Oh No, Not Again Alycia!

It happened again this morning. Alycia was fine in the morning when she woke up - she finished her milk without any fuss, did her poopie business in the loo and then..... just when Alycia saw the toothbrush in my maid's hand, she started to fake puking again. In the process of faking it, she actually induced the vomitting sensation and puked her stinky curdled milk onto the kitchen sink, eeuuu! I can't believe Alycia! How can she hate something so much till she has actually developed a phobia just by the sight of it? Daddy was not happy with Alycia, so was I. But what are we to do? Force her to brush her teeth every morning, at the expense of her health? Puking every morning is really unhealthy. Maybe I should just keep the toothbrush away from her in the morning for the time being.

Hot Tub Spa In My Backyard

It would be really nice if we could place a hot tub spa at our backyard as we have ample space at our backyard to place a portable medium-sized one. I’ve seen a number of these hot tubs on sale at HotTubsHeadquarters.com and the one shown in the picture below costing only $945 can fit nicely at our backyard. My 2 girls love squeezing themselves into their tiny baby bath tub together during their bath time and pretend they are swimming in the pool. If I get this hot tub, not only will my 2 girls get to swim comfortably in the warm water, I’m sure they will be delighted to see bubbles shooting out from the massage floor. As for me, I can’t wait to have a nice massage therapy on the tub everyday, after a hard day’s work. Yes, this tub even comes with powerful dual massaging turbo jets! Oh, what an awesome luxury to have – affordable and practical. Another item on my wish list now!

New Blog Site Stats

Looking at the site stats of my new blog available from the host, I am surprised to see that I have an average of 1,681 hits a day, sometimes the figure reaches 3,700. But what confuses me is the stats also show number of visitors which have a different figure. These are the stats shown for yesterday :

Date : 10 Oct 2007
No. of visitors : 164 (the figure here is low as I still have 200+ visitors to my old blog)
No. of pages :367
Hits : 1879

Does anyone know how to interpret it, i.e. what's the difference between no. of visitors and no. of hits? What are pages too - is it the number of pages that the visitors had viewed from my blog?

Also, I am surprised to see from the stats that most of my visitors are from Australia (8,444 hits), USA (8,678 hits), Netherlands, Japan, HK and other countries abroad. It surprises me more that hits from Malaysia only stand at 500+. These blogging stats are really mind boggling!

I Need A Baby Sling This Time

I am going to get myself a baby sling when my 3rd baby arrives next year. With Alycia and Sherilyn, I didn’t see the need to have a baby sling as I was working full-time then and I had many people at home helping me with them – 2 domestic helpers, my mil and my sil. Now that I am a full-time SAHM and left with only 1 domestic helper, I will definitely need a baby sling. It would be so convenient to carry my baby with me on the baby sling while I get to do some household chores or chase after my 2 hyper active toddlers as my 2 hands will be free. I’ve seen some very nice baby slings at Slinglings.com, an online store specializing in baby slings of all types, sizes, motifs and colors at affordable prices.

So if anyone wants to send me a baby gift, do check out Slinglings.com for the baby slings. It would be a perfect gift for me, hint hint!



These are some of the baby slings that I like.

Thank You

I'd like to say thank you to everyone who had given me their well wishes, comforting words and prayers. Today, I found out from two of my friends that fetus with dilated kidney is quite a common problem. One blogging mom told me that her gynae also detected from the ultrasound scan that her son had a dilated kidney, even up to the time when she was about to deliver him. After he was born, miraculousy he was fine with no kidney problem. However, in some cases, the child would have kidney reflux and would require antibiotics for the rest of his/her life and in the worst case scenario, surgery is required. Another friend of mine called me today and told me that one of her friend's baby also had dilated kidney in utero but after the bb was born, she was fine too. Hearing these stories gave me some relief but then again, I still can't seem to get the worry off my mind.

Cute Quotes

Sherilyn's speech is improving everyday. She is now very expressive and loves parroting what we say. She even knows how to scold Alycia when Alycia whines and cries for no reason. Sometimes when Alycia is being naughty and gets scoldings from me, Sherilyn will say this to Alycia "you stubborn girl, stop crying. No reason to cry!" as she wags her forefinger at her sister.

This morning, Sherilyn was feeling a little lethargic and was just lying on the couch the whole morning and refused to budge from the couch. This was the conversation between my maid and Sherilyn this morning :

Kakak : Kay Yi, don't be lazy. Go upstairs and bathe.
Sherilyn : Are you crazy!

