The Bub in the Belly

Her grandfather introduced her to her first french fry. The rest is history?




After lunch, we set off on our drive up to Ipoh. I know I always post about the scenery - I really love it.




We arrived in good time, the drive went very smoothly. After we checked into the hotel and everyone enjoyed a good bath, we ventured out for dinner at Lou Wong, a must-stop for us. This year, they were selling balloons along the street outside the restaurant. Ryan picked out a purple Angry Bird.


After dinner, we went over to Uncle Henry's house. Some of my other relatives were there, as well as my mother who had come in from Sydney. Actually, she was in KL when we drove in from Singapore so the littles managed to have some time with her before my brother and she left for Ipoh two days ahead of us.

We stayed and chatted for a while with everyone until about 10.30 pm then we decided to call it a night. Ryan had fallen asleep on the way from the restaurant and Richard was carrying him throughout the time we were at my uncle's house. I think we were all tired, actually. So back to the hotel we went, and that was the end of the second day.

Every year when we are in KL for Chinese New Year, we drive over to Ampang to visit Richard's uncle and his family. It is a long drive and each time we go there, we try a different route. No matter which route we take though, we know we are getting near our destination when we see this thing.

Anyway, a good visit as always. We went off after hongbaos were dished out by all concerned. I can't recall now what we did in the afternoon but for dinner, we went to Dancing Fish, which is an Indonesian restaurant in Bangsar Shopping Centre.

Here's babydoll, looking like ... well, a babydoll. Her hairband was a gift from her aunt Margaret, the dress was bought in Malaysia on our last trip.



Some photos of the rest of the family. I'm sure you can tell who's who - Richard's mum and dad, Richard's second sister Mary, Richard and me, and the two littles.




Nothing much else to say, so here are a few more photos of babydoll.

While I am still sorting the photos (of the children), I thought I'd write about something a little different. Over the Lunar New Year holidays last week, we experienced a few hiccups in our plans, which were minor enough not to derail our activities but major enough to cause quite a lot of inconvenience. Richard said that he had heard or read somewhere that the Year of the Snake is a "disruptive" one. As an illustration, he pointed out that the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center building in New York City took place in a Snake year. Of course, we did not experience anything near that magnitude. Our "disruptions" were inconveniences, at best. Anyway, for some fun, I did a search on google and I came across a feng shui article which said:

"As the Snake is a Travel Star symbolising the need for change, travel, new adventures, a new job and restlessness, the Year of the Snake will be very active and full of change. The Snake forms a Fire Penalty with the Tiger (February) and the Monkey (August) so these months could see disruptive or dangerous incidents relating to travel."

I have no clue what most of that paragraph means (I don't know anything about feng shui). What I did gather from there is that travel in February and August may not be smooth. That certainly was the case for us last week.

Driving into Malaysia on Thursday night was a breeze. Literally, it was a breeze. That was because the aircon in the car quit on us and we had to crank the windows down (a little). Richard and my brother spent almost the whole of Friday driving to and from the service centre (twice) to sort things out. The service centre took the whole day to diagnose the problem. At the end of the day, they told us that the compressor had failed and had to be replaced. The problem was that their supplier was closed for the holidays and they could only check the following week if the parts were available and, if there weren't any parts, they would have to order in from either Singapore or Germany which would take time to reach KL.

It was a terrible time for us to be without our car. The hassle of getting around the city with two children without a car would be bad enough but we were supposed to drive up from KL to Ipoh on Monday. We needed wheels!

We were extremely grateful when Richard's sister Margaret let us borrow one of her spare cars, a very zippy BMW X1, which we used for a week, including driving to and from Ipoh. When her husband, Jimmy, found out about our predicament, he made a few calls and found a car workshop near his workplace which had the (genuine) parts and could replace the aircon for us at a fraction of the price that the service centre had quoted us.

So, it was a disruption in our plans but, fortunately, one that was resolved quite smoothly, all thanks to the help of various people - my brother, Richard's sister Margaret, and her husband, Jimmy. We are truly blessed to have these angels helping us and looking out for us.

There was another incident which I was quite upset about but, in the end, I decided to chalk it up to the power of the Snake and just shrug it off. It was on the Saturday after we had got back from Ipoh. We had met up with some friends from out of town and we were all headed to have some bak kut teh. Richard and I were leading the way in one car, while our friends followed us in three other cars. Normally, getting to the restaurant is super easy - just one turn off the highway and you're there. For some reason, we took an earlier turn and landed in the middle of a dense suburb. We were lost and the GPS wasn't helping. We had to stop and ask for directions a few times and the people we asked were not much help. We knew the general direction to head in but all the streets we turned into were one-way streets, extremely narrow and hilly. The nifty X1 was quite nimble but two of our entourage were Mercedes-Benz sedans so I imagine it must have been quite harrowing for them.

Another small disruption in travel? Well, if it was, it was resolved - just when I was about to give up, we found the restaurant and, of course, getting out of there was no problem at all.

