What a morning!

This morning I took my son to the hospital to get his Hepatitis A immunisation together with my maid. I strolled him all the way to the hospital.

My son was such a good boy today. He wore his white shirt with collar and his black pants. He also wore his brand new shoes I bought for his 2nd birthday gift. He absolutely loves the shoes. I know he feels good and handsome with his new shoes.

In the hospital he threw smiles to every one and he even posed so that I could take his photograph. What a cute boy!

When the doctor injected him, he cried for 5 seconds then he smiled again to the doctor. He even opened his mouth willingly when doctor wanted to check his throat. Usually, it takes 3 people to hold him and to open his mouth. But today he is such a wonderful boy.

When we went back home, we saw there was a notice board in front of 2 elevators of our apartment saying that both elevators are under maintenance.

Oh no! This can't be true! This is what I'm scared of the most because I live in nearly the highest floor section.

I tried to calm my self down while looking at the big stroller, my son, my maid, my son's bag plus his toys, my umbrella and let out a big sigh.

I told my son to get down from his stroller and asked my maid to fold the stroller. This stroller is still big though it has been folded. It weighs 10kg. I started to collect my son's bag, my umbrella, my son toys, my own bag and my son't water bottle.

I held my son's hand and guided him to go up by the staircase one step at a time. My maid dashed off first with the stroller.

We managed to go up to the 5th floor by staircase very slowly. I can see that my son was tired already. He started to drag his legs and he didn't want me to hold his hands anymore because he wanted to crawl up the staircase. Oh poor my little boy! His palms are all dirty.

When we arrived at 7th floor, my son had no more energy to crawl up. He started to loose his concentration and run out to the apartments on this floor. Maybe he thought we had arrived at our apartment because he wanted to open the gate of one of the apartment there.

I told him we haven't arrived yet. Still a long way to go up. I really pity him. Along the way, we met up with our neighbors who were nice enough to offer their help to carry my son all the way up. But I just turned down the offers. I carried my son with my left hand (my son weighs 14.5kg) and carried other stuffs on my right hand and continued climbing up the staircase. It was really a good exercise for me... :D

Finally, I arrived in front of my apartment door. Oh God! I felt so happy. I sweat so much, more than if I run on the park... ;D

After entering the apartment, my son started to run around the house again and I really had no energy to chase him. I was so thirsty I drank 2 glasses of water. I hope the elevators will be back to normal soon.

If I have to do this twice a day 24/7, sure I'll be thinner in no time... :D

My motherhood celebration

Happy halloween people!

I personally do not celebrate halloween because in the city I live, halloween is not celebrated and no one makes it a big deal. I do not expect any children knocking on my door for a trick or treat and I do not decorate my house with the scary pumpkin either.

But then it doesn't mean that this day is an ordinary day for me. It is not. In fact, it is a very special day for me because today, I am celebrating 2 years of my motherhood/parenthood experience. I have decorated the house not with scary pumpkin but with many colorful ballons, animals and cartoon characters, and colorful writing on the wall to celebrate my son's 2nd birthday.

At first I wanted to make the Barney birthday cake by myself, but then I was very busy preparing other stuffs and it was too late when I went back home yesterday. So, I just bought a black forest birthday cake for my son.

When he woke up this morning, he was very happy to see the decoration I made on the wall. Since he loves Barney so much, I picked the Barney theme for him. And he was very happy to wear the Barney hat and blowing the Barney whistle after he blew the birthday candle.

I can't believe he is 2 years old already. I have been his mother for 2 years. I can still remember vividly the delivery process, the pain, the tiredness, the frustration I experienced 2 years ago.

Now though he still makes me frustrated but I can enjoy that frustration because he has become my best friend. He likes to run around, climb up the chairs and tables, tease me, tell me a story or just mumble some words he still doesn't know how to say. He can even instruct people to do things and I actually have a funny experience with this one.

When we went to visit my parents, we took my son and his cousin (my bro's 2nd son) to Carrefour and we rented 2 trolleys with car for kids attached to the trolleys. Then after finished shopping, my son went out of his car and walked to his cousin's car. He opened his cousin's car door and instructed him to get out of his car because he wanted to ride that car. My son did that with his body language and a very serious expression. There were no words came out from his mouth. He pointed his finger to the floor instructing his cousin to go down from the car. At first his cousin didn't get it and just sit quitely in his car and my son felt frustrated and he just shook his head while kept his eyes on his cousin. Then he repeated his body language and finally his cousin understood and went out of the car and let my son in.

Every one who saw this incident laughed so much because of my son cute body language. He didn't want to say a word because he understood that when he talked he would use the word "down" and he was afraid his cousin didn't understand him because his cousin speaks in different language. So, body language would work best. Wha..ha..ha..my mother couldn't stop laughing everytime she remembers that incident.

My son is always God's best gift and God's best magic for me. I really feel great to be his mother.

Today, exactly 2 years I have become a mother and I am very proud of that title. I know 2 years of motherhood is still nothing and I still need to learn more to be a good mother for my beloved son. Happy birthday, my son! God be with you always.

Back from balik kampung

I'm back to my ordinary boring days after spending a week of balik kampung with
my family. It was a great break for me and for the whole family since we could
enjoy 4 days of the big cities 'quiteness' with no traffic jam on the
roads.

