Where to Stay in Kuala Lumpur: Hotel Capitol

9-12 June 2013

Last June, I went to KL, Malaysia with a few friends for a vacation. This is actually a treat by J for her 50th birthday and retirement. It's semi-free because she paid for our fare while we paid for our hotel accommodations. We were a big group, there's 7 of us, and we wanted to be in a good location - in the middle of all the shopping hehehe. We were initially booked at Swiss-Inn Chinatown but decided last minute to change hotels since we didn't like the neighborhood in Chinatown. So good thing someone suggested Hotel Capitol. It's relatively cheap and in a good location - very near a monorail station and a few minutes walk to Bukit Bintang.

We booked three superior rooms at MYR250++ per room per night (~ PHP3,250++ per room per night).  Here are the photos.

The reception area

The lobby is pretty basic with a few benches you can sit on while waiting for check-in

When you enter the door, the beds are on the right side of the room

The view from our window. Can you see Petronas Towers?

The two beds. There's an extra pillow inside the cabinets but we asked for another one so each of us in the room will have two pillows.

 

There's a refrigerator under the TV but no food and drinks inside

Almost in front of the door is the cabinet (right side of this photo). There's a small hallway to the left of the door that will lead to this mirror and a door to the bathroom.

 

 

 

Minimal toiletries available so better bring your own

I was weirded out that the coffee and teapot was inside the clothes cabinet.

The hotel offers buffet breakfast but room rates are not inclusive of breakfast. We availed of the buffet breakfast but they have different rates depending whether you have reserved a table or walked in to their restaurant. Rate for reserved seats go for around MYR18++ (~PHP235) per person which is a good price considering that it's buffet and they have quite a spread.

 

The hotel is also near restaurants. Right next to it is an eatery/hawker station where we ate lunch on our first day - cheap, good food - check! There's also a money changer across the street and a convenience store at the other corner of the street. As I've also mentioned, it's near the shopping area in Bukit Bintang.

 

So if you're looking for a relatively cheap hotel with clean rooms and bathrooms and good location, Hotel Capitol is definitely the place to stay at.

 

Hotel Capitol

Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Phone Number: +603-21437000

 

 



Ate Je Leaves Again

It was Ate Je's last day yesterday. She left us, this time around, because she's pregnant. Nothing dramatic has happened, it was actually a smooth transition from her to our new yaya because she agreed to stay with us for another month since the new yaya came. But I guess I wanted to write about her leaving us as an ode to her. I don't know. I was sad when she texted me yesterday that she was about to leave the house (I was still at work). So I told her thank you for taking care of Miya and for her malasakit to our daughter and that she would be a good mother herself. I also told her to just text us when she wants to come back and work. She has been with us since Miya was born. And she left us last year for 3 months but came back again. I was hoping she will stay with us for good but alas Cupid has other plans. She was our partner in raising Miya, although we're the primary caregiver she took on the responsibility as the secondary caregiver to heart. She took care of Miya like she was her own (even though she's not yet a mother then) and I know she loves Miya. She would talk to Miya when she was still a baby and while she was learning to talk and I know that helped Miya a lot in the way she talks now. She's also my partner in breastfeeding Miya. She kept Miya's expressed breasmilk like it was truly liquid gold. She would give the milk to Miya like clockwork when I wasn't around to direct feed her. She's the first person and the only person for a long time who can bottlefeed Miya. She took care of Miya's skin by applying all the lotions and medications for her skin asthma. She would get rattled everytime Miya's temperature will spike more than 37 degrees. She would make Miya drink her daily vitamins, Virlix on days that Miya's itching, cough medicine and oregano whe Miya has cough. She took Miya to school everyday and stayed with her inside the classroom until Miya learned to let her go.

I told her not to let Miya know that she's leaving. Because knowing my daughter, I know for sure that she'll cry and not want to be with her new yaya. So until now Miya doesn't know that Je will not be coming back any time soon. Hopefully, she'll be able to come work for us again in the future.

