Our kids, Our Precious… 2

When we purchased our Digital Camera in 2008, initially we were thinking to get a Camcorder but unfortunately during that time it was still quite expensive. Recently, when we found that JL would be giving speech, we thought it would be time to start checking Camcorder price.

We went to survey and found GZ-MG750 Hard Disk Camcorder which was within our requirement. We didn’t purchase from the first shop but end up buying from another shop that had promotion where the price was cheaper than RM100 plus free spare battery. Initially the shop didn’t have any silver but managed to transfer from another branch for us. With the amount RM1399, PaPa signed up with 6 months interest-free installment.

It was great taking the moments with the kids and we really wished we had bought it earlier…if only we did… However, it was better late than never…

Next, it would be Christmas soon. It would be time to shop for Christmas presents and also Christmas tree. We would be recycling the same tree and ornaments. Hmm… maybe Mummy should find time to check Personalcreations.com to self DIY ornaments.

SuperStresss…

After so long, this time Mummy is in extreme high super stress… Stress with exam as exam date is approaching and also with work deadline. It is so bad that Mummy’s heart is beating so fast and fingers begin to shiver. Mummy’s team members in office realize how stress up Mummy that they take turn to ask Mummy out for a drink to calm Mummy.

Mummy hope Mummy stress level will reduce…

It has been so many years since the last time Mummy took university exam.

If Mummy does not make it this time, Mummy will need to re-take the test and pay the exam fees again. The exam fee is not cheap and is about USD 500.

Sigh… sigh….

Mummy only can just try Mummy’s best and pray hard…

JL’s Last Kindy Concert--14Nov2010

It would be JL’s last kindy concert as he would be going to Standard One in 2011. How time flies and our boy was no longer a baby anymore.

JL was given the opportunity with his friend VT to give speech in Bahasa Malaysia. It was a surprise from JL who had no sign of panic or stage fright. After many days and nights practicing with his teacher and with us at home, at last, we all could breathe sigh of relief. Everyone could sleep well now without having to take all natural sleep aid. JL practiced standing on the chair every night after memorizing 50% of the speech with some simple actions; it was nothing we could ask more to see him up there speaking with confidence. We were worried initially that he would get stress up with all the intense practice but he wanted to carry on despite having a tough time memorizing the speech. AL was supporting him by also pushing another chair next to her KorKor and practiced together.

Everyone was there to see his graduation, KongKong, PohPoh, MahMah, Yi Yee, Sam Yee and Sam Yee Cheong. JL was rewarded by us and also PohPoh for job well done with his speech. PaPa was with his Video Camera while Sam Yee Cheong was with our digital camera capturing every moment we could.

After speech and scroll giving event, JL sang in a choir and danced a Football Fever song.

Since it was a small kindy with limited students, the concert was a simple one with technical problem. The concert was not so fancy and grand like other kindergartens. On top of all the bad technical issues throughout the concert, we were contented that JL had all the guidance from his class teacher in preparing him for his Standard One in Chinese School. As both PaPa and Mummy were not a Mandarin speaking parents, JL spoke quite well in his mandarin and he could read mandarin better than his English. That was our main aim of changing JL to this small kindy which was also nearby to our apartment.

We hope JL have a great 4 years in his kindergarten life and he would be well equipped to move to next phase of his life.

JL, Happy Graduation …

We love you and all the best boy….

JL 1st day Challenge

Last weekend, we went to Popular bookstore to get some workbooks to keep JL occupy. JL loved to play game which was common to any boys. PaPa gave him a challenge that if he finished 1 page, he would earn 5 minutes time to play the game. Mummy told PaPa that it was a simple task for JL to achieve because if he wanted, he could achieve is easily. It was a matter whether he wanted or not. Mummy wanted to set 1 page = 1 minute but PaPa said don’t be tough on JL.

Today was off day for JL because yesterday was his kindy concert. JL took one book from the pile we bought when he went to KongKong and PohPoh’s apartment. In less than ½ of the day, he finished up the whole 58 pages of the book. He proudly passed to PaPa to earn his game time which was almost 5 hours… LOL….

PaPa was busy marking the whole book and guiding him on the mistake… Now, JL was having his time off to play his game.

Hmmmm…. Mummy wonder would this be a continuous achievement or just the 1st day only….

