Birthday Photos

The photos finally arrived on Thursday. Grant also did a slide show for me, and it was very nice. Mahadevan started crying when he saw photos of Jay and pappa as both of them are away. I felt so sad for him.

The photos are good, i'm so pleased with all of Mahadevan's photos. Hock Seng must have got a good workout that day following Mahadevan around. All the wonderful expressions that he captured are priceless.

Got the banner and the balloons done from the same guy. Banner was nice but only the red roses at the corner were not quite for me. My son enjoyed the balloons and so did the other kids. In the end, all the kids took the helium balloons home. Sadly, the helium "effect" wore off the next day, much sooner than i expected.

The cake was a DELICIOUS 3kg butter cake from Pamela Jones. Thomas turned out very well and the cake flew so fast.

My son.... too many wonderful pictures but here are just a few to show what a wonderful job Hock Seng did and how good my son looks :)

Mahadevan's birthday party

Yesterday was Mahadevan's party. I got an sms bright and early yesterday from the caterer informing me that the ABC machine is spoilt. Since we could think of no alternative, we decided to scrap the whole desert.

We left for RK at about 11.20. When we got there, the decorations were in progress. The banner was already up and you could see it from a distance. Cindy had also put up signage leading to the venue. Hock Seng was also there and he started taking photos of Mahadevan. All the balloons were done by 12.30 and that's when the guests started arriving.

The place looked nice and all the hassle of running arund trying to find a decorater actually paid off. When i first saw the food I thought that it would not be enough but the waiter assured me that there would be enough for 60 pax. In the end, there was ample food so I was relieved.

We had the cake cutting last. I ordered the cake from Pamela and went to pick it up the day before. Her butter cakes are heavenly! Everyone was so surprised to see a Thomas cake and the cake flew fast. Her cake was really good and price also extremely reasonable. I paid 150 for the 3kg cake. A cake shop in Seremban quoted me 130 for a 2.5 kg normal 2d train cake.

The whole party went really well and it was definitely worth all the headaches and sleepless nights I had. The next birhtday I will celebrate is when he is 5 years old.

Deepavali

We went to Kajang for Deepavali yesterday. We had lunch there and it was nice to have all of us under one roof. Only Mathy amma wasn't there as she had gone to PD for Deepavali. We had a BBQ last night in Seremban. Amma and I had already done all the marketing and marinading earlier in the week. Vicky mama, Shobi and Deva came from Kajang. The highlight of the night was Mahadevan's dancing. We put on some indian music and Mahadevan started dancing. He is damn good! I dont know how, but he's got really good rhythm. I was so proud of him. We told Deva to bring the music cd for the birhtday so Mahadevan could provide everyone with some free entertainment.

2 years old

Mahadevan is 2 today. We took him to Jusco Tebrau to play in the playcentre there. He had lots of fun. We are going to Pizza Hut for dinner tonight.

Marina Mandarin

We went to Singapore last weekend to attend the wedding of a friend. It was on Sunday afternoon so we decided to go on Saturday and spend the night there. The wedding luncheon was to be held at the Marina Mandarin ballroom so we decided to stay in that hotel itslef.

From my past experience in hotels, the reception will be located on the ground floor and you can go and check in there. When we stepped into the hotel, we were asked to hane our bags over and proceed to the 4th floor. We were a little confused but did as we were told. The receotion was actually located on the 4th floor! So anyway, we got checked in and one of the guys at the front desk who happend to get some free tickets to an art exhibition at Suntec City (across the road from the hotel) gave us a couple. Our room was on the 10th floor so we proceeded to the lift and stepped in and pressed '10'. Unfortunately, nothing happened. We tried this a few times but without any success. The lift had not moved. The one of the hotel staff who came in to use the lift told us that we had to slot our room access card into a slot on the panel and onky then press the floor number. It worked :) I felt so dumb but honestly it was all so new and canggih for me.

