Holiday - Penang

March seems like a holiday month for us, with holidays planned out for 3 weekends in a row. Various reasons actually - Camerons was holiday with my family, Batu Gajah was holiday with hubby's family and finally Penang was to attend a friend's wedding plus a holiday just for us.

The wedding was on Saturday nite, but we decided on a 4D, 3N trip to Penang. Had lots of things planned out, food wise! On my list of "Things to Eat" were Assam Laksa, Char Kway Teow, Chee Cheong Fun, Rojak, Chendol etc etc..... also White Coffee and Kai Si Hor Fun from Ipoh. Hahha... was almost like an eating trip.

We left KL quite late on Thursday morning. After the disastrous road trip with Elyssa fretting most of the journey to Batu Gajah, I was more prepared this time. I brought along a whole bag of plastic toys that she hasn't played for in a while, cut out some carrot sticks, made 2 toasts cut out into 4 triangles, her favourite water bottle and told hubby to be prepared to stop often.

And the result? She sat in her car seat all the way to Penang and with hardly any fuss. I was sooo proud of her!!!

By the time we checked into the hotel, it was almost 6pm. We headed straight to the swimming pool. We bought her a bright orange Nemo float in Ipoh and we were pretty excited to let her use it.

But nope, she wasn't keen on it......

" I wanna get OUTTT !!!!"

Instead, she enjoyed it when I lifted her up and down from the water...

" Wheee..............this is better"

" Again, mummy, Again......"

"That was fun, mummy. Let's do it again!"

But no lar.., my arms got tired after that. We didn't stay in the pool too long cos the water was quite cold. So we continued Session 2 in the bathtub. She actually preferred the warm water in the bathtub.

" Mummy, next time take me to a HEATED swimming pool, okay?"

After that, we went out for dinner with some friends, had a slow walk along the esplanade back to the hotel (Elyssa fell asleep in her stroller) and then Zzzzz.... end of Day 1.

-to be continued-

Holiday - Clearwater Sanctuary, Batu Gajah

Just came back from another 3D, 2N holiday at Clearwater Sanctuary Resort, Batu Gajah. This trip was arranged with hubby's family to coincide with my late FIL's anniversary prayers in Kampar. Chose Clearwater since hubby and I really liked it during our holiday there last October.

Quite a big group of us - 9 adults, 4 kids + baby Elyssa. The fun started on Friday night cos hubby's eldest bro and family stayed over at our place. Elyssa saw her cousins from S'pore, Claire and Faye cheh cheh for the first time. Hubby's 2nd bro and family also came to visit that night, so cousins Chloe and Charmaine cheh cheh were there as well. Being the youngest, Elyssa naturally got lots of attention from the cheh chehs and auncles/aunties. And as usual, this little one loved it!

Short summary of what we did -

Day 1

Left KL around 10.30am. Stopped by in Ipoh for lunch and to visit hubby's grandma. Reached Clearwater around 2pm. Rested a bit. Went for dinner in Pasir Pinji then Tesco.

Day 2

After breakfast, the kids had a gala time in the playroom then the swimming pool. In the afternoon, we went to Kampar for FIL's prayers. Back to resort again to rest then dinner in Ipoh plus another quick visit to hubby's grandma.

Day 3

More fun time in the playroom, swimming then back to KL.

Elyssa had her first swim on Day 2!!! ha hahh.... I think I was actually more excited than her. Here's a pic of her in her 2 pc swimsuit. Sexy eh? Just look at the protruding tummy!

Front View

Back View

She wasn't too pleased to be in the swimming pool at the beginning. Probably cos the water was colder compared to her bathtub water. She relaxed after a while though. And when I carried her while "gliding" through the water as if she was swimming, she really chuckled. Pity I forgot to bring my camera to the pool that day. Come to think of it, I didn't take a single photo when I was there.

Elyssa did have very enjoyable times playing with her cousins. But overall, she was actually quite cranky that few days. She cried/screamed during the journey from KL to Ipoh. On the first night, she woke up screaming until everyone in chalet left and right of ours could hear her and my MIL came knocking. She screamed during almost all the journeys out to Ipoh/Kampar. She screamed when I tried to make her sleep. She screamed when she wanted to play but was sleepy etc etc. The crankiness alone was enough to drive me half nuts sometimes. Couple that with all the of comments of what I wasn't doing rite throughout the trip, I was pretty stressed out.

