The Return of Shyan Ku Ku

It was nice to have Shyan back from Melbourne even though it was only for a weekend. Daniel was not very ready for her warm enthusiatic embrace at first as he is more aware of the identities of the people around him but her warmth love has soon won him over in no time!

One of the nights, we celebrated Melvin's birthday. Daniel was having a fantastic time fiddling the karaoke set as we were assigned to a karaoke room. Then everybody took turns to carry him around as we eat in turns.

Baby with Shyan

Baby with Grandma

Baby with everyone

Baby with Dad & Mum

This is by far one of my fave shots. Daniel can be a real laughter. I must say he's a very smiley baby. He wakes up smiling 98% of the time. He just loves being wherever he is. And if you love playing with him, you are his best friend. Compare to his peers (other babies) I think Daniel is a social butterfly. He loves to interact and enjoy as much attention as he can get. He definitely got that from me.... or more accurately, I have 'downloaded' it to him. I realise I can live without handphones on weekends. That's how much I devote my weekends to my baby. I am definitely not as noisy and active compare to my pre-mummy days. I love sipping tea now, can you believe it? And just stroll for SIMPLE shopping. If I go off more than 2 hours without my baby, my guilt-o-meter will start to rise to ALERT zone. Yikes! What has motherhood done to me?

Baby loving to be on Daddy's shoulders

I told myself I must get a good shot of Choy Che, Daniel's nanny. And there she is! The heroine who stands in for me on weekdays whenever I travel across the causeway to teach. Daniel is a bit mischievious too... whenever I am around, he would refuse Choy Che. He doesn't even want her to touch him! Naughty naughty.... but whenever I am not around, he would want her to carry him most of time. Or lets him go on the walker where he can literaly zoom here and there.

I must say Daniel has one of the best grandparents. They are totally in love with him and sometimes even spoil him (gulp!). Daniel loves especially grandma to carry him cuz Grandma = kai kai. Due to my mother in law's hand operation, thus she didn't carry Daniel, he cried a river.

On Sunday, we went to Carlton Hotel for dim sum. It was a loooong queue, thank God Huey Wen my sister-in-law who stays in Singapore made a booking. The dim sum was simple but their cha siew was gooood. Cha siew soh, cha siew pow.... yummy! All the buns are good.

And with a long wait, comes long entertainment to keep Daniel occupied. Shyan Ku Ku joined us after her best friend's wedding night for the dim sum. After that the whole clan adjourned to Taka for some classy shopping ; Raoul, Bally etc.

It was a bit weird to eat so near my workplace. I would be settling for SGD3 chicken rice normally and here I am at a 5-star hotel eating dim sum just opposite my school! What a contrast. Next time, I shall not eat so near my workplace. I'd better stick to Crystal Jade then... but can't beat the cha siew.

Miri Trip

On 4th July, the whole clan (all 40 of us) flew to Miri to attend Hong Ko's wedding. So all of us took the bus from Grandma's house all the way to Senai. Daniel loves the bus. He gets to interact with countless of relatives and amuses everybody with his new skill of blaberring.

At Senai, we were very 'kiasu' indeed. We queued before the counter was opened!

Off we go!

So as to kill time, Daniel was being brought around to play with anything he can get his hands on...

Dad's specs

Touch screen on flight info

Candies

The moment I arrived in the hotel, I immediately unloaded my burden... putting Daniel on a huge sofa which was later shared by cousin Xing Ning. Baby is 10kg now... causing me to demand some massage from ZX everynight.

This is Miri. Most amazingly, it's as clean as Singapore! I did not see a single rubbish or even pot hole on the roads. Amazing... And there are quite a lot of Chinese living in the town as well. I took this view from my room, we were staying at Imperial Hotel. Not bad at all, as the banquet was held there as well and there was a shopping mall connected to it, it makes the whole journey very convenient.

This is the place we had our 1st dinner. The seafood can't beat Sabah's of course but I guess if you bring a big group of 40 to eat, people tend to be stressed - the chefs, the waiters and not to mention the host. That reminds me, I guess I have to applaud my dad for managing a bigger group when the clan came to Sabah for our wedding.

The hotel lobby... a background where we can shoot "We've been to Sarawak!"



Daniel is still refusing to crawl! He'll cry in frustration and fury if we don't lift him up ASAP.

So while ZX and I went for a massage, everyone else from ZX's family took care of him. Feeding him apple, cereal... and pineapple!!!!

Church wedding was interesting... we had a wedding mass.

Apparently, Hong Ko is marrying a bumi (Kenyah, to be exact) so it makes the whole trip to be very cultural indeed. I have never been this close to the bumi culture, not even the Kadazans back in Sabah. Don't get me wrong, I do have a lot of Kadazan friends but I guess they have definitely rid some of the old practices.


Wedding dinner was at the very hotel we were staying. Thumbs up for the convenience!!





Hong Ko's mother in law actually have long ears, from the enlarging of the hole piercing. Then I concluded, Sarawakians tend to keep the culture more fervently than Sabahans.



And our last meal in Miri where I realised Daniel really likes being part of the eating community.

Daniel's fave activity - bathing!

Red Day - Meet up with KK friends

It just so happened that on the night before we left for JB, Daniel, ZX and I were dressed in shades of red. We went to Kolombong Restaurant where we had stingray, wo tie, satays etc... all the Sabah goodies. I forgot to take a pic of the food we ate, guess we were too hungry!

It was also the last night for Daniel to interact with my Sabah gang...

Uncle Leonard

Aunty Audrey who also had just came back from KL

Uncle Felix, undoubtably Daniel's fave...

During dinner, while ZX and I took turns to eat, with my friends carrying him here and there, chasing some dogs, showing him the moon, anything to keep him occupied! Daniel loves to ride on people's shoulders these days. His new game, being a hair stylist!

Mummy's hair is definitely more fun than Uncle Rickie's...