Stewed Chicken With Sweet Chestnuts And Mushrooms

My mil made stewed chicken with sweet chestnuts and mushrooms yesterday. We had this dish for 2 days straight - yesterday and today but I haven't gotten fed up with it just yet. I just love this dish. Do you know that chestnuts are not only tasty but also nutritious? Check out my health blog to read on.

I Can See Yer Cheh Cheh

This picture of Baby C peeping through the gap of her crib to watch her 2 cheh chehs play was taken about 2 weeks ago. Now, she doesn't need to peep through the holes anymore as she can stand pretty sturdily by holding on to the crib railings. Baby C will turn 7 months old in 9 days' time.

Alycia's English And BM Test Today

When Alycia came back from school today :

Me : Alycia how was your English and BM test today?

Alycia : Good....

Me : Really? Did you know how to answer those questions?

Alycia : Yes....

Me : Really? (I was in disbelief and doubted what she said. What a bad mummy I am not to trust my own daughter eh?)

Alycia : Yes.

Me : Did whatever that I revised with you come out in the test?

Aycia : No. Only got circle and underline the answer and writing.

Me : Oh....

Alycia : But I missed you and love you when I was in school.....

Me : I missed you too.

I am just curious to know how Alycia fared in all her subjects. I didn't want to be seen as if I am so eager that she passes her test with flying colors as that would only put pressure on her..... but I still hope she'd fare well. Nonetheless, even if she didn't fare well or fail the test, I will not chastise her. This will only cause her to have a phobia and hatred towards school and exams.

My 2 Little Babysitters

Whenever I need to go to the loo or get some meals prepared in the kitchen, I will dump Baby C in the playpen, aka. her cage and enlist the help of Aly or Sher (mostly Alycia, my trusted helper) to entertain Baby C. Baby C loves being in the company of her 2 cheh chehs and the sight of her cheh chehs can really put a smile on her face or make her giggle heartily. Baby C who has supersonic sharp ears will even spring up and search for her sisters even when she's in the room with me alone.... nursing and she hears her 2 cheh chehs' laughter or chatter downstairs or in the garden! And this will of course distract her from drinking her milkie or from taking her nap.


It was Alycia's idea that she does coloring on the floor so that Baby C can see her and she can sing or talk to her baby sister simultaneously.

The Goodness Of Broccoli

We had stir-fried broccoli for dinner last night. Check out my health blog to read the goodness of broccoli.

What Really Amuses and Fascinates Babies

After having 3 kids, I know that I don't have to spend a fortune buying expensive toys to amuse them coz they will most likely get bored of the toys within just hours. What can really amuse them and keep their interest up all the time are actually things that we adults use - handphones, remote controls, cups and anything just not meant for them. And things that come free like the sunlight can amuse them too... and that's what keeps Baby C really amused and fascinated whenever she sees the morning sunlight shining down from the airwell of our house to her playpen each morning. She can spend at least half an hour trying to catch the elusive sunlight or shadow whilst I have my breakfast and cuppa green tea in the morning. Cool eh?

Homecooked Dishes

That's what we had for dinner several nights ago. Though these are all simple dishes, they are all my favorite. I just love my mil's cooking. Whenever she's around, I will surely gain weight and will find it really hard to shed the extra pounds!

Stewed pork ribs, stir-fried spinach with garlic, steamed minced meat with dried wood fungus and water chestnuts and organic bitter gourd omelette.

Stewed pork ribs with lots of shallots (small red onions), tomatoes and 'sar keong' (a type of root like ginger with fragrant green leaves).




Steamed minced pork with water chestnuts and 'moke yue' (dried wood fungus).

Clean Freak

Click here if you want to know what I do with these antiseptic stuff.

Baby C Loves The View Outside

My little samseng loves going out - a walk in the garden can make her quite happy and she absolutely loves car rides and shopping. She loves to look outside at our garden and at the road. Whenever she fusses when I feed her the daily antibiotics, a walk in the garden can easily placate her. The other day, my mil and I had a good laugh when we saw her in a kneeling position, staring at the garden quietly and she seemed so content and happy doing it. She really looked so much older her age, like she was a year old or even older whilst she was doing that cute kneeling position.



