Welcoming the New year.

(Some christmas gifts for friends's kids, Birthday present, housewarming present)

Here's a Christmas wish to all who celebrates Christmas : Merry Christmas!

And to all others, a Happy, Blessed & Healthy New Year 2009. As always, be safe and practice common sense when you are out celebrating!

(What do you think of my "festive" blog wallpaper/background?)

Busy Bees

The past 2 weeks were so manic for us. I've been staying in London for almost 2 years (3, if you include the 1 year I was here before going back to KL again to work & prepare for the wedding) and this is the busiest I;ve ever been!

Since meeting Michelle & Kaka, and especially since Michelle got a car (yayy!).. the four of us have been going out alot during the weekdays. It was mainly for the two girls's benefit. What we did these 2 weeks.

9 Dec : Baby Gym
10 Dec : Went to Kaka's place for lunch and play
13 Dec : Michelle & I went to Billingsgate Fish Market to buy fresh fish. We left at 530am!
15 Dec : Museum of Docklands for Musical Monday
16 Dec : Kaka came over to play during lunch - I made the kids's lunch while Michelle brought Pizza for us!
17 Dec : Children's Garden (Steiner Playgroup)
18 Dec : BY came over for lunch and "interview" for coursework.
19 Dec : Messy Play at the local sure start centre, then off for lunch with the other moms.

And topping it off, I fell sick last Thursday and haven't been able to recover quite as fast due to my "hectic" schedule. I had runny nose & sorethroat and although have almost recovered, I still have a lingering ticklish cough due to my sorethroat and am now having a hoarse & sexy voice. ;)

When we met another mom, Jessica (mom to XinYi) who is a M'sian, we had even more activities - some of them introduced to us by her. She then introduced us to her friend and neighbour Jenny (mom to a boy Matt & girl MayLin). The other day, after our Messy Play, the four mothers, along with our five kids went for yumcha at a local chinese restaurant. Shean Wenn fell asleep in the car on the short 5 minutes drive there and I had to carry her WITH her baby carseat (she no longer uses this but I now use this to transport her in Michelle's car because it is such a hassle to install her toddler carseat) into the restaurant, and THIS resulted in a backache today.

Shean Wenn woke up halfway through lunch and she happily ate whatever I put on her bowl. And then, I turned away for awhile and she stood up and grabbed the hot water teacup next to Michelle and started to pour the water! I quickly grabbed it away from her and luckily she wasn't hurt or burnt by the water. What a near-miss... obviously I got a big nagging from the hubs when I relayed this story to him. Must be ultra careful now. Especially when Shean Wenn is such an inquisitive and fast-learner!

After their lunch, the older kids went down to play, running around the restaurant. The little ones looked on with envy and anticipation. I let SW down after she had finished her food and she happily ran around, playing with the other kids. I think she really enjoyed the company of the other kids. The five of them had so much fun in each other's company.

Here are some photos taken during Musical Mondays at the beautiful Museum of Docklands.



In the Mudlarks area : An area dedicated for kids under 5s. Shean Wenn spent a long time playing on their sandbox, and the sand/water/river bunk.
An "explainer" explaining about the various boxes in the mudlarks gallery to the enthusiastic kids!

Karmen on the scale - how cute!

During musical time, the organiser blew bubbles (as snow) as he illustrates a Christmas tale... the kids were ecstatic! SW as usual, observed quietly from her place before deciding her next step - JOINING IN THE FUN.



More photos of the kids's play to ensue (when I get it off Michelle because, poor me has no camera).

Tagged : 6 Randoms

Was tagged by Petite Fleur to do this.

1. I don't do much sports unless you consider typing a sport. But I LOVE swimming now. However, it wasn't always a love affair between me & swimming when my parents FORCED us to go for swimming lessons when we were younger, even more when I was beaten in freestyle-stroke by a girl of 5 years old when I was about 10-ish. My favourite stroke (hence I swim fastest in it) is Breaststroke. I used to have good stamina, when I can swim from 9am-6pm, breaking for lunch and tea (Redang Island, 2001-2002).

2. I am pretty good with directions and can read maps very well. During treasure hunts, I can read the tulips (tulip is a directional map, form car-rally origin) very well (thanks to years of experience going for hunts with my parents, who are now seasoned hunter - Dad is a retired hunter now though) and therefore will almost definitely be the designated navigator for my (old) team.

