Experience being ‘At the Top’

Before we returned to Malaysia for good, we had to go on to Burj Khalifa, world’s tallest building at 828m. It was known as Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration on 4 January 2010.

We each paid AED100 (approximately RM87) to go up to ‘At the Top’ observation deck on the 124th floor on the building. Public visitors are allowed 60 minutes on the deck. We were done in less than 30 minutes. It was just 1 round to walk on that floor and nothing else to do other than taking photos.

Ok, it was still an experience. Now we can say we have been to the top of the world!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View of Address Hotel (top left) and Dubai fountains

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glaring sunset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outdoor observation deck

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baby shower

I know…this post is long overdue. I had some time and found these photos. Brought back lots of wonderful memories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Riteesha and me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karen, me and Hannah

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Geetha, who was responsible for organising the baby shower

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely decorations!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My close friends in Dubai. I really miss them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for organising this baby shower for me before I left Dubai for good. Looking forward to seeing all of you again soon…some day when I go back to Dubai for shopping!

 

 

Labour Day trip to Lake Kenyir

When I received an email about a department trip to Lake Kenyir, I had to think a lot before I could click the “Yes” vote button. It used to be an easy question for me to answer but now, I have to run through a standard checklist of questions for mothers before I can decide. And I thought I was fickled before I became a mother!

I am not complaining, this is still an adjustment phase for me. Oh..let me rephrase that. I think as long as you have children, you will have to continuously adjust your lifestyle to fit them in. I am not changing how I live, but I need to fit Lukas into my schedule and as much as that sounds really fun, it is super tiring. It surprises me how the adrenaline in me never runs out. (It better don’t run out when I am driving with Lukas in the car!)

Ken and I try as much as we can to bring Lukas wherever we go because it is he who needs to fit into our lifestyles and not us into his. I thought about this……and after much deliberation with Ken, I clicked “Yes” on the vote button for the trip to Lake Kenyir! It is not easy when we have to drive 6 hours to Lake Kenyir Resort and Spa. But we did it! Lukas was such a good boy, sleeping most of the time in the car. He didn’t fret when we had to stop by some mamak shop to change his diaper when he poo-pooed, he didn’t fret when I breastfed him in the shaky car, he didn’t fret because he had to sit in his car seat for long hours. Thank God!

So here are some pictures from our trip. It was very nice. All we did was eat, sleep, spa, watch tv and play with Lukas. I believe Lukas received a lot of attention from all my colleagues which thrilled him lots because he couldn’t stop smiling

View of the lake from breakfast area

 

Feeling restless in the car

 

We made it and Ken and I are proud to have accepted this challenge. Lukas turned 5 months on 30 April 2011 and this was his first family trip with us. :) Here are some pictures of Lukas aged 4-5 months.

Lukas' first formal wear

 

 

Rolling around in his new PJs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our new addition

Time flies! It’s hard to believe that it has been 5.5 months since we returned from Dubai.  

We are proud to announce our newest addition to our family, Lukas Adam Hong Jia Le. He was delivered in Mahkota Medical Centre, Melaka on 30 November 2010 through caesarian surgery.

It has been such a long wait, and finally, Ken and I got to see our baby face to face. We were really excited as we drove to Mahkota hospital on the morning of 30 November. I was admitted and prepped for surgery. It all happened so quickly and Lukas was born at 8.28am, within half hour from commencement of surgery at 8am! Writing this post now brings back memories of the excitement rushing through our bodies, anticipating the arrival of baby Lukas. Ah…..:)

So we decided to spell his name with a ‘k’ instead of a ‘c’ because we understand that LUKAS is closer to the actual greek name, which means, bringer of light. Adam signifies the first son in both families. Jia Le, his Chinese name, means bringer of happiness to the family.    

Daddy all ready in his blue outfit

 

I'm out! Freedom!?

 

Mummy and Lukas

Smiling in his sleep

Lukas is turning 3 months at the end of this week. Here are some photos of him aged 2-3 months.   

Wanna play?

 

Give me a hug?

Or make me laugh until you can't see my eyes?

I'm lovin this!

*burp*

Our lives are so different now. Although we are quite independent with Lukas, it takes me 3 hours to get ready before we go out each time. No more last minute plans, or going to the gym, or movies. It is now 3 of us!

God is so good, I will never forget this first pregnancy, how I first saw Lukas’ heartbeat when it was just a speck of light, how I used to throw up in my first 4 months, the fatigue, walking to work  in the Dubai summer heat…ahhh….all so worth it now when we see Lukas smiling at us!

