Purchases for the kid

Do they look familiar to us Malaysians? Except of course the model baby-lah!

Was browsing the net yesterday looking for some kiddy stuff online. Just doing some online window shopping, if you know what I mean.

So I just simply typed on Google search for "baby rocker/bouncer" and guess what? I found it online selling for Euro 300.- plus including DHL delivery!!! I was so shocked to actually see the price of this item produced an Australian company (not entirely sure here), that I had to check out the price again; TWICE! There's a similar product, this produced by a Swiss company which costs about CHF200.-. And mind you, this product has been around for only a few years back, say since 2004 or so? And as far as I can remember, baby rocker/bouncer existed in Malaysia since I was born! And that's about more than 25 years ago!

The online product I saw doesn't look as solid as the ones we have at home. And ours even have wheels attached at the bottom and its much bigger in size compare to theirs! My point is; WHY DIDN'T WE MALAYSIANS MARKET THIS STUFF OUT TO THE WORLD AGES AGO? We could have "sapu" the market up first than let the ang mohs make a huge profit out of it.....

Its not that we don't have the capabilities to actually change the product to suit the market, its just that I think that either we're just too concentrated on our own country that we forget about there's the rest of the world out there, whose money we could earn from. OR we Malaysians are just plain too lazy to think about the global market until recently? And recently, I can tell you there's only a handful of products listed as Made in Malaysia and most of them consist of food items! I haven't seen any Malaysian Batiks around here either, be it in France or Switzerland, since they make so much hype about marketing this art to the world a few years back.

And why are they only making these so called "road-shows" locally and yet their main objectives are going globally.... There are so many exhibition or road-shows they could find out and join. Like the Eclat De Mode, Interselection, World Food Show in Paris, HANDARBEIT & HOBBY in Germany, Hobbycrafts-Birmingham, the U.K etc... Perhaps joining trade shows aren't enough, due to the costs etc. Perhaps, what we really need is a better chain of supply, i.e. better websites which is updated frequently for a better and safer online shopping experience? I mean if other SMIs around the world can do it, why not SMIs in Malaysia? Think about this, they (the SMIs) could go directly to their customers, cutting off the need of the middle man, thus cutting out the cost. B dealing directly with the customers, they could also find out what's the current market trend etc because there's communication.

Oh well! Its always easier said than done isn't it? But I believe that if there's a will there's always away. So for now we're just content in getting the crib instead of the baby rocker.

Choosing baby names...

Its hard work I tell you! There are so many names that one can find online these days and for free! I don't understand why they still produce baby names book anyway? I seriously don't think its worth the money to buy them as you'll be only using it for say 2 or 3 kids (or more if you like) and will either give them or throw them away.... And let me tell you, even if you buy it, you don't necessary choose a name from it! This is because may be the names are too "unique"/special to even say it out loud (on top of your lungs) when you're angry at him/her later for being naughty....

There's always the telephone directory if you don't have internet excess or go temple (Buddhist/Hindu) for the priest/monk to help one choose a name. But then again this will cost you several Ringgit as you need to make a small "donation" to them. OR do what one of my friend suggested, go thru the Bible (no pun intended here)! One will bound to find a name there right?

As for us, we're still looking around online. Chose a few of them that we like and could actually say it when we're angry. Why a few? Because from there we can stream it down to the ones we really (REALLY) like and that can be translated into Mandarin. Why translate an English/French etc sounding names into Mandarin? Well let's just say, when you're born Chinese, you'll always be a Chinese no matter how "banana" you turn out to be later in life! Plus I find that it's better, short, sweet and simple to look at; be it on the birth certificate, ID, driving licence etc. Our reason is why have long names? Why complicate things? I'm not saying that by having an English/French name on top of Chinese ones aren't nice but its just too long don't you think?

Recently, one of my SIL called and ask us what are we going to call our baby. So hubs just casually say the ones we chose and that we're not definitive on any of them, although we already have one special name in mind but didn't tell her yet. She was like;" all of them is nice but too American/English. Don't you want to have a French name?". Its not that we don't want a French name, just that we find it difficult to translate it into 2 syllable in Mandarin! And plus you don't need a French name to be French or have French nationality! Look at Johnny Hallyday! His name isn't French, more American than French and yet he's the famous French singer! Or Bruce Willis, his is more French and yet this actor is American. So my point it, you don't have to be that particular nationality to have the name!

