Huggies Play Date (1st June 2011)

Not too long ago, Mommy received an email invitation from Huggies Malaysia to attend an event called "Huggies Play Date" at Saujana Hotel, Subang. Mommy reckoned that Mommy was invited not because Huggies know whether Mommy is a mummy blogger or not, but rather because Mommy's name is in their mailing list since Mommy joined the Huggies Club long time ago to get some free diaper samples. ^_^


The event started at 3.00 pm but Mommy only arrived there at almost 4.00 pm because Mommy wanted Juan Or to have more rest first before starting the journey (anyway Mommy felt uncertain too whether to go on with the plan or not). For your info, Juan Or had his UCSI kindy holiday programme class for the whole morning till 12.30 pm and on top of that, Juan Or had vomitted three times in the morning, had no appetite for milk or food and even complained of stomach pain that went off and on throughout the morning and afternoon. His vomit looked slimy which from Mommy's experience, indicates gassy stomach.

So when Mommy went to pick Juan Or up from the babysitter's house (Mommy left him there after the kindy so that he can have his lunch and sleep), Mommy was still at the stand-by mode of going or not going to the event. Apparently Juan Or was still asleep at the babysitter's house. As the babysitter was packing food for him (since he did not eat well during lunch), Mommy stroked his 'big' head (yes, Juan Or has a big head!) and he woke up. Mommy asked him whether he wanted to go to Saujana Hotel or not to which he eagerly said yes despite his condition. So off we went. This was how he looked like in the car - with sulky face whenever his stomach started feeling uncomfortable.

When we parked at Saujana Hotel (yes, Mommy was really lucky to get a vacant and valid parking spot despite being 1 hour late!), Juan Or became cranky but after some scolding from Mommy, he cooperated and went into the event room with Mommy. Upon entering the room, at a glance, all seats seemed occupied, but Mommy managed to find one empty chair meant for the media person! Anyway, who cares, Mommy went ahead to sit at the media chair - after all this event is meant for parents and their babies/kids, so how can Huggies expect a mother to be standing and carrying her child all the time when no effort has been made by either the Huggies or hotel staff to quickly bring a chair for Mommy?

Magically too, Juan Or did not appear resentful of the surrounding despite him not in his best of mood. Anyway, Joanne Kam Poh Poh was doing her talk performance and Mommy had Juan Or on Mommy's lap and we snapped a self-portrait as well.

Mommy wanted to snap a photo of Joanne Kam doing her performance, but too bad, Mommy's handphone camera is not sophisticated enough to take good pictures of faraway objects, so this was the yield and Mommy decided this was all that Mommy would snap of the programmes on stage.

After Joanne Kam's performance, the emcee came out and based on what the emcee said, looks like Huggies Play Date is actually a marketing event to promote (and perhaps launch?) the Huggies Ultra line of product being pure and natural.  After that was the parenthood chat session by four celebrity parents, among them being the fashion model, Amber Chia. However, Mommy couldn't recognize or recall the names of the three other celebrity parents, out of which are two daddies and a mummy (call Mommy old-fashioned and outdated! ^_^). As their on-stage chat went on, Mommy questioned (in the heart) whether they are actually appropriate authority parenting figures to promote this baby product, or are they simply selected just because they have the celebrity status? People in the showbiz and glamour business - how much time do they really have to attend to, care for and nurture their offspring? More often than not, the get-hands-dirty job in attending to, caring for and nurturing a baby is done by a hired (or who knows a live-in) nanny or babysitter or mother or mother-in-law.

Anyway, Juan Or's patience with the surrounding did not last very long and halfway during the celebrity's on-stage photography session (after the chat), Juan Or asked to stroll outside to see the hotel's landscape. On the whole, his mood still did not get any better during the stroll as off and on, he complained of stomachache. Mommy guessed his stomachache sensation was something like the line graph in the share market - up and down, up and down!  Basically, his face became sulky whenever he knew Mommy was pointing the camera at him!

This photo was taken when his stomachache reached the peak. Poor boy!

With his stomachache gone down already, his face was not so cringed up now, but still sulky though.

Yay, finally it was time for food! Malaysian dishes (white rice, mee siam, steamed herbal chicken, ginger beef and mixed vege) were served at one side of the room's corridor while the Western and tea-time food were served at the lakeside corridor. However, Mommy only ate from the Malaysian dishes' side because Mommy does not appreciate Western food. The downside to the organization of this eating session was that there were not enough tables for you to eat your food. So Mommy resorted to going to another neighbouring restaurant's outdoor table and chair to sit and eat. The outdoor table and chair also has lakeview.

(P/S: See the coaster near his hands? He was playing with it initially and somehow his hands are quicker than Mommy's eyes and the next minute, the coaster was gone! Guess where is the coaster? In the lake!)

Juan Or's favourite utensil for the day turned out to be the goblet! He drank water very eagerly for that matter.

Mommy offered him white rice (that's what he loves most!) but he was reluctant to eat due to poor appetite. So Mommy forced him to eat at least a spoon or two to which he did. Soon after that, he complained of vomitting sensation and he vomitted out the chocholate biscuit he ate earlier. After vomitting all he could, magically his appetite picked up a lot  - eventually eating up all of Mommy's rice soaked with steamed herbal chicken gravy! And he didn't vomit too!

After the food, Mommy went to get souvenirs that were given out to guests of the event. One is a vege and fruit hamper, and 3 boxes of Huggies Ultra free sample diapers - 2 diapers in a box, each box being size M, L and XL, respectively.

See a wordy-looking tag attached to the hamper? The tag contains a thank you note for making time for the event on one side and the other side being steps and tips on how to puree baby food.

Wanna see the contents of the vege and fruit hamper? There are 5 sticks of carrots, 2 yellow bell peppers, a handful of cherry tomatoes, 5 apples, 2 sweet potatoes and 2 brinjals. The apples are for Papa's consumption, carrots for making ABC soup, yellow bell peppers to be used for stir-frying together with Beijing cabbage, cherry tomatoes for Mommy to snack on, sweet potatoes for boiling and brinjals to make sambal brinjal dish. Mommy will buy some more brinjals to top up to make a vege dish for future dinner. Meal planning time! ^_^

By the way, Juan Or no longer vomits on the way back home till this time of writing. Also, he was in his usual bubbly self all the way back home. Once home, he started asking for milk again and was able to jump, laugh, talk, kick, throw, etc. Mommy is relieved and is thankful that we still made it to the event and came back with 'rewards' and full stomach for both Juan Or and Mommy despite the vomitting and stomachache ordeal! ^_^