I'm back

First of all, I am pleased to announce that this blog site is now going to be back to normal. For those who still frequent my blog, my apologies for my absence for so long. Hopefully I will be back for good this time.

The following are Keith’s development updates:
- Since end of last year, we have managed to wean him off his pacifier.
- Early this year, he has been potty trained and was diaper-less during the day.
- It has been 2 weeks now he has been totally off diapers, even during his sleep.
- He is no longer asking for his late night or early morning milk.
- He is now alright if we leave him in the public play place without having any adults around.
- He is beginning to show signs of socializing with kids.
- We are yet to send him to any nursery/learning school. We plan to do that next year, still deciding Fungates or QDees (Elaine feels that she want to send him to QDees because she saw that they have more cute little girls his age admitted there)
- He is still an Ultraman fanatic, even singing the theme song but I have managed to get him interested in Barney, Pingu and Pokemon. To my surprise, he is able to recite names ,like Pokemon, Pikachu, Meowth, Balbasaur and Onix
- He spends less time in front of the television now and rather cycles his tricycle in the house and going to the playground near my house.
- He is able to sit on the playground swing without any assistance, guidance nor care and he is even swinging by himself.
- He astonished me when he demonstrated so much independence when he steadily climbed the spiral stairs of the playhouse all on his own.
- A few days ago, Keith just got his buttock scratched by the comb of the escalator. I will write that on another post soon.

In the past, I have gotten third party feedbacks that there were some irritated people whom felt that I have been a show-off. Mind you, there is no need for me to do that because this blog is meant to keep track of my son’s development and not a contest. If you feel irritated, please feel free to feedback to me personally or comment. If you won’t then please choose to ignore my blog because I really failed to understand how an update on my son’s development will actually offend anyone.

This is an update on me.
- It is agreed between Elaine and I that we will try our best to be good parents to Keith and we had both forgiven each other for our past. In other words, it is useless for some people whom are trying to break us up again because there is nothing to break now.
o Occasionally she will get strange calls and visit by stranger telling her the “truth” about me. Well, we are both too busy with our lives now and we couldn’t be bothered by all these. A word of advice to the nuisance, the truth will reveal itself eventually; repent before it is too late. The reason why Elaine and I have nothing to fear is because we have both repented and confessed our mistakes and wrongdoings, have you? We were able to forgive each other and ourselves, can you?
- Close to half year ago, I got robbed at knife point, I have lost my waist pouch. Although I got scratched in the face and cut on my wrist, luckily Elaine was unhurt and Keith was not around at that time.

- I am now working in a company affiliated with Italian, Chinese and Taiwanese principals. The job requires me to travel extensively locally and South East Asia, China, Taiwan and Middle East.
- My job has been rather interesting because it involves a lot of technical knowledge in a field less ventured and I have been lucky because I have been able to handle my boss’s “tough” customers well and they even treated me very friendly after getting to know me. Much to my boss’s surprise we even became very good friends.
- Close to 2 months ago, my car was stolen when I went to attend a charity event in Pahang with my colleagues and boss, not only have I lost my personal belongings inside the car, I have also lost my certificates and testimonials. My boss is now providing me with a company car.
- My boss is bringing me to church and FGB meetings. In fact with all the bad luck events happening to me, I am really grateful that he saw those as a challenge and not seeing me as a black sheep.
- Lately I just got a really great job offer, which is offering me almost the same to my salary, minus the un-necessary entertainments so I am deeply considering it. My boss told me he will let me go, if he sees the Offer Letter.

Our thanks to Jazzmint for her kind support to both of us

Keith 2nd Birthday

I am very sorry for not being able to update my blog as often as I like now. Life is indeed very hard especially when you have to work things out from scratch without much help and support. Luckily I found it lately with much understanding.

I know that I have been absent from my blog for over 2 months now. I am taking this opportunity to start writing again whenever I can find the time to. My sincerest apologies to all that have hopped over to my blog only to be disappointed with the same old posting.

It was Keith's birthday last week and I manage to spend almost the whole day with him. (Well, I am glad that I can almost see him almost on a weekly basis and he is still as attached to me)

That day was not really an eventful day but it has been a very tiring day for all of us, including the Birthday boy. Elaine wanted to get cupcakes from Cupcake Chic so they bought two to try and sadly they were not to our liking, with Keith being the only one wanting to eat one cupcake and smashing the sweeter one. Guess the cupcakes were not to our liking.