So all's well that ends well and, hopefully, it will be smooth sailing from here on. What about you - have you experienced any "disruptions" in your travel in February?

After considering several suggestions on how we should go about having our reunion dinner with Richard's parents on the eve of Chinese New Year, it was decided that the safest option would be to go out for a buffet dinner. Our reunion dinner is a small gathering - Richard's parents, his second sister Mary, our two littles, and me. In the past, there were some years when it was only Richard's parents, Richard and I. It's a huge difference from our reunion dinner when we get to Ipoh, but no less meaningful, of course.

Ryan fell asleep in the car and slept through the dinner. Fortunately for him, there was some couch space for him to lay down on. We had spent the better part of the day shopping at Paradigm Mall and he was quite tired by the time we left the mall. Despite my efforts to dress him in his festive finery for dinner, he insisted on wearing his Quiksilver T-shirt and checkered shorts. He must have had a feeling that he was going to be spending the dinner in la-la land.

Babydoll got all the attention and she was very good throughout the dinner, sitting happily in her high chair, munching on whatever we tossed to her.









After dinner, we all went back to Richard's parents' place and Richard played mahjong with them until the new year arrived. We could hear the fireworks going off around the neighbourhood. It was very festive but we were all quite tired by then so we went home shortly after.

We are back from our travels! How has your Chinese New Year been so far? We have had a fantastic first half and are looking forward to the rest of it. Granted, we are now back at work and busy with earning a living, so the festivities are work-centered now. I have got lunches almost every day this week with clients and colleagues - I am definitely going to have enough 'yee sang' to last me till next Chinese New Year.

We got back last night, just before midnight. The littles slept throughout the 3-hour drive home and then, upon arrival, kept us up for another three hours before the sleep monster caught up with them again. We had a late start this morning but managed to get Ryan off to school, Rachel to her nanny, the dog back home from the boarders, the Audi to the service centre for a health check, and me to lunch with clients.

I have lots of photos - will write again when I have filtered them. Gong Xi Fa Cai, everyone!

Rachel appeared on the Cheeky Britches Facebook page last month, looking absolutely darling in their Japanese-inspired designs. I sent her photo to them just to express my appreciation and praise for their products and they liked the photo enough to ask me if they could put it up on their site. I'm looking forward to seeing their new range of colours this season. I will definitely be picking up a few pieces - I love their soft and comfortable fabrics!

This is the photo!

As I write this post, we are travelling by car to Malaysia. Both the littles are fast asleep in their car seats while Richard navigates in the darkness.

We are looking forward to the Lunar New Year. We have already discussed where to go, what to eat, who to see, what to do, and most importantly, how much sleep we can catch up on.

Yes, sleep, glorious sleep. It has been a tiring few days for us. For me, my procrastination brought matters to a head this week and I found myself having to juggle stuff that should have been resolved months ago together with stuff from the present. I was trying to squeeze out more than 24 hours from each day.

I probably made it a lot tougher for myself to get everything done by scheduling in a few meet ups with friends, but these were my much-needed time-outs, my pressure reliefs, my moments of downtime. One of these was a visit to Ophelia in the maternity ward to welcome her latest bundle of joy, handsome little Chris. Ophelia is a gorgeous lady, whether pregnant or not, and it's because she is always smiling. And why wouldn't she - she's got three handsome sons now! (She's specialising!)

Ophelia delivered in the same hospital that I delivered so the visit brought back fond memories for me. I had Rachel in June last year and I can't decide whether it feels like a long time ago or just a blink ago. I guess we forget some parts (the bad) and remember others (the good)? So the good bits are clear as yesterday while the bad bits have faded like memories of yesteryear.

Cradling little Chris and watching Ophelia handle him with her expert touch, I wondered if I was up for Round 3 myself. I can't say either way right now. As for Richard, I know he is happy with our two monsters but he would be happy with three rascals too. And why wouldn't he? I have heard people give all sorts of reasons for not having more children. In my view, they all don't wash. Having another child may bring financial issues, logistical issues and lots of other issues, but really, at the end of the day, will one ever regret having another child? I can't imagine so.

Anyway, those are thoughts for another day. For now, I'm excited about celebrating the Lunar New Year, Rachel's very first!

I posted this photo on Facebook the other day, which amused quite a number of my friends - little babydoll asleep on the floor. She'd woken up early that morning to play and, in the midst of her play, she was suddenly overcome by sleep and dozed off. She didn't nap for long like that, but long enough for me to brush my teeth and get dressed for work.

Yesterday, Ryan attended a free trial dance class by Centrestage, which was hosted by his pre-school. It was more like a music and movement class, and I think he enjoyed it. He told me this morning that he wanted to wear a skirt and be a "dancer boy". I am perfectly fine with the latter but I think we need to discuss the bit about the skirt a little more.

This is a busy week for us because we are leaving for Malaysia on Thursday after work and will be away for a while. So much to do so I think I have to forgo spring-cleaning for the Lunar New Year - something's gotta give!

Anyway, here's Ryan wishing you a good mid-week!