The lil’ dude and his family…

I know that it has been a month since we’ve gotten back from our trip and I still have yet to finish posting up pictures. Blame it on work. :P Anyway, here are the pictures from our time in London. Too malas to write anythinglah. Kerja berlambak!

We left for Paris on Christmas Eve. Many flights were cancelled due to the snow and the bad weather but thankfully easyjet did not cancel our flight. The Ciampino airport was just madness but we are lucky to be travelling with Irfan because they gave way for families with toddlers everywhere. We didn’t have to queue for more than an hour to check-in and didn’t have to wait for long to board the plane either. :)

The ride was smooth and when we arrived at Orly, we took the train to Gare Du Nord as I chose an apartment near the station since we’d be taking the Eurostar to London. Weather was cold and it took us quite a while to get to Gare Du Nord because we screwed the tickets up somehow and while waiting at the Anthony Metro station, paranoia kicked in. Irwan had to repurchase the tickets to Du Nord so he had to leave me and the luggages and for a moment there it was just me and some queer looking chaps at the station. I was just wary of everyone and when one guy kept staring at me and getting closer and closer to me, I just wanted to cry. Pathetic I know but I was pretty much alone and that incident in Rome kept coming back to me so yeah, when Irwan finally arrived with Irfan, it was a big huge relief for me. And the guy? He went to the other side of the platform after that. Go figure. Heh.

When we arrived at the apartment (about 200sf in size) we immediately fell in love with the place. Oklah, the place is a bit small but the owners have done it up nicely and we were happy to be at a homey place. Metro station is just about 2 mins walk and there is this grocery store that sells halal meat. There were a few Asian stores for me to find my “ingredients” as well so we were very happy with our choice. :)

A lot of places were closed because it was the Christmas Eve but we walked around the area for a bit until we couldn’t tahan the coldness no more.

The next day we took the Metro and headed over towards La Fayette as the bus stop for the hop on hop off bus was near the famous shopping mall. We had our lunch at one of the restaurants along Champs-Élysées and that place was just packed with people! Irfan had fun being able to run around just about everywhere so I just let him be lah although I was kesejukan like mad!! I think the temperature that day was about 0° or 1°. All I wanted to do was stay in a room with the heater on full blast! :P

When we got to Eiffel Tower, the queue to go up was just too crazy! I’ve been all the way up already so it was more of Irwan’s call if he wanted to queue. Since the weather was too cold and he didn’t want to freeze his a** off, we didn’t bother queueinglah. There were a lot of pigeons there and when about 20 of them came near us, Irfan started crying his lungs out! He said he was scared of them. Instead of pacifying him, I took the chance to snap some shots of him wailing. Yes, tak baik I know, but couldn’t help itlah. :P

Irwan did the tour of Le Louvre the next day while Irfan and I hopped from La Fayette to Printemps to H&M. I didn’t see the point in dragging the poor boy to stare at artsy-fartsy stuff so I volunteered to babysit him (and get some shopping done) while Irwan spent some few hours at the museum. We met up with him back towards the later part of the evening and spent some time strolling the area. The next time I’m coming back to Paris will be during bearable weather months because the city is just lovely and when it gets too cold, you miss out on a lot of stuff because you cannot bear being outside and getting frostbites! Heh.

I checked the Eurostar’s website that night to see if our train is still on schedule to depart for London the next day and thankfully, they’ve resumed their services again. But the same cannot be said for the London-Paris service as the weather in London was/is still too cold and I heard that they were cancelling on a lot of them. I pity those people who have had to miss their Christmas gatherings and what not due to the erratic bad weather. :(

Our train ride was good but the train was going slower than it should but I guess they just want to be on the safe side. The couple seated next to us had two kids with them and Irfan was having fun playing with Alex - the 2.5 year old boy and Amelie - the 18 months old chubby girl. Alex had this sticker magazine with him and Irfan made us promise that we’ll get him one when we arrive in London. I can’t find those sticker magazines in KL - has any one of you seen them?