I think she doesn't really understand what the word crazy means but she sure knows how to answer back in rhyme! Must be all the Mother Goose rhymes that she's been watching that's wiring her brain to speak in rhyme!

New Wedding Bands For Us

Since our courting days, I always tell my hubby that if he wants to buy me a gift that I’ll really like, buy me not flowers or chocolates. Present me with jewelry and I’ll be the happiest woman around. My hubby still ‘owes’ me a wedding band. It all started when he lost his own wedding band. My hubby has a habit of putting his wedding band everywhere because he doesn’t wear the ring all the time as the nature of his job requires him to handle food and dirty his fingers. So one day, he removed the ring and kept it in his pocket and after that, never found it again. I was very upset that he could loose such an important item and I made him promise to buy another pair of wedding band – one for him and one for me. He has yet to fulfill his promise and I’m still waiting for him to bring us to the jewelry shop to get our new wedding bands.

Wide Screen Projection Television

My 2 girls always fight for the seat that’s in front of the computer each time I read to them from the computer. My 16-inch computer screen is not big enough for the both of them to see the words and pictures at a comfortable angle at the same time. Since we are about to get a new television, I’m really tempted to buy a 60-inch projection television that can be connected to our computer. With such a wide screen, both my girls will have a very good view when I read to them from the computer. The words and pictures will also be magnified, how great that would be and no more cock fights during reading time! I have seen many projection televisions on sale now and I’m just wondering which brand I should be getting – Sony or Samsung?

We've Chosen Yet Another Indon Maid

I've just returned from the new maid agency's office (run by Alycia's classmate's parents). Looking at the bio datas of the available maids, we finally selected an Indon maid who looks pleasant and matured. She indicated her age as 26 years old in the bio data but I doubt that's her real age as she looks like she's in her late 30s or early 40s. Anyway, looks are very deceiving and can reveal very little about a person, based on my experience with my previous maids. This maid has had 2 years of experience as a domestic maid in Singapore. At least, I don't have to teach her from scratch the basic household chores. She also indicated in her resume that she has high school qualification which I'm quite happy as I prefer to have a maid who's more educated.

Well, I'm just praying that she'll fit in and meet my simple requirements. We have to wait for at least 3 months for the maid to arrive, which means that she'll only arrive earliest mid January 2008. Luckily my current maid has agreed, albeit quite reluctant to extend her service for another 1 month. My hubby has promised to give her a bonus for agreeing to stay on. And guess how much we have to pay all in for this new maid? Close to RM7k and that includes the agency fee of RM3,600 (agency fee would be RM4,300 for a Cambodian maid), 6 months advance salary for the maid at RM500 per month and some miscellaneous charges. As a goodwill gesture (since we are from the same neighborhood and his son is Alycia's classmate), we didn't have to pay the RM280 insurance for the maid.

One worry off my mind now.

What's It With The Toothbrush

I found out recently that one of the reasons why Alycia has been puking in the morning after her milk is because she hates to brush her teeth with toothpaste. I've been keeping the toothbrush away from her in the morning and all she needs to do now is just to her to rinse and gargle her mouth. But daddy doesn't like the idea of Alycia not brushing her teeth and going to school with a stinky mouth. He insists that Alycia brushes her teeth, at least without the toothpaste if that's a bit too much for her to bear in the morning. So yesterday, at the mention of "Alycia, brush your teeth", she started to fake vomitting. When Alycia saw the toothbrush in my hand, she immediately puked in the kitchen sink! You tell me, did she fake the whole episode or she genuinely can't stand having a plastic in her mouth early in the morning?

What's Next Brother?

I couldn't recognize my brother's car when it was parked in front of my house when he came to collect mooncakes from me a couple of weeks back. I noticed something different about his Nissan Sentra car . When I took a closer look at his car, I noticed that he had added yet another accessory to his car, this time a chrome wire billet grille to the front of his car and it really made a great difference to the look of his car. My brother sure knows how to doll up his car. I wonder what car accessories he’s targeting to fix to his car next.

Nuchal Translucency Scan

Today, my gynae did a Nuchal Translucency scan on my baby. Everything looked fine but the baby's kidney looked slightly dilated. There could be a blockage somewhere that prevents the urine from flowing. My heart was just crushed when my gynae told me that. I could see the baby sucking its thumb and it was very active and moving around. I would have to go back for another NT scan next week to check the bb's kidney again. My dr said that in some babies, the problem is transient and during subsequent scans, the kidney would look normal in size again BUT if the problem is still there, then I'd need to do an Amnio test to check the chromosomes. My mind is blank now - I can only pray to God that he will have mercy on this baby.

