Smart alec in the making?

Tyler's been on potty training forever and i'm sure he knows it, but he just can't be bothered to do it. So, it frustrates me sometimes when i'm changing him and we get into this conversation:

Me : Tyler, did you poop in your pants?
Tyler : Nooo..
Me : Are you sure??
Tyler : My no poop in pants, my poop in diapers!!! (my == I)
Me : *roll eyes*

Tyler's dorky days

As most people know, kids can be quite funny sometimes. And here are some of Tyler's dorkier days. He will probably sue me in the future for these damages!!

Dork second runner up: sun glasses sitting between the eyes and eye brows, complete with Gilligan's Hat and a funny pose

Dork Runner Up - Entertaining baby brother with "drum" and shaking his head and laughing like a crazy maniac

Dork Champion - Looks like a runner in diapers, complete with I-shuffle attached to diaper!

Cody random shots

Since i've been doing lots of blogs on food, i thought i'd better put some of the kids too! Here are some of Cody's recent pictures and some updates.

Cody's sitting is getting better and i noticed he can actually correct himself when he's about to topple over when he's sitting.

He seems to be interesting in what is going around him and is constantly grabbing stuff around him and putting it in his mouth.

Like most breastfed babies, he is a true Mama's boy. It seems a little early to me that he's having stranger's anxiety, but he does cry when somebody else carries him.

Oh, he weighed in at 15 lbs 6 oz at his last weight check. And his grey eyes are on its last legs i think as i can see brown creeping in. Another pair of grey eyes bites the dust.

Anyways, here are some of the pics, I know you guys are only interested in the pictures anyways!

My little grey-eyed cutie

Due to the heat here, it's not often he gets proper clothes on.. only when he's indoors! haha!

Big drooler

Hat on a hot day

He's actually wearing Tyler's pants.. not sure whether i should be sad or happy that my 2 yr old toddler is sharing clothes(not hand-me-downs) with his 5 months old brother

Life without chores...

is a life worth having! :)

Our maid finally arrived this week and i've been quite happily enjoying more of my free time. It's like a god-sent good feeling everytime I walk into the kitchen, it's clean! Maybe i'm weird like that, but i hate it when my kitchen is dirty. My room can be a walking disaster and it doesn't bother me that much but my messy kitchen just puts me in the bad mood.

Anyways, Rhose is a quiet lady and seems quite good with the kids. Tyler bonded with her almost instantly which is a change from his usual aloof attitude. She's been helping me out with cleaning and cooking and sometimes entertain the kids. I still do most of the stuff with the kids like feeding Tyler, bathing and stuff.

I've been requesting for her to cook some Filipino food for me and it's been interesting. I can't say it's like awesome good, because i feel like i'm eating poor people's food! For example, i bought meat just to make spaghetti bolognese and she only used a little of it, so our spaghetti sauce was little sad and to Alan's dismay, had hot dogs in it!

Anyways, it's been a nice change since she's been here as i don't spend every bit of my spare time cleaning. Every night i even get to go for a walk in the park after i've put Tyler to bed. I figured i'd better burn off the extra calories that i didn't burn. It was crazy but i managed to get rid of my last pregnancy pounds in the last 2 weeks from just staying home with 2 kids and doing all the crazy chores. I sure don't want it to come back

So, there you go.. here's an alternative. If you didn't marry a filthy rich man, move to a poor country!

Banana Leaf - Greenbelt 3

Alan surprised me by suggesting we eat at a Malaysian restaurant this weekend. It's been 1 month since my last Malaysian meal, so i said, "Let's go!"

The restaurant was in Greenbelt(another Mall) which was a beautifully landscaped shopping paradise. I'd like have spent more time there, but with only 3 hr windows between Tyler's meal, we focused on matters at hand.

