The Chrome Story

Song by: Go on: Jonsi

It has been a while...

Today marks my eighth month working in the new company and living in a new country.

Little one is no longer little one as he turned into two in June.

He will be going to preschool in coming December.

As a first-time-mother, I have finished a book borrow from local library in order to have mental preparation on what to expect, prepare, pre-visit...

Book title: Getting ready to start school

By Netmums

Image from internet

Though it is written in compliance of UK rules and regulation, it is quite useful for reader around the world. As the book is divided into 6 parts -

Pre-school days

Finding the right school

Getting ready to start school

What starting school means for you

Starting school

Getting the best out of school life

It not only concern your child being in the school for the first day, observation of your child after school, encouraging your child if he/she does not pick up skill as other peers did, chance of behavioural change (to be clingy, bed wetting..) as well as mother who might have 'empty nest' syndrome once the child is going off to school.

Though it is possibly not the best book I have read, but overall it is a good start to get involve in preparing, planning for a new chapter of life :)

Leaving

Leaving is separation indeed.
To leave or not to leave, it is a decision.
To leave, is a right decision.
To leave, needs to take a lot of gut.
To leave, grow my reluctance.
To leave, meet my goal.
To leave, makes separation in one side, and reunion in other side.

One Fine Afternoon

what comes into your mind when you see this picture?

Picture taken while both of them playing peek-a-boo with the curtain.

Meet the unusual

While you're away.
As usual, I worked late.
I reached home at the usual time.


Unusually, I don't see a small and square grey color car waiting for me patiently outside the building.
I dont get to argue with topics that conversed but
I get to talk over the phone with you sweet and gentle.
I ate dinner alone.
I ate extra heavy dinner - 3 pieces of fillet, apple, fish cracker from Perhentian Island.
I sleep alone tonight and the rest of week.

How are you there? It's the second morning. Everyday a great day for you!

Praying for a second screening for you - Lord, thank you Lord for providing us this opportunity.
we leave this opportunity on your hand.
Allow for second screening if it's a good chance for us to move forward. Amen.

Baking at home

Last week, I was invited to join the cooking class from my previous assignment. Please meet the chef - Alex, who demonstrated the cooking steps to us. We're divided into 4 group which consisted of 4-5 persons. Pizzas and brownies were what we learnt. The steps is simple, ingredients is easy to find, the end result is satisfied - it's probably we're too hungry. It was such a fun to cook with the huge bunch of member.

Over the weekend, I was trying to make my own pizza at home. My pizza that served as our dinner - grandma, parents, Hann and me, and snack for Callum.
I only need a very small amount of dough to make 3 regular pizzas, it's a thin crust pizza. The overall preparation and cooking time took approximately 1.5 hours.
It's quite hard for me to get a variety of topping ingredients. Thus, the topping is very limited to mushroom, pineapple, crabstick, chopped capsicium and onion.
The taste wasn't impress me. It tasted different from the baking class - the taste is dull, less spices, the cheese is a bit different as I bought the cheaper one - it already cost me alot with the huge amount required.

Anyway, I enjoyed cooking different type of food to serve my family. It's such a good feeling - eating pizza rather rice, everyone enjoys the pizza while still able to chit chat rather the dull, dry, restricted round table of chinese cuisine, with a not-so-hot weather. I am imagining myself and family at somewhere out of the country.
But my baba surely can't bear with the late timing to have dinner :)

It's your birthday

We celebrate Callum's birthday on 19th June, earlier a week of the actual birthday. Reason being, it's a weekend and school holidays. We made it a small gathering of great-grandma(both parents side), grandparents (both parents side), parents, autie & uncle (da yee), and some stay-near-aunties and uncles, as well as my nieces.

The overall cost spent on the birthday held less than RM200. Almost everything is homecook/homemade except the side dish that bought by Hann - KFC. We need the drumstick to in place so that Callum can 'pick the future' with variety of KFC, egg, book, pen, calculator, car key, and red packet. My little boy first picked up the pen, later came with drumstick. The most funniest part is, once he picked the drumstick, he played with it, swing it, touched it...and after a while he pinched it and got a pinchful of meat from the drumstick and popped it into his mouth! It amazed me alot where as we never explore him with chicken but he knew it's edible! Everyone enjoyed seeing him picking up every item laid on the floor.

