Our little photographer boy

It has been a few months since we let Josiah have a go with our faithful 4 year old, Canon Ixus 50

Initially, all he did was look at something through the screen thinking that he had taken a photo. After showing him how to press on the button, he went through a phase where his fingers would block the entire picture. But behold, with some practice, here are some of his prized photo shots of things that matters to him.....



Of course this is only a fraction of his gallery - the rest have to be censored. Especially photos of Mummy in her pyjamas sitting in front of the laptop!







Our living area or better known as Josiah's play area - Mummy's hair on the side!




I quite like this shot of the Ferrari or was he trying to take the trampoline...

A nice photo of Daddy from ground level.

This was a nice one too - he lined up the motorbike guy next to his favourite ambulance (aka nee-nah)

Of course, plenty of shots of his favourite train Thomas & Friends but I think one is the best.

Happy Birthday Mummy!

Aah, it is the time of the year again, time to ponder over the last 365 days (normally without much recollection), one year older, one year wiser....

I must say that this year I had a pretty full on celebration. More so that last year when the big three-oh happened. It started with some unexpected visitors to London, our church friend from Australia was here with the family and since the father was working - I ended up being tour guide for the day. So off we went, four kids aged 8, 6, 4 and 2 plus two brave mothers conquering London buses, Tubes and tourists crowds. Since the kids had watched Annie 2 - the movie, they wanted to see the actual site where it was filmed. Only thing is they are only able to give a simple description that is was near a lake and had a statue nearby. Whoa....Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park has plenty of those. But being kids, they were happy to see a few and each to them was the "correct" one :)

We then hopped on to the famous London bus so the kids could sit on the upper deck. Josiah and I in our regular handicapped/ stroller spot below. The kids kept asking me to bring Josiah up but then I know that with the swerving bus and the steep steps up to the upper deck it would be too dangerous. So in the end, after sitting a bit upstairs all the kids came back down to accompany Josiah. After some yummy lunch of Pizza Hut (my first time in London), we went to Big Ben for some photos. We parted with the promise of meeting up again on Monday when Shaun would be on leave.

That same night, my good friend LS came from Nottingham for our yearly "girly outing" - which normally entails lots of chatting, shopping and chinese food. We had a nice spa planned next morning and then off for some dim sum. In the afternoon, I took her to Portobello Market before spending the rest of the evening in the park.

On my birthday, we had a slow start and nice Japanese lunch. We then bought a small cake to bring to church so we could treat the believers after the bible reading. Josiah was a happy chap at the mention of cake. He had a big slice and was hyper from the sugar afterwards.

What a lovely weekend it was - a gentle reminder that it sometimes gets better as we grow older. Looking forward to next year's birthday then :p

Big Josiah and small Josiah

With Jeff and Wendy Walker

Group picture with the believers at Hope Hall Assembly

I love Mummy

Josiah has got a fever since yesterday afternoon. He was up about 3 times last night and has been lying around this whole morning. No appetite and no energy to play, so I have been giving him lots of hugs. So when he said, "I Love Mummy" - my heart melted instantly.

Folks, it does take 2 long years but it is worth every bit of it. I shall savour the moment whilst it lasts!

I love you too Josiah!

Do check out the new videos posted on YouTube, just click on the picture on the right.

We miss home....

I have our family photo in a frame on display and have seen Josiah stopping by to look at it. I wonder if he remembers everyone in the family, I know he can recognise their faces but can he still remember the fun times he had with them. I'd like to think that he does and that he misses them as much as I do....

We miss everyone back home.

I wonder what is he thinking?

He is all excited now

Our family in Malaysia

Naughty Milk Tales

Of late, Josiah can understand when reprimanded for naughty things which he does. One of his favourite naughty thing is to pour the remaining milk in his bottle on his bed, then tells you that it is wet. The few times I have caught him in action - I told him that he is a naughty boy.

One morning, Josiah says, "Naughty milk" trying to blame his bottle for the mess. *Roll eyes*

Guess he figured out this wonderful thing called 'blame' - see, you don't have to teach kids to lie, they do it naturally.

