Mama, Go Out

That is what Bryan says to me these days whenever he wants to do something naughty without me being around to scold or reprimand him. Examples: climb out the couch to play with the light switches/air-con remote control, dig his nose. If I ignore him, he will hold my hand and lead me into the kitchen, and then he keeps making sure that I stay put! I find that as Bryan gets older, he is full of mischief. It is very endearing although sometimes his tantrums can really drive you up the wall.

Bryan is generally a good kid and other than being (over)active, he takes reasoning most of the time. He loves his little di-di to bits – never failing to talk to Brandon, kissing him, holding his hand, stroking his body to sayang and even playing Peek-a-Boo with him. There was once when he even tried to soothe the screaming baby by saying, “Don’t cry, baby”. It brought tears to my eyes. In response, Brandon looks adoringly at his kor kor whenever Bryan talks to him. I can only pray that they will continue to love each other as they grow up. Isn’t that every parents wish?


P/S: Thanks for the well wishes following this incident – it turned out to be a minor gash on his head. All recovered now though scar is still visible. I reckon I need to bubble-wrap that boy of mine!

An Ob-Gyn Visit

I'd just returned from a scheduled visit to the ob-gyn - every 7-10 days now. Today's visit was a particularly interesting one. My appointment was scheduled for 3pm but the ob-gyn was no where to be found when I arrived. His receptionist told me that he was called away for an emergency C-section. What to do? Wait lor...I'd noticed that there was only one lady ahead of me, ok so that wasn't too bad. So I'd waited, and waited and waited.

The first hour and I was through reading all the magazines there were in his clinic. I popped out to buy The Star since I didn't get a chance to read it yet. That kept me entertained for the next 45mins. The lady who was ahead of me was obviously not the reading sort as all this time, she was either talking to her husband or staring into space. Then there were 2 other ladies who had a girl (probably around 3yrs) and a boy (2yrs because I'd asked). They started playing with each other because they were obviously bored with the waiting. The more they played, the louder they got and then they started chasing each other. I watched with amusement as it reminded me of Bryan (and how thankful that I didn't bring him along, else situation even more jia lat). Anyway, the kids then started playing near Lady #1 and suddenly, her husband pushed them away and said, "Stay away from her". Lady #1 chirped in, "What's wrong with you, children?" and gave them a glare.

GEEZ!! What's wrong with them? Being expectant parents, I would have thought that they would have learnt that tolerance is the ONE virtue that need to be had. Plus you can't really blame the kids for entertaining themselves. Sure, they were screaming in excitement at one point, but give them a break - they are only kids. Luckily, they are not my kids else this couple would have kena kau-kau from me.

Seriously, would you have responded that way?

P/S: By the way, I finally saw my ob-gyn after waiting for close to 2 hours, and all for a 2min visit. All is well with my Baby #2. Approx weight 2.8kg now, which was Bryan's birth weight.

Watch Out For Them "EYES"

I did a fair bit of driving around the PJ area today - running errands and doing my own stuff. What really caught my attention was the number of "EYES" there were on the road. Usually in groups no more than 4 persons, to catch errant drivers (jumped the light, talking on the mobile phone without a handsfree kit, not buckling up). Then it loomed on me that CNY is close! Ah, every year is the same. So watch out folks!

End of Long Annual Leave

Today marks the last day of my 15-day annual leave *sob*sob*. What have I done during this period?

1) Gone to Bangkok, but didn't buy anything hence no photo of goodies
2) Sprained my right ankle, but it's almost completely healed now. Just in time for me to wear those heels!
3) Be a SAHM, which of course, convinced me that it is the toughest job in the world
4) Blog and FC (if you're on it, please hook me up. I'm listed as Huang Paik Ling) like there is no tomorrow

So, once back at work I won't be able to post or visit your blogs as often - please understand yah :)

Today, I've left Bryan with my MIL so that I can clean-up the house a bit as it looks like it has been struck by a tornado. I'm also planning on doing grocery shopping for this week and catching some zzzzzzzz since Bryan woke up and stayed up for almost 2hrs in the middle of the night. He must be going through the "Let's have a chat at 4am" phase.

I Am Back!

Sawadeeka/krap!

Ok, that's all I know for the 3D/2N trip to Bangkok. Even then I picked that up from Thai restaurants in KL ha ha. First thing first - how was the trip?

Well, I was not impressed with the city and the shopping despite all the raving reviews that I've received. Chatuchak reminded me of Petaling Street, MBK of Sg Wang and Siam Paragon of KLCC. Traffic was horrendous and I was surprised that the laymen didn't understand English. What I liked about Bangkok?

FOOD - you have to give your hats off to them. I had tom yum every meal.
Dirt cheap massages/spa & pedicures! I feel like our local shops are ripping me off now.


