This year is the first year that Bryan gets to participate as only K1 and K2 are involved. I tell you, I was more excited than he was and of course, I shed a tear or two when he made his first appearance on stage. Every family only has 3 tickets so I brought my MIL along while Brandon and Bradley sat on our laps. VT, who was then still in Abu Dhabi, returned specifically for the concert – staying for 2 nights in KL only before returning to work. That’s RM4,500 just on airfare and he had to make the 7-hours flight each way  - Bryan, remember this!

But it was definitely worth it. The concert was held in PJ Civic Centre and was so well run and organised. At the end, when parents collected their child from the stage (dismissal was by class), they even had 2 security personnel stand on either side of the stairs to ensure the child doesn’t slip or fall. Well done – I’m impressed!

Back to the concert, Bryan participated in his class dance with a chinese song from the 70s (I guessed from the beat) entitled “Chi Dao”. It was very entertaining and I’m glad that we had it on our videocam. I have watched the video at least 10 times. Shiok sendiri We were asked to put makeup on our child but I didn’t. To my surprise, the teacher did and even gelled his “lalang” hair down. I couldn’t get a good photo of our little starlet because he was so excited that day. And for us, it was truly a memorable event.

Oh. My. God.

That is how I’ve been feeling the past 5 weeks. Every day is a OMG day. I have never vomited so much in my entire life. The nausea gets so bad that it wakes me up from sleep in the middle of the night, and I have to quickly run to the loo. I stare into the bowl so often these days that I have a stool so that I can at least vomit comfortably lol.

I’m in my tenth week now. The nauseating feeling has subsided but having said that, I’m still taking Primperan 10mg (class B drug) twice daily – down from thrice daily two weeks ago. Doesn’t help that KL has lots of potholes so I’ll definitely feel quesy when I drive to and fro work. I’ve also be hospitalised for one night a couple of weeks back because I couldn’t hold a darn thing in my tummy. Yes, it was THAT bad.

Fingers crossed I’m over that bump now with lighter days/months ahead!

Not that I wanted to keep this piece of good news from everyone but I have been so sick to my guts that I can hardly put my head up long enough to turn the PC on. It has been weeks of constant throwing up, feeling listless and already 3 visits to my ob-gyn. And tomorrow, I’d decided to check myself into the hospital to get onto some drips, which my ob-gyn promised, would make me feel brand new. Even if it’s for a week.

But yes, we are expecting baby number four! EDD 1 July 2012.

I just need to stop feeling sick in order to start feeling the familiar excitement. So much other stuff to update on the boys. But that will have to wait.

Sometime in September, I took the boys to the dentist – that’s a first for them. I was initially worried that the kids will kick up a fuss, cry loudly and won’t lie down for their teeth to be checked. My fears were unfounded partly because Dr JoEe is an old school mate of VT and he makes occasional late-night appearances in our home for poker sessions, hence the kids are rather familiar with him. The boys passed with flying colours in terms of sitting patiently on the dentist chair (JoEe called it his “spaceship”) and for good teeth. However, JoEe advised for Bryan to get off the bottle as it can lead to tooth decay and an overbite.

Bryan loves his milk bottle. At the height of his love affair, he had to drink at least 10 bottles of 8oz milk daily. That’s 80ozs of milk a day! I knew it would be a challenge to get him to lose the bottle.

We started off using a cup. Surprisingly, Bryan was highly receptive but it lasted only fro a couple of days. Then, he had to be co-orced and later, forced to drink formula from the cup.

Next, we tried plain UHT milk from the Tetrapak. Fail. I had no choice but to introduce flavoured UHT milk despite the colouring else he refuses to take ANY milk at all.

Bryan has found another love of his life: Strawberry flavoured UHT milk in Kids size (125ml), which I allow him to drink 4-5 packs per day. It’s burning a hole in my pocket but I think it’s good that he’s still getting some milk in.

As for losing his previous love of his life (ie the bottle), it was a fast and painless process. Well done, Bryan. You have hit another “growing-up” milestone. Mummy and Papa are super-proud of you!

