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Sunday, August 31, 2008

Our Sunday

We had a typical Sunday today. As usual, if it involves going to the church, the morning would be a total madness rush. I woke up at 6am, went jogging, came back and had a quick shower, woke Aly and Sher up, fixed them milk, Baby C woke up, nursed her and changed her, fixed Aly and Sher breakfast, had to placate Sher who had a meltdown (she seems to be getting into meltdowns everyday lately) bathed Aly and Sher, hubby dressed them up and blew dry their hair 'salon style' :), then bathed Baby C and rushed off to the church. Hubby then brought mil to the market to shop for the week's supply of meat.

After church, we had Japanese buffet lunch at PJ Hilton.

How was your Merdeka Sunday?




Alycia and Sherilyn with their favorite Sunday School teachers, Jeff and Shir Lin. They had stopped teaching Sunday School when both hubby and wife went to Singapore to work. They were back for a holiday this weekend.




Baby C (wearing a onesie that Aunty Barb gave her) sat on her stroller and was very good - didn't cry, poo poo or kick up a big fuss, phew!

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Awesome Mah Mah

Mah Mah went to Mid Valley Megamall with her friends 2 days ago. Whenever she goes shopping, she never fails to buy something back for us to eat. Here's what she bought us and we had these for lunch :



Red bean pau from Dragon-I Chinese Restaurant, in the shape of pig's head, LOL! One for Alycia and one for Sherilyn.


Stir-fried lai meen from Dragon-I.


KFC, my favorite!

She also bought cakes, buns and my favorite breads from my favorite bakery. Awesome right, this mah mah?

Friday, August 29, 2008

What Kind Of Mother Are You?

I just love observing how other parents handle their kids whenever I wait for my turn to see my doctor in the hospital. Today whilst I was waiting for our turn to see the pediatric nephrologist at SJMC, I observed many parents who came in with their kids.

One mother came in with her toddler who was about 9 months old to a year old and she had fever. The baby was very cute with big round eyes and she was really chubby and BIG! The baby's mother and the baby's grandmother were very BIG too. Though the baby had fever, her mother let her loose and she was crawling everywhere on the hospital floor. I just can't stand kids running around bare-footed or crawling on hospital floors and floors of public places. The carpets must be teeming with looming germs, not to mention dirt, dust mites and dust.

After crawling for a while, the baby's grandmother carried her whilst the baby's mother opened the wrapper of a bar of chocolate. I was curious to know if she would feed her baby the chocolate and yes, she did. She bit the chocolate, then spat it out and put the chocolate into her baby's mouth, many times .... and her baby was having fever. I was really amazed with this lady and some other parents. They seem so blase and 'cincai' when it comes to their baby's hygiene and with the choice of their baby's food. I am one health freak mommy who would never let my babies crawl on the floors of public places and would never feed my babies with chocolates when they are having fever. Would you?

Thursday, August 28, 2008

What A Mum.... and Would You Do It?

This is a backdated post.

About 3 months ago when I was waiting outside our paed's clinic in the hospital, I saw a mother of 2 walking into the waiting area. She has a 2-3 year old toddler walking next to her and another probably 9 month old to a year old toddler in a stroller. When my eyes shifted to her baby in the stroller, I was horrified and aghast. Guess what she gave her baby to chew on? Just take a guess. I bet no one in their right frame of mind would give this to their baby in replacement of a teething ring. Guess guess guess....... what.....














I saw the baby chewing on a shoe.... yes, you read me right. The cute and beautiful baby with big round eyes was chewing on a bright colored plastic Crocs shoe. I was so disgusted and quickly fixated my eyes on the shoe, just to make sure that the shoe was clean, brand new and not a dirty shoe. Ok, it looked clean but but but... a shoe for your toddler to chew on? I took a closer look at the shoe to see if it's a teething ring in the shape of a shoe but nope, it was indeed a Crocs shoe! OMG, what was the mother thinking of? The paint or the plastic from the shoe could come off easily and if ingested it's toxic for Pete's sake. Minutes later, I saw the baby who was chewing on the shoe crawling everywhere on the hospital floor.... bare-footed and bare hands! Of all places, the mother let her baby crawl on the hospital floor! How clean can that be! And the mother doesn't look uneducated, she had an educated look, is pretty and has the 'rich lady' look too but the way she handled her baby makes me think she's someone from a kampung.

About an hour later when she left, her baby was still sucking the Crocs shoe! Goodness gracious! Aiyoh.... I can never forget this incident! Would you ever give your teething toddler a brand new shoe to bite even if it's disinfected? Come on, be frank with me.

I rather let my baby chew on some durians than on a shoe!

We Need A New Shower Faucet

The hand-held shower faucet in my bathroom is broken again and the water is straying in all directions each time I shower the gals. Guess who broke the faucet? My 2 rascals of course. I better get the broken faucet replaced with a new Hansgrohe shower faucet fast, otherwise I would be all wet each time I shower them. This time, I should get the shower faucet affixed to the wall so that it will be out of bounds from my 2 rascals.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

What Happened To Baby C's Bloody Cheek?

