Julian's Arrival

We are happy to announce the birth of our first born - Julian, on 28 May 2007 via Ceasarian section. At birth, Julian weighed 3.43kg or 7lb 8oz (not as heavy as expected). He is 53cm in length with a head circumference of 37cm (quite a big head).

Baby Julian is fine and Mummy Angie is recovering well after surgery. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Julian is the first grandchild for Angie's parents, and the second for my parents.

Baby Updates: 39 weeks

We will be 39 weeks pregnant this coming Monday (28 May 2007). We thought we'd blog about this now because at this stage anything can happen :o). Angie has been experiencing more Braxton Hicks contractions lately (which we fondly call 'hicky') but no signs of labour yet.

So, we're down to the last week of our pregnancy. Please keep us in your prayers.


[Mummy and Daddy at 39 weeks]

Unexpected Sighting

We forgot to mention in the previous post that on the way to see our gynae on 21 May 2007 we spotted a zappelin in the sky - not something you get to see every day :-) Most unfortunately we didn't have our camera with us so we've got no photo of it to share with you.

Baby Updates: 38 weeks

We are now 38 weeks pregnant. We saw our gynaecologist this morning. Baby now weighs 3.7kgs and baby's head is already 10cm in diameter. Simply put - baby is big.

So, it's 2 more weeks to the due date but we're hoping baby will be born sooner because of baby's big size.


[Mummy at 38 weeks]

Little Outing

We had a little outing yesterday (20 May 2007) as some friends from the Singapore Engaged Encounter (EE) community were in Penang for a holiday. The Penang EE community took them around.

Angie and I were not able to join them for the whole time but we did manage to meet them at the reception area of the Batu Maung War Museum before heading for a durian party in the afternoon. In the evening, we went up Penang Hill for steamboat dinner at the Bellevue Hotel.


[War Museum: We busybodied at the reception area only]


[The Local Tourist at the Funicular Hill Railway Station]


[Vending Machine from Yesterday: Reminds us of the 1980s... located at the top station of Penang Hill]

Francis Western Food

We had dinner at Francis Western Food last Saturday (19 May 2007). It is located at a coffee shop at the junction of Cantonment Road and Burmah Road in Pulau Tikus. During this visit, we ordered baked Cajun Chicken (RM11.50) and Chicken Chop (RM7.00). During our previous visit, we had Baked Chicken with peanut butter sauce (RM8.50) and Bacon Wrapped Pork Chop with Cheese (RM13.50). The servings are generous and taste delicious, but be prepared to wait a while before your order arrives.


[The Front of Francis']


[Chicken Cajun]


[Chicken Chop]

Steamed Rice

We read the Giddy Tigers' post about the steamed mushroom chicken rice at the Eng Yau coffee shop next to the Penang Snake Temple. So, yesterday (17 May 2007) saw my brother, my sister-in-law, Angie and I there for a quick lunch. Incidentally, it was the first time the four of us got together for lunch.

The steamed rice turned out to be quite tasty and the serving is really generous. The stall also serves steamed spare ribs rice as well as steamed salted fish rice. They only open Mondays to Fridays.


[Steamed Mushroom Chicken Rice: Only RM3.50]


[Steamed Rice Stall at Eng Yau Coffee Shop]

Cheesy Prawns

Last week (11 May 2007) saw Angie trying out a recipe she learned from a colleague - Cheesy Prawns. The prawns are marinaded with salt and pepper and lightly fried. Then, they are covered in cheese slices before being baked for a few minutes.


[Cheesy Prawns]

Cot Matters

We finally got down to giving baby's cot a fresh coat of paint. The cot is on loan from Gabriel (our baby nephew) who doesn't sleep in his cot anymore. We also made a trip to Penang's Kimberly Street to purchase a cot-sized fibre mattress. Then, off we went to buy some fabric for the bedsheets. So, we're almost done with baby's bed stuff. All we need to do next is to assemble the panels together once the paint is fully dry and voila!


[Swipe, swipe: Daddy painting baby's cot]


[Coconut fibres and cartoon sheets: Firm, cool and funny]

Baby Updates: 36 weeks

We are now 36 weeks pregnant. We saw our gynaecologist yesterday and he said that baby now weighs 2.9kgs, bigger than average. Baby's head is about 9.5cm in diameter. So, it's 4 more weeks to go but Dr. Gynae says baby will be matured in 2 more weeks.


[Mummy at 36 weeks: Baby stuff... check! More baby stuff... check!]

Passing by Perlis

Wednesday, 2 May 2007, saw us making a day trip to the nothern most state of the Peninsular - Perlis. On the way, we swung by Bukit Kayu Hitam but there wasn't much on the Malaysian side to warrant a stop. We continued our journey the to the royal town of Arau where we spotted the palace. Again we drove on without stopping.

When we did finally stop, we had arrived in Kangar and it was lunch time. We had roasted and barbecue pork rice at OK Restaurant near the Malaysia Hotel. After lunch, we drove around town before visiting other places.

The places we visited: Padang Besar, Chuping sugar cane plantation, Tasik Melati, Bukit Kubu Recreational Park, and Kuala Perlis.


[Padang Besar Bazaar]


[Our Padang Besar purchase: mangoes, and fruits of unknown origin... enlightenment welcome]


[Sugar Cane Plantation at Chuping: acres and acres of sweetness]


[Tasik Melati]


[Bukit Kubu Recreational Park]


[An incoming ferry at Kuala Perlis]

We had initially planned to stay the night but found it quite unnecessary once we got there. All in all, the trip took about 10 hours including travelling time. The trip was made more 'exciting' and 'dangerous' when we realised halfway that our car tyres were extremely worn out! We got them changed today.


[A very worn out tyre]

Our 3rd Anniversary

We celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on 1 May 2007. This year we began the day with a lovely dim sum breakfast in Taman Pekaka.


[Dim Sum at Maxim's]

Lunch was a picnic at Batu Ferringhi. The weather was good and we managed to find a shade to enjoy our tuna sandwich.


[Preparing our sandwich lunch at the beach]

For dinner, we checked out TGI Friday's. We sampled their loaded potato skin for the appetizer and our main course was the seafood platter and Jack Daniel's Chicken & Shrimp. We also tried their smoothies (Holiday Isle and Hawaiian Surfer). Food was good - better than expected. Between meals we simply lazed about having a relaxing time enjoying each other's company.


[All set to tuck into our dinner at TGI Friday's]

The highlight of the day, as always, was the lighting of our Unity Candle for our Anniversary Prayer.


[Our Unity Candle burning bright]