Holiday Diary: Day 16 Busy Time

We have been very very busy preparing for the big weekend. My brother is getting married! How exciting!

Just before we came back to Malaysia, my parents did a major renovation to the house. The workmen are still coming in everyday to put in their finishing touches, from electricians to painters, and plumbers. There are fixings to be put up, curtains to be hung.

The kitchen is buzzing. It has transformed into a mini commercial kitchen producing tons and tons of food. The oven is on overdrive. Preparation is in full swing!

Stay tuned...

Holiday Diary: Week 2 Sick

The boys were struck by a horrible gastroenteritis. It's been 4 or 5 days but it felt like an eternity. They had bouts and bouts of watery diarrhoea, really, I have become a professional bum washer by now. Poor boys. Poor me.

It started with Lachy. It must have been something he ate. For 3 days he was really really ill, complaining of a sore tummy that comes in waves, just before an explosive poo action. (Sorry for being so graphic!) He had fevers, and was clammy and very very grumpy. Thank goodness I was still able to push some fluids in, else I don't know where we'll land! Lucas had it a day later, a little less severe but still the worst he's ever had. They lost their shine, their bubbly-ness and their usual self.

Now they're better, not yet 100%. But at least they've got their groove back.

Holiday Diary: Day 9 Missing Home

Lucas wakes up in the wee hours of the morning and cries "Go..."

Home?

We miss you our dear Dadda.

We hope you're looking after yourself.

Only 1 more week till we see you again...

Psst... there are packets of new underwear in the walk in wardrobe, if you haven't done laundry for the past 9 days! :)

Holiday Diary: Day 6 Gift Exchange

Over the weekend, my family joined Ching Mei's family at their house for the traditional pre-matrimonal gift exchange ceremony, also called "sung jit". Sung jit, a hokkien term loosely translates to "giving day" differs quite a bit from family to family, but basically from what I've been told, it's giving of dowry and all things sweet and nice to the bride's family. Nowadays, it's mainly symbolic, and it is meant to give everything a new couple would need in their new life together.

So, off we went to her parents' home bearing sweet oranges, sweet sticky rice cakes, sweet biscuits, sugar coated persimmons and winter melon, red dates, a whole roast suckling pig, bottles of whiskey or brandy and dowry money. Ching Mei's grandfather prayed to the gods and ancestors, and after that we just mingled with the family, drank sweet packet drinks and crispy pork buns. We then adjourned to a Chinese Restaurant for lunch. What an affair, but only a warm-up for what's in store for us in a couple of weeks time!

It was such a colourful event. I'm sure everything given and received is meaningful, a symbol of love, luck and richness in life for the bride and groom.

Summer Garden

This year, our summer vegetable patch has been left fallow except for 3 zucchini plants that I pray will survive the summer heat. With us away, there'll only be Cailler (our chocolate Labrador) left to tend the garden and knowing how hot it gets in summer, it might not survive. The plants I mean.

Meanwhile, Cailler will still get some daily TLC from our trusty neighbour and my brother-in-law. Let's hope someone feels sorry for the zucchini plants and water them! I hope for some big, fat, juicy zucchinis when we get back.

So, with not much gardening to do, this is what I've been tending to instead: My farmville! Gaaahh... can you imagine how much time I've wasted on this? Ploughing, sowing, weeding, fertilizing, harvesting and building farmhouses, tending to animals...etc. Don't you laugh! You will get addicted too once you start.

Holiday Diary: Day 4 Splish Splash

It's been pouring down rain every afternoon here in Kota Kemuning. The playgrounds are always wet in the late afternoon when it's not too hot to go for walks. That is one thing that the boys look forward to. Forget the slides and the swings, jumping in big puddles of water is much more fun!

We have been doing not much at all but just relaxing at home, walks to the parks in the evenings and really, nothing at all. That's what holidays are all about isn't it?

We heart hand-me-downs

We have been very lucky. The boys wear pyjamas that has been worn in, but in great quality. They're so soft and comfortable, and they smelt like love. They wear clothes that looked somewhat familiar, like they've been seen on someone else before. There're jeans with banged up knees that has been patched, that's oh-so-cute! Or shirts with so much character and a little bolognaise stain on its collar. And once a month or so, they get bags and bags of toys, scouring, exploring and rummaging through them like treasures! It's like christmas day, every time!


