New Kid On The Blog

30-April-2010:

We have been swimming every weekend since Saimun came back. However, I don't get much swimming done. More like just a dip in the baby pool with Em. Problem is the girl is a total attention-seeker who doesn't like to be left alone at all. Our first time there with her, we took both the kids into the baby pool. After a while, I took Em out since her hands and feet were already wrinkled and it was the first time she swam so to play it safe, we took her out of the pool. I changed her, put her on the buggy then we all went back to the big pool to swim. After not more than 5 minutes, she started screaming. So while Dom and I swam, Saimun had to sit on the deck with Em on his lap (her pants was all wet later on because daddy was wet). I didn't get much swimming done too because Dom was with me, but at least I did a couple of laps. Gotta think of plan that allows all of us to swim.

# posted by Skye @ 3:32 am 0 comments

30-April-2010:

Stephenie Meyer has a new book coming up in June. It's called 'The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. You remember Bree Tanner, don't you? Those who read Eclipse. She was that 'new born' who was captured by the Cullens but then 'murdered' by the Volturi. Remember? Is anyone getting this? It's currently �5.99 on Amazon UK.

# posted by Skye @ 3:03 am 0 comments

23-APR-2010:

In this picture, he looks like he's 3 instead of 4+ ... so innocent and cute. In the flesh, he has grown so much even his feet don't look small and cute now. But still, he behaves like a baby sometimes, especially during bed time. I guess he gets a little bit envious that his sister gets to sleep near us while he is in another bed across the room. He would ask, "Who can take care of me?", which is to say, "who will sleep next to him?". Haha. Sometimes I will crawl into his bed after Emily falls asleep and lie down with him for a while.

I cannot believe that his school gave him Ejaan, Spelling and 'Ting Sie'. Such a young kid and he has to learn to spell already. I'm not even sure if it's necessary. Nowadays, we have spell-check, don't we? Haha! Most of the time, it's only 3 words but still. He normally gets 1 out of 3 correct - which is in theory, a fail! But never mind, at least he didn't get a zero. I should blame myself first before I blame him because I think I was supposed to revise with him at home. The thing is, I wasn't even aware of it until he's had the spelling/ejaan/ting sie.

One positive outcome (out of many) from all these school stuffs is that he now enjoys 'homework' so much so that he asks to do his homework even though there isn't any, so we gave him activity and exercise books, and he really enjoys all of them. He now writes a lot of gibberish and asks us what the word is. I think he's still far behind most of the typical Malaysian kids in terms of academic but he's making steady progress. After all, it is tough to have to suddenly learn two extra languages. His 'bahasa' is getting quite good too. He can't yet converse in Bahasa but understands (and even spells) a few words.

Whether or not he wets his bed at night doesn't depend on him anymore, but on me instead. Which means he is still wetting his bed, unless I wake him up to wee. One early morning (around 5 or 6 am), he got up to pee and went back to sleep (shocking!). In the morning, we told him how good he was and gave him an ice-cream. The next day, he did it again and ASKED for an ice-cream afterwards. On the third day, I think he didn't want any ice-cream anymore, therefore he wet the bed. Haha!

According to MIL, he is very well-behaved when both Saimun and I are not around. He takes his nap in the afternoon (sometimes doesn't, such as yesterday) and eats his dinner all by himself without fuss. After living with his grandma and grandpa for 6 months, I still find him very attached to Saimun and I. Never once has he done a poo while we were away. He needs to wait for one of us to come home. He refuses to stay in the house with his grandma/grandpa on our non-working day and insists on going everywhere with us.

According to his teacher in school, he is 'very naughty and talkative'. I guess he's not the typical obedient kid. I wonder what she meant by 'naughty'. Is it mischiveous or plain bad? I didn't have a chance to ask because the teacher told my FIL when he sent Dom to school and I didn't hear it first hand.

