My New Shoes!

18th September 2008 - Yippee! Today i finally got a pair of shoes. Mummy & daddy had been hunting for a suitable pair of shoes for me since a long time ago. I have really BIG feet for my age, and it's tremendously hard to find suitable shoes for me. Since i'm juz learning how to walk, mummy said i should wear shoes with soft soles meant for younger babies. It's because my feet are still growing and if i put on hard soles shoes when i'm still learning to walk, it's not good for my growing bones.

Mummy & daddy really took so much time to find the perfect pairs of shoes for me. However, all the local made shoes are so tiny in size, and those soft soles shoes normally are juz of size 1 or 2. But i need size 3 shoes and most the size 3 shoes are hard-soles! I guess i'm juz way bigger in size than most other babies... haha...

Once mummy & daddy found a pair of shoes of the right size for me at Poppies, The Spring Kuching. But tat shoes costs RM89.90 and it was way too expensive for a pair of baby shoes. The reason it is so expensive was because it was made in New Zealand. Mummy said they'll haf to find shoes made in western countries for me because i'm an 'ang mo' size baby, so i will need to wear 'ang mo' size baby shoes!

Tonite mummy & daddy brought me to City Mall, Kota Kinabalu. It'd been so long since we came shopping at City Mall and also i miss riding in my stroller so much. After mummy & daddy had dinner at KFC, they immediately went to hunt for my shoes at the baby stores there. They found the perfect shoes for me at the first shop we went to - Peekaboo!

I was amazed when i saw the very big teddy bear sitting on the floor of the shop and i kept on chuckling at the big bear. When mummy asked the sales attendant for baby shoes, the 'tau-ke-nio' of the shop immediately brought mummy a pair of 'Next' baby shoes. Daddy says 'Next' is a popular brand in United Kingdom. Haha... 'ang mo' size again. Once i tried it on, it's juz of the right size; not too big and not too small. There's still some room for my growing little feet, so when the lady said the price was RM45.90, mummy & daddy immediately agreed to get it for me.

Daddy said to juz let me wear the shoes immediately, and no need to pack my new shoes back into the box again. So after tat i went shopping around in my stroller, wearing my nice pair of new shoes!

My First Pair of Shoes!

20th September 2008 - Jayden with his new shoes on!
20th September 2008 - Jayden walking around Casuarina's lobby.

Happy 1st Birthday Jayden!

Jayden's mummy :-

"Partly the reason we stayed in Kuching so long tis trip back was to celebrate ah Den's 1st bday. Jayden's bday falls on 7th September 2008 and tis year it falls on a Sunday. We planned to hold a bday party cum dinner for him at The Banquet, and hubby says according to Foochow custom we should at least treat a few tables and invite relatives and close friends.

At first we thought of celebrating his bday on the actual day itself, but when we think over, most of the kids (ah Den's cousins) wil haf to go to school early on Monday morning. Moreover, our relatives from Sibu most likely wont be able to join if it's on Sunday. Likewise, if we celebrate a day earlier, great-grandma and also hubby's brother and his whole family will be able to come. So finally we confirmed wid my sis-in-law (hubby's 2nd sis) tat we'll hold ah Den's bday celebration on the 6th September, Saturday. Hubby's sis works with SanChin Realty - owner of The Banquet - and she really helped us a lot in preparing for ah Den's bday celebration.

Snapshots of The Banquet and MUS Grill & Lounge
Instead of holding the dinner at the main hall, sis said she helped us to book the 1st floor of the lounge cum Western restaurant - better known as MUS Grill & Lounge. It's a smaller hall and definately more private. Besides that, she oso helped to arrange for the 2main tables to seats 15 person, and the 3 other tables to seats 12 guests. She said although we don't haf tat many ppl, don't worry so tat all our guests will haf a much spacier place and needn't squeeze. She purposely ordered another small table to be placed at the end of the room for kids to eat there, or to play there if they want to. On tat day itself, some of ah Den's cousin even bring their colour pencils and do their colouring there! (How thoughtful my sis-in-law is!)

