My 2015 in a nutshell

This is such a long post it took me almost 3 weeks to write. I wanted to publish this on 1st of January lols.

Most of the pictures and recollections are from my Dayre account, which I updated every single day for the whole of 2015. This is also why I hardly blogged here hehe.

I guess it’s a really quiet 2015 as I am no longer working full-time. Just picking up temp jobs here and there (stuff that I could do at home) and blogging of course. I did lunch catering and supplying yummy pork cracklings to a watering hole for a few months due to my sudden existential crisis brought on by full-time motherhood. I really enjoyed it but I have since stopped due to cost factors (GST and rise in tolls are real!!!). So anyway, if you have any writing jobs etc please show them my way, thank you very much!

Sorry I digressed. 2015 was nice year, I really enjoyed watching Liam hit all his milestones and becoming the cutest toddler in the world hehe as you will about to see too.

Again I remind you, this is a lonngggggggggggggggggggggg post so please empty your bladder before reading (I assume all 3 of you are interested in my life!).

January 2015
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It’s been more than half a year after Liam was born. We finally got to have a proper family outing after many months of house arrest due to Liam’s prematurity (his doctor advised us to stay indoors for a whole year but we could only manage 8 months). So what did we do for our first outing? We chose to have tea at Carcosa Sri Negara. It was really nice to dress up a little and hang out with my fambam :)

January is also a month where Liam got a mysterious insect bite under his eye. He looked terrifying lol. I was surprised by how calm we were about it, I guess after going through those weeks in NICU, a little swelling under the eye felt like a breeze haha. We did read up a bit and it’s probably just his young baby skin’s reacting to an ordinary mossie bite as he still had not developed antibodies towards them.

And it’s the month he started to get very amused by ME! :)

February 2015
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A lot of firsts for Liam in this month. I know this post should be mostly about me but really, who are we kidding? His life is my life now hahaha.

February was the month Liam celebrated his first Chinese New Year! Doesn’t he look like a proper chinese person? Heheheh.

Had CNY dinner with the girls and it’s the first time Liam was properly introduced to them. He was very charming and well-behaved :)

Liam’s first exposure to banana leaf rice! He was such a darling, charming all the waiting staff as usual.

He also took his first shopping trolley ride and loved it.

And I have to include a picture of him having fallen asleep while touching his toe. Too adorable!!!!

March 2015
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In March, I wrote a blog post on the reasons my son cries. Please read it cause it’s funny!

Liam experienced his first baby spa with his buddies. He absolutely enjoyed it, the massage and the swim.

Look at how happy he is getting a butt rub hahaha

His first tooth started to sprout around this time too.

This is also the month where he started “talking”.

He also started to pull himself up to a standing position.

March is also hubs’ birthday month so I took him to a French restaurant to celebrate. Liam was very well-bahaved, I was so proud of him!

We had a family photoshoot with the talented Samantha Yong.

April 2015
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Liam chilling by himself while me and hubs went to play some stupid game at Tesco.

He got very friendly with his own reflection :)

April is also the month we had to lower down his cot cause of this….

One of the hardest things I had to do was throwing away all these frozen milk that I produced. Was too lazy to thaw them for bath etc and I needed space pronto so in the bin they went :(

Someone also started to develop a temper with arching back and all.

Liam finally learnt how to crawl.

And he also knew how to use the walker with some assistance.

But not that great at it….hehehe.

May 2015
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In May, I went for a 2 hour foot massage with a baby strapped to my chest. I was nuts and I will never ever do it again lols

And then got further value with a foot spa at home. Thank you Charlie’s poop.

I celebrated my first Mother’s Day. Hubs took me to Mei by Fat Spoon for a nice lunch.

Hubs also took us to Cherating for a Mother’s Day treat. It’s Liam’s first beach experience :)

We took Liam to swim at a friend’s condo. He got submerged for the first time.

We even got his WTF expression underwater lols.

