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Saturday, June 30, 2007

How I Made My 2 Brats Sleep

A few nights ago, Alycia and Sherilyn refused to sleep. Why? Because daddy was downstairs and they wanted to go down to play with him but I didn't allow it coz it was already 11ish pm and Alycia had cough and needed to sleep early. They whined and whimpered, jumped round the room, knocked on the door and yelled out to daddy and I got really pissed off. My temper was about to flare when I told myself that if I break out, it's going to worsen the situation as they would end up crying and most likely throw up and gosh, it was close to midnight and my helper was already fast asleep.
So I calmed down and sang "Jesus Loves The Children Of The World". Within SECONDS, the room was filled with silence, save for my melodious voice singing, aherm... It felt magical. As I laid on my back and sang, my left hand stroke Sher's head and right hand stroke Alycia's hand. I was multi-tasking.... singing and stroking 2 resentful toddlers to lull them to sleep. I sang for about 10 minutes but they were still not asleep yet. They were hypnotized by the song and kept asking for more. I sang another song but Sher only wanted THAT song, so I sang and sang for over 30 times until my voice went hoarse and then I pretended to fall asleep and started to 'snore'.
When Sher heard me 'snoring', she jumped up from bed, slapped my face gently to wake me up and said "mummy, what's that shound?" She then shook my shoulder and again said "mummeeeeee...... what's that shound?" I ignored her and continued to snore. She then went back to sleep and began imitating my snores and she went "kgorrrr... kgorrrr... kgorrrr.....". Boy, that was so hilarious, Sher pretending to snore in her cute babyish voice and I was trying hard not to laugh out loud and pursed my lips hard to contain my laughter. Minutes later, both Alycia and Sher finally drifted to slumberland and I wearily but happily sneaked back to my room to sleep.

Fridge All Locked Up

My 2 brats love to open the doors of the fridge and freezer to get their frozen teething rings or to rummage for food. In a day, they open and shut (with loud bangs) at least 20 over times. Not wanting them to wreck the fridge again, I fixed these gadgets to the doors :



Now, I have piece of mind!

Home-cooked Food

This was our dinner yesterday.

Stir-fried asparagus with tiger prawns and organic soya sauce. Notice the beautiful orange colored sauce? It's not curry but the natural colouring from the thick creamy roe of the tiger prawns. It tasted really delicious because of the flavourful essence from the big tiger prawns. The asparagus were crunchy and the prawns were succulent and juicy. The thick and creamy prawns' roe sauce can easily whet one's appetite.


Fish cooked in preserved soya bean paste (tau cheong), puffed tofu, shredded ginger, a dash of rice wine, spring onions and chinese celery. Sometimes, I alternate the soya bean paste with organic miso paste.


Winter melon soup with barley, fresh sea coconut, red dates and kampung chicken.

Lucky Day

Today must be my lucky day. I have just received 3 offers from Blogitive and without any hesitation, I quickly clicked on the reserve tab to reserve all 3 offers. Blogitive has so far been quite prompt in their payment and in responding to all my e-mails, unlike some competitors who don't even reply my e-mails. Of late, Blogitive has been quite slow in approving the posts that I had written for them. Some I've written more than 2 weeks ago but have yet to hear from Blogitive on the status. But I know they are in the midst of reviewing these posts as informed by them to me in a recent e-mail. Keep the offers coming to my URL Blogitive!

Tag : SAHM vs FTWM

Have been tagged by Mommy of 2 Angels. The tag is if I were given a choice, would I wanna be a SAHM (stay at home mum) or FTWM (full time working mum).

When I was still working in the corporate world, I was always yearning to quit my job to stay home to be with my 2 angels. Each morning I'd leave the house with an extremely heavy heart as I kissed my 2 angels good-bye. I was constantly thinking about my 2 gals whilst I was at work and I missed them terribly. I finally got my wish granted when my babysitter who was my mil had to go to Hong Kong to attend to some personal matters. I was at a cross-road and finally after months of soul-searching and deliberation, I finally tendered my resignation.

A few months into being a SAHM, I realized that maybe I just wasn't cut to be a SAHM afterall as I didn't have the patience and endurance to be a full-time mom. It was a difficult transition for me as I wasn't used to doing the laborious and back-breaking job of washing poopie bums and potties, bathing two under 3yo screaming toddlers, teaching them, cooking for them, playing with them, stomach their endless nonsense, the list is endless. I was so used to sitting at the office and sometimes getting people do things for me. Now, I had to do things for people who don't seem to appreciate me.

I'd considered returning to the workforce during times when my 2 brats drive me bonkers but I couldn't bear the thought of my 2 angels in the care of a babysitter or a maid and not knowing whether they have had proper and nutritious meals, hygienically handled or whether they have been abused, physically and sexually.

When my 2 angels fall sick, I can give them the best attention and tender loving care round the clock so that they recover faster. If I were still working, I wouldn't be able to take emergency leave so frequently and the sleepless nights tending to them would render my brain foggy, thus would affect my work.