This is how Keith eats his cup cake




After the cupcake we decided to go into the Curve because it was raining heavily and I have parked my car in the basement parking of Ikea. While walking towards the entrance, Keith saw the candy shop and immediately he helped himself to pick the candy :P We can really see that he indeed enjoyed himself with his lollipop candy although he cannot finish it.


He even sat himself on a bench to enjoy his lollipop.


We allowed him to have 2 rides on the mini rides then we headed to Ikea and had a little walk. Keith would as usual play with all the toys there and also the slide


Right after that, we decided to go to Jelly Q to get a jelly instead. Everybody decided to go for the steamboat opposite of the confectionery shop because we were all so hungry.

So we also let Keith have his jelly cake there too


What gave me the scare is him touching the top of the candles right after he blew it


I bought him a balloon, which he had used to repeatedly hit my sister on the head with, as well along with the gifts he got from us. I gave him a Swarovski Crystal Pig (for keeping) with a fake W910 display phone, my mom gave him a small golden piggie pendant and he also received a Jumbo-size Barney from a very good friend of my sister and I.


That did not conclude the day, we went to the Food Foundry to get a Mille Crepe Cake for all the adults and headed to a small restaurant in Taman Desa for our dinner before sending Elaine and Keith home. As usual Keith would whine when he sees me leave but I am glad in a way that Elaine and I are trying to work things out in our own ways.

My Recent Visits to Keith

I have managed to see Keith as per the agreement that it has to be in the presence of, and it was with Elaine for the past few weeks but the trouble is we still have our BIG fights. I guess it is rather hard to working things out and I am really hoping that we can start everything anew as friends. I am rather overjoyed because Keith has been rather ecstatic to see me and he is still just as attached to me but of course he has gotten more attached to his mom.

Keith has gotten quite demanding and has began to order around, even starting to ask for things but the good thing is we can still talk him out of it or to promise him to give it to him later, then he is ok already. All we need to do is to be really angry or when he does something really wrong, he would come over and keep giving the angry one his kisses.

Well, as for the toys I have given him, he is not too interested in it because I know that he had always wanted someone to be there playing it with him, only then will he be interested. Of all the toys, the one he had like most is the bus toy and the drawing table. But we all know how kids are, they always change their preference almost on a daily basis.

I wanted so very much to post up his pictures here but Elaine made me promised that I will not post his pictures up until much later on, for reasons I dunno why. Sigh!

My hectic Tuesday

Tuesday was a rather hectic and tiring day for me. In the morning I have to run to the LHDN alone and also to meet up with my very good friend, DD. I am very thankful for the time that DD took to help me out on many things. The other person that I am grateful with is my sister who took leave that day to help me to assist Elaine so that I can go out in the morning. While Grandma has gone back to Penang the night before for her medical checkup that day itself. By noon I took Keith, Elaine and my sister out for lunch at Tony Roma's.

The food was ok and we ordered 3 sets. Keith was the one having the most fun because he seems to be enjoying himself with all the food we shared with him.

He is taking some bread. Does he looked shocked?


He even wanted to try it with the dressing the waitress gave him. The carrot and celery was a compliment for him :D but he don't seems to like it though.


The yummy look....


Recently he has also began giving different expressions when we put him in front of a mirror


All I can say is I was totally tired by the end of the day.

Another thing that I would like to add is Keith's Portable DVD player from Citibank has finally arrived. I am very happy about it because now I do not have to share my laptop with my boy anymore to watch his children songs.

Runaway Maids

Today is a horrible day to do this post..... Most who have my MSN would know that I am a late night bird. Last night, as usual I went to sleep at 5am But I only get to sleep until 8am. The reason for the short sleep was because my mom came rushing into our room telling us that the maids has gone missing (my sister's and mine)

Grandma has made the discovery when she was going to the bathroom. After looking thru our personal stuffs we found that we are missing quite a sum of money from Elaine's pouch (our own money and "loose change" money we keep for the cash register) We also found a half bottle of milk on the table in the hall along with our keys and their passports, which was taken from our pouch as well.

