Hello 2011!!!

Since I last posted, Euan has grown up alot. He'll be 3 months old in a few days time and is due for his 3rd month immunisation jab on the same day. This little baby still is very sweet and considerate. He has taken to sucking his own fingers to comfort himself. During the night, he comforts himself back to sleep and only cry for feed if he really have to. Very thoughtful baby hahaha! He recognises faces and ask to be picked up in his own way. During bath time, you can ask him to kick the water and he would proudly do so with a big toothless grin on his face. These few days, it's as if he just noticed his tiny toes. He would wiggle them and move his feet in circular movement whilst watching intently. I guess his feet are always covered by his sleepsuit, hence he never knew. Euan adores his daddy and Tobey. He loves watching them play from a corner and would not take his eyes off them and their toys.

Euan watching daddy and Tobey playing Wii. These pictures were taken on the 5/12. When Euan was 2 months old. Will load up his recent pics soon.

See how he happily joined in the gang

Learning from his big brother

*** Warning- Long winded posting below***

December hasn't been a good month for us health wise.

It started with SK accidentally shut the door on Tobey's left ring finger on the 7th of Dec. We rushed him to A&E and his finger was x-rayed. It had a hairline fracture at the very tip. They bandaged him up and put him on a course of antibiotic to avoid any infection. We kept him home from pre-school but he still went to perform in his nativity play on the 9th as he had been practicing really hard for it. As he's a sheep for the play, he's suppose to take off his t-shirt before putting on his costume. He refused and wouldn't let his teacher take it off for fear that it might hurt his bandaged finger.

my darling with his injured finger

He got really bored midway

Posing with something we won in the raffles draw

We took him for further 3 check-ups. It's all healed now, but the boy still insist on having a bandage on until his new nail grows back. Whenever he accidentally pull off the bandage he would cry out of fear, as if his finger fell off. Silly bunny.

On the 19th, Tobey started to have a flu. For the next few days he had mild temperature at night and that followed by a terrible cough for a couple more days. Other than being snotty and very lethargic, he was well in himself, as in he still as active as usual. We wanted to bring to go to the church service on the eve of Christmas, but since he's still not completely well, we didn't. When he got better, except for a lingering cough, SK and Euan fell ill with the same virus on Christmas day! Both of them were being hit REALLY hard by this strain. SK was literally bed-ridden for a few days. It was so heart-breaking seeing them being so weak! I weren't so worried about SK, but was quite panicky for Euan. He was just 12 weeks old. I didn't want to leave any stone unturned and was ultra alert of the symptomsor changes. For the first 3 nights, I took him to see the out- of- hours doctors. The doctor on the first night even offered him antibiotics! I stopped after 24 hours as it did not take effect( after seeking approval from a doctor first of course) and I was then pretty sure it was a viral flu. Antibiotics would not help. I don't understand how can a doctor just put his finger in the air and simply prescribe antibiotic to such a small infant. On the second night, he vomited one of his feeds. The second out-of-hours doctor said it's just a very bad flu. Just treat him with calpol(children paracetamol) and neurofen (children ibuprofen) at home and let the virus run it's course. On the third night, his cough was getting so bad that it again triggered his gag system and he vomited twice. I was so anxious and thankfully the third out-of-hours doctor wrote us a letter and referred him to be seen by the paediatrician immediately. Euan was being examined thoroughly for the next couple of hours (wee hours of the morning till 5 am). I told them that my concern is his hacking cough that is so bad that it's causing his body to jerk and gag. He is being diagnosed as having Bronchiolitis. Apparently, this virus affects mostly babies between 3-6 months during the winter months. they have been seeing so many babies this winter down with the same virus. The symptoms are mainly coughing, accompanied by mild fever for the first few days. The coughing is the only way the babies use to clear their airway of mucus. Since babies aren't able to spit out phlegm like adults, they just retain it longer until it's being expelled in their diapers. The severity of the symptoms peaks at day 3 then it stays bad for 4 days and gets gradually better in the next 3-4 days. There's nothing the doctors could prescribe him. We were just instructed to keep him hydrated and temperature down. I think he turned the corner and started to get better on day 7, except for the irritating cough. Again, I took him to the our local Cambourne paediatric doctor to be checked out again, just to make sure he hasn't got any secondary infection such as a sore throat. He was alright. She told me that almost all of Cambourne babies are down with this virus this winter, it just went around the village. Great. Today is day 10 and he's 95% back to himself. There's still this stupid damn cough that appears a few times in a day. Oh, hubby's purchase of a vaporiser is worth every penny. It humidified Euan's room and help loosen his mucus from his nose and airway, hence made his breathing easier and gave him better sleep. And to think that I actually objected to this purchase a few months back. Sigh.

