July 2008 – Page 3 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Incredibly Stylish Eyeglasses

My dad has one of the most unfashionable pair of reading eyeglasses I have ever seen. Whenever he wears the eyeglasses with big black frames, he looks like someone living in the 1970s! I think I should get him a Zenni Optical $ 8 Rx Eyeglasses from ZenniOptical.com. Do you know that there are incredible stylish new frames from Zenni at really affordable prices? Go check out ZenniOptical today and get yourself a pair of stylish eyeglasses too. Oh yes, in case you do not know, Zenni Optical was on FOX news!

No. of times viewed = 198

My Workout Companion

Every morning, I will bring Baby C with me when I workout either on my trampoline or out jogging. She loves it when I put her in her stroller. Within 15 minutes in her stroller, either with me pushing her whilst I jog or with her sitting there watching me workout on my trampoline, she will drift to lala land and have a long nap. I don’t even have to nurse her, rock her or cradle her, she falls asleep on her own oh so easily in her stroller.

Baby C strapped in her stroller watching mummy jump, run and dance on the trampoline…. till she falls asleep everyday.

No. of times viewed = 239

A Vending Machine That Dispenses Healthy Snacks

When I was a kid, I used to spend all my pocket money on junk food bought from the school canteen. After I had bought the junk food, I would stealthily put them in my school bag and once home, I would hide the junk food under my mattress! Of course my junk act was soon discovered by my parents and I was reprimanded big time. That was more than 20 years ago and up until today, schools in our country are still selling all sorts of junk food and unhealthy meals to kids. Not only are the schools selling junk food and unhealthy food to kids, vending machines that dispense junk food and sugar-laden soft drinks / packet drinks are also mushrooming in schools and other public places like hospitals, colleges, offices and parks.

I am seriously of the opinion that public places, especially schools should sell only healthy and wholesome food to kids. In the U.S., there are high tech YoNaturals Vending Health Food for schools, health clubs, colleges, retirement homes, shopping malls, factories and other public places. These YoNaturals vending machines dispense tasty, natural and organic snacks / drinks that meet nutritional guidelines for kids at affordable price. YoNaturals’ in-house product development team works closely with the manufacturers of their products to ensure that they offer the best selection of healthy snacks that meet their customer’s expectations.

If only there were YoNaturals vending machines in each school in our country, kids would have a healthier alternative when it comes to selecting their choice of food. Kids should be trained from young to choose only healthy and wholesome food.

No. of times viewed = 157

Baby C Loves Daddy

It’s funny how babies can identify their daddies…. maybe through the smell or the familiar voice that they have been hearing for 9 months while in mummy’s tummy. Though hubby is seldom at home as he works late, Baby C somehow knows that the only man who carries her at home is daddy. The moment she sees daddy, she would give him the sweetest smile, the smile that seems to tell daddy that she knows he is her daddy.

Whenever daddy comes home late at night, he would kacau her – by kissing her, talk to her and stroke her head…till she wakes up! And then he will put her back to sleep by cradling her, as if deliberately waking her up, just so he can talk to her and cradle her.

Daddy talking and playing with Baby C last night and she was so happy, she was squealing and cooing away.

No. of times viewed = 414

A Health Freak Nursing Mom’s Breakfast

Now that I am breastfeeding Baby C exclusively, I have to ensure that I eat wholesome food. No more eating packed roadside ‘economy fried noodles’ or cee cheong fun with loads of sweet sauce for breakfast, though I still eat them once in a blue moon.

Instead, my breakfast consists of :

7:30am – 1 glass of plain water and 1 glass of milk with my multivitamins and Probiotics

8:30am – fruits — red dragon fruits, oranges, kiwi fruits, papaya, grapes, cherries, etc

9am – half an hour of exercise

Second session breakfast consists of :

10am – Sugar-free low fat yoghurt with pumpkin seeds, walnuts, almonds, pecan nuts, chick peas and roasted soya beans.

A kampung chicken egg (free-range chicken) everyday.

A packet of Iko multi-grain biscuits or

Peanut butter / black sesame paste / cheese with wholemeal bread and.

A glass of sugar-free soya bean milk.

Sugar-free low fat yoghurt with seeds and nuts.