Yahooo…..AL - no more diapers

We had been using CD on AL since she was a baby except for a long trip where washing machine and drying area were not available, we would use the disposable diaper. PaPa used to keep track on all the disposable diapers prices but since we had cloth diapers, PaPa also lost track on the prices.

KongKong and PohPoh preferred to use napkin at home. This week Monday 08Nov2010, KongKong didn’t need to hand wash any napkin. We didn’t except AL to be potty train so fast because she was reluctant to sit on potty unlike JL who would sit on potty since he was a baby.

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Our journey with JL towards diaperless

For JL we started to go diaperless daytime when he was 2 years old with lots of running into toilet every 30 minutes to 1 hour and the time slowly became longer. Also many wet moments in the apartment, cleaning the floor, washing his pants etc. Eventually, JL who got frustrated with too many trips to toilet in shopping mall, at last he spoke and told us, ‘no shee shee’. Then we told him then he must tell us if he want to ‘shee shee’ to avoid us taking him to toilets often (because we didn’t want him to wet the shopping malls’ floors or carpets).

It took JL very long to be diaperless at night because he was successful daytime but not night time. We even woke up at midnight to take him to toilet. At last, using the last option, we stopped him from drinking water and other fluids from 9pm onwards. It worked….which we were so happy.

Our journey with AL towards diaperless

AL had been able to keep her diaper dry overnight (at least 90% of the nights) even before she was 2 years old. However, she didn’t like to sit on the potty and even adult toilet. At last on weekend, we decided to let her wear pants at home and showed her the potty.

For a few weeks, she refused potty but she would come and tell us she had ‘shee shee’ that her pants was wet. Besides that, she was even able to tell us the place where she had ‘shee shee’ to that we could clean up immediately rather than hunting for the spot in the whole apartment. Then we encouraged her to tell us that she wanted to ‘shee shee’ before she ‘shee shee’. Next, she would tell us and we would rush her to the potty. Sometimes, it was just false alarm.

She was initially upset that she would insist that she wanted to wear the cloth diaper especially the flowery, red and sheep design just to name a few of her favorites. We decided to shop for some cutie panties for her to motivate her hoping she would forget about her cutie cloth diapers.

One fine day, she decided to take the pants off, sit on the potty herself and carry the potty with her ‘shee shee’ to show to us proudly. Then everyone would clap hands and said she is so clever. She would smile and said ‘Mei Mei clever hor…’ KongKong was so excited that the first few days, he would sms everyone whenever AL successfully ‘shee shee’ or ‘poo poo’ in the potty – a few sms in a day.

When we go out to shopping mall, she would tell us she needed to go to toilet. She could control her bladder well by giving Mummy some time to clean up the toilet. AL got a foldable potty last year that we decided it would be time to take out to use.

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JL took us longer to potty train him fully but he was very co-operative boy.

AL took us shorter time to fully potty train her which surprised us because she was not co-operative initially like her KorKor.

So it is time for Mummy to keep all the cloth diapers until Mummy can decide what to do with the cloth diapers:

1. To pass to Mummy’s sister if she want to OR

2. To sell OR

3. Having another baby hmmmm still KIV ???

AL's 2nd haircut (07Nov2010) after her 1st haircut on 30July2010.

Mummy’s challenges --- Audit & Study

Mummy had less than one month as the exam date approaching. It was extremely scary. After the assignment in Denpasar, Mummy negotiated with Mummy’ s boss that for now till mid December 2010, Mummy would just concentrate on 2 projects - one on dashboard which Mummy still struggling to pick up the tool and the other one to assist in ERP Audit.

Mummy wanted to assist the audit in order to understand the actual audit process. Usually, in a team there would be only 2 persons but Mummy’s boss decided to put Mummy as the 3rd person to assist. Being auditor, Mummy had to read, search, understand and hunt for issues. Going through the whole bunch of documents including contracts and legal documents were challenging. If only there was document management software in this company because getting documents in this company could be a time consuming because all documents were scattered everywhere. It was like looking for a needle in the hay.

However, Mummy was glad that Mummy’s team mate was so patient answering Mummy’s questions and guiding Mummy in the assignment. It might be a busy and stressful task as auditor but it could be interesting forcing Mummy’s brain cells to work harder.

