Miss Pukey Caused A Big Mess

After putting Alycia and Sherilyn to sleep last night, I went downstairs to my computer to have some work done. About half an hour later at around 12:15am, I heard a baby crying but I thought it's my backdoor neighbor's baby crying. The cry certainly did not sound like Sherilyn's cries so I just ignored it but after 10 minutes of incessant crying, I paid more attention to the cries and suddenly, the cries sounded more like Sherilyn's.

I quickly rushed upstairs to the gals' room and saw Sherilyn crying very pathetically with her eyes closed and I think she has had a bad dream. I quickly comforted her and I knew I was in for trouble when she started to cough. At lighting speed, I carried her away from the bed and put her in an upright position as I knew she would surely puke. Seconds later, as expected, the volcano erupted and spewed out stinky semi digested food taken 5 hours earlier and her curdled milk. I was covered in her stinky vomit, so was the floor and the bedding. I quickly shouted to hubby who just came back and he dashed upstairs to my rescue. Hubby then woke our maid up and we spent almost half an hour cleaning up the mess. Whilst hubby showered Sherilyn, I quickly washed off the stinky puke on my arms and legs. I then helped my maid clean up the room and fixed another bottle of milk for Sherilyn. After cleaning up the mess, the odor of vomit in the room was still very strong and I transferred the gals to sleep in our room. I lit up the Lamp Berger to get rid of the vomit stink. Just as I was about to plonk myself onto bed, I still smelled vomit on my arms and legs and for the 4th time, I scrubbed my arms and legs clean with copious amounts of body shampoo. I only managed to go to bed after 1am. What a horrible night I have had. Aargh.... the throes of motherhood and toddlerhood are really no fun!

Pregnancy At Week 19

Finally I can feel my baby's kicks and movements. Though I could feel them from as early as 8 weeks (my gynae said it's impossible but I swear I felt fluttering movements. I know how they feel like as I've gone through 2 pregnancies), but those fluttering movements were far and apart and not frequent.

At 18 weeks, I started to feel stronger movements and now at 19 weeks, the movements are more intense and frequent, more so after my meals and especially so during the ultrasound scans at the gynae's office.

When I was carrying Alycia and was bed-resting, I even charted every single movement and hiccups in a diary from the 18th week through the 38th week. With Sherilyn I was too busy with charting the movements as I was working full-time. With this baby, more reason why I am not charting the movements coz my hands are all tied being a full-time housewife and part-time working mum. I am also too busy to even notice the movements at times.

My 2 gals are also putting me to shame coz they have been talking to the baby more often than me. When I have the time to lie down and feel the baby move, I'm already drop dead exhausted and would normally doze off during my prayers or within 10 minutes of hitting my pillow! Shameful mummy!

True Blue Award

Got this cool award from Jacelyn.

This award is to be given to bloggers who always stand by you, friends who always go all out to help you and friends who comfort you in times when you need them the most. It's difficult for me to pass this award to selected blogging friends coz I have many of them who are really wonderful friends. So I'll just keep this award to myself and would like to take his opportunity to thank all those who have helped me in times when I was really desperate and needed help the most. You know who you are and I really appreciate your unwavering support and help.

Burger King Frenzy

Want to know what we did today? Hop on to my other blog to check it out!

Pregnancy At Week 19 - Detailed Ultrasound Scan

Today we went to see the fetal specialist to do a detailed ultrasound scan and to evaluate the dilated kidney. This was the longest ultrasound scan I have ever done for my 3 pregnancies as it lasted almost 1 hour. My lil’ one did not cooperate as she kept facing down. When she finally flipped over, she played peek-a-boo by covering her face with her hands. She was also having a hiccup. After the first round of scan which lasted almost half an hour, we got out of the scanning room into the dr’s office and he explained the diagnosis and the prognosis. About 15 minutes later, we did another round of scan in the hope of capturing the face and thankfully, we managed to catch a glimpse of the face during a brief peek-a-boo moment. The dr quickly saved that moment and transformed it into a 3D scan.

The gynae who was super patient did a thorough scan of the heart, the brain, the stomach, the hands and legs, the face and finally the kidney. He explained that the dilation is a mild one and looking at other factors like the water and tissues surrounding the kidney, there is good chance that the dilation will resolve by itself either in utero or after birth. Having said that, I am still worried of all the ‘what ifs’ and worst case scenario.

Throughout the scan, Alycia sat quietly and watched the scan intently while Sherilyn asked tons of questions, jumped and hopped about and investigated every nook and corner of the room. She also made everyone at the clinic from the doctor to the nurses and patients laugh with her antics and the things she said.

Early Christmas Pressies

Since there were no pressies under our Christmas, daddy surprised the gals with a pressie each under the tree last Saturday. When they woke up in the morning, my 2 observant gals had already noticed the pressies, something which I did not even notice! I told the gals that they are not supposed to open their pressies now and they have to wait until Christmas but kids being kids, they were shaking the pressies and trying to tear the present paper the whole day. Finally when I went upstairs to have my shower in the afternoon, my maid as usual allowed them to open the pressies (really pissed me off) . So now, there are no more pressies to open on Christmas Eve but I am pretty sure daddy will buy them another pressie each.



