could stay over at her place. We were so torn on whether to immediately drive over to see you. When we called you, and daddy asked if you wanted us to go see you.. you hesitated a bit before saying that it's not necessary.

But you did not seem to be getting better, so on Sunday evening daddy slept early so that he'd be in a good condition to make the 3 hour drive to KL. 

We woke up to have breakfast, and after packing up, we headed out to Eaton to buy some ang koo kuih. Wanted to buy kuey tiau th'ng from 7th street market, but decided against that when we saw the traffic heading towards town. 

Instead, we went back home to pick up the container and asked Chim Poh if she could buy "kai si hor fun" instead. She managed to, so we made a quick detour to Ipoh to pick up the noodles. We reached Kor-kor's house at 12.30pm, just on time for lunch. My heart broke to see how weak you were. 

You ate some of the noodles and slept most of the night. Then you had fever and in the evening, we brought you to a nearby clinic to see the doctor. He worried that it may be dengue so he did a blood test which turned out negative. Got MC for another 2 days and headed home. Took 3 hours to eat up 1/2 bowl of noodles. 

I slept in the room with you. At 3am, you were in pain.. in fact, I am not even very sure of when you started writhing (silently) in pain. Got you up to go to the toilet again and then gave you your medicines (including Paracetamol as the fever was back again). You seemed to be ok and managed to continue sleeping until today.

Well so far, you seem to be getting better and having a much better appetite. We've gone to your hostel to clear away the food, including the noodles you'd left in the room since Sunday (which messed up your table!!) and also brought back your clothes and bedsheet to wash in Kor-kor's place too. 

Hopefully you'll get better soon, our little tofu.

Return of the VainPot

Just a weekend, but you decided to paint your nail.. and even draw cherries.. not too bad for a first timer... 

Halloween is in the air

And in the supermarkets.. here is a giant pumpkin for sale in Jaya Grocer.
 

Wow! Dinner at Jyuraku

You spent the day with your friend and later you had dinner plans with Uncle Dennis and Ashley Kor-Kor. Daddy noticed (on Find my iPhone) that it looked like you were heading to Jyuraku.

A while later, we received photos and messages from Ashley Kor-kor of you having a delicious dinner. You later told us that you were not exceptionally full (but obviously satisfied) as you dare not order too much.

11th birthday party at home

Today's party was not a planned one. It just suddenly "happened" because I found out that you had invited your friends to your birthday party without my consent to having one!

You invited 8 friends and Audrey to join in the celebration. 2 of them could not make it so it was just the 8 of you.. and ho boy.. you girls sure are noisy!!

Your friends arrived rather late.. it was supposed to start at 12pm, but the ball started rolling at nearly 1 pm. 

We had ordered pizza from Otto Pizza and also made bruschetta as you had requested. After lunch and when Yuen Ting arrived (after her piano lessons), we moved on to do a little cream gel crafting. It was a tad messy and you girls started off with a trading session (exchanging your ornaments) and followed by trying to pipe out the gel onto your brush/mirror. 

At last, you were all done and we put your artwork aside to dry up. Then some of the girls played Just Dance on the PlayStation. Soon it was 3.30pm and the plan was for the party to end at nearly 4pm. So we quickly took out the cupcakes and have the girls decorate them with the Kuromi and Melody cake toppers. 

Everyone picked one topper to put on each cupcake

A group photo

Time to sing the birthday song

Then you asked if you could open the presents.. 

You received many stuffed toys:

Soon the girls started to go home. You played a little with Audrey as her parents were planning to come pick her up a little later. 

Later you sent me these pictures:

Before

After

I hope that you would ask my permission before planning any future parties (although daddy says: NO MORE parties!!)

Evelyn's 11th Birthday Celebration

We noticed recently when we met up with Tou-tou that she had difficulty walking.. just from the living room to the bedroom (in Uncle Sin Chuan's condo). So we decided to have your birthday party this year in a hotel. Daddy and I researched into a few hotels and finally decided on Cafe 168 in G Hotel Gurney Drive. We got a nice corner for the family to sit. 

Traffic heading towards town was rather heavy, so everyone were late. We waited a little until Uncle Sin Chuan and family arrived, then we started to eat first. Later Tou-tou, Bo Bo Poh, Audrey, Aunty Ean Na and Uncle Sin Tien arrived. 

Dinner was quite nice. It wasn't too crowded, although the more popular dishes ran out quite quickly every time it was replenished. It was easy too as everyone got to pick what they liked to eat. 

Then it was time for cake. This was a customized cake per your request. 

It's different from our usual party at home, but I think you still had fun. 

Happy birthday, to our little princess. 💖

Happy 11th Birthday, Evelyn

In just a blink of the eye, our little girl turns 11. From that little baby who could fit into our arm, to a beautiful girl (who loves to wear short skirts, much to daddy's worry). A fun-loving little girl, full of love and with a love for all things purple. 

