Saturday, February 28, 2009

Signs Of Aging

Case 1
I brought CE upstairs to prepare him for bedtime. When we reached the top of the stairs, my handphone rang. It was for Kakak. So I passed it to her.

I brushed his teeth then washed him up as he did his big business. While changing him into pajamas, I looked for my phone. I asked out loud, "Hmmm... where's my phone?" while searching for it. And CE answered, "Kakak take." I am so absent-minded. Aaahh... good thing I have a personal handphone keeper. hehehe

Case 2
I knew BIL was out of town and won't be back that night. After our lunch outing, when SIL dropped me home, I asked if BIL will be back for dinner. (huh?) Then I realised I wasn't thinking when I opened my mouth. Halo... anybody home? :D

Case 3
I asked hubby to send a card (for mom's birthday) by normal post. I've already written the address and put the stamp. Hubby came home from work and asked how come the address is so simple. No postcode nor city. Haiyaya... I actually missed out the postcode! I wonder if it'll ever reach mom.

In case you're wondering how come hubby didn't call me to clarify before dropping it into the post box, he said I've never been this careless (I can be very blur at times but not to THIS extent *sigh*). It's my home address where I've lived for more than 20 years. Argggh... I'm so mad at myself (and a little mad at him, which isn't right, I know :p). His remedy - to get another card and send by courier, just to be safe.

So you tell me, are these signs of aging or my brain just isn't working properly? Either way, I'm doomed. *boo hoo hoo*

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Pregnancy & Delivery Story Tag

This tag comes from Mummy Gwen. Thanks, dear! I'd definitely love to share my stories with you. The detailed versions are here - for the Missy and the Master. :-)

Seems like this tag is all about the FIRST pregnancy. Here goes :

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yes.
2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yes.
3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? Excited and happy.
4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU? Never.
5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? Late 20s.
6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? My period was late. Tested with the pregnancy test kit then consulted gynae to confirm.
7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Hubby.
8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Yes, of course.
9. DUE DATE? 18 July 2003
10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Thankfully, no. Everything was pretty normal.
11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Nothing in particular.
12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? The pain on my hips in the last trimester.
13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD SEX? Female.
14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? Nope.
15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? About 35 pounds (16 kg).
16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? No.
17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? N/A.
18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? Thankfully, no.
19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Lee Maternity & Women Specialist Centre. (It's not a hospital, but the facilities are ok and the gynae's very experienced.)
20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? From admission to delivery, 4 hours. But pain (at 5-7 minutes interval) actually started 4 hours before admission.
21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Hubby.
22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Hubby and of course the gynae and nurses. hahaha
23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? Natural.
24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? Just Ethonox (laughing gas), which wasn't really working for me!
27. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 3.15kg
28. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ? 18 July 2003 (yeah, she's very punctual)
30. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? XY
31. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? 5+ years old

Would you kindly share your stories with us Hazel, Sting, Sarah's Daddy and Mommy, Joyce & BabyBooned?

Sunday, February 22, 2009

33 Months Old


Statistics (measured on 18-2-09)
Weight - 13.9 kg
Height - 98.8 cm

Brushing Teeth
I've started brushing his teeth with toothpaste (First Teeth). Initially, he swallowed the toothpaste but after a few weeks, he's able to spit them out. Then gargle with water.

Motor Skill
He walks up the stairs without holding on to anything. His hands are out-stretched a little to balance himself. It looks very scary/dangerous coz he walks quite fast, one foot at a step, like how we do.

Cheeky Boy
He admits that he's a naughty boy and sometimes calls himself that. And when he's in a cheeky mood, he'll say I'm a "naughty boy" and he's a "naughty girl". When I correct him, he'll keep saying the same thing and smile cheekily.

