Salam Aidilfitri from… uh, Ipoh?

That weekend we tagged along Abang Ngah’s engagement convoy from Kampung Permatang all the way to Ipoh, or more precisely near Simpang Pulai. As usual the adventuring party that was formed by the family was a fun and boisterous one – despite the inordinately hot day we had. [[image:aidilfitri-2011-ipoh-01.jpg:Atok and Opah at the kenduri:center:0]] One thing’s for sure: the food prepared by the other family was very delicious. [[image:aidilfitri-2011-ipoh-02.jpg:Negotiations:center:0]] The adults negotiate the terms of the future wedding as the rest of us kids play. [[image:aidilfitri-2011-ipoh-03.jpg:Abang Ngah and fiancee:center:0]] Abang Ngah and his fiancee posed for photographers after the negotiations are done. [[image:aidilfitri-2011-ipoh-04.jpg::center:0]] Abang Ngah’s brother Abang Long with his younger son awaits outside. Once upon a time, Abang Long’s wedding was also featured in this blog!

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Best ABC This Side of the Euphrates

When we balik kampung to Sitiawan, we try to drop by at Ain’s favourite ais batu campur (ABC) restaurant, which just happens to be at the Lumut Esplanade, overlooking where the Dindings River meets the sea. Most times we arrive, there is an festival-like air to the area which has a food court by the water as well as a children’s playground. Anyways, here’s the ABC: [[image:aidilfitri-2011-abc-01.jpg:ABC:center:0]] That evening, there was a TLDM (Royal Malaysian Navy) warship docked right in front of the food court. [[image:aidilfitri-2011-abc-02.jpg:Some warship:center:0]] Alas, we did not have a lot of time. So, we only had the ABC. [[image:aidilfitri-2011-abc-03.jpg:This photo is here because Ain looks so pretty in this shot:center:0]]

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Yay rain

Salam Aidilfitri from Pasir Mas

This year it’s balik kampung to Pasir Mas for Aidilfitri! And for the first time ever, we flew to Kota Bharu. Why did we fly there? Cause I don’t think the car can survive an 8 hour cross-country trip. Heck, it can barely survive a trip to Sungai Buloh. Here is our only family photo taken for the celebration. We had so many visitors the first two days there was no time to take photos. Cars upon cars upon cars arrived in no time! A couple of days earlier: Irfan had fun on the porch during the rain. We watched pelepah nyor and stuff fell as the rainstorm did its work. When it wasn’t raining, Irfan performed his favourite chore: raking leaves from the yard. Back to Hari Raya: Thanks to technology stolen from the future during a time travel jaunt, everyone could speak to and see Irfan’s Cik Su […]

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37 Months

Hey everyone! So the girl is 37 months old today. We had her 3-year checkup this morning and she was 40 1/4 inches tall (102.2 cm) and 38 lbs (17.2 kg), and at the 99th percentile for both height and weight. Her speech and vocabulary now seems advanced for her age (what a change from last year’s checkup and the not talking at all business!). She counted to 25 for the doctor (skipping 16 which is the norm for her), and correctly identified the stethoscope used, and what it was for. She liked opening her mouth and saying “aaah” and letting the doctor shine a flashlight in her ear. She didn’t mind the sphygmomanometer that took her blood pressure and “hugged” her arm. She didn’t even cry when she was given one jab, and was very pleased with the tweety bird bandage that she got for it. Everything is going […]

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Boy or girl? Can you guess?

Here are a couple of pictures of Yaya’s Adik from this morning’s ultrasound. Adik is now 20 weeks old – halfway there! Adik weighs 12 ounces (which is apparently normal for this age). [[image:2011-0816-adik-b.jpg:Profile with arm:center:0]]  [[image:2011-0816-adik-a.jpg:Kick Mama!:center:0]]  Tell us, based on these pictures, do you think Adik is a boy or a girl? We’ll reveal the answer later ;-).

