He is 5!

5 years & 2 days old.....

Somehow, Ethan turning 5 seems to be a big milestone for me. When he was a baby, I just like to imagine how he would be when he is 5. When he is 5, I'm in my mid 30s. When he is 5, perhaps we will have another baby (yeah, baby is coming). When he is 5, how will he look, talk and behave? I got all the answers now and I think it's a great achievement for us to have survived and cherished our lives in raising Ethan for the last 5 years. The first year was the toughest, I would say, having to cope with a baby who often falls sick and without extra help from our family. Thank God, things eventually got better and we were never happier before. We are truly blessed to have him in our lives.

This year, he celebrated his birthday at school on Thursday (19 May) and with my family on Saturday (21 May). His actual birthday was actually on a Sunday. We prepared party packs for his friends and ordered a double chocolate cake. He has chosen an edible image of superman (while I preferred Madagascar) for the cake and seemed to be very satisfied with it. His friends admired it too. We got all the party packs ready on Wednesday night. Ethan was happy to help with the packing and cutting the thank you cards. I bought colour papers and printed some simple thank you cards for his friends. Since the cake has an image of a superman, I googled for some superman pictures for the card and Ethan picked the one he likes. I think we finished everything at around 11p.m. that night.

Cutting the card. He cried when I didn't let him do it at first
worried that he might ruin the card.
Well, it's his birthday, should let him take part.


Sealed the plastic bag with the card.


All ready for the birthday.


The birthday boy with his superman's cake.

When Ethan woke up the next morning, he wanted to bring the party packs to school. I told him mummy and daddy will bring that to school with his cake later on. He was unhappy and shed some crocodile tears. He is one great drama king. I know, my son is the 'kan cheong' type, very eager to distribute them to his friends. After some coaxing, he was ok. When we reached his school later that evening, he was very happy to see us, beaming from ear to ear. His friends sang happy birthday to him and one of them asked him make a wish. He refused to because I think he doesn't know how to make one...haha!! I helped to cut and distribute the cake to his friends and teachers. We then got Ethan to give the party packs to the kids. It was a simple celebration but he was very happy. That's all that matters.

On Saturday, we celebrated his birthday at Spaghetti Grill at MidValley. I have ordered orange poppy seed cupcakes from FamilyFirst and collected them the night before. When I opened up the box, Ethan was happy to see Tom&Jerry and I was very satisfied with the look of the cake too. The nice aroma of the butter just made me salivating. So tempted to eat one that very moment. Ethan likes the cake and he ate the edible image too. Weird huh. To me, the image tasted like a paper. On the restaurant, I'm ok with the food and like their pizza too but hubby was not too happy with the food. He said Chili's and Hard Rock are better.

Orange poppy seed cupcakes.

His trademark pose.

Mmmm...can't wait to eat the cake.

As for his present, we bought a white/black board with easel for Ethan. Hubby wanted to buy a bag for him because the current one was quite worn out. I thought of white board and have been searching for one with easel because I know he likes drawing. He has been using a small white board all this while and it is already dented. Sometimes I teach him maths with the white board and he enjoys it. I don't like the typical classroom type white board and finally found this at Toys"R"Us. When he first opened up the box, he said "For baby ar? Then me leh? Not good la". He thought it was for babies because of the picture on the cover that shows a small boy drawing on the board. I said it's a white board and you can draw on it...blah blah blah.....then he was happy again. He opened up the present on Thursday after coming back from school and played with it for about 3 hours that evening. It showed money well spent. Sometimes, he just played with a new toy for 30 minutes and chucked them away.

His favourite new toy.

His 4th Birthday

21 May (Friday)

As requested, we ordered a 'big' Ben-10 cake for his little party at school on Friday (21 May). I was outstation so hubby went to collect the cake on Thursday evening. I asked him to MMS the pic to me. When I looked at the pic, I found that the Ben10 print was a little too small from what I have expected but when I asked Ethan, he said he likes it and was very excited about his little party at school. So, it's ok lor.

