Quick Update

My first day at work and Tyler's first day at daycare went smoothly. However, we must be a little jet lagged as we both zonked out from about 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm. I had to wake him up and man, was he mad!!

We had good reports from the Daycare and apparently they said he was angel and such a good baby as he didn't cry nor poop! Will they regret that when he finally goes!!

Tyler maybe still adjusting to time zones and woke up every single hour last night. Geez, now i can empathize with those other poor parents!! I just hope he gets back to his 1 feed during the night routine pretty soon!!

Malaysian Adventure Part 2

After returning from KL, I decided to spend the last few days in Melaka resting and just spending time with family. So, that's what we did. My granpa came by to visit a few times and to play with Tyler. One of the nights we visited one of my uncles and Tyler had a chance to play with his sweet little cousin who had an ever ready smile at all times.

Sweet little Sin Yee with her cutest smiles

Then it was time to leave. We decided to take a slow drive down to Singapore by making a few stops along the way. First stop was in Muar to see my old old school classmate of mine whom i've been best of friends with since we were 7. We reminised about the silly things we used to do as kids and had a good laugh about it. It was nice short visit and we were off.

Ee Chien and Tyler

Next destination was my old hometown that i grew up in - Batu Pahat. I was completely overwhelmed by all the changes that has happened. We stopped by to visit my 3rd uncle from my mom side and his family as well as some of my dad's old friends. I also gave one of my closest friends Chin Yen a surprise call and she was more than happy to meet up for dinner. We went to my favorite eating spot and had a good time catching up with recent developments. That night we stayed at my old house(which is being sold) and even had a chance to meet some of my old neighbours which was such a bonus.

Dinner at Glutton's Square for some yummy hawker food

The next day, we went out for some breakfast and made our way south to Johor Bahru. We visited 2 of my friends who happened to live 5 mins from each other. How lucky!! We spent a couple of hours with Yen Phing who just had her 2nd baby and am I glad to announce, i'm not the only baby with troll hairstyle! But troll or not, she was such a cutie. Her sister, whom we met on previous trips has grown so much and is so pretty and spent a lot of time talking to us and showing us her pretty new dress.

My favorite hairstyle - La Troll

Then we went to visit Ju-Li and her 2 boys. I was so impressed at how well behaved and good natured they both were. Jared especially was so sweet and constantly gave in to his little brother Jaden. It was nice to see Ju-Li again but soon, it was time to leave for our final destination - Singapore.

Ju-Li and her boys

We drove across to Singapore without much problems and even found my cousin's house without getting lost, thanks to my cousin's good directions!! We had a good time getting to know some of Tyler's cousins that i've probably really met for the first time. They were very sweet and loved taking care of Tyler while i caught a quick nap! We had a nice time catching up and left shortly after dinner to go spend the night at Aunt Shirley's apartment.

Picture with Cousin Yu and family

Again with good directions(we're not so good with directions in foreign asian locations) from my cousin, we found Aunt Shirley's place. After a quick cuddle with Aunt Shirley, we were happy to retire for the night.

Cuddling with Aunt Shirley

OK, it's once again 1 am in the night. I'll continue again another time...

We are home!

After 2 weeks of being apart, our family has finally reunited today. Tyler and I came home after a long 24 hr travel and Alan got home today after spending 1.5 weeks in Shanghai.

We spent the day just hanging out and catching up on sleep.

As it is 1:32 am and it's my first day back to work tomorrow and Tyler's first day at Daycare, i'll update more on the later part of our trip some other time.

Adventures in KL

Well, it's not exactly super exciting adventures but after a few days of rest in Melaka, we went to KL to visit a few friends and relatives.

First stop was my sister's house. We stayed overnight at her new apartment and went out for some super good pig's intestines soup. The next day we went out for some pampering at a hair salon that took 4 hours to get my hair done(too much hair) and also cost a poor person monthly wage!! Then we visited my oldest aunt and later some shopping therapy. I have to say things in Malaysia seem really expensive.


Kim and Chui Li(check out her fancy hair do)

We met up with Kim(sister's hubby) for dinner before we parted ways and went on to Aunt Jessica's house who also lives in the same apartment block as my brother and his family and my sister-in-law's sister. So, we got to see them as well.


Big brother Daniel with Baby Tyler


Picture with Aunt Jessica and Eric(my brother) after a good meal at a Shanghainese restaurant

After lunch wiht my aunt and my sister in laws other sister, i was off to meet up with my high school classmate, June who also has a baby - Justin. She came by to pick me up to go to her house for the night. That night another old school mate came by with her daughter and we had a good time catching up and laughing like we were 17 years old again!!


Picture op with Justin. Tyler said "It was him who farted"


Picture of us with our precious ones

On Sunday, after a quick breakfast, June and Allan dropped me off and we went off to meet my 4th uncle and his family. They were all quite taken by Tyler and took pictures with him. Tyler seem quite happy to be in the company of so many pretty young aunts!!


Picture with the Kim Ton family

My uncle gave us a treat at a Teochew restaurant and i had my fill of Teochew porridge which is probably one of my favorite food.

With that, we left KL and went home to Melaka. It was a hectic but fulfilling time of visiting family and eating good food!!!

Siew Gin and Tyler in Malaysia

We safely arrived in Singapore at 12:40 am on Jan 12th and were met by my parents and Aunt Shirley. We had a good night sleep in Aunt Shirley's place and left for Malaysia the next day after lunch.

We came back to Melaka in time to have dinner with my brother, Chin Chin(his wife), Daniel(my nephew) and my grandfather. Daniel was very excited to meet Tyler and couldn't wait for him to wake up from his nap. He was a great big brother to Tyler and constantly protected and played with him.