I love to see the birds, the trees, the grass and people and cars passing by our house....




I'm about to let go of my hands to freefall onto the mattress mummy!

Baby C Can Stand at 6.5 Months Old

Do hop over to my other blog to read the story.

My Shitty Morning

I'm about to write a post that's nonsensical. You can skip reading this shitty post if you want. Wait, is there such a word as shitty? LOL!

After my morning run this morning, I drank a glass of milk, rested for a while and cut up a papaya to eat. I ate half the papaya and cut up the other half into cubes and put them into a lunch box for Alycia, Sher and the hubs to eat later. As I was cutting the papaya, I felt like doing my poopie business and it feels like a big time one too LOL! I hurriedly put the cubed papaya into a lunch box and quickly opened the fridge... but in my haste, I dropped the lunch box and the papaya dropped onto the floor. Oh shit, I was cursing away.... my shit's coming out and this shit has to happen. I quickly cleaned up the mess before my 2 older gals came back from their morning walk with mah mah. I then raced upstairs to my bathroom but oh shit, the hubs was also doing his poopie business!! I cursed some more.... I then paced outside to the bathroom outside and without even closing the door, hurried to the throne and relieved myself.... gosh it felt good lol!!

My Sunday

I was worried when Alycia seemed so lost during my revision with her on Math last night. So today, I spent the whole morning coaching her in Math. She seems to be a little weak in her understanding of Math or it could be the method I teach her is confusing? I don't know where went wrong. I am considering sending her to Math enrichment classes like Enopi Math or Kumon just for a few months to build up her foundation. It's really not easy teaching your own kid as they tend not to take you seriously and give you loads of excuses. The minute I walked away from the table, Alycia scooted away and turned on the TV... and boy was I enraged. Alycia has extracted tons of my patience to teach her. I hope she'll fare well in her Math test. Tomorrow I'll do revision with her on her English and BM.

After revision with her, daddy tar pau (packed) lunch back to eat. After lunch, we went grocery shopping at a nearby mini market. We also dropped by the newly opened 100Yen shop near my house. I bought a lunch box and a few mini lunch boxes for the larger lunch box and some other household stuff. Everthing cost RM4.90, so cheapo! After shopping, we dropped by our favorite bakery to get some cakes and mini croissants for the gals, then went to Guardian Pharmacy to buy some toiletries and anti-bacterial wipes. Yup, this health and clean freak bought a large box of alcohol swab and Dettol wet wipes to wipe Baby C's toys and crib coz she's been licking and chewing on her toys and crib railing a lot lately.

Back home, we ate cakes and drank coconut water. My Sikh neighbor also gave me a large box of Deepavali goodies - all my favorite cookies, muruku and beehives... and I have been gorging on them. I better wake up earlier to work out longer tomorrow. My 3 monkeys only drifted into their nap at around 5ish pm. Oh boy, I think my 2 older gals won't want to sleep early tonight.... but it's ok, since they don't have to wake up early for school tomorrow coz it's a public holiday.

I am Feeling The Stress And Anxiety

...coz Alycia will be sitting for her pre-school exam next week. I have been doing revision with her for the past 3 days but my brat doesn't seem to have much interest.... and her mind tends to wander somewhere else... and she will be talking about food or TV when I do revisions with her. I am really worried that she will not fare well in the exam.





Anyway, today we had dim sum at Sunway Lagoon Hotel. After I'm done publishing this post, I have to start doing revisions with Alycia again....

Baby C Exercising On My Fitball

Check out what Baby C is doing on my fitball at my other blog.

Alycia Fell Down From The Stairs In School Today

... and she dared not tell me or anyone.

