Big Expectation

Ok, I'm not keeping everyone in suspense anymore. I'm expecting alright, 12 weeks. I didn't want to inform everyone earlier as my gynae had warned me that being a PCOS sufferer, I am at high risk for miscarriage. I had suffered a miscarriage at 8 weeks before I had Alycia. With the 2 gals, I was on partial bedrest for most of my pregnancy. I won't know how this one will turn out but it does help a great deal that I am not working. Looking back, I just don't know how I had managed to pull through the 9 months for both pregnancies when I had to drive more than an hour thru and fro office each day, braving through horrendous traffic jams, with my all-day sickness. Plus, I had a highly stressful job as a PA. My pregnancy this time is still not completely smooth sailing as I have had some spotting initially.

As with my 2 earlier pregnancies, I am on medical support to help me sustain this pregnancy - jabs and hormone pills (oral and insertion). Consequently, both Alycia and Sherilyn were very expensive babies as we had spent a lot of money on the drugs to support the pregnancy. Looks like this will also be another expensive baby but not as expensive as Alycia and Sherilyn. I tend to be more relaxed and not so 'kan cheong' with this pregnancy and I had even at each of my visit to my gynae's office 'negotiated' with my gynae not to give me too much drugs. I had even rejected certain expensive drugs and asked for cheaper substitute. The hormone drugs make me really sick and nauseous, not to mention my face is filled with zits. Want to know how much I spend for each visit? Between RM400-500. If not for my negotiations with my gynae to reject these expensive drugs and begged not to have jabs twice weekly, my bill for each visit can even reach RM700+.

to be continued.....

Sherilyn's Better Today

Sherilyn's body temperature has gone down today. Her temp was at 37 degrees celsius this morning. She's also acting like her usual self - mischievous, active and her she has regained her appetite. I had a sleepless night last night - kept touching her body, sponged her, fed her with water and ensuring that she's ok. Sherilyn kept talking in her sleep last night, saying "I dont want mummy" - she must have been terrified with the suppository coz she was very tensed when I inserted it into her backside.

Alycia also went back to school today though she's still got cough and phlegm. I hope she'll be fine. I bought some pearl powder from the chinese medicine hall last night and I've just fed 1 sachet to Sherilyn. She hated it but I hope it will help remove the phlegm. Thanks to those who have prayed for my gals.

Yuuuuuum Sssssseng

This picture was taken yesterday evening. Sherilyn had high fever and I had to put on a Cool Fever patch on her forehead. She hates this cold patch and cried when I stuck it to her forehead but after some coaxing from daddy and me, she accepted the patch and refused to take it off. She also refused to drink water so daddy had to coax her again. Tried all sorts of methods and in the end, the 'cheers' and 'yuuuuum ssssseng' did the trick - she happily finished her mug of water.

Blog Marathon

I've published 12 posts today, of which 5 are sponsored posts and 7 non-paid posts. This post will be my 13th post today and I tell you, I really feel like puking now. If not for the deadline of these assignments, I would have delayed them. I need to sink my teeth on my favorite fish keropok now to get rid of the nauseas feeling. Yeah, what disgusting taste I have now eh? How can some fishy stinky keropok make me feel better? Yeah, blame it on the hormones. What hormones again? I'll let you know later.

Rocking Food Cover

Sherilyn my little rascal can find ways and means of entertaining herself. One of the things that she loves to do is to sit on the inner part of our stainless steel food cover and begins to rock herself inside - backward, forward, left and right, like a wooden chinese rocking doll. Each time she rocks on it, I try to reprimand her but she looked so hilarious and cute that I just can't get angry with her. This is how she looks :






Notice that the food cover is now lopsided?

Sherilyn's Down Too

Remember I posted earlier today that Sherilyn puked in the morning after bawling? After lunch today, she complained of tummy ache and cried. I put her on the potty but nothing could come out. Minutes later, she puked - everything came out. After puking, she was still clutching her tummy and cried. I put on some 'yuyi' oil on her tummy and took her temperature. One ear showed 38 degrees celsius and the other ear showed 38.3 degrees celsius. Her symptoms are exactly the same as Alycia - lots of phlegm which induced the vomitting, tummy ache, loss of appetite and general malaise. I think it must be the ice-creams that they have eaten over the weekend - 1 scoop on Thursday and 1 scoop on Sunday. Their little bodies just can't handle too much of cold stuff and sweet stuff since I hardly feed them these stuff at home? I don't know. It could be Rotavirus. Anyway, half an hour later, her temperature shot up to 38.7 degree celsius. I quickly gave her a Paracetamol Suppository and sponged her body. I hope she gets better later. Looks like it's going to be another sleepless night for me tonight - checking temperature, feeding water, sponging body, changing diaper, etc the whole night. Well, no complaints, that's part of motherhood!

