Happy Birthday, Princess!

Today is ah girl's 8th birthday. She's 130.9cm tall, weighing 23.05kg (measured on 6/7). Looks like she'll soon be taller than me. :-) We had a mini celebration yesterday night with a simple dinner at home, together with Po Po and BIL and family. Po Po came to KL to attend a wedding dinner last weekend and she'll be staying till Saturday. The menu was chosen by XY and mostly very unhealthy. hehehe We had KFC, pizza from Pizza Hut, satay and Kakak's fried noodles. As usual, we ordered too much food and had to clear the leftovers today.

~ balloons decoration requested by birthday girl ~

After dinner, she opened her presents. Chik Chik and Sen Sen gave her a Swatch watch and a tiara. My kids are so lucky. Chik Chik and Sen Sen always shower them with very nice gifts. Didi got a blue Swatch for his birthday, now jie jie received a pink one. CH already has an orange one. Wow... we've got a bunch of Swatch kids. :D

As promised, we bought her a bicycle. Brought her to the shop on Saturday to choose. I asked about Raleigh and LeRun. The guy said Raleigh is of better quality. Decided on BMX instead of mountain bike coz I think a higher handle is more suitable. Moreover, it's just for city riding, the mountain bike may be underutilised. There're only 2 colours -- white and blue (don't have pink as there's no market for it) and she chose blue. :-) I also gave her a "surprise" gift. I wrapped up the stamper pen set which I bought in Hong Kong Disneyland 2 years ago. I've kept it aside and almost forgot about it. Luckily the ink hasn't dried up. It's a surprise coz she doesn't remember it at all. She also received angpows from Po Po and Zi Mai Po (Po Po's younger sister).

~ Raleigh Laguna ~

~ posing with her cake and presents ~

This year, I managed to convince her to get a normal cake, without fancy pictures on them. I really don't like those sugar sheets. I usually remove them before the kids eat the cake. She chose a blueberry cream cake (one of our favourites) and requested for a number "8" candle. Easy peasy.

~ 'tai kar cher' blowing the candles ~

Today is also Slavery Bliss' 4th Blogoversary. Although I've not updated much recently, I hope to keep this blog alive. Through the years, it has given me many great friends. Really appreciate the friendship we have and even though some of us don't blog that often nowadays, I hope to keep in touch in other ways (I probably have to be more active in FB :p). Blogging is really helpful for someone who has a terrible memory like me coz in the near future, I can read back about the kids and my life.

Blog Break

I have been missing in action from the blogsphere for quite awhile already. Doubt anyone missed me. huhuhu Anyway, I'd better write something (will keep this short) before you all think that I've disappeared into thin air or I've gotten preggie (sorry Olive, your prediction didn't come true this time). hahaha I close shop already loh (for now). :-D

Here are the reasons for MIA :

#1 Was down with flu 2 weeks ago, with fever for 5 days (38+ºC to 39+ºC on the first 2 days). Went for blood test and nose swab -- got the Influenza B virus. Luckily PIL were around -- FIL helped to send the kids to and fro school. And that leads to the next reason.

#2 PIL were here to help take care of my 4+ month old niece. She was advised to be 'quarantined' as my nephew got the chicken pox (from kindy). So they stayed and took care of baby at my place. Unfortunately, SIL discovered spots on her the day PIL left (after taking care of her for 10 days and CH's spots have dried up). Poor baby, whole body and face covered with spots and I heard she's coughing and developed fever 2 days ago.

#3 Kakak has gone back to her kampung for Raya. I've been maidless since 29/8. She'll be away for 4 weeks. It takes awhile to adjust to life without that extra help at home. But so far so good. We've been "catering" food for lunch and dinner from SIL so it really saves me a lot of work from preparation, to cooking, to cleaning up. I'm so thankful for her help. I don't even have to think about the menu and the kids love her (or her maid's) cooking. From next week onwards, we'll cater dinner from outside for 2 weeks, till Kakak comes back.