On the other hand truth may hurt......

After a nice meal with another young couple expecting their first baby, I told Josiah that there is a baby inside the mother's big tummy (she is due anytime now!). Just to check if he understood what I was saying, I asked him again later that evening, where the baby was. He pointed at Aunty A's tummy.

Well done Mummy, I taught him a new concept and was feeling quite pleased with myself until he pointed at my flabby tummy the next day saying there is a baby there!! Sniff...there goes my over-inflated ego.

This week, Josiah also reached another milestone this week by managing to stay awake for 12 hours straight without a nap! Amazing feat for a 2 year old. I was exhausted and so was he by the time it was bedtime. Sadly, he did not sleep through the night as he was probably too tired so kept waking up crying through the night.

Here are some pics from my mobile :

Bath times are still his favourite - he plays with the same toys everyday, his pink bowl and blue boat!

My two boys outside Buckingham Palace.

Weekend Getaway - York, 6th March 2009

Seeing that our passports were being held hostage by the UK immigration for work permit renewal, we are unable to book any cheap getaways out of UK. So we settled for this offer from Times newspaper which gave us rail tickets, 2 nights lodging, 2 breakfast and one dinner for 240 pounds. So off we went - our first holiday of the year!




Friday:


Since the rail tickets were open tickets, we took our time to have a proper breakfast before heading to London Kings Cross to catch the train. In fact, the trains that go to York come by every half hour so it was really no waiting time at the platform. We got a nice seat with a table so Josiah could play with his trains and look at the scenery. Two hours went by in a jiffy and we were in York! The Royal York Hotel was situated next to the train station - very convenient. Room was huge with lovely furnishings and a built-in trouser iron board! We set off to town which was about 15 minutes walk and came up to Betty's, a renowned cafe in York. Although it was a working day at 2pm - there was still a queue to go in. Everyone told us to try it out and we were not disappointed. Even Josiah the pickiest toddler in London ate heartily. We had their sausage and rosti, Betty's rarebit and scones. All done to perfection...yummmy...what a lovely way to start the holiday. I was even happier when Josiah fell asleep on the couch after eating, something he has never done before. Normally, he'd be crying and fretting until we get him into the stroller and push him around so Shaun and I managed to have our scones like normal human beings. Eating at normal chewing rate. Sipping tea leisurely. I told Shaun I could live in York, his response was - you've only been here an hour.... maybe, but I've not felt so relaxed in a long time.




We walked around York town and managed to get to York Minster just as the church bells started playing hymns. Beautiful. By the time we got back to the hotel, it was dinner time and we adjourned to their dining hall for our complimentary dinner. Although we were stuffed from lunch/high tea, we were not able to cancel it to another night so just went to taste the food. It was not too bad but definately not worth 50 pounds as per price on the menu!




Saturday:


Josiah woke up twice last night just to remind me why I find holidays so tiring. At least he was well-rested so we could be about our touring in peace. We went back to the York Minster for the full tour, unfortunately, they do not allow kids below 8 years old to go up the tower so we had to skip that. It is a lovely church with beautiful stained glass windows, high arches and mozaic tiles


There was going to be a choir performance that night so university students were practicing their pieces. Perfect timing since I love to listen to choir singing. We stopped by 31 Castlegate for lunch and received dagger eyes from the couple on the next table (probably hoping for a romantic meal). Shaun had his fish and chips while Josiah had his chicken and chips. I stuck with my boring chicken mushroom pie.




Next stop was Clifford's Tower which has rebuilt after 150 Jews committed suicide there. We climbed up the tower having to carry Josiah for the view but there wasn't much up there. Not the best 6 pounds spent. We walked around town some more, scouted for the meeting the next day, took shelter at York Minster again and settled back into the hotel.