Despite all the meltdowns, power struggles and batttles I've had with my 2 angels, I have absolutely no regrets being a full-time mom to them coz they are only young once, they will only be toddlers, adolescents and teenaagers once and I want to be with them every moment of their lives, to share with them their joys, fears, anxieties, victories and all their growing pains.
Now, I'm into my 2nd year of being a SAHM. I've finally accustomed myself to the throes of being a full time mom and despite all the challenges and struggles I have to go through, I gladly choose being a SAHM over a FTWM.


Now, I would love to see the following mommies' choice :

Leena (Baby Shern)
Barbara (Mummy to Chumsy Ashley)
Hui Sia


~~~Instructions~~~
Here's how it works:
1. So easy peasy, if you were given a choice, would you be a SAHM or FTWM? Just provide 3 darn good reasons.
2. Include your post link to the list below and Finally,
3. Tag another three mommies
List:
1. Immomsdaughter prefers to be a SAHM
2. Etcetera~Mommy prefers to be a FTWM
3. MummyInVain prefers to be a SAHM
4. Lovely Mummy prefers to be a SAHM
5. Mommy of 2 angles prefers to be a FTWM
6. Health Freak Mommy prefers to be a SAHM

What's That Nice Smell?

A few days ago, I baked a loaf of bread for the gals. After I had returned from my morning jog, I quickly prepared the ingredients and dumped everything into my breadmaker so that the gals and I can have fresh hot bread for lunch.

When the bread was almost ready, the sweet aroma of bread wafted up from the storeroom next to the kitchen. It's as if one has walked into a bakery. Alycia asked me what the nice smell was towards lunch time and I brought her to the storeroom where the breadmaker was. She was delighted to see a fresh loaf of bread in the breadmaker.



The gals and I almost wolfed down the whole loaf of bread for lunch.

What Dishes Am I Going To Whip Up?

We went shopping at Mid Valley the whole afternoon yesterday. As usual, as I went on my bi-weekly retail theraphy to de-stress myself, DH secretly bought the gals yet another toy but this time, I have to give DH credit coz the toy is both educational and fun to play with. Want to see the new toy? Wait.... let me snap some pix of it and post them later.

Anyway, I wanted to show you what I've bought from the supermarket at Jaya Jusco.

Fresh oyster mushrooms and Enoki mushrooms.


Fresh ginko and fresh lotus seeds (lin chee).


Fresh bamboo shoots.



So, want to see what dishes I am going to whip up with these fresh and healthy stuff? I haven't got a clue yet. Any good suggestions? I bought the mushrooms coz they are known to be wholesome, full of vitamins and minerals and anti-cancerous. Gingko seeds are supposed to be good for memory and blood circulation and the lotus seeds and fresh bamboo shoots... ah can't remember what they are good for but they are wholesome too.

Do come back to see what this quack and wannabe cook has whipped up, k?

Friday, June 29, 2007

Little Ah Sow



Alycia has caught the 'toy-obsession bug' from her lil' sis. All of a sudden, Alycia has developed an obsession with this Disney plastic bag that my mil brought back from Hong Kong weeks ago. Inside the plastic bag are her toy food, some Pooh Bear cards and some Lego blocks. Each night, she would bring with her this plastic bag filled with toys noisily clattering as she goes upstairs to her room and in the morning, she would carry the shabby plastic bag down, just like a little 'ah sow' (meaning middle-aged frumpy woman in cantonese) going to the market. Don't you think she looks ridiculous?

Thursday, June 28, 2007

How to get angry leh?

Alycia and Sherilyn have completely different personalites. Whilst Alycia has always been a high need child, very sensitive and more reserved when she's with strangers, Sherilyn has a very 'colourful' personality. She is very chatty, fears no strangers and would greet anyone she meets on the street (which can be dangerous), very cheerful and slap-happy, just like her daddy.

Whenever I scold Sherilyn, she would either sing a song out loudly and lets out a loud pretentious laugh to overshadow my voice or she would run to me and say "mummy, kiss you", then gives me a wet kiss on my forehead and lately when I reprimand her and give her the fiercest stare ever, she would look back at me, straight into my fiery eyes, puts on the most pathethic look ever and then she would start blinking her eyes. First blink.... no response from mummy, then she tries blinking her eyes harder the second time and I try hard to suppress laughing and often, at her third hard attempt of blinking, I succumb to her hoodwink and would burst out laughing out loud. And when she sees me laughing, she jumps and laughs in victory, as if to tell me "i won again!". You tell me how to get angry with her leh? From fire raging in my head, her cute tomfoolery douses the flame instantly like rain water pouring on a raging bushfire. I wonder where she learnt all these from.

Ethnic Plastic Surgery and Breast Reduction

Plastic surgery is not just for cosmetic purposes but can be considered a life saver for those whose face and body are badly disfigured as a result of diseases, accidents or those born with a congenital defect like cleft lip. Whether you're considering cosmetic surgery or reconstructive surgery, you want qualified and professional plastic surgeons with the relevant skills, experience and training to help achieve your goals with minimal pain.