When Alycia came back from pre-school today, my maid cleaned her up. My maid then told me that there are red patches on Alycia's body and thigh. My mil and I took a look and wondered what it was. The red patches looked like some allergies and we thought she had scratched her body. She remained quiet when we inspected her body. Later when I was working on the PC, she came up to me and told me softly "mummy, I fell down today". She did not even dare to tell me that she fell in school. It dawned on me immediately that the red patches were from a fall. I asked her how she fell and she told me she fell down the stairs. I asked her if it was painful and if she cried, she said no. I doubted it when she said no. When I asked if her teacher saw her fall, she said yes. When asked if her teacher said anything, she said no! Now, I am really pissed. How can the teacher not tell the parents when a student had a fall in school? What if the student broke a bone or some internal injuries happened to the child? I am going to ask the teacher on Monday what happened and if it's true that she saw Alycia falling and not inform us, I will surely tell her off.

Healthy Lunch Box

Pooh Bear shaped pan-fried eggs, green grapes and Pooh Bear shaped honey plum.


That's Alycia's lunch box yesterday. I thought my slow eater would not be able to finish all the food in her lunch box but she did. The food here may seem very little for most kids her age, but my slow eater can't even finish these on most days, as 10-15 minutes of recess time is too rush for Alycia, who eats quite slowly.

Alycia seems to be eating quite a lot lately, so much that it really worries me. After lunch or dinner (btw, she eats more than me), she would ask for desserts, ranging from cheeze dippers to cheese wedges, biscuits, cakes, yoghurt (she can even finish 1 cup of yoghurt after dinner!), banana, cherry tomatoes, etc. and 1 full glass of water! Hopefully she won't balloon up into a tai fei poh lol!

My Little Samseng

Check out what my little samseng is attempting to do here.

They Miss Each Other

Though Alycia and Sherilyn fight very often, they love each other very much nonetheless. Just a moment ago, when Alycia got up daddy's car to go for her ballet class :

Alycia : Bye bye mummy.... I miss you, I love you. Bye bye kakak..... bye bye Kay Yi (Sherilyn), I miss you....

Me : I miss you too, I love you too... enjoy your class....

Sherilyn shouting at the door : Bye bye cheh cheh.... I miss you. Come back early ok? Tonight we sleep together in mah mah's room ar? I miss you.... come back early....

I was moved and touched. I hope they will always love and miss each other.

Crazy Over Cheese

When I went grocery shopping at Grocer's Village @ Bangsar Village on Sunday, I bought some cheese for Alycia, Sher and myself. We all love cheese. I know it's not the healthiest of food as cheese contains a lot of sodium, preservative, flavoring and other food additives, but we still eat them almost everyday, in moderate amounts. Anyway, cheese is still good for your bones and teeth because of the calcium, right? Anything taken in moderation should be ok.


Bought this for Alycia and Sherilyn...

and got this Black Forest Lemnos cheese for myself. This small wedge of cheese cost RM15 and it tastes exactly like cheese cake as it has nuts, coconut, strawberries, cherries, raisins, among other ingredients. I so likey!

Sheela, I can't find the one with rum or brandy but this piece of cheese tastes just as good!

The instructions on the label says that the Lemnos cheese has to be consumed within 7 days of opening but I think I can chomp down this wedge of cheese in just one sitting... but of course I won't for it's darn fattening. I nibble on a small piece a day, during breakfast.

Hidden, Found And Thrown

We will be moving to our new home in a couple of weeks. My mil was packing some of our things from the kitchen cabinet last week and dug out some of Alycia and Sher's old toys... sharp and dangerous masak-masak utensils like knives, forks, etc which I had hidden inside the cabinet about 2 years ago! I hid them as they posed a danger coz Alycia and Sher loved putting these toys into their mouths and these were all made in China too. When I saw the packet of toys, I was contemplating whether to give them to Alycia and Sher or to throw them away. I think I made the right decision and they all went into the bin. Knowing my 2 rambunctious samsengs, I know they will surely put them into their mouths, fight with each other with the sharp toys or they may even cut Baby C's hands with the knife or poke each other's eyes!


The masak-masak utensils all in the bin.... without Alycia and Sher's knowledge, hehe...



