Peace Finally

Alycia has been really cranky, whiny, emotional and edgy for the whole day today. She was practically bawling, whining and making impossible whims every hour she's awake during the day. She didn't want me to read to her, draw with her, write with her or put on her favorite DVD. Finally, I turned on the TV and switched to channel 77 on Home and Health, her favorite channel and voila..... her mouth shut instantaneously and she calmed herself down. There was a program on plastic surgery and now a documentary on parenting. The gals are now watching the program intently as I explain to them what's going on. They just love this channel. The idiot box is sometimes my life saviour when all else fails.

New Balloons But All With Holes!

Yesterday evening, I bought a pack of balloons for the gals from the bakery. When I opened the pack of balloons, I noticed that the balloons were sticky and stuck to one another. When I tried to inflate one of the balloons with a balloon pump, I notice there was a hole in the balloon. When I checked the rest of the balloons, I saw holes on all the balloons. When Alycia saw them, she again bawled! It was indeed a full day of bawling for her yesterday and today, over every single trivial matter. Though she knew that all the balloons were faulty, she still insisted that I blow up the balloons for her. When I refused to inflate the balloons for her, she put the sticky, colorful and stinky ballon into her mouth. I had earlier warned her not to put them into her mouth but she defied my warning and stuck it into her mouth. I was really enraged. She just wouldn't listen to me that the balloons have holes on them. The whole of today, she's been pestering me to return to the bakery to get the balloons exchanged with new ones. Thank goodness the weather is fine and we could walk across our house to the bakery to have the balloons changed, else there's bound to be another night of bawling and screaming.

There She Goes Again....

Alycia just woke up from her afternoon nap and there she goes bawling again.... for some silly demands. This time, she's looking for an empty vitamin bottle that she's been playing with but couldn't locate it today. Earlier this morning, she was already bawling and looking for it but we couldn't find it. Then she switched excuses and demanded to watch 'A Baby Story'. I just can't stand her bawling and screaming, it's really really driving me nuts. I've really run out of ideas to distract her or to subdue her. I'm not feeling well myself. When she wants that particular item, she must have that item and nothing else and most times her demands are impossible to meet.

Lantern Party

There will be a lantern pot-luck party for kids and parents at Alycia's pre-school this Friday evening. Kids are to bring battery-operated lanterns and after the party, the kids together with their parents will walk round the neighborhood parading with the lanterns. I know Alycia and Sherilyn will definitely enjoy this party as it will be their first of that kind and I am praying that Alycia gets well in time to attend the party.

Alycia's Super Cranky

Alycia is still super duper cranky and whiny today, after taking her medicine. Her whimps and fancies are all impossible demands. Just before lunchtime, she demanded to watch 'A Baby Story' on Astro channel 77. I told her that the program is not shown now and she has to wait till the evening to watch but she wouldn't listen and the meltdown began. I put on her favorite DVD but she refused to watch it. She can go on repeating "I want to watch Baby Story now" for almost an hour continuously and bawling at the same time. I know that the medicine is making her feel this way but her continuous whining and bawling really got on my nerves. She still has 3 more days on the medicine and I just don't know how I am going to tolerate her crabby crap for the next 3 days. God please help me!

Hook To Cheese Crackers

Lately I'm really hooked to cheese crackers from Cheeze-It. I have been munching on it for days already and both Alycia and Sherilyn are just as crazy over them. Alycia even looks forward to eating her medicine as she gets these cheese crackers as treats. A box of this crackers costs RM12.30, which I find quite expensive for a small pack of snacks.

Why Is Mummy So Busy?

I've been pretty busy with my assignments for the last 3 days and I've not personally bathed the gals or done much activities with them. Yesterday Alycia asked me to draw with her. I told her mummy is very busy with work and asked her to draw on her own. Guess what she said "mummy, yesterday you also said you are busy, today also busy, why busy all the time". She really knows how to make me feel guilty.

Setting Up Own Domain

I was google chatting with one blogger mom a moment ago and she has kindly offered me her help to set up a WordPress blog. Since I've got help offered to me, I am even more tempted to transfer my blog to my own domain now. That would really benefit me in the long run. Many advertisers, especially ' l c l y 3P' are restricting offers to Blogspot blogs so if I remain with Blogspot, my opportunities would be really low. Anyone has any good host to recommend based on your own experience with them? Would appreciate comments.