What really made us totally unprepared for this is because my sister's maid is due for home in October and mine is in December this year. my sister's maid even told my sister that she wanted to continue her employment and she requested that we send her back. We have promised her that we will allow her to go back for a month in January. We were really shock that they have decided to runaway and was even daring to steal money right under our nose. Elaine, Keith and I is sleeping in the room where the theft took place.

From my guess, she has used the opportunity to steal it when she came into our room at about 6 - 7am to feed Keith his morning milk. She only fed hin halfway thru because she did not want to force the whole bottle to Keith because he would normally starts to whine if he is given more than half a bottle. Since Elaine is a light sleeper, she is normally woken up by Keith's whining so I guess she took the caution ot that.

Despite a check with the guard house, they were unable to provide much information because ours is practically manned by foreigners too, my guess is probably Nepalese.

In my opinion, the reason for their daring act is probably due to the fact that they knew where I put their passports. Recently the government has required us, employers, to bring along their passport whenever we bring them out. It has really been an inconvenience, it would be better if we can have the immigration dept issued ID cards and have their passports kept in a safe place or even with the agency. According to the maid agency, the immigration dept has discontinued sending it out these recent years.

I have never liked the idea of having strangers, like maid, in my house because I have always felt uncomfortable with them and also thinks that there is a loss of privacy. FYI, I never spoke to my maids, they get their instructions from Elaine all the time. I am considered lucky because Keith is never attached to our maid and he never really quite liked her. Anyway the reason for us to get the maids is because we needed them to help Grandma to care for Keith (and Nicole, formerly) as well as Grandma herself too because she has been having problem with her legs and movement is rather limited lately and she had fainted once on us because of low blood pressure. Grandma herself is on High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol and Controlled Diabetes medication.

Sadly we don't have a big family so we have to resort to employing maids to help us out on out daily chores as well as taking care of our family so that we can spare more time on our business. The most depressing part of the day is losing the maid has sparked a few arguments in the family and I am being victimized all the time.

My thank for all the friends whom have given their advises, for all the concerns we have been given, for sharing with us their experiences and contacts for maid agencies, since most are closed on Sundays.

Elaine to stop breast feeding

Yesterday Elaine had pumped her last EBM for Keith consumption and so far she had been doing the EBM for 1 year, 2 months, 1 week and 1 day (or a total of 435 days) I took a snapshot of the lilypie marker so that I can keep a record of it for future reference since I will be taking it down from my header.


The reason for her to stop is because she needed to go on some medication and in taking that it is not recommended for her to BF. For a short while she will still be expressing to keep the supply coming but she will have to throw those EBM away. She agreed with me to do so after I explained to her that in doing so she could ensure that if Keith ever reacts to the milk powder, there is still her EBM to fall back to, instead of medication or adapting to another brand/type problem because all she needed to do is stop her medication for a day and her EBM is as good as before.

I know that most of you would think that I have been all talk about BM since I am a male and would never really know what all the great mums have to go through to give their little ones the best in life. Admittingly yes, I could never ever know how it is to BF but all I can say is it is really a very BIG sacrifice indeed, especially Elaine because Keith would not latch on. No matter how much I have done for her or him it is really nothing compared to her sacrifice. I am ever grateful because Elaine had been doing it for all the while without any complain nor even she mumble that it wasn't fair. She was all about giving the best for our little one.


The other reason why I was really thankful is because both Elaine and I was never BF when we were infants.

• In Elaine's case she was like Keith and would not want to latch on and there was no equipments and tools like present for EBM. Her parents have to give her S26 which she would only take minimal amount. I suspect her gastric could have started then Later on her parents found out that PoPo in fact have abundant of BM supply that she can have Aunt May, Uncle Jason and 2 more cousins latch on one after another.
  
