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Have you ever seen a  baby open their birthday gifts once the party is over?

It really is like having a party all over again An after party if you insist

The sheer excitment shown on a child’s face as she explores the unknown is absolutely comforting and a look I wouldn’t mind getting used to everyday.

A before photo if you must

No I refuse to smile woman coz my party finished!

You can trrryy to make me smile mommie but it ain’t gonna work. Period.

SNAP, what’s all that??!

Oooooo, is that for meee? (well sometimes even her mommy has this look when the hubby gets her something out of the blue) Standard look on most women me think

Let me open that one first.

Can I just get a closer look at it ma?

Ooo and that’s an activity cube it says??

Sairah’s own laptop – thank you Aunty Mena

More presents you got there for me lady?

My back-up photographer, Anusha,  hard at work, hehe

Sairah’s engineer Uncle hard at work assembling her lil toy. Yes all my lil minions are hard workers, lol

Of course baby girl insisted to help out which slowed down the process of assembling

Her favorite Uncle helping her put on her pants. Doesn’t get more awww than this!! And this is coming from a fella who has NO prior baby-sitting experience

Gotta love the PINK Disney bicycle. It’s a lovely gift from her Subang Grandma and Baby Girl loves it to bits.

APPROVED. Super love this shot.

She loved it so much that even her feet were laughing, hehe

Well I suppose now we wait for her to grow taller too before her lil feet can even reach the pedal.

She’s already doing the ‘vrrooom vrroom’ sound everytime she sits on her bicycle when we push her around. Too cute!

Pondering on what she can store in her lil basket

I’m thinking my milk bottle.

And lots of it woman! YES, that’s what I’ll do!!

Sairah Bear & Bear

Dear Bear, I promise to love you forever, muaaaah!

Check out my baby’s rides parked in her room, lol

But wait, I digress…..it aint complete till she gets a car!

Saw this yellow camaro in Toy R US and it freakin cost RM2k!!

Daddy looking at Sairah and pondering if it’s really worth the splurge. I could almostttt sense he was going to buy it for his precious love.

But it was obviously a no hence the daddy pleaseeeeee look Anyone with RM2k cash to spare, please do contact me We will love you long timeee!

I’m so happyyyy todaaaayy!

Oh yea doing her signature shuffle move…..

Bounced all the wayyy to the photographer for a close up

OH YEAA best you recognize the Birthday Girl yo!

Aah babies and presents. Then again, who isn’t into gifts eh?

A cooking post!!!

Which naturally means this lazy wife cooked something last weekend

Since we all know I either cook A. Italian or B. Chinese or C. Western so no suprises if you guessed Chinese this time around *pats your back*

I decided to make a nice EASY sweet and sour chicken dish and my fav broccoli vegetables. I found the veg recipe that seemed Chinese to me from guess where? Martha Stewart’s website. Who knew it actually came out decent

Easy Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe

Step 1: Mix 1 egg yolk and some soy sauce with a bit of water. Roll the diced chicken breast in flour, egg, and then flour again. Fry the chicken and drain on paper towels. If you wish to skip this step also no problemo. You can use your fav chicken seasoning and fry it instead.

Step 2: Stir fry 1 chopped onions and half green and half red pepper until cooked.

Step 3: Pour in the sauce. To make it combine 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon white vinegar, 3 tablespoon tomato sauce, 3 tablespoon plum sauce and 1  tablespoon Worcestershire sauce together with 1/4 cup water or less. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Mix 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch with some water to make the sauce thick. You can play around with the sauce taste by adding in more plum sauce or tomato sauce.

Step 4: Add in 1 chopped tomato and combine chicken until sauce is mixed.

Step 5: Garnish with spring onions and WALA:

And now for the easy peasy Broccoli recipe

Step 1: Fry chopped garlic and chopped carrots until soft.