#4 I'm now back in my hometown for the school break. First time bringing the kids back myself (by flight) without hubby. Luckily they didn't give me much problems -- minimal toilet visits and they held my hand ALMOST all the time. :-D

All these reasons = limited online activity. So I'm officially declaring a blog break till end of Sept. Have a good holiday and Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri!

3 & 7

Slavery Bliss is three! It has survived another year. Yay! Although the postings are getting lesser and lesser, I'm very thankful to you all, my loyal readers (real and virtual friends) for your continuous support.

Since I got bored with the old header and template, I decided to give this blog a facelift. For the header, I must give credit to Jazz for the inspiration. Her tutorial on collage pictures was a good guide.

This is my old header and template, posted here for my keepsake. :-)


Today is also XY's birthday. We were supposed to go for a 1-night holiday but because didi just recovered from flu and PaPa's extremely exhausted (been working REALLY late this whole week), we decided to postpone the trip to 2 weeks later. She wasn't disappointed coz she didn't know about the trip in the first place.

She didn't change much compared to last year. Apart from being helpful, loving sister and rude girl, this is her at seven years of age :
Weight - 22 kg
Height - 123 cm

Big Crybaby
She's a big crybaby at home. Cries easily when she doesn't get what she wants. When didi bullies her (whack or say something that irritates her). When we scold her or raise our voice. Sigh... she sometimes cries for no valid reasons.

Independent
She can bathe by herself. Still not good at washing her own hair though. Before she goes to school, she'll bathe and change into her uniform on her own.

Nap
Now that she doesn't nap on school days (she's in the afternoon session), she prefers not to nap during weekends too. I sometimes force her to nap when I know they won't be sleeping at their normal bedtime. Basically she doesn't need a nap when we stay home the whole day. But she'd surely doze off in the car, on our way home after an outing.

Vain
She's getting more and more vain by the day. Every time we go out (even to the coffee shop), she wants to change into something nice. :-| If we go kai kai, she'd surely ask for a dress. She loves to accessorise herself. Even tying a string around her neck (to act like necklace) would make her happy.

Teeth
She's lost 2 baby teeth (lower central incisors) and although the permanent ones were very visible before the extraction, they are nicely aligned now (luckily). The upper central incisors are loose now. But no sign of the permanent ones. Hopefully they'll drop off by themselves without visiting the dentist.

Nosy
She's very interested to know what we're talking about, what I'm writing/typing. Sometimes when I'm drafting my post, she'll be next to me, reading and asking questions (really irritating!). She can read quite well. Although she doesn't know the meaning of all the words, she can roughly understand the content. So better not write too many bad stuff about her here. hahaha

~o~o~o~ Happy 7th Birthday, XY ! ~o~o~o~

She Is 6!

Today is XY's birthday. It's crazy how fast time flies by. Next year, she'll be wearing the blue pinafore, attending a "big school" (primary school).

When I looked back at her 5 years old post, I realised that she's pretty much the same now as she was a year ago (still very playful and very vain hehehe). Some things to add on :

Has her own thoughts I have to get the 'green light' from her before buying her clothes and shoes. If she doesn't like them, no point buying coz she'll rarely wear them. She rejects my choices rather frequently. So she doesn't have many new clothes nowadays. Actually I won't go wrong with pink, but her wardrobe's too "pink" already. Therefore I try to add some other colours for her.

Independent She can brush her teeth and bathe on her own. But I seldom let her bathe herself. If she does, I'll give her the last rinse, just to make sure she's clean enough.

Full of curiosity When the adults are talking, she wants to know what we're talking about. She'll ask us on the spot when there're words she doesn't understand. We'll have to keep reminding/scolding her not to interrupt our conversation.

A loving and helpful sister She gets bullied frequently by didi but she still loves and adores him a lot. Even though she's angry with him when he hits her or when he doesn't want to share things/toys, she'll play with him again later. She can even help him when he wants to pee - hold the potty and pull his pants down for him. Or bring him to the basin to wash his hands before eating.