The restaurant was a clean looking restaurant with simple designs. I dove into the menu at first chance and started on my complicated meals comprimising plans. You can only eat so much in one sitting. Darn it! Alan, with his predictable selections, was done in 3 seconds, while i was still pulling my hair trying to figure out how i can eat everything i was craving, 10 minutes later.

Anyways, here's what we had and my reviews.

Alan : Chicken Satay

The chicken satay was suprising tasty and tender though i have a strong suspicion that they fried the skewers to cut down on cooking time and maybe finished it on some fire to give it the charred look. The peanut sauce was little too sweet. But over all, passable.

Mine : Penang Char Kway Teow

This dish failed it's look and smell test from the start as it didn't have the charred look and smell that Penag Char Kway Teow must have. However, the taste was actually not too bad except for the slightly sweet taste which i think from the cook adding sugar to the dish.. what the heck??!

Mine : Sambal Kangkong

This typical Malaysian dish was probably the best dish they had that night as the kangkong was tender and the sambal of good flavor. But if you want to be picky, you'd say it lacked belacan. But again, it didn't say belacan in the name, did it??

Mine : Hainanese Chicken Rice

If HCR tasted like what they served, it wouldn't be famous in Malaysia! :) I'm not saying it was horrible, but HCR is a comfort food of certain standards. The chicken has to be tender and juicy and rice fragrant and for me it has to be a chicken leg. I asked for a chicken leg and the waitress said, if you want a specific part, we'll have to charge you extra. So, i ask her what part does it normally have? And she said, "I don't know". I was like "HUH????" Anyways, my chicken came both in leg and breast(yuck!) meat and no, i didn't get charged extra!

Alan : Prawn Toast

Alan never fails to order this dish if it was on any menu(except when i make it!!). But the people at the restaurant must never expect anyone to order it as it took the longest and ended up looking like this. They probably said, "Prawn toast?? That was a joke dish!! Now, how do we make this thing??!" Alan seemed to think it was not bad even though he too was laughing at how it looked. But i didn't think it taste good at all.

Alan : Roti Canai

Roti Canai, even the most pickiest eater would love it. However, this restaurant managed to butcher it. BAD! The Roti Canai was dry and tasteless and what kind of Malaysian restaurant serves roti canai with no curry sauce?? You have to pay extra for curry sauce.. shame on you!

Anyways, so, my take is, as a restaurant, most of the food except Roti Canai, was quite tasty and passable. But as a Malaysian restaurant, it wouldn't be a place I'd immediately think of for delicious Malaysian food.

Happy Easter

Since last year's Easter Egg Hunt with Tyler was such a disaster, we decided that we'll give it another go this year. We saw that the local park was doing one and we woke up bright and early, fed Tyler and headed at slightly after 10 am because Alan said it started at 10 am. We got there and were a little confused when we saw that the crowd was dwindling and people were packing up and of course, no Easter Eggs. We were thinking, it's supposed to go till 4 pm. Maybe this was another weird Filipino thing with time.

Anyways, the only thing available was a photo booth which we happily went to pose for. Tyler was being his 2 yr old self and didn't want to try on anything.

So, here's our Easter Photo..

I actually thought i look quite good with pink curly hair and Alan said my Versace glasses went well with the rest of the joke glasses.

In the evening, when we went by the park again, i read the sign again and guess what it said?

Time : 8:30 - 10:30 am

Ohhhh... right...

A day out on a quiet day in Manila

Manila would probably not be described as quiet. But on Holy Week when everything is shut, it is practically a ghost town.

Alan suggested that we went for a evening stroll to take some pictures. Here are some pictures of the surrounding area of Ayala Triangle a usually very very busy area.

Tyler watching and laughing with his silly mommy in the middle of the street

Tyler busy taking pictures too

Our little photographer with his camera.. i think it's cute he hangs it on his shoulder

Fountain near Peninsula Hotel

The Shangri-la

 No cars on Ayala Ave.. unheard of.....

Park at Ayala Triangle

Testing out some night shots.. wish i went with Snehal for her photography class!!!