Later it's the cake cutting ceremony. I made him a marble cheese cake with own creative decoration rather a marble motive. Callum enjoyed it as well in both cutting and eating cake. He yet know to blow off the candle light though we practise before the actual day.



On the next day, we celebrated father's day. It's Hann first father's day. I baked a new york cheese cake with strawberries as filling and topping. It turns out very beautiful and it tasted just nice and better than first trial. I wasn't sure if everyone enjoy my cheesecake, but indeed, I am enjoying the process of preparing, baking, it turns out to be an end result and it's edible though it's tired to bake 2 cakes in a row and waiting for it to finish at 2 in the a.m. and go to sleep with worry heart that what if the cake is a failure and I do not have cake for the celebration?

Ah ha. Pratice make perfect.

Vacation

I'm back from my annual vacation. This time round, we visited Hong Kong and Macau. It's a wonderful trip. I have to give credit to Hann in making it a success. He is my travel partner, tour guide and navigator.

I've lost my count on how many miles we've walked in total. Walk for food, MTR station, shopping, tourist attraction, jetty and many more. I felt extremely tired everyday. Inside the mall, there isn't much place for you to sit, even the MTR station, there is none of the station with bench provided while waiting for the arrival of the train. The bright side is, Hongkie are all in 'good condition' in terms of stamina. Even an old woman has no problem in climbing a steep walkway.

All in all, I love the food in HK, railway structure and cleanliness. On the other hand, I love the peaceful, relax, leisure happened in Macau (except Casino). A good one!

Celebration

Yesterday was the celebration of my baba's birthday cum belated mother day celebration at Sauk. All of us travel in 3 cars heading to this famous for 'riverfood' restaurant. We ordered two steam river-fishes, stir fried vegie, village chicken in chinese herb, fish cake and honey pork. The overall dishes cost us RM200 only. It is definately worth it for the price. Overall the taste is up to standard but it doesn't taste as great as the first time I tried it. I think we will still come back for any celebration for the sake of its price and the freshness of its 'riverfood'.



Beside, I brought my first-attempt-blueberry-cheesecake for the celebration. However, I am too shy to bring over as I so afraid that after the cake cutting but no cake can be eaten! So, I did the cutting cake ceremony and put them in the container and brought over as starter for everyone. It receives good comment from kids, average comment from Hann. The kids would always like what I've baked. Thank you for your support, nieces!

It's near to CNY

Just another day I will be back to home.
Just another 3 days all chinese in the world will celebrate the biggest feast of the year, Chinese New Year.

By taking the statistic, I've only one day (Friday) to make all my planned to do cookies and cakes.
Before that, I've run several test run on

sugee cake - recipe from my auntie
brownies - recipe from Jamie Oliver
prune cake - recipe from auntie
almond cookies - recipe from Hann's auntie
almond slice - recipe from Hann's auntie
pineapple rolls - recipe from Amy Beh

Out of the list, I am glad to announce that 5 out of 6 report success!
While the almond slice which is indeed simple in baking and preparation as well as getting the ingredients yet I failed it. Not only once I tried but thrice or more. Whenever I tried and found that it won't be a success, I will never try again. However, I still hoping that I can make it one day. Should approach my guru :P

Happy baking to all of you in preparation of cny!

Baking

Baking is my one of my favorite. I've randomly pop up an idea of quit my job and sign up for a baking lesson and possibly my daily task is cooking, baking and etcetera. In other words, I'm more than happy to be a stay-at-home-mum.

The other day, I got the Prune cake recipe from my cousin. The Prune cake that I tasted made by my auntie is just awesome. Thus, I want to give it a try in baking it myself.

I bought my ingredient on my way back after work, which is around 930pm. We dropped by Tesco and get all the ingredients and utensils. Coincidentally, the Sun Sweet prune is on sales! It's selling at RM6.89 which is a very good deal. I grabbed one and thinking to grab more today after work.

When I got home and prepare everything and I just realized that I've got a strawberry flavour of milk...Sigh. So, I got Hann to buy me another one at 7-11.

Mixing, blending, and beating. All takes up one and a half hour. It cook at 1 in the a.m. Thus, I leave it inside the oven to avoid immediate change of temperature and causing the cake to shrink.

