A Good Break

People like us, the designer (kuli) don't have many holidays actually.  Well, this last particular Raya cum Merdeka break was such a blessing to me.  Absolute no calls and no work!  Bliss.

It started off with big cleaning up of my office.  I hate working in disorder.  I remembered during the schooling days, I will take few days just to tidy up my room.  Making sure everything is in order for the new semester.  That includes tearing up unused exercise books and binding them and turning them into my useful sketchbooks.  Now I have to discard all the old drawings, heaps of them.  Preliminaries sketches, obsolete printed drawings etc and turning them into my recycled fax paper or my son's sketch paper...HUGE pile.  

Then, it was fun time (??) at Sunway Lagoon.  Well, fun time for Jien only to be specific.  Jung was like a clinging koala and would not even want to wade in the pool!  Gosh.  Just too young for that maybe.  Will wait for another 10 years before our next visit.  ;P

Then it was all good resting and good family time together at home.  I just love the simple form of it.  Grabbing some books to read, and the fact that I can read the newspaper slowly..is already something I cherish so much!! haha!

The highlight was of course a dinner gathering of my relatives at my place.  I was just toying with the idea just before the holiday and saw my cousin on the FB.  We started chatting and then it was all set and scheduled.  I am so super glad that I did that.  I love watching my aunts chatting together.  Reminds me a lot of my mom.  And the fact is, my paternal aunts and maternal aunts are very close and they are like sisters!! We are just so blessed that we have that strong family bond.  Now I understand why my mom always organized some parties despite all the hard work cooking and preparing the food for like almost 30 pax if not more.  It is a sheer occasion of joy seeing all the relatives come together, seeing some grow up to be teenagers / married / having babies etc.  It is a loud, fun, and love is in the air.

Too bad I did not take any pictures.  Will surely organize another soon.  

And of course, this is their first visit to our new house.  All going oo and ahhh and LOVE the house.  Glad! ;)

Year End Celebration

I was devastated. Brain stuffed and heavily suffocated. I needed plentiful of fresh air. I needed a get-away. So I plead, hinted, begged and finally forced my hubby to let us all go somewhere. Just somewhere.

Knowing me, my hubby still asked where could the destination be.

Knowing our financial status, I suggested Cameron Highlands since we have not been there for quite a while now.

So off we went. The weather, superb. Drizzling yes, but while we were out catching some fresh air, the rain almost always seized its way down. The hotel, not too bad. We stayed in the Century Pines Hotel recommended by my cousin. A last minute booking in fact, on-line. Yeah!

This time around, we actually went for strawberries picking. Jien enjoyed it so much!! And my Jung was squeezing the fruits and daddy gotta constantly watched him before we got chased out of the plantation. I had my wonderful charcoal steamboat filled with loads of vegetables!! The slice meat was wonderful! Yum yum!

On the way back, I brought back a one week's supply of vegetables and salad!! I am just so happy. :)

The only set back was the heavy traffic stretching from Tanah Rata and Brinchang. The amount of cars choking the road were just a pain. I wonder how the locals can take this...

My boys enjoyed the cold weather just as much as I did. Jung was even reluctant to take off his sweater! Funny boy.

After the trip, we waited for Jien's birthday. I was so utterly busy with my schedule but at the back of my mind, I wanted to celebrate his birthday - a party, as Jien requested. A promise I wanted to fulfill.

So I set out a 2 days' earlier party. A weekday. Nonetheless, my good friends and their kids turned up for the party alright. It was fun and our house was filled with lots of laughters and joy!

The kids were happily playing in the playroom and the adults were enjoying the Hin Hua noodle and the bak kut with black soy sauce prepared by me. Yes. Me. While it was still a working day for me! Phew! I wonder how I did that?! I also prepared a pot of vege soup, grilled pock chop and fried chicken wings! The food was all swept up by the end of the night! I was so pleased!! :)

The kids went home with their small X'mas gift from us and the adults went home with a full tummy!! Great!











And of course, our birthday boy was happy too! He got his bicycles from us and loads of gifts from the aunties and uncles.








