1st week of Pre-School

As of today, Elyssa has attended pre-school for exactly one week!

I have been toying with the idea of a pre-school for quite some months now, but signing her up was quite a spur of a moment thing. I must admit that the key reason is a selfish one - I wanted more time for myself. Taking care of a whiny 3 year old almost the whole day, with no maid and being 8 months pregnant plus doing cooking, laundry and light cleaning proved to be emotionally and physically taxing. Something I can do (and did!) but I realised that hey, I'm probably in a once in a lifetime career break, so I want to enjoy it as much as I can. Visions of me taking a leisurely breakfast or a mid-morning nap or reading a book or watching tv whenever I wanted to was not really happening. Well, I tried to..... but kept getting interrupted by "Mummy, can you read to me??? Mummy what is this???? Mummy why??? Mummy pls wake up! etc etc or worst still Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! (loud wailing with mucus flowing out type) Arrrrghhh!!!

The thought of 3 hours of peace and quiet in the morning had me on Cloud 9. :)

Anyway, back to Elyssa. As usual ,before any "big" event I start the pep talk one or two days before. Told her that she will be attending a big school like cousin Justin, that mummy cannot be there, that she cannot cry etc etc. Based on her track record at Gymboree, I guessed she should be fine with school but of course this was still a big step cos it's an entirely new environment.

When I dropped her off on the first day, she waved bye-bye to me then started to play with a toy which the teacher handed to her. In my heart, I was thinking...... err, like that only ah?? Yes, I did tear up AGAIN when I walked to the car alone, but not as bad as the previous time in Gymboree. Hee he.... mummy is improving!!

For the past week, I have been getting consistent answers from my questions to her teachers - "No crying at all", "She participates in the activities", "She talks to her friends", "She's very independent", "No problem at all". "She's doing well". And no pee incidents too!! (I send her there without diapers).

Yayyyyy!!!!!!!!!!! Bravo my little princess! You made mummy so proud again. :)

She enjoys the classes too. I love the big smile on her face when I pick her up. And getting her ready in the morning is really fast and fuss free - she climbs out of bed almost immediately when I tell her it's time to go to school. Ha ha..... if only she will continue to be this enthusiastic about school for the next 18 years or so. ;)

2 photos that I managed to snap last week -

Eating a light snack at the waiting area when I was talking to the teacher about school fees

Next time I turned around, she already climbed on a stool and was washing her own plate!

Another Weekend Getaway : )

During the Wesak long weekend, we went for a short 3D, 2N getaway at Marriott Hotel, Putrajaya. Just a nice relaxing getaway - minus crowds, travelling and traffic jams :)

We didn't utilise our Marriott Vacation Club package, but a separate package that hubby bought which is applicable just for the Putrajaya hotel. I think it's a pretty good deal - RM488 for 12 months. For that, we get 50% off all food and spa packages, standard rate of RM240 nett per night including breakfast and a pack of vouchers which includes stuff like one night free stay, buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner vouchers, upgrade to Exec room for RM80, free whole cake etc.

Similar concept to what a lot of 5 star hotels are offering, but I like this package cos of the location (somehow being in Putrajaya makes me feel like I'm really far from the city!) and the food and spa prices are not too overpriced to begin with, so the 50% makes it pretty good value.

Anyway, for this getaway, we basically just stayed in and enjoyed the hotel facilities. We were either in the hotel room, exec lounge, kiddies room, spa or swimming pool :) I just lovvvved the brand new kiddies room -

Huge kiddies room

Elyssa playing with some puzzles

What's the red pod-like things on the left hand side?

On the right, the doors are for the mini library and mini cinema room

Play Station 3 !!!!

Rack of fancy animal costumes

My happy little lion

Who turned into a busy bee...

And then a little elephant :)

Playing basketball with daddy

Little boss

They even had Wi-Fi access in the kiddies room so I could use my Ipad :)

We also went to the swimming pool everyday. Can see she's more confident in the water now!

Elyssa and I

First time I went into the pool for ages, and I don't know why I refrained myself from going earlier. (ok, mebbe I do know why - cos I didn't want to display my huge pregnant belly). Anyway, the feeling of "weightless-ness" in the pool felt fan-tas-tic!!

In the hotel room

On one of the nights, we took the complimentary night tour of Putrajaya. We were the only ones, so it was became a private tour :)

Brightly lit buildings at night
The buildings were pretty impressive...... good use of tax money, ahem.

Err... dunno what pose from Elyssa

We were planning to utilise the buffet meal vouchers but ended up not using a single one. He hee.... for eg, on the first day, we had a heavy buffet breakfast so for lunch, we just had a simple pizza (about RM17 after discount). Then around 5pm, we went to the exec lounge cos we were told they serve food at that time, on top of the light refreshments available all day. Wasn't expecting much so was pleasantly surprised with the good spread - lamb chops, fish fillets, sandwiches, cakes, pastries, fruits etc. We pretty much had our dinner there :) Then had a simple supper of fried noodles and soup in the chinese restaurant that night. (about RM38 after discount). Less than RM60 for a whole day's worth of good food with 5 star service!! Not bad indeed!