Alycia and Sherilyn each got a lunch box. This Pooh Bear one is Sherilyn's.



And the Princess lunch box is Alycia's.

The gals are so in love with their new lunch boxes and they have been carrying it around the house as if it were their suitcase the whole day.

Shell Pasta With Sweet and Sour Minced Chicken

That's Alycia and Sherilyn's lunch today, shell pasta with minced chicken meat cooked in blended tomatoes and onions. This meal only takes 12 minutes to prepare - 10 minutes to boil the pasta till soft and another 2 minutes to reheat the frozen meat sauce in the microwave. I normally make a big batch of meat sauce and store them in tiny Tupperware containers for deep freezing. When I need to fix lunch in a jiffy for the girls, just pop the meat sauce into the microwave and kau tim. Can also eat with spaghetti or make pizza with the meat sauce.

Double Boiled Pear With Snow Fungus

That's my weekly pregnancy 'poa pun' or nourishing stuff - double boiled pears with snow fungus and honey dates. I think this concoction tastes very good - it's naturally sweet, fragrant and soothing for the throat but too bad Alycia and Sherilyn don't like the smell of it. I had this last week and today, I have asked my maid to cook another pot, this time using China Ya pears which are more fragrant and cheaper than the huge brown pear (expensive too) that I used last week.

Pregnancy Problems

My 2 previous pregnancies were not smooth sailing and so is this pregnancy. Apart from the terrible varicose veins sprouting out on my legs which Sherilyn calls them "monster legs", I have itchy, dry and peeling skin. Now, I have gums that bleed easily. When I was pregnant with Alycia, my sensitive and bleeding gums were so bad that I had developed a big lump on my gum called 'pregnancy tumour'. Yes I know it sounds serious, like it's something malignant, but it's just a medical term for it. After delivering Alycia, the lump miraculously subsided. Now, another lump is slowly forming and I have to be really careful and gentle when I brush my teeth, else my gums would bleed easily.

Apart from sensitve gums, I also have nose that bleeds easily during each of my pregnancy. Now, picture how I look and do you not think I really look like a monster? Sherilyn is so right. Mummy indeed looks like a monster - legs with ugly protruding purple veins, a face with zits (oh how I miss my porcelain smooth flawless skin), skin that's dry and peeling, a pregnancy tumour in my gums and a huge belly that Alycia calls "balloon tummy".

I just can't wait for April 08 to arrive. I can't wait to see and cuddle my baby and I just can't wait to get rid of all these pregnancy problems that's plaguing me now. Most of all, I just can't wait to start jogging and exercising on my fitball again. How I miss working out and sweating it out every morning.

Alycia Is Reading!

Alycia can finally read, hooray!! Here's a video of Alycia reading taken today. You know what motivates her to read? It's the TV. Yes, it's the idiot box coz I told her that if she wants to watch TV, she has to read and so whenever she wants to watch TV, she will come to me with a book first and read out loud to me or get me read the book to her.

Going Nuts Over Nuts

Before my parents left for China for a holiday, I told them not to buy the gals and I anything from China. After reading all the controversial reports on China produce and goods, I just have no more confidence in China made things anymore. So when my parents came back from China, they bought no souvenirs for us apart from a big bag of walnuts, peanuts and sunflower seeds!

Since then, we have been eating these nuts everyday. As I could not find my nutcracker, I used a pestle to crack open the walnuts and the gals have so much fun eating the walnuts. And by the way, do you know that walnuts and almonds are the superstars of nuts?

Walnuts contain no cholestrol and they are rich in Vitamin E, antioxidants, high in fibre and even a small serving of walnuts contain more protein than an egg. Have you ever noticed that a walnut looks exactly like our brain? Walnuts are also touted as a brain and heart nourishing food as they are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids. If you're on a high protein low carb diet, do choose walnuts and almonds (raw and unroasted ones. If you buy roasted ones, these nuts would have lost their essential oils during the roasting process). Walnuts and almonds fill you up easily and they're not fattening if you eat them in moderate amounts. When I was on a diet years ago to shed some weight gained as a result of PCOS, I ate loads of almonds, walnuts, seeds and plain sugar-free yoghurt. I successfully shed 5kg on a low carb high protein diet. And oh yes, no diet would work if you don't exercise!

I Just Can't Resist Buying Cute Baby Clothes

Though I still have bags and bags of old baby clothes previously worn by Alycia and Sherilyn, I know I will surely not be able to resist buying cute baby clothes for my upcoming baby girl. Each time I see cute baby clothes on display when I go shopping, I am really tempted to buy them. Though it’s a tad too soon to shop for my baby clothes now as I have 19 more weeks to go before the big day, but I have nonetheless started to window shop for cute and pink (that’s my favorite color) baby clothes for my baby. I’ve seen some funky onesies and cool toddler tees at uncommonlycute.com, an online store that specializes in a huge selection of funky baby clothes. Now with online baby stores like this, I will surely end up buying a cupboard filled with cute baby clothes.