Names play vital part in our lives. Without them, we can't tell who is who! Naming children happens to be the job of the parent of the child in question nowadays. Unless of course you have to follow "orders" from your ancestors, like this generation have to have this name included and next generation have to have that name included etc. Then my friend, you're in deep waters liow.... Sometimes the business of naming a child could turn a family upside down with different opinions from every family members; "this name too common, not nice, to difficult to pronounce" etc. My sister was basically on the verge of break down every time her in-laws talk about this matter before Evelyn was born! This is just because want to "jaga hati orang tua" a.k.a, give face to old people. I though that I won't face problem this until now from my SIL!!!

My thinking is, we'll be the ones facing our kid 24/7/365 for the rest of our natural lives. What has naming our own kid has anything to do with you? I don't recall us saying anything when you guys were naming YOUR kid?! And its not that the name you chose for your kid is any nicer than the one we choose for our kid.

There! Got it out of my system. Advice for future parents; naming your kid is YOUR OWN BUSINESS. Even though other family members, especially parents, siblings or in-laws, may have their own opinions, just listen to them but name your child as you want in the end. OR better yet, just tell them, "Why don't you have your OWN kid to name after?"

3-D ultrasound...

Our little sleepy head....

Yesterday was an exciting day for both of us... We went to see an ultrasound "specialist" for a 3-D of our angle. Learnt about this place from our birthing class just this week. Another couple wanted to do it but I think was scheduled at a later date.

Its really amazing to actually watch your baby before he/she is even born! The best part of the entire 1 hour or so was we get got to see our baby yawn and in action on the over projector from the ultrasound. Needless to say both of us were just speechless as we watch silently. I didn't know babies could yawn or make funny faces while being inside....

The best of all is we get a CD and DVD, with 2 print outs (from any image we choose) for the price we paid. Which is not cheap since its just for the "fun" of it. Apparently here, these images can not be considered as the official ultrasound scan that our doctor uses. Well to make the "photo album" the images taken were 1st "cleaned" up by the technician. Its like using a basic Photo Shop or Paint Shop Pro to lighten, "cut" away unwanted "hats" etc and to "turn" the image around. No, we can not add or make major changes to the image, like drawing a moustache or making the eyes look bigger etc. Any ways, we can't even see the eyes here since its shut!

There are some difficult part when it comes to this. Sometimes the baby in question, is hiding some where in there and we can't seem to see him/her/them! We almost couldn't see ours face-to-face but with some chocolates, our baby was at least "reacting" to the taste! hehehehehe.... Ah... the wonders of cocoa! I hope our baby will not fall for chocolates that soon yet though.....

What I've been up to lately...

Hmm... Its difficult to precisely put it in order. Well let me start from the time I got back from home, a.k.a Malaysia. For the 1st week, lots of washing and cleaning to do around the house. You can never leave a man alone too long at home; the only thing he'll do for you is vacuum the place. Laundry? lets just say he does only his own when he HAS/FORCED to do it. Coming home was not all relax, take it easy and all. I had to rearrange stuffs that we got from home. Basically almost half the stuff belongs to hubs. I didn't go crazy this time, unfortunately....

WIP - Forever Friends wedding sampler

Then there's an annoucement made by my dear friend whose getting married in a weeks time. I was planning to stitch a wedding sampler for them as gifts at least a month before their wedding but she decides to "drop the bomb" on me just as we were about to fly back..... So its a rush job for at least a week now. Well not exactly a "rush" thingy if you consider how many hours I put in to stitch it; 2 hours max and not everyday..... I can hear my mum saying; "Get your lazy bum together and get moving!"

We recently enrolled ourselves in a course that's called; preparation for birth. Which teaches and discusses everything about being pregnant, the development of baby for 9 months, positions of giving birth, breastfeeding methods to taking care of him/her on returning from hospital. Mind you, there's just 8 classes in which both of us have to attend in the evenings, once a week. Its nice to get to meet other expectant mothers but its even better to get to know how to "do it" and what to do when the time comes. Just pray that hubs don't get all panicky etc by then! these classes are conducted by a mid-wife (a certified one-lah!) and is reimbursed at least half by our personal insurance, which is GREAT!

And then lately, we've been a little busy looking up on baby products; clothing's, cribs, strollers and what nots. There are so many brands out there and wide range of prices that comes with it. Baby products are not cheap every where in the world, be it from Canada, to Malaysia to Australia! So we decided to make a list of only necessities and not niceties. We seriously don't think a baby is going to care what his/her room will look like, in what colour combination and does it have laces or cars. Amongst the few things we got was a sturdy crib, along with its mattress and sheets, a tub, a stroller and also a child/baby car seat.

