Carrying mei

There's something about carrying Mei, that I find absolutely easy to do.

Must be the shape of her body, and also mine, she blends right into me. I only need to drape one arm over her and put her on my hips, off we go. She is secure. Only that cos of her weight, anything longer than 5mins like that, she will start sliding down.

She is easy to carry. Once I got her, she can ride on to me like a koala. She hangs on too, grips my arm with one hand.

However, it is so different for WK. One arm cant do, he needs both, to grasp her. And still, she keeps on slipping off. He finds it extremely difficult to carry her. He cant.

Weird. Must be something to do with fats *haha* she just moulds into me.

And maybe too, cos she is a girl, I find that she is more willing to be 'cuddled', but only so when she is tired or is relaxed. Otherwise, she just keeps on looking here there everywhere soaking her surroundings in.

Boring lunch?

When a baby is sleepy, they really can sleep any time!

After finishing her lunch of pork porridge with broccoli and carrots, she self fed plain rice. Soon after, she just dozed off and laid her head on the tray of the high chair in the restaurant.

Hehe.



It was so cute to see Soph just falling asleep on the high chair. Even more so, when she continued to put rice into her mouth when I moved her from the chair into my arms. It was as if her self-feeding of rice was just paused, and being momentarily awake, she just continued where she left off before nodding off into zzz land again after 2 seconds.

Children are so innocently funny! :)

DAY 1 - Colmar Tropicale - Bukit Tinggi Resort

"Colmar Tropicale is the unique French-themed attraction at Bukit Tinggi Resort. It stands 2,600 feet above sea level on 80 acres of natural forestland. The first of its kind in Malaysia, it is modelled after the 16th Century Colmar Village in Alsace, France and has retained the authenticity and European feel of its counterpart. "

Colmar was the first stop in our 5 days trip to Malaysia.

After a long night of preparation, we departed at about 8am the next day. And due to the uncertainly with regards to the car tyres, i had to drive at a safe and comfortable average speed of 100-110 km/h. Both kids were at their best behavior and we soon had lunch at our usual stop - Ayer Keroh flyover. TT, Totti K and Gigi had Kentucky (apparently, TT thinks that the chicken in Kentucky Malaysia is tastier than those in SG) and i had connie hotdog and curly fries from A&W. And not surprisingly, the long queue in A&W were all made up of Singaporeans, who simply could not resist the temptation of doing things they are not able to do in their homeland. Lunch was poor for Sophie though. She was grouchy (maybe becos of the food). TT was fuming after she saw the quality of the porridge prepared by Gigi. (Honestly, i didnt think it was porridge when i first saw 'it'). As for Kayden, he had the best of both Kentucky and A&W, he declared my curly fries as his and tried to stop me from eating them!!

Finding the right exit to Colmar (which is near Genting) prove to be an ease when you have choices - i chose to "call a friend" or rather "sms a friend". A quick sms was greeted with the reply just minutes before reaching the exit. We then headed out for Karak highway. It was getting late already and the traffic didnt help. We eventually reached Bukit Tinggi at abt 4pm (not before making a wrong turn up the hill).


My first impression of Colmar was that it was rather run-down but it still looks great from far. I wasnt too impressed with the standard of the room. The smell of cheap bread was overwhelming at the lift area of our building and the service was slow. Apart from the occasional rain, the weather was nice and cooling though. In the evening, we had our "walk in the clouds", and Totti K was visibly happy with the new environment, running around and laughing.




We had dinner at one of the restaurants serving meals similar to "Kenny Rogers". The food was horrible! Nobody could recognise the bowl of chicken sauce. We spent the late afternoon and evening walking around Colmar, taking pictures along the way and visiting the swan lake - its actually made up of 4 swans. 2 white and 2 black swans, separated in 2 man made ponds beside one another. Totti K was rather afraid of the swans as they tried to bite. The many different colored flowers were nice and the buildings were photogenic.




At night, we had a mini birthday celebration for TT.




The birthday cake was purchased off the shelf in one of the french bakery. Sadly, the standard was no where French and we were glad just to be able to finish it. Also, Totti K was able to sing the Birthday song and he blew out the candles before TT could do so. And so we ended our day in the highlands of Malaysia. The thought of sleeping within the clouds was great, it somehow wraps up my thoughts about the resort..... "A great idea but falls short in execution and delivery..."

Rasa beach

Further to WK's post that the Rasa was fantastic, I like most, our garden room with direct pool access.



On Friday morning, with both kids up at 6.45am and the hubby still cant get his sleepy head off the pillow. I brought the 2 babes with me, Soph perched on my hip and Kayden's little hand in mine, the 3 of us sauntered easily to the beach...

At so early in the morning, with the sun already up, the weather was still cool... everything looked serene and peaceful with no tourist yet in sight.

Sand was cool to our feet, slightly damp from the night, and the breeze was just light and nice.

I propped Soph down on the sand, she was happy mouthing/eating sand. Whilst my oh-so-prim-and-scared-of-dirt son, sat down reluctantly, brushing off sand from his feet with a grouchy look on his face.