A Good Mover Makes All The Difference

I was at my friend’s house with the kids yesterday morning. She has just returned from the United States a couple of days ago. She had worked in the U.S. for almost 6 years as a chef and she has now decided that she wants to return for good as she has earned and saved enough money to last her a lifetime even if she doesn’t need to work now. That’s the benefit of working in a country where the currency rate is higher than ours.

My friend has brought back all her belongings, including a computer, her TV and many fragile items. She was very pleased with the moving services provided by a New York Moving Company, which is New York’s best residential and commercial movers. All her belongings were intact and she did not loose anything. That is why engaging a reliable and professional mover is so important. A good mover really helps to remove all our moving woes and sleepless nights.

Pregnancy Crave

During the initial weeks of my pregnancy, I had a strong craving for fried vegetarian vermicelli. I could not stomach any other food for breakfast except for this and for 3 months, I had been eating this dish every morning. Most days, I will add a fried egg and some days, I will add some chicken curry or fried fish cake. Now that my appetite has declined substantially, I no longer crave for this dish. I just don't feel like eating anything in the morning except for my all-time favorite banana flavored fresh milk from Marigold HL. But I still force myself to eat a slice of toast with sugar-free peanut butter jam and sugar-free strawberry jam.

It's No Fun That She Only Loves Buns

It's every parent's nightmare when their child does not like to eat their proper meals and wholesome meals and I'm facing this nightmare now. Sherilyn's eating habits is regressing and she does not seem to have interest in her meals whether homecooked or outside food. She does not eat any meat, except for fish balls or fish with soft textured meat and now, she does not even eat her vege. She used to love eating greens but now, she's only interested in plain noodles, fish balls, cheese and BUNS. She can eat nothing but just sweet buns and cheese and it's really no fun to see her eat such food for lunch or dinner. Luckily she still loves her hard boiled eggs and she's eating one a day and that's where she gets all her protein from.



Sherilyn relishing her polor pau (pineapple custard bun) for dinner.

Potato Patties

Here's a dish that most kids will love - potato patties with minced chicken meat. It's actually a Malay dish which I have modified.

Ingredients :

1) 3 medium sized potatoes
2) Chicken breast
3) 1 or 2 eggs
4) Salt
5) Pepper
6) Chopped spring onions
7) A dash of mixed herbs (optional)


Method :
1) Steam potatoes until soft and mash them.
2) Blend the chicken meat.
3) Put the mashed potatoes and meat in a large mixing bowl and add in the beaten egg, pepper, salt and chopped spring onions. Mix well.
4) Pan fry under medium fire in olive oil in a non-stick skillet.

Alycia and Sherilyn love these patties. Even Miss Spitty Spat Sherilyn ate them. There are still 2 more frozen batches in my freezer and I can re-toast the patties for the girls to eat them with Mac & Cheese or spaghetti this week.

Another wholesome dish from Health Freak Mommy.

How We Spent Our Sunday

After church today, we had Japanese buffet lunch at PJ Hilton. We had wanted to go to KL for lunch but hubby said to be on the safe side, we had better stay put around PJ area since there's an anticipated road block and protest in KL.

I couldn't eat much and still have some slight nauseas feeling after every meal. Ms Spitty Spat Sherilyn only ate a cup of Chawan Mushi (minus all the meat and mushrooms inside). Her eating habit is regressing and now, she does not eat any type of meat, except for fish with smooth and soft flesh like white pomfret or cod fish. She has also lost most of her baby fat and everyone has commented that she is so skinny! Since she does not want to eat anything, I have no choice but to feed her with her favorite cereal again. We had stopped cereal for about 1 month when she was feeding well on meat, vege and other food.









Throughout lunch, Aly and Sher kept asking when the clown will arrive. When the clown finally arrived, they jumped off their chairs. Sher said "hello clown, you're here. Good to see you" when the clown arrived. Aly who was once terrified of clowns has now overcome her fear and was the first to shake hands with the clown and answered all the clowns' questions before getting her aeroplane shaped sculptured balloon.

Kampar Fish Balls

Yesterday, I had craving for Kampar fishballs, foo pei and stuffed tofu, so I went to a coffee shop near by house to get some for lunch. Also bought some vegetarian food - tofu and tofu skin. I then cooked some Soba noodles with white radish and green radish soup and added the fishballs in. After eating these fishballs, I felt terribly thristy for the rest of the day. That's the price to pay for eating hawkers food that's laden with MSG and salt.

Online Search For Cheap Life Insurances

Hubby and I are really dissatisfied with the service we are getting from our insurance agent. We had purchased medical insurances for ourselves and education insurances for our kids from this agent but she is not giving us the kind of service that we deserve. Most times she does not answer our calls and it takes forever for her to attend to our queries and needs. We are really cheesed off with her lackadaisical attitude.

