phew! What a day....

...it's been such a long and tiring day. For me at least.

It was a mother-and-son-morning for Joseph and I.

aiyah....mis-adjusted the camera

Last night, I asked him if he wanted to stay at home or "go kai kai". Without hesitation, he said "go kai kai at Ikea!"

But he was so tired after our outing to Sunway Pyramid last night that he didn't wake up till about 8.30am. So after his morning milk and big business ritual, we went to Ikea to have breakfast there.

We spent all morning and afternoon roaming Ikea, theCurve and Ikano.

the house that Joseph and mama built

It was fun, but I think he missed having Brandon around like he did last December.

I miss you Brandon...

At Ikea I asked him if he would like to go to Smaland (the kids-only play area). He said, "Yes...because I think I'm brave now." So I signed him in, got our hands stamped, and he waved good bye. I peeped at him and saw him jumping into the ball pool happily.

So I thought I would take a walk by myself for awhile. But my sixth sense was on overdrive and I walked over to the exit instead. As I peeped inside, I saw him wailing "MAMAAAAAA!!!!! I WANT YOUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!! while walking towards the exit. So he spent a grand total of 5 minutes inside the playland. So much for being brave.
At night, we went for our CG Christmas Party. The place was nicely decorated with all things Christmas-y. But it was so difficult to get a good photo. Joseph would whine when we do not take his photo. Then he would want to block Joy-Anne and wouldn't smile.

And when he finally does smile, Joy-Anne would be distracted with something else! Such a test of my patience.


We had quite a feast followed by some games, singing, sharing, gift-exchange and another round of food (dessert).



Joseph was fast asleep in the car before we were even halfway home. Battery totally drained.



My battery's drained too. Time to hit the sack!

good night!

Round and round, up and down

We made a visit to Sunway Pyramid this evening for Joe to experience a ferris wheel ride. I'm so glad the decorations are not as ugly as those in Midvalley Megamall.

It's really a mini ferris wheel. But just nice for a first-timer.

Any bigger and I'm sure he would not have gone on it.

He's seen a ferris wheel on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse before this. And so I asked him if he would like to take a ride on the ferris wheel. Initially he said, "No....I'm too scared."

Later I told him that we will ride with him because children are not allowed to ride by themselves. So he finally said that he will not cry, scream or run away.

He took 3 rides! It's free when you flash you MasterCard. Otherwise you need to show a receipt for at least RM100 from any store in Sunway Pyramid (excluding Jusco, Parkson and Giant).

Joy-Anne also enjoyed the ride and waved (video later).

She's starting to enjoy shopping....like mama :-)

11 months today

Joy-Anne is 11 months old today. She has been very busy around the house.

She can walk across the hall now. This video was taken last week.

She keeps throwing balls out of the playpen.

-video later-

After which she will wag her finger and say "no no".

She can say a few words now like 'ball', 'no no', 'nen nen', 'mama', 'papa', 'kor kor' and 'car'.

She can respond very well...

When we ask her to "touch your ear", she touches her ear.

When we ask her to blink, she blinks.

Not yet 10kg, this little bundle of JOY has grown a lot and certainly gives us a lot of joy!

a non-working day

Yesterday was a non-working day for me. The morning was spent playing with the kids. Joy-Anne practised her walking skills (she's improving day by day) while Joe asked me to draw on the floor for him to play hop-scotch. He knows he's not supposed to draw by himself and says "only adults can draw on the floor". In the evening, we went out to Midvalley to meet Ah Mah and Ah Kong who were in KL with their senior citizen buddies for a day trip. We met up for dinner and found ourselves at Little Vietnam.

Joe just wanted to eat the ice in my 'sugar fix' but not the 'black worms'. He was also very happy with his new toy from Ah Kong.I forgot to take pictures of the food but I did like my dish. I had a vermicelli dish. It's got lots of raw crunchy taugeh and I love the sweet sourish sauce that goes over it.

My mum had some rice dish with 3 pieces of keropok for garnishing. As soon as the plate landed on the table, Joy-Anne grabbed a piece of keropok and stuffed it into her mouth.

Maybe that's what kept her awake all evening....she woke up at 2.45pm and didn't sleep till after 10pm. Samseng with plenty of stamina!

Happy Birthday Yee Yee

Thank you yee yee and yee teow for the christmas present

Joy-Anne enjoying the playground

These pictures were taken 2 weeks ago before we went to Penang. We visited the Taman Jaya park on a cloudy afternoon.

Joy-Anne recently discovered the playground and loves it. She gets so excited. When we try to pull her away, she squirms and cries.

She enjoyed the swing. But not Joseph. Edwin says it's because he's not in control when he's on the swing. Control.....t's a guy thing.

But he's absolutely happy zooming down the tunnel slides.

It's great watching how much my little baby has grown. I can finally say that her birthday is next month!

She's already walking a few steps. But never when I take out my camera.

And I finally find out that it's true....whoever says that girls are more gentle than boys didn't have girls. Thus far....she seems more samseng than Joseph was as a baby.

Maybe it's the maternal genes that she has inherited.....

I love my sister!

Joe : I love my sister very much. I love to give her hugs and kisses! Sometimes I kiss her till she's all covered in my drool. Mama says I can only kiss her on the cheek and I have to be gentle. But sometimes I forget...

home sweet home

We got home this afternoon after spending a week in Penang. Joseph was very happy to be home. He slept the last quarter of the journey and woke up at the traffic lights over the Federal Highway. Immediately he looked up, pointed at our building and said, "Look mama....it's Datai!" (Datai is the name of our block)

When we got home, I asked him if he was happy to be home and he said, "yahh....home sweet home".