• Whereas in my case, according to my kai-ma (godmother, whom also happen to be my eldest maternal aunt) I have had eczema because of allergy I am not sure if it was CMPA probably I have been taking milk powder since birth. By the way, my mother is a firm believer that BM is for the "Dumb and Dumber". In fact most of my relatives from my mother's side do not BF. She had even tried to discourage Elaine from giving Keith BM while my kai-ma has also told me that Keith is too underweight and suggested that we should switch to powder milk for him to gain more weight (to be more chubby and cuddly wor)

A day in Penang

On Tuesday morning we went back to Penang for quite a few reasons for the single trip. We went there in my sister's car and on the trip was Elaine, Grandma, my sister, Keith and I. Our main purpose there is to:

1. Take grandma for her checkup in GH.
2. To spend a day with Nicole.
3. To pay our respect to my stepfather.

We started the journey at 3 am with me driving all the way to Penang and we reached Juru at about 6.30 am. Problem is we have to spend almost 2 hours there waiting for Nicole despite my sister calling her dad at 5.30 am (he works the night shift)
We drove to Penang via the Penang Bridge which is really jammed up for no particular reason. I really wonder why the cars keep jamming up on a straight road!!! Upon reaching the GH, it took less than 2 hours for Grandma to complete her checkup, since she has my cousin, Melinda and her husband, Johnny to take her monthly medicine for her. my sister took over the driver's place from GH. Initilally Nicole was rather quiet, probably because she just woke up after a while she was her talkative self as soon as we were in GH.

Right after that we went for some Dim Sum for our breakfast, which we have to skip this morning because Grandma was supposed to fast as she has to have her blood sample taken on this visit of hers. Next stop was at my uncle's place in Penang Street, the place where I grew up. My aunt was very hospitable and she even gave us very tasty porridge for Keith and Nicole. Elaine and Grandma learnt from her how to make the porridge as well as how to keep it warm all day instead of having to reheat it up (avoiding the creation of wind (foong) in the process) She also gave us 2 laptop backpacks (just what I intended to buy) and a few Dry-Comfort T-Shirts.

After that we went for some sight-seeing and we couldn't really agree on where to go to for our next meal. In the end I decided to stop by the tea house in Pulau Tikus, with their very quiet ambiance, I took the opportunity to take some pictures.

Nicole while she was enjoying the "Tea Egg"


I guess she is beginning to feed herself now and she still likes soup a lot because she almost finished a whole bowl of it by herself.


I manage to have my hands on the camera because......


But someone was being a handful


Because she was starting to explore the place


Then we bought some Boon's aniseed water ("pak yeok sui") which was on offer RM17 for 2 bottles at the Boon's Pharmacy in Pulau Tikus. After buying some prayers stuffs we drove to the Berapit Cemetery to visit my stepfather. I guess we were really unprepared to carry out our Ching Ming this year because we have missed out on a lot of things due to lack of communication on what is needed. Lesson learnt here and I really need to prepare all those things personally. Anyway I took back the driver's seat from the cemetery onwards. Anyway to those needing to know, Nicole and Keith had stayed in the car with Grandma when we offered our prayers.

After that we drove around town a bit and drove to Melinda's office to drop my mum's medical card for her. We could not decide where to go to for our dinner and in the end we went to Alma for some Thai food.

Nicole insisted in sitting next to Keith and kept trying to pull his baby chair towards her to be keep the space between them to the minimum.


Keith was very happy to see his cousin, Nicole


Nicole seems to have turned very cool and posing with her peace sign too


After that we went to the McDonald's in AutoCity for my sister to meet up with Nicole's dad and we started our journey back to KL from there. We didn't say goodbye to Nicole but we promised to see her another time which we hope would be very soon.

I took a short nap while my sister drove to Sg Perak R&R for petrol, which I took the driver seat from there on. We were all being very quiet during the trip because I knew that we were all being very sadden having to leave Nicole in there. We were rather shocked because Nicole informed us of her misfortunate that her aunt ,whom babysits her, had hit her on the butt before for a few times and also her dad hardly takes her out. Despite the fact that they are officially divorced, we were all very grateful that he had earlier tended to my stepdad's grave a few days before our visit.


P/S- On purpose I have to leave the adults out of the pictures because we looked exactly like pandas that day!!!!

New Avent Pump

I should say that I am really happy and proud that Elaine have been able to provide Keith fully with EBM for a whole year. Elaine's supply is only able to provide just the right amount without any extra at all, with Keith on 2 meals of solid. Throughout the year Elaine have been using her sister's AVENT ISIS Pump and we have went to the service center to buy us the spare parts. According to Elaine those parts are beginning to fail as well and we have been pondering whether to get a new one or to buy more spare parts.

