June 2009 – Page 2 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Second Payment From Google Adsense

I received my second payment from Google Adsense several months ago but only had the time to withdraw the cash from Western Union several days ago. The exchange rate was pretty good at 3.58 and I managed to cash out RM843. Quite a lot of money eh? I used to earn much more than that from writing paid posts during the good times 2 years ago. Oh well, nothing is forever.

So what am I going to do with the money? I wish I can splurge it anyhow I like but too bad, most of it will go towards my credit card account…. to partially settle the amount incurred on Baby C’s surgeries.

No. of times viewed = 457

Bye-Bye School Holidays, Back To School

The 2-week school holidays have come to an end. Tomorrow it’s back to school for the gals and also time for me to spend hours coaching them in their homework again. No more waking up late for everyone and no more being glued to the telly the whole day for the gals. I really need to brush up on Alycia’s reading as I have not been guiding her in her reading for more than 2 months and she has forgotten so many words that she once recognized. Yesterday, I did a revision with her on Math and she had even forgotten easy additions too…. but she got a hang of it again pretty fast after a quick revision with her. Now, she really has to improve on her reading, otherwise she would not be able to read her exam questions. Time really flies, in half a year’s time, Alycia would be wearing the blue and white uniform when she enters Standard 1. I’m really worried for her as her reading skill is really lagging behind. I hope she will catch up fast. By next month, we will know which primary school she is selected to enter into.

As for Sherilyn, she’s still very playful and can never sit still whenever it comes to doing her homework. I am really having a hard time coaching both Alycia and Sherilyn together…. with Baby C distracting me all the time. Even Sherilyn’s teachers are complaining to me all the time that she’s very talkative and playful in class. She was even punished by her teacher for being naughty. I hope this is only a passing phase.

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A Very Early Father’s Day Celebration

Since we were all in Ipoh this week, hubby and I planned a very advanced Father’s Day celebration for my dad. On Wednesday, hubby brought us to Moven Peak for a very sumptuous and enjoyable eat-all-you-can steamboat which was priced very reasonably. Initially, we could not decide whether to go to Mun Choong Chinese Restaurant or Moven Peak. At the 11th hour, my dad suggested Moven Peak steamboat since his company recently held an annual dinner there and everyone enjoyed themselves. Well, there was absolutely no regret as all of us, especially the kids had a very, very enjoyable time there eating, yakking and laughing away… at Baby C’s antics.

We left the restaurant at about 10pm after spending about 2 hours there. When we reached home, the gals had another round of enjoyable time cutting and walloping the cake. Gosh, I ate so much till I felt so fat. Everyone slept at way past midnight and Baby C who really enjoyed herself (after a month of pain and torture) was still wide awake at 12ish midnight and in a playful mood and only slept at around 1am.

Hubby bought a chocolate moist cake from the famous Indulgence Restaurant in Ipoh as my dad loves chocolate cakes. The cake is best eaten warm, so my dad put his slice of cake into the microwave oven to warm the cake up. It was really yummy!

We also bought my dad a shirt.

Towards the end of the dinner, Baby C made all of us laugh with her cute and funny antics. She was whining away as she was feeling restless. She so wanted to eat our food but was only given a small slice of tofu…. and of course she ate her homemade beef+fish porridge and double boiled chicken soup. So I gave her an apple which I took from the buffet counter for her to chew on. It was the first time that she was given the freedom to hold on to a whole big apple to chew on and boy was she excited and ecstatic. She was obviously having a great time chewing and sucking the sweet juice from the apple. When she dropped the apple on the chair, I took the apple from her to wash it with some drinking water. The second the apple left her hands, she yelled out and strained in frustration…. moving her body forward with both her hands reaching towards me, as if begging me to give her back the apple. She was really scared that I would take the apple from her for good…. and that made all of us laugh…. and she made the family sitting next to us laughed too lol! My sweetie-pie also shared her precious apple with her favorite cheh cheh and that made us laugh even more. She was doing the ‘one bite for you and one bite for me’ kinda thingy non-stop and that was really funny, sweet and cute.

Fresh scallops in shells from the buffet counter. It was the first time I saw fresh scallops in shells. This was one of the hottest items and was polished off from the buffet counter in a flash all the time.

Our steamboat in superior herbal soup.

Our steamboat in porridge soup base.

If you are from Ipoh or happen to be in Ipoh, you really should give Moven Peak steamboat a try. It’s what the Chinese call “pheng, leng, chen” (which literally means cheap, beautiful and really good in Cantonese)! My gals loved it so much that the next day, they pleaded daddy and koong koong to bring them there again. Well, we will definitely patronize Moven Peak Steamboat again in August or September when we come back to Ipoh again (to bring Baby C to Penang for her MCUG scan).

