Mummy's entry - Being away from the girl

I'm typing this from Bangkok, having to be here for a sales training since Tuesday and this means I've been away from the girl for 3 nights so far. Did I miss her? Seriously, no. Ok, well a little bit. This is only coz I've been yearning to have a break (my "me" time) and one of the getaways I wanted to be at is Bangkok. So it is a blessing in disguise when I found out the venue of this training.

I guess I didn't really miss her all that much too as there's so much to do for this training and also my personal activities after training (shopping!!!). And the real fact is that hubby is around in KL to look after her.

Well, hubby is in Bangkok now to join me for the weekend and tonight is the first time that the girl will not be with either one of her parents. And this is where I'm getting worried and I'm starting to miss her badly!

Hubby dropped her off at my sis' place this morning before heading to the airport and it seems that she was alright. We have prepared her for this since last month and have been reminding her constantly. At times, she resisted by saying "I don't want, I want follow Mummy" but most of the times she said ok and continued with "I want toys, I want Mickey Mouse/Tweety bird baju (malay: clothes)" (This was how I motivated her and I'm willing to do this coz I rarely get to be away from her. As for hubby, I forbid him to buy alot of things for her when he's away on his business trips although he has his occasional shopping spree habit).

I called home when my training ended and my sister's maid (the girl only sticks to her) updated that she was alright through out, ate her meals, watched tv and poo-ed in the toilet although she wanted to poo in her diaper. She is still not potty trained for poo since her constipation days as she has the fear of the toilet bowl but she is alright for pee-ing in it or in her potty. But with this update (First round, she took a diaper to her kakak and said "Kakak, I want to poo-poo" but her Kakak took her to the toilet instead and she refused to poo. Second round, she told her Kakak again that she wanted to poo and she gave in to her Kakak's request to poo in the bowl and she did it), I find that the girl bullies her parents at home! Either this or her Mummy do not have enough patience with her. ;)

I called home again tonight and was informed by my sister that the girl was already asleep (this was like 9-30pm Malaysian time). She sleeps around 11pm these days and I guess she slept early coz she didn't nap this afternoon, she was too happy when her cousins came back from school and played with them throughout. Her cousins (RW and JT) were fighting for her attention and too bad for JT, the girl prefers her cher cher (chinese: elder sister), RW! My sis told me that the girl kept saying no to JT when he wanted the girl to sleep next to him. She said she wants her RW cher cher, making the boy cried! Hehe, this girl knows who she can bully.

The girl didn't ask for us it seems, guess she understands the situation. But my sis said she looks a little left out when it came to bed time. I only hope she will sleep throughout the night and don't have an episode. Will update later on this....as for me and hubby, we will enjoy Bangkok to the max for sure! But we are missing the girl like crazy. ;)

CNY 2008

Gong Xi Fa Cai to all!

Another round of Chinese New Year for me and we spent it at the same 2 places again like last year's except that we went to Penang first and then to Cameron Highlands after that.

Mummy made a comparison of last year's and this year's in terms of my behaviour and it goes according to the good, the bad and the ugly (so-so).



The good

• They don't need to bring the slow cooker and stuff to cook my food. I eat whatever they eat.
  
• I'm easier to manage now. I'm not glued all the time to Mummy (can't say the same when I'm cranky though)
  
• I love to "gong xi-gong xi" with my hands now to all and will say "gong xi fa cai" especially when I'm in a good mood

The bad

• I'm bossy now so I demand for things (most of the time I don't get it my way)


• And since I'm bossy, I will refuse to wear whatever Mummy wants me to and chose them myself (so Mummy's plans for me in wearing what clothes on what days were all gone to waste!)


• I bully people now. Ok, not so much bully but boss people around and when you get on my nerves, I will scold you! I did this mostly to my cousin brother, JT when we were in Camerons.
  
• I like testing the limits with Mummy and Papa even after they have scolded me or threatened or warned me.


• I change topic easily after I'm being told off for being naughty. One of the nights, Mummy was scolding me and I didn't like her scolding me so I lifted up my right hand, preparing to hit her. She warned me on this and stared at me. I stared right back at her contemplating to hit her or not but since she threatened me, I decided to smile at her and counted "1, 2, 3" while showing her my fingers for 1,2 and 3. I was telling her that I can count.
  
• Only reason I like to do the "gong xi-gong xi" with my hands to people I don't know coz I love to receive the Ang Pows! And initially, I wanted to open them to see the money inside but I've been told that it is rude to do so. So later when we're at home, I would ask Mummy "Where's my money? I want my money!" (at least I understand the concept of money and if you ask me now where's all my money, I will reply "I got so many angpows, all my money in the bank."
  
• I must have the last say in anything and everything so when I'm being told off, I will scold them back (Of course Mummy will not let me get away with this so I get punished for being rude!)
  

The so-so

• Although I'm easier to manage now compared to last year, I still glue to Mummy at times. Only wanting her to shower me, etc. But at least I allow my Por Por to feed me or carry me.
  
