My Melody Cookie / Bread Cutter

The Bento lunch box and Bento tools bug has bitten me. I am starting to go crazy over these stuff. I got infected when I read the blog of LZMommy, Blessed Mum of 3 and AllThingsPurple. I love to see the Bento boxes they prepare for their kids and cute tools they bought.

So before my sil and brother from Singapore came to KL last week, I asked them to help me look for Bento boxes and tools. They managed to get a set of Sanrio My Melody cookie / bread cutter, Hello Kitty bento box , a Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox and some cute cutlery for the gals from Takashimaya. I am still looking for the egg moulds and food picks and I saw them for sale at eBay. I find buying things from eBay rather troublesome, so I'll wait for AllThingsPurple's friend to bring those stuff from Japan and I'll buy them from her. Are you hit by the Bento bug too?

Baby C's 6th Week Vaccination

Baby C went for her 6th week vaccination (a combo of Hep B, Hib, DTaP and Polio) yesterday. Her weight gain is good and she has gained close to 2kg over the past 1.5months. Her weight is now 4.65kg. Her birth weight was 2.75kg. She's now breastfed exclusively.

After her jab, she has been sleeping non-stop from yesterday afternoon till now. She isn't cranky or whiny but just listless and sleepy. She also doesn't appear to be hungry and did not really cry for my teat teats. She's just sleeping like a sleeping beauty. Gosh, I am really worried. I hope she'll be ok later today and will cry for milk again.

My 3 Angels

3 girls and no boys. Many people have asked me to try for a son. Excuse me...? Try for a son? You think it's cheap to raise a child? Are boys really that good? Sorry, no offense to those who have sons. What's wrong with having 3 girls? You want me to risk my life by going through another c-section... not that I had a smooth sailing one recently. If I went through another surgery, I am risking my life and I ain't going to do that for the sake of having a son. I am not planning to have a 4th child unless God decides otherwise. I am very happy and thankful to God for my 3 angels.

Alycia's First Sports Day

Alycia participated in her first ever sports day in pre-school on 9 May 08. It's a pity I couldn't attend her maiden sports day as I had to stay at home with Baby C. It would be crazy to bring along a 1-month old baby to watch Alycia under the scorching sun. Anyway, I'm glad that the hubs, my dad, mum and younger brother attended Alycia's sports day. They were here the day before to attend Baby C's fullmoon party. I think Alycia is the only kid in pre-school whose daddy, grandparents and uncle came to watch her in action... and she was so proud!


Alycia in action.

Koong Koong and Alycia in the parent and child event.

Koong Koong helping Alycia pour water into the water bottle in the parent and child event.

Alycia came home with a little trophy and a pressie... which koong koong won when he helped Alycia answer a question.

Insurance For Baby C

I have to remind the hubs to quickly decide which insurer he wants to purchase the term life insurance for Baby C from. We have received the term life insurance quote from a couple of insurers but the hubs has been too busy with work that he has forgotten to look at the quotes. We should purchase an insurance that also includes a hospitalization plan. We know how important it is to get an insurance for our kids coz when Alycia was 14 months old, she was hospitalized for 3 nights for Rotavirus. Luckily, the hospitalization bill was taken care of by our insurance company, otherwise, we would have to fork out over two thousand ringgit to settle the bill.

Delicious Smooth Congee

This is a bowl of beef congee and I just love the texture of this congee. It’s so fine and smooth that you can almost gulp the whole bowl down like milk. I think the chef must have blended the rice before cooking it. We had this at Duck King Restaurant at Jaya 1, PJ. We also ordered a bowl of pork ball congee, which tasted just as nice.
Verdict – very delicious and smooth.

‘Phut Jai Koa’

This dish is called ‘phut jai koa’ or steamed rice with minced pork in a claypot. Though it looks like a very simple dish, it is really tasty. The texture of the rice is just right and the minced pork is delicious. This is another must-try dish at the Duck King Restaurant.