We were still full so we jumped into the "heated" swimming pool. Once again, I find it misleading as it was C.O.L.D. But the new wetsuit I bought Josiah definitely helped but boy did his lips turn BLUE. He did enjoy it a lot and learnt how to kick his legs... time for swimming lessons? We ended up at a Tex Mex restaurant for dinner and Josiah did a great job of feeding himself so Shaun and I could have a proper dinner. Except the food was so-so and service was slow. Oh well.

Sunday:

After a harrowing night of whining and crying, Josiah ended in our bed and continued the torture by kicking me the rest of the night. I was quite glad it was morning so I could jump out of bed with the lil monster...grrr....oops, it's Sunday...must not be distracted...

We took a taxi to the meeting in St Andrew's Evangelical Church and passed them our commendation letter. Josiah immediately made friends with a boy and started playing behind the hall. He was good the rest of the meeting and we had a wonderful morning having fellowship with the believers there. We couldn't stay after the breaking of bread as we had to check out of the hotel by noon.

Our final stop before leaving York was the National Railway Museum. Josiah had a ball seeing so many trains on display. After an hour, he wanted his Thomas and promptly started playing with it on the floor. Time to go then....

The trip to York was our first holiday of 2009 which I would say went quite well despite the rough nights! All of us felt relaxed upon our return to bustling London and looked forward to our next adventure in Estopona, Spain in April.

Till then, here is the link to York photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/meiyeeleow/YorkTripMarch2009#

Random notes to myself

My toes have not seen sunlight since October last year with exception to the 3 weeks back in Malaysia. They are always wrapped in socks or house slippers! Josiah too - only time it is not wrapped in a sock is during bath time :p

Swimming in a "heated pool" during winter is a bad idea. For one, the water is still cold although it is considered "heated". When the cold air hits you from the pathway of the changing room to the pool, it is enough to send me running home (except that I paid 5 pounds for entry so must at least dip in the pool for xxx amount of time to make it worthwhile)

Josiah has new bad habit of wanting to cut his nails - sometimes, it is the first thing he asks for in the morning. Or when I am out at the shop or in church. Annoying.

I love to vacuum. And I love my Bosch vacuum cleaner.

I have newspapers delivered to me on Mondays and Thursdays. Why? Because it takes me about that long to finish reading it.

Josiah is still unable to climb up the dining chair at age 2yrs 2 mths!

Josiah's latest fascination with Thomas the train has resulted in my handbag getting heavier - I need to bring at least one train with me at all times. He will asks for it when we are waiting for the bus, sitting in the bus, sitting through a ministry or eating in restaurant.

Josiah can now say his name and likes to call himself "Josiah baby"?? Dunno who put that idea to him. He sometimes refers to Daddy as "Small Daddy" and sometimes as "Big Daddy" - ????

When asked to say Josiah Ow Yang, he'd normally say Josiah Ow Pang and if I correct him, he'd say Josiah Ow Pang Yang!!!

Josiah still remembers when Kong Kong and Po Po took him swimming in Awana. He says. "swimming Kong Kong"

Josiah will say, "Tickle Mummy" then runs over to tickle you.

Josiah can sit on the potty for about 5 minutes but he doesn't know what to do whilst he is sitting there. I tell him to try and "shee shee" or "mmm mmm" then he will grunt and say "it is stuck"

So much for potty training

The cold air and hard water causes your skin to dry up like prunes here. So I would have to moisturise every day - you would know if you have missed a spot on your body because it would be scaly and itchy in the next few hours after bath! I have never used to much moisturiser in my life being born with enough oil on my face to fry an egg! Poor Shaun who has dry skin - he needs super moisturisers like Cetraben which is way too oily for me (see I told you I was full of oil!)

Josiah can still wear some tops which are meant for 9-12 months old baby!!


Here are some random photos as well:

Josiah in a snowsuit I got him last year (to fit 9-12mth old) - it still fits!

Josiah in a nice outfit after attending Val's 70th birthday celebration

Josiah exercising on his trampoline - best 9 pounds I have spent.

A blurred shot but this image really captures Josiah - sweet, fun & playful

He may not be able to climb up the slide but once up - he loves the ride down