A Good Neck Pain Pillow For A Good Night’s Sleep

Some people are pretty prone to getting stiff neck, stiff shoulders and backache. I am one of them in the unlucky lot! If I sit in front of my PC working hard for many hours, I am bound to have a nagging pain on my shoulders and neck for several days. I also tend to sprain my neck easily, especially when I sleep on my sides at night while I nurse Baby. That’s the reason why I must have a neck pain pillow when I sleep. I have been sleeping on a neck pain pillow for several years now and the incidences of getting a stiff neck or stiff shoulders have reduced significantly, albeit I still get them once in a while. When Baby was hospitalized for 3 weeks after her surgeries last year, I brought along my neck pain pillow with me to the hospital!

I am considering getting an orthopedic pillow for myself and for my hubs too. He suffers from occasional stiff neck and stiff shoulders too. An orthopedic pillow is designed to improve neck support for back sleeping as well as maximize comfort during side sleeping. A curved design allows room for shoulders while an indented center helps to support the neck while sleeping on the side.

Did I tell you that my backache made a vengeful return for the past few days? It has been under control for a long time and I don’t know what actually triggered the problem again. I must have carried Baby too much and did not bend my knees but bent my back too much when I carried her or other heavy stuff. To control the back pain, I have been diligently arching my back on my fit ball every morning. I may even consider getting back pain treatment in the form of a sitback rest with hot and cold therapy if my fitball back exercise does not stave off the back pain.

Blood Boiler

Rascal #2 made my blood boil yesterday morning. I was in the wet kitchen when she walked in. When I went out to the dry kitchen, I told her to close the mozzie netting door, to which she replied me rudely with furrowed eyebrows and a pissed off glare: "Huh!! Why always ask ME to do things? You think what, you think I'm your assistant ah?" This is not the first time she answered me or my mil or my mum or other adults rudely. I gave her a good piece of my mind and told hubs about it later. Hubs then chided her off and told her to apologize to me, to which she cried and ran to me saying sorry and hugging my legs. Lately, whenever I ask her to pick up her toys or anything that she had messed up with, she will answer me rudely and give tons of excuses to shirk responsiblity or ownership.

I wonder what has become of my #2, who used to be so sweet and lovable. Is the arrival of Baby C to be blamed for her transformation into a little monster? Or is this just her inborn character? Or is it simply because she is a middle child and this is just plain middle-child syndrome? Many of my friends tell me that this fler has 'character' and a strong personality. I don't know, I just hope that she will not transform into a wayward, problematic teenager and adult.

Our Saturday

Last Saturday, hubs was in a mood to bring the gals to the park in the morning.

Baby who has not drank her milk yet has to be spoon-fed the milk in the car. I tell ya, spoon-feeding her milk 3x a day is no joke and is one of the most unpleasant and stressful chores for me. Thank God, I can tai chi this chore to my maid in the morning, with me coming in to rescue her when Baby fusses.


From the car to the park, it took almost half an hour for me to finish spoon-feeding her 4 pathetic ounces of Pediasure (only 1.5 scoop of milk powder to 4 ounces of water as Pediasure is very sweet and thick and Baby just hates thick and sweet stuff).

After she had finished her milk, she was allowed to play, like a dog on a leash let loose.


Rascal #1 and #2's pants were so black that I had to place a plastic mat on the car seat before they sat on it.


After sweating it out at the playground, Daddy then brought us for breakfast at a nearby coffee shop for another sweat-it-out session.

After breakfast, we 'pong chan' the street vendors and bought more CNY cookies and snacks.

Though this outing is not as fun-filled as a stay in a Puerto Vallarta rental, the gals nevertheless enjoyed themselves to the max. They told me that they would love to have this sort of outing every week. Kids, they really are easy to please, aren't they?

Gathering With Old Classmates At Jungle Gym @ Bangsar Shopping Centre

Jenn, my childhood friend of over 3 decades is back from the U.S. We had a small gathering at Jungle Gym on Monday, which was a public holiday. It was really good meeting Jenn as we had not seen each other for 4 years since she left for the States. At the gathering were my 2 other close friends, Su May and Steph. We were all former school mates and have known each other for over 20 years.

While we had lunch at Stuff Your Face Cafe, the kids played in Jungle Gym.

This is what we had:

Hubs' Nasi Lemak. The rice was cooked with turmeric. Very delish!


Mac & Cheese with ham for Sherilyn.


Mac & Cheese with meat balls for Alycia.


My Hainanese Chicken Chop.

Mini beef burgers for kids with mashed potatoes and mashed green peas.

