Interesting ... :)

Not sure whether you have the chance to notice this interesting thing around us these days. Here are some of the interesting "happening" around me and not sure whether you could agree with me in some of it:

1. When you go out in a group, especially to a foreign place, you tend to order the same thing/drink as the first person would order. For instance, if the first joker order a barley ice, 80% of the people in the group will order the same thing.

2. We tend to complain that we dont have time to do our own things and blame it to our work and traffic jam; but we have alot of time to kill infront of the TV set or in Cinema even in the midst of business.

3. We tend to follow the crowd in deciding what to buy in the supermarket, this is called peer pressure. For example, a promoter will tell you that alot of people buying this stuff and instantly you'll lower down the alertness and tend to buy the unnecessary stuff just because everyone in the world having it.

4. While driving through a toll booth we tend to go for the one with cars and dont dare to try the one without cars especially at the Touch N Go booth fearing that the bar will not work at our turn especially true when you have a bad experience with it before.

5. (just added) Do you notice that the way you dry yourself after taking a bath is the same sequence since you were young? The moment you change the sequence you'll just feel "something is wrong somewhere" :)

:)

tim

Babysitter update

A big thanks to all our friends who sent us contacts for potential babysitters :) We managed to engage one babysitter after visiting a couple of homes.

She is a grandma who's looking to babysit now that her grand kids have all gone back to their respective homes/parents. Sounds like she likes to have kids around. Both her & her husband seem nice enough. Does not seem calculative and quite flexible. House is not big but seems tidy enough. It is also on the way for Tim and me, actually I rented at the same apartment block 3 years ago *what a coincidence :)

Hopefully this is really 'The One' that will work out.

~Audrey

Thirteen more weeks

Last week we saw Dr Ng for my regular monthly pre-natal checkup. Thank God everything is going well so it was a short visit ~15 mins after a 1.5 hour wait :)

Baby is still in horizontal position, growing well with head and thigh bone measuring 27 weeks 1 day which matched exactly with the fetal age.

Baby was facing outwards during the scan and we saw her face. Doc's comment was "wah, nice nose!", and she had her tongue stuck out between her lips :P I think she looks like her Daddy... we'll know later hehe... Doc actually discouraged us from taking the 3D/4D scan which is expensive ~RM250/scan although he had all the equipment to do the scan, he said "better go for a nice meal, you will see baby's face later"...

Mummy's statistics:
Blood pressure: 90 50
Urine test: normal
Weight: 53.5kg (increasing!)
Tummy measurement (vertical): 27cm (normal)

Baby should be weighing around 800g now.

No picture this time, doc said she's getting too big?!... hmm... the bill was cheaper though, Rm40+ as compared to the usual RM80-90.

We also confirmed with doc that he will be around for the delivery and not on vacation or something. Another 13 weeks to go!

Unlike the poor monkey...

I'm happy to report that this time the tortoise (unlike the monkey) that crossed the highway in front of us on our way back from Cameron Highlands was more fortunate, it escaped getting rolled over by our car. Hopefully other cars behind managed to avoid it too.

AnniVerSary Part 2 - the Celebration

We went to The View in Equatorial Hotel and it was really a memorable celebration, not because of the place, but because of the person that went with me. :)

We were blessed by the staffs because they decorated our table with lovely flowers patels and a bucquet of fresh flower with candle light to light up the ambient. We were really the "special" guest there :) I actually told them that we were celebrating our 3rd anniversary and requested a small slice of choc cake as desert (specially ordered for Audrey) and I was expecting to pay for that extra. After our main course, I asked the waiter to serve us the cake and to MY/our surprise that the cake they brought was a full size choc cake! And also Audrey was given a fresh rose complementary from the hotel for our anniversary. We'll definitely going back next year to celebrate again :) 

Here are some of the photos taken:

 

Cod Fish and Lamb -- the best of the best. :) the fish actually will melt in your mouth and the lamb is the best compare to other places.

 My lovely wife in her dress

afternoon lunch with choc cake bought by my lovely wife to celebrate our anniversary. By then, she still didnt know that i have secetly ordered a SLICE of choc cake at The View.

 Not this choc cake. There's another one... :P

 This is the one i'm talking about ! huge eh??!!!

oh ya.... did i mention that the cake is complementary from the hotel also?!

