1/2 year has flown by!

Time flies and in just a couple of minutes we'll be entering the 2nd half of this year.

I think this first half of the year has been very eventful.

I managed to safely give birth to our son and we as a family have adapted into this new (beautiful) chaos.

Mia has started nursery and she seems to quite enjoy it. I hope she's learning to make friends in her "school".

She likes to "read" her Elmo book as we drive to school. She doesn't seem to get tired of it.

I tried to tie her hair up, but failed. She doesn't like it at all and keeps pulling the hairband off. I also learnt from the twins at church that she looks like a pineapple when I tie her hair up like this:


We managed to fit in a family (shopping) holiday to KL during the recent Harvest Festival holidays.

So, what do we expect to accomplish in the 2nd half of 2011? I don't know. We'll tackle it 1 day at a time. I'm looking forward to participating in the Sutera Harbour's 7k Sunset Fun Run (or in our case, catwalk) in a couple of weeks time.

Yes, we've registered. When I say "we", I mean Mama & Mia.

Meanwhile, its good night from us and we'll see you in July 2011! .... and soon it'll be Christmas. Ho ho ho! LOL!

Biopsy... done

My only photo taken throughout the ordeal: the curtain round my bed!

I've done them: a a colposcopy and biopsy of my cervix due to the abnormal cells found during my last pap smear.

The tests were done by my Dr. He couldn't do the tests in his clinic because they need to be done in a proper Operating Theater. So off I went to Rafflesia Medical Centre. After the check-in procedure, I was shown to the Cashier Counter to pay the deposit: RM855 (actual deposit is RM850, the RM5 is charged because I paid by credit card).

Then I was led to the 1st floor (birth/delivery/labor floor). As the lift opened, there was a couple of ambulance attendants wheeling a stretcher out of the lift. On the lift, a newborn baby. Kesian tu baby - she/he had a tube up her/his nose. Apparently the baby has lung infection and is being rushed to Hospital Likas. The lung infection was due to the baby having pooped and swallowed the poop while inside the mother's womb.

Anyway, after changing into my super sexy see-through gown (you know the type ie nothing but three strings to cover bare behind!), I was wheeled into the Operating Theater where my Dr was waiting for me. My first thought: "So this is what the room looks like if I were to have C-Section!"

The whole process was finished in 10 minutes. It was like giving birth: legs apart, poking actions happening, bleeding, uncomfortable, but a LOT LESS PAINFUL! And another difference, instead of the Dr asking me to push, he asks me to cough as he "pinches" some samples of tissue from my cervix. I had to cough 5 times, so I guess he took 5 samples.

I was asked to rest for about 30 mins before I got discharged. Oh yes, I also had to go back to the Cashier Counter to get my refund. The total amount for the tests were RM700, but again I had to pay another RM5 because I paid via credit card.

I'm glad to be home and be with our baby.

Awwww..... mummy's boy! I miss you too! (I miss Mia too, but she's having a bath now)

How do I feel? I'm OK, no pain at all. Now I just need to get over this bleeding. I'm bleeding as if I just gave birth. A couple of times I've gone to the toilet and released "tofu-size" hard blood. Yucks.

Today's D-Day

I'll be getting my biopsy done today.

Fingers crossed all goes well.

I suck at bowling

I've never been good at sports, any sport. Yesterday, our church group went to Sutera Harbour Marina Club and had an afternoon of family fun at the Strikers Bowling Alley.

Yes, I struck out... I really suck at bowling:

See, I'm the worst player. My husband was the best. I also suck at taking photos!

I got beaten by people of all shapes, sizes and age. Granted that at least half of us were on the bumper lane and I was not, but still, I suck!

Most of our time was spent trying to stop Mia from turning herself into either a bowling ball or a pin.

Alan was oblivious to the noise and had a good snooze.

And after all that, we all went to Grace Point for a drink and let the kids have fun in the playground. My husband and I took turns to become the playground supervisor.