It was a good holiday. A couple of 'firsts' for Joseph and even for his parents.

Besides the Penang Ferry ride, Joseph also got to experience his first drive-thru car wash yesterday. It was also a first for Edwin and myself. Joe had seen car washes (the drive thru kind with huge brushes) on Bob the Builder and Higglytown Heroes (on Playhouse Disney Channel) and always asks us to build a carwash for him using his lego blocks. There are no brushes but he uses his imagination.

In the evening, we visited Jou Ching. Joseph played with Jayden (and bullied him a little bit...)

He also got very well acquainted with the Tesco playland. So much so that he can spell "T-E-S-C-O.... TESCO! ". The weather wasn't very kind on several evenings so since Tesco is so nearby, it was very convenient to bring him there while we did some shopping as well.

I also found out that Tesco makes in-house (much cheaper) brand wooden trains that are compatible with his Ikea set. It's got lots of tracks and accessories too. Joe looked at them all at the store and obediently put them back when we told him it was time to go. He even waved and said "bye bye train".

And we bought a Christmas tree! It cost only RM7.90 from Tesco. We set it up this evening and Joe was so excited. He helped put the 'snow' on the tree. Then I put his presents under the tree. He knows he has to wait till Christmas to open them.

our RM7.90 christmas tree.

Joy-Anne has been a 'duracell rabbit'. In the past 36 hours, she slept a total of 9 hours. Last night she slept at 10.30pm, then woke up at 12.30am and would NOT sleep till past 3am!! Then all day, she slept for a short 30-minute nap.

I hope she sleeps well tonight after all the excitement of traveling is over.

last day at the hotel

We went back to the hotel early this morning to join Daalin for breakfast. It was all the same stuff which was decent although I thought the fruits looked pretty anaemic. Joseph was just happy to have eggs. He fed himself 2 half-boiled eggs without any help.

Joy-Anne chewed on a croissant, pieces of fruits and messed up the floor in the process.

please don't scold me la.....Nana says it's educational

After breakfast, we went to the beach while waiting for the Kiddies Club to open (at 10am). It was a lovely cloudy day and Joy-Anne was really happy. Joseph on the other hand, for some strange reason refused to touch sand. He kept jumping on me feet and clung to me like a koala.

doing my big business on the beach - seaview 'toilet'

Joy was so fascinated with the waves, she almost wanted to crawl into the sea.

After we got them cleaned up, Joe got his fix at the Kiddies Club.....again!

Joy-Anne was also very happy to skip her nap. She would squirm and scream when we tried to carry her. It's as if she knew we wanted to make her sleep.

who wants to sleep? this is much more fun!

vroom vroom! wanna go for a ride?

She woke up at 6.40am and finally knocked out at 10.30pm. In between, she took only two 30-minute naps! What stamina for a baby! Oh...and before sleeping, she poo-ed BIG time barely 10minutes after we bathed her and put on a fresh clean diaper! Yes Yee Yee....I know babies like clean toilets too.

My first ferry ride - Edwin's experience today.

Today, at the age of 32, I went for my first ride on the Penang ferry (Penang Island --> Butterworth). I've been on other ferries (Pangkor Island and Tioman Island) but never on the Penang one where they take cars commercially. We drove to the jetty and into the ferry; my first time experience! Joe was pretty excited (was a great idea by Priscilla to bring Joe on the ferry). It was his first time on a boat (I think!) See the excitement in his face!

At Butterworth, we went to Priscilla's aunty's house for dinner.


Great day for Joseph. It's nice to show him new things; one of the privileges of parenthood!

to wake yee yee up...

Our beach holiday

We've never really taken the kids for a family holiday (not counting Hawaii that is) so since Daalin was having his school retreat at the Tanjung Bungah Beach Hotel, we decided to stay there for 1 night prior to his retreat.

It's a 3-star hotel in Tanjung Bungah, as the name suggests. Not luxurious but clean and decent enough. We paid RM138 for a seaview room with buffet breakfast.

While waiting for our room, I fed Joy-Anne her lunch in the lobby (which overlooks the beach and the ocean) while Joseph ran around to discharge his energy reserves.

I made both kids take their usual afternoon nap because I needed the nap too :-) And after we were all recharged, the rained stopped and the weather was just cloudy and perfect for building sandcastles on the beach. Joseph was very excited to "hit the beach" (in his words).

This was also Joy-Anne's first time on the sand. She did go to the beach in Hawaii but that doesn't quite count because in Hawaii, she was huddled under two umbrellas with Yee Yee.

Unlike Joe who squirmed when sand got between his toes when he was younger, Joy-Anne took to sand like fish to water. She was absolutely happy to crawl around on the beach.

In fact, I didn't even realise she was actually 'chasing' a teeny weeny crab until I watched this video back home.


After cleaning up, we went out for dinner with my parents and then came back to the hotel for some cosy family time.

jumping on the bed in my underwear is so much fun!

Joseph said "this hotel bed is so cosy!" Joy-Anne slept all through the night all by herself in the FOC baby cot.

The next morning, after breakfast (which was decent but not fantastic), we went to check out the Kiddies Club. Joseph enjoyed himself but had to be constantly reminded to be gentle with his sister. It was a good thing that there were no other kids in there or Joy-Anne might get trampled.

Joy-Anne also enjoyed herself until she did her big business and then got cranky again so I took her back to the room for her morning nap.

It was a good break. Joseph jumped all over the bed and the baby cot which is something he can't do at home.

Our next family holiday will be in Yong Peng....it will be a BIG family holiday. We're certainly looking forward to the reunion.