Check out my other blog to read more about Moven Peak and to view more pix of the food.

No. of times viewed = 286

We’re Finally Back In KL

We’re finally back home today and it has been a very tiring day for me. Once home, I’ve been working non-stop cleaning up the home that has not been properly cleaned for the past 1.5 months and unpacking my stuff…. and my big luggage is still not unpacked yet. I’ve also been sneezing non-stop coz my super sensitive nose is allergic to dust. My room has not been really cleaned and dusted and the moment I stepped into my room, I’ve been sneezing and my nose has been itchy since this afternoon up until now. The hazy skies are making my nose allergy worse. I’ve used half a packet of wet wipes to wipe Baby C’s playpens, high chair and toys and I was shocked to see all the wipes black in color!

Anyway, I’m glad that Baby C recognized her home sweet home and her mah mah. Baby C misses her mah mah tremendously and she’s been calling “mah mah” non-stop ever since she saw her this afternoon. Baby didn’t even want me when mah mah was carrying her. When I reached out both my hands to her, she turned her head away from me and put her head lovingly on her mah mah’s shoulder! Baby is really happy to be back and has been gallivanting the house… rediscovering all her toys and favorite things again. Her appetite is also pretty good and she polished off a pot of beef + fish porridge and quite a bit of steamed salmon fish today, along with 2 bowls of old cucumber soup. However, I am still having a very, very stressful time spoon-feeding her with formula milk (Pediasure) as baby doesn’t like formula milk. I have to distract her by letting her hold on to a biscuit or a piece of fruit before I can begin to spoon-feed her… and it would normally take me between half an hour to an hour to finish off 2 pathetic ounces of formula milk… haih…..

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Baby C’s Shopping Trip Wearing Her First Pair Of Shoes

We brought baby to Jaya Jusco @ Kinta City yesterday morning to get koong koong a Father’s Day gift. It was her first time wearing her new shoes at a shopping center. Baby still doesn’t have the guts to walk on her own yet at a public place. However, over the past few days, we caught her walking a few steps unaided when she was all soaked up playing with her toys.

Baby C getting a helping hand from granny and Alycia cheh cheh.

I bought McD ice-cream for Alycia and Sherilyn cheh cheh. Gave baby a few licks and boy did she love it and kept asking for more. My mum went to the Information And Services Counter and rented a baby pram for baby for free.

Did I mention that my skinny mini’s diapers have recently been reverted to M size? Before her surgeries, baby was wearing L size diapers but after the 2 surgeries, her L size diapers were falling off her butt and so oversized for her skinny frame that her pee kept leaking out 🙁 I wonder when my skinny mini’s weight will ever reach 10kg. She’s now the weight of Alycia when Alycia was 6-7 months old. Ok ok ok, I should stop comparing and complaining now but but but I just can’t help being obsessed with her weight. Instead, I should thank God everyday that baby survived her ordeal.

BTW, daddy’s on his way to Ipoh now. We will finally return to KL tomorrow, after being away for more than a month. I hope baby will settle down without any fuss after leaving her nest for so long.

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Alycia’s First Ballet Exam

This is a backdated post.

Alycia had her first actual ballet exam in early May this year. How did she fare? Well I really don’t know coz the exam was held on a day which was 3 days before Baby C’s surgery and I was busy packing our bags then (for the trip back to Ipoh the following day and thereafter to Penang the next day) and didn’t follow her to the exam hall. All I saw was a certificate of participation and her ratings. Anyway, Alycia has lost interest in ballet and she together with Sherilyn had not been attending their ballet classes for over a month, ever since hubby and I were in Penang to attend to Baby C’s surgery. When I’m back in KL, I will have to settle her ballet lessons matter and ask her if she still wants to continue her lessons.

Anyway, on the day of her ballet exam, I spent almost an hour tying her hair into a bun. But when she came back from the exam hall, I was really surprised to see her in another hairstyle, like this:

According to my mil, the teacher said the bun which I had tied wasn’t acceptable, bleh! Anyway, I really think my pretty Alycia looked very much like a Korean girl with that 2 little buns on her head, complete with pink ribbons on each bun. There was also a tinge of make-up on her face. I think it would be such a waste if Alycia is really adamant that she doesn’t want to continue learning ballet as she’s already into it for more than a year. But then again, it’s also not going to bear any fruit if she’s learning something by force without any interest, right?