Actually there wasn't really tat much to do, bcoz most of the things were oledi settled before tat day. I ordered ah Den's bday cake from Taka King Centre. The 'taukeh' is my sis's fren so she can get discount for me. I ordered a big cake - 3.5kg - of vanilla fruit cake. All my family members love the vanilla fruit topping cake from Taka because it's not too sweet, and my sis normally request for the 'taukeh' to make the cake on the very day itself, so tat the cake wil be so-very-very soft and FRESH! Another request is to gif us more fruits, but i think wid the design i chose for ah Den's cake tat day, he couldn't put too much fruit on it or else it won't be tat pretty. The 'taukeh' was supposed to send the cake over to Banquet on the day itself, but somehow he forgot, and i was oso careless too cox i din call to remind him, but luckily the cake still reach in time! Phew!!! The 3.5kg cake costs us RM 171.50 wid the wordings "Happy 1st Birthday Jayden" nicely written on it. Tat was the price before discount... hehe... i purposely post it here so tat next time ah Den can pay me back! =))

ah den's 1st bday cake!

Backdrop deco tat nite with the theme colour purple & white!

For the dinner that nite, I went thru the menu months ago and cracked my head to come up with the perfect list of dishes to be served to our guests. Sounded very "kua-cheong" rite, haha.... Actually we always have dinner at The Banquet, so i kinda haf a rough idea wat dishes might be nice. Of cuz besides from the dishes being presentable, the prices of the dishes also haf to be within our budget. Tat nite we had a 10 course meal - and for a total of 5 tables the bill was RM2095 with free flow of soft drinks and chinese tea.

Everyone was so full and it was a relief tat all our guests had more than enough to eat. =)) Besides that, a lot of our guests oso commented tat the dishes were very tasty and unique. There were some very new and unique dishes, like the prawns wid wasabi on the Cold Plate, and oso the Hot & Sour Midin which they only blanched the midin in hot water without 'stir-fry'ing the veggie beforehand. The list of dishes for that nite was :-

1. 5 Variety Dishes Combination
2. Fried Longevity Noodles with Shredded Chicken
3. Braised Shark's Fin with Seafood Soup
4. Hot & Sour Midin
5. Deep Fried Fish Fillet with Butter
6. Braised Mushroom & Vegetable
7. Deep Fried Boneless Chicken with BBQ Sauce
8. Baked Fresh Prawns
9. Crispy Beancurd with Salad Cream
10. Sweetened Yam Paste & Sweet Corn in Coconut Milk

I dressed ah Den up in his new Poney T-shirt & Khakis which all the 'da jie-jie' from KL, namely yunnyi, hiewming, karhooi & seelee got for him. I purposely keep tat set of new clothes for him so tat he can wear it on his 1st bday celebration. There were the lovely gift packets tat we made for all the guests who attended the dinner tat nite, as a token of appreciation.

Another big THANK YOU to my mum and my big sis Ah Ming, for the trouble helping me wrapped all the gift packets. Ah Ming sis even helped me to print 'thank you' cards wid the cute cartoon 'Pocoyo & friends' on it and placed it in each of the gift packets. The contents of the thank you gifts are chocolates and wafers which i asked nb to help me to buy from Labuan, egg muffins or better known as 'kay neng ko' in hokkien which we purposely import from Sibu, and oso red egg. All the children were thrilled with the chocolates, and kids are really so cute... they immediately noticed the different types of chocolates and wafers in each packets. =))

Below are photos of ah Den's gift packets which his auntie ah Ming helped to make:-

Tat nite, ah Den received a lot of gifts and angpows from friends and relatives. When we got home after the dinner, we brought home some of the balloons used for deco. He was thrilled wid the metallic white & purple balloons. Haha... U can actually see how his eyes lit up when he saw the balloons. When we helped him to unwrap his presents, his excitements grew even more. He was busy playing wid everything. =))

Jayden was so happy tat nite and he went to bed really late... almost midnite at 11.30pm. He still wan to play wid all his toys and the new stuffs he got. Great-grandma from Sibu couldn't make it tat day, but she purposely asked hubby's bro to bring along ah Den's gift from Sibu. She bought ah Den a gold necklace - pure 999 gold which costs almost RM700. Sigh... her health wasn't tat good lately and she owest saved up her money and at times even feel heartache to use her own money to pay for her medical bills, but if it's to buy a gift for Jayden, she never hesitated. So hubby & I thought over and we agreed to gif grandma an angpow in return. Hopefully we can find some time to travel back to Sibu to visit her next time. She'll be very happy to see ah Den being a big boy now!

