From Spa Virgin to Spa Queen

I had never been to a spa for massages before - EVER! So when my colleagues and I went to Bali, of course have to try lah right. What's more, the villa came with complimentary 2-hour massage, scrub and mandi lulur. I was quite apprehensive initially of whether I would actually enjoy it because of 2 reasons:

1) I am very ticklish, so the mere thought of someone man-handling my body already makes me giggle
2) I am also quite malu about being in my birthday suit

But you know what? The massage was really good!! It was so relaxing that I'd almost fallen asleep had it not been my colleagues chit-chatting in the background. The massage is the Balinese sort - long and deep strokes, not like the Thai styled where they intend to break every bone in your body.

I'm now officially a spa convert and am always jumping at every opportunity I get to go for massages. A friend of mine owns a spa (Jentayu Spa) in Damansara Heights so I've been going to that. Hmm...maybe I should go this evening hee hee. Here's a sneak preview.....


(Photo courtesy of Jentayu Spa)

Masak-masak Weekend

It's Friday, finally! Feeling very sian and lazy to work today. It has been an exhausting week due to all those "surprises" so really looking forward to this weekend. Tonight I'm going out with colleagues to Sungei Wang to makan Kim Gary as we have a visitor from the Singapore office. No need to drive since only 10mins walk...good also lah, no need to sit in Friday after-work traffic.

Anyway, this weekend I'm going to try-out some new recipes for Bryan. Bridget gave me some really cute alphabet pasta (almost the size of cous cous) so I'll make some fresh tomato sauce to whip up pasta junior! Will also try feeding Bryan mashed potatoes again. The last time I did that, he clamped his mouth shut after 2 spoonfuls. Thought all babies would love mash (I did and still do!). We'll see how it goes. Also bought some tofu yesterday to add into his night porridge.

You know why I'm suddenly so rajin? I pity the little fella lah...day in, day out the maid cooks the same porridge for him. As the saying goes, "Variety is a spice of life". Just wish this cook-wanna-be luck!

Are you a Coach fan?

I think I am one, although owning them is a separate matter altogether. I like the signature optic designs on their purses and bags but unfortunately, they cost an arm and a leg. To many of my colleagues, Coach is kind of 'down there' compared to their handbags from Gucci & LV. I've never been much of a person who thrives on branded goods but somehow, I like Coach's designs. So far, I've only bought my mum a red handbag from Coach for her birthday (from KLCC) and VT bought me a sling bag as a present to celebrate Bryan's arrival (from Ebay - hope it's not a fake!). Cannot afford to buy branded goods lah...somemore Bryan on Isomil now hahaha.

I've been eyeing this purse for half a year now. Don't know whether to buy or not. It's almost RM500 and I've been bag-snatched twice previously so thinking twice. But hands a bit itchy now cos just received salary and old purse koyak already.




How ah, should I buy it or not?

Audit in process...

If anyone of you works or have worked in a bank, you would be familiar with that knot in your stomach when the internal auditors arrive. Now these guys are not your regular auditors from the Big 5 because they ACTUALLY know how the business works and what to look at for. So obviously the questions that they ask are what I term as "leading questions"....yah, those that "lead" you to your career suicide.

This morning, I was cornered by one of them and this was the essence of the conversation. Let's call the auditor, N -

N: So what do you do with this report
Me: We send them to the traders(confident)
N: What happens if there are new bonds?
Me: We will pick them up from the main system (still pretty confident)
N: Can you miss any of these out?
Me: We have a trigger to highlight new bonds (somewhat uncomfortable)
N: Are the underwriting positions included?
Me: Errr.....dunno lah (OOPS!)

I swear these guys are trained to ask questions. They should be working for the police!!

Confessions of an ex-movie buff

I don't remember the last time I went to a cinema - possibly in July 2 years ago to watch MI:3. Or was it last year? It's so true when they say that mothers forego some memory cells to give to the child but I digress...

The last movie that I caught (and that was DVD at home) was James Bond..the one with Daniel Craig. What was the title again? Even then, I was picking up Bryan's toys and sorting out his foodstuff. I'd probably watched about 60% of the show but you know lah, this kind of show, no need to listen to every word. Fight here, fight there, kiss here, kiss there...habis cerita already.