Unlike most people who live and work in the big city but grew up
in the kampung, I grew up in a big city but now living in a small city. So, my
balik kampung is actually balik kota (city). This is good because I can avoid
the long traffic jam on the roads everytime I go back to my big city and I can
enjoy the 'quiteness' of the city.

I had a great time spending time with
my small family, my parents, my brother and his family, my cousins, and my
neighbors. Those who celebrated hari raya visited our house to greet each other.
I could see that my parents were very happy and this really made me feel happy
too. Too bad everytime we visit them, it is always a very short visit (less than
a week). I miss them still.

Mohon maaf lahir dan batin

Teruntuk semua yang merayakan hari raya aidil fitri, saya mengucapkan selamat hari raya aidil fitri, mohon maaf lahir dan batin.

I'm off to join the exodus of balik kampung and will be back soon.
If you drive, drive safely and remember your loved ones waiting at home.
If you fly, don't carry anything dangerous for you and for the whole passengers.
If you take train/bus, watch out for your belonging and your kids.

Happy holiday, people!!

Let the rain wash away the haze

It rains! It rains so heavily in the place I live! I guess I am not the only one who feels so greateful for this heavy rain. For the past 1 month, the rain was not to heavy and it was triggered by a cloud seeding to clear the haze, courtesy the Indonesians, that covers many parts of the country I live.

It rains! It rains so heavily 'till I can't even see the buildings next to building I live.
I can see and hear the lightening thunder thundering outside my window.

Oh thanks God! It rains! It rains so heavily I hope this rain will clear up the sky and bring back the beautiful view of the city I live in.

It rains! It rains so heavily and I think I'd better post this story quickly before the thunder strikes my computer and me... ;)

Being an octopus

I have been very busy lately taking care of my son, house, and husband all by myself because I had sent my maid back to her agent for a recourse before she gets her new work permit. It is not a requirement by government but I just feel that it is necessary for her to touch up on her working skill and her attitude. After working for 1 year at my house, she started to downgrade her work standard and her attitude.

When she just came to work at my place a year ago, she was very polite, shy, and quite. She woke up very early and by 6am she would have taken shower and started her daily chores, but then after 6 months, she started to get up at 7am (my husband normally gets up around 6am). At first, we just left her alone and gave her a chance perhaps she couldn't sleep well and needed a longer sleep.

But then everyday, she got up later and later and I had to be one who knocked her door to wake her up and she went to bed sometimes as early as 9pm. I asked her why she got up so late and she told me her alarm clock didn't work. So, I fixed the alarm clock and it worked fine and still she got up after 7am. Sometimes she got up so late that we all had to stay in the bed because she still had to mop the floor and everything was delayed. Oh by the way, she is quite fierce. She can just yell at us (her employers) and instruct us what to do. I am tired of telling her anything because she would just defend her self and blame me instead for not following her rules. Oh gosh, who is the boss here??

You see why I need to send her for a recourse? Even the nurses at a hospital near our house know how fierce my maid is because when my son was hospitalized there, my maid actually yelled at one of the nurses because the nurse took a long time to fix my son's drip and the nurse got angry and she challenged my maid. Now, everytime I go to that hospital, the nurses will ask me if my maid follows me or not. I think they just want to take precaution. :)

Anyway, it's been 3 weeks since I sent my maid back to her agent. I did everything by myself. I feel like an octopus with all my body parts work at the same time.

I have to cook, clean up, wash dishes, cloths, etc. with my right hand while my left hand carrying/holding my son because he has become my tail. He follows me everywhere I go even going to toilet for whatever reason. I understand he feels lonely because mommy is very busy. I try to spend my time playing with him but when the time comes to breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I will be busy like hell and my son will become fussier.

Luckily the place I live is not too big so it is not difficult to clean and it doesn't take long time to sweep and mop the floor. My son always wants to help when I clean up the house. He happily drags the mop and starts to mop the floor when I am in the middle of sweeping the floor. So, the floor will be wet and I can't sweep anymore. Or he will just happily sit on all the dirt I collect at the corner of the house when I sweep the floor and he will play with the dirt. And anytime he feels dirty, he will run to the shower and take off his cloths and diaper and ready to be showered. In a day, he will ask for shower about 4-5 times a day. If I don't shower him, he will show temper and hide himself inside a different toilet and play with the water inside the toilet bowl. I really have to keep my eyes on him while taking care of the rest of the things at home.

I can manage without a maid, but I really loose all my freedom and all my time for myself. I can't sit infront of computer too long anymore. My ebay store is neglected, my blog is neglected, I do not have time to check my emails and I can't even concentrate writing my software that I hope I can make money from. All my time is only for my son, my husband, and my house (and I am a clean freak. So, it is very difficult to ignore things unorganized and dirty).

I am exhausted. I miss the time when I can sit down and watch my favorite TV shows while munching on some peanuts and drink a cup of tea.

I wanted to feel sorry for myself, but then I remember that I am not alone at all. And I am not even the first to do all these by myself. In fact, I should not feel sorry because as a modern mum, I have all the facilities at home that can help me to speed up my work such as my microwave, my washing machine (I don't have dryer though..he..he..), my water boiler, my new broom and mop that I don't have to give all my power to squeez it. I can choose to switch on my aircon all day to feel comfortable while working.

And when my husband is around, he will help me to shower my son and to spend time playing with him so that I can at least check my emails and writing this blog.