At Rodeo Drive Plastic Surgery in Beverly Hills, there is a wide range of procedures from ethnic plastic surgery and plastic surgery for men to Beverly Hills breast reduction and breast augmentation to face lift, Los Angeles Liposuction and Tummy Tuck to Rodeo Drive Mommy Makeover, among others, with state-of-the-art facilities in a tastefully designed office that make you feel as if you have just stepped into a 5-star hotel.

Most Asians, especially Chinese (sorry, no offence to Chinese!) tend to have a flat nose. Had I known about Rodeo Drive years ago, I’d have advised my filthy rich erstwhile landlady to have her nose job and double eye-lid job done at Rodeo Drive, the ethnic plastic surgery specialist. Well, she had hers done at one of those plastic surgery clinics on a shop lot and I don’t think the plastic surgeon did a good job as I could see the scars on her nose. Maybe I should call her one of these days to tempt her to have a Los Angeles liposuction done there too since she is one of the vainest ladies I’ve ever met LOL!

My friend who recently had a Beverly Hills breast reduction job done at Rodeo Drive Plastic Surgery has so far been very satisfied with their ‘treat you like a celebrity’ services, the skills of the plastic surgeon as well as the minimal post-surgery pain that she experienced from Rodeo Drive Plastic Surgery’s Minimal Pain plan that was in place.

Mash Up Your Site To Increase Traffic

Good news for bloggers and business owners. You can now increase traffic to your blog and website by joining Assist Network, the largest Community Mashup in the USA. What is a community mashup? A mashup is a website or application that combines content from more than one source into an integrated experience.

Come and join Assist Network today for a FREE registation! Simply add your link to their Mashup and don't forget to add their link to your blog or website to get traffic to your business and social network pages. Most of the Assist Network members report increased sales and great success in adding new members to their teams, through referrals from this network. This will definitely increase your Page Rank too!

To register, simply click here.

Rubbing Vicks On Soles Of Feet - Part 3

Yesterday was the 5th straight day I applied Vicks on the soles of Alycia's feet and again, she slept soundly and peacefully through the night. Well, I am QUITE convinced now that Vicks did help to prevent the cough. Today, Alycia is feeling much better, her cough has lessened and the phelgm has also reduced. I must also give credit to Manuka Honey. Other factors which contributed to her speedy recovery include :

1) Sleeping in an air-condLESS room
2) Eating plain rice porridge with dishes that are mostly steamed
3) Avoiding heaty food like crackers, pan-fried food, sweet stuff and cold food.
4) Drinking lots of water and barley water
5) Getting enough sleep
6) Lots of praying

However, what works on a child may not work on another child as every child is different.

Tracing On Doodle

Alycia loves drawing and tracing on her Fisher Price doodle. Each morning as Alycia and Sherilyn eat their breakfast, they have a habit of either scribbling on their doodle or have me or my maid read to them or play jigsaw puzzle on the floor or dining table. Learning to scribble and doodle on the Doodle Pro has definitely helped improve Alycia's and Sherilyn's fine motor skills and that's one of the best toys I'd bought them. Best of all, the gals never seem to get bored with it.


Alycia tracing a picture and word from a flashcard on her FP Doodle Pro.


Alycia's 'artwork'.

My Latest Social Lifestyle

Often times, many of my friends and former colleagues ask me where I managed to find time to socialize after I'd ditched my so-called glamarous life as a PA to a big shot to be a stay-at-home-mom to 2 kids 1.5 years ago. Though my social life has reduced but it's not totally gone. I'm actively blogging and have made friends with so many wonderful blogging parents and am also actively involved in online parenting forums and online social network forums and the latest really cool and fabulous forum that I've joined is HerFabLife.

HerFabLife is the latest social lifestyle community for young and hip trend-setters women who are interested in the latest fashion styles, the newest restaurants, bars, spas, salons and retail store openings.

There is even a video that shows how a Japanese lady folding clothes neatly within seconds from HerFabLife website. Wow, amazing.... I will watch the video again to learn the skill from her.

Hey woman, if you'd like to be a part of HerFabLife, what are you waiting for? Go register for FREE now.


Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Sherilyn and Her Toy Ice-Cream




This is Sherilyn's latest craze and obsession : her toy vanilla flavour ice-cream. Not that it's a brand new toy, daddy bought the gals this toy about 2 months back but for the past few days, Sherilyn has been clutching on to her toy ice-cream everywhere she went, including sleeping with it. When she wasnt looking yesterday, I stealthily took the toy ice-cream away and washed it as it was laced with her saliva, only to have her screaming her lungs out when she couldn't find it the next minute and instead found her ice-cream all wet.

Home-cooked Food





Our dinner yesterday :

Braised chicken with canned green peas, bombay onions, pepper and Lea and Perrin sauce.

Stir-fried baby kailan with diced chicken breast, shredded ginger, organic soya sauce and rice wine.