Step 2: Add in the fried taufo and broccoli with a bit of water to soften it. (okay recipe only called for broccoli but I added in ze carrots and taufo coz I’m mad creative like that)

Step 3: In a bowl, combine 1 tablespoon light soya sauce, 1 tablespoon oyster sauce (recipe didnt call for this but I LOVE Oyster sauce!), a dash of white vinegar and 1/4 teapsoon chilli flakes (though I used half a packet of Domino’s chilli flake – happens when you’re INDIAN) and stir. Combine into pan with vegetables. Add some cornstarch with water to thicken the bugger up.

Step 4: Throw in some cooked cashew nuts, stir and tada:

Healthy yummy greens with a kick of spiciness *cue Jet Li mad kung fu skills* So sad I won premiere tickets to watch The Sorcerer And The White Snake yesterday but couldn’t go

Ho ho sek wor!!!

And because everybody loves babies:

Sairah’s lil play date on Sunday:

Except there wasn’t much playing as he’s barely 6 months and can’t sit up. Yet.

Oh and this is the state of my baby girl’s room these days.

Which is a strong indicator that Sairah is a TODDLER now :(  Karishma, you were right when you said the room will come to this state one day in an earlier comment

If any baby is up for a play-date with Sairah, please do email me.  Promise I’ll at least try to tidy up her room a little before you guys arrive

Disclaimer: All photos are courtesy of Ezra Plus Photography while photos labelled with  (A) are thanks to my friend Anusha. Both of these parties did an EXCELLENT job capturing these precious moments as it is and I can’t thank them enough. There are approx 500 photos, only 92 made it on this blog post and even then I”m really just tempted to upload em ALL!

Gosh, if someone were to put a  gun to me and say bitch pick a single ONE photo that you love, I would rather say you know what, shoot me coz I love em ALL! That is how strongly I feel about ALL the of Sairah’s Birthday Party photos coz each photo tells a story and how we’re connected to each people in the photo

Venue: Tappers Cafe, Bangsar South

The Decor

(A)

The Door Gift

The personalized guestbook

Uncle Roshan signing the book

BabySis was in charge of getting people to sign in

PRESSIES! Best part of the party, hehe

FOOD! Also the best part of any party

Hubby’s Aunt from Guam – she is GORGEOUS! No one ever believes me when I tell em she has 3 kids.

Heart this photo – nothing like some good satay on a Friday afternoon yo.

Nick – before he stained his clothes. Then again, he said stained shirts are always an indicator of good food, lol

Lil Princess made her way about half an hour after all guest had arrived.  Obviously the star of the party just HAD to make a grand entrance She was most definitely in the DAZE and I don’t blame her. She did thread the restaurant very very carefully, most of the time wondering what the heck is going on.

Her gorgeous tutu dress is courtesy of one of my besties in the UK. Thank you Wylane, it looked perfect on her.

(A)

Hmm something verrry strange is going on here.

But I”ll get to the bottom of this SOON.

The Berglunds – My bestie!! Her hubby flew in from Singapore just to attend Sairah’s 1st Birthday. Can’t thank them both enough!!

With my ex-classmate Minna and her toddler Vera.

My dad’s cousin

And her son

Dhash’s cutie pie Nikhil and her niece.

My ex-classmate with her hubby and son. Check out the thumb’s up sign, lol

Balloons on the floor – always a kid’s pleaser.

The Uncles. Nobody can mess with Sairah. EVER.

When relatives meet after a long time

More relatives from my side Sri Lankans uniteeee!

Macha KK and his ever charming expressions.

(A) The Billy Goaties (the hubby has since shaved that crap off his face after I nagged him 2 days in a row)

Dad’s cousin and a close family friend.

 Madhu, her hubby and her sweetheart son, Siddarth. Check out those BIG eyes!

After a while, mom and I actually changed her outfit into the dress I got her in Phillipines. YES, there was actually a dress change, lol. I was only 2 months pregnant when i got that dress It FINALLY came to good use. And to think I only paid less than RM40 for it?