We brought him to Daddy’s barber. He’s been many times since, hope he gets familiarised and won’t throw a tantrum when the time comes for his first haircut (which is a long time away at this rate hahaha).

June 2015
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I started SnapChat and I still love it now. You can follow me at kimberly.low you will find lotsa videos of me and Liam haha

Baked my first red velvet cake and gave it all to my lunch catering customers.

Certainly a special month as we celebrated Gareth’s first father’s day :) I took him to a nice seafood restaurant and we had a proper feast!

Bub took his first mall ride and loved it!

Liam was beginning to show a good sense of humour. Here he laughs at his own yawn hehe.

Liam started to become more exploratory, which means….more getting stuck lols

Here’s one..

Another one…

And another one…

July 2015
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My favourite month because it’s my birthday month! And also Liam’s. And also my best friend Jayna’s :)

First we celebrated Jayna’s birthday. Jayna is Liam’s godma.

Liam ate strawberry for the first time. He hated it.

We did waterplay at home. I am obviously posting this picture because I will never get to keep these boobs forever.

Got my son his first passport.

Liam learnt to get down from a sofa, finally!

He also ate crackers for the first time.

And he has the perfect tongue dance hahaha.

Hubs got me an Anova precision immersion circulator for my birthday….which means I can sous vide food at home now!!!!

And then he treated me to a fabulous dinner at Dewakan. 13 courses with a baby, we were pretty damn brave and crazy.

Liam also celebrated his first birthday! Here, he’s holding his birthday card from granny Susan.

August 2015
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First we had a party at home to celebrate Liam’s first birthday. His adjusted age was only 10 months but who’s counting? Haha.

Then we flew to Europe for a 3 week holiday! I blogged about Liam’s inaugural flight.

Liam met Aunt Jean for the first time.

Had a picnic with granny Susan by River Severn.

Liam finally learnt how to clap his hands to “If you’re happy and you know it” song.

Of course, there’s no shortage of Liam getting himself stuck…. this time on top of a suitcase lols.

Besides England, we drove to France (Dunkerque), Belgium (Brussels, Westvleteren, Ieper and Antwerp), Holland (Rotterdam and Amsterdam), Germany (Villingen-Schwenningen) and Switzerland (Schaffhausen). We did a lot of driving and Liam was, for most of the journey pretty good.

Here, he moved to the music we were listening to in the car.

And also visited LooLoo, my best friend and maid of honour who now lives in Germany.

Looloo took us to Rhine Falls in Switzerland, what a magnificent sight!

I also joined the Bersih 4.0 in London while babywearing Liam and we took a picture with Clare Rewcastle Brown. Hope 2016 is a better year for our country :(

And we had a family tongue dance in London’s Primark haha.

September 2015
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Liam ate his first chicken nugget OMG!!! It took all my mental strength to not freak out and remove it from his hand haha.

In this month I baked my very first cinnamon rolls. So delicious and easy I should make them often as it’s so much easier with a breadmaker to do all the hard work of kneading and proofing. But I have yet to make more hahah #lazy

Liam got stuck, what’s new?

He’s also taken to giving me heart attacks every now and then. Here he’s climbing up the sofa like a monkey.

And this lucky boy also got to meet the celebrities in the form of Hi-5. He doesn’t know it yet but he will probably be very thrilled with this picture one day :)

October 2015
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This is our wedding anniversary month. We didn’t do much but I felt much loved as the husband bought me the holy trinity of nasi lemak for anniversary breakfast…paru, sotong and seeham :)

Liam also got stuck on top of the footstool. Sometimes he forgets that he knows how to get down.

Doesn’t stop him from getting onto the footstool all the time though….

And boy has he developed a character. He learnt how to say no at mealtime grrrrr

And that’s why he deserved to be bullied by his father hehehehe

November 2015
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November started with Liam getting stuck. Yeap.

I even have a video hahaha. Great parenting eh?

Hubs took me to eat at In-N-Out popup restaurant. We found out about it quite late and made it in the nick of time. In fact we were the last customers before they closed up! Worth the drive.