Hmmm..... perhap I should consider starting a food blog one of these days since I am having so much fun experimenting with food, snapping pix of them and writing about them. Another food for thought.....

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Blog Back-Up

Weeks ago, I had posted a query in my blog on how to back-up a blog. Yesterday, I found out from Ai Lian that I can now back-up my blog at www.blogbackuponline.com for FREE!! All you have to do is to create an account, register your blog and you get 50MB free back-up space. You can choose to schedule a daily auto back-up of your blog. My query is finally answered but once the 50MB free storage is utilized, I think the blogger would have to pay for the service.

Thanks Ai Lian once again for the community service!

200th Post

I cant believe that today marks the day I've written my 200th post since I started blogging 2+ months back. I can't believe that I've written so many posts and I'm still enjoying blogging very much. The best part about blogging is that I've made new friends with many wonderful blogging mummies & daddies, besides earning some pocket-money through writing reviews.

Aly and Sher In Church

Alycia and Sherilyn look forward to Sundays because they get to attend Sunday School. They love getting the attention from their sunday school teachers, story-telling, singing sessions and especially getting stickers at the end of the sessions from Jeff and Shir Lin, 2 young and dedicated sunday school teachers.
Jeff and Shir Lin will be tying the knot in 2 weeks' time. Last Sunday, the kids from sunday school did a rehearsal wedding march at the church.


Jeff and Shir Lin giving all the attention to Alycia and Sherilyn



Jeff showing Alycia and Sherilyn how to march to the altar.



The kids in single file, waiting to march to the altar.



Instead of marching in slowly, the kids ran helter-skelter. Definitely not an easy task to teach a bunch of under 5s!

Home-cooked Fried Glass Noodles




On the suggestion of Chin Nee, I stir fried glass noodles for lunch a couple of days ago, minus the suggested preserved vege. I added chicken breast, puffed tofu, cabbage, shredded carrots, 2 eggs, pepper and organic soya sauce. Tasted really good and everyone loved it, especially the gals. Will definitely cook this dish again. Thanks Chin Nee for the suggestion.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Spam E-mail

Lately I've been getting a number of spam e-mails notifying me that i've struck the Lotto, Lottery and Big Sweep.

So if you were to receive such e-mails, would you believe them, a teeny weeny bit?

This is the latest email informing that I've won US$1million, received this morning :


"sapromotions2010@aim.com" to undisclosed-re.
show details Jun 24 (14 hours ago)

AWARD DEPARTMENT
SOUTH AFRICAN LOTTERY UNION INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS IN
CONJUCTION WITH COCA COLA COMPANY

2010 WORLD CUP LOTTERY
AWARD DEPARTMENT.
JOHANNESBURG

SOUTH AFRICA.


Ref: PBL/CN/6654/CP.
Coupon No.PBL2348974321

THE 2010 WORLD CUP OFFICIAL PRIZE NOTIFICATION


We happily annouce to you the draw of South African 2010 World Cup Bid Lottery Award International program in conjuction with Coca Cola company held in Cape Town. Your "email address" was attached to ticket number; (CC/7PWYZ2007) serial number (CC/BT:12052006/20). This batch,draws the lucky numbers as follows -9-22-23-24-30 bonus number 2, which consequently won the lottery in the second category.

You hereby have been approved to claim the sum of $1,000,000.00 (ONE MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLARS) file Ref: FER/8309/1209/26 from the total cash prize of 3,000,000.00 shared amongst three lucky winners based on their category.

All participants "email address" were selected through an internet balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand names from Canada,Australia,United States,Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceanic as part of our international promotions program which is conducted to Promote first ever world cup in Africa.

This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by some multinational companies and some other EU governmental personalities as part of their social responsibility to promote South Africa 2010 world cup award.

To process your claims you are hereby adviced to contact the Claim Agent immediatly with this information:


NAME:....................................
AGE:.......................................
SEX:......................................
ADDRESS:..............................
EMAIL:....................................
PHONE:.................................
OCCUPATION:.........................
COMPANY:..............................
COUNTRY:..............................
Prize Ref No............................

Please you are advised to file your claim immediately through our Claims Manager, Mr.Peter Robinson to remit your winning fund to your account. Call him or email him immediately you receive this notification.
Make sure you do that before( 25days) from the day you receive this notice or you stand a chance of loosing your prize.

CLAIMS/PROCESSING MANAGER
NAME: Mr.Peter Robinson
Email: peterrobinson.claims@gmail.com
TEL:+27-737-707-042
FAX:+27-86 661 8474



For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid dual claiming and unwarranted advantage of this program by non-participant or unofficial personnel.



Thank you for being part of our promotional lottery program.


Congratulations once again on your winnings!!!

