March 2008 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Our Sunday

Daddy left the house at 5am for Ipoh to perform Cheng Meng (All Souls Day) offerings to his late father and grandparents yesterday. We stayed at home. I slept in with the kids until almost 8am. After the gals finished their milk, we all walked to a nearby Indian restaurant to pack some food back for lunch. Whilst waiting for our roti canai, tosei and chicken curry, I ordered my favorite teh-C tarik (pulled tea with evaporated milk, minus the condensed milk and sugar). I also bought some nyonya kuih for breakfast. I know kuihs are not a healthy choice but the gals and I love them and I allow us to eat them once or twice a week.

After breakfast, I finally packed my hospital bag. There weren’t many things to pack and I was done in under half an hour or maybe I’m already a pro in this, after having gone through 2 c-sections. As I was packing, especially the baby’s clothes, I kept having a flood of emotions. I just can’t believe that in 1.5 week’s time, I will be a mother of 3 kids. I just don’t know how I am going to cope. As it is now, my 2 kids are already driving me bonkus all the time. But I believe God will not put me in a situation that I can’t handle. I believe God will help me out and will not let me drown. I also wondered how my baby will look – will she be pretty, will she be perfect, will she be fair or dark, will she have dimples just like Alycia and Sherilyn, will she have big eyes like Alycia, will her kidneys be alright? Will my confinement lady drive me up the wall just like my previous CL? I also felt chills running down my body when I think of myself in the OT again, waiting for the anesthetist to come and administer the spinal cord anesthetic on me. That is something that I fear the most as it is really painful and frightening….. frightened that should the anesthetist administer the wrong dosage or at the wrong place, I’ll be finished. I also kept thinking of the immense pain I’ll be experiencing again when I get out of bed to walk after the c-section. I just felt soooo terribly worried and scared yet excited, all at the same time.

No. of times viewed = 377

Customized T-Shirt Printing

Everything can be done online these days. Do you know that you can even have customized T-shirt printing done online? I discovered that at tshirtman.com, I can create my own T-shirt, pants, shorts, clothes for infants, polos, sweatshirts and hundreds of other products. The T-shirt printing at tshirtman.com is a completely automated process and products are of high quality. All you have to do is to select your garment, add images and/or text to your garment, select the size, indicate the quantity you want, save your design and you are all done. Your T-shirt printing will be processed and will be shipped to you. Tshirtman.com even gives you a guarantee that their prices are the lowest on the internet!

No. of times viewed = 212

Happy Birthday Mummy

Daddy brought us for dinner at the Japanese restaurant at PJ Hilton last night as it was mummy’s birthday. After dinner, we came home to sing happy birthday to mummy, blew the candles and cut the cake. Though it was mummy’s birthday, we stole her thunder and we treated it like it was our birthday…. as usual. Daddy bought mummy a walnut and chestnut cake.

Initially Mummy was a tad disappointed that daddy did not buy her any birthday gift. Sherilyn kept asking “why daddy din buy mummy any present, why, why, why?” Mummy said “yalor, why? Go ask daddy why.” Then daddy asked mummy to make him a cup of green tea. When mummy was in the kitchen, daddy gave Alycia 2 small boxes and asked her to give them to mummy. Mummy was really surprised. So what was inside the boxes?

Remember daddy had lost his wedding ring 5 years ago? Mummy was really upset that he had lost something so precious and told him to get another wedding ring soon. So daddy kept his promise and bought a pair of gold wedding ring – one for mummy and one for daddy. Mummy was so happy that daddy kept his promise. Though daddy may appear like a piece of log sometimes and not the romantic type, he still takes the effort to make mummy happy once in a purple moon.

After eating the cake, Daddy, mummy and the both of us sat on daddy and mummy’s king size bed and watched the Disney movie ‘Enchanted’ till almost midnight. We really enjoyed the movie very much. It was really an enjoyable day for us.

No. of times viewed = 685

Everyone Loves Pretty Bathroom Vanities

There are two places in my home that I just love to decorate – my bedroom and the bathroom attached to the master bedroom. I already have in my mind how I would like my bedroom and bathrooms to be decorated. If our budget permits, I would love for our bathrooms to have pretty bathroom vanities, built-in bathroom cabinets, designer sinks and unique shower and bathroom faucets. I have been longing for years to have my own bathroom accessorized with these vanities like the ones you see in 5-star hotels.