SK is also almost back to his usual self. He's alright, except that he felt cheated of his Christmas holidays. 8 days were used up to nurse this virus off system. I think before next winter break, I would try to keep Tobey off school for a few days. Really don't want any of us to spend another Christmas being sick.

As for me, I am just so glad that my 3 sweethearts are ok now. I only managed to go to the sales twice. But didn't managed to get anything for myself both times. However, I did quite good on the internet shopping front. Breastfeeding shrinked me a little, so I dug out many pairs of jeans which were banished to the top of the cupboard and suddenly have new clothes to wear..hehe.

To family and friends, here's wishing you good health and lots of love in 2011.

Hunstanton Beach

We and our cool "peaces"..hahahaha

Last Saturday, we finally ventured to a UK beach. I've never been to a beach to a UK before...hehe.. Southampton port is not counted. Anyhoo, we wanted a beach that is not too commercialised in hope that it's not too crowded and polluted over a summer weekend. A friend who used to live in the Norfolk area recommended Hunstanton. Whilst we were packing for the trip, Tobey reminded me to bring his favourite snack and toy. Of course, his "seaside cream" as well (Sunblock). Of course, I also packed spades, pails, towels, beach ball, float, slippers, wellington boot, change of clothes, shower gel, wipes, picnic mat, snacks, plastic cutleries and cups, and 6 bottles of 2L mineral water (it was a smart move by SK actually, because they don't have a shower facility there, so we actually used these bottles to bath Tobey before changing him into clean clothes so that he can sleep comfortably on the way back. If there's sand on him, he'll probably complain till there's no tomorrow. He's fussy that way ;P)

The journey there was mostly single carriage roads sandwiched by countryside for 1 hr 30 mins. YAWN. Tobey was very patient and too excited to sleep on the way there...Once we found a spot on the beach, he quickly requested for his spade and pail and immediately started building his sandcastles.

After one successful castle, he asked me " Mummy, where's the FLAG!?" Huh??? And I thought I have packed everything he could ever wanted for a beach outing. Anyways, I tied a ribbon on a plastic spoon and tell him that's his flag.

Then SK went to the sea with him. He wants to bring his spade and pail into the sea, plus wear his cap too.
I went to get lunch from those street vendors and a parasol for us as it was getting too sunny. After lunch, I just sat myself like a whale under the parasol, kept slapping suncream on myself and people watched. For us, it's not crowded at all, as there's lots of space between our picnic spot to another. The beach is sandy with big stones mixed in. Sigh, how I miss the sandy white sand of Malaysian beaches. The water was abit murky too.

I also saw that SK and Tobey ventured further and further away. This daddy was trying to encourage his son to go further into the sea, by throwing the ball further off and encouraged him to go get it. Tobey was in his round float and was ok floating around for as long as his feet can touch the ground when he stands in the water. I wasn't too worried also knowing that SK is quite a good swimmer :)
After about 3 1/2 hours, we cleaned-up, packed up and went home. The boy slept all the way home. He enjoyed it alot, kept saying " My love my seaside, please go seaside again please"...that equals to a successful trip in SK's and my books ;)

Disneyland Paris 2010

Ok. Actually this trip is for Tobey, before the new baby comes along. He has been watching alot of Disney movies (favourite being Toy Story) and programmes on TV, so he's pretty familiar with the characters and at a ripe age/tall enough to start enjoying most of the rides in the parks. Since we won't be throwing him a 3rd birthday party, this is also to make it up.

We were there for 4days/3nights. This Disneyland is made up of Disneyland Park and Walk Disney Studio Park. Disneyland park is subdivided into 5 other areas with different themes (Discoveryland, Fantasyland,Adventureland,Frontierland and Mainstreet, USA). Walt Disney studios is much smaller with live show studios, stadium for stunt show and also cinemas for animation shows.Both parks were really well-maintained. Roses in front of castles, beautiful waterfalls, no rubbish on the ground, well manicured lawns...the dedication put into making the whole disney experience alive for kids was amazing. We stayed in New York Disney Hotel. Old deco but spacious and only 5 minutes walk to the parks. Too many pictures to post, too many rides and adventures to write about. So I'll just post a few to summarise things up.

First 2 days were sunny and hot! We slapped on tonnes of sun cream and ventured into the Disneyland Park until the closing time. Hehe :)

We went on like 20 rides. This Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast ride was Tobey's favourite. We went on it for 4 times! Thank God for fast passes.The Le carrousel De Lancelot ride

Here's a 6 months pregnant woman on a horse :p

Autopia- Where Tobey gets to drive daddy around for a change (daddy pressed on the accelerator, whilst Tobey steered the wheels)

Lunch break entertainment. Tobey was dancing on the bench to the music whilst munching on his lunch

"It's a small world" ride. My favourite. It was beautiful and so well presented.