Overall, it was a fun outing. I had lots of fun even though I totally suck at bowling!

The Picture Company @ The Gardens

One of the things that we did during our short shopping spree in KL for the kids, was to visit the Picture Company located on the 2nd floor of The Gardens Mall.

I wanted to have Mia's picture taken here ever since being introduced to it at 1Utama by my husband's colleague last year. But, at that time Mia did not accompany us on that trip. She stayed behind under the good care of my mum and my now late father.

So, it was a pleasant surprise to find that the Picture Company has a branch just literally below our apartment.

Here are just some of the pictures taken:

Mia was being quite a challenge during the photo shoot. We planned to have her pictures taken first, followed by Alan, and then the 2 of them TOGETHER. But Mia being the Diva that she is, had plans of her own and the TOGETHER picture never happened.

Instead, she had an accident while I was busy with Alan for his photo shoot - she climbed onto her stroller, fell off the stroller, hit her cheek on the handle of a rocking horse. She screamed and cried and I knew that was the end of the photo shoots.

See her grazed cheek - right after we walked out of the studio

The bruise was more obvious the next day. [sigh]

CIN1

[sigh]

I went to my Dr yesterday for OUR appointments:

1. Hep A vaccination for Mia
2. 3-month vaccination for Alan
3. Test results for me

Yes, test results. I've been religiously getting my pap smear done since 2003 - once a year, in December. Each time, the test result comes back "Normal" so nothing to worry about.

Then last year I started my vaccinations for cervical cancer. There are suppose to be 3 doses altogether. No 1 and No 2 went OK. Before I manage to go for my 3rd and final dose, I found out I was pregnant and the dose has to be postponed till April this year.

I had my final dose and also did my pap smear as well. I didn't do my pap smear in December last year because I was pregnant. When this pap smear test result came back, it was found that I have abnormal cells in my cervix. It could have just been caused by bacteria/infection which is normal after childbirth. But to double check, my Dr took another sample for another test.

Well, the test results came back and was given to me yesterday. There's a possibility that I have CIN1. Here's what I understand from my Dr.

Pap smear is a screening test for cervical cancer by detecting any abnormal cells in the cervix. It can come back normal ie no abnormal cells, OR abnormal cells present in which case it would classified as:

1. CIN1 (mild)
2. CIN2 (moderate)
3. CIN3 (severe) which MAY lead to cervical cancer

60% of the time, CIN1 would regress and disappear by itself so there's no need for treatment. We just need to go for regular review to make sure it doesn't progress to CIN2 or CIN3.

Should the CIN1 progress to CIN2 of CIN3 then there's need for treatment.

But first and foremost, I have to make sure that I really do have CIN1 and not not anything else (eg anything between just a viral infection to CIN3). So the way to find out is to do a colposcopy and biopsy meaning they need to take a piece of tissue from my cervix.

So, I'm scheduled to go for this minor procedure later this month. Am I scared? No. I've gone through liver biopsy before and that was painful because the Dr had to go through my rib cage to get a sample of my liver. This upcoming biopsy shouldn't be as painful. Childbirth was painful. Oh man, you don't know pain till you go through childbirth!

Am I concerned about having CIN1? Of course I am but I'm not too worried about it. After all, it can disappear and even if it doesn't, there are treatments. I'm lucky to have found out earlier and do what's necessary.

I read somewhere that Cervical cancer is second to breast cancer in causing cancer deaths in women worldwide and is the 2nd most common cancer in Malaysian women. So, if you're aged between 18 - 65 years, you'd better have your pap smear done each year.

First Flights

My husband and I love to travel and have traveled to many places before we got married and had kids.

Our Mia had her first flight when she was around 5 months old. It was just a short flight from KK to Sandakan to visit my sister and her kids. She was superb. I think she quite enjoyed the experience.

Her next flight (when she was 8 months old) was slightly longer. It was from KK to Singapore and return. Once again, she passed with flying colours.