 

Family Day

6 October 2013

We had a very tiring weekend because we celebrated Family Day with Miya’s school. First of all, the family day did not happen in the school’s premises but in San Gregorio Farms in Sta. Maria, Bulacan.

We invited both sets of grandparents to come with us but since it was a Sunday Joema’s father was not able to join us. The first notice we received from Miya’s teacher said that the activity will start at 8am so we thought we had to leave around 6am to get there on time. We knew how far Sta. Maria is from the city since Joema and his family used to live there. So instead of bringing in packed lunch, we decided to place our lunch order with the school. They ordered KFC meals for those who chose to do so. It was also a good thing that the school decided to start the event at a later time – 9:30.

So anyways on Sunday my parents came to our condo and by 8am we all trooped to Bulacan. We picked up my mother-in-law along the way. There were some rerouting in the area going to the farm because of some infrastructure rehabilitation so we got lost going to the venue hehe. But since we were early, we were one of the two families who were the early birds (for which we got a prize yay! Haha!). I think the program started a few minutes after 10am. We were teamed up with the other families in Miya’s level, we were the red team. The school gave out white shirts for all of us and gave us different colored bandannas to distinguish the different teams.

 

Our little red riding hood

The program started with the kids singing the National Anthem. I was surprised when Miya started singing on stage! Remember the last program we went to when she didn’t even want to stay infront? This time around she sang with all her classmates. I was so proud! Then they said a prayer and sang a few songs. Allow me to share the photos and videos here.

On stage right before the performance of the kids

Singing Lupang Hinirang

 

To be strong and to lean on...

It was really a proud moment for me and Joema and even the grandparents. I was beaming the whole time!

And then came the cheering competition. I didn’t want to participate at first but her teacher told me to join, so yes I eventually joined. We just recited a few lines of the cheer and then danced! Ahahaha! But since Miya wanted to be carried, I technically didn’t dance with the other Mommies but I was there with them swaying along. No, no videos of that! LOL!

 

With Mommy practicing our cheer

And then there were more games, which both Joema and I did not participate in. But on the last game they had an Amazing Race kind of game, Joema and I played with the team. As in career! We were always the first in the group to arrive in our stations hahaha! Well it was our way in helping our team. I was actually surprised that Joema agreed to join the Amazing Race and I didn’t have to make pilit for him to join. See, my husband is a shy guy but I guess he’s more dyahe not to participate at all because he’s seen most of the parents joining the games.

Can you spot Joema doing the zipline?

After the games we had lunch and had some free time before the awarding ceremonies.





With Lolo and Lola

In the end, our team was 4^th place overall but it didn’t matter because all the kids had prizes. Miya was so happy with all the things she got hehe.

Receiving our early bird award. Miya was so excited to get that tin can. But when she opened it, she said "Asan laman?" LOL Told her she can use it as her lunch box

First PTC

30 August 2013

In the afternoon of Miya's Linggo ng Wika program, Joema and I went back to her school to meet with her teacher. Yes, it was our first parent-teacher-conference. We met with the school directress and the head teacher for Nursery. They discussed with us how Miiya is in school. Teacher Rom's first question to us was what were the changes we noticed with Miya since she started school. I started blabbering about how she liked to sing more blah blah blah, I don't really remember now because that time I can't really think of anything haha. Joema came to the rescue when he said that Miya started speaking in English when she started school. Truth be told, we don't really talk to Miya in English. We talk to her in Filipino, that's why when you talk to her she speaks like an adult. Even our expressions like "Hay naku" or "Naku" or "akala ko..." she learned to say hehe. Teacher Rom then discussed her impression of Miya in school and then Teacher Jonah discussed how Miya is during class, she discussed every part of their daily class and how Miya participates in all of them. According to them, the biggest improvement they've seen in Miya was how she has finally came through her separation anxiety with her yaya (Ate Je). During the first month of Miya's schooling, she would cry when she doesn't see her yaya inside the class. But slowly, she learned to let her yaya go. The teachers also noticed how Miya is more comfortable talking to her teachers than to her classmates. Although she interacts with her classmates through play, she doesn't really converses with them like she converses with her teachers. They also noticed that for the first few weeks, she wasn't participating in class but she was observing. It was only later on that she would participate like answering the teachers question or joining in the singing. They noticed that she's very inquisitive. She asks a lot of questions and they are amazed that her questions are related to one another and to the replies that she gets from them. One of the example they sited was this:

Teacher Jonah: Okay, Miya let's stand na.
Miya: Why tayo magsstand, teacher?
Teacher: Kasi we need to sing.
Miya: Why sing? bakit hindi dance?
Teacher: Because we'll dance later.
Miya: What will we sing?