Initially, I planned to take leave and go to the school with the cake and to take some photos. Unfortunately, I had to go to Penang for 3 days so I asked hubby how? I said maybe we can give our camera to the teacher and ask the teacher to help us to take some photos. Man being man, he said no need to take photo lar. So, no photos lor. Luckily I asked him to MMS the photo me, otherwise, I don't even know how the cake looks like.

The only shot of the cake.

I arrived home on Friday evening. Hubby and Ethan picked me up at the KLIA. Ethan was so happy to see me and the moment he saw me, he called out "MUMMY" and ran to me and gave me a big hug. I asked him "Do you miss me?" he said "I miss you". I'm not sure if he understand what that means but I don't care. He said what I wanted to hear...haha!! I asked him about the party again, he said he was happy and his friend sang birthday song to him and his friends and teacher ate his birthday cake.


22 May (Saturday) - The Actual Day

The next morning, we woke up around 9+. We planned to go out and look for his bicycle in the afternoon and later go out for dinner to celebrate his birthday. Mum called at around 11a.m. and said she wanted to join us with my youngest sis and my niece (her mum, i.e. my another sis is in confinement). Initially, mum said they can't join us so I thought only the 3 of us will celebrate his birthday. Since they are joining us, we changed the plan to celebrate his birthday during lunch and buy his bicycle later. We went to the Curve and had lunch at The Garden. We went to the place to celebrate new year and I like the ambience, decor and food there. Ethan liked their watercress soup and finished almost the whole bowl when we were there the first time. I ordered the same soup but he doesn't like it that much on that day. He was having a bit of my Aglio Olio Shrimp Spaghetti (my new favourite) and pineapple fried rice.

After lunch, we did some shopping and cake hunting there. I wanted to buy cup cakes but couldn't find any. Saw the shop that is selling jelly cake (the place we bought a cake for his 2nd birthday) but the ready made ones are not interesting. In the end, we got a vanilla ice-cream chocolate cake (paid by sis) from Baskin Robbins for him. Actually, it was more for me coz I'm very into ice-cream lately :-P. We went home and had a little cake-cutting session. I really enjoyed the cake but not sure about the others...hehe. After that, we rested for a while and went out for a simple dinner.

He ran to the rides and happily climbed on
it without asking for permission.

The 2 kiddos

The yummy ice-cream cake

23 May (Sunday)

I bought him a Spiderman bag few weeks ago for his birthday. We saw this bag and he wanted me to buy for him. I told him, I will buy it later. After some shopping, I have forgotten about it and when we were on the way back, he asked for it again. So, I told him to wait in the car with Daddy and I will buy the bag. I bought it, hid it in the car boot and told him the stall has closed. He was so disappointed and shed some tears, knowing that he didn't get the bag. He has asked for the same bag a few times after that and I gave some excuses that we can't get it.

I wrapped it up nicely and intend to give it to him after we cut his birthday cake on Saturday. Somehow, we were too exhausted and forgotten about it. So, I gave it to him on Sunday morning and when he opened up the gift, he was soooo happy to see the bag. He said he wanted to bring the bag to school. He also insisted to carry the bag to attend Darren's birthday party. We just let him lar.

His present from Mummy

After opening up the present, we headed to the party venue and met up with Darren's and Terry's family. The boys were having fun. They couldn't remember each other of course but they warmed up pretty fast and were playing together happily. The lucky boy also received presents from Darren's and Terry's mummies. Thanks to these 2 lovely ladies.

More presents. He wanted to open
them immediately.

The birthday boy and the cake admirer

Enjoying the cake

A rare shot of the 3 boys together

After the birthday party, we went to buy his bicycle. It's a birthday present from Daddy and I top it up with a helmet. Got what we want and we promised to bring him to the park to cycle in the evening. As the bike is pretty big for him, he could not cycle properly at first. His legs were barely touching the ground when he tiptoe, but after a few rounds of practice, he was cycling pretty well. He also learn how to use the brake instead of his shoes to stop the bike.

He insisted to put on the helmet even though
he was sweating badly. He said the guard will
catch him if he doesn't put it on.

