The World of Nana

5 months from the day she was born, we checked her mouth.
AIIKK? Got 2 teeth wor..Haha :-D
It was so cute!..Kept opening her lips and playing with it. Even proudly showing family and friends. Look, Nana has got teeth. An infant with teeth.

(You have to forgive my over-excitement, means its time to wean her soft diets!)

This papa ah, keep playing with my mouth only~~

So mommy decided to cook porridge. It took some time, well, there was always a first time. And it didn't taste exactly the way i expected, but boy did she enjoy it. Nana had the pleasure of tasting her 1st mouth of porridge, and it was a real joy for us to watch. We even captured it on video, the way she chewed and swallowed her food, the way she smiled with the food inside her mouth. Papa had the honor of feeding Nana on her 1st time, yay!

Come Nana, 1 mouth at a time. Slowly does it.

A cheerful eater is a healthy eater

I made sure i blew off the steam long enough in fear that Nana would burnt her tongue. Other than that we were afraid she wasn't ready yet and might  choke on the food. Surprisingly Nana chewed and swallowed like a duck taking to the water. She was contented, happy child.

And looking back, i cherish that memory as the second sweet valuable one that i would bring to my grave. .

My good girl Nana

Fist bump for a successful 1st time

This was the baby walker we had bought for Nana earlier. It has a 2 in 1 function, can convert it into a rocker, too. Came at an affordable price. Most importantly, Nana looked good in it and its child safe. Its play pan has a few features like monkey-on-the-pole, space shuttle, a make-imagine steering, and a duckling that turns with it.

I'm the martian baby from outer space.

It even has 3 buttons with music features to listen to. Nana can familiarize herself with the sound of cow, dog and cat. These are good tools to distract or console her whenever she cries. But most of the time, she would go for the steering like it was a big sugary donut, a sign of her tooth erupting and she needed to bite a teether.  


Nana never really enjoyed sitting too long in the walker though. She prefers us to carry her and walk around, that "manja" girl. Sometimes however, mommy would place her in the walker while doing housework eg. cooking and as long as Nana sees mommy around, she's fine playing by herself.

I wonder when is lunch time..

I kinda forgotten the occasion but one day we decided to have steam-boat. Maybe since it was a weekend and we had time to go Tesco for grocery shopping. Anyhow any weekend that we were both not on call was worth celebrating for the simple reason that...I HATE WORK!.. just kidding, I was ventilating a bit.

"Steam-boat" a chinese cuisine

We used the electric cooker that Karling's grandma bought as a present for us. Its the modern preparation of steam-boat without the conventional gas stove and gas cylinder beside. All ingredients were fresh from the market eg. the prawns, clamps, vegetables, fish balls etc. We used chicken paste for the soup. With the correct temperature, and placing the ingredients in the correct order, everything was cooked and ready to be eaten together in no time.  

A bit grand for the 2 of us

The Master Chef and little eater

That was yummy indeed, mommy cooks good.

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Whenever i come home, i just can't wait to see Nana, to hold her and carry her and to play with her. Maybe because she is a girl, she tends to be more fidgety when being carried. When i carry Peter, he stays calm and its like holding a soft-toy. Maybe its just her. Nevertheless i would put up with her struggle because i desperately want to win her heart, against the odd that all babies prefer their mother. I refused to give in until i can pacify her and she's willing to accept me.

I could hear papa's heat beat.Its like a...heart beat. Wait what am i saying?

Sometimes when i'm taking a nap, Karling would lie Nana next to her daddy. i love the closeness of her lying on my chest. At 5months she is still small and light enough to sleep on top of me. Nana needs some1 to accompany her to sleep. With mommy's milk and either 1 of us putting her to bed, she could easily take a nap for 3 hours straight during the day.

I'm a princess. I like to be carried.

Welcome to my world

Babies need visual, mental and hearing stimulation as early as possible. That's why we got her a Fisher Price mobile ( ya that's what they call it) that turns with lullaby. Since it was a manual one, no sooner does the mobile stops playing, Nana will start "complaining". Then we would come and turn back the music and rewind the show. A baby's world is so fun and care-free, if only all of us could remember how colorful it used to be.