They have so many anecdotes of Miya's behavior in class like how she doesn't want to dance or that she crumples her activity ticket or that she likes to sit beside Ate Janette.

They also remember that Miya likes to answer them with her favorite reply, "Busy ako e." Coz when they ask her to do something and sometimes she doesn't want to, she tells them "Busy ako e." So now really when we're with her, I see them asking her "Busy ka ba, Miya?" LOL

These are only some of the things I remembered during our discussion. Good thing they provided us with a narrative of how Miya is in school. That way, aside from this blogpost I can read that again and remember how Miya is when she first started schooling (in case I forget). The narrative even has some pictures. I'm really happy with Miya's school and teachers. It's a small progressive school. They really know her and she's learning a lot and she enjoys going to school. I remember the first few weeks of school, I was surprised that she's learning so many things  (on Fridays, they are sent home with their homeworks and some of their works in school so I get updated on their lessons every week). Well, considering that my main purpose in sending her to school was to just to use up all her energy and so that the yaya can have some away time from her hehehe.

The Little Igorota

30 August 2013

We attended Miya’s first ever school program. It was a very simple and short program of the kids. We were asked to dress Miya in black shirt and leggings because they will be Igorots and the rest of the costume will be done in school and put together on the day of the program itself. I can’t find a plain black shirt for MIya’s size so I decided to buy black leotards instead. I’ve asked Miya’s Ninang to cut the longsleeve ones I bought to shortsleeves. Bought the leotards at Yvonne inside SM Store and bought matching black leggings from there too.

The program was for the whole pre-school so all levels nursery, junior kinder and senior kinder kids were all there. Miya’s school is a small school and the program was done in the play area. You can just imagine how jampacked the area was with all the students (around 30-50 students I think), teachers and parents and companions during the day. The parents were asked to leave the students to the assigned rooms (for them to assemble the costume) and then proceed to the program area. We were there early so we got good seats. We didn’t get the front seats because I was afraid Miya might not want to separate with me again when she sees me during the program (like what she did during her field trip). So anyways, when the program started the kids entered the “Stage” via a door at the side. I was surprised that aside from the teachers and students a lot of parents were also coming out of the side door hahaha.

 

There's my little Igorota when the students first entered

And then she sees me

 

When Miya saw me, she wanted to go with me and didn't want to stay in front anymore. Hay! I had to ask one of the mommies in front if I could seat there just so Miya will stay on stage.

All the students were asked to memorize their lines to say during the program. Miya’s line goes “Ito ang baro’t saya, ang pambansang kasuotan ng mga babae.” Miya has memorized her line days before the program and she even recited it during their rehearsals so her teacher knows she knows her line well. But guess what, this little girl decided she didn’t want to say her line during the program! Ahahaha! Here she is not saying her line.

She also didn’t want to dance, apparently. During their Igorot dance, she was there front and center but she did not dance. Well, just for a little bit when she did the hand gestures but after a while she thought she’s too cool for that LOL!



 

After all the kids performed, there was a little slide show that we watched. It showed the kids during the first few months in school. It was so hot in the play area so I decided to change Miya into another set of clothes. But after the slide show, the head teacher told us to get the kids together again for one final picture taking. Miya was the only one not wearing her black garments hahaha! Oh well, atleast they can immediately spot my kid!