I can't imagine if I had to do all these during the old days when everything had to be done by hand. My mum told me she had to pump the water by hand while watching me and carrying my brother at the same time and at that time, the electricity was not even installed at our house. And my mum survived. My condition now is nothing compared to her. So, I should keep my head up, enjoy being the octopus, and feel grateful for I am a modern mum living in high-tech era.

Do you breastfeed your baby?

A truly rewarding experience

It’s a truly rewarding experience for me as a mother to hear my son repeating some words I say and to see him with all his might trying to communicate with me using the words he thinks represent his thoughts. My son is not even 2 years old yet and his vocabularies are increasing everyday.

Though some words are not correctly pronounced and it is very hard for me to understand what he is trying to say, I never feel tired and frustrated attending to him. I will try my best to guess and listen carefully to what he says. If I really can’t understand him and he gets frustrated (with me), he will just guide my hand (my finger) to point to the items. When I finally understand, he will look at my eyes and give me a big smile. Both of us will feel very very satisfied that we finally understand each other.

Since my husband, my maid, and I speak different mother tongues, this situation has make my son confused and he is learning to speak mixed languages. In 1 sentence he can use words from 2 languages at the same time. For example: when he says “duduk (= seat) big plane” and at the same time points at a picture of passenger seats inside an airplane. What he meant was “Those are the passenger seats inside the big airplane.”
Another example is when he sees a baby crying he will point at the baby and say “baby nangis (is crying) ya.” But my son can understand all the languages, such as when he counts up to 5, he can count using both English and Indonesian languages.

At the moment, he is only able to say a sentence consisting of 2-3 words only. If a sentence consists of more than 3 words, he will just mention the middle and the last word. For example: I want to eat apple and banana. My son will say “eat banana” and at the same time he will guide me to take (both) the apple and banana. Today finally he is able to add the word “apple” into his vocabulary data bank though he pronounces “apple” as “bobob”. At first I really didn’t get what he means every time he says “bobob”. But when I see him pointing (or showing me) the apple and saying “bobob” at the same time, then I understand him.

Some words that he can say them correctly are “big, plane, car, birthday cake, fish, goldfish, mommy, daddy, kongkong (grandpa), iyang (grandma - indonesian), kakung (grandpa – Indonesian), juice, bob (bob the builder children show), jojo (jojo circus children show), nangis (cry - indonesian), duduk (seat - indonesian), banana, dua (two - indonesian), bus, udah (finish - indonesian), abis (no more - indonesian), dude, kaikai (take a walk – Chinese dialect), spoon, and, clock, bobok (sleep – Indonesian), baby, book, boy, daddy’s car, minyak (oil – Indonesian), eek (pass bowel motion – Javanese Indonesian), bau (smelly – Indonesian), buang (throw away – Indonesian).”

Other words that are difficult to pronounce (according to him) will have new pronunciation which are close enough or sometimes too far they become completely new words invented by him… J When he says these words, I really can’t hide my big laugh (but I have to hide my big laugh though so that he doesn’t feel insulted).
For example: tempeh (Indonesian fermented soya bean cake) will become pepeh. Tempeh is his favorite food, by the way.
Other examples: jambu (water apple – Indonesian) will become babu. Balloon will become berun. Porcupine fish will become badabada fish. Circle will become kiko. Crayon will become keyan. Milk becomes miec. Drink milk becomes nenen. Eat becomes mamam, water becomes onyo onyo (this one he has invented it since he was 8 months old). Everytime he says onyo-onyo, I always correct it but he prefers to stick with his own invention… J There are more words but I just can’t remember them.

Wow, it seems only yesterday I gave birth to him and got frustrated when I couldn’t understand the meaning of his crying. Now suddenly I have a partner to communicate and an entertainer that will follow me every where I go. Isn’t it wonderful?

It really does a rewarding experience for me to be able to see him growing up and pick up new skills everyday right in front of my eyes. I love you my son. I truly do.

The rabbit story

One day Betsy the rabbit sat down under the moonlight, trying to recall the last conversation she had with her best friend, Binny.

Binny: “Betsy, I am tired of being a rabbit. I really want to be a lion.”

Betsy: “Why do you want to be a lion, Binny?”

Binny: “Because the lion is the king of the jungle. The Lion rules the jungle and all animals are afraid of a lion. By being a lion, I can be more powerful and no other animals dare to touch me or even to eat me.”

Betsy: “Why do you want to be more powerful, Binny?”

Binny: “Because at the moment, being a rabbit, I feel so insecure. If there are other animals bigger and stronger than me want to disturb me, they can just chase me, pull my long ears, and make fun of me. They even can just eat me because I do not have enough courage and speed to hop away from them.
I want to be bad and powerful so that those who want to eat me or make fun of me will think twice if they want to do that to me. They will just choose to avoid me and leave me alone. That’s what I want. I am tired of being attacked by other big and scary animals. I feel so powerless. I want to scream to them so that they leave me alone but they can’t even hear my voice and they shut me up all the time. They don’t even give me a chance to speak what I want. They don’t care about me. They think I am just a worthless bunny rabbit.”

Betsy: “But it doesn’t mean that once you are a lion, you will be bad, scary and powerful when deep down in your heart, you know you can not be bad and scare other animals. You are not a lion. You are destined to be a rabbit and a rabbit by nature is not an aggressive animal that will attack and scare other animals. A rabbit is a very peaceful animal."

Binny: “But I don’t want to be attacked all the time without even given a chance to fight back.”