The thing about childhood memory,..is strange. The earliest memory i had during childhood was when i was 4 years old, during a separation for a brief period from my mum. Perhaps i could remember it because it was traumatizing for my age, that it carved a deep marking in my remote memory that i could recall until now. Thing is, we never remember sweet memories before the age of 5. I suppose there are reasons why human mind works in peculiar ways.

Papa is like a giant looking down at me from above.Haha

Hehe, i live in a colorful world

This is part of Nana's world. She spent a lot of time here. We made it as interesting and cozy as possible, all in the name of love. She's got a nice baby pillow and mattress with cartoon bed sheet. She's got colourful teether, a cube soft toy and not forgetting the Fisher-Price mobile above her head. If you haven't notice, Nana also has a green multifunction dinosaur named Jabberwocks on her bed. He's meant to be Nana's guardian angel. We bought it from Pavilion after watching Alice In Wonderland.

Today i'm 6 months old, when is papa coming back to celebrate with me?

Today, 27-07-10 is the exact day she turns half-a-year old. It warms me to see her at the end of the day, playing and smiling by herself, just before bedtime. Nana is a good kid, and she's growing at the speed of light. I can never come to terms with how she could grow so fast. The only thing i could think of now is to work harder and improve myself, my career; to be the best papa for her as she crosses every crucial stage of her life. Amen.

Woo~woo~Papa, you're finally back. I miss you~

爸，你回来就 好。不需要 什么， 你已经是我最好的礼物了。

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Bonus video: Nana's 1st feed

Lunch at Malacca

< 04-07-2010 >

The next day, we woke up in a hotel room after a good night's rest. The feeling of not having to think about work is simply a bliss. Waking up in the midst of family is warm. After so much we've been through together, looking at where we stand now, i should be grateful to God, for keeping us together.

Nana woke up with a smile. She didnt need to be hustled to her babysitter like every early morning. She woke up cheerful in the company of equally cheerful parents and grandparents. And that's another blessing of not having to go to work. We fed her milk, got her ready, and off for brunch in Melaka town.

Happy Meal at Chicken Rice Ball Shop

Mum grew up in Melaka. And almost all her siblings still stays here. She comes down less than half a dozen times in a year whenever there's wedding, to visit grandma and run some errands. She is fit and very independent when it comes to traveling. She books her own flight and train tickets online and knows what to do when there's a last minute change in schedule. She leads my dad when traveling.

We had chicken rice ball for lunch! Its at A 'Famosa Chicken Rice Ball shop at the traffic light juncture to town and Jalan Hang Tuah. Spot the Mercedes-Benz showroom and the restaurant is a corner lot. Been in business for a long time and even expanding a branch , that would count for authenticity in the midst of many mushrooming chicken rice ball shop.

The 1 and only, Malacca's Chicken Rice Ball

In order to be ahead in this competitive food market, chicken rice shops now introduce other equally tasty side-dishes to whet the appetite and provide a very fulfilling "makan" (ie eating) experience in Melaka. The chicken comes in 2 varieties, either steamed white skin or roasted chicken. Most people would go for a mix of both, dipped in its moderately spicy aromatic (some foreigner might find it pungent) garlic chili sauce, the taste is simply superb and mouth-watering.

To accentuate the experience, one could ordered stir-fried vegetables and oyster sauce tofu as one of the few special side-dishes offered. And who could forget the chicken rice itself, rolled up in a ball slightly bigger than a ping pong ball, which already makes it so special, made complete by the yummy taste that no other place in the world can be made available other than in Melaka.

For dessert, they even have the locally famous Cendol Ais in gula Melaka. Now that's a complete food-tasting experience in Melaka. Of course this place offers many other local cuisine such as Satay Celup, Baba & Nyonya dishes, Asam Laksa, etc, which can mainly be found in Jonker Street or Melaka Raya. 

Locals have industrialize the production of chicken rice ball by inventing a rice ball-popping machine.

Nana enjoying our company, and having a little taste of Malacca food.

We parted ways soon after that, not knowing when we'll meet again. Telling ourselves in the back of our heads, most probably next year Chinese New Year. Spent a little time some more, before Nana bid bye bye to her grandparents and 阿叔, and we headed back to Seremban, just in time for early dinner. We dropped by Mc D's in Jusco Seremban 2, before going in search of Nana's next essential stuff.

Who's cuter, me or momma?

Me me, hands down. Cos i can suck my fingers and momma can't.

