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Sunday, May 18, 2008

Another Bottle Of Perfume To My Collection


My Santarina eldest sil got this bottle of Dior limited edition perfume for me when she went overseas. Now, I have another bottle of perfume to add to my collection of perfume. I just love perfume but I guess I have to stop putting them on until I wean Baby C off breastfeeding.
Thanks tai kar cheh for the perfume!

Maid Stories ..... Part 2

....continuation

I was so pissed off with the things my maid did that I gave her a piece of my mind several days ago. She lied to me over several things, i.e. work that she did not do but said she did and things that she did but said she did not do. I told her that if she wants to continue working for me for 2 years, she has to buckle up, else I would send her back to the agent. I also lied to her that there are hidden cameras fixed everywhere in the house, so she better not lie to me. Remember the case where she ‘stole’ an egg to eat and threw the egg away when I walked into the kitchen? I dug up this matter and lied to her that I saw her doing it from the CCTV. Many things that she did wrongly in the past which I had just kept quiet and tried to tolerate, I also dug up and told her that I saw them all from the camera! I have no other choice but to threaten her this way so that she will buckle up and not deteriorate further. It’s always good to nip something bad at the bud before it blooms.

Given a choice, I would send her back to the agent and get a new maid. Because she is already a rejected maid and I have used her before I hired her as a permanent maid, I am thus not entitled to another replacement. Getting a fresh maid would mean incurring another RM8k+. Also, I am not guaranteed that a new maid would be better than her, she could be worse off. Hopefully after all the pep talk from me, my maid would change over a new leaf. If she continues to slack in her performance, I will most likely call the maid agent over to my house to give her another session of counseling.

Disney Seaweed from Japan




This is another pretty and cute edible stuff that my mil bought during her recent trip to Japan. It’s a packet of seaweed with pictures of Disney characters imprinted on each piece of seaweed. It goes well in a kid’s Bento lunch box. This reminds me that I have to get 2 Bento lunch boxes for Alycia and Sherilyn.

Maid Stories

During the past 1 month when I was in my confinement, I hardly checked my maid’s work. I used to wake up early in the morning to work on my computer whilst I supervised her when she did her work before I delivered Baby C. Because of this, her performance has slacked. She doesn’t follow the daily work roster anymore and she did many things that really pissed me off. I have also caught her a few times handling Alycia and Sherilyn very roughly. Last week, I caught her raising her hand on the pretext of hitting Sherilyn to frighten her as Sherilyn did not listen to her. Whilst I can’t blame her to lose her cool with Sherilyn (coz even I can’t handle Sherilyn myself and always lose my patience with her), she still can’t threaten to hit Sherilyn. Now, both Alycia and Sherilyn hate my maid and don’t want my maid to handle them anymore. Consequently, I have to handle all 3 kids myself. What I do now is while my maid bathes the 2 older kids, I wait outside the bathroom and watch them. After she is done bathing them, I take over and dress them up, blow dry their hair and clean their ears.

to be continued.....

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Super Multi-Tasker

I can now declare that I am a super multi-tasker. As I am typing this post from my hubby's office, I am cradling Cassandra with my left hand and nursing her. The internet connection to my house has been disconnected 4 days ago and it is only expected to be up again earliest on Tuesday next week. I am not going to talk about how inefficient Telekom is now, I am super pissed off with them now.

I haven't taken my dinner yet and I have to rush home now to bathe my baby.

.....to be continued

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Low Carb High Protein Diet

Ever since my 1 month confinement was over on Friday last week, I have stopped eating rice and noodles. During my confinement, I only ate a couple spoonfulls of rice but ate lots of chicken, vegetables and sometimes fish and pork. My weight shot up by another 1kg during my confinement. Now, I am trying to shed off some pounds as my tummy is still bulging, as if I am 3 months pregnant. This is what I ate for lunch yesterday :



I ate the entire chunk of this 'siew yoke' (roast pork). Gotcha, just kidding! Though I am supposed to be on a high protein diet, I still can't be eating fatty stuff like this. I only ate a quarter of it for lunch and another quarter for dinner.

I drank the entire pot of papaya soup with fried fish and pork ribs which my mil boiled.... of course not in one meal but for lunch and dinner.

Also drank a big bowl of sweet corn soup at 10pm when there was still some left in the pot. My mil boiled this for Alycia and Sherilyn as sweet corn soup is their favorite soup.

That's my lunch - all protein and fibre. The vege is just blanched and not stir-fried. I also indulged in a wedge of sweet corn, which is a no-no for dieters. Sweet corns have high GI and are supposed to be fattening.

3 more weeks to go and I can resume my running sessions in the morning. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can find the time to jog and not have to push Baby C in a jogger, coz that will be so troublesome and burdensome.

Baby C Has Eczema

Look at my poor baby's once fair and flawless face... it is now lobster red with the eczema flare up. Every part of her skin on the face is covered with rashes. The worst parts that are affected are her cheeks, which feel like hard scum. Thank God her body is spared from the eczema. Continue reading the story here.

