Month: August 2008

Vacation In New York

I have never been to the United States but I’d love to visit this country one day. If I ever get the chance to visit the U.S., New York would be the first city that I’ll visit. I’d also love to visit my 2 good buddies who live in the U.S.   Jo, my childhood friend is now working in San Francisco with her hubs and Jenn, also my childhood friend is now living in Seattle with her hubs and 2 girls.

An aunt of mine who had just returned from a vacation in New York with her hubby told me that she had a wonderful time there and it was also an unforgettable one. It was both embarrassing yet hilarious as my aunt turned into a headless chicken when she thought she had lost her passport. Almost everyone in the tour searched high and low for her passport for almost half a day and when she returned to the hotel in the evening, found the passport amongst the pillows and blanket on the bed!

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A Chaotic And Dizzy Day For Me

First, Sherilyn woke up on the wrong side of the bed and was super cranky and clingy to me.  She refused the maid to wash her up, brush her teeth or touch her. She kept wanting me and kept saying “mummy, say you love me” as she cried pitifully.  I was already very busy trying to fix the gals breakfast, eat my own breakfast and trying to pacify Baby C who is also super cranky and wants to be carried the whole day.  I was rushing to get ready to bring Baby C to the hospital to get the 2nd antibiotics jab administered on her.  At the same time, I was given 2 opps by these 2 advertisers with a deadline of submission at 1pm and I knew I would not have time to meet the deadline with 2 cranky kids and have to spend a few hours in the hospital. 

At the hospital, the Medical Officers at the A&E department were reluctant to administer the jab on Baby C as it was an IM (intra muscular) jab.  Why?  Coz no. 1, it’s a ‘huge’ jab (1.5ml of liquid antibiotics and another few ml of local anesthetic) and no. 2, it’s supposed to be VERY painful because it is IM and it is HUGE.  So I walked to my regular paed’s clinic.  When he saw the box of jab, he said  “IM ar? Aiyoh, it’s going to be very painful!  Normally I would admit the patient and have the jab adminstered via IV line.  I won’t give this type of jab to a baby”  Then he shook his head.  When I heard this, my heart was already half broken coz I knew my darling Baby C has to go through another traumatic and painful time.  I placed Baby C on my lap and held her tightly, my heart beating rapidly, I was nervous and I was praying fervently to God to please help Baby C and reduce her pain.  I saw the needle jabbed into her thigh and my poor baby jolted her body and wailed…. followed by a painful pause and I hugged her tightly and kissed her.  She was crying and yelling out in pain.  I wanted to cry too.  I felt so weak and my heart was really painful and I wished that my baby’s pain could be transferred to me.  My poor baby has to go through another round of traumatic time tomorrow to have the last jab administered on her.  I just wish that it would be less painful for her  tomorrow.  I just can’t bear to hear my baby wail out in pain.

Back home, my 2 gals were fighting over a silly toy that none of them wanted and has been chucked at one corner for the past year or so.  Sher clung on to the toy and Alycia begged me to get it back. Aly and Sher were hitting each other and crying.  I was trying to pacify Baby C who has been so  traumatized and she wanted to nurse and sleep.  I was also trying to finish off the opp that was going to expire any time.  I was feeling really dizzy from all the stress and couldn’t think straight.  I put on a VCD for the gals to watch but they were still fighting.  Long story cut short, I managed to submit the opp in the nick of time and I managed to put Baby C to sleep.  My 2 gals?  I gave them some mooncakes (those shaped like piglets, placed in a little colorful piggy net) to placate them and made them some toasts. 

It has been a real stressful day for me.  I just hope that tomorrow will be a better day for me and the gals, especially Baby C.  Now, I just want to lie down, take deep breaths and get rid of my dizziness!

No. of times viewed = 418

Update On Baby C’s Kidney Reflux

The urine culture result yesterday showed that there is a moderate growth of E Coli bacteria in Baby C’s urine and the white blood cells in the urine have also gone up.  Thus, our paed switched the antibiotics to one that the E Coli bacteria is sensitive to which is Unasyn Sultamicillin.  She is to stop taking Cephalexin as the E Coli bacteria is resistant to this antibiotics. 

Today, hubby and I brought Baby C to see a private pediatric nephrologist, Dr Indon at SJMC.  Her approach in collecting the urine sample is different from HUKM and the hospital that I have been going to.  Instead of using urine bags (which have risks of the urine being contaminated), she wants the urine collected directly into the bottle.  The dr.  carried Baby C and demonstrated to us how we should carry her to collect the urine.  She asked us to keep the specimen bottle of urine in the fridge if we are unable to send the sample to the hospital immediately. We were also told to place the bottle of urine in an ice box whilst bringing the sample urine from our house to the hospital (since we live quite a distance away from the hospital).