Best Regards
Mrs. LISA Van Heden
PROMOTIONAL MANAGER
SOUTH AFRICAN LOTTERY UNION
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS.

Rubbing Vicks On The Soles Of Feet (Part 2)

Well, i did it again last night. This time, I applied the Vicks just before Alycia went to bed, even before she started to cough and I rubbed small blobs on her back, chest, under her nostrils and of course big blobs of Vicks on the soles of her feet . It was miraculous!!! Alycia fell sound asleep within minutes and soundlessly too all through the night without a sound of cough. I had to wake her up at 9am this morning for her milk and after finishing off her milk, went back to sleep and only woke up at 10.

Well, I'm still still not 100% convinced that Vicks really did the trick. I think it was more of a combined effect of the extra strength Manuka Honey UMF20+ (twice a day) and also sleeping without the air-cond.



This picture was taken this morning with Alycia still in her Vicks covered socks.

Alycia Loves Her Kids' Bible



Alycia loves this kids' bible that sil#2 bought her weeks ago. She is so in love with the book that she begs me to read to her every night.

A couple of nights ago, as I was busy reading to Sherilyn her favourite book, Alycia 'read' the bible to herself. I quickly took out my camera and took a pot-shot of Alycia, so deeply engrossed in the book (more of the pictures actually) that she was frowning as she was reading away. I just hope Alycia will have a life-long love for books.

Homecooked Food




Our dinner yesterday (from top to bottom) :

Pan-fried tempeh, the gals and my favourite. Tempeh is a type of fermented soya bean cake. My maid slices the tempeh into thin squares and pan fries them. A cheap, healthy and crunchy dish packed with protein and calcium. One pack costs only RM1-00.

Stir-fried chinese cabbage with diced chicken breast in soya sauce.

Steamed egg (again) with minced chicken meat, sweet corn kernels, sesame seed oil and spring onions

Steamed pomfret fish. Sauce for the fish consists of soya sauce, ginger and rice wine, sprinkled with spring onions and chinese celery.

All simple to cook, healthy and tasty dishes.

Sugar-free and additives-free Popsicles




The weather here in KL has been sweltering during the day of late. So I fished out the gals' old water-filled teething rings that have been lying in the freezer for almost 1 year+ and let them have fun with them.

They call their frozen teething rings 'ice-cream' and they've been licking and playing with them for 5 straight days without any signs of getting bored with it. Good. At least the old toys are not put to waste.


Sunday, June 24, 2007

Rubbing Vicks On The Soles Of Feet

I'm sure most of you would have already read and heard that applying Vicks on the soles of a toddler's feet would help stop a toddler from coughing. I didn't believe it because it didn't sound convincing and logical to me and it's not scientifically proven that it works.

Alycia was coughing, huffing and puffing away directly on my face for a good 1.5 hours last night when finally I told myself that if this continues, neither of us would get to sleep at all. I then remembered reading from a parenting forum and also Big Pumpkin's recent post in her blog that applying Vicks to the soles of the feet can stop a toddler from coughing. So I jumped out from my bed at around 12ish am, turned off the air-cond as the cold air was making Alycia's throat dry and itchy, got my bottle of Vicks and rubbed them on the soles of Alycia's feet, put on socks for her and rubbed a small amount of Vicks on her chest and back as well. Believe it or not, within 15 minutes, she dozed off to lalaland and slept soundly till 8:30 this morning. Well, i'm still not 100% convinced that the Vicks did the trick, i think it was more of a fluke and psychological effect on Alycia's mind. I shall try it again tonight if Alycia continues to cough and if the Vicks still works in stopping her cough, then I shall be convinced.

Please come back for more updates.....

Home-cooked food


Yesterday we had deep fried caterpillars for dinner and they tasted so good. We loved them so much that we licked the platter clean. Look at the pic above, don't they look appetizing?

Gob-smacked, shocked? What on earth is Health Freak Mommy feeding her kids with? Has you gone crazy from an overdoze of blogging? Gotcha... I was just kidding! Don't they look like fried caterpillars or some exotic bugs that you see on Fear Factor?

Those are pan-fried fish roe. I love them but my gals don't really fancy them but still eats them. Normally my maid and I would feast on them. Good source of protein and just one of the perfect food for an Atkin's follower.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Tag : My 7 Vanity Sense Facts

You Are 52% Vain

You're a little vain, but more than anything you have a healthy amount of confidence.
Thinking the world of yourself is great. Just don't think less of those who aren't as pretty as you!


HipnCoolMomma passed this tag to me. To do this tag, I am supposed to take a test comprising a short questionnaire on my vanity and boy... I am surprised that I am ONLY 52% vain. I'd thought that I'd be 70% and above vain. Those who know me well enough knows that I am indeed a vain-pot, since my primary school days. Theimperfectmom can testify to that.

Here are my 7 vanity / fashion sense facts :