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Cheapest Place To Buy Eyeglasses

I discovered something really unbelievable today. I found out that I can buy complete prescription eyeglasses at only $8 a pair at zennioptical.com, the low price eye glasses online store. There is a huge selection of very stylish yet affordable frames, with single vision lens, sun-sensor lens, tinted sunglasses lens, bifocal lens and progressive lens.

Who says you need to spend hundreds of bucks on a pair of eyeglasses? To those who are in an austerity drive or frugal living drive now, do check out ZenniOptiocal.com and get yourself or your loved ones a pair of cheap eyeglasses today.

No. of times viewed = 360

How My Tuesday Went

It was another tiring day today, with most of my time devoted to Baby C and I only have the time to sit down and blog now. In the morning, I managed to work out on my trampoline and went for a short jog…. all these I did with Baby C with me. I can never go out of her sight, else she will wail her lungs out and my mil can’t even placate her. Only managed to work out for 20 minutes. I must increase the duration slowly, to at least half an hour a day. Then had a quick bath, quick breakfast and then nursed my demanding princess, bathed her and put her to nap.

Baby C did not nap for long the entire day today. I spent the entire afternoon talking to her, singing to her, putting her on her tummy and encouraged her to lift up her head and tried putting her to nap…. but she just wouldn’t nap for long. Before I knew it, it was time to bring my 3 gals to our paed’s clinic – Alycia for her chicken pox booster jab, Baby C for her Pneumococcal jab and to get the urine culture result and Sher – to check if she’s got ring worm or eczema on her body.

The urine culture result showed that there’s no growth in Baby C’s urine…. thank GOD! The Pneumococcal jab caused her to wail her lungs out as expected. Alycia was very good again as she was very brave and wasn’t scared at all when the dr. administered the jab on her bum. She even smiled after the jab…. and the dr. treated her to 3 honey stars! The bill came up to a whopping RM500++!! The Pneumococcal jab alone cost RM268! I’m praying that Baby C and Alycia won’t have fever after their jabs.

Back home, it was already 8:30pm. I had a quick dinner…. of merely swallowing my food down without tasting them coz Baby C was restless and wanted my teat teats. Half way through dinner, I had to nurse her and after that, I lost my appetite and couldn’t continue eating the cold food. Then, quickly went upstairs for a quick bath. In my bedroom upstairs, I could hear her cries downstairs. This happens most of the time when she can’t see me. Long story cut short, I only managed to put her to sleep after she had latched on to my teat teats for almost an hour.

I better go up to my bedroom now…. I can hear Baby C’s voice from the baby monitor!

No. of times viewed = 227

Precious Wee Wee

I had another very, very hectic, tiring and stressful today. Remember I mentioned in my earlier post that I brought Baby C to the paed’s clinic last Saturday as she had greenish gooey discharge on her diaper? As her urine still smelled a little foul today, I decided to go ahead with the urine test. So this morning, I spent 2 hours doing nothing but breastfed Baby C intermittently (so that she has ample wee) and waited for her to wee wee. Also had to use 2 urine bags to collect her precious wee wee. The first bag was a little faulty and the wee leaked out onto the diaper.

After nursing Baby C, I had a quick breakfast (and I was merely swallowing the food without really tasting them), then went to the crib and made some “shheeee shheeeee” sounds to stimulate her senses to urinate. It really ain’t easy to collect the urine coz some of the urine will leak from the opening of the urine bag into the diaper. I had to stand at her crib with my eyes fixated at her diaper, with her diaper unfastened, for hours to wait for her precious stream of wee to trickle out. The minute I saw ample wee, I quickly poured the wee very carefully into a sterile bottle and quickly called hubby to hurry home to bring the sample wee to the hospital.

The urine collector bag.

Baby C’s precious wee wee which took me 2 painstaking hours to catch it, only to be told that it wasn’t enough to do 2 tests! Sh*t!

So what’s next? I spent another 2 hours catching a second batch of urine. I breastfed Baby C every half an hour so that she has enough fluid to pass out.The first time round, she poo pooed big time and I had to discard the urine bag (with some precious urine in it). Thankfully, the second time round, I managed to catch the wee minutes after she had pooed.

I had just called the hospital lab. The initial urine test result showed that the urine is cleared of bacteria. Thank God! I now have to wait for the urine culture test results next, which will take 2-3 days.

Sigh…. I was so worn out that while I was reading to Sher a moment ago, I dozed off on the couch!

And oh yes, I still managed to steal 20 minutes to work out on my trampoline in the morning when Baby C was napping!