Surprise

I've got a surprise for everyone. I've kept it for 6 weeks already. I'd actually like to keep the surprise for a little longer but I just feel like announcing the surprise today. If you're observant enough, you'd have noticed that there have been a lot of changes... changes in me that is, my eating patterns, my exercise, my diet, my mood, etc. Wait, I'll release the cat out of the bag later today ok. Let me have my lunch first. My maid is frying pumpkin noodles now. I'll blog about my surprise later. Stay tune k!

Tag : Nothing But The Truth

Got tagged by this wonderful and dedicated dad, whose blog I love to read and that's where I gain a lot of tips and information on parenting.

The idea is to tell you things that I don’t like or things that irritate me. Ok, here it goes :

1) I hate people telling me lies.

2) I hate people who 'blow their own horn or trumpet' - loud and annoying, sometimes to the extent of belittling other people.

3) I detest men who live off women's hard earned money.

4) I dislike cheating spouses.

5) I don't like pushy sales people.

What else? I think I have a lot more dislikes but at this moment, these are all I can think of.

Now, would you like to share what you don't like too ?

1) Chin Nee
2) Everyday Healy

Miss Pukey Puked Again

Miss Pukey Puke Sherilyn puked again this mornng. She got scolded by daddy this morning as she was playing with her water tumbler on our bed and spilt water on our bed. I was busy downstairs on my computer trying to book an Air Asia ticket for my maid to go back to Indonesia. When daddy brought her downstairs, she was still sobbing and refused to let go of daddy. She wanted reassurance, lots of reassurance from daddy that he still loves her. When daddy left the house for the office, she bawled and screamed and cried till she puked - the curdled milk that she had drank minutes ago all splat on the floor and the smell of it that wafted through the house was strong enough to make me nauseous instantly.

Caffeine-Free Herbal Tea

This is the box of caffeine-free herbal tea that I bought from Village Grocer last week. There are 5 packs of flavours inside - lemon zinger, peppermint, sleeptime, chamomile and wild berry zinger. I have not tried all the flavours yet but I find the chamomile very soothing. If you're looking for caffeine-free tea, do check out Village Grocer. They sell a wide range of them. I did a google search on Celestial Seasonings and found out that their ingredients used are in accordance with the guidelines set by the FDA. Want to know why I'm so into caffeine-free products now? Come back for the updates.......

First Teeth Toothpaste Is Still Their Favorite

Of all the brands of toothpaste, Alycia and Sherilyn still prefer their banana flavored toothpaste from First Teeth. I have 2 brands of toothpaste for them to choose, one is First Teeth, the other is Pureen strawberry flavored but each time, the girls, especially Alycia will request for First Teeth. I'm trying to train her to use cheaper brands of toothpaste but sometimes she will act up and puke the moment the cheaper brand of toothpaste touches her lips. She's only a toddler yet she already knows how to choose branded stuff. First Teeth costs almost 8 times more than regular brands of toothpaste!

Chinese Remedy For Phlegm

Alycia has a little phlegm, thus the reason why she puked this morning, I reckon. She also has a little tummy upset and indigestion coz daddy has been feeding her with too much ice creams and cakes over the weekend. All these contributed to her phlegm. Daddy never listens to me, he shows his love towards his 2 precious princesses with food and each time, this is the consequence.... sigh.... and he has to spend lots of money on their medical consultation later. Sigh...... what to do, that's daddy's way of showing his love!

Each time Alycia has phlegm, she tends to puke and choke easily. My cousin recommended 'hao zhou san', a type of chinese medicine made of monkey's internal organs which she swears by its effectiveness when mixed with pearl powder. I've also heard of its effectiveness in a parenting forum but I somehow tend to have qualms about chinese medicine, especially about monkey's internal organs, eeuuuu!

I know many parents here have been feeding 'hao zhou san' to their children and swear by its effectiveness but I've also heard of an isolated case which came out in the chinese papers recently that a toddler slipped into a coma as a result of eating 'hao zhou san'.