He loves this - from aunty Prudy. Instead of the bicycle..Hmmm




x x x x x

Next, on Jien's birthday, we set out down south- Singapore!! Yes, our friends offered us their house for our short stay! Marvellous!

So it is Singapore Zoo again! This time around with our little Jung. We expected Jien to enjoy himself in the zoo but our little Jung was also brimmed with excitement in the zoo. We spent a whole day in the zoo! And the water park in the zoo literally siphoned out all the energy from our kids! They slept so soundly shortly after watching the sea lion and dog show.

This Christmas, we told ourselves- no more Orchard Road. We made a right choice. We just stayed in. The rain was pouring hard but the house was filled with warmth joy of friendship, a simple roast chicken dinner with salad.

The kids danced, the adults laughed. Oh what joy!

Before we headed back home, we stopped by at the Jurong Bird Park. This time, both were down with mild fever, cough and running nose. I hope the birds did not catch any of these! Goodness. Well, kids are kids, being a bit sicky never bring their mood down too far. They still managed to run, shout and most importantly - enjoy themselves. They just loved watching the penguins! ;) As for me, I enjoyed the walk, but the crowd.

Mid way home, we stopped by at Malacca. Again, a last minute booking online just about a day before our stay! And the rate is much better than making a CALL direct. Weird but who cares.

It was a 5-star (really? I rate it as 4-star) Philea Resort Hotel, a new hotel just about 2 minutes drive after the Air Keroh exit. We just wanted a break in between. Again, our aim is to stop, not to venture into the city. And so again, we made the right choice. The hotel is new, less than 6-months old maybe. They have got a nice setting. With buggy picking up guests to the lodge. The lobby is grand! But something is amiss. The restaurant is big, but something is missing..the ambiance is lacking, the romantic feel in the restaurant is just not there.........no pictures, no decor..hmmm.....but my kids enjoyed the buggy ride. They enjoyed watching the big swimming pool. Oh yes, they did not ask to go venture into the pool. Maybe they knew for themselves that they were not fit to do that. Poor thing! ;)

It was all worth it. With so little budget, we spent our holidays so wonderfully. With so much time spent with the boys, they are like super glue now to us. Sigh! The downside of a holiday! Ha!

Happy New Year and have a great start to all!

Happy New Year! Belated as usual..

I am so so so busy and finally here I am again! Hello friends out there (waving hands, madly) !! How do you do and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Work is starting to pour in and money wise, I have yet to see but I certainly need good planning this year as time is flying and with 2 kids now, the usual work that I need a good 3 hours to complete seems to be taking days (forever) and THAT is certainly not what I have expected and it is getting on to my nerves and I need to deal it with care before I go CRAZY.

Well, we managed to squeeze in a mini trip down to Singapore on Jien's birthday (to update some pictures later) for X'mas. The journey was not too bad. Maybe we were both mentally prepared for the worst. Haha!! We put up 4 days in our friend's house and the boys, friendly as they could be, did not show much tantrum (good lord! ;P).

We spent a good day in the zoo. Yeah, a good day means a WHOLE day. It started from around 10.30am to almost 5pm in the evening when we 'touched down' our friend's home!! The boys were so tired and knocked out once they hit the car. Haha!! And I myself was fast asleep that night.

I had a 2 days' crash-course learning WHO IS ADAM LAMBERT. My girl friend in Singapore was so crazily fascinated and in love with this young chap and not wanting to feel left out when we next have a gathering, she actually showed me the idol's first and till the last move - being boycott. Handsome, yeah...ok. Talent? Yes. I think he has powerful vocal. And he is a natural entertainer. Hmmm.......crazy for an idol? Me...nuh..no time. I have 3 boys already. Not another one ppppppleeease!

One of my highlights during the trip was to meet my LOOOOOOOOOOOONG lost friend. We last seen each other like probably 20 years ago? :) We have found each other again and guess what? We both ended up as designers!! We are now mother for 2 kids and we worked from HOME! What a coincidence and this time around, I don't think we are ever going to lose touch again, eh?? :P

x x x x

Resolutions?