Different Approach
With me, he prefers the soft approach. He ignores me if I raise my voice/shout at him. In fact, he purposely continue his mischief if I do that. But if I tell him nicely (for example "Please sit down, don't jump on the sofa"), he'll listen and comply.
As he's afraid of PaPa (most of the time), when PaPa threatens him with a cane or raises his voice, he'll quickly oblige. Looks like he's bullying mommy. :(

Educational and Non-educational Programmes
Thanks to jie jie, he's been exposed to other cartoon channels on tv apart from PHDC. Sometimes he'll ask to watch Powerpuff Girls, Tom & Jerry or Mr Bean. And if there's a VCD that he likes, he'll keep watching it over and over again.
A few weeks ago it was Gogo's Adventures with English (1) where he learnt to say "My name is Cheng En" in response to "What is your name?" Then I taught him "How old are you?", which he replies with "I am 3 old old". hehehe
Current favourite VCD is Barney's Night Before Christmas. He can watch it over and over again. And he wants it on, even when he's not sitting in front of the tv.

Big Bully
Jie jie is the unfortunate victim. For no apparent reason, he'll hit jie jie on the back, hand or head. He pulls her hair. He likes to disturb her when she's doing her homework (take her eraser away). He snatches whatever books she's reading. He snatches whatever toys she's playing with. :-|
But he can be very loving towards jie jie too. When she's crying or when she's being punished (stand at a corner), he'll go hug her.

Others
If I detour to buy something on the way to fetch jie jie back from kindy, he realises that we're not on the usual route and asks "Where jie jie?"
Likes to jump on the sofa and bed. *sigh*
Likes to play 'tent' - wants to be covered under the blanket, preferably with company inside.
Very helpful. Sometimes he'll standby with the hand towel outside the washroom when I wash my hands.

Google Slavemom's Needs

I got this funny tag from Kristie. Thanks, dear!

The way it works is you type your name in Google and then needs (i.e slavemom needs), and see what comes up!

I'm using slave needs as the results were not really relevant when I typed slavemom.

And the results are :

slave needs to fulfill its destiny
~ Yes, my destiny is to be a slave to my family, which I willingly do. :-)

slave needs direction
~ Yeah, sometimes I'm quite bad with directions. Coz I don't pay attention when hubby's driving.

slave needs three volts
~ I need lots of batteries for the kids' toys.

slave needs a Master
~ But I already have 3!

slave needs formatting
~ If it makes the brain works more efficiently, why not? LOL

Now I'd like to tag Annie Q, Bonnie & MeRy. Have fun girls!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Cute’s Blogger Award


Rules:

1. Copy Badge “2008 Cute’s Blogger Award” and put it on your blog.

2. Link or tell a bit about the person who gave you the award.

Fussy Mum is a capable FTWM who's very good in cooking and baking. She baked many types of cookies for CNY and also cooked up a storm for the reunion dinner. *salute* Her darling Sharlene is such a sweetie pie. Although we've not known each other for very long, she's been "visiting" often and leaving sweet comments. Thank you for the award and your friendship, Fussy Mum!

3. Each one of you who receive this award must list down 10 facts / hobbies about yourself.

* I'm addicted to Milo like how some people are to coffee.
* One of my favourite passtimes is watching tv series - English shows and Hong Kong drama.
* I love to eat junk food while watching tv. It really adds to the enjoyment.
* I'm very dependent on the internet. If the line is down, I feel a bit weird. Like something's missing in life. Pathetic hor? :p
* Like Fussy Mum, I eat bread almost every day for breakfast.
* I'm not a patient person.
* When I was schooling, I joined a cycling expedition and cycled round Penang island. That was really fun.
* I've been an SAHM for almost 6 years.
* I've never permed my hair.
* I'm the youngest in my family, with 2 elder brothers.


4. Pass this award to 10 bloggers and link them in your blog.

Jacss, Bryan & Brandon's Mama, Wen, Chanel, Jo-N, little prince's mummy, Mummy Moon, Irene, Judy & Olive

Monday, February 16, 2009

Valentine Weekend

After his Saturday morning errands, PaPa came home with 3 stalks of roses for me although I've specifically told him not to.
Reasons being :
1. Extra expensive on V-day.
2. I have to dry them then figure out what to do with the dried flowers.
But since he was being extra sweet, I'd better quickly say "Thank You" and appreciate his thoughtfulness.

