Mainly about Elyssa

New York , New York !

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:45:00 +0000

*final part of my US trip*

After shopping at San Marcos, the next part of my trip was to New York to visit a very good friend of mine from school.

I almost didn't make it to New York though. When I was in Houston, I was half thinking of flying back directly after the work week, cos the NY flight tickets were more expensive that I budgeted (darn the 7 day window!!) and mainly cos I was missing Elyssa so much. I called up MAS but was told that every flight was fully booked for that week. In hindsight, that turned out to be a blessing as I really enjoyed shopping at San Marcos and my New York trip :)

Excluding travel time, I had 4 full days in New York. I didn't visit any of the famous museums like Guggenheim Museum, American Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ha hah..... I guess I wasn't feeling particularly "cultured" and preferred to spend my time just leisurely walking around or stopping for coffee when I felt like it. But of course, I did spend some of my time doing some of the pre-requisite touristy stuff like Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero ;)

Overview of where I went -

Day 1
- Statue of Liberty
- Ellis Island Immigration Museum
- Famous "Bull" at the Financial District
- Ground Zero
- Twin Towers Memorial Centre

Day 2
- 5th Avenue
- Chrysler Building
- Empire State Building
- Rockerfeller Centre
- Radio City
- Macy's
- Times Square (this place is just amazing at night)

Day 3
- Macy's (yes, again)
- Central Park (an absolutely lovely park - how I wish there's something like that in KL)
- Flatiron Building

Day 4
- Breakfast at Williamsburg, Brooklyn
- 5th Avenue
- China Town (didn't really like it. People were rude and place was dirty)
- High Line at the Meatpacking District

Some photos -

Statue of Liberty

The Bull

Macy's

Times Square

One of the many subway performances (but this was good!)

Central Park

Some Random comments:

1. New Yorkers walk super fast!!!! Once I was walking down the street around the peak after work 5+ pm time. Somehow followed the walking-like-my-pants-on-fire speed of people around me. Then I realised - eh, I'm on holiday what.... why am I rushing like them??

2. New York subway system is really confusing. I keep getting on the wrong train and if it's the right train, then it's the wrong direction !! I never had this problem even when I travelled alone in Beijing or London. I only figured the "correct method" on my last few days there!

3. I took the budget Southwest airlines from Houston to New York. Unique thing about Southwest is the announcement style of the flight attendants. I normally tune out of flight announcements as it's usually very standard and monotonous. But at Southwest, it's done in a very lighthearted manner. After the standard wording on flight safety, the air hostess said "hey, just look at our Tom here (pointing to the flight attendant). Doesn't he just look dashing in his jacket??" and then when Tom took over later, he sarcastically said " With an attitude like that, no wonder she's still single!!". There's something you would never hear in an Asian airline !!

But talking about flight announcements, I still did miss something - cos on the way to New York, I got down from the plane when I wasn't supposed to !!!! I got the fright of my life when I noticed that I was in the wrong city and I thought I took the wrong flight. Luckily I asked the flight attendant and was asked to reboard the plane. Phew !! And after that, there was an announcement again - about who was new to Southwest. I sheepishly took up my hand. And then the announcement went something like - "Now we know why this lady got off the plane. But everyone, pls welcome her to Southwest, give her a big round of applause to welcome her" Everyone clapped while I blushed red and tried to sink down my chair!! ;)

4. Surprisingly, I felt safer in New York at night compared to Houston Downtown.

I enjoyed my time in New York. The main downside was the timing of my trip - my friend was particularly busy that week so I couldn't spend much time with her especially on the first few days. Up to Day 3, I had actually spend more time talking to her mum, boyfriend and brother !! Luckily we managed to catch up during breakfast and dinner on my last day there :)

After New York, I spent another night in Houston before starting the 20+ hour journey back home. Because of the time difference, the journey felt awfully long - I left Houston on Saturday evening but only arrived in KL on Monday afternoon. But despite having a great time in US, I was happy when I boarded the plane cos I couldn't wait to see my little princess again. Indeed no place is sweeter then home with my loved ones :)

Cooking for Elyssa

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:38:00 +0000

Question : How does Elyssa show that she likes your cooking?

