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.

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.

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!

How Vain Are 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.

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 :)

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.

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?

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

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.