Our little Igorota who didn't want to say her line and dance with her classmates hihi

MFO x googoo&gaga x Wooden Canvas

I know I’ve said before that I never win online giveaways. But alas, the thing with these giveaways is there is a 50/50 chance of winning if you join. Aside from that package I’ve won before from Mikka, I’ve won a workshop for my yaya from Manila Mommy and I’ve also won tickets from googoo&gaga to Mommy Mundo bazaar last year (although I wasn’t able to go thus forfeiting the tickets…sayang!). And then just recently I won from Tin of Manila Fashion Observer two wooden canvases from Wooden Canvas and googoo&gaga.

 

THE tweet!

 

You know how I’ve been a fan of gogoo&gaga ever since Miya was a little baby.

 

Miya has more shirts but I haven’t gotten around to letting her wear them heehee. Remember, I even blogged about Miya's feature on the googoo&gaga site?

 

So I was really beyond thrilled to have won Tin’s giveaway. My prizes included a 10x10 wooden canvas with a googoo&gaga print and a 10x10 wooden canvas with my choice of photo.

When I received the email from Audrey to choose a googoo&gaga print for one of the canvasses, I immediately zoomed in on the Got Balls design. I didn’t want to choose a design to which Miya already has a shirt/dress with the same print. I thought it would be redundant hehehe. Anyway, once Miya (or our future kid) outgrows the shirts we can have them framed. I actually chose a design that was already sold out.

And then for our own photo, I chose this photo of Miya wearing a googoo&gaga dress. I thought what better way to remind me of how I got the canvas by choosing a photo with Miya wearing her googoo&gaga dress.

 

This was an Instagram photo

As for Wooden Canvas, I’ve been curious about their products ever since I read Anna’s post about the store. See I even asked Anna how much their products were. And I thought it was awesome that they're doing canvases of googoo&gaga designs.

In less than two weeks after I emailed them my choices, the canvases were ready for pick-up! Here are the finished products!

 

 

 

 

I loved how Miya's photo turned out - like a sepia print photo but it's actually wood. And even if the photo I submitted is not high-resolution (less than 1MB) , the finished wooden canvas looked awesome! I would love to have more photos of our family printed by Wooden Canvas.

 

Once again, thanks to Manila Fashion Observer, googooandgaga and Wooden Canvas! 

Miya and Maring

Most of us have finally gone back to the normal grind after the monsoon rains and typhoon Maring during the week. I stayed cooped up in our house on Tuesday during the height of the rains and floods around the Metro. My parents have again evacuated to our place. Good thing, the water didn't enter their home this time around. We have Miya to thank who kept all of us entertained. She played with her playdoh set the whole day with me, her Lola and Lola and Ninong alternately.

She said she's taking my picture with the playdoh tub :)

Now she's using the tub as a hat

Her Ninong made her a microphone and asked her to sing for us. To which, she willingly obliged. Here are videos of her singing.





Haha can you hear us cheering for her? :) Hope you're all safe and dry! Have a happy weekend!

A Potty Training Story

Once Upon a Potty by Alona Frankel

That photo was taken around March this year (that makes Miya 2 years and 1 month old then). I bought the book to start Miya on potty training*. The book introduced the use of the potty and that she needs to sit on it and pee and poop on it. So we started not putting diaper on her around that time. I know I've mentioned here before that we started her on potty training even before March of this year but it was only since then that we've been really consistent. At first there were accidents, she would pee on wherever she was and THEN tell us “Mommy weewee”. There were also some incidents that she pooped on the floor. Unfortunately for yaya, this happened when they were the only ones together so I never witnessed this. There were also times when she won’t tell us she wants to pee but once we take her to the potty, she’ll pee like there’s no tomorrow hehehe. But we’re almost there, I think. We can now spend a whole day without wearing a diaper because she can tell us that she wants to pee. Although, we still put on her diapers when we go out for long car rides and when she sleeps (sometimes during the day and every night). Miya can even go to school without her nappies on. But yaya sometimes put diapers on her when she thinks Miya will poop during class. That’s the thing, Miya poops only when she has her diaper on. So usually it’s when she wakes up or in the afternoon after she wakes up from her nap or she waits until before bedtime when we put on her diaper. So that’s our remaining problem. She doesn’t want to wait for her poop to drop in the toilet bowl. Yes, my very impatient daughter doesn’t want to wait hahaha. Last weekend, I insisted on that she needs to poop on her potty or in the toilet bowl. That time, she will sit once in a while in her potty (which we put in the living room for easy access) but she couldn’t finish the deed. But I know she really needs to go because she’s “pushing” (umiire). I will also make her sit on the toilet bowl but again she’ll become impatient and tell me she doesn’t need to poop. We did this back and forth I think 3 to 5 times in 30-45 minutes. She tells me she only needs to “pee” so she sits on her potty or the toilet bowl. After a while she said she wanted to pee on the floor of our bathroom. During the early stages of her potty training, we let her pee on the floor instead of letting her sit on the toilet bowl. This time after she peed, she stood up and then she couldn’t control it anymore so the poop dropped hahaha! Hay naku! I had to scoop up her poop up to flush it down the toilet bowl.