Answer : In 3 ways.

No. 1 - She says "NICE" after almost every other mouthful.

No. 2 - She says "MORE?" when she's almost done.

No. 3 - (i) She licks the bowl clean -

(ii) Checks that the bowl is empty -

(iii) Repeats step until the bowl is REALLY empty -

Ha hahhh..... my mum is always glad that Elyssa loves her porridge or homemade yoghurt so much :) And it's still porridge without any seasoning!

Weekend trip - Pangkor Island

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:17:00 +0000

Phew...I finally have time to write again, after neglecting this blog for a while. The past few weeks since I came back from US have been terribly busy and stressful for me - with multiple discussion and presentation sessions with both the local and regional leadership teams. I am just so glad that it's over now!

It didn't help that we had a pre-planned trip to Pangkor Island on the first weekend (it was a long weekend) I was back. Honestly, I would have preferred to just stay at home, sleep and get some work done. But hubby was really looking forward to the trip, so I said yes in the end.

Some pics from the trip :

Elyssa walking along the beach with her spade & bucket set -

Playing with sand for the first time in her life! She was happy as long as she didn't have direct contact with the sand. Similar to the previous time, she cried when I tried to remove her shoes.

Enjoying nen-nen session on the day bed -

Enjoying nen-nen session by the beach :)

I love the view from the room -

Another photo of the view -

As usual Elyssa enjoyed herself during the holiday. She was excited with the boat ride too and kept saying "boat" "boat" ! :)

As for me, hmm.... I had some good times, but would have enjoyed it a lot more if I wasn't so tired and if I didn't have to spend my time drafting out my presentation slides. It didn't help either that our detour to Ipoh on the way back caused us to be stuck in a horrible traffic jam and we reached home exhausted around 9pm on Sunday night...

So in hindsight, hubby we should have postpone our trip hor?? ;)

Daddy's Singing

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:27:00 +0000

Whenever hubby starts to sing to Elyssa or hum her a lullaby, what does she say???
" No Need"

Ha hahh hahhh hahh !!! She says that every single time! Hubby can't help thinking - my voice that bad meh??

Houston - Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:21:00 +0000

The Saturday after the work week was the day I was really looking forward to - SHOPPING !!!!

We drove (well, my colleagues drove. I just sat in the car) almost 3 hours to get to the outlet mall in San Marcos. Was it worth the drive?? Definately!

I headed straight to the Coach outlet. Before I entered the store, I needed to pee and I was a little hungry. But then I saw the price tags on the bags.....there was an original printed price, then a slashed-down price (about 15% off) handwritten in red ink and then the best part -another 40% or 50% off from the price handwritten in red ink. Wah..... I could feel my heart pumping when I saw that!! I happily pulled out bags from the shelves to try them on. The sales attendants were pretty friendly and helpful too. My friend was chatting with one of them and mentioned that she recognised her from another visit about a year ago. Then suddenly, the sales attendant gave her a coupon for 20% discount on top of all the other discounts, saying that she can give the coupon to one customer per day. We felt like we were in heaven !!!!

As I happily walked out of the shop with my loot (pics below) 2 hours later, I suddenly felt that my bladder was about to burst and I was starving. Ha hahh..... it's funny how I managed to "forget" about my body needs when I was shopping!

The 3 of us proceeded to have lunch at Johnny Rockets. Long wait for a table + long wait for food = less shopping time :( But the yummy Oreo milk-shake did partially make up for the long wait.

Continued shopping after that but without the adrenalin rush in the Coach store :)

Will let pictures tell the rest of the story.

Prime Outlets in San Marcos -

Coach Store -

We filled up the whole car boot!

My bags. I loved the colourful totes - couldn't decide which size to buy so I got both in the end :)

Osh Kosh clothes for Elyssa (yes - I'm going through a pink phase!)

