Big Brother Samuel and Little Alaina

2012 The Year of the Dragon

2012-02-01T22:38:00.003+08:00

We don’t mean to sound like a broken record but yeah, our Chinese New Year celebration routine has yet to change.
We spent the eve and the first day of the New Year here in Penang and travelled back to Bidor on the second day. The only different this year is that our trip back to Mommy’s hometown was a short one….

Actually, that’s not totally true. 2 other noticeable differences; though not in terms of routine, are the volume of noise and the size of our family. They are getting higher and higher.. errr.. bigger!

What could we say, we aim for the sky :D

Po Po’s house is in full force celebration mood. The decos are all up and ong! The house is dolled up even more with lush and bloom.

The pot is not for pretense.

These are actual live Pussy Willows; with roots and all!

These are cut Pussy Willows.

In a Dragon theme gigantic vase, how fitting!

The rare Little Bird Flower Plant.

The pretty bloom resembles the shape of a bird. That’s where the plant name comes from!

More pretty bloom….

Mommy better stop now before this become a post on flowers :p

But they are just so pretty!

Back to the kids ….. The kids’ playtime nowadays revolved around the iPads. We are not crazy about it but these gizmos are fast becoming an important part of our children growing up life. It’s hard to ignore and hard to prevent contact with ‘em. And we couldn’t deny that if they are used in a controlled environment, they actually could do more good than wrong to our children…..

But thank goodness, they are still all in for some good ‘ol fashion fun…

With toys

And water

And Pop Pop

And chit-chat time under the moon

Due to time constraint, the once a year gathering for Mommy’s childhood friends (ahem!... childhood make it sounds as though we are still young eh?) was held on the second day this year.

It was great catching up with friends; for both the kids and adults

A rare appearance by Mrs. Lee : )

Back in Penang over the weekend, we went to the Little Penang Street Market for go-see and were treated to a pleasant surprise. We heard loud thud of drums and cymbals after we’ve parked our car and were secretly hoping that there would be some lion dancing..

We’ve got more than that : )

The lions were making their rounds when one of ‘em saw Mommy and Alaina observing from the side.

She came and rubbed her fur over Alaina :O

The baby was not intimidated, just non-chalant. It was Mommy that couldn’t control herself and chuckling non-stop.The lion was sporting and patiently posed while Daddy wiped out his iPhone.

Not once

But twice!

There was a special dance by a ‘Chinese Unicorn’ (no idea what is that) too. The dance is a ‘lil different from the usual lion dance. The unicorn favors rolling on the floor….. We have not seen anything like that before. It’s kinda like a wriggly worm
:p

That’s not the end of our celebration yet. Since the kids claim they didn’t spend enough time together during this Chinese New Year, we are planning another get-together.

So…. more to come later…

5 Months

2012-01-30T23:31:00.007+08:00

We went to the pediatrician office again 2 weeks back when both the kids down with mild fever. Samuel also had finally caught Daddy’s 2nd wave of the mightier bug :O

Samuel’s fever persisted for a few days but Alaina’s fever broke the day itself after a dose of paracetamol. All was good; according to the doctor, a fever register at 38.4C is slight, 37.4C is considered as no fever and is high if the fever is above 39C.
He does not recommend over-medication… in other words, no medication is required if fever is mild. But then, mild is subjective eh? Parents always tend to have different interpretation :p

Alaina’s weight has been quite static at 7.6kgs for the past 2 weeks. Still a very healthy number for her 65cm length.

She smiles a lot and hasn’t stop smiling since she discovered the art at month 2. But then she wails equally as much too, most of the time for company. The gal does not necessarily need to be picked-up or be carried around (although that’s her ultimate favorite pastime), she just doesn’t want to loose sight of us. She absolutely likes to see her big brother dancing and talking to her. This comes mighty handy when Mommy’s hand is too full. Samuel can take over baby-sitting for a wee while : )

Another of her favorite pastime is balancing on her tummy and her tummy only.

See, no hand and no feet

Like an aeroplane

She’ll fly and fly until she tires out

Her head and torso are quite steady now. We’ve tried to put her on the high chair cushioned with pillows and bolster. She ain’t liking it yet but getting there.

On the diet front, she is still latching on directly for breastmilk. Mommy is trying the bottle with water now and she is not rejecting it as violently already. We say that’s a victory, looks like success might just be around the corner : )

Ain’t Easy Taking a Picture

2012-01-28T00:19:00.026+08:00

It ain’t easy taking a picture nowadays with 2 kids; a kid and a baby to be precise!

When Mommy is looking into the camera, the baby is not.

When the baby is, Mommy is not!

And when both of us are, Kor Kor is not

Another attempt but Baby is looking away

Finally, all of us look into the camera. But the photographer butters his fingers…

Blurry!

Happy New Dragon Year!

2012-01-22T23:11:00.000+08:00

Happy

New

Dragon

Year!

Park Excursion Resumes

2012-01-20T23:40:00.000+08:00

With Alaina’s nursing schedule falling nicely into a routine, we are now more comfortable to plan for longer outings at less restricted places.
The first of such places that came into our mind last-last week was the park.

If our memories serve us correctly, the last we went to Youth Park would be the week before Alaina was born.

Launching his special vertical catapult then

Yes, Mommy. It had been that long!

So, yah. We are ready to go back to the park again after so many months.

It was a beautiful Monday morning. We planned and timed ourselves well; not only we went to the park, we had our breakfast and lunch out too.

The boy was overjoyed.

Be careful. Watch out for termites!

Watch out for the termites!

Samuel was meaning to warn Mommy as Mommy and Alaina was following him and Daddy further from behind. But his cute little antics actually alerted a few passerbies to watch out for the termites.
They stopped to thank our Boy : )

A bit over-dressed for the park but hey, as long as the Boy is happy. He picked out this ensemble himself. Lately, his likes ‘em all matchy and color coordinated.

We are glad that Samuel is understanding and that why we gotta limit outdoor activities nowadays. We are hoping to go out more in the sun too. But that depends if Alaina is cooperative.

So far, she’s enjoying it.

See how relax she looks!

I See and I Want!

2012-01-19T16:21:00.003+08:00

How to resist those eyes?

And the ‘lil cute beak mouth

Nay, Alaina is not looking at Mommy. But the burger that Mommy is holding.

Looks like our gal is heading for solid real soon!

Little Trivia Fan

2012-01-16T23:34:00.000+08:00

Wow, it must have been very obvious that Samuel adores the Lord of the Rings shows.
Or is it that Aunty Florence took the bait …..err hint? :p

See what Samuel got for his Christmas present…

It’s the J.R.R Tolkien Lord of the Rings Trivia Game

It’s a game design solely for LOTR Fans, cos… oh man…. It ain’t easy

Both the game rules and the questions card. Mommy nearly gotta sit next to the dictionary in order to play the game!

But that ain’t stopping Samuel

He played and plays still. Yup, the questions might be extremely challenging and one has to read the book version in order to understand the stories fully. But Samuel is still killin’ it.

With intelligent guesses!

He still rules!

Oh Boy…. Now, Samuel is into the show Real Steel. He has been asking to watch it everyday.

Hmm… we wonder if there’ll be an 8 foot robot showing up at our door step soon eh ;)

Christmas 2011

2012-01-12T17:08:00.028+08:00

We did not plan for any travelling or dinner out this year but rather spend it at home. It’s a bit taxing to enjoy dinner and busy looking for nursing rooms at the same time :p

Pix taken this year are limited due to errr… some laptop-crashing-incidents but here goes..

On Christmas Eve, we went over to the kids’ grandparents’ place (wow, that’s a long way to say hubby’s parent eh) for dinner.

We brought dessert.

Strawberry Meringue from CB

We spent quality time chatting and relaxing.

Alaina took a nap in between.

On Christmas Day, all of us made it early for the Sunday Mass where Alaina took her first morning nap.

After mass, we went over to great grandma’s house for her birthday cum Christmas celebration.

Alaina took her second nap there : )

But not before wishing Great grandma Happy Birthday

and Merry Christmas to everyone!

4 Months

2012-01-06T23:26:00.001+08:00

Funny how things happen the way they do…

During Alaina’s 4th month check-up with her pediatrician last week, Mommy updated her doctor that Alaina has yet to roll-over and then pop…. she rolls over almost immediately.
Mommy also raised her concern on Alaina’s bowel movement where at times, Mommy still sees a few per day… and then suddenly now Alaina hasn’t been producing any for 2 days.
Hmm…

Anyway, all is great as per the Doctor check-up; Alaina’s weight is recorded at 7.38kgs and length at 63cm.
She has finally caught Daddy’s month long bug; it started with a cough or two but progresses to cough with phlegm since last week. The doctor did not prescribe any medication for her as her throat, lungs and ears are clear. He commented that medication at this stage will do more harm than good as the Baby will be drowsy and sleeps all the time. After a week or two, the cough should go away by itself he says. He advised Mommy to continue with breastfeeding exclusively and more frequent to provide more fluid intake for Alaina.

Yes, Alaina is still on breastmilk diet; direct feeding fully. We have plans to introduce the bottle to her but somehow couldn’t find the right time for it…
Well, no hurry, perhaps after Chinese New Year : )

At 4 months, her routine has almost set. She takes several naps in a day but perhaps one too many as she sleeps quite late in the night. Her feeding time is quite regular too, making it easier for us to time ourselves when we are out and about.

There was one point when she started to recognize her surrounding that she only wants Mommy to carry her, she would wail if anyone else attempt to. Now she’s calmer and less selective and in her better mood, will let Yee Yee carries her : )

Her grip is very strong. She is not interested in picking up object in front of her but when it comes to pinching and pulling, she uses all her might.
The scattered hair around our house attests to it….

Ok ….. may be not.
May be it’s postpartum hair loss.