The treatment for Baby C this time is via administration of  antibiotics jab for 3 days.  Baby C cried big time when the jab was administered on her as it was supposed to be a very painful jab (1.5ml, which is quite an amount of liquid, jabbed into her thigh).  The jab comes with an LA (local anesthetic).   On the fourth day, she is to continue taking Unasyn for 3 more days and thereafter, another urine sample is to be harvested for culture.  She is to start a new antibiotics next week.

Whilst Baby C’s regular paed is not a pro of probiotics, Dr Indon prescribed Baby C with probiotics. The probiotics is to be taken in the morning while the antibiotics is to be taken at night.  The probiotics is to promote growth of friendly bacteria, which can help fight off bad bacteria.

I asked Dr Indon if it’s necessary for Baby C to have corrective surgery, to which she said she has to view the film of the MCUG test, which was done recently. We will have to borrow the film from HUKM.  I hope Baby C does not need surgery but if a surgery can prevent a reflux and further UTIs which could possibly scar the kidney, I will have no other choice but to accept the dr’s decision.  Also, Baby C does not have to take antibiotics anymore if a surgery is performed.  I will leave everything in the hands of God and pray that He will choose the best path for Baby C.

When asked if I could feed Baby C with pure organic Cranberry juice (which is known to treat urinary tract infection), Dr Indon has no objection to it.  Tonight, I will feed Baby C with some diluted Cranberry juice, mixed with a capsule of probiotics powder.

After we left the hospital, hubby and I had lunch at Sheraton Subang. It’s the first time hubby and I had lunch together, without Alycia and Sherilyn.

No. of times viewed = 313

Feeding Baby C Medicine

This post is specially written for Baby C, in the hope that when she’s old enough to understand and read this, she will know what she and mummy had gone through to deal with the kidney reflux that she’s suffering from.

Cassandra, as mummy is typing this now, mummy is hoping that very soon, you will outgrow your kidney reflux and that mummy does not have to feed you antibiotics every evening anymore. It really isn’t easy to feed you the med as you will struggle, cry and puke sometimes. Everyday at around 7ish pm, the house will be uproarious and filled with a big hoo-ha. That’s because mummy, kakak Diah and your 2 cheh chehs will be trying to cheer you up and distract you whilst poor mummy has to squirt the antibiotics into your mouth, drop by drop. There will be loud music and nursery rhymes, people singing silly songs and sounds of rattle and tambourine jinggling away, sounds of drum and other silly sounds heard from our house.  I am sure our neighbors must be wondering why  there is such a big hoo-ha being heard from the house every evening, without fail.

Mummy has to carry you with one hand and hold the syringe and a rattle/toy with the other hand. She will also sing to you and dance with you. Most of the time, you want mummy to walk you round the house whilst you are being fed with the medicine. Kakak Diah will sing to you and shake something to distract you and your 2 cheh chehs will stand on chairs and shake a rattle or a tambourine to cheer you up.

Sometimes you are cooperative and will finish your med within 5 minutes but most times, you need longer time to finish your med.  Mummy has to squirt the med drop by drop into your mouth.  Then she will give you drops of water.  She will also reward you by letting you lick on your favorite frozen water-filled teething ring or a cool cucumber.   Sometimes you will throw up too and mummy will get very frustrated coz she will have to feed you the med all over again. Whilst mummy is frustrated, mummy’s heart aches for you to see you having to go through so much discomfort and pain.

Pix taken yesterday. Mummy taught kakak how to use the digital camera.

Mummy let you lick a chilled cucumber after she had squirted the med into your mouth and you liked the cucumber. However, yesterday you threw up after mummy had fed you half the antibiotics and mummy had to feed you all over again. The second time round, Mummy let you lick on a strawberry… to rid your mouth of the unpleasant taste of the antibiotics.

Today mummy sent your urine sample again to the hospital to be tested. 

Please hop over to my other blog to read on… 

No. of times viewed = 457

Baby C And Her Highchair

Baby C now does not want to be placed on her bouncinet or on the mattress on the floor, next to the dining table whenever we have our meals. She wants to be carried. So I dug out Aly and Sher’s old Safe n Sound highchair and placed Baby C on it. The first time she sat on the highchair, she looked very puzzled yet excited at the same time.