Before I became a mother, I was a real movie addict. And so was VT. We were one of those who frequents cinemas every week and will watch the latest screenings. When I just started working, I recall queing up for 2 hours to buy tickets to Lord of the Rings because VT is such a huge fan. And of course, there was the familiar whiff of popcorn and the fizzle of Coke. My favourite movie days were Wednesday (cheap ticket day), Saturday midnight and Sunday noon. Of course, as I got older and work became more demanding, I had to drop the Wednesday movie days (can't get off work early enough) and Saturday midnights (fallen asleep watching trailers before the movie actual). VT and I still watched them on Sundays.

These days, I satisfy myself with weekend doses of Barney, Little Einsteins (love this one!!) and Clifford, the big red dog. I do miss those movie-watching days but you know what, nothing beats watching Bryan shake his bum-bum when he hears a familiar tune or the glee on his face. Now, THAT's what I call a good 'movie'!

Surprises at Work

(1) Surprise fixed income internal audit (I want to ask them, "who audit YOU guys??")
(2) So busy despite boss being on holiday
(3) One staff on MC since Monday
(4) PC very sluggish when it's usually super-fast
(5) Three unscheduled meetings on Monday alone

NOT GOOD! Somemore I thought that this week can shake legs a bit and blog my heart out since boss is away............wishful thinking!

Kicked out of my own bed

Our ritual is this now: Put Bryan to bed in his cot at night, when he cries in the middle of the night, bring him to bed with us to sleep. That way, we don't have to spend our nites pacing up and down, hoping to calm him down so that he goes back to sleep. We spend 30 seconds max to walk to his cot, pick him up, and bring him back to the bed. As soon as his head touches my pillow (Bryan would sleep between VT & I), he's in la-la land again.

The same thing early this morning (@ 2:43am). But this time, I waited for a while till he was in deep sleep and removed my arm from below his head cos I needed to go to the toilet. One minute later when I came out, I was surprised to see the little fella sprawled on MY side of the bed. He was kind enough to leave about 10inches of space for me, but aiyoh....Mummy is so fat now, how to fit???!!

So I carefully moved him (Bryan is an extremely light sleeper) to Daddy's side (VT thinner mah......haha), enough for me to lie down straight. This morning woke up with aching muscles - all stiff.

8 Girls Loose in Bali

(This is a very backdated post)

Seven girls from work plus myself spent a long weekend in April in Bali to celebrate the weddings of 3 of the girls (Hooi Wan, Li-Ching & Teik Sim) this year. Imagine........8 crazy girls let loose in Bali only spells trouble. HOWEVER, before you think there was anything dodgy about the trip, all we did was shop, spa & makan. Of course we had to have the obligatory clubbing and getting sloshed.

Those weren't the hightlight of the trip though. It was this.....




That is the entrance of the villa. Yup, we rented a private villa in Seminyak and it was simply unbelievable. The villa has 3 rooms, each about to comfortably sleep 3, with ensuite open air shower and bathtub and the best bit? - the personal swimming pool complete with a day bed for massages (which was also by the way, complimentary)! We could just stay in the villa and do nothing as each room had a LCD TV (a bigger one in the living room) complete with cable. When I got home, I hinted to VT that I cannot NOT travel in style anymore...kekekekeke.


The pool

Who's the one with the Cheesy Grin?

Yesterday, during dinner, Bryan put on the most cheesy grin. It is so unlike his usual smile. It's like a full-on "I'm so happy and I want to tell the whole world" kind of smile. His usually large eyes would get reduced to two slits and his forehead gets wrinkled up and the bridge of his nose is turned up. I reckon it looks something like this!

Late(r) for Work

VT and I have been late for work this past 2 weeks. Well, actually, VT is really "late" late as his work officially starts at 8am while I am actually later than usual to work because I'll get in by around 8:10am as opposed to my usual time of 7:30am. My work officially starts at 8:45am but traders start asking questions at 8am. No thanks also to the massive traffic jams on the LDP (the whole world lives in Kepong/Sri D'sara/Mutiara D'sara/Sunday D'sara/D'sara Perdana) and Jalan Duta.

The reason for our lateness is this :
Up to a couple of weeks back, Bryan would wake up at latest 6:30am. This gives me ample time to take a shower, "pan lang" (beautify myself) and take him to my MIL's place which is a 15mins drive away. But of late, he has been sleeping with us (see Bryan's website) hence he is able to sleep longer and usually doesn't awake till 7am. By the time I leave my house, it is past 7:15am and it would take me more than 20mins to get to my in-laws.