Corelle set for MIL -

Bought other stuff like Nike t-shirts and GAP sweaters too. (no pics)
After shopping, it was the long 3 hour drive back to Houston again. Dinner was at a Texas BBQ place - Goode & Co. Beef brisket and Czech Sausage which were really, really good.

Dinner -

Bison in Goode & Co -

A fantastic end to a fantastic day of shopping :)

*next post - New York !!*

I'm HOME !

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:35:00 +0000

I'm so glad to be back home! I enjoyed my US trip but there's just no place like home. The biggest thing that I was looking forward to was of course to be with my little princess again. I was a little worried about how she would respond to me after being away for 2.5 weeks.

I called out her name when I reached my parent's place yesterday evening. She ran to the door, and for the very first time ever, she ran AWAY from me and went back to the toys she was playing. How my heart sank !!!

Luckily she warmed up pretty quick after that and by night time, she was back to being my little magnet. :)

I know it can't possibly be true, but she seemed to have grown so much bigger (in height and in behaviour) since the last I saw her. Oh, how I love to be able to hold her and smell her again!

Will continue with my US posts soon....

Houston - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:44:00 +0000

Part 2 of my Houston trip was the "official work" part where I was practically stuck in this windowless conference room for 5 whole days.....

Tiring as it was, I think it was a really productive team meeting. Even with modern technology such as video-conferencing and tele-conferencing, nothing beats an old fashion face-to-face session.

It wasn't just work, work, work all the time. We managed to catch the Veterans Day Parade on the second work day there. It was a beautiful day (clear skies, nice wind but not too cold) and there was such a nice festive atmosphere in the air. I was quite impressed at how Americans appreciate their ex-soldiers. Whenever the older ones parade out (especially those in wheelchairs), the whole crowd just spontaneously clapped and cheered - and you could just see the pride in the faces of the veterans! I couldn't help thinking about how we treat ex-Malaysian soldiers... but then again, I supposed they never had a real war.

Some pics of the parade -

There were school marching bands, army tanks, veteren march-past, army vehicles, police on horseback, old fashioned horse carriages etc.

Other pics taken that working week-

Free newspapers by the roadside

I was thinking - if they have this in M'sia, maybe some people will just take the whole stack and sell to the recycling guys? ;)

Some of the yummy food I had -

Barbequed pork ribs with 2 side dishes and cantaloupe juice. Ok, I know the ribs don't look that good in this picture, but there were absolutely amazing !!

Jambalaya and Jalapeno Corn Bread -

TexMex food - tacos, enchiladas, beans and rice

Finally, a picture of my little team. The guy standing up is my American boss (Leonard) while the guy sitting down next to me is my German counterpart (Oliver).

- to be continued-

Part 3 is on SHOPPING !!!! *wink*

Houston - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:58:00 +0000

I finally have time to sit down and blog..

It has been 5 days since I arrived in Houston, Texas. The whole journey was awfully long - 4 hours from KL to Taipei, stopover in Taipei for 1.5 hours, 11 hours to LA, stopover in LA for 5 hours then finally 3 hours to Houston. I was exhausted when I finally reached the hotel room at 11pm on Saturday !!! The worst part was during the 5 hour transit in LA airport. As I was sitting down at Starbucks sipping an Eggnog Latte and trying to read my book, tears started streaming down my face as I thought of my little princess. :(

On Saturday, Ken (a friend who's a M'sian expat in Houston) brought me around. We went for lunch at The Galleria (had the most fantastic crab cakes !!!) , took a drive around Houston for me to see the place, made a short visit to the Nasa Space Centre, did some grocery shopping, went back to his apartment to rest, picked up another friend (my ex-school friend who's also a M'sian expat in Houston) then went out for dinner at a fantastic steak place. A nice day indeed!

Some photos taken on the first day -

View from the car. (Ken, if you're reading this - YES, your windscreen was dirty !!)

NASA Space Centre -

Inside NASA Centre (it was almost closing time. I didn't want to pay USD25, so I just took a photo from the outside!)

