Penang

We just came back from a short 3 nights getaway to Penang.  It was a very special holiday cos it was the first time the entire family travelled together with the kiddos in tow!  We took advantage of the long Vesak Day holiday and decided on a relaxing beach holiday with a little something for everyone! 

A little hash brown treat pre-flight

The 1 hour flight was thankful a no-event both ways.  The last time Julianne flew was 6 months back when we returned from Melbourne.  She’s clearly more curious about the plane now and was most fascinated by the in flight demonstration of use of the safety equipments on board.

I last visited Penang way back in 1988 or 1990 thereabouts so it has been a good 20 odd years.  Not that I remember very much of that trip but Penang is still very much a laid back town doing its best to maintain her heritage and charm in the form of some UNESCO heritage sites like the Chew’s Jetty and Peranakan Mansion we visited.  We had a driver with us who took us around to take in the sights and charm of old Penang.  He of course also brought us (and our tummies) on a delectable food tour that no visitor to Penang should go without.  If you ever visit Penang, I highly recommend you engage the services of Ocean Jupiter Tours.  Minder our driver knew Penang at his fingertips and was always ready with some history and story to the places we visited.  Tell him what you want to eat or a specific place you want to go and he’s all ready to take you there plus extra surprises like that to-die-for samosa he brought us to.  He was also most accommodating to our schedules – picked us up from the hotel at 10am and got us back in time for the kid’s nap around 2ish before picking us up again to take us to our dinner destination.        

At the Chew Clan Jetty

The Peranakan Mansion

Street Murals

We stayed at the Shangri-la Rasa Sayang – a lovely hotel in Batu Ferringgi by the beach.  Our two little kiddos were naturally happiest in the hotel with their cartoon, snacks and swimming pool.  Not surprising since I didn’t think they care very much for Penang char kway teow or chendol.  I was a little concern about what I was going to feed Jules on the trip so the plan was to pack food from the hotel’s breakfast buffet spread for her lunch and order room service for her dinner to bring along if we had to.  The breakfast buffet spread was really good with a Japanese selection even so udon and Japanese rice saved the day.  We also skipped all that tourist traps in Gurney Drive and had our fill of hawker food from some of Penang’s most famous coffee shops and had really good Nonya food for dinner at Ivy’s Nonya Restaurant – oh that yummy chicken kapitan!  I should add that the complimentary high tea at the hotel was also such a delight – that scone with clotted cream and strawberries was such a treat especially when they made an exception for the hubs and I to enjoy it in our room cos we had to watch over Jules while she napped. 

Feeding our tummies.  Yes we ate all of that!*

Jules was really happy on the trip and I’m sure it had all to do with having her Sophie Che Che with her.  Our parents’ rooms was just opposite ours so she was just room hoping here and there as if it was home.  She got to hold hands with Sophie, sing songs during the car rides, have breakfast with her cousin and splash around the pool together – it was like wonderland for her! The first thing she did when she woke up in the morning was to run to her shoes and ask to go out!  She also picked up some new words on the trip – thanks to Sophie being such a good ‘teacher’!  So nice to see the both of them playing together now although I sensed moments of jealousy when I was cuddling Sophie and our little Miss Jealous also decided at that time that she wanted Mama to cuddle her.  Children.

Couldn't be more happy with Sophie Che Che around

It was a really good break for everyone.  We took the heritage sites, ate our fill (and i mean ATE ALOT) and the kiddos had fun by the pool (although the beach wasn’t anything to shout about).  The hubs even managed to go jet-skiing one afternoon.  

By the beach with Gong Gong

It was a short trip but totally relaxing and enjoyable all the same.   Having family with us made all the difference.

Family!

Till our next holiday!

*photo credit to the young sister's instagram and typic-pro skills.

Talking Points #2

Jules is going through a little vocabulary spurt of late.  She has added some new words and even a 2 word sentence to her list.  Everyone at home gets very thrilled hearing her pick up new words and saying them out loud.  They don't always sound perfect which makes it all the more adorable actually. 

People
Yiyi (Finally called Yiyi! My younger sis was sooo happy, she called me up at work and put Jules to the phone just to prove her point)

Food
Blueberry (Her other favourite fruit after strawberry.  She must have figured better start with my favourites.)


