Sherilyn Writes Really Well!

Sherilyn's letter tracing skill has improved by leaps and bounds over the last 2 weeks. She can now trace the letters of the alphabet and numbers really straight and in the correct order of strokes and she can also write random letters of the alphabet on her own. I'm really proud of my baby!

Treat Award

This special award comes from a very capable mom of 3 kids. Thanks once again Joanne for this award.

This award originated from Hootin' Anni and should we decide to pass it on, we are requested to award this to random visitors to make new friends and I would like to have these mummies as my new friends:

1) The Suzette

2) Tutiger

3) Yee Ching's Mum

4) Life.wchpeng


I would also like to pass this treat to these mummies who have always been helping me and I'd like to tell them that I'm blessed to have them as my friends :

1) Mummy to Chumsy
2) Elaine
3) Joshua and Elijah's Mum
4) Shern's Mum
5) Anggie
6) QQ's Mum

She Just Loves Counting Things

Sherilyn has the habit of removing all the stainless steel plates and bowls from our kitchen cabinet. Sometimes she'll play masak-masak (pretend cooking) with them and sometimes she will line the plates and bowls neatly on the floor and start counting them. She can now count from 1 through 12. Sometimes, it annoys me to see her playing with these plates and bowls but when I see her counting so intently, how can I have the heart to scold her?

Pissed Off With Streamyx

I am just so pissed off with my internet connection. I saw several opps shaded white from 3P and when I clicked on the opp, it took almost 1 minute to download the opp and another 1 minute to download after I had clicked on the reserve tab. In the end, I lost all the opps. I just lost one which is USD10 for only 50 words. Aarrgh.... how frustrating!!

I Craved For Curry Noodles

After seeing the delicious bowl of curry tofu pok and fried pig's skin in Barbara's blog yesterday, I had a strong instant craving to have curry noodles too. So I called hubby and told him that I wanted to eat curry noodles. An hour later, he came home and brought us to the hawker centre to buy a packet of curry meehon with tofu pok, chicken and bean curd skin. Though the bowl of curry noodles didn't taste as good as I had wanted it to be, but I was satisfied that my craving was met :D

How The Gals Are Taking The Pregnancy

Right from the beginning, Alycia has not been too pleased with mummy's pregnancy. Being the first child and only grandchild on both sides of our families, she used to get all the love and attention from everyone. When Sherilyn came along, she took it quite well but there were times we could see the jealous streak in her. At the intitial stage of my pregnancy, she was always in 'denial' that mummy has a baby in her tummy. She's starting to accept the baby now and at times when she's happy and in a good mood, she would hug me and kiss my tummy.

Sherilyn on the other hand has been very generous with her love for the baby. Before going to bed each night, she never fails to say "goodnite bebe" and then kisses my tummy. When she woke up this morning, the first thing she did was said "good morning bebe" and waved her hand at my tummy. She also kisses and hugs my tummy all the time. She's such a sweet and loving child. Maybe 'meeting' the baby during each of the ultrasound scans has made her closer to the baby. She gets so fascinated seeing the baby on the screen. Sherilyn is always in the ultrasound scan room with us during each scan whilst Alycia would be at school.

I hope both the gals will turn out to be really caring and loving big sisters to the baby in future.

How We Spent Our Sunday

We were out almost the whole of today and got back at 5pm. At Sunday School today, the gals were taught to make paper sunflowers with real sunflower seeds glued in the middle of the sunflower. In church, the pastor prayed for me and the baby.

After church, we went to Garden @ Mid Valley City. We went into Fong Lye Taiwanese Restaurant and ordered some dishes but since there were no baby chairs and the regular adult chairs were too low, hubby decided to have lunch somewhere else. We then went to Yuzu Japanese Restaurant for lunch. The restaurant was classy, music was great and food was good too.

The paper sunflower that Alycia and Sherilyn made in Sunday School today.

