Baby `N' Me

Her final and BEST gift to us

2012-01-20T21:48:00.002+08:00

Grandma has passed on and in her passing, she gave us her final and the best gift that a mother could give...she gathered the family of 4 generations for once after almost 2 decades !

This family just like many families have our issues that dated back decades. My mother and her brothers have been not really been able to see eye to eye on many issues. Being young and hot temper, I vividly remembered the arguments and full blown quarrels whenever the family got together. I even remembered quarrels during Chinese New Year reunion. Talk about a dysfunctional family.

Over the years, they have resorted to not talking to each other or even got together for any gatherings or reunion. Needless to say, my generation has lost all contacts with my cousins and my children's generation would probably end up as total strangers.

Days leading to her departure when grandma was growing weaker, there were lots of doubts as to who will be coming back for the funeral. As she grew weaker, we could almost sensed that she was waiting for her sons and grandchildren to go back to see her one last time..and she got her wish (almost but it was good enough for her ...more of that in my next post).

When she went, I was pleasantly surprised and glad that all my uncles (with the exception of one) and almost all grandchildren made it a point to get home to sent her off her final journey.

Believe it or not, I got to see many of my cousins whom I have not met or talk to over the last decade and a couple of whom have grown up with me together when we were all being taken care of by my grandparents. It was amazing sitting down and remembered those days where we were together and how grandma used to punish some of us when we were naughty or sharing how we best remember her.

It was good to see us coming together after all these years and even more so, seeing my Ryan playing and getting close to some of my cousins' children.

I made it a point to make sure that we got our handphone numbers and Facebook accounts and ensuring that I have add them as family members.

The family picture taken above, is THE FIRST family portrait of the Yeong family after more than 2 decades. It was touching to see my cousins liking the pictures of the funeral when the pictures were loaded and commenting on how fondly they remembered their grandmother as well.

She has given us the Final and the BEST GIFT of all ....togetherness as a family that I intend to work towards keeping as much as I could ....

Thank you so much Por Por. We all miss you very much and we will treasure and cherish and protect this gift that you have given to us.

RIP my dear Poh Poh ...:(

2012-01-08T16:04:00.004+08:00

Just received a call from my mum. From her voice, the dreaded news that I fear the most is here. My grandma had just passed on .......

We were actually planning to go home to see her again this weekend ...

I am not sure what is my reaction. Have not fully sunk in yet that she who have been so strong all these years and have weathered through so much is no longer here....I have not cried a tear...Can't understand why....Not sure how to feel. This is exactly how I felt when I remembered my uncle walked into my college years ago and told me that my dad has met with an accident and passed on...No tears. Just knowing that I have to be strong for everyone ...

I just want to go home to see her one last time ....

RIP Poh Poh...I'm coming home to see you ....

My previous post about my grandma (http://babynme2008.blogspot.com/2011/11/oldest-special-woman-in-my-life.html)

2012 Countdown!

2012-01-03T00:07:00.007+08:00

For the last couple of years, we used to book ourselves a count down dinner at Sunway Resort and also to see the firework display. This year, we had initially wanted to check in to KL Hilton since we have the Hilton membership card but had decided to change it the last minute to The Club at the Hyatt Saujana KL (which is just across the road from where we stayed) for a more relaxed holiday and also since they said that they are going to have some firework display at their lake.

With our Saujana membership, we made used of our `stay one night and free one night' voucher and saved ourselves some money. For dinner, we had their count down buffet dinner at their Suria Coffeehouse. As the clock ticked closer to midnight, my brother in-law came to join us with his family to see the fireworks. Ryan was totally excited as this is his favorite uncle, auntie and cousins. We had a fantastic time sitting by the lake with our hotel guests counting down and screaming our heads off as the fireworks went off.

Getting ready for the fireworks to start

As 2011 finally came to an end, we will remember it well with the arrival of Chenya who joined us in July. It has been a good year all round for me, be it from the family perspective or work perspective. With the arrival of Chenya, Ryan has gone day care for the full day and we are still having some challenges with getting him to school every morning. I just hope that it would get better in 2012. We had our biggest scare with Ryan admission into the Damansara Specialist in December with high fever and was diagnosed as Streptococcus bacteria infection of the blood.

What is install for us in 2012? I honestly don't know but I do know that we can make it exciting, memorable and happy as a family together. We are eagerly looking forward ....:)

VIP my foot!

2011-12-29T13:39:00.002+08:00

We have to bring Chenya to the Damansara Specialist Centre yesterday morning for her pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccination. We went as early as we possibly can to avoid the morning traffic jam and arrived there at 10am. We registered and our number was 20 and the counter showed 10! We braised ourselves for a relatively long wait. Seeing Dr Musa is always tough but worth it because he is good with the kids. We went for our breakfast at the cafeteria. When we came back an hour later, the number has just moved to 12 and the doctor was not in his clinic anymore! We were informed that he was out attending to some VIP who had came in. He was finally back 30 minutes later and he was busy catching up with all the patients who have been waiting since 10am. I really pity him and his staff as they were working through lunch hour. Chenya finally had her vacinations at 1:30pm. We were there for 3.5 hours for a 15 min appointment just because there was this apparent VIP who took up over an hour!

My question is why do VIP gets special treatment? Who was this VIP? Why are they considered as VIP? Are they considered as VIP just because they are ministers who carry a title? Are they some rich tycoons who have billions in their bank account that I don't have?

I can understand that head of states are given right of passage on our roads for security reasons but when it comes to seeking treatment in the hospital especially here when we are talking of a paed services, does it meant that a VIP's child's life is more valuable and important than a non VIP like myself?

If they are VIP because they hold a government ministerial position, then let's us not forget that they are there because we voted them there and hence shouldn't we be considered more important than them? Shouldn't they be made to make appointments and be made to wait just like everybody else?

If they are tycoons and billionaires and hence they are given VIP treatment, is it because they are paying a premium rate for the services of the hospital that we, a commoner could not afford? Knowing my country, I sincerely doubt so.

So, back to my unanswered question..... Who are VIPs and why should they be given preferential treatment?

For now, I just glad that the waiting episode was over but her next appointment is one month down the road. Just hope that some bloody VIP's children don't choose to be sick on the same day.

Getting Smarter!

2011-12-28T12:23:00.001+08:00

Children nowadays are much smatter than my generation. They are so smart that sometimes it is so scary because it is so much more challenging to teach and Educate them. You can no longer simply brush them off with some silly reasons or excuse.

Ryan is certainly one smart and cheeky one and getting pretty good in cornering me.

The other day, early in the morning while still lazing around in bed, he came and hug me and said " Daddy... I want you." Wow! That was sweet and some more early in the morning. "I want you too" I replied.

"Daddy, can you promise me that you love me." he asked. Now, I am sure all parents would gave the answer that I gave innocently. "I promised!"

"Daddy, can you promise me you wouldn't scold me anymore?" was his next question.

This little chap is trying to corner me........

I have to give my answer a thought or two before answering him because this little guy will remember and hold me to my words....

He is smart and he is only barely 4 years old ......

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T14:27:00.004+08:00

Just a short post to wish everyone here Merry Christmas. Christmas always bring back fond childhood memories of carolling practices, Christmas day's drama and cantata's rehearsals. Fond memories of riding in a bus together singing carols from house to house. It also brings back sweet memories of carolling from restaurants to restaurants when I was working at Genting Highlands. It's a season that always without fail bring a special unexplained warmth to my heart, goose pimples and sometimes a choke to my throat when I hear christmas carols that sound oh so familiar.

Well, Merry Christmas everyone and may the peace and love of the LORD fills your heart, mind and soul and His abundant blessings and goodness fills your household.

Goodbye Premier 18

2011-12-13T10:44:00.004+08:00

Yupe. That is the room that we have spent the last couple of days at Damansara Specialist. The fever, rashes and tummy ache has finally gone. Dr Musa came in the morning and gave Ryan a clean bill of health and reminded us that he would still have to complete his entire course of antibiotics for the next 7 days.

Finally, he was given the green light to be discharged and boy, were we glad. Finally, we are going home after spending 5 days 4 nights here. In order to overcome our boredom, especially when Ryan was getting better, we treated our stay as a family retreat.

By the third day, when Ryan was getting better, he got so bored that we got to think of things to occupy him. He got additional toy guns (something that he chose from the convenience shop in the hospital) and he got his early Christmas present...an iPad2. The downloaded apps were able to keep him occupied for most part allowing both of us to take a break and rest.

The ordeal is finally over and we are now back home. Ryan is his usual active self and he was sleeping like a log this afternoon when he came back. Somehow, he felt so much more comfortable and secure sleeping in his own room again. And for now, he is drinking water when asked and eating his food and asking for more, which is unheard of before. We just hope that this ordeal has taught him a lesson as well.

Once again, our sincere thanks to all those who have visited us, call us supported and remembered us in your prayers. We truly appreciate it very much.

Signing off now for a good night rest ...on my own bed and my pillow ...zzzzzzzz

Now is Streptococcus what???

2011-12-12T11:36:00.003+08:00

Fever persisted for the second day. Ryan has got used to taking the medication through the IV needles in his hand but stuffing the Volteron into his butt was still a battle every time.

I've some time to do some research on kawasaki disease and found out more about it.. Apparently, this disease is most common among Japanese and Koreans (hence the name) and affects children between the age of 1 to 5 years old. They have yet to discover the cause nor vaccination for it. There are some common telltale signs like persistent high fever exceeding 39 degrees, rashes, swollen hands and feet, lymph nodes, strawberry tongue (all of which Ryan had), red eyes, skin peeling off hands and genitals and ultimately swollen heart arteries.. If left untreated, it could be fatal or if treated too late, could lead to unrecovarable damages to the heart.. http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/heart/kawasaki.html

That was the reason that a heart specialist has to perform an echo test on his heart to check if there are any abnormalities. On the second day, the rashes has not subsided, the tummy ache persisted with very smelly loose white stools.

The heart specialist finally came on the second day afternoon. The sight of the big machine scare the hell out of him and he was screaming and yelling away as we forced him down on the bed to do the echo Test. Because he was crying so much and so loud the test took extra long. There was nothing we could do to calm him to a point where both Cat and I have to walk away so that the nurses, doctor and a good friend who happened to be around could try calming him down. He was so scared that he even asked to doctor to hold him! Poor boy. It was such a heart wrenching experience.

The test was negative which was a good sign. But then what is the problem now if it is not Kawasaki.

The doctor took a look at his blood test and got a shock. Apparently, there was an index to test bacteria infection, was 3 times higher than normal. It showed 630 when the normal reading would have been 150. He said that in his 20 years career, he has not seen anything higher than 400! We were getting worried but he assured us that there is nothing to worry about. He would consult with Dato Dr Musa on the next course of action.

Later that evening, Dr Musa came and said that although they are not discounting Kawasaki yet, they are looking into any possibility of blood infection. They found high concentration of Streptococcus bacteria in his blood.

Streptococcus what????

Apparently this bacteria known as Group A Streptococcus (GAS) would normally affect the throat and skin and would normally cause mild illness such as strep throat or impetigo. However, under severe situation where the bacteria would find their way into places where they are normally not found like blood, lung and muscle where they could do serious damage and even life threatening. This is known as invasive GAS disease. It can so severe that it could destroy muscle tissues, hence also known as ''flesh eating bacteria'.

These bacteria are spread through direct contact with mucus from the nose or throat of persons who are infected or through contact with infected wounds or sores on the skin. Ill persons, such as those who have strep throat or skin infections, are most likely to spread the infection. Persons who carry the bacteria but have no symptoms are much less contagious. Treating an infected person with an antibiotic for 24 hours or longer generally eliminates their ability to spread the bacteria. However, it is important to complete the entire course of antibiotics as prescribed. It is not likely that household items like plates, cups, or toys spread these bacteria.

Ryan is unfortunate to have contracted this in his blood.

I' m writing this in the hospital now on the fourth day. He has responded well to the antibiotic and fever has finally broke. The rashes has mostly disappeared and his tummy ache gone. He is back to his jumping hyper active self which is beginning to drive us up the wall! hahaha. He will still have his medication and they are still monitoring his progress. If everything goes well, we should be going home tomorrow.

For those who have supported us in your prayers and all your well wishes, we thank you. Will keep you updated on his progress.

Kawasaki what ????

2011-12-11T14:26:00.002+08:00

What started out as a supposedly exciting weekend last week turned out to be a nightmarish week for everyone. I wanted to take Ryan for another cinema experience last week. So we went to 1 Utama on Saturday hoping to catch Puss in the Boots but unfortunately all the tickets were sold. Hence we bought tickets for Sunday instead. The next morning, we got to 1Utama early to ensure that we get a car park, had our brunch and went for our 3D Puss in the Boots. The movie was good and Ryan enjoyed it. Went home and got him to take his nap before he goes for his music class. When he woke up, we found some red rashes on his hand and he complained that it was itchy. I applied some ointment and told our maid to change the bed sheet.

He was fine during the music class and was having so much fun that evening because his favourite uncle and family came visiting that night. However, by 10pm we noticed that he has red rashes all over his body! Took his temperature but there was no fever. We suspected that he could have developed some form of skin allergy and told him to take a bath to relief the itch.

At around 2pm, he was feeling restless in his sleep and complained about the itchiness. His body was warm and was having a fever of about 38.3. We gave his first round of paracetamol. The fever went down. By the time he got up at 8am, the fever has returned and was even higher. Getting worried and suspecting that he could caught something, we brought him to see his normal paed. He gave him some medication to control the itchiness and some paracetamol.

The fever refused to go away the following two days, the rashes got worse and he was now complaining about his stomach ache. In fever touched 39.4 at one stage that we have to sponged him and insert Volteron into his anus. On Wed, we brought him back to the paed who immediately did a blood test for dengue. The result was negative and the verdict was viral infection where the fever would need a couple of days to break. We brought him home, hoping that the fever, rashes and tummy ache would go away. The nights were spent checking his fever, monitoring his medication and soothing his itchiness.

By friday morning, his fever went back to 39.1. It's the fifth day now. We decided to sent him in to see his another paed Dato Dr Musa at Damansara Specialist. It's was a long wait since we have no prior appointment. Ryan's hands and legs seemed to be slightly swollen by now.

'It could be Kawasaki disease' Dr Musa said. 'We better get him admitted immediately to run further test.' he continued.

KAWASAKI what ????

Anyway no time to seek clarification. We got him admitted immediately on Friday. Needles were poked into his hand to extract blood for test while medication were pumped in to treat the possibility of blood infection. The poor boy was screaming and yelling in pain and fear. It truly breaks our heart watching him suffers the way he did.

The waiting process for the test results starts .......

By 11pm the results came back that there is definitely high concentrated bacterial in the blood but they are not discounting Kawasaki yet because he has displayed some of the symptoms of kawasaki. Another heart specialist would have to do an echo test on his heart the following day. Meanwhile, the high fever, itchiness, red rashes, tummy ache and sleepless night continued ......

11.11.11

2011-11-12T04:11:00.007+08:00

OK...This is it..the only one day this century where you get all the `1's in the same row. Many are tying the knot today. Some have planned it for ages while some are rushing to meet the dateline because it is naturally the `coolest' thing to do..Well, I certainly hope that these couples know what they are getting themselves into and not just being cool among their peers that they got married on 11.11.11. It would not be so cool if the divorce paper is signed on the 12.12.12 once they start to realize that it was all a big mistake getting married and yes for life when you are actually not ready for such a big commitment.

They are also those who happily welcomed the arrival of their newborns or probably some who choose to shift into a new home. Congratulations.

Well. I'm already married, so no more chance to be cool on that. Chenya already arrived 4 months earlier and hence no chance to have a 11.11.11 baby. (eemmm...why didn't I think of that when we were planning our production schedule...) No more money to buy house as I have to be contented with our current comfortable nest that we called home.

So, anything special today for me?

Since this is the one in a lifetime event, I thought I would probably pen down how I spent it so that I could always revisit this page a decade or two down the road.

Woke up exceptionally early and so did Ryan! He has been making a big fuss on not wanting to go to school for the last one week. For some reason, he slept very early the night before even without watching his favourite `Little Einstein'. He was in a jovial mode which was good.

My MPV has been scratched by some idiot who seemed to have problem reversing his/her car last week and has been sent into the workshop. I had some appointments today and hence I need the use of a car. Hence, I have to sent my wife to take the LRT to work so that I could use her car later.

Ahhhh...this is special. Ryan followed me for the first time to drive mommy to take the LRT . It was rather memorable. After dropping mommy, I drove him home to get him ready to go to school. It was pouring dogs and cats by the time we left the house for his school. It must have been the alignment of the numbers because he was absolutely excited to go to school today. The teacher took him from the car and he was happily waving goodbye.

That is followed with my leisurely taken breakfast with my cup of coffee and morning papers at my favourite coffee shop before I went into office. Replied a couple of emails and off I went to drop off a tenancy agreement and cheque to my client at Taman Tun. Had an espresso at Secret Recipe after that before heading back to the office. On the way, I was informed that my MPV is ready for collection. Made a turn to Ampang. Picked up my mechanic and he drove me (in my wife's car since I need him to test drive it to iron out some issues) to Batu Caves where my car was. It was pouring and we had a rather interesting conversation about holidays especially now that we have children tagging along.

The repair job looks good and I was slapped with a RM1200 bill! Emmm...should have told them to discount to make it RM1111 instead....auspicious ma.....

Drove my MPV home while my mechanic drove my wife's car back to the workshop for servicing. Finally had my lunch back near the office at 4:30pm. By 5:30pm, wife called and she was already on the LRT on the way home. Rushed to the LRT station to pick her up and proceed from there to pick up Ryan from his daycare cum school. He was super happy of course to see both of us picking him up. Drop him at home to have his milk and his TV while we went to have an early dinner at Restaurant Ta Ta Di (our regular makan joint).