No. of times viewed = 313

Sherilyn’s Big Boo Boo

Sherilyn made a big boo boo at Guardian Pharmacy yesterday but this tough nut of mine did not boo hoo hoo over her boo boo!

After lunch at a nearby coffee shop yesterday, we went to a mini mart to shop for groceries and thereafter went to Guardian Pharmacy. As I was busy looking at some products, Sherilyn who was wandering about inside the shop that has a very narrow walk-way suddenly tripped as the floor was wet. I always make sure that Alycia and Sherilyn are next to me when I am shopping but yesterday, Sher was uncontrollable and did not want to stand still next to me. Whilst I was shopping, hubby was keeping an eye on the 2 older girls. Sher who is quite a clumsy pot always falls, trips, drops things and is prone to accidents too.

When Sher fell, she knocked on a tower of bottled mineral water, with bottles that were stacked up high. My hubby and I watched in horror as the tower of bottled water collapsed with the bottles falling on her one by one! I quickly helped Sher up and told her “it’s ok, quickly get up“. Sher looked really puzzled and shocked. The pharmacist hurried to the scene and everyone just did not know what to do as the bottles were strewn everywhere! Hubby and I then quickly put the bottled mineral water back and hubby offered to pay for a bottle where the cap fell off. Thankfully Sher wasn’t hurt, albeit a tad shock.

Hubby and I felt rather embarassed over the incident. Luckily we had bought quite a bit of stuff from the pharmacy, otherwise, we would have felt worst. Imagine causing a big mess in the shop and not buy anything there!

No. of times viewed = 139

Silly Song

Sherilyn who loves music, singing and creating her own silly lyrics sang this silly but cute song which she invented this morning during breakfast:

After she had wee weed and washed her hands, she wiped her hands dry and got her self seated at the dining table and sang :

To the tune of London Bridge Is Falling Down nonchalantly :

There is water on my hands,
on my hands, on my hands…..
There is water on my hands,
I love water, hahahaha….

And Alycia, kakak and I burst out laughing at her silly song.

This brat always makes my blood boil but her cute antics can really bring a smile to my face nonetheless.

No. of times viewed = 158

A Really Hectic And Tiring Day

This morning, my mil brought our maid to the market. I was home alone with the 3 gals as hubby has gone to his shop. I quickly went to the kitchen to get everything ready before Baby C woke up… but sh*t, the water was only trickling down the tap. I knew that the water pipes at our area must have burst again as this happens very often. I quickly fixed milk for the 2 older gals, brushed their teeth, washed them up, fixed them breakfast, washed the milk bottles, stored water and did everything that needed water before the taps ran dry. Also made a call to PUAS to make a report and was informed that indeed there was a water pipe burst. In between all these, Sherilyn my trouble-maker played with the water that I had stored and poured away half the amount of water that I had stored. Boy was I fuming mad with her.

Later, I heard Baby C’s cries from the baby monitor in the kitchen and quickly went up. Nursed her, changed her diaper and o.O… I saw greenish gooey discharge on the diaper. No wonder her diaper smelled foul last night… the same smell when she had UTI last month. I tell you, I was worried sick that she may have another UTI attack and prayed hard that it’s not UTI. Without further delay, I put the soiled diaper in a plastic bag (for the dr. to have a look), called hubby and asked him to quickly come back to bring Baby C to the hospital.

FYI, if your child has a history of UTI, at the onset of a fever or a foul smelling urine, quickly bring her to the hospital and quickly collect a urine sample to do a urine culture. If it’s UTI, it’s important that antibiotics be taken immediately before the bacteria goes up to the kidney and scar / damage the kidney.

The paed wasn’t sure if it was vaginal yeast infection (VYI) or another UTI but said that it’s most likely a VYI as Baby C has been taking antibiotics for the past 1 month and it is very common to get VYI when one is taking antibiotics. This always happens to me too whenever I am on antibiotics. I was given a cream to apply on her private part and if there is still discharge / foul smell, I will have to put a urine bag on her private part to collect her urine to be tested.

Baby C was supposed to get a Rotavirus and Pneumococcal jab today but I told the paed that I will delay it to next week as she may develop a fever after the jab and I will not know if the fever is caused by the jab or by a UTI.

Meanwhile, Alycia who followed us to the hospital got her booster MMR jab and I was really amazed that she wasn’t scared at all and she did not even let out an “ouch” or a cry! I was really proud of her!