~ roses from my Valentine ~

We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day in a big way anymore. As time goes by, we put less and less emphasis on special dates. There are just too many to commemorate. And some are just too commercialised. As long as he remembers them, it's good enough for me. Don't have to shower me with gifts or flowers. But of course, some surprises thrown in once in awhile would definitely send me to cloud 9. :D

Hubby suggested we go for seafood dinner coz he knows I love crabs. We had dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant and the highlights were cheese crabs (not very satisfactory - will stick to their sweet and sour crab next time) and tomyam prawns (cooked and served in a coconut shell and it's really yummy! *slurp*). Again, sorry for not taking any pictures coz I forgot when the food came. :p

Since we didn't go out on Saturday, we decided to go for a movie on Sunday as we've got free GSC tickets which will expire on Tuesday. We went for dim sum at Tai Thong restaurant in Cheras. Hubby said the food wasn't nice. For that kind of price, I'd say it's just so-so. Next stop, Midvalley Megamall. We have some time to shop around before the movie. Then "armed" with popcorns, drinks and nuggets, we watched The Wedding Game. It's a romantic comedy and I find it quite entertaining (I don't have high expectations) but hubby said it was boring. One thing for sure, it's not suitable for kids as there were some kissing and intimate scenes. It was very funny and embarrassing when XY went "haiyo...". hahaha

After the movie, we had a very late lunch (at 5 pm) at a mamak shop on the way home. Had to rush home coz the air-conditioner installers were coming. The unit in our room has broken down. We must be the unlucky few as it's only 3 years old. It costs a lot of replace the IC board and motor fan so we bought a new unit. Panasonic air-conds are quite reputable, no?

After some popcorn indulgence and being out almost the whole day (meaning no proper rest), didi started having fever early this morning. Coughing a little bit too. Sigh... jie jie has just recovered from fever, redthroat and slight cough. Now it's didi's turn. Luckily his fever's not very high - below 39ÂșC. And I'm so thankful force feeding medicine is a thing of the past. *phewww*

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Awards


I received this Fabulous Blog Award exactly one month ago. I'm truly honoured! Thanks, Olive! But very sorry for keeping it for so long.

As part of this award I must now list 5 addictions :
1) Milo
2) Internet surfing (blogging, blog-hopping, searching for info, etc)
3) Junk food
4) Watch drama series (especially from Hong Kong)
5) Sundry shopping


After meeting Jo-N in person, there's no doubt that we both have a lot in common. And that makes this friendship award even more meaningful. Thanks Jo and I'll always treasure our special friendship.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Spelling Tests

XY missed her first spelling test on Tuesday as she was still recovering from redthroat. I let her skip school to rest at home. When she brought back her "Spelling Book" (a cute little note book with Mickey & Minnie as the cover) before the CNY break, I was very relieved to see that the words given aren't too difficult.
*bee* *heel* *tree* *leaf* *meat*

I think hers is relatively easier as compared to Fungates or Q-dees systems. I tested her on the spot, when she showed me the book and she could spell most of them. I just have to go through with her some of the words a few times and she could spell them already. That's a good start.

This week, she came back with 3 words for ejaan (spelling in Bahasa Malaysia). *hari* *pagi* *dahi* Hmmm... I'm wondering why only 3 words. I think I've to check with her teacher before next Tuesday. Good thing her spelling test is only once a week, alternating the 3 languages.

Monday, February 09, 2009

Happy Chap Goh Meh!

Today's the last day of Chinese New Year (CNY) and I'm only updating our CNY celebration now. Well, there wasn't much activities this year. Was back in hubby's hometown 3 days before CNY. We ate as much hawker food/local favourites we could before they close for the new year. But actually some shops are already open on the 1st day of CNY. Looks like people are more business-minded in this current economic situation.