We arrived at King’s Cross Station 40 minutes behind schedule and there were just throngs of people there! Anyway, here are some photos of us in Paris and I shall continue the last bit in the next post because work is calling already! :P 

We left KL on 18th of December and arrived in London close to midnight. Weather? Well below freezing point. The plane ride? Quite good. Airport hotel? Mengarut to the max!

Since we were planning to take the first flight out of London to Rome the next day, I didn’t see the point in staying in a posh hotel for 6 hours. So I booked us in a small hotel that only costed us about £39 per night. Not too shabby, right? Wrong! Apparently the hotel couldn’t “claim” the money from my credit card (because I had to send it back to the bank since the CVV couldn’t be seen anymore) and so we got charged £79 instead! Blardy hell, had I known, we’d have just stayed at Hilton for that same amount of moolah. Dahlah kasi bilik kat atas and then berbau rokok. Gah!

Fast forward to the next day, it was our flight to Rome via Ryan Air. The queue at the airport was massive because I guess everyone wants to go home/somewhere for Christmas but we managed to sort our luggages out (1 bag per person and 15kg per bag and it doesn’t matter if you’re travelling on the same itinerary because there is to be no pooling of weight amongst the 3 of us - it was quite hell-ish packing 3 bags and making sure that they’re all 15kg per bag) and waited for the annoucement for our boarding gate. Ryan Air has already a month before the flight sent out an email saying that our flight would be delayed by two hours (and that has made all the necessary arrangements in Rome and Sorrento go haywire) and when we got passed security at Stansted, we were told that the flight would be delayed for another two hours! Guh-reat!

Upon arriving at Ciampino Airport, which is relatively small (and quiet) even by our LCCT’s standards, we had to go pick up the rented car to drive to Sorrento (Southern Italy). With 3 luggages, a stroller and a toddler, you’d wish that the rental car office/desk is in the airport itself, right? But nope, we had to drag everything with us for about 15-20 minutes walk outside with cars going in every direction.

Traffic getting out of Rome was quite bad but getting into Sorrento was even worse! Everyone was out shopping or dining and instead of arriving at our destination 2 hours after we left, I think it took us about 3.5 hours to get to the hotel. By the time we settled in, it was almost 8pm and with the wind from the sea blowing directly at us, I was freezing as h*ll!

The next day, we drove around Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi Coast. Not many restaurants were opened but we managed to find a small and quaint Italian/Mediterranean restaurant that served one of the best stuff I’ve eaten during our trip. :) Irwan had fun negotiating the bends from Sorrento all the way to Amalfi Coast.

We headed back for Rome after spending 2 nights in Sorrento and got to our cute lil’ hotel near the Termini Station after going through more jams in Sorrento and Rome. Sigh. What a waste of time, man!

It rained the next day but we had two umbrellas with us and Irfan was having fun playing in the rain as well. We visited lots of fountains and monuments and churches and by the end of the day I was feeling tired from walking in the rain and suggested to Irwan that we should take the train back instead. What a big horrendous mistake that was. :(

At the Barberini metro station, there was hardly anyone around us when we were waiting for the train. So when the train arrived, we immediately boarded it but to our surprise, someone was sort of blocking Irwan and the stroller and I felt something amiss because never in my entire life of travelling anywhere that such thing has happened before. People would always give way to a parent with stroller.  2 seconds later I could feel that there were at least 5 people behind me trying to push their way in. And we were still trying to get the stroller inside the blasted train. 3 seconds later, I felt someone’s hand inside my handbag (which was zipped) and tugged it immediately! As though on cue, the perpetrator who was “blocking” our way moved in and so Irwan and Irfan who was in the stroller could go in. I related to Irwan in BM about what happened and while talking to him, I looked at my handbag and sigh, the zip was opened and my wallet gone. I wanted to scream, and I wanted to hit all the bitches that were behind me but all I could do was cry. Rome was the start of our journey so I do have quite a substantial amount of cash in my wallet. Yes, I wanted to leave them in the safe deposit box but because we were rushing in the morning, I completely had forgotten all about it. All the what ifs, could haves, should haves came to mind but my RM3,500 will not come back to melah, kan? Next time, just use the blardy credit cards! Even if that means wreaking havoc in the budget but at least the money was spent on me and not some stooooopid gypsies. Urgh! I seriously hope they’ll die a slow painful death. Gah!