By 9pm, we were trying to get Ryan to bed since he has to get up very early on Saturday for his concert. And yes, before sleeping, got him to try out his costume and get all my videocam and camera fully charged for tomorrow. In the process of getting Ryan to sleep, both of us also dozed off with Chenya already happily in La La Land....

Well. That is what 11.11.11 was for me...

The Oldest Special Woman in my Life

2011-11-09T16:16:00.012+08:00

The oldest special woman in my life now is 95 year old! She felt in love with me the moment she laid eyes on me. For years in my youth, I slept near her bosom, listening to her heartbeat. She has seen every part of me, knows my very best and have seen my very worst. She is my grandmother....

I was staying with my grandmother when I was studying in standard one till six. My parents and my younger sister were all staying at Port Klang. They left me with my grandparents back in Kampar since I had just started schooling and they thought it would be best if I did not follow. I had the most memorable and enjoyable 6 years of my childhood life there...

Recently, we heard that she had a fall and was unwell. We rushed back to Kampar to see how she was. Thank God that she has recovered well...well enough to listen to Ryan singing to her his `Twinkle Twinkle little star." while she reciprocate with one of her favorite old timer cantonese number.... She looks radiant at the age of 95 and visiting her and looking at her, reminded me of the years I spent with her and how much she and grandpa loved and adored me ...

I like to draw and I remembered that it was my grandma who gave me my first box of water color. It was one of those ancient one with hardened color paste where you have to wet it with water before you could paint. I remembered having so much fun that night.

My grandma is a very creative person. I like to draw and I remembered drawing Ultraman after Ultraman fighting monsters of my own creation. And I remembered bringing my drawing every 5 minutes to her for her comments before I will proceed, and her comments were always "good","Beautiful" or "more colour"...

I remembered how she teaching me how to make roses, water lilies or cherry blossoms from color papers. To this day, I can still vividly remembered how to a few pieces of color paper into a stalk of rose..She even taught me how to make gold fish out of eggshells.

I remembered how she used to stay up till the early hours in the morning, peeling onions and garlic or dried anchovies for her dishes and man..some of her dishes are so yummylicious....My mouth waters just thinking of her tender pork ribs steamed with soy bean paste or her steamed egg ....

Of course the memory that will remain deepest in my heart and soul was when I was bitten by a dog on Labours Day when I was in Standard Five. It was a holiday and I went butterfly catching with my best friend. We happened to wander into the compound of a house where the guard dog was chained to the ground. I can still remembered how fierce the dog was and he was pulling so hard that the chain broke. I remembered running and falling and the next thing I knew was a very bloody ankle. I limped home and told my grandma. She panicked (I think or I'm sure). I could not walk anymore till the pain. She wrapped up my wound and carry me on her back and walked to the clinic located over 30 minutes away! I remembered passing out due to the loss of blood and pain.

The wound was badly treated by the first doctor and got infected. For the next one month, I could not walk and she has to take me to another doctor daily to get the wound cleaned and dressed. I remembered being carried down from the bed every morning, carried to the bathroom every time I want to wee wee and carried back to the bed in the evening.

I had to write this down less my fading memory fails me. I want to be reminded again and again of what this great woman has done for me and I want my children to know a little bit more of their great grandmother.

I am so glad that Ryan takes an immediate liking to her. It was such a tender moment, watching him stroking her fragile hands, and reminding her great grandmother to drink more water. It was even lovelier to hear him sing for her ...

I am truly thankful for this woman that GOD has sent into my life ....

Bali - Tanah Lot Temple and Mengwi Temple

2011-11-04T16:29:00.012+08:00

September 2011 (Backdated post)

We were contemplating whether we would want to go out from Club Med since Club Med has so many activities to occupy us and Ryan really wanted to spend all his time in the pool. However, it would be quite a pity if we don't venture out at all and have a look at what Bali has to offer. Moreover, I was checking the web before leaving for Bali and there were some very nice places to take pictures.

So, we approached the activities center and got them to recommend us a half day tour to someplace nice. Since it was only for half a day, they recommended us to visit the Tanah Lot Temple and the Mengwi Temple. I have seen some very very nice pictures of the Tanah Lot Temple in the internet and I was pretty excited to see it for myself....

We left at 8:30a.m after a hearty breakfast. There were another 3 couples in the same coach so the tour was rather private, just like we prefer. We really dislike travelling with huge tour groups because there is very little attention and you always ended up having to wait for someone at every stop ....

Travelling from Club Med Bali to Tanah Lot Temple takes approximately 1.5 hours going through the morning hour rush. Traffic in Bali can be horrendous...and there seemed to be only one traffic rule there....which is ...THERE IS NO RULE!

Tanah Lot Temple (temple in the sea) is one of the place to take good evening sunset pictures. We were advised against it because there would be a larger crowd and there is also the likelihood of rain.

I must say that the place does not disappoint for good photography. I just wished I had more time and probably a chance to catch a really cool sunset ...maybe my next trip ....

Ryan showing off his kung fu within the temple grounds of Mengwi Temple.....

Club Med Bali - Daddy and Me!

2011-11-02T01:00:00.012+08:00

September 2011 (Backdated post)

One of the most unforgettable experience in Club Med Bali is the things I got to do with Ryan for the very first time. It's that special bonding that I will cherish forever and I definitely want to put it on record here lest I forget or for Ryan to read when he grows up (in case I don't get to tell him).

I will let the pictures do the talking here.....

Here we were...father and son, catching crabs by the beach .....
The first sunrise that we watched together as a family ....awesome experience ...

Being a golfer, it has always been my dream that I would be able to have a round with Ryan and here we were in Bali, having two rounds of golf together and the memory ...priceless...!

Ryan wanted to be like Avatar ....

Having fun in the pool ....

The Kung Fu master and his young apprentice in front of the Mengwi Temple ...

A very exhausted daddy and his very happy son after a visit to the famous Tanah Lot Temple ...

Club Med Bali - A Cool Deal!

2011-11-01T13:35:00.018+08:00

September 2011 (Backdated post) - Continuation

(Club Med Bali Poolside bar during sunset)

With the MATA fair promotion earlier this year, we managed to secure a pretty cool deal from Club Med. Buy One and FREE ONE! Pretty cool huh? And children got to stay, eat and play for free. Suits Ryan just fine.

I have never been to Bali before and the last trip my wife made to Bali was decades ago. This is also my first trip to a Club Med and I have heard raving reviews of how fun staying at Club Med can be.

I must said that I was not every impressed upon touching down at the airport and got a pretty nasty experience taking a taxi from the airport to Club Med. I made doubly sure that I purchased the taxi coupons from proper counters set up within the airport. Friends were telling us that it was pretty easy to get a taxi there and is much cheaper than ordering one from the hotel. (Honestly, I prefer to have one from the hotel waiting to pick me up when I arrived especially if I'm travelling to countries in Asia than trying to arrange one when I arrived). Anyway, after agreeing on the price and since currencies in Indonesia runs into hundreds of thousands and millions (which take some adjustment to..hey..I'm not used to be a millionaire ok), I paid him in big notes (mistake that I made when I change my Ringgit at KLIA for not asking for smaller notes). The taxi counter conveniently `forgot' to give me back my change. Although after conversion, it is still a relatively small amount , RM2 or thereabout, the impression is that the locals are out to swindle tourist like us in whichever way they can....

OK. I can live with Rm2 poorer. One guy from the taxi counter guided us to the taxi which was parked at the airport parking lot. Upon loading all the bags, he expressly now asked for a tip. My wife and I were like..."Huh? Tip again? for what?" Realizing that we were reluctant, his face somewhat changed from the `smiling..hello tourist' look to 'hei..I don't work for free' look....

We looked into our wallets and realised the smallest Indonesian currency we had were 100,000 rupiahs! I have a couple of USD in my wallet and ended up giving him USD5. Expensive tip!!!

Trip to the hotel was uneventful and honestly, I am still smarting from having to pay such an expensive tip.

Club Med is definitely a welcoming sight.

The rooms ....

The poolside and the poolside bar ....heavenly ...

View of the poolside bar from the beachfront ...
The mini golf course....6 par 3 holes ...

The beach ....

Sunrise at Club Med Bali beachfront

Did I like Club Med? Of course. I enjoyed the good selection for food available for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I enjoyed that I got to order any drinks that I want. I had countless glasses of Bali draught beer, wine both and red. I enjoyed the games, the activities and the nightly entertainment put up by the resort staff themselves. (They are indeed a talented lot). I enjoyed the sight of many beautiful bodies and pretty faces..ahem....

But above all, I enjoyed the company of my wife and Ryan as we got to do things that we have not done before...(more of that in my next post)..

The only sore point that I had with this resort is that the GO (Guest Officers) were paying too much attention to guests of their own countries. There were many Koreans, Chinese nationals from China, Japanese and Aussies...but unfortunately, throughout our entire stay, I guessed we were the only Malaysian and we have only met one Malaysian GO lady from Penang. So, we were kinda of left out and were pretty left unattended to ..though we managed to meet and got to know three rather cute and hot GOs from Korea, Japan and Bali herself...(all thanks to Ryan who has the tendency to attract pretty gals without much of a problem with his cheeky smile and bold moves in approaching them...I guess Daddy would have to learn a trick or two from him soon...)

Halloween Trick and Treating ...

2011-10-29T18:08:00.011+08:00

28 Oct 2011

Our neighborhood has been organizing Halloween trick and treating walk among the residents in our neighborhood for the last couple of years. Ryan has participated since he was one. But this year was different. He went in full costumer ...as BATMAN!

The last two years, I have been having a torrid time trying to take some decent pictures but this year is much better since I got myself a Nikon Flashgun which allows me to take some rather decent pictures.

The event looked doom in the beginning. The skies were gloomy by evening and the skies opened up and poured by 6pm. We were all keeping our finger crossed because we would have to postpone the event to tomorrow night if the rain does not stop by 9pm and there is no guarantee that the weather tomorrow night would hold either.

The heaven was smiling at us. By 7:30pm, the rain stopped and by 8pm, despite the ground being wet, the participating families and children gathered at the playground. And then off we went from house to house, collecting sweets, cookies, chocolates, packet drinks, stickers etc....

The children were having so much fun and the parents were all tired walking, directing traffic, running after their children or carrying those who got a little too tired after a few streets...but having fun nevertheless....

Ryan all tired and thirsty by the end of the event....and so were we!

Credit must be given to the Residents Association and the person in charge who took pain to organize this event year after year.....

Club Med Bali - Ryan's first oversea's holiday

2011-10-28T15:22:00.013+08:00

September 2011 (Backdated post)

We have always wanted to bring Ryan to sit in an aeroplane. We have tried a shorter distance trip last year when we took Air Asia to Langkawi. This year, when Club Med came out with a promotion of `Buy One Free One' offer, we grabbed it. We were contemplating between Bali or Phuket. In the end, I opted for Bali since I have never been there myself.

The offer, I must say, is well worth the money, considering that it is an `all inclusive package' and we paid minimal for Ryan since he is still below 4. We also got our travel agency to get us some pretty good deals from MAS. No more Air Asia when we travel as a family. The last time, we took Air Asia, not only was the flight delayed but the plane was parked right at the end of the terminal and we had to walked 25 minutes between reaching the terminal...and it was raining at 11pm!!!

As usual he was all excited about the trip and honestly, so were we! Actually, to be honest, I must confess that we wanted the holiday more and Ryan was just an excuse for us to `dump' baby Chenya with my mother in-law in order for us to travel...hehehehe (cruel leh!)

We went to airport early and after checking in, proceeded to the Premium Lounge. It is supposed to be a lounge with premium service and exclusive (catering for those frequent flyers or platinum credit card holders of certain banks). This is our first time trying it out and our expectation were high .....which turned out to be rather disappointing to say the least.

If it is that exclusive, I would expect the front desk people to be friendly or at least smile and make the guests feel welcomed. Nope! The food was nothing really fantastic to shout about. One toilet was closed for maintenance while the remaining one was so wet and dirty, definitely not befitting to be called THE PREMIUM LOUNGE.

We grab a quick bite, relax a little before we board for our flight to Bali. Ryan was all excited to be on the plane again. He was even served his kiddie on board meal. All the excitement finally wore him down. He was sound asleep till we reached our destination.
Waiting for boarding....

Fooling around with mommy on the plane...
Having his in flight kiddie meal....

Totally exhausted after all the excitement ...sleeping soundly throughout ....

Cameron Highlands Strawberry Picking

2011-10-27T22:41:00.010+08:00

September 2011 (Continuation) - Backdated post

And finally, no Cameron Highlands holiday is complete without picking fresh strawberries. So, on the last morning before we checked out, we promised Ryan that we will bring him to pick some strawberries ...and the nearest strawberry farm that we can find is just outside Equatorial Hotel.

We paid Rm20 to pick 0.5kg of strawberries and we would have to pay for the extras if we picked more.

It was rather ordinary for me but super exciting for Ryan and that is what the trip is all about. Would I pay another Rm20 again to pick strawberries? For me...NO but if Ryan wants, YES of course....I guess that is what every parent would do anyway ..right??

Teaching Ryan how to pick strawberries properly....
Ryan enjoying his ice cream with fresh strawberries

Next ....our trip to Bali Club Med....

Cameron Highlands Ye Old Smoke House (Hot nights in a cold place)

2011-10-26T16:31:00.012+08:00

September 2011 (Continuation) - Backdated post

OK. Back to backdated post on our recent travels. Continuing on our short holiday to Cameron Highlands, the next venue to yak about would be Ye Old Smokehouse located just after Tanah Rata on the way to Brinchang.

This quaint little English cottage style boutique hotel was once listed as the place for the rich and famous. With limited rooms, our first stay there was something like 10 years ago. Over the last decade, we had stayed there three times and we enjoyed the atmosphere very much. The service was top notch back then and the staff literally know you by your name. (Have to right? Only less than 20 rooms in total)

I must say that this is the ideal place for young couples looking for a romantic getaway or honey mooning couples looking for a romantic nest for some `hot' nights in the cold cool weather of Cameron Highlands.....(try to imagine warm bodies under the blanket on huge brass bed in rooms decorated in the old English cottage settings...need I say more....hmmmm)

Come to think of it, it would also be a cool place for `old married couples' to `abandon' their children for a hot spicy weekend (read about rekindling our sex lives in one of the post by bro Eugene from Bold Talk).

Anyway, we found it rather expensive to bring so many to stay there this round and hence we opted for a more economical Equatorial. However, we still wanted to enjoy the atmosphere and hence we went there for a good old English breakfast ...Turned out to be the most expensive meal throughout our trip (but then I knew that it would not come cheap in the first place considering that the junior suite rack rate is already close to RM500 per night).

The garden terrace where breakfast and tea are served.
Ryan in his happy mode and fooling around
Having fun with mommy...

Pretending to be zombies like in the `Walking Dead' series...
`Hello? Hello?' errr....excuse me? Shouldn't you guys be in the phone booth?

Chenya - 3 months old now!

2011-10-22T18:12:00.012+08:00

Chenya is now three months old. How time flies. It is like yesterday that we were preparing for her arrival, the time we were in the hospital and watching her arrival. It is like just yesterday that we had a one month nightmare with our confinement lady, the headache we have to endure.

Just some pictures of her for all the uncles, aunties, kor kor and jie jie to see ...

Chenya when she was 2.5 months old ......

Chenya with 4 more days to 3 months old ..taken when she was having her holiday with us at the Golden Palm Tree Resort at Sepang Gold Coast ......

Chenya at 3 months and 2 days old ..taken at home today .....

Cameron Highlands Bharat Cameron Tea Plantation

2011-10-21T11:03:00.015+08:00

September 2011 (Continuation) - Backdated post

There are basically two major tea plantation companies in Cameron Highlands. There is BOH Tea of course. The other is the Bharat Cameron Tea. The tea plantation for Bharat Cameron Tea is much more accessible. There are two that we encountered during our visit there recently. One is located after Brinchang before we reached the Equatorial Hotel. The tea house is modest and the plantation is much smaller. The other is before Tanah Rata and can be seen on the main road leading down to Tapah. This is definitely much more impressive and the tea plantation, much larger.

We made a stop at both tea plantations. The first was before we reached our hotel on the first day. The other was on my second day after we visited the Boh tea plantation.

Zipping a cup of hot tea while enjoying a delicious scone in the cool weather that we don't normally get in KL is definitely a welcoming change. There is such a care-free atmosphere that all the work stress and worries seemed so far away (at least for that few precious moments). Looking at the vast piece of green landscape that goes as far as the eyes can see brings such tranquility to the soul. I must said that I can not help but to be amazed at God's marvellous creation.

(This is the Bharat tea plantation located before Brinchang if you are taking the Simpang Pulai route to Cameron Highlands)

(This is the Bharat Tea Plantation located after Tanah Rata on the way down to Tapah. Located by the roadside, you just can't miss it) (2 workers working on the tea plantation. They are dwarfed by the sheer vastness of the entire landscape)
(Ryan getting bored and started fooling around with his water bottle)

Cameron Highlands Steamboat Dinner

2011-10-20T11:53:00.011+08:00

September 2011 (Continuation) - Backdated post

Any visit to Cameron Highlands is not complete without at least a steam boat meal. There are plenty of steam boat restaurants in Brinchang and I'm sure most of you would have had at least one when visiting Cameron Highlands. We were not sure which is good but we know that we preferred one that uses charcoal rather than the electrical steamboat pot. Parking at Brinchang could be a nightmare and we were lucky that we went on a weekday instead of a weekend or a public holiday. Even that, we have some problem looking for an empty parking space. Hence, the restaurant that we chose was the one where we found a parking right in front....It turned out to be quite nice and pleasant experience...Price is reasonable.

