Just making some noise after some silence....

Wah! Seems like a long time since i pen anything down here.... Been pretty busy actually. Both at work & at home.

So here's me saying "HI" to all my friends & readers! I'm still ALIVE! Thank God! Kekekeke...

I've so so so so much to share about my job, my studies (assignments), and not forgetting my lil girl's day to day milestones, but time is just not on my side... sob! sob!

Will update you guys whenever I can. Currently, early morning blog writing is so difficult to maintain, simply because I'm too tired to wake up! :p

Oh yah... thank you all for the best wishes on my Birthday! FYI, I had to spend more than half of my special day listening to lectures in class. After that, got caught in a traffic jam on the way back... i guess, it was due to people celebrating "Halloween" in KL :p After that, my family & my in-laws celebrated my birthday together in KFC. Kekeke... Of course, the children loved it. CK, thank you for "bending" on that day. :D

OK-la... tata for now... back to work! :p

[R.E.A.L] Job Vacancy for Preschool Teachers

Location: Bandar Tun Hussein Onn (Cheras)

Job position: Preschool Teachers (Class teacher/Subject teacher)

Min requirement: SPM/MCE/PTM (Persatuan Tadika Malaysia) or equivalent, with at least 1 year working experience.

Preferred skills:

- Initiative

- Independent (able to work under minimum supervision)

- Able to speak and write well in English, Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese Language (for Mandarin Subject teacher)

- Have passion to educate and care for children

Working time: 8am-12.30pm, 5days/week

Interested applicant may send us your resume at realkids_hussein@real.edu.my or call us at 03-90769511.

If you are interested to work in PJ, there is an opening for you too! Just drop us an email! :)

[R.E.A.L] OPEN DAY on 31st October 2009

Hi everyone!

Just a short note to share... that our centres' open day is this coming Saturday from 9am - 3pm!

Come! Bring your child, aged 4 - 6, and check out my centre at Bandar Tun Hussein Onn. We have lots of activities prepared for your child too on this special open day. When you register your child on this day, we will waive the registration fee and give you a mystery gift as well! Chun leh.... :)

See you then!

"Wah-cha-you..."

Hmm... both daddy and mummy have no idea what this phrase means...

"wah-cha-you..."

It's Sarah's almost-too-commonly-used phrase that we both cant figure what it means. She will say, "Don't want wah-cha-you..." or sometimes in mandarin, "Wor pu yao wah-cha-you..."

Hmm... when we later find out what it means, I will update you guys, OK?! :p

[+video] Pencil color turned into... ?

I bought this "pencil color" for RM1/pc from a stationery shop nearby. I got 3 pieces for the 3 angels at home. It's cute & cheap! Hehehe...


Well, when I saw this pencil color, I thought of course that this pencil color is a tool for coloring... a cute tool for coloring, but what do our kids actually think of it? *think think think*

This was what Sarah did to the pencil color at the beginning...



She decided that the pencil color looks better when they're all dismantled... thus she calls it "ball-ball"...



Since Sarah has decided what it should be, mummy respected her decision and made sure that all pencil leads were taken out. She likes the sound that the "ball-ball" make when they are being shaken in an empty container... and bottle too... as shown in the next video!



Actually, this "ball-ball" were imagined as "vegetables" when she plays "masak-masak". She likes to role-play as a chef and cook these balls in her cooking pan. Oh, but too bad that I haven't gotten the chance to record her cooking these balls.

So yes, that's the imagination of our little ones... Thinking out of the box, ya?! :)

[+video] Sarah... cut! cut! cut!

[+video] Sarah writing... (at Month 18)

We noticed Sarah has been able to hold a pencil quite correctly the past few weeks. I'm so proud of her. Daddy & I showed her how to hold it and the next thing we knew, she started holding the pencil the corrrect way. Way to go, Sarah!

We started letting her get exposed to drawing when she was about 12-13 months. Read previous post here. We let her use a pencil at first, but later on got her to use some crayons. Practice makes perfect! Eventually, we gave her a pencil again and found her fine motor skills have improved tremendously.