....A baby car seat. Which all cost oh-so expensive even after price-cut. The good ones would cost more than RM300, while the cheapest we could find was nearly RM200. All these while while traveling I would be driving while Nana would safely be in the hands of Momma. Since she's already fit for long distance traveling, we thought we should invest in her safety even more by getting a baby car-seat for her.

Shopping for a car seat

Nana look sooo cute in the car seat. She felt very at ease and comfortable. I could imagine the good ones would totally engulf her in safety and security while momma can drive in peacefully on the road. However, today is not the day-to-be for us to bring home one due to its overpricing. Maybe better luck next time to find the right one, perhaps during a baby fair.

Sorry Nana, but you would have to wait. Instead, we got you...

It feels so royal this could be my throne..

Half Ivan, half Karling = Christiana

A Walker!!! A striking yellow baby walker! Nana would fit right into it and become striking herself. It even has a play pan with music buttons. Nana's attention would be glued to it. We fixed it up after Nana was fast asleep, looking forward to present this wonderful toy to her when she wakes up :-).

The next best thing to a spaceship

ps Today was our 1st year wedding anniversary. Time flies and God has already blessed us with one.

Melaka: Revisit,Reunion,Wedding

{ 5 months old }
03-07-2010

It must have been an auspicious date, that my cousin from mum's side choose to tie the knot with his high-school sweetheart this day. It was a day of union between the 2 lovebirds, in the historical town of Melaka, the bridegroom's hometown. His sweetheart hailed from Penang, which is Malaysia's other Unesco World Heritage Site.

The bride's family and entourage had traveled from Penang and made their pre-wedding preparation here. In the morning, my cousin the bridegroom, hailed from the Yeow clan, set out with his gang in an entourage of white cars to fetch his bride. Prior to receiving the bride they would have to overcome various challenging obstacles set up by the bridesmaid's family as a part of Chinese wedding culture and tradition.

...something like what i had to go through, only that i heard they had it far worse than me.

The arrival of the wedding entourage, 
the moment everyone has been waiting for.

We waited at the bridegroom's house at Ayer Keroh, all of us. My mum has a huge family of 10 siblings and the Yeow family now spans 4 generations at "press time". Everyone waited expectantly outside the gate when words were out that the entourage were on their way.

At last, their arrival were preceded with loud -blazing car honk from hundred of metres away...another part of the chinese wedding tradition. It was a grand sight with the lining-up of half a dozen wedding decorated white cars. Leading the pack was of course the bride's brand new Toyota Altis, followed by other white Mitsubishi Lancer, white Mazda 6, etc. Truly a brilliant awe-inspiring white theme.

Nana, momma and Chi Phoy waiting at another wedding event

Average of RM 120 K for each of these posh cars

And that was just the build-up to the climax, wait till you see the bride and her bridegroom emerge from grand leviathan (sorry I got a lil' bit carried away by the excitement). The massive descend of 2 angels, bringing shock and awe to every witnesses. My cousin looked the part in a sharp suit and a fashionable short neck-tie. The bride was pretty and her smile bright it charmed everyone. Her wedding gown accentuate beauty and grandiosity. Together they're nothing short of spectacular and touching...

 A Love Story

My cousin bros, Dandy Yeow Swee Han the lucky man, Felix and Leonard

 

 Grandma and granddaughter happy posing in front of the wedding car. My mum, a grandma at 55 years old. Come to think of it, its about time.

Tea-serving ceremony. The elders get served tea, drink it and gives ang-pow (red packet) to the newly-wed to equip them for a journey of lasting love, to go forth and multiply.

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Today's wedding provided us a chance to our own family reunion. Melaka became our meeting point, a place 8hrs away from home, Tanah Merah, by land journey. Mum and dad still lives and work there. Chi Voon is studying aviation in Johor while Chi Phoy just started his dentistry course in UKM, KL. While the 3 of us are sort of settled-down in Seremban. Our family is just all over the country, ironically.  

When ah ya (grandpa) was still around in Kuala Krai, Kelantan, the Yongs never failed to meet up every Chinese New Year. We even had a weekly family gathering among us, our grandparents, family of 1st aunt and 2nd aunt (dad's side). Ah Ya passed away in 1999. Since then, 1st aunt and her family moved to Subang Jaya while 2nd aunt and hers moved to Melaka.