Wrapping up our lives in Dubai

It is exactly 1 week before we fly out from Dubai for good! Reality still hasn’t sunk in yet, maybe because we are still working and packing and carrying on with lives till the very last day. God has been very good to us, though we already knew in our hearts that He wants us home, He has continued confirming this to us on a daily basis. In the past few weeks, we’ve experienced God’s favour upon us in every single task that we had to do before leaving!

So now our apartment looks almost bare, as bare as when we had moved in. God is so good, He made it possible for us to sell ALL the furniture we had in our apartment, even our bed!

Current apartment condition

All to be sent through air freight

ALL furniture sold!

God also arranged for door-to-door cargo service that is within our claimable budget via air freight. We can send most of stuff home without having to lug so much on our actual flight day as it would be very taxing on Ken since I am pregnant and will not be able to carry much.

He has blessed us with a kind landlord who allowed earlier termination of our tenancy contract without any penalty!

Since we had sold our car at the beginning of summer, we had no car to use for the summer. Through friendships and a good church community, friends have lent us their cars throughout summer while they were away on holidays.

My doctor has approved my condition to fly home on our last appointment. Woo hoo! We also managed to enjoy some good Ramadhan sales for baby stuff since we have some space from our cargo service.

All administration matters i.e. visa cancellation, bank closures etc have been completed on time.

The list is endless, but these are the major tasks that we have ticked off! Big smile on our faces, we are enjoying our last and final week in Dubai! We will definitely miss our friends and Gateway church here, but we are ready to embrace the new phase God has prepared for us back home.

Pregnancy dreams (Part 3)

Our beautiful church

In this dream, Ken and I were back in our church, DUMC in PJ on a Sunday for service. When we had arrived in front of church, I was so amazed at the natural beauty surrounding our church. At the back of my unconscious mind, I had remembered that our church was a building in an industrial area in PJ. However, in this dream, our church looked like this:

This is a picture which I had taken off the internet that best described the view I had in my dream. Our church is the building in white. Notice the nearby horses which I had added into the pic.

I remembered telling Ken in the dream “I have forgotten how beautiful our church surrounding is!” Haha… heavenly isn’t it? The truth is, there are places in Malaysia that is also as beautiful as the picture above too!

Freak toad!

This was a nightmare! I was awakened twice and felt traumatised! I have a phobia with frogs and toads mainly because of their skin texture and bulgy eyes. No matter how attractive the colour and size of any frogs / toads, I just shudder at their looks!

In this dream, this toad was HIDEOUS! It was round in size, slightly larger than the size of a compact disc, had rough lumpy skin and big ugly poppy eyes. It not only could hop, it could also walk like a cat! (which means, it could pounce on you like cats do!) EWWWWWWWW! Just describing this gives me goosebumps! After seeing that this toad that could pounce on me, I freaked out and started running (with my bump) and woke up in shock. Baby was kicking frantically in my womb! I think I had scared baby because my heart rate had increased. So I tried to calm down, and fell asleep again only to dream that this freak toad had come into my house through my toilet drainage hole! Freaked me out a second time and I woke up to find baby kicking again! Awww my poor baby! I tried to calm down and sleep again, in the meantime, I reached out for Ken’s hand and rested it on my tummy. I learnt that baby could sense a different pulse from a different hand and true enough, baby’s kicks lessened after a few minutes because Ken was snoring away and obviously calmer than I was. I fell asleep shortly after, no more dreams of that freak toad thank God!

Pregnancy dreams (Part 2)

Fatty mama

No….no…. I don’t want to be a fatty mama! I am beginning to gain weight as I progress in my pregnancy, and I fear that I would be overweight. Since young, I have never been thin/slim, so weight is always an issue for me. I had been eating really well and exercising a lot prior to me getting pregnant. I did lose some weight. Now that I am pregnant, I can’t help feel uncomfortable gaining the weight for baby. I do walk though, in the malls and 10-minute walks home to work on a daily basis. However, it has just been too hot in the Middle East summer to swim, even at nights. Ok ok, so I should also begin doing some indoor pre-natal pilates but…… but….. I am usually tired after work to do any exercise (yea yea… all these excuses).

So the point is, in this dream, I had the fear of being so fat that nobody would recognise me that I had several dreams about me being a fatty mama. In one dream, I bumped into Amanda in a shopping mall. Amanda was coming up on an escalator and I had spotted her and went over to greet her. Being childhood friends, even if nobody could recognise me because I am so fat, I would expect AT LEAST Amanda, to recognise me. But NO she didn’t! (OUCH!). I frantically waved at her to get her attention and I finally said “It’s me Cynthia!” I couldn’t believe she didn’t recognise me so I asked her why, “Is it because I am so fat?” She sheepishly said yes! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…………………….

