Hawaii - Day 2 morning

I finally got some sleep last night after being awake for about 36 hours non-stop. Joe slept with me while Joy slept in the playpen provided. Joy woke twice to feed in the night. Joe slept thru till about 7am plus.
He obediently sat on the toilet bowl. I hope he doesn't revert to the potty when we get home.
But the toilet session was non-productive. He's kinda constipated. We'll need to go to walmart to get some yoghurt and prune juice.

8am this morning - we had a free breakfast at Hard Rock Cafe, courtesy of Expedia - the travel website from which we bought our air tickets.

Hard Rock Cafe toilet....love the style.

Joe was exhausted after trying to bom....4 times without and results. He was sitting on the toilet and crying, "mama....it's too painful".

Getting to Honolulu and Day 1

Joe - battery flat just as we touched down in Tokyo (5.30pm in Malaysia). He had been up for 12 hours!

Two kids drinking milk before taking off from Tokyo. Joe went back to sleep and slept until an hour before touching down in Honolulu.

Photo with orchid leis. Joe didn't want to have his photo taken. He said he wanted to block the camera.

Take two...

Yee Yee bought him dessert at Wailana Coffee House where we had lunch.

Mmm....yum! yum!

Joy-Anne took her bath in the sink because there was no bath tub for her.

Yee yee messing with J and j on the bed. Joe was shy at first but warmed up very quickly.

Aloha from Waikiki

We're here...finally! Landed in Honolulu this morning. Some photos for my daaling...

At KLIA, queuing up to check in. Joe is so excited.

Breakfast on board...Joe was watching Bob the Builder.

Joy-Anne happy in her bassinet.

Having dinner on the Tokyo-Honolulu flight with Joe asleep on my lap. My mother lacks photography skill.

At the lobby of the Hawaiian Monarch Hotel (where we are staying). Joe's battery is all recharged.

More updates later. Gotta go to walmart now to get groceries and toiletries.

Silly pics

Joy-Anne is an amazing baby. She has been poo-ing in the potty ever since she was 2 weeks old. Up till now, she's probably soiled no more than 30 diapers and since we use bumwear at home, we've not even worked our way through the 3rd pack of disposable diapers. In fact, the third pack is still half full.

Mama did some editing to this photo which was actually taken in 1-Utama. Brandon Kor Kor would so love to drive Thomas the tank engine.

Ah Kong and Ah Mah came for dinner last night and brought durians.

Today is probably the first time that I've had to change her diaper when we're out. We spent the entire day out at 1-Utama and therefore missed her poo poo time on the potty. I figure it's probably practise for her to poo in her diaper since she won't be able to poo in the potty on the long flight to Honolulu.

Joy-Anne : Hey not fair....I should get a head start

Her toilet habit really saves a lot of diapers. I have such economical children. Joe saves my money by refusing to go to any barber or hairdresser.

Mama cut my hair yesterday. What do you think?

I love my kor kor.

Joy-Anne - 6 months old today!

Today - 18 July 2008 - Joy-Anne turns 6 months old.

It's a big milestone. For me, at least because it means that I can stop lactating without feeling guilty. I have no intentions of weaning her just yet - I'll let her feed till she decides she's had enough or I stop producing milk, whichever comes first. As it is, milk production has been steadily dropping because she's sucking a lot less, usually getting distracted while she feeds (i.e. plays with my hair, kicks the table etc)

We've started giving her cereals, porridge and fruits. Sometimes she eats very well. Other times she kicks up a fuss. At 6 months, she's already got a preference for sweet stuff. She loves apples and bananas.

All that food is helping her to grow really well. See how high she can lift her backside...

Weighing 8kg and measuring 69cm, she's also almost sitting by herself.

And wrestling and climbing over Matthew. (Joe named this doll Matthew....I've no idea how and where from he thought of the name)

She's yet to grow any teeth.....still toothless.

Joe had his lower 2 front teeth emerge at 5.5months.

Joe helped himself to the butter while I was toasting bread

Next thing you know....she'll be asking me about the birds and the bees....
...and then I'll find myself explaining to her about the menstrual cycle...

The answer to my problem

Since Joy-Anne arrived, I had been having a major problem - constipation and haemorrhoids. I wasn't quite sure whether the constipation caused the haemorrhoids (because of the straining) or whether the haemorrhoids caused the constipation (blocking the anus).