As I could not locate the detachable plastic padding that comes with the high chair, I put a thick towel and a small pillow on the chair to support her.

The first time she sat on the highchair, Baby C was smiling from ear to ear. Subsequently, she could only sit still (with a rattle to play with) for a max of 15 minutes, after which she would whine, scream and throw her rattle or her bolster.

Look at the cheeky look on Baby C’s face as she sucked her thumb away!

Ain’t I cute?


The Safe n Sound highchair, complete with the colorful plastic padding. The first time Baby C saw the colorful plastic padding, she spent a good 10-15 minutes staring at the animals on the padding.

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New Header

How do you like my new header?  I think it’s awesome and I must thank my good blogging pal, Leena for her creativity and time in coming up with this beautiful header for both my blogs.

I must also thank Sue for squeezing her precious time out from caring for her 2 boys and newborn baby girl to help me upload the header into my blog.  WordPress blogs really suck big time… the procedures for every single task are just so tedious and confusing.  To be able to operate a WP blog on own domain, one really have to do some reading on WP, cPanel and FTP files.  I must really squeeze some time out to do the reading, otherwise I have to keep troubling my friends to help me each time I need to update the theme and header of my blog or to accessorize my blog.

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Goodies From Hong Kong

My mil and sil from Hong Kong arrived yesterday. As usual, their suit cases were filled to the brim with pressies and goodies. These are some of the things that my sil bought for the girls:


Elle socks and Disney Princess panties.

Benetton t-shirt and shorts.

Benetton t-shirt

Disney t-shirt and blouse

Alycia posing with her new Disney blouse.

A Baby Disney shirt and Marks and Spencer tops for Baby C.

My sil also bought loads of mooncakes, chocolates, cakes from Hokkaido and organic snacks for the girls.  Hop on to my other blog to read more.

No. of times viewed = 432

Respite For 2 Days

It was a decision made at the eleventh hour.  My mil and sil from Hong Kong had earlier planned to travel to Ipoh today.  This morning, my mil suggested to me that since it’s the school holidays, she wanted to bring Alycia and Sherilyn back to Ipoh.  I jumped at her suggestion since it’s the school holidays and I know they will be really bored being cooped up at home.  Also, I know it’s going to be tough on me without my mum or mil around to help me with the 3 kids.  So I quickly called my mum to inform her that Aly and Sher will be going back to Ipoh and staying with them. My parents were really excited to hear that their precious grand daughters will be coming finally.  Aly and Sher have not gone back to Ipoh for more than a year.  I then hurriedly fixed them breakfast, bathed them and packed their things into the bag.  The girls were of course elated and excited that they can follow their mah mah and koo mah back to Ipoh and they can finally stay with granny and koong koong. 

The house is now so quiet without my 2 boisterous rascals.  It’s really a good respite for me.  I’ve got many things that I’ve wanted to settle but with my 3 kids around, I just couldn’t find the time to do them.  Now, I have 2 days to sort out my things with a peace of mind.  Having said all these, I will surely miss my 2 rascals and worry about them a lot. Well, it’s always good to be separated for a short while.  Absence does make the heart grow fonder. 

No. of times viewed = 327

My Sunday

For the first time in Sherilyn’s life, she will be away from me for 2 whole days. She and Alycia have followed my mil and sil back to Ipoh today and my girls will be staying with my parents. As for Alycia, it’s not her first time being separated from me. When she was 2 months old, I had to leave her in Ipoh with my parents for several months as my babysitter (my mil) had to be in Hong Kong. Though it’s a respite for me that my 2 rambunctious rascals are away from me, I will nonetheless miss them and worry about them. It’s good that they are away for a couple of days. It will be a good way for them to spend their school holidays. Baby C can also get her nap uninterrupted during the day without being jolted up by her 2 boisterous older sisters. I thought I would have much more time to do my work but I was wrong. Baby C wants me to carry her the whole day and when she finally naps, it’s only a forty winks and it literally is a forty minute nap. So I really can’t do much in forty minutes.

After I am done with this post, I have to marinate some pork chops and cook some porridge for the hubs to eat. He’s still having a strep throat. The pork chops will be for me to eat. And when I’m done with the cooking, I have to help my friend whose computer is down get some information about JFK Airport Shuttle from the internet as she will be going to New York for a holiday next week. She told me something about GO Airlink Shuttle and I’m supposed to help her print out the information. It’s been a dull Sunday for me without my 2 rascals around and now, I’m beginning to miss them! How was your Sunday?

