Where Has All My Time Gone?

It took my girl almost an hour to finish a bottle (7oz) of milk
It took my girl an hour to finish a small bowl of rice

It took my boy almost an hour to finish writing one page of English alphabet
It took my boy more than two hours to finish writing one page of Chinese characters.


and the list goes on … So where has all my time gone lately? Should check with my 2 lovely kids ... *roll eyes*

Break Out Blogger Award

Many thanks to Ling for the Break Out Blogger Award. Glad to be one of your blogger friends.

I would like to share this award with my blogger friends : Chanel, Siew Ting, Tot's Mom.

Big Bang World Record

Get this invitation from Jo-N!

The purpose of joining this "Big Bang World Record" is to increase links. The goal is to exceed 1,000 links. Just follow the rules and have fun!

*Start Copy Here*
1. You do not have to be tagged to play along. This game is simple and so are the rules. Copy from *Start Copy Here* through *End Copy Here*
2. Add your site(s) to the list. Just be sure to post at each site you add.
3. Tag or don’t tag, your choice, however, the more tags you create the bigger the list will grow.
4. Let me know your blog’s name and url by leaving me a comment HERE. I will add you to the master list. (If you would like the scroll box code, leave me your email address and I will email it to you.)
5. Come back and copy the master list back to your site, often. This process will allow late-comers to get as much link benefit as the first ones in.
1-Attitude, the Ultimate Power 2-Juliana's Site 3-Rusin Roundup 4-Grow Rich Along With Me 5-Comedy Plus 6-lynda's loft 7-Amel's Realm 8-MAX 9-Speedcat Hollydale 10-Mariuca 11-Complain Complain Complain 12-Mariuca's Perfume Gallery 13-Life Is A Roller Coaster 14-Sugar Queen's Dream 15-First Time Dad 16-Life 17-My Life 18-The Painted Veil 19-My Thoughts 20-DatCurious.com 21-Little Aussie Cynic 22-A Nice Place in the Sun 23-DatMoney.com 24-LadyJava's Lounge 25-Cat Tales 26-The Callalily Space 27- Hazel 28- Rooms of My Heart 29-Slavery Bliss 30-Shower Your Children With Love-The Right Way 31-It's All About Play 32-My Memories, As Time Goes By 33-
*End Copy Here*

Let's join in the Big Bang World Record:
chanelwong, delittleones, tot's mom, pek imm

Rocking The Tortoise

Don’t have a rocking horse at home, this little girl tried to utilize the tortoise dummy to rock. She rocked manually from side to side, backwards and forwards which made her lost her balance. Luckily, mummy was always there for her :)

My Love and Hate ...

A Love Hate Meme tag from Chinnee!

Here it is…
1. Martini loves to eat: cheese cakes or cheese cookies.
2. Martini hates to eat: food that really hard to bite.
3. Martini loves to go: travel.
4. Martini hates to go: to dirty smelly toilet.
5. Martini loves it when: her loved ones are healthy and happy.
6. Martini hates it when: somebody smokes near her.
7. Martini loves to see: people happy.
8. Martini hates to see: accidents.
9. Martini loves to hear: birds singing in the early morning.
10. Martini hates to hear: high pitched machine’s sound.

Would love to pass this tag to: Pek Imm, Ling.

Good Bye to Kakak Sikar

Finally our maid completed her 2 years contract with us. At first we planned to extend her contract for another year after she got permission from her husband last year. We then went to Indonesia embassy to renew her passport, but 3 weeks ago, when we were ready to apply for the extension, her husband called and told her to stop working, sigh … luckily we haven’t proceeded to immigration otherwise would waste our $$$.

As our second maid, she was very talkative and better in taking care of our kids, Teng Hong and XinYi liked her very much, the way she played and talked with them could catch their attentions and make them laugh or calm them down. She was also more creative than our previous maid and more alert of potential danger to children. But at the house chores wise and having meals, she was very slow, besides that she was a forgetful person too, this might be caused by an accident which ended with brain surgery she ever had few years ago. Sometimes we feel pity for her …

Since our priority is the kids, we didn’t fuss about the others too much (close one eye), and that have made us decided to extend her contract although the plan was cancelled later.

