Taking photos

Out of the blue, Yiu Yiu asked me to take photos of her. Don't know what struck her but she happily posed around so this mummy kept snapping away. Here are some shots taken within the few short minutes.

I wanna take picture with my Barbie doll

I wanna look sideways

I wanna take picture with the fan

I wanna lie down on mummy's bed

I'm pretending to sleep

Then, she decided that she wanted to be the photographer. I passed her the camera and she asked me to pose for her. After indulging her for a while, I started to ignore her and that's when she started instructing me, "Mummy look here". And when I looked at her, she'll said "Mile" (Smile). Kids these days, it's amazing how fast they learn

Lets yum seng

Yiu Yiu was playing with her new Barbie doll set which comes with a refrigerator and some common items in the refrigeratore such as bottles of liquer, sauces, cakes, sausages, etc. The two round cakes, when upturned are actually hollow. Casually she took the two round cakes, turned them upside down, put in a sausage each and pass one to me. And then, holding my "cup" up against her, she started saying "Yuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmm seng". Hmmm, wonder what else was in the concoction she prepared for mummy?

Prettiest Mom tag

I got this tag from KittyCat. Thanks dear, the last one I did must have been during the Neolithic Age ;-)
It's a beautiful poem on the journey of motherhood, which I'm sure all mummies can relate to.

Before I was a Mom
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn’t worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn’t want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn’t stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom
I didn’t know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn’t know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn’t know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn’t know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom

The process is simple - simply add your link to the bottom after the following list:
1. Montessorimum
2. clumsy mommy
3. Sandra
4. VivianZ
5. AllThingsPurple
6. KittyCat
7. A Mom's Diary

I'd like to send this beautiful poem to the following mums, and KittyCat, though I can't add you back in the list, Lucas is surely blessed to have a mom like you.
1. Zara's & Zaria's Mama
2. Chanel
3. Suzette
4. Jazzmint
5. Becky's Mum

Yiu Yiu and the plane rides

The trip to Taiwan was partly to fulfill Yiu Yiu wishes of sitting on an aeroplane as she always asked to sit on an aeroplane whenever she sees one flying overhead. We went to the airport early as our flight was to depart at 10am. After checking in, we went to the lounge and had breakfast; noodles and nasi lemak for hubby and I, and fish porridge for Yiu Yiu, which she didn't take much. She then immersed herself in the children's play room while we waited to board.

In the plane, she kept looking out the window and pointing to planes outside so I'm not sure if she realized she's actually sitting in one. During take-off, I was surprised that she obediently sat strapped in her seat. I guess she must be fascinated seeing the puffy white clouds below us. Soon after, the crew brought her pre-ordered kid's meal which came in a special box with a tear-off aeroplane model. Inside was spaghetti Bolognese, a muffin, a bun, Kit Kat, fruits and mango juice. She finished the fruits and managed to eat some spaghetti as well, making a mess in the process. Thank goodness for wet tissue and large serviettes.

After eating, she busied herself playing with the console and when she got tired of the "toy", she wouldn't sit still and climbed over to disturb her papa who was enjoying a movie. We then whipped out our secret weapon, my brand new MP4 player (a gift from my company to all its employees for breaching RM 200million sales last year) on which I had painstakingly downloaded several episodes of Barney and Thomas and Friends. She was more interested to press the different buttons than actually watching the shows but as long as she was quietly sitting down, I was happy.

I can't remember now but I think she didn't sleep at all in the plane and the moment we got into a taxi at Taoyuan Airport in Taipei, she dozed off to la-la land, and didn't wake up until two hours later, when we have settled in nicely into our modest room in Good Ground Hotel near Ximending, a major shopping district in Taipei.

The trip back was uneventful. We left the hotel at 5am as our flight was to depart at 7.40am. After several hectic days, Yiu Yiu must have been soooo tired out that she didn’t even stir when I picked her up from bed and she continued sleeping all the way to the airport. She woke up for a while when we were about to board, and promptly dozed off again after take off and didn’t wake up until 2.5 hours into the flight. We didn't wake her up for her meal but instead asked the crew to bring it to us when she woke up. It consisted of pancakes with chicken patty, a muffin, a bun and fruits but by then, the pancakes were hard, so she only ate a little bit of chicken and finished the whole muffin.