Oh we feel so loved.


:) Thank you.

Holiday Diary: Day 3 Gone Bananas!

One of the luxuries of being home in Malaysia is the abundance of locally grown, tropical fruits. The boys have been enjoying these, especially the different varieties of sweet, plump bananas.

Christmas Art

In a trivia night this year, I won a pack of customised greeting cards from Art By Kids. Basically, it's just a blank card where you can draw or create a card however you like. And they will print it out for you.

So I thought we'd make something christmassy to send out to our family and friends.

The drawing scribbling above is a joint effort between Lachlan, Lucas and I.

There's one coming your way, or otherwise, here it is for your viewing pleasure. Well, you can tell the boys aren't the picasso type!

Holiday Diary: Day 1 Kota Kemuning Hills

We arrived this morning after an 8 hour flight from Melbourne to KL. It was a sleepless night with the two boys taking turns waking up and waking everyone else around us. Poor kids, they were out of their comfort zone. Lachlan slept poorly on an upright non-reclining seat, while Lucas have outgrown his infant seat and shamelessly hung his feet outside of the bassinet.

Typically, we arrived sweaty and groggy and headed straight to mamak! We had our first pig out. Nasi Lemak sotong, Roti Canai, Mamak Mee Goreng, Teh Tarik etc.

After a late morning nap, the boys headed straight outdoors for water play! They were drenched, hosing each other down and playing with their water guns. We are such water-deprived Melbournians!

It's thundering down with rain now.

Photos soon...

I'm no Cinderella

I'm about to let you in on my not-so well kept secret! I have gigantor feet, to put it mildly. Alright, so everyone in my family already knows it and friends close to me.

My mom bought me my first pair of heels when I was twelve. It was probably only half an inch high, but already a whopping size 8. This was when I was 12! Barely post-pubertal and still growing! Gaaahhh...

So over the years, my feet grew... and it grew, thankfully only 2 more sizes larger to a size 10. In my teenage years, I remember how hard it was to buy shoes my size, especially in an Asian country. Most shops only stock up to a size 8. So I strutted in my nike, probably made for boys. Thank goodness in those days, all I needed to do was go to school. But as you can imagine, when a certain special occasion calls for dressing up and nice not-too-chunky shoes, it can certainly spark a shoe shopping frenzy which almost always end up in tears.

Anyways, that was history. When I landed in the land down under, I was in shoe haven! Aaahhhh.... sizes, sizes, sizes! Wooo hoooo! I bought my first pair of 3 and a half inch disco shoes, it was glittery silver. And in the 7 years of my uni life, I collected up to 25 pairs of shoes! (Oops, are you reading this dad?) It only escalated when I started working, with my own money to spend.

Now, here comes the clincher. I am 19 weeks pregnant. And already my feet have blown a size up. I know that in NO way, I will be able to find a pair of nice heels for my brother's wedding in Malaysia. So out I went shopping, looking for my perfect pair of glass slippers. And guess what? Most shops in Australia stock shoes only up to a size 10! HORROR!! It came to a point when I walk into a shoe shop, I ask the attendant, do you stock ANY shoes in a size 11! Just pick a box that says size 11! In any style or any colour!

Guess what? I found it. My perfect pair of glass slippers. I heart BETTS shoes.

I think I'm here to stay Australia, thank you very much.

Photo credit: http://www.betts.com.au/ Shown above, PLATINUM in silver, size 11.

Out of Office

We'll be leaving tonight. The kids and I, we're heading to Kuala Lumpur for a much anticipated 6 week holiday. Gary, the photobook santa is stuck in the office until christmas eve. :(

I will still be blogging, when I find a comfortable spot to upload photos and type. :) So stay tuned! Meanwhile, do check out some of the pre-written post that I have prepared earlier. It will automatically "pop up" on schedule.

Till then, tata! Wishing all of you a happy silly season and a blessed new years.

Photo: Taken in December last year, on our way to Canberra.