But hey, it ain’t easy getting Alaina to let go once she gets hold of our hair!

One Day Penang Rendezvous

2012-01-05T23:57:00.003+08:00

Back to our holiday earlier last month, it ain’t over yet…

The frenzy on Small Jiu Jiu’s wedding slowly quite down after the ceremony. We came back to Penang on the evening itself; those staying down south and center had also made their move except for Yee Poh. Yee Poh extended her stay here for more sight-seeing, she followed Small Jiu Jiu and Po Po back to Penang the next day.

Of course then we joined Yee Poh for some Penang rendezvous.

First in our itinerary was Penang Butterfly Farm. Mommy and Alaina sat this one out, literally. We went to the farm alrite but we did not enter the exhibit areas. Don’t wanna stress Alaina out with all the pollen that’s flying around ‘ya see.

We rest at the café joined by Aunty May, Mommy’s friend who is working there. It was a really great catch-up for us, must have been ages since we last sit down for coffee : )

The following shots are all taken by Small Jiu Jiu since Mommy did not go into the farm…. not that Mommy has any free hand for the camera anyway :p

We are going to see some butterfly

Lots and lots of 'em

Interesting insect

Mandarin ducks, ain’t they sweet?

The tortoise has just lay eggs recently (cue to the right, the staff are taking good care of ‘em)It would be interesting to see ‘em hatch but that will only be in another couple of weeks' time.

We left Butterfly Farm around noon and headed to the beach.

Although it was not scorching hot, it wasn’t pleasant to walk by the beach at that hour either.

We barely hang for 10 mins before walking over back to Sigi's by the Beach for lunch, a nice one inside the cooling restaurant :D

Next in the itinerary after lunch was Peranakan Museum. Mommy and Alaina took a raincheck to head back home for a rest… Mommy needed the rest :p.
Gotta recharge back some energy to make it for dinner outing later :p

Samuel as though has bottomless energy, followed the rest to the museum. It was not his first visit; he went before last year with Daddy and Mommy.

We couldn’t recall there’s a piano there though

This we remember ….

A group photo to end Day 1 Penang Rendezvous

Roll Over

2012-01-02T22:06:00.000+08:00

The story is like this;

We just came back from an outing.
Naturally Mommy had Samuel and Alaina cleaned up first,
then left them to play in the living room with Daddy
before adjourned to the restroom for a shower herself.

Alaina was lying on her back on a mattress on the floor. Daddy took his eyes off her for a few seconds to setup a phone game for Samuel. And when Daddy set his eyes back to Alaina….

Alaina was on her tummy.

Eh….. all of us missed it!

Alaina has been trying to roll over for quite some time now; every time when she almost has it, the hand that stuck underneath her chest would have pushed her back on her back. This afternoon though, she managed to roll fully and successfully for the first time.
And she did it for only one time then… tired out perhaps :p

Later in the evening after more than 2 hours power nap, after her evening bath, Alaina was in her rolling mood again. She did it a couple of time … complete with a victory grin for us.

Bravo Gal!

From Tummy to Her Back

2011-12-30T22:59:00.001+08:00

Alaina actually did the little stunt once quite a few days back but Mommy attributed that to the tilted mattress. With a little push, Alaina managed to roll from tummy to her back position then.

Today though, she’s on a flat surface and is in her bubbly mood. She coos and she pushes…
And just like that, rolls herself from tummy to her back position : )

This picture is taken by Samuel using Mommy’s cell. We did not teach him how to take his own close up picture by extending his hand and place the camera right in front. He somehow figured it out himself.
For this shot, he’s meaning to take a picture of himself together with his sister.

Not bad eh?

Small Jiu Jiu Big Day, the Wedding Ceremony

2011-12-28T15:57:00.002+08:00

After 2 days Cameron Highlands vacation break, we continued with Small Jiu Jiu’s big day hype.
It’s finally the ceremony itself.

Our morning was greeted with lots of happy voices from everywhere;

boys and gals

old and young

pals and buds…..
errr…dads and dots

Wedding Car bouquet using pretty fresh flowers especially bought from Cameron Highlands.
Yees ees and Jiu Jius stayed up late the night before to do all the flowers arrangement

Pretty Bridal Bouquet

Small Jiu Jiu with his 6 cars Entourage left the house as schedule to pick-up the Bride

Of course the older kids went along as Page Boys and Flower Girl to gatecrash….
errr… invite :p the Bride home

Cool and steady

Some refreshment while waiting for the Groom and his Bride

Still cool and steady

The kids stayed close to each other through out

Samuel offered to sing to Small Jiu Jiu’s Bride when challenged by her Maids

Eh… how come the door is still not opened one?

After many rounds of challenges, Small Jiu Jiu heaved a sigh of relief…
Mission accomplished

The kids with the new couple

Meanwhile, back at Po Po's place....

We were all busy...
not busy posing but

Preparing lunch and setting-up the place for the Bride and her Entourage arrival

Table for the Best men and Bridesmaids

Favor for the Best men;
Wine glass with fragrance soap

Favor for the Bridesmaids;
Pretty Potted Plants

The Grand Arrival

Serving tea to Po Po and Kong Kong

Skip, skip and skip

Tea for Daddy and Mommy

Red Packets from the new couple

Not forgetting Alaina too

A picture with the Bride and Groom

This is an actual part of the ceremony.
Can you guess what the kids are doing?

One Big Happy Family

More Rain and More Jams, Among Others at Cameron Highlands

2011-12-27T17:21:00.001+08:00

We have big plans for our day 2 in Cameron Highlands. We were thinking about visiting the Rose Valley, checking out teas, grapes and cactus and stuff….. but alas, almost all did not materialize. Marred by bad weather and bad traffic, we could barely find time and the strength to make it to 2 attraction stops!

We checked-out from our hotel after breakfast and made our way further up the hill.
Although it’s already a weekday then, the holiday crowd there still had yet to disperse. It was crawling snail once we reached Brinchang. After what looked like an eternal drive after 2 or so kilometers we decided to turn into the next tourist stop we saw and made a u-turn back to Brinchang.
It was Sconers (or something that sounds alike) Kea Farm then,
we stopped by,
checked out the market,
got ourselves some strawberries cheese cake

checked out the mushroom farm
and u-turn back.

Back at Brinchang, we found our way to the Cactus Valley; also known as (or renamed to, we are not too sure) Taman Agro Tourism.

Love this spontaneous shot of Samuel

We got to see how these vegetables are grown

The obligatory strawberry shot :p

The place is huge. It took us quite a while to find a parking and a very long while to walk from the top to the bottom where the Chinese Restaurant is.

We took our lunch there; food was so-so but super reasonable. Less than RM40 for a fish dish, a claypot dried Bak Kut Teh, eggs and rice and drinks :O

After lunch….
yes as ‘ya guess it, it rained.

Most of the areas in the valley are sheltered but the walk to our car park was not. We timed ourselves and tried to make it to our car when the drizzle seemed to stop but still missed it by a couple of meters. Samuel was happy to run in the rain….. it was us worrywart adults that’re a tad distressed.
We left our umbrella in the car ‘ya see.
And we certainly wish not the kids catch any bugs.

Anyway, we made it safely and fairly dry to the car. We decided then we had enough of Cameron Highlands for that trip and made our way back.

Both the kids tired out and slept almost the entire journey. It was good that we reached Bidor early as Mommy really needed her much required rest. It would another long day the day after that.

We checked ourselves back into the same Bidor hotel later that evening.
Samuel, as though recognizes no tiredness when it comes to playtime with his cousins, spent the night at Po Po’s place and played till past midnight before calling it a day.

And what’s more…:O
He woke up before dawn the next morning for Small Jiu Jiu big day.
:O :O

2011 Cameron Highlands Trip

2011-12-26T23:55:00.010+08:00

After a good night rest at the hotel, all of us woke up fresh and energetic the next morning ready to continue with our vacation.

The itinerary for the day was Cameron Highlands. We left Bidor in 3 cars late in the morning after breakfast. Small Jiu Jiu and Po Po did not join us…. for the obvious reason of course; there’s a wedding to plan!

The journey up the hill via the Tapah entrance winding road was wicked as expected. We gotta stop a few times to catch breather….
The adults needed 'em, not the kids. The kids did not seem to be disturbed, Samuel chatted with Mommy all the way up and Alaina slept most of the drive.

Break at Lata Iskandar

It was near to 2pm when we reached Tanah Rata, we headed straight to Hotel Heritage. The rest of the 2 cars continued to Brinchang and put-up at Rosa Passadena.
Since we had snacked our hearts out earlier, we decided to skip lunch and had an early tea instead;

Scone and tea at the hotel.

One of the best scones we’ve tried…. Probably second to the ones served at Nobbies Café at the Australia Philips Island Nature Park.

Weather was cool, we were contented loiter around the hotel more breather before continued with our sight seeing.

It was to the Healthy Strawberry Farm later where we had waffles…

with strawberry (but of course) and ice-cream : )

It’s good that we had 2 teas before dinner cos, boy was it jam on the way to Brinchang :O. It’s the school holiday and the holiday crowd was madness there.
We joined the rest of the party at their hotel and then dinner at the Organic Steamboat Restaurant.
This restaurant is sorta famous and highly recommended by food critics. Even celebrities dine there. The vegetables are all organically grown and they use charcoal base steamboat pot. All of us had tears in our eyes while we ate……
Not because the food was good (it was OK though) but cos of the charcoal smoke!

It rained half way through our dinner so we had to scrap our Pasar Malam plan. The remaining of the night sees us running to our car shielded by Daddy’s coat with kids in our arms …. The kids again were not complaining. We know that Samuel can be a tough adventurer when he wants to but Alaina? A tough cookie in the making too?