No. of times viewed = 381

Trapped In An Elevator, All Alone

For years, I have been having nightmares of being trapped in an elevator which would free-fall. When the elevator finally landed, I would wake up from my sleep. And guess what, this nightmare actually came true several years ago, when I was still employed. I was trapped all alone in the elevator of the office building where I worked.

On the day I was trapped in the elevator, we were notified by the Building Management that there would be a power shutdown at 7pm sharp. I was really busy on that day and though I still had work that was unfinished, I hurriedly left the office at 6:50pm. My office was on the 10th floor of the building. But as fate had it, a few seconds later after I had entered the elevator, it stopped to a jerk and then all the lights turned off! Hohoho… I was trapped all alone in the elevator and it was pitch black, without any source of light. I quickly put my hands into my handbag and groped for my mobile phone. I tried to call my colleague for help but since I was trapped on the 9th floor, the signal wasn’t very strong and I could not be connected. I then sent text messages for help to my colleagues. The first few times, the messages did not get through but finally they got through, very much later. The only light in the elevator was from my mobile phone. I screamed for help but no one heard me. At that moment, when I was in total darkness, I really hoped that there were self luminous exit signs or just about any self luminous lights installed in elevators for emergencies.

I continued yelling for help and thank God, my colleague who was walking to the toilet heard me and responded to my screams. He then called for help and within 15 minutes, I was rescued, phew!

After that incident, I wrote a complaint letter to the Building Management. I complaint about many issues, i.e. why had they shut down the power even before it turned 7pm, why wasn’t there any emergency lightings in the elevator, among others. I wonder if the Building Management had taken note and action of my complaints because I left the company shortly. I should have even suggested to them to go to ExitSigns.net to purchase emergency lightings. ExitSigns.net carry a wide range of emergency lightings, Exit signs, Photoluminescent Exit Signs, Braille Exit signs and much more.

After that terrifying incident, I now have phobia of being alone in elevators. I still have nightmares of free-falling in a trapped elevator up until now.

No. of times viewed = 1515

What The Gals Have Been Up To In Ipoh

We’re still in Ipoh, enjoying the pampering by koong koong and granny… and of course enjoying the glorious Ipoh food. In a few days’ time, daddy will drive back to Ipoh from KL and bring us all back… which will be Baby C and my return back to our home sweet home after being away for more than a month. I hope baby still remembers her home, our bed and her playpen and will not feel as if she’s in another strange place.

Here are some pix taken yesterday :

My skinny mini playing with her cheh chehs’ toys. She now doesn’t feel like a fish out of water anymore when I place her on the floor. She would cry each time I placed her on the floor when I first brought her back to Ipoh to my parents after her discharge from the hospital. She has also now accepted my mum. Throughout her stay in the hospital and when she was discharged from the hospital, baby would cry and say “um mai” (no in Cantonese) when she sees my mum. We were guessing that she thought my mum was a nurse coz all the nurses in the hospital were female. However, she likes my dad and would allow him to carry her. My dad doesn’t look like a doctor to baby coz our doctor is a non-Chinese 🙂 My mum has been trying to win baby’s heart by ~~bribing~~ giving her snacks, playing with her and just being with her when she climbed the stairs.

Another of baby’s tender moment with Alycia cheh cheh. Baby loves her daily routine with her 2 cheh chehs in the room every night. Alycia will climb into the cot to play with her whilst I have my shower. Baby can stay still in the cot for at least an hour with Alycia playing with her inside the cot. Baby also entertains herself just by watching her 2 rambunctious cheh chehs play and laugh and turn the room topsy turvy every night.

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Baby C’s Up And About Again

Exactly a month ago, it was Baby C’s first day post op. She was puking and retching the whole day and had bunches of tubes all over her body. I was waiting anxiously in the hospital for her to get well, with a heart crushed into a zillion pieces and praying for our nightmare to end…. and I never imagined that we would stay there for almost a month. Thank God, Baby C’s well now and she’s back to her usual self again, albeit she’s really skinny now and at times, I really do think she looks like an Ethopian malnourished child…. with a big belly and a real tiny frame. But oh well, as long as she’s happy and eating well now without puking anymore, I’m already thankful to God.

She’s now learning to walk all over again. Had she not been lying in the hospital for almost a month, I am very certain she’s now walking and running everywhere steadily…. I’m not complaining nor comparing her with Alycia and Sherilyn who were walking and running steadily at Baby C’s age…. I am already thankful that my sweetie-pie survived her ordeal. Some people really thought she would not make it.

Here’s what Baby C’s been doing in Ipoh, at koong koong and granny’s house :

My skinny fler climbing the stairs, under watchful eyes from granny and her 2 loving cheh chehs.