Our family photo on ah Den's 1st Bday!
My baby is finally 1 year old. How fast time seems to zoom past by... previously the tiny & fragile bb lying besides me during my confinement period, is now so big and so active, owest trying to climb here & there & everywhere!"

"tis time bek to Kuching..."

Jayden's mummy :- "We had a long stay in Kuching tis trip back. It was for nearly a month. We went back to Kch on the 14th of Aug and came bek to Kota Kinabalu again on the 11th of Sept. A few days after we were bek to Kch, SH traveled to China for more than a week. When he came bek from China, he departed for Kota Kinabalu again 2days later and flew back to Kch again on the 4th of Sept. Instead of having ah Den traveling here n there, we opted for him to stay in Kch and spent some time in his grandparent's home.... of cuz, wid me by his side and being together wid him.

Tis round back to Kuching, we all can witnessed how naughty ah Den really is. Provided the space and attention he can get in Kuching, he had learnt and accomplished so many new tasks. On the 1st nite in our bedroom, he had successfully climbed up our bed on his own. Besides that, he had oso learnt how to slide down from the top of the bed - feets first - and stood up firmly when both his feet successfully touched the ground. While still holding to our bed, he'll laughed and chuckled happily at his own accomplishment. =))

Besides that, he oso had a spacier place to perform his crawling skill. Unlike the carpeted floor in Casuarina, our parquet floor back in Kuching provides him extra mobility as he can half crawl n half glide around. That time, he still crawl on his belly and all limbs on the floor. He was amazed when he used all his strength to crawl on the floor and found tat he actually moved further than expected on the new 'slippery' floor; and continued doing so going around our bedroom, exploring his new "wonderland".

The next day when we placed him downstairs in the living room in a walker, he was even more amazed at the speed he can go. With so much space plus the slippery marble floor, u can see him glide across the room at full speed. At first his little feet will be busily running - (frantically kicking backwards) - as he picked up speed, then he'll put both his feet down on the floor slightly and dragged his feet along as the walker starts to glide until his walker bangs on some furniture. When his walker came to a halt, he'll stood up slightly and turned his walker back in the direction he came, and once again he'll start to run and then glide freely and then 'BANG' and stop! He chuckled when his walker actually banged on sth hard, and watching him gliding around in the living room is like witnessing him riding in a bumper car!

Whenever we go out for breakfast, my MIL wil be sure to feed ah Den wid kolo mee. He loves to eat noodles, and finally he learnt how to say "mum-mum" when he wanted to eat sth. And oso, he learnt how to call "ma-ma" for grandma and most touching of all, he'd learnt how to call out for "mummy"! He'd accomplished so much tis trip back to Kuching, and besides feeling proud of him, i start to feel tat my baby is turning into a little naughty "monkey"! Haha... finally he learnt how to say words wid 'M' syllable - and it all happened one evening (18.08.08) when i suddenly heard him called out to me. Tat time SH was in China, and as usual around 8.30pm plus, i carried ah Den upstairs to clean him and let him changed into his pyjamas and get ready to go to bed. He was clinging onto me, and when i placed him down on his mattress, he still wanted me to carry him so he started crying. When he cried, he was actually calling out "MUM-MY" between his cries. I tot i heard wrongly, but guessed not, cox it was quite clearly pronounced. My heart melted when i heard his cute voice calling for me, so i asked him to call me again, but he stopped. Hmm... maybe he doesn't wan to please me so much!

Almost a month bek in Kuching, ah Den had grown up so fast. He can cling onto some furniture, and pulled himself up. Then he'll lower his butt, and 'thud' he'll be sitting on the floor, clapping his little hands as an applause for himself. Other than that, sometimes when he managed to pull himself up, he'll walk while holding onto that piece of furniture and going around it. He'd also learnt how to climb up the staircase, but only one way up, and still doesn't know how to climb down yet! When u say "No More", he'll shake both his little hands in a small gesture to show a sign tat some particular food had been finished. And oso he can clasps his hands together now, and shakes them up and down as a sign to congratulate "Gong xi, gong xi". Hee... We had been teaching him how to nod his head to say 'Yes' (previously he can only shakes his head to say 'No'), but his way of nodding his head is moving his body to and fro continuosly! Haha... i guess he thinks tat he's nodding his head but actually he's juz shaking his chubby little body!