A gastroenterologist (to whom I paid RM150 for him to examine my rear end) confirmed I have a few haemorrhoids in the early stage. He gave me senokot, lactulose, and another suppository which I can't recall now. The pharmacist who dispensed it must have had a good laugh because when she was giving me the lactulose, she said, "this is for when you constipate". Then taking the senokot she said, "err...this is err...also for when you err...constipate." And then taking the suppository she said, "err..this one....ohh...ahh...also for when you ahh....really consitpate." I nodded and smiled at her.

I tried Senokot and Lactulose. They helped but I didn't like the idea of being dependent on medication. Taking extra fruits and vegetables and having oats for breakfast every morning did little to solve my problem. I could eat half a papaya (big one) and tonnes of other fruits and still have a problem the next morning.

Finally, I found the answer to my problem....

Yup! Muesli. I actually like taking this for breakfast and even lunch as well. Unfortunately it's quite expensive here in Malaysia (about RM16 for a 750gm pack). So when Edwin went to Melbourne for a working trip late last month, I asked him to buy some home. He brought home about 10kg of muesli. After conversion, this pack cost about RM9.

Big business every morning has been a breeze. I feel so good and much lighter after my business in the toilet every morning.

See how lose my pants is now. This is my favourite pair which I have been wearing since 10 years ago, which I couldn't even zip up in April.

And that's our new camera.

So glad that eating healthy and breastfeeding has succesfully transferred all the unwanted fat from me to my pretty baby.

She's about 7.9kg now and trying very hard to sit and crawl and talk. Joy-Anne also loves to play with her big brother and vice versa.Unfortunately, she's also drooling a lot with her mouth always open...just like Joseph!

Happy to lose

I've been busy.... Edwin has been travelling. A week in Melbourne, a week in Seoul. Wish it was vacation for me too.

Nevermind....my vacation is approaching very soon! Yeah....we'll be going to Honolulu, Hawaii for my sister's wedding.

Because all women are vain (and those who say they are not are lying), I've been trying hard to shed all this extra baby weight to look good in the wedding pictures. Not having time to exercise does not help.

Nevertheless, I'm proud to say that I've lost about 6kg since February. I'm now down to 51kg and my favourite pair of pants which I could not even zip in April is now loose. I've had this favourite pair of pants since my form 6 days. Not bad huh.....to be able to fit into pants from my teenage years after 10 years and 2 kids.

But I have yet to reach my pre-Joseph weight. I was 48kg before I had Joseph. At full term, I was 62kg. With Joy-Anne, I was 53kg when I conceived her because the pregnancy just before that gave me very good appetite and then after the miscarriage, I was trying to lose the weight when I realized I was pregnant again (no wonder no weight loss despite daily sessions on the treadmill).

Now if only there was some miracle gadget to zap away all the extra flabby lose skin and stretch marks on my tummy and my permanently-everted bellybutton. I guess I'll just have to keep this priceless pregnancy souvenir.

Happy pictures

Joy-Anne is now happy exploring everything with her mouth. She even wanted to eat this doll.
Heh heh....what are you looking at?

Joe and papa swimming....

See my sweet smile...

So happy that Kor Kor shared with me his toy 'car'.

Learning from Children's Church

For the first half of this year, DUMC's Children's Church has been teaching the kids about the Fruit of the Spirit. Even though Joe falls asleep during children's church almost everyweek, he has somehow learned the song pretty well.



The song goes...

The Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace
Patience, Kindness, Goodness
The Fruit of the Spirit is Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control
Since we live by the Spirit let us keep in step
Keep in step with the Spirit (Yes Sir!)

Weekend up north

We had a long weekend in Penang. It's been a long while since we last went back. This time, we hopped on a plane. Joe had a good time. Just before getting on the plane, Joe enjoyed looking at all the planes and helicopters at Subang airport. On the plane.....this is my least-fat-looking photo this year. In Penang, there was no bath tub for Joy-Anne. We used a basin for her bath. She didn't seem to mind.
Story-telling at bed time. Joy-Anne wanted to eat the books.
She also started to almost want to crawl. She has so far succeeded in squirming all over the place and even off the mattress and on to the floor....twice.
And she started babbling as well. Trying really hard to talk...




On one afternoon, I loaned her Joe's Barney bolster and left her on the mattress, hugging the bolster. Two minutes later I came back and found her like this.....
So cheeky!

And my Joseph....he ate the potty! Actually we didn't bring his potty back. This potty belongs to his great-grandmother. When we told him it's Ah Chor's potty, he said, "But Ah Chor is so big. How is Ah Chor going to fit inside?"

Here he's laughing hysterically after he ate the potty.

Ahh....I have very amusing kids. Thank God for them!