Betsy: “Go ahead then! Try to attack some other animals! See if you can do it. I know you very well just like I know myself. You won’t be able to ‘wear’ the lion skin. It won’t fit you. You won’t be able to pretend that you are bad and scary because you are not. We are the same bunny rabbit. We are not scary. We are lovable and like to live in peace. We eat vegetables, not meat. I think that is why we are not scary. Just accept it, Binny. I am sure God has a very good plan for us, the rabbit. He won’t let us be eaten or attacked by the lions for example.”

Binny: “Oh, Betsy. I just wish that these lions would just leave me alone and stop attacking me.”

Betsy: “That’s easy, Binny. Just hop away as fast as you can and never turn back.”

Binny: “It’s not that easy for me to just hop away from my predators when they have gotten my long ears.”

Betsy gives a big sigh and shed her tears. She remembers clearly seeing her best friend, Binny, was trying her might to hop away from two big scary hands which grabbed her long ears, pulled Binny away from her, killed her and made her into a delicacy dish, barbecue rabbit. She had no power to help her best friend.
She knows her turn will come soon and suddenly she wish that she were a lion. Now she understands why Binny wanted to be a lion.

Start your day with a laughter

I love reading a newspaper. Every morning while having my breakfast, I normally browse through all the pages and read the big title news.If there is an interesting news, I will remember the page and will return to it after I finish browsing all the pages.

One of the pages I always love to read first is the comics page. Garfield comic will be my first choice, then the rest of the comics, and I finish it with the horoscope section.

Friday, 1st September 2006 newspaper is quite special because when I read the comics section, Hagar the horrible comic (by Chris Browne) caught my attention first, instead of my beloved Garfield. After I read the Hagar story, I just couldn't stop laughing for the whole day.Even when I slept at night, I still remember that funny Hagar and started to laugh quitely.

Hagar was talking to his son, Hamlet.

Hagar: "Hamlet, when you marry and have your own home, you must always be on guard againts the hidden enemy! They will invade your home, eating and drinking and helping themselves to your money and your possesions unless you're very careful!"

Hamlet: "Who will these people be, daddy?"

Hagar: "They're called in-laws."

Whua..ha..ha..Even while typing this I still can't stop laughing. If you don't know what's so funny about it, get married and soon you'll be ROTFLYAO (Rolling On The Floor Laughing Your A** Off) just like me. Whua..ha..ha..It's so good to start the day with a laughter.

A friend in need is a friend indeed

Upcoming events that you fear might be dangerous actually hold no real threat to
you or to your current lifestyle, so don't spend any time worrying today. Your
fears right now are not warranted at all; you may be in a more cautious phase of
life, but that is only because certain things are starting to mean a lot more to
you. The stakes may be getting higher, but you are completely capable of rising
to the occasion. So act boldly and do not doubt yourself!

That is exactly what my star sign from friendster said about what I'm going to face. It does not look bad. Hmm...I really do hope that is true because at the moment I need some words of encouragement that can boost my spirit a little bit.

I am in a desperate need of having a friend/friends that I can hang out with to help me to get out of my boredom and my loneliness and to lift up my confidence in life. I do know that I have loads of friends, but the problem is they are all scattered all over the world and none of them is near me physically. Not everyone can become my friend. I have set very high expectations based on what my old friends have given me and I just can't lower that expectations because I know true friends will separate themself from ordinary friends by going the extra miles to help their friends.

I really feel so empty without the presence of some friends. What's the point of having the latest model of the best handphone in the world if it never sounds because it will cost my friends a fortune to call me. I even have forgotten the last time I heard my house phone rang. Everything I do always reminds me that I have no friend to interact with, no friend to hang out with, no friend to share my cooking and my story with, no friend to go to a movie, no friend to come and visit me, no friend to go crazy with. Life is so boring and so meaningless.

It is not easy to find a friend that I can relate myself with. I have been locked away from the things I usually did in the past with my friends for 2 years and will continue until how long I don't know. What I know is that now I have forgotten how to make friend, I've lost my confidence in me, I've lost my positive attitude, I've lost the beauty in me. It is very hard to describe how it bothers me so much not having a friend around me. I am a very sociable person by nature, so being told of to accept the fact that those days with my friends around me are gone, it makes me want to kill myself.

So now, rather than I kill myself, I'd better hold on to those beautiful memories I have with all my friends hoping that they will return to me eventually someday while trying my best to cope with the current situation with the help of internet to keep in touch to the best I can with all my friends where ever they are in the world to fill my emptiness and my loneliness. I know I can do it. My star sign said I am capable of rising to the occasion.

I know my son has been the greatest friend I have so far. I sing and dance with him. I cook special food for him. I talk and tell stories to him. I cuddle him. I keep him company every minute. I love him so much and I do not mind at all spending all the time I have for him, but then please I beg you: not to ask me about what's going on in this world because I may not have time to watch the news or to log on internet anymore, not to set a minimum salary I have to get when the time is come for me to get a job because I will have been 'gong' (blur) and will have been disconnected from the world for years, not to ask me to write a complicated program which I used to be able to because my priority will be to apply the any algorithms to make my son to eat.

All these conditions you have set for me will make me crave more for the presence of my friends who can understand me, who can understand my situation, and who can understand what I have been going through.

