Happy 60th Birthday Nana

Joseph says :

Nana is my maternal grandmother. She turned 60 years old on 2nd March. In my opinion, she is the strongest, most healthy, most active, most capable 60-yr-old grandmother on earth. She doesn't look her age. In fact, most times, she doesn't even behave her age.

She hardly sleeps. I've no idea how she gets thru the day. Everyday, she wakes up at 5.30am to read the Bible and pray. She cooks my meals, takes me to the playground, climbs up and down with me and doesn't show any sign of being tired...ever!

We went to Avanti American Italian Ristorante for a Sunday buffet brunch to celebrate her birthday. The food was fantastic. Absolute sinful gluttony! And we even had this bunch of singing chefs to serenade us.

This is my Ah Ku and me having a conversation over the delicious food with the chefs singing behind.

After I got restless, Ah Ku took me to wander all around the restaurant. We made faces at this mirror.

Then after mummy had chased me so much with the camera, I finally decided to give her my million-dollar smile.

gong xi gong xi

It's been a wonderful week in Seremban for chinese new year. We travelled here on Thursday, stopping by Nilai to pick up an outfit Reuben bought for Joseph.

He also got a matching outfit for himself. After dressing Joe in the cute outfit, he took Joe for a walk around his office to show off to his colleagues.

In Seremban, Joe enjoyed himself playing with his cousins. This time, being older he could play better and could even say "Daniel". Daniel is now his favourite cousin. In fact, the look like brothers. They had a splashing time, going to the club to swim EVERYDAY! Joe surprised me by daring to go on the poolslide. He loved climbing up one step and jumping into his father's arms, making a big splash in the process.

On Sunday (first day of CNY), we dressed him up to go to church. He certainly was very attention-grabbing. It was quite hot outside but he obediently obliged me by staying in his outfit and looking cute.

We waited till Monday night to toss yee sang when Joyce, David and Brandon came back.

Here's Joe thinking of what to do with his ang pow money....

I think I'll save up for that Lightning McQueen bedsheet my mother has been eyeing for my new bed.

bumps and cars

Joe rolled off the bed one night and bumped his head. I had to take a photo of his blue-black. Check out his mug shot.
It was blue-black for several days. Poor kid.


Last Sunday, I saw him happily playing with his bunch of toy cars. What I saw made me run for the camera.

Joe had arranged his cars according to the colours, and in the correct orientation. My mother put one car in the wrong direction. And Joe said, "Turn!" So smart kid!

Pretty flowers at The Curve

We went to The Curve to check out the pretty CNY decorations on Thursday. The flowers were indeed a lovely sight. There was even real grass!

I tried to teach Joseph to do the 'gong xi gong xi'. It was a tiring time chasing him around and getting him to look at the camera. Taking photos of a hyperactive toddler is sure no easy feat. Finally after a pretty long time and lots of "joe, look here...look here! LOOK HERE!!!!" I got this one nice shot.

He's like saying "gong xi fatt chai! Hong pau na lai!".

And then...

now where did that ang pow go?

Joe 'chiak kam'

Chinese New Year is coming. Bring out the kam.

Joseph has been getting himself acquainted with mandarin oranges. Actually he doesn't know the difference between sunkist oranges and mandarin oranges. What he does know is that he loves oranges. So when I gave him a kam, he was thrilled to find that he could easily peel these. See how he has one thumb in each orange.

He managed to peel a kam all by himself, put the orange (minus the skin) into his mouth and then spit out the seed. I tried to teach him some new words related to what he was doing. Our conversation went like this...

me : Joe, what is this?

Joe : Orange.

me : No, this is mandarin orange. It's called kam. Jojo chiak kam.

Joe : Mama chiak eok (medicine in hokkien). Jojo chiak kam. Mama chiak eok.

I couldn't help but laugh. He associates words really fast.

He looks left...

Then he looks right...

Then when he thinks it's all clear, he sticks a straw into the orange to suck out the juice!

a treat at The Saujana

I am 29 years old today. Yes...just one year away from the big 3-0.

As a birthday treat, my husband took me for a 1-night getaway at the 5-star The Saujana. The resort is currently having a promotion of 50% off room rates for weekend stays. We decided to pamper ourselves and opted for a deluxe Club room. There was, of course, a nice comfy King-sized bed.

It had a walk-in closet, with bathrobes and slippers.

And a nice spacious bathroom which has a window looking out at the sitting area.

The toilet flush is also so "canggih". You press this thing on the wall.

The great thing about staying in a Club room is that you get access to the Club Lounge which serves cocktails and snacks in the evening. Snacks turned out to be more than a satisfying dinner. I particularly loved the desserts...