The happy boy


I love this pic.

Happenings in May

3 years, 11 months, 2 weeks & 6 days old.....

On Ethan:

His Birthday:
He's turning 4 next Saturday. This year, it will be the simplest celebration. It gets simpler and simpler every year. We will buy a cake for his small little party at school on Friday. He told me months ago that he wanted a "BIG....Ben-10 cake" for his birthday. I asked him "must be big? cannot buy a small one?". He said cannot, his friends do not like small cake. Kids nowadays are so demanding. I don't know how big is big and how small is small. Whatever it is, it has to be Ben-10 la. Then, the three of us will celebrate his birthday on Saturday. Mum and sis can't join coz sis just had a baby girl and mum is helping out, so no celebration for them wor. Probably just dinner with a candle blowing session and a present. We're thinking of a bicycle. I want it to be a surprise for him but don't know where to hide the bike and when to buy it. Furthermore, I have to go outstation next Wednesday to Friday. We have to figure this out.

Sleeping on his own:
We have planned to move him into his own room but every time we discussed that, he got all teary and upset. Hubby said wait until end of the year wor...

Diaperless:
Some updates from the previous posts, he is diaperless now, day and night. The first few weeks were difficult as we had to bring him to the toilet in the middle of the night. There will be 3-4 'accidents' in a week in the beginning but it reduced week by week. I think it took him around 3-4 months to be totally 'accident-free'. We still have to make sure that he has his last round of milk one hour before bed time and clear his bladder before sleep. Otherwise, we have to bring him to the toilet in the middle of the night.

Brought him to watch Toy Story I & II on 25 April 2010.
The movies lasted for 3 hours and the cinema was
freezingly cold. My fingers were all numb
after the movie ended.

A video of him doing his silly dance

On Mummy:
I have just completed the 2nd semester of my study. It has been almost a year since I "dig this big hole and jumped into it". Hopefully I can complete it by end of this year or latest by mid of next year. I presented my proposal to the examiner on 7th May and the preparation was tough. I have 3 supervisors and each of them has different opinions. I can't fulfill everything they asked me to do but just did what I thought was right. I arranged for a mock presentation on 6th May, a day before the actual day and 2 of the supervisors were present. I got shot by them left, right and centre. That made me very down. It seemed like whatever I have done was rubbish. I went home and corrected my presentation, read up whatever I need to read, went through the slides again and again and pray for the best. Still, I couldn't slept well that night as I was too nervous and worried that I couldn't answer the examiners' questions. Went to bed after 1 a.m. that night, rolled around for at least another 30 minutes and woke up at 6a.m., before the alarm went off. I arrived at the campus one hour before the presentation starts and went through the slides again in the car for another 30 minutes.

While I was going through the slides, mum called and told me sis has just delivered a baby girl by C-sec. She was overdue by a week and I was happy to hear that both mum and baby are safe. After the phone call, I went up to the meeting room and waited anxiously for the presentation to start. I was the 2nd presenter. All my 3 supervisors said they will come and they didn't turn up until the first presentation started. I tried to relax and listened to what the first presenter had to say but the more I listened the more nervous I got, so I looked away, kept my mind blank and and tried to think of other things.

My time came, so I did what I had to do. Each of us were given 30 minutes for the presentation and Q&A. The first presenter stood up during the whole presentation but I knew I had to sit down coz my legs will be wobbly. If they ask me to stand, I will tell them frankly that I will be more stable sitting down. I think I finished my presentation within 15 minutes. After countless questions, I looked at my watch and there was still 10 minutes to go. Gosh, that moment seemed like forever. The examiners asked so many questions and gave some not so important comments. There was a question, which I couldn't really answer. Thank God, one of my supervisors backed me up but in the end, the 3 of them were arguing among themselves on my research. I still think I was lucky because all of them showed their support and turned up. I noticed most of the supervisors were not there and their students had to fend for themselves.