After a short rest, we went over to the art exhibition. There were artist from all over the world. The one that caught our eye was the Indonesian booth. They had 2 artist, I Ketut Mara and Udin Antara. The former was more on landscape but the latter painted people and from far, you could not tell that it was a painting as it actually looked like a photograph. We definitely would have bought one of the paintings if we could afford it.

Dinner was at AquaMarine, in the hotel itself. They had so much of variety. There were oysters, sushi, duck, tiger prawns fried on the spot and the fried rice was exactly like the one we have in LP. The deserts were delicious. They had a chocolate fountain and ice cream with all the stuff to put on the side. Something different in the buffet was that all the plates were actually on a shelf right below the food. I am so used to the plates being at one end of the buffet line that it actually took me some time to find the plates. Looking back, I think having the plates on a shelf below is much more convenient as you can get one at any point in the line.

Breakfast the next morning was also at the same place. Their lo mai kai and char siew pau were very nice. I didn’t eat as much as I usually would have coz we were having lunch later. The ballroom was very grand and each female guest was given a red rose. The food however was not great. After having dinner and breakfast at the hotel, I had quite high expectations for the lunch so I was rather disappointed as the taste was only so so. If I had known this, I might have eaten more at breakfast. The whole lunch dragged on for almost 3 hours as each course was served so slowly. Lunch started around 1.30 and desert only arrived at 4. It was definitely the longest lunch I have ever had.

My busy, busy week

Last week I went back to Seremban for my monthly visit. This time, my trip was rather hectic as I went around visiting my relatives. I was supposed to have done this during my previous trip but since my son had contracted HFM, I have been stuck in the house with him for the past 1 month.

I flew to KLIA on Friday morning. The whole of Friday was spent checking out venues for MD’s birthday function in November. Mathy amma And Davina also came down that day as they had to go and get they’re follow-up shot for cervical cancer. After checking out a few places, we decided that our best choice was RK. However, I have to delay the function to 10/11 as they are fully booked on 3/11.

On Saturday, we went to Kajang. MD has already started to “thobi” on Friday itself, referring to Davina as Shobi. So when we got to Kajang, he kept following Shobi and calling her name. Now, Davina is “Diya” and Shobi is “Thobi”. That night we went to La Bodega for dinner. I have always wanted to try tapas after having watched some of the programmes on the travel channel. The atmosphere was nice but the choice on the menu was not so interesting. We ordered a few tapas and the taste was not bad. The sangria was also quite good but a little too strong for my liking. All in all, it was only okay as I had rather high expectations after watching the shows. I was looking for something exotic but the menu was safe. I would go back again to try their paella.
Vicky mama had ordered appam and curry puffs on Sunday. Both were extremely good. Indran mama, Geetha and Deva came to Kajang that day. I finally got to see Rania after a long time.

Mahadevan & Rania

Me & Rania

Mahadevan making music

Monday morning, we left for Tmn Tun. Geetha also came as she wanted to got to Ikea to get some things. As soon as we unloaded the car, we went to Aunty Renata’s house as we were suppose to meet up for lunch. After lunch at Dave’s, Geetha and Davina went off to Ikea while I went to get shoes for MD. He was not in a good mood and refused to try on anything. We got the sales lady to measure his foot and I just bought 1 size bigger. Qw had to go through Parkson on the way to the carpark and MD saw a bedsheet with ‘Bob the Builder’. He immediately went to it and took it off the shelf and kept on saying “Bob, Bob”. Aunty Renata decided to get it for him for his birthday. Aunty Renata dropped them off in Mathy amma’s house and I followed her back to DN as we had left the car there and I had an appointment at Murad’s at 3.30. I had a wonderful 2 hour facial. It was so relaxing. I went with Meera and Davina for dinner to one of the new Indian restaurants around there. The food was apparently not as good as the 1st time they went there. Everything was so spicy this time.
Tuesday morning we went to Ikea. I wanted to get some tupperwares from there. We were done pretty fast then went to have lunch at MFM. After lunch we walked around Ikano and halfway through, I had to go and rent a buggy to put MD on as he was running about wildly and we could not carry him as well. Next time, I will take his stroller with me no matter what. Luckily the buggy was in the shape of a car so he was quite happy to sit in it and move around. After that, we decided to go to the curve since I and amma have never been there before. But we were already quite tired and MD was getting restless so we got out of there pretty fast.
Wednesday morning, I went to Murad’s for my body scrub and massage which I had signed up for almost a year ago. Luckily they had no expiry on it. I managed to book a cake for MD’s birthday. I am getting a ‘Thomas’ 3kg cake from Pamela. Her butter cakes are soooo delicious and I have seen a photo of her Thomas cake on one of the blogs. It looks really good. I called up Jeffry to see if he would be around on the 10th to photograph the function but he said that he wouldn’t. I decided to call up Grant Corban since his website mentioned that they do photograph birthdays. My luck must be good coz he is actually free on that day. I have already sent him an email with the details and he said he will get back to me.

