Sure Way To Get Her To Drink Water

It's a chore and a big bag of stress for me getting Baby to drink water. She has now rebelled on drinking water. If not for my handiest tool aka the cane to threaten her, Baby wouldn't drink water, most of the time.

Recently I found a very effective way of getting Baby to drink water, gallons of it, without any fuss from her. All I need to do is to put one or two ice-cubes into her cup of water and tadaa.... it's like seeing magic right before my eyes AHAHAHA! Within minutes, this fella will chug down the cup of water and ask for more, of course with ice cubes inside.

Enfagrow A+ Learning Toolkit - A Fun And Informative Website For Parents And Kids

Since the commencement of the school holidays, my 2 older kids have been bored to the core. Hubby and I have been extremely tied down with our own business respectively and have not really had the time to bring the kids for outings. The kids have been bugging me with questions on when we are going to their koong koong and granny’s in Ipoh and then to Penang for a short holiday. Alycia and Sherilyn have been two couch potatoes with their eyes glued to the TV since the start of the school holiday on Saturday. I feel bad that I can’t afford much time to spend with them.

Yesterday evening I decided to put aside my work to spend some time with Alycia and Sherilyn. The 3 of us were seated in front of the computer and had a very enjoyable bonding time playing with some educational games at First2Learn. We chose the games for kids 6 years and above. There are also specially designed intellectual games for kids 1-3 years old and 3-6 years old. We had loads of fun playing the ‘spot the difference’ game. I must admit that my 2 older girls are sharper than me and could spot the difference in the pictures at a faster pace than me! I also taught them multiplication through the Math game which was designed to teach kids multiplication in a very interesting way. I haven’t had this much fun with them for a long time!

If you have kids aged between 1-7 years old, you really have to check out Enfagrow A+ Learning Toolkit at First2Learn and try out the games with your kids. There are also daily handy tips for parents, useful articles from experts and also a learning milestone checklist for parents. No registration is required and anyone is free to use the website.




The girls playing with the games and hogging my PC!


Spot the difference game. Can you spot the difference? My girls spotted the difference quicker than me!


Math games designed in a creative and fun way for kids.


Interesting educational games for kids aged 1 and above.

Driving Me Bonkers

Yesterday, I felt like someone had just stabbed the back of my shoulder blade with a knife. Alycia and Sherilyn wanted to eat ice-cream. After cutting the Magnum ice-cream into 2 pieces for them to share, some of the chocolate coating fell on the floor. As I was squatting down to clean up the mess on the floor, rascal #2 opened the drawer to get a spoon. I was right under the drawer. When I stood up, my back hit the sharp corner of the drawer and I yelled out in pain. I was screaming away in pain and fuming mad that rascal #2 opened the drawer despite seeing mummy right under the drawer. It was darn painful and felt like someone had just scraped my skin with a knife! Alycia quickly took a tissue to wipe the blood off and rascal #2 was corroded with guilt. I was really mad with rascal #2 for opening the drawer despite seeing me right under it but I knew it was merely an accident. But yet, I was angry coz my shoulder blade was burning with pain. I was already having a terrible back pain (I still think I am having a mild slipped disc. Will check out the doctor for an x-ray today) and with that stab on my shoulder, I felt terrible.

Minutes later after she had finished her ice-cream, rascal #2 balanced a melamine plate on her arm by stretching out her arm and put the plate on top of the arm. Of course the plate dropped immediately and broke into pieces. Kek sei ngor!! This fella is driving me bonkers!.



My bare skin was scraped off by the sharp corner of the drawer, like skin of an apple scraped off by a fruit peeler *OUCH*!!




My back hit the sharp corner of this drawer.

Ocean Green Seafood Restaurant, Penang

Our first stop was at Ocean Green Seafood Restaurant when we arrived in Penang on Thursday last week. We didn't have much time to go elsewhere for lunch as we were running a tad late for our appointment to see Baby's surgeon. Ocean Green is the nearest to the hospital and is one of hubby's favorite seafood restaurant in Penang.