No baby don’t _____ on me!

(Note: This dream may be viewed as disgusting but very real. Please continue reading if you are up for the truth.)

My baby is about more than 12 months old as he was already walking in this dream. I had come home from work that day and he was at the door to welcome me. Just as I picked him up from the floor and rested his bum on my arm, he crapped through his pants all over my work suit!

Some believe that baby crapping on you is good luck, but ewwww…… it was disgusting for me! I realised every parent would experience this when their babies are still young, can’t say I am looking forward to this!

Pregnancy dreams (Part 1)

I never realised how much a pregnant woman can dream. I would dream every time I close my eyes either for a nap or for deep slumber. And in some dreams, I would wake up remembering almost every detail of it! Some of my dreams are real funny and I have decided to blog about them as remembrance!

Yummy nasi lemak!

(Introduction to characters in this dream: Amanda and Cher-Ryl are close friends of mine from Melaka. Shea Fee is Cher-Ryl’s sister.)

Just before I closed my eyes into deep slumber, I remembered telling Ken I would love a plate of nasi lemak. Then it was zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Next thing I knew, I was being served a HUGE bowl of nasi lemak cooked by Amanda’s Aunt Sally. The nasi lemak was beyond words! I ate so much of it, that Shea Fee, was sort of disgusted by how much a pregnant woman can eat! (This is actually very embarrassing…) It was fantastic! I can’t recall if I was salivating in my sleep or was it drool?? Kekekekeke…..

So after my baby and I were fed with such a great feast, I went go-karting with Amanda and Cher-Ryl! And would you believe it? I won! Nyek nyek nyek… Don’t underestimate the champion in a preggars ok! Hahahaha!

Baby names

In this dream, I saw my baby’s face! Hehehe…yes, he is a cute baby with lots of hair and double eye-lids. (I hope this comes true!) Ken and I were in the midst of choosing names for our baby, you wouldn’t believe what names we had in discussion in that dream! They were Tyrell, Tyler, Tyrent and Ty! Well…………………. we think these names are too American and not suited for a Malaysian baby. (Please note that we have nothing against the Americans). It was more amazing how I could remember that I had dreamt about these names when I woke up!

Oooh…why the silence? :)

Yea, so what happened since April 2010? MUCH has happened! Haha, yes, I got pregnant! From April to July, those were the first few months of my pregnancy. It was a whole life adjustment and still is now. I was too tired to do much and that’s why I have not written much since Doha trip.

I am still adjusting to massive body changes and learning to cope better (and not panic). I hardly slept early, the hormones made me so tired, I would crash by 9pm everyday. Juggling with work and nausea was not easy, nausea is still not over, but I’m getting used to it too (but not enjoying it!).

Nevertheless, I am at the beginning of my 6th month now and baby and I are doing fine.

It is so amazing how God formed baby in my womb. See how baby transformed from a little seed at half a cm with heartbeat flashing like a speck in the pregnancy sack at 5 weeks, to a fully formed baby at 20 weeks old.

Baby in pregnancy sack on the right at 5 weeks

Baby fully formed at 20 weeks

Baby is now learning karate in my womb as Ken and I felt baby’s kick/punch this morning on our hands for the first time! Ken even started cheering to baby “Kick more kick more!”

So what are the other changes in our lives? We have decided to go home for good end September 2010. When baby is due in mid-December, we will definitely need our parents’ support. Plus, we are too Malaysian to stay too long away from Malaysia!

We are really thankful for baby. Pregnancy is definitely a good time for us to rely on God and we are learning to trust Him every step of the way, no matter what the circumstances.

Weekend in Doha – 18 – 20 March 2010

I had visited Ken in Doha some weekends back. Ken has just recently been posted in Doha. Doha is a small city with maniac drivers that are worse than the ones in Dubai! Doha is a nice quiet city with beautiful architectural buildings.

We didn’t take many pictures except these at the Museum of Islamic Arts in Doha. Although the museum features Islamic Art, and is built using Islamic design, the building was actually designed by Chinese American architect Leoh Min Pei (more commonly known as I. M. Pei,) designer of the Louvre in Pyramid in Paris. (I didn’t know that before!)

Outside the museum

Don't you love my giant leap?! (see the shadow and the museum in the background!)