Rude She can be quite rude at times. From the way she asks for things, the way she talks to people (especially those who adores her), the way she retorts back, I sometimes wonder if I'm parenting her the right way. *sigh... headache*

Naptime She still naps in the afternoon, usually 2-3 hours. I wonder how she's going to cope if she attends the afternoon session next year. Maybe I should start to train her to forgo her nap in the next few months.


Oh by the way, Slavery Bliss is TWO! I've not been updating it regularly. Can't use my laptop freely these days as my boy wants to play with it once he sees me using it. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continuous support and friendship as I've been rather slow in blog-hopping as well. Hope it can survive to see its 3rd year. :-)

Mother's Day 2009

This year, Mother's Day is very special to me. Not because of how it was celebrated, but because my mom was here. We came back from Singapore together on Thursday night. I went there the day before to attend my 3rd uncle's funeral. Mom went on Tuesday.

We didn't have any lavish celebration, didn't go to any fancy restaurant. For breakfast, we just ate dim sum at a shop nearby. As we had a late breakfast and we've to leave for the airport at 2+ pm (to send mom off), we had a light lunch of fried bihun. Then it was a simple dinner at home, just like any ordinary day. Well, XY wished me "Happy Mother's Day" early in the morning. And didi too wished me when prompted. Hmmm... it's not that ordinary after all yeah. ;-)

Happy Mother's Day to you!

I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise for not visiting you lately. Have been sleeping early and resting more while fighting the war. I have a few things to attend to (will be busy till June) so I'll have to go slow on blogging and blog hopping. Would really appreciate your understanding. See you... when I see you okay?
:-)

BirthdayS

XY turns 5 today. You'd say she's a big girl already but she's actually a big baby. We can reason with her most of the time but sometimes she just wants to behave like a li'l baby. Guess she wants to imitate didi, looking at the 'privileges' he has. I know it's not an easy job being a jie jie - always being reminded to show a good example to didi, having to give in to didi on most occasions. But she's a good jie jie, who adores her li'l brother no matter how much he bullies her. And the best thing about XY is that she doesn't hold grudges. She forgives and forgets easily (the happy-go-lucky type). I hope she'll always be this happy.

At 5 years old :
* She cries easily and then acts as if nothing happened the next minute.
* Very playful, will play with anything (food, insects, name tag, soap, etc), anytime, anywhere.
* Has some hearing problems. If we don't shout, she can't hear us (meaning she'll only follow our instructions if we raise our voice). Sigh...
* She has a 'sharp backside'. So she can't sit still for 10 seconds doing nothing.
* Can count from 1 to 100. Quite good in Mathematics actually. Not much problems adding and subtracting numbers below 20 (as taught in kindy).
* Her handwriting has improved a lot too.
* Very helpful at home. She usually won't complain when we ask her to get things for us.
* A 110% vain pot. She's so 'oi leng' that we have endless battles on clothes. Even when going out for a meal at coffee shops nearby, she'd want to change into "nice clothes".
* She's growing very tall (116cm, measured on 21-6-08). Now she can touch the lights and fan switches in the house by tiptoeing and reaching up her hands.
* Can be bribed easily with food. hahaha

As mentioned in my previous post, there'll be 2 rounds of celebrations. One in kindy and one with family members at night. We're planning to eat out. As for the cakes, some of you managed to guess who M is but A is a little tricky. Here's revealing the characters on her cakes.

~ Annie (from Little Einsteins) & Minnie Mouse ~

Happy Birthday, Sayang!
May you be happy and healthy always.
We love you very very much.