:)

tim

AnniVerSary

Today is our third anniversary... time really flies. Now really cant remember much of the detail of the wedding day. Well, both of us enjoying our marriage and looking forward for more years to come. Now, we are waiting for a new member to be added to our family and by next year, we'll have different kind of celebration. :)

Little Yan Yi, you are joining us tonight in mummy's tummy and by next year you'll be able to enjoy the time with us outside mummy's tummy. :)

btw, all four of us in the photo changed abit liao... :P the guys are thinner now... and the ladies has became mother liao... :D

:)

tim

What we learnt

Tim and I attended the antenatal class at Adventist Hospital last week, 4 hours on Sunday, and ~3 hours each night on Tuesday-Thursday...hectic but worth it.
For reference of other parents-to-be, the cost was RM125 which includes lunch on Sunday, some simple snacks during the night sessions and some class notes. They gave out some small sample/freebies too like stretch mark cream, diapers, etc.
Some hospitals refund the fees for antenatal class upon baby delivery at the hospital, but not Adventist.
Each session of the class was actually quite informative and also practical. No doubt some information can be obtained through books/online but somehow, instructor led sessions are still most effective... for us at least :)
The topics covered were as below:
1. Diet & Nutrition
2. Post natal child immunization & care
3. How to give a baby bath
4. How to give a baby massage (just legs only. Fully body massage is a separate class)
5. Labor & delivery
6. Exercises, massages during & after pregnancy (we used floor mats for this!)
7. Pain relief during labor
8. Maternity & labor ward tour (we skipped this as we did it before on our own)

~Audrey

poor Monkey...

Yesterday while we were driving up from KL back to Png, before reaching Rawang rest area we saw a bunch of monkey by the road side. It was quite unusual as there's no jungle around that area (or at least from what i saw), so i pointed to Audrey telling her to look at the monkeys on the left bound of the road.

Then... suddenly, one adult monkey came out of no where from my right side and dashing to cross the road in front of my car... then... "kluk kluk" i felt some impact to my car and when i look back from my raer mirror, the monkey turn a few round then die... :(

Poor guy... 

One thing i learn from this incident, tough we might not think about it while we are travelling at 110KM/H, the impact from anykind of obejct is great. It's was a reminder for me to drive abit slower... :P <110

:)

tim

p.s: Comdolences for the monkey's family... X(

To love or to hate?

This is about eBay. Don't worry, it's not an advertisement nor a 'consumer rights' kind of blog... just about my experience.

I have been shopping at eBay since year 2004. I have had very good experience dealing with sellers on eBay so far with one exception (another story, ask me if you are interested). I do not particularly enjoy the bidding system, it takes time to track the bids, but where else can one find that kind of low prices?

So, while shopping for a baby carrier, I turned to eBay once again. Sure enough, most of the items listed there were cheaper than other websites, and definitely cheaper than what it would cost in Malaysia. As most of the sellers on eBay.com are from the US, many of the bids close in the middle of the night (our Malaysian time), which is day time in the the US. Based on my limited experience in bidding, making a bid at the last few minutes is a good strategy, it keeps the price low and gives a good success rate.

So, one night last week, I had my eyes (and my heart) on an item that was suppose to close at 2.00am. I thought 'never mind, sacrifice a little sleep to gain big discount!!' I set my alarm and woke up at 1.50am to Bid. Bleary-eyed, I started bidding and with ~20secs left on the eBay clock, I was the highest bidder. Sitting back, I relaxed a little thinking I's win it. 15secs before bidding ended, I refreshed my screen and saw that someone just outbid me! While hesitating to bid again thinking whether I could afford the higher price, the bidding closed :( I went back to bed unsatisfied.
The next morning, I woke up slightly earlier to work on Plan B, the other item I had eyes on (if Plan A failed that is). Again, I was the highest bidder, up till <10secs before bidding closed, someone outbid me again! Argh...! Lost sleep over nothing...

Finally, I gave up bidding on that item. Seems like there are many more efficient eBayers out there. I ended up using a Buy it Now option and getting the item I wanted. The funny thing was that with Buy it Now, I got a lower price from that particular seller than I would have paid for the Plan B bid item :) So it turned out to be a blessing.

The best thing is I got the baby carrier at ~RM210 plus shipment, compared to the other websites selling at ~RM280 and shops in Malaysia selling it for RM469. Not a bad deal eh? So I remain a faithful eBayer.

~Audrey

November checkup

Wow what a tiring week! Actually, it's been a super-busy month. Attending 4 wedding receptions (out of 7 invitations received) and many other activities and ministries, family visiting and then we going back to hometown later in the month.

Oh yes, we finally signed up for the ante-natal class as well. Thank God we got on the last boat before it departed :p We initially enquired at Pantai Hospital thinking it is nearing to where we live, but their last class of the year is already on going and no schedule has been set for next year yet...I was asked to call back at end of January. Now, that is a leeetle too close to my expected due date than what we would be comfortable with. I checked back with Adventist Hospital last week and was told that they have 1 more class for this year, starting 23rd of Nov and no more classes after that until February/March next year! We signed up at Adventist on the weekend itself when we were there for a scheduled check up.

