Another Solution To My Maxed Out Photo Storage In Blogger/Picasa Web Album

This morning as I was jogging, an idea struck me. I was trying hard to find alternative ways of uploading my pix without having to pay companies like Picasa Web Album and Flickr to upgrade my storage space. If you've been following my blog, you would have read that I have already maxed out the free storage space of 1GB allocated to me by Blogger / Picassa Web Album. I then went to Flickr but after happily uploading pix there for just a week, I found out that I am only entitled to 200 pix (I already have 189 pix in that account, which means I only have 11 more to upload) and thereafter, I have to upgrade to Pro account, which means having to dig into my pocket.

So I found a solution. I created another Gmail account and created another blog under Blogspot this morning, in under 15 minutes. This means I now have another 1GB of photo storage space... without having to fork out any money. It took me 2 years to utilize the 1GB of photo storage space allocated to me. Hopefully, this extra 1GB for my new blog can last me another 2 years. Well, if it takes me earlier to exhaust all the space, I will create another Gmail account and another blog under Blogspot! Now, I can save more than USD20 a year on photo storage space, hehe.....

Whether I have time to maintain my new blog in Blogspot...., now, there's another story. Let me think about what I'm going to write in that new blog when I work-out tomorrow morning. I tell you, I have lots of ideas spewing out from my brain each time I work-out in the morning.... thanks to the feel-good hormones endorphins, hehe....

Continue Breast-feeding Till 2 Years Old?

When we were at our pediatric nephrologist's clinic today, I asked our doctor if I should wean Baby C off breast milk, to which her reply was that I should NOT. She said that breast milk is still the best for Baby C. Along with other food that's high in protein like chicken, fish, eggs, green veggie, etc., breast milk should preferably be continued until she's 2 years old. If however I'd like to introduce formula, I can still do so but I should have mixed-feeding (breast-feeding + formula) until my sweetie-pie is 2 years old. Our doctor is all for breast-feeding. I'm still not decided if I should really continue breast-feeding Baby C for another year. If I don't fall sick so easily and so frequently, I don't really mind. With my recent frequent bouts of colds, flus and throat infections, I'm really suspecting that Baby C is sucking me dry and withered with very little nutrients left in my body, thus my compromised immune system. I'll see how things are after her impending surgery.

BTW, I'm glad that Baby C's weight has finally breached the 8kg mark, yay!! I now wonder when her weight will ever touch the 10kg mark. With a surgery not far away, I am hoping and praying that her weight won't drop after the surgery.

Alycia And Sherilyn Finally Weaned Off The Milk Bottle

Surprise eh when you read the name Alycia? Drinking milk from a bottle at age 5? I'd tried to wean Alycia off the milk bottle for over a year but she kept telling me that the milk tasted funny whenever she drank it from a cup! It's all in the mind right?

One day last month, I asked her this question : "Alycia, are you still going to drink from the milk bottle next year? Next year you'll be in Standard 1 you know? Your friends will surely laugh at you if they know that you're still drinking from the bottle." Alycia gave me a grin and shook her head to a no. A few days later, when I was going through the kitchen cabinet, I found a new water tumbler that koo mar bought for her from Hong Kong Disneyland last year. An idea struck me. I asked Alycia if she wanted to drink her milk from the new cute Mickey Mouse water tumbler and to my surprise, she said 'YES'. Yes, she has finally agreed to drink from a cup... and she did not tell me that the milk tasted wierd when she drank it from the water tumbler!

Hooray, it's been almost 2 weeks since she and Sherilyn (a copy-cat who follows everything that her cheh cheh does... and also weaned herself from the bottle!) drank from the cup... and I can now say good-bye to their Avent bottles!