Cambodian Maid Anyone?

Anyone has experience with Cambodian maids? This maid agency which I went to this morning supplies Cambodian maids too. According to the agent who's Alycia's classmate's parents, Cambodian maids are less likely to have tricks up their sleeves as compared to Indon maids and chances of them running away are also lower. The only downside is communication barrier as they only know very basic English. Their salaries are the same with Indon maids at RM500 per month but the agency fee is slightly higher. I may consider Cambodian maids this time. Later in the evening I may go to the agent's house to interview the maids myself.

Ultimate Travel Russia Website

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If you plan to travel to Russia, you may want to seek the service of Travel All Russia, a US-based travel agency that provides full travel services to western customers, including fully packaged and custom tours and full Russian visa support service. The people in Travel All Russia have all visited virtually every town in Russia and are thus equipped with strong knowledge and information on Russia. If you are looking for good deals on tours to Moscow, St. Petersburg and other interesting destinations throughout Russia, Travel All Russia is the answer to your travel needs. Because Travel All Russia has an extensive network of partners with local Russian tour operators, they can give you the best deals with first-class service that would leave you coming back for more.


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Tuesday Morning

I woke up at 5:30am today. Only managed to complete 2 assignments, still have around 10 more outstanding. It's 7:10am now. I have to make myself a mug of milk with Milo, pop my prenatal vitamins and hormone pills then walk down the road to Alycia's classmate's house to look for his mum. Sean's mum runs a maid agency and I always see a pool of maids in her house. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Sean's mum can help provide me a maid by December, else I would be maid-less for at least 1-2 months! Unimaginable! Well, at least for me, I'm quite a siew cheh and can't stand doing household chores and taking care of 2 high-needs toddlers at the same time. Though I used to multi-task when I was a PA but if you ask me to do household chores, cook and look after 2 hyper toddlers who are ever so demanding, I know I'll collapse!

Low Fat High Fibre Organic Cereal

So much of unhealthy fish crackers and cheese crackers for a preggy mom, I finally bought a more wholesome and healthy alternative - high fibre, low fat organic cereal. They taste really good with Marigold HL banana flavored fresh milk. I eat this whenever I am hungry now, instead of gorging on unhealthy heaty snacks. Try this out and I'm sure you'll love it too. Oh yes, it helps with bowel movement too!

Free XSS Web Security Tool

Do you know that your company’s website is highly vulnerable to cross site scripting? When I was still working, one of our client’s company’s website was hacked and as a result, they lost some highly confidential data and problems arose one after another resulting from the hack. The company then spent months and huge amounts of money to fix the problems. It is therefore very important that a company’s web application be secured by installing a web vulnerability scanner that allows the company to check for cross site scripting vulnerabilities. If your company does not have one yet, you can now Download Your Free Acunetix XSS Scanner from Acunetix.com. Check them out today and protect your company’s web applications from being hacked.





Press Release :

What is Cross Site Scripting?
Cross Site Scripting allows an attacker to embed malicious JavaScript, VBScript, ActiveX, HTML, or Flash into a vulnerable dynamic page to fool the user, executing the script on his machine in order to gather data. The use of XSS might compromise private information, manipulate or steal cookies, create requests that can be mistaken for those of a valid user, or execute malicious code on the end-user systems. The data is usually formatted as a hyperlink containing malicious content and which is distributed over any possible means on the internet. Cross site scripting vulnerabilities are extremely dangerous and the number of the attacks is on the rise. More information about Cross Site Scripting can be found at http://www.acunetix.com/websitesecurity/cross-site-scripting.htm

Many a large-scale corporation has fallen prey to Cross Site Scripting (XSS), as it is one of the most common yet underestimated of web attacks. In August 2006, hackers stole the personal data of nearly 19,000 DSL equipment customers through a vulnerability in AT&T’s online store. Whereas in June 2006, PayPal users were tricked into giving away social security numbers, credit card details and other highly sensitive personal information through a cross site scripting vulnerability in the PayPal website.

A report from Mitre Corp., a US government funded research organization, issued in September 2006 indicated that Cross-Site scripting ranked first in a list of top security risks. In a study conducted by Acunetix, 42% of the websites scanned with Acunetix WVS were found to be vulnerable to Cross Site Scripting.