Alan, had experienced his first flight when he was 2.5 months old. A trip from KK to Kuala Lumpur.
I know, its the same photo as in the other post. But that's the only photo I had of him on board because my camera was inside my bag under the seat and it was so hard to reach it. This photo was taken using our Ipod and really blurry. Sorry Alan. Mummy promise to take better photos next time.

Alan was really good during the flight. He didn't make a fuss at all. He drank his milk, sucked on his binky, slept and played. It was a breeze flying with him.

Of course having my mum travel with us was a bonus. She was a big help with the kids.

Returning back to KK was also good. We got to the KLIA earlier and this gave us ample time to check-in, have play time for Mia (again this was a trick for us to get Mia tired so she'll sleep during the flight. LOL!), and shop for chocolates and magazines.Imagine that one day, when she's a bit older, she would want to go on roller coasters. Hmmmm.

Holiday in KL

During the recent long holiday weekend (Harvest Festival holiday: 28 - 31 May 2011), our family of four plus my mum hopped on a plane and flew to KL. The trip had been planned for ages.

Initially we wanted to do a road trip driving and exploring the east side of Peninsular Malaysia. Duh. We chickened out - couldn't risk that with a couple of infants traveling with us. Maybe next time when they're older.

Then, we wanted to go to Cameron Highlands. However, since Alan would only be about 2 months and Mia is at the stage where she can't stand being stuck in one place for too long, the 4 hour journey from KL to Cameron Highlands may be too much for us to handle.

Finally, we opted for just KL. Not touring but a relaxed shopping holiday. Relaxed as in take our time to shop.

We stayed at the Gardens Residences while we were in KL.

Picture source here

Our home away from home for 3 nights

It's a full serviced apartment complete with a fully functioning kitchen, a dining room and living room. We took the 2-bedroom apartment. Each bedroom has its own en-suite.

The master bedroom and ensuite. We asked for a baby crib for Alan.

The 2nd bedroom with twin beds. I forgot to take a picture of its ensuite.

Their curtain is the same as ours in our living room at home! The stroller on right is one of the first thing we bought in KL. It's for Alan. This was a planned purchase. I like this stroller a lot because 1) Its super light (4.3kg) 2) Folds easily and 3) can switch from front facing to rear facing. Yes, its the Combi stroller!

First thing I did when we entered the apartment was to take away all breakables eg vase, ceramic bowls/plates, cookware and glass lids. Safety first.

The Gardens Residences is beautiful, convenient and worked well for us for this trip because it was a shopping holiday! The Gardens Mall is downstairs, Midvalley Megamall is linked to the Gardens Mall.

We could easily go to Midvalley Megamall from the Lower Ground, Ground, 1st & 2nd Floor. I've forgotten now whether we could access it from the 3rd floor.

Gardens Mall is on the left, Midvalley Megamall is on the right. This picture was taken on the 1st floor link.

At the time we were there, Midvalley Megamall was having this huge "Pirates of the Caribbean" display, complete with a pirate ship and costumes used for the movie.

If we wanted to go anywhere else, we'll just take a taxi. Which we did. We went to IKEA and bought kids stuff. I wanted to go to IKEA not so much for shopping but more to getting some inspiration for organising and decorating our home. But I'm a sucker for cute kids stuff so there.

Yes, we shopped a fair bit but 90% of the shopping (100% @ IKEA) was for the kids. Isn't that always the case now?!

For a living planet

My husband received some spinach seeds from WWF recently. He suggested that I try and plant them. I thought, why not? Let's do the Michelle Obama and start an organic garden. For those who have ever visited our home, you'll know that we don't have much of a garden to plant things. The only patch of green that we have has been turned into a Disney-themed zen garden.

But I'm not giving up. Simple solution:

I planted the spinach seeds in a couple of pots! Let's hope they grow and we'll have some homegrown vegetables to enjoy.

I still have to find a spot for my sunflower seeds :/

I've started yet another garden project. I always wanted one of these but never got round to actually buying and growing one. The other day at Kaison, I saw them being sold for RM4.50 a box and it came with that plastic vase thingy too. Its been 4 days and my little lady is growing quite a bit of hair already!

