Bouncy castle

Bought a bouncy castle to put in our garden so that Jinc and Lily May get to play outside more. Not sure how long the hot weather is going to last, and let's be hopeful!

The bouncy castle is bought from Tesco costs £79.99. It is very easy to inflate, and it comes with a handy storage bag too, which means we can bring it to nanny's house to set it up in her garden too!

Some bouncing fun!!

Sugar can cook!

It is wonderful to have a husband who can cook better than I do.. For the past few days, Sugar has been the chef of the house and I am one very full-tummy mummy!

How I wish he could cook more regularly and make me put on weight!

Here is one very yummy steam seabass pic...Impress?

Back to normal...

Our long holiday has come to an end... Arrived the UK on Sunday, and for the next couple of days, we literally slept and did nothing!

Sugar is now back to work, I am now back to my normal stay-at-home mum life. The babies are getting their routine back.

It is lovely to be back, in a way... even though we miss our family in Malaysia dearly!

An elderly woman knitted this cuddly toy!

Very lovely... Nanny gave Lily May this teddy as one of the Christmas presents. Love the colours and love how it feels when I hold her.

This teddy looks very 'homely' and I instantly fell in love with it. Just the other day, I was flipping it around trying to find where it was made, hoping to find her name too, but could not find any labels. So I asked nanny where she got it from. To my surprise, it was hand knitted by an elderly woman, whom she looks after on her day-care job. The woman is in her eighties and I she loves knitting on her free time!

It is good to know that someone made this with love, and we are loving it as much as the woman who knitted it!

Home, faraway

We are going home to Malaysian in March, to celebrate my brother's wedding!

Also, one good reason for a holiday abroad. It is going to be our very first family holiday with two young children. Very looking forward to it.

It will take us at least fourteen hours to reach home by an aeroplane. Too far, and I wish, one day I could live closer to my family, and closer to home, fourteen-minutes-drive will sound ideal!

Selling our Quinny

I am sorting out some baby items, to be given away to friends, to sell or to give it to the local charity shops. It is quite sad though, as we are not having any more babies. Babies grow so fast, or rather the time passes so quickly... My two babies, are no longer newborn wiggly babies....

I would very much love to keep most of the items. Due to storage problems, and we are also planning to move, it is only wise to give those items away, to those who would use them and love them!

Of all the items, there is this Quinny travel system that I am planning to sell it. It is very expensive when we bought it in 2010 before Jinc arrived. Hardly used it when Lily-May is born as she has got her new buggy! Furthermore, Lily-May can't fit the infant car seat anymore, she has since move up to Group 1 car seat. See this link about types of child car seat, it is very informative!

Blogged about our Quinny when we bought it in January 2010.. Can't believe it, we are now selling it!

I am a member of Netmums, so it is very convenient to advertise locally on its nearly new section. I am selling it at £200, inclusive of pushchair, carrycot, Maxicosi car seat, car seat adapters, rain covers, shopping basket, Quinny storage bag and full instruction manual. It still looks brand new!

Hope someone out there will think this is a bargain and bring it home!

I feel very emotional packing and clearing away all these 'used' baby items!

On the eve of Christmas...

..we were snowed in. Pics shown the snow in our garden!

It is very nice we are going to have a white Christmas. Looking out the window, it is plain white and the flying snow flakes are simply beautiful.

Hope the snow will stop soon so we get to drive to nanny's on Christmas Day! It is Jinc's first Christmas and also our very first Christmas to spend at Nanny's....

I must make a note to thank Nanny. I am so grateful to have her as Jinc has the privilege to call her nanny. She is like a real grandma for Jinc, indeed. Now, a little bit about Jinc's English Nan...

Nanny's real name is called Pauline. She is in her sixties, and her husband is called Stewart, who Jinc calls him granddad, and he is in his seventies. They are both the regular customers at Sugar's restaurant for the past few years, and have become good friends with us. When I gave birth to Jinc, the first few weeks were extremely difficult for me to cope, as a new mum, the sleep deprivation, the complete change of having a newborn was a very daunting experience. I have no family support, as our family is too far away in Malaysia. I was also experiencing difficulty in breastfeeding Jinc. Pauline suggested that I try to give Jinc some formula milk, and then she just rushed out to Tesco and got me the very FIRST tin of formula milk for Jinc.

Yes, she did a brilliant job. The formula milk was like a miracle milk indeed. Jinc had a small bottle and he could sleep so well. That was because he was filled up and able to sleep more, for longer hours. Me, happy mum, as I finally got some rest. I could not thank her more.