After the presentation at 10 a.m., I had a long discussion with my supervisors. Two of them left after 1 hour and I continued with the other one until 1 p.m. I had initially plan to go for a pampering session after the presentation but my head was pounding by noon, so I decided to go home and rest. Went home to sleep and less than 15 minutes in dreamland, hubby called and woke me up. After that, I couldn't sleep anymore and decided to pick mum up and visit sis at the hospital. We were greeted by this little cutie pie....

My 'just arrived' niece

Birthday and Such

3 years and 4 weeks old.....


The Birthday

(A very, very backdated post)

We celebrated Ethan's birthday with an early dinner on 16 May 2009 at Tony Roma's with my sister's family and mum. The birthday boy got a dessert f.o.c from Tony Roma's but we all shared it lar. It was also to celebrate Mother's Day. On the actual day (Friday, 22 May 2009) , we took leave and brought him to Genting to have a fun-filled day. This year, we simplified everything. Only one cake and one trip. No pressie for him...hehe. We arrived at around 10.00 a.m. and left on the same day after dinner at 7.30 p.m. I was dead tired and couldn't walk anymore. We went to both indoor and outdoor theme park and took almost all the kiddy rides. That's the good thing about going there on a weekday. The little one was so excited that he refused to nap. The moment we put him on the car seat, he dozed off.

His birthday cake-green tea with red bean

The birthday boy enjoying his cake

Birthday larva courtesy of the restaurant

His favourite ride! He went on it for at least 5 times.

At the Chocolate Wonderland

The 'caterpillar' ride. Our last ride at the outdoor theme park.

Tried his luck and....

he won a pillow all by himself!

The Trip

We went back to hubby's hometown on 11-15 June2009 to attend his brother's wedding on 12 June (Friday). The wedding went on well despite a few hiccups e.g. sister-in-law's MPV broke down the day before the wedding so we borrowed a neighbour's van and we didn't know that the air-cond. was not working until we started the engine. Everyone was drenched in sweat on the way to the church that morning. Once inside the church, I hurried myself to a seat nearest to the fan. Luckily, I didn't lost much of my make-up (which was barely there in the first place). Thank goodness, they got the MPV back that evening just in time to attend the dinner. I was very very relieved.

Saturday was a rest-and-relax day. Having nothing much to do on Sunday (14 June), we brought Ethan to the Matang Wildlife Centre to see Orang Utan. I haven't been there before so I did not know what to expect. I brought milk and clothes for Ethan (I brought these wherever we go) and also mosquito repellent. We headed to the visitor's centre and continued our walk to the animals' enclosures. I have never imagined that the place is practically a jungle. All the enclosures were built under the natural surrounding. It was like jungle trekking.

Half way through the walk, we had to climb up a flight of stairs to reach the sun bear enclosure. After the hike we were so exhausted and took a rest there. At that time, hubby suddenly saw a hairy caterpillar (ulat bulu) on his hand. He quickly shook it off and I saw the caterpillar crawling on the floor. It was only around 2cm long. I didn't take any pic of it coz worm/caterpillar is my biggest fear. I just look at it from distance.

We then continued our journey to look for the Orang Utan. Ethan was tired so hubby carried him. After a few minutes, he started scratching his body, hands first then his back. We suspected something was not right so my mother-in-law asked me to carry Ethan instead. I carried Ethan for a while and reached the Orang Utan's enclosure. Ethan started to scratch more frequently and we suspected it's the caterpillar that cause the itchiness. I appllied some mosquito repellent on him (that's the only cream I had with me that time) but he still scratched all over his body.

We hurried our way out and found a toilet so we stripped Ethan off his clothes and washed him with some water. Red spots started to develop on his hands and back. After washing him, I applied the mosquito repellent on his body and changed his clothes. He fell asleep in the car shortly after that and the itchiness seemed to have gone away.

Too bad, the worst had yet to start. After we arrived at SIL's house, we quickly took shower and applied antiseptic cream. The red spots then became swollen and spread to other body parts. Ethan got it worst - both hands, leg, back, tummy and some on his face. I got it on my hands, neck and tummy. Hubby was very lucky as he only got a few spots on his hands.