Well, both the kids tired out and hit the pillows once we reached back our hotel. Daddy followed suit after a while too leaving Mommy counting the sheep all night long. Mommy hardly had any eye-shut :O

Happy Holidays

2011-12-24T23:48:00.001+08:00

Merry Christmas

Happy New Year

Small Jiu Jiu Big Day, the Dinner Reception

2011-12-23T17:53:00.007+08:00

The much anticipated Small Jiu Jiu’s big day made its grand arrival two weeks ago. Both the dinner bash and the tea ceremony were held at our hometown, with a 2 days break in between. We took the opportunity to plan a short trip to the hill resort nearby; knowing how much a vacation would cheer Samuel up.
We do understand, with all the mobility restriction and the err… 'less' attention he’s getting for the past months, it’s hard for Samuel not to whine a little about it.

We drive down from Penang on the Saturday morning and reached Bidor right about 2 something for a late lunch. Everybody had arrived, including Yee Poh from Singapore.
Although the day itinerary was only dinner later in the evening; we hardly could find any free time to kill. It’s busyness madness having to get everything in order and everyone ready looking handsome and pretty.

Of course we managed to though.

Samuel and Hanxin looking all handsome as the Page Boys

Baby Alaina is still too young to walk as the Flower Girl

Some final touches

All poise and ready

Walking down the aisle to the music beat

With all seriousness

Safely led the newly wed couple to their table

There were a lot going on during the dinner. Daddy was busied behind the camera. Yee Yees and Jiu Jiu and Po Po busied with hosting.

While Mommy juggled between the baby and stuff

The kids busied themselves with iPads

and err... chats

This is one of the more proper photos taken

As for the toasting and family photos… that’ll have to be continued in later chapter.

We left early as Alaina was calling for her bedtime …

Looking all chirpy and bubbly and happy in the hotel.

Yup, there’s a new hotel in town; presentable and decent. But the reservation service needs some serious nudge though.

Camp and Party

2011-12-22T23:23:00.000+08:00

Samuel’s school re-opened its new semester in December with the month-long Fun Camp as usual. The theme for this year camp is Character; with quite a few activities line-up for the whole month.
The highlights as we remember; are the field trips and the Christmas party. Unfortunately, absence-minded Mommy only remembers the date for the party and totally forgot about the field trips.

Due to utter busyness in our household for the past weeks, Samuel missed one of the field trip but made it in the nick of time for the second…
Well, it’s more like Big Yee Yee sent Samuel to school that day,
He had no idea there’s a field trip,
Neither did Yee Yee,
Big Yee Yee then informed Mommy,
Mommy then made arrangement in lightning speed with Small Jiu Jiu to get Samuel ready for his field trip …..
All turned out well and everyone lives happily ever after….
Errr… ops!
That's the end of another story :p

All did turn out well and Samuel totally enjoyed his field trip to the Batu Maung Aquarium : )

It’s the Christmas Party today and thank goodness we have prepared all things required prior.

Samuel just needed to show up all handsome and cheery and ready to party!

And that’s what he did.

By the Christmas tree

With cards ornament made by the kids

The ‘secret’ Christmas gift;

given by Santa Claus …..

prepared by the parents, of course!

Another Academic Year

2011-12-09T23:45:00.000+08:00

Samuel’s kindergarten ended their 2011 academic year in November with the year-end Parents-Teachers Dialogue.
We are not sure if this applies to his particular class teacher only or the same with all the teachers but we don’t find our brief meeting with her so much of a dialogue. The same actually happened for our mid-year meet too.
His teacher has very little to say; she just shove us Samuel’s progress card and test scrolls for signatory, hand-over Samuel’s reward for the semester to him and that’s it. She does not pro-actively offer feedback or updates on Samuel’s progress in the school. Not unless and until we ask her.
Anyway, all is well with Samuel at school saved for some minor incidents where he is 'bullied' by his friends.
His teacher remarked that Samuel is a bit too gentle and often does not fight back. The teacher will only interfere if there’s a reported scuffle, else the teacher will let the kids work ‘em out ‘emselves.

The school breaks the academic year with a 2 weeks holiday. Samuel spent most of it confined at home due to Mommy’s mobility. He’s not complaining though. Samuel spent his time helping Mommy out and takes care of his baby sister besides playing on his own.
Whenever there’s company, he’d make the most out of it though.
He wouldn’t let Big Jiu Jiu out of his sight when Big Jiu Jiu was in town for the Penang Bridge Run and stuck tight to him like glue
He’s just couldn’t have enough of his Big Jiu Jiu
And of course the feeling is mutual.

Big Jiu Jiu pampers the Boy to the core too : )

School has just re-opened this week and things are falling back into routine again…
Not for long though!

3 Months

2011-11-29T10:40:00.005+08:00

A few weeks back, Mommy was down with fever with breast lumps that persisted for quite a few days. Although we doubt they were related as Mommy had run into the rain the afternoon before, we still decided to go to see the ObGyn to be sure.

Bad timing, we did not know that the day after was 11 Nov. Mommy’s ObGyn was on long leave and the waiting list to see the ObGyn on duty that day was so long, we might as well come back after the weekend :p
Anyway, Baby Alaina was due for her 3 months check-up. So our trip to the hospital was not all wasted.
Furthermore, her doctor suggested that Mommy could refer to the Lactation Nurse instead in the mean time : )
That’s a great idea, as it turned out, a doctor consultation was not required. Mommy was not down with breast infection of some sort. It’s just pro-long engorgement led to some lumps built-up. The nurse suggested Mommy to massage the breast and continue to breastfeed Baby Alaina as often as required. She also eases our worries on some fever medications that we’ve took earlier as that are safe for nursing mom consumption : )
But of course if fever persists with stubborn lumps, then a visit to the doctor shouldn’t be put-off any longer.

Alaina’s 3 months check-up was great. The Pediatrician did a routine health check and informed us that Baby Alaina’s development is on track. Weight gain was good at 6.26kgs; it’s one of the reasons why the pead was not worry when we informed him that Alaina was still producing several big poo per day : )
Her bowel movement has reduced to once or twice most of the days now but at times still irregular at several poos. We suspect Mommy’s diet might have something to do with it. Could be the cheese, could be the coffees,…. it could be anything. We couldn’t figure it out!

At 3 months, Alaina is not asking for the breast as often anymore.
She nurses at about 2-3 hours interval during the day and longer interval during night sleeps. With some cluster feedings still, before retires for the night.

She is in her best mood when she wakes up and gives us the sweetest smile every morning. No whines and no cries. Just squeal and hand flapping and legs kicking : )

We are quite sure she has learnt to watch the TV. At times, she’ll be contented be left alone for a short while in front of the running TV.
With companies, she could even watch a whole episode of TVB drama at sitting position :O

Alaina is exercising her torso often now. She wriggles and wriggles and is able to move herself up by pushing her little feet against the bed.
She caught her face under our pillow once but did not wail for us. Not too sure if she was too stunned or was not frighten :O
Mommy was not as calm. Mommy reacted with a high pitch shriek :O

On Jiu Jiu's Day

2011-11-17T23:17:00.002+08:00

We are starting to liking Fridays again

Mainly cos Samuel loves their mac and cheese bite.....
and also the birthday song treat from the Fridays' crew!

Happy Birthday Jiu Jiu!

Jydda Eluchíl

2011-11-13T16:19:00.003+08:00

Three Rings for the Elven-Kings under the sky,
     Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for the Mortal Men doomed to die,
     One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
     One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
     One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie

(From J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord Of The Rings)

Daddy has been a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work for decades err…… years :p. Daddy especially likes The Lord of the Rings stories. So of course Daddy wouldn’t want to miss it when the novels made their ways to the big screen. We did not miss a single show; not only had we watched ‘em all at the cinema, Daddy bought all the extended collectable DVDs.

Every now and then Daddy will watch ‘em bits and pieces again and again.

And it has been long since the last time Daddy took ‘em out from the storage. So a few weeks ago Daddy decided to reminisce the ‘ol show and asked Samuel if he would be interested. Daddy showed Samuel a few snippets of the shows from YouTube and with no surprise, Samuel clicked immediately.

It’s good that Daddy introduces some of the characters early ‘cos this minimizes the need of Samuel asking repeating questions during the show.

Samuel is becoming a fan fast;

He recognizes the characters at lightning speed

He understands the story flow

He knows who is who from where and where to who is the who of whom :O

He’s like a walking LOTR encyclopedia. He asks us often which are the characters from LOTR that we like and which locale is which;
From Balrog to Nazgul, to Rivendell, to Mines of Moria, to Uruk-hai, to Ents, to Helm’s Deep, to Minas Tirith, to the Cave Troll to ….

Mommy is lost.
Mommy was not and still not able to speak LOTR ..
But is slowly catching up though.

An Elven in action?

Well Mommy, ‘ya better be fast ‘cos Daddy has started the Boy with Star Wars fever and in its episode 2 now!
:O

Nonchalantly

2011-11-12T23:28:00.001+08:00

It’s not only the smiling and the LOL, our girl blank stares are equally fascinating. We couldn’t resist. We could spend hours and hours playing staring at each other :D

Manja Daddy’s gal

Firm hold

Hey, my cheeks!

Checking me out?

Checking us out!

It’s a Mickey Party

2011-11-10T23:56:00.003+08:00

And we thought the school was taking a rain check on its annual Children’s Day party. We did not receive the notice from the school until last week and only realize that the party is to be held today then. The theme for this year party is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Samuel is not a fan of Mickey Mouse nor has he watches a lot of the carton before. Mommy gotta surf the net to show him what Mickey Mouse looks like when we were deliberating his costume for the party.

He is very selective and firm on what he wants to wear. He does not favor the glove, not handsome he says :p
He does not want the Mickey ears and the Mickey tail....
He just does not want to look like Mickey.
He actually requested to wear his transformers shirt to the party :O

Anyway, after some deliberation, he finally finds liking in the bow tie, the Mickey pants and a vest.
He couldn’t decide if he wants a red or a yellow bow-tie though.