Teaching Baby C Colors

That's how I teach my sweetie-pie colors. First I show her the card, for eg. a flash card with the color red, then I show her something from our house that is red in color - her cup. She loves this card-flashing session and it's one way of keeping this restless baby still on her high-chair during meal times. Another very good mode of teaching her colors is through the Baby Bright VCD (It's A Bright First Year, for 3 months - 2 years old). She loves this VCD too. My 2 older gals loved this VCD as well when I bought it for them 3 years ago and they are still loving it now (though they are a little too big for the VCD now).

Xiao Fei Yang Taiwanese Steamboat

We celebrated Baby C's 1st birthday at Xiao Fei Yang, a restaurant that specializes in Taiwanese steamboat. For someone who loves steamboat, I liked the steamboat very much. What makes this steamboat different from other steamboats are the soups and the dipping sauces. There are many varieties of soup and we chose the clear soup, which had lots of herbs and pips of garlic in it.

Some of the specialities at Xiao Fei Yang are their super thinly sliced lamb and beef as well as the minced meat stuffed meatballs. These 3 were my favorites.

The white long stuff are their special noodles.




Heaps of sumptuous stuff - very thinly sliced beef....


Minced meat stuffed meatballs - very nice, I likey! There were also lots of triangle wedges of yam in the soup, which added flavor and sweetness to the pot of soup.


Will definitely patronize this restaurant again. Price is reasonable, food is good but the only thing which turned me off was the stinky loo, definitely not a baby-friendly place. Thank God my sweetiepie did not poo poo there, else I would have no idea how to clean her up!

Xiao Fei Yang Restaurant is located at:
No. 18 Lorong Thambi Dua
Off Jalan Pudu
55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : 03-2142 6789

Business hours : 11am - 3pm and 6pm - 10:30pm

Happy Good Friday & Easter Everyone

Today's Good Friday and this Sunday will be Easter Sunday. Koo mar bought the gals a pack of Easter bunnies chocolate from Marks and Spencer when they were in Hong Kong recently. We couldn't wait until Easter Day to eat the bunnies and have already devoured on 2 delicious bunnies. The bunnies are not compact and they are hollow inside, making it easy for me to break them up for the 3 of us to share. Yup, whatever junk food and snacks that my gals eat, I'm sure to have a share too. Haiz... that's why my weight just ain't going down at all with all the snacking and munching on junkies. And the sad thing is I love devouring on junkies too... *shake head*.... my gals just take after me, so can't blame them for loving junkies hehehe....

Cool Bathroom Accessories

One of the things that I like about the rooms at Hilton Sentral Hotel, KL is their bathrooms. Check out their cool rainwater-like shower:


For those who prefer to sit during their shower can do so as there is an attached seat on the wall. The very first time I stepped into this bathroom, I was lost, like a frog who lives under a coconut shell, as I could not figure out how to switch the faucet from the rainwater-shower to the hand-held shower. I was also wet all over hahaha.... really like an ah soh from kampung! Also, the design of the rooms is really unique. From the bedroom, there is a sliding door directly next to the long bath and you can even watch TV and sip champagne while you soak in the long bath! Just perfect for love birds hehehe....


I also love their canggih-manggih gym, my kids are absolutely crazy over the lovely uniquely-designed pool and the food is simply sumptuous too. You should check out their Japanese restaurant. The interior and landscaping there are superb too. Oooh, just can't wait for our next stay there!

I am wishing the Management from Hilton Sentral reads this post so that I get a free night stay there with my hubs and kids!

More Bibs

I've bought 2 more bibs to add to my sweetiepie's collection, or should I say to my own collection? Hehe....

I was at Babyland last Sunday to get myself a pack of organic Milkmaid tea. As usual, I always ended up straying off my original intention and bought more than I should have. How could I resist when I saw a galore of cute bibs there?

As my sweetiepie now knows how to pull off her Mothercare bibs with velcro behind her neck, I bought her bibs which she will surely be unable to pull like these:




My sweetiepie is now wearing this green bib with buttons behind her neck. She has been wearing this for 4 days and so far, she has not tried to pull the bib. I think the plastic Mothercare bib was a tad hot on her body in this current hot and humid weather. This green bib fits her just perfectly well and not too hot for her as well.