VT has been grumbling every morning that we should set an alarm. Same thing every morning;

VT: (shaking head) cannot lah like this dear, you must set alarm clock or something already....everyday I'm late for work.....cannot "pang sai" at home (ok, this part I added in ha ha)
Me: Ok dear........(but at night, forget again hee hee....too tired from work, playing with Bryan after work, cleaning up upon returning from in-laws)

Today is D-Day!!

I woke up this morning feeling apprehensive and excited.

Apprehensive - late for work cos colleague was tumpang-ing me and he was already waiting for me outside the house when I just woke up! Bryan woke up at 2:32am (I checked the clock) and won't sleep for the next half an hour - tossing & turning until Mama also cannot sleep. So that's why this morning woke up only at 6:50am. Haiyah....anyway, will blog about this next.

BUT the main focus of this posting is why I'm feeling...
Excited - today, I'll be getting my "new toy" - something which I have been dreaming of since I was 10 years old. I went during my lunchtime to pick up the new toy and I still can't stop smiling so that's why must blog about it. VT is also very excited, although disappointed that he couldn't be there but never mind-lah low kong, you get to play with it tonight.

You want to know what my "new toy" is? Wait lar...I'll take a photo and post here one of these days hahahaha (potong steam right??)

Poo(r) Health

Bryan fell ill about 6 weeks ago with a bout of stomach flu. The poor boy had fever (just under 38 degrees), cough and diarrhoea. We brought him to the paed the next morning, returning with a handful of medicine - paracetamol for fever, benadryl for cough, smecta for diarrhoea and oralite to replenish loss of salt & fluids from the body. In addition, Bryan had to go on lactose-free milk.

The fever went off fairly quickly but the diarrhoea persisted over the next week. I called the paed about 5 days later and was advised to change the brand of formula, also lactose free. No change. I was getting very worried. What could possibly be wrong? We even stopped his cereal and eliminated all meat/fruits/veg from his diet since onset of the runs. The only good news was that Bryan showed no signs of fatigue - he was still his usual self.

I couldn't tahan anymore so off we went back to the paed last Sunday and we finally put Bryan on soy milk instead as the paed suspected cow's milk protein intolerance. True enough, the diarrhoea stopped just after one day. We will continue with the soy milk for another month before moving him back onto full formula. Fingers crossed!

Bryan boy, you get well soon ok. Mama is so proud of you for not fussing even one bit when you were ill. You continued to be active and happy, and eat anything that is given to you - including the plain tasting porridge with smecta and the foul-smelling soy milk.


(Note: For obvious reasons, there will not be any photos for this entry!)

Our baby boy - Then and Now

Bryan Now :

Bryan Then:

Bryan was a small bundle of joy. I had put on 11kgs during my pregnancy although I'd looked like I put on 25kg! My work colleagues said that I was carrying a big baby. When Bryan was born, he weighed 2.85kg - that was it! It means that it was the chicken & duck rice and durians that did me in!! When my colleague came to visit me on the day I'd delivered, his comment was, "Eh, thought you delivered already?" ^&$*)(@)!_($^&(@_

Anyway, Bryan was so tiny and his head was cone-shaped from the vacuum used. VT thought that he had a physical deformity when he saw Bryan's head - DUH!!! But he was so sweet, saying that he will love his son no matter what :)

Bryan put on weight very quickly - more than 1kg every month. Now 10 months later, he is 10.5kg.

So what's my story?

As the name of my blog suggests, I am a first-time mother to a beautiful baby boy, Bryan, of 10 months (precisely today!). I am a full-time working mother, caught in the middle of Kay-El's Golden Triangle during the day and a doting mother at night and weekends. Hubs is VT, who is an equally doting father and an ocassionally romantic, frequently attentive (only non-football season) husband.

Motherhood has been extremely rewarding and fulfilling, to say the least. But take away all that is peachy, I have to admit that I had "not so great" moments - times when Bryan cried non-stop for 4 hours for no apparent reason or when he woke up for the umpteenth time in the middle of the night. I supposed every parent goes through the same thing, maybe it prepares us for future children! Read on to find my take on what motherhood is and what it entails...

Prologue : Here I Am

I have always browsed through other people's blog and strangely enough, I'd always enjoyed their writings - even of strangers! I have in fact set up a webpage for Bryan at www.babysites.com/sites/bryanlim and then I'd thought, "Hmm....maybe I should give blogging a go!"

I am not technologically-savvy but was pleasantly surprised with how easy it is to start blogging.

You will be hearing a lot from me soon (after I figure out how to navigate around this thing!!)