Today also marks the 1st Birthday for SLAVERY BLISS! I made the right decision to start my own blog. I've found so many wonderful friends via blogging. It's a great channel for a SAHM to enlarge her circle of friends. We share so much in common. There are abundance of advice, concern, warmth, and entertainment too. Although I didn't do very well writing paid posts, I'm happy enough that my paypal account isn't showing a zero balance. :p

Slavery Bliss is ONE! *yoohoo!!*

Excuses, Excuses

I've not been updating my blog frequently nor have I been blog hopping often lately. As usual, I have my excuses. hehehe

[1] Was busy with tax returns and managed to submit before 30th June (yippee!). Yeah... apart from being a full-time slave, I'm also the clerk cum accountant for hubby (not a qualified one though... hehehe).
[2] Busy entertaining ah boy as he wouldn't let me work on the computer/laptop. He'll come and disturb me every time I'm typing away at the keyboard. He's very good at pressing the Start button coz he loves to see the cat icon (WinVista). If not, he'll ask me to show him (I do Google Image Search) his favourite Disney characters, Mickey & friends.
[3] The kids were sick. Then CE got hospitalised.
[4] I have lost the momentum. Don't have much to say and write. And I don't want to stress myself up with updating the blog as it shouldn't be that way.

So folks, very sorry for the infrequent update and infrequent visits. Another thing that I've not been doing is tags. Some are really long overdue. Hope I've not missed any out.

1. Your Name In Japanese

This fun tag comes from Jacelyn.

For the instructions, add your name on the list and simply spell out your name using the given Japanese letter- translations below. Tag six of your friends and inform them of the tag. Have fun.

TRANSLATION:
1. OSWALD - moarimeikatate (sounds like america and states. har…. har… har…)
2. CHLOE - Miritamoku — Um…think I still prefer my given name, ha ha
3. GENG – Jikutoji — Actually, I think its cute sounding. Arigato gozaimasu!
4. CONSTANCE - Mimoto arichi katomiku — WOW! Does it sound like an authentic Japanese cuisine? YIKES! I broke it up cos it was quite a mouthful!
5. DORA - Temoshika – Sounds pretty good huh?! Does it mean beautiful woman?
6. Sting - Arichi Kitoji - Sounds like a guy’s name but at least it rhymes! LOL!!
7. Amidrin - Karinki Teshikito (I was deciding between Karinki Teshikito or Karinkites Hikito. LOL… still the english name sounds much better.)
8. Lemonjude - Takurinmoto Zudoteku (very long name, sounds like guy name also, still prefer my nick in English)
9. Jacelyn - Zukamikutafuto (aiyer...like a Malay guy's name..... my English name sounds so sweet ......rite?)
10. Slavemom - Aritaka Rukurin Morin (What a mouthful! Sounds quite awful too! :p)

How does your translated Japanese name sound like? (Also wondering if you'll translate your nick or real name.)
bp, BabyBooned, Health Freak Mommy & Kiasumum

2. Fantastic Blogger Award


Thanks Jo-N, for this wonderful award. I'm truly honoured. And I'm looking forward to meeting you soon. ;)

There are too many fantastic bloggers out there for me to list here so I'll just choose ONE to present this to. And the award goes to...
Jazz - for her talent in scrapping and photography, for writing interesting posts, for her competency in juggling family and career (and her fantastic blog) while Mr Hon's away, for being a great friend, and the list goes on.

Approved!

Yay! My blog’s finally approved by PayPerPost (PPP). I actually submitted earlier (before achieving the minimum blog age of 90 days) coz I just wanted to try my luck. Who knows... if can be approved, then can make money faster, rite? Unfortunately, it was rejected. So I submitted again after that criteria has been met. And I got the approval e-mail from them yesterday. So from now on, I’m an official paid postie for PPP. :)

Word Verification

Yesterday I received a comment in a foreign language with many hyperlinks. For the first time, I got spammed. To avoid getting spams in the future, I’ve added 'word verification' in my comment settings. I hope you don’t mind typing the extra alphabets when leaving comments for me. Your understanding is much appreciated. Thank you! ;)