I have gone to a number of home furnishing websites to look for ideas and to see what’s the latest in home furnishing. I notice that the latest trend in bathroom décor is bathroom vanities. Many homeowners now decorate their bathrooms with elegant bathroom vanities, fitted with classy vessel sinks, designer sinks and unique shower / bathroom faucets. One website that carries a large selection of unique sinks is tradewindsimports.com. The line of sinks at Tradewinds Imports is made of the finest natural stone products imported from around the world, ranging from granite, marble, travertine, sandstone and onyx. Do check out their website now and I am sure you will fall in love with their selection of unique sinks and bathroom vanities.

No. of times viewed = 366

Alycia Writing Mandarin Words

When it comes to writing simple Mandarin words, Alycia has no problem. She can easily write them without the need of dots to guide her to trace. She can also write the strokes in the correct order.

Alycia is writing the word ‘wen’ or cloud in Mandrin here.

No. of times viewed = 466

A Fountain In Your Home

My hubby is one who believes in feng shui. He has a number of feng shui items at home, of which one is a fish pond with lots of little fish in our garden. If our garden were big enough, I know he would even place a garden fountain there and rear Japanese carps. A fountain in the garden with 8 Japanese carps swimming inside the water is considered auspicious and good feng shui. I would also love to have a fountain in our garden, not so much of it bringing good ‘chi’ but since young, I’ve always wanted to have a fountain in my garden, indoor or outdoor. What I really love about having a fountain in the house is the soothing sound of running water it creates. I know my kids will also love to have a fountain with fish, turtles and plants inside.

If I were to buy a fountain to be placed in my home, I will choose a tabletop fountain, since we don’t have a large garden for a garden fountain. I’ve seen some very nice fountains at Fountain Crafters. They have a wide selection of beautiful wall fountains, floor fountains, table top fountains and indoor water fountains. If you are a fountain lover, you should check out Fountain Crafters. They have really beautiful fountains for your home and office.

No. of times viewed = 205

One Tough Cookie

Two days ago, as I was busy in the wet kitchen teaching my maid cooking, Sherilyn the ever hyper-active rascal cut her lower lip when she was jumping up and down and knocked her lip on the sides of the playpen. Alycia who saw Sherilyn bleeding on the lip was yelling out to me telling me what had happened. I did not really answer her since I did not hear any crying and I wasn’t really listening too. When I came inside, I saw Alycia wiping Sher’s lips with a tissue paper. I was shocked to see blood oozing out from Sher’s lower lip. I was even more surprised that Sher did not cry but just looked dead-pan and obviously in pain. She must have been too scared to tell me since I’ve warned her countless times never to do dangerous stunts. She looked ‘stone’ for the next few hours and couldn’t even eat her dinner. The cut on her lip was quite deep and her lip was slightly swollen. It was still bleeding yesterday and today, the bleeding has stopped but she now looks like an abused child. This brat of mine always gets herself into trouble and is very accident-prone.

Todate, she had broken her left thumb and the nail dropped off when it got squashed by a steel door (year 20o6), was hit by a moving swing in the park (2006), cracked her forehead (on Valentine’s Day this year), fell off the bed countless times and had bumps on her head and has scars everywhere on her legs resulting from falls. She really does look like an abused child looking at the scars on her legs but this brat is really one tough and resilient cookie.

No. of times viewed = 356

Ballerina In The Making

Here are some pix which I took during Alycia’s ballet class yesterday. Though parents are not allowed to go inside the class, I managed to discreetly snap some pix.

The students lining up for their turn to walk tip-top, chest out, hands on waist and head raised, towards the teacher. Alycia is the second tallest in the class and she’s standing second from the back row.

Alycia’s first try… and she really looked so stiff and funny. Not only did she raise her head, she also protruded her chin so awkwardly, in her effort to raise her head, LOL!

The teacher correcting Alycia on how she should position her head.

The teacher informed us that ballerinas should preferably have long hair and tied up during classes. The fringe should also be clipped up.

No. of times viewed = 431

How Much Did Your Urut Lady Charge You?

I did not engage a Malay Urut Lady (masseurs) after I delivered Alycia 4 years ago. I had a bad case of ‘yup foong‘ (literally means wind has entered your body in Chinese, which will cause a host of pains in the body). I suffered from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Bronchitis for several months.

After I delivered Sherilyn, I told myself I must get an urut lady to expel the wind from my body. I did hire one and I really enjoyed the massage and tungku (hot stone on belly) sessions. The urut lady charge me RM50 per session of around 1 hour. I didn’t experience any problems with my health after Sher’s birth. Maybe it was pure coincidence or the massage really did wonders.

I am now planning to engage an urut lady to massage me again during my confinement. Montessorimum gave me a contact of her former urut lady. She is charging RM500 for a 6-day package. This EXCLUDES RM150 for the ubat-ubat (traditional Malay medicine) and RM60 for transportation for 6 days. I am to deposit 60% of RM500 into the urut lady’s bank account to book her. She sounded like she’s very popular and has many clients.