Where else can you see an astonout on top of McD??

Grocery Shopping @ Central Market (the veges look so good and fresh! I wanted to take more photos but was asked by the security guard not to)

As usual, I like to take photos of the hotel room -

Bathroom -

I love having a coffee maker in the hotel room!

-to be continued -

First Professional Haircut

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:47:00 +0000

We took Elyssa for her very first "professional" haircut last weekend. We chose the XCut Saloon at The Curve as they have a dedicated kids corner - complete with a doggie car (with steering wheel!) chair, a brightly coloured wall and a huge mirror.

I wasn't sure how she would react to a stranger cutting her hair. Her normal "hair stylist" is none other than her grandma and she normally gives grandma a hard time by refusing to stay still.

Anyway, the haircut session turned out better than expected. She didn't fuss when the hairstylist draped on the black protective sheet and started cutting her hair. But a few minutes later, she kept on saying "uok uok" (for walk-walk) and wanted to climb down the chair. Ke ke...... luckily I had some biscuits in my bag. As usual, she stopped fussing when she had food in her mouth! A couple of biscuits later, the haircut was complete.

Some photos taken -

"What is this auntie doing to me? "

I wasn't too keen on the end result though. Her hair was too short and too boyish for my liking. *sigh* So much for a "professional" haircut. :(

Holiday - Port Dickson

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:49:00 +0000

This is a slightly belated post - 2 weekends ago, we went for a short holiday in Port Dickson together with Elyssa's ku-cheh (hubby's sis) , yee pak (hubby's bro), yee mou (hubby's SIL) and her 2 cousins - Chloe and Charmaine cheh cheh.

We stayed at the newly opened Thistle hotel. Very nice hotel indeed so we spent most of the weekend in the hotel itself. Elyssa had a blast playing with her cousins, especially Chloe. It was great to see them laughing, playing and running around :) Pity I did not get any decent photos of the happy girls. Will try again next time.

Anyway, here are some photos taken during the 2D,1N holiday:

Bedroom (I loved the window seat) -

Bathroom -

Kid's Playroom -

Elyssa surprised us when she said "Ba Ney' (cos we never taught her that) -

Day 2 - Breakfast time with her favourite Chloe cheh-cheh

Our little family unit -

Walked around hotel after breakfast -

More walking around-

I wonder what big issue she's thinking about here - probably "I wonder what's for lunch" ;)

Can't see from the pic above, but she was wearing her shoes at the beach. I tried letting her touch the sand with her bare feet, but she cried and said "eck eck" (meaning "dirty"). Then she pointed to her shoes and said "wear wear". !!! Not only that, but when I was happily digging my toes into the sand, this little miss bossy also kept telling me "eck eck" "wear wear" !!

Eh, just because you don't like the sand, mummy also cannot play??

Little Banana Thief

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:36:00 +0000

I caught a little banana thief today!

I was in the bathroom this morning and I thought Elyssa was quietly playing by herself. I came out to see her happily eating a banana. (with the banana skin !!). She actually took it from a comb of bananas which was hanging from the door knob.

When I cried out "NOOO" what did she do? She quickly took a BIG bite before I grabbed the banana from her hands. Upon inspection of the "stolen item", I saw that she had eaten almost half of the banana and about one-fifth of the banana skin. Aargh!!

I think she knew that the skin should not be eaten (cos the skin was not half gone like the banana itself) but since she didn't how to peel it, she had no choice but to bite the skin as well.

Gosh, the way this greedy girl reacts to food....... !!!

Self-feeding

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:06:00 +0000

During our short trip to Port Dickson last weekend (will write about it in my next entry), I tried letting Elyssa self-feed herself at breakfast time. To my utmost surprise, she had no trouble feeding herself! Relatively mess-free too.

Great thing was that I could enjoy my breakfast without her saying "EAT" every few minutes. ;)

What she self-fed herself :
1. Porridge with cut-up boiled egg & baby corn.
2. Plain yoghurt with cut-up papaya & watermelon.