So Mommy made him both.

He chose the red one ultimately

Mommy also modified his old red pant into a Mickey pants

And with a vest …
here is Samuel looking all smart and handsome for his party : )

We have no idea where he learnt the pose. He’s so natural, no instructions required.Just get ready with the camera, and he’ll pose :O

Saturday Night Fever

A Model no less

This year, the school decided on potluck as oppose to catered food last year. With strict instructions on no titbits! Samuel has requested us to prepare some sandwiches.
Some healthy food he says…
But that does not mean that we cannot make it fun for him.

Here’s what Mommy has prepared

Circles and Stars ham-cheese sandwiches.

According to Samuel, the sandwiches are a hit. We think the pretty shapes have something to do with it : )

The school really knows how to throw a great party.
There ain’t any short of pretty deco.
There ain’t any short of cartoon characters.

We are sure that all the kids had great fun.

Samuel did!

When The Toys Are At Stake

2011-11-09T23:12:00.001+08:00

Gone were the days when Samuel will take everything we offer him, nowadays he will only eat food of his liking only. He is shying more and more away from the greens. That said though, he is still on a pretty wide range of diet; from veges to meat to tohu to pastas.

We don’t really have a problem with his food selection, what we have issue with is…. his eating speed!

We acknowledge that generally children will eat slowly; they tend to keep food in their mouth and chew ‘em for hours and sometimes will not gobble down unless the food are chewed mash potatoes fine…..
Well, sometimes is fine but with Samuel, it is not sometimes. It’s often if not always.

We’ve tried serving prettier food
We’ve tried serving soup with rice
We’ve tried giving him a timeline
We’ve tried letting him learn on his own ....
Nothing seems to work!

He will eat fast for a few days and then will fall back into his ‘ol habit of keeping food in his mouth. It’s really getting into our nerves.

Mommy lost her cool last week and decided to take away all his toys as a disciplinary measure. Yes, all of them.
And only intend to give him back when he eats properly on the table…

It turns out to be a brilliant idea. We have agreed on a scheme.
If Samuel finishes his meals within half an hour, he’ll get back 8 toys.
Less than 40 mins will be 6 toys
No toys for a mediocre 45 mins but will start taking away his toys again if he takes more than 45 mins.

So far, he has gotten back most of his favorite toys and has yet to have his hard earned toys taken away.
We are hoping to keep this up!

LOL

2011-11-04T23:25:00.000+08:00

The trigger?
Mommy's high pitch voice!

It’s Mommy’s Birthday

2011-11-03T02:10:00.000+08:00

Nope, not having the bandwidth is never our excuse to not have a grand celebration….. But of course, grandness is a relative term here.
We are not talking about big and lavish and flashy celebration but the mere effort to find time to celebrate it.

Mommy got more than just the butter cream cake that Mommy had asked for, Mommy got the whole day. An awesome lunch at the CRH followed by a fantabulous dinner at the comfort of our home later…..

We decided to go to Gurney Plaza for our mall outing last weekend for a change. Daddy heard that the food at Chicago Rib House is good and it did not disappoint.

The food was awesome… either that or Mommy was too hungry. Mommy wiped clean her Pork Ribs plate : O
But we will think twice again going so far with a newborn and a kid in tow just for good food. Driving on a Saturday morning to a busy mall with limited car park ain’t exactly spells bed of roses. Half of our morning was spent just driving to and fro the town.

As for the evening celebration, Big Yee Yee, Small Jiu Jiu and Christine Jie Jie did all the heavy work preparing the dinner ….
Hopping several stores to take away several food of choice is by no means, an easy feat!

Happy Birthday to Mommy

2 Months

2011-11-01T23:00:00.014+08:00

At 2 months, Alaina is slowly falling into a routine. She had her Triple Antigen jab last week and we are happy to report that she did not develop any fever following the jab.

Her weight is 5.5kgs and height is 59cm.

She is still on fully direct breastfeeding and still rejecting the bottle. It’s heart breaking to see her wail when we try the bottle so we are taking a break from that for a while.

Her favorite past time now is sucking her own thumb; sometimes with both hands together and at times for a good 15 mins while watching Mommy catching some eye-shut. Giving Mommy her much required breather : )

She dislikes tummy time and does not sleep on her tummy.
Thus she seldom practices lifting up her head while on belly. She could lift up to 45 degree so far.

She is very vocal and chatty…
There’s a lot of coo-ing sound, ah-goo and ah-geh and the oh-so-cute-purr sound. It almost seems like she understands us and wants to chat back to us when we talk to her. She always responds, if there ain't no ah-goo, there’ll definitely be a smile : )

There’s no change to her napping and sleeping time. We’ve learned and are now better at identifying her cues. Making it easier for us to carry or nurse her to sleep.

Her regurgitation episode seems to be less now but another problem surface. It could be due to forceful letdown; there are times that Alaina would choke and gasp during nursing. Sometimes several times in one sitting. Mommy is trying to control the fast milk flow with different nursing position now.
We read that generally forceful letdown will gradually go away by the third or fourth months. We’ll monitor to see if situation improve in the month to come before trying other measures.

2011 School Graduation and Concert

2011-10-30T07:43:00.000+08:00

Although Samuel had been practicing and showing us his performance number weeks prior to his concert, we only knew his concert was to be held last weekend when the school started to do the costume fitting.
Blame it on Mommy for forgetting to check his school yearly activities planner ….

Anyway, we are glad that we made it to his concert, albeit some last minutes time-planning here and there.
Not only Daddy, Mommy and Baby Alaina made it but his grandparents and Small Jiu Jiu and Christine Jie Jie too.
Yep, the whole convoy showed up : )

The concert was held at Dewan Sri Pinang from 9am to 12 noon. A very well organized event we have to say. We reckon the school must have put great deal of effort into preparations.

Daddy left the house with Samuel first as kids were required to report at 8am at the Dewan.Small Jiu Jiu sent Mommy and Alaina later only and we arrived just nice when the graduation session was just about to end.
The concert performances followed right after that. Samuel class performance was the third but all performers were not released until the finale piece.

There was a surprised appearance by our Chief Minister too, YB Lim Guan Eng with companies. We did not know that our CM would grace the event beforehand. It was a nice surprise indeed.

There was a thoughtful touch by the school which we really appreciate. All the parents would have the chance to take picture up-close when their kids performed. The school had 2 front rows seat reserved and would make announcement before each performances asking the parents to fill the seats. Of course then after their kids finish performing, they have to vacant the seat for next parents. A very nice small gesture don’t ‘ya think? It would definitely make all the parents happy.
Unfortunately we did not manage to take a lot of pictures as one camera ran out of battery and the other ran out of gig….
But that’s OK as we’ve already placed order for the official video.

The stage props for Samuel’s class number; The Wild Wild West

Samuel as the very handsome Tonto.
He has 2 lines too on top of the dancing

In midst of the dance

Samuel with his Susannah

Close up

All the kids on stage singing to the song You Raise Me Up.
It’s the finale piece actually but they performed it first for the Chief Minister and company.
And again later at the finale to close the concert.

Our CM gave a very short speech; just a few lines.
The event, afterall was not about speech but about our kids : )

Our CM distributing recycles bags to the children

A group photo with the children
(tiny but see the gentlemen in yellow batik in the middle)

Mommy spent half of the time outside the hall as Alaina was sleeping

The concert ended right on schedule and we were all out of the dewan into our car on our way by 12.30

Yes, a very wonderful morning indeed!

Those Angry Fellas Err... Chicks

2011-10-28T16:59:00.001+08:00

Samuel does not have an iPad or any techno gadget that plays Angry Birds but that does not mean he is oblivious about Angry Birds. With the current craze, it’s almost impossible to not know what it is actually.
Samuel has played the games a few times and loves it… so much that he tried negotiated with us to have the game installed in our home terminal.

Samuel: Mommy, can we install the Angry Bird application to your laptop?
Mommy: No. Cos then you will always wanna play the game
Samuel: I will play once a week only
Mommy: Err…. lets go and ask Daddy

Samuel: Daddy, Can install the Angry Bird games into the computer?
I will only play one time a week.
Daddy: No

Oh o…
How?
Go back to basic, that’s how! Build and play everything manually.

Yee Yee got Samuel the Angry Birds table game and Samuel is loving it as much

The Angry Birds…
ops... wrong photo

this should be the one

the pigs in position

the catapult to be launched manually

see... just as happy

Shaven

2011-10-27T16:54:00.000+08:00

Making way for new locks to grow : )

Still An Outdoor Hunk

2011-10-25T15:46:00.000+08:00

Now that we are less mobile… how?

Fret not!

Big Yee Yee, Small Jiu Jiu and Christine Jie Jie to the rescue.

Quiet time at home doing stamp art

Fun at the Kids Arcade

And one of his favorite, picnic by the beach

Can you guess what Samuel is doing?

Or this?

He is stamping his mark!

Playing Beach Balls ….But he likes not moving around barefoot on sand

So Big Yee Yee has to do all the heavy lifting

And Samuel gets to stand still catching errr… balls :p

Laze Around on A Sunday Morning

2011-10-24T15:38:00.001+08:00

Everybody watches TV

Smile

2011-10-23T16:29:00.000+08:00

Ready

Get set

Smile

One more time

Ready

Get set

Smile!

Alaina's Baptism

2011-10-19T19:25:00.001+08:00

Baby Alaina was baptized last weekend and following is the Rite of Baptism photolog.

(The captions are borrowed from Godma's Facebook Album)

Everything ready including the baptismal font on the left. Some of the early baptismal fonts had the shape of "a womb," to emphasize the new birth/new life aspect of the sacrament.

