2014

First post in 2014! And yes, this space is still alive. I write less now because simply, my hands are full, being a mum 24/7 to Zachary. Speaking of little one, he is just over 4 months old and I am ever so in love with him. I even googled about mum's love for her son to know if it is possible or common to be so in love with a little being who exhaust you to the max day in day out. Anyway, lil one is currently snoring away beside me, and yes, he snores! He must have got it for me because Oli doesn't snore. We are back home in Malaysia since December 18 although Oli flew back last week because he has classes to teach and he missed two weeks of classes already. We will only be flying back on Feb 4 so that is 3 weeks without Oli. So far, we're doing fine without Oli although we missed him a lot. That is given. I am not sure if Zachary realizes that his dad is not around. We do skype every night so at least Zachary has daily face time with his pop. I am reminded of those times when Oli and I were still in a long distance relationship. Separated for months only to see each other two weeks or at most a month during his summer break or Christmas. It's been nice spending some time with the family and seeing Zachary bonds with both side of our family. And I've been enjoying some good food that i missed while I was in Germany and at the same time, hitting the home gym to compensate all the eating!

Oh, on another note, Zachary just hit another milestone. Over last weekend, he learnt to roll from his back to his tummy and ever since then, he has been doing it every day, even in his sleep. You know what, I wished I could have written a monthly update on how he is doing, his development and milestone. A lot of people told me he looks bigger and older than his age. Instead of 4 month, he looks like a 6 month old. It must be the hair. :) In terms of milestones, he has been achieving his milestone one month ahead of what was the normal average month based on Babycenter.com. And yes, I am that proud mum who might bragged a bit of her kid and I am aware of it and I shall stop now. :). In general, Zachary is quite a smily and chatty lil one. He loves it when we recite the ABC to him. He loves to listen to music and his favorite songs are Amazing Grace and Jesus Loves Me. He is drawn to people talking and especially when Oli and I talking. Like when we talk, I caught him several times just staring at us with a slight of wonder on his face, a tip of smile on his lips, listening to our conversation with interest. That boy caught my heart.

Anyway, he looks like he is about to wake up. Or not. I am just gonna lay down beside him, smell his hair, listen to him breathing and just savor the moment because he is growing up way too fast. 

First proper family picture

Last weekend, we took opportunity of the fairly good weather to take some 'Fall' pictures before the season ends. The woods was just 15 minutes stroll from home. Here are some of my favourite shots from that day.

Looking at these pictures make me so happy. I have a wonderful husband and a beautiful son. What more can I ask for? 

Rothenburg: Romantic Medieval Town

This post is a little outdated but since the main reason I started this blog was to document our travel, I thought, you know what, better late than never. So I decided to write about Rothenburg, a little German town we visited back in February with our good friends, the Masons. That time, I was almost two months pregnant and was pretty sick. But I braved through the 2 hours drive to Rothenburg from Kaiserslautern.

At this point, I must say, after visiting a few German towns like Speyer, Trier and Heidelberg to name a few, it requires extra attention to appreciate another German town for what it is. Rothenburg for me was this pretty medieval little town that I'm pretty sure had the weather been better (it was freezing cold during the winter) and had I been better would be charming to discover. From the main street after the main clock tower entrance, it appeared to me that this little town surrounded with centuries old walls has pretty much established itself as a tourist town. Small hotel establishments, bed and breakfasts, quaint cafes, restaurants, souvenir stores and of course, the obvious tourists like us pretty much paint the town. We stayed in one of the guest houses for a night. After checking in, we ventured out to the streets of Rothenburg for a little bit of sight-seeing. 

Streets of Rothenburg

Ready to explore Rothenburg with a map in hand.

Vintage looking walls.

I must write this down. If there is one thing i take from Rothenburg is the day I discovered 'Currywurst tasche' (bag of curry sausage?) from an unassuming cafe located just around the corner of a building opposite St. Jacob church's entrance. It was so good that it made me wonder why they don't sell it in other towns in Germany. The only other place that has this is Amsterdam which I had almost everyday when we visited Amsterdam later in April. 

Sandwich and currywursttasche.

Just one part of the town's wall.

Beyond the walls, the forest abounds.

Wurst of all kinds.

This picture made me miss Sonja. This was us just sitting around after Sonja bought a piece of Snowball, a type of cake, which is pretty popular in Rothenburg. 

Visited Christmas Museum. Apparently, christmas tree originated from Germany.

Bird eye view of the town from the Town Hall Tower.

A fun picture we took at one of the hotel cafe.

We visited the Medieval Crime Museum where they feature medieval punishments for all type of crimes and offences from heavy ones like murder and thefts to something as petty as a man touching another woman's hand. 

I'll just finish off with a picture of me hanging on to someone's window railings. I am glad that despite being sick, I was able to inject a bit of a 'fun' attitude when taking this picture. 

One tip though, if you are planning to visit Rothenburg, do check out the Night Watchman Tour which is highly recommended. Unfortunately, when we visited, they didn't run the tour. Anyways, I would love to visit Rothenburg again. Maybe I should since Christmas is barely a month away and I heard Rothenburg has really pretty Christmas Market and oh, just typing this all out makes me all excited. Roasted almonds, hot spice wine, crepes stands and bonfires. Can't wait!


Love how Rick Steve described Rothenburg. Read here.