Our Little Princess

My Birthday Day 2

2012-02-17T11:12:00.003+08:00

The day after my real birthday, we went to Kampachi at Equatorial Hotel for lunch. Hubby had called to book the day before as their Japanese buffet on the weekends is immensely popular. Even though we were early (we arrived at 11.30) there were already people there and half an hour later, the entire restaurant was full. Kids below 4 years eat for free.

Hannah as usual went straight for the dessert table. Since it was a special day, we let her have her treats first before eating her "proper" food. Look at her happy face :)

Here are some of the highlights : Hubby's favourite sashimi and I like the tempura. Hubby says even if he just ate the sashimi it would be worth the money for the buffet :)

We wore matching outfits that day - red top and jeans.

Later, after lunch, we took a walk around the hotel landscape. As always, Equatorial has very nice and green surroundings.

We posed for some pictures - little girl had a ball running around and exploring every corner.

She was also fascinated by the koi pond.

In the end we had to leave even though Hannah was reluctant to go. She needed her afternoon nap and tomorrow would be another busy day :)

My Birthday Day 1 Part 2

2012-02-15T14:29:00.003+08:00

After lunch, we took a walk around Gurney Plaza and Gurney Paragon and Hubby suggested to go there for dinner. The initial plan was to meet up with some of our friends, but Hubby told me in the morning that some of them could not make it, so they would treat me another day.

So in the evening, we picked up Hannah from mother-in-law's place and we went to Gurney Paragon to have Itallianies for dinner. Gurney Paragon is quite nicely done up and Hannah was very happy to see the water features and little fountains.

She wore the dress that "Uncle Tee-Ven" bought for her again and since there was a huge space for her to run around, she danced here and there and twirled her skirt like a flamenco dancer :)

When we got to the entrance of Itallianies, we saw quite a long line waiting outside and I thought that we may not be able to have dinner there after all. To my surprise, Hubby walked straight it and I saw our friends already there, seated by the window. It was a lovely surprise and they told me that they were using the menus to hide their faces so that I didn't see them :)

The girls and guys:

We ordered quite a lot of food, and in big portions too! The pizza was enormous - 16 inch (which is about the size of some car tyres :p) and the stuffed mushrooms were delicious. I especially liked the Sicilian chicken salad because it was a twist of the usual Caesar's salad with grapes and mango cubes tossed in. Kids eat for free at Itallianie's (just like at Chilli's or TGIF), but when Hannah saw her kid's meal, she asked "What is this? I want the normal one!" "Normal" to her means regular french fries and not grilled potato wedges like they serve at Itallanies. Nevertheless, she enjoyed her fried fish and finished almost all of it.

Since it was my birthday, we also had a complimentary cake (or rather bread pudding). It was also very good.

We also got one of the waiters to take a nice picture of all of us.

Gurney Paragon at night is really nice too, as they have the dancing fountain with lights. Hannah was super excited to see it.

Hannah was running around, trying to touch the water without getting herself wet, but she stopped long enough to take a photo with Szu Fu and Hooi Lee.

We left around 11 pm that night and Hannah slept in the car on the way home. Preparing our tummies for the next day!

My Birthday Day 1 Part 1

2012-02-14T17:24:00.004+08:00

I celebrated my 31st birthday with a 3-day long celebration of eat and eat :) The actual day was a Friday so we had a special long weekend. I took the day off from work and so did Hubby. He actually had to attend court in the morning, then after that came home and got changed before going for lunch.

Before leaving the house, we took some pictures of ourselves. We had dropped Hannah at her Ah Mah's house in the morning, so it was just the two of us.

After much consideration, we decided to have our lunch at Suffolk House. We were there for lunch on my birthday two years ago and the lunch menu was just as good as before, and now there were even more choices. I much prefer lunch rather than dinner at Suffolk House as somehow the food tastes better and it is not overpriced.

Here is what we had: Pumpkin soup, Grilled salmon steak, Fish & chips and a delicious cake (I forgot what it was called).

After lunch, we took more pictures in the gardens.

Day 1 Part 2 coming up :)

Happy long weekend

2012-02-08T14:34:00.007+08:00

January and February are chock full of holidays - not so good for employers but great for employees like us. However it now looks like we are in for a dry spell after this past long weekend.

As usual, Hannah was pretty excited that we would be at home to play with her and take her "kai-kai". On Saturday morning we took her to buy tickets for Disney On Ice coming to PISA this March. I had in fact intended to purchase the tickets some time ago but with all the happenings during Chinese New Year I completely forgot about it until Caris' Mommy posted on her Facebook that she had bought the tickets.

We went to PISA to buy the tickets from their ticketing office but unfortunately there was no one in the office, despite the brochure stating that the tickets could be bought on Saturdays from 9 am to 1 pm. Other disgruntled parents were there too, but since no one was around, we had to either purchase the tickets from Queensbay Mall or Gurney Plaza. Since it was almost lunch time by then, we went to Queensbay for lunch and thereafter bought the tickets from the Yamaha store. It was a very excited little girl who couldn't stop talking about Disney On Ice from the time we left PISA until we bought the tickets at Queensbay. In fact she thought that the show was on immediately that day itself and we had to patiently explain to her that we only bought the tickets and she would have to wait to see the show several weeks later.

We had lunch at TGIF since kids eat for free. Hannah enjoyed her chicken fingers and fries while we had pasta and salad. She also got a free balloon :)

After lunch, we had an appointment at Straits Quay to meet up with some of our friends. We took Hannah along because our friend Szu Fu's wife, Hooi Lee wanted to give Hannah a present she bought for her. We were there early so Hannah was admiring the boats and yachts docked at the marina.

This was the toy that Hooi Lee gave her - it was a cute giraffe.

Later on, there were some performances since it was still Chinese New Year.

Sunday and Monday were pretty quiet, but yesterday we took her to Gurney Paragon to have a look-see and whilst we were there, look at what we saw. Of course, Hannah was super excited to see the "dancing water". Apparently at night it is even nicer.

So that was our long weekend - hoping that there are more to come this year! :)

The Big Day Part 4

2012-02-03T09:52:00.003+08:00

We just got some new photos from Stefanie's official photographer so here they are:

We went to the bride's house in the morning to await the arrival of the groom. Hannah was quite curious to see all the crazy things the bride's "ji mui" made the groomsmen do.

At night, the photographer managed to capture nice shots of the two little flower girls.

Leading the little procession:

Hannah kept looking back to see if either Hubby or myself were following her, so we are always in the background of the photos :) Here you can see me:

And Hubby too:

Made it safely to the front without any major drama :p

Happy bride and flower girls!

CNY 2012

2012-02-01T12:37:00.009+08:00

This year was Hannah's 3rd Chinese New Year (CNY) with us. Now that she is bigger, she is able to enjoy it a lot more, and all the good food as well! For once, she had all the cookies, cake, sweets and ice cream she could eat, with us trying to limit her of course!

On the eve of CNY, we had our usual reunion dinner at Hubby's parents' place. Every year it would be a steamboat. These are just some of the ingredients and lots more coming.

We bought Hannah and her cousin Pei Zi matching pyjamas so they wore it after dinner before going home for the night. As always, Hannah is more interested in her games than taking pictures.

On the first day of CNY, we gave Hannah her first ang pows (red packets) - one each from both of us.

Family photo at in-law's place.

At night, we met up with some of our friends at Gurney Plaza. Hannah was so happy to see her friend Tharissa and they were wearing matching dresses which our friend Steven bought for them from Bangkok. There was one day during CNY whereby no kids were around and she went around telling people that "Nobody play with me today!"

On the 2nd day, Hannah wore a cute little outfit and I tied up her hair in 2 pigtails. She recently seems to be quite attached to her big Smurfette.

We took our usual family photo on the stairs.

On one of the evenings, Hannah went to bed early as she was tired out by the excitement of the day. So Hubby and I took some drinks and cookies and sat out on our balcony to watch the fireworks. This is the view from our balcony:

We took another family photo on the 5th day of CNY.

On the 5th day, we took Hannah to Gurney Plaza and she found a new toy.

Another family photo on the 6th day:

More photos have been uploaded on Facebook.

There were also some funny conversations during CNY.

Someone wanted to give Hannah ang pow on the 2nd day of CNY. Hannah's response: "No need, I have already" :)

We told her that we would put all her ang pow money in the bank for her. She looked horrified and said "No, no, cannot give my money to the bank!" Her concept always has been that we pay money to the bank for housing loan, car loan, credit card etc. as she always follows us when we make payment at the cash deposit machines. So she thought the bank would take her money as well :)

When she misbehaved, I told her that I would smack her if she was naughty. I asked her, "Can Mummy smack you if you are naughty?" She replied "No, because I am pretty!" I truly was at a loss for words :p

Anyway, wishing everyone a very happy and prosperous new year! Gong Hei Fatt Choy!

A very happy little girl

2012-01-18T18:26:00.003+08:00

Following my last post, we finally got her the "ice-cream maker" that she has been pestering us for every single day. It's the first thing which comes out of her mouth in the morning and the last thing which she says before going to sleep at night. She usually does not ask to buy toys unless she really really wants it. Most of the time we will walk around the toy shop and she is contented to just play in the shop and leave without buying anything.

At first, we did try to delay buying the ice-cream maker for her. Sometime ago, we took her to Toys R Us at Queensbay and told her if she could find it there, we would get it for her. She walked around, but did not see what she wanted, so we left that day with our hands empty (but our wallets still full :p). She told us "This place is so boring, can we go to Gurney Plaza Toys R Us?" We didn't know where she learnt the word "boring" :p

So anyway, we were at Gurney Plaza last weekend and as expected, she didn't let up until we took her to Toys R Us. She finally found what she wanted, and good thing for us, it was on sale! RM20.00 less than the usual price. I suppose it pays to wait :) Immediately after we bought it, she wanted to go home so she can play with it. I told her that Mummy and Daddy still need to get some things, so she just had to be patient.

When we got home, and after her nap, she couldn't wait to open the box. Big smiles all around :)

This is what was in the box - quite an interesting looking contraption:

Little girl trying it out:

Yummy sundaes and ice creams - made with Daddy's help of course!

Somehow all Hannah's persistent asking reminded me of one of Jesus' parables in Luke 11: 5-8.

Luke Chapter 11 (from The Message Bible)

5-6Then he said, "Imagine what would happen if you went to a friend in the middle of the night and said, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread. An old friend traveling through just showed up, and I don't have a thing on hand.'

7"The friend answers from his bed, 'Don't bother me. The door's locked; my children are all down for the night; I can't get up to give you anything.'

8"But let me tell you, even if he won't get up because he's a friend, if you stand your ground, knocking and waking all the neighbors, he'll finally get up and get you whatever you need.

I guess we were like that, but we finally got her what she wanted because she persisted in asking.

Sometimes we definitely do spoil her, but to see the joy on her face makes it all worthwhile :)

Funny mall stories

2012-01-11T09:56:00.002+08:00

Kid's brains go at an amazing speed. Hannah's especially is mainly telling her one thing - be cheeky.

We were at Gurney Plaza sometime before Christmas and there was this huge Santa Claus on display at the centre court. She was quite fascinated especially when Hubby asked her to look at his big white beard. Sometime later, she tugged on Hubby's arm and said "Look Daddy, I am like Santa Claus!" She had made a foam beard with her saliva and it was all around her mouth and chin. We did not know whether to laugh or to scold her for doing that.