(Ryan getting impatient waiting for the food to arrive)
(Ryan getting excited over the steam boat pot with the tall funnel)
(Mother and sister getting the steam boat ready)

Cameron Highlands Water Crest Valley Restaurant

2011-10-18T17:27:00.013+08:00

Sept 2011 (Backdated post) - Continuation

We took the route from Simpang Pulai to Cameron Highlands and hence we will hit the top above Brinchang on our way to the Equatorial. It's a much more pleasant drive as compared to the windy road from Tapah with lorries driving like maniacs and overtaking at every opportunity.

On the way to Brinchang and about 5 minutes away from the Equatorial Hotel, we came across this restaurant which I have read from the internet. Known as the Water Crest Valley, they are actually water crest farmers with a restaurant that served water crest recipes as well as steam boat.

(A view of the water crest grown here)

After checking in, being hungry and lazy to explore other places, we drove back to this restaurant for our lunch. The food was like home cooked meals, delicious and the price is reasonable. In fact, we actually went back to this restaurant for one last lunch before going home.

(Tasty meat patties) (Stirred fried fresh mushrooms)
(Omelet)
(Chicken fried with water crest)
(Water crest)
As we finished our meal, the storm clouds were brewing and I managed to catch this shot with the dramatic clouds against the clear blue skies...

Cameron Highlands Boh Tea Plantation

2011-10-18T13:32:00.013+08:00

Sept 2011 Continuation (Backdated post)

Visiting tea plantations and having a cuppa amidst the cool weather is the one thing that everyone who travels to Cameron Highlands should do. (Unfortunately, this is the first time I doing it as all my previous trip were either visiting vegetable farms or playing golf)

I must say that it is a rather pleasant experience especially if you are going and doing it with your loved ones. We visited three plantations in total, two belonging to the Cameron Tea while another is the Boh Tea Plantation located just before Tanah Rata.

Going in from the main road leads to a windy narrow road which took almost 20 minutes. Was apprehensive as our 7 seater is not exactly a small car. But the journey is well rewarded with a cool breezy and cozy place for a warm cup of tea.

(The family enjoying a cup of tea together...Priceless)
Boh Tea Plantation has a Look Out Point which is a hill which will take approximately 15 minutes steep climb to reach the top. So proud of Ryan that he took up the challenge and walked up the entire journey. (Coming down was another matter...daddy has to carry!)

The view of the plantation while climbing up the Look Out Point
Fooling around with her favourite `ku cheh' (my youngest sister) at the top of the Look Out Point.
This is an excellent pose by this little rascal. I placed him on this concrete bench and teach him this pose and the result was fantastic. In fact, he was telling me to do the same pose when I had my picture taken with my wife ...

More pictures in the next post ...keep following ...

Children's First Trip To Cameron Part One

2011-10-18T08:49:00.009+08:00

Sept 2011 (Backdated post)

(View of the Boh Tea Plantation located just before Tanah Rata)

My mum has been staying with my sister for a couple of months now and she expressed the desire wanting to go back to Kampar to visit my grandmother who is still there. We volunteered to drive her home and took the opportunity to arrange for a short 2 nights at Cameron Highlands. This trip is going to be the `first' for several reasons and we were all very excited about it.

- First outstation trip for Chenya.
- First Cameron Highland stay for both the children.
- First travel together as a four member family (besides the maid)
- First travel together with my youngest sister (yes..we don't get to travel that often together)
- First outstation trip for our recently acquired 7 seater.

(View of the Cameron Tea Plantation located after the Boh Tea Plantation but before Tanah Rata with an excellent look out point where you can have your tea looking at the vast plantation)

We have not been to Cameron Highlands for a couple of years now. When we were a couple, we used to travel there for short stay and we have stayed at the Old Smokehouse a couple of times (absolutely loved the experience), the Equatorial and the hotel directly opposite the golf course (now taken over by YTL). We loved the steamboat dinners and the golf rounds we had with the nice cool weather.
(Attending to some messy business before getting down to enjoying the meals)

Staying at the Smokehouse is out of the question as it is way too expensive since we have 5 adults and 2 children. So, we opted to go back to Equatorial again where the rates are more affordable. (Verdict: the hotel is pretty run down now as compared to when we were there years ago. For the price of which they are charging, they should have done some form of refurbishing)

The trip up was pleasant and exciting as we could comfortably put all 5 adults and 2 children with the loads of luggage into the MPV. (Wise decision to buy this rather than the smaller Estima though a little more costly). I was rather surprised with the performance of the car going uphill with the load.

And activities in Cameron Highlands... (what else??)

- Visit and having a nice cup of tea at the different tea plantation. We were at Boh Tea and the Cameron Tea plantations on different days and the experience was relaxing and the view absolutely stunning.
- Steam boat with plenty of fresh vegetables for all dinners.
- Leisurely English breakfast at the Old Smokehouse (yes yes..we must go there because we absolutely adore the settings). The most expensive meal!!
- Lunch at the Water Crest restaurant where food is simple but delicious.
- Strawberries picking where Ryan was totally excited.

All in all, it was an extremely pleasant trip and travelling together with my family, my mother and youngest sister made it even more memorable. As we left the mountains, our thoughts were looking forward to our next destination in a week's time ....Bali Club Med ..(more of that in the next post) ....

(A lonely tree sitting right on top of the Look Out Point at the Boh Tea Plantation)

More pictures coming on Cameron Highlands holiday....don't go away ....hahaha

His First Harley .....

2011-10-10T23:27:00.003+08:00

Yupe...Ryan got his very first Harley Davidson and boy, is it cool or what ....

With Chenya's arrival, and only one maid at home, it would be near impossible for the maid to take care of both the baby and Ryan at the same time. We couldn't find a reliable baby sitter that we could trust and after much consideration, we opted to sent Ryan for a full day care center instead of half a day for the following reasons:-

- so that the maid could take care of Chenya without having to worry about Ryan
- so that Ryan could get some form of discipline instead of just watching TV all the time at home.
- so that Ryan could have some proper meals as he is just refusing to eat his proper lunch at home.

We were quite worry that he would not be keen and would kick up a fuss about it. Surprisingly, he cope very well and all the teachers and care takers were very impressed with him. We wanted to give him a cool surprise !

He used to have an electronic car given to him when he was one year old but have since been out of order. He was asking for a truck. We could not find a truck but we thought a motorbike would be cool. We search around and finally found this company, PedyPak which post some pretty interesting selection of battery operated vehicle in their website. This monster was among one posted but the online price was RM599! We were thinking of something below RM400. We called and were told that we could visit their warehouse located at Pandamaran Port Klang to have a look at the models currently available.

Using our GPS, we located the factory and we were offered this `monster' at a cool Rm430! We took it and Ryan was one happy boy that afternoon when he saw it in the car when we went to pick him up from school.

Actually, this is a cool place if you are looking for similar toys because they are a major importer and distributor and also provide spare parts like batteries etc in the event should you need repairs to be done. Check it out at www.pedypak.com

Pig Trotter with Black Vinegar

2011-09-18T13:13:00.006+08:00

This is another popular confinement dish and we absolutely adore it. Try my hand preparing this dish yesterday and it turned out reasonably good. At least my wife appreciates it and I guess to me, that is more than enough.

I was reading from Health Freak Mommy's blog of this kai lan dish that they tried at Steam Room Restaurant at Viva Home Mall. It definitely looked refreshing and I tried preparing the same thing for dinner last night. Verdict: Definitely a refreshing idea to prepare Kai Lan and taste good too. On top of that, extremely easy to prepare and absolutely healthy.

Confinement Dishes

2011-09-09T13:39:00.014+08:00

With the absence of the confinement lady and since wife is still on her maternity leave, I have taken over the kitchen to whip out some confinement dishes till she goes back to work. We have bought two confinement recipe books when we had Ryan. The recipe book has proven to of value again this round....

Some of the dishes cooked are :-

Black Bean Soup with red dates, wolfberries, black dates, ginger and pig's tail bones
Salted Baked Chicken Drumstick with tong gui and wolfberries.

Chinese Herbal soup cooked with black chicken. Herbs include pak kei, wai sun, red dates, wolfberries and yuk chuk and dried scallop..

Braised chicken drumstick with mushroom and ginger ...

Lemon Grass and Shallots soup cooked with Chicken Drumstick ...

Stirred Fried Liver with Ginger and Black Pepper

Young papaya soup cooked with pig tail's bone, wolfberries and red dates....another must apparently for mommies who have just delivered and are under confinement ....

Pork Ribs cooked in sweetened black vinegar and ginger ..

Chicken drumstick steamed with ginger, wolfberries, red dates, chinese wine and essence of chicken

Chenya Baby portraits.....First attempt

2011-09-06T13:53:00.008+08:00

I have always been fascinated with those cute and pretty baby pictures that I often see from the various website ...and I have always wanted to try my hand taking some of those pictures with Ryan..Unfortunately, with only a straight forward point and shoot camera then, it was quite difficult to get the results that I wanted.

With Chenya now and with my Nikon, I am eager to give it another try.

So, on her day when she was exactly one month old, we dressed her up, took out my camera and start shooting away....

This is first series of those shots. We will be attempting more shots in the near future probably with different props....

Celebrating Chenya's Full Moon

2011-09-04T23:50:00.005+08:00

Well..so much rambling about the confinement lady.

Time to move on with our lives. Time flies and the first month came to close. Before we knew it, it was time to plan and celebrate Chenya’s full month party.

We were initially planning a modest party but as we start inviting, the list seemed to grow longer and longer. Before we knew it, we were hitting the 130 pax mark! So, we ended up with catering for a hundred pax and engaging a `lok lok’ van for 50 pax! From our initial two simple tents, we ended up setting up a total of five tents for our friends and guests.

We were really impressed with the cake that we have for Ryan’s recent third birthday party. Hence, we called Joanne to get her to design a two tier cake for Chenya. She came back with a brilliant idea of a rabbit garden party (since little Chenya is born in the year of the rabbit). We simply adore the cake.

We decided to hold it as a lunch instead of dinner since it rains almost every other evening besides August which is the 7th month in the lunar calendar is the ghost festival and hence, we felt it would be better or more comfortable for the guests to attend a lunch then dinner at night.

It was a pretty successful event and we were glad that there so so many friends and relatives sharing our joy and joining in the celebration...

Confinement lady - A nightmare from Hell (Part 4)

2011-09-02T01:40:00.003+08:00

Continuation from Part III

When we engaged confinement ladies, we expect them to be a knowledgeable professional with years of experience handling new born and mommies who have just delivered. But seriously, how many of them are really that knowledgeable and is the knowledge that the claimed to have proven or are they just so mid wife's tale......

We have bought a whole new range of Chico BPA free baby bottles for Chenya before her arrival and of course we were excited to pass them to the confinement lady to feed baby Chenya when she arrived.

Barely 2 days into job, Mdm L complained that the nipple holes were way too small and baby Chenya were having a tough time feeding. She insisted that we get her nipples with bigger holes. We went hunting but Chico outlets are difficult to find unless you are prepared to go to shopping complexes that I really don't have the time. Hence, we opted for Avent 4 month old nipples as an alternative. Mdm L seemed to be happier with it but complained constantly that baby Chenya is vomiting milk after feeding. She claimed that Chenya's stomach is `too shallow' and hence can't take that much. She insisted that 2.5 oz is sufficient.

When Mdm L left, it was our turn to take care of Chenya and to feed her. No doubt, the Avent 4 month nipple works wonders and Chenya did finished the milk in no time but we realised that she was not sucking but literally `drinking' since the flow was too fast. At times, we noticed that she literally had to stop to rest because she was just too tired. And we noticed that she vomit quite a fair bit after each feeding. The moment we changed the nipple back to the original one meant for new born, she vomited less and seemed to be enjoying her milk more. Of course the time taken to feed her is much longer as she now has to suck for milk.

Why did Mdm L insisted on a faster flow nipple? Because it is much faster to feed and get it done with. Once we switched to the original nipple, we are able to give Chenya 3 to 3.5 oz per feed without much problem and less vomiting. `Shallow stomach' theory? We dare not even mention this to our paed when we brought Chenya for her regular check up.

So, are all advice given by confinement ladies sound? You will have to be the judge to that.

Another thing we find that confinement ladies would always insist. Firstly, they would insist that we give the baby the pacifier whenever they cried. Honestly, we are seriously against it because we are afraid that the children will be so used to it that it becomes difficult for the baby to rid the habit later. We were adamant that Ryan would not have to use it with our first confinement lady and we shot down the idea the moment Mdm L brought up the subject. Why? Because the pacifier is obviously an easy way to pacify the baby. The problem is after they left and we have to deal with a baby addicted to the pacifier....

The second thing that we have seen confinement ladies likely to suggest was to allow the baby to sleep on the bouncer (sarung). We are again seriously against this idea because we really do not wish to have a baby that can only sleep in a bouncer and not the baby cot. Can you imagine travelling with a bouncer because your baby just can't sleep on a normal bed? The moment Mdm L brought up the subject, we shot it down and she was not at all happy about it.

The question that I tend to ask after this experience is that are confinement ladies really that knowledgeable and will do what is best for the baby or do they recommend methods that will best suit them for the next 28 days?

Well, so much for the confinement lady. We were truly glad that the confinement period is finally over and we could resume our normal life without the intrusion of a stranger in our home....

Would I consider a confinement lady if we should have another baby (not that we are going to since are are pretty sure that we have enough)? I certainly don't think so. In fact I think I could be a better `confinement lady' after going through two confinement ladies (and one from hell).....

And one last thing....she actually opened and counted her `ang pow' the moment we gave her in front of us!!! The ang pow although has become customary to give at end of her service is but a token of appreciation.....but Mdm L has obviously been led to believe that that form part of her charges and I am absolutely certain that she would question us and ask for more if we have given her something below her expectations...

Confinement ladies are certainly not cheap and they behave as if they are queens the moment the come on board.....

Confinement lady - A nightmare from Hell (Part 3)

2011-08-28T11:58:00.002+08:00

Continuation from Part 2 ....

Confinement ladies have this tendency to try very hard to differentiate themselves and distance themselves from maids. It is as if they are trying very hard to position themselves above the maids (basically, all they wanted to put across is that they are not maids but professional and experienced personnel with the knowledge and experience to handle new born babies and their mommies)....

The first rule which they always try to establish the moment that they arrived is that they DO NOT and WILL NOT cook for the maid as well! The first confinement lady we had for Ryan tried to establish that but she was still reasonably friendly with our Indonesian maid. Mdm L stressed this as well. We have no problems with that and we took the extra precaution to warn our maid to stay out of her way for at least a month to avoid conflicts. BUT CONFLICTS there WERE APLENTY and this was when they could not even understood a word each other were trying to say....

One morning the confinement lady BARGED into our bedroom and angrily declared that she wanted to leave immediately. When my wife asked for the reason, she claimed that the maid eat her food! She claimed that the maid took her food in front of her! With a face as black as charcoal, she stormed back into her room, slammed the door shut, locked it with the baby Chenya inside! She basically sulked the entire day.

When we went down to the kitchen, the rice was left untouched (half way eaten) with her vegetables on the kitchen top. When we questioned our maid, she said she could not understand why the confinement lady was so enraged. We asked her whether she took the food from the confinement lady and she said yes but she said did asked! She said, she was trying to be friendly and had asked the confinement lady whether the food cooked was nice and took one piece to taste!

Anyway, in order not to make things worse off and not to stress any parties, we managed to pacify Mdm L and the maid.

Then comes the non stop complaints by Mdm L on how lazy and bad the maid was. She told my wife that my maid secretly crept into the baby's room and play with the baby and doze off in front of her and was caught by me. In actual fact, I was looking for the maid and found her playing with the baby in the baby room. (The maid adores the baby because she reminded her of her own daughter back home). Back stabbing and more back stabbing throughout the 28 days....

On another occasion, she angrily complained to my wife that the maid refused to let her use the kitchen and she is NOT cooking anymore! And we have both a dry and a wet kitchen! We asked the maid and the maid clarified that she merely try to ask the confinement lady whether she has finished using the kitchen because she has to cook for Ryan. Sigh.....So we divided and allocated the kitchens, the wet for the confinement lady and the dry for the maid!!!

The maid is without complaints either....

Every morning she would show me the dustbin of the amount of cooked rice that the confinement lady is throwing away. (The confinement lady refused even to leave the left over cooked rice for the maid to eat or fried but instead prefer to throw them away and she has been throwing away cooked rice for the entire 28 days!!!)

And the maid retaliated by purposely keeping pots and pans or containers that she knows the the confinement lady needs. So, when Mdm L can't find them, she would angrily complained to me or my wife ..."You go and ask YOUR MAID where she keep MY Pot. I can't cook without it!"

I jusy could not understand why they simply could not work together especially the maid is there to help her and to ease her workload. With the maid, she would not have to wash the baby's clothes, the mommy's clothes and the baby bottles. All these were taken care of by the maid. In fact, the confinement lady took all these for granted so much so that whenever she cleaned baby Chenya, she would simply just dump all the soiled clothes at the baby's room door to be picked up by the maid. She doesn't even have the courtesy to take it down to the wash area for the maid to wash....

Everytime, she finished cooking, there is literally no wet or dry kitchen in the house..... there are ONLY two VERY Flooded and WET kitchens!!! And the maid would be on standby with a mop sitting at one corner to wipe it dry the moment she finished her task....

Next...are they as knowledgeable as they claim they are???

Confinement lady - A nightmare from Hell (Part 2)

2011-08-25T07:18:00.003+08:00

Continuation from Part 1 .....

Once we got home, the complaints started. Hardly 30 minutes, she came and complained that we do not have enough large pots for her to boil the stuff that she needs. Mind you, I have 2 large stainless pots, 2 medium size pots and 2 smaller ones. And that is besides the TWO medium size slow cookers. She wanted me to buy some extra pots! I told her no way. Use what we have as I am sure that they are enough. And she did manage the entire 28 days with the pots that I have at home without much of a fuss after that....