1) I am very particular about my face/complexion. I can tolerate no zits or blackheads or any flaws on my face and thus, I try to eat and drink healthily, sometimes I become fanatic about what I eat and drink. I drink approximately 12 glasses of PLAIN water a day and that excludes 2 cups of green tea, 1 cup of skim milk and 2 bowls of home-cooked soup a day.

2) I am very particular about my hair coz they are very fine and flimsy, like babies' hair, so they are hard to style and always get out of place. Because of this, I tend to brush my hair very frequently but oh, since my 2 gals came along, I'd ditched my big brush from my totebag and have since replaced it with wet wipes and Dettol wipes (for wiping public toilet seats for Alycia to use in public). Theimperfectmom can also testify to this. She used to be my chief hairstylist back in school and man she is good, just like her koo mah.

3) I am super weight-conscious and I think I had mentioned this before, I weigh myself on the scale at LEAST twice a day and sometimes more. If ever the red needle on my scale moves slightly to the right, boy, that's a red flag for me and i know it's time for me to jog an extra 10 minutes the following day.

4) I like to wear sleeveless tops, mainly spaghetti straps or tube tops (but now my tubes are temporarily shelved BUT will be BACK in use when I no longer have to carry Sherilyn my lil' brat who sometimes demands to be carried). No, not that I am deliberately inviting wolves to gawk at me but I am one person who cannot stand the hot sweltering Malaysian weather, so that's the reason why I love wearing as thin a layer of clothes as I am permitted to so that I feel cool and comfortable. My man is quite possessive and jealous wan and dont like his wifey to be whistled and slobbered at by sake long.

5) I used to put on eye shadow, mascara and perfume when I go out but now, I just can't squeeze in enought time to do that. My must-haves before I leave my house is simple.... baby powder on my face, my blusher, liner for my faint coloured eyebrows and a thin layer of lipbalm or lipstick.

6) I use a good toner and moisturizer for my face and I use Lancome.

7) I squeeze a tiny amount of lemon juice on my face as astringent every week to tighthen and detox my face. I read somewhere that lemon juice is a great 'food' for the skin. I also apply cool cucumber slices on my eyes whenever I slice up some for my gals to snack on.

8) One more bonus fact for my readers. I brush my teeth after almost every meal. I used to keep a bottle of Listerine and a pack of dental floss at my office drawer when I was still working and whenever I didn't have time to brush my teeth, Listerine and dental floss came in handy. I absolutely abhor bad breath and body odour.

Now let me see who will be my next target to pass this tag to.

Big Pumpkin... you look good. I am curious to know your vanity secrets. Don't run away from this tag ah.
LZ Mommy
Baby Shern... again. How can I leave you out. Dont be angry ah?
Malaika's mum
Mommibee... you look gorgeous. I want to know your beauty tips too.

Pasta



Yesterday, I cooked penne pasta with blended tomatoes, bombay onions and minced chicken meat for the gals' lunch.


Even Ms Pukey Spitty Spat Sherilyn loved it and finished her small bowl of pasta, though she spat out some of the chicken meat.

For instant quick and easy to cook spaghetti sauce, can also try Prego Tomato and Basil spaghetti sauce. Taste better than my homemade blended tomato sauce but packed with additives.

Alycia Is Learning To Speak Intelligibly



Scenario 1
Yesterday evening as I was combing Alycia's hair after her bath, she said this to me :

Alycia : Mum, today is so precious...... (and gives me a lovely smile)

Me : Why do you say so?

Alycia : Because today is so lovely.

Me : Lovely.... why do you say today is lovely?

Alycia : Because God made today so lovely and it's so windy and din rain.

I had brought the gals to the park yesterday evening as the weather was fine and they had a swell time playing there. So, I guess she's had a very enjoyable and happy time and therefore concluded that the day was so precious and lovely.


Scenario 2
Yesterday morning as I was all wrapped up working on my computer, Alycia asked me to open up her toy school bus which was folded. This was our conversation :

Alycia : Mum, can you please open up my bus for me?

Me : Ok.... give me 1 minute k.

Alycia : No, i want now.

Me : Later k.

She then ran to the kitchen and asked kakak to open up the bus for her . My maid who was outside at the wet kitchen cooking said "later" to her. Alycia then ran back to the hall.

Alycia : Kakak said she's busy.

Me : Uh huh.....

Alycia : (grunting out her frustration) WHY is everyone busy? Kakak said she's busy, you are busy, why is everyone always busy (and almost in tears)?

When she said that, man I tell you I was gob-smacked and guilt stricken. How could I have ignored my poor baby when she's just asking me to get her her toy? I then sprung up from my computer chair and opened up the toy for her. Alycia sure knows how to make me feel damn guilty and bad. My baby is growing up fast.

Friday, June 22, 2007

I Am A Grown-Up




One of Alycia's favourite sentences is "mummy, I am a grown-up now". She loves doing things that we grown-ups do and takes every opportunity to help out in the kitchen from washing the dishes, cleaning the sink, wiping the counter and the most recent one, shelling an egg. Most times she messed things up... instead of helping to wash the dishes, she wets her clothes and almost floods the kitchen floor and she would squash up the bar soap and gets chunks of soap stuck in her fingernails or pumps out ounces of detergent just to wash 1 cup or 1 teaspoon.