Dried Gourds

I bet most of you have no idea what these are. These are actually dried ‘kua’ or gourds. I also bet most of you do not have any inkling what these are used for. But for folks from the small city of Ipoh, I am sure you would have seen these sold in the wet market. These are sold at RM1.50 each and can be cut into halves or one thirds to be used as washing sponges / pads to wash dishes. They hardly go moldy, unlike sponges that go moldy really fast when soaked in water. My parents and mil love using these dried gourds to wash dishes.

Baby C's First Trip To The Church

I finally found Sherilyn's old stroller. It was all wrapped up and hidden in the maid's room. Now that I have found the stroller, I can bring Baby C to the church tomorrow. I don't know how she will react to her first trip to the church but I am praying that she will not cry and fuss and whine for my teat teats coz there is no special room for nursing mums in my church. I will have to discreetly nurse her in one of the classrooms in the church kindy if she looks for my teat teats.

Sucking Air Too?

Baby C is one baby who just cannot wait for mummy's teat teats each time she's hungry. Well, I guess most babies are like this. She would wail till her face and body turn red and stiff. When she's really hungry, she would suck my teats so ravenously that there is a loud 'jup jup jup' sound produced, especially when the pressure of my milk flow is high. My friend told me that the 'jup jup jup' sound is caused by Baby C sucking too much air. Huh? Really? I only hear this sound when the pressure of the milk flow is high and when Baby C is sucking too ravenously.... so ravenously till she often choked. Is she also sucking air? I think she has latched on correctly coz my teats no longer feel sore. What say experienced mums out there? You think my Baby C is also sucking air and did not latch on properly?

I Love Fishballs

Kids really love fishballs, don’t they? Sherilyn who hates meat only love fishballs, the saltier the better…. the bigger, bouncier and whiter the better. I don’t really encourage her to eat processed fishballs as they are loaded with MSG, salt, preservative and boric acid (thus, the white color and the bouncy texture). But she gets all crazy when she sees fishballs at my favorite ‘yong tau foo’ stall and always begs me to get her those yong tau foo fishballs that are loaded with food additives.

Here, she’s enjoying her fishball at the Duck King Restaurant with granny.

A Fun Outing On Wesak Day

Find out what we did on Wesak Day here.

Yau Jar Kuai Wrapped With Cee Cheong Fun

This dish from Duck King is quite unique. It is ‘yau jar kuai’ (deeped fried rice flour sticks) wrapped with ‘cee cheong fun’ (rice flour flat noodles). Quite tasty but I didn’t even finish a piece as I was worried about the high carbo and high calorie. Strictly a no-no dish for weight watchers and health freaks like me.

Meat Platter

We had this meat platter at Duck King Restaurant @ Jaya 1 PJ. It consists of roast duck, roast chicken, ‘loa kai’ (braised chicken), ‘siew yoke’ (roast crispy pork) and jelly fish. The chicken, ‘siew yoke’ and jelly fish were tasty but nothing to shout about. I did not try the duck though as I don’t really fancy eating duck and I was worried that duck (considered a ‘toke’ or ‘poisonous’ food) would worsen Baby C’s eczema.

Baby C’s Eczema And Cradle Cap

After 5 days on Betamethasone cream, the eczema on Baby C’s face cleared. However, the next day (6th day), the eczema / rashes started to make their reappearance. I then applied a thin layer of Hydrocortisone on her face, as advised by the paed. I am only applying the Hydrocortisone cream on her face once a day. On the parts of her face that I applied the Hydrocortisone cream, they were eczema / rash free. However, on parts that I did not apply the cream, eczema / rashes erupted. I have cut down on drinking milk myself (but have not totally stopped) and have replaced milk with sugar-free soya powder as dairy products are known to trigger eczema. I am also avoiding other food that would trigger the eczema like beef and seafood (except fish). I don’t use any soap on Baby C’s body when I bathe her, apart from the diaper area and Baby C’s hair, which I use 1 or 2 drops of Johnson’s PH 5.5 soap-free shower cream to wash and rinse with lots of water. The cradle cap on Baby C’s head has not cleared but I am not doing anything to it, though it does smell unpleasant.



Baby C's face all smooth and fair again.

