Less Stress

I used to be very stressed over, what now looked to be, small matters. For example, I would get stressed when Bryan doesn't nap or when he was being extra whiny and tearful. Sometimes I even got stressed when our schedule was just slightly off. VT on the other hand, would get stressed when Bryan walked around the house with a chocolate cookie in his hand, because Bryan will leave fingerprints all over our suede sofa. Additional stress is added when I don't get enough sleep.

However, after Bryan's accident, both VT and my own's view of life and parenthood changed completely. We realised just how lucky we should be to have healthy kids and as long as they are kept from harm's way, everything else is a small issue. I have to say that because of that, I really enjoy having the kids around me all the time now. I am less stressed and won't sweat the small stuff. And because of that, I feel that I am a better mother by paying more attention to both Bryan and Brandon.

For example, last Friday I had arrived home from Jakarta close to midnight although my plane landed just after 9pm. There weren't any taxis at the airport hence the queue was endless. On top of that, Brandon woke up every 2 hours to have his fill of milk (growth spurt). I was absolutely knackered on Saturday morning. Usually I would be very short-tempered and irritatable. In fact, when I woke up, I was all those things. But I reminded myself that both the boys are safe and then I didn't feel so tired anymore.

Life is just so precious, you know, especially the lifes of our little ones. I want to cherish every bit of it!

My Take on Jakarta

First impressions are often the longest-lasting ones, don’t you think?

Just 2 days in Jakarta and these are my observations:

- The main airport building is very old – it looks like a bigger version of the airport in Bali if you have been there. Quite gloomy and sad.
- Traffic is horrendous. Drivers can turn a 2-lane highway into 4 lanes, or more, depending on how they squeeze. Because of that, there are massive traffic jams everywhere. You’ve got to have guts of steel to drive in Jakarta. Never shall I complain about KL city traffic again or the drivers again.
- The Toyota Innova is called “Kijang”. Other commonly-used cars are Suzuki Swift and Toyota Vios & Alphard.
- I can’t differentiate between the Indon Chinese and the Indon Malays. Even the Indon Chinese have relatively darker complexion than the Malaysian Chinese.
- It is a regulation that vehicles entering malls, office buildings, hotels need to be checked, but the intensity of which it is done ranges. At the hotel where I stayed (Ritz Carlton), the check was very intensive. Afterall, it is diagonally opposite JW Marriott, which was bombed. At Plaza Indonesia, a shopping mall, they only performed a cursory glance-over. Serves what purpose, I don’t know.
- There are metal detectors doors everywhere but again, even if it beeped, they never bothered to stop you.
- There are Krispy Crème doughnuts here though locals flock to J.Co (by the way, the J.Co fad in KL has died. There is barely a queue at the Pavillion outlet).
- Indonesia cuisine is absolutely delicious though the names sound dodgy eg. Sup Buntut (- clear oxtail soup) and Mee Tek-Tek!
- Service in restaurants is worse here than in KL. Thought it could not get any worse, eh?
- I was browsing in a supermarket last night with my colleague who needed to pick something up. Noticed that a bottle of Palmolive body wash costs RM35 equivalent! Plus you cannot find liquid detergent over here. Everyone seems to use only powder detergent. You can’t find Strepsils either.
- The weather is extremely humid, which I found rather strange. Afterall, how much more humid can it get than in KL, which is located in the valley?
- The sun is up, and I mean really high up in the sky, by 5-ish in the morning but it gets dark by 6pm. As a result, I woke up at 5:30 this morning.

The high point of the trip was definitely the Indonesian food. Even for breakfast, I opted for Mee Bandung instead of making a beeline for the American breakfast buffet spread like I usually do in Singapore. Too bad I didn’t bring my camera hence no photos.

Free Wifi!

What do you know - KLIA has free wifi! As many of you know, I am an IT-idiot so probably free wifi to you is something very common but the fact that I brought my laptop out to do some work while idling some time prior to boarding and the computer detected Wifi AND I had managed to connect to it (ok, so it only involves a click of a button), it is an amazing feat for this sua-ku mummy!

So once I was connected, I forgot about doing my work and just HAD to put up a post. I'm going to Jakarta for work - very short trip, just overnight. I have not been to Jakarta before so it's a bit of an adventure for me. Best bit of the trip? I'm looking forward to ONE night of uninterrupted sleep yayyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!

I just hope that I don't come across anything unpleasant (like, a bomb!) during my stay there. Wish me luck - think I really need it this time!

Love & Hate

Bryan has a love-and-hate relationship with Brandon. Bryan loves his di-di to bits, often wanting to cuddle and kiss him, and playing "chiak" (peek-a-boo) with him. But other times whenever I start talking and playing with Brandon, the green-eyed monster would makes its appearance. Bryan will get all whiny and starts crying for my attention, despite my playing with him practically the entire day! Bryan will start pulling my hand to go up to my bedroom to play or will insist that I sit next to him on the couch. So poor di-di is left to play by himself.

On weekends, I will often put Brandon in the play gym while I feed Bryan breakfast. The moment Bryan sees the gym, he will clamour and lie down beside Brandon and starts playing with the toys. I guess Bryan just wants to make sure that he gets his fair share of attention and play as well, right?

A Special Day

So how did I spend yesterday?

VT and I dropped the kids off first thing in the morning and snuck off to La Bodega in Bangsar for their scrumptions English breakfast. For once, we didn't have to shove our food down or keep telling someone to sit down or wait. Breakfast was finished at a leisurely pace....even had the chance to browse through magazines while waiting for the meal to be served.