Babies grow up fast as well, in a month or two, expensive and most likely 1st hand clothing will either not fit them and or worn only once or twice, which is a waste of money. So what I did was to take in hand-me-downs from my sister and sister-in-laws. Its not that I'm being stingy, it just that I don't see the point of buying new and or expensive clothing for babies. But when they grow older, may be, may be not. I remember the time when we wore hand-me-downs from my cousins. The only time mum bought any new (or sew) clothing for us was before Chinese New Year and during the once a year grand sale. The maximum both of us could buy was 3 pieces each, which already costs a bomb for my dad.

Oh well, we'll just have to see how far we can stretch our budget for our kids as they grow. For the moment, I just got half the clothing from my sister, some 2nd hand ones from a shop selling them and only 3 brand new ones. I'm still waiting for more clothing to come from my sister-in-laws when they come over for a visit this June.

Was a really short trip...

Welcome to the Year of the Boar! HK Times Square.....

Its been a month since I've up kept anything here. Reason being I was back home in KL for the whole month of Feb, just in time for CNY. Well a month came and went! How time files!

The first week when I arrived, was sick! That's a really great way to began the week, no? I'm blaming my sister for not telling me she's recovering from flu BEFORE she decides to pick me up from the airport... But then again, if she didn't come pick me up, I won't be able to get to see my adorable niece, Evelyn! She's a ball of fire right! Have a feeling that she'll break lots hearts later...

The little angle in disguise with mummy...

This time around I feel the weather is not like the usual CNY time weather. It used to be hot and dry come every CNY but this time, its cloudy, rainy and really humid/heavy. I was really uncomfortable, added up with the double body heat and the weight of it all. Man... I can tell you the whole month I was grouchy like Oscar in Sesame Street!

To add up with the grouchiness, I had to re-faced the way Malaysians drive on the road! Sad to say even with what the traffic police etc is doing now, it's still the same scenario 2 years back! People just don't signal to where they want to go. Better yet, they don't know which lane they are suppose to be in or go to, and queue cutting is just so normal now. Crossing the street via pedestrian walk way is just as hazardous as crossing without it! There's once I was crossing half-way through the zebra crossing at IKEA parking. This middle aged guy in a big BMW won't even let me cross through it. He just make sure that HE CROSSES FIRST by speeding just 2 meters across the bumper to make sure he gets there! I mean, wait a minute. Its just 4 more steps for me to cross!! sigh... Selfishness and being too proud is the key word here. Everyone does it and have it in them, even my dad! So this time around he got both ear full from me...

Then the signboards going to IKEA or any other places: Putrajaya, Cyberjaya etc. Really bad! I mean how can you place them on the junction? Isn't it suppose to be at least 5 or even 10 meters BEFORE the junction? And what's with tress covering all those signboards? Ok, may be the municipal wants a green image for their town, but its not really funny when drivers gets lost at the same time wasting fuel and time. Petrol isn't dirt cheap now.

Hubs and the tank

Any ways, places that me and hubs did go to was the KLCC Aquaria. How can we sum it up? Entry ticket was RM28.- for Malaysians and RM38.- for non-Malaysians - EXPENSIVE! Why? Because besides their "main attractions; the underwater tunnel, the seemingly small aqua theater, the "trapped" weird and wonderful creatures/tube tank and their over BIG gift shop, there's really nothing to shout about. What really disappoints me is that there's no enforcement of camera flashes being used for picture taking and the noise kids tend to make while on their visit. Didn't they know, camera flash lights, plus the shouting and screaming of kids could stress the animals/fishes/reptiles etc? Needless to say, we didn't enjoy our visit there at all.

Look out for the shark!

The crystal clear pool.....

What we did enjoy was the numerous makan trips, window shopping and also our visit to Avillion at Port Dickson. Avillion was expensive but the place was great for a weekend get away from the city. We took the water chalet and it was gorgeous! The open shower concept, which brings in natural light into the whole bathroom area, reminds me of back at my maternal grandparents place in Kuala Pilah. I really like the property but too bad the sea is a bit off to swim in. Well, we'll just make do with their lovely pool instead!

Hong Kong night light....

We did however make a quick trip to Hong Kong to see my brother-in-law. Was our first trip there and surprisingly it was not as cold as friends tell us this time around would be. What can I say about Hong Kong? Many people; people mountain, people sea, lots of skyscrapers, tiny walkways, great shopping places; so many shops, so little time and MONEY (!), good food; if you know where to dine in, and clean streets with no sign of traffic jams! And did I mentioned there more taxis than privately own cars? And get this, any Tom, Dick and Jane could be seen with a Louis Vuitton bag. I've never seen so many LVs around, even in Switzerland! And I don't know if its fake or not! Any ways, I'm not bothered as am not a fan of LV, Gucci and Prada. Too common brands and too many fake goods around....

Well that's the resume of our trip. Was fun but tiring and short. There are how ever some points I may leave out. Will blog about them the next time eh?