Baby Expo (TCE 2016 @ Mid Valley)

This is the event that I have been waiting for.

Memang stock menyimpan wang kaw kaw untuk event ni. Alhamdulillah ada bonus, duit raya dan (yg ni memang tak jangka sebab memang tak de dalam ingatan) duit kutu. Maka, dalam masa yang singkat dapat la menyimpan sejumlah wang untuk event ni.

Membaca dari review review dan pengalaman kawan kawan yang lain, diorang cadangkan pegi waktu weekday dan bukan weekend. Katanya kalau weekend bergembut orang. Nak nak event ni dibuat selepas orang dapat gaji. Jadi, memegang tips kawan-kawan ni, kami husband and wife pon amik la cuti hari Jumaat, untuk ke event ni.

Tips orang yang lebih berpengalaman juga mencadangkan untuk pegi awal-awal pagi untuk elak bersesak-sesak dan agar mudah dapat parking. You see, mendapatkan parking di tempat yang strategik sangatlah penting (buat kami), sebab we planned to buy the big, expensive items here. Yes, plan kami nak beli benda-benda besar je dan yang memang stok makan ratus/ribu sebab kami percaya, the real discounts adalah kat benda-benda camtu. Lagipun, it is too early for us to buy the small stuff (baju, seluar yadda yadda). So, the plan was to get a parking spot dekat dengan escalator atau elevator. Lagipun, mak buyong sekarang malas bonau nak berjalan.

So, we started the day early. The expo starts at 10.00. We left home dalam jam 9.00 am sebab kami dari Bandar Sunway, nak ke Mid Valley tu satu cara je. Federal Highway. The Federal Highway per se tak de la jam sangat. Tapi dari Bandar Sunway nak keluar ke Federal Highway tu, boleh tahan hazabnya. Jadi, kami kasi can la warga yang bekerja bertungkus lumus dulu kat situ (Jambatan Kable). Our target was to reach Mid Valley at 9.30 am. Tersasar!

We reached Mid Valley at 9.45am dan malang sekali tak dapat parking yang betul-betul dekat escalator. Actually tak jauh pon tp kalau boleh nak parking depan pintu escalator tu. Haaa kau, tinggi betul hajat!

Upon naik ke exhibition centre, nahhh selautan manusia dah beratur menunggu nak masuk expo hall. Bakpe ramai orang ni? Dop kije ke? Kami pun beratur la jugak sambil mencari-cari kat mana derang dapat buku senarai merchants dan paling utama kami nak cari map untuk locate kedai yang kami nak pergi.

Our main agenda was to find these items dalam bajet kurang dari RM2,000.00. We brought RM5,500.00 that day to the expo:-

• Baby Cot/Playpen
• Stroller & Car Seat
• Breast Pump
• Feeding bottles

So, when the doors open, we thought we had it all figure out. Husband cecepat grab map dan merchant lists and we moved to the side to study the map and locate the merchant yang kitorang nak visit. 

In all honestly, biarpun dah ada benda dah plan nak beli, we did not know where to start. Dalam masa setengah jam tu, we just walked around tengok kiri kanan. Tapi since kami ada target, kami tak stray from our targets. Husband dah mula complain "orang lain dah ada beg kiri kanan tangan, kita ada map je ni, cemana?". Haihhhh dia ni. Mengalahkan ong puang pulak.

Since, merchant ni berselerak (dalam erti kata, barang-barang tu bercampur - merchant strollers je bercampur sana sini), so kami visit setiap booths. First booth we visited was the one yang jual matress dan baby cot. Allaahh baby cot tu lawa kot...  tapi kami macam tak reti nak tanya apa. So, we just belek-belek pastu I nyot nyet nyot nyet kat husband nak kan baby cot tu. Harga the whole set, RM1,200.00. Tapi, you see when you have accumulated so much money, ada terasa sedikit sayang nak spend wang tu biarpun the baby cot was one of the purposes we've saved the money for. So, we passed sebab nak 'jalan-jalan dan survey' dulu, which I think was our best move that day.

And then we came by another booth yang jual baby bath tub. It is foldable and thus sangat convenient. Plus it is silicone so it is safe. Tapi, harganya RM180.00. It was not our target. I told my husband, "I read that we do not need baby bath tub. Any kind of basin will do. Lagipun sampai RM180.00. I know we are excited but let us not splurge on something we do not need". Husband gave his ok and we moved along. Husband mesti berbangga dengan isteri dia ni. Ahem!!

