Clockwise from top left: Some shellfish dish. Mantis prawns. A hermit crab stuck in the shellfish. Fresh flies dipped in sour plum sauce (complimentary snack from the restaurant!)

Since there were 4 kids in our group, we decided to take the ferry into Penang island to let them experience a ferry ride. A refreshing change from the Penang bridge run and the best part of the ferry ride is avoiding the jam at the end of the bridge Braedyn initially had problems picturing cars getting on ferries and he looked very puzzled until we actually got on!

An unnerving sight to see our car on water

Aerynn loved the ferry ride

We arrived at HRH late in the evening and it was packed with guests and half of the island’s residents coming in to kepochi the hotel’s facilities. The entrance lobby ceiling’s piece de resistance is this fibre-optic light setup that projects the hotel’s logo in different colours. Mesmerising to say the least and it is a good way to filter the first-timers from the regulars. First-timers would walk in with their heads looking up and their mouths wide open in awe! Daddykhong was the odd one out though because each time he walked past, he would look up and gape like a little kid.

The front of the hotel and the lobby ceiling

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Check out my 4 teeth…

Updates of Aerynn @ 7 months 1 week old

• Weight: 7.8 kg
• Teeth: Top:2, Bottom:2
• She is on 2 meals now. I feed her the 2nd meal at around 5:00 pm when the 2 older kids are having their dinner.
• If there’s one thing in common between Aerynn and Shayanne, it’s constipation and because of that, I have reduced her food portion from 7 tbsp to 4-5 tbsp per meal. Not sure why but she has lost her appetite for food and milk. She can’t even finish 4 oz of milk .
• It’s very difficult to get her to drink water.
• Nowadays, her diet is mainly formula milk.
• I’m trying very hard to wean her off my boobs but to no avail!! She still needs my boobs as her human pacifier to fall asleep . If I refuse, she will whine and whine until I give in. Then, in a matter of minutes, she will be fast asleep! I’m still trying to get her to sleep on her own.
• At night, we’ve started placing her in the baby cot to sleep as she rolls too much on our bed making it too dangerous to leave her unattended. Finally, daddykhong and I can reclaim our own bed .
• At night, she wakes up 1-2 times for feeds. Because of the weaning, I have to wake up and feed her milk.
• She will give a kiss on our cheeks when we ask for ‘kiss kiss’.
• She will sit in the walker while I’m doing house chores. Most of the time, she moves backwards! (Thanks Angeline for the walker)
• It is difficult to get her to stay still when I’m changing her after her bath. She will roll and try to grab anything near her so that she can stuff it into her mouth for some chewing action. Anything goes when it comes to Aerynn; bottles, nappies, and toys!
• Her motor-skill development is slower compared to Shayanne. She hasn’t even started crawling yet. All she does now is to turn and roll over a few times to grab the toys she wants - just like Braedyn.
• She sleeps on her back most of the time as opposed to Braedyn and Shayanne who like sleeping face down.

I found this bag on the Internet and bought it as a gift for Braedyn. He started using it immediately as a replacement for his existing school bag which he has been using for many months now.

Within a month, Thomas bag starts to fall apart. First at the seams….

….and now, the strap has worked its way loose!

Now Braedyn is terribly upset over his damaged bag. He looks after this things very well and I am sure he looked after Thomas bag with extra care since it’s his favourite.

I’m also terribly upset when I see him so disappointed. Shouldn’t have gotten him a bag that offered such short-term joy.

My elder 2 kids are inseparable.

During naps, and if Braedyn falls asleep before Shayanne, she will pull out his spare bed, gather all her soft toys, pillow, bolster, and barf container, and transport them over to the spare bed. She then proceeds to make herself very comfortable on the spare bed.

• Started 22 December 2009 when she turned exactly 6 months old.
• On the 1st day, she was only given 1 tbsp of rice cereal and she finished it off! Phewwww…. Thank god Aerynn is not like her jie jie, Shayanne, who clamped her mouth shut and arched her back crying when I fed her solid food at her age.
• From 6 months to 6 months 3 weeks old, the amount of food given to her has steadily increased from 1 tbsp to 6-7 tbsps of rice cereal with food puree.
• Baby Aerynn only has 1 meal at 10:30-11:00 am. It takes about 20-30 minutes for her to finish her food.
• We will start giving her 2 meals daily when she turns 7 months old.
• So far, she has sampled banana, Japanese sweet potato, pumpkin, apple, broccoli and cauliflower. Each food puree introduced is sampled for 3 consecutive days to ensure that there is no allergic reaction. So far so good .
• She hated pear. Not sure why but she clamped her mouth shut and refused to eat after a few spoons!!!
• As Mummykhong is getting lazier with 3 kids, I prepare Aerynn’s food purees in advance and freeze them to use for at least 3 days.
• I am really thankful to have this baby steamer cum blender called BabyPappa which we bought since Braedyn’s time. It is so convenient, easy to use and saves me a lot of time! You can read more on how the puree is made here.