A few months back when Jusco was offering a 20% discount on the Avent product, we decided to buy the The AVENT ISIS iQ UNO™ because EBM is really taking its toll on Elaine. Things definitely would be better if Keith would latch on but he is reluctant and furthermore Elaine fears of his 8 front teeth, we decided to make the purchase. It was a very big investment for us because it is priced RM695.00 before discount, also the reason why we waited for the discount!
Upon opening the set, we realise that inside the box is the regular AVENT ISIS Pump with an added electrical top which would pull the diaphragm. (included is a wall power adapter as well as a battery power pack for mobility) Anyway we would be going to their customer service too because the power kept turning off by itself when we are using the wall power adapter.


This Tuesday is also the day Elaine went for her annual checkup with her gynae. During the checkup, we were given 5 boxes of Promil Gold and we have yet to consult with the paed whether Keith is able to take it because we fear that he would develop anymore eczema. The paed has yet to acertain whether Keith has CMPA but she recommends Elaine to keep giving him EBM.

Another problem.

The good new is on Tuesday morning (just past midnight, after work) Elaine's clogged milk duct was cleared and she was really relieved and she was able to sleep thru the night.

Our next problem started as soon as we got back from our lunch yesterday. Keith felt rather warm and when I used the ear thermometer, it gave me a reading of 101.2. We decided to give him some medicine for his fever and he struggled with us when we tried to do so. He cried very loud and even tried to make himself vomit the medicine out by coughing. We only went out again as soon as his temp went back to normal and he was immediately calmer as soon as we leave home.

We went to get some spare part from the Avent Service Centre at Damas Plaza (next to Hartamas Shopping Centre). We were serviced by a very nice lady. When I told her of the pump problem, she suggested that changed all the silicon parts so that our piece would function as good as new, which was really true when we tried it. We were given 3 pieces but there is one that looked different from the piece that we had and I am really glad that it is. Well, Avent have finally changed the white valve and the new piece would still fit into our old ones. Spent RM57.80 for the petal cone (RM27.90), diaphragm (RM20.00) and the valve (RM9.90).
I took the picture down to better describe it. The one on the left is the new one while on the right is the old one.


Elaine and I spent the rest of the evening buying stuffs for our restaurant. We did make sure to monitor Keith's temp and he was rather okay through out the outing. In fact he was very excited to see so many things and he wanted to grab almost anything that he can hold on to. I do realise that he seems to be bored with his toys and always wants newer things to hold.

As soon as we reached home past 9pm, his temp went up again.(All the paed already closed at this time!!!) We gave him some paracetamol and added the cooling pad this time. But he can still be so kay poh when I took this pic of his.


Look at him manja his mommy but I guess this time he is the sick one.

His temperature went back to normal as soon as we put him on the swing. The reason for his fever is because he is teething again. I am able to tell because I saw the white stumps on his lower jaw when he was crying, this time it is his left lateral incisor and his right canine (cuspid) we call them "lou foo nga" but I am yet to check on his upper jaw because I don't want him to make a fuss about it.

Elaine is having trouble

Yesterday something rather unexpected happened. Elaine has a clogged/plugged milk ducts and it is causing her to have a rather painful swell.. It wsa so discomforting that she has to give her O&G Dr Loo a ring yesterday and she advised her to apply warm towel to see if it would clear the clog. All I can do is prepare the warm towels and the warm water with a slight of salt for her to immerse (suggested by some sites) but all this doesn't seems to have done her any good.

Elaine kept complaining of the pain and her discomfort for almost the whole night and she hardly could sleep. I really feel useless because no matter what I told her I understood, I know I am all words because the agony is really on her. She have got me got me worried and this morning we got up very early and went to TDMC to see Dr Loo. This is the first that Elaine was the first patient of the day! The doctor prescribed Elaine with some medicine and cream and informed us that if the swelling doesn't reduce by Friday, she might have to do a minor surgery. According to her, this clogged can evolve into a full-blown breast infection known as mastitis, and possibly could have starting to infect.

Eventhough the doctor didn't order Elaine to keep pumping but Elaine have been expressing whenever she can. I guess it is the mommy's instinct that by doing so she can clear the clog, which according to a site is true :)

The swelling have made it hard for Elaine to carry Keith because Keith likes to push his hands to your chest when you carry him (sort of a way for him to maneuver the person to move forward) but she still insist of taking him in her arms. This morning she was the one carrying him most of the time and the reason was because he was being very manja with his mommy and mommy was very pleased that Keith wanted mommy more than daddy today!


