The Mirror Has Two Faces!

Guess who?!?

Dont we look alike?! who's cuter?!

Safety First

Aidan's growing really fast. his height is now 84cm, which is way above average for his age (and so we've been told). he is one strong boy, and can now reach the top of our dining table and our island in the kitchen. he's exploring each and every corner of the house. as soon as he turned one, we installed all the safety locks and added bumpers and gates. we childproof almost everything in the house.

He loves climbing up the stairs, going in the kitchen, playing underneath the table, reaching for things on the kitchen counters, poking into those socket holes and not to mention pulling the kitchen drawers (alltogether we have 13 drawers and 5 doors at his level). so imagine my concerns and worries.

At this age, he gets curious all the time. we'd better be safe, than sorry. thankfully all the gadgets and gates are made affordably and of good quality here. i just wish it is affordable, and in good quality everywhere in the world as well, there shouldnt be a price for safety.

Z

Its coming... it's coming...

Aidan is extremely close to Hardy. for the past 5 days, every morning when Aidan wakes up, he comes into our room, and stood by Hardy's side of the bed. hoping that his papa will be there, under the duvet, somewhere. for the past 5 days, he's been listening to his papa's voice on the phone. for the past 5 days, mama's been driving the car, not papa. for the past 5 days, mama's been tucking him to bed, and not his papa. for the past 5 days, we've been eating our lunches and dinner infront of the telly (shouldnt!). for the past 5 days, there wasnt any tossing and tumblling, and all those stunt moves. for the past 5 days, there wasnt a tune to chan mali chan.

But hey, tomorrow's Friday!!!

And papa's coming home tomorrow!!! yeayyyyyy!! papa's coming home tomorrow!!!

We miss you sooooo terribly much papa. cant wait for you to come home tomorrow!!

No Kidding!

Back in Malaysia, you can fill up your tyres with air free of charge. just go into any petrol stations and you'll see the pump.

Here, in the Netherlands, its pretty much the same. just go to any petrol stations and you'll see the pump. but before the air gets to travel the tube to your tyres, you'd have to put 0,50 cents in the machine first.

Yes, air costs 0,50 cents.

I remembered once, when we first moved here, we were on our way back home, from a long journey. we were on the highway and stopped for petrol and air. Hardy filled up the tank and drove towards the pump. he got out, he stood there and later smiled towards me.

Hardy: "we have to pay for air".
Zaza: "thats ridiculous! hah? serious? you're kidding me! jom carik tempat lain" (lets find another petrol station)
Hardy: "i think they're all the same, we're in holland!"
Zaza: "then we go to belgium or germany!"'
Hardy: "noooOOOoooo... if we have to pay, we have to pay...."

Hahaha.. thank goodness we are in sittard! where both belgium and germany are 10 mins drive!!

When you pay 0,50 cents, you have 5 minuites of air!!

But anyway, we paid for it. unlike Hardy, i seriously need to adapt myself to the country. the last thing i want now that i live here is to be a kiasu.

Guys, if you're getting air for free, never ever take it for granted!

For us, even if we have to pay high taxes, even if they charge us for our garbage, even if we complain about the weather sometimes, and the 0,50 cents for 5 minuites of air, we still love it here!!


Z

Happy Chinese New Year

Here's wishing all our chinese friends, readers of ours, a

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

To our blog friends, Rita Ho, Gert, Zara&Zaria's mama, Cat, U.Lee, Rose, sending you guys tonnes of love and wishing all of you everything good for this year!

Winter in Paris

There were times when i wish i could live somewhere in the big cities of the netherlads, and not in Sittard. Den Haag perhaps, closer to our friends Noreen and Daniel, so that i can go gossip cakap melayu with Noreen. Rotterdam perhaps, closer to my new friend Nina K, and hopefully will get to meet K.Muna as well... the bigger the cities, the more international they are. but i must admit that Sittard is not a bad place to live in. i'm loving it more and more now. especially when we're geographycally ideal to visit major cities of Europe. Brussels is just an hour away, Prague is 8 hours drive, Dusseldorf is an hour away, and Paris is just 4 hours away from home!




Hardy and i share the love for travelling. ideally by car. it gives us the flexibility, mainly on timing. it was Carnaval weekend (when the Dutch go weird and crazy wearing colourful costumes, really nice though!) right up till yesterday, so Hardy planned us a trip to Paris. this was my 3rd trip (first one being 6 years old, too small to remember anything). and our 2nd trip since we got here. the first time was in 2006, when i was 5 months pregnant with Aidan (you can read about it in my old friendster blog, but you'd really have to look and scroll for it).

And this time, we thought i'd be nice to witness Eifel when the sun sets. we missed it but it turned out to be even much more beautiful at night. there's just something about Eifel Tower that makes me melt inside and go all awwwee. i wish everyone would have the privilage to visit Eifel one day. it's simply spactacular.


Here's one with Aidan posing infront of Notre Dame. i'm sure when he's old enough he'll appreciate it more and probably whine at me as to why did i tie his mufla like a makcik! sorry dan...


And one last place before we head home, back to Sittard, would have to be Roland Garros. tennis was once my life. my dream to witness one of the Grand Slam tournaments came true 2 years back where Hardy brought me for one of the matches at Roland Garros. and this visit, we brought Aidan to the grounds. too early for the actual tournament but just to have a feel. Aidan now can swing both forehand and backhand, and guess what i'm gonna buy him for his 2nd birthday!?! hopefully i'll get to sell my cards!

We had a lovely time. a good winter break. but if you ask me would i want to live in Paris, i'd give it a pass. it's beautiful, and there's plenty to love, but way to hectic for someone like me. and to actually drive in Paris, you need tonnes of guts, a brave heart and be 200% confident! (way to go papa!)


Z

Excuses

Ok... ok... we know we havent been writing... we're terribly sorry. but there are few good explanations as to why we've been quiet... so hear us out!

1. we've been spending some quality time together as a family since Hardy got back from Saudi.

2. we've been spending some quality time together as a couple since Hardy got back from Saudi.

3. we've been busy socializing with Hardy's friends at work (ie. the whole department) - ok.. ok.. it was just for one night that we partied till morning... but still... this is a valid excuse!

4. we've (i mean Hardy) been busy planning for our short winter break.

5. i have been very very busy playing with my new craft machine Hardy bought for me last couple of weeks. (click here to see what i've been doing).

6. Hardy's been extremely busy lately at work (good! good! the sky's the limit bebeh!)

7. and we were away for 3 days. we went to Paris. we just got back.

Will download our photos and share them with you (hopefully tomorrow)! so guys, forgive us for not writing much sooner!

For now, we're gonna call it a day and tuck ourselves in our thick fluffy duvet.

Tot morgen!


Z