Last but not least, his TEETH! He has 6 new teeth! All popping out at once, and his teeth were all so uneven. Sigh! I hope when his milk teeth drop in future, he'll grow nice and new straight teeth. Or else he'll haf to wear braces in future!"

like Father, Like son!

9th July 2008 :- Today is the first time i get my haircut at a saloon. Since i was born, daddy & mummy didn't want to shave off my hair bcox they prefer a 'baldless' bb! Haha... okie... so i get to keep my hair, but after a few mths later, all my baby hair started to drop by themselves and after tat, i'd gone quite bald all the same.

Luckily all my hair started to grow back and some had even grown so long. Mummy gave me my first haircut when i was about 5mths old... well, it was oso mummy's first time to cut someone else's hair besides her own fringe, so it wasn't tat perfect.

Tis time bek to Kch, mummy & daddy decided to bring me for a haircut at a saloon. They brought me to Jenne Saloon at Hui Sing Garden. It's the saloon mummy owest goes to and she's more familiar wid the hairstylists there. Moreover, cousin sister Esther oso has her haircut there. When we were there, all the stylists were busy attending to their customers so we waited. When it was our turn, a young guy approached mummy and told her tat it was our turn, and mummy nervously asked if he's going to be the one cutting my hair! Hahaa.... then the guy asked if we haf any prefered stylists and mummy immediately answered "yes"! My mummy doesn't trust young stylist and especially guys, to handle bb's haircut. Why??!!?? Bcox she said, only women who are others mum will be more caring and careful when cutting bb's hair. Only mummies or those who'd taken care of babies before know tat they can't expect a bb to sit really still when getting their haircut.

I was nervous when the pretty auntie cut my hair. She used a shaver to shave the side and back of my head. The shaver was so ticklish and i juz couldn't keep still! Though mummy was holding me in her arms, i was still frantically moving and squirming around. The pretty auntie told mummy tat most of my hair is still baby hair, and i need to cut off those before my hair can grow longer. Okie... so she cut off most of my hair. I was crying and crying. I admit i was making a real fuss, but i was quite nervous. My haircut costs daddy RM8, and daddy said it was even more expensive than his haircut! Haha... but the most funny thing is tat i look so much more like my daddy after my haircut. We had the same hair style, and even daddy couldn't help but keep on laughing once in a while when he turned back and look at me, seated in the backseat while he was driving us back home. All the while mummy owest say i had my daddy's head, and now wid the same hairstyle, i look so much more like Siew Hung Jr. ! Wahahaha.....

09/07/08 - @ Kuching International Airport.
Ah Den in his pyjamas, getting ready to board our flight from Kch to KK.

proud of my bb!

Jayden's mummy: "

5th July 08 – We came bek to Kuching again on the 3rd. It was an unplanned trip, and definitely out of our budget. Though it did burned a huge hole in our pockets, but hubby’s health is above anything else. As long as he’ll alright, everything else is secondary.

Today baby Jayden made another great achievement. Both daddy & mummy had to go to Kuching Specialist Hosp tat morning and hospitals are definitely not a place for babies. We tot of leaving ah Den back at home wid my mum-in-law, since he’s closest wid her here, but the day before, my mum-in-law hurt her fingers. She had her wound bandaged, and we really don’t want her to haf to carry ah Den around and it’ll juz cause her fingers to bleed some more. In the end we decided to leave ah Den wid ‘nye-ma’ (my mummy) instead. Tat morn, we placed ah Den in Esther’s baby carseat, which I borrowed from my sis the day before. It’s his first time to sit in a baby carseat, and he was chuckling when we buckled him up. He looked so cute sitting there and giggling to himself. I drove to mum’s place tat morn while ah Den’s daddy sat in the back seat. Looking once in awhile to my baby seated beside me while I was driving, I really felt tat my baby is a big boy now. He can seat by himself now, and he was being a good boy not making any fuss while seated there. He enjoyed looking at all the traffic and the view he was getting.

When we reached mum’s place, we quickly carried ah Den inside and I made some milk for him. While he was drinking his milk, both daddy & mummy quickly sneaked out while ‘nye-ma’ looked after him. We were running late for daddy’s appointment at the hospital, and I really hope my baby will be fine under the care of his other grandma tis morn.
At the hospital while waiting for hubby, I kept on calling bek home to check on my baby. My sis told me tat ah Den’s fine, and he was playing wid them. Wat a relief when I heard tat. After a while, I called bek again. I juz couldn’t help feeling so worried about my baby. Sis told me tat they are planning to go out and bringing ah Den along for a car ride. Sounds like Jayden was doing fine and I heaved another sigh of relief. Some time later, I called bek again (My mind was so troubled tat I lost track of time) to check on my bb. Tis time mum answered and told me tat they were still in the car but on their way bek home. Jayden fell asleep in the car and was sleeping soundly in her arms at tat time. Okie… another sigh of relief from me when I heard tat.