This is the picture I have been meaning to take all the time because Keith is exceptionally at ease.

I wanna make myself clear here:
I am not writing this to put other mothers off BF but I instead I wanna tell you all mothers out there (and especially my wife) how great they are in giving the children the best they can offer and having to go thru such a great sacrifice. Elaine have continued to BF Keith despite that he won't latch on and Elaine have to do double work in doing EBM for him. She have to totally forgo direct BF because Keith has started teething early and now he already has 7 teeth and he likes to bite on everything he can hold on to (especially grinding and biting our fingers, imagine if Elaine tried to latch him on!)
Personally, those whom didn't BF, don't let this put you down because giving birth and caring for your children is already the greatest thing in life for any mom! All I can know is dads can't do that :P

**Update**
I managed to buy for Elaine one of those warming pillows which is heated up with electricity. The thingy can be heated up within 5 mins and the heat can last until 2-10 hours. Seems like this small pillow is helping Elaine to ease the clog because this can hold the heat better and the when the heat is not hot enough, all we have to do is just to plug it in. The price for the thing is RM49.90

Surprise pictures

Normally my usual stunt in to take Keith's pictures is to take a number of snap (as many as possible) of his different expressions and in different positions so that I can choose the best shot later and not regretting that I have not done more shots earlier. I was surprised that my missed shot actually manage to capture Keith's 7th teeth! He now has 4 on the top and 3 on the bottom.


Whenever Keith is around and I got busy with orders I would pass the camera to Elaine for her to take pictures she likes. She never fail to surprise me with more surprise pictures like the one below...... Keith is posing with his maternal uncle, Jason and maternal grandma. Look what are her hands doing behind Keith!!!!!

Keith is sick **updated**

Today Keith is down with cough, running nose and slight fever! He is sick for the first time since birth and today he is exactly a week short for being 7 months old.
It is the sick season recently because of the weather and everyone around us are all sick, even mummy fell sick too. She was down with running nose on Friday and she tried taking ample of Vitamin C but in the end she went to the doctor on Sunday, but by night she have recovered from it already. Although she have avoided Keith when she was sick but I guess Keith have got it anyway.

This morning he was rather demanding because he began demanding the person carrying him to move here and there all the time. He would not be too happy unless I carry him (the reason I didn't get the opportunity to snap some pics lo) He was being very whiny and wouldn't even want his mum carrying him :(

But we went to the studio to take some pictures of Keith


and later his cousin, Yong Jin went too.
Look at his expression on his last take!


The reason we took their pictures are to process their passport.

**Update**
In the evening I went back home to take his birth cert to photocopy and as soon as I reach home I heard him crying. When he saw me, he kept pushing all others away and cried even louder and would only calm down when I carry him. He would keep arching himself towards the door too, hinting to me that he wanna go "kai-kai"

I stayed in for a while chatting with grandma, whom was informing me his condition and he be came more impatient and started whining again. As soon as I got out of the door he became all quiet and alert too. As soon as he board the car he became excited and very happy..... halfway thru driving we were all shocked because we heard him baby talking to himself :P
I know that most of my relatives would say that he got that from me!!

While in the restaurant he would keep whining to go out to look at his favourite thingy...... cars passing by!!!!

Took this picture when grandma was feeding him after he cried and whine la, of course


He is really very tired but he just won't want to sleep because he is very excited to go "kai-kai"!!!

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!!!!!!

Happy 50th Birthday to Malaysia

Today is the day that the whole Malaysia will be celebrating its 50 years of Independence, which I doubt any of you would not have known :)

I meant to do this post yesterday but my sis told me that she needed to use my PC (which is in my room) so I have to move it to the living room for her.

Hmm..... let's move away from the 1957 story first, since I think RTM1 would be covering that today :P and will skip the present for the moment. While thinking back to what I was doing 10 & 20 years ago brought back floods of memories...... :D

In 1987, I attended my very first parade, we were the invited marching school band for the opening ceremony of the Piala Bapa Malaysia. Although this just a normal band outing but it meant a lot to me because for this first outing of mine, I actually faced resistance at home, not allowing me to attend it, until my "kai ma" (godmother, who also my eldest maternal aunty) gave me her consent. That year I also attended my first Merdeka parade.
This marks the beginning of me gaining my independence/freedom.