The next morning, I wake up and without forget it, I cut my trial into pieces and test it out. Gosh, I success! Though it doesn't taste as good as my auntie one but at least it's good and at least it receives an 'OK' comment from Hann. Hm.

Growing close to 7 months

Callum had grown teeth, 2 of them.
He is more talkative now than before. Ehee ee ahh ahh in a very soft voice.
I'm feeding him fruits and rice now. Mashed pear and apple, rice cook in formula.
I tried mashed carrot with porridge. He doesn't seem to like it. Maybe it's cold and tasteless compared to pear and apple which is very sweet to me.

Callum started to fully feed in formula since last Christmas. I've stopped express breastmilk since then. In other words, Callum is bottle-fed breastmilk till 6mo. I'm so proud of it as it isn't easy for a working mother especially in the same time have to pick up new skill in career path. Especially when it comes to task not finish yet but still have to spare time in mother's room. With that stress will cause the breastmilk supply reduce.

Last week, there is a chance for me to visit hair saloon to cut my close-to-one-year-old hair. It's really short. During my regular visit to Callum, when I first saw him, I asked "do you still remember me?" and he smile at me. The sweetest smile that is rooted in my memory...

I love you, boy.

Pic above is taken when I try to wrap him like a newborn. He shows exactly his expression when he is about 2 days old - lock eyebrow and innocent.

Year 2010

coincidentally, Callum kiss while I try to camwhore :)

It's brand new year, have you set your resolution for the year 2010? Aha, it's not a norm for me to set new year resolution. However, I've got a number of gifts from 'year 2009'.

A lovable, adorable and cutest son.
A low rise, strategic location condominium.
A bunch of family members who love and care me most.

Small update of Callum's development. Callum's hand is now reachable to his toes. Whenever he put in sitting position, his little hands are holding his toes. Once i spotted him holding his toes and pulls towards his mouth! Callum still need some support in sitting position.

Callum starts solids at 5mo

Couldn't wait more and started to suck his thumb

Over the weekend, I was preparing some mashed apple for Callum as trial. Surprisingly, he accepted it. He is quite actively and knowing how to use his hands now. As I spooned some mashed apple and bringing towards him, his hand came about and pushed my hand which holding the spoon. Callum is cooperative too, when the spoon approaches, he opened his mouth big and look up. He is such a genius :D

My mama dressed Callum up like a handsome to church. He looks so...so mature i would say. My little Callum is the cuttest boy inside me. Whenever I think of him, I sing inside me with 'Callum, Callum, my boy boy!' So sweet of my little chubby Callum.

A little update of Callum development milestone. He is able to roll front and back now. When he roll on his tummy, very fast without your notice, he was on his back again! Got to watchout closely now.

I'm thinking of what i left out in order to prepare him for solids. Plate, bibs, booster chair, a food processor maybe... and possibly a variety of recipes to keep him interested and open his mouth while feeding ;)

Oh ya, I passed my mama a parenting book. She read it. Just yesterday, she requested me to buy a 0-2 yo story book for her, so that she can read for her lovable grandson. Hm, I was so surprised that she has enough time to spend in reading the book I passed to her as she really taking care of everyone in the house and i expected she has no time to spare anymore. Mama, you're my superwoman!

Hand brand

I've been using Philips Avent Isis manual breastpump to express breastmilk and later bottle-fed my 4mo son. Recently, a small little rubber accessory attached in the breastpump was teared off. It's still usable but a little fussy as i need to dissemble and assemble the pump if it is over-sucked.

While assembling, the small little rubber is dropped into the milk storage. Why not giving me more time as I was doing it halfway, I wasn't done yet! I screamed inside me. There is no way that i can get the rubber out from storage bottle. No choice, all I've is both my hands. During prenatal class, nurse did teach us on how to express breastmilk using hand. I think this is the best time to recall my memory and practice. Surprisingly, it's easier than i was thought. Not sure if it's hygience as hands might infect bacteria.

If anyone of you going to buy a manual breastpump. My advice is, use your hands. There are equivalent tired and time consuming but different in cost. Unless you're using electric breastpump. Trust me.

Balance

Things around me happened out of my control, one after another.