Samuel was very excited with the candles

Outside the church; Father Bernard again emphasizing the importance of the Rite and also the role of the parents.
And the role of the godparent is to remind/intervene when the parents 'forget'

Receiving the sign of the cross from Father

Anointed with the chrism; sealed by the Holy Spirit

To be baptized is to be given new birth and new life (John 3:5).

Godma lighting the candles

The lighted candle symbolizing the Light of Christ passed on to the parents

Daddy saying the "Parents' Prayer and Wish" that includes the hopes and dreams for baby.

A bit hard to see from this angle; Father is giving us the Baptism Cert

A group photo before we adjourned to Grandma and Grandpa’s place for tea

Marble cake baked by Grandma

Caramel Pudding by Grandpa

And Egg Sandwich by Godma

And a smiley Baby Alaina
: )

Brother and Sister

2011-10-18T10:37:00.005+08:00

Caring for a child ain’t an easy matter, not to mention two. Having one that is mature helps though : )

tummy time

Samuel is old enough to be independent when the occasions call for it. He does not demand for attention unnecessarily and he understands his role as the big brother.
Not only that he lets us tend to Alaina’s needs first, he helps us to take care of her.
Sure Samuel does not know how to bath his sister or carries her around but he continues to see after little things that mattered big.

He continues to pick up after himself. At times pick-up after us when we ask for help

He continues to lend hands to fill the cup, fetch the laundry, setup the table and stuff.

He continues to follow his day routine

And most importantly, he continues to become his Angel-self saving us ‘em heart-wrenching moments.

We were reminded again yesterday on how blessed we are to have such great kids.

It was Samuel bed time yesterday; Daddy and Yee Yeeis taking over the duty of seeing him to bed nowadays but of course Mommy will kiss him goodnight still, every night without fail.
Yesterday Alaina cried as her diaper was soiled and Mommy thought Mommy wanna give Samuel a quick peck before attending to Alaina.
Samuel wanted Mommy to accompany him too but being the big brother he is, he said

Mommy, after you clean Alaina’s butt butt
And after you do everything with Alaina, then you come and accompany me.
OK?

Our hearts melt.
We really couldn’t ask of more from him….
Well…. OK, may just one more.…. A little improvement on speed when comes to eating his meals would be great!
:p

love this shot!
how Alaina adores her brother

Transformers, The Collection

2011-10-12T13:28:00.000+08:00

Nope, we have not forget ‘em bunch.

It’s just that it’s hard to get ‘em to pose for us. Took us a while to shot all their pictures.

Here’s presenting Samuel’s Transformer toys colletion thus far

From Metal Toy Series

Optimus Prime

From the ROTF Series

Demolisher in vehicle mode, an Excavator

Demolisher in robot mode

Skid in robot mode

Mudflap in robot mode

Skid is the head and Mudflap is the rear

Transform into an ice-cream truck

From DOTM Series

Deluxe Class Ratchet

In Hummer® H2® mode

Commander Class Blackout sans Scorponok

In aircraft mode

Voyager Class IronHide

In GMC Topkick® mode

Voyager Class Shockwave

In Ground Assault mode

Voyager Class Skyhammer

In Attack Chopper mode

Voyager Class Sentinel Prime

In Rosenbauer® Panther 6X6 Fire Truck mode

Voyager Class Megatron

In its cool cape

In Mack Truck mode

Hmm…..where’s the one more to complete the DOTM Voyager Class collection eh?

Tigress in the Tree

2011-10-11T00:54:00.002+08:00

Looks familiar?

See here : )

Baby Alaina isn't liking the position as much as her brother though...not as yet.

Ain't No Short of Fun

2011-10-06T02:55:00.003+08:00

Samuel’s outdoor activities have been cut-down severely now that we are less mobile.

Then, we’ll bring him out every other day for dinner and every weekend for outings.

Now…… we are still trying to settle on a routine here.

We are still making it for the weekly dinner at his grandparent’s

We are settling nicely to a weekly weekend out at the mall….. err groceries shopping consider a weekend out right?

Samuel is becoming pro in groceries shopping.
He picked this out all by himself while Mommy was picking the fruits.

Big Yee Yee and Small Jiu Jiu will try to bring him out for dinner at least once a week

And every week too, Daddy and Samuel will a boys-night-out

Well…. from the look of it, we ain’t short no fun here after all : )

One Month

2011-09-28T10:35:00.005+08:00

It was a breeze, in term of waiting time those days when we brought Samuel to the nearby Pusat Kesihatan for his scheduled check-up and jab.

Nowadays the clinic is packed; so much that one hour waiting time is becoming a norm.
We brought Alaina for her first month check-up and the Hep B booster jab at the clinic last week. Though we have appointment set prior to our visit, it still took us near to 2 hours all-in-all for the visit which includes a brief postpartum check for Mommy too.

Alaina’s height and weight is recorded at 55cm and 4.3kgs. A steady healthy gain since she regained her birth weight a couple of weeks ago.
Growth and health is in excellent form and Mommy is encouraged to continue fully breastfeed the baby.

At home front, Alaina has yet to establish her schedule yet but she’s getting there.

She has found her own thumb but will only comfort suck for 5 mins top before wailing for us.

She can focus on our faces and respond to our smiles.

She takes a couple of short nap during day time.
Still need to be either; cuddled and carried or nursed to sleep. Especially at night, she’ll suckle for comfort for hours before falling asleep but when she does, she’ll sleep for 10 hours straight with ~ 3 feed in-between.

As for diet, she asks for direct nursing every 1 or 1.5 hours when she’s awake. Feeding time varies between 2 to 3 to 4 hours when she sleeps.
Other than the few formula feedings during her Jaundice time, we find little success on feeding her formula.
The girl does not like to take the bottle, even when we try with EBM.

She regurgitates often; so often that we are concern she nurses too much on one sitting.
We are trying short feeding at shorter interval whenever possible to minimize her spitting episodes.

She changes a very healthy number of diapers in a day with several generous amount of loose bowel movement.
We read that breastfeed baby stool will be regular to about once a day when she turns one month….
We ain’t seeing that yet with Alaina.
But then every baby is different or perhaps it’s just takes a while longer with our Angel.

Until then, Mommy gotta be contented in cleaning poo several times a day!

Triple the Birthday Fun

2011-09-24T04:53:00.007+08:00

Boy oh boy….
And we were worried that Samuel would be attention deprived lately since we gotta juggle between the 2 kids…
Worry unfounded of course!

The fun is showing no sign of slowing down for the boy. Samuel had triple on his actual birthday!

First up, a short celebration at school with his friends. We brought Alaina along too

Another Transformer cake.
It’s Ironhide this time, Samuel’s favorite Transformer

Putting the candle on the cake while his friends watch on

The kids gather around the table admiring the cake

After 3 rounds of birthday song; English, Mandarin and Bahasa version, we are ready for the cake.

The birthday cake is so good, even the Birthday Boy himself has 2 serving!

A month long planning
A busy morning running
All for a brief celebration at school ….
But seeing how Samuel enjoying himself
It totally worth all the sweat

Happy Birthday Darling!

Second round continued after school after Samuel’s Grandparent picked him up.

Another cake cutting, another of his favorite…
Cheese cake!

To round up his celebration, we had dinner at Fridays as we promised.
We went to Fridays about a month back after a long hiatus and the boy like it then. Service was good, food was great and most importantly, Samuel was intrigued by the special birthday songs sang by the Fridays crew to the birthday boy then.
But the same cannot be said for last week … services and food wise. The service was so bad; we gotta cue them for several times before our orders were taken. Then the food was so slow, we gotta keep on checking for them. And when the food was finally served, they were cold; sizzling pan was not sizzling anymore, quesadillas were soggy and the pasta was almost dried-up.
Also, we gotta wait forever for Samuel’s birthday sundae.
It was only served when we called for our bill :O

But then, of course the Birthday Boy complained none of these. He was as cheerful as ever and nothing could dampen his super great spirit.
It's contagious really, nothing bothered us anymore seeing how happy he was : )

Samuel sang to amuse himself … and us

The dinner party

Yes, of course we brought Alaina along again

The sundae is served

And Samuel got his birthday song treat from the Fridays crew.

It must be a busy night for them, we heard them sang the song at least 4 times for night :O

First Excursion

2011-09-21T22:18:00.003+08:00

Baby Alaina outings thus far have been mostly trips to and fro the clinic and hospital for her jaundice check-ups, save for a few short dinner excursion and stuff.
Last weekend, we decided that she is… or we are ready for a real outing, just the 4 of us!
We are not too ambitious, for our first few outings we are looking at places that are mostly baby friendly and more importantly, nearby.
Queensbay Mall fits the bill, so the mall it is then.

We gotta say, it aint bad at all…. for a first time. We were somewhat prepared to dash for the exit if the kids become too handful but nay, there ain’t no sweat… only imaginary tears over spill coffee :p

Here’s our drama-less chronicle

At 10 odd in the morning:
Reached the mall and headed straight for our coffee breakfast. Mommy couldn’t wait ….
About time for some serious caffeine finally, she said : )

After an endless half an hour long waiting at the serving counter, breakfast was finally ready.

A while later Daddy and Samuel went to take away donuts to complement our breakfast

At 11 odd, time to nurse Alaina. Mommy gotta head to the Baby Room at the Jusco…. breastfeeding, remember?
In the half hour in Coffee Bean, Mommy barely touched her coffee but managed to bite half a scone and half a bagel.
Daddy and Samuel stayed back to finish their breakfast before setting off for Borders but not before packing Mommy’s half chewed breakfast : )

Mommy and Alaina joined the boys later but arghhhh… no coffee. The coffee cup spilled under Daddy’s custody spoiling everything. So no pastries either..
Arghhhh… no caffeine fix for Mommy….
And for laying low on milo and decaf for the past days just so to have a dose of coffee this weekend…
Arghhh…..