Our wish for you is to grow up into the beautiful person with a kind heart and that the world will be kind to you in all aspects. 

Happy birthday, our precious Evelyn. 💓

Home again

Guess who she's waiting for:

Yup.. her Ko-ko.. who didn't really gave her a hug in return.. bah ya old Scrooge!

Lucky Kid

You get delivery of (KL) Hokkien Mee for supper. Ashley Kor-kor called you a little too late to ask you to join them for dinner. So they offered to get you supper, to which you did not hesitate to say no to. 

They passed the packet of noodles to you and even picked up your duffel bag for tomorrow's flight back to Penang.

Uncle Dennis will be picking you up from college directly tomorrow and probably bring you somewhere to have dinner.

Ah Ma is all ready to cook Char Kuey Tiau for your supper (since you'll be arriving back after 10pm). 

We are thankful to have so many people care for you even when you are away from us. 

Takes a whole village to raise a child.

Proud too soon - Second day of college

Spoke too highly of you yesterday. Today.. the SECOND day of school (actually it's just orientation) and you overslept. I was in an early morning meeting and daddy was biting his nails as he was messaging and calling you non-stop without getting any responses from you.

You finally woke up and dressed up to go to college. Took a Grab there and you later told us, you walked into the room to laughter from your coursemates!

So... daddy has discovered another function of the "Find my iPhone". It is to "Play Sound". We tested it on our phone, and it will ring even when the phone is on silent mode. 

Haihh.. my boy... it's only day 2. But I assume this shock should keep you on your toes for a while to ensure you wake up when your alarm rings. (*Then again, you claim that you did not even hear it ring!!)

Big Big Dinner

The Ban clan were meeting up for dinner since there were some cousins coming in from Australia and New Zealand too. Of course, you were not to be excluded since you are now based in KL. 

So Mei Yen Kor-kor picked you up to go to the dinner venue, which is actually within Sunway.

We got some photos of you enjoying the Chinese dinner (so unlike you.. but you must miss eating rice).

We also messaged you to ask how you found dinner. You said it's so yummy and it was your first big meal in a while.. 

Eh, Halo.. it's just Wednesday and we had fed you Pizza Mansion which you ate 9 slices (more than 1 whole pizza) and that is not counted?

Oh dear.. my greedy piggy!

First Day of College

Yesterday night, ew had a video call. And we kept reminding you to set your alarm and to wake up earlier to give yourself sufficient time to get ready, eat breakfast and not be too rushed during the walk to school. 

Well, this morning we received this message at 6.51am:

We're glad and proud to see that you are able to manage your time independently. *hugs*

Leaving my baby behind

It's not something we look forward to, but it is inevitable. After lunch and errands, we headed back to the hostel to drop you off with groceries and your guitar (*happiness... the management office approved your request to have the guitar in the room).

We said our goodbyes and off went our big boy to his new life in college. My heart felt so heavy and daddy said he nearly cried when you walked off. 

We started our journey off when Mei-mei found that you had left your lip balm in the car. Daddy made a u-turn but when I called you to let you know about it, you said that you didn't need it. So we went off again but first to pump petrol.

After petrol, top up of TnG and toilet break, we followed Waze's direction only to realise we didn't set to go home to Penang, instead it was bringing us back to Waterfront Residenses *grin*. We quickly reset the directions and started our journey home. 

Mei-mei happily stretched out across the length of the car to sleep, but ended up curling up in her usual corner, saying it's still more comfy this way to nap. 

We miss you already, but we know that we need to let go and have you live a different and more independent life. 

All Ready for College

Today is the day we load the car and head to KL to send our you off to the next stage in life, college life. We waited for Evelyn to get back from school and then as she showered and dressed up, we loaded the car. It was mainly you stuff.. some bulky items, we planned to buy in KL. 

Yup, he brought along his stinky bolster. I planned to buy you a new one, but daddy suggested you have something familiar with you while you are away. And so you brought this bolster and the old pillow to KL. 

You seemed to have caught a cold, and sore throat. So we decided to head to Ara Viet for soupy noodles. Ashley Kor-kor also joined us there.. well, she sat with us and nibbled a little from what we had ordered (she's on a diet). 

Our favourite, Pho

Then we headed back to her house. You seemed unwell as you fell asleep without changing into your PJs which I had put on the bed for you. In the end, I had to force you to sit up and take a Panadol.. hopefully you'll feel better tomorrow. 

Japanese Night at Minden

It's Japanese night again. We planned to have it on Saturday, but you kids ended up hanging out at The Light with your cousins, so we postponed the plans (much to Ko-ko's disappointment). The subsequent plan was to cook on Tuesday, but today daddy's gym session got cancelled, so we decided to cook today instead. 

Our spread

My plating

WMSPI Publishes Results

Took 2 weeks, but the school finally published the results for the IGCSE. Had to keep a copy and save it here for our memory.