Then recently we were at Toys R Us at Queensbay Mall. She saw a Play-Doh ice cream maker which she wanted to buy, but we had just bought her new toys for Christmas, so we did not buy it for her. Everyday since then, she has been persisting on the "ice cream maker" and so finally I told her that we would get it for her for her birthday and she has to wait until then. She thought for a while about it, and then she told me "Mummy, it's my birthday now".

We have one cheeky little girl. But the ice cream maker will just have to wait. Let's see if Hubby caves before me :p

New Year 2012

2012-01-04T17:53:00.000+08:00

This is my 3rd new year, meaning I will be three years old this year. How time has flown. We did not do much for the new year, but Uncle Steven very kindly rented for us his company bungalow in Batu Ferringhi for two nights so we went up there to spend the new year. I had been there two years ago for 2010 new year, but I was still very little then so I probably do not remember it.

The first night Daddy and Mummy stayed with their friends and the second night I joined them together with some of my cousins.

There was a playground in the garden so I had lots of fun on the swings:

And on the see saw:

Pei Zi and I had a lot of fun together. We do have the occasional fight but we always "sayang" and make up again :)

Uncle Steven and I:

Daddy and I:

Daddy, Mummy and I:

I tried to learn how to play badminton after seeing all the kor-kor and jie-jie playing. I look quite professional, don't I? :)

I think I almost got the hang of it! What a fun two days and wishing everyone a very happy 2012!

Christmas at home

2011-12-28T16:13:00.005+08:00

On Christmas morning, I was very excited because I finally got to open all my presents! My little pile of presents was slowly building up under our Christmas tree the past few weeks and everytime a new one came in, I would ask Mummy if I could open them. However, she kept telling me that I had to wait till Christmas day. Mummy says I am a very good girl because I waited patiently and didn't make a fuss when I didn't get to open the presents yet.

Christmas we were practically house-bound as Daddy got a nasty gout attack which made him unable to walk. So we basically spent the day at home and as we couldn't go out to party, the party came to us! :) All my aunts and cousins came over in the evening to have a small party and for us kids to exchange gifts. But before that, it was present-opening time!

This was me just woken up and pointing to the Christmas tree. I was asking Mummy if we could open the presents now.

Look at some of my lovely presents - Story books, dinosaur book and bible stories from Daddy and Mummy; Dora Advent Calendar from Nanna and Gong Gong and also a Leapfrog Letter Discoveries from Daddy and Mummy. Mummy redeemed that with her HSBC credit card points so although she did not have to pay for it, she said that technically it was the most expensive gift considering the amount that she had already spent to get those points! Besides that, I also got a box of yummy goodies and stickers from Ling Ku Ku.

Daddy and Mummy got some nice presents too. The one on the extreme right has become mine instead of Mummy's as I use it more often than her! :) All my favourite games (especially Angry Birds) are on it :)

Mummy liked this present best - a handmade card from me and Daddy (of course Daddy made it). How sweet!

In the evening, before the guests arrived, Mummy changed me into a pretty new dress and tied my hair.

The hair ties are from Nanna. They have got little bells on them so I jingle when I walk. I told Mummy "I sound like Jingle Bells!"

Here are all us younger kids - we sure enjoyed playing in my room.

After some time had passed, all the toys were all over the house, even on the stairs!

Big smiles all around:

Here are all us kids waiting for the gift exchange.

We did it by drawing numbers.

My gift was from Brian Kor Kor.

It was a nice purple-striped towel! Look how happy I am.

Mummy prepared party packs for the kids. Pink princess ones for the girls and blue Mickey Mouse ones for the boys.

I was sure in a party mood :)

And it looks like so was Ah Cik. There was an extra party pack so Daddy gave it to the biggest kid in the room :p

And before going to bed that night, there was one more present from Suk Fen Ku Ku, Uncle Sam and Melissa. It was a collection of princess books!

I love all my presents - thank you everyone for a lovely Christmas. This will probably be the last post of the year, so here's wishing everyone a very blessed Christmas and happy 2012!

November visitors

2011-12-28T16:07:00.000+08:00

This post is a bit outdated but I just realised I forgot to blog about it when I saw the pictures.

We received quite a few visitors in November. My parents were back from Australia and Nanna and Grandpa Noll also flew in with them this time. Nanna and Grandpa Noll are my mother's foster parents so they are technically my grandparents. They have never seen Hannah so this was the first time. She was a bit shy meeting them at first but slowly she got used to them.

Also, Aunty Johnson (my godmother) came for a visit. She treated my mother to a nice buffet and a night's stay at the E&O Hotel. We paid them a visit while they were there. Hannah can still remember "Ee Por" from our trip to KL in May earlier this year. Periodically she will tell me, "Mummy, I want to sit aeroplane and find Ee Por", especially when she sees a plane flying. Her mind equates flying on an airplane to "find Ee Por" in "Kay-El" :)

The Big Day Part 3

2011-12-22T14:52:00.006+08:00

More pictures of the two little flower girls...

The Big Day Part 2

2011-12-20T10:29:00.005+08:00

Stefanie very kindly provided us some photos from her sister's camera, so here they are!

This was the other flower girl, Stef's niece Celine. She is her eldest sister's Elaine's daughter. Don't the two little girls look precious in their identical dresses? :)

They had a little chat while waiting outside.
Celine: Hannah, you follow me ok?
Hannah: Ok Jie Jie

And there they were at the head of the little procession down the red carpet:

Took a little coaxing but they made it to the end! Mummy and Daddy in the background on "standby" mode :)

Happy smiles all around! The beautiful bride with her little flower girls :)

And the day has arrived...

2011-12-19T09:16:00.003+08:00

Our dear friend Stefanie's wedding was yesterday, and ever since she started planning for the wedding about a year ago, she asked if little Hannah could be one of her flower girls. We agreed, but were quite apprehensive at first, as Hannah was only one plus years at the time and we wouldn't sure if she could carry it off. This would also be the first time that she is a flower girl at a wedding.

Sometime middle of this year, Stef bought her the dress. It was a bit big and long but up to a couple of weeks before the wedding, we tried it on again and the length was just nice, but the sleeves were still a bit big. Hubby's mum altered it a bit and even so, it was stil slightly big, but we also did not want it too tight so she would be comfortable.

We were preparing her for yesterday as soon as we got the dress as our biggest fear was that she would suddenly break down in the middle of the red carpet and it would not be a pretty sight then. There were two flower girls, the other being Stef's niece who was five years old. So the night before and during the morning session, we brought Hannah to Stef's house so she could bond with her niece. They hit it off nicely so last night, we just told her "Hold hands and follow jie jie". Hannah was very fascinated that they were wearing matching dresses and holding identical bouquets. She kept telling us, "Look, it's the same!" :)

We did not have pictures of the actual event as we did not bring the camera. As expected, we were on standby along the red carpet in case there was an "emergency" suddenly. Hubby said that hopefully the cameramen and videographer did not get any footage of us running up and down through the crowd like mad people :p

We both breathed a huge sigh of relief when she managed to lead the little procession all the way down the red carpet to the end. Even so, she kept looking behind to make sure that we were there, following her. I could not hear her but I could see her mouth asking "Where's Mummy, where's Daddy?" That must be the longest red carpet ever for us even though it was only about 30 to 40 feet long. Finally it was over and we are so proud of her. The important thing was that Stef and Kenny were really happy. When they reached the end, there were big hugs for her at the end of the carpet.

Even though we did not get any pictures from the night itself (we will wait for the official photos), but we did take some before leaving the house. I asked Sue a favour to do up her hair in a little bun and she sat patiently and quietly while her hair was being done. Lots of hairspray to make sure that it stayed in place until the walk-in was over!

After that, I applied a little makeup for her. She was really excited as she loves to see me put on my makeup. First a little blush:

And a touch of eyeshadow and lip-gloss. All the makeup didn't stay on long however as she kept touching her face, so it needed constant touch up at the hotel.

All done! As Hannah said "I'm like a princess!" :)

Picture with Mummy:

And one with Daddy:

And a family shot:

Congrats Stefanie and Kenny! May you both have a wonderful life together filled with many joyful moments ahead!

The Masquerade Party

2011-12-14T17:23:00.000+08:00

To celebrate Jie Jie Zhen Yi scoring 7As in her UPSR this year, all of us had a small celebration for her at Ah Mah's house. I was very excited in the afternoon when I heard that there was to be a party, so I pestered Daddy to buy us all party hats. So in the afternoon, when I was napping, Daddy went and bought party supplies for us. Not only did he get party hats, he got us all masks as well!

This was the hat and mask that I chose. All of us kids got one each except for Pei Zi as she is still too small.

I persuaded Mummy to wear one too:

All of us with our hats and masks. Jie Jie Zhen Yi got a special mask since it was her celebration.

Uncle Steven dropped by to visit so we asked him to stay for dinner since there was a lot of food. I know Uncle Steven very well now so I am not scared of him anymore. I can say "Uncle Tee-ven" nicely too. Mummy thinks this is a nice picture of the both of us.

Penang Horse Show 2011

2011-12-07T10:04:00.002+08:00

On Sunday after church, Daddy and Mummy took me to the Penang Turf Club for the Horse Show. I was very excited about it for days before that, and kept asking them when we could go. Finally the day arrived, and boy, was it hot!

I was still my cheerful self when we arrived and managed a cheeky smile with Mummy at the entrance. As we went in, the full "horsey" smell hit us and I kept pinching my nose, saying "eeww..smelly!"

Inside, there was also a man holding a snake and surprisingly, I was not afraid to touch the snake.

Tharissa and her Mummy came too as Tharissa wanted to go on the pony rides. I was too scared, however so I just watched.

Tharissa's mummy helped us to take a family picture. We were all squinting because the sun was too hot.

There was also a performance with a knife and fire juggler.

As I did not want to ride on the real horse, I had to make do with a pretend one :)

We did not stay very long as the hot weather was making me cranky. As you notice, my face is not too happy in the rest of the pictures. Also, I did not want to walk so Daddy had to carry me everywhere. In the heat, it was not very practical. In any case, we stopped to say bye bye to the horses as we left. Maybe we will come again when I am bigger.

Just a fun, fun day

2011-12-05T16:24:00.005+08:00

On Saturday, we went to AEON City Shopping Mall at Bandar Perda to check out some dinosaurs. Yes, you heard me right, dinosaurs. Tharissa's mummy told us that there was a dinosaur exhibition on display so Tharissa and I were very excited to go and see it. We arrived there nice and early to avoid the weekend crowd.

However, when we arrived at the entrance, I got scared and told Mummy and Daddy that I didn't want to go in. I kept on saying "Don't want, don't want, I'm scared". Probably because I saw the dinosaur with the big sharp teeth. So when Tharissa saw that I didn't want to go in, she also didn't want to go. So Tharissa's mummy said we came all the way for nothing.

Nevertheless, we still had great fun at the Kiddies Playland. Mummy said they should maintain the place better though as a lot of the slides and things were quite dirty. Look at how much fun we had doing silly things :)

There was also a Christmas display at the centre court of the mall and they had these cardboard cut-outs which you could put your face in for a picture. I was a bit short but Tharissa fit her face in nicely.