# posted by Skye @ 1:43 am 0 comments

22-April-2010:

She is 6 months old now and growing up so quickly (which is a good thing, I'm not complaining). At this stage, you can more or less tell what her characteristics will be like when she grows up. More than once, I saw a reflection of myself in her:

1. Bad tempered - she gets very angry and cries loudly when (1) she thinks that one of us was going to pick her but we walk away instead, (2) she's sleepy and Dom is making noise, (3) sometimes for no reason, when we put her down. Hungry? Sleepy?, (4) she's in her buggy and we stop pushing (sometimes). Bottom line is that she's an impatient baby, just like me, and easily annoyed. :p

2. Emotional - apart from showing her anger, she is also very generous with her smiles and laughter. About anything can tickle, even if it's just a peck on the cheek. I love her for this. I recall that when I was small, more than one person has called me 'Dai siu gu poh' (which means 'old lady who laughs big', I think).

A bit on her developmental progress. She can now roll over from front to back and back to front. When on her tummy, she likes to perch up on all fours, like crawling. She can also move forward but not actually crawling but pushing forward instead, if you get what I mean.

She likes to grab objects - anything within her sight and reach. She can now grab an object and put it into her mouth, and can also pass the object from one hand to the other and back. She's also quite good at throwing objects onto the floor/bed.

She can now sit unsupported for a longer period but still not very steady. The problem is she can't sit still and much too excited about her surroundings. She is always very happy to see me in the evenings. I think she must have been very bored during the day. MIL keeps her in the bouncer all the time. If you don't know what's a bouncer, it's one of those that has a metal frame and you pull a piece of fabric over it so that it functions like a hammock and you can bounce the baby up and down a bit on it, hence called a bouncer. I don't like Emily to be in that all the time because (1) It limits her activities. She is basically allowed to only lie on it and do nothing else. She can't crawl, can't "exercise" and I think it's so boring. (2) She now manages to roll over even in the bouncer, therefore not very safe. (3) The bouncer is placed on the floor and prone to accidents when other kids run around and play. Once, Shaynne fell, hit her head on the bouncer frame and got a horrible bruise. As selfish as it sounds, all I could think of was that fortunately she didn't fall on Emily, although Emily could have cushioned her fall a bit.

She is sleeping less during the day now. During the weekends when I'm around, she doesn't seem to be sleeping very much during the day and only for very short periods each time (hardly more than 1 hour). She doesn't fall asleep easily when there are activities around her, and when she does fall asleep, she awakes easily. There is no problem at night when the lights are off and everyone else is asleep.

She can recognize faces. At the least, she can recognize MIL and I. She follows us with her eyes around the room and sometimes cries if we ignore her. She has a terrible loud voice when she cries. FIL describes her as 'Old fierce hen' ('Ngok kai na' in Cantonese). It has just occured to me that both my kids have the following same characteristics: (1) Loud voice, (2) Big eyes, (3) Nice hair, (4) Wees a lot.

# posted by Skye @ 3:49 am 1 comments

21-APR-2010:

One of my friends commented on her Facebook, asking why Monday comes so soon after Friday but Friday is so damn far away from Monday? Another friend commented that and in between, you've got WTF too! Haha!

Truly, my weekends these days are so precious. In fact, I spend the whole week looking forward to it. I feel that my time here in this brightly lit office is "a waste of my time". As usual, I could have just worked 20 hours a week (instead of 40) and still achieve the same outcome. I just don't spend so much time chatting and blogging. :p

Anyway, last weekend was a nice one. We spent Saturday morning getting stuffs done around the house, such as ironing Dom's school uniforms, getting him to do homework and taking the new car out for a "spin" - did not actually spin it but just a figure of speech. I drove very, very slowly. In the afternoon, we took the kids swimming - Em's 2nd time. I think she's beginning to enjoy it, and Dom is now quite good too, although still swimming with arm floats on. I asked Dom if he would like a swimming instructor, i.e. a teacher who can teach him how to swim, and he replied, "Huh? But I know how to swim already!". I wonder if it is necessary to send him for swimming lessons? Both my brother and I did not attend any - we just goofed around and our grandparents showed us a few strokes and we both can swim pretty well now, but not saying that we're qualified to participate in any race, but at least can save ourselves if need to.