Then we were off to The Gardens to walk around a bit before proceeding to GSC's Signature premier class cinema. Guess what movie we caught? High School Musical 3!!! I wanted to relieve my teenhood, that's for sure, today more than ever. Each ticket costs MYR16 but the seats are very comfortable and the premier cinemas are all with twin (lover) seats, although the first thing that we did when we sat down was to put down the armrest in between us ha ha. When the show started (and ended), we were the only two in the cinema. It was like a personal screening, grand or not?

For lunch, we went to "Flying Chillis" for Thai food. I had a yearning for the steamed siakap with lime and chilli. Polishing the fish off, amidst another bowl of tomyam soup and stir-fried veg, was an easy feat. We then hopped over to Mid Valley proper to work off lunch before heading back home at 4pm since VT had a flight to catch at 8pm.

This year, I didn't receive any flowers nor presents, save for a lai si from my Mum which I get every year without fail. VT asked me what I wanted. Thought we could save some money for rainy days. I was hoping to get some flowers at work the day before but it didn't materialise. So I went to get some for myself! I believe that we are responsible for our own happiness. For a MYR30 bunch of flowers, I was happy enough. Besides, there is nothing happier than having a loving husband and two beautiful children, right?

Almost Had It!

Thank goodness for a satisfying dinner comprising of teochew-style clear porridge with some of my favourite condiments - picked lettuce, salted duck egg, fried peanuts and anchovies. It gave me the much required break and a chance to pull myself together.

The boys drove me up the wall today!!

Bryan wouldn't nap beyond the 20mins catnap in the car on the way home from Sri Hartamas after lunch, while Brandon was fretful the entire day - screaming on top of his lungs relentlessly. Due to the lack of sleep, Bryan was tearful and edgy the rest of the afternoon/evening, bursting into tears whenever he was frustrated or if his wishes weren't met.

By early evening, this mummy had enough. Packed Brandon into bed at 6pm and Bryan at 7:30pm. Good thing tomorrow I will have some peace and quiet at work tomorrow, once again testifying that I can never be a stay-at-home mother.

Almost There

Thank you, peeps, for all the good advice and well wishes. I know I am not supposed to eat chicken but what to do, Soo Kee definitely called out to me (the seller actually did shout out, "Siu Jie, kam yat sek meh ah?"). As for garggling with salt water, yes, my mother has been harping on that for the longest time. But I have a paranoia about this since I was 10 years old when my Mum forced me to garggle and I puked!

I am fully recovered from the tonsilitis now although I have to continue taking the antibiotics presribed for 10 days. As a result, I have another problem in the 'Southern Region'. This usually occurs when I take antibiotics, which throws all the good & bad bacteria out of whack down there. Looks like I'll need to go to the docs again tomorrow.

Never ending storyyyyyyyyyy...........la la la la la la..........

The Culprit!

I barely slept last night. I tossed and turned the whole night. I'd thought I couldn't sleep because I slept too much during the day. When the day broke, I was so grateful that I could get out from bed. But arrrrggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! My throat was burning and I couldn't even open my mouth! I took my temperature - 38.9 degrees C! No wonder I couldn't sleep well. VT had to send the kids over to my MIL again while I took a lie-down after popping paracetomal.

My intention was to go back to the same doctor in SS2 that I went to on Tuesday since I've just completed the course of antibiotic. Wanted to him how come I was still feeling so crabby. But alas, the clinic was closed - perhaps for the long weekend. I drove to Sea Park to visit the age-old clinic that my late grandfather swore by though I have never been there myself. Although I was the 3rd in line, it took me close to an hour's wait. The average age of patients there was 70 so I suppose they had A LOT to tell the doctor. When it was finally my turn, I was almost falling asleep. The doctor is a very nice OLD man who also spoke very slllllllloooooowwwwwwly. He diagnosed my sore throat as tonsilities. No wonder it was so bl**dy painful! I couldn't wait to go home.

But since I was already in Sea Park, I decided to pack myself lunch from Soo Kee, where in my opinion, has the best wat kai in town. Then I swung around to the lane outside the now dilapidated Ruby Cinema to tapau coconut juice. It brought back a lot of memories as Sea Park was possibly the only place where we went shopping when I was a young girl. SS2 wasn't as developed yet and there was nothing like 1Utama or The Curve back then. Even being in Sea Park this morning made me feel more relaxed as the shops and the people seemed to have stood still in time. Fellow PJ-ites, do you know where this is?

Anyway, here was lunch - a bowl of plain hor fun, chopped wat kai, coconut water and a new pack of medicine of all sorts including 2 types of antibiotics. It's not fun being ill!

Judy Loves My Blog!

Awww....you're so sweet dear. Thank you!!

Still Down

I woke up this morning with a still terrible sore throat despite having started on antibiotics. I wanted to get well asap so that I don't pass the virus to Brandon, that's why i insisted that I was put on antibiotics. VT sent the kids to my MIL this morning while I went back to bed to snooze for another 4 hours! Even then, it was restless sleep as I was thrashing around.

I woke up close to noon, and made myself lunch - Campbell chicken soup, 2 half-boiled eggs, bread and barley water (boiled 2 days ago).

I shall go back to sleep now - joints are still aching and am feeling sleepy.

GOOD NITE!