More Of Sherilyn's Terrible Threes

Of late, Sherilyn has a habit of folding her arms to vent out her anger whilst she pouts her lips and puts on a disgruntled expression on her face each time her whims and fancies are not met. She even scolds me back with hurtful words.

In this pic, Sherilyn got angry when my mil and I did not allow her to change her pants. She was wearing a pair of shorts the whole morning. After a while, she decided that she wanted to wear long pants. Lately, she has a liking to wear long pants at home..... and she likes to change her pants and clothes a few times in a day. It is really hot to wear long pants at home as the weather has been terribly hot and humid lately. She also had yeast infection recently so we discouraged her from wearing long pants which would make her sweat, but she wouldn't listen. She would pull a chair to the cabinet, climb on the chair and unlock the cabinet (she now knows how to unlock all our cabinets and child safety gates) and fish her long pants out. She does that 2-3 times in a day. When her demands are not met, she would wail and roll on the floor. Looks like her Terrible Threes behavior is far worse than her Terrible Twos as she now knows how to verbally and mentally challenge me. Is your child like this too? I really hope I can find a good way of tackling Sherilyn who is really driving me bonkers.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Being A Mother Is The Toughest Job

Life as a mum to 2 toddlers and a newborn baby is crazy. I salute SAHMs who have more than 2 kids and without a maid to help them. I still find it very difficult to organize my time and I always find that I don’t have enough time in a day to accomplish all that I want to do. I have been sleeping at 1am+ everyday ever since my confinement lady left on Saturday. Since my mil is unwell and can’t help me much with the kids, I have to handle all 3 of my kids by myself. Last night I went to bed at 1am and woke up at 7am today to prepare Alycia for school. I also don’t get uninterrupted sleep as Baby C wakes up every 1-2 hours for milk and to suckle my teats for comfort. I feel so exhausted and sleepy all the time. I even fell asleep when the urut lady (Malay masseuse) came to massage me today. I think I really need to read some books on parenting advise such as the Mom's Ultimate Family Organizer: A One-Stop Planner for Busy Moms or the Supernanny to guide me to be a better mum and to better manage my time.

Multi-Tasker

Do you know how long I took to complete and submit a review to the advertiser today? I spent almost the whole afternoon trying to type the post and 1 hour to submit the post at night. There were interruptions, mostly from Baby C after almost every line that I had typed. Just when I thought that Baby C was fast asleep after I had nursed her at 11pm, I switched on the baby monitor and quietly crept downstairs to work. Before I could even warm my seat, I heard her 'eeeee eeeee aaaaar aaaaar' on the baby monitor. I rushed up and nursed her again for 15 minutes. Then came downstairs again. This went on 3 times - I went upstairs, nursed her, pat her bum (but she wouldn't want to sleep, only wanted my teats!) came downstairs and heard her cries. Finally, I realized that this will not stop, so I carried her downstairs and placed her on the bouncinet on the floor, next to my PC. With both my hands typing, I stretched out my left leg and moved the bouncinet with it. That naughty brat slept soundly without a sound!

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Peace At Last

Today, hubby brought Alycia and Sherilyn to the biggest theme park in Malaysia at Times Square. There is finally peace at home.... for me. I've wanted some quietness and some me time for a long time and finally I have it today. For the past 1 month, there were so many people in the house - friends, relatives and my house was really noisy.... with people coming in and out of my house the whole day, people chatting from morning to midnight, screaming and wailing toddlers and the cries of a hungry newborn baby. I hardly had the time to rest my mind and body. I wanted to follow the gals to Times Square too but the thought of having to find a place to nurse Baby C and having to find a baby-friendly toilet to clean her poopie business every 1-2 hours turned me off. I still need some time to get used to my new routine before I have confidence to bring Baby C out for a shopping trip.

Though it is supposed to be a day for mothers today, I rather spend my quiet time at home..... get some peace of mind, rest my throat for at least half a day (I yell a lot when Aly and Sher are at home), complete my outstanding assignments (Streamyx will be cut for a max of 3 days from tomorrow for change of name in our fixed phone line) and to catch up on my sleep!

Guess what time I normally have my breakfast ever since my confinement lady left? Earliest is 10:30am and today, I only had the time to eat my breakfast at 11am. I woke up at 9am, nursed Baby C, cleaned up her bum after her poopie business, fed Sherilyn breakfast (she just won't chew and swallow her food) and got the 2 older gals ready to go out with daddy and mah mah. Just as I was about to sit down to eat my breakfast, Baby C pooped again and I have to clean her up again. My maid who is still single has no experience in handling babies and I can't ask her to help me with Baby C.

Despite such a crazy life as a mum to 3 kids, if you ask me if I had a chance to start all over again, would I still want to have Baby C, my answer is a resounding, YES. I wouldn't trade anything for my Cassandra. She has brought a lot of joy to my life, despite all the difficulties I have gone through and am going through now.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THE MOTHERS READING THIS POST! BEING A MOTHER IS THE TOUGHEST JOB AVAILABLE, KUDOS TO YOU ALL!