No. of times viewed = 172

Alycia’s Diaper-Free Night… Day 3

Ooops…. there was a wee wee accident in the wee hours of the morning today.  I was deep in my sleep and having a dream when I heard a little girl saying “mummy, my pants are wet…… mummy, my pants are wet…..mummy….”  .  I thought I was dreaming but when I opened my eyes, I saw Alycia at the foot of my bed and she told me she had peed in her pants.  I then brought her to the bathroom to have her washed up and then changed her.  I had forgotten to set my alarm clock to 3am last night.  Also, Alycia had secretly drank a lot of water from her water tumbler just before going to bed last night.  I had told her not to drink water as she had just finished 5 ounces of milk but she didn’t listen and I think she finished off the remaining water in the tumbler and she even went downstairs to have the tumbler refilled with water.  After this episode, I think Alycia won’t dare to drink any water just before going to bed.  Fortunately the pee did not get into the bedsheet, thanks to the plastic mat I placed under her but her clothes and blankie were drenched with pee.

Anyway, after washing Alycia up and changed her into a new set of jammies, I changed Baby C’s diaper, nursed her and after all that jazz, I couldn’t get back to sleep.  So I went downstairs and worked on my computer and managed to grab several opps too.  Minutes later, I heard Baby C’s cries on the baby monitor.  So I went up to my bedroom and nursed her to sleep again.   After that, I continued working on my PC and then went out for a good half an hour jog, came back and did 50 crunches on my fitball.   That’s the benefit of waking up early. I get to accomplish many things before my kids are up. 

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Alycia’s Reading ‘Explosion’

Over the past 1 week, Alycia had a sudden reading spurt. Ever since she could read book 1A of Peter and Jane, she is now having an insatiable thirst for reading! She could read most pages of Goldilocks And The Three Bears (also for beginners from Ladybird) and a few other books that once belonged to my brothers and me. It helps that my mum is here to keep reading to her and yesterday, she brought out the old homemade words flash cards that I made and flashed them to Alycia. She could recognize most of the words that were extracted from the Peter and Jane books.

Alycia reading her Peter and Jane book to daddy just before going to kindy 2 days ago.

No. of times viewed = 585

Alycia’s Improvement In Her School Homework

Lately, Alycia has shown a great amount of discipline in completing her homework and now, she will do them without being told everyday.  She doesn’t even want me to coach her as she will tell me that she knows how to do them. 

Her math and abacus have improved and she can even do them on her own without me guiding her.


Alycia did this math exercise homework on her own and she got them all correct when I checked it.


This one is her abacus homework and she got them all correct too. And this time, she’s the one teaching me how to use the abacus.  I am really proud of her!

No. of times viewed = 414

Alycia’s Diaper-Free Night (1st Night)

It went well.  Even before the alarm clock rang at 2am, I had already woken up to check on Alycia.  The first thing I did was to quickly touch her pants.  Phew…. it wasn’t wet.  I quickly woke her up and it wasn’t easy to pull her up from bed.  She was groggy, did not appear to know what’s going on and why mummy was pulling her up from bed and didn’t want to get up.  I told her that she had to pee as there wasn’t any diaper on.  Then as she slowly got to her senses, she walked with me to the bathroom and pee.  She then went back to bed herself.  

At 6:30am, I woke her up again.  This time, she told me she didn’t want to pee and I let it be.  She then went back to sleep before she woke up at 8am. I gave her lots of praises and hugs and told her that she has to do it again tonight and she gave me a proud nod and smile.  Thank God!

No. of times viewed = 233

Crystal Jade Chinese Restaurat @ Gardens Mid Valley

On Monday, we had dinner at Crystal Jade Chinese Restaurant at Gardens, Mid Valley City. I had wanted to try Fong Lye Taiwanese Restaurant but hubby said that the food isn’t fantastic. He wanted to try the new Crystal Jade’s fine dine chinese restaurant since he loves the Crystal Jade’s fast-food outlet, especially the ‘lai mien’.

This is what we ordered :


Tofu noodles, i.e. tofu made in the shape of noodles.


3 types of roasted stuff – suckling pig, roasted pork (siew yoke) and roasted duck.


Special house tofu (made with spinach).


Seafood fried rice which the gals enjoyed.


Stir-fried ‘sei kwai tau’ or four-season bean.


My favorite ‘sing lei kai’ or crispy roast chicken.