The attack happended around noon and by 6 pm that evening, the itchiness became very bad. The antiseptic cream did not help at all. I told hubby we need to get to the pharmacy and guess what? There was no pharmacist on duty at the Guardian. All I could get, with my limited knowledge on this kind of situation, was a bottle of calamine lotion. And.....it was useless.

We went for dinner with hubby's family after buying and applying the calamine lotion. After looking at our condition, they suggested we tried some traditional medicine and so we did. It helped but not for long. After two hours or so, the itchiness came back. Ethan had difficulties falling asleep but he did not fuss at all (I'm so glad). He just scratched all over non-stop. We had to help him rub his body to prevent him to scratch too hard. He fell asleep eventually. That was around 10 p.m., I think. I dozed off half-an hour later but was awake around 12 a.m. as the itchiness became unbearable. I turned and saw Ethan scratching badly also.

Before I fell asleep, I told hubby that maybe we should go to the hospital and see a doctor. As usual, he said not necessary and hinting to me no need to exaggerate. So, when I woke up at around midnight, I woke him up as well and ask him to look at Ethan and how bad he's scratching. He then quickly called his friend and asked where is the nearest hospital. Off we went to the emergency ward and got both myself and Ethan registered.

The doctor's advice: Everyone's reaction to allergy is different and that we should get treatment within the first 4 hours of attack. Even though hubby was ok but myself and Ethan had very bad allergy reaction to the attack. In bad cases, it can cause swollen tongue and breathing difficulties (that freaks me out). Luckily, the doctor said our lungs were clear and asked me to monitor Ethan's breathing. If I hear wheezing sound, we should send him to hospital immdiately. We got oursleves some medication and cream plus two shots on my arms for fast relief. We slept quite well after the medication but woke up twice to help Ethan apply the cream and stroking his body to prevent him from scratching.

The worst was not over yet. I woke up the next morning (Monday, 15 June) and saw the swollen spots on my hands and they were watery inside. We went to see another skin doctor and he prescribed another cream for us. I also tried to use dettol with warm water to wipe Ethan and myself. It helps a lot. I repeated the routine (wipe with dettol and apply cream) the whole day and happy to see the improvement very fast. The red spots subsided and were not as red before. Still, the itchiness was there the whole time but not as intense. We took a flight back to KL that night and as usual, there was a delay in AirAsia's flight by one hour. We reached home past midnight and after repeating another round of dettol and cream for both of us, I was dead exhausted.

Ethan and myself rested at home until yesterday (18 June) and went back to our normal life today. What a trip.

Hubby's and my hands. See the difference? Mine was all swollen.

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Don't scream, ya

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Ethan's body on the 2nd day. He's much much better now.
My heart ache like mad.

Ethan's 2nd Birthday Celebration

23 months & 4 weeks old.....

We celebrated Ethan's birthday on Friday, 16 May and Sunday, 18 May. Both Daddy and Mummy were too lazy to host a party at home so we decided to go out for dinner. Friday's dinner was at the Golden Sun Club while Sunday's one was at the Zun Kitchenette. I personally prefer the Zun Kitchenette as the food was much better and the place is more cosy.

As for the highlights of the events, which were the cakes, we bought a New York cheese cake from Bakerzin and a jelly cake (can't remember the name of the shop but it's at Ikano). Ethan doesn't quite like cakes so he didn't take any of those. He enjoyed the candle blowing sessions though.

The yummy cheese cake.

The colourful jelly cake.

Trying to blow the candle before the birthday song was sung.


Cheeky faces

If You're Happy......

...And You Know It Clap Your Hands. Ethan really likes this song in the Barney CD. He will follow them to clap but have not learn how to stamp his feet yet. You can see him clap in the video. He will watch the tv when his favourite songs are played including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He also likes to watch the little blond girl. Whenever she sings, he will watch. Tsk tsk tsk......so young already know how to choose girls. I have bought another education cd for him but he doesn't seem to like it.