At a tad before noon:
We went for some quick groceries shopping

Then to the food court for lunch.

And halfway through lunch, Alaina cued for a feed again.

Again, off Mommy went to the Baby Room after some very fast lunch chomping.

By 1.45pm, everybody was ready to head back home.

By 2 odd in the afternoon:
Home sweet home

So all in all, it ain’t bad at all. We’ll surely make our way to the mall again and soon.
Only this time, perhaps Mommy will bring along her coffee to the Baby Room : )

Birthday and Fullmoon Luncheon

2011-09-18T17:01:00.003+08:00

We had Samuel’s birthday and Alaina’s fullmoon celebrated together over the long holiday weekend just passed.

It was a bit early but since everybody was in town, it was the best possible time.

Again, the party planning started very early due to time interest; the pâtissier and the café owner couldn’t help but chuckled a bit when we placed our order for cakes and food weeks prior to the event :p

All was well and we have to say, the party was perfection! We couldn’t have asked for anything more.

We had the lunch party on Sunday noon. The timing was just right after Sunday mass.

Here’re the stars of the party

Not Daddy and Mommy :p

Menu for the party;
Nasi Kunyit, Curry Chicken, Green Vege, Cucur Udang, Mushroom Vege Mix, Fried Vermicelli, Crackers, Salad Roll, Jelly, Watermelon, Red Eggs, Ang Koo
And home-made Egg/Cheese/Tuna Sandwiches

This year the sandwiches making was "outsourced" to Christine Jie Jie : )

The red eggs were a hit with the kids

Guests helping themselves to the mini buffet

The kids were very creative and setup a few entertainment stations (but of course!) for err… entertainment!

The Transformers station

The Angry Bird vs Spider station

The iPad station

The baby adoring station :p

Baby Alaina slept through half of the party

Until it was getting too warm in her carrier
Naturally then, she wanted to be carried remaining of the party

Mommy and Daddy

And the camera lady

Warm

Jolly

Distributing party packs.... kids only affair :p

Cake cutting was last after everybody had their bellies filled

It’s a transformer cake this year.

Printed images as requested by Samuel.
He favors the printed detail over handdrawn transformer caricature

Doing the honor of putting the candles himself

The wind was strong;
Big Jiu Jiu gotta shield the candles while we sang the birthday song for the birthday boy

A group photo for the happy occasion

Lantern Party by the Pool

2011-09-17T07:13:00.003+08:00

Since last year Lantern Party by the Pool was such a huge hit, we decided to have it again this year when everybody was in town for the long holiday.

Well…. what’s not to like?

Huge space?
You got it

Breezy evening?
Got it too though we doubt rain would dampen our party :p

Great company?
You betcha!

Props?
Loads of lanterns checked!

Good food?
Any food is great since we are not fussy about food….
OK, maybe we are but belly comes first right?
We ordered pizza this year with take away nuggets, cupcakes and stuff.
Mom cooked some porridge and chicken wine
And not forgetting, endless supplies of mooncakes from all over!

The party required not much party planning actually, coordination is key. Everybody would just step in to do anything that needed attention. For Mommy, Mommy just needed to show-up with Baby Alaina when everything was set :p

September and October babies early birthday celebration

The party

Kids doing their lantern rounds

Catching a breather…
well more like pause to pose :p

Some candid shots!

Party Packs

2011-09-16T04:57:00.005+08:00

Knowing that time will no longer a luxury, we have parties and stuff planned ahead of their time.
Shopping and packing for Samuel’s party favor started several weeks prior to his bash.

Mommy was on-the-fence between printing some stickers or get Samuel to hand-write personal thank you notes for all his party packs…
until Samuel came up with the idea of making some transformers pocket cards.
He already has lots of these cards and he would very much like to share some with his friends!

mini-size version of his transformers laminated poster

Mommy couldn’t agree more. It’s a great idea.

See how pretty the cards are!

Samuel has a hand on picking what to be included into his party packs too; as expected no chocolate but gummy jelly, wafer and snacks of his choice.
Of course then Mommy has to include some stationery too. The school encourages us to lay low on unhealthy snacks 'ya see : )

Christine Jie Jie and Smal Jiu Jiu found this awesome stationery set at a great price!

Due to time availability, we gotta break the packing into a few sessions. But after a long day work with Samuel breaking quite some sweat, we managed to pack everything to Samuel’s satisfaction.

Pretty pretty party packs!

Neonatal Jaundice

2011-09-15T16:27:00.005+08:00

Baby Alaina’s bilirubin level was 183 when we were discharged after the delivery stay.
When we went back on day 6 for her check-up, her level was shot up to 286 which indicates she had a case of Neonatal Jaundice, possibly type Physiological.

Our pediatrician recommended putting her under phototherapy for a day to help bring the bilirubin level down.
Here in Penang, means that we gotta admit Baby Alaina for the treatment. And since Mommy is breastfeeding, Mommy gotta room-in as well. We didn’t have any expressed breast milk supply then and it’s quite impossible to express a sufficient sum since Mommy’s supply was not established yet. It’s only day 6!
We were not prepared. We did not expect the doctor visit to take any longer than 2-3 hours.
Anyway, after some tiring running up and down our house and to the hospital, and some extra hand from Grandma and Grandpa, we managed to arrange everything in the jiffy.

The day in the hospital was tough. Baby Alaina was not liking it under the light. She seemed stressed. After a day which seems like an endless in and out of the bili-bed, we discharged the next day with Baby Alaina bilirubin level read at 217. Which was still a tad high. Although our pead recommended another day of phototherapy, he did not object our request to be discharged.
He kept Alaina under observation and we went back the next day for another blood test. All was good, the reading was recorded at 226, an expected slight rebound.

And when we thought we could heave a sigh of relief, Baby Alaina jaundice came back. Well, actually it had never really gone away…..
It’s good that, our government nurses here make rounds to visit newborns at their home to check on them, even when they are not delivered at the government hospital. This is one of the better healthcare benefits provided by our government.
When the nurse visited us on day 9, she insisted we go to the clinic to do another round of blood test for Baby Alaina as she looked quite yellowish then. And true enough, Baby Alaina bilirubin level shot up back to 265. No treatment was required then but we were requested to do blood test daily to monitor.
Day 10 reading was 243.
We were relieved but not for long as day 12 reading was 310.
Mommy, Po Po and Baby Alaina then went straight back to Adventist. We were prepared to be admitted again this time, we packed and all.
Our pead was not so concern though. He said at day 12, newborn’s liver is mature enough to remove bilirubin. For Baby Alaina, most probably she has a case of Breast milk Jaundice which is not harmful and no treatment is required as long as the jaundice level is kept under 350.
He did another blood test to test the liver function before concluding his diagnosis.
The liver function test was normal but Baby Alaina bilirubin level went up to 315 in that couple of hours.
Our pead then suggested 2 options to keep her level down:

Phototherapy

Stop breast milk feeding for a day although he strongly recommends us to continue breastfeeding

Or we can monitor Alaina’s level closely with regular blood test, again anything under 350 requires no treatment.
We didn’t want to put Alaina under the light again and create more stress for her. We went for the second option instead. It’s hard to stop breastfeeding though, so we did not. We mixed her feedings with formula for the day.
The next day, blood test read at 269 and after mixing Alaina’s feedings with formula for 2 days, the reading was recorded at 233.
We were really really relieved this time.

To maintain supply, Mommy pumped her breastmilk during the few days.

Baby Alaina is back on breast milk fully.
We continue to monitor her bilirubin level; 128 on day 19 and 103 on day 33.

Yay!

Holiday Snippet

2011-09-12T02:04:00.013+08:00

Samuel’s schedule for the long holiday just passed was packed with fun and more fun
Mommy’s family from mid and downsouth came up north here to visit Mommy …. well cum vacation too, of course : )

A write-up on the main itinerary is coming soon.
In meanwhile, here’re some photo snippets of everything in-between!

Samuel went to the Logos Hope Floating Book Fair again.

A big group this time

Another shot with the camera lady : )

The crowd was still as huge

The kids manage to find a not-so-quiet corner for some reading

And playing

Big Yee Yee and Small Jiu Jiu had plan a picnic for the holiday entourage

Picnic by the beach

At the Charlie Brown’s at the Strait Quay.

For photos only
As knowing their reputation for food, the entourage took a rain check.
They picked Sushi instead

At the fun fair nearby

>Look at that expression!
No fear

In fact, too dare-devil Mommy would say

Samuel did not squeak a bit even when got himself a bruise on the lips from some car bumping session…
Well not immediately anyway!

One of the many rides the kids went for

Catching the Cars show at Gurney Plaza

A second shift at a stroll by the beach

Hanxin Kor Kor missed the first one as the downsouth entourage joined only at latter part of the week

More shells discovery

Ooo… is it a live one?

Mommy couldn’t join Samuel for all these as Mommy was still errr…restricted at home.
Not confined as Mommy has been running all over the places too. But that’s another story ….

Bonding

2011-09-11T11:10:00.002+08:00

Daddy and Samuel have been spending lots of father and son quality time together while Mommy was away in the hospital.

Not missing the weekend breakfast at Coffee Bean with Daddy

Going to the Logos Hope Floating Book Fair

Queue up almost 15 mins for entry through the tiny entrance and same for exiting the ship.

The crowd was huge. Visitors were walking shoulder to shoulder inside the store.

No place to sit. The boy gotta stand reading his materials.. and kept on being knocked by other err… taller visitors as apparently they only have interest to seeing stuff at their eyesight level.

Daddy is not too liking the visit.
The boy however has no qualms

Making his bed

The bonding continues after Mommy is back home when Mommy is handful with Alaina.
But of course, Mommy finds quality time for the Boy too.

