Thursday 30 October 2008

Things I Regretted Not Doing in KL

1. Not applying the J-card upon moving to KL
Jusco offers such a good selection of good & cheap children's clothing (eg. RM10 for a set of long-sleeved pyjamas), and its supermarket has such a good range of fresh, reasonably priced fish & vegetables and ready-cooked japanese bento sets, and its bakery is quite acceptable...........

I should have just applied for the discount card without thinking too much, and then I could have enjoyed the shopping there much much more!

Why did it take us such a long time to find the driving route to MidValley???????

2. Not visiting Sunway Petting Zoo
We only got to Sunway last month when my parents visited, and hence only knew about the petting zoo then.

Thought it would be wonderful for Sam to be exposed to all the different animals (not just the usual pets, but also monkeys, snakes etc) in a controlled environment......

But the place is only open at 11 am, too near Sam's nap time, and it's such a hassle to drive there through all the toll gates, hubby wasn't keen to repeat the trip, and there weren't many weekends left for us by that time anyway......

3. Not visiting Petrosains Discovery Centre early enough
Had I known how fun & large the place is, and that it's designed such that you can only follow through the exhibits in the destinated pathway (ie. you can't jump to the last exhibit without passing the 1st), I would have brought Sam along earlier.

As it was, we only had time to cover half the centre in 2 hrs, then we had to leave for lunch & Sam's nap..............and we never got to enjoy the latter half of the discovery centre. :(

A&W for Two

Yesterday after finally sending off the packers, we had the rare chance of having lunch together, since Sam was still in school. ;)

But with only 20 min for lunch, our 'romantic rendevous' ended up in the fast food opposite our place in KLCC: A&W!


All my old favorites - coney dog, curly fries and root beer (no float, didn't dare afford the extra calories!)

Hee, I even chose to sit at a high table with bar stools, simply because it's some place we never can sit at if Sam was around!

Best Hair Conditioner I've Used

We've finally packed our sea freight stuff & terminated the telephone & internet service. Now I seem to be getting a hang on our rental Toyota Cambry & while the one-bedroom suite The Ascott Residence is currently a mess cos of all the laundry I just did yesterday night, I cheer myself up looking forward to my evening shower with the lovely L'occitane toiletries provided by the service apartment:


I've thought the Crabtree & Evelyn toiletries in the Pangkor Laut Resort was good, but this L'Occitane set is wonderful!

While it doesn't smell as nice as the C&E Le Source set, the hair conditioner is terrific! I've never had my hair so smooth after the shower! Doesn't matter if I blow dry or let the hair dry naturally, it's still smooth & flowy!

And the shower gel........the smell seems a little strange at first, but it's also strangely refreshing & uplifting. I feel great after using it!

Must get a job back in Singapore so I can earn plenty to buy my own L'occitane toiletries!!!!!

Friday 24 October 2008

Holiday in The Venetian, Macao.

Just got back from a 5D4N holiday in Macao, and since we were staying in The Venetian, we spent most of our time there.

Sam loved the gondola boats in the 3 man-made canals distributed around The Grand Canal Shoppes (level 3 of the complex). We took a ride in one on our 1st evening there, while we waited 2 hrs for our non-smoking room to be ready for check-in.

Our boatman was an entertaining fellow, chatting freely with us throughout the 15 min ride. He had a fine voice too: it was fun to hear his Italian song end with a flourish & a bow while we waited for the other gondola to pass us on the narrow Marco Polo canal.

The show at St Mark's Square was a bit of a disappointment. It was hard to see the performers surrounded by throngs of camera-clicking tourists, since half of the performance was done on ground level instead of the 2-step-high mini stage. We did manage a photo with one of the entertainers on another day though.

For such a big complex, there is only one baby room, which I did not have the occasion to use, since we stayed in the hotel upstairs. On hindsight, I should have explored the room - perhaps there's some mini playground in there. As it was, there's no play area to entertain Sam while we tried to shop there.

We managed to buy something from ecco, simply because the sales assistants were nice (& wise) enough to help entertain Sam, so we could try the shoes & handbags to our satisfaction. It must be the 1st time Sam had someone helped him try on as many girls' shoes on display as he wanted!

On hindsight, we really should have taken the advice of a fellow traveller in the TripAdvisor: it was really inconvenient to bring a young child to a casino-affiliated hotel. Though the suite was large & nicely, newly furnished, & there's all the shopping downstairs without having to go out into the blazing hot sun, it was kinda troublesome having to travel along the "family-friendly" route on level 3 before going down to level 1 for the taxis/buses/restaurants, just so to avoid going through the casino.

If I ever travel to Macao again, I'll much rather get a hotel on Macao itself where I can visit the World Heritage sights more conveniently, then spend a day visiting the splendid-looking Venetian.

Lengthy blog of the restaurants in The Venetian here.

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Photos of Sam's Hospital Stay

Just realised hubby had photos of Sam while in hospital late last month:



Left: Sam in his cot bed, next to the messy covers of the hospital bed I slept on.