Right now, I'm contemplating feeding Alycia with 'hao zhou san' and pearl powder but the paranoia in me feels doubtful. Would be glad to hear your stories and experience with 'hao zhou san'.

I Need To Breathe Some Fresh Air

It's been a hectic day for me today. Brought Alycia to the clinic this morning, typed 9 posts today and chatted online with Elaine for almost an hour as she was guiding me in my new blog. Settin up a new blog ain't easy, luckily Elaine has been super patient with me. Despite her spotting yesterday and today (35 weeks preggy), she still tried her best to help me. I just don't know how to thank her. Now, I feel a bit dizzy and I need to bring the gals out for a walk to breathe in some fresh air, oopps.... polluted air in the park.

Alycia Has Super Sensitive Nose

No wonder she's always having runny nose. We brought Alycia to the paed again this morning as she has been sneezing and feeling a little under the weather. Also puked this morning. So she didn't go to school for 2 days since Monday. Her paed said she's got super duper sensitive nose. She does not have a cold or flu but the sneezing and mucous are caused by her sensitive nose and allergy. Remember the fluid built-up in her ear 2 weeks ago? It's also caused by her sensitive nose. No wonder she always seems fine one day and the next day, she'll be sneezing her nose away. Her visit to the paed's office is almost certain every month caused by her sensitive nose and her paed has been prescribing her with this medicine for her sensitive nose which she has to eat at night for 2 weeks. Today, the paed prescribed her with a nasal spray which I have to spray into her nostrils each night for 1 month. Hopefully the nasal spray will keep her allergy at bay. I really don't like the idea of spraying some steroid-containing chemical into her nose but looks like we have no other choice coz her visits to the paeds' office are just too frequent.

Meanwhile, I'd appreciate it if someone would just let me know what food is good for preventing nose allergies. As for other preventive measures, our paed says no air-cond or migrate to a country with cleaner, fresher air!

Tag : View From My Desktop

Got tagged by this lovely mummy. I must really thank Shirley for passing this tag to me coz I've learnt something new, i.e. making a screenshot and posting it in my blog. I've always wanted to learn how to do it but didn't have the time to and didn't know who to ask. Thanks Shirley for teaching me something new.

**************** START COPY ****************
My Desktop Free View Instruction:
A. Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop.It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun. You can do a screen capture by:

[1] Going to your desktop and pressing the Print Scrn key (located on the right side of the F12 key).

[2] Open a graphics program (like Picture Manager, Paint, or Photoshop) and do a Paste (CTRL + V).

[3] If you wish, you can “edit” the image, before saving it.

B. Post the picture in your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop just below it if you want. You can explain why you preferred such look or why is it full of icons. Things like that.

C. Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a Free View of their desktop as well.

D. Add your name to this list of Free Viewers with a link pointing directly to your Desktop Free
View post to promote it to succeeding participants

People who have already pimped their desktop:

iRonnie - I Set No Corner Thess - Thesserie Rebecca - Skippy Heart Knoizki - A Dialogue With K, Beng - Kauderwelch, Vanidosa Marie, , Vanidosa at blogspot , MyGoodFinds with KK, Dom Lawrence, Rebecca, BluePanjeet, ROSE , KNOIZKI, SARDONICNELL, Girlie the hipncoolmomma, Happy Family with Jacelyn, LovelyMummy with her family,
Healthfreakmommy - picture of her 2 girls


I'd love to see the following bloggers' desktop view too :

1) Anggie's Journal
2) Sasha
3) Mummy to Chumsy.... now you can learn how to do a screenshot. I can give u tutorial now :D
4) Mamajo

Pre-School Fun and Junk Food

One of the things that motivates Alycia to go to school is that she gets to bring her lunchbox filled with her favorite snacks to school every morning. When her classmates celebrate their birthdays, she gets to eat cakes, junk food and bring home birthday packs. Last week, Alycia got this birthday pack when her classmate celebrated her birthday. The birthday pack was filled with MSG, sugar and coloring laden addictives junk food. Sometimes I wonder how some parents think - encouraging their young kids to eat such unhealthy junk food. When she reached home, she was so happy and showed me the birthday pack. I told her she couldn't eat most of the snacks in there as they are not very healthy but she wouldn't listen. She was willing to part with a packet of spicy keropok and some biscuits but she wouldn't want to part with the sweets and jellies. When she was asleep, I quickly hid them.