We play his Transformers toys a lot… well… technically Samuel and Daddy play ‘em a lot. Mommy, on the other hand plays the role of cheerleader. Not easy to transform ‘em robots to vehicles and back to robots again ‘ya see. It takes a certain skill which Mommy, again is too handful to acquire :p

We play the less complicated block toys

We chat a lot

And we watch the Transformers shows over and over again!

And many many more ...

We Are Going Back Home

2011-09-07T15:40:00.004+08:00

Unlike nearly half a decade ago when Mommy practically was running all over the place the second day after the surgery, this time round recovery seems to be tougher.
Again, we suspect age has something to do with it :p

Mommy was ordered to only bed-rest for a day after the surgery and allowed to come down from the bed the second day… which Mommy did. All was well for a couple of hours where pain at the incision area was expected. What was not-so expected was that (well…., at least Mommy did not expect it), there was stubborn wind in Mommy’s tummy that just refused to go away. Not even after strong medicine were given for 2 days.
Mommy’s tummy was bloated and hard and the pain was really unbearable. Mommy was ready to try anything for relief on the third day as Mommy does not want to be bed-rest at home. How inconvenient would that be!
Some really extreme measures were taken then ….
Forget about those glamorous recuperating hospital patients ‘ya see on TV shows. There’s nothing handsome about sleeping in hospital bed with pain in ‘ya butt. It is what it is, a pain in the butt…. Literally :p

It broke Samuel’s heart too to see Mommy groaning in pain at times. He has asked and made several visits during Mommy and Baby Alaina stay there.

Accompanying Mommy

With his prezzie from Baby Alaina

He has been an absolute Angel under Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa and Big Yee Yee’s care during the period.
But that’s another story for another time.

The nursery and maternity ward staffs were great and very helpful and …… well-versed if we may add. They tried to make Mommy comfortable in every way they could, especially in breastfeeding Baby Alaina thus making it a pleasant journey there.

Full locks

They encouraged room-in for Mommy and Baby during the day so that Mommy could get to know and bond with Baby.

They’d take good care of Baby Alaina in the nursery during the night, except for feeding time of course, so that Mommy could get her rest

They’d helped on positioning Baby Alaina when Mommy nursed her for a good latch-on. Since Mommy’s mobility was restricted for the first 3 days, the nurses got called very often. Lets just say at least twice every feeding session :p

They helped to massage Mommy’s breast and helped with the milk pumping when Mommy’s breast engorged.

They helped Mommy with the toilet

They served extra fluid since Mommy couldn’t take solid for the 3 days

…. Practically, they helped on everything. :p

Thank goodness Mommy got back her groove on time to discharge on the fourth day.

All ready to go back home!

Baby Alaina Says Hello World

2011-09-01T13:41:00.006+08:00

We discussed our delivery options with our ObGyn quite early in our pregnancy, early in our third trimester as Daddy had a business trip planned then.
This time round, the doctor did not object to surgery considering Mommy’s record. She said that we can still try VBAC and standby for surgery. Which means that if we face any complications with natural birth, we can go the emergency c-sect right away.

Well age has not been kind to Mommy….. All things considered, c-sect does not sound bad at all. We opted for Elective Caesarean then and made early arrangement for all the necessity.

Came 11 August around 6 in the morning, we made our way to the hospital. Admission, monitoring and prepping were all prompt, probably due to the pre-arrangement and by 8 am, Mommy was ready to be wheeled into the Operations Theatre.

During Mommy’s prepping, Mommy actually felt some contractions. Neither regular nor strong but they don’t quite feel like the usual Braxton Hicks contractions that Mommy had been experiencing for the past weeks.
Anyway it does not matter as we’ve c-sect planned for this delivery.

Daddy went into the Ops theatre as companion too.

Excuse Mommy for the blurry shot.
Though Mommy was not disorganized or anything but it’s still a feat capturing a good shot :p.

Although we’ve been briefed on the anesthesia options by our ObGyn, the on-duty Anesthetist explained the procedure again to us prior to the surgery. We were advised to go for Spinal Anesthesia this time.
Mommy had to curl up and hold-on firm for it to be administered as the anesthetic is injected through a fine needle near the spinal cord. Which is to say a slight move from Mommy or butter-hand from the administer-er : ), Mommy’s spinal cord might be errr…. stabbed :p
Sounds scary…
But we have faith, the procedure took only a few minutes and the effect kicked in almost immediately.

Daddy was called in then and our ObGyn began the incision.

Mommy couldn’t feel anything tummy down but still felt a very heavy sensation on the chest. Almost like being crush by a gigantic stone.
There was some dizziness as well and strong urges to throw-up…. A lot of burps but no puke.

Less than half and hour later, we heard loud cries from Baby Alaina. The nurses quickly took her, cleaned her-up, weighed her and all that jazz before bringing her to us.
And initiate her first contact with Mommy’s breast : )
Our ObGyn especially requested it to be done to assist Mommy’s breast feeding quest.

Baby Alaina, loud at 3.44kgs and 51cm at birth.

Another shot after Baby calmed down and Mommy off the oxygen mask.

Baby Alaina then was brought to the nursery for the necessary with Daddy following behind.
Mommy was only wheeled out of the Ops theatre at 9am after the Doctors finished-up the surgery.

And then began the painful recovery process.
For Mommy, we mean…

Big Brother Samuel with Baby Alaina

2011-08-30T12:31:00.004+08:00

We welcome our second bundle of joy, Baby Alaina on 11 August 2011. We are still as proud this second time round…….
Equally proud, is her Big Brother Samuel.

Days before the big day, we asked Samuel if he wants to gift away one of his toys to her baby sister but he declined. He wants to only share his toys :p
He decided instead then he wanted to make a card for her.

The Transformers images are hand-picked by Samuel

The front of the card is drawn by him too

So are all the wordings inside.

Of course then, we also prepared a gift from the Baby Sister to her Big Brother

Voyager Class Transformer Shockwave

The Big Brother absolutely adores his Baby Sister!

A ‘Lil More on the FlashBack

2011-08-10T20:40:00.003+08:00

Samuel was born via emergency caesarean section almost 5 years ago…

A few weeks prior to our expected due date we seek our obgyn’s advice on our delivery options.
Our doctor was quick to brush off surgery of course. In her words then; the delivery method is determined by the baby. Not the parents at this moment. Always try to go for natural birth.

We were on our 39th week when Samuel decided to greet the world. Mommy had bloody show for 2 days before we checked ourselves into the hospital when contractions started on the second day.

When we started to time the contractions, they were 20 mins apart. After 12 hours of manageable pain the contractions progressed to around a few mins apart. But Mommy’s dilation was still a mere few centimeters only…. if not millimeters.
It was after another few hours of uncontrollable pain that we requested for our Doctor to come in wee hours in the morning for the caesarean consultation. It was a tad after 2 am then.

Our doctor must be on standby shift that day as she showed up at lightning speed :O
After a fast check, our doctor then agreed it was time for emergency c-sect as dilation was very slow and Mommy was almost stressed to the max.

The hospital crew was fast at work..
The anesthetist, nurses and surgeon (our obgyn) all check-in and operation theater was setup within the half an hour.
Mommy was given the General Anesthesia for the operation. We guess then it was administered over the epidural or other type due to Mommy’s condition. There’s no way Mommy could sit still to have the procedure done via spinal.

The operation itself was short and smooth. Daddy was waiting outside the Ops Theatre the whole time when Samuel was wheeled out in his baby trolley after all the cleaning up and checking by the doctor.

It was a wise decision by Daddy to stay back in the hospital the night before actually.
Earlier, the nurses had advised Daddy to take a break and go back home to refresh himself since Mommy’s dilation was slow and it did not seem then that Mommy would be delivery anytime soon. Daddy had not leaved the hospital since we got admitted ‘ya see.

It was a long night for all of us …
With everything turned out fine …
The very first glimpse Mommy caught when Mommy opened her eyes the next morning was an angel.

Our Angel no less!

State Public Library

2011-08-05T11:18:00.002+08:00

After the last blunder, we are more cautious now and do our research before making our second attempt to visit the State Public Library.

We do not know why, we pass by the library very frequently but never notice it there until … well perhaps we were just not looking previously : )

The Public Library is divided into 2 sections, to 2 different building next to each other actually. One building is dedicated for children and the other open for public. Children are allowed entry to the general library too but of course only under parents’ supervision and with discretion only. Voice level has to be kept down.

We went straight to the Children Library last Saturday and were very impressed with how well the library is maintained.
Reading material is aplenty with appropriate suitability and the environment is commendable. Although parking spaces are limited and although it’s a weekend, we don’t have problem getting one. The place is surprisingly ….. err quiet :O

Samuel enjoys himself there and has asked to borrow some books. But since we do not know when will be our next visit, we decline his request. We anticipate that we’ll be caught up with the new baby for a very long while ‘ya see.

Well in any case, if Samuel needs his reading fix, we can always stop by Borders for a quick visit : )

Coping

2011-08-01T17:27:00.005+08:00

So, thus far, how’s Samuel coping with the news of his coming sibling?

We involved Samuel very early when we got to know we’re pregnant. He was the first few we broke the news to actually.
Samuel did not show much reaction; big or small initially. We reckon he couldn’t process the news still then. He went on his business as usual for quite some time; no extra naughtiness, no special drawing of attention, not upset… just nonchalant :p.

As time goes by when Mommy’s tummy is getting bigger, we would ceased opportunities every now and then to tell him that he’s going to be a big brother soon. Not so much of reminding him but to get him to be extra cautious when going about and around clumsy Mommy. Gotta take good care his Mommy ‘ya see : )
We guess seeing the growing belly helps him to comprehend. He started asking how he came about after a while and that if the new Baby too now is growing inside Mommy’s tummy.
And of course, real excited after he has digested the news.
He has been great in accommodating us so far and shows great maturity beyond his age… until sometimes we feel bad for asking too much of him ..