Something totally unrelated to the garden, but growing as well in our home:
Look at her. Macam boss! Reminds me of the inai-inai di tamu yg menjual! She's 50% Kadazan after all.

3 months old today!

Our baby Alan is 3 months old today.

He weighs around 6.7kg. This past month had been a difficult month for him. He fell sick twice and the second time was worse. He lost his appetite but thankfully has regained it this week.

He coos a lot, really a lot. Most times, I get tired trying to "talk" to him as he coos. He doesn't like it if he's left in his crib, even if we're in the same room as him. He would be much more happier if he were lying down next to his big sister on the little mattress on the floor.

And he still has baby acne! One big spot there on his cheek.

One thing to celebrate was he already experienced his first flight! Yeah! We took a short holiday to KL a couple of weeks ago (a bit risky traveling with 2 recovering infants, but the trip had been planned for a long time already) and he passed with flying colours.
He's a happy traveler. More on the trip in another post....

Different Tastes

Our church will be celebrating its 10th year anniversary next month.
Amongst the many programs lined up is a 2 hymn presentations by the men's group. My husband is one of the singers. I must say they're really good. I quite enjoyed watching and listening to them during their practice session last weekend.

I'm pretty sure Mia feels the same. She seemed mesmerized as she watched her Papa singing. But, LOL! the twins didn't think so. These 2 little ladies are non-identical twins. When I asked them why they covered their ears, they replied "Ewwwww! We don't like it. The song's silly. The 1st one is OK."

Different people, different taste!

Scam... Ada ada saja

You'd have to click on the picture above to see it better.

I closed my Maybank account when I was still dating my errr... let me count... 2nd (serious) boyfriend! I've dated a few more other boyfriends, gotten married and had a couple of kids. So imagine how long that must have been already.

And anyway, even if I still had my Maybank account, I wouldn't fall for this scam! So many things in that mail that's pointing out that its a scam. I pity those who can't tell.

Back to the pool

About a month ago I committed myself to a journey to lose those pesky extra kgs left behind by my 2 kids. I really shouldn't blame them, I know. But, like it or not, they're part of the reasons why I'm overweight.

I was really serious too in my commitment. I went for my power walk at the park and watched what I ate (and not just watched... but also reduced the amount!).

After 2 weeks, I lost a measly 1kg! How sad is that?! Then my exercise routine went hiatus because the kids got sick and I had to be home with them ALL the time for the next 2 weeks. There you go, 1 month gone, and I'm back to my good old 60.9kg.

Since Mia has gone back to school yesterday, I decided to up my fitness/lose weight routine by going to the pool.

I just love going to the swimming pool this time of day - early morning when people are rushing off to work. It's like swimming in my own private pool!

I was so excited and anxious to get to the pool that I clumsily packed my husband's goggles. My husband wears glasses (his degree is somewhere around 500 - 600 I think) and his goggles, well see for yourself. Around that range.

It wasn't so bad in the pool, but once I stepped out of the pool and took the goggles off.... OMG! In the words of Tommy Roe "Dizzy... I'm so dizzy, my head is spinning. Like a whirpool, it never ends...":

So, this morning I was more careful to make sure I got my right goggles packed for the pool!
Let's hope I really start losing weight and reach my target of 55kg by 31st August 2011.

Back to school

Mia's been away from school for 2.5 weeks (0.5 weeks due to her being sick, followed 2 weeks due to school holidays).

I was so afraid that they'd be a big drama when I drop her off at school - her crying and clinging on to me as the teacher/s takes her away. And once again, Mia threw me a surprise. Not only that she did NOT cry when we got to school, she happily jumped to a teacher (who isn't even her nursery teacher). I didn't even have to take her to her classroom.And today, she was happy to be able to take along her Elmo DVD (present from our dear friend Teresa) to school. Well, in the car anyway. The moment we arrived in school I took it away from her and left it in the car while I took her to her class. Needless to say, Mia wasn't very happy from then on! A mum's got to do what a mum's got to do.