Next complaint was when I told her that we actually did buy some black beans as I have read one of my confinement recipe books where black beans are used in some of the recipes. She asked me if the black beans have been fried? I was like 'Huh? Fried?'. And she went on and said "How to use when they are not fried?". I was SO very tempted to tell her off ..."Am I not paying you to fry them and cook them? If I have already fried them, why the hell should I employ you?" ...but since this is only the very first day, I was trying so hard to keep my cool...I really don't want to make this an issue, knowing that if I am stressed out, my wife would be stressed out and the last thing I want is my wife getting into a post natal depression!!!

We have bought tonnes of cute clothes for Chenya and this became the second issue. The moment she went through the closet, she came and complaint that they are too many jumpers. She wanted us to get for her, clothes which are easy to wear. We told her that there are and she can used what she wants ...and she went on to give us a lecture of how inconvenient it is to give Chenya jumpers !!! (as if we didn't know)

Next...declaring war on our maid...!!!!

Confinement lady - A nightmare from Hell (Part I)

2011-08-23T13:28:00.003+08:00

Chenya is now 1 month old. It has been a pretty chaotic and challenging month, not so much with Chenya but more so with the confinement lady that we got.

Honestly, if you ask me now, I would think that confinement is grossly over rated, overly expensive and more of a trouble brewer than a helper in the time when the least you need at home with an addition of a young little baby.

We had one for Ryan when he arrived. It was a last minute arrangement since Ryan arrived prematurely. We called one of those confinement centres and they arranged for Mdm C. We have heard nightmares before and hence we were already very apprehensive. She turned out OK though not without her share of problems at home.

So, when we were expecting Chenya’s arrival, we made sure that we book her in advance (6 months) ahead and requested banked in her RM500 booking fee (non refundable) and the price has increased from the previous RM3000 now to RM3300. It is as if we had a choice.

2 months before Chenya’s arrival, we called her to keep you posted and updated so that she would be prepared. One week before Chenya’s arrival, I gave her a final call to let her know that we are preparing for Chenya’s arrival on the 20th July 2011. And guess what??

She called back and she said that she can’t make it because her daughter is getting married and she is recommending another replacement! WTF!!!! Obviously it was too late now for us to find another replacement and we really do not want to force her to come since she is going to take care of the baby. Held by ransom, we reluctantly agreed with her assurance that the replacement would be a good one. (where have we heard that before??)

I had to pick her up (Mdm L) from Puduraya. On the way back home, she started laying down her ground rules that she will only cook for the mother and baby and that it is their rule that they will only work 28 days. She firmly made clear the date that she would be leaving and if chargeable if extension is required.

I told her that we have bought most of the Chinese herbs required and she was visibly and vocally upset that the various Chinese herbs were not separately and individually packed (ready to be cooked by the medicine hall). She said that she is NOT used to having to cooking without these pre-packed `recipes’.

I was thinking to myself, if you can only cook with pre-packed recipes, then I don’t need you since I can cook myself. Why on earth would I need to pay RM3300 for someone to buy pre-pack soup? WTF!!!

….to be continued …..

Baby Rabbit Girl

2011-08-07T10:29:00.003+08:00

Being chinese, we always associate our year of birth to the animal sign of which we were born under and apparently, each animal brings with her, a unique character.

Well, in my household now, we have a pretty balanced group with the arrival of Baby Chenya. We used to have only one male rabbit which is me in the house and I always jest that I would always loose out in a fight if there is one since there are two rats at home...the big and fiery one, my wife and the little hyper active one being Ryan.

Now, at least, I've got another team member in the Rabbit team...Baby Chenya, the new female rabbit at home...Now, the rabbit team would have a better fighting chance at home...hehehehehehe...

A tender moment with Mommy

2011-08-06T00:25:00.003+08:00

With the arrival of Chenya, needless to say, my DSLR has become very handy in grabbing pictures of our little princess on a daily basis. (Mommy's orders: Must have at least one picture a day).

Captured the above moment on day 16. Love the shot as it shows a tender moment between mommy and her child....

Planning now to do some baby portrait in the next few days. Really hope that it will turn out well....

A sweet moment with Kor Kor

2011-07-28T06:30:00.005+08:00

(Chenya on Day 6)

We are constantly worried with the arrival of Chenya that Ryan would be jealous and unhappy. Well…is he…??

Yes. He does get jealous if we paid too much attention to baby Chenya but at the same time, we know that he loves his sister very much and we are sure that he will protect his sister as they grow up together….

Why? Listen to what he says ….

“Ryan ..eye slugger (Ultra Seven – his hero). Ryan strong. Ryan protect mei mei ….)”

I managed to capture this one shot which I simply adores and would like to share this shot with you…….truly a `Kodak moment’…..

Ryan is a kor kor now

2011-07-23T00:52:00.006+08:00

Ryan is now kor kor.

Yupe. Suddenly, with the arrival of baby Chenya, Ryan has suddenly seemed to us like a big boy now and on occasions, he behaved like one…and we are so very proud of him.

Here is one instance…..

As with all mommies, trying to breast feed is everything and the failure or lack of milk often times turns even the most jovial and care free mommy to a desperate, depressed and disheartened mommy. Coupled with the painful problem of breast engorgement, it can be very very depressing…..

My wife has always been positive and strong but the above proved too much to handle and she broke down while trying so hard to express more milk after Chenya has failed to latch on properly to feed…..

I was concerned naturally and try my very best to encourage and comfort her but unlike the first pregnancy with Ryan where I have to do this alone, I have the best assistant in the world….Ryan…..

He put his hands on her mommy’s arms and with a very very very concern and serious look, comfort her mommy and said, “Mommy..please don’t cry… I love you mommy ….” (…and to think that he is only 3 now…my GOD…it’s amazing)

Looking at them…I know I am truly blessed ……

Chenya at 2 days old at home....
Chenya at 3 days old at home ....a side profile...

Baby Chenya Has ARRIVED!

2011-07-21T00:46:00.011+08:00

Announcing the arrival of baby Chenya on the 20th July 2011 at 13:43 at Damansara Specialist Hospital.

I’m typing this as I watched over her while tired mommy is sleeping. She is one cute baby and a pretty fierce one at that. Yelling at the top of her lungs when she came out and when the nurses took her away from her mommy to be cleaned up…

I believe that she is going to be a handful soon….hahahaha….

A bit of a drama too when we check in 2 nights ago …but more of that later….too tired now to write another line…..

Some pictures of her for the dear uncles and aunties, kor kor and che che here who have been praying for her safe arrival…Thank you very much. Truly appreciate every wish and prayer….

Soon Soon Soon

2011-07-12T11:39:00.001+08:00

Baby girl is now close to 37 weeks now and wife has developed a cough so bad after she caught the flu bug from Ryan. The good news is that the itchiness had subsided significantly after a round of piruton but the cough is really bugging her now. She is coughing so much that she can hardly sleep.

So, we brought forward our appointment with Dr Guna to see what could be done with the cough. Unfortunately, nothing much except some medication. In fact, he was joking that it could be good …hahaha….

Anyway, checks revealed that little baby girl is still not ready as her head is still no engage. The doctor is expecting that to happen anytime next week. Meanwhile, we were asked to go back on Monday early in the morning with bags all packed and ready and if the baby’s head is engaged, he will suggest to induce delivery as the baby is now already 3.1kg and might be a little too huge for wife since she has not been used to delivering a big baby. (Ryan was only 2.2kg when he arrived)…

So, here we are now, waiting for Monday to arrive.

Meanwhile, while waiting, we also went to make another big investment yesterday. With a new baby arriving, we thought that it would be good if we trade in one of our cars for a bigger MPV. And if we don’t get that done this week, we would probably have to wait an entire month if not two (since she would be in her confinement period). We were pretty specific in what we were looking at and the most salesman in town had trouble getting us what we really wanted.

Well, we did find something close to what we want with a small compromise in the interior colour (we wanted something light but we ended with black and grey instead). On hind sight, it would save me a lot of screaming to make sure that Ryan does not dirty them while he climbs from seat to seat.

The confinement lady has been informed to be on standby while my mother is already in town and ready to help us purchase all the necessary Chinese herbs for the coming confinement. It looks like everything is ready for her arrival ….

Exciting times ahead …….(I better had a few more beer before she arrives as I am sure that that would be an activity that I would have to drastically reduce once she is finally here…so Kilkenny, Hoegaarden, Stella and Stalkers at Overtime…here I come …!!!!)

Bitten for the Very First Time!

2011-07-04T10:59:00.005+08:00

Last Sunday, we went to the newly opened Citta Mall at Ara Damansara for a walk besides looking for a place to have our breakfast. We were there a couple of weeks before to try out the Papa Rich which was the only outlet opened then. This round, we see that more restaurants and cafes have opened.

We went to San Franscisco for our set breakfast and Ryan was absolutely crazy over their American breakfast set. In fact, he finished one of the sausages and half of my ham.

After a hearty breakfast, we took him to play sand art for the very first time. He was interested initially but this boy has absolutely no prolong attention span. Half way thru, he was more interested in playing with the color sand in the buckets..!!

Once that was done, we took him to have a look at the pet rabbits that were on display. There were a couple of very furry ones on the table and he enjoyed patting them and they were happily licking and nibbling his hand...(that was when I captured the moment in the picture above!! The little white rabbit gave him a small nibble). Then we saw two more slightly larger ones on another table attended to by the lady behind the stand...Ryan wanted to pat them as well and the lady was kind enough to let him sit on her lap and played with the two rabbits...

Suddenly, one of them gave him a big nibble, a bite actually. Ryan let out a scream and frowned. Blood was oozing out from his tiny thumb. "Rabbit bite me!" Rabbit Bite me!" The lady quickly took some cotton to wipe off the blood and put a plaster over it.

But he was a brave boy. No tears. No crying. Just a massive frown on his forehead and repeatedly said "Pain. Pain. Rabbit bite me!!"

We took him home after that and wash his little wound with Dettol and put on some ointment. The bite was quite nasty for a small little boy. Luckily the bleeding has stopped and it looked fine this morning when I sent him to school.....

So, there you have it...his very first bite by a rabbit ...

Then we Don't, Now WE DO!!!

2011-06-30T10:35:00.001+08:00

Little baby girl is inside her mommy's tummy for 36 weeks now. Just came back from the gynae and all system is go for her expected arrival. We will back for another check up in 2 weeks of which, we can have the option to induce her arrival sooner if we want or simply sit tight and wait for her to decide when she wants to come out from the comfort of her mommy.

Funny. Now, all my wife is thinking about is to have her OUT ASAP!!! We want her OUT and OUT ASAP because she is causing mommy so much discomfort, stress and pain....

Just a month ago, we were doing everything we can to make sure that she does not arrive pre-maturely. Wife was given antibiotics and have to go during the night to the hospital almost weekly to check to make sure that there is no early sign of contradiction....

All we wanted her to do then was to stay put and be comfortable in mommy's tummy.

Now, it's a different story. All we could think of, is for her to come out the early the better....

Hahahaha....parent's dilemma and a pregnant mommy's confused and roller coaster emotion and stress....She better know how to love and appreciate mommy when she arrives....

Looking forward and waiting anxiously....

"all her bags are packed and we'll ready to go ...."

Itchy Itchy EveryWHERE!!!!

2011-06-28T16:15:00.000+08:00

Little baby girl is now into her 36 weeks which means that she is due to arrive anytime now. Unlike Ryan where we were mostly unprepared, we have already packed all the necessary things to bring to the hospital.

GOD..I didn't know that we had to bring that much things. Come to think of it, I don't even remember what we brought along when her water bag burst except to remind her to bring her hand phone charger (Yupe. You can read all about this in my earlier post).

Since Ryan arrived on the 34th week, we are now charting into new territories. The stomach has never been THIS HUGE and THIS HEAVY according to my wife. I really pity her as she walks. She is only a little over 5'4" but to carry all that weight in her small frame...man...must be tough!!!

Occasionally, the little girl would love to remind her dearest mommy that she is there by giving her a good kick or a good punch....OUUUCCHHHHH!!!!!!

But all these, she can endured though tough and painful as it might sound....

It's the itchiness that is driving her insane and up the wall. She itches everywhere nowadays and it is getting from bad to worse. The more she scratches them, the itchier it became...Yeah, yeah...we know...we are not supposed to scratch them...and believe me, she tried to refrain from doing it and it ain't easy...

The itchiness is keeping her from sleeping properly. She was advised to take Piriton which she did only when she couldn't really stand the itchiness. It does help but only for a short 4 hours and it will knock her off...It is getting so itchy that she has resorted to use hot towel to wipe the spots but then again, several websites advised against it...

So, what do we do??? She is getting desperate and I'm getting frustrated that there is not a single thing that I could do to help except to watch helplessly.

Yes..many have told us that it will go away once the baby arrives but then again, she has not and we have no idea when...so how???? Any good advice or tips????

Rare Public Display of Raw Emotion

2011-06-26T08:41:00.005+08:00

"YOU FXXKING ASSHOLE!!" a woman's voice screamed!

"...YOU FXXKING SHUT UP! JUST FXXKING SHUT THE FXXK UP!!" a man's voice was heard yelling back!

"NO! YOU FXXKING SHUT UP!" the woman retorted...

"..AND YOU ARE FXXKING STUPID!" the man continued ...

Suddenly everyone at the busy Bangsar Village was silent and many were seen rushing out from shops to see what the commotion was. We were on the escalator going up to the other floor and was taken aback with the sudden outburst. Ryan was more dramatic. He frowned and started to look for the source of the commotion. At the same time, he being curious as he is, asked "What noise ?? What noise??"

The noise came from a couple shouting at each other. The woman was relentless and the man began to shout back while still holding his young daughter. After a few more outbursts, the little girl began to cry....

Our hearts go out for innocent little girl who must have been totally frightened over the whole incident and probably have no idea to the outburst ...

What could have trigger this very rare public display of raw emotion? Could it have been bottled emotions, anger, discontentment that has finally erupted like a volcano in all her unstoppable fury? Or could it be their normal display of frank emotion without restraint that will lead to an equally wild and unrestrained making up ????

I believe every couple have their bad days. We have our share of disagreements, different opinions, argument and discontentment with each other ...but we have not so far once, went to raising our voice towards each other, let alone in front of Ryan.

What were they thinking of.? Of could be bottled up anger that could no longer be contained? I wonder ....but the real innocent victim would have to be the little girl...

Have you ever argue or fought in front of your children? How do you deal with arguments with your spouse?

His garage!!

2011-06-10T10:10:00.003+08:00

Soon, we would have to consider moving to a larger property with a bigger garage because Ryan's fleet of cars, bicycles, tricycles and what not, is getting larger over each birthdays.

If only there are actual ferrari's, mercs, BMWs, audi's or Bentleys....sigh

Children nowadays are so lucky and pampered...At my age back then, all these are but dreams and wishes that will never come true..

King is not Enough!

2011-06-09T21:04:00.003+08:00

We have been trying for ages to get Ryan to sleep in his own bed without much success...He now permanently occupies the center part of our King size bed. With one more baby coming in July, God knows where I am going to sleep next...and then again, there is still Zoewe, our toy poodle who absolutely just cannot be left alone (pretty much like her mommy and brother Ryan)...

I walked up to my bedroom that night, tired and all ready to just lay down on my comfy pillow for my sweet slumber when I came across this....... emmmmm....

King is simply not enough..I need a double King size bed soon or else I will be sleeping on the floor ....sigh....

3 years old Party - Third Wave !

2011-06-05T10:04:00.004+08:00

This is will be his third 3 years old small celebration with several people who have grown to love him very much and have literally watched him grow up.

There is this Chinese restaurant where we stay and we have been frequenting it for almost 50% of our dinners. The lady supervisor, the chef to the kakak who brings us our drinks have grown to adore Ryan over the last 3 years.

Every now and then, they will buy toys for Ryan or take him to the 7-Eleven located a couple of shops away. Ryan absolutely adores them and even called the lady supervisor, 'Kai Ma' (god mum). She is of course absolutely delighted.

For his birthday this year, they bought him a cart that he could ride at home.

So, it is only a reasonable thing to do when we bought a small birthday cake and make it a point for Ryan to celebrate his birthday with them and get them to blow out his birthday candles. We wanted Ryan to remember (I certainly hope that he does and if not, I hope that this blog will remind him) of the people who have watched him grow, who have become part of his life as he journey through life and the people who have loved and adored him. We wanted him to learn to be thankful and grateful and know from a very young age that he is indeed a lucky boy with so many people around him that loves him.

3 years old Party - Second Wave!!

2011-06-02T00:06:00.007+08:00

Ryan's birthday has always been celebrated in waves....lucky boy. The first wave was with his mommy's best and close friends and colleagues who all have almost watched him grow from a tiny baby to a cheeky, jumpy and super active boy today ....

Since he has been attending a daycare school for the last couple of months, we thought it would be a fantastic idea to have him celebrate his birthday with his classmates, and his school encourages it.

On Friday, which was the last Friday before they closed for the school holidays, the school planned for a costume party with the `Superhero' theme. We thought it would be an excellent idea to have his little birthday party with his classmates then.

The challenge was of course to find him his superhero costume. We were informed on Monday and we had to get him his costume by Friday which does not leave us much time to hunt or make one within 4 days, considering that most of us are working parents. I had wanted to make him a Iron Man costume but after checking out on the web, the efforts needed are just too much to complete within 4 days. At the same time, we really wanted him to be proud when he walked into school on Friday.

After some frantic last minute check searching through Google, I finally managed to call one shop located near Cold Storage at Jaya One who do have superhero costume for a 3 year old. The choices were rather limited ..and I have made up my mind on what Ryan would wear...and I was pretty sure that he would look absolutely charming in it... AND I WAS RIGHT!

For one morning he was BATMAN!!!! And he enjoyed every minute of it...
I was totally impressed with the school and the teachers because they too, went all out to make sure that the party was a success. The teachers and helpers were also in various superhero costumes. There were Spiderman, Superman, Robin and Ryan's class gorgeous class teacher was Optimus Prime (my favorite Transformer!!!)
He did have his chance to blow his birthday cupcakes candles with his classmates and I hope that he will remembers it...if not, I hope that this entry in this blog will ....