Study… Mummy would need lots of prayers to help Mummy to make time and also understand what Mummy studying. Studying something new as part time was challenging for Mummy who was not a smart and genius person. Some of my friends just need to study once and able to understand. Hopefully when Mummy passed than only Mummy would announce what paper Mummy studying…

Mummy… all the best, work hard, study hard, think positive, pray hard…

PaPa’s 2010 Birthday

On Saturday 06Nov2010, after church, we had dinner in a Chinese restaurant in TTDI where PaPa had his favorite sweet and sour pork. We had dinner with KongKong, PohPoh, Yi Yee, Sam Yee and Sam Yee Cheong. After that, we went to Sam Yee’s apartment for cake cutting and PaPa got a present from Sam Yee, Sam Yee Cheong and Yi Yee a car modulator to play MP3 songs.

The old modulator was put in Kancil and this new one would be for Iswara. It was a much better than the old modulator which had a remote control and also able to continue song from where it stopped plus a bigger digital screen. JL played Wii with Sam Yee Cheong. They played golf, tennis and bowling.

On Sunday 07Nov2010, we had lunch in another Chinese restaurant in Kepong and again PaPa had his favorite dish, sweet and sour pork. This time we had lunch with MahMah, Tai Pak and his family, Sam Sok and Aunty Pat.

We went home to rest and dinner time we went out just 4 of us to Sakae Sushi Subang Parade, our family favorite place. Since it was 1st Sunday of the month, JL had a free kid meal. After our family dinner, we went walking around Subang Parade then across Empire Square where the kids wanted to go- Toys r us. AL even know how to read the Toys r us logo because when we were on Federal Highway, she was pointing at Empire Square and telling us ‘Go Toys r us’.

On Monday 08Nov2010, was PaPa’s actual birthday and JL woke up early to surprise PaPa with a slice of Chocolate Banana cake from Secret Recipe. He walked with the candle lighted on the cake and sang to PaPa who was still sleeping. Then PaPa woke up to eat the cake with JL. Mummy sent JL to kindy and that day Mummy took off. Besides it was PaPa’s birthday, Mummy also needed a break.

Morning, PaPa did some work at home while checking the online auction in case any interesting things in auction. Later about 9.30am, Mummy followed PaPa in the car to KL to get his work done then we went to Jalan Pasar to hunt for car speaker because one of the Iswara car speakers had already spoilt for quite some time.

After KL, we went to PJ State to Telekom to get our free cordless phone because we upgraded the apartment to unlimited streamyx and new combo where calling any local house or office Telekom lines in Malaysia would be free. Then we went to our regular spare part shop to get Kancil engine oil and oil filter because the next maintenance would be done by PaPa. At the spare part shop also we sold Kancil old battery for RM10.

From PJ State, we went to check our small mini safe deposit box then proceed to 1Utama. We had our lunch just 2 of us in Dave’s because it was weekday lunch, the pasta was 50%. We had one Ceaser’s Salad and one olive oil pasta. It was lovely meal. After lunch, we went for a fast shopping and managed to get some Christmas gifts for some friends’ kids.

Then we went home and fetch the kids early because PohPoh was not feeling well. PaPa and Mummy took a short powernap while the kids conquered the living room.

Blessed Birthday to you PaPa….

Happy Birthday to PaPa !!!

from us... Mummy, JL boy & AL girl....

Last BF photos…

Mummy managed to get PaPa to take some photos on the last time Mummy breastfeed AL. It was 31 August 2010 noon when AL took her last breast milk. Until now, AL still liked to hold on Mummy’s bra strap to get comfort knowing she could not take any more breast milk. It was quite a sad moment because Mummy and AL were attached to each other. Breastfeeding also had been a great fat burner and hopefully after that, Mummy would not need Lipofuze to burn the fats. How Mummy missed the moment….

‘Excuse Me’ and ‘Ok lah’, etc…

AL’s speech really surprises us. Here are some of it…

PaPa was folding clothes in the sitting room and moving around until he blocked the TV. Suddenly, a soft but firm voice

“Excuse me, PaPa. MeiMei cannot see show”.

PaPa was speechless…

One day on KorKor’s bed, she refused to move herself to come down from the bed instead she insisted that KorKor should make way for her…

“Excuse me, KorKor”.

Then,

“PaPa, come and help MeiMei, KorKor no want to move and MeiMei cannot go down”. PaPa was laughing silently walking from kitchen to the kids’ room

Yesterday, she was in the kitchen and in the sitting room, Mummy was calling for her. Suddenly, instead of seeing her coming, Mummy heard this

“Ok lah Mummy”.