Everything in the UAE spells money. The Emirates smell of money. Everything has to be big and lavish. As a result, everything is super expensive. Including a cup of Starbucks.

But dear VT still insisted on treating me to the most expensive high tea I have ever had. To be precise, AED425 (MYR340) per person. With reservations in tow, we were allowed through the main gate and onto the private bridge that took us from Jumeirah to Burj al-Arab, which is often mis-quoted as the world’s only 7-star hotel.  Without a reservation (either for room or food), you cannot even step foot into the hotel, I’m told.

High-tea was served on the 127th floor in “Sky Bar”, a semi-circular informal setting with couches placed all around the circumference of ceiling-to-floor glass panels.

View of Jumeirah Beach Resort and the lagoon where the rich & famous park their yatchs

So, what do you get to eat for AED 425:

 Champagne

 Fresh berries with cream

 
Variety of scones, served with strawberry preserves, marmalade and clotted cream

According to its official website:

Burj Khalifa (in Dubai), which stands atover 828 metres (2,716.5 feet) and more than 160 stories, holds the following world records for now.

•  Tallest building in the world

•  Tallest free-standing structure in the world

•  Highest number of stories in the world

•  Highest occupied floor in the world

•  Highest outdoor observation deck in the world

•  Elevator with the longest travel distance in the world

•  Tallest service elevator in the world 

To go up, you can either pre-book tickets online or show up at the entrance, pray there are tickets available and pay double the price. The price per person to scale this building,  via the lift of course, is over AED200 (MYR160) if booked and pre-paid online. In addition, the booking is for a specific date and time slot. If you miss it, tough luck. Say good-bye to your moo-lahs.

Being eager beavers, VT and I decided to take the Metro (LRT) from our hotel, which is near Mall of the Emirates (MOE) to Burj Khalifa, which is situated within the Dubai Mall compound. Upon checking the Metro map, there is a “Dubai Mall” station so sounds like a good place, correct?

WRONG!

Wrong number 1: We counted only 5 stations between MOE and Dubai Mall. We left Suite Novotel at 6pm, thinking we had more than sufficient time to get to the Burj by 7:30pm, which was the time we booked for. Horror – each station is VERY VERY far apart. It takes more than 10 minutes between 2 stations.

Wrong number 2: When we stepped out of the Dubai Mall station, we expected to be IN Dubai Mall. In true Malaysian fashion, the station name is a hoax. The mall is at least a good 40mins walk or 20mins jog from the station. Time was now 7pm. What started off as brisk walking turned into a jog as VT kept reminding me that we were about to lose AED450!!

Wrong number 3: Thinking I was the smarty-pants, although never been there before, I suggested we head towards Armani Hotel, which is also located within the same compound since we were close by. The hotel security guard of this poshy-posh hotel stopped us and told us that the only access to the Burj was via the mall. GAWD!

We ran from the hotel to the mall and ran through the carpark, frantically searching for the entrance. We made it there at 7:28pm. VT joked that this was like the “Amazing Race”. And I felt like I was one of those black-faced woman who cracked under pressure. I was sweating profusely by the time we got there and a bit p*ssed off that we didn’t plan this properly. Anyhow, spirits were back up high again the moment we started the experience of being “at the top”. It starts with a travelator with moving images of how the UAE progressed over time.

The lift takes a brief couple of seconds to go up 124 floors to the observation deck. Once up there, the view was amazing. We chose to go up during the night so that we could also catch the musical fountains from the top. The fountains shoot up to over 10 storeys high and make the other ones I’ve seen in Singapore and HK, look pathetic.

View of downtown Dubai with Armani Hotel in the foreground

This was definitely worth the dash. Afterall, the calories burned allowed me to stuff my face with desserts later on. Win-win situation.

Dune bashing is almost what you think it means: you being thrashed around over the sand dunes. Ok, so you are in a 4 wheel-drive. But still, you are being bashed from all angles. I kid you not. It is like going on an extremely bumpy ride. Hold that, it is like going on an extremely bumpy road in a vehicle that has lose its suspensions. I had sore arms for days after as I gripped the handlebars until my knuckles turned white.

