Wonder how to make mum happy

Hubby & I took some time-off yesterday first half to get some personal things done. Since it was already close to lunch time & we were just around the neighbourhood, we called mum to lunch with us, together with my mother-in-law & grandma-in-law & my son.

I suggested to go for Korean food since I feel like having Kimchi and I know the fact that mum likes Korean food too, but havent been brought to Korean restaurant for awhile. Everything was fine over lunch, but I know mum didnt eat much, probably dued to her small appetite these days ever since the grastric problem.

But u know what? I had a ear-full from her this afternoon when I met her for lunch, since I'm working from home today...She commented that we shouldnt have wasted money for expensive meal since it was just ordinary lunch, not even some special occasion. She said we should have spent the money for best milk powder for our baby! BTW ever since she saw us buying a packet-type milk powder (Dugro), instead of one of the most expensive tin-type MamilGold, she has been nagging on us saying we are not giving our baby the best thing.

Besides, mum also said she was very uncomfortable having meal with my in-laws & told me not to invite her next time if we are going with the in-laws. Infact she also said alot more other comments which actually made me feel sad & disappointed.

U see...sometimes she complained about not having good son-in-laws though she has four, when she compared her sons-in-law with her friends' sons-in-law. Sometimes she complained about not going out for good meals like this often coz all of us are so busy & no one has time for the old parents. Sometimes she complained about us not willing to listen to her...etc etc...

I'm not sure about my other sisters, but I'm pretty sure that I've been trying my every single effort to be the best daughter and my hubby the best son-in-law. We will spend time with them, bring them out for dinner over weekend, we will invite them over to our house & enjoy the park, we will take them out for shopping, etc etc.

YET, these may not necessarily have made mum happy! Sometimes I doubt, whether I really know her well enough to know how to make her happy. I really wonder...

Updates about mum

If u have been reading my blog, then u would probably know about my mum's health condition in the last few months....Well I should say, her health is not too bad now, but the worry is not over!

Few days ago mum was dued for check-up again since the last visit in December. This time, she has to go to the hospital twice, where the first day was for blood test & second day to get the report and meet the doctor to determine whether there's a need for another round of "scope".

So on the 2nd day when we met the doc, he said mum's blood test is still showing high tumor-marking reading but slightly lower compared to the previous blood test done in Dec. So doc made arrangement for mum to do another round of 'scope', but this time just need to do it with the upper half body....Then when the 'scope' was done, the result was 'clear', so doc said the tumor-making reading may be caused by some stomach infection. Mum needs to be on medication for few more weeks, and if there's nothing major, next check-up is 2 months from now.

U know...it's painful to see mum going through this everytime when there's a check-up. Her worries were all on her face....She's already getting old, getting more & more skinny these days, yet she looked anxious when doc was reading the test report and her disappointment when she heard that the tumor-making is reading high, again & again...

I dont know what to do, except praying for her....

"I miss u" message

On Fly fm, there's this "Pagi show" which I listen to whenever I'm driving in the morning. And this morning as I switched it on, the "Fix-it" program was on...Ok for those who doesnt listen to Fly fm & not sure what "fix-it" is, this is a request where u can send in an email to fly fm with a problem then the DJs will help u fix it, whatever the problem may be.

So this morning's "Fix-it" was about this guy F, who has a HOT girlfriend & he saw a sms on her phone which said "I miss u, can I see u now?", obviously from another guy! So F took that guy T's number down & submitted this problem for "Fix-it". So the DJs actually put F & T on air so they can sort it out! hahaha....

Well when I heard the whole thing, I was actually laughing....Laughing becoz F actually decided to put this personal problem on air for everyone else to know, and also laughing for F to be quite jealousy over "small" matter like this without even clarifying with the girlfriend.

Infact sometimes, I tell my friends (close guy friends) that I miss them too! Sometimes over MSN, sometimes over SMS, or sometimes even over the phone....I'll say "I miss u" when I really do, but what wrong with that? And I recalled saying "I really miss u and I wish I could hug u soon!" to one of my good friends who's a guy this morning over MSN! haha...Not sure if I'll make my hubby jealous if he finds out, but I'm pretty sure he will not coz I really know him. But maybe if he's saying that to another lady, that may make me mad! haha...

Do u say "I miss u" to friends of the opposite sex and not your spouse or gf/bf?

Chap Goh Meh

The 15th day of Chinese New Year, which is known as Chap Goh Meh (Hokkien), marks the finale of Chinese New Year. Similar to the ushering in at Chinese New Year Eve, most families will gather for a delicious meal and houses are once again brightly lit.

I’ve also heard of some old time stories about Chap Goh Meh in Penang, where in olden days, young women who are not allowed to go out and meet people often, will be allowed to be out of their houses to cast tangerines or mandarin oranges into the sea or river with hopes and prayers to find a good husband. Hmm…wonder if that actually works!

But in traditional Chinese culture in China, Chap Goh Meh is also celebrated as the Lantern Festival or Yuan-Xiao Festival (元宵節). As the first lunar month is called yuan-month and in the ancient times people called night as “Xiao” in Chinese, plus 15th day is the first night to see a full moon, this day is then called Yuan-Xiao Festival in China.