Check out what happened to Baby C in Baby C's Bloody Cheek.










Zits On My Face

I have not been getting enough sleep lately. Firstly, I have been waking up at 2:30am everyday to bring Alycia to the toilet to pee. Alycia does not wear a diaper to bed at night anymore and she’s now 100% diaper-free. Secondly, I am awake at least twice a night to nurse Baby C. Thirdly, I’ve been gorging on durians lately. All these are causing some zits to pop up on my face. Thankfully my zits are not serious, otherwise I would have to seek acne treatment to get rid of them.

Fried Flat Rice Noodles

My 'char koay teow' which had more veggie, bean sprouts and chicken than the noodles.

I taught my maid to cook 'char koay teow' on Saturday. As I can never leave her alone to do the cooking, I had to carry Baby C to the wet kitchen and stand next to the stove to tell her step by step what to do. I even had to hold the spatula with one hand and carry Baby C with the other to show her what to do. The 'char koay teow' turned out very yummy. Aly and Sher like it so much that they ate it for both lunch and dinner and lunch again the following day!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Monday, August 25, 2008

What Supplements Do Your Kids Eat?

Every morning on a school-going weekday, after Alycia and Sherilyn have taken their milkie, they will do their poopie business, get washed up, brush their teeth, dress up to get ready for school and then pop their vitamins. First they drink a tablespoon of orange-flavored Scotts Emulsion cod liver oil, then gulp down a small glass of E. Excel cactus juice.

Twice a week, I will feed them Pharmaton's multi-vitamin. Lately, I've added Colustrum tabs to their diet and they take it 3-4 times a week. Looks like a lot of vitamins they are popping eh? They used to take only cod liver oil but Aly and Sher have been having throat infection (esp. Aly) too often and very easily too. That's when I added the E.Excel cactus juice and Pureen colustrum tabs into their diet. Hopefully these 2 supplements can strengthen their immune system. The hole in hubs' pocket is really BIG as he has been spending a lot of money on the gals' medical expenses eversince Alycia attended pre-school last year.

What supplements do you feed your kids?

E.Excel Cactus Juice

Alycia gulping down her glass of cactus juice before going to school.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Our Sunday

Hubby scooted off for work early in the morning. He's been really busy lately with work. I wanted to go jogging alone in the morning but Alycia woke up early too and I had no choice but to let her follow me. After about 5 minutes of jogging with me, she complained of leg pain and tummy ache. See how unfit she is. Anyway, she jogged for about 15 minutes before we headed home and I continued working out on the trampoline.

For lunch, I asked my maid to pan-fry a chunk of salmon that hubby bought yesterday. I told her three times that she is to pan-fry the salmon for I know she will surely forget. My maid tends to be very absent-minded when it comes to cooking and will surely screw up a dish 9 out of 10 times when I leave her to do the cooking. I then went upstairs to bathe Baby C. When I came down, I sensed something was wrong when I could not smell salmon. The house should be aromatic and smell of salmon if the salmon was being pan-fried but nope, no smell of fish..... something fishy is going on! I rushed to the kitchen and saw my maid in the wet kitchen, next to the cooking stove and the salmon was inside the wok --- being steamed! I was steaming mad as she had forgotten again what I had told her. I then told her to quickly remove the salmon from the wok and start frying it.

The half steamed, half pan-fried salmon. The ginger shouldn't be there but my maid put them in as she thought that all fish should be cooked with ginger. Almost disastrous but luckily still tasted good as the fish was very fresh. I squeezed some fresh lemon juice on the salmon to add some zest and flavor to the fish.


Alycia and Sherilyn's lunch - fried vermicelli with half steamed half pan fried salmon and organic Japanese cucumbers.


Alycia and Sherilyn can never get bored of eating noodles and don't even mind eating them everyday, if they have a choice.



Whilst we ate, Baby C dozed off on her highchair again. Oh, she doesn't suck the pacifier, I let her chew on it since she loves putting things into her mouth these days.

Aly and Sher spent much of their time today playing with their new lanterns that daddy bought them. Check out their modern-day lanterns too!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Alycia Can Read


Alycia reading the words that granny is flashing to her. Read the rest of the story here.




Fresh Dates



These are fresh kurma or dates. My mil bought these from The Gardens @ Mid Valley. She thought they would be sweet and tasty, just like the other type of fresh dates (the brown ones that are roundish) but nope. These dates are a tad sweet and bitter and if you eat the skin, it's even more bitter. The texture is crunchy but the aftertaste you get on your tongue is like you've just eaten a banana that's unripe and your tongue will be coated by a layer of sap. There's definitely no second time buying these and they are expensive too. A small punnet with 1 bunch cost over twenty ringgit! I wonder if I can let these dates dry at room temperature on their own so that they become dried dates, like the ones sold during the month of Ramadhan.