Since that day, my mum has let Elyssa self-feed her daily porridge. Still need to assist her a little (this greedy girl has a tendency to take TOO much in one spoonful !) and of course it's a bit more messy, but overall she does a pretty good job. Way to go Elyssa !!

Mother's Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:33:00 +0000

Happy Birthday, Mama/ Ah Mah !!

Hope you like your spa voucher :)

Love,
From all of us.

Birthday mama with birthday jelly cake -

Cake Cutting Session -

1 Year, 6 months old

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:35:00 +0000

A slightly belated monthly update.

Do I look cool or what?

1. Weight - 10.9kg
Height - to be updated
No. of teeth - still 7 with no sign of new teeth

2. Favourite word at the dining table? "EAT". When I try to feed her while eating my own meal, I hear this word almost every minute.

3. She reminds me of an old auntie sometimes. Once when I got into the car, she said "eck eck" (for dirty) and pointed to some bird droppings at the car window. Few minutes later, she said "eck eck" and pointed to the same place again. By the time we reached home, I think she had repeated the process about 6 times. ha hah!

4. She can be quite bossy! Like when she wants to dance, she'll make others dance too. And her dancing often involves her lifting the front portion of her t-shirt up and down. She'll gesture to others (usually "ah kong", "ah mah" or cousin Justin) to imitate this movement. If they don't follow her "instructions" then she'll go and lift up their t-shirts for them !!

5. On a daily basis, there will be a few roll-on-the-floor-and-cry moments when she doesn't get what she wants. We just ignore her until she stops..

6. I'm pretty sure there are other updates but I can't seem to think of what else to write for this "1 Year, 6 months old" post. The most important thing for me is that she can now say "mah mi". She often says it with a sweet little smile. And yup, my heart just melts each and every time !!! ;)

Finally....she said the MAGIC word!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 08:27:00 +0000

Yup, over the weekend she finally said "Mah Mi". Yay!!!!! She had on previous occasions called out "mama" before but only when she was desperate and never upon request. On Friday, she said "Mi" when I pointed to myself and ask "who is this?". Then on Sunday, she progressed to "Mah Mi". ;)

Hubby's over the moon as well, since she also started saying "Dah dee". :)

Other words that she uses -

1. Mah (= grandma)

2. Kong (= grandpa)

3. Ko ko (= cousin Justin)
4. Ku (=my bro)

5. Ka Kak (= bro's maid)

6. Do Wan (for don't want - she uses this word A LOT)
7. No (another favourite word)
8. Ball

9. Dop (for drop)

10. Pat

11. Dog

12. Nen Nen (=milk)

13. Pong Pong (for Pom Pom = bath)

14. EAT (also another favourite word)

15. Neh Mind (for nevermind)

16. Duck

17. Bubble

18. Pee

19. Pao Pao (when she wants to be carried)
20. Baa baa (for sheep)
21. Walk Walk
22. No More
23. Bye Bye
24. Nigh Nigh (Night Night = Goodnight)
25. Fis (Fish)
26. Yea (Yes)
28. Nigh (Nice)
29. Hot Hot
30. Door
31. Gate
32. Sue (Shoe)

I think there are a couple more but that's all I can think of for now. he he... afterall, the most important one to me is "Mah Mi". :)

Tummy

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:06:00 +0000

" Look at my tummy!!! Big or Not ??"
Not that big waaat....... mummy, can I have more food pls?

Milk Drinking

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:02:00 +0000

She can -
a) Hold milk bottle with left hand ; Play with belly button with right hand

OR

b) Play with belly button with left hand, Hold milk bottle with right hand.

No problem with switching at all. As long as she has her bottle and her belly button, she's a happy kid :)

psss: I wonder how long this milk-belly button routine will go on. She'll blissfully lift up her dress and expose her panties to reach her belly button !!

Bedtime

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:59:00 +0000

From birth until now, I have been the one accompanying Elyssa to sleep every night. (with the exception of a few nights when I was away) It started like that cos I was the one breast feeding her to sleep. Then it became our nightly routine. BIG MISTAKE!