Here is Tobey with his favourite Disney characters. He called them his "friends". Starting with Minnie,

With Mickey

With Woody and Jessie

With Goofy. He was leaning his head on Goofy's palm, as in to sayang him. My sweet boy :)

I think this is Simba Timon not sure.

with unidentified monkey character

and the piece de resistance- a meeting with Buzz lightyear himself. His current favourite cartoon hero.

In the studios, Tobey's favourite was not Playhouse Disney live show nor Stitch Live...

...it was the Motor Stunt Show Spectacular! We watched it on the last day and it was pouring cats and dogs, but still they managed to do all those dangerous stunts without accidents.

It was SK's favourite too. SK rode on several other more thrilling rides (such as Space Mountain: Mission 2 which is a gravity defying roller-coaster in the dark ) which are not suitable for kids and preggy woman.

Of course, we took sometime off to visit Paris. It's more for me, as I have not been there before. It's just like another big city. Not as pretty as London. Dirty metros and people are not that friendly.

Happy 3rd Birthday my darling boy. Mummy and daddy loves you around the universe and back ..then more :)

London Zoo

We took the train down to London to visit ZSL London Zoo. This would be the 2nd time Tobey got on a train. The first time when he was about a year old, but I doubt he remembers. The 45 minutes journey went by quite slowly for us parents as the boy kept asking questions about why the train stopping at other stations? Are we in a tunnel? and various other questions again and again. I think he expected a steam engine train complete with "Choo-Choo" sound..hehe! We told him we got n a modern train instead.
Once in London we took the tube. A first for him again. It's a "smaller train" according to him. From Camden Town station, we walked for about 15 minutes to the Zoo entrance.
Last Summer, we took him to Colchester Zoo. We were expecting London Zoo to be much bigger and better from what we heard from friends who visited. But it's actually much smaller. In Colchester Zoo, the Safari area was a huge piece of sandy field where all the safari animals mingled amongst themselves. We also managed to witness Warthogs fights. In London Zoo, they were just normal sized stalls for each individual type of safari animals. What can we expect eh?, It's after all in the middle of a metropolitan.There weren't even Elephants for us to feed nuts to! Plus the animal petting area just consisted of Sheeps when we were there.
Anyway, we are still thankful for a great day out as it was suppose to rain but it just drizzled twice for 5 minutes when we were walking the grounds. We also managed to watch a 20 minutes live show called "Animal in Action". Like us, Tobey is not a fan of animals. He just lingered a minute or two at each exhibit before saying "my see something else please". He is more fascinated in reading the map and pretend to direct us to the next stall. Oh well.

Mr. Map reader
Jelly Fishes

Most co-operative Penguins ever. They literally parade themselves for the visitors at all times. Walking around the pond, lining-up or simply just walked forward in a group and stared point-blank at the spectators. For a while, I wondered that maybe they are the spectators of us silly people at the other side of the fence.

Easter break'10

Easter break starts on Friday (Good Friday) and stretches until Monday.

On Friday, SK needed to work from home and needed some ultra-quiet work time, it was raining cats and dogs, so I brought Tobey to this play centre to make use of his excess energy. Being a public holiday, the place was heaving with older kids. With my pregnant tummy, I could no longer trail him in those structures as certain section requires me squeeze my whole body through 2 rollers, like pan meen rollers. So I told him to fend for himself, make sure he stay away from rowdy kids. I parked myself at a table nearest to the structures so that I can still keep an eye on him. We had lunch there too. After like 3 hours I had to drag the boy out.

On Saturday, we went to town, came home, he still got the energy so we went cycling to the nearby playground.

On Sunday (and Monday), we went up to Birmingham to stay a night and to help BIL view a few apartments. That morning, I was the first to wake-up because going to Birmingham also means visits to Malaysian Delight Restaurant. I dreamt of their Assam Laksa the night before....slurp...

Anyways, in between viewings we had lunch there with BIL- Super gorgeous Assam Laksa, Wa Tan Hor (another one for ta-pau as well), Braised pork belly with yam and Char keow teow. Then after more viewings (all the shops were closed because it was Easter Sunday) we chilled out in the hotel club lounge eating canapes and helping ourselves to free drinks (ahem..that's the advantage of having BIL working in a hotel) but all I can think of is dinner back in the same place. So dinner time came and for dinner we had -Butter Prawns, Belachan Kang-Kung, Claypot seafood with tofu, Sizzling pork chops....just your average dinner food when eating out in Malaysia right? nothing to shout about. But having authentic Malaysian dinner served in this country is really a rare treat. Very often in chinese restaurants, you'll find Hong Kong cuisine being served instead. We've also tried several other restaurants that serves Malaysian food, but nothing as authentic as this one.