Saturday Nite Flop

Dinner during the weekends and holidays are usually out at a restaurant or coffeeshop. Tonight was no different.

We went to Nok Thai Restaurant in Damai. I was a bit apprehensive on going there because I was thinking more of Mia not being able to eat much as most Thai food are spicy. Still, we decided to give it a go and order at least 1 non-spicy food for her.

Only after I took the photo did I see a notice on the wall:

NO PHOTO
"MENU"

Oh well, I don't think the picture above counted. You can hardly see the menu!

Yes, baby Alan joined us as well. What choice do we have. We couldn't leave him at home alone could we?!

These are what we ordered:

Pineapple fried rice, green curry, egg beancurd, and clear tom yam soup. Yummy!

No sooner had we started to eat, Mia the Diva threw a tantrum and I had to take her out of the restaurant. While I did that, baby Alan of all times, decided that this was the perfect opportunity for him to start screaming/crying and get some attention!

Once Mia calmed down, I brought her back into the restaurant with the hope that we could make it through this dinner without anymore commotions.

Sorry, no such thing. Alan was crying and so I had to carry him in my arms. Mia started screaming again and so my husband had to take her outside.

Meanwhile the foreign lady at the next table was pretty annoyed. I could feel her angry eyes pierce right through me and I got so embarrassed.

I finished my soup, ate my bit of pineapple rice and asked the waiter to pack the rest of the food to takeaway. I paid the bill and left the restaurant to our car where my husband was waiting with Mia strapped in her car seat. All this while I couldn't bring myself to look at the other patrons in the restaurant.

Going out anywhere (more so in restaurants where "losses" would be more apparent) with young kids is always a huge gamble. You'd either win in which case, kids were well behaved and you return home with a happy feeling. Or kids were chaotic making you feel like you'd want to pull your hair out and you return home feeling crappy.

I don't want to gamble for a while at least where dining is concerned. I need to recover from tonight's huge losses - my dignity and sanity.

Of warmth and happiness, adoration and longevity

Such is the symbolism of the sunflower.

A dear friend of mine paid me a visit at home and gave me these:Now, I am not one to be known for my "green thumb" because I really don't have it, not even a green pinky. But, I am going to give it a go. I am going to plant these seeds and hopefully I will succeed this time.

Because I REALLY want my own homegrown sunflowers in a vase, on my table (pic source here) . Above all, I want to be able to present the flowers (if I manage to succeed in growing them) to Christine so she can give them to their dear Angel Eve.

Alan & Abel

"Mummy, kita bawa ni balik!"

Those were his exact words.

Carrying Alan is Abel, my 4 year old nephew who lives in Sandakan. He was really serious about wanting to take Alan back to Sandakan and refused to let go of him. He only allowed me to take Alan back when I told him I'll bring Alan to Sandakan once he's ready. I told him that Alan needs to be changed, and have his things packed and a lot more.

Well, what do you know... my sister told me that all the way back to Sandakan (they traveled by road), he kept a lookout for our car to see whether we were catching up with him. He kept asking my mum and my sister when we'll be arriving in Sandakan. He even told his father to ring me to tell me to hurry up.

Somewhere in Sandakan, there's a 4 year old boy who is sad and really, very angry with me!

Buttons

Alan is about 2 months and a half now and our Mia looks like she has pretty much accepted his existence. He has been upgraded from being the competition to play friend.

She notices that he is on his back most of the time, so the game that she plays with him is "Buttons" as in belly buttons.

Here is how it goes. First she shrieks in delight when I place him where she can access his top

She slowly pull his top up and looks for his belly button

In goes her finger and Alan gets a shock

Then she pulls up her top and sticks her finger into her belly button

And the whole process starts all over again until she's had her fun, or I put a stop to it in which case she'll pull my top up and stick her finger in my belly button!