Ah yes... time to blog again about the baby's checkup last weekend (delayed post for 1 wk due to reason mentioned above - bzzz). This time the waiting time to see doc was total of 1 hr 15 mins, considered fast liao. As usual, we walloped some bread while waiting :D

Before the scan, doc looked at my tummy and said baby's head is on the right side. The scan proved him right. I wonder how he knew? Perhaps it's because the right side of my abdomen was slightly more protuding? I wondered whether that was normal (right side bigger, I mean) and he assured me it is fine. AS usual, baby was moving during scan and doc said she's very active, good sign. Lots of people have been telling me that if the baby is reported as a girl before delivery, it could turn out as a boy because of um 'wrong report'. So everytime we go for scan, I will ask the doctor if baby is still a girl, so that won't be shocked after delivery :P So far, every scan shows she's a girl... and we are happy :)

Some stats that we got/remember from the checkup:
Mummy's:
Blood pressure still slightly low 70+ 54
Weight = 52.2kg
Clear of diabetes

Baby's:
Week 23.3 (at time of checkup)
Weight = ~470g
Potrait:

Babysitter, babysitter, where art thou?

Yes, we are looking for a babysitter. So far we haven't found a single candidate yet.

I feel somewhat reluctant & sad to leave baby with a babysitter after 2 months of maternity leave... she will still be so small! But that's what we will have to do for now.

Babysitter's criteria (my wish/prayer list):
1. Will love the baby
2. Clean
3. Preferably not taking care of other babies
4. Stays near where we stay/work at Bayan Lepas or Sg Ara
5. Reasonably priced and not too calculative
6. Believer would be nice
7. Agreeable to feeding baby with EBM and also using lampins

Know of anyone to recommend?

Audrey

And she shall be called 利恩颐

Finally we can finalize our baby's chinese name. :D

she's seems to be quite happy with this name as when we call her she's moving alot in mummy's tummy... :D (or is it the other way round... :D )

Now, we still praying for the Christian name for her as we know that God has a purpose for her and we want a name that reflects her godly characters, after all, that's the whole purpose for naming a person right?

If you dont believe me, try to think back when was the last time you called some one "piggy" just because they quite chubby, sleep alot and drive a "PGY" car number plate?? (dont tell that driver.... :P )

Then also, when was the last time you call some one "sotong" (squid) due to his/her blurness??
That's the purpose for name, it should reflect the person's characters :)

We can look at the past especially in the bible, where we have Jabez, Joshua, Jeremiah, Hosea, Jeho-so-fat (Jehosaphat) and even Jesus. Each person has a name that bring meaning to themself and to the people around them.

:)
tim

Perdana <> Galeria

We went to the biggest collection of gifts to our country in Langkawi. Malaysian who's holding MyKad has to pay rm5 for entrance and extra rm2 per piece for each camera brought in. So being a chinese, we tried to fully utilised the rm2 that we paid and here are some of the photos taken in the Galeria.
p.s: hopefully i wont be called to remove this blog... this might reduce the visitors to this galeria... :P

Tun's remote control car ...


Tun's "remote control" car... full size

Tun's "ReMOte ConTroL" car... nice antique

Real 0.38 revolver gun... i forgot to take down the Magnum beside it... cool man...







My fav... the golden house... 99.99% real gold...


MOP (mother of Pearl)


From China... not sure whether they have "made in china" sign behind... :P



I didnt know that Tun also like ducky... not sure whether it can float though...

Crystal..!!! raw material ...




:)
tim

my nieces

I forgot to put their photos in my "Back to home town" blog!!! How can i forgot about it... argh!!! age catching up with my memory... :P

here are some of their photos... guess who's the cheeky one... :D

 

 Surprised!!!

XD

tim

Our trip to LangKawi Oct 08

Langkawi is actually a very nice place to relax and really relax. We actually did our round the island trip and guess what, it's only took us less then half a day to tour the island plus stopping by some of the places of insterest. 

We went to Langkawi nearly 2 years ago and our camera chosed to breakdown during that period and we dont have any picture then and this round, we brought both camera there as to make up what we have loss last round. :P

Some of the places has developed and more people visiting that area compare to what we saw last round. Places such as Kuah town, Pantai Chenang, Pantai Kok and Oriental village. We are glad to see more people visiting the place and you know the calculation, more people = more money spend = more developement. :) Good for the people there also.

We still see cows and buffalos along the roads in Langkawi, and we were warned by the taukeh at a malay stall to becareful and on the look out for cows and buffalo while driving at night. (Pop-quiz: How do you differentiate the cow from the buffalo in Malaysia? Answer as below) 

Here are some of the photos that we have taken during the trip:

  

Fried Beehoon and Mee at Mamak Stall

 

Photo taken by my wife. nice eh?

Our anniversary cake courtesy from the hotel

dinning area of the hotel

 

Blue eye "Visitor"... uninvited tough... :P

Tun's potrait at Geleria Perdana

 

Water fall at... donno where liao.. :P

 

Restaurant lantern and the view outside our room.

frog pond

 

the view from the bottom of the room and the walkway

 Stores at pasir hitam beach

:)

tim