And then we came by a stroller booth. The one with the fancy brands macam Quinny, Mini (Cooper) and some other fancy brands yang I did not know existed. Price range dari RM1,300.00 sampai ke RM4,000.00 ada. Yes, some of them are quite fancy in terms that dia auto lipat la, ringan la, compact la. Ada few options to consider. My consideration adalah yang practical. Lagipun, salesperson tu tengok kami macam orang tak de duit je, dia pon malas nak layan. Few weeks ago, before the expo I wanted to get the Doona Stoller simpley because dia boleh transform from a stroller into a car-seat. Seemed like it was a good idea and fancy. Price-wise, tak de la burns the pocket sebab you get 2-in-1 item tapi, bila fikir jangka hayat penggunaan item tu, it is not worthy to spend that much. From my reading, it only fits from newborn sampai 18 months. Lepas tu kena beli yang lain. Too bad. So we ruled out terus the stroller. 

And then we visited the next-door booth. Jarron's Malaysia. We were greeted by a young petite malay saleslady. She.got.me.with.her.friendliness. Mesti banyak komisyen budak ni. She was with us from the moment we stepped into the booth sampai la we collected our receipt of payment. Haa beli ape tu?

Baby Cot. It was white, big and fancy. Yes, I use the word 'fancy' a lot dalam post kali ni. Husband's main concern was the mosquito net. He wanted it. I just wanted the whole set of the displayed baby cot. The negotiation did not take long. May be dalam 15 minutes kot and I was sold. The whole set, termasuk dengan musical mobile, net, bedding set, mattress... - RM1,226.00 and to be delivered and assembled at our house in mid-November. It is really easy to shop when you know what you want, really. So why, white, big and fancy?

Here are my reasons why I chose this baby cot:-

• We wanted it big so baby boleh guna lama. Hopefully until the baby is 4 years old
• It has removable side and can be replaced dengan side yang separuh when the baby dah boleh panjat katil sendiri.
• We also wanted it big supaya baby ada space dia sendiri dalam baby cot dia to play;
• We wanted it white sebab our bedroom set is white and white adelah sangat precious for babies.
• Husband likes it sebab ada mosquito net biarpun rumah kami tak de nyamuk. But, by logic when ianya tertutup, it would the give the sense of comfort sebab, ianya tertutup;
• I love the bedding set (bumper kiri kanan tepi depan belakang tu). It is quite expensive but it is sooooo comfortable. Since we buy it the whole set, harga dia dalam RM200++ (discounted from the original price RM300++)
• I love the musical thingy yang tergantung-gantung kat atas kepala baby tu. I tak tahu pon benda tu datang sekali. I did not know ianya berbunyi-bunyi. When they demonstrate, I went "Awwwwww, we'll take this set. Deal".

Inilah cot yang kami beli tu. Dan itu la adik manis yang kemain diabetis mulut dia promote katil ni.
Agak-agak korang boleh teke ke jantina ape baby F ni? ahaks.

Next, we moved to Tommee Tippee booth. Linda sangat menggilakan brand ni. I honestly do not know apa beza Avent, and Tommee Tippee or any other brands. But since Linda ada dua babies and have used both brands, I followed her suggestion to buy Tommee Tippee. I also read online yang brand ni bagus dari Avent dengan harga yang lebih munasabah. Up to this stage, I still do not know apa beza Tommee Tippee dan Avent selain dari harga yang boleh tahan jugak la jauh bezanya. I also read online yang booth Tommee Tippee ni selalunya sesak and yes, the tips and articles were right. It was just a small booth and memang sesak and customers kena beratur to masuk to the booth. Tapi barisan tak panjang pun. We went in and grabbed what we wanted. No! Kami tak grab. We tried to survey. Keyword ~ tried tapi tak berjaya because booth dia sangat sempit. Husband saw the 'close to nature ~ essential starter kit, or something. It was black dan cantik. It has bottle warmer, sterilizer 4 bottles, brushes and priced at RM726.00 kalau tak salah. This was NOT our target but yes, even though dah plan nak breast feed baby pun, I think warmer and sterilizer tu penting. Malas nak fikir panjang, husband grabbed the box and proceeded to checkout. Haa senang kan shopping kalau ada duit (tak de niat nak berlagak - I just want to highlight that while you have your target, kadang-kadang tersasar jua dan lebih baik la bersedia dengan wang untuk tersasar di expo dari dok susah hati buat kira-kira dalam kepala).

Gambar sumber ehsan Google sebab gambar sendiri blurry ngeng! Tapi set ni la kami beli. Tapi awat macam lain sket? Gambar kat luar kotak tu sama, tapi ada few extra items dalam kotak yang tak de kat muka kotak ni. But nevermind. Move along.

And then we proceed to Sweet Cherry booth. I know this brand sebab brand ni banyaaaaaaaaaak kat Jusco. Ramai juga ibu bapa beli brand ni sebab harga dia sangat munasabah dan Linda dan Paan approved! We aimed a stroller with a car seat and we found it. The basket is interchangeable dengan car seat and the price is RM550.00 and I am sold. So was husband. Kami belek-belek, tengok dia demo and then tak de cakap byk, we bought it. The downside of it, stroller ni tak compact. So, we might need to buy a compact one kalau kami nak fly ke Korea ke UK ke bulan ke Mars ke. Haa ahaks.