The other thing that Alycia loves about attending pre-school is that she gets to make crafts. This is what the teacher helped her make last week, a bunny paper lantern.

Fruitful Day

This morning has been a rather fruitful morning. I woke up at 6am hoping to grab some peluang but no luck. However at 7am, I received an SMS from one of my 'CNN network' members alerting me on peluang from 2 advertisers and I managed to grab a few. Thanks Hui Sia!

Tag : 5 Posts Links to Keywords

I was taken by surprise when I received this tag from Judy. I've never visited her blog before and I can't recall her visiting my blog too. Thanks Judy for visiting my blog and for this tag. I do hope you'll make your presence more at my blog!

So this is what I'm supposed to do :


***INSTRUCTIONS: ***
1. Post 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5 key words given below.

2. Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances (if not, your current blog buddies will do) so that you get to know them each a little bit better.

3. Don’t forget to read the archived post and leave comments.

************************

Link ONE must be about family
Lovely Sunday

Link TWO must be about friends
Nice People

Link THREE must be about yourself:
Sweet Memories Part 2

Link FOUR must be about your love
Sweet Memories

Link FIVE can be anything you like
Before Alycia and Sherilyn Came Along


Here I need to tag 5 people
1) Scibbles For My Angels... hope you are feeling well enough to do this tag :)
2) Karen Yiau
3) Mamapumpkin
4) Janice
5) Mariuca


and 2 new acquaintances
1) Misha
2) Hijack Queen

P.S. : I took more than an hour to complete this tag - interruptions by the 2 rascals in between, looking for new acquaintances, then jumped from one blog to another to another to another....... and left comments in their blogs......coz all the blogs seem so interesting.... until I really forgot what my mission was.... LOL!

Village Grocer

After our satisfying meal at Marco's Pizzas and New Zealand Ice-cream, we went shopping for groceries at Village Grocer yesterday. I love shopping at this supermarket as they carry an extensive choice of products and brands that we can't get from most supermarkets. I love their organic stuff and their fresh fruits and meat. There are goosenberries, raspberries, blueberries and all sorts of exotic fruits on sale. I also love their range of meat - beef, mutton, chicken, fish, etc. Got some Happy Cow cheese wedges for the gals, a pack of organic low-fat cereal for myself, a pack of caffeine-free tea with 5 fantastic flavours for myself, a pack of minced beef patties (which I will fry them tonight), a bottle of organic pomegranate juice with goji berries, acar berries, blueberries, cherries and a few types of organic berries all in one bottle, more cheese crackers for myself and the girls (very unhealthy i know but I love them - they sell a wide range of imported biscuits too), 10 small 'kam quat' or tiny mandarin oranges (which cost RM8!) and some fruits and vege.

Before I left, I got a chicken pie and tomato strudel from Hiestand Swiss Gourmet for dinner. Did they taste good? Not that fantastic to me. I prefer the pies from Dome Cafe.

Too Much of New Zealand Ice-Cream

After our lunch at Marco's Pizzas at Bangsar Village yesterday, hubby proceeded to New Zealand Ice-Cream. He loves to pamper the girls with ice-creams coz he himself is crazy over ice-cream. As for me, I don't fancy sweet stuff. I used to love ice-cream but lately, the sight of sweet stuff, esp cakes and ice-cream makes me feel jelat. Anyway, I still ordered a cup of passion fruit sorbet ice-cream and shared it with Sherilyn. Alycia had a scoop of macademia nut on a cone and hubby had rum & raisin in a cup. It was only when hubby paid for the ice-cream and got a 30% rebate on our ice-creams that we found out that yesterday being the 30th of the month, all ice-creams, whether eat-in or take-away were entitled to a 30% discount. So hubby bought a pint of macademia and cream ice-cream to take-away and for all the ice-creams that we had eaten and taken away, hubby paid less than RM30. That cost less than the 5 scoops of ice-cream that we had eaten last Thursday when we were at Bangsar Village. So if you're a fan of ice-cream too, do check out New Zealand ice-cream - their ice-creams are all imported from New Zealand, made of natural ingredients and taste delicious. Try to buy them on the 30th of each month, you'll save a lot.

Of yes, Alycia ate so much ice-creams (for 2 days) that she now has a slight runny nose :(