A Very Pretty Glowing and A very pregnant mommy

2011-05-31T20:35:00.003+08:00

I have always been intrigued with the beautifully taken pictures of pregnant mommies with their protruding tummy, that moment captured for all eternity.

So when my wife suggested that some shots be taken, being a avid photographer game to try out new challenges, I am more than happy to have a ever willing model for it. Where else am I going to convince another pregnant stranger to have me photograph her pregnant belly.

We were having a weekend holiday at Shangri-La KL, celebrating Ryan's 3rd birthday. We grab the opportunity to use the nice setting in the room for some shots.

This is definitely my first attempt at photographing a pregnant woman and I was frantically searching the web for some tips and tricks. It will also be the last time that I will be photographing my wife's very pregnant belly as we will be closing our production line after this....so, this is now or never ....

Wife is shy in showing the pictures taken, afraid that she would look unsightly but I think she has the most beautiful pregnant belly of all...and she really glows! (I think all husbands will think the same thoughts of their wives anyway).

So, without showing off any other pictures without her permission, I cannot help but to share this one picture which I loves very much ....

3 years of PURE JOY!

2011-05-31T06:19:00.010+08:00

30th May 2011

Ryan finally turned 3 today. We have gone through great times with him in the last 3 years. He has brought us pure joy and occasional `nightmares' but everyday he surprises us with his new learning, new words, new actions with pure cheekiness...

I can still remember vividly 3 years ago, when wife was hospitalized early when her water bag burst. She was given steroids, antibiotic and medication to delay his arrival as he was pre-matured and the doctor wanted to make sure that his lungs have developed fully and properly. On the 29th May 2011, the doctor came and after a last minute check, confirmed that Ryan will be ready for delivery and scheduled the anticipated delivery the next morning from 9 to 10 am onwards. He stopped the medication that delayed the contraction at around 6pm. By 7pm, the contraction started. I remembered the nurses were checking on the contractions the whole night and we knew that this is it...Ryan is finally coming....

We have decided early that we are definitely going to get epidural despite advices from some well intended relatives and friends. However, given that my wife will even panic when she has to do a blood test, I just cannot imagine her having to go through the ordeal without it. By 12 midnight, we told the nurses that we need epidural. She came back with a form and asked us to read the small print bla bla bla before we sign...My wife was in too much pain to even bother then..."Just give me the pen and sign!"

And then we found out that the doctor to administer the epidural have to come from Ampang. We were told that he has been informed. When you are experiencing labour pain, every minute is like an hour, and he took one full hour to arrive ...hair unkempt (as if he just woke up from his sleep) and in slippers....(See also panic!.) He administered the first dose and said that it should work in 30 minutes....

30 minutes went past..and nothing! Wife was grabbing my arms and squeezing it so tight that I would need the epidural injection next....We called the nurse and he came in, looking puzzled! (Although I looked cool and calm then, I can tell you...panic lar...) He checked and then said he will administer a little bit more...and said something like "full dose already...emmmm" (You tell me....panic or not??)

I think the epidural finally worked around 3pm and wife got to sleep a bit. I was too tired by then and I went back to her room to grab a nap, ready for Ryan's arrival the next morning....

Woke up at about 6:50a.m and after brushing my teeth, stumbled to the labour room. Dr Guna was already there and RYAN WAS COMING!!!...OMG! So early ar???

Rushed back to the room, grabbed the video camera and ran to the labour room ..arriving just in time to hear my wife pushing and screaming ....Too panicky and no time to switch on video camera lar....just hold her hands and told her to push like hell...Dr Guna said "Can see the head now." I went to have a look and with one final push, "Whoossshh.....RYAN FINALLY ARRIVED!!" The first thought....RELIEF!!!...and the JOY then sank in .....

Time of arrival : 7:13 am.
Weight: 2.22kg
Length: 44 cm

....and I'm getting ready to go through all this again soon.....hahahaha.....

(Images captures with my Nikon D90 with Nikkor 50mm 1.8 portrait lens)

The Green Monster

2011-05-26T10:23:00.003+08:00

Well...here is the picture of the Green Monster that some of you wanted to have a look from my last post on his 3 years old Birthday party ....

This very good friend promised that he will bring a `surprise' and the surprise turned out to be him in this Green Monster suit to surprise Ryan....

Unfortunately, my poor boy who is normally quite brave was totally horrified and terrified of him and have absolutely nothing to do with him....Not only is he so scared of the monster, he insisted that the monster suit which was lying on the ground in our home after our friend has taken it off, be taken out of the house ...!!

The funniest story of course was when he told us how he got to the wrong house along the same road who were also having a party, walked in completely suited up with minimum vision helped by his friend and started to realize that he has went to the wrong house when he could not recognize anyone there....

He told us as he turned and leave, he heard the children there (I guessed they were totally excited by then, thinking that they would have a green monster for their party) asking their parents or the adults, "Why is he GOING AWAY??" obviously with lots of disappointment ...

Sunday at CyberJaya

2011-05-25T00:44:00.010+08:00

Last Sunday my wife wanted to drive by Cyberjaya to check out some new property launches out of curiousity and we took the opportunity to bring Ryan to the Cyberview Lodge for some fun photography. He was having a blast and I was happy having a super happy model running everywhere and posing ever so willingly.

The property that we were looking at are located near the Perdana Lakeview. So, we took the opportunity to capture some pictures of him against the backdrop of the lake and the scenic bridge at Putrajaya.

He was wearing the boxing gloves that he got as birthday present the night before.
A very pregnant mommy with this super active monster ....
He was super happy at the CyberView Lodge because there were plenty of space for him to run ...
I love this shot where mother and son was captured walking in unison .....

His ever famous Kung Fu Ip Man Wing Chun stance when taking pictures and I love this shot which captured that right moment ...
Fooling around captured on camera ...
I simply just love that cheeky grin on his face ....
One last picture with mommy before we headed for a drink by the poolside bar and left the place before the heavy downpour came down ......another Sunday afternoon well spent with loved ones and many wonderful moments captured to be remembered and cherished for a long time to come ...

3 years old Party - First Wave !!

2011-05-23T16:46:00.010+08:00

It's May again and Ryan will turn 3 end of the month. We just had our first wave of parties to celebrate his 3 years old birthday. The first wave was held at home with some of my wife's close friends and colleagues, many of whom has literally watched him grow as well as those whom we have assigned the roles of `nannies' when they come visiting .....

For this celebration, we scout through the Internet and found this lovely lady who was very kind and gracious to rush us this beautiful Mickey Mouse and Mickey Mouse Club House cake complete with 32 individual cup cakes. We were thoroughly happy and thrilled with the cake and so were the guests.....

This year unlike last year where we invited over 50 friends, we have only invited only 16 very close friends and instead of catering like last year, I have decided to make some simple finger food and turned it into a wine and cocktail dinner party. Was rather busy cooking and preparing and hence only managed to grab only a few pictures of some of the finger food served for the night.....

Chicken Liver Pate served with tortilla chips ...
Smoked Salmon Dip served with tortilla chips ...
Pan Seared Tuna served on a piece of fresh lettuce with ebiko topping and wasabi sauce .....
Shrimp with bacon wrap served with Mango salsa in a fresh tomato .....
Mash potato with corned beef served in a oven baked potato skin ....

The night went well. A good friend even tried to surprise Ryan by purposely hiring a green dragon suit and came all dressed up (poor guy actually walked into the wrong house along the same road that was also having a birthday party and have to `run' away from the children of the wrong house). Unfortunately, our ever brave Ryan turned out to be totally horrified of the green dragon and decided to have absolutely nothing to do with it...a sincere effort went wasted but we as parents were absolutely delighted and grateful to this friend of ours who went through all the trouble ....:)

First 3D Glimpse

2011-05-19T19:17:00.003+08:00

Date : 17th May 2011

We had our first 3D glimpse of our baby girl now that she is 29 weeks old. We wanted to do a full 3D scan. However, she wasn't too cooperative and the best image the doctor managed to get was the one above. Hence, we will be going back in two weeks time to do another 3D scan and hopefully we have better images of her.

For a time being, we are glad to have our first 3D glimpse of our soon to arrive new member of our family. Wife is officially grounded and would have to be monitored closely for the next 5 weeks to ensure that she doesn't have a premature delivery just like when we have Ryan.

Our anxious wait continues .....

Invasion of Gadgets !!!

2011-05-17T10:21:00.003+08:00

The arrival of iPhone and iPad have I believed drastically changed the lifestyle of many both locally and abroad. I think (my opinion solely) that the craze has reached a feverish pitch which I think it's rather unhealthy.

I was having my dinner with my wife the other day at the Hyatt Saujana Ara Damansara. While we were talking and waiting for our dinner to be served, in walk a group of young people, 6 of them in their early 20s. They were sitting a couple of tables of away and the moment when everyone settled down in their seats, everyone brought out their SMART phones and iPhones and were all busy typing, texting, checking and God knows what...they were doing with the handset ....

Question: Why bother to meet up for lunch where everyone basically will sit there round the table and were busy texting someone else or busy updating their facebook telling others where they are and what they were eating...

Or would you let your children play with some apps on the iphone or ipad in order to keep them quiet during a function outside? I'm actually in a dilemma here. On one hand, I know for a fact that I will be able to keep Ryan glued to his seat if I give him something to occupy him like our phones or probably a Sony portable playstation (I think that is what it is called)....but on the other hand, am I starting him young on getting addicted to video games and replacing that with the simple pleasures of life like climbing trees and catching spiders and butterflies like I used to do ...

If he gets totally addicted to computer games or online games later in life and neglect his studies, can I discipline him in all honesty knowing that it was I who introduced him to it in the first place .....

What do you as parents think?

Getting Ryan ready .....

2011-05-16T11:11:00.003+08:00

Ryan will turn 3 this coming 30th May and our little baby girl is now 30 weeks old. We believe that a 3 years gap between the old would be a good age gap between the two. Hopefully, they will get along well and he will love and protect his baby sister once she arrived.

I heard that a year gap between two siblings is not ideal as they tend to fight over things quite a fair bit. I for one is one example as I'm only one year older than my sister and I remembered that we fought like dogs and cats....

Anyway, we are doing everything we can to prepare Ryan for her arrival. Ryan is a rather possessive boy and demands lots of attention. I'm a little worry that he would be jealous and thinks that we don't love him as much when his baby sister arrives. We are quite glad at least Ryan is more receptive of my wife's pregnancy now. Whenever, we asked where is mei mei (sister), he would now point to his mommy's stomach and says, "..in mommy's stomach ...". We are also constantly getting him to rub his mommy's tummy to sayang (love) his sister and getting him to kiss the tummy to kiss his sister. So far, to our relief, he is rather receptive....all fingers crossed now as we prepare for the little one arrival ....

Any other good tips for us from parents who are experienced here ????

When the water bag burst...bring the handphone charger !!

2011-05-12T10:47:00.000+08:00

Ryan is almost 3 years old now. As my wife and I were sitting yesterday at Damansara Specialist Center waiting to get my stress test done, (and we were there since 10am in the morning!), we were discussing on how should we celebrate his coming 3rd birthday. Naturally, we ended up talking and remembering fondly his arrival 3 years ago ....and I'm still laughed at for doing probably one of the most unlikely or `stupidest' thing in my life....

Wife was carrying Ryan for 34 weeks then. She was coughing badly and her work load has been pretty stressful during that period. May was their financial year closing, hence, the pressure of chasing of sales figures to make up the volume or the stretch target was always there ...

On the 28th May night, she came back late at 11pm after a stressful meeting with her boss. I remembered she walked in wearily and was so tired that she said she will skip dinner and would probably just take a bath and retired. Ryan was not due for another couple of weeks. Suddenly, she called out from the bathroom, while sitting on the toilet seat saying that she is `leaking'. I came rushing in and not knowing what to say (honestly) told her to continue sitting and wait awhile if the `leak' continues. After another minute or two, she said `yes..still leaking with a bit of blood.'

Honestly, I have started panicking inside but being a all macho husband, have to put up a brave front. Don't know ask me why, but the next thing I told her to do was....'Ok. Go and have your bath first.' Maybe experience tells me that a bath is something she would not have a chance to take for the next couple of weeks if Ryan is really arriving.

After her shower, she confirmed that she was still `leaking'. "Ok" I told her. "Water bag burst liow. Time to go hospital for check up now." sounding confident and like I really knew what I was doing.

So we changed and get ourselves ready. Then she asked me what to bring along. And I told her to make sure to bring her handphone charger !!!!! Why? I really don't know. Maybe because somehow I have the inclination that she would be admitted and would need to make calls. Maybe because she has the tendency to run her phone battery to the ground and always complained that her handphone battery is flat. Maybe because I knew that she would still be making calls over the next few days (even in the hospital) to chase sales figures since it is the financial year closing. I really don't know why. But, my wife obediently pack her handphone charger and off we went to the hospital.

Her water bag did burst though the baby wasn't due yet. Wife ended up hosptilised for another 2 days with medication and steroids to prepare Ryan's arrival, planned on the 31st May. Was the handphone charger useful? OF COURSE! During her two days there, she DID made those calls to chase for the figures required.

Would I remind her to bring the handphone charger this round for our coming daughter? Of course besides other equally important items such as change of clothes, hot water tumbler etc..hahahaha

Fooling around with a very pregnant lady ....

2011-05-03T00:56:00.010+08:00

Date : 2nd May 2011

We took the opportunity of the long weekend with Labour Day to stay over at the Shangrila Hotel Kuala Lumpur. My wife has been travelling rather frequently to Singapore over the last 2 months. Not being comfortable of her flying alone (besides the opportunity for me to travel to Singapore to explore the city with my Nikon), I have been travelling with her as well, leaving Ryan home with the maid and my mother in law.

Hence, we thought of compensating our `lost' time with Ryan with a stay at Shang so that could have some quality time besides allowing him to enjoy himself at the pool.

I have always wanted to take some pictures of my very pregnant wife as part of the memories that we could pass on to our soon to arrive daughter, reminding her how heavy and difficult it must have been for her mommy to carry her full term. (It somehow didn't occur to me to grab some shots when we were expecting Ryan. Probably, the DSLR bug has not caught up then).

Anyway, we had some pretty good fun capturing the following pictures ....

His latest obsession ....

2011-04-25T20:36:00.003+08:00

This is his latest obsession - the torchlight!

The torchlight, a courtesy from his grandmother who is here, staying a couple of days to take care of him while we travel to Singapore. With it, he is constantly going into unlit rooms, the kitchen, kakak's room or finding any excuse to go upstairs to play with it.

Well, at least he is NOT jumping, climbing the sofa or kicking. The only sad thing is poor Zoewe simply just can not find a quiet place to take a nap, as she will have the torchlight beam shining directly into her eyes wherenever she goes.

Took the above picture inside the toilet in perfect darkness and he enjoyed every minute of it ...

Are your children as obsessed with the torchlight as Ryan?

His very first BURGER!

2011-04-24T22:20:00.004+08:00

Date: 24th April 2011

Ryan had his FIRST burger from McDonald's today. This is not his first trip to McDonald's but what he had before was just the fries.

I had to work today and his mommy has promised to take him to McDonald's today. So, they went for their lunch. I heard he has a blast at the playground. When I arrived home, he happily took out his burger and showed me and was happily munching away.

Another simple yet memorable milestone for him.

Medicine Time

2011-04-23T22:00:00.004+08:00

Ryan has been having a running nose and cough for over 2 weeks now. He has visited the doctor twice during this period and we have stopped him from going to his play school for three days now.

He is not really getting any better actually and he has very a dry cough especially in the middle of the night. Over the last two nights, he has vomited his milk and phlegm over the bed due to the severity of his cough.

During the last visit, the doctor has recommended an inhaler and separate medications, Flixotide (2 puffs once every morning) and Ventolin Evohaler (2 puffs every four hours or when he coughs badly). Hopefully, that would help clear his nose block and the phlegm. Besides the inhaler, he has to take at least three other types of medication. For most parents, I think, getting their young one to take this could be a nightmare...well, we had that problem for a while ....

Nowadays, Ryan simply loves his medicine. All we really need to do is to pass him the syringe with the medicine and he will gladly and eagerly pump the whole content into his mouth without any fuss....

Getting him to do the inhaler is not too difficult either with the condition that I would have to inhale from the inhaler too after he has finished...(well, a small price to pay to get him to get his proper medication).

So, does your child make a big fuss when it comes to medication time?

Picture taken tonight when Zoewe just came back from her grooming. I was experimenting with my Nikon SB700 flashgun and he gladly pose for me....(the same can't be said of Zoewe who was just too eager to get out from his grip).

I am Humbled!

2011-03-24T16:01:00.002+08:00

I was totally humbled by my son the other day.

Over weekend, we went out in the morning. When we arrived home, Ryan was his usual active self, jumping, climbing and running all over the house.

As it was time for his milk, he told me he wanted his milk. We were downstairs and we had a tin of his milk powder stored in the kitchen.

Instead of wanting the maid to make it for him, he insisted that I make it for him. I am used to making his milk at night upstairs everyday but I have seldom make it for him during the day downstairs. Anyway, since he wanted me to make it, i went to the kitchen, opened the cabinet door and pull out a can of milk powder. I filled up his bottle with the right amount of hot and cold water and open the can of milk powder. As I looked the milk powder, I am already wondering why the milk powder looks different from the one I used every night.

And at the moment, this little rascal was shouting "NO! I don't want this ONE!"

"Go away! Go and Play first" I replied thinking that he was just being difficult and wanted more attention.

"NO! I don't want this ONE!" he insisted.

"Daddy said Go and wait!" I was getting impatient.

"NO. Not this ONE! THIS IS MOMMY'S ONE!" he shouted in reply.