But I have to say, Alycia does a good job shelling hard-boiled eggs for herself every morning and to her, shelling her own egg is no mean feat. She even knows how to rinse off the remnance of the shell from the egg after she's done with the shelling and pick up the pieces of shell from the sink to throw into the dustbin. That saves me a lot of work and she has so much fun with it.



Maybe I should consider boiling a pot of eggs for her & Sherilyn to shell when I need to get some work done. That can keep them occupied for at least half an hour and then we can all have hard-boiled eggs for lunch and dinner. Hmmm... another food for thought :)

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Cool Cucumbers

Another healthy snack for my lil' ones to munch on.... cool Japanese cucumbers. I normally cut some cool cucumbers for us to munch when I have a heaty dish on my menu like pan-fried tempeh, homemade chicken nuggets or pan-fried fish. The cool cucumbers help to chill-out the body and help keep sore-throat at bay.



Sherilyn my lil' greens lover can even gobble up 1 whole baby cucumber all by herself.

Ms Pukey in action.... puking of course

Warning : you are about to view some gross pictures below.
Please skip this post and/or the pictures if you have a weak tummy or think you may get nauceated after viewing them.

I had thought that I could wean Sherilyn off blended food but after spending more than half an hour trying to make her chew and swallow her unblended food a few nights ago, I gave up coz she wasn't swallowing her food, especially the meat. She begged for cereal but I said no and told her that cereal is only for babies.
So I dumped her meal into the blender, got it all blended up and after she had finished it with much reluctance, Sherilyn spewed out her dinner like a volcano.




Miss Pukey Spitty Spat ended up having 'fast food' for dinner instead...... her favourite brown rice cereal and licked up the bowl too. My lil' brat always has her ways of getting what she wants, through puking..... manipulative isn't she?


My Nasi Lemak, Minus The Santan Rice

While my gals had pumpkin and rice noodles for lunch, health freak mommy wasn't too health conscious today and had sinfully delicious nasi lemak for lunch, minus the santan (coconut milk) rice of course.

This morning as I was jogging pass a famous nyonya nasi lemak stall near my house, the aroma of hot chicken rendang and santan rice permeated the cool morning air around me as the nasi lemak seller opened the lid of a big pot containing her chicken rendang and santan rice and that instantly whetted my appetite. So greedy me bought a piece of chicken rendang, a few pieces of sambal brown sotong (cuttlefish), half a slice of pan-fried luncheon meat (i know it's unhealthy, so i only ate 2 bites, ok ok... 3 bites), some fried anchovies with groundnuts and sambal long beans.

What a satisfying lunch I have had.

To all my loyal readers from overseas, are you slobbering already?

Pumpkin Noodles

Alycia & Sherilyn had something that they have not tasted before for lunch today, pumpkin and rice noodles. MIL's sister from Ipoh gave us a packet of this noodles a few weeks back and today, I finally cooked it for the gals, with homemade fish paste, vege and black chicken & snow fungus soup.

The gals loved the noodles. The texture of the noodles is smooth and not at all starchy and lightly fragrant. Even Ms Pukey and Spitty Spat Sherilyn loved it.

I shall try to get a few more packets of pumpkin and rice noodles when I next make a trip back to Ipoh.

The delicious, springy and smooth pumpkin and rice noodles with fish paste, vege & black chicken soup.


Black chicken and snow fungus soup with kei chee and red dates.

Sherilyn Fell Off The Bed

Sherilyn gave daddy and mummy a big scare early this morning when she rolled off our masterbed and landed on the parquet floor with a loud thud. After both the gals had finished their milk, Alycia went back to sleep while Sherilyn, as usual, climbed onto our bed and slept next to daddy. I then went into the bathroom to have a quick scrub and left the bathroom door ajar. Minutes later, I heard a loud thud. I quickly opened the bathroom door and saw my poor Sherilyn on the floor wailing her lungs out and daddy sprung out from bed to pick Sherilyn up and soothed her. I then ran out from the bathroom, with water still dripping down my wet body and hugged my poor baby. Mummy's hug and comfort seemed to subdue her a little and thank God, minutes later, Sherilyn stopped crying and was her normal self again. Till now, there's still no vomitting and she is as hyperactive and cheeky as usual and eating like normal.

This is the 2nd time Sherilyn had fallen off the bed. Last year when she was 12 months old, she fell off Auntie Connie's bed when we stayed there after our house was submerged in flood water. We brought her to the hospital as I'd thought she had broken her nose coz she landed face down on the floor and there was a light bruise mark on her nose. She survived that minor accident without any injuries too. Then a few months later, she was hit by a swing when she darted across a boy on a fast moving swing at the park. Again, she miraculously survived that accident though she almost gave me a heart attack when I saw her covered with mud. Months later, she broke her left thumb when it got squashed by a steel door. I also had a near miss heart seizure.