According to the Chinese tradition, at the very beginning of a new year, when there is a bright full moon hanging in the sky, there should be thousands of colorful lanterns hung out for people to appreciate. At this time, people will try to solve the puzzles on the lanterns too and eat tang-yuan (glutinous rice ball) while getting all their families united in the joyful atmosphere.

I’ll be joining my hubby’s family plus the extended family members for a big dinner tonight in one of hubby’s auntie’s house…am sure it’s gonna be a long night. What about you? How are your celebrating Chap Goh Meh? Throwing some mandarin oranges?

My Pregnancy so far...

Just came back from the hospital for my first(second) check-up after we confirmed the pregnancy during the last check.

Baby is developing well, now 10 weeks old and we even saw the hands & legs! The baby's heart is very actively pumping too! Here's the photo of it, and trust me, this is the best I could load as the doc doesnt know how to transfer the file as image to my thumbdrive, I used the camera to take a pic of the hardcopy doc gave me....haha!

Comparing with the previous pregnancy, this one is truely different, like many have told me that each pregnancy will be different...For the past few weeks I suffered on evening sickness & nausea, though not as serious as many other mummies, it's bad enough for me to cope since I've never experienced this for my last pregnancy. I also lost appetide and lost weight!

Well I guess the "bad" time is soon coming to an end...I prayed about this alot, and nausea has more or less gone from me now. Only thing is....I still dont have much appetide for dinners, but I guess this will soon improve too (I hope)!

Apart from slight nausea & evening sickness, I'm just feeling very tired everyday...But that should be the way according to my gynae. She said :"My dear, can u imagine ur whole body strength & all energy has been used to BUILD another human inside u? Ofcoz u'll feel tired!" Haha...how true!

Hubby & Baby's new toy!

The past weekend was really a wonderful one....

Infact hubby has been talking about buying a bike since we now stay in a very very environmental friendly neighbourhood where there are huge parks around for cycling, jogging & all. Also when we were in Europe, we saw many parents riding bicycles with their kids at the back-seat (with special baby seat for bikes).

So finally last weekend, we went to checkout some bike shops coz hubby came back home with the baby-bike-seat on Friday night already! haha! Apparently he found this baby-seat in the area he was in for work last Friday and the price was reasonable, so he bought it (before we even have the bike)!

Now here's the "expensive" but very stylish Rockbike and other photos of the bike with the baby seat & lastly the baby-helmet we got for baby to wear whenever he's on the bike...and I tell u, baby looks soooooo fantastically CUTE when he wears the helmet and sits on the baby-bike-seat! And I truely enjoyed looking at the lovely "papa" riding the stylish bike with happy baby at the back going around the park....

It's a different CNY...

This year's CNY is a lil different for me....

Usually every year for the past many many years since my parents moved to KL, there will be this family affair, where my parents and my sisters together with all the bro-in-laws, nieces & nephew (16 of us) will go somewhere for a short holiday. We will usually have our family "tuan-yuan-fan" (gathering lunch) on eve of CNY, then 2 of my sisters will be going back to the husbands' hometown for their family gathering dinner. Then on 2nd day of CNY, we will all meet at the holiday resort, whether it's Port Dickson, or Malacca, or A' Famosa...or wherever outside of KL. Then we will spent some family quality time together, all 16 of us, until 4th day of CNY.

This year, for some many reasons, this "tradition" did not happen, so I spent the whole CNY in KL for the 1st time! And because of that, I did spend a lot more time with my in-laws too. For the 1st time (since we'r in town), I went relative-visiting with my parents-in-law together with hubby & baby. This really made my mum-in-law happy I must say...And well, the visitings were not too bad & boring at all, as I always thought they would be. Plus, we collected lots of ang-pows! haha...

So how was your Chinese New Year?

Oh BTW today is Valentine's Day, I almost forgotten! Well since I dont have a romantic hubby, this is usually not considered a special occasion for me, how sad...But what about you? How do u plan to celebrate your Valentine's Day tonight?

Wish u have a sweet wonderful romantic Valentine's Day!

Chinese New Year

Time flies....thought hubby & I were just talking about Christmas & whether we should host a Christmas party this year (err...sorry that was 2007, haha!); then I was writing a post about New Year 2008; and now...it's already Feb & tomorrow itself is eve of Chinese New Year where there will be family gathering lunch or dinner or both (for some of us who's married).

It's time to get FAT again! Why? Coz Chinese New Year is also related to many many family dinners (big meals usually), lots of tarts & cookies, bak-kua (my favourite BBQ sliced pork), candies and lotz more!

One more significant Chinese New Yeay element to me is really the ang pow (red packet with cash inside)! Well some people are surprised to hear that I'm still receiving ang pows eventhough I'm married, coz apparently only the singles are eligible to receive ang pows from those who are married! I really think it's rubbish to have that thinking, haha! Fortunately for me, it's a tradition in my family to STILL give ang pow to the younger ones regardless if u'r married. So with that, I still receive ang pows from parents, sisters and some relatives.

So have you done all the preparation for Chinese New Year yet if u'r celebrating? Have you done some spring cleaning of the house & decorated it with some red lanterns & deco around? Have you packed all the ang pows (if u'r married)? Have you had all the cookies, food & drinks ready for your friends & relatives who are visiting you?

Wish you all have a Blessed Chinese New Year, a good break and

GONG XI FA CAI !!!