I really hope that this crankiness is just a phase that Elyssa is going through. She's also having separation anxiety, as if I will totally abandon her when I walk away. Like bedtime just now - both hubby and I were on the bed with her. When I walked away to brush my teeth, she started crying. In the bathroom, I could hear her screaming as if someone has just whacked her. When I came out a few minutes later (with not very clean teeth due to the hurried brushing!) and sat down on the bed with her, she was back to her normal self. Started babbling away happily as if nothing was wrong. A while later, I went to my cupboard 2 steps away to get my shorts. When she saw me leaving the bed, she immediately started crying again and wanted to lunge out from the bed. I grabbed my shorts, went back to bed, and again she started smiling and babbling away. When it was time to switch off the lights, hubby quickly volunteered to walk to the light switch to avoid any further cries!

She has been drooling a lot lately, so I hope all this behaviour can be attributed to teething...

11 months old

Elyssa is 11 months old already... 1 more month to the big O-N-E !!

About her:

1) Weight - 9.8kg

2) She always wants to eat whenever she sees food. I guess the good thing (for my weight) is that there's no way I can snack on junk food when she's around.

3) No more night or early morning feed! Her last milk bottle is around 10pm and this lasts until 8+am. She still wakes up once in the wee hours of the morning, but I normally do not need to pat her these days. She'll play for a while, babble a little then fall back asleep on her own. Next goal is for her to sleep on her own baby cot. For now she still hogs our bed.

4) Don't be deceived by her innocent dimpled smile! When she's angry.... my, my she's a fierce little girl. A few examples:

i) I was teaching her to stack rings on her little toy car just before her bedtime. She couldn't stack it and what did she do? She took the entire toy car and threw it angrily on the floor! Then she took the rings and also threw them one by one on the floor. Looking back, I guess she was sleepy but no need to be so fierce mah....

ii) My mum was concerned that a motorised car she was playing with was going too fast. So my mum held down the car with her foot. When the car couldn't move, she gave such an angry and loud shout, that really shocked my mum!

And yesterday, while my mum was reading to cousin Justin on her lap, she crawled over, PUSHED him aside then tried to crawl on my mum's lap. Aiyoh.... this little girl is gonna be a handful next time.

5) She's usually happy though. And when she's happy, she really shows it. She can really squeal in excitement and laugh out loud. My colleague used the term "expressive baby" ie she really shows what she feels whether it's angry or happy. I think that's a good description of Elyssa!

6) She likes to "talk" a lot and she expects people to respond to her. But still babbling at this point. Her favourite words are "u WAK", "a BUH" and "Mummm Mummm".

7) She loves to play with my belly button just before bedtime.

8) She can play independently for longer periods now though she still looks up once in a while to see if there's anyone with her.

Holiday - Cameron Highlands

Went for a short 3D/2N holiday in Cameron Highlands with my family over the long weekend. 9 adults (including my bro's maid) and 2 kids. For days and days before the trip, there were looong discussions on who should sit in which car. My brother and SIL could only make it for the 2nd day so we only had 2 cars going up on the first day. In the old days, I would never have imagined problems with getting 9 ppl into 2 cars. But then now there's the issue of 2 bulky car seats, "bucket" style seats that can only comfortably seat 2 at the back of the car, some ppl who can get car sick etc etc... So options such as maid go later, Justin + maid go later, father go later, squeeze 3 at the back in car A, squeeze 3 at the back in car B, use smaller car seat bla bla bla were discussed.

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The night before we were due to leave, we finally agreed on the final seating arrangements. (tho even the "final" arrangement kept on changing till the last minute) In the morning, my bro said that Justin coughed quite a bit the previous night so he and the maid will go the following day. Okayyyyy..... so much for all the long discussions. In the end, all 7 of us comfortably went up in 2 cars. Reason I'm writing all this long-long story is that this was just the beginning of many, many discussions that we had in Cameron Highlands. Ha hah...... I never really noticed before but hubby said that the thing about the "Ong" family is that we are just too democratic. Everyone blabs and blabs when it comes to suggestions but when it comes to making decisions, it just takes forever!!

Day 1

We left KL quite late (close to 11am) due to a tyre puncture in my BIL's car. Had a yummy lunch at my favourite restaurant in Tapah then went up the slopes of Cameron Highlands. I got a little car sick trying to entertain Elyssa on the back seat. We made a quick stop at the Lata Iskandar waterfall and after that my mum took over the task of entertaining Elyssa at the back while I sat in front.

Reached the 4 bedroom apartment at Villa Dahlia around 2pm. We all had a nice afternoon nap then afternoon tea. Well, everyone EXCEPT for Elyssa who was just so excited that she refused to sleep. Took some photos of her. I think she looks cute in her pink jacket!