Ask me about children songs and nursery rhymes, I'll sing for you all until you get sick of those songs. Ask me about how to breastfeed, I'll teach you how to do it correctly. Ask me about how to change nappy, I'll show you the quickest way to do it. My world is a completely different world now. It's a motherhood world with no pay and no sick leave. I hope you acknowledge and appreciate that.

Just like what my star sign said, I should not spend my time worrying about upcoming event that I fear will become a threat for me and I'd better start now.
I really do hope you help me and not posing any questions that can bring me down into my depression more. Just be my friend, because I need a friend and I hope you can be my true friend indeed.

On my birthday...

On my birthday,
I would like to say,
to you my friend,
from the far away land

You have came into my difficult and complicated life
brought loads of happiness other people had made it such a strife
You have never left me alone
even if I have to fight the world on my own

How wonderful you are
you let me forget my old scar
lead me to shine like the north star
even if you think I am a little bit bizarre

Now I am without you
I feel so lonely I always feel blue
Please tell me what to do
Shall I fly to you and have our friendship renewed?

Dedicated to all my beloved friends where ever you are. How I wish I could celebrate this day together with you like before.

Eating disorder

My hubby and I agree that both of us have eating disorder disease. Our eating disorder disease is not the one that makes us look super thin like a living skeleton but instead is the one that makes us look like an elephant.

We started to realize having eating disorder when we went to Someplace Else pub at Sheraton Labuan where we could see there are so many girls, men, women with great looking bodies who enjoy showing off parts of their body to look sexier because they are confident of their great body shape. We started to look at our own body shape and things we have eaten the whole night that night. We used to be like them. We used to be very sexy and have a great body shape too. But then again, when we recalled what we ate, just that night, we had a full set of buffet including barbecue meat (lamb, beef, mutton) and seafood(crab, lobster, prawn) for our dinner and then we proceeded to the pub ordering 2 bottles of beer (for my hubby) and a glass of Baileys on the rock for me together with a plate of nuts and some crackers, we both agreed that we need to fight our eating disorder to go back to our sexy shape.

But I don't think it is going to be easy for us because both of us just like to eat. We think it's fun to try many different kinds of dishes as long as we can afford them. We like to go to a buffet where you can have a complete set of meal course from starter to dessert as much as you want.

Our favorite desserts are ice cream and cakes (mostly are chocolate and tiramisu) and the worst thing is that we prefer to have them at night just before we go to bed.
We also love to eat crabs and prawns. We will hunt all the restaurants that serve good big black pepper/chilli crabs.
My husband favorite dish is curry, and as I have mentioned before on one of my previous post, if possible, he would like anything to be curried.
As for me, I have to confess that my favorite fruit among all fruits in the world is the King of fruit or you can call it Durian. To me, Durian is a sacred fruit and can only be enjoyed as it is. What I mean is that I don't like to enjoy Durian when it is made into a cake, ice cream, or anything else. When I eat/enjoy my Durian, I never want to share it with anyone else even with my beloved people. I become a very selfish person when it comes to a fresh ripe Durian.

Not only the food we eat has been contributing to our eating disorder, but our habit of sitting in front of computer for hours after meal could also be blamed for creating our big belly figures.
So, with eating disorder and bad habit of sleeping or sitting for hours after meal, you can imagine how 'humongous' we are.
I actually had realized about this eating disorder when I went to Singapore to shop. I was very disappointed and sad when I went home from Singapore empty handed because I just could not find my cloth size. All the cloths suddently look so tiny to me even for the L size.
But still, I was trying to deny that I have an eating disorder that has disfigured my used-to-be great looking figure.

I guess time is running out for both us. If we do not try to do something about it, we will be in a great danger of having other diseases such as high blood pressure, heart attack, or just plain obese. Every time my husband and I try to remind each other to exercise and we are trying our best to exercise.
For my husband, things are not so bad because he works and at work, he needs to always walk from one place to another which is quite a distance.
But for me, since I don't work and the place I live in is very small so not much space to move around, I just have to push my self to go out of the house to swim or to run at the park.

I hope by our birthdays, we will be able to loose a few Kgs so that we can put on our sexiest cloths and start to attract each other again with our great body shape. Hmm...that means I have to work out more because my birthday comes first... :-( Oh what a disease!

Tags: eating disorder disease great body shape buffet meat seafood King of fruits Durian

Labuan, Malaysia

Labuan is a tiny island. It is part of Malaysia situated on the north of Borneo island near Sabah. It takes 2 hours and 20 minutes to fly there by Air Asia ( http://www.airasia.com) plane from Kuala Lumpur low cost carrier terminal (LCCT).

The reasons to come to Labuan are because it has a very beautiful and clean beaches circling the island and also because Labuan is a duty free state where chocolate and liquor prices are cheaper compared to other states in Malaysia.

Labuan is very quite so it is the best destination to get away from our hectic life to get a peace of mind, to relax and to spend time with the whole family.

Since the island is quite small, the distance from one place to another is not too far and it doesn't take long to travel around the island. From the airport to our hotel (Sheraton Labuan) which is located at the opposite of the financial park center, it took less than 10 minutes by taxi and it costs RM8.80 (you must purchase the ticket at the counter) and traffic is so smooth because not many cars on the road.

If we wanted to circle the whole island, it will take about 1 - 1.5 hours with maximum of 5 minutes stopping to take photograph at each tourist destination and it costs less than RM50 for the taxi ride.
Circling the whole island is the best way to see what Labuan can offer for your best vacation time. The view is magnificent and it is very peaceful. The people there are quite friendly and helpful.