So then I had to make all the necessary calls to Malaysia to cancel my credit cards and asked from AMEX and VISA for a replacement card since I’ve got no cash whatsoever to survive. :P Next was to walk to the nearest police station to make a report but I was turned away because I did not have any ID (passport was left at the hotel) with me. Habis tu, dah my wallet kena curi? Duh! We had to walk for about 30 minutes (because I just refused to take the train again since they can’t even letak bloody CCTVs in the metro station knowing that this pickpocket business is so rampant there!) and I just wanted to collapse. All my energy was gone and I was furious, upset, disappointed, etc etc and I didn’t have an ounce of energy left to walk to the Termini station to lodge the report. But we did anyway.

Upon arriving, there was an Arab couple who was pickpocketed and just before we left, there was a group of Japanese people who shared the similar experience as well. In a span of 1 hour and in 1 police station, 3 people were making reports that they were pickpocketed. I wonder if the same ratio applies in Kuala Lumpur. Hrmmmmm…

Anyway, I couldn’t really sleep that night but vowed not to let this sh*tty incident affect our holiday. Sh*t happens and there is nothing I can do about it. So the next day we hopped on the “hop-on-hop-off bus” and toured the whole of Rome.

Here are some photos from our journey and I will continue on in the next post. :)

I know that I’ve left this blog for the spider to build its web, but I really do not know what to write anymore these days. :( It did occur to me to close the blog altogether but we’ll see howlah.

Anyway, Irfan’s body started to feel rather warm on Saturday afternoon. By the time it was dark, it felt a little too hot for comfort so I gave him some medicines. He slept from about 8pm (and we were at BSC for dinner) in his stroller til about 10am the next morning. I wasn’t really sleeping as I was monitoring his temperature so I was really glad that we stayed in (almost) the whole day on Sunday. He was okay by this time but didn’t have that big of an appetite. Fair enough.

He was fine on Monday but started to get all phlegmy and chesty. So I brought him to SJMC that evening to see the paed but unfortunately she had some emergency so we had to wait to see an M.O instead. Gah. Had I known I’d have just gone to Prince Court. We waited from 7.45pm til about 10pm and I was really tired and Irfan was getting a bit cranky. (Like duh?!). I asked for him to be nebulized as the phlegm was really bad so my lil hero sat on the chair like a pro throughout the whole thing. Champion betul! His temperature was recorded earlier on and it was 36.8° and his weight was 17.0kg.

Yesterday night, his body started to feel warm balik. I gave him some paracetamol and took his temperature - it was 39.5°!!! Off we went to Prince Court to ask for the suppositories because there was no way in hell I’d let him go to bed like that!

We were at the hospital til slightly after midnight but Irfan’s temperature dropped to 37.3°. Phew. Doctor said that he probably caught a virus somewhere and we are to monitor his temperature for the next three days. If he doesn’t get better by Friday, I’d have to bring him in again for a blood test.

Hope he gets better soon as he’s really looking forward to go for his first school trip on the bus this Friday. And there’s also the trip to The Andaman Langkawi this weekend. Half of me wants to cancel the trip but everything has been paid for. We’ll see how it goes…

Here are some shots taken during the recent trip to KL’s Bird Park. That place is so much better than the Zoo Negara. Irfan was afraid of the peacock though. Don’t ask me why because when I asked him why he’s afraid, his answer was “Because I’m afraidlaaaaaa“. Hrmph.