Anyways, here are several pics
Tobey and I chilling out in the room. Tobey is playing Jelly Car on the iphone (he is laughing to himself in the picture above) and I am playing his DSi.


Yes the boy is a gamer. We had to confiscate Wii from him because he was refusing to do anything else whilst playing it. "Tobey time for dinner", "wait 1 minute mummy". We kept it in the cupboards and told him that it's spoilt and being sent for fixing (sorry boy, but it was too overwhelming for you). To cater to his geeky gaming genes from his daddy, plus to further nurture his concentration skill, we substituted it with a DSi game console instead. It works. He enjoys it moderately whilst still rather go out for cycling, football, crafts activities, playing with his friends, etc. Lately, he's been surfing the Internet on my laptop too. He can't read or spell yet, but he can navigate and click on fixed links at the top of the window using the touch pad. Usually he'll click onto the BBC link and look for CBeebies website. He will then look for games to amuse himself. To avoid him being obsessed over it, we only allow him some time on the laptop after dinner/lunch. Both SK and I are trying to let him enjoy these moderately and not deprived him from it altogether. Because the last thing we want of him is to become stuck in his room, gaming his time away into his teens. Honestly, it's not exactly the route to a balance healthy lifestyle. It has to be one of the activities that he enjoys amongst others.

Conversation with my 2 yrs 9 mths old boy

1)Tobey and mummy at the top of the stairs

M: Let's go downstairs boy
T: let's go!

The next thing I know, he wrapped his hands and legs on the stairs vertical banister/rail thingy.

M:Argh! What are you doing? Get off!
T: I'm Fireman Sam, my slide downstairs.

Fireman Sam is his current cartoon hero.


2)Tobey checking my tummy with his stethoscope

T: My checking baby
M: Is baby sleeping?
T: No, playing toys


3)Mummy rubbing tummy on bed with Tobey next to her

M: You'll have to be a big brother an look after baby when he/she is out ok?

Tobey stared into my belly button

M: Oi! Concentrate, mummy is talking to you. You'll have to help mummy look after baby, ok?

Tobey leaned forward and looked into my belly button more intently and seriously.

M: Hey, I am talking to you.
T: My looking after baby now!

He was trying to look AT baby through my belly button

Where has Spring gone?

It's been the longest winter ever in my 8 years here. When we thought we heard Spring at the doorstep, the snow will swiftly come and greet us (how I wish I am in the Malaysia, under the scorching CNY sun). Like this morning, it was frosty and white again outside. Fortunately, the sun came out and melted off the ice on my car (It was about 2-3 celcius) Yay! no need to scrape windscreen. Tobey and I went for our usual Friday town outings. It's usually when I stock up on groceries from the Chinese supermarket, toiletries/vitamins/nappies from Boots and do a bit of window shopping. It's the best time, as that is when every store is stocked up for the weekend. So you get your hands on the weekend offers and abundance of stock /options without the weekend crowd.

It's also the day where we try to lunch at new places. I heard of this noodle bar from a friend, but I could never find it in the Cambridge town street maze, until today. It's Yippee Noodle Bar.

Tobey was trying to dig into the noodles with his chopsticks (from the right side)

We shared a bowl of Beef HoFun noodle soup. Abit like Vietnamese Beef Pho, with tastier and thicker soup. We also had some Tempura prawns. Both were really good. SK wants to try it for himself tomorrow. I hope I can find the restaurant again ;P

Christmas 2009

a beautiful rainbow on our way back

We went up to Birmingham for 2 nights to celebrate Christmas with BIL and his partner, Ann. Plus also to 'hit the sales' on Boxing day...hehe...We stayed in BIL's hotel and had steamboat as Christmas Dinner.

Ann with BIL and our little Christmas spread.

Tobey with his uncle. He calls him "tup-tup" (instead of "Suk-Suk")

Gone were the days where we would leave the hotel at 6 am and speedwalk for 10 minutes, making sure we are the first customers at Next. Now, (or rather after being parents) we value our sleep more. Furthermore, there was no way we could compete with the younger generation of today. They lined up outside Next (in the cold) since 4am. Doors opened at 7am. Cheesin(spoken like a true oldie ;P). We started at 10 am and by 3pm, Tobey was too bothered by the massive crowd, so we went back to the room for him to rest. Instead, he happily spent the next hour or so playing with everything electronic in the room.

Here's my baby in the midst of his phone 'conversations'

I did managed to sneak out for some alone shopping time when both father and son were asleep. That was really good.