Here's the video showing Sarah learning to write (draw). She seemed pretty enthusiastic about what she was writing/drawing...

Sarah, the little song leader...

"Yi Chieh Ge Song Zhan Mei...." - her lullaby song since baby! :)

"Jesus Loves Me This I Know..."

"Give Me Oil In My Lamp..."

"We Want To See Jesus Lifted High..."

"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star..."

"If You're Happy & You Know It..."

These are some of the songs that we sing to her since she was a little baby. Today, she is able to sing some of these songs on her own (her very own version!) too, like "Jesus Loves Me This I Know" & "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

Let me share with you 2 other cute incidences:
1. Happy Birthday song... Sarah would sing this song every time she sees a candle! She would only sing the 3rd line of course, which is "Happy Birthday to Sa-raaaaahhhhhh!" :)

2. Ask her "What song you want to sing?" She would say, "Na na na na na..." Hehehe... Yes, that's the bridge for the song "Waves of Mercy"! She just loves that part... :)

More updates on Sarah's development.. (at 18+ months)

Sarah's growing very well I would say and praise the Lord for that! However, we do pray that she will tone down being quick-tempered (by nature I believe). Recently, she started yelling as well, if she doesnt get what she wants. Really pray that she will come out of it soon.

Also, she's definitely an attention grabber. As I am typing this in my room, she is giving me all kinds of things so that I would participate with her in some "tasks", often which she is able to do on her own as she explores. This time, because she knows I am on the laptop, she tries getting my attention by all means. Shrewd, eh?!

Her vocabulary has totally increased by the days. She even makes sentences now which are meaningful. One particular (almost) complete sentence that I heard her spoke about a week ago was: "I want put here"


Her "I wants"... and "dont wants" are used with meaning too, for eg:
"I want/don't want water"
"I want/don't want go upstairs"
"I want more"... or "some more"

Just some updates...

Well... it's been more than 2 weeks since my last post. Yeah, what's new? Been busy of course. I'll try to make this post short & sweet! :)

OK... just some updates...

I just started my professional diploma course in Early Childhood Education in University Malaya 2 Saturdays ago. Back to school for 13 months! It was only after my first lesson for the semester and I already had to "ponteng" school last Saturday for my kindi's annual concert and graduation. So, yes... it was yet another busy Saturday last week. I was the "middle-man" between back stage & waiting room... so I was actually busy running about as well. Came back with sore feet but nevertheless, I enjoyed the experience being directly involve in the children's concert & graduation. There were about 300 students as we had 3 centres combined for this special day.

Some photos to spice up my post a lil... hehe...

The children... while waiting for their turn to perform.

Some of our teachers... "Hi-5!, teacher Azeela!" LOL!

Sekolah Seri Suria invited us for a "makan-makan" before the concert. It's the school's "open-house" for the raya celebration.

Our concert & graduation was held at Sekolah Seri Suria, Hulu Langat.

Thise above pix is the concert hall. It's called "Hall of Character".

Well, unfortunately, I didnt manage to take much pix as I was pretty busy that day... which also means no pix of the performances as well as I was mainly at backstage & the waiting area. Well, maybe next time then... :)

Sarah not feeling well...

OK... one last post for the day, and maybe for the week!

After our short trip back to Melaka, Sarah is now down with fever, flu and cough. Second time this month... :(

She's not been having good night sleep, and that means we parents dont have enough sleep as well. Her nose is blocked and it keeps running both day and night. Her fever fluctuates between 37-38 degree for the past few days (really longer than usual). She's been having fever since Wednesday so we really pray that it will break soon. Just last night, I saw that she was also having ulcer in her mouth. It's sad to see her unwell. Do pray for her for speedy recovery and total healing.

On the other hand, I had fever and very bad sore throat on Thursday evening as well but I thank God that my fever broke by Friday morning and I went to work as usual that day. I'm recovering fast too... really needed that so that I can take care of our little one.