Nowadays, she doesn't even let her daddy pat her to sleep. If she's in a bad mood, she'll cry and push his hand angrily away. If she's in a good mood, she'll say "bye bye" and "night night" to daddy. (ha hahh..... that's the "diplomatic" way of saying "get out daddy!")

This is worrying indeed as I'll be away in US for two weeks in November. So our current target is to reduce her reliance on me during bedtime. It has been about 2 weeks of trying, and we have failed miserably so far. The first night was ok cos we went out till late and she was pretty exhausted. The second night, she starting screaming once she finished her milk bottle. After more than half and hour of screaming on top of her voice, I couldn't stand it anymore. I went into the room and it wasn't a pretty sight - tears streaming down her face, hair all wet due to the exertion from screaming, goo coming out from her nose etc. *sigh*. Third night, hubby decided to take carry her while he took a walk outside. She fell asleep on his shoulders but starting the screaming routine the moment she was placed back on the bed. *double sigh*. Subsequent nights have been more or less the same. Last Thursday, I could hardly focus on my night telcon with my boss cos she was screaming on top of her voice.

Anyway, latest strategy is for BOTH hubby and I to put her to bed, so she gets used to the idea of hubby being around her during bedtime.

We still have a month and a half before my trip, so we hopefully she'll be ok by then. Worst case scenario - she will eventually exhaust herself with the screaming anyway, say after 1 hour? 2 hours? Poor girl :(

If only night time with daddy is as easy as morning nap time with daddy -

Kiss

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 05:09:00 +0000

When it was bedtime for Elyssa last night, I did my usual routine of lying next to her and patting her. (I used to pretend I was asleep but these days, she pulls my hand and indicates for me to pat her. I still ensure there is no eye contact and I don't say a word)

She did her normal babbling, sitting up, climbing on my body, playing with the pillow etc etc and then suddenly........ she sat on me, pulled my chin towards her and kissed me full on the lips..!!! Awwwww..... my eyes flew open and I smiled at her. In return, she gave me the sweetest smile then kissed me again, this time on the lower lip. I just couldn't help smiling as I hugged her close to me.

Hubby was pretty jealous when I told him. Ha hahh. He said he'll ask her to kiss him on the lips tonight! Not that I want her to start a habit of kissing people on the lips as it's an easy way for germs to spread. But I think I'll ask her to kiss me again tonight too. I just can't resist the smell of her sweet breath as she gives her little wet kiss :)

"Duck Eckk-Eckk"

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:28:00 +0000

A couple of nights ago, she showed me an old rubber duckie and said "Duck Eckk-Eckk". I was smiling ear to ear since this is the first time she put two words together by herself ! (instead of repeating what we say)

"Eckk-Eckk" is actually her version of the word "dirty". Noticed recently that whenever she falls down, she'll turn her palm upwards and say "eckk-eckk" which is the cue for us to wipe her palms. Not too sure on the origin of this term but my guess is that we sometimes say "yuck yuck" for dirty things.

Picture of the dirty duck. (with clean duck to show contrast) -

Hmmm..... maybe this is the indication that she'll say the magic word "MUMMY" soon !!!! *keeping fingers crossed*

Hari Raya Holiday (Part 2) - Melaka

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:58:00 +0000

For our Melaka holiday, we stayed at the Renaissance Hotel as hubby bought a 14 month package with them recently. One of the vouchers in the package was for "50% for first night, free for second night". So with a published room rate of RM600 per night, we got to stay for 2 nights at RM300. I really liked the nice and spacious room!

The Hotel Room -

One of the things that I wanted to do in Melaka was to take photos of Elyssa with the landmarks of the historical city. That way, she will know next time that she has been to those places. Well, I did get my photos but not in the way I expected it cos the little girl happily slept through the "important" bits!

