2017 comes to an end

2017 comes to an end; and our final ‘countdown’ ends by 10pm – because we need to send the kids to bed plus we (hubby and I) are tired too!

We choose Paradigm Mall as our final spot to chill for this new year eve- because it is near our home and there’s no need to stuck in the traffic! And it was certainly the right decision – as it has activities which suit the kids ranging from sand art, face painting, bouncy castle to live performances. They had free flow of pop corns and cotton candy too! Anyway there won’t be fireworks when the clock strikes 12am; instead they will be having balloon drops.

In the year, my largest achievement (actually my hubby reminded me) is being able to handle three kids ALONE (even going out of home)! I am thankful that my kids generally behave ‘well’ when they are alone with me! (But of course they aren’t angels all the time!)

Noelle has been a good big sister so far; though she wrestles more with Nikki nowadays. She gives me a lot of sense of achievement – by her independence and ability to take in what I have taught her in the past years. She has become very chatty and able to relate many things to me – she has certainly become a companion to me this year.

Nikki has been THE joker at home this year. She brings a lot of cheer to everyone at home! And we are so proud of her learning ability! Her ability to converse make me understand her more; and I believe we will be closer in the year ahead!

Norrah, THE baby of the family, has generally been an obedient baby! At times, I think we ‘torture’ her more than she tortures us! Thank you baby for being an easy baby so far – and able to adjust to our ever busy schedules! Thank you for obediently sleeping through the night – only to wake two or three times a night to suckle!

And to the man of the house, thank you for working hard throughout the year to put food on the table! Thank you for spending your limited time with us. And thank you for not ‘forcing’ me to do things that can cause doubt and unhappiness in me!

In 2017, I spent 365 days with four of you- and that makes you all my everything! ❤️

Thank you 2017 for the wonderful family memories that we experience together! I believe there’s good even in every bad situation – as we grow stronger to become better partner/family!

#thingstobegratefulin2017

We will be looking forward to the new adventure that 2018 will bring!

Happy New Year, in advance!

Our Christmas at Farm in the City

Instead of mall hopping this year, we went to the ‘farm’ aka Farm in The City! We bought the discounted tickets months back in Citta Mall!

Guess many parents had the same idea too! The place was crowded but manageable!

Noelle has leveled up her ‘bravery’ this time round but Nikki was fearful (except for fish feeding) – different stages of kids and different kid behaves differently (our role is nurture and encourage them, just to remind ourselves)! <video>

This is our third visit, by the way! And Norrah’s first!

Train ride and Christmas dress up at Paradigm mall

They took a train ride aka Paradigm express that cost RM5 each. The ride goes about 5 minutes. (I was telling Noelle that a real train ride cost less than that 🤣) <video>

And they got into Kids Christmas costume that was free.

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m a little surprised that Noelle wanted to participate because she never like costume before (but the reason she did was because she has this costume thingy in school yesterday – which she had fun and was telling me)! Nikki of course participated without hesitation since Jeh Jeh did so!

We had a short fun time there!

Sampling Stroopwafel by Mama ❤️ Grace

Through Daily Homecook Meal fb page, we gotten samples of Stroopwafels by Mama ❤️ Grace. It was actually sent to our doorstep today! Thank you very much!

The 23m21d immediately wanted to test it!

And guess what’s her review? <video>

Personally, I think it is GOOD; not too sweet (‘sweet’ though for a toddler). Guess it is best to go with coffee! The packaging is nice and I was told that it will come with its logo soon. 3 packs are going for RM58 now!

My eldest girl got home from school and I offered her a piece of Stroopwafel after her naptime. She asked for another piece after that! That will give you a hint if it is ‘yummy’!

Disclaimer: This is not a paid advertisement but a gratitude post for letting us try the product!

Icy magical Christmas show at Sunway Pyramid

One word to describe: boring

Started late compared to ‘advertised’; Bad sound system – can’t really listen to any song plus noisy surrounding (making it worse); don’t understand the ‘script’ too!

3d2n Cherating trip – 2017 year end and Norrah’s first road trip

We planned this trip about 1-2 months ago. We didn’t really check on the weather and then we saw news about heavy rain and flooding. Fortunately, the weather was great when we were there 3d2n!