Last night and today, we feed her milk with spoon as she rejects her milk bottle. Thank God she did not reject the spoon. She accepts medicine quite well with spoon too so praise God for that. Do continue to pray for her.

"Lord, I uphold our dear Sarah into Your loving hands. Heal her of fever, flu and cough. Take away any discomfort from her body. Grant her peaceful sleep both day and night. Let her also have appetite for food & milk. Keep her healthy and safe. In Jesus' name I pray - Amen!"

[+video] Sarah, the lil businesswoman...

Businessman (or woman) is always being associated with handphones. Here's Sarah portraying one busy businesswoman with her toy handphone! :)



The video was taken about a month ago... mummy here out-dated oredi ler... :p

[+video] Sarah.... 123 with daddy!

The video was taken on 22nd August. Yes... this post is about more than a month over due oredi (haha!)

Updates on Sarah... (at 18 months)

Sarah has been an active little girl, ever since she cried her first cry. She's "fierce" like what my gynae said when he first held her. :)

Well, it's not the violent kind of fierce, but more like the strong-willed, competitive, determine and demanding kind.

At this age (and even way before), Sarah has shown much of this "fierce" character, like snatching things from her cheh-cheh and kor-kor, throwing tantrum when she doesnt get what she wants, "kiasu" in terms of getting attention, and she never gives up easily (well, this, a good trait I must say!). However, apart from being fierce, there is a part of her that is "tame" (for lack of better words).

She likes to look good and beautiful. She likes wearing hat on her head and look at the mirror after that. When I wear her a dress and told her she looks nice, she actually smiles! She's really a darling. During her personal play time at home, she would play on her own (with mummy or daddy beside her) and when she finds something amusing to explore, she would give her full attention to it.

Sarah's vocab has been increasing too. I totally lost count of it. She's been learning to combine words like:

"Don't want" - almost over-used in a day! Oh boy....

"Let's go" - she would say this when we're about to go out after wearing shoes, and sometimes when we're in the car and daddy stops the engine.

"Be careful" - she totally imitates me on this. Whenever daddy drives and brakes suddenly, I will say these words to him. Now, Sarah would say this even before I do! :)

REAL Work challenge!

It's been more than 2 weeks since I started with my new job. Some new challenges that I've been exposed to lately has been...

1. Driving! Haha... am still like a "P" driver for now, eventhough I have gotten my license for more than 10 years ago! But praise God my "mati-enjin" experience is reducing slowly but surely. Every time when I had to stop at any toll booth or traffic lights, I would whisper a short prayer... "No mati-enjin please!" :p I did tell hubby during my first few days of driving - We need to change the gear box to auto... PLEASE! But all he said was, "PRACTICE makes PERFECT!" Hmmm... looks like I will be stuck with a manual car for now.

Confidence level on the road has surely increased by now, but I do hope I could improve in my changing of gears as the car do jerk at times when I change gears. (Hehe... here's me telling all you readers about my weakness on the road! Shhh....) I like to speed once I am on the highway, but just today, I experience speeding even in the heart of PJ (of course when there arent many cars around me :p) Infact I have to keep reminding myself that there is no hurry and that I shouldnt be speeding.

2. Remembering routes! Yep, it's not just about getting used to being behind the wheel, but to explore new routes as well! Those who know me inside out will know that this is totally beyond Rachel. I could even get myself lost in places I've been to dozens of times! So far, I drove myself to certain areas of Cheras, Subang, PJ (besides the usual route to church), some busy roads that I often try to avoid and other highways that I've to drive by to go to places and of course back home. I think I have to pat myself on the back for taking the challenge to drive. And I must say "Thank you" to hubby for encouraging me all the way and taking the extra miles to show me the different routes whenever possible. Much stress from both sides, but I learn that nothing comes easy. Thank God for His protection upon me. Though I was afraid, things are working out fine. Praise God!