During our visit to this island, we stayed at Sheraton Labuan Hotel which is the best hotel in Labuan. The hotel is beautiful and we were quite lucky to get a room overlooking the sea and the swimming pool. This hotel really gives the best service and a very prompt one. Sheraton Labuan can give a good internet rate if you book online. We were quite happy to stay at this hotel because in front of this hotel, there is the biggest shopping mall complex in which you can shop (buy some duty-free products), eat, play bowling or just hang out. There is Pos Malaysia there too in case you want to mail some postcards to your family and friends.

On our 1st night in Labuan, we went to Mawilla Yatch Club seafood restaurant to have dinner. This restaurant is not too far from Sheraton. It costs RM7-8 one way by taxi. The hotel will be happy to call the taxi for you. The restaurant is by the sea so you can eat while enjoying the sea breeze touches your face. We ordered steam fish kampong style and it was very delicious. You choose your own fish and they will weigh and tell you how much it costs. Other dishes were quite good too except the black pepper crab. The crab unfortunately was quite small and there was too much soy sauce instead of black pepper so it became quite sweet instead of pepper hot. (on the side: The best black pepper crabs I've ever tasted is at Hai Pa Wang Restaurant in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. This restaurant bakes the crabs first before they cook the crabs black pepper style and they only serve medium/big crabs!).

For our second day in Labuan, we went to Financial Park center to have lunch. There are many restaurants and a food court in there, including KFC and Pizza Hut. After having lunch, we went to Labuan International Sea Sport Complex and visited Labuan Marine Musium (There is NO entrance fee charged in here). For dinner, we wanted to try Labuan chinese food and our taxi driver took us to Portview Restaurant and Lounge. This restaurant is under the same management as the Mawilla but this time all the dishes we ordered were quite good especially the baked cheesy tiger prawns. It's yummy.

On our 3rd day, we went to Seri Malindo Restaurant to have lunch. Seri Malindo is near Sarah hotel about less than 10 minutes away from Sheraton. This place serves Malaysian and Indonesian style dishes. The food is cheap. After lunch, we took a taxi ride to circle the whole island. After that, my husband and I had a stroll around the Labuan Square and we had 2 big fresh coconut juices at Medan Selera food joint just behind Sheraton hotel. For our dinner, we decided to have buffet in our hotel. Sheraton serves a wonderful delicious food at their theme buffet restaurant Victoria's brasseri. After putting my son to bed, my husband and I went to Someplace Else Pub in Sheraton. This pub is quite happening. Many people visit this pub. My husband and I were having a great time together. Unfortunately, we are not accustomed to going to a pub late at night anymore, so by 11pm, both of us yawning at the same time and we decided to go back to our room and sleep.

It was a wonderful trip for our family. We hope to go back to Labuan again some other time (I hope Air Asia gives away more tickets) to buy more chocolates. :-)

If you want to visit Labuan, I suggest you check out this website: http://www.labuantourism.com.my for a more complete information about all tourist attractions there.

Tags: Labuan Malaysia Sheraton Labuan family vacation Sabah Borneo island Wilayah Persekutuan

The power of prayer

When I found out that my son was down with the viral infection again, I felt so devastated because we supposed to go for a family vacation in 2 days.
Day and night I prayed very hard so that God would help to heal my son while taking care of him.
I really wanted to go for this vacation because I was hoping that all of us could spend the quality family time together far away from everything that has made my husband and I almost forgot about spending time together. We got free tickets from Air Asia (www.airasia.com) to go to (Wilayah Persekutuan) Labuan when this budget airline gave away 2 million tickets to go to any Air Asia destinations. We have booked the hotel and the transportation.

It was one day to go for our family vacation and we haven't decided whether to cancel this trip or not because we still put our hope high on the great power of prayer and our faith that God would help us to heal my son just in time for our vacation.
At the end, God answered our prayer. My son's body temperature settled down and he was doing fine. After consulting the Paed, we managed to go to Labuan for a 4-day family vacation.

How hard is it to stay with your marriage commitment?

The answer is VERY HARD. I really do find it hard if I have to keep the marriage commitment by myself and my other half doesn't even bother to help. In a marriage, it takes 2 to tango. I can say this not because I want to break away from my marriage commitment, but because I found it that many people in this sinful world just cannot keep their married commitments. There are too many married people or shall I say almost all married people have betrayed their other halves because of the marital problems they experience in their marriage life and then this betrayal usually will lead to a break up in the marriage. This is a very sad situation especially if there are innocent children involved.

According to my own little survey, married people get bored with their marriage situation after a certain period of time so they start to go for a 'little adventure' outside their marriage life to challenge their spirit and of course their other halves to see if it is worth to keep the marriage commitment.

Gosh! I wish that these people could understand that a marriage is NEVER a game in your life. it involves a lot of innocence people when children are present in the marriage. If at the end you just can't stay being married to the same person, why the hell in the first place you dare to take the vow and say "I do" after all the conditions of marriage being mentioned in front of your face?

One sentence during my wedding I remember the most is "Do you X take Y as your beloved wife/husband and stay with her/him for better for worse, in sickness, in health, in rich and in poor, till death do you apart?" (or something like that).
This sentence carries the heaviest part of your wedding vow. Most in love couple that are getting married will just say "I do" without even listening to the important question being asked. It's so easy for them to say "I do" without realizing that they are making a VOW in front of God and His witnesses. That is a VOW! Not just an ordinary promise. It's not supposed to be broken just like that.