Now that hubby and I are planning to buy a term life insurance, we will definitely get our term life insurance quote from other companies. It would be good if we can compare the term life insurance policies online from a few companies all from just one screen instantly to enable us to make a quick decision. WholesaleLifeInsurance.net provides such a service and it’s free, plus people get free advice from their customer representatives. If only we have such a service here, we don’t have to spend hours on the phone calling insurance companies for quotes to compare.

Choosing The Right Real Estate Is Important

Whether you are looking to buy or sell a property in the Phoenix and Scottsdale area, be sure to check out a Phoenix real estate from Sonoran Properties GMAC. Their realtors have the requisite expertise, education, experience, interpersonal and negotiation skills to help you make the wisest decision on the sale or purchase of your property. They are able to assist you through each step in the sale or purchase of your home with dedicated service and advice to make your transaction stress-free and a breeze.

Burst Pipe Again

Damn it, the water pipes at our neighborhood burst again and water supply has been cut out. As hubby has to work today, he can't bring us out for lunch so we all walked under the scorching hot sun to the coffee shop nearby our house for lunch. But the girls love it whenever the water supply is cut out coz they all get to eat out and they can take their baths at our backyard with cold water.

Today, I've also learnt how to avoid murky water from flowing out of our taps after a water supply cut. One of my readers advised me in one of my earlier posts that during a water cut, turn off the main switch to the water supply, i.e. the one at the water meter. I did just that and when the water supply came back, the water was not murky at all. Thanks to this mum and sorry I can't remember who you are.

Delicious Sweet Dim Sum

We were at Din Tai Fung at Gardens, Mid Valley for lunch on Monday as my parents were in KL. They had just returned from their vacation in China. After a very satisfying lunch of Shanghainese food at Din Tai Fung (this is a franchise restaurant with outlets worldwide and serves very good Shanghainese delicacy), hubby went to his favorite Mr Cook's store, which is just across Din Tai Fung to take-away some sweet dim sum for dessert. His favorites are the 'chan pau' (meat filled sweet roasted bun) and egg tarts. As there were free sampling of the Mini Volcano pau, I took a bite and it tasted really good. The bun was filled with salted egg yolk custard and was very tasty.

We took away a pack of chan pau, a pack of Mini Volcano pau, a 'hor yeep fan' ( lotus leave glutinous rice) and a pack of very yummy 'Por lor pau' (pineapple filled buns).

Mini Volcano buns with salted egg yolk custard 'erupting' as you bite into the pau.



Top : Pork meat filled sweet roasted buns
Bottom : Pineapple filled buns



The pineapple custard with chunks of fresh pineapple bits oozing out from the Por lor buns as I sank my teeth into the soft bun. Very yummy! Will definitely buy this again.

Creative Minds

Whenever I bring the gals along to my gynae's office, they would get all excited looking at KLCC and the Twin Towers as my gynae's office is located very near the Twin Towers. When they got home from my gynae's office last week, they started constructing their very own Twin Towers with Lego blocks. Notice the blue block at the very top? It's supposed to be the sky bridge connecting to 2 towers!

Quick Fix Lunch

I had almost forgotten that Alycia has to attend her Mandarin enrichment class today at 12:15pm. This is a replacement class. We were still having breakfast at 10:30am when I went to look at the stick-on notes I'd put on the wall and saw the notice from her pre-school on the Mandarin class. Since we don't have much time to prepare lunch and she has to eat her lunch by 11:30am, I decided to fix her toast with peanut butter and strawberry jam. Though it was a very simple and light lunch, Alycia nevertheless enjoyed her lunch. I better remember that she has another replacement Mandarin class tomorrow at 12:15pm.

Cute Quotes

As I was applying some make-up on my face in preparation to go to church last week :

Sherilyn : Mummy, why you use pencil to draw your eye? (referring to the eye liner that I was using to color my eyebrows)

Me : No, that's not a pencil, it's an eyeliner.

Sherilyn : Oooh.... (in the cutest voice)

I then put on my lipstick....

Sherilyn : Mummy, why you use crayon to draw your lips?

Me : No, that's not a crayon, it's a lipstick.

Sherilyn : Oooh...... (in her cute babyish voice expressing amusement)

Then, as I put on a panty liner on my panty.....

Sherilyn : Mummy also wear diaper......

Me : No, that's not a diaper, it's a panty liner.

Sherilyn : Oooh....... and then giggles.

Funny Quotes

Scene 1

Sherilyn has 2 front teeth that are long and big. Whenever she laughs, I can't help telling her that she's got 2 big front teeth like Bugs Bunny :

Me : Sherilyn, you have such big teeth like Bugs Bunny.

Sherilyn : NO! Mummy has big teeth. Me have lion teeth.... wwoooorrrrr....... (as she imitates a lion growling)

Sherilyn never fails to tell me this whenever I comment that she's got big teeth and she never fails to make me laugh when I hear her say that, especially the growling part.


Scene 2

As I stepped out from the bathroom after my bath one night last week, Alycia stared at my body :

Alycia : giggles.... mummy, your breast is so big

Me : Yup, mummy is pregnant, that's why my breasts are bigger now.