Here are some photos and a video clip of her 1st meal..

The above photos were taken on 7th December 2009. Aerynn was placed on the highchair at the main door for her to keep an eye on her brother and sister who were both playing bubbles.

How time flies!!! In a blink of an eye, Aerynn is already 6 months old. Here are the updates of our little ‘manja’ girl:-

• Weight: 7.4 kg
• Height: 67 cm
• She is on a mixture of breastmilk and formula. 2 times bm + 2-3 times 4 oz Similac. After a period of rejecting bottles, she is now taking bottle feeding very well. Night feeds are still breastmilk on demand and she wakes up frequently for feeds after the first 6 hours of sleep.
• Her little 2 teeth were sprouted when she was 5+ months.
• She must have mummy’s boobs to sleep at night and during her naps at home. As such, the sling is my best tool to get her to sleep when we are out.
• She started to roll over from her back to her tummy a week after she turned 5 months old. However, she only does that occasionally - probably 7 times the whole month.
• She can sit unsupported now. I still have to monitor her as she tends to tip over backwards when she cries.
• She cannot stay lying down or sitting down by herself for long. She is definitely very, very ‘manja’. She has learnt how to lift her arms whenever she wanted to be carried.
• She has started to recognise people and choosing who she wants to carry her.
• Daddykhong says she is starting to enunciate “Mmmmm”. Not sure whether she means ‘mum mum’ (food) or ‘mama’ .
• No sign of crawling - not like our spunky eldest daughter, Shayanne!
• When she is placed on the bed lying down, she can turn herself 360 degrees.
• She loves lifting her legs up and playing with her toes.
• She has started on Heinz baby rice cereal on 22nd December 2009. Will blog about her food next time.
• Most people commented that Aerynn looks like a BOY

We stayed at the refurbished Impiana Cherating though I can’t really see where the money went. It’s an ok hotel but not sensational.

Cherating is the best place to do absolutely nothing but relax and eat seafood. All we did was go to the beach and drive up to Kemaman and Chukai to eat. We were there from Friday afternoon till Sunday afternoon and we probably ate 5 times on Saturday itself!

Braedyn and Shayanne at the kids playground

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My Christmas wish has been granted early

This is how I sit in the highchair…I learnt it from kor-kor who learnt it from a Cina-pek in the coffee shop

Love my yummy fingers….KFC here I come!

I hate cold water…

Updates on Aerynn:-

• Weight: 7 kg
• Height: 66 cm
• She is losing her chubbiness as she didn’t gain much weight over the past month.
• She is a light-eater - just like her jie jie at her age. I’m facing difficulty to get her to finish her 3 oz milk (be it EBM or even I’ve tried with FM). She is just not interested . At the rate she goes, I will have to slowly introduce her to FM full time in order to gauge how much she can drink. But I will still direct nurse during night-time.
• Her eczema is still around especially on her cheeks, neck, hands and legs.
• She can stay longer on a playgym now and turn herself sideways but she can’t roll over yet. Not so enthusiastic compared to her jie jie.
• She has discovered her toes.
• She has been grabbing the toys hanging on the playgym and keeps swinging them. She just shoves the toys into her mouth when she manages to grab hold of them.
• She can sit pretty well. In the kitchen when I wash up, I place her in the Ikea highchair where she will throw/swing the toys on the tray one by one onto the floor.
• I get her to sit on a Bumbo seat outside the bathroom while I shower the 2 elder kids.

Venue: Sushi Zanmai, The Gardens Mall

We celebrated Braedyn’s 4th birthday a week earlier during our weekly family dinner. Since Sushi Zanmai is always full, we booked a table a week in advance but, as luck our have it, the restaurant did not reserve a table for us because they missed our booking on their booking form! The staff kept insisting that we could have called the wrong restaurant (though I think they thought I was lying to them just to cut queue) until a more diligent staff saw my name swimming in their sea of booking names.

Credit to them for getting us a table for 10 in under 15 mins.

Braedyn had some requests for his birthday dinner:

• Chocolate cake with Thomas the Train theme
• Everyone to wear party hats which means……

Shayanne had a party hat to go with her smile

Even Aerynn was not spared from the “party hat” ruling

Since the restaurant and packed and noisy, we adjourned to Braedyn’s uncle’s home to cut the cake.

Braedyn posing with his Thomas the Train tiered chocolate cake from Delectable.

The party hat ruling must be adhered to………..

….unless you are too senior or too junior!