OMG!. I took one look at the label and true enough, I have pull out the ENFAMAMA instead of his Pedisure. And the ENFAMAMA is my wife's milk powder. And I was about to make him a bottle of ENFAMAMA if he has not been so insistent that he DOES NOT WANT this bottle.

My wife has the BEST LAUGH! I was truly HUMBLED! I told him I was so sorry for shouting at him and thank him for correcting me, giving him a big big hug.

He of course, was on cloud nine, laughing cheekily for the next half an hour. My wife has not stop laughing since......

It's a GIRL `Baby Dinosaur'!

2011-03-07T12:35:00.004+08:00

Date : 6th March 2011

Took wife for her normal check up with the Dr Guna. Baby is now 20 weeks old. We took Ryan along to start preparing him for the arrival of his new sibling.

When we asked him earlier whether he wanted another baby sister or baby brother, he had always said 'No! Ryan only!' So, we guessed, having him witness the pregnancy and seeing the baby during the scan will arouse his curiosity and prepare him better.

As usual, Dr Guna apply some gel and started scanning. As I carried him in my arms, he was pretty curious over the entire process. Then Dr Guna switched on the sound for us to hear the baby's heartbeat.

He looked excited (as he is always pretty dramatic) and asked "What noise? What noise?"

We explained that that is the heartbeat of his baby sister/brother and pointed to the images of the baby.

To everybody amazement, he said "Dinosaur!"

I immediately stepped in attempting to correct him. "No. That's NOT dinosaur' That's a baby". Then he correctly himself and said "BABY DINOSAUR!" (Even Dr Guna laughed at this point in time).

After more explanation, he finally said 'Baby 'ngoi ngoi' (sleeping) inside mommy's stomach'.

As Dr Guna was rotating the baby around, he asked "You want to know the gender?"

Of course. Although we are fine with either sex, but we would really love to have a girl this round since we already have Ryan in the house. And he confirmed it...

"It's a GIRL...."

My wife is already planning of the next shopping spree ........!!!!!

Bowl Bento! Bowl Bento! ????

2011-02-26T23:51:00.004+08:00

What do you think that phrase actually is? Beats me initially. Let me tell you how it got started....

We were driving Ryan to Cheras to pick up his grandmother. On the way, in the midst of our conversation, my wife asked me what I would like to do for my birthday (which is due next month). While I was thinking and contemplating how to answer her...my son answered for me ....

'EAT!' he said....

I looked at him and said 'Huh? What?'

...and he repeated again..."EAT! Daddy eat. Mommy eat. Ryan eat. Poh Poh eat. Ma Ma eat.'

We were pleasantly surprised. He has associated birthdays with eating and parties because we always have a good dinner when there is someone having a birthday at home. For a child not even 3, I think he is pretty smart (sorry..I'm again being bias ....)

Then he uttered 'Bowl Bento! Bowl Bento!'

"What?" I asked and he repeated again 'Bowl Bento!'
"Bowl Bento?" I asked again and he was getting frustrated and impatient that I could not understand him.
"No...Bowl Bento!' he repeated himself.

I looked at my wife and my wife asked again, "Bowl what?"

He was getting really frustrated by now and repeated himself again. "Bowl Bento! Fire Bento!" and he put his lips together and blew .....

Have you guessed by now what this little monster is trying to tell us?

"BLOW CANDLES!" That was what he was trying to tell us. For my birthday, I need to blow candles for my birthday cake.

Now I am convinced that I have a genius on my hand ...(getting overly bias by now but then hei, I just can't help it...he has inherited my genes ....Hahaha)

First BOAT Ride!

2011-02-22T14:02:00.007+08:00

Date : 15th February 2011 (Birthday of Prophet Muhammad S.A.W.)

It was a public holiday. We have to sent my mother in law back to my brother in law's house in Cheras. And since we will be going that way, we thought that we go a little earlier and drop by the Mines Wonderland to give Ryan his very first BOAT ride.

We told him about it and he was obviously very excited. We left our house by 10am and were there by 11am. We stopped by the Uncle John Kopitiam located just next to the canal for our breakfast. We had a tough time getting him in check because he just could not contain his excitement seeing the water and the boats.

Once breakfast was over, we got ourselves tickets for tour the North Lake which is a longer tour taking approximately 50 minutes. I have taken the South Lake tour over a decade ago and honestly I wasn't impressed. Hence my expectation this round is minimal (if not any)....

We were the first to board the boat and hence got ourselves the front seats with the best view. As we waited for other passengers to board, Ryan was talking excitedly non stop. The moment the boatman came on board, he was telling the boatman that he is going for a boat ride! (over and over again).

The `water lift' was pretty interesting where the boat has to displace water in order to lower the boat from the canal within the shopping centre grounds to the actual lake. The moment the boat hits the lake, Ryan was ecstatic!!! There were only three other children on board but you could hear only one voice throughout the 50 minutes....HIS!!!

Mommy and Ryan with their 'Titanic' style pose!

Overall, it was a very pleasant experience and for Ryan, memorable and exciting. I guessed we have more fun watching him having fun than the boat ride itself ....but then again, that's the joy of every parent out there ......

First LRT Ride!

2011-02-13T16:13:00.004+08:00

2nd day of 2011 Chinese New Year.

We have always wanted to let Ryan experience riding the LRT. However, with so many people during the normal weekends, we have postponed the idea till now....

So, on the second day of Chinese New Year after a lunch at my sister's place, we decided to take him to ride the LRT down to KLCC just for the fun of it. Since we stayed near the Kelana Jaya LRT station (which is the last stop), we could easily find a place for him on the very first coach so that he could have an unobstructed view of the track as the LRT glides towards our destination.

Needless to say, he was all excited every time our train passed another train on the opposite direction. On arrival at KLCC, we found the place packed with tourists and lots and lots of foreign workers out on a holiday. So, instead of walking about, we find ourselves a nice spot in Chinoz. I ordered a nice pint of cold German beer and some food while we watched the traffic goes by before taking the train back 3 hours later .....

Needless to say, we as parents are as excited as him on his first LRT ride ...!!

Kids say the funniest things !!!

2011-02-09T11:21:00.002+08:00

1st day of 2011 Chinese New Year.

Kids sometimes come up with lines that will totally either amaze and surprise you OR totally embarrass you.

For courtesy and since this is the Chinese New Year period, we have been teaching Ryan to say "Gong Xi! Gong Xi!" while holding his hands together and he picks it up rather quickly.

On the first day, we asked him to great us `Gong Xi! Gong Xi!' early in the morning and in return (as in our Chinese tradition) gave him his red packet (ang pow). He gladly takes it and attempt to put it into his pocket. (We have told him the night before that ang pow has money inside and he must be careful with it while we were packing our ang pows for the new year).

Before we went out, we called our helper (maid) and gave her an ang pow, telling her that it is our tradition as Chinese to do that for the new year. She gladly (of course) took the ang pow and said 'Thank You sir and maam".

Then I jokingly asked her to hold her hands together and say `Gong Xi! Gong Xi!' as a gesture to greet guests during the new Year. As she hold her hand together to utter those greetings, Ryan intercepted with his version of the instruction.....

"Say Gong Xi! Gong Xi! Got MONEY wan.....!!!"

OMG! (Slap forehead)....We were definitely amused since he said it in front of our maid...but I would probably dig a hole to hide out of embarrassment IF he were to say it right before our guests or friends ....!

Creative ??

2011-02-07T16:22:00.003+08:00

Happy Chinese New Year Everyone. Here's wishing everyone a very FRUITFUL, PRODUCTIVE, PROSPEROUS and HEALTHY Year of the Bunny!

Ryan is now 2 years and 8 months but the way he is learning and picking up lines, remembering things and doing stuff on a daily basis now, never ceased to amaze us. Many at times, we seemed to forget that he is not even 3 years old (Too bad for him, cause I tend to be a little harsh on him treating him like he is 3!! ...sorry son..if you read this some years down the road when you are older).

On the 3rd day of New Year (after an eventful day running around and posing for pictures for his camera crazy daddy and his auntie (sai ku cheh) who just got her new Nikon D3100 DSLR), while relaxing at home and playing with his toys (which are boxes by now), he came up with his version of an AEROPLANE, complete with a pilot !!!!

I remembered making one just like this more than 6 months ago while playing with him and had not revisit this since. Amazing! He made this purely either of his imagination (which he has lots), or creativity or merely remembering the one I made before. Whichever the case may be, THIS IS SIMPLY THE MOST CREATIVE AEROPLANE THAT BOTH OF US HAVE EVER SEEN!!! (Sorry, being parents, we are bound to be pretty bias on our judgment...Hahaha).

Ra Ra ah ah ah.. Roma Roma ma ....Gaga Oh la la

2011-01-28T11:34:00.002+08:00

My little boy has always taken a liking to music even before he started to walk. And he has always been shaking his bump and his body when we switched on music in our car stereo but he is into HOT HOT music with lots of tempo and beat...

It is therefore no surprise that one of his favourite singer is none other than LADY GAGA!

He has been listening to her songs off and on for some time now, whether in the car or when we go karaoke but it never occurs to me that he can memorized them.

I was driving him to school this morning and while waiting a the traffic light, I was unconsciously singing ..."Ra Ra ah ah ah...Roma Roma ma ..." and before I could go to the "Gaga .." part, he looked at me and to my amazement, said "BAD ROMANCE!!!"

And I said "What?" and he repeated himself ..."BAD ROMANCE!"

I asked him who the singer was... and he said " GAGA!"

Emmmmm....not bad for 2.5 years old boy ....and it took me weeks to remember the first line and even longer to remember the name of the song ....

"Stan Notty Coner N Cly!!!"

2011-01-27T13:19:00.003+08:00

Yupe...
That's exactly what I got from my little rascal the other day.

And this is the exact words that we used to reprimand him when he is extremely naughty. We have decided not to use the cane as much as possible and we have not start either. We found out that the most effective way to punish him is to `banish' him from our side, either make him to go upstairs with kakak or to make him stand at a designated corner of our house known to him as the `Naughty corner'.

We would scold him and told him to go to his naughty corner and stand there and cry all he wants and he is not allow to leave the naughty corner unless we ask for him or he starts to say sorry for being naughty.

So, the other day, I accidentally split on water on the table. This little cheeky fella saw and asked "Who make?"

And mommy pointed at me and said " Daddy made".

He immediately pointed his accusing finger at me and said "oooooooooorrrrrrr...."

Then with a stern and serious face, said, "Go....Stan Notty Coner and cly!"
followed by "no notty !!!!"
followed by "go upstairs !!!!"

We were stunned and at the same time amused. I got a shot of my very own medicine...hahahaha
So, had no choice but to say sorry to him and said 'Daddy no more notty' .....

123456789 and 10

2011-01-24T10:24:00.002+08:00

Date : 23rd Jan 2011

"1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10!" he shouted ......

We stopped whatever we were doing and asked him to repeat it one more time......

"1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10!" he shouted again in one breath !

We were ecstatic. We finally got him to count from one to ten. We have been trying to teach him counting for months now. He has been pretty good with `1,2,3, and 4', always got stuck at `5' and will be able to continue from `6' till '10' if he paid attention to what he is doing. But never once has he been able to count from 1 to 10 correctly.

Our repeated attempts to get him to count correctly again proved futile as he was now in his cheeky and playful mood and just refused to focus and concentrate.

Just the other day, he wanted me to sleep with him on the mattress on the floor of the living room while watching his favourite Ultraman DVD. I was just too tired and was really comfortable sitting on the sofa. So, I told him to count to TEN before I would go down to sleep with him.

Count to TEN he did but he took a shortcut!

`Eight, Nine, TEN!' FINISH!' he shouted back.....

I had to leave my comfortable sofa and crawled down to sleep with him on his mattress while he put his leg comfortably on my stomach because although I did tell him to count to TEN (and he DID), I didn't specifically told him when to start counting .....

I guess I better be MORE SPECIFIC now with my instructions .....

Cravings for Pasta

2011-01-20T23:48:00.003+08:00

Like I have mentioned in my earlier post, the cravings changes everyday and what is surprising is that things that my wife loves before, she dislikes. Food that she can't stand before, she craves.

Every lunch and dinner is pretty challenging nowadays as her cravings or the the food that she felt like taking changes everyday.

Just a couple of nights ago, she has a craving for pasta. Luckily we still had some left over spaghetti at home. So, it was a quick spaghetti aglio olio with basil leaves, fresh chili, corned beef with broccoli (since I read somewhere that broccoli is good for pregnant mothers as they are loaded with folic acid besides the fact that it is the only vegetable I had in the fridge at that point in time.)

I wonder what her next cravings would be .......

Stomach Pain excuse!

2011-01-17T10:36:00.002+08:00

Fourth morning to play school.

For the first three mornings, he has been hesitant to get up to go play school and used the excuse that he was still sleepy and wanted to continue to sleep. However, we still managed to get him to change, get him into the car and once he gets to the school and seeing all the children there, he would be fine.

The fourth morning was no different. He was his usual grumpy self, rolling all over the bed and complained that he wanted to `oi oi' (sleep) some more. When we managed to finally get him to change and brush his teeth, he refused to go downstairs, knowing that he has to go `school'.

After much persuasion, we managed to get him downstairs and put him on the sofa to wear his socks and shoes. As we are preparing to leave, he came out with a new `excuse'....

He pulled up his shirt and rub his stomach and said, "Stomach pain pain...no school.." and lied on the sofa.....

.....AND he is only 2.5 years old !!!! OMG!

I wonder what excuse he will come up with next in order to avoid school...and this is ONLY the FOURTH DAY!!!

First day at School

2011-01-10T16:45:00.004+08:00

Today is the day. The first day to school. We have just changed his daycare/school from the previous one to this new one known as Little Footprints. He has been attending daycare for the last six months but were sick so frequently that we have opted to change to this new center which looks better managed, more passionate towards the welfare of children and definitely looks much cleaner.

After more than 2 months not having to go to `school' we were apprehensive of how he would behaved this morning. We could not get him to sleep any earlier last night and we dread having to wake him up this morning.

At 8am, I gave him a gentle push and told him to get up. The first thing he did was giving me a frown and said "I don't want to go school!" (We didn't even tell him the night before that he was supposed to go school. How on earth did he knows, beats me!). Then "I don't want to go `mum mum' (eat)" followed by "I don't want to go `kai kai' (out)". Then he turned away and mumbled "Ryan want `ngoi ngoi' (sleep)"....

So, in order not to agitate him any further, we went to have our shower and let him lazed around a bit more. Then as expected, he wanted his milk. Made him his milk and he was having it with his eyes half closed..I was worried as to how to get him to dress without him making a big fuss!...

Luckily, after he finished his milk, he got up, still holding on to his pillow. I tried my luck and asked him to brush his teeth. Surprisingly, he agreed. OK..first hurdle done!..While he was brushing his teeth, I suggested that he changed his clothes and diapers. "OK daddy!" Phew...2nd hurdle done! So we quickly changed him but the moment he saw his uniform, he kept on saying "No school! No school!" Luckily his uniform is just an overcoat, so, we planned to let him wear it only when he gets to school.

Got him to wear his socks and shoes without much of a fuss (though he looked rather grumpy) and got him into the car. 3rd hurdle overcame! Phew.

But the moment we reached the school, he started to cry "Don't want school! Don't want school!". Well, we have no choice. I grab him and carry him inside. The teacher came out and helped him to put on his uniform. There were many other children crying with their parents and the moment he saw that, he stopped crying. He was more curious now. We led him into the playroom with toys on the table. Within minutes, he was busy playing with the toys accompanied by my wife.
After a couple of minutes, while he was busy playing and watching others, we `excused' ourselves silently from the playroom and stood watching from the glass window. While others were either busy crying or running around, he sat on his stool, clutching his bolster, watching others. Since he looked OK with the environment, we left.

When I went back to pick him up at 11a.m. he was already busy mingling around with other kids and was happy to see me. The moment he saw me, he went to the teacher and told her "Ryan go home!" He immediately grabbed his bolster and went looking for his schoolbag. Found it at one corner and immediately dragged it to the door, ready to leave.

A round of good byes and flying kisses all round to all the teachers, he was in the car heading home. First day at school wasn't that bad. The only problem I didn't anticipate was he didn't allow me to get back to work without making a big fuss....(But that is another story..)

2011 Count Down

2011-01-06T17:59:00.009+08:00

Where to count down with a good view of the fireworks for Ryan? Last year, we had our count down at the Sunway Resort Lobby Lounge where we could get a rather good view of the fireworks except that we have to `fight' with everybody else for a good place near the window to watch it properly. So we called up Sunway again for their New Year eve count down specials. Besides the similar package available for the Lobby Lounge at RM80++ that comes with a free drink, their West Lake Chinese Restaurant package was pretty attractive too.

They served international buffet for that night with free flow of drinks (depending on whether you take the free flow juices or free flow house pouring eg wine, beer) with a DJ and a live band as well. To ensure that we get a table next to a window where we do not have to `fight' for a good view, we booked a table next the window where Ryan could view the fireworks comfortably while I could take some pictures when the count down begins.

The theme for the night was Chicago/Shanghai in the sixties and red and gold seemed to be the theme colours for the night.

Enjoying ourselves on the dance floor and Ryan enjoying his food.

Ryan enjoying his party pack and dancing away.

5 ....4....3....2....1.....HAPPY NEW YEAR!! and let the fireworks begin

It's another memorable count down for us and more so, because we did it as a family looking forward to a better 2011 knowing that we would have another additional family member joining us when we have our count down for 2012.

Wee Wee and Poo Poo

2011-01-06T16:38:00.003+08:00

We have been trying to train Ryan to let us know when he wanted to wee wee and poo poo for a month now. Previously, we have taught him to tell us when he wanted to wee wee or poo poo but he would normally tells us after the event is over....sigh...

With him now approaching 3 years old by May, we really wanted him to understand the importance of going of letting us know when he wanted to do his `business'. So, we have decided not to let him wear his diapers during the day, so that if he had an `accident', he will be all wet and his pants soiled and he HATES that!