Thursday morning we came back to Seremban and went straight to Curry Leaf to find out if they can cater for MD’s b’day. Luckily they are free to do it. Kumar was not able to do it as he said his workers will be on leave for a few days after Deepavali. I was rather worried that Curry Leaf may already be booked for other functions. That evening, we went to RK to put down a deposit for the 10th.
Friday was kept free as I was coming back to Kulai on the evening flight and I didn’t want to stress myself out. Reached Kulai at 6.30 and had dinner in Lavender.

My whole week was so filled with activities that I didn’t really get a chance to relax properly as I usually do during my visits back to Seremban. In spite of that I felt so happy to be able to do so many things and not feel bored. Looking forward to my next visit to Seremban around Deepavali time.

Deevanesh's Birthday

We celebrated Deevanesh's 7th birthday today at McD's Kulai. The children had fun running around and playing in the mini play area they had there

Birthday boy

The kids

Singing

Mahadevan

Nurin Jazlin Jazimin

An innocent life has been taken in a heinous way. When I first read that DNA tests showed that she was the missing girl, I was shocked. But yet, when the parents said that it was not their daughter, I chose to believe that Nurin was still out there. I wanted to be hopeful. Upon reading that her father had finally accepted the DNA results and acknowledged the girl as his daughter, i was overwhelmed. My emotions overcame me and I had to have a little cry. I cried for Nurin and her parents and all the children still missing out there. After becoming a parent myself, I find myself becoming emotional about anything involving children. It is probably because I keep thinking of how it would be if my son was the one who was involved in it.


I am glad that Nurin has been put out of her misery and is now in a better place. The person that did this to her cannot be called an animal as I do not know of any animal that would do such a thing. Animals will only kill for survival, period. It worries me to know that there are some very sick humans walking among us. I just cannot comprehend how anyone can harm children. They are so young and innocent. What do you get by doing such horrible things to children??


I cannot even begin to imagine how the parents must feel at this moment. To bury the one you have borne before you must be a terrible thing. To make things worse, the police are now looking to see if the parents were negligent! Come on! Don't you think the parents are suffering enough! They will have to live with their decision of letting her go to the night market alone for the rest of their lives. The guilt they feel will never go away. Is there really a need to make things worse for them? As a parent, we strive to do the best we can for our children, but we cannot have our eyes on them 24 hours a day. I myself have gone out with my son and looked away for a moment or two but i am lucky that he was still there.


Gone are the days when children were safe to go out and play. The simple act of walking to school itself is not safe today. What is the world coming to? In time to come, all children will be confined to their homes I think. Nowadays, I try my best not to go out with my son alone. When I absolutely have to, I am always worried that someone will snatch my son away. Call me paranoid but i would rather be safe than sorry. I know that there are no guarantees, that if some thing is meant to happen, it will, no matter what we do. But for now, this false sense of security I have enables me to carry on with my daily life.


Jazimin and Norazian, may God give you strength to go on with your lives. Rest in peace, Nurin Jazlin.

My First Entry

This is my very first attempt at blogging. I have become a blog reading addict in the last couple of months. This has inspired me to start something of my own. Now I only hope that i will be able to diligently update my blog and not just give up after some time.