Daddy bought me a toy xylophone for RM10 at Jusco and we also had fun playing with it. It came with 2 sticks, so one for each of us.

Another fun day out - look at my happy face!

Cycling at Youth Park

2011-12-02T10:58:00.003+08:00

Daddy and Mummy have not brought me to Youth Park for a while now. So the other day, when Tharissa's mummy suggested we go there so Tharissa and I could play together, I was really excited! We even brought our bicycles so we could cycle together.

Before cycling however, we went to the playground. We played on the swings:

On the slides:

And on the little rocking thingys:

And then it was cycling time!

Tharissa's bike is bigger than mine because she is older. I am still on my little tricycle which was my birthday present this year.

After all that activity, it was time for a snack! Tharissa told me she made these strawberry jam sandwiches herself with butterscotch bread.

What a fun day! :)

Putting up the tree

2011-11-30T14:47:00.002+08:00

We put up our tree last night, after lots of pestering from Hannah. We found this tree at a real bargain from Straits Quay. It was a six foot tree with white frosted "snow" and pine cones. We wondered at first how come it was so cheap, only RM57. Later on the sales person told us that it was going cheap because the fibre optic lights were spoilt, otherwise the original price was RM200+. We never even noticed the lights if he did not tell us. So we were pretty happy with the buy.

Hannah was very excited to help us put up the tree, but turns out she was more excited to play with the ornaments and decorations than to hang them on the tree! She did however hang a few at the places she could reach.

Finished!

Happy cheeky girl posing next to the tree. More pictures to be posted on Facebook :)

November 13, 2011

2011-11-23T12:34:00.004+08:00

The next morning after the wedding I was up bright and early. The very thing I wanted was to go and "play sand" and "swimming" :) Mummy and Daddy told me we had to go for breakfast first before going to play. So we went down to the hotel coffee house for their complimentary buffet breakfast. I had my favourite sunny side up egg, bread and sausage. Don't worry, not everything on the plate was mine, I shared with Mummy and Daddy - it was way too much for a little girl like me!

After that, Gong Gong and Nanna took me for a walk so Daddy and Mummy could enjoy their breakfast. We sat on the deck chairs and admired the view of the sea.

When Daddy and Mummy finished breakfast, they came to look for us. Of course, I immediately then forgot about the nice view and wanted to change into my "swimming costume"!

We went back upstairs to the room to change and I struck a pose by the side of the bed, complete with hat and sunglasses :)

We went to the beach for a while, and then it was time to go in the pool again! Look at how happy I am.

After all the swimming, we went to bathe, change and then it was time to checkout. My fun weekend was over too soon, but Daddy and Mummy promised to take me again. Thank you Nanna and Gong Gong for the weekend treat!

November 12, 2011

2011-11-22T12:34:00.004+08:00

Last weekend was a busy weekend for us because Mindy Ee Ee and Uncle Ashwin got married! It was a whole weekend affair with dinner on Friday night (lau thnia meh), and on Saturday it was the tea ceremony in the morning, garden ceremony in the afternoon and wedding dinner at night. The garden ceremony and dinner were at Parkroyal Hotel so we stayed there on Saturday night so I could enjoy the beach and the pool on Sunday as well. Nanna and Gong Gong came back for the wedding too and they also stayed at the hotel on Saturday night.

Saturday morning we were at Mindy Ee Ee's house nice and early to wait for the bridegroom to arrive. While waiting, we took some pictures of course! :)

This is me, Mummy and Daddy:

This is me with Jing Jing, Ying Ying, Sarah and Amelia. We are all about the same age (except Jing Jing who is older) so we have fun playing and running around. We are standing by the big fan to get cool as the weather was pretty hot.

After the tea ceremony was over, it was time for the kids to receive ang pow (red packets). When it was my turn, I wasn't too sure what I was supposed to do so I was looking at Nanna and Mummy.

In the afternoon when I got up from my nap, we checked in to Parkroyal and I immediately wanted to change into my swimming costume and go to the beach! I couldn't stop talking about it the whole afternoon so Mummy and Daddy promised that when I got up from my nap we could go.

Later on, I also went swimming. At first I wanted to stay in the "baby pool". See, I can stand up in it.

Subsequently, I went to the "big pool" with Daddy. I brought all my floats along.

Later in the evening was the garden ceremony. Don't the bride and groom look lovely? Mummy says Mindy Ee Ee's dress is very nice.

The dinner was held at the hotel ballroom at night. I was probably getting a little tired because of all the activities during the day, which is why I was rubbing my eyes.

But then, when the music started by the jazz band, all of us kids had a really good time. We dominated the dance floor before the adults came in. I really enjoyed dancing very much. Even the wedding photographers were amused and took lots of my pictures.

After that, the adults also started dancing - Gong Gong danced with me too!

I was dancing until Mummy and Daddy could see that I was really tired, so it was up to the room to bed! Tomorrow would be another busy day for me.

Visiting Baby Kyan

2011-11-17T11:55:00.003+08:00

Last Thursday, Mummy was on leave to look after me cos Ah Mah went to Korea for holiday. So she took me to Aunty Celyn's house to visit Baby Kyan. He is now about 3 and a half months old. Isn't he really cute?

Since Kyan is still so small, he couldn't really play with me much, but I sure had a good time playing with all his toys! Kyan, grow up faster so we can play, ok?

Thanks Aunty Celyn for the nice picture!

A Piggy Story Part 2

2011-11-11T11:44:00.002+08:00

Yesterday morning I was awakened by a small complaining voice next to me:

"Mummy, Daddy make sound like pig"

Me: So it woke you up? Poor thing..

Hannah: Daddy is a big pig, Hannah is a small pig!

Me: You are also a pig? So if Daddy is a big pig and Hannah is a small pig, how about Mummy?

Hannah: Mummy is "hippotamus"! (hippopotamus)

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry :p

Some pictures of our cheeky princess at her favourite activity:

Lazy Sunday morning

2011-11-04T12:00:00.002+08:00

Last Sunday morning, we all woke up late, especially me, because I had a very hectic day the previous day. Daddy took me to Queensbay and I played there from 2 to 6 pm. So I missed my nap because I was enjoying myself too much!

So on Sunday morning, Daddy bought back breakfast - my favourite economy fried noodles and set up my little table for me in my room. I had the noodles, some biscuits and vitagen. I also got to watch my favourite Dora the Explorer DVD.

I am telling Daddy what's happening on the TV:

Me enjoying myself :)

By the way, look what Daddy found in one of my drawers - it's a headband exactly like the one Minnie Mouse is wearing on my pyjamas! All of us had totally forgotten about the headband which was a gift for me a long time ago. So Mummy made me pose with it and take a photo - I told Daddy and Mummy "Look, it's the same!" :)

Ah Mah's birthday

2011-10-27T09:32:00.004+08:00

Last Sunday was Ah Mah's birthday, so we had two celebrations - one on Saturday night and another on Sunday itself. I wore a pretty new dress which Mummy's boss bought for me. So before we left the house, I had a short "modelling" session :)

The dinner on Saturday night was at Everyday Supreme Restaurant at Red Rock Hotel. See how I am enjoying my noodles:

Daddy and I:

On Sunday we had lunch at Tianyi Restaurant (opposite Loh Guan Lye Hospital). We had never tried this restaurant before. As usual, at Chinese restaurants, I love the boiled/steamed peanuts which they serve as appertisers. In this picture my mouth is full of them :)

I also had a good time looking at all the fish in the aquariums. One of the fish almost jumped out of the aquarium, so it was quite exciting.

Family picture:

I was very interested in the cake - look how pretty it is!

Swimming time...or maybe not

2011-10-21T14:48:00.002+08:00

This is what it normally is - a pool filled with balls:

...until the day Daddy had the brilliant idea of doing this! I think he was too lazy to bring me down to the swimming pool :p

So I "swam" here and thoroughly enjoyed it! I brought some balls, my baby tortoises, some toys and had a jolly good time splashing around.

I even "washed" my hair with the water from the tap - I could pretend that it was a waterfall I suppose :)

How fun!

A Piggy Story

2011-10-17T14:52:00.002+08:00

Yesterday Hannah had her afternoon nap together with Hubby. She woke up first and went to play in her own room. I was outside in the living room. After a short while she came running to tell me something:

Hannah: Mummy, Daddy do like pig (makes a snorting sound)

Me: (??) Huh? What do you mean, Hannah?

Hannah: Daddy like pig! (makes the snorting sound again)

Suddenly I saw the light...

Me: Oh...come show Mummy how Daddy do like pig (chuckling to myself)

Hannah gestures me to follow her.

Inside the room, we listened intently. I then had this conversation with Hannah:

Me: Hannah, Daddy is snoring, not doing like a pig (but come to think about it, she was not really that wrong either - sorry Hubby! :P)

Hannah: (giving me a puzzled look)

After a slight pause:

Hannah: Daddy is "snowing"?

Me: No, Hannah, not snowing, "snoring".

Hannah: Daddy is snoring.

Me: Correcto! (Hannah learnt this from Dora :p)

So she learnt a new word yesterday and the snorting/snoring sound really put us into stitches when I told Hubby about it later on.

Cheeky little girl :)

Room improvement

2011-10-13T10:01:00.004+08:00

Last weekend, Daddy did some redecorating to my room. Since I was small, Mummy carefully kept these foam alphabets and numbers so I that I could use it to learn when I am bigger. If I had been allowed to play with them earlier on, there wouldn't have been many pieces left!

So Daddy stuck them high up on the wall (I definitely can't reach them) for me to learn my alphabets. I know certain letters but not all, so hopefully by looking at them everyday, I can learn all the alphabets soon. Daddy also hung up my gigantic Christmas stocking, since Christmas is coming soon!

Another angle of the alphabets:

As for the numbers, Daddy stuck them below my wall clock, so it looks like a big balloon :) I know almost all the numbers by now.

My colourful foam mat has also been shifted near my bookself, so I like to sit there and look at my books. Next to it is the musical playmat which I can also sit on. It doesn't make music if I don't switch it on.

Daddy also bought this for me from Toys R Us with a gift voucher which we got. I chose it myself and I call it "Ball Ball can stick!" :)

We also got this and Mummy stuck on the letters for me. It's hanging on my room door. "L. Hannah" because "Lim Hannah" was too long and just "Hannah" was a bit lopsided :p

My Angry Birds bedroom slippers - I like them very much!

Gifts for Hannah

2011-10-11T12:10:00.004+08:00

Hannah received a lot of nice gifts lately. Here is what she got from our friends Szu Fu and Hooi Lee, all the way from the UK.

Pretty hair-pins:

She insisted on sticking the "tattoo" stickers on her face, one on each cheek :)

Like this:

Our cheeky, happy little girl:

Oh, we got this from them too - Scottish shortbread, my hubby's favourite :)

Hannah has some more presents coming to her next month. My sister in Adelaide bought her some dresses and my parents will bring them back to Penang when they come in November. Aren't they nice? Hannah says thank you to Ee Ee!

Little Translator

2011-10-07T15:32:00.000+08:00

In my previous post, I mentioned that Hannah can converse in both English and Mandarin and she knows how to segregate to whom she speaks both languages to. Recently, she has also become my "translator". I don't speak Mandarin fluently, but I am able to understand everyday conversations in Mandarin. However, now with Hannah, she can tell me what people are saying :)

Example 1:

At New World Park for lunch the other day, she was eating her chicken rice and listening to the conversation on the other table (not kaypo, okay, she is observant :p). The old lady was scolding a little boy (probably her grandson) in Mandarin because he was climbing up and down. Hannah turned to me and said "The aunty scold the boy bu yao pa - she said cannot climb".