On Sunday, Dom and I went to church as usual. He is getting used to Sunday School over here, which is very different from the ones he attended in London. It is more serious here - they actually read the bible (but taught in a way of story telling) and they take attendance each week. Dom can remember some of the stories but not sure how much he actually understood.

In the afternoon, Saimun and his brother took the boys for a movie. They watched "How to Train a Dragon". I was rather excited about it, not because I was going to watch the movie but because it was an opportunity for me to go shopping with Emily while the guys were watching the show. I love shopping alone - no one to hurry me up and I don't have to wait around for the other person. It was going to be great, but unfortunately my MIL decided she wanted to come shopping with me too! It wasn't so bad but I'd really prefer more freedom and not being questioned on everything I so much as set eyes on. In the end, I didn't manage to buy anything except 2 bottles of nail varnish. Wasn't planning on getting those at all but I felt out-numbered when MIL bought 2 pairs of shoes!

# posted by Skye @ 2:50 am 0 comments

Approximately 5 years after the book Bridget Jones's Diary was published, I read it for the first time and now I wish I can see the movie too. It was truly, truly enjoyable, so REAL and extremely hilarious. I totally love every bit of it, from cover to cover and wish that I can share with you all that I've read, but it would be crazy of me to type everything out. :-D So here are a few snippets, which I hope will entice you to read the book yourself. Does anyone have the DVD that I can borrow?

Tuesday 3 January

9st 4 (terrifying slide into obesity - why? why?), alcohol units 6 (excellent), cigarettes 23 (v.g.), calories 2472.

9 a.m. Ugh. Cannot face thought of going to work. Only thing which makes it tolerable is thought of seeing Daniel again, but even that is advisable since am fat, have spot on chin, and desire only to sit on cushion eating chocolate and watching Xmas specials. It seems wrong and unfair that Christmas, which its stressful and unmanageable financial and emotional challenges, should first be forced upon you one wholly against one's will, then rudely snatched away just when one is starting to get into it. Was really beginning to enjoy the feeling that normal service was suspended and it was OK to lie in bed as long as you want, put anything you fancy into your mouth, and drink alcohol whenever it should chance to pass your way, even in the mornings. Now suddenly we are all supposed to snap into self-discipline like a lean teenage greyhounds.

Sunday 15 January

9st (excellent), alcohol units 0, cigarettes 29 (v.v. bad, esp. in 2 hours), calories 3879 (repulsive)

6 p.m. Completely exhausted by entire day of date-preparation. Being a woman is worse than being a farmer - there is so much harvesting and crop spraying to be done: legs to be waxed, underarms shaved, eyebrows plucked, feet pumiced, skin exfoliated and moisturized, spots cleansed, roots dyed, eyelashes tinted, nails filed, cellulite massaged, stomach muscles exercised. The whole performance is so highly tuned you only need to neglect it for a few days for the whole thing to go to seed. Sometimes I wonder what I would be like if left to revert to nature - with a full beard and handlebar moustache on each shin, Dennis Healey eyebrows, face a graveyard of dead skin cells, spots erupting, long curly fingernails like Struwelpeter, blind as bat and stupid runt of species as no contact lenses, flabby body flobbering around. Ugh, ugh. Is it any wonder girls have no confidence?

Tuesday 7 March

9st 4, 2 or 5?? alcohol units 0, cigarettes 20, calories 1500

9 a.m. Aargh. How can I have put on 3lb since the middle of the night? I was 9st 4 when I went to bed, 9st 2 at 4 a.m. and 9st 5 when I got up. I can understand weight coming off - it could have evaporated or passed out of the body into the toilet - but how could it be put on? Could food react chemically with other food, double its density and volume and solidify into every heavier and denser hard fat? I don't look fatter. I can fasten the button, though no, alas, the zipper of my '89 jeans. So maybe my whole body is getting smaller but denser. The whole thing smacks of female body-builders and makes me feel strangely sick. Call up Jude to complain about diet failure, who says write down everything you've eaten, honestly, and see if you stuck to the diet.