Today, Pauline is like a mother to me, I will go to her for advice, and this Christmas, we are going over to hers, it is like we are going home for Christmas! She is my English mom, Jinc's English nan!

Some good news...

Sugar and I are hunting around for a bigger property for our 'expanding' family. Before we make any offers to the property that we like, we sorted our mortgage application. That way, we will be able to select the property based on the price range that we could afford. We just do not want to burden ourselves, because paying a mortgage is a long term commitment.

Today, our broker called us and confirmed that we have got our mortgage approved. The application is valid for the next six months only. Things sound good at the moment. We have looked at a few properties around our area, and still, we cannot seem to find the ideal place that we want.

I got a feeling, this might take a bit longer than I expected...For the time being, I still love our current two-beds. Although I really fancy to move to a bigger house, but, it has got to be the right one. I believe, we will be able to find 'the one' when we least expect it!

The house is so quiet now!

Argh, my mum and sis have left. They have gone back to Kuala Lumpur. The house is so quiet now, things are back to normal, we are back to our normal routine, and Jinc misses his grandma and aunt terribly... I miss them too.

When Sugar goes to work, it will be just me, and Jinc at home. We watch tv together, we sing nursery rhymes, we play peek-a-boo, we have fun bath time. Just mummy and Jinc, and I am sure Jinc would love more attention. Therefore, these days he become quite clingy.

Things are back to normal...I will again, plan my week with Jinc, when to go shopping, when to go meet friends for coffee, when to go to the baby group, when to go to the park,when to have friends over....We have got a whole list of fun things to do.

Isn't life great, as a stay-at-home mum with a 4-month old?

Now, questions that bother me and I have yet to have a proper answers:
1. Do I really want to return to work when my maternity leave ends?
2. How well can I cope as a working mum?
3. How to handle work-life balance?
4. How sustainable is single household income for us?
5. How about planning for baby no.2?

So, for now, Carpe diem....

Daddy's Birthday...

Happy Birthday to Daddy.... we love you loads...

No special birthday celebration, but lots of cuddles with our bundle of joy!

Cooking for two...

Ever since my maternity leave starts, I am throughly enjoying my time staying at home while Sugar goes to work. I enjoy cleaning the house, doing the laundry and my favourite of them all would be cooking for two!

It makes me very happy every time Sugar comes home to eat. Sometimes he will call me from work and ask what dishes I would be cooking, then we can kinda plan the dishes on the phone. I absolutely love it! When it is Sugar's day off, he will cook for me, and he loves cooking as well.

With the cold weather, and blasting heating these days, I boiled some Chinese sweet soup to sooth our appetite, and to stay warm. Picture shown one of my favourites, it is easy to make and it is white fungus with sweet red dates, lotus seed and dried longan. Such a winter warmer, the Chinese way!

I love our home...

Ever since we moved in to the new house, we have been constantly adding new things, be it in the kitchen, the bedrooms or the lounge. As the weather turns cold, we bought some new throws for the sofa, so we can stay warm while watching TV. The new Missoni throw that we bought is really comfy and warm. This afternoon, we go back to buy another one. I love the colours and the fabric, I am still thinking to get more of those, who knows, I can get the smaller size for my baby, as a blanket. We still have more things to get as the baby is arriving soon.

I really enjoy shopping for the household products. I absolutely love shopping for baby products too. I have changed so much ever since I am pregnant. I no longer go mad about shoe shopping. Perhaps the changes in my body shapes put me off all sorts of shopping for my wardrobe. I just cannot believe that as an expecting mum, this is such a massive change. I am becoming so adapting to housewifery. It is such a great change and it is soemthing good, I believe...

This is a nice feeling. I love our home so much, there is nothing like home. It is the safest place in the world, it is full of love, it is ours, it is such a happy place. We hope one day, we can afford a bigger house, and live happily ever after with our family.

Bluebelle~

Bluebelles in the garden, so lovely.

Sugar and I found a house, and we are planning to move.
We want a nice lounge that Sugar can put a 42" flat screen, and his reclining TV chair, and I want a walk-in wardrobe. I want a big bathroom so that I can display my collection of rubber duckies. Besides, a small and decent garden will be just perfect. I thought I would love to have an organic patch...

The house we saw is a very small two-beds, so we are not too sure now. It is at the location that we both love, and it is also the only choice that we can afford at this moment. It is such a tough decision...

With the two-beds, we would have no guest rooms and nursery!