And then, there was LINKIN PARK LIVE IN CONCERT!! That was THE deal-clincher for this trip. We didn't know about the concert until the first night when we were there when I was reading a tourist brochure. We went to extreme trouble to get to this concert:

1) Call Ticket Master to find out whether there were any tickets left
2) Found out where the closest Ticket Master outlet is (turned out they had one at the Central Plaza near Silom)
3) Rushed there the next morning to secure tickets
4) Walked the entire mall looking for the tiny booth, which is in a music store
5) Booked a cabbie for 5 hours as the event was held in some faraway venue, away from Bangkok city centre

But really, it was all worth it despite the concert starting only at 9:40pm and us, 2 Malaysian gals, suffering two hours of an opening act by a Thai singer. We head-banged for an hour plus and left Bangkok, somewhat satisfied.

The Red Gate

We were in One Utama on Saturday, having a late lunch at Carl’s Jr. Suddenly VT’s mobile phone rang. He had forgotten that he had made an appointment with the grill door maker. We wanted to make grills for the stairs to protect Bryan from falling down the longgggggg flight of stairs (we live in a townhouse, so plenty of stairs).

We hurried back and on the way down to the carpark, we passed a pretty hot chick decked out in a teeny, weeny pair of shorts and a tight-fitting RED tank top, which emphasised certain physical traits. I had no doubt that VT caught sight of the girl but he non-chalantly continued our conversation, which was about what type of grill gates we should get. Then, VT blurted out…….

VT: “About the RED gates……….. “
Me: “HUH???”.
VT: *sheepish*
Me: Orrrrrrrrrrrrr……you thinking about that girl that just walked past, is it?
VT: (laughing)….ya lor cos she was wearing red……….


MEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The "High & Mighties"

This is another on-the-road observation from me. Told you that I’d spent a good part of my days, stuck in traffic.

Last night, as I was inching slowly (read: massive traffic jam) down Jalan Tun Razak heading towards the SMART Tunnel, I caught sight of some flashing lights. Soon after, I heard the police sirens and then I saw the police out-rider. He came charging down the middle of the 2 lanes and started waving cars to move to the side. Like the obedient citizens that we are, the cars moved to the sides, including yours truly. Then a black S-class Mercedes with its hazard lights switched on (and THEY tell us not to drive with hazard lights) zoomed past, bearing a crest instead of a number plate.

It really makes me wonder: how come I get stuck in traffic when they don’t? Is their time more precious than mine? Are they rushing home to put a baby to sleep like I am, or could they be late for a dinner engagement? Why can’t they experience the way of life like any other rakyat?

At times like this, migration seems oh-so-appealing!

Curi Curi

Nolah, I didn't steal anything (or anyone!). After watching re-runs of Friends and Amazing Race on Astro this morning, I couldn't bear it anymore and called VT out for lunch. I had it with staying at home. Usually if I'm on MC, I will "kuai-kuai" stay at home to rest but since I was feeling a bit better, I decided to curi-curi out for lunch at Sunway Pyramid, which is a stone throw away from VT's workplace.

As usual, LDP was jammed even at 11am. But I'm quite used to sitting in jams, since I work in the Golden Triangle. It's like the story of my life. On days where there aren't any, I double-check the calendar to ensure it is not a public holiday! Usually I enjoy day-dreaming when I'm stuck in trafiic, or turning to Mix FM and singing to the retro hits. Today, I decided to look around into the other cars, and guess what I saw? A man who is around 30-ish, using a tweezer to pull "-don't-know-what" from his chin!!!! He saw me staring at him, looked a bit sheepish, but continued on his merry way!!!

What do YOU do when stuck in traffic?

All By Myself

This is another backdated post....found it as draft!

Do you know the song sung by Celine Dion "All By Myself", though it was originally sung by another artist? I don't usually mind being all by myself at most times since I was a little girl - except when it came to a particular situation:

I WOULDN'T EAT BY MYSELF IN A RESTAURANT

I always found it strange to sit down by myself for a meal outside. I would rather do a takeaway or buy some bread to munch along the way. During my earlier days of worklife, I often travelled alone but never did I once have a meal by myself, if it wasn't in the hotel or office.

But here I was, today (last Friday), sitting in the Little Penang Cafe at The Curve, walloping a plate of Chicken Nasi Lemak and washing it down with barley lime. It didn't occur to me that I didn't used to like it - I just sat down, ordered, ate and left. Only after that did I realise that I had the first proper outside meal on my own (fastfood joints don't count!).

Perhaps it's the "I-no-longer-give-a-crap" attitude which comes with age and possibly, motherhood.

Ever found yourself doing something that you never used to do?

My Work Week Summary #1

Thought I start giving everyone a quick summary of how my work week goes as I really cannot find time to blog on weekdays. So Saturdays & Sundays are my only blogging days....and even then, only when Bryan is taking his naps.