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The one with the rainy-day party

So on Sunday July 24th (Vin’s birthday! Happy birthday, babe!!!!) we had Yaya’s birthday party. As in previous years, we had invited the neighbors and our friends and planned a cook-out. The house was clean and there was a bunch of cooking to be done! Mandy and I had stayed up assembling Yaya’s present the night before (I hate assembling toys!) and Papa went to play baseball in the morning. [[image:2011_0724_party02.jpg:Birthday girl in her jammies:center:0]] Mandy had balloon duty and inflated a bunch of helium balloons for the party while I cooked. [[image:2011_0724_party01.jpg:Birthday girl gets a balloon!:center:0]] When the guests arrived, it started to rain so we had to move the party indoors (cue scrambling to clear the counter of stuff so food can be put out). Luckily Vin did manage to grill the burgers and hot dogs before the deluge started. The uncouth girl made a beeline for the […]

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36 Months (aka Third Birthday)

Not too terribly late this month! And here is the 3-year-old Yaya on the morning of her birthday! [[image:2011_0722yaya01.jpg:3-year-old Yaya says Hi!:center:0]] Before we start, just a note that this is going to be the last of the long monthly blog recapping her entire day. While I’m torn about the decision, I think three years of this has been a lot. I’m not going to stop blogging on her birthday, just not quite as long an entry just chatting about what she’s done or accomplished, and maybe one or two pictures. Three years is a long time. I’ll miss it. But there will still be long entries when we have stuff to say. Plus with Yaya’s Adik’s impending arrival, inshallah, in the interest of equality I will try to do a monthly blog for the new little one when the time comes and Yaya will no doubt be prominently featured […]

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Boy or girl? The sequel

I meant to share this a lot earlier but time got away from me. Yaya is getting an Adik (little sibling)! This was taken on 28 June 2011, when Adik was at 13 weeks and 1 day old. Adik was definitely active and having a dance party in there while we looked on. (S)he seems to be doing fine so far. Next ultrasound in a few weeks. [[image:2011-number2_28jun2011b.jpg:Adik’s profile:center:0]] We are all very excited (well I don’t know how excited Lily is) but the rest of us are psyched to welcome a new addition to our home and family (EDD 2 January 2012). Wish us all luck in the upcoming months! 🙂

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35 Months

Can we just pretend that this is on time? Or at least not so late that the girl is almost 36 months old? No excuses really. Anyway, here is our 35 month old Yaya (almost 3 years old now!!!! wooooo!). [[image:2011-0622-yaya24.jpg:I’m in a hotel crib!:center:0]] June was so long ago I barely remember it. We drove home from the work outing in New Jersey on June 2nd, and had lovely weather (for a change). No complaints from me. But we had a busy month though. Lots of work (for Mama) and then on the week leading up to the big 35 month birthday, we did a ton of traveling, and this time for fun! Yay! First vacation of 2011! But before we get to that, quick report: food intake unchanged. Still very limited options of what she will eat. Potty training: Yaya 4000, Mama and Papa 0. So that means […]

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Pantai Cenang streetpost

Adventure on Langkawi Island

A couple of weeks earlier, Irfan, Atok, Opah, Ain & I went on a three-day vacation to Langkawi, where I had been on work assignment before twice since 2006 but never had the time to relax there and enjoy the sights. And it ultimately freaking hurt! But thanks to previous journeys to the island, I called a contact and booked a homestay bungalow, the one we rented during LIMA back in December 2009. I had thought back then that it was a great location, and promised I would return there with the family to enjoy it. Usually when tourists travel to Langkawi, they would find a chalet or hotel near the beach. The homestay we rented was situated on the side of a hill, surrounded by a kampung and overlooking a spectacular landscape, not far from the Langkawi Airport. Elsewhere on the island, we stopped by beaches, tourist spots and […]

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34 Months

This might be a new record in the tardiness of the monthly blog entry. The same excuses and the same apologies, but here she is our 34 month old Yaya. In less than two months (from today) she will be three! Unbelievable, right? 😉 [[image:2011-0522-yaya24.jpg:I’m a traveling Yaya!:center:0]] We had more rain in May. Seriously – we had rain almost every day in April and the first half of May, and that’s no joke. Certainly we did not have two consecutive days of sun during this stretch. On the plus side, the lawn looks lovely! But we all got cabin fever. The weather finally broke in mid-May and we finally got some nice sunny weather.  Nothing new to report on the food end – still a moratorium on most foods. Same with potty training – no advances. Hopefully as the summer progresses we can have her run around outside sans pants and try to […]