In the evening, we went to the pasar malam in Brinchang. I've always loved walking in that pasar malam. Unfortunately, it started to rain shortly after we got there. We still continued our shopping holding our umbrellas tho! By that time, Elyssa was exhausted and fell fast asleep on her daddy's shoulder. We bought dinner from the stalls then went back to the apartment to eat.

Day 2
Had a leisurely breakfast in the apartment.

"All ready to go kai-kai"

Then went vege shopping at Kea Farm. Someone fell asleep again -



Had lunch in Tanah Rata and met up with my bro, SIL, Justin + maid.

Justin & Elyssa

During lunch, we had our famous looong discussions on what to do after that. Rest? Bee Farm? Strawberry Farm? Tea Plantation? Drink Tea? bla bla bla.....
In the end, we decided to split up - my father followed my sis back to the apartment to rest, my mum followed my bro to the strawberry & bee farm and hubby, Elyssa and I went to have tea.

We went to Bala's Tea House to have some scones and tea. Stayed there before when I was 6 months pregnant and we had nice memories of that place. However, this time the experience was just awful. The staff were so rude and treated us like "second-class" customers. Aaargh.... not going back there again.

Not satisfied with our afternoon tea, we went to YTL's Cameron Highlands Resort. It was just so much better. The ambiance, the friendly staff etc. Not cheap - the high tea set was RM55++ per person but well worth it.

Jim Thompson Tea Room @ Cameron Highlands Resort

Elyssa with Mummy

At night, we had a nice steamboat dinner (celebrated my sis's birthday as well) followed by wine and birthday cake in the apartment.

Day 3

Breakfast in the apartment then another one of our long discussions. By the time we left the apartment, it started raining again. In the end, we all went to the nearby temple, then all went to the bee farm then all had lunch at Ringlet before we went our separate ways again.

Overall, it was a nice holiday. Although we have our weekly "family makan", it has been 2 years since we went on a holiday together. Always nice to spend more time with family members :)

Tantrum Style

Here's what Elyssa does when she's not happy about something -

I call it her daily prayer/"sembahyang" routine!! It's quite amusing actually..... afterall, how did she learn to do that? Justin ko-ko doesn't throw tantrum like that and she's not seen it on tv either.

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Oh, she doesn't actually hit her forehead on the floor. She just goes close or lightly touch the floor. No injury, but maximum effect !!!

Orange Muffins

I was in a baking mood last weekend so I made a batch of orange muffins.
Well, supposed to be orange and poppy seed muffins, but I couldn't find any poppy seeds in Carrefour.

That's all the cupcakes that can fit into my teeny oven-

Here's the simple recipe .

Ingredients:

1) 185 ml milk 2) 375g self raising flour 3) 155g castor sugar 4) 125g butter, melted 5) 2 eggs, lightly whisked 6) 2 tsp finely shredded orange rind 7) 60 ml fresh orange juice

Method:

1. Combine flour and sugar in bowl.

2. Add milk, butter, orange rind and juice and stir with metal spoon (huh?? why must be metal? I didn't have any metal spoon so just used plastic spoon!) until just combined. Do not overmix.

3. Bake for 25 minutes at 190 degrees.

Easy, peasy! Here's the end result -

Taste wise, ok only. I cut down too much sugar so there wasn't much taste! When I re-read the recipe on the net, I saw some reviewers said they liked the muffins cos there were not too sweet. Should have seen that earlier. Plus, I got tired of squeezing the orange juice and I don't think I got the required 60ml. Next time, I'll just substitute with Peel Fresh orange juice.

Will try again next time since it's pretty easy to make.

Thoughts

Just before I slept one night, my thoughts started wondering…

I thought about Elyssa running around in a playground with her plump little legs.
I thought about Elyssa holding hands with cousin Justin waiting to go to kindy.
I thought about Elyssa in a primary school uniform waiting to board her school bus.
I thought about Elyssa in college.
I thought about Elyssa on her wedding day…in a beautiful white gown.

Then I realized I was tearing up.
I opened my eyes and saw her sleeping soundly right next to me.

My little 10 month-old baby girl.

As I looked at her face, at her little hands, and at her little feet, I felt so grateful. So grateful that I still have the years ahead to enjoy her growing up. I whispered softly to her… “Mummy loves you so much, princess. Don’t grow up to too fast okay? ” And I just watched her sleep, until I too, fell asleep.