Alycia : giggles.... wah.... so big. Looks like what? Hahaha......

I felt flattered coz for someone who has never had big boops, having larger breasts now are a delight and a compliment!

My Typical Morning

Managed to complete 2 outstanding tasks and grabbed 1 opp this morning. Did everything hurriedly so that I can accomplish as much as possible before Alycia and Sherilyn wake up at 9am. Since it's the school holidays now, the girls wake up an hour later in the morning and I have 1 hour extra to work. I think they are up now as I can hear them knocking on the bedroom door upstairs. That's the start of my day, having to tackle 2 very high needs and demanding whiny toddlers.

A Teaspoon Of Honey A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

Can honey really help keep the doctor away? I hope so and this is what I've been feeding Alycia and Sherilyn everyday. I alternate between Manuka honey with freshly squeezed orange juice and Manuka honey with prune juice everyday. Our paed has actually suggested Manuka honey to strengthen the immune system. I think there is some truth to it coz whenever the gals are showing signs of a cold, the symptoms would seem to dwindle after their double dosage of Manuka honey.

Quail Eggs

When we went grocery shopping a couple of days ago, Alycia saw some quail eggs and asked me to buy them. Today, we all had quail eggs for breakfast. It's a good thing Sherilyn who doesn't eat meat loves eggs, including quail eggs. So she gets all her protein and nutrition from her hard boiled egg every morning. As for Alycia, she only eats the egg white and hates the yolk (when eaten hard boiled), so the yolk normally goes to Sherilyn and mummy! The only way Alycia would eat the yolk is when the egg is beaten up and fried. That's the only way I can make her eat one of the most nutritious food around as the yolk contains the most vitamins, DHA and minerals.

Blind Leading The Blind

This was the homework that Alycia's Mandarin class teacher gave her last week. I could not read most of the words there, especially the instructions. As I could recognize a few words (water and hand), I figured that Alycia was supposed to complete the missing stroke for each word. So I ended up spending 15 minutes going through the previous pages to find the words and fill up the missing strokes. It's really a case of the blind leading the blind. I think I should ask Alycia's teacher to write the instructions in English in future so that I know what she's supposed to do. As for teaching her the words, I think I need to get myself a chinese pictionary with 'han yi pin yi' !

Varicose Veins

The varicose veins on my legs are becoming worse. Whenever I get up from a sitting or lying position, I can feel an immediate heavy pressure and pain on my left leg. It feels as if the veins are about to rupture. It's so bad that I have to either sit down immediately or raise my leg on a chair to remove the pressure on my leg. I know it's only going to get worse as my pregnancy progresses and the baby gets heavier. Sherilyn calls my legs 'mummy's monster legs!'

My Hairdressing Tools

These are my hairdressing tools. I normally trim my kids' fringes myself but when it comes to cutting the rest of the hair, I'll leave the job to the hairdresser which would normally cost RM12.
Do you normally trim your kids' hair yourself?

How Money Motivates

I'm not a techie person and I hate to meddle with gadgets and gizmos but today, I saw a high pay-out opp by this network. It requires a 30-second video. Initially, I had ignored the opp but this opp kept showing up on my screen each time I refreshed the screen. So I decided to give it a shot. First, I rummaged through my drawers to look for my Olympus camera DVD to read the instruction on shooting video as the original set up on my camera was only for a video shoot duration of 15 seconds and I didn't know how to re-set the duration of the video shoot. Next, I began to shoot the video but my 2 rascals kept interrupting me. Sherilyn was screaming and crying away and Alycia was tugging at me. I did the shoot more than 10 times. Hopefully my video and the post gets approved by this network.

Alycia Is Learning Mandarin

Alycia has been attending additional Mandarin classes in her pre-school for almost 3 months now. She still attends these classes during the school holidays. Each time she comes home from school with homework, I have a real tough time coaching her as I'm just as blur and clueless in my Mandarin. My knowledge of the Mandarin language is just very basic and I can only recognize basic simple words. So most times, I have to read up her book to teach her! It's like learning up Mandarin myself! When my mil is around, I can ask her for help but when she's not, sometimes Alycia's homework gets undone coz mummy just doesnt know how to teach her. What a shame. I'm really contemplating sending her to a Chinese school next year.

Double-Boiled Apple Juice

Upon the advice of Aly and Sher's former babysitter, I double-boiled some apples with honey date and snow fungus to 'yun' my body and to nourish my dry and peeling skin. I used 3 medium-sized apples, 1 honey date, 1 handful of snow fungus and added 3 small bowls of water and double-boiled the concoction for almost 3 hours. The juice was really sweet and fragrant and both Sherilyn and I loved it. As for Alycia, she hated it and drank the juice as if she were drinking some bitter medicine and even pinched her nose when she gulped it down. I shall be double-boiling some pears tomorrow and hopefully she will like it this time.