3. Remembering names! Yes, and that would mean remembering about 100 names of students and possibly their parents as well! I'm not sure how well I could do in this but this would definitely need some time. Hope to be an expert one day (dreaming on...). I heard of some Principals and supervisors (and even teachers) in some other centres who could remember names of all the kids and parents of even up to 300 of them! (Really tabik them la!)

4. It is always a challenge for anyone if that anyone has to start learning everything from scratch. This new job with new tasks is indeed a challenge on its own - a positive challege of course. There are new things for me to learn, to know, to think, to plan, to execute, etc. No doubt, it seems pretty challenging for one like me who has no experience whatsoever in this line to take up this position, but NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE, Amen?!

I would also like to praise the Lord that with the knowledge I have in multimedia, it somehow helped to enhance effectiveness in the job - not just for myself, but for my colleagues, the centre and other centres as well. In conclusion, I am happy to be able to apply multimedia in education, where seems to be lacking unfortunately. Thank God for working through me! :)

OK-la... that's all about my job for now... hehe...

Honestly, there seems so much to share (even photos) - but time for blogging is just currently not on my side... for now.

Baby Sarah's Weight & Height - Month 18

After almost 4 months "break" from the visit to the doctor to get Sarah's vaccination done, we thought she would have so-called forgotten about the "agony" she went through when she got her jabs.

Well, we thought wrong! During the last visit, she cried only when she saw the needle. This time, she held me so tightly and cried her lungs out the moment she saw the doctor. In fact, when the doctor's room door was open, she ran away. So, I had to "catch her" and carry her in. She cried when the doctor and nurse wanted to get the measurement of her height & head circumference. She just wouldnt stay still and with all her might, she tried to free herself from being held. Well, she must have really hated the doctor. In fact, she doesnt like any doctor at all. Everytime we visit a doctor when she's not well, she would cry and just wanted us to get out of there a.s.a.p!

OK... so finally she got her 1st boosterTriple/Hib/Polio jab. It took daddy, mummy and the nurse to really pin her down so that the doctor could quickly jab her and get it done. So, yes... because she was really crying her lungs out, doctor gave her more free gifts. Hahaha... I guess, normally the doctor would just give some sachets of milk powder samples to his patients but this time, doctor gave Sarah a free bag from Huggies as well so to cool her down. She immediately stopped crying when she got those freebies in her hands.

Month 18 (15 September 2009)

Weight=11.5kg (+0.61kg)

Height=85cm (+6cm)

Head circumference=45.4cm (+0.9cm)

I'm moving forward...

It's been an interesting journey thus far with my new job. A totally different experience I would say... I also know that I've much to catch up in the coming days, weeks and months as I am new in the company as well as new in my role. I even started driving in my first day of work... (haha... it's about time, Rachel!)... and will continue to drive more as I know it is needed of me to do some travelling where my role is concern. Further more, I will be starting my weekend studies next month. So, yes... I need to drive myself for classes too!

Well, all I can say is everyday is a learning process. I pray for God's guidance upon me in my career. At times I do feel that there is a high expectation of me to soar in this career of mine, and that would definitely take hard work to achieve. I sometimes wonder whether there would be time for me to relax at all... seeing the amount of things I need to know and learn and do at the same time. Well, it would literally be a multitasking job and a test of my ability to perform the best I can. At times, with much passion, I believe I could do it, but there are also times that I question my own capabilities. I guess, it's a norm to feel this way when everything seems so new to me at this moment.

Some things still remain the same, ie... my personal sleeping time and my waking up time (well, slightly later only ler... hehe...) I try to leave home by 7am so that I could reach the centre by 7.30am before duty calls at 8... (still trying. hahaha...). But the best part of all is after work, I get to reach home way before the sunset! :) I could bring Sarah for a walk when I reach home, I could feed her dinner, I could give her a nice bath, etc... somethings that I couldnt do previously. And one last thing, when I have extra time in the morning after preparing self for work, I would try to blog as well (like what I am doing now... :)) So, yes, there is time for everything... Praise God!