(A)  At the same time it finally sunk into my baby’s mind that it was indeed HER special day and boy did she make the most of it. Till today the hubby and I often wonder where does she get those attention-loving genes from since we’re both on the quiet side.

YAY it’s my parttaaaay *clap clap*

(A) I’m soooo happyyyy todaaaay!

And because I’m sooo happppy everyone gets a flying kiss *muaaah*

(A)

(A) Mommy and Baby with the same expression.

(A) All three with the mouths open

(A)

Sairah and her Subang Grandma (otherwise known as my mom’s sister / my aunt, hehe)

Vera teaching her how to blow

BabySis and Brat

Okay Sairah are we ready to cut your birthday cake?!

Can we cut the cake now hubby?

Thank you Eunice for the wonderful awesome cake. Everyone was super pleased.

Pretty obvious that Sairah-Bear would get a BEAR cake isn’t it?

Sairah’s first candle – make a wish baby girl.

(A) Chopping the bear’s head. Felt so bad after that. Having a cute cake is hard sometimes!

(A) Birthday girl having a taste of her own cake.

She obviously approved. Doing her signature ‘tadaaaa’ and enjoying every single minute of it.

Mommy and Daddy butchering cutting the cake.

Okay what should I get up to next mommie?

Then all of a sudden that lil girl went on a KISSING spree

One kiss for Siddarth.

One kiss for cousin Kasi

Another kiss for Uncle

God knows how many people she kissed that day. Daddy needs to a buy a shot gun soon I reckon.

GROUP PHOTO!

With Dhash, her hubby, Nikhil and her niece.  Believe it or not but we actually met on my blog! From exchanging emails and tips many times, I’m so happy that she showed up for Sairah’s birthday. Plus now that Sairah actually kissed her son on his LIPS, I’m guessing there will be many more playdates to come

The Loh Family

Sairah giving away the door gifts to the babies.

More loving from Aunty Anusha

And then came Uncle Kavin

Sairah and her aunt being drama queens as usual

Uncle Roshan adjusting Princess Sairah’s crown. Doesn’t get more awwww than this!!!

Ah yes, seconds before the lil one planted a kiss on Nikhil, lol

(A) Sairah and her grandpa, hence the lansi face

(A) Cheeky monkey at work

(A) The friends.

(A)

(A) Okay people, byeee and thanks for coming to my parttty! Hope to see you again next year.

(A) Ohh no we’re coming to an end

(A)

(A) Yay let’s go home and open my pressies mommie. And damn I have such a proud mommie face here.

(A) Huh?? What do you mean the party’s over already???!

And that ladies and gentlemen was Sairah’s FIRST Birthday Party Bash *tadaaaa*

P.s: If you’re keen on hiring a REALLY good photographer at an affordable price, do hop on to Ezra Plus Photography.

There’ s this quote in my baby girl’s guestbook that I found on the internet and just HAD to put it next to our photo in the book.

I want my children to have all the things I couldn’t afford. Then I want to move in with them.

Fine, so the last sentence was probably there as a punch line. But the first line spoke to me. Why yes I want nothing but the best for Sairah. I want her to have all the things mummy can’t afford. I want her to have all the things mummy could only wish, stare, sniff, dream, touch and hope for. I want her to have it all.

Coz naturally I want her to have a better life than mine.

Afterall dare you to point out a parent who doesn’t want the best for their kids? Thought so.

So step one for wanting the best for her was opening up a savings account for the brat which we got to do recently. Plus it helped that my dad was consistently nagging us to do so. Afterall my mom and dad were the first folks to present Sairah her very FIRST cheque on her birthday and they were eager for us to bank it in to her :)  Imagine a 12 month old receiving a cheque in her name, lol, the world is crazzzzyyy sometimes!