Snacks From Japan

Each time my mil and sil come back from a vacation overseas, they will bring home with them a big bag filled with goodies for the girls. These are some of the snacks that they bought from their recent holiday in Japan :














The snacks are all very tasty but I find them a tad too sweet, thus dare not indulge in them too much. I've already gained 1kg from gorging on mooncakes over the past 2 weeks. I wish I could increase the duration of my morning jogging session but I just don't have the time for it.

Friday, August 22, 2008

An Orange That's Red In Color

Hop over here to read more about this red fleshed orange.

Baby C Dozed Off On The Highchair



After going through a traumatic and painful time and crying till she tired herself out yesterday, Baby C was so tired that she dozed off within minutes after she was seated on the highchair at the dining table during our dinner time. The same thing happened today after the third dose of a very painful antibiotics jab. Poor baby, I pray that she never has to go through such traumatic and painful time ever again.

Cheese, Potato And Ham All-In-One Dish





My 2 older girls absolutely adore cheese, ham and potatoes. Yesterday, Alycia chomped down a big wedge of President Petit Brie soft ripened cheese, a kiddy cheese stick and a packet of Laughing Cow Cheeze Dippers during breakfast. Since Alycia and Sherilyn love cheesy food, I found a recipe for Country Potatoes au Gratin at myrecipes.com. It’s a dish made up of all Alycia and Sherilyn’s favorite food, i.e. potatoes, butter, milk, ham and lots of cheese. I’ll try to whip up this dish one of these days when the girls are in school. I think they will love it.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Quick Fix Homemade Almond Milk

I made almond milk yesterday, using my mum's Cosway soya bean milk maker and it tasted perfect - creamy, rich and has a flavorful nutty taste! It's my 3rd time making almond milk using the maker and it's just so easy to make. With RM6 worth of Chinese white almond, I can make 2 batches of almond milk. I even used the white almond residue to make pancake, by cracking up 4 eggs and adding a tablespoon of corn flour and salt to taste before frying it. However, the washing part is quite difficult and my maid has to soak the stainless steel filter before using a toothbrush to scrub away the residue.


Soak the white almonds first (for about an hour)

and within 20 minutes, I have hot, rich and aromatic almond milk.

One of my readers told me that almond milk can help soothe / treat a cough. Don't know how true it is but you can try it if you have a cough now, no harm.

More Disney Souvenirs

More souvenirs that my sil and mil bought for Alycia and Sherilyn from HK Disneyland :


A Mickey Mouse clock.




Mickey Mouse and My Melody spoon and fork set.

Precious Moments and Hello Kitty bowls.

Hop over to my other blog to read Baby C's kidney reflux update.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Pork Chop For Dinner



I had a high protein, high fibre dinner yesterday consisting of pork chop and stir-fried choy sum. The pork chop was very tasty. I marinated the pork chops with Lea and Perrin sauce, ginger wine, corn flour, soya sauce (MSG and preservative free) and some honey. I made a big batch and deep freeze some. I can never get fed-up of eating pork chops and I really don't mind eating them a few times a week.

E Coli Bacteria In Baby C's Urine

Instead of waiting until October to do the urine test, my guts feeling told me that I had to do it and last Friday, I sent Baby C's urine to the hospital for tests to be done. Turns out that there is a moderate growth of E Coli bacteria in the urine. The funny thing is that Baby C has no fever and is feeding pretty well. Our paed said that it may not be another UTI (urinary tract infection) and suspected that the urine might be contaminated with faeces. Also, the urine culture report showed that E Coli bacteria is resistant to the antibiotics that Baby C is taking now.

Today I brought Baby C to see the paed again. He told me that I have to collect sample of Baby C's urine for another test. If the WBC (white blood cells) increase, then he will switch the antibiotics to one which the E Coli bacteria is sensitive to.

I'm just praying that the WBC will drop today. Our paed said that it is not good to keep switching antibiotics as the bacteria will soon be resistant to all the antibiotics and I certainly do never want this to happen as this would mean more UTI attacks!

I've dedicated a post to Baby C. Hop on to my other blog to read.

Pix taken yesterday, of me feeding Baby C her med. You can read about it in my other blog.






Monday, August 18, 2008

Baby C And Her Highchair



Click here to read the story.



Doughnuts Again

The hubs is nuts over doughnuts. Though he doesn't eat much of them, he just loves buying them. Almost every time he's at Mid Valley or Pavillion, he'll get a box of Big Apple or J.Co doughnuts. I find them too sweet for my liking... not to mention fattening too coz they are all empty calories and I would need to exercise like a fitness freak to burn off those calories piled up after gorging on these deep fried flour coated with coloring and sugar.

Alycia and Sher loved them of course, which kid doesn't like colorful and sweet stuff eh?




Alycia just can't resist digging onto the colorful icing and licking them.