Me, Daniel, my brother and Chin Chin

The next day, it was my Mom's birthday celebration. After a morning of mad rush and cooking, we were off to my Grandpa's house for the event. It was nice to see all my other relatives that i haven't seen for a long time and everybody had a good time cooing at Tyler.


A group picture of all the babies in the family

My grandpa seemed to take a liking for Tyler and got a few cuddles in. He seemed to be very impressed that Tyler was smiling back when he talked to him.


Photo-op with Great Grandpa

After eating, we sang a Birthday song for my mom and managed to cram everybody in for a picture.


Birthday song for mom

Suprisingly, a lot of my relatives thought that Tyler looked caucasian and many of them commented that he looked like Alan. I think they must have forgotten what Alan looked like!!!


Group picture of the family

Alan free at last!

While Tyler and I are off galivanting half across the world, Alan took the opportunity to go skiing at Vail with Steffen and even took a curling class. Yes, curling!! Apparently it was quite fun.

We'll have to get Alan to write something about it sometime since all i heard was it was good and the class was actually taught by one of our badminton club members!

Siew Gin and Tyler on the way to Malaysia!!!

After a last minute decision made by me and a quick passport application for Tyler, we were off to Malaysia via what i think as the worst route ever. We flew to Chicago and then from there, a disgusting 15 hr flight from Chicago to Hong Kong. The guy on the phone told me it was a direct flight!!! (another outsourcing problem???)


Tyler and I at Denver Airport

I have to say that United Airlines is not very child friendly at all as they didn't let the passengers with kids board first. I thought they used to do that. And their bassinet is a joke. It was like my grandfather leather duffel placed on the floor by the aisle! I was constantly afraid that somebody was going to step on him or spill hot stuff all over him. So, half the time he was in my arms which wasn't that bad.

But our little Tyler did well and impressed everybody around him by not crying during the entire ordeal apart from when i didn't offer him food fast enough.


Tyler waiting for flight at Hong Kong Airport

Anyways, another 2 hr wait here in Hong Kong and then off we go to Singapore where my parents hopefully will be waiting and maybe a good night sleep??

Hope to see some of my friends back home.

Stay tuned for more adventures. Pictures to follow soon.

He thinks he's a big boy now

Tyler is now 2 months old and it's funny that he thinks he's a big boy now and refuses to lie down. He prefers sitting up and even tries to walk if you put him on his feet.

Here's a picture of him trying to walk. Will have to find out if it's a myth or not that walking early may lead to bow-legs. Seems a little like a grandmother's tale to me. How is the muscle going to get strong if they never stand on it while being supported?

Infant Massage Class

On Sunday, our friend Veronica invited us over to their house to attend a private infant massage class with them.

We went over there about noon, had some light lunch and sat down in their cozy room for some infant massaging. It's supposed to make them relax. The instructor taught it by showing it on her little doll while the parents took turns to massage the kids.


Parents learning infant massage

Mateo seemed to enjoy it tremendously and smiled and cooed the entire time while Tyler whose attention span seemed to be shorter got a little impatient and had to be walked around. Didn't help that i woke him up from his nap either. hehehe..


Mateo enjoying his massage session


Tyler getting his massage from Daddy

We only had time to work on the legs, tummy and chest. Next time we'll learn more about the hands and the face. But I will have to take some time to try it on Tyler sometime!!

Introducing Kitty

No, it's not our second child. It's actually our stray cat that comes to visit every now and then and i have to say the first cat that i actually liked. It's soooo cute and affectionate - just like a dog.

When i was pregnant, she used to come in and relax with me on the couch, purring and demanding attention. She even responds when i call. I don't really know who owns her or what her name is, but if she sees me outside, she comes running to me. Awwww... probably because she knows i'll feed her.



She is so funny and goofy too, dashing everywhere and falling off stairs and everything. Provides quite the entertainment for me. She hasn't quite met Tyler yet as Alan is often guarding Tyler protectively. Maybe when he's a little bigger....

Tyler Travel Bug

Most of you may not know this but Alan and his parents are big geocachers. Geo-what, you say. Well, to make it simple, geocaching is basically a global treasure hunt where people go around looking for "treasures" using their GPS receivers. To know more about geocaching, go to http://www.geocaching.com/

Anyways, grandma Evelyn created a Travel Bug called Tyler and Teddy that has a mission to travel from the US to the UK. This travel bug is left at a geocache and when people visit it, they can help it travel but putting it into another geocache.

Here is Tyler with his Travel Bug(he's even been to a few geocache hunts with Daddy!!):

Happy New Year

Wishing all of you a very Happy New Year and may 2008 bring you joy and health and all that good stuff!

To ring in the new year, Alan and I were invited to 2 parties. We found it hard to decide which one to go to, so we went for both!!

We first went to Armen's house who was celebrating it with his Japanese hiking group friends. Even after a huge dinner, i couldn't resist tucking in the feast some of his friends has prepared. I had some traditional New Year cold soba with tempura and Armen's borek. They were delicious.


Tyler enjoying the company of Matthew and Taka


Alan and I having a Karaoke challenge(can't believe he won!)

Alan provided entertainment by singing Karaoke on the side while Tyler babbled to all the guests. It was funny Tyler was talking louder and louder to match the volume of his surrounding.

Then at about 10 pm, we made a move to Halden's party. It was a small party especially because everybody left shortly after we arrived. We had a nice visit with Halden and Julia and counted down with a bubbly apple juice!


Enjoying the count down with Halden and Julia