Also found a stack of folic acid which I popped when I was carrying Baby C. I don't need them anymore. Any takers? You have to come and collect them ok :) Miche, if you need them, I can send them to you.

New Teething Rings For Baby C

These are the 2 new teething rings that I bought for Baby C last week. I chose the colorful rings coz each ring has different texture/pattern and I can also teach her colors with the rings. The rings can be linked to form a long chain, which can be clipped to her stroller, thus will not drop on the floor when she throws it. The second one is a sanitized water filled teething ring, which can be put in the fridge since she likes to chew on cold stuff.

Lifting Her Head Up High

We lowered Baby C's crib down to the middle notch 2 weeks ago. Now, Baby C is trying to pull herself up by pulling the cot bumper and railing. Very soon we will have to lower the crib to the lowest notch and I will have to break my back each time I place her in the crib and carry her up, ouch!!




Eversince the crib has been lowered, Baby C has to lift up her head whenever she watches TV in our room. Baby C seems to like the 'Your Baby Can Read' VCD and any musical VCDs that her sisters watch. She can lay on her tummy for at least 15-20 minutes and concentrate watching the VCD without fussing, provided she's well fed and has had her nap, else she would be whining too.



See how high she lifted her head here to watch the TV.

I'll Ditch My High Heeled Sandals And Get Some New Low Heeled Shoes

I came home with sore feet after a brief shopping trip at Grocers’ Village yesterday. My mistake as I wore a high heeled sandals which made me feel unstable when I walked, as if I would fall whenever I walked down the stairs when carrying Baby C. I think I’ll just give away some of my high heeled sandals to my maid and get myself some comfortable yet stylish low heeled or platform shoes from Clarks. I use to own a couple of elegant high heeled Clarks shoes when I was still employed in the corporate world but I had given them away when I quit work. Clarks shoes are comfortable and durable.

Our Sunday

We reached church on time today, which is an achievement for me. This time, I did not shower Alycia and Sher before we left the house and we managed to save 20 minutes. In church, Baby C did her poopie business and there isn't any baby changing room in our church. So I went to a kindy classroom, placed Baby C on a table and cleaned her up. And if you're wondering if I cleaned up the table too after I cleaned up Baby C, yes I did. I am not so inconsiderate :D

After church, we went to Bangsar Village and had lunch at Marco's Italian restaurant. I bumped into my good friend, Yi Yi, my childhood friend of 29 years at the restaurant! Yi Yi is this mummy's sil. We haven't met for quite some time and it was really good to have chanced upon her as we were just telling each other the other day that we should meet up soon.

Whilst hubby ordered the food, I quickly went to Grocers' Village to get some cheese, milk, nuts and fruits. Hubby ordered 3 varieties of spaghetti and 2 varieties of pizzas. I loved the spaghetti with Pesto sauce and pine nuts. Alycia and Sher didn't eat much as their eyes and mind were fixated at the play area.



Baby C in the church. My little samseng loves to rest her feet on the front barrier of the stroller. Coincidentally, Alycia and Sher loved to do this too when they were Baby C's age.



Alycia and Sherilyn playing with Leanne, Yi Yi's daughter who is 1.5 months older than Alycia.

Getting Rid Of Stench From The Microwave Oven

My mil and I had a rude surprise when she opened the microwave oven door this afternoon to reheat some noodles that she had bought from the market this morning. Inside the microwave oven were 3 plates of overnight dishes - a plate of tong kwai and wolfberries steamed chicken, some stir fried brinjals and another don't know what dish that looked mutilated, eeewwwwww.... and the stench was disgusting. The dishes also looked gross as they were covered with moulds, eeeuuuuu!! Those dishes were left inside to rot for at least 1 week! I immediately cut up a lemon into half, squeeze out some juice and poured some water into a small bowl and cooked it uncovered in the microwave for 2 minutes. The result was amazing. The microwave smelled fresh of lemon! I got this tip from a magazine that I read quite some time back.