Saturday 22 April

8st 7, cigarettes 0, alcohol units 0, calories 1800

Today is an historic and joyous day. After eighteen years of trying to get down to 8st 7 I have finally achieved it. It is no trick of the scales, but confirmed by jeans. I am thin.

There is no reliable explanation. I have been to the gym twice in the last week, but that, though rare, is not freakish. I have eaten normally. It is a miracle. Rang Tom, who said maybe I have a tapeworm.

Tuesday 25 April

8st 7, alcohol units 0 (excellent), cigarettes 0 (v.v.g), calories 995 (continuing good work)

Humph. Went to Jude's party tonight in tight little black dress to show off figure feeling v. full of myself.

'God, are you all right?' asked Jude when I walked in. 'You look really tired.'

'I'm fine,' I said, crestfallen. 'I've lost half a stone. What's the matter?'

'Nothing. No, I just thought ...'

'What? What?'

'Maybe you've lost it a bit quickly off your ... face,' she trailed off, looking at my admittedly somewhat deflated cleavage.

Simon was the same.

'Bridgiiiiiiiiit! Have you got a fag?'

'No, I've given up.'

'Oh blimey, no wonder you look so ...'

'What?'

'Oh, nothing, nothing. Just a bit ... drawn.'

It continued all evening. There's nothing worse than people telling you you look tired. They might as well have done with it and say you look like five kinds of shit. I felt so pleased with myself not drinking but as the evening wore on, and everyone got drunker, I began to feel so calm and smug that I was even irritating myself. I kept finding myself in conversations when I actually couldn't be bothered to say a single word, and just looked on and nodded in a wise, detached manner.

'Have you got any camomile tea?' I said to Jude at one point as she lurched past, hiccupping happily, at which point she collapsed into giggles, put her arm round me and fell over. I decided I'd better go home.

Once there, I got into bed, put my head on the pillow but nothing happened. I kept putting my head in one place, then another place, but still it wouldn't go to sleep. Normally I would be snoring by now and having some sort of traumatized paranoid dream. I put the light on. It was only 11:30. Maybe I should do something, like, well, er ... mending? Inner poise. The phone rang. It was Tom.

'Are you all right?'

'Yes. I feel great. Why?'

'You just seemed, well, flat tonight. Everyone said you weren't your usual self.'

'No, I was fine. Did you see how thin I am?' Silence.

'Tom?'

'I think you looked better before, hon.'

Now I feel empty and bewildered - as if a rug has been pulled from under my feet. Eighteen years - wasted. Eighteen years of calorie and fat-unit-based arithmetic. Eighteen years of buying long shirts and jumpers and leaving the room backwards in intimate situations to hide my bottom. Millions of cheesecakes and tiramisus, tens of millions of Emmenthal slices left uneated. Eighteen years and the result is 'tired and flat'. I feel like a scientist who discovers that his life's work has been a total mistake.

Tuesday 1 August

8st 12, alcohol units 3, cigarettes 40 (but have stopped inhaling in order to smoke more), calories 450 (off food)

5 a.m. I'm falling apart. My boyfriend is sleeping with a bronzed giantess. My mother is sleeping with a Portuguese. Jeremy is sleeping with a horrible trollop, Prince Charles is sleeping with Camilla Parker-Bowles. Do not know what to believe in or hold on to any more.

Finally, there is a sequel to this. Mel, when can I get the book from you? That is to say, when are we meeting up again? :-D

# posted by Skye @ 1:01 am 0 comments

19-APRIL-2010:

I celebrated my 33rd birthday last week. It was a joyous occassion, firstly because it reminded me that I am loved by the people who are important to me, and secondly because it is a blessing to have lived yet another year.