I sewed a pair of shorts for Liam….it was horrendous. He was horrified as you can see.

This is also the month that Liam had fevers for a few days and eventually admitted to hospital for a night as there was a dengue scare.

Fortunately it wasn’t dengue and he probably was just having a particularly bad teething phase.

We found out that he was suffering from diet related anaemia though as I hadn’t fed him much meat except for fish…I felt quite shitty for being so stupid. Now he gets meat everyday!

Had a babycino after getting better. Not his first but he’s too cute in this picture!

And finally, Liam walked properly for the first time!

December 2015
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Before we knew it, it was December.

I attempted to make pulut panggang. Too much work, haha I will stick to buying them in the future!

Liam went to his first book fair. He had a ball pushing the plastic trolleys all over the hall.

He also pooped on the throne for the first time, yipeeee!

I made mince pies for the first time. The mince was storebought though #cheatbake

Liam and I dressed up as flapper girl and newspaperboy for a prohibition era party :D

Had our annual Xmas party and it was wonderful :)

Liam ate lemon for the first time and he was unperturbed by it haha

He also learnt how to get down from out extra tall bed. It’s quite scary to watch but he does it like a pro now.

Hubs took us for a staycation in KL to usher in new year. We didn’t get to see fireworks though cause they closed the rooftop a few hours before midnight -__- but we had a nice time swimming when it reopened the next day. Don’t ask me where this hotel is cause I will not recommend it haha. I am sure you can find it yourself if you’re resourceful enough.

Me and Liam eating traditional local desserts from a stall in KL. We had so much fun playing tourists in our own city :)

So there…my review of 2015 done. Did you read everything? I think 3 weeks really isn’t so bad for a post this long haha. As promised, it’s really more about Liam than me haha but that’s alright because he is my life <3

I don’t really have resolutions for 2016, I just wish to be a better person, better mother, better friend and a better wife. And sew some stuff my family and I can wear out in public.


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To read about my highlights in previous years, click:


2008
2009
2010
2011 (this one was a cheat, honestly was too broke saving for the house until no activities hahaha)
2012
2013
2014

My 2014 in a nutshell

Just like the previous years, I’d do a summary of my year. 2014 has been a relatively quiet year for me, but definitely a significant one as our first born arrived.

Here goes..

January
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We first found out we’re pregnant on 20 January 2014 :)

February
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Nothing much happened other than it was Chinese New Year and my tyre got deliberately punctured in my work place’s carpark. Hmm..

Luckily my saviour came about 15 minutes later and I didn’t have to wait two hours for Gareth to endure peak traffic to come from the other side of the world to get me.

March
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It’s my husband’s birthday and also the month we formally announced our pregnancy.

I attempted to make Seremban beef noodles (great) and also salt beef (not worth the effort).

April
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Cel got married to the love of her life and I was honoured to be her maid of honour and helped out! What a beautiful day :)

It was the month of water rationing, and of course I ranted about people washing their precious cars during the water shortage.

We found out the gender of our baby! Am not going to bluff, I really wanted a boy so my wish came true. Now that Liam’s born, I really want a girl next.

I also posted picture of my bump for the first time at 5 months pregnant. Looked like a food baby.

May
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We watched Jersey Boys and it was fabulous!

Happy days as this was the month that Lance and Mel got married. They’re possibly one of my favourite couples in the world :)

June
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I ate a live octopus.

We also went to Bali for a babymoon cum birthday trip. Thank you husband! :)

July
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The month I turned 30 and also the month I started a small business. The latter is still in its infancy and growth has been slow due to the baby but my plans and dreams for it are still burning passionately.

In the middle of July, I exhibited a classic symptom for pre-labour called “show”. I was only 29 weeks pregnant then and it wasn’t a good idea to give birth. My doctor immediately ordered bed rest and also steroid jabs to hasten my baby’s lung development.