Here are the dishes that we ordered:

Shark's fins omelette...

Stir fried asparagus and steamed fresh prawns...

Hoe chien (fresh oyster omelette)...


Steamed egg for Baby...




Steamed cod fish for the kids...


Steamed crabs...



Alycia, who is another crab and prawn fansee, just like her daddy....

Healthy stuff eh? Everything steamed! We had a very enjoyable lunch, albeit we couldn't enjoy sitting there longer to enjoy the food as we were already late for the doctor's appointment.

Our Holiday In Penang

The girls preferred to stay in the hotel and eat in than to eat out. So we had food delivered to our room:



The girls enjoying their called-in meals at the comforts of the hotel room and most importantly, they can eat right in front of the idiot box!


Penang char koay teow and ice creams for dessert.



Hot dog wrapped with egg and cheese.

Guess how we slept for the night? Daddy, Sherilyn, Baby and I slept on the king-sized bed and my big baby slept in the baby cot with her legs all curled up! But she slept oh so soundly :)

Persuaded To Go For A Holiday

Before we left for Penang, we had to persuade and coax Alycia to follow us to Penang. When she reached my parents in Ipoh, she was very much at home and kept telling us how much she liked it in Ipoh at her granny’s and grandpa’s. She insisted that she did not want to follow us to Penang. Daddy wasn’t too happy with that. Nothing that daddy or I said would make her change her mind. It was granny who managed to talk her into following us. I asked Alycia what she liked about granny and grandpa’s house and she gave us a long list – the bicycles, the kid’s wading pool, the contemporary furniture, the strolls along the hillside every morning and everything about Ipoh. Kids these days are really privileged. They even have to be persuaded to go for a holiday!

Our Stay In Penang

The 2nd post-surgery ultrasound scan of Baby's right kidney went well today. You can read all about it here.

Baby has been super duper cranky today. It all started when she got up at 6am this morning and didn't go back to sleep until 11:30am when she was in the car. She slept for 1.5 hours throughout the journey to Penang. Throughout the day, she has been very edgy and picking up fights and quarels with her 2 jie jies. I tell you, this bossy fella is the fiercest among my 3 girls and is a real fighter cock! While waiting in the car for our apam to be ready (we always have to wait at least half an hour for this famous Guan Apam at Burmah Road), Baby was crabby and picked up a big fight with Alycia. Long story cut short, once back at the hotel, it was a torture for my helper and I to feed her milk or any other liquid. She only wanted to eat the apam and gobbled down 3 whole apams!

At night, she kept fussing and whining and said "I dowan this bed, I want to go home" After coaxing her, she is now sound asleep. It is really a handful handling 3 kids on a holiday, 2 of which are forever so whiny and full of demands. I am drop dead exhausted and sleepy now. I can barely open my eyes but I have to update this blog before I see cobwebs appearing in the blog! Plus I have an important advertorial to complete for an advertiser. What a holiday!

Crazy Maid... Part II

This morning, Alycia ran to me and announced "mummy, mummy, I saw kakak scooping out our milk powder and putting into her mouth!!" She then demonstrated how kakak ate the milk powder to me. When I queried her, this crazy maid initially denied... then realized she cannot deny as Alycia caught her red handed. After hesitating, she said "I nak rasa manis ke tidak". What a silly answer. She has been fixing milk for the girls for so long, what is there to taste. And she's not trying the already mixed milk powder with water - she ate the milk POWDER, direct from the tin using the spoon inside the tin and then put the spoon back inside the milk powder!! When I washed the spoon later, I had a hard time scrubbing off the thickened milk powder that stuck to the spoon. YUCKS, can you imagine how DIRTY it is to have her saliva inside there??