Nature/Animals
Moon
Star


Expressions
No more (Her first 2-word sentence.  She says it when there's no more food left in her bowl or when the song on the disney/baby tv channel has ended)
One more (This came shortly after "no more".  There was no more blueberries in her fruit bowl, so she looked up at her Papa with her puppy eyes and said "one more".  She went on to let out a loud chuckle when her Papa happily obliged her with another berry)

I think it thrills herself as much as us that she can now use words to communicate and let us know what she wants.  I leave you with a random photo we took over the weekend!  Happy Tuesday! 

Little Miss Chatty

Happy Mothers' Day

I'm quite sure Julianne knows nothing about today being Mothers' Day.  All she knows is that she had to hand me this big huge purple box containing a lovely hand-made gift by Papa.  And if you asked her last night, she would also have told you that the Isetan paper bag that she spent the entire of last night carrying around the restaurant was also meant for Mama.  My daughter is sweet that way.  She did give me an extra wet kiss complete with biting my chin as I was putting her down for her afternoon nap!  Maybe, just maybe, she does know today's meant to be just that extra special for Mama. 

But really, it was just like any other Sunday - although I must say I really love the little photo calendar the hubs put together for me!  He got one of those blank calendar-style scrapbook and filled it with 30 of my all-time favourite photos of Juju and us - one for each day of the month - and topped each page off with the date of the photo and a some short journaling.  It was really sweet!  Gonna bring it to the office and let it don my desk! 

Cover page of the gift from Juju!

The day it all began ....

I've been at this motherhood business for some 18 months (ok plus a few days) now and really, I'm still learning everyday.  It is no easy business - I salute my mum for being at this for the past 36 years.  I look back at the past 18 months and think of those times I was stretched to my limits and got frustrated or irritated by Jules and I think what a horrible mother am I.  Then I think about all those hugs, kisses, pats pats Jules has showered me with or cries for me to carry and comfort her when she was sick or needy and I think - my daughter looks past all the times I've vented my frustrations at her and still thinks I'm the best person in the world and that if there's anyone she wants to be carried by when she's unwell, it is ME.  Which makes me feel even more horrible that I would sometimes be angry with my little munch'kin.  But I'm just being brutally honest here, because motherhood is no walk in the park and while on most days, you wished the day didn't end and you could go on cuddling her and all that baby powder smell, there really are some days where you can't wait for it to be over and for the little one to just be sent to bed.  

And so I continue learning.  Learning to be patient, learning to love even more, learning to be the best mother I can.  And while I continue this learning journey, I'm just glad I've got Jules by my side to continue smothering me in her kisses even when I fail her and I've got the best partner in my tag-team running this motherhood/parenthood race with me. 

The reason I celebrate Mothers' Day! 

Letters to Julianne #23

Dearest Julianne, 

I'm sorry this is a couple of days late.  Mama didn't forget that you turned 18 months on 1 May.  It's just that we were all so stressed up the past week, Mama really wasn't in the right mood to write you a letter - not when I was dealing with a whole lot of not very nice feelings as we fought against that nasty stomach flu bug that turned our past week upside down. 

April turned out to be quite a nightmare of a month - I can only pray we never have to relive a month like that ever again.  First we had to deal with that very first cough you had towards the end of March.  Then as you were barely getting well, the little monsters from HFM decided to pay you a visit.  You fought them hard - just like the way Papa tells you to fight big bullies in future. You were such a trooper, we were so proud of you.  Then we had about all but 2 weeks of peace before we found ourselves fighting yet another round of evil monsters doing bad things to your body.  This stomach flu bug was an even bigger monster than the HFM.  It landed us at the A&E of Gleneagles at 3am in the morning after you threw up 10 times over.  For days, you couldn't keep your food down - the monsters just did nasty things to you tummy causing you severe diarrhea.  I've never been so obsessed with your poop or peep since your early infant days.  We had to watch for signs of dehydration and had to make sure you were taking in enough fluids.  To make all these worst, Mama was fighting the bad stomach flu monsters myself.  And just as I thought things can't get any worst, you came down with another bout of cough and cold!! Mama was honestly losing it having to deal with all these monsters at the same time, it was so bad, I think I lost my cool at you and Papa a couple of times.  Mama was bad that way, sorry. 