After lunch, Daddy bought Alycia a new hip and funky skirt from Pumpkin Patch. He also bought Alycia a new Disney Minnie Mouse school bag since her old school bag is torn. Do check out my new blog for pictures of the new skirt, bag and the food we ate at Yuzu Japanese Restaurant today.

Wonders of Progesterone

I had always thought that progesterone is used only as a Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) by women suffering from Menopause but much later, I had learned that the benefits of using progesterone is manifold.

When I was pregnant with Alycia and Sherilyn, a blood test showed that I had very low levels of progesterone, which means that I am at high risk of a miscarriage, as the hormone progesterone is important to sustain a pregnancy. I was prescribed progesterone by my gynecologist to be taken orally and through insertion from week 6 through week 14 of both my pregnancies. With my 3rd pregnancy this time, I was also prescribed this life-saving hormones until week 12 of my pregnancy.

I was worried of the side effects of consuming too much progesterone but I was reassured by my doctor that natural progesterone does not cause any harm to the fetus. Thank God both my girls were born healthy and beautiful.

Nasal Spray

I have finally found a good solution to putting the nasal spray into Alycia's nostrils, thanks to this mum for her wonderful handy suggestion. Now, there's not much struggle and no more fussing. Alycia looks forward to putting the spray into her nostrils herself every night and she even finds it fun! Kids... you really need to have a creative mind to tackle them without any fuss.


First she places the nozzle into her nostril, then slowly presses the base of the nozzle.


When the spray is puffed inside, she quickly removes the nozzle and starts to cough and choke, then spits out some saliva into a bin.


Mummy quickly hands her some water to clear her throat. Phew....

Garden @ Mid Valley City

We went to the newly opened Garden @ Mid Valley City for lunch yesterday after meeting my gynae. We had lunch at this chinese restaurant called Din Tai Fung that has branches worldwide. The food was really good, as good as Dragon I. We ordered a beef lamien (which was very very tasty or maybe I was just plain hungry), a 'zhar choy' lamien, siew loong pau, a seafood fried rice for our maid, stir fried Four Seasons Beans, meat filled pau (very tasty), vegetarian sui kau, BBQ pork pau and Thousand Layer Cake for dessert (which both my gals loved). We were all so famished that I had forgotten to snap pix of the glorious food, aiseh man! But nevermind, we would definitely make another trip there again and this time, I'll remember to take pix.

Oh btw, we would most likely go to Garden again for lunch tomorrow after church. Would anyone of you be there too? We can at least say hi and bye!

Blog Marathon Again

Have been on a blog marathon today. As of now, 6:15pm, I'd written 7 paid posts and 8 personal posts for both my blogs. I have to finish off these assignments as I won't have much time to blog tomorrow as I would be out the whole day. Though I didn't sleep well last night, but thankfully I am feeling energized today. Must be the expensive birds' nests and black chicken soup that I've been consuming lately that are giving me the extra boost of energy!

Mickey Mouse Ate The Papaya

Alycia and Sherilyn both have a mind that's imaginative. They like to stare at clouds in the sky and water formed on the bathroom floor and then tell me what they think those clouds or water resemble.

Yesterday, I was about to cut up a Solo papaya when Alycia saw a dent on the papaya which resembled Mickey's head. She was so amazed and shouted "hey mummy, Mickey's head on your papaya!" When I took a closer look, she's right, the dent sure looked like Mickey's head! I then joked with her and said Mickey Mouse ate the papaya. She thought it was very funny and laughed so loudly and that really made my Miss Whinny's morning.

38 Questions Tag

Have been tagged by this real hip, cool and pretty mom. It's certainly a tag with the longest list of questions I've ever done. Here it goes:

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night? Sherilyn

2. What were you doing at 0800? Preparing Alycia for school

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Fed my gals lunch.