I am so tired and sleepy now. I woke up at 4:30am this morning when Baby C puked after I had nursed her. It was my mistake. I snoozed along with her during the feed. I ended up having to clean her up and changed the bedsheet and did everything all by myself. Hubby was snoring away in the gals’ room and I did not want to wake my maid up. After I had cleaned Baby C up, she poo pooed big time and I had to clean her bum too.

next up…… Sherilyn my trouble-maker got herself in trouble at Guardian Pharmacy today.

No. of times viewed = 190

Poor Baby C Was Poked Twice

When the doctor told me yesterday that she needs to have Baby C’s blood taken, my heart skipped a beat or two for a moment for I know it will surely be extremely difficult to find a vein in her chubby hands or feet…. which means that the nurses have to poke her a few times. My heart bled too when I saw the nurse poke Baby C’s hand to have blood drawn out. The first time, she was poked on the right hand, which was unsuccessful. She wailed her lungs out. After spending a few minutes searching high and low for a vein on her hands and feet, the nurse finally found a vein and poked her left hand. I was desperately trying to distract my poor baby with a musical toy and prayed so hard to God that the needle will not hurt my baby and my prayer was answered…. Baby C was so engrossed with a musical toy in the clinic that she did not let out any cry during the second attempt to draw out her blood. Phew….

A satisfied Baby C after I had nursed her and changed her pooped diaper inside the doctor’s clinic. Read the story here.

Poor Baby C’s hands plastered on both sides. Now, she has 5 tiny holes on the back of her palm. My poor baby has been poked 5 times on her hands and 1 time on her foot in 1 month, resulting from the UTI / suspected kidney reflux.

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5-Hour Wait In The Hospital

Today hubby and I brought Baby C to HUKM (Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia) to consult the pediatric nephrologist for a suspected Kidney Reflux. We reached the hospital at around 10am. We could have been earlier but Baby C puked when I fed her the antibiotics in the morning and I had to changed her and feed her all over again.

When we reached HUKM, there were 5 patients ahead of us. We had to fill up a form and then sat at a designated area. After a 2-hour wait, we finally got to see the doctor. I was really disappointed that I did not get to see the Chief Pediatric Nephrologist (who is a Professor Madya) but only got to see a young doctor (who is under this Prof). All she did was asked me a long list of questions, then checked Baby C’s chest with the stethescope, checked her diaper area and that’s it. She then filled up a big pile of forms so that we could bring Baby C to do a blood test, get her 1 month supply of antibiotics and to get an appointment for her to do the MCUG test.

to be continued, time to hit the sack now……

No. of times viewed = 151

Reading Time

My 3 girls love it whenever I read to them or have a nap with them, all 4 of us together. Yesterday, I put Baby C next to me with Sherilyn on my left and Alycia on my right on the couch as I read to them. Baby C just sat there and listened intently as I read the book, as if she understood the story.

Sherilyn acting like a big sister, ‘reading’ to Baby C.

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If Only He Had A University Degree

I read a heart-rending story in the newspapers today. It was about a father of four who had to resort to a desperate measure to find money to feed his family – to sell his kidney! This man approached the media about his plan to sell his kidney so that he could find a buyer. His wife and children had cried their hearts out over his selfless act of love for his family. I am sure it would have been a different scenario if this man had a university degree. With a university degree, he could have easily landed himself a decent job to support his family.

If you are looking for an online business school mba or bachelor’s degree program to educate yourself, check out Capella University, a fully online university that is accredited and has been established for over 14 years. You surely don’t have to resort to selling your precious organs to raise money if you have had good education.

This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive.

No. of times viewed = 160

That’s How Alycia Eats Her Meds

That’s how Alycia eats her meds now, the latest technique, which her mah mah taught her.

First, she licks a candy…

then I pour a drop of her meds into a spoonful of chilled Ribena…

after swallowing the meds, she licks the candy again.

When she has finished the meds, she will obediently throw the remaining candy away. She knows she can’t bite or chew the candy. I told her about Mamabok’s Chloe and Sue Sue’s Le Anne (and showed her the pix of the extracted teeth too) where they were put to sleep to have their teeth extracted and she got so scared that she dared not bite into any candy, for fear of loosing her teeth too.

The box of candies which koo mah from HK gave the gals.

No. of times viewed = 157