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Friday, March 7, 2008

Off To The Clinic Again

Today we brought Alycia and Sherilyn to the paed's clinic again. They are still under the weather and have been coughing a lot, especially Sherilyn. I did not sleep well the whole of last night. Each time Sherilyn coughed, I would get startled, worried that my Miss Pukey will puke as she is very prone to puking when she coughs. She also has lots of phlegm and when she woke up this morning, she puked out some phlegm.

The paed prescribed Alycia with another bottle of Procef antibiotics which she has to take for 2 more days (total of 7 days) as her throat and glands are still a tad swollen. She is still sneezing and coughing. Sherilyn also has to have the antibiotics (Augmentin) extended by another 2 days (total of 7 days) as her throat is still slightly swollen and her cough / phlegm are quite bad.

Feeding of medicine is really time consuming and can take up to an hour for both gals as my maid and I have to feed them the medicine drop by drop followed by a bite of sweet bun / biscuit after every drop of medicine. Even with this, they can still puke. After puking, the whole cycle has to begin again. This is really draining me out....

What A Pose!



That's how absorbed Sherilyn can get when she watches her favorite DVDs on TV. She gets so engrossed that she kind of turns deaf when I call her. And look at that 'cee sai'.... can you believe that a 3-year old can make that kind of pose, like a grown up? She can really absorb and remember what she watches from the DVDs and has certainly learnt many songs and educational stuff from those DVDs.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Alycia's First Ballet Class











So Alycia did make it to her first ballet class yesterday despite running a slight fever. I put the gals to nap for 3 hours in the afternoon and when they got up, they were all feeling recharged and Alycia was raring to attend her first ballet class with her 5-year old little aunty. Read more about Alycia's first ballet class here.

Cold Japanese Noodles


This is another dish that came with the Japanese set dinner which hubby ordered. It's a bowl of cold Japanese green tea noodles or cold Cha Soba. What makes this different from other cold Cha Soba that I'd previously eaten is that the bowl of noodles sits on top of a bowl of shaved ice.... which makes the noodles really cool and refreshing as you slurp them up. Very nice!

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Sushi Sandwich





Read more about this Sushi Sandwich here.

More Gastronomical Japanese Cuisine



This one comes in a special Japanese claypot with a wooden cover under a stove with flame. The hotpot consists of Shitake mushrooms, Enoki mushrooms, an egg, chinese cabbage and some chicken meat. The soup was very tasty.



This hotpot together with the sashimi on 'Igloo' are actually part of a set dinner meal.

The restaurant is located at Jalan Kuchai Lama, opposite Elken building. Sorry, I can't recall the name of the restaurant but I think the name begins with the letter 'X'. The food there was really good.

Gastronomical Japanese Cuisine



I bet most of you have never seen such unique gastronomical bling bling cuisine. It's my first time seeing such awesome presentation of sashimi on a bowl of shaved ice in the shape of an igloo. I bet the sashimi tasted just as nice and I was salivating away as hubby dipped the cool and fresh salmon and butter fish into the wasabi and Japanese soya sauce.

Stay tuned for more....


My Cinderella Curfew Hour

Is it a coincidence or what but by 12 midnight on most nights, Sherilyn will start to cry and if I am not quick enough to placate her and put her back to sleep, she will puke. It has happened many times and it happened again last night at 12 midnight. These days, I don't have much time to blog during the day. First, I have to take care of 2 sick cats at home. Secondly, I have to supervise and train my new temp maid. Thirdly, Alycia's homework from school is also taking up a lot of my time as I have to sit next to her and guide her. The only time I can blog is the 1 or 2 hours during the gals' naptime in the afternoon and after they go to bed at night.

Last night, I came downstairs to blog at around 11pm. By 12 midnight, I still did not hear Sherilyn's cries. Since she wasn't feeling well, I thought I should just go upstairs to check on her. Minutes later when I was up in my room, I heard the bell on Sherilyn's anklet jingling away as she walked to my room. I looked at her face - she wasn't crying, good..... but when I looked at her pjs, OMG, it was soaked with her vomit. I rushed to her room and her bed was soaked with vomit too. I quickly woke my maid up to help me clean up the mess. I quickly showered Sherilyn as her hair and body were covered with vomit. The bedsheet, pillow, blanket and mattress were also soaked with vomit. After cleaning up the mess, I transferred the gals to my room to sleep. Alycia slept on the baby cot and Sherilyn slept with us on the king size bed.