This work week has been tiresome and tiring. Lots of people asking for this and that....sometimes, it's so simple but because they are so darn lazy, everything ask me to do. Anyway, no real complains lah since I really enjoy my job.

I had a couple of good lunches - took the regulators out and then yesterday went out with colleagues to Marco Polo to eat dim sum. Nowadays I eat whatever I want to eat lar...not too bothered with my weight although I still maintain a good appearance. Who says fat people cannot look and feel good, right? Actually, I'd made an appointment to get a makeover at Laura Mercier next Monday during lunchtime. WHY? I've got a dinner with colleagues from around the world and some I haven't met before so must make good impression lah kekeke. Some more some of them haven't seen me since the pregnancy so better look better so as not to shock them hahaha. Will try to take a "Before" and "After" photo - should be funny!

Then of course, traffic was sh*t as usual in the morning. Pay RM2 for Smart Tunnel also got jam GOING into the tunnel itself. That's because the Jln Tun Razak exit on the right is always jammed (I take the Jln Sultan Ismail exit) so many cars take the left lane and cut in at the last minute. Haiyah...what to do? Nobody is a saint right?

Do you find yourself more patient after becoming a mother? I sure do. I used to get easily agitated and irritated with small things, like forgetting to wear a watch to work. I suppose having a child gave me a larger perspective of life. Don't sweat the small stuff! I used to worry alot as well - actually, I still do but I'm more conscious of it now so I try not to. My mentor once told me this -

"Worrying is like sitting on a rocking chair; it gives you something to do, but doesn't take you anywhere!"

How true is that???!

Biggest Mama of All

I've seen this many times before over the past 12 months, but somehow today, I'm seeing them all in one day! What am I talking about?

Stick-thin mummies!!!!

First, there was this young 20-s mum with her daughter, whom is about the same age as Bryan. She was wearing skin-tight shorts and heels. And mind you, we were at a Kopitiam at Wisma Atria, at 9 in the morning. And here I was, in a billowy out-of-shape fushia skirt with elastic waistband and a white blourse splattered with cereal from Bryan's earlier attempt to self-feed. Not withstanding the fact that my eyebags were so dark and big that I put a panda to shame.

Then later at lunch in Summer Palace, there was a utterly chic mama with not one, but two toddlers. Her hair was long, straight with not a strand out of place. She carried a fashionable tote and sunglasses perched on her head. Vastly improved from the fushia shirt, I was in a polo T and pants (which had a small pumpkin stain from Bryan's lunch) and I carry the usual big, blue Kipling bag stuffed full with baby amenities. My hair? Aside from the colour, it was as dead as it could be.

After an afternoon nap, we popped by The Curve for ice-cream. Needless to say, it was a world of fashionitas mummies who look so darn thin & good. I didn't change from after lunch, by the way, nor from after birth. I'm still lugging around 13 additional kilos.

I hereby present myself with the "Biggest Mama of All" award. Luckily my son doesn't know better :)

The Road-ies

If anyone asked me what I loathe most about my fellow countrymen, it has to be the lack of manners on the road (actually, the lack of civic-mindedness came in a close 2nd).

I spend at least 1.5hours on the road daily - 45mins to get to & fro work. On bad days (read: Friday evenings when it's raining), I take up to 2.5hrs just to get out from the Golden Triangle and back to PJ. That's a lot more hours I spend on the road than I spend with Bryan on a weekday! So obviously when I'm stuck in traffic, I look around and these are my personal observations, which I find more amusing then anything.

1) Men are more likely to give way to me compared to another woman
2) If you signal, you will most likely NOT be able to weave your way in as the car behind you will speed up
3) There's always one car travelling at 40 km/hr on the fast lane, and another travelling at 140 km/hr on the slow lane
4) A traffic jam is caused frequently by drivers turning a 2-lane traffic into 3 lanes (or more!)
5) A traffic jam is also caused by the errant driver who drives on the wrong lane, but swerves in at the last minute, causing the drive travelling in the right lane to slam his brakes (and hence, causing a jam)
6) You will always encounter a car whose driver is on its way to "reincarnation" (ie. in a darn big hurry)
7) And if you are in the way of the car from 6), the driver will flash his headlights at you repeatedly until you move out of his way
8) And if you don't, the car from 6) will swerve in and out using the left lanes
9) If you've been to SS2, you will find cars parked hap-hazardly to avoid paying RM0.60 for one hour of legal parking
10) If you can't get by, and you give the driver a slight honk, the driver will glare at you as if YOU are in the wrong
11) When someone is parked behind your car and you need to get out, the driver is not likely to apologise for the inconvenience he caused you
12) And of course, we have the reckless motorcylists whom weave in and out of traffic, and we have to avoid them like ants

Anyone else has other interesting observations?