From Day 1-

From Day 2 -

Ha hahh...... guess she's not too interested in history!!! She woke up just in time for cendol in Jonker Street though :)

Talking about food, we had a fantastic dinner at the Italian restaurant in the hotel. The pizza and salad was one of the best that we've tasted. It was pretty good value for money since we were entitled to a 50% discount.

@ the Italian Restaurant -

We would have gone there for the second night but the restaurant was unfortunately closed on Sundays. We ended up at a Nyonya restaurant instead. The food was so-so only but the place was just so crowded. I guess that's the downside of going to Melaka during a long weekend for both M'sia and S'pore.

For the 3 days, we spent quite some time walking around (partly cos the traffic was pretty bad). It was really nice to discover the little nooks and crannies that we would have missed if were were driving instead.

As for Elyssa, she was in her usual super-happy holiday mood! She enjoyed spending time within the hotel itself - be it walking around the lobby, walking up and down the carpeted corridor, exploring the hotel room, bathtub time with her rubber duckies etc. And of course she also enjoyed "kai-kai" time outside the hotel. So it's a win-win situation for us.

Her happy-holiday mood is one of the reasons why we've been going for so many short local trips lately. Next one to look forward to -Pangkor in November :)

Hari Raya Holiday (Part 1) - Seremban

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:10:00 +0000

We spent the recent Hari Raya holidays in Seremban (2D, 1N) and Melaka (3D, 2N). The original plan was just Melaka but we added Seremban at the last minute as hubby wanted to meet up with his friend. We stayed in the Royale Bintang Hotel cos that's where the friend lives (perks of being married to the hotel GM!).

Good thing for us was that we got upgraded to a suite. It was pretty huge..... it had a living area, dining area, 2 bathrooms and big master bedroom. Nice place though I personally prefer a more contemporary type of furnishing.

Living area -

Bathroom -

The traffic was quite bad from KL to Seremban. Took us almost 2 hours to get there. First (and only) stop was for lunch at my favourite beef noodles stall above the wet market. We checked into the hotel around 3pm and didn't leave the hotel at all until we checked out the next day. That's my type of relaxing holiday!

Let's see - on the first day, we had our nap, watched tv, read books, ate our "siew pau's"and fruits, went for a swim, soaked in the bathtub then enjoyed a nice buffet dinner with hubby's friend and her hubby. Started the second day with buffet breakfast at the executive lounge, then more lazing around before we left for Melaka around noon.

Some pics taken:

Dressed Up for dinner -

Breakfast Time (why daddy so slow???) -

Running around Buffet Table -

Running around the Exec Lounge Area -

Fooling around with her Float -

- to be continued with Part 2 in Melaka -

1 Year, 5 months old

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 14:30:00 +0000

About her:

1. Weight - approx 11kg
Height- approx 74cm
Number of teeth - 7

2. She has started saying more words lately, though about 90% is still baby talk. Some new words - "No" (last month, she was still shaking her head), "pao pao" ( when she wants to be carried), "duck", "door", "drop", "eat" , "uok uok" (for walk walk), "baa baa" (for sheep), "bubbles", "ah kong".

Although her words are limited, it never ceases to surprise me when she says the right word in the right context. I'm still not really used to this "talking version" of Elyssa. It kinda reminds me of the Enid Blyton storybooks that I used to love- there was this story about a girl being given a life sized walking-talking doll. Ha hahh..... I remember hoping and praying that I'll get my own walking-talking doll too. In a way, I suppose my wish has been granted in the form of Elyssa :)

3. She's still like a perpetual drooling machine although there has been no signs of new teeth for quite a while now. Noticed in her previous Gymboree classes that she was the only one still wearing a bib! *shy* Her bib is on almost all the time. If she's not wearing a bib but she sees one lying around, she'll immediately try to wear it or indicate to us to wear the bib for her. I think she now regards her bib as part of her normal outfit!

4. This greedy gal rejected her very first food item recently - none other than bittergourd. First time we saw her push food out with her tongue! Hubby said we should have bought a lottery ticket that day.