Don't you think this is like a jinx or some kind or Cinderella curfew hour restricted on me? The funny part is it always happens at 12 midnight. If I don't get up to the gals' room to check on Sherilyn by 12 midnight, she will cry till she puked or she will just puke in her sleep without any crying. This brat is really a control freak. None of us like to see her cry for she will definitely puke when she cries.... which means more work for us. So we normally give in to her demands when she cries. Of course there were times when I just don't care and let her cry till she puked. Do you have a child as controlling as my brat?

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

New Avenue To Earn Revenue

I was blog hopping a moment ago and stumbled upon a new advertising network called Snapbomb, a network that connects advertisers with bloggers. The advertisers at Snapbomb give bloggers the opportunity to write about the things that they love and pay them for their efforts and opinions. Snapbomb is about blog marketing and buzz marketing. They believe that buzz marketing is the strongest form of advertising in existence today.

You can register your blog (or blogs) at Snapbomb and begin to select opportunities right away. However, some opportunities will not be available to you if they don't match your blog. Each blog post must contain a minimum of 150 words and advertisers will be rating your posts. Therefore, quality and quantity are essential. Your blog will be valued based on its popularity, quality, expertise in a field, audience size and feedback from your posts. How much you will get paid for your post is based on your blog value. I have just signed up and I can’t wait to see how much my blog is worth. Hurry up and sign up now to see how much your blog is worth too.

Another Day Of Puking For Alycia

Today is another day of puking for Alycia. Our paed said that the puking is caused by the high body temperature. Alycia did not have much food in her tummy yesterday and today as most of the food came out right away after going in. All that she could stomach today was a piece of cream crackers and a tiny croissant.... which luckily remained inside without coming out. She puked twice yesterday and thrice today. She puked so hard that tiny red blood spots appeared on her neck and cheeks like this :






Alycia's lips were also crimson red as if she had applied red lipstick and her cheeks were also flushed. She felt so weak after the puking sessions that she could only half open her eyes and slept most of the time. She also complaint of tummy ache the whole morning and sat on the throne for almost an hour in pain.

Sherilyn who is still having fever is just as active and mischievous as ever. Even when her body temperature was at 38 degrees Celcius, she was still jumping around like a monkey and kept asking me endless questions. Look at her cheeky smile here.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Oh Sh*t!

I was in a hurry to teach my maid to cook and hastily bade for an advertisement at this advertising network. I thought I saw the word cooking rings (as in cooking rings on a stove), so I bade for both my blogs but after bidding, sh*t..... I realize that the word is cock rings and s*x toys. Sei lor.... I am praying that the advertiser won't accept my bid coz there's no way I am going to write about this kind of kinky stuff in my kids' blogs. If my bids are accepted, I will let them expire. So the moral of the lesson is, read carefully before bidding for an opp! Dear Lord, please don't let the advertiser accept this bid of mine and please don't let my account be suspended again by the advertiser!

When Problems And Challenges Come And Greet Us All At Once

Both Alycia and Sherilyn are down with high fever, runny nose and swollen throat. Alycia's fever was so high that she could not stomach any food this morning (except cream crackers) and puked twice. Sherilyn who is also having high fever has been extra talkative and keeps asking me questions till I feel so pissed off.

I did not have a good night's sleep last night as I was worried about the gals and kept worrying about what had happened to my computer. There was a major thunderstorm in KL yesterday evening. When I heard thunder roaring, I quickly disconnected my modem. However, the lightning struck my surge protector and I could not access internet until 11am today. Luckily I could call this Streamyx technician directly who could come on the same day to fix my problem.

Hubby spent RM180 at the paed's clinic today for both girls. Both gals are required to take antibiotics as they have very swollen throat and high fever. It's really a nightmare for me each time both the gals fall sick together. Not only does hubby have to spend a lot of money on the consultation fees, I will also lose sleep and fall sick myself. But this time, I was the one who spread the virus to my gals.

In times like these, I wished my former efficient maid was here to help me. I need not have to do much and everything will be kau tim by her. Now, I have to supervise my new temp maid and watch her closely . It's easier to correct her mistakes now than to let the mistakes become a habit. Just now, I don't know what she had pressed on the washing machine and now the washing machine is acting strangely and is taking over 1.5 hours to complete the cycle. These maids are always like this. They think they know how to operate your electrical items but often make a mess out of them. I have just reminded her again to inform me the next time she puts in laundry into the machine. This time, I will watch how she operates the machine. Very soon, I will have to teach her how to cook porridge and cook some simple dishes. I just hate to do these. I just wish I can lie on my couch, watch TV or just take a short nap now.