So here we are, paying our 2nd aunt and husband a visit. They live also in Ayer Keroh, away from the terrible traffic jam which plagues Melaka town centre. Their 1 son and 1 daughter weren't around. But guess what, they have a new addition to the family, KENDO~.

Nana's first time meeting with her 2nd grand-aunt 
and grand-uncle. She was a tad distracted by Kendo.

The princess loves all the attention she gets from "the Elders"..

Until she came upon...KENDO! When they met, we all immediately felt a very tense situation boiling. We weren't exactly sure who was intimidating who.

Kendo 1st greeted us fiercely inside the gate when we arrived. For such a small being, he packed quite big firepower for his size. He's usually let loose around the house, but for us, Kendo had to be wrestled to the ground by uncle. We later realized that Kendo was very much being treated and spoken to as part of the family, and he never had any restrainer on until we came and uncle had no choice. One thing for sure, Kendo was very eager to "engage" Nana, and vice versa.

Status: friend or foe? Unknown. The observation continues...

It seemed that Kendo's master, my uncle, bite even harder. 
He used to be a school head disciplinarian.
My mum: :_l (tightening her grip on Nana).

Nana got an ang-pow (red packet) from 2nd aunt. They have 
called for seize -fire. Nana...is safe,my mum..is relief.

My uncle used to be our favorite. As a child, i used to find him very jovial and funny. With his loud piercing laughter, he was the heart of any gathering. Somehow as i grew up, we fell out with each other, mainly based on the issue of religion. Me and Chi Voon used to have sleep-overs in 2nd aunt's  house when we were little. They own a computer with computer games which seem sooo super-duper cool back then. They own every boy's dream of virtual entertainment that parents over-their-dead-body wont buy for fear of affecting their children's studies.

So here we are now, in our aunt and uncle's house, all grown up. Dad sure had some catching up to do, but with the state of once a close knitted big family being scattered, we were simply glad to see each other. And happy for each other for their respective new family editions..Nana and Kendo..

The Lord blesses us and keepeth us. 

Nana is very intrigued with her "treasure". 

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The wedding banquet that night, held at a school multipurpose hall, a 10 course dinner. We arrived late for reasons i forgot, presenting ourselves like embarrassed VIP. By the time we sat, we were just in time for the second dish. The video presentation of the wedding day events was playing, the wedding photography presentation was rolling. I had only 1 important task to carry out, which was to pacify Nana.

My double chin gives you the delusion that i'm overweight. 

But my growth chart is just right.

I can't enjoy the food cos i've got not enough teeth. {frusrated*#+}

    Nana dressed in yellow, the little Tweety Bird, 

with his 2 handsome uncles.

After countless wedding banquets i've attended, its only fair for me to provide my humble evaluation on the banquet, to keep myself occupied while waiting for the next dish. 

Ratings ( 5 points max):

Food               :    *****    Delicious and something different. Well selected menu.

Waiting time  :    ****      We had the karaoke performers to keep us distracted from our hunger.

Environment  :    *****    Very happening.

Entertainment:    ******   An extra star for the bridegroom's solo keyboard performance that awed his bride and even me.

Crowd           :     ****       Well behaved, not too rowdy.

Booze            :    ****        Fine wines, but the big guns were limited.

Nana's behavior: ***         Cranky all the time, her 1st time in a big crowd. Had to maintain her cool being passed around from 1 relative to another.

Herbal chicken in a steaming casket.

 Definitely something different.

2 of my favorite uncles, uncle Jimmy and uncle Francis.

My dad entertained the crowd with his oldies, from

 the side of the stage, behind the DJ, for free.

Well, wonderful traditional Chinese wedding that was. We enjoyed ourselves, with my immediate and expanded family members and relatives. Its the occasion to celebrate union and reunion; catch up and be merry. Time flies, i'm seeing my younger cousins blooming into school kids and teenagers. I hope we'll all stay happy and joyful forever, healthy in mind, soul and body, and may God bless us in all our endeavor. 

Lets have nicer stories to tell the next time we meet again.

Remember my 2 flower boys from my wedding, Felix and Leonard

(from Left) Uncle Jeremy, me, Ah En (En Cik), Ah Yang, Karling & Nana (zzzzz),

Chi Phoy, Uncle Francis (drunk), Aunt Lilian, Mei Xian, and momma.