We stayed in Residence Inn. It is newly refurbished and we happened to stayed in their new building. Everything was pretty clean and new! So, we had a pleasant stay! We all slept in a king sized bed (everyone fits in one!)

Our stay comes with breakfast and the breakfast came with authentic Malay cuisine like nasi kerabu (on first breakfast) and nasi lemak (on second breakfast). The fried chicken and rendang chicken on the different days were so good! They serve the other food like porridge, bread, cereals and fruits!

Other than that, nothing really special – no kid play room or whatsoever! And it is not any near to any food outlet. It is 5 minutes walk from the beach!

Day 1

Our first stop – Hai Peng Kopitiam at Kuantan for lunch – not much choice on the menu but food is served efficiently!

We couldn’t check in yet; so we dropped by at the Cherating Turtle Sanctuary – just a small exhibition maintained by the government! Entry is free.

After checking in, they didn’t want to nap; so we rested a while before swimming at the hotel’s swimming pool!

Dinner was at Restoran Ah Low (guess the only Chinese restaurant in Cherating). Food was poor and service was slow (price average) -but no choice.

Since it is located by the beach, so we enjoyed the cool breeze before heading back to hotel to call it a day!

Day 2

We spent the whole morning at the beach, which was 5 minutes walk from our hotel. Despite playing for more than an hour, Noelle threw a big tantrum 🙄 when we left! Because of that, we decided not to return to the beach!

We drove to Kemamam for lunch only to realise almost all shops/ restaurants/ supermarkets and even a mall were close because it was a Friday -plus their weekend is Friday and Saturday! 🤦🏻‍♀️ Fortunately, we spotted a Chinese Western cafe – so we had our lunch there! No pork served!

Our evening was spent in the hotel pool before driving out to eat. We decided to get back to the only Chinese restaurant there – but decided to leave as no one entertain us despite Noelle finished her pasta there! We went to a Malay restaurant called D’Cherating located in front of Legend Resort. We called it a day after that!

Day 3 also makes the end of our ‘holiday’

We spent our last half day in the hotel before checking out. We stopped by at Hai Peng kopitiam in Kuantan again for lunch. We actually wanted to try the other noodle shop next to the kopitiam but Noelle wanted to eat the kaya bread! 🙄

The journey back was ‘tough’ – Norrah was crying a lot and we had to make a pit stop to calm her down! Thereafter, I have to nurse her most of our journey back – thanks to my ‘big’ boobs and ‘flexible’ body 🙄 she was nursed while strapped in her baby car seat! (But the other boob became engorged🤦🏻‍♀️) Then the other two kids took turn to cry! 🤦🏻‍♀️ I wished I was driving instead! 😫

More drama when we arrived home…but all in all, everything has settled. Quickly cooked soup for them (eat with plain rice – as requested) and maggi for hubby and I; finally Norrah slept at 7pm!

Once again, we travel with our faithful Inayou Cooker!😊

Luckily we did; cos really nothing (much) suitable for them to eat!

Healthy and yummy snack – Petit Miam Yoplait and Dairy Farmers

I received a text last week from Lions Drink & Dairy that they will be sending us some samples. And today they arrived!

They are a dozen each of Dairy Farmers and Petit Miam Yoplait squeezed pouch – different flavours! They are my kids’ favourite! My eldest girl prefers this compared to its competitor brand – more natural fruit flavoured taste (compared to ‘tooth paste’ taste on the competitor brand😂)!

And of course, my middle child loves them too! Her remark was ‘good’ <video> for the Petit Miam Yoplait banana flavoured ! She even ate the Dairy Farmers thick and creamy caramelized fig – which she can’t stop eating. She was beyond words to describe it, I guess ! <video>.

Thanks Lion Drinks & Dairy for the samples!

Disclaimer: This isn’t a paid advertisement but the samples are free, of course! And we are not required to write a review on the products!

Positive, positive 💪🏻✌🏻

Today is a finer day (despite after a long weekend)! ✌🏻Just a little difficult to wake her up – but fooled around with her for 10-15 min then everything turns normal. She wanted papa to bath her and she even splashed water on him. Then she had breakfast, a raisin bun while playing with her time table! She was all fine until towards the end when she waited abit too long for papa today. Papa sent her off with everything looking good!