By saying "I do", you are not just making a vow in front of God and His witness, but you are also agreeing to meet your wedding commitment to be with the person you are marrying with for what ever the marriage conditions are. This is not an easy commitment to make and to maintain and this is not a joke or a play. That is why you need to be mature enough to get married. You need to be strong enough to face all the challenges in your marriage life and you need to be able to understand that marriage is a union between 2 different people with different background and living style. There is feeling involved too.

But unfortunately and sadly, many people just simply forget about that VOW/commitment. Some of them may not remember saying "I do" because they were soo tired during the wedding or they were so nervous, blah blah..many other reasons.
With the strong reason of "irreconcilable differences", a couple brakes their marriage without even trying their best to work out the differences and to mend the relationship. Well, you know you are married to a person with a different head, don't you! So, why did you marry that person then? You should never 'punish' the other person by breaking the marriage and hiding behind those differences just to have a go to another different person? Do you think you'll be successful this time? Unless you are marrying to YOUR CLONE, I don't think it's fair to say that your new relationship with new person will work out because you will still have differences with that new person.

Rather than wasting your energy, age, money, and time to deal with a new breed, why don't you try to focus on working out your differences with your used-to-beloved other half? Give yourself and your other half a chance to adjust the differences between you. Try to remember how you 2 started to fall in love to each other and try to remember that you have VOWED "YOU AGREE TO TAKE YOUR OTHER HALF AS YOUR BELOVED WIFE/HUSBAND FOR BETTER FOR WORSE (this include if you other half is getting fat or bald or not sexy or disfigure), IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH, IN RICH AND IN POOR, TILL DEATH DO YOU 2 APART."

So, as a matured grown up, you have to be able to fight the evil in you and never let evil interfere in your marriage life which is already challenging enough for both of you. Open communication is the key. Look at your children's innocent eyes. They will learn how to love from both of you. Have a cup of coffee/tea (not any alcoholic drinks, because alcohol will just blur your mind), sit down and discuss your differences with a cool head and an open mind. Please do not blame each other for whatever bad things in your marriage life but instead, unite as one to fight the 'unwanted evil guesses' that come and go to disturb and to test your commitment. As I said before, it takes 2 to tango, work together as 1 so neither of you will be blamed for 'inviting' bad energy into your marriage.

NOTE: This article doesn't apply to people who are abusive (verbally or physically) to their partners.

edited by Coffeeliqueur: Wed, 02 August 2006.

Tag: marriage commitment wedding vow irreconcilable differences

Life full of ups and downs

It's been almost a month since my last post. Life is full of ups and downs just within a month. I felt that I was at the lowest point of my life.

My son was hospitalized for 3 days a day after my last post because of high fever and viral infection. I literally run him to the nearest hospital at midnite to get some treatment because I am not allowed to drive with an expired driving license. Luckily the hospital is just 10 minutes away from my house. I had to stay with him and had to stay awake for 2X24 straight. The 3rd day when I arrived home, I collapsed for an hour because I was too exhausted and my body and mind couldn't take it anymore. I was too sleepy. Nobody was around so no one helped me. When I gained my consciousness, I got severe headache but I just had to stand it. I still need to take care my son. Then after he was discharged from the hospital, I had to take him back and forth to do some follow-up check ups with his pediatrician.

3 days after that I had to travel back to my home town to renew my driving license that has been expired for a year. This was quite a happy journey for me. I got a chance to be my parents' 'little' daughter again. I met all my good friends and meeting them is something that I have been dreaming of for ages. They lifted up my spirit a little bit.

After that it was my folks turned to visit me for 2 weeks. It was supposed to be a good 2-week for me to have my parents around to help me but instead, it was a hell 2-week for me because my son has to be admitted into the hospital for the 2nd time. I was super worried when I saw my son was shaking violently and turned to blue. Again, I literally run him to the hospital. Though I have a driving license at that moment, there is no car to drive. So, yeah, I got to run my son again to the hospital. When we arrived at the hospital, his pediatrician sent him to the treatment room straight away and gave him the I.V-drip and some oxygen to help him to breathe. It was quite a tense moment for me. My son had a very high fever and his blood count dropped so low far below the normal level. Again, it was because of viral infection. This time the virus has attacked all over his body. I was extremely sad and depressed. My baby and I had to stay in the hospital for 3 nites. Luckily for me this time I had my parents to help me but still I was the one who stayed in the hospital every night. My husband and my mom took turn to accompany me. On the 4th day my son was finally discharged from the hospital though his blood count was still far below the normal level and his body was full of rashes. His paed told me that the rashes were the normal reaction of viral infection. My parents went back home feeling sad for they had to leave me alone with my son who hasn't fully recovered yet. But they had no choice. They had to go back to work. So, for a week after hospitalization, I had to go back and forth to do some follow-up check ups.
Today, finally I received the good news that my son blood count is back to normal level and he is very healthy with no rashes. Thank you God!

