Moments in My Life

Dylan and Bryan’s Mommy wants to find out what I really wish for this coming Mother’s Day.  I know if I wish for a whole day just for myself, this will never come true.  Because we will definitely be doing something as a family this weekend.  So to be more realistic, I wish to spend Mother’s Day with my family and enjoy the trip we are so looking forward to going. 

Read here to find out more on what these mums like to do, and add urs to the list..and pass it on!!!!

Mumsgather on What I REALLY want to do on Mother’s kiDay

Vien on Not to lift a finger on Mother’s Day

Mott on All lil kids who aren’t feeling too good to heal

Shooi on kids to have a stress free bedtime

wHOisBaBy on Spending Mother’s Day with the family

We usually suggest for anyone is visiting us from abroad to shop at the Factory Outlet Malls.  In fact we will be bringing my brother to several of them this weekend. Prices are always so much lower than what you can get from the retail stores. It is a big saving if you are buying for the family. Especially for people that live outside America, they find the price is so much cheaper than they can ever get from their own country.

I am pretty familiar with the Factory outlets around my area. But once is outside Los Angeles, don’t ask me. You can go check out eFactory Outlets. As my brother will be traveling to the East Coast mid of May to visit friend, he may want to look into some New York factory outlet stores that may be close to where his friend is living. You don’t have to be an internet expert to use this site. Just click on the USA map on the states you will be visiting and a list of Factory outlet malls will pop up on your next screen.

I posted about how hard to put Brandon to sleep earlier today.  Tonight, he surprised me.  The process went well, although I still had to sit next to him.  I was quietly reading my June 2006 Reader Digest. 

After his night time milk, his Daddy took him potty and changed his diaper.  Daddy came out to wash the milk bottle while Brandon was still resting on his bunk bed.  No one went into his room.  About 5 minutes later, he came out pulling me with him to go inside.  We read Bob the Builder, then Winnie the Pooh several times and then Good Night Moon.  What surprised me was he willingly turn himself down on the the bed without me telling him.  He even asked me to ‘kam pei‘ (cover blanket) for him. 

I sat VERY quietly trying not to bother him tossing around, although I was watching him from the corner of my eyes.  He fell asleep in less than 10 minutes before the clock turned 10:30pm.  Of course I was glad because now I have an hour and a half of my own time.  I will head to bed around 12am after taking him to the potty.  Now is time for me to do some surfing.

My friend used to work for Sony Picture Studios in Culver City. He had stopped working there now that he moved to Las Vegas. But right before he left his job, he invited me to visit the studio. I was thrilled about the trip.

We had lunch inside the studio (fast food, nothing fancy) and he brought me over to view some of the movie sets. He told me most of the furniture and electronic items on the set were rented. And since my friend was working there on contract, his office had several MacBook Pro rentals on the desk that belongs to CRE. And once the work contract is finished, they just need to return all the office furniture as well as the computer equipments. It is much easier that way as the studio does not need to store them when these items are not needed.

We started to have Brandon sleeping in his own room when we bought the bunk bed from Ikea back in November last year.  Now he is sleeping by himself in his own room through the night. 

Since then I get to sleep on my own bed next to my snoring Hubby (which makes me want to go back sleeping with Brandon on certain nights).  The transition was smooth but we still have bumps on some nights.  Most of the nights, he will sleep through after I took him to potty around midnite.  Some nights, he will wake up around 3am and looking for us.  I will walk over and take him to potty, give him water or just tuck him back in his blanket.  Some nights he will wake up around 4 or 5am asking for milk.  As long as he is not crying or screaming, I am fine waking up to attend to him.  

The only wish I have now is for him to be able to sleep by himself.  Most nights, he wants Mommy to be next to him.  I am also fine as long as he shows me effort that he is going to sleep.  But not all the time.  Sometimes, he will go up and down the bed asking for this and that.  Some nights, he will just toss around so much that I know he is very tired but he just doesn’t want to close his eyes to sleep.  If I spent more than 30 minutes sitting next to him, I get tired as well, and I will doze off sleeping on the Ikea POÄNG Armchair next to his bed. 

Sometimes, I get really upset because I am all tired by the end of the day and I need some rest time to myself.  I will walk to my own bed and let him do what he wants in his own room.  I lay down.  The next thing is he comes running screaming for me.  He will pull me down from my bed to go to his room and asks me to sit on the chair while he continues to play.  At night like this is my patience is tested and I failed.  I will scold him for not sleeping.  It will usually be over 10:30pm by now.  He will end up crying and that will make him a little more tired and he will doze off almost immediately after I ’sayang‘ him back.  I will tuck him in his bed, and I will be able to walk out and he will sleep by himself … he will fall asleep FAST (tired from crying).

I don’t want this to be the solution and hope to find other ways that will help him to sleep on his own without having to have me besides him. 

Can you share with me some good suggestions on how you put your kid/s to sleep on their own in their own room? 

Since moving to United States, I have been introduced to different types of salads and healthier food choice. When I was staying in Malaysia, we never really care about our health, until we get sick. We eat out a lot of times and can you imagine how unhealthy hawker’s food is? Probably a bowl of ‘Curry Laksa Noodle‘ has higher cholesterol than you think. Thanks to the coconut milk in the broth.

I have never liked salad but I’ve learned to enjoy it with different type of dressing available in the market. Here, we prefers eating healthy and organic food as well as taking daily supplements. I have my glass of milk every morning with my peanut butter jelly toast. Then I will take my daily supplements, including folic acid, vitamin C and Calcium.