Alycia's Super Cranky

After taking her medication last night, Alycia was super cranky, whiny, edgy, emotional and clingy. Just before bedtime, there was a major meltdown. She was bawling and howling away and threw herself into a major fits of rage all because of a tiny box of Kellogs cornflakes that we got from the hotel when we stayed there about 2 weeks ago. I didn't really know what she wanted. She kept repeating "I want that crispy cornflakes from the hotel, the one with the picture of a green chicken on the box", over and over and over again as she bawled. When I gave her that particular box of cornflakes which we took from the hotel, she kept saying that the box of cornflakes is not crunchy anymore as we had kept it for so long. She wanted me to call daddy right away to bring her to the hotel to get a few more boxes of that cornflakes. She just went on and on bawling and screaming. I was not feeling well myself and I just couldn't tolerate her nonsense though I know it was partly beyond her control, due to the effects of the medication. Long story cut short, after calling daddy, he rushed home from his office (thank goodness his office is nearby), carried her, did a 'bom cha cha' with her and then opened the packet of cornflakes for her to eat. When Sherilyn saw her sister eating cornflakes, she too joined in the craze and I had 2 toddlers munching on cornflakes on my bed at 11pm! I was enraged! After satisfying her with the cornflakes, daddy had to brush Alycia's teeth again whilst my maid brushed Sherilyn's. With all the ding dong, we only went to bed close to midnight.

Morning Plan Thwarted

This morning, I decided to wake up at 5:30am to complete a few outstanding assignments which are due today. But Sherilyn my little rascal decided she wanted to wake up and follow me down too. I put her to sleep next to daddy (which she would normally gladly fall back to sleep) but she wouldn't sleep. She was just so alert and raring to go down with me. So along she went down with me, drank her milk, had her washed up and changed and she still didn't want to go back to sleep. I told her mummy has work to do and asked her to go back to sleep. Fortunately after about 15 minutes tossing and rolling on the mattress on the floor, she drifted back to sleep. As for me, I could only complete 1 assignment. I hope I can complete the rest by today, else I would have to let the assignments expire.

Deep Fried Chicken Wings and Drumsticks

Remember I mentioned earlier that I will be trying out a recipe on deep fried chicken wings and drumsticks that I have whipped up myself? Well, they turned out really well. The wings and drumsticks tasted really good but I must say that the wings tasted better and more crispy than the drumsticks.

Here's the recipe :

Ingredients for the marinate:
Lea & Perrin sauce
Salt
Pepper
5-spice powder
Kunyit (yellow ginger) powder

Ingredients for coating the chicken before frying :
2 eggs whites
Some corn flour

Method :
1) Marinate the chicken with the above ingredients for at least 2-3 hours, the longer the better.
2) Before deep frying the wings & drumsticks, dip them into the beaten eggs.
3) Then, coat the wings & drumsticks with corn flour.
4) Heat wok with oil and deep fry the wings and drumsticks.

What's That Creature?

When Sherilyn saw this creature gliding up our oven door one morning a few days ago, she went "mummy, what's that?" When I took a look, I saw a baby snail slithering up the oven. The snail had actually come from a bunch of vegetables that we had bought and left leaning against the oven door. This is the first time Sherilyn had seen a baby snail. More than 20 years ago, the sight of a snail slithering outside our garden was so common. My brothers and I used to play with these snails. We also played with sand, marbles, kites, climbed trees, cycled round the neighbourhood, plucked flowers from our neighbours' trees, played inside drains, played hopscotch, played 'kor kuang' a.k.a. passing the border (LOL!), etc. every evening for hours without the supervision of our parents, yet nothing bad happened to us. Now, if I had left my gals to play outside the compound of our house for more than an hour without supervision, I dread to think what would have happened to them. Times have really changed.

Alycia Has Fluid In Her Ear

2 days ago, Alycia told me out of the blue that she can't hear on her left ear. When I looked at her left ear, I saw a slight scratch-like wound. I thought she must have scratched her ear till it bled and I thought she didn't know how to tell the difference between pain and loss of hearing. I just applied a dollop of Savlon on the wound and the next day, the wound was almost gone.

The next day after pre-school, we went to the mini market to shop for groceries. Out of the blue she said "mummy, my ear can hear again". Later that afternoon when she woke up from her nap, Alycia said "mummy, my ear cannot hear now". I suspected something was wrong and immediately brought her to the paed.

Initially the paed couldn't see clearly what was wrong inside her ears as her ears were filled with golden wax! The dr used a cotton bud and dug out a nugget of gold from her right ear! Upon checking the left ear, the dr saw some fluid inside the ear. The temperature on both sides of the ear was also different. The right ear read 36.7 degrees Celsius and the left ear read 37.7 degrees Celsius. As Alycia has a history of having a sensitive nose which is very prone to allergies, the dr said that there was probably some fluid / mucous from her nose which flowed to her ear. I was very surprised as Alycia appeared perfectly normal without any signs of a runny nose or cold. The dr then prescribed Alycia with a flu syrup, an anti-phlegm syrup (to remove the fluid from her ear), a fever medicine (just in case she develops fever) and an antibiotics (Augmentin). The dr said to only start Alycia with the antibiotics if she still has hearing loss and ear pain the next day (today). So far today Alycia is still acting normal, still active, has not complained of hearing loss or ear pain. I'm praying that the fluid will dry up and that her ear will not get infected. I really do not like the idea of feeding my kids with antibiotics as they weaken the body's natural immune system.