Stuff Your Face Cafe is located on the third floor of Bangsar Shopping Complex, tucked away between Jungle gym, Kiddie art class and a roller-skating rink. The Cafe is pretty kids-friendly and has tons of kids' books on a rack as well as toys at a corner.



After spending over 3 hours at Jungle Gym, we went to Cold Storage to get a pack of organic alphabet pasta for Baby.



Rascal #2 and #3 enjoying cucumber maki bought from Cold Storage.

How To Remove Celo Tape Glue From Surfaces

Rascal #2 loves to play with the double-sided tapes that I keep in my drawer. She sticks them everywhere. The other day, a few pages of her book had come off. She could not find any celo tape, so she fished out the double-sided tape and taped them everywhere on her book... and left traces of the tape on our marble dining table.


My maid and I tried to wipe off the tape on the table, but it just didn't budge. It stuck to the table like glue.


When my mum saw the glue on the table, she dabbed some cooking oil on a piece of toilet paper and wiped the table with the oil. After several minutes, the glue was completely wiped away! You can use oil to remove sticker price tags from brand new tumblers and containers too, it works the same, very effective!

Tangerines Crazed Girls

My 3 gals and I are tangerine lovers. It's the tangerines season now and since 2 weeks ago, we have been feasting on tangerines. Hubs has been buying a few kilograms of tangerines from the pasar malam every week. Baby who does not fancy eating fruits is absolutly crazy over those sweet tangerines.

She eats about 1-2 small tangerines everyday and occasionally some red raspberry leaf.


Munching on tangerines and glued to the idiot box. I hope my gals won't develop a chesty cough from eating too much of those tangerines.

Tasty Kids And Toddlers Meal - Mushroom Soup Macaroni With Fresh Mushrooms, Fish And Mixed Herbs

First marinate the fish slice with mixed herbs and some sea salt.


This is the type of mushrooms that I use. You can use any type of fresh mushrooms.


Once the pot of water is boiling, pour in the mushroom soup powder mix. I use Campbell's mushroom soup powder in sachet form. It's MSG-free. Stir well. Then dump all the shiitake mushrooms and fish into the pot. Cook for another 10-15 minutes. Add in 1-2 slices of cheese for a more cheesy taste (optional). When it's cooked, pour in the macaroni and mix well.

The macaroni / pasta / spaghetti can be cooked separately in another pot.


Once cooled down, store in small air-tight containers for deep freezing. These will be for Baby. Most of the time, rascal #2 will pinch 1/4 of it from her baby sister!


Rascal #1 and #2 enjoying their mushroom macaroni.

Daily Morning Struggle

This is what happens when Alycia does not get enough shut eye:



If she sleeps after 10pm, she will be struggling to keep herself awake when I wake her up at 6am sharp in the morning.

Yesterday morning, we were down at the lobby 5 minutes late and the transporter wasn't too happy. Alycia was ready but rascal #2 woke up at 6am, started to whine and fuss and scream and woke Baby up at 6am too. When the other 2 monkeys wake up at the same time, things will go hay wire. I told my maid that from tomorrow onwards, she and me, we must wake up at 5:45am and wake Alycia up before 6am. It's really bad to keep the driver waiting, though we have to pay her RM180 a month.

Damn Funny Experience

I have to put this in record here as this blog is a journal for my 3 gals. For those of you who have read this in Facebook, have another laugh again.

About a month ago, I brought Baby and rascal #2 to the paed's office for their vaccinations. Rascal #2 may look tough, daring and bold, but she is a real scardy cat when it comes to needles. When it was her turn to be poked in the butt, she clung on to daddy like a koala bear.... her front was facing daddy's front with her 2 legs clawed round daddy's fat fat belly... and 2 joker nurses went behind daddy, brought out a, a, a.... RATTLE (meant for infants!!!) and started to shake the rattle. OMG, as I am typing this, I am chukling to myself again. Each time I think of the 2 damn farny nurses, I will chuckle again. For Pete's sake, Sherilyn is 5 years old lar, not 5 months old lar, even Baby wouldn't be distracted by the rattle lar, ROTL. And you know, the 2 damn farny nurses were so serious when they shoke the rattle, a face devoid of a smile... as if they were robots. I know, they do this thousands of times in a day, but, but, aiyoh, come on, look at the child first (to see how old she/he is) before fishing the rattle out and shaking it and SMILE please or make some funny faces. I had a real good hearty laugh at the nurses in the clinic. I just could not help but burst out laughing real loud when I saw the nurses shaking the rattle in front of Sherilyn MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

Kids Nap The Darnest Ways

I really don't know what Alycia was thinking - wearing a hooded sweater to bed one night. For someone who can't stand heat, she wore this thick sweater to bed, with a blanky covering her body too! I think she loves this Disney Peter Pan sweater too much!