When hubby’s checkup was done, we quickly go to haf our breakfast. It was already almost noon, and I felt like I hadn’t seen my baby for such a long time. =)) After breakfast at Foody Goody, we walked over to Sweet Babies to buy a baby gift hamper for hubby’s fren’s newborn. There, my sis called me. I asked her how is Jayden doing, and she said he was fine. My mum had helped to bathe him, and now he was playing wid them. I felt so relief tat my baby was being such a good boy. Really felt so proud of him. When we reached mum’s place to pick up Jayden, he was all smiling when ‘nye-ma’ carried him in her arms and when he saw us. He didn’t cry but instead kept on smiling at daddy & mummy as if greeting us. I really felt so proud of my little baby… ah Den is really growing up now. I really hope I can train my baby to be more familiar wid his relatives, and not too clingy to daddy & mummy. We had such little time spent wid our families here in Kuching, I really hope he can develop close bonding wid them whenever we haf the chance. "

finally CRAWLiNG???

Jayden's mummy: "

1st July 08 – My 9m+ baby is finally learning to cruise around by crawling…. or is tat considered as crawling, I’m wondering. Last 2 days I noticed tat ah Den can moved a few inches in front of him by kicking his feet and pulling himself forward wid his little arms. He was trying to grab hold of any object in front of him within his reach. When I placed him in a sitting position between my thighs, he’ll slowly lower himself on the mattress by placing his arms slightly further away from his body in front of him. Then he’ll make himself fall gently on the mattress and ‘thud’ he’ll be laying on his tummy and face!

After tat he’ll start to grab at the bedsheet covering our mattress wid both his hands and he’ll pull at it real hard while kicking his legs to make himself move forward. He looks as if he’s swimming! Whenever he’s near the edge of the mattress, tat’s even better. He’ll juz grabbed and hangs on to the edge of the mattress, and since it’s a firmer hold than juz a piece of cloth; he can pulled himself forward much further. Soon half his body was oledi out of the mattress! Way to go my little baby!!! 'Jia you, jia you!' "

bek to KCH again!

Jayden's mummy: "
19th June 08 – Coming back to Kuching this time, my little baby had shown some improvements. He’s more familiar wid his Kch home and oso closer to his grandparents now, especially wid his grandma. Seeing him being able to adapt to the different ‘home’ and lifestyle here, I really felt tat my baby is growing up.

On tat Saturday noon, I’d promised to go to a supposed-facial session wid my sister. I had hesitated to go at first, wondering if ah Den would be okie without me here in grandpa’s house. My hubby insisted me to go and willingly offered to baby sit ah Den.

However, at the very last minute, he’d to go to settle some stuff and he told me to leave ah Den wid his mum if I really had to go out before he’s bek. It was oledi past 1pm and our appointment was timed at 2pm. After I bathed and fed ah Den, I told my mum-in-law tat I really had to go out then cox I was running late. My mum-in-law carried ah Den in her arms and brought him outside to wave goodbye at me. I was so worried tat he’ll cry if he saw me driving away so I told my in-law to carry him inside and not let him see tat I was going out. But my mum-in-law insisted tat it was okie and asked ah Den to wave goodbye at me. Luckily when I drove away, ah Den juz stared surprisingly at me. (Maybe he had never seen me drive before.. haha)

When I reached my mum’s place to pick up my sis, I quickly grabbed my handphone to call hubby. He said he had reached home and ah Den was doing fine. He was playing wid his grandparents and moving around in his walker. =)) I felt so relieved. It was a big step for me, leaving my baby behind in the care of others and to go out to pamper myself. ;)) It was a big achievement for me as well as for Jayden. I guess it’s time tat I start to do tis more often and not to let myself being tied down tat much wid my baby. Although I din get to do my facial tat Sat afternoon cox my sis messed up wid the appointment, I felt happy all the same to being able to take the first step out and to learn to ease my grasp on my baby a little. "