There’s a bug going around and the twins have caught it. It’s the dreaded trio of colds, cough and fever. The colds get their noses clogged, so they end up breathing through their mouths. And when they do, inevitably, dust and other irritants go into their sensitive throats and lungs, leading to a coughing fit. The fever only adds to their discomfort. You think it’s bad enough caring for one toddler? Imagine having to care for two!

I hardly slept the past two nights because the twins kept waking up. It’s either the cough bothering them so much until they end up vomiting, or the fever making them fitful.

Then there’s husa in Cebuano a.k.a. mengigau in Malay. It’s what happens when kids play too much or laugh too much during the day especially when it’s too close to bedtime. They end up crying suddenly in their sleep for no apparent reason, tossing and turning while saying things like ‘Itu Adik punye‘ (That belongs to Little Brother) or ‘Adik, Abang tak nampak‘ (Little Brother, Big Brother cannot see). All the while asleep! Kinda like a temper tantrum, except that they’re sleeping. It has nothing to do with their illness but it just makes things a lot worse.

DH tried to help me, believe me. But what was I to do? The twins only want their Mama. The maid can’t even get past the bedroom door without the twins screaming ‘Tak nak Kak Amah‘ (I don’t want Amah) in a voice so loud, they could probably be heard by the neighbours all the way at the end of the street.

I’m quite used to the sleepless nights by now (hint: why else would I name this blog ‘Sleepless In KL’?) but I detest the unsightly side effect that I get whenever I’m sleep-deprived — pimples! And I’ve yet to find an acne cream that works for me.

So until the twins get better, the posts that have been forming in my head will have to stay in my head — stuff like my daily dose of crème brûlée, resetting my goals, cowboys in KL, and my review of Mandara Spa in Angsana Bintan and Prince Hotel KL.

Gotta go! I think I hear Twin1 crying!

My Sony VAIO laptop came pre-loaded with Photoshop Elements 2.0, along with a few other multimedia-related software. (That should give you an idea how old it is now!) Unfortunately, no manuals came along with the pre-installed software. So I’ve been using Photoshop Elements mainly by following my intuition because there aren’t many how-to’s on Photoshop Elements on the web (most people are using the full Photoshop version) and I don’t particularly enjoy plodding through Photoshop Elements’ built-in help file.

To make a long story short, it’s only a few days ago that I managed to discover how to make animated gif files with photos in my laptop using Photoshop Elements. It’s so easy, I wish I’ve discovered it sooner.

Step 1: Pick out the photos that you want to animate.

I chose a series of four photos showing Twin2 playing with the poolside frog fountain in Angsana Bintan Resorts & Spa.

Step 2: Resize the photos for the web. Most digital cameras these days come in 5-megapixels and above, so the original pics normally take up too much memory for Photoshop Elements to animate. In my case, I reduced the pics to 20%.

Step 3: Let the first photo in the series be the background. Create new layers for each succeeding photo. In my case, I added 3 more layers.

Step 4: Click on ‘Save For Web’, change file type to GIF (in my case, GIF 128 dithered), click on animate, click on loop and set the interval between pics (0.5 seconds for me).

Step 5: Preview the file in your web browser, then save.

And voila! You have an animated gif file from a series of photographs. (Click on the pic to see the resulting animated gif file, if you have a slow internet connection).

I’m off to Jakarta again today. The bigger kids are used to the routine by now and don’t seem to mind one bit. In fact, they even look forward to having their Lola sleep over for two nights.

As for the twins, I also told them Mama will be in Jakarta and that Lola will be sleeping with them. Naturally, they said ‘okay’ like they always do when I tell them that Mama has to go to work. But what was I expecting? They’re just two-year olds who have no understanding of distance. Two-year olds who will still call for their mama for comfort when they wake up in the wee hours of the night…

So it came as no surprise when I found myself, once again, torn deep inside when I dropped off the twins at their playschool this morning. I had to restrain myself from running after Twin1 as he rushed to join his friends in the see-saw. I was smiling and waving as I watched Twin2 go up the stairs all by himself so confidently (holding on to the banister, as I’ve always taught him) but, deep down, I was crying.

How I wish I never have to leave my children while they’re still small and so dependent on me… How I wish I can just keep on holding them…

Why doesn’t parting ever get any easier?

The twins have one special word that I forgot to mention in my previous post, ‘When Egg Was Yellow’ — meto-meto. They use the word ‘meto-meto’ to refer to either one of two things: tomato ketchup (’sos tomato‘ in Malay) or mashed potato.