I am certainly going to ENJOY my life more!! This is my resolutions!! Living my life to the FULLEST!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hugzzz!!

Neighbour

The other day, I decided to take the boys down for a walk. On the way out, I saw my neighbour with her grandson both standing outside the house with a guard probing the lock. She, an Iranian, with her very broken English, said that the key was broken and stuck. She said it should be alright, the guard is helping her anyway.

I had not spoken to this very neighbour of mine though they had moved in for maybe 6 months now. Yeah, bad. Real bad of me right, so snobbish and UN-friendly. I know. But apartment living is like this I suppose. You lockthe door and you just don't see anybody else. I can't be knocking their door and say HELLO?? So the most is an occasional HELLO if we bump into each other in the lift. And the worst part is, I go out of the house during the non-peak hours, so to be frank, I hardly know my neighbours - horizontally (same floor ) or vertically (worse still). BUT BUT BUT I do see their maids though. Most maids and old folks bring the kids down to play and I am more 'familiar' with these faces...duh...

So back to my story...

When I got down, it started to drizzle, so I picked up the letters and went up straight. She was still there. Without any hesitant, I invited her in the house. Apparently the guard could not fix it and he had to get a locksmith. I talked to the locksmith over the phone, I knew he must be a Chinese somehow and it would be better if I do the talking. He said the fix would cost RM120 and asked whose house was that. I said my neighbour, an Iranian family. I told the old lady about the price, she said she does not have that much now but her son will be back soon. I told the him to come, I will pay first. He said DON'T. He said his experience with these people are NOT GOOD. They don't pay and asked me not to do this, just forget about it. I steadfastly assured him that I would pay. 'DON'T.WORRY.JUST.COME!' I think I am doing the right thing. Even if the son does not pay me later, I don't want the poor lady to be stranded out with the 2.5 yo and it was near dinner time!

So while waiting, we had a 'conversation' (see, it is quite hard to grab what she meant with her limited vocabs) and the boys were enjoying each other companion and started playing.

Soon after, hubby came back and this handy man of mine took less than 30 seconds to probe open the door. The old lady was so relieved. I called off the locksmith and he was relieved too. :P

ALL SET and the best thing was that sets on our friendships. My Jien happily strut in their house and played with his new friend and refused to come back home until we had to drag him back for his dinner.

The other day, the lady cook us a bowl of yummy Iranian noodle soup. All ingredients flown in from Middle East. It is very rich and delicious.

I am glad that it all turns out so rosy and sweet.

Outing

I have been longing to meet up with friends. I mean in a relax way without my babies with me.

And so I was lucky to be able to attend a wedding lunch the other day, without babies, without hubby. I was chatting away like a bird (please, I hardly talk nowadays! It is hard!) and was enjoying myself with the good food and good company. Catching up with the latest updates is vital for me.

Here is the groom, my course mate, my ex-house mate. Lucky him, he got a sexy wife! :P

I was with a long maxi dress I bought just days before at Lavie. I fall in love with the dress immediately when I laid my eyes on it, it was love at first sight!!

CNY Flash Back

Oh dear!! It has been such a hectic CNY for me (and the little one in me!!)

We had been shuffling from my in-law's house and my dad's place for food and food and more food. For some mouth watering cookies, I had to stay away because I was still down with sore throat every now and then...so sayang!!

This year, I baked some cookies MYSELF!! Yeah, being pregnant and what not, but still, I put in the effort just to FEEL the mood of festive and pass some to my dad's place. Happy to do that!

Like last year, we went up North to Penang again, this time with our friends. So 3 families all together. It was supposed to be great for there are lots of good food in Penang but then again, I was still with that cursed sore throat!! Nonetheless, I whacked down the famous char keoy teow, just could not resist it!! Also the nasi kandar, I insisted to have one and I did!! Jien also enjoyed himself - not with the food though but the bath tub in the hotel. He was literally swimming in it and had great, long bathing time, kekeke!!