Homecooked Dishes

My mil cooked these 2 dishes, which happen to be my favorite the other day :



Braised chicken with lemon grass and big onions.
This is a pretty healthy and simple to cook dish. All you need are chicken, a few stalks of lemon grass, a few big onions and soy sauce.


Mui Choy pork. This mui choy is supposedly organic and bought from Hong Kong. This dish simply whets anyone's appetite and goes well with rice as it's a tad salty but I ate it without the rice.

These 2 dishes were my hot orders from the confinement lady during my 3 confinements.

Creative Mind

Alycia is pretty creative in her art, just like daddy. Daddy is one very creative guy who has very good drawing skills. Tssk, tssk.... this is one of his qualities that I was attracted to 19 years ago.... hehe... Anyway, here's what Alycia created with her hairclips and a piece of paper whilst I was tying her hair into a bun on Saturday for her mock-up ballet exam:



After creating this, Alycia said "mummy, look, this is a bunny" and I went "wow, this really looks like a bunny!"





She's creative, isn't she?

Our Sunday

After church today, we went to Jaya 33, PJ for lunch. We wanted to have dim sum at the Oriental Chinese Restaurant but the queue was horrendously long! Talk about economic downturn and recession but many people are still eating at nice restaurants! We didn't want to wait, so we went downstairs to Nagomi Shabu-Shabu Japanese restaurant. This is what we ate:



Shabu-Shabu (Japanese steamboat). We ordered 2 sets of shabu-shabu - 1 chicken and 1 beef.
This restaurant claims that the broth and dipping sauces for the shabu-shabu are free from additives, flavorings and artificial coloring.

Alycia shared her chicken terriyaki bento with kakak. Check out the steam from the hot pot of shabu-shabu!

Chinese cabbage, tofu, fresh oyster mushrooms, radish and carrots for the pot of shabu-shabu.
Hubby also ordered a sushi set, maki and California rolls.


Raw chicken balls and super thinly sliced chicken meat with egg yolk.

My bowl of shabu-shabu with fresh oyster mushrooms, lots of Chinese cabbage, chicken balls, very thinly sliced chicken and beef. I love the broth and the tasty dipping sauces.

Verdict : price reasonable, very clean and comfortable restaurant, tasty food, will definitely patronize again.

Another Solution To My Photo Upload Woes

I just discovered another solution for my photo upload woes in my Blogspot blog. Remember my previous post where I said that my free photo upload space of 1GB is already maxed out and I need to purchase the space from Picassa Web Album? Well, I can go to Flickr and upload my pix there. I've forgotten all about my Flickr account. I can even link my blogs to my Flickr account and upload pix as well as blog from Flickr without having to log in to my blog! I've spent my afternoon trying to do it and have successfully uploaded and made a blog post from my Flickr account. However, the blog post needed some adjustments to the codes and I have yet to find the time to do it. You may want to try blogging and uploading your pix from Flickr too to save the free space in your blogspot blog!

BTW, I'm not that smart. Credit should go to my sifu, the super blogger who earns big bucks from her blogs. You'll flip to find out how many blogs this lady has!

I May Have OCD

Do you know that apart from being a health freak, I am also a clean freak? My need for being super clean is so great that I think I am suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)! Despite having a maid, I still wash my own bathroom and I even mop the kitchen floor whenever I see oil stains, food or dirt on the floor! This is just one example of my quirks and I have lots more! I’m crazy huh? I think perhaps I need therapy to rid myself of this OCD lol! I wonder if there is a center like a drug rehab for people with such a mental disorder like mine.

Photo Upload Problem Solved

First I deleted some pictures from my blogspot blog. Though deleted, I was unable to upload new pix immediately as it will take up to 24 hours for the pictures to be deleted from the system and from my Picassa Web Album.