So we were all in town for Raya this year. Irwan’s parents left for Kuantan on eve of Raya so it was just us and my parents for Raya. On Saturday, I went over to my parents’ in the evening to help my mom cook as my parents invited their friends over for makan-makan on the first day and so did Irwan and I. My mom made nasi tomato, rendang ayam, kurma ayam, ketupat, roti jala, kuah kacang and errr I think a few more that I have forgotten. We’re big on my mom’s cooking so all of us (Irwan and my younger adik included) helped her in the kitchen. Irfan was either 1) busy watching cartoon with my dad or 2) bugging everyone in the kitchen. :P

By the time we were done helping my mom cook, it was close to 11pm (and she had started cooking from 5.30 in the morning!!!) and the boys went upstairs to play wii while I helped to arrange the kuih raya. We left way past midnight and I was so ready to just sleep for the entire week!

I managed to get some shots of Irfan in his baju melayu, sampin and songkok before we left for my parents’ but he really wouldn’t sit still! Ah well, at least I got some pictures. :)

My parents’ friends arrived first and had their makan-makan session while the sky looked a tad gloomy. I was a bit worried in case it’d pour Garfields and Odies as our friends were arriving around 2 plus. The Koks and the Huans arrived first and a couple of minutes later the Chans arrived and I thought that I’d finally get a chance to have lunch (and breakfast!) with them. But unfortunately, more of my parents’ friends arrived so of course must let the guests makan dulu, right? :P

Anyway, didn’t get a chance to take pictures or anything like that as I was busy going up and down replenishing food etc etc for the guests but I think Irfan had the most fun!

The Gontiers arrived just as Aaron and family, Shannon and family, Danny and Kathey were on their way out. My parents’ friends were still continuously pouring in lah. I tak larat mau entertain already so I left them to mingle with the others. I finally had a moment to breathe and sit down to look at Alia and Johan’s wedding photos in Champagne. We couldn’t make the trip as it was held during Ramadhan and I don’t think I larat to travel up and down the whole of France while fasting. Heh.

I had my makan-makan session with the newlyweds and my Nani and the rest of the family from my dad’s side. Irfan was busy playing with Johan and he didn’t seem to mind so that left Alia and me some time to catch up. :)

The day ended around 8 p.m and the house was back to its normal self, except for Irfan who was still jumping up and down in his baju melayu and sampin. I fed him some nasi tomato and beef for dinner and showered him and gave him 8 oz of milk and he slept almost immediately.

Irwan, my brother and I played a game of Monopoly on wii after we have freshened up and around midnight Irwan said that he was hungry and was craving for some indomee. So after ending the game, we all went to Damansara Uptown for supper. I finally got my kerang rebus and we were eating noodles like there was no tomorrow while Irfan was still asleep on Irwan’s lap. By the time we sent my brother home and reached Andalucia, it was already past 2 a.m.  Penat betul!

We went for a friend’s open house on the second day of Raya for lunch and Irfan was having fun with the abangs and kakaks there and didn’t even notice that Irwan and I weren’t next to him. He basically mingled with the older kids and entertained himself and only after everyone started going home that he felt alone again. He came to us and said “Jom balik!”. Yes, sir! Heh.

We had a BBQ session with the Chans and the Koks at Andalucia that evening and I let the kids play with the remaining bunga api we had. Irfan was having fun with his bicycle and it was on that night that he finally got the right way of cycling! Yay! And again, the night ended way past midnight. Haha! Basically by this time, Irfan’s bedtime schedule was all screwed up! Takpe, Raya setahun sekali. :P

We visited the in-laws on the third day of Raya and had lunch with them. Spent most of the day at SS3 and Irfan and his grandma went out to visit a friend who came over from Jakarta. We left SS3 in the evening to get ready as we had a (simpler) makan-makan session at my parents’ with the in-laws and a few of my parents’ friends. My mom made prawn noodles that night and it was yummylicious! Yes yes, I should get all the recipes already and start practicing like s.o.o.n! :P

That was basically how the first three days of Raya went for us. Irwan and I both started working on the fourth day and we’re looking forward to more ketupats and lemangs in the weeks to come. Heh.