I was a little shaken by the episode but I wasn’t stressed up because I knew that worrying was not going to help me. I went on with life as normally as possible and continued to enjoy my pregnancy, albeit with caution and more awareness of my body. I kept telling my body to hang on till 35 weeks at the least.

Husband took me to Ten for a Japanese degustation/omakase for my 30th birthday. It was really delicious.

A week later, on the second last day of July, my water broke and I went into labour. I was 32 week 4 days pregnant.

Liam was born on 31 July 2014 at 1.52pm.

August
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While I discharged a day after labour, Liam stayed on for 23 days more in hospital, 11 of them spent in NICU. It was a blur of visiting hospital twice a day to give Liam kangaroo care, pumping milk every 3 hours and dealing with changes to my body.

This was the time I realised that I had married the right man. I don’t know how I could survive this month if it wasn’t for Gareth.

It was also very rewarding to see Liam improve every day. He’s my strong boy :)

September
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It’s a great month as we finally brought Liam home. While it was tiring to care for a baby, I am just so glad that our baby’s finally home and that he is healthy.

I also wrote a blog post about what expectant parents should buy. Very relevant if you’re planning on breastfeeding.

October
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Liam turned 2 months old and we did an impromptu photoshoot.

I wrote a tribute for our 2nd wedding anniversary on the 27th.

I cooked for the husband and he bought me flowers, donuts and a packet of salt beef. He really knows how to make his wife happy :)

November
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I wrote about why dogs are better for babies than humans.

December
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My favourite month as it’s Xmas. We weren’t planning on throwing our annual Xmas dinner party but alas, we couldn’t resist the festivity, so we hosted a smaller do.

It’s extra special for me this year because we have both my mother-in-law and Liam together with us.

Gareth blogged about it here.

It’s also the month that my brother got married! I was bawling as he and his wife entered the banquet hall, I guess I was happily overwhelmed by the fact that my brother is now a grown-up. I am so happy for him as I know my sister-in-law is a great girl and I wish them all the happiness in their marriage.

I also got myself a new phone, after giving the same phone to Gareth for Xmas lol.

So there, a summary of my 2014. I hope 2015 will be a better year for everyone. Less natural and man-made disasters please, and hopefully no haze >_< I’d love to travel more too and get the business up and running by itself. And also to enjoy watching my baby grow up healthily. So much to do, so little time. Happy New Year! ========== To read about my highlights in previous years, click: 2008
2009
2010
2011 (this one was a cheat, honestly was too broke saving for the house until no activities hahaha)
2012
2013

Happy 30th Birthday to Me!

Yeah now you know how old I am!

I can’t believe that I graduated from university almost 10 years ago!

I sometimes find it hard to believe that I am pregnant now. Or married. Or has my own health insurance. Or has my own car? Whutttttttt?

I remember driving my first car at 18, a white Kancil gifted by my father, pushing it to 120kmh (which is the max speed) thinking to myself, “Walaoyeh, I am so fast and so cool lehhhh!!!!”.

Thinking back, I have had a pretty good twenties. I mean, obviously I didn’t think so then, there was always something irking me cause c’mon….which 20+ year old doesn’t think it’s all about Me, Me, Me, Me and Me and EVERYONE is just so gawddamn clueless? Hehe.

Well, I spent the first half of my twenties thinking I had figured it all out and the later half actually figuring it out, albeit frustratingly.

My twenties have left me and they were glorious, fun & sometimes frustrating years.

Today I feel at peace. I would like to start my 30s knowing that I will always be figuring it out, but to never ever sweat it :)

For my 30th, I don’t have any material wish, unlike all my previous birthdays in my twenties.

# – Though it’s still fun receiving them hehehe. This is me opening presents from Celine last night.

I am thankful for a loving & supportive husband, a caring family, the best dog in the world and wonderful, wonderful friends. I am soon to launch a small business, which I’m really excited about. Have so far done all the product research, designing of the brand etc…all that’s left is to market and who should be my inspiration but my yet-to-be born son?

So yeah, I am excited about being in my 30s!