Been told that should have a balance work a.k.a. doing multiple tasks in one day, equivalent to 8 hours continuosly for at least 2 months. The expectation was not set right in the beginning. Fine, balance work. Yet additional tasks are not reflect in the workplan been assigned. And yet, others people doing additional task has a luxury of 40 hours allocated. I can manage balance work but i can't help in balance thought!

Been busying follow up with banker regarding housing loan which developer is not in the ADL all of the sudden.

Been told that the best BLR would be -1.9% effective tomorrow.

Been told that there will be no ZMC package offer by banker a.k.a. buyer has to bear banker's legal costs.

Being totally stress out can lead to tear drops. The thought of jump off flashes through to get rid of all this. However, it stays not more than 3 seconds.

Update

At 4 months old, Callum is able to lift his head and shoulder high with the support of his arms when putting him on this tummy. I would like to give the credit to mama. She used to train Callum since he is at 2 months.


Since then, Callum get to train his neck and able to lift up his head slowly. Right now, Callum is more happy and enjoy his tummy time. He lift his head and shoulder high and smile. When he is tired, he knows to lay down and get a rest (like photo).


And Callum started to turn over (body only) by himself, just that he can't make use of the energy in turning his head. Mama gave me update on this :)

My Poor Brain

Recently, things happened around me is totally "new". And I need to catch up with it by equipping myself with the knowledge. Else, I gonna left far behind or rather stand still.

Fresh things for me:
1. Siebel skill
2. Knowledge in buying a house, signing a Sales and Purchase Agreement, housing loan application, housing loan interest calculation....more to come
3. Parenting

I never let my brain in such a tense mode. As I fully utilize the brain cell and absorb as much information as I can to handle the decision making phase. Keep it up!

Another Update

Hann and I are weekend parents as my mama is babysit Callum at hometown. Almost every weekend, we travel back to Kuala Kangsar for several purposes - transport breast milk, visit Callum, my cutie nieces and everyone at home. This time round, I hardly spend precious time with Callum as I am sick since last week. And I don't get to sleep Callum at night. With afraid that I might spread the bacteria to Callum and cause him fall sick.

Before I get into the bus, I waived to Callum bidding goodbye. What surprises me is, Callum he slowly raise his little hand up yet holding his fist to bid me... Be it happens in conscious or coincidently, it makes me reluctant to step into the bus!

Without failed, I am able to snap tons of photo. In case, I miss him alot, I can at least looking at those pictures taken. Well, Hann and I were taking turn in looking at the pictures taken in handphone and camera on our way back to kl. At night, we repeated before sleep.

Callum, do you know how much daddy mummy love and miss you?

Growing fast

Stepping into the month of October, Callum is now aged 3 months old. I've missed the moment when he grows in seconds, minutes... Thus, I cherished the moment we had during weekend. That is the only time we spend together.

In his age, he probably can sit upright when propped up by blankets or pillows.
There is once, I put him on the couch for photograph purpose. He seems toppling to the side. I guess, Callum needs more training on his sitting position. Thus, there we have our second hand bumbo. I always put him on the bumbo for a very short moment so that he able to see things in different view. And I guess my mum found it useful as well. I get to tell that, Callum was putting in his bumbo when my mum is preparing the formula. It's particularly useful when you need your hand free for a short period.

And now, he knows and recognize my voice from the phone! On the other end, when I talk to him, my mum reported that, he curiously looking at the phone. It makes me miss him alot. He is playful at this stage. Whenever I talk and play with him, he can react and smile. His smile can kill me seriously and it interpretes that happiness is showering him at every moment.
He can make alot of noise now. When I put my face near his mouth as if he is kissing me, he is able to make some noise and knowing that i'm playing with him.

Recently, we have putting him on his tummy so that he get to train on lifting his head thus strengthen his neck. He likes to 'perform' whenever I take out my camera for recording. Sometimes, he behaved lazy particularly not getting enough sleep. In a way, he complaint not to train by shouting out loud without crying.

However, he might get to behave badly when he is in sleepy mode. Hann commented that he has a bad temper. And I personally know that it is inherited from my gene. He can get angry when you feeding while talking by crying out loud and push away the bottle. The new trend is, Callum wants to feed only in his room. He refused to drink milk in a bumpy car journey. Ha!