4. What happened to you in 2006? It was the only year in 5 years (2003 - 2007) that I wasn't pregnant!

5. What was the last thing you said out loud? Stop your nonsense! (to Alycia who threw herself into a fits of rage as her wimps weren't met)

6. How many beverages did you have today? One - fresh skim milk

7. What color is your hairbrush? Beidge

8. What was the last thing you paid for? Newspapers

9. Where were you last night? At home with my kids and hubby

10. What color is your front door? Brown

11. Where do you keep your change? My Ferragamo purse

12. What’s the weather like today? Cloudy

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? I like green tea

14. What excites you? Shopping and visiting new places

15. Do you want to cut your hair? Yes, very much coz it's getting too long and difficult to manage
16. Are you over the age of 25? Yes

17. Do you talk a lot? No

18. Do you watch the O.C.? No

19. Do you know anyone named Steven? Yes

20. Do you make up your own words? No

21. Are you a jealous person? Yes, sometimes

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’. Angeline, my brother's ex-gf

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’. None

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? My mum

25. What does the last text message you received say? "In the failure of plans and hope, in disappointments and trouble and sorrow, Jesus help me"

26. Do you chew on your straw? Never, disgusting

27. Do you have curly hair? No

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? To the playground with the kids

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? Nobody

30. What was the last thing you ate? Homecooked chicken rice for lunch

31. Will you get married in the future? At the moment, NO and in the future I think it's also a big NO.

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? Have not watched a movie in two weeks or 2 years! That's how tied up I have been with my kids.

33. Is there anyone you like right now? Of course.

34. When was the last time you did the dishes? This morning

35. Are you currently depressed? Yes, a little

36. Did you cry today? No

37. Why did you answer and post this? It's only polite to try and complete each and every tag passed to me coz I would also want other people to complete tags that I pass to them.

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
Everyday Healy
Wen
Slavemom
Lovely Mum
Chin Nee

Amniocentesis

I have been pondering back and forth if I should do the Amnio test which is scheduled for in 2 weeks' time. I've had a sleepless night last night weighing the pros and cons and thinking about all the 'what ifs'. My gynae told me that the risk of a miscarriage resulting from the Amnio is the same as the risk of giving birth to a Down Syndrome baby. It's really a 'between the devil and the deep blue sea' decision for me and I just can't make this decision.

It would be good if I get to hear real life stories and experiences from mothers who had gone through an Amnio and I'd appreciate anyone sharing their stories with me.

The Question and Answer Tag

Have been tagged by this supermom who has gone all out to help SAHMs like me by giving us new avenues to earn more revenue.

I am not really sure how the tag goes but I assume I have to answer the question that has been posed to me and then in return, I am to create a new question and tag other people.

This was the question posed to supermom, Elina :
Why human turns greedy when they see money?
Easy peasy. Money is essential to our everyday life. It may start as a NEED but the more money you have, the more comfortable your life will be. That's the general perception. Bear in mind I did not say the more $$$ you have, the happier you are. Anyway, who does not want to bask in luxuries? I guess that's how greed comes in, the root of all evil.

Her question to me is :
Why do some people enjoy being a busybody?
And this is my answer to her question : Because these Nosey Parkers are simply curious and I guess they are just too free and have nothing better to do. Tell me, if you're busy with your own internal affairs, would you have time to poke your nose into other people's affairs?

My question will be :
Why do some people love to see other people's failure and then gloat about their own success?
Answer :


and I'm gonna pass the tag baton on to:

1. Chin Nee
2. Leena
3. Mamapumpkin

New Header

Notice my new header? I thought of changing the header so that this blog and my new blog would have a different header. I must thank my pretty designer for this beautiful header. She's been a great help to me and has always been a very good online friend to me.

Me Appearing on TV?

Last night, I was invited by a blogging mom to appear on TV3. TV3 would like to interview mothers who blog for money and she was invited by someone from TV3 who is a reader of her blog. I was like "what, me appearing on tv? No way, my pregnancy hormones have made me look awful now. I don't look appealing and I have zits on my face. Aiyoh.... no way" Anyway, Alycia will still be in school at that time, unless she skips school for one day, which I don't really fancy the idea. So, I've let another opportunity for me to be the star of the moment slip by me again!