Our baggage came out promptly from the conveyor belt but we were kept waiting as we had checked in the stroller and it had to be retrieved by the oversized baggage team. And my little princess fell asleep again in the taxi on the way home.

Clear blue skies, finally

What's so special about this photo? This was the first time in five days that the sun came out to play and I must say we've never been so happy to see Mr. Sun. We were in Wulai that day and the weather started to improve from then on. Though Mr. Sun was playing peekaboo with the clouds, at least it didn't rain in the last few days. That enabled us to enjoy the beautiful sceneries in Wulai, Hualien and Taroko Gorge. We experienced the best weather yesterday with sunny skies but it was such a shame that we spent the most part of the day indoors at the National Palace Musuem. We made a dash to Yangmingshan at about 4pm we had bad luck with the taxi driver. He was not familiar with Yangmingshan and dropped us at Yangming Park and told us that there would be plenty of cabs servicing the Yangmingshan area when in fact, there was none. There were shuttle buses though, providing loop service to all the main points of interests. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, it was almost 5pm and the service ends at 5.30pm. We didn’t dare take any risk, not with a young child in tow so we just walked around the Yangming Park and took a bus down the mountain. Hubby joked that we can proudly say we've been up to Yangmingshan twice, but truth is, we never got round to visiting the places of interests.

Anyway, we got back this afternoon to sunny tropical Kuala Lumpur with a temperature of about 30oC, which is two-fold the temperature in Taipei. We spent the rest of the day unpacking, doing the laundry and cleaning the house. I anticipate next week will be extremely busy at work but I hope I'll still have the energy to sort out the photos and post some stories of our trip.

Greetings from Taiwan

We finally made our long awaited postponed trip to Taipei. I am writing this from my hotel in Taipei, which surprisingly has free WiFi in all rooms despite it being only a low medium range hotel. Together with another couple friend, we arrived last Saturday at about 4pm at the hotel and things have been rather rough so far. We had traveled with Yiu Yiu to Hanoi early last year and it was such a breeze but this time round, the weather has not been kind to us. It has been raining daily since the day we arrived, with only brief respites.

But since we've come a long way, we went ahead with our planned itinerary instead of just staying in the hotel. It's really tough trying to walk around to take in the sights while carrying Yiu Yiu around everywhere since we can't put her in the stroller as ours does not come with the plastic rain cover. It's also a difficult task sheltering her from the elements as the wind comes in different directions, bringing along with it rain droplets. And each morning when Yiu Yiu wakes up, I pray that she doesn't wake up with a fever. Touch wood!

Despite that, we've been to some famous sights around Taipei such as Taipei 101, Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, Longshan Temple and the various night markets. We also made day trips out of Taipei to Yehliu, Danshui, Jiufen and Jinguashih. Today, we'll be visiting the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, Presidential Building, 228 Memorial Park and the famous Dihua Street before heading for an overnight stay in Wulai. Our next destination is Hualien and Taroko Gorge on the East Coast before returning to Taipei to visit the National Palace Museum and hopefully, Yangmingshan National Park. We actually headed to Yangmingshan last Sunday but due to heavy rain and the cold, we abandoned our plan of going up the mountain. I'm hopeful that the rain will stop on Saturday, as the local weather bureau forecasted so we can go up Yangmingshan.

More stories and photos coming up as soon as I have them sorted out.

Big Apple doughnuts@Niuzexui

I've read about it, I've seen long queues forming outside the outlets in the malls, I finally got to taste it myself. Yes, I'm talking about doughnuts. Big Apple doughnuts to be specific. Jazzmint wrote about how good they were and I've witnessed the long queues outside their outlets. I was tempted to try but the thought of joining the long queue put me off. To my surprise, they opened an outlet in Niuzexui, the brand new covered shopping boulevard in Ara Damansara, which is quite close to my house. When we passed by Niuzexui last Sunday, we decided to stop and got some to try. They have many different flavours so we bought half-a-dozen at RM9.50. We bought one each of peanut butter, green tea, durian, mango, chocolate and walnut. They have very fancy names for each but I can't remember them. I tried four of the flavours and they were really yummy, not bad for someone who's not really a doughnut person. Yiu Yiu finished almost one whole doughnut, the peanut butter one. So for folks staying in the vicinity of Ara Damansara, head over to Niuzexui when the Big Apple craving hits you. And while you are there, you can pick up some Chinese New Year decorative plants too since there are loads in Niuzexui.