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Baby C's Fullmoon






Read the story here.

Poopie Fountain

For those of you with newborn babies, I am sure the term 'poopie fountain' is all too familiar to you eh? Yesterday, just as I was about to finish cleaning up Baby C's bum after her poopie business and left her without a diaper for just a few seconds, she spurted out her poop, exactly like a fountain across the crib. Her poop (which is a tad watery and gooey just like 'kaya') landed on the mattress, all over the crib railing (which was the hardest to clean), on the bouncinet, on the box of tissue, on the tube of Drapolene and on everything that was on the crib. As I was busy cleaning up the mess, I did not realize that the floor also had poop.... EVERYWHERE and I stepped on it with my bathroom slippers. Yikes, it was a real poopie mess.

and my maid and I spent more than half an hour cleaning up the mess.


I had to wipe the Safe n Sound latex mattress with pulls and pulls of wet wipes, then sprayed Febreze on it to get rid of the odour. Couldn't wash or sun the latex mattress though. Only left it on the floor with the table fan on to air it.


My maid had to bring the other Safe n Sound latex mattress from the crib upstairs to put it on the crib that was downstairs. As I had no where to place Baby C whilst my maid and I cleaned up the mess, I placed her on a cushion on the floor and surrounded her with pillows.

The moral of the lesson is : never leave your newborn baby without a diaper or a nappy on, not even for a few seconds for you never know if they will give you another big surprise and lots of mess! Newborn babies can take up to half an hour or longer to complete each session of poopie business.

Crazy Life

Life as a mother to 3 kids is crazy. My CL has just left today. Baby C is super cranky and whiny today. I only have time to blog now. The baby monitor is switched on and I can hear my dear Cassie 'eeee eeee aaaaaa aaaaaa' upstairs in my room.

I gotta go now to see what's with Cassie.

to be continued......

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Sherilyn's Antics

Sherilyn can really think of doing things that most 'regular toddlers' can't think of. Almost everyday, she comes up with new antics and stunts, many of which can cause me heart attacks.

Several days ago, this was what she did :




.... and she wanted to squeeze her body through the gap between the railing and the steps to get down. Can you beat it? Call her daring or tomboyish?




Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Cloth Diaper

After hearing all the positive reviews and comments on the cloth diaper, which is fast gaining popularity now, I finally bought a cloth diaper by BumWear from The Baby Loft shop at RM59.90 each on Sunday. I only bought 1 piece as I wanted to try out to see for myself if it's that effective and practical. I have also asked Montessorimum to reserve 2 second-hand cloth diapers for me. Hopefully it's really effective coz Baby C is now using between 8-10 diapers a day! Go calculate to see how much I spend on diapers for 3 kids a month.


The cloth diaper and inserts.

Baby C Wants My Teats The Whole Day!

Whenever Baby C is awake, she wants to be carried and to be talked to. When she wants to get back to sleep, she wants my teats, not only for milk but also to suckle herself to sleep. I am so very tempted to take the easy way out..... by giving her the pacifier. Alycia was a hard-core pacifier sucker and she was addicted to it for 2.5 years. I thought it would be difficult to wean her off her pacifier but it only took me less than a week. If I can't handle Baby C's demands after my confinement lady leaves on Friday, I may consider giving her the pacifier. I still have a bag full of new pacifiers that I bought 2 years ago, meant for Alycia

Baby C @ 28 Days Old

These are some pix of Cassandra taken today, at 28 days old. Can you see that she's got some rashes flare-up on her once smooth face? It really hurts my heart to see her face covered with pimple-like red dots.

The weather has been so terribly hot that we dressed Baby C up in singlet today.

See how happy Baby C is here? She's smiling at Sherilyn and my maid.

Baby C's Long Finger Nails



Are Baby C's finger nails long? They don't look that long here in the pix but are in fact even longer if you see them for yourself in person. Her nails are even shaped very nicely, as if they had been manicured LOL! I had a hard time snapping pix of her tiny fingers as she was moving. The longest nails are on both her thumb and pinkie. Even with mittens on, I can still feel her sharp long nails. I shall trim them after her full moon.

2 More Days To Go....

Yes, 2 more days to go before my confinement ends and I can finally bid farewell to my confinement lady. Let me tell you, the past 28 days were one of my worst. I hate going through confinement period, I did not enjoy my previous 2 confinements and this is my worst.... and I hope it will be my very last confinement too. I dislike the CL (except my 1st CL), I hated the pain on my wound, I hate the hot weather, I hate it that I have to bathe with ginger and murky color water, I hate it that I can't bathe with cold water, I hate it that I can't go out for 30 days (though I broke the confinement rule this time and went out once) and I just hate everything about the confinement. Now when the CL goes back, I know I will have lesser time to myself, I can't wake up at 9:30am everyday anymore and I will have to care for Baby C myself fulltime, on top of caring for Alycia and Sherilyn. But that's ok.... I love my 3 angels!