Example 2:

We were in our apartment lift and it stopped. A little boy and his mother got into the lift and they were conversing in Mandarin. He was asking his mother about an umbrella. When they got off the lift, Hannah asked me "Mummy, where is kor-kor's (big brother's) umbrella?"

Example 3:

We went to have dinner together with my in-laws at a coffee shop and there was a pile of sand nearby. She excitedly went to step in the sand when I came back from ordering the food, she was happily telling her grandparents "wo wan sa!". When she saw me, she told me "Mummy, I play sand!"

English and Mandarin aside, she has recently taken a liking to the childrens' programme "Dora the Explorer", and I think the show teaches the kids some Spanish words too. So the other day, she asked me, "Mummy I want to watch Dora say (some random Spanish word which I have no idea what it means)". Looks like I am going to have a little senorita on my hands :)

We once went to a restaurant and the waitress said that Hannah looks like Dora. Can you see the resemblance??

My two-piece percussion band

2011-10-05T09:57:00.004+08:00

Since Sarah and I live very close to each other, we sometimes go to each other's house to play. Some time ago, she came over to play with me and we had a lot of fun making "music" together (Mummy calls it "melodious noise :p). Daddy was playing the guitar but as he told Mummy not to take his picture, you can't really see him in this video. It was still quite early and I just woke up, so I was still in my pyjamas.

Now that I am 2 years and 4 months old, I am much more independent and vocal. I can now wear my own shoes, but still need help with my socks. I can communicate and verbalise very well, both in English and Mandarin. I speak English to Daddy and Mummy and Mandarin to Ah Mah and Ah Gong. With everybody else, it's a mixture of both, so Mummy says I can talk "rojak" very well too! :)

Sometimes I am naughty, so Daddy and Mummy discipline me, but I somehow cry harder when Daddy disciplines me compared to Mummy cos Mummy says I am "Daddy's girl". But they always "sayang" me again after that, so I will promise to be good, even though very often I forget and am naughty again! Mummy says it is a phase of the "terrible twos", so hopefully it will pass soon!

At Penang Airport

2011-09-28T10:42:00.003+08:00

This is a very outdated post, but Mummy just got these photos from Gong Gong's camera (actually taken from Nanna's Facebook :p). These were taken at Penang Airport when we sent Nanna and Gong Gong back to Australia in early June.

Daddy and I were playing an "imitation game" while waiting for them to check in.

While Daddy helped with the luggage, I had a kiss for Mummy :)

I was telling Mummy something here, but I forgot what it was.

I like to sit on the luggage trolley - it's nice and high up!

Look at my cheeky smile:

I miss you Nanna and Gong Gong! See you again very soon in November!

Swimming again!

2011-09-20T10:46:00.000+08:00

Ever since we have moved to our new home, we have yet to use the swimming pool, so during the long holiday, Daddy said that I could go swimming! I was very excited as I had not been swimming for a long time. I told Mummy to wear my swimming costume for me and then Mummy wrapped me in my robe before we headed down to the pool.

This robe used to belong to Jie Jie Zhen Yi and Jie Jie Candice. It's still a bit big for me, but that's ok.

Here is my swimming costume which Mummy bought for me when we were in KL.

I had my new Winnie the Pooh arm floats as well as my panda float. I was afraid to be in the water by myself with just the arm floats, so in the end, I used both! Look at how excited I am.

The good thing about this swimming pool is that we can usually get the whole pool to ourselves. So unlikely we have to share the pool with others. I had a lot of fun and hopefully we can go swimming again soon!

Mid-Autumn Festival 2011

2011-09-14T11:26:00.003+08:00

Every year, Zhen Yi and Candice Jie Jie as well as as Benjy and Brian Kor Kor's school will have an assignment to make lanterns or "tanglung" in conjunction with the Mid Autumn Festival or Mooncake Festival. Last year, Daddy made such a nice one for Candice Jie Jie that it won first prize in a competition, so this year, they all wanted Daddy to help them make their tanglung. See what Daddy made for them - this is just the frame made from wire and they are supposed to stick the colour paper on themselves. Can you guess what these are supposed to be? :)

This was one of my lanterns given to me by Aunty Chia Yin. It's a nice princess lantern. Daddy also bought me one in the shape of a lion, but no pictures for that one.

I like my lantern very much!

This is all three of us making the same funny face. Happy belated Mooncake Festival everyone!

"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

2011-09-05T11:21:00.005+08:00

We have discovered that Hannah can now sing whole nursery rhymes by herself and the one that she can sing the best is "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Most of the time she does it sub-consciously, when she thinks that no one is listening or watching. Once she finds out that we are, she will be very self-conscious and refuse to sing. As such, getting these 2 videos were no easy task!

Her version of "ABC" is quite funny too, but we haven't managed to get a video of it yet. She sings it like this:

"A B C D E F G, H I J K N O N O P (she doesn't know "L" and "M" :p) Q R S T see movie (" T U V") W X Y Z"

We find the "see movie" part quite hilarious :) She also knows "Humpty Dumpty", "Row Row Row Your Boat" and "Jack and Jill". Not perfect yet, but she's almost there with the words.

Here are a few photos of our little princess:

Kiss for Mummy:

Tesco Tanjung Pinang

2011-09-05T10:13:00.002+08:00

Mummy and Daddy had a long break last week due to the Hari Raya and Merdeka holidays, so we decided to check out the new Tesco store at Seri Tanjung Pinang at Tanjung Tokong. It has been opened for some time, but Daddy does not like to go and crowd with people, so we waited to go last Monday, which was a holiday for us, but a working day for most people :)

Whenever we go to the supermarket, I always insist on pushing the trolley, which can get quite inconvenient as the trolley is much bigger than me, so I cannot see where I am going. At Tesco Tanjung Pinang, they have small trolleys just right for my size. Mummy says I am truly in shopping heaven :)

Mummy and Daddy bought some things for me there, so all my stuff I insisted on putting in my small trolley and not their big trolley.

Since we normally go to Tesco Gelugor which is much nearer to our house, Mummy is thinking of proposing to the management there that they have small trolleys available too, to suit little kids like me! I am liking the new Tesco much better though! When can we go again? :)

Our little "Angry Bird"

2011-08-23T11:27:00.004+08:00

The Angry Birds phenomenon has caught on in our household as well, despite us not owning any iPhones, iPads or smart Android phones even :)

All Hannah's cousins have become Angry Birds fans so the other day, her cousin Candice had an Angry Birds birthday cake and all the kids wore Angry Birds t-shirts. Hannah did not have a t-shirt that day because Hubby's sister who bought the shirts for them could not get one in her size, except for a black colour shirt which was not so nice.

So the other day, when I took her shopping at Tesco, we passed by a stall selling Angry Birds t-shirts. They had shirts in her size in bright colours such as red, orange and blue. She chose this red one and insisted on wearing it the moment we got home. She paraded around the house saying "Angry Bird, Angry Bird" :)

I asked her to pose and as usual she made the "peace" sign :)

She refused to take it off thereafter so she wore it to sleep. She also told me "Mummy, I want the blue, orange Angry Birds" (referring to the t-shirts) :p

As always, all sorts of expressions!

Reading at Borders

2011-08-18T09:55:00.004+08:00

Hannah has recently developed a liking for books. So as yesterday was a public holiday here in Penang, we took her to Queensbay Mall to "jalan-jalan". Since she told us "Hannah want to buy story-book" we headed to Borders to see if there were any good buys.

In Borders there is corner for kids to sit and read, much like in a library. There were a whole lot of kids sitting down there so Hannah felt right at home. Immediately she picked up a few books, sat down and began to look at them.

Oops, the book is upside down, but she was telling us that this is a "cow" :)

Happy Hannah with her books!

My mother taught me to read using the Ladybird "Peter and Jane" series. They had it at Borders but the price was really really expensive - RM10 per book! We'll just have to see if we can borrow it and not buy. In the end, we left without buying anything, but Hannah was happy just to sit there and look at the books.

Hannah can also talk really well nowadays and the things she says are pretty funny too.

First scenario (at my in-law's place):

Hannah to Daddy: I want to play car-car!

Daddy to Mummy: Is there anywhere for her to play car around here?

Mummy to Daddy: I don't think there is, unless we bring her to G-u-r-n-e-y or Q-u-e-e-n-s-b-a-y (spelling out the words)

Hannah then piped up : Queensbay lor!

Second scenario - Hannah was playing with a tap head which she found in my in-law's place:

Hannah to Mummy: Mummy, look and see what is inside.

Mummy (peering inside the tap): I can't see anything.

Hannah: Mummy, look and see if got spider inside!

I was trying to think why on earth would she say that there might be a spider inside. Then it dawned on me - "Incy Wincy Spider climbed up the water spout".

Kids say the darndest things :p

Tired out

2011-08-15T14:49:00.004+08:00

Poor little girl did not manage to have her afternoon nap last Friday afternoon as Hubby's parents had relatives visting them from Hatyai. So when we picked her up after work she was already cranky. This is what happened on the way home:

She slept all the way home and right until next morning 8.30 am.

Funny moment yesterday between Hannah and Tharissa at Queensbay:

Hannah: Let's go on big slide!

Tharissa: I don't want.

Hannah (pointing to a smaller slide): This one can?

Children are just too cute :)

"Stinky!"

2011-08-10T12:04:00.004+08:00

Hannah has the same aversion as me when it comes to the king of fruits, durian! She has no liking for it. So in our family, it's us against Daddy when it comes to durian.

Yesterday, we stopped by the fruit stand near our house on the way back to buy some fruits. Hubby couldn't resist buying back some freshly packaged durian, and we bought some watermelon, dragon fruit and bananas too. When we got in the car, immediately Hannah pinched her nose with two fingers and kept on saying "stinky, stinky!" Hubby had to wind down the windows all the way home as she kept on complaining. It was kind of funny to see her pinching her nose all the way home.

A few weeks ago also, Hubby offered her some durian, and she shrieked "No, no, don't want, run, run run!", running as far away as her little legs could carry her.

Funny, for a little girl who eats most things, she does not enjoy such a delicacy. Oh well, all the better for me :)

Baby All Gone

2011-08-05T11:32:00.004+08:00

Two days ago, we bought Hannah her very first baby doll. We had never bought her any dolls before, just lots of stuffed toy animals. We also bought her the stroller (comes separately) as she loves to push things around eg. supermarket trolleys.

This is what her baby doll looks like. It's one of the Baby Alive series called Baby All Gone.

Here are the accessories which come with the doll - a bowl of "bananas", a "magic" spoon and a sippy cup of juice.

Hannah busy preparing her doll's meal:

Open wide - ahhhh!

Hannah's favourite past-time nowadays is to push the doll all over the house in the stroller - she does it the moment we get home and the moment she wakes up everyday. Hannah calls the doll her "baby". We asked her who is "baby's mummy, and she points to herself :p She has also named the doll "Isabel" (not to be confused with her little friend Isabelle", but we know where she got the idea from :p) It was quite funny, we asked her "Hannah, what is your baby's name?" She answered without a second thought, "Isabel"!