Did you have an urut lady after the birth of your child? How much were you charged? Hiring a urut lady really ain’t cheap eh?

No. of times viewed = 1240

No Flowers Or Gifts

My hubby never bought me any flowers or gifts after I had delivered Alycia and Sherilyn. Even my dad who is considered a ‘china man’ and conservative in his thinking brought flowers and a card for my mum when he visited her in the hospital after she had given birth to my 2 brothers and me. I doubt my hubby will give me any flowers or gifts this time round, unless I request them from him, but this defeats the whole purpose of a surprise, right? I really feel that when a woman receives some flowers or a small gift from her husband after she had gone through hours of a painful labor can really cheer her up and ease some of the pain she’s suffering. Don’t you think so? Did you receive any flowers, card or gifts from your husband after the birth of your kids?

No. of times viewed = 189

Wellsphere – A Website For Fitness Freaks

Do you have unsightly flabby arms that you would love to tone up? I’m sure it is every woman’s desire to be able to wear their dream sexy halter-neck top, a tube top or a spaghetti strap top and flaunt their well-toned and slim arms. Well, if you are one of them, you can read all about tricep exercise at wellsphere.com, a website that fitness freaks will absolutely love. Here, you can read all about tricep exercises, strength training, weight loss and much more interesting articles on fitness. Quick sign up as a member of wellsphere.com for free. Members can get free advice and tips on questions related to fitness and exercise. There are even videos on tricep exercises at this awesome website.

No. of times viewed = 208

I Can Wear This, Mummy!

Do you have any idea why my little Miss Vain Pot is posing here?

My mum brought back some of the newborn baby clothes that Alycia used to wear, from Ipoh 2 weeks ago. I had put the plastic bag of old clothes in the laundry basket for my maid to wash them in the washing machine. As curious as ever, my 2 kay poh chees (nosy parker) began to rummage through the bag of old clothes and as expected, Sherilyn fished out one of the newborn baby vests

and walked around the house parading the vest, nonchalantly. My mum and I were so stunned that Sherilyn managed to wear the newborn baby vest and she made us all laughed really hard.

Can you believe Sherilyn can still squeeze herself into this tiny vest for new babies from Mothercare? That’s how petite she is!

I remember I used to wear vests like this in the mid 90s and I think Sherilyn looked really cute in this vest, LOL!

No. of times viewed = 365

Yummylicious Desserts

Are these sinful desserts making you salivate now? We had lunch at Delicious @ Bangsar Village on Monday and ordered these for our desserts :

Mango cheese cakes with chunks of fresh mango bits and shreds of lemon grass (serai).

Apple and peach crumble with vanilla ice-cream.

Verdict – the mango cheese cake was good but I didn’t quite like the apple and peach crumble. I should have ordered the banana pudding instead.

No. of times viewed = 189

Mail Order Brides

Have you heard of the term mail order bride? Nope, it is not ordering a bride through mail but is a label applied to a woman who formally publishes her intent to marry a man from another, usually more developed country than her own. Most of the women referred to as mail order brides list themselves on the internet and communicate /date regularly with their intended husband prior to marriage. Most of the mail order brides hail from developing countries like Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Colombia, Venezuela, Thailand, Mexico, Vietnam, China, India and Philippines. Dating agencies such as loversplanet.com, a Russian dating website have scores of pretty Russian girls who are genuinely looking for husbands from developed countries. If you are looking for a soul mate too, do check out loversplanet.com and get yourself listed as a mail order husband!

No. of times viewed = 148

That’s My PaPa

That’s Alycia’s drawing of papa (father in Mandarin). Don’t you think it looks like a scarecrow?

I had a hard time teaching Alycia write the character papa in Mandarin. Though I had dotted out the word for her, she still could not remember the order of the strokes. Each time she does her Mandarin homework, I will have to watch her carefully and ensure that the strokes are written in the right order. Towards the last few words, Alycia finally managed to follow the dots on the words in the correct order. She has no problems writing words with simple and few strokes (even if they are without dotted lines) but when the word has more than 6 strokes, she tends to forget the order. Alycia can now recognize a few Chinese words.

No. of times viewed = 223

Workbench For My Wet Kitchen

Our wet kitchen is in our backyard. There is only an L-shaped counter top for us to place a stove. Each time I cook, things will be scattered everywhere on the counter top. I’ve seen some durable, mobile and flexible workbenches from Formaspace and it would be good if I can place a Workbench in the backyard. Cooking will be made easier and more organized if I can lay out all the ingredients, sauces, plates, chopper and chopping board on the workbench.

No. of times viewed = 140

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