Training Baby To Eat Spicy Food

When Baby saw ko-koong (she calles my dad ko-koong) eating nasi lemak last week, she screamed "I wan peeeeash!". My mum then gave her a wee bit of the rice. After tasting it, she wanted more...



... and after a few rounds of the rice (which had a little sambal), she kept sticking out her tongue... and touched her tongue, in response to the stinging sensation on it. Her eyes turned red and watery and then she shoke her head and said "do wan". Haha, that's how we made her gulp down her water + supplements!

Our morning routine

I will wake up at 5:45am every morning, then wake Alycia up at 6am. She drinks a glass of fresh milk painfully (she tells me that she hates to drink milk or anything in the morning) while half asleep on the chair. Then I keep nagging her to hurry up coz we have to be at the lobby to wait for the transporter to pick her up before 7am.

After Alycia leaves for school, I either jog round the neighborhood, work out at the gym or have a dip in the pool. Once I'm home, I wake rascal #2 up and nag her non-stop to hurry up. She's the world's #1 Miss Dilly Dally and Miss No Urgency. If I am not around in the bathroom to supervise her, she will count her hair in the bathroom, play with the goggles that I hang in the bathroom, play with soap, play with toilet papers, play with water, good Lord knows what else she does. She will be late for school, unless I threaten her with the cane. She whines and cries on most mornings and I go through the throes of getting her to drink milk, wash up and dress up every morning on end.



Me leaving the house in the wee hours of the morning with Alycia. Then I went swimming and swam 25 laps. Could have swam longer but as always, time is always not on my side.

My poor baby is so very deprieved of sleep ever since she started attending P1. Shall blog about this in my next post.

Pasta Bolognaise For Kids And Toddlers

My 3 gals, especially Baby love pasta and spaghetti with bolognaise sauce. I normally use minced beef, pork or fish. I cook this dish for them at least once or twice a week. Last week, I used fish, shiitake mushrooms, big onions, tomatoes and celery to cook with the bolognaise sauce.

Here's my sauce and all the ingredients in the non-stick pan.

This is how the sauce looks like once the cooking is done.

I boiled 2 types of pastas - one is fettuccine for the 2 older gals and one is Heinz alphabet and number pasta for Baby. When the pasta is cooked al dente, I poured the sauce over and mixed everything well. I sprinkled some Parmesan grated cheese for the 2 older gals. No cheese for Baby coz I find it contains too much sodium for a tiny toddler.

This bowl is for the older gal.


This bowl is Baby's pasta and carrots before the sauce is added. I boiled the pasta and diced carrots together. With the carrots, the pasta would taste very sweet. Baby is a carrot lover and sometimes when she has no appetite to eat anything, she will survive on soup and carrots alone.


After mixing the sauce to the pasta and once cooled down, I transferred the pasta into small air-tight Tupperware containers for deep-freezing.

On another note, after a day's outing at Times Square yesterday, rascal #2 had continuous vomiting. Find out what happened at my health blog.

All-Time Favorite Fried Vermicelli

We have homecooked fried vermicelli at least once or twice a week. My 3 gals do not seem to get fed up with fried vermicelli, so do I. Preparation is easy, cooking time is short and I can cook large portions enough for lunch and dinner and even for deep freezing. On days when I don't have the time to cook, all I need to do to put piping hot and tasty food on the dining table is to reheat the fried mee hoon.



My fried mee hoon with bean sprouts, cabbage, chicken breast slice, 3 eggs, garlic, dried shrimps and shiitake mushrooms. It is seasoned with MSG-free and preservative-free soy sauce and pepper. Baby and Sherilyn love this noodles to bits!

Enjoying Her Breakfast

... in front of the idiot box. Baby has her breakfast seated in front of the idiot box every morning. Some people say it's really bad to eat in front of the TV. Ya know, if I don't do that, this fler won't drink her formula milk or her supplements. She's already under weight and I'm having a very tough and stressful time getting her to drink formula milk. Anyway, I think it's not that bad as Baby is picking up tons of nursery rhymes and general knowledge from the TV. She can now 'sing' many nursery rhymes and Barney songs and can even dance when she hears the songs.



Do you allow your kids to eat in front of the telly?