Muruku Craze

When I told my Sikh neighbor that I loved the homemade muruku that she had given me during Deepavali, she gave me another big tub of her homemade muruku the following week. I've been eating them almost everyday till I have zits appearing on my face and I feel really heaty. Her murukus are really tasty - they are super crunchy and are made of coconut milk and dhal. Now, I am having a muruku respite despite being really tempted to much on one everyday. I think I should double boil some pear with honey dates tomorrow to 'yun' and cool my body.

Pregnancy : 18th Week Check-Up

Had a check-up by my gynae today. Both my gynae and I were equally surprised on the 'change' in the baby's gender. Both of us saw the little dicky bird at 14 weeks. As for me, I was more worried than being disappointed that it's not a boy. I was worried that my Amnio result could have been switched!! My gynae did another thorough scan and this time, he was quite certain that he saw a female genital. I'm actually relieved that it's indeed a girl and not a boy. If the little dicky bird can still be seen, the Amnio result could have really been switched and I may have to do another Amnio. My gynae explained that at 14 weeks, it is often still too early to determine the gender as the baby's genital is still forming and changing; mistaken gender like my case is very common.

The right kidney still looked dilated but since the baby's chromosomes are normal, close monitoring is required. I'm scheduled to see the fetal specialist, Dr Patrick again and see what he has to advise. Meanwhile, I can only pray that all goes well with this baby and my pregnancy.

Homemade Chicken Rice

After 2 failed attempts, my maid finally got the chicken rice right yesterday. The first time, she had forgotten my instructions and put too much water to cook the rice, resulting in the rice being too soggy. The second time, I had told her to put only 1 potato but my maid who tried to be adventurous put 3 large potatoes to cook with the chicken. Not only that, she had also forgotten to add in the mushrooms and the sausages. The result was a total disaster. The chicken rice tasted like a potato pie and no one liked it. The third time, I drew up the menu specifically and reminded her time and again to put all the ingredients right - not too much water, only 1 potato, remember the mushrooms, dried shrimps, etc. The chicken rice turned up perfect and the gals loved them and licked their platters clean.

Ingredients:

Chicken (marinate with soya sauce and pepper)
Mushrooms
Dried shrimps
1 large potato or 2 small sized potatoes
Sausages (I used deli chicken sausages which are halal so that my maid can also eat and not as oily as Chinese sausages)
Sesame seed oil to fry the ingredients
Chopped garlic and shallots
A dash of MSG-free oyster sauce and tiny dollop of thick black sauce
A dash of rice wine (optional but not advisable if you're feeding toddlers)
Can also add in some chopped long beans for extra protein for toddlers
Chopped spring onions for garnishing



Method:
After cooking the chicken with the rest of the ingredients, add them into the pot of rice when you see 'holes' appearing in the pot of rice and stir the rice and chicken ingredients well.

New Gizmo

Alycia and Sherilyn are still very much in love with their new gizmo, i.e. their new battery-operated toothbrush and they have never been so enthusiastic and happy with brushing their teeth than now. Even Sherilyn who never liked her teeth being brushed with a toothbrush is keen to brush her teeth herself with this cool vibrating gadget. I'm happy that I've finally found something that can motivate them to brush their teeth without any hassle, fuss, bribes or threats. As for me, I still prefer my good old conventional toothbrush as I feel it can do a better job than a high-tech gizmo! Call me archaic or out-of-date!

I Need A Mailbox With Special Lock

When my internet connection was cut off unceremoniously last week, I was furious and called Streamyx to enquire, only to be told that our Streamyx bill had not been paid for over a month. I thought I’d been prompt in my payment but their record showed otherwise. I then checked my file and yes, it’s true, we had missed payment for a month. Why was the bill from Streamyx not received by us? I then checked my mailbox and discovered that the padlock from the mailbox was missing and part of the opening of the mailbox had been prised open. I then realized that someone must have vandalized my mailbox. Now, I have to look for better and sturdier mailboxes with special locking insert to prevent those bugger vandalizers from stealing our mail and I've seen some of these special mailboxes at seattleluxe.com. I better get one of these mailboxes quick before my letters go missing again.

Time To Shop For A New Watch

My 2 brats who were playing with my watch several days ago dropped the watch on the floor and the watch broke into pieces. The glass was shattered and the hands of the watch were dismantled. I really need to get a new watch fast coz I feel really uneasy going out without a watch. I’ve seen some very nice and elegant Ebel watches, Longines watches and Corum watches for ladies at thetimezone.com. I wonder if our local watch shops carry some of the models that I’ve seen at this website. Time to go shopping for a new watch this week, yay!

My 2 Angels

My 2 angels are the most precious and priceless gifts to me from God. Very soon, I will be having another angel which would make 3 angels. One would ask am I not disappointed that I don't have any son? Not at all, I think He's being very kind to me by giving me 3 angels, my very own Charlie's Angels!


Aren't my angels adorable?

Weight-Loss Program

My friend who is on a weight-loss journey and had enrolled herself in a gym half a year ago has lost 8kg todate. She has 10 more kg to loose before she reaches her ideal weight. Her personal trainer has advised her to go on a low carbohydrate-high protein diet on top of her 5 times weekly work-out sessions at the gym. She has been limiting her carbohydrate intake to less than 100g a day and she even went cold turkey on her favorite rice, pastas, noodles, cakes, bread, crackers and white flour products. In addition, she is now taking nutritional supplements, fat burners and protein replacement meals. I’m really amazed with her progress and I think after I deliver my 3rd child next year, I too have to join her in the gym and follow her regimen!