In 1997, this year was rather meaningful to me because it was the year I got to know a very cute, pretty, petite-size, bubbly and understanding girl, in fact there was never a dull moment with her........ (wondering who she was? make a guess la)

If you are asking me if she is still available then I am really sorry lor but I think most of you would have guessed it right. Yes, it was the year I got to know Elaine!
This marks the beginning of me losing part of my independence/freedom.
This is the year I got my first credit card from MBf. This would mark the start of my credit card problems too.

Ten years later, this year, our baby is born, making this year just as memorable too.
This marks the end of my independence/freedom.
This is also the year I won the LCD TV from the contest by MBf. And this marks my credit card problem owings is now even more than ever. Elaine and her family was rather shocked when I told them that I have known them 10 years already.

Now I wonder how will my independence status be in my next 10 & 20 years

Buffet at Jogoya

As promised, I have managed to post up this one after spending quite a while. I hope you all would understand my situation. I write my posts whenever I can spare the time while working in the restaurant, which is very tough because I am the one who makes the drinks and laptop & water doesn't go along very well.

You must be thinking that I would be showing you with a lot of food pictures, if you are then you have my apologies. That night was a rather eventful night for all of us. As too many things have happened but I will just briefly narrate the pictures.

After we were guided to our table, which was the same table that we sat the last time, all the adults, including Elaine, got themselves rather busy locating the food, with all the clips taken too. I was left to care for the 2 kids, Yong Jin and Keith

Keith was relaxing on the baby carrier


And Yong Jin got busy imitating a drummer with the chopsticks


The first adults to come back to the table was Aunty May and her husband, of course they started eating too and Yong Jin stopped drumming as well :P


Then Elaine came back with some food too and she insisted she wanted to try putting Keith on the baby chair.


In the end she decided to let Keith sit on the baby carrier and she went to get more stuffs off the buffet. Next to come back to the table was Grandma, who got herself a plate full of scallops (those with shells on)


Last but not least came Uncle Jason and his girlfriend (wife to-be soon)


After they finished their first round of meal, they took turns to carry Keith, giving Elaine and I some opportunity to gobble down some of the goodies :P


At that point of time, Yong Jin was chowing down some fruits already. I think his parents are already on their 3rd round :P


Then suddenly Keith whined and after a few minutes he vomitted. Funny thing was he was smiling while Elaine was busy changing his clothes.


As a complimentary we were given a birthday cake but was informed twice that we are not allowed to take it back.


Then comes the birthday song, with Yong Jin getting all excited and clapping along because that is his favourite song


Before the candle is blown, someone took a cherry out, which he aimed at for quite a long time.


Ummm..... Tasty!!!!


This is how the cake looked like after having the cherry taken. I wonder why the birthday boy(uncle) doesn't want to blow the candle leh?


Now everyone wanted to take more pictures with the cake. It is so hard to get everyone to co-operate to look at the camera all at the same time :(


Like Keith whom suddenly burst out his cries


And on the other side Yong Jin was playing fish with his mummy with his grandma carrying him and holding his hands too.


Another look at the cake, see how short the candle have gotten and still the birthday boy is yet to blow it. Btw, did u notice that 3 cherries are missing already.


When he settled down and was about to blow his candle, we realise that we were not given a knife to cut the cake :P


But anyway he went ahead to blow his candle but not without any help. In fact it is not one whom helped but two.


After blowing the cake, nobody seem interested in eating the cake as there is much more better selection on the buffet. Even Keith wanted some from the buffet. Look how he kept staring at the cakes


He even tried to grab the cakes too


Upon returning to the table, this is what I saw happened to the birthday cake.
There was a video taken too, might upload that if I've got the time
(Picture taken by May)


After eating such a BIG cake, he did some exercises and showed us some of his kungfu moves
(Picture taken by Jason)


Last but not least, this is the picture of the mess we left. Of course there would be more if the waitstaff have not clear the plates as we finished our food

Sadly I realised that I was the only one without a picture taken that night :(