Kiss for baby:

Close ups of Hannah feeding her "baby":

The juice in the sippy cup can "disappear" as well when the cup is tipped upwards. Once the cup is put back upright, the juice will fill up in the cup again.

Here is a video of Hannah and her "baby". She is wearing disposable diapers because she told us she wanted to do No. 2. Look at how the bananas in the spoon magically "disappear":

Kiddies Day Out

2011-08-04T11:51:00.007+08:00

When we showed out friends the pictures from Mega Kiddies World at Queensbay, they thought it was great fun, so we organised a day out for the kids (and parents too!). We arrived first, and Hannah couldn't wait to go in. Look at her running around.

Finally stopped to take a picture with Mummy:

When the girls arrived, they sure had a ball (no pun intended :p)

Mummies and daughters, however one mummy was the photographer and another daughter was too busy playing :)

Remember I said in the earlier post that Hannah learnt how to "pose" from Isabelle? :)

I somehow like this shot of Hannah in the ball pool.

Tharissa and Isabelle were not too confident on going down the big slides on their own, so they had to be accompanied by their mummies.

First up, Tharissa and Mummy Teera!

Then Isabelle and Mummy Chia Yin!

It was already the second visit for Hannah, so she didn't need me to accompany her.

This is Chia Yin and Kok Hsiang's No. 2, Sean. Isn't he cute, and so chubby too!

We had a late lunch at Queens Food Market. Even there, there were rides for the kiddies to play on. All three of them crammed into one together.

And the merry-go-round had three seats, just nice for the three of them. I lost count how many tokens we had to put into the merry-go-round.

It was a fun day out for the kids, but all of us were pretty exhausted by the time we got home. Will definitely do it again sometime!

Hat and Boots

2011-08-03T17:13:00.003+08:00

When we arrive home at my in-laws place after work, Hannah will run to us excitedly calling "Daddy, Daddy, Mummy, Mummy". Yesterday, we were greeted by Hannah wearing her boots and a hat borrowed from her uncle. She thought she looked pretty "cool", and the hat actually matched her boots! We had a good laugh looking at her parading around proudly in her outfit.

Hubby couldn't resist taking a picture with his mobile phone. She is actually trying to pose "peace" which she learnt from Isabelle.

Amelia's 1st birthday

2011-08-02T18:43:00.002+08:00

Last Saturday we attended my cousin Amelia's 1st birthday celebration (yes, my cousin, not Hannah's) :)

They had a beautiful birthday cake in the shape of a castle from Coffee Bean. There were lots more candies on top of the cake but all the kids grabbed them even befor the cake was cut so there were not many left :p

Isn't it pretty?

We tried to get Hannah to take photos but she was much too distracted with the cake:

And looking at the cake again:

We did not manage to take any photos of Hannah with the birthday girl but here she is with her 3 "ku por" (grand-aunts) on my father's side (my father's sisters). At least we got her scrunched up smile here :p

Princess tricycle

2011-07-29T14:20:00.004+08:00

Hannah's birthday present from us this year was a little pink tricycle which we bought from Toys R Us. We bought her there to choose the colour and she chose this pink and purple one with a princess design. When we brought it home at first, she could not really ride it and needed us to help her to push it. However, it did not take her long to get the hang of it and now she cycles like a pro :)

She usually cycles it the first thing we come home everyday, round and round the living room. The moment we open the front door, she hops on the tricycle saying "Hannah ride bicycle" (she does not know the word tricycle).

Last weekend, we took her downstairs so that she could have more space to ride, and she was so excited! Look at her face:

When she finally stopped to catch her breath, we asked her to smile for the camera. As usual, all sorts of funny expressions came out:

Finally, a cheeky smile! :)

Our little princess on her princess trike:

Lots and lots of bubbles!

2011-07-27T15:37:00.002+08:00

On Saturday afternoon, Daddy and Mummy took me to play at Esplanade playground because it was nearby to Ah Mah's house. Look at my happy face when I knew that I was going to the playground :)

When we arrived at the playground, there was a man there selling all sorts of toys, but what caught my eye was the bubble blower. Lots of kids were playing with it, but Daddy and Mummy did not buy for me at first. Much later, Daddy surprised me with my own bubble gun! I was so happy but Mummy needed to help me use it at first.

I got the hang of it pretty quickly and it could really blow lots and lots of bubbles!

Mega Kiddies World

2011-07-26T16:33:00.009+08:00

On Sunday, we went to Queensbay Mall for lunch. We decided to try the Queens Food Market upstairs as we seldom go up there and most of the time eat somewhere on the ground floor. After lunch, we went for a walk and we passed by this:

Of course, Hannah's whole face lit up and we could see that she really wanted to go in and play. We never even knew that there was such a place - this is the Mega Kiddies World at Queensbay top floor (just next to GSC Cinemas). Upon enquiry, we found out that the entrance fee per child was RM15 per child (RM12 on weekdays and RM18 on public holidays) and RM3 per accompanying adult. So Hannah and I went in while Hubby read his newspaper and watched us from outside. By the way, wearing socks is compulsory so since I did not have any, I had to buy a pair from them for RM3.

There were so many things to play and so many things to explore that Hannah was quite overwhelmed at first. Let's start with the simple things - playing piano :)

All sorts of walkways - I didn't know we were going to come here and play so I only had my point-and-shoot with me. Please bear with the blurry photos as Hannah was also excitedly running around.

Happy little girl:

This was the ball shooter - quite high up so that the balls can be shot downwards.

Making her way through the "river":

Ball pool!

And of course, the highlight of the Mega Kiddies World were these super-high-more-than-10- feet-high slides. When we got to the top, even I had to catch my breath at the height (I am not a fan of heights) and the ride to the bottom was really fast - it almost felt like riding a roller coaster. I took the slide with Hannah in case she got scared.

After a few turns, Hannah was brave enough to go on the slide all by herself. She really had a good time!

The entrance fee to Mega Kiddies World is valid for the whole day, so as long as the wristband which they provide is not destroyed, you can go in and out for the whole day - they use a bar code scanning system. Hannah insisted on wearing hers up until night time and told me that I need to wear mine too! So I ended up wearing the Mega Kiddies World wristband for the whole of Sunday and had to patiently explain to everyone what were those things that we were wearing - Hannah beaming proudly and showing it off to everyone as well :)

It was pretty fun, we'll definitely go again!

Another milestone

2011-07-22T09:57:00.005+08:00

Hannah no longer needs to wear diapers at night while sleeping. We had actually been trying her out for the past few weeks, and there have been succesful dry nights so far. We do not let her take any liquids 2 hours before bedtime. There have been tearful requests for "milk milk" but we try to pacify her with other things, since she is not hungry, but just in the habit of having milk before she sleeps. Also we take her to the toilet just before she sleeps, so it has been so far so good.

Now the last hurdle is to train her to use the potty or trainer seat while doing No. 2. She still asks to wear diapers when she wants to do No. 2, other than that she is diaper-free. Hopefully we can train her soon and then it will be goodbye to Mamy Poko! :)

Here are some photos of her at one of her favourite places - McDonald's :) We bought this shirt for her from Roxy when we were in Bali. Bali is full of surf shops, and the prices there are cheaper too.

Up the stairs:

Positioning herself on top of the slide:

Going down the slide:

Happy smile!

Car Wash

2011-07-19T10:31:00.005+08:00

After we got back from McDonald's, we all went back to Hubby's parents' place. It had been some time since our car had been washed so he decided to wash his car. When the kids saw him bring out the pail and hose, they all excitedly offered to help - want to play water-lah :)

Hannah was very excited too, so I changed her clothes and her Daddy gave her a cloth and a pail. Her job was to wash the front of the car and the number plate. She sure had a good time. Check out the photos:

Family Gathering

2011-07-19T10:01:00.005+08:00

Last Sunday, Hubby's sister treated us to McDonald's as an early celebration for little Pei Zi turning one year old. It was just like yesterday when she was born and now she is almost one. Time really flies.

As always, McDonald's never fails to make Hannah happy. Look at her cheeky face here - probably thinking about the french fries and ice cream!

And there was indeed lots and lots of food. This was only half of what we ordered as we took up two big tables.

Mountain of french fries:

Hannah discovered she likes tomato ketchup.

With her aunt, uncle and cousin - the usual scrunched up smile :p

A kiss for Daddy:

And a kiss for baby Pei Zi too:

Pei Zi and her mummy:

A discovery of new foods for her as well:

Happy one-year-old to Pei Zi!

An evening at Gurney Plaza

2011-07-14T16:27:00.000+08:00

We had a birthday dinner to attend at Gurney Plaza last Sunday evening, so we went a little earlier to walk around and do some shopping. Of course, we also stopped by Hannah's favourite place :) I only brought my trusty old point-and-shoot, so please forgive the not-so-nice pictures.

Hannah copying Daddy:

Her "smile" now consists of her scrunching up her face :p

See her enjoying the rides:

We did a little shopping after that and bought her some new clothes. When trying on the clothes she refused to take them off and kept saying she wanted to wear them, so we just had to cut off the labels and let her keep them on. Good thing she does not have sensitive skin to wear new clothes without washing them first.

When the Tans arrived for dinner, Hannah found a friend, their daughter Isabelle. Hannah kept saying she wanted to follow "jie-jie" so we took them for a walk around the mall. We asked them to stay together and hold hands.

When I asked them to give me a "best friends" pose, here is what I got. I thought that this was a really nice shot.

The occasion that day was to celebrate our friend Teera's birthday. We had dinner at Chicago Rib House and Teera also brought along her elder daughter Tharissa (she has a new baby almost 2 months old).

Tiga sekawan (Three friends together):

Isabelle really knows how to pose (and Hannah's not too bad either!) :)

Hannah always thinks every birthday is hers so she wants to blow out the candles. Look at her trying to blow the candles on Teera's cake:

Happy birthday Teera!

And the usual group shot before saying goodbye:

Ice-cream princess

2011-07-12T15:42:00.006+08:00

All of us love McDonald's vanilla cone, especially Hannah.

This is how she eats her cone. First a small lick:

The a bigger mouthful:

Happy and satisfied little girl!

Alternatively, she eats it like this - check out the index finger on the other hand :) She really enjoys it very much indeed.

And we like it best of all because it only costs RM1.05 per cone! :)

Morning at the park

2011-07-12T15:30:00.004+08:00

There are a few parks and playgrounds near our house so we took Hannah during the weekend to play on the swings. We went to the one nearest our place, just in front of our apartment building. We live so near and yet it was the first time we came here.

Look at the excitement on her face :)

I really can't remember what was the joke here :)

Happy little girl:

Happy little family (but little girl's face looks a bit surprised) :)

Poor shot, but nice smile!

Why I like my room

2011-07-06T10:45:00.006+08:00

When Daddy and Mummy bought our house, my room was the only room that was completely empty. All other areas of the house came with built in cabinets and other furniture. So Daddy and Mummy's mission was to make my room as nice as possible for me.

I like my room very very much. When Nanna and Gong Gong were here looking after me, I could stay in my room for hours and hours.

This is my bed which has already been extended as I am growing. However, I prefer to sleep on the floor on a mattress and bed is usually for my afternoon naps :)

I have plenty of toys to entertain me:

Patrick the dog sits on top of my clothes cabinet:

See all my stuffed toys, books and CDs:

I used to like this when I was smaller, but now I like to throw the balls out of the pool! This makes Mummy very busy clearing up my room :)

My little kitchen - I have lots of utensils, pots and pans which I will use to "cook" "wan tan mee" for Daddy and Mummy.