Have been busy for almost a week, to transfer her money back to Indonesia, changed some Rupiah for her to travel from Jakarta to "Kampung", went shopping, asked the maid agency for a favour to get a check out memo from immigration office which showed that she has completed the contract and will be going back to Indonesia before the visit pass ended and sent her to maid agency for signing the document stated that she has received her full payment.

Finally this afternoon we sent her to airport for her flight back to Jakarta. Just hope that Teng Hong and Xin Yi won’t miss her too much, Good Bye Kakak, have a safe and pleasant journey!

For temporary, we don’t have any plan to get a new kakak, will try to see whether we can cope with the days without maid or not …

A Walk at OUG Pasar Malam (Night Market), Kuala Lumpur

We went to OUG Pasar Malam last Thursday. It was the largest Pasar Malam nearby our housing area, stalls were all over the side of the roads and lane, I think they occupied parts of four roads and a lane. You can find various kinds of products, like : food including steamboat and sushi, fresh fish, fruits, clothes, toys, watches, helium balloons, water filters, shoes, mattresses, wallets, waist bags, remote controls, VCDs, etc.

Since Chinese New Year is coming soon, the place was packed and there are a lot of stalls selling Chinese New Year decoration items, cookies and other new year stuffs.





Look, what we got from an hour walk at the pasar malam …

• New year decoration items (RM 12 for 2 different types)
• Waist bag for kakak (RM 10)
• Barney watch for Teng Hong (RM 6)
• Helium plastic balloons for Teng Hong and Xin Yi (RM 10 for 2)
  

It was a pleasant walk. Teng Hong was the happiest one, he kept playing with the balloon on the way home :)

Xin Yi @ 19 months

Xin Yi has been visiting Koe Child Clinic since she was 2 months old. Today she had her Chicken Pox vaccination there, it costed RM120. As we entered the clinic, she said “keng keng” which meant scared, but later when Dr. Koe poked the needle in her upper bum, she didn’t cry or make a fuss. Good girl!

Dr. Koe is a paediatrician and lactation consultant, with her support and guidance, mummy was able to breastfeed Xin Yi till she was 13 months (full breastfeeding for 6½ months and the rest mixed with formula gradually).

Thanks to Dr. Koe for her support and also to Chin Nee, who had given mummy the piece of information about Dr. Koe.


Time really flies, Xin Yi is now 19 months …


Growth:

• Weight : 11 kg


• Height : 83 cm


• Head Circumference : 48 cm


• Teeth : 8 incisors + 4 primary molars + 4 canines (on the way)

Diet:

same as previous, loves macaroni, meat floss and jelly

Development:

• Has yet pronounced “s”, can talk more two-word sentences like : don’t want, don’t like, go away, want papaya, mummy look!, and started three-word sentences like : want that one, kor-kor write book, balloon fly away


• know how to close back the bed room’s door after opened it


• learning colors


• learning to hop


• likes to scribble at kor-kor’s books


• likes to ask “where?”


• likes to wear kor-kor's clothings


• hang her body like a monkey


• can let people know her name is “Yi Yi”


• can sing “lecum, lecum, lecum, u la la la” from the “Burung Kakak Tua” song


• still takes 2 naps, around 10am and 3pm (sometimes only once in the afternoon)


• will run to mummy and cry when we have guests, but she is ok when we pay a visit to others.

Mummy has to admit that Xin Yi developed faster than her kor-kor, she learned a lot from him and liked to imitate what he did.

Tag: Chinese New Year Tradition

Got this tag from Pek Imm. I am not sure how true are those Chinese New Year traditions, but I have been following some of them for years ... :)

Here goes:
What are some of your new year’s good luck traditions?