Anyway all of a sudden I’m just itching for her to save and hopefully by the time she reaches 18, she would have a decent amount of money for herself. Going forward whatever cash received during birthdays, angpows, just-because, prize-money (heh maybe getting a lil carried away here) will go straightttt into her bank account! No going to Toys R Us or ice cream parlours to splurge on! And the hubby and I will be contributing some cash into her account every month too. Like what they say – sikit sikit, lama lama jadi bukit!

I have to say though that service in Maybank is SHIT – we still had to wait around to be served even though we were one of the first ones. But nothing like a loud ‘THIS IS STUPID, IF I DONT GET SERVED IN THE NEXT 5 MINUTES, I”M GOING OVER TO XXX BANK”

It works okie. Tried and tested

I have a what account now?

Whatever that is lady.

I’m just happy with this Tiger coin box. For now.

Tiger meets Tiger face off! Sairah won coz she pushed him off her bed. Such a tyrant this one.

And just a quick info for parents who want to open an account for their bub, believe it or not, only ONE parent can be guardian and have access to the account. Obviously I think the mother should be the one in charge, ahem. Just bring along baby’s MyKID, Birth Cert and your IC too. Sign here, sign there X 3 times and you’re done! It still took us approx 1 hour to get everything sorted. I opted to get online banking so we can transfer money in and monitor the balance.

But the icing on the cake was when the officer asked if we wanted to activate the TAC number so transfers can be made.

Told her I highly doubt my 12 month old would be doing any online transacations anytime soon.

Truth be told, I was afraid Sairah might have my online shopping addiction like the mom, hence the no TAC request, haha.

But yea I will  continuously do my best at nagging that baby toddler of the importance of saving. Money doesn’t grow on tree kid! For everything else you have your dad.

P.s: Anyone else who wants to contribute to Sairah’s account is also more than welcome, heeeh. Just had to try

These days we consider dining out in a nice restaurant a luxury! One of the things we always consider when dining out is whether the restaurant is a baby-friendly one which usually means smoke-free, bright and above all comes with a baby chair. Oh you’d be suprise how some restaurants don’t provide this. Anyway, dining with Sairah also means eating our meals in speedy gonzales mode since she gets a tad fidgety. The only way we can sit longer is if we share our food with the little fatty, LOL.

Giovino is a restaurant that I’ve been wanting to go to for quite a while. I remember wanting to take the hubby here to celebrate his birthday and thought against it since we were going to bring Sairah along.  I hardly see babies in nicer restaurants maybe because it’s not actually conducive, have you?

Since our anniversary was on a weekday, the hubby promised we’d go out to a nice dinner on Friday even when I said he didn’t have to do so. My mom was kind enough to baby sit Sairah so we could go out for dinner alone So off we went to Giovino’s – finally, YAY.

Deciding what to eat.

Oh hai.

We decided on something light and went for the Fried Eggplants and Sautéed Sausages in Tomato Herb Sauce. I requested for chicken sausage instead of pork and damn was this dish REALLY good.

We also shared a typically Greek dish called Vegetarian Spanakopita. The pastry was soo fluffy and soft while the filling was delicious. Feta cheese – everyone loves em!

Also tried the Greek Saganaki Tiri which is essentially pan fried cheese in bread crumbs. Sounds pretty easy to make but trust you me – I’ve tried it and it’s not. Cheese rules!

All set to dig in.

A photo of us before we head back. You’d think we would have spent hours out since we had some Q-time together but nooo, we were back in less than 1.5 hours. HAH. Even my mom and BabySis were suprised.

Food here was slightly above average, wouldn’t say it’s spectacular probably coz we were too cheap to indulge in the more popular dish. Anniversay dinner came up to approx RM120. So now I can strike off this restaurant from my must-try list.

Anyway, we rushed back to take Sairah home and decided to just cam-whore and chill the night away

Naughty face ON 

You gotta excuse her crazy hair, she has mad-hair thesedays, lol. Then again blame the mother who forgot to comb her hair!

EH?!

Come to think of it, would trade any luxury restaurant and eat in speedy gonzales style with my baby girl!