We definitely enjoyed our relaxing weekend getaway :) Will go there again soon, but by then it will be our little family of four!

Baby Sister Conversation

I talk to Elyssa about her baby sister pretty often, and sometimes the conversation can really make me chuckle. Good for me to record them! Here's what happened just now :


Elyssa : Why baby sister still not out yet?
Me : She's not ready yet.

Elyssa : When she's ready, Elyssa pull up your shirt and take baby sister out, ok?
Me : It's not so easy. Need auntie doctor to take out baby sister. *thinking this would be a good time to tell her I need to rest after delivery* - When auntie doctor take out, mummy will be little bit pain pain, you know.

Elyssa : *worried look*. Got blood ah?
Me : *thinking - did I go too far???* Yes, got little bit blood.

Elyssa : *very worried look. then she suddenly smiled* Oh, like last time Elyssa scratch the leg until got little bit blood. Then Saran (bro's maid) help Elyssa to wash out the blood.
Mummy....... when auntie doctor take baby sister out, Elyssa bring Mummy to the bathroom and Elyssa help to wash out the blood. Then no more pain pain loh!!!! Yay !!!! *big smile*
Me : *speechless for a while*

Elyssa : Elyssa so clever, hor??


Hmmm...... if only child birth recovery is so easy :)

Family Trip to Tanjung Sepat

Last weekend, we finally went for a short family trip to Tanjung Sepat (2D, 1N)
"Finally" cos we talked about this since my first time there in November last year. Getting a common date where all four sub-units in my family are available for the entire weekend is just not easy! Gosh....... almost 8 months!!

Even then, there were last minute glitches when the two babies in the family fell sick. But on the morning itself (after calling off the trip the evening before) we decided to just carry on with the trip, minus 3 family members.

We stayed in the same bungalow, and pretty much visited the same places - mushroom farm, "pao" shop, longan farm, Lover's bridge etc. Added 3 new places tho - chips factory, birds nest place and dragon fruit farm.

It was nice to spend family time together and I especially loved seeing Elyssa and cousin Justin enjoying each other's company :)

Walking hand-in-hand after lunch

Watching sunset together

So sweet hor??? They were mostly good buddies throughout the holiday but as usual, they had their little disagreements as well. Ha hah.... on Sunday morning, they fought over which dvd to watch (Elyssa wanted Dora, Justin wanted Cars) and they both ended up with sour faces and on separate ends of the sofa!!! I should have taken a photo of them ;)

Didn't really take many photos this trip (since already taken the last time) -

Daddy with Elyssa on the lovers bridge

Birds nest place

Bought 2 bottles of premium instant birds nest (RM138) which came with a free gift of 4 small bottles of instant birds nest with rock sugar. First time taking and hopefully baby will have smooth and fair skin :)

Chips factory

Really cheap, especially for chips in bigger packs. The trolley-load of goodies below is JUST my sister's portion!

An enjoyable family holiday, but looking at how long it takes to plan things, it will probably be another year before we finally go on another holiday together :)

Changes

After much contemplation/negotiation/discussions, I finally signed 2 agreements last week that will have a pretty huge impact on my life....

a) Agreement 1 - new job
b) Agreement 2 - new maid

One makes me an employee while the other makes me an employer! Both are carefully made decisions, but to a certain extent there is a leap of faith for both.

New job -
-Will I like it?
-Will it be difficult to adjust to working life after an almost 9 month career break? (well, more like 6 mths career break and 2 mths+ maternity leave)
-Can I adapt to the work culture?
-Being a regional role involving 10 Asian countries + Malaysia, there's some travel involved - can I adapt ?
-Smaller company compared to the two major MNCs I've worked before - can I adapt?
-Expectations will be high since they are keeping the position vacant > 5 months to wait for me. (I start in mid Sept)
-On the plus side, my instincts tell me it's good and the direct boss is really down to earth but but but..... still so many questions in my head !!!

New Cambodian maid -
- What if I get one of those "cuckoo" maids?? Have heard sooo many horror stories!
- I hate the thought of having a stranger in my house. Can I adapt?
- Worth the $$$ ?? With the clampdown on Indon maids, agency fees for maids from all countries have gone sky high. Grrrrr!!
- On the plus side, the maid will mostly be at my parent's place on weekdays and since both my sis and bro's Cambo maids (both are excellent!) will be there too, hopefully the two existing maids will be able to instill good working habits on mine.


Two huge changes there, and not forgetting the other huge upcoming change - new baby !! In a way, the next 7 weeks or so will be like the "calm before the storm" and then it's gonna be - **BANG** - new baby, new maid then new job.

So, I am trying to ENJOY the next few weeks of my break as much as I can. (yeah, while tending to the the needs of a whiny 3 year old with my huggge belly. No fun when I have to go down on all fours to clean up remains of her lunch etc..)

And sometimes, I choose to turn a blind eye when it comes to parenting these days. Let's see, like now - it's almost 11am, Elyssa is still in her pyjamas as she still haven't taken her morning shower AND she's watching her favourite DVD in this position -


but What The Heck..... I'm just gonna enjoy whatever moments of peace and quiet I can have before the trio of new baby, new maid and new job comes!!!! ;)