And I am one happy mummy again, loving her even more each day. Notice the scar on her right chest? She had a cut there to put in the central venous catheter for her TPN drips and a cut on her right neck (can’t be seen here). My baby is one very, very, very tough cookie.

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Visit To St. Anne’s Church @ Bukit Mertajam, Penang

I have always wanted to visit St. Anne’s Church, a century-old church in Bukit Mertajam…. more so during my long stay in the hospital where everyday was a waiting game for me and Baby C, waiting for the whole ordeal to be over. One of the patient’s mum whom I chatted with during my stay in the hospital told me about St. Anne’s and how she, being a non-Christian also went to St. Anne’s to pray and that her wishes had been granted.

I finally got a chance to visit St. Anne’s Church on our way back to Ipoh from Penang last Sunday. I was really fascinated with the scenery there and how huge the church is.

The St. Anne Feast of Bukit Mertajam (which is a yearly affair) is one of the 20 biggest Catholic pilgrimages in the world, drawing about 40,000 to 60,000 devotees each year.

Me with my 3 angels.

Daddy climbing up the stairs to the peak of the Station with Alycia. I was informed by friends to climb up to the peak of the Station and light up a candle, put a petition to St. Anne’s (St. Anne is Mother Mary’s mother). Climbing up the steep stairs up the hill was quite a feat and after much panting and sweating it out, we finally reached the peak. Thankfully, the gals managed to climb to the peak too and when we were all at the peak, there were huffs and puffs and a bucketful of sweat!

That’s me lighting candles and putting my petition to St. Anne… and I hope my prayers will be granted.

No. of times viewed = 924

I’ll Need A Home Security System If I Return To The Workforce

I was telling the hubs the other day that I am contemplating returning to the workforce to help us recoup the ‘loss’ we have just suffered. It would take us many years to recoup over fifty thousand ringgit that we had spent on Baby C’s surgeries and hospitalization stay recently. The only person who is holding me back in returning to the workforce is Baby C. She has now become extremely clingy to me ever since she underwent 2 major surgeries. Also, as long as she still has kidney reflux, she needs special care from me. No nanny or daycare assistant will be able to provide her with the kind of care and cleanliness that she needs.

When Baby C is declared free from kidney reflux and when she’s a little grown up, I will seriously consider returning to the corporate world. By then, Alycia and Sherilyn would also be much older and easier to care for. If I am lucky enough to get a reliable maid, I would leave my 3 kids at home with the maid. I would also install a GE alarm system and GE home security to monitor my maid and kids from my workplace. The GE home security system comes with an attractive interactive monitoring system where I will always know what’s going on at home regardless of where I am. I will also always be notified if a door or window at my home is opened. This was actually my plan 4 years ago when Alycia and Sherilyn’s nanny told us that she wanted to retire. But as fate has it, I eventually quit the job that I loved to become a SAHM.

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The Gals’ First Beach Experience

My 3 gals experienced their first beach outing last Sunday. Initially, Alycia and Sherilyn were terrified of the sea water, especially the waves and didn’t want to get into the water. After much coercion from daddy and koong koong, they went into the water reluctantly…. and in fear! Daddy and koong koong each had to carry Alycia and Sherilyn, who clung on to them like a koala bear. After getting used to the salty sea water and the waves, Alycia refused to get out from the water! Sherilyn, however still preferred to stay dry and build sand castles instead.

Baby C was ABSOLUTELY terrified of the water. She kept saying “um mai” (no in Cantonese) while shaking her head. She wailed with all her might when granny put her feet on the sand….. and then all of a sudden a huge wave came and wet her legs and panty LOL! Notice how petite Baby C is here? Her once lotus root legs have now shrunken to goat’s legs 🙁

As for me, I wanted to leave the beach after 15 minutes as it was scorching hot and I wanted so much to PEE and there wasn’t any loos around. I just stayed under the huge brolly and kept pestering hubby to hurry up. What a spoilt sport hor? After playing in the water, hubby, koong koong and granny had to rinse the gals and our slippers with big bottles of mineral water before climbing into the car. I told hubby that I don’t want to suffer like that again in future. The next time, we will check into a beach resort facing the beach so that the gals can be properly dressed in their bathing suits and play in the beach to their hearts’ content…. and I don’t have to hold my breath to hold back my pee for 1 long freaking hour under the scorching 11am sun.