I'm praying for God's hands upon me, to help me understand His ways and His plans for me in this new journey I'm in. I do believe that the opportunity before me is great, and the one thing I pray for now is that let my mind be cleared of any doubts - little it may be. Truly, it's a brand new day ahead and gotta look to God and move forward. Above all, I thank the Lord for every thing He has given me. Amen!

[Nuffnang Malaysia] The Result!

Received an email from Nuffnang a few days ago, showing the result of the DiGi MMS Speak Up Contest... Sigh... no free iPod for me... :p

You may view my post for this contest here.


Dear Nuffnanger,

Congratulations as you've won the Early Bird Prize for DiGi MMS Speak Up Contest!

A pair of GSC movie vouchers are now ready for collection in Nuffnang KL office located at;

Nuffnang Sdn Bhd (762669-K)
12B-5 & 12B-6, Heritage House,
33 Jalan Yap Ah Shak,
50300 Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia.
Office No : +6 03 2694 8828

Kindly collect your prize from our office during working days from 9am till 6pm. If you wish to come collect your prize during lunch time, kindly call in advance to let us know. Kindly provide us your IC to verify your identity during prize collection. If you are sending a representative to collect on your behalf, be sure to provide a photocopy of your IC to your representative so we can authenticate his identity. Please collect your movie vouchers as soon as possible as they're set to expire on the 27th of October 2009.

On behalf of Nuffnang and DiGi, we wish to thank you for participating in the DiGi MMS Speak Up Contest.

For the full list of winners, you can find them here.

Cheers
Blogger Relations Department
Nuffnang Sdn Bhd

Wo wo wo wo wo wo... KFC!

What does this logo look like? Well, just one look, we all know that it is a KFC logo, right?!

One discovery about Sarah is that she recognizes logo too. A few months ago, i think it was about 4-5 months ago, KFC had one advertisement shown on TV to advertise the new Hot & Spicy. It was about a father & son eating KFC while it was raining, and because it was super spicy (supposedly), the father went out to get some 'shower' from the natural rain (something like tht...). At the end of the ad, KFC had this tune on, "wo wo wo wo wo wo..."

Sarah remembered that tune until today. The interesting thing was whenever she sees KFC logo on the street, she will sing the "wo wo wo..." tune! That made me realised that Sarah remembered the ad on TV and the KFC logo too! I think it was rather interesting! Really smart of her to remember such stuff - something that was shown many months ago and she remembers it till today! :)

Sarah's vocabulary increased... & other development (at Month 17)

At 16-17 months old, we noticed our little Sarah's vocab has increased quite drastically. Even more so when she uses the right words at the right time. Some words spoken:

"mmm... nice..."
"close"
"open"
"wake up"
"i want"
"dont want"
"inside"
"outside"
"hot" & "cold"... but sometimes a lil confused between these 2. hehe...
"no more"
"come!!!"... and she will pull my finger/thumb to express that I follow her. Sometimes she says, "laiii..." (ie come in mandarin)
"jump"
"dink", ie drink!
"pain..."
"alright..."
"motorbike"... sometimes sounds like "butterfly" too... :p
"aeroplane"
"biscuit"
"water"
"wash"
and the latest one... "handphone"

Some other development...
When I receive an sms on my handphone, she would insist that I'll read it there and then. Else, she would try with all her might to reach the handphone on the table to pass to me.

She is now a "helper" at home. She would help to throw rubbish into the wastepaper basket for me when I ask her to.

She's been pretty "clean" too, and sometimes "too clean". She has seen me washing her toys in the bathroom. She would then at times take her toy to the bathroom every now and then (whenever I am in the bathroom) and hand me her toys and say, "wash!"

She knows what's "the good, the bad & the ugly"- from watching National Geographic documentary on TV. When she sees a snake or a closed-up shot of an ugly-looking bug, she would frown and say, "ee-yer!" and shake her head... and sometimes she would just look away.