There will be another battle and power struggle tonight if the gals are still having high fever and I need to insert suppository for them. I thought I can rest and relax one month before my delivery but looks like I am stressing myself out even more now. The gals' paed reminded me this morning not to stress myself out too much coz this may cause me to go into preterm labor, especially since this is my 3rd child.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Why Are Your Teeth So BIG?

My new temp Indon maid has very obvious 'sau ngar' (2 very protruding front teeth like Bugs Bunny). When she smiles or laughs, the 2 front teeth jut out very prominently. On the day the maid arrived, her first task was to feed the gals breakfast. The gals were staring at their new kakak and kids being kids, Alycia said something which was quite hilarious but would be hurtful to my maid had she found out what Alycia had said about her.

Alycia : Kakak, why are your teeth so big?

Kakak : Huh? (she does not understand English very well)

Alycia : Kakak, why when you smile your 2 big teeth touch your lips, so funny?

Kakak : smiled, not knowing what Alycia was talking about.

I was observing the conversation and could not help but broke out laughing. I had wanted to stop Alycia from saying those things but it was so funny that I just laughed non-stop. So mean of me eh? But I did tell Alycia later that it's not good to make fun of people and told her not to do that again.

We All Love Indian Cuisine

Last week when my mum was here, we decided to have Indian food for lunch. So we bought these :


Roti canai tisu, which Alycia and Sherilyn called it cone shaped party hat! They loved the 'edible party hat' so much that they chomped down almost the whole thing themselves. Some Indian restaurants also make tosei tisu and it tastes just as good, especially when it is hot from the pan and crispy.



Tosei, roti pisang and roti canai.

We also bought some chicken kurma which was not very spicy

and Alycia loved it so much that she drank the kurma gravy by the spoonfuls. Luckily she did not have a tummy ache after lunch. Even Sherilyn loved the roti canai and chicken kurma gravy.



It's all in the genes - daddy, mummy, koong koong, granny and mah mah all love Indian food, so does Alycia.


Saturday, March 1, 2008

Old Maid's Out, New Temp Maid's In

The final straw came today. Despite a counselling session 2 days ago by the maid agent and another counselling session by me yesterday, my Cambodian maid still did not bother to take the effort to change. To read my long story and to find out why I had sent her back impromptu today, click here.

Anyway, my new temp Indon maid appears more efficient, 'seng moke' (alert) and works much faster than the Cambodian maid. Hopefully she will continue to remain good and not just for the first few days to impress me. One downside is that she speaks no English or maybe just a smattering of English which may render it extremely difficult for my 2 gals to communicate with her. My gals were so excited to see the new maid and Sherilyn did not reject her when being fed by her, unlike the Cambodian maid. Alycia who seems to want to take advantage of the maid quickly made friends with the maid and held her hand when they went upstairs. Of course Alycia has an ulterior motive, which is to ask the new kakak to carry her. But I put my foot down and told the maid not to carry her.

I will be really busy training this maid for the next few days and will have very little time to blog. So if I haven't visited your blog yet, my apologies. More stories to come....

Friday, February 29, 2008

Tony Roma's Ribs

We went to Tony Roma's Ribs Restaurant @ Gardens, Mid Valley last week to bring my mum to taste one of the best beef ribs we've ever tasted. I also wanted to redeem this :


an onion loaf. On Alycia's birthday last December, we had lunch at Tony Roma's restaurant at the Pavillion outlet. We were given a voucher to redeem an onion loaf the next time we order a main course. The onion loaf was quite huge and anyone would feel bloated after chowing down the entire loaf. The onion loaf is made of huge onion rings deep fried with batter. Quite tasty but the most I can eat is only several pieces as they fill you up really fast.



The delicious beef ribs.

Hubby ordered a blue cheese burger. For a cheese lover like me, I was surprised that I hated the blue cheese. It really tasted like baby's regurgitated milk.... no joke! One bite of the burger sent nausea down my guts. Hubby asked me to scrape off the cheese which I did but the pungent baby's vomit taste was still lingering on the burger. So if you think you love cheese and want to order a blue cheese burger, think twice. However, some people may love it, just like how some people think 'chow tau fu' (fermented smelly beancurd) taste heavenly.


We ordered a grilled salmon with buttered rice for the gals,


and a ribbon shaped seafood pasta. The portion was so huge that we could not finish and had to pack it back for dinner.



My maid had forgotten to pack the bibs into the bag. Luckily Tony Roma has huge plastic bibs for diners.

Sherilyn enjoying the hot buns with garlic butter. You should try their garlic butter - very tasty.

Final Ultimatum

Bear with me ok, here's another long ranting on my pet peeve....