Also ordered a fried vermicelli which was tasteless and looked ‘white’ and unappetizing.  Even my maid can cook a better fried vermicelli. Thus, I did not post the pic of the fried vermicelli here.

Verdict :  Food wise – satisfactory but nothing to shout about, run-of-the-mill classy chinese restaurant food.

Ambience : typical fine dine chinese restaurant setting with a good view of KL.  

What I don’t like is that we were being stared at throughout dinner… by the supposed-to-be hospitable and service-at-your-demand waiters….. who were standing everywhere, eyes fixated on us, which made me a tad uneasy.   We couldn’t even talk what we wanted to talk about loudly as we felt we were being eavesdropped by the no-intention-to-listen-to-your conversation waiters who were standing just a few feet away from our table.

Just when the food arrived, my little princess cried for her milkie as expected.  My mum had to call the lady captain over and politely ask her to tell the waiters to walk away as I had to nurse Baby C.  I went to a corner and quickly nursed my little princess who choked till she puked on me and on the floor, but thankfully, only very little puke. 

Total bill came up to around RM230, which was really expensive.

I don’t think there will be a second visit to this restaurant, unless someone gives us a treat there.  I should have gone to my favorite Purple Cane Chinese Restaurant or Din Tai Fung at Gardens or Dragon-I at Mid Valley Megamall.

No. of times viewed = 922

Alycia’s Ready To Be 100% Diaper-Free

Alycia is only on diapers at night for the past 1 year or so. During the day when she naps, she is diaperless and she can hold her bladder for 2 hours and even when she wakes up, she doesn’t go to the loo immediately.  She can hold her bladder for at least 3-4 hours.  However, this lazy mummy is just too lazy to wake her up in the wee hours of the morning to bring her to the bathroom to pee. 

For the past several days, she has been waking up in the morning with a dry diaper. When I asked her this morning if she wants to go diaperless tonight, she willlingly agreed!  In the past when I asked her, she would refuse and would insist that she wears a diaper. So I will have to face the night that I have long procrastinated tonight .  I will set my alarm clock to 1am today so that I can bring her to the bathroom.  I will also wake her up again at 4am or 5am, the time that I normally wake up to feed Baby C.  At the same time, I can go downstairs to my PC to check for offers…. killing 2 birds with 1 stone 🙂

Wish me luck and hopefully there will be no unwanted pee accidents.

No. of times viewed = 353

When Do You Start Feeding Your Baby Solids?

I am still undecided when to start feeding Baby C solids.  With Alycia, I started feeding her porridge at 6 months and Sherilyn, around 7-8 months.  I am thinking of delaying feeding Baby C solids until she’s at least 8 months or even longer.

Here are some excerpts from kellymom.com (an exclusive site for breastfeeding mums) on why babies should be fed solids at a later age :

 1. Most babies will become developmentally and physiologically ready to eat solids by 6-9 months of age. For some babies, delaying solids longer than six months can be a good thing; for example, some doctors may recommend delaying solids for 12 months if there is a family history of allergies.

2. The following organizations recommend that all babies be exclusively breastfed (no cereal, juice or any other foods) for the first 6 months of life (not the first 4-6 months):

-World Health Organization
-UNICEF
-US Department of Health & Human Services
-American Academy of Pediatrics
-American Academy of Family Physicians
-American Dietetic Association
-Australian National Health and Medical Research Council
-Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
-Health Canada

3. Reasons for delaying solids :
-Delaying solids gives baby greater protection from illness.
-Delaying solids gives baby’s digestive system time to mature.
-Delaying solids decreases the risk of food allergies.
-Delaying solids helps to protect baby from iron-deficiency anemia.
-Delaying solids helps to protect baby from future obesity.
-Delaying solids helps mom to maintain her milk supply.
-Delaying solids helps to space babies.
-Delaying solids makes starting solids easier.

My generous sil from Hong Kong bought 2 boxes of Organix baby cereal for Baby C :

This one the baby can start to eat between 4 – 6 months.

And this one, the baby can start to eat at 6 months.

I was really tempted to feed Baby C the first one but after reading the article from kelly.com, I think I will delay feeding Baby C  solids.  Well, hopefully I can still continue to breastfeed her exclusively for at least another half a year or even longer …. which means that I have to delay my diet plan.

When did you start your baby on solids?

On a sidenote, just want to share this pic with you :


My 3 angels with their granny.  Baby C looked so much like a boy here!

No. of times viewed = 1151

HEALTH FREAK MOMMY