I am thinking to start my son with the nutritional supplements such as cod liver oil. As a child, I remember being given one table spoon of this everyday. Now I come to understand that this cod liver oil provides our body with essential omega 3 fatty acid. Back then, we were only told it was good for us and would keep us healthy.

May be I should start getting the Garden of Life Cod Liver Oil from Choice Nutritionals. This online nutritional supplemental store has many more high quality products that you may find suitable for your lifestyle. You can even find organic skincare and environmental friendly products from here. Each product has a very detailed description with good picture representing the item. I briefly browse their website and found several products that I would need for my household. May be you want to check it out and hopefully you will like this online store as much as I do.

This was my first wedding ceremony and reception on a yatch. Hubby has went to several, but I wasn’t with him. It was exciting and we were so looking forward to this event since the beginning of the year.

That Sunday 4/27, we left home to drive down to Newport Beach around 3:35pm.  It was a very hot day whereby the temperature hit above 90s (could be over 100).  Hubby was wearing a tux while I choice to wear a simple two pieces top button down with a dark grey skirt.  We arrived at 4:30pm and there was a huge crowd waiting by the dock. 

Around 4:40pm, they allowed some other guests to get on another yatch.  At around 5pm, they allowed the guests of the Ambassador to board.  The ceremony was held on the middle deck.  There are a total of 3 decks on this yatch.  The bottom deck where there is a lounge and bar area.  The second deck for the ceremony and later changed into the reception area.  The top deck is roof deck, open air with view.

We sat at the back row since we hardly know anyone there except for the groom’s parents.  I lined up to sign the guestbook which turned out to be the picture frame of their wedding picture.  It was then I saw the groom and congratulated him.  I joined Hubby and Brandon after I was done signing.   The ceremony started almost immediately after everyone signed the guestbook. 

After the ceremony was over, the guests were told to go down to the bottom deck for a drink while the relatives stay back on the same deck for pictures.  We went down and had couple of drinks (non-alcoholic).  A while later the groom and bride came to join the party.  A few guests have come up to the front to address the groom and bride and the toast were done then. 

It was probably 630pm by then, and we were again invited to go back up to the 2nd deck for the reception dinner.  Each table was meant for 8 guests.  The groom and bride sat by themselves in the front facing the party.  We were seated with another 3 guests (groom & bride’s college instructor plus 2 daughters).  Even before I saw down, I was amazed by the center piece of each table.  It was a small aquarium with two little gold fish in it.  We played a game before the dinner began and the winner (not us) would take the centerpiece home with them that night.

Because of the small space, each table was called up individually to take their dinner from the buffet set up by the dance floor.  The menu for that night had salad with red wine dressing, steamed vegetable, garlic sauce penne, shrimp with white sauce, prime rib, bread and butter.  After dinner, they showed a slide show with a touching speech ending by the groom and bride. 

Then the games begun.  We didn’t participate in the games.  I would like to share an interesting game that was play that evening.  Guests were asked to contribute any amount of money to a pot.  Only those whom added will be able to play the game.  The MC gave the bride a cell phone and had asked her to slip it into the groom’s body from top to bottom ot bottom to the top.  I wasn’t able to hear clearly the rules.  At the same time, the MC will annouce the cell phone number, one digit at a time.  The participant guest whom able to call in successfully and have a short conversation with the bride win the whole pot.  Interesting right?

After games were finished, they open the dance floor for the bride and groom.  Then all guests were invited to joined in.  Brandon wanted to dance so we headed onto the dance floor a few times.  He wanted me to carry him all the time though.  I was tired because Daddy didn’t want to show off his dancing skill by going out with Brandon. 

The yatch docked after 9:30pm.  We were the few first guests whom left the yatch.  It was Sunday and Hubby needed to go to work the early next morning.  We arrived home around 10:30pm.

Overall, it was a beautiful wedding. Everything was so perfect.  Kudos to Richard and Pauline. We had a very good time, even Brandon approved it.  At least he didn’t make a big fuss being inside a yatch with so many new faces. 

Here are some pictures to share.

I love to continue learning more and more of any fields. I graduated with a major in Chemistry but I hardly apply it to my daily life. As I am blogging for paid post and also thinking of starting an online business, I may eventually prefer to have a degree in Business and Internet Marketing. I highly believe that with the skills I learn from the Business and Marketing Courses, it will provide a base for me to succeed in the internet business that I planned to start.

Being a stay at home mom, it will be difficult for me to find time to leave the home to go to school and classes, even to a nearby college. It is not easy to find a reliable baby sitter for my daily trip to the college to be looking after my son.  One way for me to continue my education is to take the Open Learning Degree from Kaplan.

I will be able to choose to take any of these degrees from Open Learning at Kaplan: Business & Management, Marketing and Sales, Entrepreneurship and Internet Marketing. Unlike the traditional college, Open Learning from Kaplan has frequent start dates and once an application is submitted, it will only take a few weeks to start your classes (subject to successful interviews and enrolment process).

With Open Learning, I can study where I want and when I want, as long as I am connected to the internet. May be I shall get an Iphone so I can study while I am in the car while my Hubby is driving when we are going out. :)  There are downloadable prospectus and virtual tour on their website which I will look into for more information about the different programs later after my brother leaves.

Although this is an online degree program from UK, it doesn’t mean that you won’t get interaction with the other students in the class. There is a discussion forum available for each class and there is where you can post items for other classmates to read, and since each class is limited to only 20 students max, you will be sure to know all of them. And who knows, you may have a class with multi-nation classmates.