I Need A Notebook Computer

On most nights, I will be stuck in the bedroom putting the kids to sleep as the kids do not want daddy or anyone else to put them to sleep but me. By the time the kids are asleep, I will be too sleepy and tired to go downstairs to where my desktop computer is to continue working. If only I have a notebook computer in my bedroom, I can continue working while I watch my kids doze off. As I’ve just bought myself a new desktop computer, I now have to save again to get myself the notebook computer. In the meantime, I can do some survey at Buy.com on which notebook computer to buy.

A Tourmaline Necklace For My 8th Wedding Anniversary

Time really flies when you’re having fun. It’s true, I just can’t believe I’m going to be married to my man for 8 years next year. Yay, that means, we will be passing the 7-year itch mark and that warrants a celebration. I’m so going to ask my man to get me an 8th wedding anniversary gift. I was browsing the website of Astley Clarke and found a long list of Anniversary Gemstone and for an 8th anniversary, the gemstone is Tourmaline. I think I will look splendid in this pink Tourmaline necklace in 14ct gold. It will really stand out when I wear this necklace with my new white A-line spaghetti strap dress.



There are also plenty of beautiful designer jewellery, gold jewellery, silver jewellery, wedding jewellery, stunning diamonds, birthstones and much more at Astley Clarke. The longer I stay in front of my PC staring at those Astley Clarke jewellery, the more items I am tempted to buy. I am so besotted by those aesthetically designed elegant jewellery by Astley Clarke that I think I might even dream of them tonight!

Oodles Of Soba

Yesterday, I cooked organic soba noodles with chicken balls and vegetables in watercress chicken soup for the gals. It's another very simple lunch dish. All you have to do is to mince some chicken meat, marinate them with a dash of sesame seed oil, pepper, salt and corn flour (corn flour makes the meat smooth and not rough).



In a pot of boiling water, cook the soba noodles and blanch the vege. Strain and leave aside. Then, form the minced chicken meat into balls and drop them one by one into the pot of hot water. Strain and scoop up. Pour some soup into the noodles and serve. You can also cook some anchovies soup to go with the noodles. For added protein, you can even break an egg into the boiling soup.


Just another wholesome and healthy meal for your toddlers brought to you by Health Freak Mommy!

I Am Feeling So Weak!

Had a bout of bad diarrhea this morning after breakfast and purged 4 times. I don't know if it's caused by the fried vegetarian meehoon that I had eaten with some vegetarian tofu and beancurd skin or the pandan layer cake that I had eaten last night. My 2 gals and maid also ate the cake but they are fine this morning. As I was wincing in pain in the loo, I was feeling really cold, sleepy, naucea and weak. I was so sleepy that I had even dozed off whilst sitting on my royal throne. After the 3rd gut attack, I even had to lie on my bed waiting for the next attack so that I can rush to the loo. Thank God, after the 4th attack, I'm feeling much better now as my guts are already cleared of all the impurities. I felt so weak that I took a 20 minute nap on my couch. I think I should make myself some toast with strawberry jam and sugar-free peanut butter to eat now to get back some energy.

Checking Accounts With Multiple Benefits and Freebies

I have always been looking for checking accounts from a bank that can offer me great benefits and free services, especially getting free checks but have not found a bank that offers me such benefits. I have now found a bank that offers a checking account called WaMu Free Checking Account that comes with a host of benefits such as free checks for life plus other free services from free ATM cash withdrawals to free Gold Debit MasterCard® with Rewards at WaMu. WaMu's other checking account, the WaMu’s Platinum Checking account holder even gets to earn interest and enjoy many other freebies if they maintain a high checking balance. Now, isn’t that good news? I wish we had a WaMu here too.

Sherilyn Loves Books

Yes she does and when I'm busy, she will choose her favorite books and 'reads' them to herself. Not that she can recognize the words but she can memorize the pages quite well. Sherilyn has longer and better attention span than Alycia and her interest in books and writing are also stronger than Alycia.

I Love Butter and Seaweed Sandwich

Sherilyn loves butter and she loves them in chunks on her sandwich or on her hard-boiled egg. This morning, she had chunky butter sandwich with crispy seaweed and a hard-boiled egg. Everyone has been saying that Sherilyn has lost a lot of her cute baby fat on her cheeks and arms. I'm trying to make her gain some weight by feeding her butter, more milk, cheese and an egg everyday. She's been a very picky eater of late and has been refusing to eat any meat. My maid and I have to spend almost 1.5 hours to feed her lunch or dinner. She's really testing our patience when all she does is just store the food in her mouth!