3. I prefer being tanned than being fair. Somehow, I find that being tan makes me look healthy!

4. I like both science and art but cannot understand accounting/finance AT ALL. I can do arts, but suck at crafting. Art meaning : I paint using watercolour, of architectures of Malaysia. I have done (paint in watercolour) Suffolk's House and some old shophouses in Perak. I describe my paintings as "semi-monochromatic infused with splashes of bold colours". If you would like to commission me for an artwork, please e-mail me at tsulinplusplus@gmail.com. (Heh, even have time for marketing!) I might upload a few paintings of mine, if I can get my sister to scan them for me.. but the chances of that happening is like ZILCH.

(Future artist at work : Perhaps SW will follow in mommy's footsteps in the art dept, look at the masterpiece!)

5. I am lactose-intolerant, since birth. No cow's milk for me please, or cheese. Thanks. I also don't drink coffee since I was diagnosed with gastric problems.

6. I am not a couch-potato. And neither am I a book worm. But I can spend hours infront of the computer, reading or watching rubbish/informative news. My eyes don't hurt and I don't fall asleep.. BIZARRE!

Fri night : Hipp Baby Christmas Competition

**EDITED**

Dear diary,

What does mummy do on a Friday night?


She enters me into a baby photo competition online, and browses for other good "deals". Mum!! (embarassing!) She also managed to convince my friend's mummy to enter my friend, Tobey into the same contest!

Look at me and Tobey, we are side-by-side... Good Luck, you & me..

(BTW, my Entry ID is 11606 in the "Stages 1 Year & Older" while Tobey's is 11610. Please vote for us :P) The link to Hipp Baby Christmas Competition is here, but you have to be a registered member to vote. So if you are in the UK and happen to be a Hipp member, do vote for us :)

:D

With love,
Shean Wenn

Housewarming at Karmen's

Shean Wenn's friend, Karmen moved into their new home last month and on last Saturday, they had a housewarming at their new place. Their development is a new-built and we were told that their postcode does not exist on googlemap and TomTom (sat nav) yet. So, we were given a set of instructions and also a postcode of a place opposite of the new development. We found their house without much trouble, and were told we are the first people who came over without having to call them asking for directions! We were also told we are the only guests that day - the rest couldn't make it (Good. All the food to ourselves).

Michelle (Karmen's mom) served us finger food with drinks - we asked for orange juice first. :)

(Hubs & me with our hostess, Michelle)


See that sunroof on the second picture? It cost them £800 to install the blinds on it! And it seems it was cheaper because they didnt' install it during summer. It really is so expensive to move into a new place. (We better save monies now before we move back..)

(Shean Wenn at the "kid's corner" - lots of toys!)

While the adults were eating and drinking merrily, and Karmen sleeping sopundly upstairs... Little Shean Wenn pottered around the house and made no fuss to us, helping herself to the toys and entertaining herself very well. Simon (Karmen's dad) commented that she is very independent because she doesn't "stick to us like glue" like some kids. Well, I believe the toys helped.

(Getting started - Simon started rummaging his "alcohol bar" for some serious drinks. They went for a beer first)

Karmen woke up midway and she and SW played for awhile.

SW : There, I share with you my toy "Zhu Zhu" (cantonese for piggy) if you would trade me yours!



Dinner is served! Everyone taking their place, including SW on the high chair. We opened a bottle of Spanish red for this. It was just right for me, not too dry.


After dinner, the kids made their way upstairs for a tour of Karmen's home.
SW getting comfy in Karmen's igloo tent.


SW and Karmen identifying objects on the wall chart.


And then... they climbed up Karmen's bed and pretended to sleep! SW was really happy here. I guess she loves company - especially those with toys!

The New Colour : Trendy, Affordable Shopping for the girls!

My friend, Melissa just pushed out TheNewColour.com live for the world to enjoy. It sells trendy and fun clothing for women, at affordable prices. The catalogue is easy for boyfriends, husbands and even girlfriends to comprehend, lots of free sizes so you can't go wrong. It currently accepts payments through Maybank2u and Paypal, and ships worldwide.



And for TODAY only - Look out for her Black Monday shopping...

(PS : Thanks Praveen for the head-ups!)