Video taken on 4 May 2007

I have been telling people that Ethan likes to bite including his books. The other day, I bought two more books for him. Actually the books were his birthday presents from his 'poh poh' (grandma). My mother gave me money and asked me to buy things for Ethan. I bought two books and the balance of the money I deposit into his saving accounts. The two books are board books. He can flip the pages easily with his little fingers. They are also big, so he cannot lift the books and bite them. The few books that I bought for him last time were normal paper book. It's light and the pages are flimsy. He cannot flip the pages and can easily lift them up and bite. Now I know. It's not him that doesn't like book. It's the book that is not suitable for him. Silly me.

The yellow book (see picture below) has a spongie cover, sturdy but soft. Nice to touch. The other one, In The Jungle, has some pop-up animals when you open the pages. There are also some holes with different shapes on the pages. Ethan likes to touch the little holes. Unfortunately, the pop-up animals are made of paper and it's quite flimsy. Ethan already tore up two of the animals. Sigh.

Some of Ethan's birthday presents. See the two books?

The Party (Updated With Video)

Ethan's Birthday party went on well as planned on Sunday, 6 May. Hubby collected the cake around noon. The cake was perfect. Exactly like what I wanted it to be. Around 5 pm, I went to collect the food while hubby looked after Ethan at home. The car still smells prawn until now! Ethan slept very little on that day but his appetite has returned to normal. He took a nap from 10-11 am. We went to Giant and he took another short nap for 15 minutes at around 2pm. When I went out to collect the food, hubby was supposed to coax him to sleep but he refused to nap. So, after I came back I fed him porridge. Before he finished, guests started to arrive. Then, I quickly gave him a shower and let him mingled with the guests. The poor fellow felt sleepy shortly after and he took another nap from 6.30-7.30 pm.

In the meantime, the guests enjoyed their food. We had fried rice, fried mee, fried meehoon, curry chicken, bitter gourd chicken, salted egg prawn, vege, fish paste something, fruits, etc. Too much food lar. In the end, I made everyone 'tapau' the extra food. Luckily they are all close relatives. No 'pai sieh' one.

Then, I woke the little birthday boy up at 7.30 pm. He was blur for a while and refused to let anyone carry him except his mummy and daddy. Probably he was scared that suddenly there were so many people in the house. We sang the birthday song for him but he doesn't know what was going on. He just looked at us. We blow the candle, cut the cake and everyone was curious to find out if the teddy bear on the cake can be eaten or not. The answer is yes but no one wants to eat it anyway because it's like eating sugar. It's extremely sweet but the cake tasted ok.

After everyone left, I gave Ethan a shower. That was around 9pm. He ate the cake and his hands and face were dirty and sticky. Hubby and mother-in-law helped to clean up a little. After the cheeky one slept, I mop the floor, took my shower and call it a day.

P/S: If you want to know how the cake taste, watch the video below. Ethan will tell you.

The nice and untouched cake!

Ethan cutting the cake, with mummy's help

Yummy! He likes the cake a lot

UHH! What happened to my teddy bear?
(See the nose? It was replaced by a star)

Planning for Ethan's Birthday Party

Ethan's first birthday is coming soon. Though it falls on 22 May, we plan to do it earlier. Parents-in-law will be in town from 5-10 May before they leave for Australia for holiday. We are going to invite family and close relatives only. If we invite all our friends, there will be more than 50 guests. Our house cannot accommodate more than 30 guests.

I have just checked out the cakes from Lillian, who made the wonderful cake for Irfan's birthday. Like Nadia said, my eyes really went 'rambang' looking at the cakes. I went through the photos countless times and finally decided on one. It's going to cost RM150. I have never order such expensive cake before but I think it's worth it. I haven't tell hubby about the price...hehe. Don't know what will be his reaction. Food wise, we will order. Easy.

Other than that, I'm still planning on the deco and birthday present. Need to go out and get some ideas. Is Ikea a good place to get the deco items? On the present, I'm thinking of maybe books, push car or a tricycle. I still have 3 weeks to work on it.

I'm thinking of another smaller party at the day care with all the cutie pies around. It should be fun looking at Ethan surrounded by the toddlers. See how the first one goes first.