The day started with a 'Happy Birthday' greeting from Saimun, which I accepted groggily (from sleep) but happily. I know some of my friends normally get a "candle light" dinner (whether or not there is a candle in this case is not the point), or a branded handbag ordered all the way from Paris (really happened, I'm not making this up), or a piece of jewelry or something else fancy, or at least a movie night away from the kids but that has never been our style. In fact, I have mixed feelings about him getting me a gift, unless I choose the gift myself. :p Sometimes it's hard to understand what men were thinking when they bought their wives gifts. Haha!

Later that day, my boss bought me a birthday cake, we sang a song, ate the cake and I took the leftover home for Dom.

Feels so weird to be addressed as 'Leong Suk Ye' again while all the time in the past 4 years, I've been calling myself 'Sukye Leong' (sometimes Sukye Chim), and 'Sukye' pronounced as 'Suki'.

That night, Saimun bought me another cake and we had another cake-cutting ceremony at home. Dominic behaved as if it was his birthday. He blew off all of my candles before I could make a wish! He even chose the cake!

# posted by Skye @ 3:55 am 1 comments

19-APR-2010:

In week 2, she tried carrots and potatoes, and I think she preferred the potatoes over the carrots. Here's a summary of week 2 weaning progress (at precisely 6 months old).

Monday - Two teaspoons of rice cereal with about 5 teaspoons of cooked pureed carrots, mixed with water. Didn't finished everything, obviously. It was more than double the amount previously, but ate quite a lot nonetheless.

Tuesday - Same thing as the day before. Again, didn't finish and didn't seem to be in a very good appetite. Noticed that she has done a poo when I picked her up from the high chair. Not sure when she pooped - was it before she started eating or while she was eating? Noticed bits of carrots in her poo. Haha!

Wednesday - Carrots and rice cereal again (I'm doing a 4-day rotation). MIL said she pooped in the afternoon. She didn't notice any carrot bits in it.

Thursday - Goodie, goodie! Mashed potatoes for dinner tonight, mixed with formula milk (this was the "emergency" formula that her daddy bought during the early days and it wasn't opened until now). The expiry date is next year or something but MIL said it has been on the shelf for so long and should be thrown away. Irks me ... ever so slightly. Anyway, she loved it. Cooked one whole tiny potato and she almost finished it.

Friday - Mashed potatoes for dinner again. One whole tiny potato again. Didn't finish everything, but had a good amount. Didn't poo today.

Saturday - Rice cereal with milk for breakfast. Mashed potatoes for dinner. Didn't poo yet.

Sunday - No breakfast today as mummy went to church and daddy didn't bother. Mashed potatoes for dinner. Still no poo. Is she constipated? Haven't done one since Tuesday.

# posted by Skye @ 1:30 am 0 comments

15-APR-2010:

The blue/silver one is a Toyota and the grey (not black) one is a Mazda. Both of them cost the same, has the same engine capacity and almost the same accessories.

# posted by Skye @ 10:28 pm 1 comments

On April 7th, the men had started tiling works on the front porch. Work has slowed down a bit, it seems as there were only 2 men working, according to Saimun. The video is not very clear (with the iPhone) and I'm looking forward to see the real thing this Friday. Also, I kept telling Saimun to hold the phone horizontally when videoing but as you know men don't ever listen and as a result the video is so "narrow". And on this point, don't you think that the iPhone is really intelligent? When you hold the phone horizontally, the video automatically comes out in landscape format and when you hold it vertically, the video is in a portrait format. Unlike our Casio digital camera, the video will come out sideways if we hold the camera vertically.