We didnt stay long, perhaps just 15-20mins, Kayden waved to the fishing boat going out to sea, and well, I, enjoyed the peacefulness of early morning with my 2 kids, happy and safe with me.

It was good.

I always love being near the sea, by the beach. My perfect home, would be one on the beach where I can hear the sound of waves as I doze off to sleep. One day... hopefully, I'll have my dream home!

Moo

Remember my last post re worry of reduced milk supply?

Luckily, that was just a problem that lasted only 2 days. Happens to be I was ovulating (i figured) when the milk-making hormones were outdone by the ovulating ones. Breast tenderness, reduced milk, etc...

I am so so grateful that my supply's back up again.

And as I had just finished expressing the last session for today, I am amazed actually that I am still producing so much. I just pumped 250ml, and I think its a lot considering Soph is already 10months plus. And I dont have empty milk containers yet (phew!)... hehe, lucky it is still a problem of inadequate freezer space.

WK just remarked I am a well-fed cow. Well in that case, I am definitely in the premium black kobe variety, with lotsa fats! He says I am wagyu (!) so I asked where is my massage and music therapy?

Anyway, moo moo. Have a great weekend to all!

Build up to the trip

The build up to the trip was as usually poor. No detailed planning on my part but i will stick by that as usual because i always enjoy 'little surprises" that comes along with that.

TT probably thought the trip was off at one stage of time for her weak hubby was on the verge of another bout of illness just days before the trip. I had to stuff myself with vitamin C (1-2 tablets over the recommended dosage) + cod liver oil (the white colored ones & 1-2 spoons over the recommended dosage) and i must say these 2 works wonder for me. Vitamin C (Redoxon) helps improve our resistance to colds and runny nose while Cod liver Emulsion helps improves resistance to infections. The pairing of these 2 helps prevent my regular throat infections which brings about other ailments like fever & colds. I was on the verge of falling sick for almost a week before recovering on the day before the trip.

Then there was the car tyre thingie. One of the front wheels was a 'mended' tyre (punctured before) hence i wasnt so sure if it can last the distance without giving any problems. Also, i had problems inflating the spare tyre on the night before the trip. As usual, i had to consult my buddy, Lek, on all these little things (Thx Lek for enlightening me!!). After removing the spare tyre and bringing it to the petrol station to pump, i had to engage TT's help in fitting it back to the bottom of the car. I had to go beneath the car to guide the tyre in place while TT pulls the chain lever. After fitting it back, i wasnt sure if the spare tyre was secured enough to last the distance.

Finally, i had to come out with the best arrangement of car seats (this is the most wonderful thing about peugeot 307sw - it allows the removal of each individual car seat for the 2 & 3 row. You can turn the car into a 2 seater with loads of space) I enjoyed playing around with the arrangement eventhough the seats are all pretty heavy and ended up with a 2-2-1 formation (soccer terms!!) factoring in the need for the weight to be evenly distributed.

To top off the long night, TT & I had to transfer all the photos out of the memory cards (really a chore!). And as usual, TT packs the bags and the passports. It was a long night but we all know the importance of these preparations ahead of the even longer road trip ahead. And as usual, the kids slept peacefully with no worries, their Daddy was next to join them in Zzz land and their Mommy nowhere in sight... simply becos milk still needs to be pumped. I finally understand why some people say "Dont wait till the cows come home at night" ??!!

"It was Good" :)

It was a good trip. Within the span of 5 days, our little family of 4 + 1 helper achieved what i had in mind - namely:-

1) Stayed for 1 night in Colmar Tropicale, Bukit Tinggi Berjaya Hill Resort
2) Celebrated TT's birthday in Colmar with a pathetic looking and one of the worst tasting birthday cake TT will ever get (i swear for as long as there are no requests for me to bake one myself)
3) Family Bonding session - Totti K is most happy when our family hangs out together / Mei Mei was grouchy for most part though and extremely sticky to TT
4) Had cheap seafood in Tambun (little town before Penang)
5) Bonding for the kids with their Grand Mee, Uncle Jason, Auntie Miyaka and Little cousin Nathanal - Took Mei longer to adjust and Totti K just 1 hr to adjust, after which he was pretty sticky to his Grand Mee
6) Wonderful 1 night stay in a top class resort in Penang - Rasa Sayang Resort

Surprises:-
7) Had dinner in Ipoh
8) Had lunch in Klang - Not the famous Bah Ku Teh stall but still one nevertheless

Guess we will have to split the details of the trip up into several posts :)

Mama no work

After spending the last 6 full days and nights with the kids, I told K, so as to prepare him...

"Mama's going to work tomorrow"

He went "No, Mama, no. No work".

I said "If Mama no work, then I will not have any money. And I wont be able to pay Aunty Gigi to look after you".

K still said, "No Mama, no work"

So I asked my son of 28months, "Who will give Mama money then?"

He confidently said "Papa!"

So I asked, "Papa work? Mama no work?"

"Yes", he exclaimed.

What a smart boy he is... right daddy? :)