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

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!!!!

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

"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!!

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!

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 !

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!!

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

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!

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

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

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 !!

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

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 !!!

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 .....

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 !!

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 ....

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 ....

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!

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

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).