5. She still eats her daily porridge without any seasonings. I read that it's ok to put seasoning after one year old, but it's best to delay as long as possible. We haven't started since she still eats her porridge like a starving kid. Her porridge normally consists of 1 meat item (chicken/pork/fish) and 2 or 3 types of vege (carrot/cabbage/spinach/long beans etc). On weekends, I use anchovies as the "meat" item and add in a egg to compensate.

6. She gets a lot of comments about her dark complexion and flat nose :(
*Sigh* what to do?? (but luckily she has her dimples and big eyes)

7. She's a real tv addict. If we put on cartoons or kids dvd (like Brainy Baby or Sesame Street), she can practically stare at the tv without blinking. We do try to limit her tv time. She doesn't watch much during weekdays at my parents place, but during weekends lazy mummy and daddy tend to rely on the tv as a babysitting tool..

Shower Time

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:07:00 +0000

Before I go to work each day, I give Elyssa her morning shower. It's something I quite enjoy doing. Why?? Just look at the pic below. Cute eh? Gives a nice start to my day :)

"Mummy... don't ever put this picture up !!!"

Holiday in Kuantan

noreply@blogger.com (Adrine) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:10:00 +0000

We had planned a family holiday to Bandung for the merdeka long weekend AGES ago. It was supposed to be an extended family holiday with my in-laws consisting of 8 adults, 2 kids and 1 toddler. Then the H1N1 scare started :(

For weeks before the planned date, we went through the "yes" / "no" decision back and forth. Finally, a "no" was decided since we didn't want to take the risk of being in a plane and in the airport, as there were young kids and senior citizens in our group. So, that was RM1,500 down the drain for our share. (Air Asia tickets for MIL, hubby, Elyssa and I. Aaarghh... and when I made the booking, I decided to take ALL the options - meals, insurance, baggage allowance, advanced boarding and priority seating. Aaarghhh!!!) We could have changed the flight to a later date but with the extra cost plus the possibility that H1N1 could be a long term thing, we decided not to take the option. Last thing we want is to pay extra (not cheap either) but not being able to make it in the end.

*sigh* RM1,500 - I can just think of so many things do with the money. Wahhhhh !!!!

Anyway, back to our Kuantan holiday. Hubby was already in a mood to go for a holiday during that weekend, so we decided to drive somewhere. Chose Kuantan since we reckoned that it won't be so crowded during the fasting month. The plan was to have a relaxing holiday there - basically stay in the hotel room, watch dvds, go swimming, go to the beach, sleep etc.

One of the things that I was looking forward to was bringing Elyssa to the beach to play sandcastles. We bought her a simple shovel & bucket set and off we went to Teluk Cempadak. But alas.... when I placed her barefooted on the sand, she screamed !!!! Looks like my tough girl is not so tough after all! She just hated the sand on her feet. She also didn't like to be near the waves. Even when I carried her, this is what I got -

*Sigh*... another non-beach lover just like her daddy. He's not keen on the "dirty" sand and the "sticky" feeling by the beach. Who's gonna accompany mummy to the beach next time??

Elyssa was much happier walking up and down the pavement while checking out the stalls. She also had a blast chasing after bubbles that hubby blew.

Another activity she enjoyed a lot during our 3d,2n stay was playing in the bathtub with her spade and shovel. I didn't want to leave her in the bathtub alone (there was a fixed glass panel covering half the tub) so I had no choice but to go in with her. Ha hah..... turned out quite nice. I mastered the "art" of reading my storybook in the tub while positioning myself so that she was securely seated with no danger of slipping down into the water. So she was happy that she got to play with water , I was happy that I got to peacefully read my book in the warm tub and hubby was happy that he got to watch his movie while hogging the entire king sized bed. Fantastic !!! I think we had about 5 of these bathtub sessions :)

Elyssa also enjoyed walking up and down the corridor..... over and over again. I just love the big smile on her face when she did that. Each time we leave or come back to the hotel room, we let her walk up and down a few times. Good exercise too!

and there she goes AGAIN...