So, the lil’ gadget boy has finally turned ONE! How fast does time fly, ey? Tsk. It was a small affair at Bianco but everyone had loads of fun! :) It has been 3 weeks in a row that I’m at Bianco and this weekend we’ll be there again for another birthday party and Irwan is amused that the people there know me by my first name. Hahahahahaha!

Anyways, Aaron and the kids dropped by on Sunday and they all had some fun time in the pool. And after that I had the yummiest fried chicken at BBQ Chicken as the chicken there are fried in olive oil! Yummy! And now I am craving for moreeeee..! :P

Knows:

• How to spell his full name
• How to spell my full name
• How to spell Irwan’s full name
• How to spell his friend’s name
• How to get to my parents’ home from his school

Memorizes:

• My handphone number
• Irwan’s handphone number
• My car plate number
• Irwan’s car plate number
• My parents’ car plate numbers
• My inlaws’ car plate numbers
• Our home address

He’s been such a joy to us since April 2006 - albeit some dr-jekyll-and-miss-hyde moments with him - that I cannot imagine life without him. I am not even sure how I am going to cope if and when #2 or #3 comes along. Can I love his adik(s) as much as I love him? Can I give his adik(s) the same attention I have been giving him? Can I be fair to all my children? And if I feel that I can’t - should we still proceed to get pregnant? Dilemma dilemma.. Or should we just eff it and just do it? Pft.

We tagged Irwan (yet again!) for the BMW Peformance Day and this time around it was held in Kuching. I prefer Kuching to KK as it is somewhat cleaner and more organised than KK; although their taxis are just as cekik darah  but most of the time we had the rented Harrier + one of the event peeps to drive us around to get the Sarawak kek lapis and ikan terubuk masin. :)

On Saturday night, we went for dinner with another couple and had lala, steamed kerapu, empat ekor lobsters, prawns, fried rice and vegetable and the damage was only RM147.90!!!! Imagine.. we had FOUR lobsters and the price was that. Damn! Must go Kuching again. Haha! So if any of you guys are going to Kuching, do visit Top Spot Seafood Centre. ;)

We stayed at Four Points by Sheraton and the room and bed and pool and food were just amazing! Too bad it was only for the weekend. Ah well, next timelah kot? :P

And oh, I brought along my new toy to play with - the Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS lens. I’m officially b.r.o.k.e. And then there’s the diving course I’m taking up. And the trip at the end of the year! Eeeeppp.. no new baju raya for me this year! :P 

Saturday afternoon was a full session of makan-makan with Ira (and Mia) and Hetty (and Yazid). First we had steamboat at Ikano and afterwards proceeded to shop a lil’ bit at The Curve. Irfan fell asleep almost immediately in his stroller for three hours after lunch so I was rather free to do whatever I please. Bumped into some familiar faces there and got Irfan some baju raya (yeah, damn malas to shop during Ramadhan when it’s packed everywhere!) and then the pregnant lady wanted to have dessert. So off we went to Ikea for some cheesecake, daim cake and I-don’t-know-what-else she stuffed on her plate. And by she, I meant the pregnant lady who seems to be forever hungry. Heh. Jangan marah eh, Ira? ;)

We left Ikea about 6-ish and when I took Irfan out from the stroller, he got up. Else I think he might have still been asleep. We sent Ira and Mia back to their place and Irfan and I went home to rest for a little bit and wait for Irwan who went hiking kat Gunung Nuang for practice since he’s going up Mount Kinabalu next weekend before getting ready to meet the Huans for dinner at Lala Chong.

