What is my 13 months old baby capable of?

Anney started to walk independently a week before she turns 1. And now at 13 months , she is quite a pro at crawling, walking, standing, bending down, squat down and and stand up again, picking thing using her thumb and index finger, carry thing while walking, pointing at thing and commanding mommy or daddy to do this and that and the list goes on.

Just last weekend, she learns this new trick....to climb up the big sofa in our family hall.

See this is what my little monkey is doing...

Mom, I think your big sofa is more comfy, let me try

Mom, I'm almost there

Mom, it is not too difficult to climb this sofa?

Mom, I did it!
(Check out her cheeky look)

Look like it is going to be more work to supervise her now!

An afternoon with Bob Blumer @ 25 April 2009

It was a hot afternoon and I had a chance to spend an afternoon with Bob Blumer. Yes, Bob Blumer, the celebrity chef! *Grin*

It was a high-tea cum cooking demo by Bob Blumer at Cafe 7ateNine, The Ascott, Kuala Lumpur, proudly organised by Astro Life.

Bob Blumer is the hose of Food Network's The Surreal Gourmet and Glutton for Punishment. He is also a cook book author and has written 4 books to-date. Bob is quite a funny person and he shares his story about how he won the world record by flipping 559 pancakes in an hour! He also shares his experience where he has a 2-hours diving crash course before an undersea shooting.

One of the cookbook written by Bob Blumer

Werney posing with Bob Blumer's poster

In the cooking demo, Bob dished up some of his signature dishes such as Chicken Popsicles, Coconut Shrimp Lollipops and Chocolate Wonton as dessert. Yes, the names were really out of the ordinary but there are absolutely tasty!

Yummy foods that I got to try...

Bob posing with the Chicken Popsicles that is the busy dishing out

Bob busy arranging the Coconut Shrimp Lollipops on the watermelon wedge

The afternoon ended with photo session and autograph session by Bob Blumer.

Catch Bob Blumer's new season premier on Astro 707 on May 11, 2009!

Werney's autographed copy of The Surreal Gourmet Bite by Bob Blumer (not that my 5 year old can cook or read well yet!)

Disney On Ice, Princess Wishes @ 22 March 2009

We went and watched the highly acclaimed Disney On Ice Princess Wishes show at Bukit Jalil Indoor Stadium on 22 March 2009.

I think this year show was much better than some of the previous Disney On Ice that I have watched. The settings and costumes were really colourful and I especially like the Cinderella's carriage. Though the ticket was not cheap, we had a good deal by buying the Family Package with 20% discount & got the first row of the seats.

Werney truly enjoy herself but Anney was not so patient though.....after the interval, Anney fell a sleep till the end of the show. Luckily, children below 3 years old is free!

Werney dressed up as Belle from Beauty & the Beast

Princess Ariel @ The Mermaid

Cinderella & Prince Charming

Minnie Mouse

Some scenes from Be My Guest @ Beauty & the Beast

Princess Jasmine & Alladin

Genie

Firework at the finale!

Anney's 1 year old birthday @ 9 March

-Backdated post-

We celebrated Anney's birthday at home and it was also because we wanted to do a 2-in-1, housewarming party and birthday do. We had just moved into our cozy 2-storeys house in Jan 2009, right before Chinese New Year.

As we had expected about 100 guests including 30 children, I have ordered food from a local catering company as there is no way I could cook for so many. However, I did prepared some honey grilled chicken drumstick, sausages, marshmallow, nuggets and plenty of sweets for the children.

Cooking from yours truly.....

Cupcakes from Tracey @ www.specialcakes.net

Mickey birthday cake from Tracey too!

We also have Stanley from Stanley Event Management to entertain the children. It was really entertaining seeing all the magic tricks and games and I feel like a child myself. Stanley even have a real bird for the magic show and all the children go "wow"!

Stanley busy entertaining the kids

Li Young helping Stanley with the clown make-up

See how excited were the kids!

Birthday girl, Anney receiving the Best Personality Award from Stanley

Werney enjoying herself

Joey & Jessica with mommy Dina

One of the twin - Jade Shin or Thong Shin? I can't tell

Little Wen Kate

Little Bryan

Jamie

Jayden

Pressie from all the generous Aunties & Uncles! Thanks!

Overall it was great fun but a little tiring for my little Anney. I think she was overwhelmed with all the guests we have that night.

Happy Birthday Anney with lots of love from Daddy, Mommy & Big Sister, Werney!

Special thanks to Eddie Lee for helping us to snap some of the gorgeous moments above!

Dad has been discharged!

Dad was finally discharged from the hospital after 28 hours and few doses of antibiotic drip via IV line. His throat is still a little sore from the surgery but he can eat, sleep and talk now. I think he misses the talking part the most coz' my Dad is quite a chatter box. All this cost us more than RM1,500++ for the hospitalisation bill.

All of us are really relieved and hopefully, there will not be any further complications post-surgery.

Dad is hospitalised!

Yesterday was really an eventful day.

At 10am, I got a call my Sis#4 informing me that Dad wanted to go to a Specialist. Dad has been complaining about sore throat, followed by pain when chewing foods, no appetite, swollen & numb face on his right side and yesterday, he was complaining that his right eye was painful when he blinked his eyes. Dad is also losing his voice.