Yesterday evening, my maid agent dropped by my house to counsel my Cambodian maid. After the counseling session, my maid appeared even more dreamy, forgetful and now she even puts on a 'hak meen sun' face (black face). The whole of this morning, she gave me a blank look as if physically she was here but her mind was somewhere else. When she was feeding Sherilyn breakfast this morning, she fell asleep and I had to wake her up! Minutes later, her eyes were fixated at an object and she was oblivious to the surroundings (fatt ngau tau).

Next, she was keeping the clean laundry from the clothes hanger outside and left the clothes in the living room whilst she hung out the wet laundry. Sherilyn then began to play with the clothes and scattered them on the floor. When I picked the clothes up, I was shocked that most of the clothes were still damp. When I asked her why she had kept the clothes as they were still wet, she gave me a blank look. By then I was really pissed off with her. I had to check the clothes piece by piece to single out the wet ones. When I asked her to touch the clothes herself and asked her to tell me if they were wet or dry, she just shoke her head slowly as if telling me the clothes are dry! She appeared really blur and 'moa sum kei' (lack of enthusiasm and zeal to work) and I really felt like shaking her shoulders to wake her up from her dream. I asked her to be frank with me and to let me know if she wanted to continue working for me and she said yes. I counseled her and told her to buckle up.

Just a moment ago, my maid, Sherilyn and I were upstairs in my room. My maid was changing the bed sheet and I was in the toilet. When I came out from the toilet, I realized that Sherilyn, my Miss Accident Prone had gone out of the room, jumping away and running down the stairs. My blur maid was dreaming away, obviously very oblivious to the surroundings and did not even notice that Sherilyn had opened the door and ran downstairs. I gave her a piece of my mind and told her that if she does not buckle up and keeps dreaming and being forgetful, I will send her back to the agent. I was very frank with her and told her that the agent has offered me a new replacement temp Indon maid but I chose to give her a chance to turn over a new leaf. I will give her one week to change and if she shows no improvement by next Friday, I will send her back to the agent and this time, I really mean it as I can no longer tolerate her.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

A Very Constipated Sherilyn

Since birth, Sherilyn has been a very constipated baby. When she was a newborn baby, she would only poo poo once in every 3 - 8 days and when she did her poopie business, it would last between 15 - 30 minutes! Last year, I found out that her constipation was due to the Choline in the formula milk that she drinks (Enfagrow A+). Now she's on Dutch Lady 123 (day time) and Enfagrow A+ with fibre (night time). For a long time, the constipation was kept at bay until recently. She has been suffering from constipation for the last 2 weeks. This could be due to the fact that she's not eating enough and thus, does not have enough bulk to form the stools. Her eating habits have become from bad to worse lately. Whenever we eat rice with dishes, she would pout her lips and give me a 'foo kwa meen' (a face as bitter looking as bitter gourd). My maid and I have to take turns to coax, bribe and threaten her to eat... for almost 1.5-2 hours every meal. When it comes to bread, cookies, crackers, cakes and fish balls, her face would light up and she will have no problems chomping down her food.... bribe-free, cane-free and threat-free. But I can't be feeding her with these everyday, twice a day, can I?

Today is the 3rd day she has not been doing her poopie business. This morning, I made her sit on her throne for almost 2 hours yet it was a fruitless effort. After her nap this afternoon, I made her sit on the toilet for almost 1 hour and voila, the poop finally made its appearance, albeit with much pain and blood. She drinks a lot of water and milk but without sufficient solid food, there is no bulk and thus, suffers from constipation. Do you have a child who's like Sherilyn too?

Go Easy On Your Sugar

When I was carrying Alycia, my gynae ordered me to do a Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) and I really hated it. First, I had to fast overnight and the next morning, I had to drink a few glasses of yucky ultra sweet glucose solution before my urine was taken and tested over a period of a few hours. I passed the test but when I was 34 weeks pregnant, there were traces of sugar in my urine during one of the routine urine tests. For my subsequent pregnancies, I begged my gynae not to have this test done. The day that my gynae told me I had mild gestational diabetes (luckily only for a short while) till today, I have been really very watchful over what I eat. Since my late maternal grandmother had diabetes, I am also at risk of having diabetes if I don’t watch what goes into my mouth. Diabetes is really a dreaded hard-to-treat disease and if anyone has it, they really need to get a high risk life insurance from wholesaleinsurance.net to safeguard themselves. So the easiest way out is to watch our diet and go easy on sweet stuff.

The Future Ballerina




That's Alycia in the trial baby ballet class yesterday. Read more about her ballet class here.