A little writing desk which I will use when I want to draw or colour:

My Mickey Mouse Clubhouse growth chart which tells me how tall I am growing:

And when I sleep at night, my lovely flower lamp gives a warm glow to the room.

By the way, Daddy recently stuck some glow-in-the dark stars on my ceiling, so when I lie down at night, I can see them shining way up there.

As you can see, there is plenty to keep me occupied in my room, which is why I love my room!

All sorts of faces

2011-07-01T09:40:00.001+08:00

Hannah is a little girl who is full of expression, whether she is happy, sad, angry, cranky etc. We have been using the new camera to capture photos of some of her many faces, but I think we still have a long way to go to perfect the shots! :)

Happy faces while watching her favourite cartoons:

"Don't take my picture" face:

"Good mood" face:

Frowning face:

Pouty face:

I have no idea what this is! :p

Weekend Getaway

2011-06-27T17:04:00.000+08:00

Hubby and I had a short but much needed vacation this past weekend. We had initially wanted to bring Hannah, but as Hubby's mother and sister very kindly agreed to look after her, we decided to leave her with them.

We checked into Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa late on Saturday afternoon (Hubby was working in the morning) and checked out on Sunday afternoon.

This was the view from our room balcony at the Garden Wing.

It was supposed to be a weekend of rest and relaxation, but out tummies did not really have much of either! At night, we had the seafood buffet dinner at the Spice Market Cafe.

There was a really big spread at the buffet. We could not even try every single thing as there was just too much food! Besides seafood, there was Japanese, Indian, Western, etc. I will let the photos do the talking:

Fresh yabbies:

Fruits for the chocolate fondue:

The chocolate fondue:

Salad bar:

Sushi counter:

Lobsters, scallops and prawns cooked in either a tom yam or ginger sauce - needless to say, this was the most popular counter at the buffet:

Fresh oysters:

Noodle station:

Freshly made crepes with ice cream - and lots more desserts!

After the sumptious dinner, we took some photos around the hotel.

The next day, for breakfast there was a huge spread again. I had my favourite waffles - look how pretty they made them :)

And we took more photos:

Such a serene landscape:

We took a swim on Saturday evening (more like a dip in the pool for me), but on Sunday I just lazed around while Hubby took another swim:

And then it was time to leave - we hope to be back soon! :)

Jogging with Daddy

2011-06-23T12:45:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday, Daddy did not go to work so he decided to take me for some healthy outdoor activities :) We went to Air Itam Dam and the air there is really fresh and cool. The last time we were here was exactly one year ago.

I admired the pretty flowers:

For some funny reason, I wanted to blow the leaves on the tree. Don't ask me why, I just like to do it!

After walking for awhile, I was tired, so Daddy carried me on his shoulders.

Then Daddy's shoulders got tired, so I gave him a massage :)

I can really run, as you can see:

Daddy and I jogging together:

I stopped to give Mummy a kiss:

And then I took off again:

I love to run!

Fathers' Day 2011

2011-06-21T10:38:00.005+08:00

We had a simple Fathers' Day this year. The night before, we all had yummy steamboat at Ah Mah's house. See all the good things laid out on the table :)

Ah Mah also cooked her special fried belacan chicken.

All the goodies boiling in the pot:

I am a big girl now, so I like to help myself (with a little help from Mummy, of course!).

On Sunday, I gave Daddy this card:

And on the inside:

And here is my special drawing which I insisted on doing. I made sure that Daddy saw my drawing because I kept telling him "Hannah draw, Hannah draw" :)

And a special gift for Daddy from Mummy and myself:

Daddy, your little girl loves you "this much"! Happy Fathers' Day!

Hannah's funky new boots and playmat

2011-06-20T12:17:00.006+08:00

Hannah received two more birthday presents recently. The first was a pair of funky boots from Hubby's cousin and aunt. We looked through her wardrobe to see what would match the boots and here is the result :)

This is her "modelling". She can actually pose on instruction now, so we did a mini "photoshoot" at home.

Check out this pose :p

With her favourite Vitagen in one hand. By the way, the thing she is stepping on was her other new present from our friends Chia Yin and Kok Hsiang.

It came in this: it was a musical playmat!

When we opened up the gift, she was so impatient while Hubby was setting it up and inserting batteries etc.

It makes music and sounds when you step on it, and either side of the mat has different sounds.
Hannah was really excited to see it and try it out.

Thanks to our dear family and friends for the lovely gifts!

Taiping Zoo with my cousins

2011-06-15T11:03:00.005+08:00

I have been to Taiping Zoo a few times now, but everytime Daddy says we are going again, I am as excited as ever! We went in the afternoon/evening this time, as we had to wait for Zhen Yi Jie Jie to finish tuition at 1 pm.

When we reached Taiping, we stopped for a late lunch at our usual coffee shop.

There are not many pictures of the animals here, but you can go and see them on Mummy's Facebook once she uploads them. I brought my little umbrella in case the weather was too hot. Check out my pose:

All of us - Ah Mah and Da Ku went too!

As you can see, the weather was really hot, but that didn't stop me from smiling! :)

Mummy says the animals seem to be more active in the afternoon than in the morning as they come out more and are more willing to pose for pictures :) This was the sun bear.

The poor peacock seemed to have lost it's pretty tail feathers.

Camel:

I was getting tired of walking so Daddy put me on his shoulders.

Rhinocerous - I say it as "dinosaurous" :p And I can also say "hipotamus" :) Pity we couldn't see the hippo though as it was submerged under the water.

And the last animal - one of my favourites - elephant!

Goodbye zoo, am looking forward to the next trip!

Daddy's birthday

2011-06-15T10:19:00.005+08:00

Here are some pictures from Daddy's birthday celebration(s) this year.

We had dinner with Aunty Jenny, Uncle Stephen, Aunty Ai Nee and Uncle Szu Fu at Dragon-i at Queesnbay.

Mummy and Daddy also had dinner with Uncle Steven, Uncle Kok Hsiang, Aunty Chia Yin and Uncle Max at Jade Blossom Restaurant, Krystal Point.

On the real day, we celebrated at home because Nanna cooked a yummy dinner for us. See my face - I am thinking about the cake! :)

Happy birthday Daddy!

I helped Daddy blow the candles:

And cut the cake:

I also played a birthday song for Daddy:

Then it was time for a bath after all that activity - I love bath time! :)

Two major changes for a two-year-old

2011-06-10T11:41:00.003+08:00

Now that I am two, there have been two major changes for me.

The first is that I no longer need my "chut-chut" (pacifier) when I sleep - hooray! These 3 weeks that Nanna and Gong Gong looked after me at home, Nanna has trained me not to need my paficier when I want to sleep, both for afternoon nap as well as for at night. It was tough at first, and Mummy said I had "withdrawal symptoms" (I would become very cranky), but now I seem to have forgotten all about it. I even told Daddy "Nanna throw away Hannah's chut-chut".

The second is that Gong Gong and Nanna bought me a trainer seat for the toilet. I never wanted to use the toilet before this, even though I am potty trained for No. 1 (still no success yet with No. 2), but now I am excited to use the toilet and initially even wanted to go 3 times in one hour!

I love to be wrapped up in my big fluffy towel after my bath. I will automatically lift up my hands so that the towel can be wrapped around me. See how happy I am! :) Mummy says this is a priceless expression :)

Anyway, Mummy is glad that I can now use the toilet seat and no longer need my pacifier. I am a big girl now!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2011-06-08T17:35:00.002+08:00

It's my Daddy's birthday today.

Happy birthday Daddy and we love you very much!

Little wannabe pianist

2011-06-07T12:14:00.004+08:00

Hannah is quite into music nowadays. She got a musical instrument set for her birthday from Nanna and Grandpa Noll, so she spends a lot of time banging the drum, blowing the trumpet and clashing the cymbals. A big racket, definitely :)

She also found interest on the "big" piano and she does not want to play with her baby piano. Look at the way she plays - fingers in position :)

After she plays, she makes sure that everybody claps for her - attention seeker :)

We definitely will send her for lessons when she is older, but it is nice to know that the interest is already there.

Other stuff I did in KL

2011-06-02T09:53:00.006+08:00

Besides going to Aquaria KLCC, I did other fun stuff in KL as well.

I went swimming in the hotel swimming pool. As you can see, I was really excited!

However, the weather was extremely hot so I couldn't stay for long. Mummy was afraid that I would get heatstroke.

It just so happened that in conjunction with the school holidays, there was an exhibition and kiddie playland display in the Gardens Mall, which was adjoining our hotel. I told Mummy that this was a "big bear-bear"! The bear could turn around while kids sat on it. However, I was a bit scared so I didn't want to sit on the bear.

I preferred this better :)

And this - going through the tunnel while Mummy waited for me on the other side.

I liked this too - it's some sort of a trampoline swimming pool. You can either jump on it or lay down in it.

There was a clown there who made funny balloons for everyone.

I got a nice flower. Unfortunately I couldn't bring it on the plane on the way back. I brought it all the way to the security check point, and the officer told me that I could not take it on the plane. But since I did not make a fuss and quietly handed over the balloon, the nice aunty officer told me I was a very good girl.

Besides the clown, there was also an aunty with a puppet (I called the puppet "baby"). Mummy tells me this aunty is a ventriloquist, but I was so excited and told Mummy "Baby can talk!"

There was also a session where all the kids were given different musical instruments to play along with the aunty playing the guitar. Mine were two egg shakers. I really liked those very much. The nice aunty even let me lead the rhythm of all the other instruments, so I did so (with Mummy's help, of course!)

I really enjoyed my trip very much. Thank you very much Gong Gong and Nanna for a fun holiday!

Aquaria KLCC

2011-06-02T09:40:00.003+08:00

Before going to KL, Mummy researched a few places to bring me to visit. However, she did not prefer any place outdoors because it would be too hot and I would probably get cranky so we decided to go to Aquaria KLCC. It is an indoor aquarium and since I love to see fish (usually at Chinese restaurants), Mummy though that I would enjoy it very much.

And I did enjoy it! My eyes opened really wide when I saw all the fish!

And the sharks - look at the teeth :p

We went just at feeding time, so the uncle in the diving suit even waved at me through the aquarium glass :)

Another of my favourites was the giant turtle:

When I saw this, I said "Big mouth!".

It was a fun outing, all in all. Entrance fees are Rm35 for adults and free for kids below 3 years old.

My first plane ride

2011-05-29T13:21:00.004+08:00

My birthday present from Nanna and Gong Gong this year was a plane ride to KL! It was my very first time going on a plane, so they thought it would be good to let me try short distance first. We left on Friday and will be going back to Penang tomorrow. Daddy did not come with us as he had to attend court on Friday and tomorrow as well. As I am already two years old, I had to pay full fare like an adult. Nanna said that if we had taken the flight one day before my birthday rather than one day after, I would only need to pay infant fare :)

We took a Firefly plane from Penang International Airport to Subang airport. It was a little more expensive than Air Asia but definitely more convenient as Subang airport is nearer the city than LCCT. We had to walk along the tarmac to the plane so we managed to take a picture with the plane in the background.