We bought the red stroller. It comes together with the car seat.

Boleh nak facing parent ke, ke luar sana ke. Terpulang.

And then the last item, we wanted was the breastpump. I chose Lacte Duet. I have been reading and reading and reading and reading and reading and found the best pump would be Madela lah. Tengok la harga dia pun. And then some lactating mothers suka benar dengan Lacte Duet ni. My main concern adelah pam yang tidak menyakitkan dan senyap dan pam yang membolehkan I use my two hands when I am pumping. Lacte Duet fit the characteristics that I want, but that was based on my readings la. I have not use it yet so macam tak boleh nak comment further. 

So, we went to the first booth, Fabulous Mom. The sales person adalah orang melayu. For Lacte Duet, dia ada jual pump sahaja dan pump with the whole extra "gifts" dengan harga RM629.00 kalau tak salah. Kalau pump sahaja RM499.00. Dalam set yang ditawarkan ada 3 storage bottle, 2 packet of ice packs, and a bag untuk letak pam dan storage bottle. I think it is very expensive dan the bag is ugly~ Husband had a small chat dengan another father who was at the expo. He said, there is another booth at Hall 1 yang bagi lagi banyak barang with cheaper price dan beg dia cantik. Since I read about the prices online, I think harga yang Fabulous Mom tawarkan ni mahal. So, we passed. 

Ingatkan harapan nak beli breastpump kat Expo dah hancur. Tiba-tiba terjumpa another booth. Tak ingat la nama dia. Terjumpa lagi sekali Lacte Duet. Sebagai mukadimah, I asked the chinese saleslady, ape beza Lacte dan Madela. Dia kata Madela bising. So I asked, bising makna tak bagus la? She said, benda mahal selalu bising maaa. In my head, BMW tak bising ponnnnnnn. She said, Ferrarri, Lamboghini. OK fine Amoi.. you win! (makes sense kan apa dia sebut??) She said Lacte and Madela almost the same cuma Madela adalah pioneer untuk double motor double apetah lagi. Lacte is a new brand and banyak new brands copy technology Madela dengan harga yang lebih rendah. Comfort-wise, Lacte wins sebab breast cup dia silicon, so dia lembut. Both also offer suction power macam baby to stimulate the breast to produce more milk. Both also ada dua motors. In the end, it is up to the parent la nak pilih yang mahal atau yang murah. I chose yang murah la sebab Madela sampai seghibu lebih while Lacte dalam RM500++ sahaja. In the set, Amoi tu bagi 6 storage bottle, ice hard ice pack to fit all six bottles dan satu beg galas yang sangat cantik to fit the pump di bahagian atas dan cooler bag di bahagian bawah for storage bottles. Price paid : RM560.00 kalau tak salah.

So, there!

Mission accomplished. So to speak lah.

As we walked out from the expo, we encountered a booth yang jual Parklon Play Mat. I wannnnnnnnnnnnnt!!! Tak sure I want it for my baby ke or for myself. Tak tengok lama pun, just sempat pegang, sembang-sembang kejap and then ambil booklet and walked away.

Husband pulak ternampak that baby bath tub yang sama we found earlier. Kali ni kat different booth. Ntah macam mana, husband boleh tergoda dengan bathtub tu. Practically, benda tu memang la penting sebab when we travel especially kalau balik KT atau Ipoh, we can bring it along untuk mandikan baby. Cuma kemekkan je, nanti dia jadi sekeping papan. So dia compact. Nanti baby dah besar pun, blh jadi personal tub dia untuk main rubber ducky dalam tu kan. So, husband bought it at RM150.00. Kami pun gendong la pelbagai beg kat bahu tangan.

Kami dapat jaring untuk diletakkan di atas tub tu supaya we can put the baby atas jaring tu and use our two hands to bath the baby. Tak de la sebelah nak pegang baby, sebelah lagi nak gagau shampu la, bath soap la..

Owh, I also read online yang it is advisable untuk bawak backpack. Kita ni punya la dok paksa husband bawak backpack haritu untuk letak benda - benda kecik. Tapi kami beli benda-benda besar. So backpack tu kosong. Muehehehe.. maka si isteri pun kena bebel la. 

On our way out, we saw booth brand Pureen. Ada jual baju murah2. Untuk buat husband sedap hati bawak backpack, I pun pilihlah few mittens and booties and baju lobang2 untuk baby. Murah. Baju dan seluar lubang-lubang satu set RM10.00, we took two. Mittens and booties satu set RM5.00, we took three. 

gambar mittens and booties takdop. ahaks

Kemudian, we also saw sejenis katil bayi yang boleh rock (goyang-goyang) ahhh sudah!! Pastu bawah katil tu ada laci lagi untuk simpan barang.. Ahhh sudahhh!! Adekah kami telah salah membeli? We check the price, katil sahaja RM1200.00 tak masuk mattress dan bedding set. Total semua semua tu boleh jadi sehingga RM2,500.00. Husband convinced me that we made a wise choice beli dari Jarrons tadi kekekekeke.