And it actually helps. He has started to inform us that he wanted to wee wee. Initially it was like a mad rush and `accidents still do happen' especially if we could not get him to the toilet bowl or take off his pants in time.

Last week, it seemed that we have been pretty successful not only with his wee wee but his poo poo as well. And he enjoys flushing the toilet.

So, as parents we are relieved that he has gotten the hang of toilet training and above all, I think we could save a `small fortune' by using less Mamy Pokos...hahaha

Cravings for Potatoes

2011-01-03T12:39:00.003+08:00

As I was saying in one of my earlier post, wifey's cravings has been going crazy this pregnancy. Her appetite and nausea before and after food is so bad this round that she has the phobia of eating. She feels horrible when she is hungry but after eating, she gets her nausea and heartburn. :( It's definitely no joke being pregnant with all the changing hormones creating such havoc.

Last night, she suddenly had a craving for potatoes. We have initially wanted to boil ABC soup but it was a little too late to buy all the ingredients. Managed to get some potatoes though. So, instead of ABC soup, we did a mash potato with butter mixed with corn beef (one of her favourite), served in roasted potato skip with a touch of olive oil.

End result was pretty satisfying. She loves it (and finished the entire potato which was a great relief to me) and surprising, Ryan liked it as well. It must have been the fried corn beef.

Emmm...I wonder what her next cravings would be. I sure hope that it is not going to be abalone or shark fin soup but something much simpler and definitely cheaper like ABC soup!

Happy New Year 2011

2010-12-31T17:26:00.002+08:00

Hi my dear blogging friends,

Wishing you and your loved ones a blessed and happy new year and may 2011 brings you even more happiness, good health and prosperity.

It has been a tremendous blessings knowing you and allowing our life's paths to cross somehow.

God Bless ....

From Daddy, Mommy and Ryan ...:)

10 weeks!

2010-12-30T12:10:00.005+08:00

Date: 29th December 2010

Came back from our regular checkup. He/She is now 10 weeks old and is about 3.57cm. Heartbeat is strong and consistent. We can even see his/her limbs. 2 more weeks before the first trimester is over. Wifey is eagerly waiting for it. Her morning sickness is definitely worse than Ryan's. And her cravings ...swings from butter cake to jelly (agar-agar) on a daily basis. Pengsan liow...hahahaha

Last night out of the blue at 9:30pm, she wanted to eat jelly. Fortunately, we reached a compromise and she wanted egg caramel. At least that is still manageble as I can whipped that out in 20 minutes to satisfy her .....The other night, she wanted butter cake late at night. Baking is not exactly my strong point. So I offered her my finger spread with butter instead!! HAHAHA.

Also managed to contact the confinement lady who worked for us during Ryan's arrival. Fortunately, she is still available for June/July next year. Another hurdle solved. Was a little worry when we couldn't reach her for the past several weeks via her mobile.

I'm actually glad that I have started his blog as I find myself referring back to it to prepare ourselves for his/her arrival this round. And looking back at our journey with Ryan brings back many fond memories of Ryan when he was still so tiny ....:)

Korea - Jeju Island PART 4

2010-12-22T23:18:00.006+08:00

Continuing on our recent trip to Seoul Korea, we have heard so much on Jeju Island. So, we booked ourselves with one of the local tours for a 3 days 2 nights tour to this island.

The flight was only an hour away but the trip was pretty expensive. Our tour includes a two way Korean Air air ticket from Seoul to Jeju, 2 nights stay at a 4 star hotel (breakfast inclusive) and a private English speaking tour guide.

On arrival, we told our guide, Peter, that we had not taken our lunch and he took us to have the best black pork BBQ ever. Apparently Jeju is famous for their black pork which came from the domestic black pigs. The pork was so juicy and tender even after we BBQ them unlike those we had back in Malaysia. (They were so delicious that we insisted that he took us back to the same restaurant for lunch before we board our flight back to Seoul).

After lunch, we were brought to this stretch of road known as the Mysterious Road as cars or buses are known to apparently `roll' uphills magically when their engines were switched off. Well, our car did `roll' up the hill and the explanation were pretty interesting.

The road `looked' like it is going downhill but our car has just `rolled' all the way up from the `bottom'. If you look carefully, all the traces of water actually ran `uphill' and not `downhill'.

Next, we were taken to visit the Dragonhead Rock also known as Yongdu-Am located at the western end of Jeju. Because we touched down at Jeju Island at around 2pm, by the time we arrived at Yongdu-Am, it was almost dusk, yet the place was still packed with tourists, all trying to get the best spot to have their picture taken. I'm not sure though which part of the rock resembles a dragon head but the structure does look interesting.

With the fast fading light, it was rather difficult to grab any good shots and without my tripod, all I could do was to support my camera on some rocks and took 3 shots at different exposure and using an HDR software to produce the shot above.

By the time we arrived at the hotel it was almost 8:30pm and we were dead tired but eagerly looking forward to the following morning.

Something new for this Christmas!

2010-12-22T11:32:00.007+08:00

Since the days when we were staying at our little condo, we had this little 3 feet fibre optic Christmas tree. I think we had this tree for at least the last 6 to 7 years. I remembered paying something like RM150 for it then and we had not really buy much ornaments to decorate it as we always find them super expensive.

Since moving to our current house, this old faithful tree now seemed a little small for our living room. For the first year when we shifted in, we placed it on top of a cabinet to make it appeared taller. Last year, we had it on the floor with all the presents but we could hardly see it. So, this year, we have decided to get a taller one, maybe a 5 footer.

We still wanted a fibre optic tree as it takes out the hassle of having to put on the strings and strings of lights (which always get tangled up!). We were also hesitant knowing that it would cost us a bomb just to buy the tree not forgetting the super expensive ornaments to make it look at least presentable. Then a colleague of mine recommended this shop down at the Petaling Street where he said is a wholesaler and could get me a good discount.

So, off we went 2 Sundays ago, found the shop but unfortunately all the 5 or 6 footer trees have been sold out. We were left with no choice to take the last piece available... a massive 7 footer!! And we got a pretty good deal for it too. The tree only cost RM360! The normal 7 footer tree displayed at the shopping centers alone is retailed at over RM600! We got ourselves some brand new ornaments and the final bill came close to RM500. And finally we have our dream tree, a massive 7 footer with enough ornaments to make it look presentable.

And Ryan of course had the most fun. He has been pestering us to get him a `BIGGG XMAS TUEE' after seeing them at the shopping centers.

Well, putting up the Christmas Tree was a family affair. Everybody was involved. While daddy, kakak and Ryan was busy hanging up the ornaments, little Zoewe was waiting patiently for any ornaments to fall off so that she could grab them to play with. She simply adores balls, especially the shinny ones. Since Mommy can't climb, she took over as the official photographer to capture all these previous moments.

You can spot her as a reflection on one of the ornament, snapping away. And the final product, a massive 7 footer complete with silver and gold ornaments and with ribbon too! We are so proud of ourselves .....hahahaha.

All I've to do now is to get me a mistletoe so that I could kiss my wifey ......;)

Our 2nd Adventure begins!

2010-12-14T12:14:00.003+08:00

Yupe. Our second adventure has started and it's been 6 weeks now. Wifey is expecting our second miracle and this little one is a `Made in Korea' kimchee boy/girl. We are obviously excited about it and wifey has been wanting a playmate for lil Ryan for quite a while now.

It seemed that the morning sickness for this one is worse than when she had Ryan. Last week was really bad when she felt nausea the entire day with no appetite to eat and can hardly drink any water.

To make matter worse, one of her tooth which has a previous hairline crack, cracked. It was so painful for her that she hardly got any sleep for 2 nights. We have no choice but to make an appointment with our dentist.

When we told him that she is 5 weeks pregnant, the first response was `OH. Sorry. I don't think we can do anything about it. Can't even give u an X-ray."

We were naturally stunned and worried because how on earth is she going to endure the excruciating pain for the next 8 months? We asked him again whether can anything be done. After thinking for awhile, he said, "I could give you some anesthetic."

The obvious next question that we would ask would be "Is it safe?"

He took out the leaflet, circled a part of the description and pass it to us and said "Read this please .." That part read something like ..."...this has not been tested for pregnant women. However, it has been extensively on pregnant women with no known side effects...."

He looked at us and said "OK?"

I was like "Do we have a choice?" Anyway, after giving it some thoughts and knowing that she would not be able to stand the pain for the next 8 months, we went ahead with the anesthetic. On inspection, it was confirmed that the tooth did crack and has to be extracted. In fact it was so bad that it actually broke into TWO during the extraction.

She was given panadols for the pain which only offered minimal relief. It was a painful day for her and equally painful for me to see her going through it.

Thank God, the pain went away the following day. And thank God, that the nausea only comes in the morning and she has started to have an appertite to eat.

And her cravings is like..."fried rice now, boiled carrots next, brocolli the next instance and longan water in the middle of the night!" Hahahaha...

Like I said earlier, it would not be an adventure if it is not exciting and this one proves to be a real adventure from the word `GO!'

His First CONCERT!

2010-11-27T21:24:00.006+08:00

27th November 2010

Months ago, we were informed that Ryan will be taking part in his daycare center's concert this year and he is going to dance. We were apprehensive, stressed and worried whether how the concert will turn out.

Knowing now `sticky' he is to us, we just can't help but wonder whether he will just freezes, stopped, cried and called out `mommy' or `daddy' at the top of his voice, right there in front of all the other parents. And with his recent craze over Ultraman, we were even afraid that he will break into one of his favourite Ultraman stance the moment he sees us down in the audience.

We actually have no idea what he is going to do or what he is going to wear. It was meant as a total surprise to us ....And surprise we were!

Well, the day finally arrived. We managed to get him up by 7:30 a.m. (which itself was a rather big achievement). Got him cleaned up and sent him to Yuk Choy School at Taman Megah. He was making a fuss when we drop him there but we had to and left promptly for our breakfast so that he could get changed into his costume.

His concert was supposed to start at 10:00a.m. His grandmother, uncle, auntie and cousins including his kakak turned out in full force to support him.

After the principal's speech, all the children came out in their costume for the national anthem and OMG, there he was in his cute brown and yellow mouse costume. He looked a little lost and seemed to be searching for us. As he was marching down, he saw his grandma, pointed at her and shouted `Po Po!' We were like ...oh oh...he is not going through with his dance routine...

Anyway, his class was next. Out they came marching in a line and there he was, our little MOUSE dancing to the tune of `The Lion sleeps tonight'. He was shaking his bum, and trying as hard as he could to follow his teacher's every move in front. The moment the song finished, he marched forward and waved at his mommy! OMG! The teacher managed to get him back to his position while he danced next to the tune of Macarena! As I was taking the shots, I just could not help laughing looking at him shaking and waving his hands. He was the shortest of them all and in the cutest costume and there he was, trying his very best to do what he was taught!

And that moment, PRICELESS! AND WE ARE SO PROUD OF OUR LITTLE MOUSE!

Korea - Seoul PART 3 (Mount Seoraksan)

2010-11-21T17:17:00.003+08:00

Mount Seoraksan is located approximately 3 hours drive from Seoul. After a visit to the Daepohang fish market, we continue our journey and finally arrived at the foot hill of this mountain after a hearty lunch (pictures of which I will post later). Being early autumn, the leaves have not change colours much in Seoul but one can see the green, yellow, orange and red leaves at the foot of the hill. The view is simply spectacular.

The place was totally crowded and according to our guide is one of the favourite tourist destination not only for foreigners but locals as well. Many will attempt to trek up the mountain and visit the many old temples located up on the mountains.

Mount Seoraksan has many peaks, some of which will be shown in the pictures below. Seoraksan is the third highest mountain in Korea.

We arrived at about 12:30pm and had to wait till 2:30pm for our cable car ride to the top. While waiting, we walked the grounds of the Seoraksan National Park which offered a spectacular view of hundred years old temple in clear running streams and trees in their midst of changing their leaves colours.

The ride to the top was merely 5 minutes. Once there, we tracked down to a small temple supposed to have been there for the last 1200 years!

Next it was a 20 minutes track up the highest peak, the Daechongbong Peak which is 1708 meters or 5603 feet above sea level. Once there, the view was simply breathtaking.

This is one destination that everyone who visit Seoul or Korea should try to explore.

Korea - Seoul PART 2

2010-11-21T02:17:00.001+08:00

We had the pleasure to stay at the Grand Intercontinental Hotel near COEX where the G20 Summit was to be held. The hotel service and room is superb and is near to the subway which made it easy for us to catch a subway to go downtown, not to mention that there is also a huge underground shopping mall at COEX itself. (where wifey did most of her last minute shopping).

I've visited Seoul before and this round I was determined to discover Korea outside Seoul. So, I booked myself for a day trip to one of their most famous mountain - Mount Seoraksan. The cost is about USD170 and it will take 3 hours drive to get there and back.

I was lucky that there were already 2 other Singaporeans who have booked the same tour and hence I merely joined them (they required a minimum 2 pax for each tour). The tour operator picked me up from my hotel at 6:45 am the next morning and we were on our way.

It was a cold 6 degress morning. I was a little worried when the van that we were travelling stopped a couple of times by the road side when the tour guide told us that they were having some mechanical issues with the van. I was just hoping that we could get back to Seoul in one piece, especially when we are supposed to be going up and down the mountain roads!

On the way to Seoraksan, we stopped by a traditional fresh fish market at Daepohang (apparently one of the fast disappearing scene with rapid commercialisation). It was simply breathtaking looking at their way of life and the sheer numbers of fresh sea food available!

After a quick tour at the fish market, we went on our way to the summit of Mount Seoraksan ....

Tanjung Rhu Langkawi Day One

2010-11-15T17:18:00.003+08:00

Just a quick update.

Just arrived at Tanjung Rhu Resort in Langkawi for a 5 days 4 nights holiday. Took Air Asia and it was the first time for Ryan to take a flight. We wanted to test and see how he fares taking a flight.

As expected, he was totally excited and overwhelmed at the airport. We managed to get him a window seat and he was enjoying himself watching the clouds.

Tanjung Rhu as expected, is amazing just we remembered it. This round, we got upgraded to a much larger room with a sea view balcony. As at this moment, I'm updating this blog while watching Ryan frolicking and having a great time in his own private jacuzzi in the room.

Will update pictures of this trip once I finished uploading the pictures of our trip to Seoul.

We took a package that is includes all food (room service, mini bar, fine dining etc) and drinks. So it's going to be nothing but eating, drinking, swimming, relaxing and back to the eating routine.

Looking forward to have a round of golf at Gunung Raya Golf Course too.

Korea - Seoul PART 1

2010-11-13T14:58:00.011+08:00

I was rather busy with my work recently and desperately needed a break. So, when my wife had to go to Seoul Korea for a 3 days meeting, I gladly tag along. Seoul or Korea did not give me a lasting impression when I was there 7 years ago. I was determined to rediscover Seoul and Korea now that I am there for the second time.

My mother in law has been very gracious to come over to take care of Ryan with the help of the maid for the week. (Thank God for mother in law!!) And we have installed CCTVs at home where we could log in from the web to look at him whenever we want.

We left on late Saturday night via Korean Airlines. The journey took approximately 7 hours. I could not sleep much and was really tired when we touched down at 6:50 a.m. in Seoul. Took a cab to our hotel (Hotel Grand Intercontinental) located at COEX (where the G20 Submit was held recently). While waiting for our room, we walked around our hotel, grab our breakfast and took some pictures.

View of our hotel. It's autumn now in Korea and the leaves had just started to change colors. I was hopeful for more dramatic pictures of red, orange, yellow and green leaves. The morning temperature ranged from 2 to 6 degrees, hitting 12 to 18 degrees in the afternoon.

After checking in, we took a nap (which ended up to be a pretty long one!). Since it is autumn, the day is rather short and the sun set by 4 to 4:30pm.

We went for a relaxing walk at a typical Korean temple near our hotel.

Some of the pictures captured at the temple.

A view of some modern skyscrapers from the traditional Korean Temple grounds.

I have the entire following day to myself. A quick check with the daily tour brochures and I decided to book myself for a day trip to Mount Seoraksan located 3 hours away from Seoul and it turned out to be a trip which totally changed my perception of Korea. Watch out for the pictures coming next .....

Ultraman - Reliving my childhood moments!

2010-10-24T16:39:00.005+08:00

Ultraman! OMG! I never knew that this little figure brings back so many fond memories of my own childhood.

This is Ryan's latest craze now. Whenever he goes, he wants to bring this `Man' with him. Even sleeps with it. Needless to say, he has been imagining that we are his monsters and he is the ultimate Ultraman, kicking, punching and ever crossing his arms to sent out a burst of deadly laser ray. And raising his arms to `fly away' victoriously with that ever recognizable `huiiizzzzz' sound when we, the 'monsters' pretend to roll over and `die'. Many of my friends have been cautioning me of letting him watch this seemingly `violent' shows...but hei...I grew up with Ultraman and I turned out OK. Yes...there were years when I too were secretly hoping that I could pull out one of those cool penlike gadgets and turned into this superhuman figure that would chop and kick the monster butts and dispense them (at the very last minute with my beeper going `beep beep beep beep) with a burst of my deadly laser rays....

Looking at this figure, it reminded me of my childhood, when television were a rare commodity (and they were only black and white then) and only a few household in the neighborhood would have one. Unfortunately, my grandparents could not afford them. So, when the evening arrived (usually around 4pm) when the show was scheduled to be broadcast, I will make sure that I get the best `seat' outside my neighbour's home (with TV) to watch my favourite hero. And I can remember all our `friends' doing the same thing, glued to the TV for that 30 minutes, `saving' the world in my imagination. Occasionally, when it rained, the neighbour would let us into the house to finish the show.