When we picked her up today, before I could ask her how was her day, she started asking me ‘mama what did you do today?’ 😇 heart melted liao – then I described whatever I did including those things specially related to her such as making mango ice cream and tidying her toys!

I took advantage of the sample yogurts that we received today. I brought one pouch (in the cooler bag) along and put it on her booster seat in the car. I told her she was ‘rewarded’ for not crying when waking up; but I added that it could be better if she wakes up without hassle – hinting that she can further improve by sleeping early! She was indeed surprised and feel very happy.

So as we drove home, she became quite chatty too! She ate rice that tastes like ‘rice’ 🤣 She described to me again that they put their hands at the back when food is served – and everyone has to say out ‘teacher eat. Everyone eat’! 😂Then she told me there were seven of them in class. She said that she played the piano, painted fish and played ‘make a string phone’ (she described to me – cups and string to talk to one another). I asked if she started writing – and said she did write today! (Anyway, the principal told me that she is catching up!)

All in all, today is a good school day. Hope this signifies a better start to future school days!

Mama feels more at peace, today!

A magical Christmas tale at The Curve

Last year, The Curve put a magnificent show called Princess Anastasia , which Noelle enjoyed a lot! This year it is quite similar but fewer characters. And Noelle ‘didn’t like it’; she developed some sort of ‘fear’! 🙄🙄 (probably kisah pergi sekolah😔)! But Nikki enjoyed it. She stood there for the whole 20 minutes without moving!

The Christmas decoration at The Curve this year is better though!

Hang in there! Hang in there!

This week is one of the hardest weeks so far during motherhood years (4y11m)! I am going on an emotional turmoil! How could I be should emotional when it is just my (eldest) girl going to school? Can I just shake it off – I have just one less to care for half a day?😔😔😔😔 No, I couldn’t careless!

I care ALOT about her feelings and how she will face it! And because of that – my emotions is going on a roller coaster ride! When she leaves home feeling sad or saying ‘I want mama’, I feel just very down. 😢When she is away, I am ‘worried’ 😨(and further down if she cried when she left!) The best part is picking her up – to see her happy face (hearing her call mama out when she sees me out of the car) – I feel so relieved! 😊Even happier when both the siblings playing together so hard because they miss one another. 😁I feel sad/touched with her telling me how much she misses mama, Mei Mei and mui mui! 😔 (she even remembered that i told her that she can feel mama by touching her heartbeat)! With going to school, she has become more ‘attached’ to me – she wants my attention and hug. Sometimes she comes to me with teary eyes. This coupled with tiredness, sometimes I do get mad😤 when her demands become so unreasonable, yet I feel guilty 😫 for feeling mad! The worst thing is she misses papa too and papa is busy with work -coming home late night – imagine she woke herself up at 1130pm to eat and sleep with her papa! 😭

Seriously, I am goingggg ‘crazy’ soon but I know I have to hang in there! This is just a phase, a transition. Every phase comes with challenges and when it passes – you will just laugh at it! (Says a friend)

In a happier note, today when she saw me – the first thing she told me was – I played at the playground today and we picked leaves! I reminded her isn’t that similar to what we have done in the past. She even told me that there were 5 of them in class today! And she didn’t snack any of her snacks (but will eat them on our way back – which she did)! I saw her water tumbler and question if she finished it. She said yes and she can actually refill it in school!😮 Then she told me she ate rice, soup and egg for lunch! 😮I also told her what I (without Nikki in the pic – I didn’t tell her we went post office) did – like cooking, cleaning the kitchen and tidying up the bed! We also laughed about how Nikki slept on the floor while Norrah was on the bouncer. I showed her the picture too! I told her I got her more blueberries, dragon fruit and seaweed noodles from market today. I shared with her what me and Mei Mei ate for lunch too! ALL this small talks would not happen if she didn’t go school! So, I will definitely take this positively!

Anyway, I did hint that she needs to wear the uniform to school tomorrow. And she replied ‘ahaaaa’! (Meaning ok) Will see how it goes tomorrow!