Those chocolate-covered cream puff thingy and strawberries were lip-smacking delicious. I lost count of how many I ate. After filling our tummies with all that fattening food, we went for a walk around the resort gardens. The lake and fountain looked really pretty with all the lights.

When we got back to our room, we found the bed nicely made with a sweet flower on the pillow.

The next morning, we went to the Suria Cafe for a hearty breakfast. I fell in love with the pancake with blueberries and fresh cream. Unfortunately I didn't have room in my tummy for a second helping after tasting just about everything else. Breakfast was delightful except for when my husband found a small stone (about 0.5 X 1.0 cm) in his porridge. When we showed it to a staff who seemed to be the supervisor, he was just plain cool. No apology was offered.

Later we returned to the Club Lounge where we spent the morning reading newspapers and sipping on fruit juices and coffee and tea.

Overall it was a pleasant stay for RM315++. The staff were certainly a smiley lot. My few grouses are the non-working bidet, and floor lamp in my room, and the torn duvet cover. Certainly not acceptable for a 5star resort with such a prestigious reputation. Of course the stone in the porridge was even more unacceptable. Had my husband cracked his tooth on the stone, treatment could cost anything from RM2000-RM7000 or more.

I suppose we could just turn a blind eye and forgive the resort if we are to consider coming back for our annual honeymoon. After all I did enjoy the abundant delicious food. And between lazing in bed, swimming and working out in the gym, I found myself wanting to stay longer because there was just so much to do. I didn't even have time to explore the grounds on the FOC bicycles or explore the lake in the paddle boats.

This is our second time at The Saujana and it just gets better.

So if you're looking for a quiet scenic place for a weekend getaway without having to travel too far, head on down to The Saujana for a relaxing time of peace, quiet and tonnes of lovely food.

town mouse in the country

I like this picture...

It's my city boys in the kampung. Edwin took Joseph for a ride on Joyce's bicycle. Edwin was obviously happy to relive his childhood days. This bicycle in the photo was bought with ang-pow money he saved so hard when he was a kid. It's still in good working condition.

Joseph look so blur. But so cute to me. He didn't cry or whine on the bike. Merely held on...so tightly as if for dear life.

a picture is worth a million words...

Photos as promised....especially for Rebecca's viewing pleasure...


This was sometime in December. Joseph loves to make bubbles. Look at the Santa beard he made for himself!




Then we went to Fraser's Hill for our first ever family holiday in a long long time. And here's our first proper family photo...in a long long time too.

Reuben was sick in Fraser's Hill. Then he generously shared his virus and all of us got sick on returning to KL. Edwin has sorethroat and flu, I had fever, flu and sorethroat and Joe had everything we had. Here's Reuben so hungry he wanted to eat Joe.

Here Joe shows off his cute cute face.

Last weekend in Yong Peng....Joe had a fun time playing with his cousin Brandon.

After the rain, Bran decided to spash around in the puddles and Joseph followed suit.

Here's Joe busybodying in school. Still when I ask him, "Joe want to go to school?" he'll shake his head and say "mai!". Sometimes it's "mai! mai! mai!" As if I deaf...

He's even bigger-sized than some of the kids in Tadika Generasi Hebat, which is the newest kindy in the humble little town of Yong Peng. It's like the 5-star kindy of all kindergartens. Really canggih. It's got a science lab with real stethescope, real microscopes, real 'tabung uji' etc and even a computer lab with seven computers (flat screen monitors mann....).

Oh well...even if Joe doesn't want to go to school....at least he's happy playing and learning for now.

No time to blog...busy...busy...

When it's past the middle of January and I've not finished reading the December magazines in my clinic, it can only mean that business is getting better and I'm getting busier. Yup...December was a good month. School holidays meant more kids came in by the herds. Makes up for the lack of income for September and October.

Joseph has been keeping me busy and thus the lack of life in the blog. His vocabulary is increasing by leaps and bounds each day. Just last week, I was trying to put him to bed at night and he was extra talkative. So our conversation went something like this...

Me : Joseph, enough! No more nonsense.

Joseph : No more? No more nonnnnn...sense.

Me : Yes. No more nonsense. Go to sleep.

Joseph : No more...?

Me : Go to sleep. Don't so sibuk.

Joseph : Siiiiiii buk.

Me : Who sibuk?

Joseph : Mama sibuk. Mama sibuk.

Sigh...I had to keep myself from laughing.

He can also say things like...

Mama dentist.

Jojo clever. Mama sibuk.

Nana make apple juice (while opening the cupboard where we keep the juicing machine)

Yee yee buy McQueen for jojo.

Mama pat. Pa go out. (this is at bedtime when he wants me all to himself)

We were in Yong Peng last weekend to visit Brandon. Joe and Bran had a fantastic time playing together. We enjoyed ourselves too. Living in the city, I had forgotten the joys of small-town living. We enjoyed cycling (with Joseph riding pillion in a special kiddy seat) around the neighbourhood. It was so convenient to cycle to the store for eggs and bread as and when it was needed.