I'm just glad all that is now behind us.  We're keeping you away from school for the next 2 weeks till we come back from our short getaway.  I really don't want to have you falling sick again.  Playschool is really such a playground for all these monster viruses.  I think we better just stay home.  

Waiting patiently for her pasta lunch at Marmalade @ the Stables

Well through all this, I'm thankfully that I have understanding bosses who allowed me to stay home with you so that you got every TLC you could get to help speed up your recovery.  While I struggled for a while trying to understand why God would put you through one sickness after another, I've come to accept that it is all part of your growing up and that God sometimes has to let these little monsters in so that all that good immunity friends of yours can come out to make you stronger.  

Our sad April aside, we had our share of happy days too.  You went on your very first bike ride with us on your very own child seat with a cute little helmet to keep you safe.  You look forward to our evening rides, always pointing excitedly to Papa's bicycle and then to your head, telling us you want to wear the helmet.  

Going on your very first bike ride!

This month, you also did heaps better in school.  I no longer see you teary-eyed when I pick you up from school and Teacher S tells me that you're more participative during lesson time now too.  You take instructions perfectly and I've been told that you're a very helpful child, always helping your teachers to pack up after play.  I'm starting to see the benefits of school rub off on you.  You can identify shapes (circle in particular) and can proudly show me your pointy when I say the number '1'!  You know the actions to many more nursery rhymes some of which I never taught you at home, like - the Hokey Pokey Dance.  You have also learnt to wear your own shoes (although most of the time, you wear them on the wrong side).  Still, it's good to see you putting all these practical life skills to good use.  Good job my baby! 

This month, you went through (and still are) in a phase of pretending your stuff toys are your babies.  You insist on taking your milk bottle to feed them milk, pat their little butts and put them to sleep (complete with a blankkie over them).  We pretended to put on a diaper on them the other day and you were completely tickled! You bring them everywhere you go, cradle them in your arms or pat them on your shoulder - just like what we do to you! The other day, you took your spoon and medicine syringe and pretended to feed your "babies" medicine going "Strawberry, strawberry" as you fed them.  Took me a while before I realised you were imitating us cos that's what we say to you to coax you into eating your meds.  It really cracked me up!  Sometimes, you just hold them up in front of your face and start talking to them - like giving them a lecture on life's greatest lessons.  It is so adorable to watch.  

Mothering your babies

Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that little brain of yours.  You clearly have a mind of your own and are capable of telling us what to do - likeaboss.  Every night when it's time for our dinner, you will go around the whole house calling everyone to come to the dinner table.  Not only that, you'll point us to our very own seat.  The other day, Papa came home late and had dinner alone, and when he just randomly sat down on a chair that wasn't his usual seat, you pulled out his seat and started pointing to it, insisted that he moved to sit at his usual position instead.  Truly Little Miss Bossy.  

Monkey See, Monkey Do

On your physical development - you've grown taller but lost some of the weight you put on in the past few months no thanks to all those viruses.  Breaks my heart seeing all the effort in beefing you up in the past few months go down the drain.  Looks like we're back to Project Fatten Julianne.  Maybe I should just coat your rice in pork lard everyday!

You're still exclusively on breastmilk for all your milk feeds, although when you came down with your stomach flu, I tried feeding you some soy formula as it was suppose to be more gentle on your intestines.  You took a few sips and decided to have nothing to do with it again.  I tried the next day, you did better than the day before than again rejected it.  Well at least you took a few sips and didn't reject it entirely! It actually smelt pretty fragrant (nothing like that repulsive cow's formula smell I recall when I had to prepare milk for your Yiyi Sam 20 years ago!).  The plan was to wean you off by 18 months - today we're no where close to doing that.  We do need to get serious about this weaning business soon young lady! 

I promise you May will be a better month ok munch'kin!  We've got a short getaway coming up and that's going to be real fun! With Yiyi Sam done with her exams, that also means another person to entertain you at home during the day!  Mama is also thinking of starting you on a new game called "Sit on My Potty".  They say it's a really fun game and you get lots of stickers as rewards.  Wanna play with Mama?  

Happy 18 months and 1 week my sunshine!! Mama loves you big big!! 

My Sunshine!

Always, 

Mama.