 
So we still need to train her on this. My action plan is ask yaya to take out her potty (yaya already hid it somewhere) so that everytime she needs to poop, she can sit on it while watching TV. I hope this will make her more patient in sitting down and waiting for her to poop.

* Using books in teaching her things has been very helpful to us. The first time I used a book to introduce her to an acticity and prep her for it was a book about going to the dentist.

Tali Beach

18-19 May 2013

 

Our good friend E was in town for a visit last May. We went to Tali Beach with him. It was actually all planned very near the date we met because we initially planned to meet with all the Migs at our favorite place. Unfortunately, our friends H and P were not available on those dates so we had to find an alternative. Since I only had a week to look for an alternative, all the resorts that I liked were fully booked already. Good thing, I saw an advertisement at our office for this house for rent in Tali Beach.

On that Saturday, we picked up E and his niece and nephews at his condo. Then off we all trooped to Batangas. I think it was already past 6pm when we arrived at the house so we didn’t have time to go to the beach anymore. Fortunately, we were able to catch the sunset. This viewing deck was very near the house we rented, we walked going here.

After that we went back to the house and just hang out. I really love trips like this, nothing to do but hang out hehe. I can't do a full "where to stay" post on the house we rented because it's a private house. But I'm posting some photos of the house.

Love the open space concept - living room, dining room and kitchen in one big open space.

Miya playing with the piano

Dinner is served

We hang out at the veranda just outside the living room.

Miya amused with her Ninong E

I love this photo. Miya looks so kikay. She's wearing a headband with a big ribbon here.

Next day was beach day! Tali beach is not as nice as Boracay’s. And the beach that we went to was small and got pretty crowded. But it will do for a nearby beach (near Manila). Tali is part of Batangas and most people who are able to go there have a house there or was able to rent a house (like us). It’s an exclusive residential village with different beaches. I think we went to the main beach.  Although the beach was near the house, we opted to drive going there because we brought merienda for the kids and we didn't want to carry them going there. I noticed a signboard at the beach, though, that bringing in food and barbecuing is prohibited. Maybe they meant lunch because no one told us off when the kids started eating the sandwiches we brought.

 Photos of the beach after the cut...

Miya's First Field Trip

2 August 2013

We accompanied Miya to her first ever school field trip last Friday. Yes, both us, joined her. We were that excited! It was(is) nutrition month and part of their lesson in school was about healthy and unhealthy food. So we trooped on over to a nearby SM Hypermart with the rest of their class to learn about these. Our little family went there ahead of the other students and their companions who rode in the provided school bus.

 

My little preschooler.

 

Miya tends to cling to me whenever I accompany her to school activities. Well, actually this is the first time I attended one ever since the open class we joined. She didn’t want to let go of me so most of the photos had me with them. Here are photos of the field trip.

Where in the supermarket is Miya?

Talagang nasa unahan kami ng pila hahaha!

Hand in hand with her favorite classmate

Looking at the live fish

Getting her fruit salad -  the main activity of their field trip

Paying for her fruit salad

Good job, Miya!

Ah yes, di na sya nakapag-intay she wanted to eat the salad right there and then. Kaya lang she only wanted to eat the syrup and not the fruits hahaha