# posted by Skye @ 5:24 am 0 comments

4-April-2010 (Sunday) - Started off with 1 tsp of Heinz baby rice cereal mixed with approximately 1/2 oz of breast milk. Consistency of cereal is watery. She took to the feeding very quickly and immediately understood that she was supposed to open her mouth when she saw the spoon coming. Seemed to love it very much as her movements were excited and she tried to grab the spoon. Wailed when food was finished.

5-April-2010 (Monday) - Seeing that she didn't have enough the day before, increased rice cereal to 2 tsps but this time mixed with hot water instead of milk (didn't feel like having to warm up the refrigerated breast milk and besides, having a tough time pumping and catching up to her increasing demands - drinking 160ml 3 times a day). Again, finished all of her food. Half way through, wiped her mouth with a hanky as she got messy and she cried because she thought it was the end of the meal. Leaned forward excitedly when she saw more food coming.

6-April-2010 (Tuesday) - Same thing as Monday but fell asleep immediately after eating (fed her on her carrier car seat and let her continue sleeping there).

7-April-2010 (Wednesday) - Had dinner together with us (sitting on the baby high chair). increased rice cereal slightly to 2 *heap* teaspoonful and thicker consistency. Finished every single drop.

8-April-2010 (Thursday) - Same thing as the day before. Seemed ready to try out other food. Planned to give her some carrots or bananas the next day.

Friday to Sunday - Down with fever :-( Ceased feeding for 3 days. First fever since birth. Don't know what was the matter as there were no other symptoms. MIL kept asking us to bring her to the doctor but we didn't because she was playing, drinking milk and even smiling despite the temperature. Fever wasn't very high - only about 38 C. On Sunday, bought her a "weaning bowl" and spoon.

Today (Monday), she's been fine according to her daddy. No sign of fever coming back (thank God). What will she eat today? :-)

# posted by Skye @ 5:04 am 0 comments

9-APR-2010:

Okay, as promised yesterday, here's a short post on how to insert Flickr photos into your Multiply Blog. If you're in anyway IT literate, this is actually 'basic' knowledge. :-)

Okay, so you're typing your blog here like I'm doing now and you want to insert a photo. So what you do is you go to your Flickr page, select the photo you want to insert and click on the 'All Sizes' button you see at the top of the picture.

Then, click on the size that you want. I normally choose 'Medium'.

After that, copy the text in the box that says "Copy and paste this HTML into your webpage". You can also use the text below that, i.e. the "Grab the photo's URL" text, but using the former one will enable you to link back to the original photo in Flickr for better quality viewing or to explore your other photos in your Flickr page.

Then, back to Multiply, you need to select the "Edit HTML" check box at the top right corner. You will see a bunch of HTML codes. And you just paste the text that you've just copied from Flickr into where you want the photo to be. It's a little bit tricky if you do not know HTML, but even then you can always paste the text right at the end and your picture will appear at the end of your blog.

# posted by Skye @ 1:55 am 0 comments

8-APR-2010:

I didn't go with them. It was Good Friday but I had to work. Dom was on holiday because his is a Christian school. He went together with his daddy. We had been wanting to go for a long time. Even before Saimun went back to London. But we have a small baby, and with our lousy sense of direction, we thought that Zoo Negara was miles out of PJ (in fact, it is just very nearby, according to Saimun). On top of that, my impression of Zoo Negara was that it would be hot and smelly and I would be pushing the buggy on uneven ground while sweating like mad. Emily would be complaining because it is so hot.

I don't blame me for thinking that because whenever we mentioned to anybody that we wanted to go to Zoo Negara, the responses that we got would be something along the line of ... "It's lousy, don't bother, the animals will all be sleeping, it's dirty and you'll get sun burn". I wonder how many of these people have actually been there. And I'm not talking about 10 or 20 years ago when KFC was still there and you hear on the TV the song, "Let's go to the zoo, there is lots of things to do ...". Anyway now, let's hear from the both of them who actually went recently.

From Saimun (the man with very few words indeed): There were lots of trees and it was quite shady, so it wasn't that bad. In terms of animals, it was okay but they should do some marketing to attract more tourists. There were very few people there, but perhaps because it was a week day.