To parents out there, if your kids complain of hearing loss or ear pain, don't take them lightly. Bring them to the dr ASAP so that they get checked and treated immediately. Untreated fluid in ears will lead to ear infection and that's quite serious.

Tag : I Love Your Blog

I am indeed very honoured to receive this award from this pretty and young mom. This pretty mom who has an adorable 18-mth old son is one very thoughtful and helpful person. Though we have never met but one time she called me from a Mattel warehouse sale offering her help to buy Barbie dolls for my gals. Yesterday, she again offered to help me get Avent bottles and teats from Singapore through her twin sister. Though strangers but only online friends, I can already feel her warmth and friendship. Thanks Leena for your wondership friendship!

I must say I love most of the blogs that I know of, so it's difficult for me to send this love award to just a selected few bloggers. Thus, I am going to pass this love award 'verbally' to all the bloggers whom I know. "I love your blog!" Keep up the good work and keep blogging!

Nice People

I've made friends with some very nice, thoughtful and helpful people through blogging. Most of them I have never met but they have offered me help in many ways. One such person is this mummy who has never failed to check offers for me and even heped to log into my account to reserve offers for me whenever I am out, asleep or busy! We help each other out but she has gone all out to help me. Thank you Barbara!

Problem Finally Solved!

I must thank Cherry once again for offering me her professional advise. Following her advise, I downloaded the latest Firefox Mozilla software, restarted my PC and voila, I saw the pic appeared in my blog after I had uploaded it. I was truly rejoiced. Thank you Cherry!

Unable To Upload Pix

Is anyone facing problem uploading pictures into your blog (Blogspot) today? I've been trying to upload pix to my blog the whole afternoon but kept getting the "unable to display page" message. This is just so frustrating. I hope it's not a virus attack on my computer or anything wrong with my blog or computer.

Finally Got it...

...but only one miserable opp. I was feeling really discontented that I couldn't get the earlier 2 offers, so I kept refreshing the screen every 1 minute or so. I knew that some of the opps shaded in grey would turn white as had happened before. After about 5 hours from the time I saw the opps appear, one opp shaded grey finally turned white, yipee! I quickly reserved it and got it. This time I'm faster than you, haha.

Avent Baby Bottles

I have been hunting for Avent baby bottles for many weeks at both Mid Valley Megamall and 1Utama but most of the shops are not selling the 9-ounce bottles. So 2 Sundays ago, we went to Babyland in PJ SS2 to look for the bottles. I was shocked to see that the price of the 9-ounce bottle has increased from around RM25 to RM35 each! I wanted to get cheaper wide-neck bottles but from my past experience with them (Pureen), they are really cheesy and tend to leak a lot.... and cause milk mess everywhere on the bed and on the gals' face. I ended up having to discard them and revert to Avent bottles. Anyway, hubby who's very particular when it comes to using plastic and things for his 2 princesses grabbed 3 Avent bottles without any second thoughts. I told him they are too costly and put 1 bottle back, with the hope of getting cheaper Avent bottles next time. The price of Avent teats have also increased to RM22.90 for a pack of 2.


I also got a NUK bottle brush, a sponge bottle brush and a twin pack non-flouride, sugar-free strawberry flavored toothpaste.


When I was at the check-out counter, I saw an area near the exit displaying an assortment of cute Puku Petit stuff. I saw a very nice bib and it was only RM19.90. I of course bought it.




Also bought 2 Pooh Bear melamine spoons for the gals.


When I reached home, I was shocked to see this Pooh Bear and Friends bowl in the plastic bag. No, I didn't put this in the basket. It must be the work of either Alycia or Sherilyn as they have a habit of putting everything that they like into the shopping cart or basket. And this bowl cost RM9.90. What a waste of money as we have so many kids' bowls at home. The gals are now fighting to use this bowl during meal times. I think I have to get another one to prevent further meltdowns during mealtimes.

Free Piano Lessons Online!

Calling out all music and piano students. You’ll be happy to know that there’s a great Piano Chords Blog called freepianolessons.blogspot.com written by a pianist. This fantastic guy who calls himself the Chord Guy gives really handy piano tips and free piano lessons online! I wish I had known this guy earlier when I was still taking my piano lessons years back. Do check out this blog and his other blogs too and you'll be surprised to discover many tips that your piano teacher hadn't taught you.





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