So, since barang banyak, stroller besau... We used the newly bought stroller as our trolley that day untuk transport barang-barang ke kereta. Sebab tu penting untuk parking depan pintu escalator tau!

We ended the shopping spree at 2.00 pm. 4 jam je shopping. It was fun, short and sweet, really. We got what we wanted and our pockets didn't burn that much. Memang main target untuk bawak pulang semula wang yang kitorang bawak untuk shopping tu and misi tercapai! Kami tidak membazir dan we spent very wisely ~ kami rasalah!

When we got to our car, dah ada kereta follow kitorang. Memang ramai, jang!! Kat luar, parking Zone A telah ditutup. Siap ada polis jaga. I saw on Facebook ramai jugak yang membebel Mid Valley jem. Itu Jumaat. Hari Sabtu, lagi la semakin ramai menyumpah kat Facebook. Kekekeke.. Sebab tu kena rancang perjalanan, mak mak sume.. OK?

So, adekah betul murah kat expo baby ni?

• For baby cot, I rasa reasonable sebab Ikea punya cot sahaja paling mahal dalam RM500++, itu tak masuk mattress, bantal, bumper kiri kanan sume. Pastu Ikea kot. I don't know, cheap items in Ikea I think tak berbaloi sebab kualiti rendah. And for its quality, spending RM1,200.00 for baby bedding set, I think is reasonable. But, at the same time I am planning to buy the 4moms Breeze to function as a playpen and bed untuk dibawa ke sana ke mari mostly ketika balik KT atau Ipoh supaya anak tidak merayap atas lantai.

• The Tommee Tippee set. I saw few IG shops offer pre-order basis dengan harga RM600.00 sahaja! *cray*

• The breastpump, almost as the same price as the ones offered online. The machine always RM499.00. Yang jadi pertambahan harga tu, barang-barang yang datang sekali dengan pump tu je.

• The baby bath tub, I saw online some shops sell it for RM120.00. *cray* lagi. But ada yang kata, ada tub yang imitations. Kalau yang imitation, bucu plastic antara the colored silicon dan white frame tu tajam dan tak smooth dan butang untuk buang air at the bottom of the tub tak boleh tukar warna kalau air panas dr 37c. 

So, there you go.

My first experience membeli belah barang baby. Biarpun membeli belah untuk baby, ianya sangat la therapeutic. I am looking forward to the next TCE expo. Next one is coming at the end of August 2016 at SACC Mall Shah Alam. But then again, too soon to get the small items. May be, another one in September ke or shopping dengan Tok Ana/Mak Tok pulak ke kat Ipoh. I want my mom to experience shopping barang - barang cucu jugak. 

The total estimated damaged done on that Expo day adelah:-

• Tommee Tippee - RM726.00
• Bath tub - RM150.00
• Baby Cot - RM1,226.00
• Lacte Duet - RM569.00
• Stroller & Car Seat - RM550.00
• Newborn shirt, pants, mittens and booties - RM35.00
• TOTAL : RM3,256.00 (Balance bawa pulang - RM2,244.00) ~ Good job, Mummy. Good Job

My mom kata I started my shopping sangat awal (I am at 23/24 weeks now). My argument is that sekarang yang tak de perut pun dah malas gila nak berjalan, apetah lagi bila dah bawak perut ketika kandungan usia 7/8 bulan nanti. Dah la kat expo tu tak de seats untuk parents bersantai seketika. Kalau ada pun, bapak-bapak yang akan bersidai kat kerusi-kerusi tu. I don't know. It just does not make any sense to shop di hujung-hujung kehamilan sebab expectant mothers akan penat. Plus, kalau shop awal-awal, tak de la rasa duit terbelahak kluar banyak terus sangat. Now, I can focus on saving for hospital maternity packages. Yeay!

Next mission adelah wardrobe drawer (we found the one we like dah, tunggu nak grab je) dan duit simpanan untuk beranak. Ahaks. Yang lain-lain as we go to the Mall, boleh la grab sikit-sikit.

I hope you guys enjoy reading my first baby expo shopping experience as I do writing them. Makes me smile, wehhh...

Update : I think my baby started kicking dah couple of weeks ago but I can't tell the difference between gas bubbles or my baby movement. Rasanya baby kot sebab sebelum ni tak pernah pon ada gas bubbles memberontak dalam perut. But I fart a lot lately. Yes Baby F, you make Mummy fart a lot while squirming inside my tummy.