We had steamboat and some dishes for reunion dinner. Sorry, no pictures to show coz still haven't gotten the photos from my younger SIL. PIL cooked a great meal (as always) and this DIL didn't help much (excuses : hopeless in the kitchen and got to take care of kids) but only eat and eat. Terrible or not? :p Luckily we have maids to help out with the preparation and cleaning up, although not up to MIL's expectation. Our previous maids were much more 'capable'. It's so nice to be back in PIL's place. We don't have to think about what to eat. All the meals, from breakfast till dinner, are planned out and we're never hungry.

We usually gather at hubby's 2nd uncle's house on the 1st day but this year, they're not back yet as they've moved to KL last year. Moreover, hubby's maternal grandma was out of town, came back on the 3rd day. So we didn't go visiting while in hubby's hometown. Most of the relatives came over.

XY's very good at wishing people. She just loves to receive the red packets, with her standard speech, "Gong Xi Fa Cai, xie xie." She slings her new bag around to keep her ang pows. But when she's busy playing, she'll just shove the ang pows to me or leave them lying around. As for didi, he's been trained to say "Gong Xi Fa Cai" and when prompted, he'll say it ever so softly, sometimes with hands covering his face. He felt very shy saying it. I wondered why. On some occasions, I saw him checking out if the person's holding any ang pow before greeting him/her. :-|

~ pretty bag and hair accessories from koo koo ~

The kids only got to wear their kai kai (going out) new clothes on the 5th day when we visited my aunt in Bukit Jelutong. Then at night, attended a gathering at BIL's house with some friends. Didn't stay too late coz I haven't even packed for our Penang trip the next morning.

~ CH, XY and friend's niece ~

6th day, in Penang. Had a gathering with my Uni-mates at Perut Rumah. A bit disappointed with the food, especially their fish coz it wasn't very fresh. Maybe due to the festive season and crowd, so the food wasn't up to standard.

7th day - went to visit some relatives with my family. Then had a gathering with school friends (and kids) at my place in the afternoon. It was great catching up time coz the 4 kids (aged between 8 and 12) were well behaved while snacking or busy playing PSP. Well, XY and CE were napping. Guess that's the major reason why it was so peaceful. hahaha

8th day - went to Queensbay Mall for lunch. The mall's quite deserted during office hours but the restaurants were packed during lunch hours. So it was a very nice change from the forever-crowded malls in KL. And I managed to buy more clothes for myself. :-D

On the 13th day, we had a small bloggers get-together at Wen's place. Met Jo-N, Paik Ling and Chanel for the first time, Jacss and Wen, the 2nd time. The kids were well entertained in the toy room (they turned it upside down of coz), taken care by the maids. The ladies got to catch up over a wonderful potluck meal while the husbands (Wen's, Jo-N's and Jac's) kept themselves occupied with man talk. Thanks again, Wen, for having us over at your lovely home.

Just now, we had a simple dinner (chicken with peanut and dried scallop soup, fried beancurd with minced meat, fried vegetables and steamed fish) at home and asked SIL and CH to join us, as BIL is out of town. The kids, as usual, made a lot of noise playing among themselves.

~ CH asking CE to play 'gun' softly ~

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Back In Home Sweet Home

Hello everybody! I'm still here, haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. hahaha Am done with my Chinese New Year (CNY) travelling. *phew* Every year, we have a mini CNY Tour de Malaysia coz PIL's place is down south and my hometown is up north. I've just got back from Penang yesterday evening. Now time to rest and relax in home sweet home.

The weather's a little different (so much better) this year. It's usually very hot during CNY. But it's been raining in KL and down south. So the weather's not so hot, quite cooling at times. Although there was no rain in Penang, it was not that scorching hot. I used to feel like I'm in an oven in my Penang home but it was quite alright this time. Maybe that's why I'm still very alive and kicking. Unlike last year, when the whole family was sick. The only person not well was PaPa. He caught a cold a few days before CNY and didn't get the chance to fully recover. And he's still coughing on and off.

I did not take any pictures during this festive. Yes, I'm a self-proclaimed non-professional blogger. :p So please give me some time to get the pictures from both SILs. I hope our CNY updates (nothing too interesting, I'd say) will be up soon. :-)