Rules : Copy the person and persons’ names that sent it to you and add your own at the bottom of the list. It really helps to build community.

Lets start it here!

• My mom used to collect some coins and when the new year comes she put the coins in a bowl and shake it to create sounds. She said its good luck for money throughout the year. And also wearing dotted dresses on new year don’t know why. CC/chalyza/keep
• My old folks always told us to avoid spending money on new years day. They said, once you spend on the first day of the year, you like to spend the rest of the year.Behind d Scenes of ME/ Retchel’s Pure Life/ /A little bit of me
• I grew up believing that if you have some money on your pocket (whatever you’re wearing) come New Year’s eve it will ensure steady flow of income throughout the year. The other belief is that the main door of the house should be wide open come New Year’s eve so that good luck will be ushered in. Juliana of MY WORLD and JULIANA’S LAIR.
• I don't have any traditionals during New Year. Juliana RW
• I have keep a RM50 note which the serial number is begin with number 8 and end up with number 8 also, between the number, it’s not encourage to have number 4 and number 0. By doing this we will have steady income throughout the whole life. It’s not easy to find such note. Another ways is to keep your “Ang Pao” in your pocket or put it inside your pillow on the New Year eve before you sleep. Hazel
• There are many beliefs but I don’t really follow. To me, to gain good luck, we must radiate positive thoughts and be happy always. (The law of attraction) Jo-N
• If this tag means Chinese New Year tradition, usually I do spring cleaning before Chinese New Year. I will pack those unwanted stuffs like clothes to give away and make sure that our home is spick and span to receive a new year. I think this should be the norm for Chinese :) Ling
• I am also assuming this to mean Chinese New Year tradition. Everyone must wear something bright on the first day, preferably red, orange or yellow. Definitely no black. No sweeping of floors on the whole of first day, and there must be leftover food from CNY eve to carry over to the next year. Pek Imm
• I will put Red Envelope ("Hung Bao") under my children's pillow on the Chinese New Year Eve, to signify a continuous good luck from year to year. All brooms are put away and no sweeping floor at the first day of CNY, so the money won't be swept away. Martini

I would like to know if my blogger friends practise any tradition: BabySmooches and Ellyn

A Trip to Sungai Klah Hot Springs (22 December 2007)

(Backdated post)

I have heard about IT from Vicki for some time before we (my family and I) managed to go there during my friend, Che and her family visited us in December 2007. Located at Sungkai, Perak, it took us a two hour plus to reach there via the NKVE and to our surprise there were a lot of visitors; probably it was holiday season or perhaps a Saturday.

There are two big pools; “hot water pool” and “cold water pool”. The hot pool gets the water from the hot spring, naturally… and the cold pool gets the water from a nearby stream or perhaps underground. Unfortunately, the “hot water pool” was closed due to maintenance work in progress. Therefore, we played at the “cold water pool”. The entrance fee then was RM5/adult and RM3/child.

The water was cooling and refreshing, there is a big waterfall and a huge slide. The slide is built under a giant octopus’ feature and there is water spouting out from the octopus’s tentacles. Teng Hong and Xin Yi had fun. They played the slide twice and experienced the “sinking feeling” for a few seconds when they hit the water while playing the slide. After an hour or so playing in this pool, we moved over to the “hot side”.

Cold water pool (Mountain spring pool):







There are many hot pools; with different temperatures ranging from 30-35°C, 35-38°C, and 40-43°C. One can dip or soak feet in these pools. The water was very dirty. It should be because of the holiday crowd and it could partly be no place for people to wash their feet before going in the pools. Be careful, do not soak too long in the hot water.

Hot water pool (35-38°C)

I don’t know the exact temperature of one particular pool but there are people boiling eggs in it. We brought some eggs too, but we did not try it out.

If you don’t like sharing the hot pools with others, private Jacuzzis are available at a small price.

They also have an Ayurveda Spa.