This ain't the first time I caught her doing this. My mum and I had caught her many many times putting my kids' milk and our food into her mouth just when she thought no one was looking. No wonder my kids' milk powder are finishing SO fast! To think that she's been pinching Baby's expensive Pediasure formula everyday is making me furious. I will definitely buy her a tin of milk if she asked for it. She has been asking for 3-in-1 coffee and I buy her a big packet of 30 sachets every single month. I also gave her the green light to drink my milk powder. So why is she stealing my kids' milk powder and eating the milk powder directly from the tin with the same spoon inside the tin? That is just SO unhygienic!! Lately, this lady has been doing things that made my mil and I blew our top. Stealing food is still tolerable but hitting my kids and hurting them is totally unacceptable! But I keep telling myself to 'YAN' (bear with it) as her days are numbered here.

Princess Wannabe's Last Day Of School

This was taken on Friday, the last day of the first school term...


Koo Mar bought this Princess Aurora costume, complete with the Princess clogs for Sherilyn when the girls were in Hong Kong last year. This was the 4th time she donned on this costume. For once I allowed her to bring Mamee to school for the teacher's day party. So unhealthy hor? Once in a blue moon should be ok wat right?

Lazy To Pee

Rascal #2 has a habit of holding back her wee wee whenever she is too engrossed in playing, watching TV or having fun. When she has accidents in her pants, this fella will give silly, real silly excuses. One time she peed in her jammies when she was first weaned off diapers at night. After she had peed in her pants, she woke up and then nonchalantly walked to the bathroom and said "I feel hot, I want to take out my pants" but gave me the guilt + embarassed stricken look on her face. She just won't admit that she had wet her pants. Yesterday again she peed in her pants. After the pee accident, she walked to the bathroom nonchalantly again and said "mummy, my panty is a bit wet".

"Did you wee wee in your pants?" I asked? "No I didn't, a bit wet only". I asked her once more if she had peed in her pants to which she replied "no I didn't, the urine came out by itself!" Aaaargh... why is it so hard to admit your mistake girl??! Kek sei ngor lor!!

Crazy Maid

I know many of you will say I am crazy to keep a crazy helper at home. This morning, while feeding Baby milk, Baby got cranky, couldn't sit still and moved about. My helper got agitated as well and I think she must have pushed Baby on the head, resulting in her falling off the arm rest of the sofa... onto the floor with a loud bang! Her forehead is now blue black. I wasn't around to see what happened but I heard a loud bang and Baby wailing like crazy. My helper kept telling me that Baby fell on her own. But Baby who speaks very well for her age told me "naughty kakak, naughty kakak". I asked her if kakak pushed her and she said yes. Fast forwarded to evening today. While seated on the potty in the bathroom, she told me out of the blue "kakak pushed my head and I jatuh floor", while pointing to her forehead when she said "pushed my head". I must be crazy to keep this crazy maid at home. I must send her back asap and keep her away from Baby! She is a child abuser!

Homecooked Dishes

Here're more of my mil's sau sai (culinary skill). Don't get jealous hor hehehe... but you may salivate...


Shallow fried fish stuffed with freshly pounded turmeric...


Stir-fried bitter gourd with left over siew yoke (roast pork), tau cheong, chilli and Chinese basil leaves...


My favorite braised turnip with dried cuttlefish, mushrooms, pork slices and garnished with Chinese parsley.

She will leave us again soon for HK and I am gamed to cater food from one of those caterers who claim that they don't use MSG in their cooking. I don't think I will have the time to cook without a maid or a mil around.

Fruitful Morning

It has been a fruitful morning for me. I managed to dish up 5 advertisements for my 2 blogs, 3 personal posts for my 3 blogs and replied emails to customers and suppliers. I got up at 5:30am to start working, went out for a run at 7:15am, came home, prepared Sherilyn for school and have been sitting in front of my PC since. I haven't even taken my breakfast yet. Thank God Baby is still sleeping. She rarely sleeps in to beyond 8am. Now, I have my next load of work to accomplish - update my Excel worksheet for all my customers' order, shoot out invoice, pay suppliers, perform QA on customers' clothes, pack customers' clothes into Pos Laju bags, etc. etc. In between, I have to handle my 3 rascals. Work, work, work, why is my work never ending wan?? I need a BREAK!!!