Nokia N96 Smartphone

One of my blogging pals is a gadget fanatic. Just name any gadget and she can tell you a lot about the gadget, whether it is a smartphone, a digital camera, a laptop, an iPod or a playstation. Her 3G smartphone even has a built-in device which beeps each time there is an offer coming in through the advertiser’s RSS feed. That is why she always gets to grab whatever offers that appear in the advertiser’s website. This makes me want to change my mobile phone to a 3G smartphone too. If I have the money to splurge, I would love to get the Nokia N96 smartphone, the newest Nokia smartphone in the Nseries range of products.

The N96 was publicly announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona 2008 and started selling in September 2008. The Nokia N96 has instant upload to Flickr, Yahoo, Google and Vox. It has 16 GB of internal flash memory, with the memory expandable to up to 48 GB with 32 GB micro SD/micro SDHC cards. Thus, there is plenty of space for applications, music, videos and maps. This handset has a 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus and Carl Zeiss optics. The N96 is a TV and video focused mobile device. It has the familiar dual slide design from the N95 but the screen is marginally longer and wider than the N95, measuring at 2.8 inch.

The Nokia N96 has the usual FM radio and it comes with a RDS (Radio Data System) which is typically used to display the radio station’s name and the current song or program name. The N96 has almost everything anyone could want from WiFi to GPS, camera, video, radio, etc. It is the perfect mobile phone and gadget anyone can ask for.

I Didn't Spoil It, It's Lousy!

Sherilyn again, my brat with lots of cunning ideas and words to outwit you. She had inserted a toy cheese into the Doodle some time back, resulting in the slide-eraser getting stuck in the middle. The other day, she didn't want to nap (yes again, she avoided taking her afternoon nap) and she took the Doodle out to write and draw. When she wanted to erase her doodling, the eraser got jammed up half way through.

Sher : mummy look, it's spoilt....

Me : yeah, who spoilt it?

Sher : Don't know.....

Me : Who else, YOU!

Sher : No I didn't spoil it. Daddy bought a lousy toy, this is a lousy toy!




See this brat? She messed up the house by tearing up the styrofoam handbag that her teacher made for her and strew the pieces of styrofoam everywhere, threw her magnetic alphabet everywhere, threw my breastfeeding pillow on the floor and keeps telling me she's not sleepy. Sher is another Energizer bunny who doesn't seem to get sleepy.

The New Impressive Sony Ericsson 905 Camera Phone

My digital camera is driving me crazy. It does not have the ability to capture pictures instantaneously upon its button being pressed. Instead, it takes almost 3-4 seconds to react, which is really frustrating for me because most of the time, I am unable to capture the exact expression of my kids that I wanted. Instead of snapping a picture of Baby C giving me her cutest smile, I have the back of her head taken, all because of the delay in my camera functioning. It’s high time I get myself a new digital camera. My friend was telling me to get the latest Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber-shot camera phone since I intend to change my mobile phone too.

The new Sony C905 camera phone is taking the mobile phones market by storm with its recent launch. According to Sony Ericsson, the new and awesome Sony C905 is the first Cyber-shot slider phone which features an impressive 8.1 megapixel camera. Though the phone only weighs 136gms, it is powerful and has many awesome features. It has a large 2.5 inch TFT screen and is perfect for the user to watch videos, pictures, play games and surf the net. This awesome gadget is GSM enabled so it is possible for users to remain connected with internet anywhere in the world. This mobile phone is 2G and 3G facilitated so it is possible to access every new functions on this mobile phone. These are just amongst some of the many features of the Sony C905 camera phone. I wonder if this mobile phone is available in our country yet.

Doing Physical Stimulation Exercises With Baby C

Baby C loves all these physical stimulation exercises and would give me her cute giggles when she's being swung upside down or rolled like a log. However, she hates being thrown in the air and would cry! Guess she's like me, who have a slight phobia of heights, chicken me!

Rolling on the bolster...

teaching her the concept of heights....







swinging her like a pendulum, upside down....

roll her like a log...


and she seems to be afraid of heights...



and whined a little when I put her hands on the floor, with her legs and body still up the mattress...

but she enjoyed all the physical stimulation exercises, except being thrown in the air.