So attached I am to this hero, that I could still draw him simply by memory today. I remembered that I even drew a couple of my own `comics' of him fighting my very own created monsters and with my own storyboard. I would faithfully coloured them and then sell them to my classmates for RM0.50 !! (Rm0.50 was a lot of money back then!). I would pay a fortune to buy them back because they represents a portion of my childhood and growing up.

Over the years, I grew up and move on to other heroes. But just when I thought I have forgotten him .....he came back into my life...and I'm glad....to relive my childhood moments once again....:)

BTW, this is Ultraman Tiga, created in the 1996 and 1997. The one I watched was the original Ultraman created in the late 1960's and early 1970's.

Have there been items / shows etc that brings back sweet memories of your childhood??

Butter Cream Chicken

2010-10-16T23:37:00.002+08:00

There were two dishes that I like and have always wondered how they were cooked. Since I started developing some interest in cooking the last couple of years, I have always wanted to try cooking these two dishes.

So, a couple of nights ago, I've decided to give this two dishes a go.

The first is butter cream chicken cooked with curry leaves. Actually it was rather simple. First I marinate the chicken with some Chinese wine, black pepper, salt and sesame oil. Then coat them with corn flour and deep fried them. To make the sauce, I simply put butter, whipping cream, milk and curry leaves into a sauce pan. Add black pepper, salt and sugar to taste. (If you like it hot, adding some chopped `chili padi' would do the trick). Once the sauce starts to shimmer, simply add in the deep fried chicken and thoroughly coat the chickens with the sauce and serve hot. Verdict (from my wife and in laws....) yummy...hehehe..:)

Next, deep fried kai lan. This dish is pretty expensive when ordered in restaurants. It does look intimating to start with and I thought that it would be rather difficult to attempt. Anyhow, I wanted to quench my curiosity. And surprisingly it was rather simpe to prepare. First, separate the kai lan leaves from their stems. Cut the kai lan leaves into long thin pieces. Marianate with some salt. Next, prepare the wok with oil. Ensure that the oil is hot before placing the cut kai lan leaves in. Simply fried till the leaves are crispy. Once they are crispy, take them out from the oil, drain excess oil and serve while hot. (The only set back...this dish is time consuming to prepare and too much oil used)

2 more recipes into my personal log ....eemmmm...what should I attempt next?

An Evening with Zainal Abidin

2010-10-14T05:55:00.005+08:00

Date : 13th Oct 2010

We have always passed by the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas at KLCC without bothering to find out what they are playing. The thought of going for a concert has actually NEVER occurs to us (and we were paying USD just to watch Broadway shows in New York!).

Then a good friend bought us a ticket last Sunday for the afternoon show. The classic Psycho movie accompanied life by Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO). We went with much anticipation because going to an orchestra performance is like so...emmm...formal and cultured...hahaha... We were worried whether we were dressed right etc etc etc.

Well...I have seen the show a dozen times before ..but...to literally see, listen and feel the drama, suspense and passion from a life orchestra right before your eyes is another experience all together ....Needless to say, both of us were hooked and we booked ourselves the next show ...a night with one of my favourite local singer..Zainal Abidin ...

It started with a sand art presentation by one of our local sand artist, Loong Bee. It was quite an experience seeing him creating beautiful displays by simply using sand and a pair of very skillful hands.

We got ourselves a box seat nearest to the stage. And the moment finally arrived, he walked in in all his charisma...the man himself ...Zainal Abidin.... He went straight into belting out a medley of old malay folk songs accompanied by the MPO led by conductor Kevin Field. Songs like Chan Mali Chan, Burung Kakak Tua, Enjit Enjit Semut and Kenek Kenek Lah Udang never sounded so beautiful, sung with vocals so strong and powerful, backed by instruments so majestic ...

It was just 30 minutes with the man ...and...when he sang Ikhlas Tapi Jauh, he brought the house down! (The tune is still playing in my head ...). His parting song, Hijau was one of my all time favourite, singing out the need for us to go green and the preserve our mother nature was just simply breath taking ...

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. And for the very first time in our lives, we actually queued to get the souvenir program booklet autographed by him ...and to grab a quick picture of course ...(it was an anxious moment though, cause my DSLR was giving me a memory card error the moment I switched it on!!!)

It was a wonderful night, all the more so because I have my wonderful half with me to share it. To cap it all, we went for a nice Japanese dinner at Zipangu Shangrila. (And all this time, where was Ryan you might ask ....at home with our maid while daddy and mommy are enjoying themselves ...hahaha..)

And you know what, we have booked the next show tomorrow night. Another favourite of mine, a hands percussion presentation by MPO.....Just can't Wait !!!

Rice Cooker Chicken Drumstick ....

2010-10-07T14:16:00.003+08:00

Wife was exceptionally busy this week, organising a big event for her company. So, I'm left with my little monster at home together with the maid. I was lazy to go out for dinner because firstly, I really don't know what to eat (and I'm sick of eating noodles for dinner since I have been having that for most lunches) and I had enough of Ryan not wanting to sit still and insisting of getting down and running all over the restaurant. There is really no peace in eating that way.

Instead, I've decided to cook something real simple and quick at home. Someone in a restaurant taught me and I think it's probably the simplest and fastest way to cook a chicken dish.

I bought two chicken drumstick, strip off the skin and cut into smaller pieces. Marinate them with soy sauce, salt, pepper, sugar, oyster sauce, ginger slices, garlic slices and plenty of chinese wine. Leave them alone for 15 to 20 minutes. Put them into a rice cooker and cook for 15 minutes. And they are done.

So for dinner last night, it was a simple meal of soy sauce chicken drumstick cooked with my rice cooker and baby spinach soup. Not only (I think) was it a better meal as compared to eating hokkien mee outside, at least I can eat more peacefully at home, not having to stress over Ryan running all over the place.

Temptations @ Ara

2010-10-04T13:02:00.012+08:00

30th September 2010

My wife's birthday.

Initially I have wanted to have a nice quiet dinner, just the two of us at Zipangu Shangrila KL and made the reservation for it. Wanted to give her a surprise but on second thoughts, knowing how busy she is with her work, I gave her a call a day in advance to inform her. And luckily I did, because she will be attending some function at Petaling Jaya on that day in the evening and it would not make any sense for us to travel back to KL for dinner.

So, after some thoughts, I guessed the best option would be to turn our home into a mini restaurant to serve our VVIP guest for the night.

Did some quick planning on the menu and informed my maid to be prepared for some cooking that day and that evening for our special guest. For desert, my maid helped me to prepare one of my wife's favourite...Tiramisu.

On the day, I took half day off from my work and went about shopping at Cold Storage at Solaris for the ingredients necessary for the evening dinner. I wanted to make sure that the food are prepared well in advance so that I don't have to be stressed out serving our VVIP guest that night. So, the afternoon was spent in the kitchen, busy preparing with my maid who turns out to be a great help.

And at 7 p.m., Temptations @ Ara is finally ready to serve our special guest for the night .....

The menu for the night .......

One of your her favourite drink. Soda with lemon, lemon zest, ginger with a dash of mint, served chilled.

Soup : Seafood Chowder with clams and shrimps

For the first starter : Asparagus wrapped in bacon, pan seared to perfection, served with a dash of mustard

Followed with the second starter : Pan seared Scallop served on a bed of green salad with home made tartar sauce and thousand island dressing.

Next, we have Lightly pan seared tuna slices served with tartar sauce.

For the main course, pan grilled medium rare ribeye steak, marinated with shiraz, served with black pepper sauce.

For desert, sweet wine tiramisu to wrap up the evening on a sweet note.

My two very special guests for the night. All in all, it turned out to be better than dining at any other restaurant down town.

Toys! Toys! Toys!

2010-10-03T21:49:00.003+08:00

Who said that times are bad? Who said that people would only spent on absolute necessities?

We certainly don't think so after visiting the Mattel toy warehouse sale held recently at the Atria Shopping Center.

I was informed by a friend of this fair 2 days in advance and it was also advertised in the newspapers. Since Ryan is a fan of cars and planes and since Mattel do carry Hotwheels and Matchbox models, we have decided to have a look 2 Saturdays ago.

It was supposed to be the very first day and the warehouse would start from 10 am to 10 pm. So, when the Saturday arrived, we woke up leisurely and after getting Ryan ready, off we went to Atria. I thought we were early. It was barely 10 am. I figured we could have a good breakfast at Seri Penang before heading up to the warehouse sale held on the 1st floor.

When we reached Atria, we could not find an empty spot on the ground or the 1st level car park, which is highly unusual at 10 am on a Saturday. With no other choice, we drove up the open car park on the highest level and found ourselves a empty slot. As we were making our way down, we saw parents carrying bags after bags of ....TOYS!!!! (and it was only 10:30 am)....

I told my wife that we better head on to the toy fair first before having our breakfast. I was shocked when I reached the entrance. The entire floor was packed!!!! There were empty boxes everywhere and there were also parents hanging on to boxes filled with toys and they were still grabbing for more! I could hardly get near to see what is on offer. It was like a big mad house!!! My `kiasu' gremlin got the better of me that very second. With one hand hanging on to Ryan, I squeezed myself in between some grumbling mothers, fought my way past some frowning fathers, and grab whatever Hotwheels or Matchboxes that I could laid my hands on. There were no price tags. I asked and nobody seemed to know the actual price and by the way everybody is buying, nobody seemed to care.

While I was busy scanning for more toy cars, my wife was on a mission of her own, squeezing in between humid bodies grabbing whatever she thinks will be a good buy (with absolutely no idea of the price ... go figure). After 30 minutes, I had enough. We have managed to grab about 15 items in a small little box, a pale comparison to many who have theirs in two or three large cardboard boxes.

I signalled my wife that we should pay and get out as Ryan is starting to get rather impatient, not to mention me. When we got to the payment line, another shock awaits us. 5 long queues, all waiting to pay. It was another 25 minutes or so before I finally got to pay for my stuff. Were they cheap? I have no idea. I spent over RM300 on toys that morning. But judging from the boxes others are pushing along with their feet, it's merely kacang puteh (peanuts) to Mattel.

As I was about to make way out, I remarked to the cashier that it was quite shocking, looking at the crowd at 11:30 am on the first day of the sale. She looked hardly surprised and calmly told me that people were already lining up waiting for the warehouse sale to start as early as 8:30 a.m!!!!

We walked off, leaving behind scores of parents still waiting for new boxes and bargains to be offered and long queues of parents still waiting to make payment for the toys they thought were a real bargain. As we walked past parents just arriving with their children, I said a silent prayer and wishing them good luck, all the best and happy squeezing and shopping.

FOUR!!

2010-09-05T16:19:00.002+08:00

No no...don't start thinking that I am contemplating marrying FOUR! One is already a handful. And no, I'm not thinking of having FOUR kids either. One at this point in time is enough to drive me up the wall.

Four is currently Ryan's favourite number or the only number that comes to his mind the moment if he is asked to give an answer in numbers.

Daddy: "How old are you?"
Ryan : "Four"
Daddy: "NO...two!!"
Ryan : "NO...FOUR!!"

Ryan : "Nen Nen (Milk Milk)"
Mommy: "How many (although the correct grammar should be how much)?"
Ryan : "Fourrrrrr..."
Mommy: "Three !"
Ryan : "Fourrrrr..."
Mommy : "Five??"
Ryan : "No ..FOUR!"
Mommy: "Six?"
Ryan : "NO NO FOURRRRRR!"

Ryan : "Lizat (Lizards)"
Daddy: "How many lizards?"
Ryan : "FOUR!"
Daddy: "NO..only three ...One, Two, Three .."
Ryan : "...Four!" (smiling cheekily)

Getting Patriotic

2010-09-04T09:20:00.002+08:00

Date : 30th August 2010

We received an email that Ryan's daycare will be having a mini merdeka celebration for the children and they are requested to dress in traditional costume to go to school as part of the celebration.

An quick sms to the principal confirmed it and was requested to dress him in Chinese tradtional costume. So, we took the opportunity during the weekend to shop for suitable piece for him in Sunway Pyramid. After walking around several shops, we still could not find a suitable Chinese traditional costume for him (besides being extremely expensive).

Then, remembering that we are so near to Hari Raya, there would be plenty of traditional costume on sale. So, we decided to get him a Malay costume instead. We got a few pieces for him to try on and finally, he chose a green one complete with a sarong. We had wanted to get him a songkok as well. Unfortunately, the songkok was a bit too large for him and, coming with a price tag of Rm25, we finally opted against it.

Honestly, I think we had more fun shopping and getting him to wear the costume than him and quick frankly, I think that he looks pretty good in it too ...don't you think?

Another Round of Roseola Viral Rashes and Fever

2010-09-03T14:16:00.004+08:00

When we brought Ryan back from the daycare on Monday evening, we noticed that his body was warm. Checking his temperature, confirmed that he was running a fever of about 37.8 degrees. Gave him his paracetamol and the fever subsides but only for as long as the medicine effects last. So, for the next two days, we had to constantly monitor his temperature which fluctuates between 37.8 degrees to as high at 39 degrees. On the third day, we noticed small red rashes on his body and we feared that we might have contacted the roseola viral infection again. (He got it once in June recently).

So, we took him to his favourite but expensive `uncle' for a checkup. One look and he confirmed it. To make sure that it was not dengue, a blood test has to be taken.

This super naughty rascal didn't even flinch when his finger was poked the first time. But because he did not drink enough fluids, the doctor was having a tough time getting enough blood for the necessary test. So he had to poke him again and this time, he had to squeezed enough blood for the test. It must have been painful. (His mommy dare not even look and had to look away). But...he didn't cry out loud. He frowned with pain and anger and JUST STARED at the doctor. He all actually had a good laugh over it.

Well, just like the doctor said, the fever subsided on the third day but the red rashes were all over his body and even more this round as compared to the last. It's so pitiful looking at him BUT he is as active as ever !! There is no stopping him from having a good time, playing with his favourite toys ....his daddy and mommy.

His rashes are still there today but is slowly subsiding. I just hope that he will recover fully over the weekend. And meanwhile, daddy will continue to be the monster and he will continue to be his Ultraman, giving me a good whack every now and then.

Finally brushing his teeth!

2010-09-02T21:07:00.003+08:00

We have been trying to get this little monster to brush his teeth for ages now. We have bought him his toothbrush and toothpaste months ago but he just refused to do it.

I have to almost use force every morning using a wet cloth to clean his teeth and risking getting my fingers bitten by him (which can be an extremely painful experience).

Well, the good news is he finally agrees to brush his own teeth with his toothbrush and even insisted on having his own toothpaste. The trick is daddy has to brush at the same time. And the major factor why he enjoys brushing his teeth now is because he gets to squat next to the wash basin and plays with the running tap water while he brushes his teeth.

Well, at least he is willingly doing it now every morning before he goes to his daycare and every night before he goes to sleep. And I don't have to risk getting my fingers bitten again.

FIFA 2030

2010-08-04T16:31:00.002+08:00

I have not been updating this blog for quite a while now due to several factors: Busy, Out of the country and LAZY!! ..hahaha...

Just got back from a holiday to Washington and New York. Will post some pictures of that later. We left our Ryan with our new maid (thank God that she is ok after the fiasco we had with our ex Cambodian maid who replaced my previous Indonesian maid) and Ryan's two grandmothers...!

Yupe. You heard me right. We had two grandmothers taking care of him, living in the same house and trust me...don't try it. Will yak about that in another post.

We were transiting in Amsterdam the day Holland qualified for the finals and boy, the entire Amsterdam was orange. And the beauty of FIFA 2010 was, I was watching the finals in Washington with a good friend from college (in his house) whom I have not met for over 20 years !!!! How cool was that! It will be the most memorable FIFA for me ever .....

Of course, come FIFA 2030, I will be even more anxious.......

Cause, Ryan is going to attempt to be the top scorer for that season. Why? Judging from the way he is handling the ball now that he is only 2, I am quite certain that he will get there....Don't believe me, have a look at the pictures above and judge for yourself .....

His first DSLR

2010-07-02T13:32:00.003+08:00

I've busy taking pictures whenever I have the chance with my new Nikon D90, enjoying a passion that I've since my younger schooling days and which I have set aside until recently. My younger sister too has got her new Canon iXUS and hence, we have been busy snapping away, either at food, places we visit or our model, Ryan himself.

Obviously, he has been observing us and recently, he has also learnt to pose for us whenever we asked him to.

A few days ago, my sister bought him a toy camera and what transpired about that was nothing short of amusement and awe. Immediately, he was imitating us, turning his camera this way and that and even attempts to take his subjects from different angles or from under the table.

We have now the youngest photographer at home......

Milestone : First Sports Day and First Medal

2010-06-29T14:46:00.002+08:00

26th June 2010

This is Ryan's very first Sports Day organised by the day care centre that he has been attending. Actually, I think we are more excited about it than he is. Just can't imagine seeing him mingling with the rest of the kids and competing. Just can wait!!!

The biggest problem was getting him to get up in time since he has to assemble by 8:15 am. He normally doesn't get up till 9:30 am. So, we tried to get him to sleep early the night before. The next morning, we got up by 7:15 am ourselves and we tried to be as noisy as we can in the room to try to wake him up to no avail...We finally managed to get him to get up at 8am.

After getting him ready, we marched him to the playground where the sports was to be held. Luckily, it was just opposite our house. He, as usual was sticky to us. We finally managed to get him to settle down and once that is done, he was having fun, mingling around with the other children and even `bossing around'.

Watching him taking part in the parade and the event was fun. Although he is the second youngest in the entire group of more than 60 children, somehow, we felt that he has really grown.

And to top the event, he got his very first medal for his event. What proud parents he made us!!!

Looking Cool!

2010-06-17T14:02:00.003+08:00

Ryan is learning words pretty fast nowadays. This is particularly evident once he passed his 2nd birthday. The other day, while tidying up the room I gave him my Hardrock black golf cap. Then gesturing with my hand, I taught him the word `Cool!' Then he took my wife's swimming goggles and put it over his head.

What you see above is his version of being cool.