Traditional Costumes

CE finally agreed to wear the traditional Chinese costume PaPa bought for him from Vietnam. I wanted to let him wear it when we went visiting on the first day of CNY but he kept pulling the shirt after I buttoned it up. He almost tore off the buttons!

Since I foresee that we won't be visiting anyone else this CNY, I tried to coax him again last Sunday (dinner at BIL's). If he doesn't wear it now, he won't be able to fit into them next year. After his bath, I tried to bribe him with Honeystars. I managed to wear and button for him but within 1 minute, he was trying to rip off the shirt again. Ok, maybe it wasn't comfortable for him. Too tight at the neck area? Never mind, no need to force him. So I changed him into normal clothes.

Then I went to take my bath. When I came down, I saw that he was in the Chinese costume. Kakak managed to wear it for him. And he was fine with it. Didn't look uncomfortable or anything. I asked her how many Honeystars she fed him with. She said none, she just bribed him but didn't give him any. Hmmm... my precious boy, so obedient to Kakak (well, sometimes he does bully her too). But hats off to her, she does have a way with kids.

XY wore her áo dài (traditional Vietnamese costume). And I managed to take a picture of them together. XY had to hold CE's hand. If not, he'd be running to me, want to kepoh and see what's in the camera.

~ Master & Missy ~

When we went over to BIL's house, upon seeing that XY and CE were in traditional costumes, SIL tried to put on the Chinese costume for CH too. He's also refused to wear it all these while. But he allowed SIL to wear for him that night. Must be because he saw that CE was in a similar costume. Kids are such funny creatures. At 2+, he's already aware of fashion? Interesting... *scratch head* Too bad we don't celebrate Halloween here. I'm sure they'll look super cute in pirate costumes or medieval costumes.

Many hours later, CE decided he's had enough of that costume. He started to rip off his shirt again. I had no choice but to take off his shirt and pants, although we were in the living room. So he was only clad in his diaper. Guess he doesn't know the meaning of embarrassment. Had to borrow a pair of CH's pajamas. They're just 5 months apart and are almost of the same size.

Well, mission accomplished. They have both worn their traditional costumes.

CNY Visiting

~ wearing a dress but stand so unladylike ~

On Friday, we went to visit my aunt in Bukit Jelutong. When I came to work in KL, I stayed at her house till I got married. Wanted to get a hamper, so we went to Jusco at Equine Park first. Had our lunch there as well.

XY had a great time at my aunt's place coz they kept offering her their home-made cookies. Since she's no longer coughing, I let her indulge a bit. She hasn't been eating much cookies (or junk food) this CNY.

After that, we went to Sunway Pyramid. CE had a little accident. He was running around at a small exhibition area. I was following behind but definitely not close enough to catch him if he were to fall. And he really fell and bumped his forehead. Wailed his lungs out for quite awhile. Pity him or serves him right? Who asked him not to hold hands and go run around himself?

We bought a magnetic drawing board for XY. She saw one at BIL's house and she really liked it. But her li'l cousin brother didn't want to share with her. When we were at the shop, both XY and CE were busy 'testing' the drawing boards. PaPa asked if we should get 2 coz both of them also very interested in it. I thought we should just get one and teach them to share and take turns. At home, both of them wanted to play with it at the same time. But the situation's still manageable. Most of the time, jie jie will give in to didi. Sometimes, no one wants to play with it. But when one starts to touch it, the other also wants to play. So actually, fighting for the toy is more fun than playing with it. :-|

Then we had dinner at Ying Ker Lou, a Hakka restaurant. I saw this in the menu, "No MSG was added in our food preparation as we would like to preserve the original taste of the food." Well, something to that effect. No wonder the food's quite bland. But it's alright with me as I feel it's healthier this way. These are the dishes we ordered. I didn't take the picture of siewbakchoy in abalone sauce. For someone who doesn't fancy green leafy vegetables, XY ate quite a lot of that. I wondered why.

~ hakka yam abacus ~

~ braised lamb with fermented bean curd in hot pot ~

~ braised sliced pork belly with preserved mustard vegetable ~

Link Love

I got this from Jacelyn and due to the CNY break, I only managed to do this now. Sorry for taking so long ya. But better late than never hor. :p

I have randomly selected 5 of you below to be tagged and I hope that you will similarly publish this post in your blog. You will have to tag 5 other bloggers and just keep adding on to the list. (Do not replace, just keep on adding! Yes we hope it will be a long list!)

It’s real easy! Tag others and see your Technorati Authority increase exponentially!