From Dominic: Yes, I had a lot of fun and saw many, many animals - crocodile (not moving), snakes, penguins, giraffe, buffalo, elephant, cows! (didn't know they showcase cows in the zoo too, thought only wild animals), bear, hippopotamus, monkeys, tigers, lions and "something that looks like a camel", and I presume many more that he didn't mention.

All in all, I think it wasn't bad at all. So parents, if you are in KL, do bring your children to the National Zoo. It is better than bringing them to the shopping malls every weekend!! By the way, entrance fee is RM25 per adult (or was is RM20? Anyway, not a big difference). For children under 4, it is free of charge. Saimun told them that Dominic was below 4 years old therefore I do not know how much they charge for children.

Here are some photos:

# posted by Skye @ 3:51 am 0 comments

7-APR-2010:

Yes, he is no longer 32 years old. He had his birthday a couple of months back and sad to say, he spent it alone in London. Nevertheless, he received a birthday gift from moi here and Dom wished him a happy birthday on the phone. A few days later, we spoke on the phone again and Dom said, "Daddy, it's your birthday!". I said, "No, daddy's birthday is over." He looked confused and he stared at me momentarily. "But ... but daddy ... you didn't eat the cake and blow the candles!". Haha. Children. They are so naive and cute.

Anyway, Saimun is back for good. He is back to annoy me! Haha! I mean ... of course it's great to have him back. He helps to get Dom to bed so that I now have more time in the evenings. He helps to entertain Em when I need to do other stuffs. He sends me to work and picks me up so that I don't need to drive. He helps to look after the renovation and runs around buying stuffs for the house. It's all good.

He's been back for barely 2 weeks and he spent those 2 weeks (presumably) monitoring Job Street. If anyone of you has applied a job through Job Street before, you will know that once you've submitted an application you'll be told of how many competitors you have. Saimun told me about one job where there were 150 applicants. He didn't feel he had a very good chance there. On Monday, he was called for an interview but was told that he was 'over qualified', whatever that means?? Anyway, I am proud to announce that has found a job already and will start work "on the 17th", he said, but strangely 17th is a Saturday. Maybe he meant the 17th next month. Sooo lucky to have God's blessing.

# posted by Skye @ 11:36 pm 0 comments

On 30 March 2010, the kitchen was cleaned up and the work top was completed. No one was at work on site today. The bathroom floors were smoothen up and the cement left to dry. Saimun was out burning his plastic, purchasing 4 units of WCs and bathroom sinks. The next day, he purchased a solar water heater.

# posted by Skye @ 2:51 am 0 comments

This is another video uploaded by Saimun on 25 March 2010. All four bathrooms were stripped down and the plumbing works partially done. The electrical cabling was done and the walls have been patched up.

# posted by Skye @ 2:40 am 0 comments

6-APR-2010:

Fast approaching 6 months old and Emily is still unable to sit unsupported. Although I know that every baby is different, I can't help comparing her with Dominic, especially when I've heard countless times that "girls are faster than boys". Why, then, is my girl slower? I guess only in this physical aspect is she slower than Dominic. She's probably better when it comes to motor skills. She can now grab things and put them into her mouth. She grabs the blouse that's been placed next to her, his brother's book that we're reading, the rattle in front of her, my phone when we're watching video on it, her pacifier, and basically whatever catches her attention.

Here is my little girl learning to sit. First, sandwiched between two pillows.

Then, she got too excited and she slipped side ways. Haha.

After that, she could sit unsupported for a short time ... probably about 1-2 minutes.

And then .... whoa ... whoops! Toppling over! Haha!

Emily has also started solids 2 days ago. On Sunday, I gave her 1 teaspoon of rice cereal mixed with about 1/4 - 1/2 oz of breast milk. The instruction on the box was to give her just 1-2 teaspoons as a tasting but she finished everything! And even cried when there was none left!