As we got nearer the plane, the sound of the plane was very loud, so I clung tightly to Mummy.

Inside the plane however, I was all smiles again. As you can see, I was pretty excited!

I was sitting by the window seat at first, but then I decided that I liked the aisle seat better, so I swapped with Mummy. However, during take-off and landing, I sat on Mummy's lap in case I got scared. Mummy was also afraid that I would not like the pressure in my ears so she got ready my pacifier and some sweets just in case. But I did not have any trouble with that at all.

Since it was a short flight, there was plenty to keep me occupied. I ate the muffin given on the flight:

I also looked at the magazine:

I drew pictures:

And we arrived! I sat on the trolley while Gong Gong got our bags.

In Kl, we are staying at the Gardens Hotel, and there is a really nice dancing fountain outside. I love to go and see it every day. Here I am trying to catch the water:

I sure am having a lot of fun, and will blog about some of the things I did in another post!

I am 2!

2011-05-28T22:04:00.005+08:00

Another year has passed, and I am now two years old! Mummy and Daddy just had a very small celebration for me this year because Ah Chor just passed away so we decided to keep it only between immediate family.

Evergreen Laurel Hotel was having a promotion for their buffet dinner whereby we got a 25% discount for 10 adults or more and every child below 12 was free with one paying adult. So all my cousins got to eat for free :) The hotel reserved a whole corner for us and even tied colourful helium balloons to the chairs for us. They even gave a free cake, but anyway Daddy and Mummy also bought me a nice Mickey Mouse chocolate cake.

Since I am two this year, I don't need anymore help to blow out the candles on my cake like I did last year, I can do it all by myself!

However, Mummy and Daddy still helped me to cut the cake :)

And I got a kiss on each cheek from both of them!

I can also smile when taking photos now :)

Ah Gong anh Ah Mah also took a photo with me. This was the complimentary cake given by the hotel.

Nanna and Gong Gong took a picture with me as well:

Mummy likes this photo of the three of us very much, 3 generations:

Thank you Daddy and Mummy for a fun birthday!

Oh, by the way, this was my birthday present from Daddy and Mummy - it's a princess tricycle! Daddy even tied a ribbon and balloon on it. Besides this, I also got a musical instrument set from Granpa and Nanna Noll, a Barbie doll from Aunty Sue and some books from Chim Poh Chor. Also, during my birthday dinner, Ah Mah, Ah Gong and all my aunties gave me ang pows. So I got a lot of presents this year. Thanks everyone for making my birthday a special one!

At the beach

2011-05-25T10:28:00.003+08:00

Mummy has been quite busy lately so she doesn't have time to blog about me and my antics :) Nanna and Gong Gong are back for my birthday (it's tomorrow!) and they are quite amazed as to how well I can talk. 3 months ago when they came I could not say half the things I can say now. Nanna says I don't stop talking unless I am asleep! :)

So anyway, last weekend, Daddy took us to The Ship at Batu Ferringhi for lunch and so that I can play on the beach. While waiting for the food, I laid out my napkin nicely on the table.

Happy me!

This is how I wear the napkin so that I don't dirty my shirt.

Bread and butter - one of my favourite foods :)

Ice-cream! My ultimate favourite food :)

We took a family photo but I was grumpy to be interrupted from my ice-cream :p

I brought my beach toys this time around so I had lots of fun playing on the beach. I scooped the sand and poured it in the bucket.

Nice view behind :)

See how well I can scoop!

With a little help from Mummy:

It started to drizzle after that so we had to go home. Take me again soon, ok?

In Loving Memory

2011-05-19T10:23:00.003+08:00

In Loving Memory of

Geong Pak Moi (Ah Mah/Ah Chor)

21.6.1935 - 18.5.2011

My grandmother was called home to be with the Lord yesterday morning, 18 May 2011. I was priveleged to have her as my grandmother for 30 years and Hannah blessed to be her only great-grandchild.

We will all miss her and Hubby will especially miss her special "kuih kochi" which she made for him everytime she came to visit.

Rest in peace, and we will see you in heaven one day.

My 2nd Mothers' Day

2011-05-11T10:59:00.007+08:00

This year I celebrated Mothers' Day for the second time. The night before, we had a simple cake to celebrate five mummies, Hubby's mum, his three sisters and myself. Isn't the cake lovely? Of course, all the kids enjoyed it more, especially Hannah! :)

The next day, Hubby took us to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. Surprisingly it was quite empty, even though it was Mothers' Day. Nothing like the hype that surrounded it when it first opened.

When we arrived, Hannah was given a packet of crayons and a colouring paper and that kept her occupied for some time. She especially enjoyed it since now one of her favourite things is drawing and colouring.

My daughter and I :)

She was also thrilled to see the guitars hanging all over the place. The last time we came here was when she was only 7 months old, so she wasn't as observant of her surroundings.

We ordered a kiddie's meal for her and it came with a milkshake. She thought she was drinking ice-cream :)

I ordered the Mothers' Day set to share and we had tomato soup for starters:

Followed by some sort of prawn salad:

Hannah's main meal - fish and chips:

This was the extra main course we ordered: chicken sandwich. When the orders came, we realised we could have done without this and shared the main course for the set as well. The portions are huge!

Main course for the set: Parmesan Chicken

And finally dessert - strawberry shortcake with berry coulis (I have been watching too much MasterChef which is why I know the word "coulis") :)

After our meal, we took a walk to the beach. Hannah got a balloon from the cafe. She was actually given a red balloon, but she insisted she wanted the purple one, so she got the purple one instead.

She was so excited and kept saying, "play sand, play sand!"

She likes to see the sand running through her fingers.

Happy 2nd Mothers' Day to me and to my mother and my grandmother too!

Dresses from Bangkok

2011-05-05T09:59:00.004+08:00

Childrens' clothes in Bangkok are really cheap. When I was at the Platinum mall (it's a fashion mall selling clothes at wholesale prices), I saw really nice dresses for little girls so I had to get at least one for Hannah. I didn't buy any clothes for myself as since it was wholesale, the clothes couldn't be tried on. I don't like to buy things I can't try so I indulged in little girl clothes instead. I also bought a few to be given away as gifts.

This dress I bought was only 250 baht (around RM25.00). If I were to buy it here, it would cost me triple the price.

The dress fits her nicely, so we will save it for her to wear for her 2nd birthday coming soon :)

This other dress I bought from Chatuchak market, and I managed it bargain it down to 180 baht (around RM18.00). The sleeves are a little bit big, so will probably need to alter it a bit.

I thought the two little elephants were pretty cute, and there is also a little pouch for her to put her little "treasures" in :)

Bangkok trip

2011-05-04T11:12:00.005+08:00

Not even a week after we came back from Bali, I attended our ZICO lawyers' annual retreat, and this year, our Bangkok colleagues played host to us. We left on Saturday early morning and came back on Monday night. So it was a full 3 days and 2 nights trip for us.

We flew to Bangkok by Thai Airways and since the flight was early in the morning, we were served breakfast on the plane.

We arrived in Bangkok quite early, 9 am local time and we were brought to the hotel by our driver. The firm had pre-arranged transportation for us from the airport. We stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel and it was very nice indeed :) Upon arrival at the hotel, we had a private room for check in and the hotel staff presented us with warm towels and a nice cold welcome drink.

This was a nice touch on the LCD TV when we entered our room. However, I guess my name was too long to fit on the screen :)

The room itself was pretty nice, see the two huge beds pushed together.

This was my roommate, Lynna:

On the night we arrived, we had our welcome dinner and look what greeted us as we entered the ballroom. The hotel put a very nice touch to it indeed as we did not request for this.

This was the sign which was unveiled during our lawyers' meeting in the afternoon.

The dinner was really excellent. The hotel managed to acceed to our request in having different foods from around the region where we had our offices. This was Indonesian food (noodles).

And this was Hainanese chicken rice (from Singapore). Besides this, there were foods from Malaysia, Thailand (obviously), Vietnam, Australia and UAE. Also, the homemade ice-cream was absolutely delicious!

All dressed up for dinner:

After dinner, our Bangkok colleagues took us to this restaurant and bar called Skybar. There are two bars, one on the 52nd floor and the other at 64 floors above the ground. As can be expected, the view was simply breathtaking. My camera couldn't really capture it though.

On the 64th floor, this was the structure built on top of the building.

The next day, we had breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast was really good too, and we heard that non hotel guests would have to pay around 700 baht (about RM70) for the buffet breakfast.
This was my favourite - waffles! :)

It was drizzling a bit, but we decided to brave the rain and go to Bangkok's famous weekend market, Chatuchak. Alongside the road, we could see all the colourful taxis waiting for passengers.

The rain soon cleared up and it became immensely hot. Bangkok weather is really really hot, much hotter than Penang. We decided on McDonald's for lunch as it would be the most convenient, as well as being air-conditioned! Even Ronald McDonald in Bangkok greets you in the Thai way :)

Later that evening, we took a taxi to Siam Paragon, one of Bangkok's most famous shopping malls. We had some yummy Thai food for dinner but we were so hungry that we didn't take any pictures. Surprisingly, the shops were all closed pretty early that night, so we just walked outside and took some pictures.

On the way back, we took a Skytrain and this was the station nearest to our hotel.

The next morning, I took a leisurely breakfast while most of my colleagues went to Platinum Mall. We had already been there the day before after lunch, but I did not buy anything as all the clothes could not be tried on. There are literally thousands of shops there selling clothes at wholesale prices so it is literally a shopper's paradise.

After breakfast, I took a walk to a shopping mall nearby, CentralWorld. In the mall, I stopped at Naraya, which is a famous Thai boutique selling bags and other accessories.

Our flight that evening was at 7.25 pm local time so we left the hotel at around 4.30 pm. Before departing the hotel, our Penang office took a group photo in the hotel lobby.

It was a good trip and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously. However, it is good to be back at home after all the travelling. I missed Hannah very much and am looking forward to spend more time with her now that I am home.

Home from Bali

2011-04-29T12:55:00.003+08:00

After so many days being away from Hannah (this was the longest time that we had left her), we were really glad to be home. When she saw us come to pick her up from her Ah Mah's house, she was so excited and ran excitedly to meet us. We were so surprised that after only 5 days, she was suddenly so chatty and began talking away, some of which we could understand and the rest of it which was a mixture of words and baby talk :)

We bought her a dress from Bali and tried it on for her. It fit okay, except for the straps which were a little loose. The things there are really cheap, this dress is about RM5.00 only!

I tried to get her to give me a nice expression for the camera, and here are a few of her cheeky faces:

Excited when she saw her Vitamin C sweeties:

Yawn!

Hmm?

Big smile!

Bali Trip - Day 4

2011-04-29T12:47:00.002+08:00

There was no planned tour for Day 4 of our trip, so we just spent the morning in the hotel. The guys went for a swim and a few games of water volleyball while I just lazed around in the sun and snapped pictures.

Later, we took a walk downtown to Kuta which was very near our hotel. This was a local handphone shop where Steven stopped to buy credit for his local number.

We had lunch at this pancake place called Flapjaks.

Doesn't the waffle look yummy?

Kuta beach - plenty of activity going on:

Bali Trip - Day 3

2011-04-28T15:20:00.005+08:00

On Day 3, we still took the hired van so our first stop was to see a traditional Barong Dance. We didn't really understand most of it, but there was a brochure explaining the dance to us in English.