Brandon cried his lungs out when we had to leave. He had climbed into the car by himself. And when we removed him, He wailed so loud I think all of Yong Peng heard him. Poor kid. Looks like we'll have to be making more trips to Yong Peng.

Photos tomorrow....

Joe and his brothers

Joe has been having a lot of interaction with his brothers lately. Ok they are actually his cousin brothers but it doesn't really matter, does it?

Brandon came to stay for 4 days last week while his parents went to Alor Star for training.
During the 4 days, Joe and Bran had a gala time tearing my house apart. They jumped on the bed, dived from the bed to the mattress on the floor next to it, went swimming, climbed up and down my furniture and threw toy cars everywhere. Whatever one did, the other wanted to do too. For example...

me : Bran, go shee shee.

Brandon : Jojo shee shee...Jojo shee shee.

me : Bran, drink water.

Brandon : Jojo drink water.

me : Bran, time to eat.

Brandon : Jojo eat.

As for Joseph, he would point to the spot where Brandon always pees and says "Bannn" (he can't quite pronounce the 'r' sound). Then he points to where he pees and says "jojo".

When Brandon's parents came to get him, he cried and said "Jojo come! Jojo come!!!"

This couple of days in Singapore, Joseph has also had a gala time with his 3 other brothers who have been spoiling him with their collection of toy cars. They give in to him and makes sure he has all the cars he can get his hands on. I took him out to Thompson Plaza and Junction8 but I think he had more fun playing with his cousins.

He keeps looking up....maybe he's asking God for siblings....???

time flies

It's been 2 months since I quit the civil service (and lost the facility of broadband). Working in private practice is so very different. I used to have about 30 patients waiting for me as soon as I arrived at the clinic. Now I sit and shake legs most of the time. During lucrative times, I can earn more than RM200 in an hour. But when there's no patients, oh well....I sit and read everything from Women's Weekly to Men's Health.

Joseph has past the 18month milestone. He's learning new words everyday and learning to throw a tantrum too. Here's the prince on his throne.

At times he can be so cute he melts your heart. Many times I find that I underestimate him. Last week, during a meal, he kept fidgeting and trying to stand up to climb out of his high chair. We used the cane to keep him in his seat. After dinner, much to my horror, I found his legs covered with mosquito bites. No wonder he was trying to get out of the seat. He was in fact trying to avoid the mosquitoes. I felt so bad.

Then another night while I was trying to put him to bed, he rolled on my bed till he found the hand fan. Immediately he stood up, walked to the side of the bed, put the fan on my bedside table and said, "keep!". Then he went back to the middle of the bed, laid down, hugged his Barney bolster and went to sleep. I was speechless.

We went back to Penang last month for 10 days over the DeepaRaya break. The main reason was of course to attend John and Ai Ling's wedding.

It was good to meet up with so many ex-classmates. I had not met some for more than 10 years since we left school. And especially cool that we now have kids of our own.

Joseph has friends. He can point to Janae in the picture above and say, "mei mei". Then he points to Nathaniel and says, "nat". Nat loves to hug. Joseph obliges him.

On 1st November, we celebrated Edwin's 30th birthday. He was kinda nostalgic about hitting the big 3-0. But I told him he's done pretty well in 3 decades and there's a lot of blessings to count.

The next day 2nd November marked our 4th wedding anniversary. Four good years. Sure we've had our fair share of arguements and disagreements. But I wouldn't trade it for anything else. Life is good.

Another trip down south

This is Joseph's 3rd trip to Singapore. And he's not even 18 months old yet. He's having quite a ball here playing with his cousins.

Here's Joseph and his cousins...topless!

Just now I prayed with him before he went to bed....(when I switch off the lights and tell him "pray", he will kneel down, fold his hands together and bow his head)

me: Dear Lord....Thank you for watching over Joseph today. We commit him to you tonight, grant him a good night's rest. Cover him with your blood from head to toe...

Joe : toe

me: Protect him from all harm, keep all the mosquitoes and bed bugs away...

Joe : bug bug

me : Give him a good night's rest. Refresh and renew him as he sleep. Bless him with good health and strength

Joe : bless bless

me : In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Joe : ish...ish... (Trying to say "finish", while shaking his hands like "boh")

I have to try hard to NOT laugh.

My darling's a winner!!!

Last Friday 15th September, Edwin won the Pro-Vice Chancellor Award for Distinguished Teaching. It's a recognition for great teaching in the whole Monash Malaysia Campus. I'm so proud of him!

Next up is his application for the Vice Chancellor Award. That's for the entire Monash University (all campuses including Malaysia, South Africa and Italy).