Terror Maid

I have been so busy with my online store that I have been getting my helper to feed Baby more and more these days. Baby is getting more and more restless these days and it's a torture to get her to drink water. Sadly, it's only when I flash the cane and threaten to beat her that she will take only sips of water. My helper does not have the patience to coax Baby to drink water. Many times, she had hit Baby when she fidgeted too much, refused to drink and spilled water. I went ballistic when she hit Baby on the chin the other day, to punish her for spilling water. Yet, she blatantly denied hitting Baby. But Baby is not a baby anymore. She ran to me bawling and said "kakak beat me, kakak beat me" and when I asked her "beat where", she pointed to her chin and said "here". The same thing happened last week when she hit Baby on the mouth. I can't wait for this lady to return to Indon for good. I hope I can cope without her.

Neglected blog

I realized this morning that I have neglected this blog for 2.5 days! I hardly ever neglect my blogs. Blogging is my passion. I have been so bogged down with my online store that I have totally forgotten to update this beloved blog of mine. If it’s not for the review of Phentermine 37.5, I would not even log in to this blog to check. O_o, I better spend some time everyday to update my blogs, lest I lose all my readers!

Eat Everything You Want And Stay Slim

I discovered that I can eat almost everything that I fancy and not get fat. The idea here is the portion size. Instead of gobbling down a full size portion of chocolate cake, eat only half a slice or a quarter slice. Satiate your craving but don’t overfeed it and you don’t have to rely on the best weight loss pills to stay slim! Of course, you have to stay active and exercise for optimum results.

Without Help Very Soon

Just a moment ago, I saw something black and moving on the floor. At a closer look, I realized that it was a COCKROACH!! Yikes, I hate roaches and they are one of my greatest fears. I freaked out and yelled out "Dyaaaaaaaaah, cepat bawa Shelltox, cepat, cepat, cepat, ada cockroach!!!". My helper came running with a can of Shelltox and quickly aimed at the roach and sprayed on it continuously till the little fler struggled and died. She then wrapped it with a tissue paper and flushed it down the toilet.

A few weeks down the road, my helper will be back Indon for good and I will be left alone to handle 3 rambunctious kids. Mil will be away in HK for a few months soon and hubby is always not home. I keep telling myself that I can handle the kids without a full-time helper but in times like this when I need help or when my kids are sick and vomiting, who is going to help me? I guess in times like this, I have to brace myself for the worst, cry and scream for help or call 999 for help, boo hoo hoo hoo.... :(

On The Eve Of Their Exams

This was taken on the eve of Alycia and Sherilyn's exam. They were playing balloons, went swimming, watched TV and Sherilyn sat for her actual ballet exam and was away at the exam centre the whole morning.

I have been very, very relaxed with them, doing very little revision with them as I was both too bogged down with work and didn't want to put too much stress on them. After all, Alycia is only in Primary 1 and Sherilyn is only 5 years old. I only did a max of 1-2 hours of revision with them on the eve of their exam. Alycia scored pretty good marks with 90 and above for all her papers. But maybe all her classmates scored just as good marks as her, who knows? As for Sherilyn, I admit I have not been doing much revision with her at all ever since I started running an online business. I wouldn't blame her if she scores poor marks. I must, must, must go slow with my business and spend more time with my kids!

Bossy Baby

My helper was feeding Baby lunch yesterday. Baby was seated on her booster seat placed on the dining chair. She was restless and moved about, almost fell off the seat several times. My helper then reprimanded Baby and asked her to sit still. Baby pretended to be angry and said this in a feigned angry tone "what you say, what you say huh??" .... to which my helper asked her to sit properly and held her hand, so that she would not move and fall off the chair. Baby retorted and said this "don't kacau me!" in the bossiest manner ever lol!!

Essentially Homemade

Here's what I love having for breakfast :


Homemade multi-grain bread with homemade pesto sauce and homemade hazel nut bread spread. YUMS.... so yummy, so healthy, so homemade and chokefull of fibre and nutrients. Some of you will go "OMG, how can she swallow that stuff in the morning?" but iLove! I honestly prefer this to a packet of nasi lemak, kuih or curry puffs.