The driver is, I hear, trained to make all these crazy twists and turns over and around the sand dunes – some as high as a couple of floors. It doesn’t help that I am afraid of heights plus super-prone to motion sickness. But for the love of my partner, who was begging me to go, I put on a sea-band and pop a couple of motion sickness pill.

See? There are bars inside the 4WD in case the vehicle flipped. Thankfully it didn’t else I would have had screamed so loud, it would resonate across the desert right back to Malaysia and caused a tsunami in the process.

To be able to write this post meant I survived the ordeal. The whole bumping, throwing around, jerking and other forms of extreme movements took about 45 minutes after which we arrived at a bourdain camp for dinner. I was this (pinching thumb and forefinger together) close to throwing up. One more minute, and everyone would had been blessed with my offerings, including the two fearless 5 year olds in the same 4WD (the same ones who stared at me as I screamed each time we took a big dip, dive and turn).

Overall, it was a really good experience. To be out standing on fine sand in the open desert with nothingness stretching thousands of miles, is surreal.

This is one of those things, which gives you bragging rights for the rest of your life.

You will be envious of me.

Soon after returning from the Middle East, I was whisked away by two of my closer girlfriends for a weekend away. No kids, no stress. We went first class all the way, thanks to a generous mum who has just started working again.

We laughed till we cried, had some embarassing moments with the housekeeping department of the hotel we stayed in, shopped till our legs were wobbly, spa-ed to the end of the world, got picked up by 3 dashing men in the bar (no, they were not drunk) and even managed to put in 2 days of solid exercise in the early morning.

Most importantly, we formed a bond that would make us keep in extremely close contact at least until June next year. However, I’m pretty sure this bond is here to stay for a very, very long time.

What did I expect – we are in the middle of the desert. There is sand, sand, sand. Driving from Abu Dhabi to Dubai is possibly the most boring journey ever. Thank goodness I have a handsome hunk next to me whom I can chit-chat with. According to the original plan, we were supposed to be having dinner with the kids right now. Instead, I’m sitting here in the business centre of Sheraton Abu Dhabi Hotel & Resort after yet another Lebanese lunch. I need my char kuay teow and nasi lemak!!! Just one week and I’m missing the food back home, what a useless bugger. VT has some issues at work hence the extended vacation, not that I’m really complaining! At least we have a car so free to explore anywhere with the help of a GPS. Luckily my boss is cool about me extending as well except that I have to log in to do some work and attend a couple of tele conferences. Not too bad. Not too bad at all.

So far, it has been an extremely memorable holiday. It is great to be away from work and the kids for a little while – just so we can inject some realism back into our lives. Being a mother, sometimes I lose a sense of identity – who I really am. Still a party animal to a large extent but my poor ageing body constantly reminds me otherwise.

Anyway, once I’m home I shall put up the actual holiday posts, not this half-baked one. I just wanted to let all my blog readers know that I am thinking of you all! Later

During the previous school holiday in June, I’d brought the kids for their first ever LRT/train ride experience. Nothing spectacular you may say, although Brandon and Bradley have never been in any other form of transportation except for cars and Bryan, cars and buses. So yes, this LRT ride was a big thing to us.

We alighted the train on a cool Sunday morning from the Kelana Jaya station (took the Putra LRT for convenience). Kids were cool UNTIL the train was approaching. Brandon started crying and clinging on to me. I had to literally drag him into the carriage. If you didn’t know already, the Putra trains are driver-less hence it wouldn’t give a damn if you had left a child behind. Once on the train, he calmed down a bit. Bryan was apprehensive for the first couple of minutes.

 It was planned to be a quick trip so we got off at the Taman Jaya station for breakfast at A&W. Love the joint for the fact that it was one of the only fast food chain when I was growing up. Wendy’s was the other, before Long John Silver, Grandfather’s Pizza and Mcds sprouted out in SS2.

 Anyway, the kids ended up enjoying both the LRT ride and A&W treat. Next up - first plane ride in November!