Baby C's First Indoor Theme Park Experience

Hubs brought us to Mid Valley for dinner and shopping one evening last week. It was an eleventh hour decision to go to Mid Valley. We had dinner at Canton-I @ Gardens again, hubs favorite Chinese restaurant. After dinner, I bought Alycia a pair of school shoes as spare. While I shopped, hubs brought the gals to the indoor theme park. Alycia and Sherilyn had been to the theme park umpteen times but it was Baby's first ever visit to the theme park. Needless to say, Baby was beaming with joy, excitement and amusement.

Riding on the rocking car with Alycia jie jie.


First ever ride on the carousel. Baby was a picture of excitement and fright, all in one facial expression. Cute!


Rocking fire truck ride with Sherilyn jie jie.

Getting Alycia And Sherilyn To Eat Enough Fruits

On school-going days, Alycia and Sherilyn hardly have the time to eat fruits. I normally make them freshly squeezed orange juice (an orange for each of them every other day), which they will drink before they eat their lunch, upon their return from school. On weekends, they will eat fruits half an hour after drinking milk in the morning. I believe that fruits should be taken on an empty stomach and not together or immediately after food. Alycia has no problem eating fruits, she's a food lover anyway. For Sherilyn, it's tough job to get her to eat anything, except for junkies! And unless it's fruits that she really loves like these:



Jackfruits, strawberries and mini mandarin oranges (sweet tangerines) and her all-time favorite durian! Try giving her an apple, a pear or an orange and she'll take forever to finish them. Most of the time, she doesn't finish her fruits, unless they are in juice form, this lazy girl, sigh....

Settling Well Into New Routine

Alycia is settling fairly well into her new routine ever since she started Primary 1. She has no problem waking up at 5:50am every morning, gets ready for school by herself (drinks milk, brushes teeth, washes up, dresses up, combs hair, wears socks and shoes, all by herself), in time to be picked up by the transporter by 6:40am. By the time she comes home from school at around 2pm, has a protracted lunch (this fler loves eating and spends at least an hour enjoying her lunch and then dessert + junk food), takes a shower and takes a nap without being told. Sometimes when she's in a playful mood, she will skip her nap and if this happens, she will be drop dead jaded and sleepy.

Last week, she skipped her afternoon nap and this was what happened during dinner:



For once, she slept on the chair while eating LOL!! I had to pull her up, urged her to shower and then she plopped onto her bed at 9pm and slept all the way until 6:50 the next morning!

Grim Reminder

Rascal #2 loves eating with chopsticks and mind you, she does not like to use kids' chopsticks but my mil's wooden chopsticks which are quite pointed at the front. This rascal also loves to play with the chopsticks... digging her teeth with the chopsticks, running around with the chopsticks and she has a habit of kneeling on the chair when she eats. I have always been worried whenever she uses a pair of chopsticks to eat coz the problem with her is that she NEVER sits still when she eats. She takes 2-3 hours to finish each meal and no amount of coaxing and caning will deter her from repeating her habit. Sometimes she fights with Alycia during meal times.

Last week, there was an article in the newspapers that reported a 3-year old boy from China who had a chopstick stuck to his nostril while he was playing, which went into his brain. It was a freak accident and thank God the boy survived. I showed the picture to Alycia and Sherilyn, exaggerated a wee bit on the story to scare them in the hope of deterring them from playing with chopsticks. It worked. I scared them out of their wits. I even threatened rascal #2 that I will stick the picture on the kitchen cabinet so that she will not play with chopsticks again. Alycia was quick to help me cut out the article and stuck it on the kitchen cabinet, hahahahahahaha.... Since that day, none of them dared touch the chopsticks again. I will allow rascal #2 use chopsticks to eat again when she's more matured in her thoughts and outgrows all her mischief.

Finally...A Giraffe Soft Toy From Guardian Pharmacy

After collecting the soft toy redemption stamps from Guardian Pharmacy for over 2 months, we finally filled up the card with stamps. For every RM10 spent, a stamp would be issued. Each time we shopped at Guardian, my gals would be eyeing and touching the redemption soft toys at the counter. They would be telling me that wanted the elephant. Last week after dropping Sherilyn off for ballet class, we had 2 rounds of shopping sprees at Guardian Pharmacy and finally filled the Guardian Pharmacy card with stamps. We must thank the gals' 2 godfathers for contributing some of the stamps. We also have to thank a stranger who gave his stamps to us when he saw my gals going gaga over the soft toys at the Guardian Pharmacy counter several weeks ago.

Since the elephant was out of stock, my gals had to settle for a cute giraffe. The quality of the soft toy is very good.





Guess who liked the giraffe the most and has been hogging it?

And guess who was the one who had been diligently collecting the stamps from Guardian? Me, daddy, Alycia or Sherilyn?