We’ve asked him to be more independent to free up our bandwidth as we will definitely need them later when the new Baby arrives.
Samuel does so without qualm.

We’ve asked him to adjust to new bed time, nap time and morning time schedule… twice :O over the last few months as we gotta switch our roles and activities around the house to prepare for the Baby.
Samuel understands what is required and follows the new schedule.

We’ve cut down outdoors and play activities with Samuel due to Mommy’s mobility. Although Samuel has difficulty yay-ing to this, he restraints himself from asking too much.
But then luckily, we’ve got ourselves a lot of help in this area.

Everyone is more than willing to make the time for Samuel : )

We ask Samuel to help around the house. And he has been helping a lot. Believe it or not, trivial matter such as helping to pick up the newspaper, setting the table, throwing the rubbish or bringing a cup of water for Mommy actually load off a lot of our burden. It ain’t an easy feat nowadays for Mommy to get up on her feet and move about the house!
Sometimes, Mommy even needs Samuel to help pulling Mommy out from the couch :p

And we’ve asked Samuel to put up a lot with Mommy’s mood swing. Not that Mommy has a lot, but then it comes, it pours!
At times, Mommy gives leeway and will not reprimand Samuel if he behaves a tad naughtily. Hey, kids! Remember?
At times, Mommy will reprimand Samuel for naughtiness much less severe…
And at times, Mommy just blurted out at Samuel for reason so trivial… Samuel couldn’t help it but startle. We feel bad. Although we always make-up and apologies to each other afterwards… it’s still too much to ask of him.

Thanks Darling!
We love you!

Slumber Party

2011-07-25T14:34:00.004+08:00

Not the type with booze and pillow talks…. though there’ll be a lot of talking where Samuel is concern.

Every week, there’s a certain day that Mommy will sleep over at Samuel’s room to keep him company. Once in a blue moon on special occasions, we’ll have Daddy sleeping over too.
And last Friday was one of those days….

Samuel was absolutely ecstatic!

So what’s our idea for an ideal Slumber Party?

Lots of rooms?
Check!

Lots of pillows?
Check!

Bolster?

Samuel will be ever so willingly to make small runs to our room to take more

Lots of toys?
Check!

Yup.
That’s the complete collection of Transformers Standee from the DoTM Transformers Punch-Out Book

And lots lot fights….

Ready?

Slam-dunk

Victory

Over-powered

My wrestling buddy!

Bon Odori Festival

2011-07-22T12:03:00.005+08:00

After years of missing it; mostly due to the dreaded thought of parking woes, traffic jam and crowd heat, we went to the Japanese Bon Odori Festival last Saturday.

Mommy has attended once years ago and only vaguely remembers the paper-net-fish-scooping game that Mommy did not get to try due to long queue…
And perhaps the overpriced very few selections of food stall then.
It was not a good experience.

This year however, things were looking different. Perhaps due to improvements or perhaps we kinda know what to expect already….

We prepared some sandwiches just in case and set out from the house just before dusk. Traffic was at a snarled even before we were nearing Esplanade and we only managed to find a parking around the Little India area. A long walk was required but turned out that it ain’t a bad thing at all ‘cos it enabled us to escape the traffic later in the night when we drove out of Esplanade : )

To break the long walk, Daddy suggested that we have our dinner at an Indian Restaurant, Gem and again it turned out to be a good thing as the food was absolutely divine….
And also if we were to wait and take our dinner at the festival only, chances are we would just make do with our sandwiches. The queue to buy the coupons (which is required for foods and games at the festival) was so long we couldn’t see the end of it :O

The timing was just right after we’ve finished our dinner; the crowd was really happening there.

We proceeded to the main stage to watch the performance.

Daddy had to carry Samuel as we were standing quite a distance away.

After a few minutes though, we let Samuel find his way to the front.

Carrying Samuel is no easy feat ‘ya see :p

Samuel enjoyed watching the dancing very much. Visitors were allowed into the lower stage area to dance along with the troupe.
Samuel was tempted to when we watched the last round of the performance but decided dancing along outside the fenced-up area was just as fun too : )

One of the main reasons we went for the festival is to catch the much talk-about fireworks display at 10pm.

We were not disappointed.
It was really really pretty... and grand!

In between the waiting and the performance, we found fun playing a lastik-like toy calls the Amazing Arrow Helicopter. It’s quite an awesome design for such a simple toy we’ve to say.
Cost only at RM4, we were provided with a missile that comes with a LED light and a rubber launcher. The 2-propeller missile is to be blasted-off vertically. Its design enables it to fly high-up, land softly and the LED light makes it all more interesting when it’s launched in the dark.
Everybody was playing it then. The dark sky almost looked like it’s filled with pretty little flying stars.

Briefed by Daddy

This is the way

Test run

More test runs

Before Samuel finally got the grip

Yes!
I did it

First Visit to the Dentist

2011-07-17T18:23:00.005+08:00

The last Mommy and Daddy went to the Dentist, we asked about the necessity of bringing Samuel in for a visit. The Dentist advised that it’s always good to bring a 3.5 years old kid in to have his teeth checked and get familiarized with but not necessarily need to undergone any teeth treatment.
We made a mental note then to tag Samuel along for our next visit.
That was more than a year ago.

When Samuel started to complain about toothache a few moons ago, we knew that we oughta make his dental visit happen … and soon.
The time came last Monday.
We picked him up from his school half day and got ourselves the first appointment after lunch break.
We went to our family dentist; Daddy and Mommy would be having their annual check-up as well.

Daddy was up first; Samuel was seated by the far side to observe. Mommy served as narrator and explained the step by step procedure to Samuel. Daddy required no filling nor tooth extraction; only the standard teeth cleaning.

Although it was Samuel’s first time visiting the dentist, he was not intimidated at all. He understands what is required from him. His turn was next after Daddy.

He lied himself down onto the procedure chair comfortably,
Opened with mouth wide
And let the doctor checked him.
No fear, no resistance.

Daddy and Mommy was standing near just in case he asked for us, he did not though : )

To have a better look at his teeth, the Dentist did a fast cleaning; flossed and gauzed
And as expected, found Samuel’s upper molars to have started to decay. Fortunately a mild case as we brought him in early.

The Dentist recommended tooth filling as the milk molar will stays with Samuel until he’s ~ 11 or 12 before his permanent ones come along.
On normal occasions for a child first visit, the dentist would only have their teeth checked. Any follow-up treatment is advised to be arranged again at a later time.
But since Samuel was so cooperative, the dentist was so impressed that he has no problem we get on with the procedure right away.

So yup. we went on with it. We explained to Samuel and he has no problem too going through it.
The Dentist cleaned his teeth thoroughly this time before the filling; don’t wanna leave any residue behind that might build-up germ ‘ya see.

The Dentist changed to a softer brush,
Did all the brushing,
The scraping,
The digging,
The flossing,
Before filling the teeth.

Samuel followed his instructions well.
He gargled as told,
Closed his mouth
Opened his month
And filling his cup with water ….. yup, the Dentist let Samuel ‘helped’ out a bit : )

All done in 15 mins.

We were very proud of Samuel. The Dentist and Nurses were very impressed. They only have good words to say about Samuel. As encouragement, the Dentist gave Samuel some free gifts; Vitamin C and an Oral B toothbrush : )

Samuel holding his free gifts while waiting for Mommy having her teeth checked!

It was 3pm by the time we’ve done with our check-up. Samuel fell asleep on our way back home…

And woke up to a surprise prezzie for being such a brave Darling.

Ratchet added into his collection!

Play Buddy

2011-07-15T00:25:00.004+08:00

Sharing tricks with Daddy

Father and son time

Every night

Transformers 3 The movie, Dark of The Moon

2011-07-12T14:05:00.003+08:00

After the rather let-down Transformers Fan Expo at QB Mall the weekend before, we were really looking forward to watch the Transformers 3 – Dark of The Moon Movie last weekend.
And yes, the movie did not disappoint.

Well actually, the Fan Expo showcased some impressive collections of toys; true Transformers fans would dig it.

It has way more toys from the animated range than the recent movie series. Recent convert may not identify with ‘em as much, but the collections are still undeniably amazing. Although then again, the collections have lots of missing bits and pieces. They are not all complete or of full collections of the same toys series.

The problem with the expo lies with the exhibition setup itself. Not all the toys were stored in confined Exhibition Stands, some were placed on open tables which was not all bad news. The thing was, there’s an at least 5 feet cordoned off area and visitors could only view the toys from afar.
We adults had to squint our eyes in order to see ‘em details of ‘em Transformer toys.
As for the kids we would say, it’s impossible for them to enjoy as the big kickin’ red tape that barricaded the exhibition area was blocking their view totally.

The only 'toy' they could see in full range was probably this 8 feet Bumblebee.

Samuel enjoyed browsing the Toys-for-Sale section more.

Anyway, back to the DOTM movie, we had to again plan to watch it at Gurney Plaza as QB Mall only screens it in 3D.
We went early for the Saturday afternoon show after our lunch. There was like a thousand adverts before the show ….
OK, Mommy is obviously exaggerated here but really, what’s with the advert? So many until we lost count!
We are not sure if we or Samuel were more glad when the show finally started :p

Already a fan of Transformers 1 and 2 The Movie, Samuel has no problem identifying with this DOTM show. Armed with some prelude he has gotten from his new toys and books, he recognizes almost all the characters instantly and could follow the storyline closely.
He is sad that his favorite character is ….err badly damaged in the show but still likes Ironhide the best nevertheless.

This show has awesome fighting scenes and better camera angle we would say. Less close-up and slower shot changes. At least Mommy did not get all dizzy at the end of the show unlike ROTF :p

All of us enjoyed this movie outing very much…..
We the fussy adults, still do find some obvious weakness in the show….
But then hey, it’s a show about alien robot. Sense oughta take a backseat!