Thanks anyway for thinking of me, you know who you are :)

Dilated Kidney

I consulted Dr Patrick of Fetal Medicine and Gynaecology Centre today upon recommendation by my gynae to consult a fetal specialist. After a thorough ultrasound scan and some calculations, I was told that my chances of having a 'Down' baby is low, i.e. risk is about 1 in 300. Apart from the dilated kidney, everything else looked normal. The baby has a nasal bone and the back of the neck wasn't thick. Heart and brain looked normal. It was such a relief to hear that.

Dr Patrick said that in most cases, the dilated kidney would resolve by itself either in utero or after delivery. Close monitoring of the baby's kidney is important throughout the pregnancy. The worst case scenario would be the baby having kidney reflux and only in rare cases would the kidney be damaged. So he had left the option of doing an Amnio test to hubby and I. We have decided to go for the test to get some peace of mind which is scheduled for in around 2 weeks' time, i.e. at 16 weeks of gestation. A normal waiting period for the results to be out is 2 weeks and costs RM1,800, of which the amniotic fluid would be sent to Singapore. An express one would be done locally in KL and costs RM2,300, of which we have opted for.

Alycia and Sherilyn were very expensive babies and looks like this baby too would be very expensive. Well, as long as the baby's fine and healthy, money is secondary and I shall continue to pray that this baby will be absolutely healthy and perfect.

And oh yes, my first gynae has told me the gender of the baby and I've seen it too on Tuesday. Today Dr Patrick told me that it is still not clearly visible yet. Well, to me girl or boy is not a concern anymore. It never was a concern to me. It is already a big gift from God if the baby is born healthy without any defects.

Great Christmas Gift Ideas For That Special Man

Christmas will be here in slightly more than 2 months. Whew, time really flies! It seems like it was only yesterday that I was shopping for last year’s Christmas gifts and decorating the Christmas tree. I have no problems with gift ideas for women or kids but I’m always stuck for ideas when it comes to shopping for my dad, hubby and brothers. I got them men’s cologne last year and this year, I think I’ll get them something that’s really practical. I know my brothers would find ties practical and useful, that’s something they can use everyday and they will never find an extra tie too many.

For dad and hubby, I may get them some formal shirts or some cufflinks or maybe some casual shirts. I know Van Heusen has a line of good quality non-iron formal shirts. My dad will surely love those non-iron shirts as I know he just hates ironing his shirts. It would be a great idea if I bought him those non-iron formal shirts as they are now on sale at £25 each if I purchase 3 or more. I think these would be one of the best Christmas gifts for my dad as he needs not have to iron his shirts anymore.

Hey, if you’re lost for great gift ideas for your man, your dad or boss this Christmas, do check out van-heusen.co.uk. They have a good range of men apparel and accessories at affordable prices too.

Food Review : Banquet

On Sunday we were at Bangsar Village again for lunch as Alycia has been pestering daddy to bring her to eat spaghetti. We wanted to go back to Marco's Pizza but then daddy decided to try something new. So we went round upstairs to survey the restaurants. There were quite a number of classy restaurant on the top floors and daddy chosed a restaurant named Banquet.



Banquet serves western food and local food and we noticed that the majority of the patrons ordered local food. These are what we ordered :


Spaghetti Oleo with red snapper fish - satisfactory.


Fragrant fried rice - very tasty.


Lamb shank with chick peas and vege. The lamb was very well cooked and very tender - very tasty.


Local fruit rojak - I find the sauce a little too sweet. Nothing to shout about.


Mushroom soup - satisfactory.


My maid and I had Mee Jawa - nothing to shout about, just a plate of expensive but run-of-the-mill mee jawa with tofu, some sliced eggs and fried Indonesian crackers. I prefer the ones sold at hawker stalls and I will never order this dish again if I ever return to this restaurant.

The place is classy and we were given good service. But would we go back there again? Quite unlikely unless we have no other choices.