Women and breastfeeding part 2

I was a novice too in breastfeeding and got very frustrated and upset every time I heard my baby cried because I thought I had given my best to breastfeed him but no milk came out and he was still hungry. Fortunately for me, I was put in the post maternity hospital for 3 days. Over there I was taught to breastfeed correctly and to put my baby in the correct position to avoid the pain and to let the baby suck the milk instead of the air. I did cry a lot of time and I swore and cursed every time I had to nurse my baby. The midwives were so patient with me. They gave me pain killer and kept on helping me to put my baby in the correct position for nursing. For the whole first month of breastfeeding my baby, I didn’t do it correctly but I didn’t give up. Every time I broke down and got so frustrated, I called the Plunket and talked to them. They are always available for me 24/7. But still, my milk came out so little. I nearly gave up breastfeeding my baby when suddenly I got a phone call from a nice lady saying that she heard about me having baby and know nothing about taking care my baby. So, she agreed to come over to my place, showed me, guided me, and helped me to express my milk correctly and about some other first time-mother survival guides. The help I got from my friends are so great as well. One of good friend has a son and she is such a wonderful friend for ‘teaching’ me ‘motherhood 101’. She taught me by taking me into her house and gave loads of examples and she made sure I understand completely. I really do appreciate her help.

I just want to be like those people that have helped me. I just want to share my experience with these inexperience mothers. I really don’t mean to bug them and teach them as if I am the expert. I have learnt a lot when I breastfed my baby and I wanted to share that knowledge. I just hope they realize and know that her milk supply is always enough for their baby as long as they keep on giving their baby that precious milk to give the best protection for their babies. By giving your baby your breast milk, you have given your baby your love and their first IMMUNISATION. Mother’s milk is the best milk because it is full of love, protection, and is cheap. I wish all women knew about this. If you don't know, let me help you.

Women and breastfeeding part 1

What is going on nowadays with women and breastfeeding? About 4 out of 5 women I know do not breast-feed their babies and around me looks like there are more and more women don’t breast-feed their babies. My hands are itchy to bring up this subject on my blog because I really believe the importance of breastfeeding for the babies.

Although the survey that has been made by United Nation, there are 15% more women breast-feed their babies globally, I still think that modern women nowadays a little bit reluctant of breastfeeding their babies. I heard many reasons given by those women. But most of them said that their breasts produce very little milk so it is not enough for the babies and they just choose to give formula instead and let their breasts stop producing milk completely. These women, at least the ones I know, complain that their breasts are so painful every time they nurse their babies and because of this painful feeling, they’d rather stop nursing. They just can’t cope with this pain because they are already very tired; lack of sleep, the headache, the body ache and the never-stop-sound of their crying babies. To make it worse, they are still in the baby blues mode. So, they just don’t have spare energy to learn to express their breast milk correctly and to cope with the pain not only on the breasts but also on their stomach (because the womb contracts to its original size before these women were pregnant).

I really really feel sorry for these women. I really really want to help them but unfortunately I am not a doctor, not a midwife, and not even old enough for them to listen to me. All I can do just giving them my advice but they keep on telling me that they’d rather give up breastfeeding their babies because there is not enough milk coming out from their breasts and they just think I am such a busy body person.

Gosh, if only I could scream at their ears “I AM NOT BUSY BODY! I JUST WANT TO SHARE MY EXPERIENCE TO GIVE THE BEST FOR YOUR BABY.”
I am a mother too and I breastfed my baby exclusively for 15 months. When I had my baby it was my first time. I was all alone; husband not around, parents and parents in law not around, no family around, and I was living in a country that is not my home country. If you care, you can read my story from my previous post “Confession of a mother on mother’s day”. So I definitely know how they feel.

The happiest moment in my life

I went to Singapore 2 weeks ago to attend my good friend’s wedding. It was the best wedding I have ever attended. It was quite relax and everyone had so much fun. The food was delicious. The bride and the groom are very friendly and kept on moving around to greet all the guesses. This is quite unusual in a wedding celebration. Usually, the bride and the groom will have to sit in front on the stage ready to shake hands to hundreds of guesses that attended the wedding until their hands are numb and they also have to pass on all the delicious food so that their wedding dress won’t get dirty. They also have to change their wedding costume to a different wedding dress or something like that. But at that time, there was nothing like the usual. The bride, who is my good friend, was busy going around from 1 table to another to have a little chat with her guesses. She looked so gorgeous and so thin. She did make me jealous to see my own shape. I definitely looked enormous every time I stood next to her. Oh well, this is the body of a woman that has given birth..he..he..he..(I try to make myself happy).

To me, the most wonderful time of that wedding was not about the food, or the environment, but it was about meeting my beloved friends. I have lost touch with them for more than 6 years since I left the company I have worked for nearly 3 years. The bond I have with them is not just an ordinary friendship kind of relationship but is more like a brother-sister kind of relationship. It was like a small reunion. Unfortunately, not all of them were there. I was the only one carrying full set of team consisting of my hubby, my son, and even my maid. I wanted to introduce my son and my hubby to them all because this was the first time they finally got a chance to meet my hubby and my son.

I really did have a great time talking and catching up stories with my beloved friends. Oh not only with my friends because my ex-supervisor was there too. Mostly all my friends were making fun at me for having a degree but staying at home 24/7. I didn’t mind them making fun of me. I miss them all. I like them teasing me just like the old times. I am glad they never see me differently as I am now fat, ugly, and huge compared to them all. I had never been so happy like that for ages. I was definitely very very happy. I was in heaven for 2 hours. Nothing can make me that happy before. I really appreciate my good friend and her husband for sharing the happiest moment with me and my family. Thanks a million, G! I wish I had more moments like that. Whatever! It’s just a wish and it will always be a wish only and nothing but a wish.