On Monday evening, I again gave her 1 teaspoon of rice cereal, this time, mixed with hot water (because it was too troublesome to have to warm up the breast milk). Again, she finished everything and gave me an irritated grunt when I wiped her mouth at the end! She is definitely sooo ready for solid food. I recall that about 4 years ago, I had an anxious chat with a friend (online) because Dominic wouldn't eat the rice cereal I prepared for him. Now that I think about it, he probably wasn't ready yet. He was about the same age as Emily now. I am feeling so excited for her now! :-D

# posted by Skye @ 10:13 pm 0 comments

5-APR-2010:

We took Emily for her first swimming session on Saturday. We were concerned that the water would be cold (as it always was), so we went at around 3pm, hoping that the water would be heated by the sun by then. Another concern was that she might get sun burn, but fortunately the swimming pool that we went to (FIL's condo) was surrounded by the buildings and was very shady. In fact, we preferred a little bit of sun!

The water wasn't too cold. According to Dom, it was only "a little bit cold". Emily didn't complain at all. She was very still at the beginning and looked a bit confused. She kept staring at his brother and daddy in the water. After a while, she started wriggling and kicking, and even splashed the water with her hands a few times. However, she didn't stay in the water long as her hands and feet were getting wrinkled. After that Saimun and I took turns swimming with Dom while the other watched Em.

Here are some photos and a video.

# posted by Skye @ 3:30 am 0 comments

2-APR-2010:

This video was taken by Saimun this week. Emily was 5 and a half months old. I think her eyes look so lovely in this video.

# posted by Skye @ 12:26 am 0 comments

1-APR-2010:

This coming Sunday is Qing Ming, or what they call "The Tomb Sweeping" day. This day is normally observed around April 5th of the Gregorian calendar and is an opporunity for the celebrants to remember and honour their ancestors at grave sites. Despite having no holiday status in Malaysia, the Chinese take this festival seriously and normally observe the festival on a Sunday. Many, like us, would prefer to do it a week earlier to avoid the crowd and traffic jam.

On Sunday morning, Saimun and his parents left at 7+ in the morning to visit his grandfather's grave site, which I was not obligated to go because I had to take care of the two kids (children have their uses sometimes). I don't expect to participate in this family event until both my kids are at least 15 years old and are allowed to stay home on their own.

However, when they came home at around 10:30am, I left the kids with Saimun and went with my brother to my mother's grave site instead. According to my MIL, I wasn't supposed to go because I'm now married and do not belong to that family anymore. But I didn't care. To me, I was merely visiting my own mum and at the same time an opportunity for me to catch up with my uncle (mum's brother), aunt and cousins.

I sat in front of my mother's grave, looking at her radiant smile on the tombstone, and I felt the urge to go forward and flung my arms around her. I felt sorry that she couldn't see how well I am doing. That I have a son and a daughter now. I felt sorry that she hadn't met her own grandchildren. At least, I found comfort in knowing that she had met Saimun and knew that I would be well taken care of, before she had to go. I also wanted to tell her that she need not worry about my brother anymore as he is also well taken of. He hasn't turned into a 'samseng' or a drug addict, like a lot of people had feared he would. In fact, he is now a responsible man and a responsible father, and moving ahead in his career. I can't believe I'm calling my little brother a 'man'. :p

Anyway, despite the memories, we actually had a good time catching up and laughing. There we were - my brother, uncle, aunt, my cousins and myself - catching up on our most recent or not so recent events. They haven't met my kids yet even though Dom is already 4 years old. We moved to London shortly after he was born. My uncle is now in interior design and I didn't know it. My cousin is opening a cafe soon and his youngest brother has completed his SPM. He was only 4 or 5 when my mum died. It was almost like a picnic and I was almost disappointed when it came to an end and we had to part. I promise that I will participate in this family event every year, whether a married woman is allowed to visit her mother's grave or not.

# posted by Skye @ 1:30 am 0 comments