• You would think by now that I'm used to my car seats with the way I travel around (I'm hardly at home). I am most of the times, but there are times when I'm just cranky and refused to be in it. I was slightly cranky when we were on the way up to Penang. I was more cranky when we were on the way up to Camerons. Luckily, on the way back, I was very well behaved (guess coz I slept for most of the journey).
  
• After being really naughty and punished, I will apologize (Mummy wonders whether I actually understand this or just doing it for the sake of doing it)

Guess you would noticed the more bads than the goods or so-so's...Mummy believes it is part of the terrible two phase.

What are holidays or celebrations without photos....Below are pictures from Penang:-

hanging out at the balcony of Ah Por's and Ah Kong's house drinking my milk, this nearly became a routine

all dolled up, ready to go for the reunion dinner

getting ready to go collect more ang pows on 2nd day of CNY

managed to swim at Peh Deh's (papa's brother) after collecting all my ang pows

this was how i had my bath at Ah Por's place, actually it was just showers, i just wanted to play in this pail

Below are pictures from Cameron Highlands :-

posing with the little flowers

making funny faces with my cousins, JT and RW

at the flower farm of papa's relatives, we were checking out their little pond up on a hill

posing in my new Chinese New Year clothes (Mummy had to bribe me in wearing this stating that my cousins were wearing theirs too)

as you can tell, i wasn't happy that my cousin, JT was also posing for my camera so i was protesting! I was bullying him most of the time I was there. i like RW cher cher more

The below shots were taken after my meltdown of the above picture, Mummy had a time-out session with me before I agreed to take pictures with my cousin but this time I chose to be next to RW cher cher. After these shots, I changed my clothes.

this was how we entertained ourselves one of the nights, all 3 of us sharing the ipod nano

Below were pictures when we got back to KL from Cameron Highlands (I love posing for the camera now) :-





Hope you had a good Chinese New Year as well!

Mummy's entry - Last few days at LA

Another backdated post from our last few days at LA.

Our last few days at LA were spent shopping last minute stuff, eating and hanging out. By this time I was already so tired from all the travelling that I was willing to give Hollywood a pass. SIL said that since we came all this way, we should at least just give it a look and I agreed. So, we just drove through and seriously, I was glad that we didn't walk through Hollywood. Just by driving through Hollywood, I was greatly disappointed. I mean, what you have heard and seen on TV, you would expect something great. But when you're physically there, it's nothing to shout about. We didn't even take any picture of the HOLLYWOOD sign. Haha...The following were some pictures we took from the car...

The infamous Kodak Theatre, where American Idol finales are held (nothing great to shout about, it looks bigger and grander on TV!)

Beverly Hills hotel

The following were pictures taken while hanging out at SIL's place..

tying the girl's hair outside SIL's place

SIL's neighbour, with their Halloween's display. There were so many nice ones along this road but we didn't manage to walk the neighbourhood like we planned to

the girl and hubby hanging out at the frontyard of the house

On the girl's health by this time, she was still coughing but not as bad as earlier, thanks to the medicine. There weren't anymore vomitting episodes but on our second last night there, she coughed out some blood in her phelgm in the middle of the night. It got us so worried and we thought that it may be due to the medicine (coz of the recalling of some medicine then). While the girl slept, we were up searching the net for the symptoms of the medicines that were recalled (and found out the one we had was not one of them). And luckily, it didn't mention anything serious except that there may be an abuse of taking these medicines which can cause harm to little kids.

We also felt that the blood could be from the excessive coughing she had for several days. Later when she had her next phelgm out, we checked it for signs of blood but there weren't any so we were relieved in a way. When we landed in KL in the afternoon, after settling our stuff at home, we took her to see her doctor just in case and it was the common cold she was having.

Anyhow, I have to add my two cents worth of our experience with LA's airport. It sucked big time! Our luggages were overweight by 6kgs and they wanted to charge us for it even though it wasn't a full flight. We refused to pay so we had to unload some stuff from our bags to our hand luggages so it was the chocolates and sweets that we bought. I was fuming on this as we already had so many stuff to hand carry and we didn't need the excess with a baby some more! The lady over at the counter was not kind at all (and she was an Asian and you would think she would take sympathy on a couple with a young child!). I also asked whether we can change our seats (instead of the front ones) since it wasn't a full flight and she said she can't do that and that we had to ask the stewardess when we have boarded! I didn't bother talking to her after that but just glared at her.

After that, we had to queue to get ourselves and hand carry items checked at the security. One of the security officer asked if we had any liquids and I said they were all for the girl's milk (hot water and bottled water). He said that he highly recommended we threw them away to avoid trouble and so we had to get rid of every single water we had (one hot flask, 2 baby bottles of half water and 1 water bottle). It took us some time to get rid of these as we had to drop everything and dug into our bags and since they only have one bin to throw all of these into which was parked at a distance, I had to trouble this kind elderly lady who offered her help as she was next to the bin. In all that hurry, of unpacking and packing, I actually left one bottle out and when I realized it, I didn't bother to let them know and decided to risk it (I was already angry by this time). And I'm glad I didn't coz we were not caught or anything even though our bags went thru the screening. It just go to show that their security system is not all that great!