After the trip, we longed to 'hide' and rest in our cozy home. We stayed for a couple of days in my in-laws and spent a couple of days in Penang. All I want was my bed and the smell of my home. So was hubby and Jien!! Hahaha!! And of course, there were lots of cleaning up to do for our helper is still enjoying her long long break balik kampung.

More to tell, next. Still tired. Tata!!






top : pictures with mothers with their precious daughters!!
left : us at butterfly farm, Penang.

Keeping in touch - with my lecturer

I am not a fervent, always sitting in the front row, asking lots of questions, going to seniors to chat, going to junior to preach - kind of students. Worst when I was in uni, I was practically a back bencher. Always late to submit projects, almost always late for class etc...

But somehow, I was the President for Architecture Club. And we held a series of activities and that was actually HOW my lecturers came to KNOW me better (or to know that actually this student exists??)

One of the lecturers, Mr.Architect A. was my 'fan'. In the class, he would want me to sit in front. He would make fun of me, tease me etc and many course mates would think he is a 'sweet talker'(but he actually got a very fierce look!!). Hahaha!! They all got it wrong. I had the chance of being 'alone' with him. He never pulled my leg when we were left 'alone'. We talked leisurely and sometimes seriously, about work, about his family, about how it is to be working as an architect in real life. He is like totally a transformed man. To him, he sees the mature side of me. He knows no matter how he teases me, I won't cry like a little girl or have ill feelings towards him. He actually pumped up my 'ego' to be an architect. Yes, to be one architect, you need to have a bit of 'ego' in you!! Hahaha!

Even after graduation, we kept in touch until I lost his number and he then lost mine for I had changed my number. The good Datum linked us back again. I met another lecturer during the conference and got hold of his contact again.

We chatted over the phone yesterday. Things have changed. He is now no longer a lecturer but rather a full time dad and architect. At least one thing did not change - we still talk like the old days and we also have one thing in common - we put our family as our TOP PRIORITY!

It is good to catch up with old friend. :)

Cheesy Year

I am a terrible wife.

At least I felt terrible.

It was hubby's birthday last week and I have bought him nothing except baking a cheese cake for him and took him, Jien and right- our maid out for a non-romantic dinner. He said at least that was his choice of food - Indian Nasi Daun Pisang! We were so full and bloated by the end of the dinner.

Luckily when we returned from dinner, my cake turned out to be quite 'complete' and beautiful. (note: the last time I baked one, the surface was cracked and the cake sank!) This is my second time baking a cheese cake and I just kept my fingers crossed while baking and I kept telling myself: Don't rush!! Keep a sane mind. Add some love...haha!

No candles what so ever. Hubby had to make use of the Ikea 'candles'. Just one simple song and no present, yet. I better make use of one of these days to get him one which I still cannot figure out what should it be and that freaks me out.

Well, lets hope that this will be cheesy year for us with better opportunities and wealth!! Hahaha.......

Remembering the Moment

We were rather anxious. Blood stains in the morning meant something. I went to Dr.Jeremy, this time - alone. He had a thorough check and said that the labor process had started. He asked me to wait at home, till the contraction comes every 15 minutes.

I went back with my ballooned tummy. Nervous but I was fine then. Worked in the afternoon and received calls from MIL. Hubby kept me checking via the phone and I assured him that I was fine and relaxed.

When hubby came back in the evening, we went out for dinner. The contraction was on and off, nothing near 15 minutes intervals. But we were both nervous, being the first timer. Nevertheless we 'completed' our dinner. My bag was in the car, ever ready to speed up to the hospital if we need be. We drove around town aimlessly. The contraction was rather mild and struck me every half an hour but I did not want that agony to drag me through the night. I know I won't be having a good sleep. So we had decided to head to the hospital for another checking, just to ease the cracking mind, not the cracking 'egg'. Hmm..