After that, we stopped by a local market for some shopping. The things here (and in Bali generally) are really cheap. I managed to buy a pair of nice slippers with beading for only RM5.00. In any case, the trader's opening price was only RM20.00! Things like this here are definitely cheaper than in Hatyai.

For lunch, we went up to the hills to have our meal overlooking the view of the volcano. This view was even better than yesterday's rice terraces.

After lunch, we went to another temple. But the difference was this temple involved people getting in a sort of pool to offer their prayers.

The next stop was probably the best part of the whole tour - Sunset Temple at Tanah Lot. The views there were simply breathtaking. It reminded me a lot of Australia's Great Ocean Road.

At the same location, we watched another tradional dance in the evening - the "Kechak Dance". After the show, they allowed us to take pictures with the dancers in their costumes.

The man on the dancer's left is our driver - Pak Nyok.

For dinner, we had typical Balinese cuisine - what they call "babi guling" - some sort of roasted pork. I didn't want pork, so I had chicken instead. But this is babi guling in the picture.

We were back quite early that night, so we took a walk down to Kuta beach which is about 15 to 20 minutes walk from our hotel. Plenty of things happening there, and Hard Rock Hotel and Cafe is also located there.

Bali Trip - Day 2

2011-04-28T14:55:00.007+08:00

Our holiday only properly started on Day 2 of our trip. We hired a private van with a driver for 2 days which cost per day was 350,000 rupiah (not inclusive of parking fees, entrance fees and food). Our first stop was Nusa Dua beach where we took a boat out to Turtle Island, which was sort of an animal sanctuary for turtles and other type of reptiles.

Later on, we visited the Monkey Temple and there were lots of monkeys running around in the wild. We were cautioned that the monkeys would jump on us and in fact one of them did jump on Max.

For lunch, the driver took us to this restaurant with a really nice view of the rice terraces and fields. Here is what we saw from the restaurant window:

After lunch, we headed to Bedugul to visit the famous temple on the lake.

Funny picture of the 5 guys:

I suppose a trip to Bali wouldn't be complete without getting some of the "Kopi Luwak" or civet coffee. We did not buy any though, as we are not coffee drinkers. Some of our friends bought the coffee as gifts for people back home. It's not cheap, almost RM100.00 for just a small box.

For dinner, we had seafood on the beach. The restaurant gave us flowers to wear in our hair, even for the guys :)

There was a traditional dance performed during the dinner and we took a few pictures with the dancers.

Bali Trip - Day 1

2011-04-28T14:38:00.003+08:00

Hubby and I and a few of our friends took a trip to Bali last week for 5 days. We had actually planned this trip almost a year ago and booked the tickets during one of the cheap flights promotion by Air Asia. Since it was that long ago, one of our friends even got pregnant and just delivered in early March so she couldn't come along (her husband came with us though). When we booked the tickets, she was not even pregnant yet. So in the end it was just the 6 of us.

There is no direct flight from Penang to Bali, so we had to transit in Kuala Lumpur. Quite troublesome as we had a long transit for almost 6 hours in LCCT.

It was a long day and we reached Bali at around 7.30 pm. There is no time difference but it gets dark very fast; 6 pm it is already dark. After a long day, we were tired but happy.

We checked in to our hotel - Bali Kuta Resort by Swiss-Belhotel. We booked it through the internet a few weeks before our trip. The rooms were pretty standard, but quite pleasant.

Our dinner on the first night recommended by the hotel - nasi pedas (spicy rice). It looks pretty normal but the chilli is really really spicy and our mouths literally felt like they were on fire.

Strike a pose

2011-04-20T12:48:00.002+08:00

We recently discovered that Hannah is quite the "poser" when it comes to taking photos.

First pose:

Second pose:

I took her to a nearby playground on Saturday while waiting for Hubby to get his hair cut. Posing on the slide:

Excited pose - Mummy, I want to go slide again!

Hannah "working"

2011-04-19T14:46:00.004+08:00

I have learnt a new word - "working". Everytime I am busy "writing" or "colouring", I will tell Mummy and Daddy that I am "working" :)

Here I am "working" with Daddy. Daddy is marking his exam scripts and I am colouring in my book. Mummy bought me new colour pencils so now I have both my washable markers as well as my colour pencils. Mummy and Daddy find that it can keep me occupied for a longer time compared to my other toys.

I am fully concentrating - Mummy and Daddy still cannot decide whether I am right-handed or left-handed.

Another form of me "working" is to answer the telephone at Ah Mah's house. I will pick up the phone and say "hello".

"Hold on, please".

"Ugh - prank call!" :)

Update: Good!

2011-04-14T15:12:00.004+08:00

Remember in the last post I said that Hannah couldn't coordinate her thumb and index finger properly so her sign for "good" was pointing both fingers like a gun? Well, last night, she finally mastered it. She was twiddling her fingers and suddenly realised that she could do it. As usual, she was really excited and called out to us to see, "Daddy, Mummy, good, good!" We were also super proud of her. Funny how being parents make us beam with pride over the smallest things :)

Here was her "good" sign this morning - a little blurry cos she was excitedly waving her hand around.

Can see it clearer now, but she was not looking at the camera because she was distracted by the TV.

And again - once she discovers she can do something, she will do it over and over again :)

Blurry picture again - cheeky little girl who cannot sit still!

What has Hannah been up to?

2011-04-12T18:46:00.003+08:00

I haven't really had time to blog these past couple of weeks, because work has been really busy and we haven't really been anywhere for me to take any nice pictures.

So, anyway, just to update everyone on Hannah's latest antics. Her speech is improving by leaps and bounds everyday and she can make simple sentences and communicate 2 or 3 words at a time. It is now possible to have a simple conversation with her and she can understand everything that is being said.

For example, the other day we were at the supermarket and she accidentally knocked down a few clothes which were hanging on display. She said "Put back, aunty meh-meh (scold)" and she actually bent down to pick them up and hung them back.

Also, I took her for ice-cream last Sunday afternoon as a treat. After looking at the menu for awhile, the waitress approached our table and asked for our order. I pointed to a sundae in the menu and asked Hannah if she wanted that. She very firmly said no. So I asked her if she wants just a single scoop and she said yes. I then asked her if she wanted strawberry flavour (my personal favourite) and she said "mai, mai" (no). I then asked her if she wanted chocolate and she said "ha" meaning "yes". The waitress sure had a good chuckle :) So small already know how to choose :p

Another funny incident was when we were in the car and she saw the Penang High Court. She can recognise it when we pass by and she will say "court!". By the way, she can also recognise places that she has been, not necessarily the exact place but the area around it. For example, her Ah Gong and Ah Mah go to close the door of an office every night and set the alarm system. Sometimes they bring her along for a ride. So the other day as we were approaching the office, she said "guan men" (close door). She can also recognise the place where her Ah Mah takes her to cut her hair, she said "jien tou fa" (cut hair).

So anyway, back to the court, I asked her "Who goes to court?" She said "Daddy". I then asked her "Does Mummy go to court?" She said "No, Hannah!". So I then said "What does Hannah do in court?" She answered me "Waiting". How true indeed, out of the mouths of babes. What else do we do in the court besides wait around? Wait for the judge, wait for the registrar, wait for our case to be called up, wait for documents - half the time is spent waiting. Indeed, Hannah, you have never said a truer word :)

Here are a few cheeky pictures of her which I took one morning before leaving the house.

Her sign for "good" used to be pointing her index finger up. The other day, she suddenly realised that she could point both her thumb and her index finger. She was so excited and she called me to look "Mummy, Mummy, good, good!" I sure had a good laugh as she was pointing her fingers like a gun. I tried to bend down her index finger so just leaving the thumb but it was not very succesful. Later, she got all confused as to which finger should be up and which finger should be down. So now her "good" is making a "gun" with her thumb and index finger, like this:

And this:

Favourite drink - Vitagen Less Sugar grape "purple" flavour. Even then, we usually drink half the bottle and she gets the other half.

Hannah likes to draw

2011-04-06T19:06:00.003+08:00

There is this shop at Changi airport which I always like to stop by when I am in Singapore waiting for my flight home. Essentially it sells children's books and toys and the prices are reasonable too, compared to another shop at the airport. The last trip I was there I got these for Hannah - Crayola Beginnings washable markers.

She has recently begun to like drawing, so armed with her new markers and a sketch book, she set to work. We cannot really tell yet if she is right-handed or left-handed; as you can see, she likes to use both hands at the same time!

Daddy better help or else the marker ink will be all over everywhere else except the book :)

Fun at Esplanade

2011-04-01T15:51:00.006+08:00

Mummy, Ah Mah and Da Ku brought me and my cousins to play at Esplanade playground, just next to Fort Cornwallis. I just love anywhere that has swings and slides for me to play on. Look at how I enjoy the wind in my hair :)

I also helped to push Baby Pei Zi. She was enjoying herself too!

Hmm..not very clean though - my hands had to be washed thoroughly after I finished playing.

Love the slides!

Pei Zi liked it as well, even though she doesn't know how to slide yet.

Mummy says that I am a brave girl now that I can slide on my own. Previously I needed Mummy to hold my hand, even on the little slide in the pediatrician's clinic. But now I can slide down the big slide all by myself!

Speaking of Fort Cornwallis, there is to be an event there tomorrow, 2nd April 2011, which is the launch of the final phase of the MyConsitution Campaign organised by the Constitutional Law Committee of the Bar Council. This campaign has spanned the last one and a half years across the country, educating the rakyat on the Federal Consitution.

Admission is free, so please come and support!

Animal sounds

2011-03-31T17:35:00.001+08:00

Hannah knows quite a few animal sounds:

She used to say "sssss" for snake but the other day after she saw the snake at Taiping Zoo, she will imitate the snake's tongue instead.

She also knows the sounds for lion "Roar!" and sheep "Mek Mek" but it is not shown in the video.

Getting her to sit still for the camera this long was hard enough!

Then and Now

2011-03-29T15:31:00.004+08:00

Then - Sarah at 16 months and Hannah at 5 months:

Now - Sarah at 2 years and 9 months and Hannah at 1 year and 10 months. Notice any difference? :)

Sarah now has a baby sister Amelia who is almost 8 months old. On Saturday morning Sue and myself took the girls to Tesco for breakfast and some shopping. All 3 of them managed to fit into one shopping cart, which made things a lot easier for the both of us!

Look at the angelic faces (or maybe not so angelic :p)

Hannah needed a new pair of shoes as her feet are really growing tremendously fast nowadays. I got her this purple and pink pair with a lady bird. Sarah got a pair as well, so the girls had matching shoes :)

Back at home, posing with the sunglasses I got from Forever 21 in Singapore for SGD8.10 only! :)

Old habits die hard

2011-03-23T15:04:00.003+08:00

3 months:

22 months:

Hickory Dickory Dock!

2011-03-21T14:09:00.004+08:00

We discovered when Hannah was in hospital, she could actually remember the words to the songs that she heard every day (nursery rhymes). Out of boredom, her Daddy was singing to her, and she could say the last word of every line of most of the songs, and even some Chinese songs too.

Here is a demo:

"Hickory Dickory Dock"

"Row, Row, Row Your Boat"

Pure joy

2011-03-18T12:22:00.004+08:00

Hannah at one of her favourite places:

How nice it is to be a child!