I also went to my Picassa Web Album to check what pix I could delete. I was really astonished when I found out that I have over 3,000 pix in my 2-year old blog! I then tried to delete a picture to see if the picture would still be in my blog. Of course not! If you want to delete any picture in your Picassa Album, you will also lose that picture in your blogspot blog.

After an hour or so, I finally managed to upload pix in my blog. But this is only a TEMPORARY solution. If I want to continue uploading pictures in my blogspot blog for the months and years to come, I can't be using free stuff anymore. My free image upload space of 1GB is maxed out. I now have to dip into my pocket to pay for more space in my Picassa Web Album. Here are the charges:

10GB - USD20 per year
40GB - USD75 per year
150GB - USD250 per year
400GB - USD500 per year

I have opted for the 10GB per year plan.

Unable To Upload Pix In My Blogspot Blog

Darn it, I have been unable to upload pix from my blogspot since a few hours ago. Each time I tried uploading pix, I get a message stating that I have exceeded my free total photo upload limit in my Blogger account. Fyi, images and photos that are uploaded through Blogger get stored in our Picasa Web Albums, which are part of our Google Account. The number of images we can upload is therefore dependent on the amount of space we are using on Picasa Web Albums. I now have to purchase more storage space so that I can continue uploading pix in my blogspot. Eeeessshhhh, this is really frustrating!

When My Sweetiepie Wakes Up

This is what happens when my sweetiepie gets up from her nap:




First she cries to get attention....



Then she whines a little and tries to open her eyes wide... while feeling a tad crabby and blur....



Then she yaaaaawns...



After a few minutes, she regains equanimity and everything surrounding her... and realizes that mummy is still there... and starts playing with her toys. Most times, she would want me to carry her out of the playpen. Offering her my boops is the best way to satisfy her and make her one very happy and contented baby!

Our Saturday

Check out what Alycia and Sherilyn are up to here.

Organix Organic Biscuits For Toddlers

That's one of my sweetiepie's favorite biscuits :

My mil bought a few boxes from Hong Kong recently coz Sherilyn had been bugging her for animal biscuits. Even I like these biscuits as they are sugar-free, made of whole grains and taste good too. This brand of biscuits can be bought from the pharmacy at Jaya Jusco @ Mid Valley Megamall and certain organic shops.

My sweetiepie likes them so much that she would always thrust the whole biscuit into her mouth. She has to be watched really closely when we give her biscuits coz she can go wild and really greedy when she has her favorite food in her hands.

Sherilyn My Energizer Bunny

I wonder where my princess wannabe gets her unbounded energy from. She hardly ever gets sleepy or tired. I know I should be very happy as this only means that she's in the pink of health. But when she doesn't want to take her afternoon nap everyday, she really gets on my nerve for she will be gallivanting the house, disturbing and distracting me, climbing up and down the couch and window grills, among others. The other afternoon, I was shocked when I opened the girls' bedroom door to find a 'monkey' on top of the head board of Alycia's bed with Alycia sleeping beneath, on the bed! Sherilyn had climbed up the head board and attempted to hang from the air conditioner unit!! I almost fainted hahaha.....

On a typical afternoon, you can expect to see this :




Sherilyn on the couch at 5pm, with her energy level still at the peak and refusing to nap..... and taken over the cane so that I can't whack her!!

Check out my sweetiepie... she's having a whale of her time trying to walk.

Baby C At Hilton Sentral

That's my sweetiepie on the super king-sized bed of our bedroom when we stayed at Hilton Sentral Hotel 2 weeks ago.

Sweet smile of freedom crawling on the huge and cold bed with clean and crisp white sheets....








But when daddy put her into the playpen, she went "boo hoo hoo..... bring me ooooooutttt meh meh"



And guess where daddy put her when she cried incessantly? Daddy cushioned the long bath tub with pillows and placed her inside the bath tub! Boy, I tell you, she was squealing away inside the bath tub! Didn't snap pix of her in the pillows-filled bath tub as I was on the throne ;)