We were lucky. Not other doctor but my gynae,Dr.Jeremy was there to attend to me. The answer was the same. The labor had started but it could take another 12 - 48 hours for natural birth, for only God knows when he will pop out. He suggested insertion. He said it would be natural birth too as he is just speeding up the process of 'waiting'. He said with this, he is quite firmed that the baby will be out in the morning. Ok, we took his advise.

In a matter of seconds, I was whizzed to the labour room, changed and later having 'octopus' stuck on the tummy. We could here the heart beat of our little one galloping. Nothing much happened really and so hubby went home to get his mattress so that he could be with me this very special night.

At about 12am, I was 'inserted' with that tiny mystical wonder pill. It was well pass my bed time, I dozed off. But I was awaken soon enough as the pain started to be too frequent and more intense. I could not take it any more and requested for epidural (just too 'thin skin' as my mother always commented me in my tolerating pain). Sorry for disturbing your good sleep doctor but COME NOW!! I mean if you can, SPEED your way here this instants! He ( could not recall his name ) arrived and the process begun. All I could remember was the bending and pulling my leg up close to my chest part, gosh, it took so long to administer. I was feeling numb on my lower body, I felt pressed and I hate that. I was so afraid that my baby was smashed and squeezed inside. I was exhausted. I slept immediately after.

I woke up around 6am, I think, in pain - severe pain. We called the nurse. She came in, checking on me and commenting " Aiya, put epidural still painful meh? " and she turned to the epidural drip and said "Aiya, mou cho wo! (finish already!)" Good lord!!

While she tried to top up the drip, I asked her
"Is it not ready yet? How many cm dilation now?"
"10cm"
"Then why isn't the baby coming out??"
"Oh, ok-lah, quite some time already, let's try to push now la"
*speechless*

After some pushing and deep breathing, my baby still cling on to the comfy pouch. Note : Baby in O.P. position, so he would find it hard to push himself out too.

"Doctor is here!" the nurse said, in a cheerful tone (what a relief to them I supposed, they really don't know what they could do with me already)
With his magic hands, and his ever smiley eyes, he assured me that the baby is coming out. He said I need to push harder. He ordered to plug off the epidural drip. He then changed his attire and shoes. I still think it is quite funny with the pair of booty, he almost looked like Phua Choo Kang and the thought of having PCK to help me with my delivery .....hahaha

Anyway, he cuts open the 'opening' and after a few push and with the help of vacuum suction, vrrrpp! My baby Jien was out and crying. It seemed so effortlessly and so easy, with him.

Now my boy is 16 months old. Thanks to him.

Hubby and I would always remember him - Dr.Jeremy Chuah. The confident level he had is so assuring and affirming. It would not have been easy without him, our dear doctor.

It is a great lost to the society that God took you to be with Him. We are indeed so grateful that we had chanced upon you and that you had helped to deliver our little precious one.

May peace be with you and your family, always.

Wedding Bells

I love attending weddings. The positive, loving, exciting atmosphere just exudes in the air. The aura that the couple exhibits, the guests making time and effort (put up nice attire and make up!! I love this part! How else can a soho person like me 'dress to kill'?? Hahaha) to attend the function and the thought of meeting up with cousins / buddies or even long lost friends thrill me. Of course, we need to know the couple well enough to say the least. I had attended a few weddings last year and missed a few actually (during my confinement).
This one's hubby's colleague's wedding in Damansara. We were late as I could remember Jien was snoring and dreaming away when it is time to leave the house! We let him be. It was his very first wedding dinner and he behaved alright.

As for me, I don't know any of the guests. My attention was solely on my 7months' old son, feeding him and keeping him busy so that he does not then 'catch the attention of the floor'..

This one was one of my favourites. The couple (VV and Wei Liang, centre of the pictures) are both my schoolmates in uni. We met most of our classmates; some even traveled from Penang and Singapore just for the function in Malacca. The chatter box never ends and we had a wonderful time catching up the latest news! Hubby enjoyed the trip too simply because of the yummy food around town especially our favourite Hainanese Chicken Rice there. Yummy!

Oh by the way, these are my very very close friends in uni and we always worked in group. Our dear Peter(our chief) call it Fab6!! Right.
My aunts. Maternal side.