The first think that came to my mind is....which Specialist? Do I bring him to a Neurologist? ENT? or whatever initial there is! Dad has visited 2 GP so far and was given 2 course of antibiotic and yet, his condition has not improved.

So after some checking over the world wide web etc, we decided to send him to ENT since his first illness was sore throat. Then it was followed by frantic calls to ENT specialist clinic and hospital to decide which Dr. is available immediately.

We found a Specialist on duty at a nearby hospital and were told that dad has pus in this throat. How did a harmless sore throat become so infected that it has pus in it? An immediate surgery is required to remove the pus and Dad need to be hospitalised for observation after the surgery due to Dad's age and medical condition.

The Dr. has to cut a small area around the throat (inside) to remove the pus with local anaesthetic. The pus has became so thick that when the Dr. try to drain it, it was already hardened (no longer in liquid form)....I know it sound yucky right!

Dad is now on antibiotic drip and after the surgery, he seem to be so much better. He is still in the hospital and not sure whether he could be discharged today or not.

Hopefully, Dad will get well soon.

My Monday is not so BLUE!

Admit it, you hate MONDAY. You have pushed the snooze button on your alarm clock 3 times when it rang at 7 am and reluctantly you drag yourself up from bed still feeling tired although you had already slept for 8 hours. Then you secretly hope that you will have a temperature so that you can call in sick! Well, that is the Monday blue!

But today, my Monday is not so blue!

I just got an email that I won a pair of CROCS Lena Heel worth RM189 from a local magazine. Hurray! Hurray! I don’t recall winning anything big from the many local magazines that I religiously purchased every month, from women magazine to baby to health & beauty!


Look at how gorgeous is this baby? Come in 3 colours - black, brown and bronze (as above)! I personally love the bronze colour one.

Well, I guess it is a great way to start my work week!

Happy working everyone!

I heard this song over the radio this morning .....

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad
[Repeat all verses]

Recognised the lyric? Yes, it is from the very famous Sound of Music! The song does bring back many fond memories for me....I used to sing this out loud with all my school friends back in school then while some of them will play the instruments. We will giggle and laugh like there is no tomorrow....that is always the case in a convent school right?

Hearing the song now also made me pondered....what are the little, everyday things that make us HAPPY?Little, everyday things that make me HAPPY:-

• Seeing my little angels happy face
• When my angels said, Mom, I love you!
• No traffic on the road
• Freshly brewed coffee
• A new handbag
  

So what are the little things in life that make you H.A.P.P.Y?

I am jealous of my Mom!

My elder daughter, Werney is the eldest grandchild in my family. Since birth, my mom has been taking care of her, when both my DH and myself were at work.

The bond between them has been really strong and undeniably, my daughter will choose my mom over anyone else!

This incident happen yesterday. As usual, I will fetch my daughters (Werney & Anney) home from my mom's house after dinner. And in the car yesterday....

Werney: Mom, I forgot to say goodbye to Po Po ("Grandma") [in rather sad tone]

Me: I thought I heard Po Po said goodbye to you?

Werney: No, I didn't hear that

Me: It is okay, you will see Po Po again tomorrow morning

Werney: But I really want to say goodbye to her....I really missed her [already in teary eye] {we just left my mom's house 5 minutes ago!}

Me: Okay, okay, we call Po Po now and you can say goodbye to her

Me trying to dial the phone and put on the speaker mode. After the short exchange of conversations between my daughter and my mom, we reached home.

Werney was in teary eye when we got down the car and insisted that we should go back to grandma house so that she could say goodbye, kiss & hug (me scratching head already!). Thanks God, we stay 5 minutes drive away from my mom's house. Reluctantly, I send her back to my mom's house so that she could exchange her goodbye and we have a happy, smiling kid again.

Mom, I am really jealous of you.

But then again, I am really grateful for all the love you have showered me and my daughters. Without you, I would definitely be so lost!

Mom, I wish you an early Happy Mother Day! And Good Health to you!

Fancy a free night stay at Phuket?

Are you feeling stress from your daily work and kids? Wish you were sipping iced-cold orange juice under the palmy coconut tree, with the sound of waves to soothe your senses?


Look no further....Laguna Resorts & Hotels Public Company Limited in cooperation with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, announced the launch of the “100,000 Smiles in Laguna Phuket” promotion whereby six Laguna Phuket hotels will offer up to 100,000 complimentary room nights in an attempt to reverse the slowdown in tourist arrivals to the holiday island of Phuket.


Laguna Phuket has the following hotels and villas under their chains:

• Banyan Tree Phuket
• Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket
• Laguna Beach Resort
• Sheraton Grande Laguna
• Allamanda Laguna Phuket
• Laguna Holiday Club Resort
  
• Laguna Phuket Holiday Residences

Book online from now till 30 April 2009 to stay at any of the Laguna Phuket resorts from 15 March - 15 December 2009 and enjoy one complimentary night per online booking at Best Available Rate. Do check out their website at www.lagunaphuket.com for more details.

I've already booked myself 4 nights at Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket and paying for 2 nights only! What a deal! Tip.....as the offer is valid for 1 free night stay per booking....remember to split your booking to enjoy more free nights!

Paradise, here I come!