Mummy was speechless.

While walking, PaPa was walking in front. She would shout and said “PaPa, wait for me…wait….”

In the car, “PaPa, KorKor sleeping MeiMei’s carseat”. Actually JL was just leaning at the side of her carseat to sleep only….

At night, Mummy said, "KorKor, please go and brush teeth. Get ready to sleep.” If KorKor did not move, next moment, someone would be reminding him “KorKor, go brush teeth and sleep, faster”

There would be more to share once Mummy remembers…

Troubleshooting computers

PaPa graduated as an mechanicel engineer but worked in computer shop for some time to pick up some skill to troubleshoot computers. When he joined his first company, his unwritten job description was to help to maintain the staffs’ notebook and desktop plus company’s server.

Even now, his own business notebook which had been down for almost one week was managed to set-up back by him. Maybe he would need to update his knowledge now as he was busy with his work that he almost lost touch of his skill. Would he be able to troubleshoot an Industrial pc?

What happen when Google Reader hit almost 500?

This is what happens when Mummy didn’t log-in Google Reader for more than one week. More than 500+ to read and so many that Mummy misses… Mummy read all the posts but cannot put comments on the posts…

Is it stress? Mummy enjoys reading all the posts because it was a great stress buster and laughing by own self… Mummy still in the midst clearing the Google Reader. Hopefully by this week it will be cleared…

It is already November!!! How time flies…..

Household expenses…

Managing household expenses could be a tedious job. After few years with many versions of budget sheets Mummy modified, Mummy was quite happy with this year template modified. Even though it was not perfect, this would help to avoid us from getting payday advances. However, Mummy was not so diligent in keeping the discipline on tracking the daily meals transaction. The simple excel spreadsheet was to keep track of big item to make sure we did not miss the deadline to avoid interest such as apartment loan and credit cards.

Noe Mummy in the midst of preparing next year (2011) template making adjustment on the expense as the kids would be moving to the next phase of their lives.

Speak words that BUILD others not DESTROY others…

This was what Mummy truly agreed with the last weekend teaching Mummy listened from the church.

Our tongue is a powerful weapon which can help to build, motivate and encourage others. On another hand it can also be a sword piercing through others heart causing damaging on a person’s self confident and also destroy a relationship.

It is hard to control our tongue but practice makes perfect. Mummy used to release everything out without thinking especially when losing temper until something wake Mummy up that words which have been release can never been taken back. Since then, Mummy has learnt that, no matter how hurting is the situation, just be patient and keep quiet than, find other way to release the frustrations. The best way is always to talk to God to seek peace.

Even though some of Mummy’s friends said why Mummy is so stupid letting people scold Mummy and yet Mummy just keeps quiet. It is no point to shout to an angry person because it is like pouring oil or petrol onto a fire causing the fire to grow bigger.

For example, when Mummy’s boss out of anger scolded Mummy, it was hurting, trust me. Mummy just kept extreme quiet and tears accumulating in the eyes with the only words coming out from Mummy’s mouth was ‘I am sorry’ even though it was not Mummy’s fault 100%. For one whole day, Mummy kept extreme quiet to avoid talking anything negative to Mummy’s boss or talking to others about what Mummy’s boss did. Only close colleagues within the same team knew about it and helped Mummy to keep quiet too. It was hard not to express Mummy’s heart out but at last Mummy’s boss knew what he did that he called. Even though he did not say sorry (being a man, it is hard for them to say sorry), Mummy did not want to flare Mummy’s anger to him because ‘What will I get if I shout and show my disappointment?’ Then answer was ‘Nothing’, so why waste Mummy’s time.

Maybe some of you disagree with Mummy but then Mummy learns, “Speak words that BUILD others not DESTROY others”. Another phrase that keeps reminding Mummy is “Don’t speak unless there are nice words to speak out”.

It is hard to practice in reality but Mummy is trying very hard… Last Saturday teaching has reminded Mummy because Mummy realize that as time pass with all the challenges in the world, Mummy tends to be moving away from the right path that Mummy needs to bring Mummy self back on track.

Mummy hopes everyone will have a good day starting from today…01 November 2010 on this great Monday.

Mummy also wishes to say sorry to all whom Mummy has directly or indirectly hurt your feelings.