We were at my cousin's wedding. My cousin who can't even remember who am I !!! What a joke. Anyway, it was a wonderful event for me nonetheless. Being around with cousins and relatives meant a lot to me nowadays.

What surprises me was my dad. He joyfully attended the 'yam cha' (tea) ceremony in the morning (which he would skip most times) and happily attended the dinner at night. I am sure mom is smiling away in heaven...

That was 31st Dec 2007, the last wedding of 2007 and Jien just turned 1.

I hope there would be some wedding bells 'ding-dong'-ing this year - for my cousin sisters / brothers maybe. My aunts' neck had grown at least an inch longer waiting for the event. Hey, let's hope!

Without a maid

We were without maid for 2 weeks plus.

Yes, it was crazy for working parents. And hubby had to take half day so that I could go out for site supervisions.

Good thing is - it happened during CNY. Hahaha.. Yes, we gave her a break to go back to the Philippines, to visit her son, husband, mother and basically RELAX.

It was definitely not easy for the first few days as it was eves of New Year, we still need to work. I had to wake up early to prepare myself and his meals. Then bathe him, play with him etc. He sleeps less during the day now so a lot of time needs to be spent to WATCH him so that he did not BREAK things!! Goodness.

Then it was the wonderful CNY and we packed ourselves back to Klang where the HELP is ( no-lah, we always go back one! ). It was wonderful for us and for HIM! He loves playing with his cousins! Phew!! Thanks to the help of Ah-Mah, Tua-Koh and the Jie-jies!!

As the crowd started working the following week, we took a week off. We head to Penang. (Next blog la!)

Good things without maid are - We got a taste of being FULL-Time nanny and being the stay-at-home parents, lovely and cuddly. Sweet.
Bad things are - NO time! Ever busy cleaning, washing! Hahaha ,and now he is ever so clingy to both of us, especially ME!

Huhhhhhhhhhhh..............being a mother is just so....FUN!!! Crazy but FUN.


Picture above : Jien with his gang, during a visit to my friend's house during CNY. He loves picking up phone and goes "Ah! Ah! Ah!...." Must have picked that up from me and papa. ke ke ke

Green Day

It was a beautiful morning. We did not balik kampung this week. MIL and the rest went to Singapore for a short break and since Jien is still very much needing his nap in the morning and afternoon, we have to stay back and not joining the family trip this year...arghhh...

Nevertheless, we spent the day off at FRIM, Kepong, with our little one. We love nature, and we want him to start loving it too! Haha, just joking but anyway, it hold some truth too. I would bring him for scuba diving if he loves too one day. :) Just a short stroll in the 'jungle', but our boy as usual kept his eyes open all the while to see and observe the surrounding.

Talking about scuba diving, oh I sure miss the old days when I could go back packing for weeks and take leaves to go scuba diving. I miss trekking mountains in Nepal, miss the crisp air in NZ, miss the busy Bangkok and the culture-rich Beijing. I wish I could start traveling again real soon. I mean, serious traveling. Hmmm...sounds really like a fantasy now.

Anyway, it is World Environment Day on Tuesday, so what have we done as a citizen of the world? Let's see..
. I pledge to bring my own shopping bag to the mall
. I already started segregating all the glass containers from the my garbage bag. I washed them, and grouped them before disposing them. Papers also are separated.
. I pledge to car pool if possible.
. I do not smoke!!
. I will leave one container in my car from now on. Just in case I need to 'ta pao' food.
. I don't let water running while I brush my teeth or doing any washing (sorry to say, but I hate to see people doing that!)
. I try not to turn on the A/C if possible.
. I buy energy saving bulbs even for my client (which means eating into my profit, haha!)

I hope I can contribute more. It hurts to see all the effects of mankind polluting the environment in a non-reversible state, in the name of development and convenient. I think for now, we could not stop it, but at least, we could slow it down, in a dramatic way, if all of us do it together.

We do not inherit the world from our ancestor; we just borrow it from our children.