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Add your blog url here…
The Strategist Notebook Link Addiction Ardour of the Heart When Life Becomes a Book The Malaysian Life Yogatta.com What goes under the sun Roshidan’s Cyber Station Sasha says Arts of Physics And the legend lives My View, My Life A Simple Life What Women REALLY Think Not Much More Than This Jayedee Jenn Beth Christie Marla Cailin Simone FlipFlopMom Katrina Gill’s Jottings Work of the Poet Wakela Modern Day Goddess Livin With Me Writing in Faith Maiylah’s Snippets GreenBucks Its Not a Weekend;Its a Lifestyle Everyday Healy Mum&Kids In Wonderland Slavery Bliss

Sending some love over to :
Anggie
Mummy to QiQi
Sasha
SueSue
Hui Sia

Happy Valentine's Day

Is today a special day or just an ordinary day for you? Is it filled with flowers, gifts and candle-light dinner? For me, it's just an ordinary day (a sign that age is catching up? hmmm...). Hubby do surprise me with presents and flowers sometimes. But we hardly go out for dinner on special occasion nowadays. I don't see the point of paying extra for the same food and eat in a crowded restaurant. No matter how romantic the restaurant is, the atmosphere will not be the same with two noisy kids and a maid tagging along.

Yesterday, hubby told me that he couldn't get any flowers for me as the shop has closed. I told him it doesn't matter as flowers are extra expensive on such occasions. If he wants to surprise me with flowers, he can do it on my birthday. I don't fancy them on Mother's Day too. Just not worth the price.

I thought there isn't going to be a card nor present nor flowers from him this year. I'm not complaining as I didn't get him anything either. I'll usually make him a card but I just didn't have the mood to be creative (still haven't fully recovered yet mah).

When he fetched XY back from kindy just now, she presented me with a stalk of rose and said, "Happy Ventine's Day, Mummy. I love you." (cannot pronounce properly LOL)

Dearest hubby, here's wishing you a very Happy Valentine's Day! Love you with all my heart.


And to all of you, wishing you a wonderful and lovely Valentine's Day!

Back In Headquarters

We're back in home sweet home. Got back yesterday evening. Aaaahh... It feels so good to be back home. Phew... that's the end of our 'CNY Tour de Malaysia' (from centre to down south, then up north, and back to centre again). The kids were also very tired from all the traveling. They slept early yesterday and woke up later than usual this morning.

It's another everyone-got-sick CNY. We still couldn't avoid getting sick. This is one the worst CNY for me, especially when I was back in Penang. I was supposed to meet up with my ex-schoolmates. I couldn't make it. I was supposed to meet up with some blogger mummies, I had to cancel. I didn't visit any relatives or friends. I didn't go anywhere. Well, it's not good to go around spreading germs. LOL

Here's our health status :
XY ~ Got fever the week before CNY. Mild flu and cough. Still coughing a little, but getting much better by the day.
CE ~ Fever started in the wee hours of the morning on the first day of CNY. Went to see doctor in Penang on Saturday - throat infection. Was given antibiotics. His fever subsided the next day. Now he's still having runny nose and started to cough. :(
Mummy ~ Fever started in the wee hours of the morning on the third day of CNY morning. Also got antibiotics (for red throat) from doctor on Saturday. Now slowly clearing the thick phlegms.
PaPa ~ The last one standing but started to feel unwell on Monday. Now full of thick phlegms too.

There you go. A whole house full of sick people. Sigh... So how was your CNY holidays? Hope it was much healthier than mine.

Now that I've settled down at home, I'll have to get back on track with "work". I don't dare to open my google reader, I'm sure I've got hundreds of unread posts. Ok, slow and steady ya. I'll be there... I'll definitely be there. Wait for me ya. See you real soon!

My First Manicure

I went for a manicure and pedicure last Sunday. It was the first time I got my nails painted by a "professional". I got a tip about caring for the heels from the friendly lady. When you have hard skin at your heels, you need to get rid of those dead skin. You can scrub your heels at a rough surface after you've cleaned your feet. If you don't get rid of the hard skin, it'll become harder and harder and will crack if it's dry. So when you have cracked heels, you know your feet are in critical condition.

There were so many colours and patterns to choose from. So I let her suggest what’s suitable for me. For the toes, she did a 2-tone colour (diagonally) and put glitters on the separator. I actually wanted to do the French manicure (with white colour at the tips of the nails) for my fingers. But she said it'll chip off very easily. So I decided on a simple pattern, a plain colour with glitters at the edge. I chose a light colour coz if it chipped off, it wouldn't look so obvious. There're still so many days before CNY and I'm sure they wouldn't look as perfect as when it was first done. I'm hoping they'll still look good for the first few days of CNY.

~ manicure ~

~ pedicure ~

Greetings From Johor

I'm now in hubby's hometown. Once we reached the town, we went to buy fish ball noodles and kuih to eat. We had a late breakfast, so we didn't have lunch before starting our journey. We were very hungry. Once reached PIL's home, didn't even unload our stuff, we ate first. Obviously, those noodles wouldn't wait for their pictures to be taken. :)

I may not have the time to update my blog during this period. And I'll try to visit you whenever I can ya.

Here's wishing you and your family
abundance of good health, wealth and
happiness in The Year of The Rat.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Picture courtesy of BBC News