8 Long Days Without Internet

That’s how efficient our Telekom is… making me wait for 8 days to fix my problem. Had I not called Telekom every 3 hours to check on the status of my disconnected Streamyx (and exaggerated / dramatized a tad on how urgent my case was, and sounded stern, really serious and pissed off with their lackadaisical attitude, threatened them that I would cancel my Streamyx, threatened them that I would bring this matter up to the Management of Telekom, asked if Telekom would compensate me for my loss of income and finally told them that I would publish this matter in my websites), I think I would have to wait for more than 2 weeks to a month before I can have my internet connection up again. I was told by a friend in the IT line that sometimes Telekom takes up to 1 month to get the Streamyx up again! Can you beat that?

I was really cheesed off with the way they handled my case. The staff seemed to be dragging their feet in getting my case solved. I spoke to 2o over customer service staff before my internet connection was up again. Each time I called, they seem to give me the standard answer which goes “I have handed your report to my supervisor. A specialist will be handling your case Mam". It was only when I spoke to the supervisors and told them sternly and seriously as a matter of fact that I would publish this matter in my blogs for the entire nation to read that they got a little worried and put some effort in getting my case solved.

I guess this is the mentality of staff from our government departments. Yup, Malaysia Boleh when they Tak Boleh solve a matter within one day! I think it’s time for me to switch to either Maxis or 3G (Digi) prepaid wireless broadband.

8 Long Days And Still No Internet Yet

Can you beat it? The broadband internet has been disconnected from my house for 8 days and there is still no sign that it will be up again. I have stolen 2 hours again, to go to hubby's office to complete an assignment. I tell you, i am REALLY REALLY pissed off with Telekom. I have been calling Telekom every 2-3 hours for the last 7 days and when I could no longer tolerate hearing their same old lame excuses anymore, I told them yesterday that I will publish this matter in my websites. Today, the technical department of Telekom called to inform me that my Streamyx should be up but my fixed phone line is still down, thus I still can't access internet. Though I have already lodged a report on the faulty phone line, no one came or called me. See how efficient our government is! I am SO DARN PISSED OFF!

Good Old Ipoh Food

Soooo much good food…. and they are all from Ipoh. My parents form Ipoh came to visit me last week and they bought all my favorite food from Ipoh – famous curry noodles from Yat Yat Seng coffee shop in Ipoh Garden, famous Hakka fish balls and noodles from Kg Simee market, famous egg tarts and ‘kayang kok’ (kaya puff) from Kg Simee market, deep fried turmeric chicken drumstick, roast chicken, ‘siew yoke’ (crispy roast pork), ‘char siew’ (roast pork), roast duck, yam cake, ‘cee cheong fun’, pomeloes and famous ‘heong peng’ (baked fragrant biscuits with molasses and onions). There was so much food that there were so much leftovers, that left us eating the leftovers for the next 3 days.

Kai Jau

That's my all-time favorite confinement food - 'kai jau' or chicken cooked in ginger wine and rice wine. I ate this dish almost every other day during my confinement and know what? I just can't get enough of eating it. Now that my confinement is over, I am still craving for it. I think I'll ask my mil to cook another big pot of it next week. Anyone cares to join me for lunch? You're cordially invited to my house to taste the 'kai jau'!

Laughing Cow = Laughing Kids

Alycia and Sherilyn are crazy over Laughing Cow cheese. I hardly buy them this brand of cheese as it is very expensive. But daddy and especially mah mah are the ones who always spoil them rotten and would always get them the triangle wedges or Party Cubes or Cheeze Dippers each time they go shopping. Alycia and Sherilyn are so crazy over the cheese that they will do anything to lay their hands on the cheese. Sometimes after I have gone upstairs for my shower, they will go to the kitchen, ransack the fridge for Laughing Cow and eat them without my knowledge. But kids being kids, I always found out as they do not know how to eliminate all evidence. I always found the wrappers and box in the dustbin or bits of cheese at the corner of their mouth! Once, Alycia refused to eat her lunch and demanded for Cheeze Dippers. I refused to give in to her whims and she cried and cried. I ignored her but when I went upstairs to have my shower, mah mah secretly gave her the box of Cheeze Dippers! Grandparents tend to have such a weak spot when it comes to seeing their grand children cry. They always give in to their whims and fancies. You agree?