“Companies don’t realize the danger their web sites are under and are therefore reluctant to invest in web vulnerability scanners. Consequently, security officers don’t have the tools to protect their websites. The free XSS scanner will give security officers access to a professional cross site scanning tool, that will allow them to assess their web sites for the cross site scripting danger,” said Jonathan Spiteri, Technical Manager of Acunetix.

Scanning for XSS vulnerabilities with Acunetix WVS Free Edition
To check whether your website has cross site scripting vulnerabilities, download the free edition from http://www.acunetix.com/cross-site-scripting/scanner.htm. This version will scan any website / web application for XSS vulnerabilities and it will also reveal all the essential information related to it, such as the vulnerability location and remediation techniques. Scanning for XSS is normally a quick exercise (depending on the size of the web-site). A detailed guide how to scan for cross site scripting vulnerabilities can be found here http://www.acunetix.com/websitesecurity/xss.htm.

The Free Edition also allows you to sample what other threats Acunetix WVS can find by allowing you to scan the Acunetix test sites for vulnerabilities.

About Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner
Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner ensures website security by automatically checking for SQL injection, Cross site scripting and other vulnerabilities. It checks password strength on authentication pages and automatically audits shopping carts, forms, dynamic content and other web applications. As the scan is being completed, the software produces detailed reports that pinpoint where vulnerabilities exist. Acunetix WVS Reporting Application allows security alerts to be presented in a document which abides by the PCI Compliance specification.

About Acunetix
Acunetix was founded to combat the alarming rise in web attacks. Its flagship product, Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner, is the result of several years of development by a team of highly experienced security developers. Acunetix is a privately held company with headquarters based in Europe (Malta) and an office in London, UK. For more information about Acunetix, visit: http://www.acunetix.com; http://www.acunetix.de/.

Sherilyn's Too Spoilt!

We were at Bangsar Village for lunch 2 Thursdays ago. After lunch, daddy brought the gals to New Zealand Ice Cream and bought them each an ice cream on a cone. Alycia chosed vanilla and Sherilyn chosed raspberry. Thereafter we went to shop for groceries at the supermarket and the gals were still licking their ice creams. When we were at the check out counter, Sherilyn dropped her ice cream cone on the floor. Goodness, her reflex action was at the speed of lightning. The moment the cone and ice cream landed on the floor, she burst out waaaaailing out loud as she covered her cheek with her right palm - exactly like a drama queen crying, complete with pathetic actions. She was truly very upset that her favorite ice cream was no longer in her hand. For once, I felt so sorry for her and I just knew that the only way to subdue her is to get her another ice cream. After I had cleaned up the mess on the floor, daddy brought her upstairs to get her another ice cream on the cone - a strawberry flavored ice cream this time. I told daddy that he has really spoilt the girls rotten. If it was a McD ice cream, I wouldn't have felt the pinch but a scoop of that ice cream cost more than RM5 .... and Daddy and the girls had a total of 4 scoops in a day!


Sherilyn all smiles again with a brand new ice cream on a cone.

Help, I'm Hooked On Fish Crackers!

Yeah, blame it on the baby, but I'm really hooked on stinky fish crackers. I can't stand the smell or sight of steamed fish but funny, I love fish crackers, the stronger the taste the better, what an irony! Each time I feel like puking, the nauseous feeling will miraculously vanish after munching on a handful of this junk. I know it's not a healthy snack but I need it to feel good. When I was preggy with Alycia, I had no appetite or cravings for anything except for Marigold HL fresh milk with birds' nest. With Sherilyn, I was hooked on fried seaweed snacks. I have the most unhealthy craving with this baby - salty cheesy snacks, keropok, fried vegetarian meehoon and sausages (the most unhealthy food, but I try to limit it to 1 serving a week). I can only pray that my baby will turn out healthy.

Should I Get A Home Theater Seating Set?

Ever since our sofa set was damaged when a flood swept through our house last year, we have not got them replaced yet. My hubby wanted to get a new sofa set but I told him it’s a hazard to our 2 rascals as they love jumping on it as if they were a trampoline. What I’d like to get instead is a comfortable reclining home theater seating set to be placed in front of our TV so that we don’t have to sit on the floor anymore when we watch TV. I’ve seen a discount home theater seating set selling online at a promotional price recently and even my hubby is keen on it. I still haven’t made up my mind whether to buy it or not. You think I should buy it?