We were a bit late because I had to clean up some of Irwan’s injuries but it was good also that we were late because it gave Rachel the chance to nap a half hour longer. Sorry guys for being late! Anyhow, since everyone was starving I ordered salted egg crabs, steamed fish, steamed prawns with egg white, Siong Tong Lala, fried french beans with garlic and some fried rice for the kids (and adults). I fed Iran first before attacking the food and after he has finished 2 1/2 bowls of fried rice with some crabs and loads of the crunchy beans, I had to peel the crabs for Irwan pulak since he injured his right hand with some duri. By the end of it all, we were so full that it was hard for us to move. Haha!

Sunday was full of surprise parties - baby shower for Ira and birthday dinner for Aaron. Ted, Hetty and I have planned for the shower many many moons ago. Ira’s been hinting like forever that she wants an owl themed shower so I did all the necessary plannings. :) Hetty and I arrived slightly earlier than everyone else at Bianco to ensure that everything was in order and the moment Ira stepped in to Bianco, she was too stumped to say anything and almost cried too me thinks. Heh. Anyway, food was good and we had great company and the games were fun too so yeah, I think at the end of it all, everyone was very very happy. :)

The dinner for Aaron was held at Gaucho Grill @ Chulan Square and the steaks are just oh-so-good! But the surprise tak jadilah because they arrived before the guests did and when Aaron saw 5 empty seats he had to ask Emily what was going on. Aiyah! Sorry dude! Hope you had a great time with us, though? And tunggu aaaa… your present is on its way! ;)

And now, I’m still trying to catch my breath but we’ll be in Kuching pulak this weekend! Looking forward to that trip. ;)

but it was fun! :)

We watched Transformers on Friday night and Irfan behaved rather well and sat through 85% of the movie. By midnight, he couldn’t keep his eyes opened so he slept in my arms as the arm rest couldn’t be lifted for him to lie down on his seat. Ah well, janji he’s comfortable. Heh. Anyhow, Irwan was drooling over you-know-who but I have to admit, I think she’s waaaayyy hotter in the previous movie. Even the fighting scenes were much better in the previous movie. But the movie isn’t as bad as what the critics wrotelah. And Irfan loved the Camaro (Bumblebee) and the Corvette (Sideswipe).

The next morning, Irwan and Irfan were at the pool from 10 a.m til past noon! I think if we didn’t have a lunch date with the inlaws, Irfan would have probably stayed longer in the pool. He is soooooo hitam legam I tell you! Ish. Anyway, after the two boys had a quick shower, we left for Bangsar Village and had lunch at Basil. Good stuff I must say! After some shopping, we headed home to put Irfan down for a nap because we’ve got dinner with some friends later that night.

Irfan slept past 8 p.m (from about 4.30 p.m) and we had to apologize to our hosts for our delay. Irfan finished off a whole plate of rice, fish curry and omelette as well as two servings of ice-cream and when he was done, he plonked himself on the sofa and watched Bolt while the adults chatted. Chat punya chat, didn’t realise that it was almost midnight until Irfan said that he wants to go home and sleep. Haha. 

The next day, we went out with my parents for lunch and went to check out some houses for my brother. While driving, Irfan sat on the floor at the back of the Cygnus and when I asked my mom to check on him (since Irwan was napping while I was driving), the lil’ fella was already asleep! So Irwan picked him up and when we arrived at my parents’, we moved him into my car and he was still asleep. Even after arriving at Prince Court and putting him in the stroller he still slept. After we were done at the hospital, we transferred him back into the car and he still had his eyes closed. We then went to Pavilion for a bit because I needed to get some stuff and he was still snoring away! By the time we got home, it was close to 6 p.m and after 3 hours odd of nap, Irfan finally got up!

And we’re looking at another eventful weekend in a few days’ time and next weekend we’ll be off to Kuching! ;) 

p/s: Pictures #14 & #16 of Irwan were taken by Irfan with my 5D.