Right: Sam taking his 15 min nebulizer (to clear his airways) every 4~6 hrs. He was a fairly good boy most of the time, though he prefers me to hold the mask. This photo is taken at the only time I tried to use the elastic band.

Bottom: No, Sam did not injure his hand. A tube was inserted into his right hand when hospitalisation was decided, for ease of blood samples withdrawal (only once at admission) & subsequent antibiotics injection (thrice daily).

The original white bandages got so dirty & torn after 1 day, the stopper to the tube got loose & Sam's blood flowed out of the tube all over his hand & me! The nurse then added the more durable cloth bandage on Day 2.

Sunday 5 October 2008

Big

It still amazes me how big Sam is getting now.

Not 'big' as in size. 'Big' as in his knowledge of the world around him.

Yesterday he pointed to my mineral water bottle & said "big, big".

I thought: it's a water bottle, what 'big'???!!!! Hurry up & drink your strawberry milk!

Then, Sam pointed at his own straw water bottle next to mine: "small".

Hey, he understands the opposites big & small now!!!!!

Of course, his pronounciation of the word 'small' is inaccurate, just sufficient for me to recognize the word.

But wow! Opposites! And he's not even 2 & a half yrs yet!

No wonder his school starts teaching the alphabet from 30 mths old!!!!

Thursday 2 October 2008

Yet Another Blog

Dunno why, kept wanting to start new blogs, even though I am barely updating this one!

The latest, "Eating Out With Kids", is mainly a record of the places I've brought Sam to eat.

Had been regretting not taking photos of the beautiful baby chairs Sam's used when we were travelling in Europe, esp. France.

So now am taking photos of the baby chairs & even booster seats Sam is using now. Hopefully this craze of mine will last long. ;)

Anyway, had thought will be more likely to continue this record of child-friendly eating places than my current Musing blog after we move back to Singapore...........

{Oh, by the way, we'll be moving back to Singapore on 1 Nov! Hubby received the notification a few days ago just when Sam was sick, so forgot to inform everyone.....}

Anyway, one good thing about starting the Eating Out blog is, now I'm more sensitive when choosing seats in a restaurant: not only checking out size of table & position of aircon, now I'm also noticing the restaurant's deco more, in the hope of finding something in the surroundings to entertain Sam during the meal.

Ha! Can't imagine the future blog post when bringing Sam to eat in the hawker centres back in Singapore!!!!!!!!

Wednesday 1 October 2008

Hospital Stay is Finally Over!

Last few days had been hell...............

Sam's mucus turned green last Tues evening, but doc not open on Wed, so only brought him in on Thurs.

At that time, he only had low fever, ~ 37.5 degC, so he went home with a big bag of medicine (again).

That very evening, his fever went up to 38 degC. By Fri noon, it was 39 degC. So I started the antibiotics that very evening.

But his fever never went down past 38.5 degC. By Sat afternoon, it hit 40 degC. So I dragged hubby & Sam off to the A&E at Gleneagles Intan, hoping for something to bring down the fever.

Turns out the X-ray shows Sam's developing early pneumonia! Lucky we found out early! Was I glad I was being paranoid & didn't wait another day for the antibiotics to work!

So Sam was admitted to hospital that Sat night. I had to stay with him overnight too.

The following 3 nights are terrible! Though it was good that I didn't have to worry about the meals & medicine dosage when in the hospital, it was near impossible to have a good sleep there.

The 1st night, the nurses had to monitor Sam's temperature every 2 hrs. Which means we got woken up every 2 hrs.

2nd night the nurse couldn't get a good reading, & actually switched on the lights in the room to take the temperature!

3rd night, Sam wasn't given the night dose till 10:30pm. The nurse had the audacity to say she didn't dare to come in in case we were asleep already!!!!

So poor Sam didn't sleep till 11pm, & next morning, at 7:30am, another nurse actually wanted to give Sam his shot of antibiotics while he was still asleep?????? I had to ask here to come back later so that Sam can have enough rest!

Oh, did I mention I was awaken in the middle of the 3rd night to enquire what Sam had eaten for dinner that night??????

So now that Sam's fever has gone down, he's allowed home with another cart of medicine for the next one week: 3 different types to be taken thrice daily, 2 types taken once daily, his antibiotics (once daily), & some probiotics (once daily).

So now, on top of worrying what food to prepare for Sam, I have to continue the barrage of medicine for another week, with a very high unhappy possibility that Sam wouldn't recover in time for the start of school on Monday.

About the consolation I have right now is that I can watch my fav drama shows at home, since I only had ~1.5 hrs free time for the past few days to travel home - snack for max 10 min - shower - travel back to hospital, while Sam cried the whole time (for the 1st 2 days) & hubby kept calling me to tell me to hurry back.

Oh, & luckily hubby is had taken leave initially for our trip back to Singapore. So now instead he's taking his 'holiday' here in KL feeding medicine to his precious son...................