J.Co Doughnuts

The gals and I had a real sweet surprise from daddy just a moment ago when he brought home a big box of J.Co doughnuts. Daddy had a function at Pavillion today and since he was there, he took the opportunity to buy a dozen of the supposedly best tasting doughnuts in the world which have been causing a ridiculously long queue at the J.Co Doughnuts store in Pavillion since its opening recently.

So how do we like it? Since I'm not much of a doughnut lover and don't really fancy sweet stuff, I find them too sweet and jelak. Most of the doughnuts have sweet cream and icing on top and some come with coffee filling and cream filling. Nevertheless, the texture of the dough is very soft. Of the 12 flavors that daddy had bought, I like the plain one best but it is still too sweet for my liking. As for the gals, it's their first time sinking their teeth into doughnuts and naturally they loved them to bits. They were eating those doughnuts like some ravenous wolves devouring on some tasty meat!


Within 20 minutes, the doughnuts were all gobbled up by all of us including our maid. Sherilyn even licked her knuckles clean!

Sherilyn Is Going To School Next Year

Daddy has always wanted to let Sherilyn attend pre-school but I'm the one who's not so keen. First, I am worried that she might fall sick just as frequently as Alycia. Secondly, I can teach her at home and since she's very much a social butterfly, she doesn't need as much exposure to people as Alycia. Thirdly, it's costly, i.e. at around RM300 per month on average. But since she loves school so much and has been following daddy to bring Alycia to school every single morning, daddy feels that his second princess should be given equal opportunity as the first princess to attend school.

Today, I was really taken by surprise when he told the principal that he is registering Sherilyn for school in January next year. He even asked the principal to let Sherilyn try on the school uniform. So I guess next year, both my gals will be attending school. Sherilyn was grinning from cheek to cheek trying on the uniform and she was hopping and skipping in the school with joy and calling out to the teachers.

Alycia's Progress In School

Met up with Alycia's class teacher today. On the overall, Alycia has improved, especially in her social interaction skills. When she first joined the class, she was very reserved and quiet and hardly spoke a word. Though she's still on the quiet side and seldom participates in group activities, she has nevertheless learnt to mingle around with her classmates and asked her teachers questions too.

Academically, she is still lagging behind her peers as she has only attended class less than 3 months this year. Most of her peers started preschool at age 2 and Alycia is the youngest in the class being a December child. We pulled her out from school in February when she kept falling sick. She only resumed school in early September and did not consistently go to school as she also fell ill within these 2.5 months. She still cannot write the letters of the alphabet and numbers on her own without the help of dotted lines and she still can't read a book independently. Nevertheless, she can recognize almost all the letters of the alphabet (capital and small letters) and numbers from 1 through 10. She really needs some catching up.

Alycia's Progress In School

Met up with Alycia's class teacher today. On the overall, Alycia has improved, especially in her social interaction skills. When she first joined the class, she was very reserved and quiet and hardly spoke a word. Though she's still on the quiet side and seldom participates in group activities, she has nevertheless learnt to mingle around with her classmates and asked her teachers questions too.

Academically, she is still lagging behind her peers as she has only attended class less than 3 months this year. Most of her peers started preschool at age 2 and Alycia is the youngest in the class being a December child. We pulled her out from school in February when she kept falling sick. She only resumed school in early September and did not consistently go to school as she also fell ill within these 2.5 months. She still cannot write the letters of the alphabet and numbers on her own without the help of dotted lines and she still can't read a book independently. Nevertheless, she can recognize almost all the letters of the alphabet (capital and small letters) and numbers from 1 through 10. She really needs some catching up.

Parents-Teachers Day

Today is Alycia's pre-school parents-teachers day and I'm about to bring Alycia to school to meet her teachers. I wonder what they have to say about Alycia. Tomorrow there will be a children's day party at her school. Will be going to the bakery to get some chiffon cakes later.

I Wish There Were More Such Days

On days when Sherilyn is in a mood to draw and write, she can sit at her writing desk for a good half an hour without tugging at me and bothering me with her whims. She will draw, squiggle and do letter or number tracing. She can really be independent at times. I wish there were more days like this so that I can concentrate in my work on the computer and accomplish more in the mornings before Alycia gets home from school.

Food Review - Gu Yue Tien Chinese Cuisine

Deep Fried 'Lai Sar Tong Yuen' with black sesame paste as filling.

Almond milk with 'Suet Kap' (frogs' intestines)

These are the desserts that we had after dinner at Gu Yue Tien Chinese Cuisine Restaurant @ Chulan Square last week. The food at this restaurant were really good and I really enjoyed the almond milk suet kap as it wasn't too sweet and the almond milk was rich and creamy.

The double-boiled pigs' stomach soup, black bean chicken soup as well as the dishes from the main course were very tasty too. Check out my other blog to read the food review of this restaurant.

Her Eyes Are Bigger Than Her Tummy

My Spitty Spat hates meat and bland food but when it comes to bread, biscuits, crackers, cakes, keropok and ice-cream, she can eat them all without any fuss in a flash. Here, she's eating a butter bun. She loves it so much that she wants the container of buns to be right in front of her and she's even pointing to them, telling me that she wants more. If only she could eat her proper meals just like this.