My children just loooooove mashed potato. When I’m pressed for time, I usually just buy KFC’s whipped potato with gravy. Personally, I don’t like it that much because it looks like the type that’s made from potato flakes, like one of those things that come in boxes which you only have to mix with hot water. I very much prefer my mashed potato slightly chunky. So every chance I get, I try to make some for my kids.

For me, the key to great mashed potato is the type of potatoes that you use. My personal favourite? US Russet Potatoes. These babies are flakey and will not get sticky like some kind of glue once boiled and mashed.

Here’s how I make mashed potatoes:

Ingredients:

• 1 kg US Russet Potatoes
• approximately 65 grams butter — about a quarter of a 250-gram block (or half a stick for our American friends)
• 2 tablespoons of milk
• salt and white pepper to taste

Method:

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into halves or quarters, so that they’ll cook faster and can be mashed with less effort later.
2. Boil the potatoes. You can put a bit of salt in the water, if you like.
3. Once the potatoes are fork-tender, turn off the heat and drain the water.
4. Put the potatoes in a big bowl.
5. Put in the butter, milk, salt and white pepper together with the potatoes.
6. Mash, mash, mash! (Which reminds me — MyEldest used to call it ’smashed potato’!)

Please take note that you can add a bit more butter or milk according to your taste. The 65 grams of butter that I mentioned is just a general guideline. You can add more or less, depending on your preference. As for the salt and pepper, start with a teaspoon of each and keep on adding until you get the taste that’s to your liking.

And now, for the twist.

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I’m back from Bintan. But I’m so swamped with work that it will be a couple of days more before I can write my review of the hotel that we stayed in — the Angsana Bintan Resorts & Spa. The ’spa’ part sounds good, no? It was, it was! It was so wonderful that I think I’ll have a separate post for a mini-review of the spa.

In the meantime, here is a pic of my twins having fun in the Bintan sun, even if the skies were a bit downcast at that time (hence the drab, grey sky), and the pristine beach whose sand was so fine, they got into the very fabric of everyone’s swimwear! I took this photo using a borrowed D80 and my dream 18-200mm VR lens. The camera, with its battery grip, was a lot heavier than my usual D40 plus 18-135mm lens combination but the resulting pictures, given the right settings, were crisp and sharp and awesome. Which just makes me want to have this lens all the more…

Anyway, where were we? Ahh, yes. This post is supposed to be all about Bintan.

Here are a few quick facts about Pulau Bintan (Bintan Island):

• Bintan is part of Indonesia, hence, they’re one hour behind Singapore. For example, 0835 Bintan time is actually 0935 Singapore time. Keep this in mind when planning your flight and ferry bookings.
• Bintan is accessible via a 50-minute ferry ride from Singapore’s Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. The ferry terminal is a 10- to 15-minute taxi ride (less than S$10 fare) from Singapore’s Changi Airport.
• Bintan may be in Indonesia and almost all the hotel staff Indonesian, but the rates for the room, spa, food, and green fees are all in Singapore dollar or US dollar. In short: everything’s exhorbitantly priced!
• Bintan is a golfer’s paradise, being home to Bintan Lagoon Golf Club’s Jack Nicklaus Seaview Course and Ian Baker-Finch Woodlands Course, Laguna Bintan Golf Club’s 18-hole championship Greg Norman Course, and Ria Bintan Golf Club’s 27-hole Gary Player Course. The green fees will burn a hole in a pocket though. No, make that, the green fees will burn off your entire pocket and maybe even your trousers! Unless, perhaps, if you’re from Europe and thinking in terms of €.
• You’ll be going through Singapore and Indonesian Immigrations, so you’ll need to bring along your passport for a trip to this island.
• ASEAN passport holders don’t need any visa to enter Bintan but visa-on-arrival is available for certain nationalities. Click here if you wish to find out if you need a visa or not to get into Bintan.
• You can buy your Singapore-Bintan ferry tickets on the spot at Bintan Resort Ferries’ (BRF) counter at the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, subject to availability. But it is highly recommended that you book your ferry tickets in advance, especially if you intend to go on a weekend or public holiday. You can make your bookings through Bintan Resort Ferries’ website up to 10 am of the day before your departure.

For more information on Bintan Island, its hotels, spas and golf courses, check out Bintan-Resorts.com and VisitBintan.com.