Well, toddlers are made to be resilient, aren't they? That's the wonder of God's works.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Sherilyn Roll Calling At 21 Months

1st time uploading a video from You Tube.

Testing. Dont know why sometimes it appears on my blog, sometimes it doesn't.

Can you guys see it?


Weaning Off Diapers During Bedtime

Alycia is exactly 3.5 years old this month. She's 90% off diapers and only wears diapers during naptime in the day and during the night before bed. For months, I've been wanting to wean her off diapers completely but procrastinated coz the gals fell ill continuously at the beginning of the year plus I am lazy and don't have the zeal to pull myself off the bed the whole night to put her on the potty to pee. I know if she's off diapers completely, that's going to save DH LOTS of money on diapers. You know how costly Mamy Poko diapers are. Furthermore, I'm not sure how Alycia will react if I were to jolt her from slumberland to have her sit on her potty to pee. I think she'll most likely holler and wail in defiance and startle everyone in the house, not to mention our poor neighbours. This could go on for days, if not weeks or months.

How am I to know if my child is ready to be potty trained during naptime and bedtime? Well, Alycia still wakes up with an overloaded diaper and most of the time, she would even wet her clothes and the bed.

Would experienced parents care to share your experience?

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Simple, Healthy and Tasty Dishes

On Sunday, we feasted at PJ Hilton to celebrate Father's Day. Normally after having buffet for lunch, I'd have an ultra light dinner consisting of only vegetables and soup. The gals will still eat their regular dinner. This is what we had for dinner on Sunday, something light and simple, after pigging out during lunch :

Stir-fried turnip with shredded carrots, mushrooms, dried shredded cuttlefish and diced chicken breast. This dish is the gals' favourite, as well as mine.


Steamed egg with minced chicken meat, sweet corn, spring onions, soya sauce and sesame seed oil. I call it Chawan Mushi (a Japanese steamed egg dish which the gals love) and the gals think it is Chawan Mushi and so devour it too.


Plain french beans, microwaved. This is plain and rather tasteless but the gals love it anyway, especially Sherilyn my little herbivore who loves nibbling on the beans.

Tag : Blogivitis

I was just about to write about why I am so hooked on blogging until I read Jazzmint's blog and found out that she had tagged me on a similar topic. Good tag Jazzmint and 'thanks' for the tag!

Here are the 10 reasons why I think I am infected with this difficult-to-treat 'Blogivitis' disease and the effect Blogivitis has on me :

1) I spend around 6 hours on the computer daily.

2) My mind revolves around blogging practically the whole day. Well, this is not a negative point. At least it keeps my mind positively occupied and active and keeps me sane from my 2 lil brats. Blogging helps me to de-stress.

3) I try to sneak to my computer at every opportunity I can seize.

4) I have never loved my digital camera this much before I started blogging. Thanks to my loh koong chai for getting me a new digital camera for my birthday 3 months ago. My camera is now with me all the time and I snap at every single object, food or situation that interests me. When it comes to food, even DH knows that I have to snap pix first before he or the gals get to devour on the food and even takes the initiative to arrange the food presentably. No matter how famished they are, they have to WAIT for mummy to take pictures first.

5) My kids.... I take pix of my kids when they play, sleep, cry, laugh, look cute or funny, sad or silly, angry or happy, ridiculous or gross..... I capitalize on every situation so that I have lots to write about my 2 very interesting kids. My kids also get to read about their journal and see how wonderful or terrible they had been when they are old enough to read.

6) At times, I feel like a walking zombie as a result of loosing sleep from blogging.

7) DH is complaining that I am going bonkers over blogging.

8) I've never been so interested in IT and web page design till I started blogging. When I was still working, I had scores of IT staff assisting and spoon-feeding me whenever IT problems cropped up, thus I never really had to crack my brain or take the initiative to learn up IT. So from an almost IT retard, I must say that my IT knowledge and skills have improved by leaps and bounds eversince I started blogging 2 months ago.

9) I have made friends with so many wonderful blogging mommies and daddies who have
been giving me wonderful comments to keep me motivated.

10) My hubby and kids fight with me over the computer.

Now I'm going to pass this tag to these 5 great bloggers whom I think are just as obsessed with blogging as I am :

Chin Nee
Baby Shern
Big Pumpkin
Hipncoolmomma
Cairo's mom

Monday, June 18, 2007

Let Me Call Daddy

This morning as we were preparing for breakfast, Sherilyn was looking for her favourite orange plastic bowl. She hunted for it everywhere but could not find it. Minutes later, she ran to the hall, climbed up a chair and began 'dialling' the phone.
I saw her in a 'conversation' with daddy asking daddy if he has seen her orange bowl and then 'chatted' with daddy, giggling all the time. About 2 minutes later, she ended the call by saying "bye daddy, gud nite" and put the receiver back.