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Heading back from Seri Petaling Station

Irfan Takes A Train To The Mall

One activity Irfan and I did this school holiday was to take the Light Rail Transit (LRT), the city-wide train network. He rarely gets to ride on it, since we drive everywhere which is sometimes cheaper depending on the situation. So we thought we’d go to the Mall. We set forth to the station after lunch and soon train came along. The Mall is a mall that is named “The Mall”. It’s like a boy who’s named “The Boy”, or a building that’s named “The Building”. The Parkson department store used to have a good bookstore up at the second floor. I used to browse there while waiting for the intercity bus. (The Putra Bus Station is just across the street.) We went to pick up some art supplies at the Big Bookstore, where Irfan bought this book: Later, we went to the Parkson’s toy section to check out the […]

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33 Months

I’m just not even going to mention how late this entry is or the reasons why because they’re all the same boring reasons recycled month after month. At any rate, the girl is now 33 months old! 2.75 years old already! [[image:2011-0422-22.jpg:Fashionably bored?:center:0]] Honestly, I like the picture above because we rarely see this expression of calmness and peace about her.  😉 * As usual, mouse over the pictures for captions It has been a quiet and rainy month. Poor Yaya only got to go to the playground maybe twice this entire time we’ve been home (and we didn’t go out to New Jersey this month). Why? Are we just lazy parents trying to raise a couch potato? Well, not quite. It’s just rained almost every day for weeks now. The backyard will be sprouting mangroves and alligators will be migrating there soon. We are all getting such cabin fever […]

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32 Months

Well, this month I am (yet again) late with the entry. The girl is now 2 years and 8 months old – she’s 2 and 2/3 years old! Not long to the big 3! She’s quite the character: [[image:20110322-yaya29.jpg:Hi everyone!!!:center:0]] I have no real excuse – sure, lots of work and all that. But it’s both work and procrastination I suppose. This has been another quick month – we had another trip to New Jersey (and in fact Yaya’s 32-month birthday happened while we were there!), and the month does go by extra quickly when we’re on the road. Yaya continues to amaze us with all the talking and singing. When we’re home we still listen to music while we eat dinner, and there’s lots of drawing. Yaya still refuses to eat most things – no change there. And sadly, we’ve had quite a snowy March. Seriously depressing. We are all getting cabin […]

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31 Months

It’s a miracle! Only a few days after the girl’s 31 month birthday, this entry is being written? What’s gotten into me? 🙂 Anyways, this past Tuesday the 22nd, Yaya turned 31 months old. Here she is: [[image:20110222_05.jpg:Aww shucks!:center:0]] Another fast-paced month has passed by. We did our first 2011 New Jersey work trip in February, and had a lot of fun. Yaya was chanting “Yaya goes to hotel!” all the way in the car. Needless to say, it was a long 11-hour drive. Poor thing. We kept telling her, yes, we’re going to the hotel but it’s still a long way away. Her enthusiasm was unflagging, “Yaya goes inside hotel!!!!” and variations of this statement occurred. This was also the first road trip where she seemed to really take a huge interest in her surroundings – “Mama, look at all the trees!”, “Mama, look at all the buildings!”, “Yaya sees birds”, “Ni Hao […]

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There's a platybelodon in here. I should say hi or something

Irfan Goes To Petrosains

We all went for a trip to Petrosains Discovery Centre located at the fourth level of Suria KLCC today for the first time. It was quite an informative and entertaining jaunt with a lot of interactive scientific experiments that children can participate in. There was even a Science Show where kids (well, one kid from the audience) participated in. There was even a short 3D film in a small theatre they had. It was quite an elaborate set-up and it took us three hours and forty minutes to complete the entire circuit. I tweeted bits and pieces of our visit to Petrosains with photos. You could sift through the timestamped tweets here to the posts in question. But I thought this blog post would be a great way to consolidate all the posts (with photos) and insert untweeted photos as well. We started off in a ride through a dark […]

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