First trip to Kizsports

Yiu Yiu got an invitation to a birthday party in Kizsports last Sunday. I know there's a Kizsports in 1-Utama and I've read about Kimberly birthday parties there. Though it crossed my mind to take Yiu Yiu there to expend some of her enery, I've knew where the actual location is.

So last Sunday, we made our way to Kizsports@1-Utama (by the way, it's located on the first floor of 1-Utama old wing, between Pizza Hut and Popular Bookstore. Yiu Yiu was initially quite hesitant to join the other children who were happily running and climbing about but she was thrilled when she saw the pool of colourful balls and dived straight into the pool. We took her to the slide but she clung on to me like a koala bear and wouldn't even dare to crawl up the stairs leading to the slide. It was quite a torture having had to carry her up while bending my waist as the height of the netting was low. One slide down and she kept asking for more so hubby and I took turns to go up the slide with her. Luckily she warmed up enough to crawl up the cushy stairs by herself.

Soon, it was time for some games conducted by the gamemaster in Kizsports. She didn't want to join in initially but when the gamemaster took out the colourful round plastic sheet similar to the one used in one of the Barney shows where the children sang "Ring Around the Rosie", she enthusiastically participated. After the games, the children had their snack of nuggets, sausage, fries, mini doughnuts and orange cordial, not exactly healthy fare if you ask me. There was also fried beehoon, fried rice, chicken curry, sandwiches, popiah, curry puff, samosa and fruits for the adults. After the birthday boy cut his cake, we hung around a while more for her to continue to play before heading home.

Ushering in the New Year

We didn't plan on having anything special to usher into 2008 and I actually spent the whole New Year's Eve running errands at MPPJ, post office, income tax, as well as getting my last minute dental treatment in time for me to submit for 2007 claims. Then hubby's friends suggested we have dinner together. After dinner, we went to Mutiara Damansara where there was a street party organized by the Royale Bintang Hotel. There was a concert and even a lion dance.

However, by about 11.15pm, Yiu Yiu was getting cranky as she only had an hour nap in the afternoon. Hubby and I decided to leave and made our way back to the open air car park at Giant 1-Utama. We parked there coz we didn’t want to be caught in the post-celebrations. Yiu Yiu fell asleep on my shoulder while we walked and by the time hubby went to pay the parking, it was just about 30 minutes before we bid farewell to 2007. And we thought since it was already so close to midnight, we might as well wait till the fireworks were let off and so we waited in our car to watch the fireworks. There were two rounds actually, one by 1-Utama at the stroke of midnight, followed by Mutiara Damansara when the one by 1-Utama ended. We left after that but by then, the roads were already jammed up and we reached home at about 1.15am. Sorry no photos coz I loaned my camera to my sister to take photos of her Baby Yue.

Introducing Baby Yue

My first post for 2008 will be to introduce my niece…Baby Wong XXX Yue. XXX coz my sister has not quite decided what to use as her middle name. Yue is the same character as the Taiwanese singer Chi Yue. Baby Yue was delivered by Caesarean section last Friday, December 28. My sister started having contractions in the early morning of Friday, the day she was due to be admitted for induced labour as Baby Yue was already several days overdue. By noon, though my sister was already 8cm dilated, her O&G decided at the last minute to deliver Baby Yue via Caesarean as she was in a face-up position. And Baby Yue greeted the world at 1.25pm, weighing in at 3.35kg.

Baby Yue is breastfeeding very well. I'm amazed at how good she is at suckling right from day one. I had a lot more difficulties trying to latch Yiu Yiu during the initial early days. I hope my sister will succeed in exclusively breastfeeding her for much longer compared to Yihao. Back then, Yihao was under the care of my mum in Ipoh and she wasn't very disciplined in expressing while at work so she only managed to breastfeed him for 3-4 months.

My sister was discharged from the hospital on Monday and both mummy and baby are resting at home now.

Left: I'm a moo-baby, Top right: Notice the scar on Baby Yue's forehead, no thanks to the Caesarean incision, Bottom right: Yiu Yiu is so fascinated with the new baby and kept asking to bring baby home

A comparative shot of Yihao and Baby Yue @ 1 day old. Can you spot the similarities?