All in all, we had a great holiday although it was a tiring one for me as well. I would love to go back to US again but this time, without the girl for sure. Only coz I want to shop, shop and shop! I guess I also got the girl to thank as I would have spent more money on shopping for sure!

I am looking forward to a Bangkok trip end of this month (without the girl) as I will finally have my massage, food and shopping! I didn't get to do much of this the last time we were there. Will definitely update on this as this will be the longest time I'm away from the girl and it is also her first time without her parents. Muahaha!

Anyway, for the benefit to those of you who have been following our holiday posts to US (sorry for the inconsistent updates), you can refresh your memory again by reading them in sequence by clicking on the following:-

1) Los Angeles Part 1

2) Los Angeles Part 2

3) Las Vegas

4) LA - Disneyland

5) California - Monterey Bay

6) San Francisco

7) Napa Valley

8) Last few days at LA

Mummy's entry - Napa Valley

this is a backdated post. i'm also having problems remembering every detail, serves me right for delaying this post i guess. ;)

After San Francisco, we headed to Napa Valley. The journey took us about 2 hours. We checked into the hotel first before heading to the vineyards. There were so many vineyards, we didn't know which ones to go to and luckily, the hotel we stayed at had a list and recommended a few to us.

We headed to Sterling's first as they had a cable car (actually they call it a tram but to me, the ones that take you up in the sky is known as a cable car). It was really pretty the aerial view from the cable car as well at the peak of the tour. We went around for the tour and got our 5 glasses (just 1/3 of the glass) of wine tasting for each person. Rye Li went in for free and she got a set of crayons and drawing paper when we left the place.

the girl looking down from the cable car

the girl and i posing

the view at the top of the vineyard

Sterling's stock, and there are heaps more!

the girl trying to pick some grapes at the vineyard

After Sterling's, we headed to this wineyard that has a castle (I forgot the name). We thought that the castle was authentic but found out that it took them 15 years or so to build it with materials that are actually old (if I'm not mistaken, taken from authentic castles or so). Too bad that they have 'slots' for their tour and apparently it is full for the day. So we just took whatever pictures we could.

After this castle, we headed to this place that sells a variety of cheese (like 200 over types) and of course wine as well. And this is what the place look like...

Interesting huh? Who would have thought that this place is actually a store. Once we came out from the car at their parking lot, we were greeted with a strong smell of cheese, not the nice ones you normally smell at the pizza parlour but those that you would think that there is a dead body or something lying around! Anyway, I'm thinking now how come I don't have a picture of the shop inside. It was pretty impressive and I guess we were busy looking around to see what we would be having for our picnic than to take pictures. Outside this place, there are ample of picnic tables and chairs for you to have your wine and cheese.

This was what we got and we hung out there for a bit.

The girl with our loot.

I love this shot - the girl was entertaining herself while we adults helped ourselves to our cheese, meat and wine! How I wish we have this type of weather here in KL.

This building was at the back of the store, I happened to come across it when I had to answer nature's call. Looks kind of creepy eh?!


Later that evening, we went to the Outlet store nearby our hotel to do some shopping. We only had like an hour before the stores closed so we breeze through them. The girl wanted a milk so I let her drink her milk in the stroller while we walked through the Timberland store. She choked on her milk and started vomitting out whatever she just had (projectile vomitting). Luckily for us, the pathway in the store was really wide and also so happened when she vomitted, she wasn't faced at any of their merchandise. So her puke was just on her sling, shoes, stroller and of course, all over the floor.

We felt so bad for the store, hubby came immediately to our aid and started to clean up the mess. The guy attending to the store, got out the mop with some spray and alot of paper towel. The whole time we were cleaning up, we fully apologized to the guy and he said no problem and that the floor needed cleaning anyway. I added somewhere along the lines that this was embarrassing (our first time with the girl in public) and the guy said no worries, just let her know when she grows up that she actually vomitted at a Timberland outlet in Napa Valley. Well, for sure I will let her know in the future!

That night, we lined the hotel bed with towels at where the girl was sleeping just in case. We didn't need another vomitting episode like the one in San Francisco or at the store.

The next day, before we headed back to LA, we stopped by at Target's to get some stuff. And luckily, SIL (sister-in-law) saw the medication that we wanted to buy at San Francisco for the girl but couldn't on the shelf and she managed to purchase it. We gave it to her immediately and it did help with her coughing bouts but still, we were prepared for any vomitting during our journey back to LA. The journey was really long! We left Napa Valley around noon, stopping by this place somewhere at Silicon Valley for Indian food buffet for lunch and we reached LA close to 8pm. Thankfully, the girl survived it, of course with some whines along the way.

There will be a last post next on our US trip...just the remaining days of our stay at LA.