For more information about Sungai Klah Hot Springs, one can visit the following urls:

http://www.plantationresorts.com.my/HotSprings/index_ap.shtml
http://www.malaysiavacationguide.com/hotsprings.html

Teng Hong's New Toy

Guess what is it?
.

.

Yeah, it is Helium balloon. Lately he has been interested in it so much. Whenever we bought him the balloons, he would play with them for hours until the balloons lose their lift. He likes to let go of the ribbon to see the balloons fly up against the ceiling, then hold on the ribbon and let go again, again and again until he felt tired, hehe…

Daddy ever bought him a few helium balloons, from the “latex” to “helium foil” balloons. A “latex” balloon filled with helium will cost RM 2.50 and a “helium foil” balloon will cost start from RM 18.50 depend on the size, shape and pictures. For “helium foil” balloon, it can be refilled, cost RM 4.00/balloon then.

We prefer the “helium foil” to “latex” balloons, they can last for 4-5 days before they start to deflate, much longer than “latex” balloons which can last for about 12 hours only.

Teng Hong with the "latex" balloons

Teng Hong with the "latex" and "helium foil" balloons

However, there were twice Teng Hong lost his "helium foil" balloons before they lose their lift, he only enjoyed playing it for 4 hours before it was hit by the ceiling fan and burst, imagine how disappointed he was … another one, he took the balloon outside, not sure whether he let it go purposely or not, the balloon flew away high up in the sky until we could not see it anymore. He cried out loud when he realized that he could not get his balloon back, hehe…

Anyway, it’s good for him to experience it and learn the facts ... :)

Power Failure

Last night my PC downed by itself a few times, at first I thought it was hit by a virus attack, but … I was wrong! It was caused by a power failure, there’s a malfunction in the power stabilizer.

So for temporary use, I bypass the power stabilizer until I get a new unit. Hopefully there won’t be anything bad happened to my PC in this period of time.

A Visit to KL Aquaria (20th December 2007)

(Backdated post)

First time to KL Aquaria. At the entrance, the staff captured our family’s photo (later only found out that we have to pay RM 28 if we want to print it, so we just forget about it).

Upon entering the Aquaria, there were stunning blue water exhibit at the left side and a few small Touch Pools at the right side. One can touch and feel the exhibits such as: starfish, turtles, hermit crabs and others. Teng Hong managed to touch and feel some of them.

Basically KL Aquaria is conceptualized and built based on the Journey of water from land to sea. Besides the marine animals, we saw others, such as: frogs, snakes, spiders, scorpions, beetles, millipede, monkey, owl and skunk (at the photo section).

At the Flooded Forest we saw gigantic Arapaimas, giant Catfish and some other fishes.
The climax of the journey was the Underwater Tunnel, we were practically walking next to the oceans greatest marine life, on a moving walkway inside the 90m acrylic tunnel. Here we saw the Sand Tiger Sharks, giant Stingray, Eels, gigantic Garoupas and many more.

At the end of the journey, we were right at the Fish feeding schedule at Aquatheatre.

It took us more than one and a half hour to finish touring the Aquaria, it was wonderful! If you haven’t been there, try to visit the place someday, definitely worth it.

Stunning blue water exhibit

Found them special but can't remember the name of these Frogs


Gigantic Arapaimas from the Flooded Forest


5.3 metre high Flooded Forest Tube Tank


giant Stingray at Underwater Tunnel


With the Sand Tiger Shark at the background


Look, how big is the Shark's mouth!


Fish feeding at Aquatheatre

Back to School

After more than 6 weeks holiday, Teng Hong was a bit nervous but excited to go back to school. At first, he refused to go into his “new” classroom. Mummy had to take him in and had to stay with him for about 5 minutes before he let mummy leave the classroom to wait for him outside. Mummy's little Teng Hong...hehehe!

After the class begin, mummy left and later return to pick Teng Hong up from school.

Look, how much Teng Hong has grown in a year...