No. of times viewed = 363

When I Could Not Bathe Baby C For 5 Days

Apart from being a health freak, I am a clean freak too. I can’t stand dirt, dust, stench and absolutely cannot stand not washing my hair or my daughters’ hair, not even for 1 day. After baby’s first surgery, I could not bathe her or wash her hair for 3 days. That was still ok as we were all in an air-conditioned room 24/7 and though she sweated, it wasn’t that bad as she wasn’t super sticky like she would have been if she was in a non-air conditioned room.

When Baby C was wheeled out of the OT after her second surgery, I noticed that her hair behind her head was all wet. I thought it was only sweat. But when I wiped it when she was wheeled back to our room, I was horrified to see blood…. mixed with iodin. My surgeon told me that it was the blood from her neck as she was also cut on the neck and on her chest for the insertion of the central venous catheter. For 5 days, I felt really uneasy, like someone who has OCD…… as I could not wash baby’s hair, to remove the blood stench from her hair. Everyday, I kept wiping her hair with wet wipes, followed with a wet hanky…and sprinkled some baby powder on her hair, yet the stench of blood was on her hair, eewwww! I asked my surgeon if I could wash baby’s hair but he said no…. coz he didn’t want the central venous catheter on her chest to be contaminated with water or other germs. If it was contaminated, germs could find their way into baby’s body, right into her blood stream and heart (or something to that effect). Finally after 5 long freaking days, I was given the green light to wash baby’s hair and bathe her. Gosh, I tell you, I could feel baby’s relieve as I washed her diaper area, hair (which I squeezed in lots of shampoo to give her a good hair wash lol!) and sponged her body. The nurses there thought I was nuts and obsessed with bathing my baby LOL!

No. of times viewed = 212

Updates On Baby C

Ever since Baby C’s first surgery a month ago, she has been super duper, extremely clingy to me. She wants to latch on to my boops 24/7 and has been sucking me dry like a leech. I even have to nap with her for 1-2 hours everyday while she latches on. The second I pull myself away from her or leave her, she would wake up and cry. I guess she feels really insecure and thinks that if I leave her alone, she will be in pain again. During her stay in the hospital, each time I left her alone in the OT or in the treatment room, she suffered great pain, torture and fear. I hardly have the time for anything else these days, especially blogging. As I am typing this, baby is latched on to my boop again. So I’m sorry if I haven’t visited your blog yet. I’ll definitely do so once I have the time to blog again. I hope baby will forget about her nightmare when we return to KL, back to her home sweet home, where she can have her usual routine again.

In Ipoh, Baby C followed us to Tesco for shopping yesterday evening and also for lunches and dinners outside. Granny bought her a pair of shoes, her first ever pair of shoes! After being imprisoned and in a torture chamber for almost a month in the hospital, gee, baby really loved being outside. I am enjoying each day with her and I value her even more now, after what we had gone through.

I can’t say our nightmare is completely over as she’s still taking oral antibiotics every night until another MCUG scan, which she has to go through end August this year. This MCUG scan will show if she still has kidney reflux. Haih…… I know I should just live each day to the fullest and stop worrying. Worrying is like a rocking chair… it keeps you moving but gets you no where. I’ll be the happiest mom on earth if the scan shows that she has no more kidney reflux but if she still has the reflux, I’ll deal with it later. My surgeon always tells me to think positively and let my positive vibes fill my baby and the air!

No. of times viewed = 384

Pix During Our 4-Day Stay In Hotel, After Baby C’s Discharge

Baby C’s sweet smile of freedom…. finally discharged from the hospital, no more pain, pokes, pricks, prods, insertions, bunches of tubes and cuts. Notice baby leaning towards one side? I guess her wounds were still causing her a tad discomfort and she couldn’t sit up straight. Moreover, she had been lying on her back for almost a month and she took quite some time to get used to sitting up, crawling and standing again. In fact, up until now, she still can’t stand up straight and needs me to hold her hands to aid her to walk. That’s expected as my poor baby has had 2 major surgeries in a short 2 weeks’ period. Even the healthiest of adult cannot endure such torture.

Watching her favorite VCD on TV

Our food, bought in Penang during our almost-1-month stay in the hospital (minus the canned soft drinks in the fridge, which belonged to the hotell). There were more food stashed in my bags (not in pic).

…and my big basket of fruits, which I ate every morning. While Baby C and I slept on the bed, my maid slept on the couch in the living area.

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Reunited And It Feels So Good

Baby C was finally reunited with her 2 doting cheh chehs on Saturday last week after being away from them for almost a month. The entire Saturday, I just can’t stop myself from singing the song ‘Reunited And It Feels So Good’ 🙂 The whole morning while I waited for them to arrive in Penang (together with my hubs and parents), I also had a tad worry that baby would not recognize her cheh cheh. Well, baby did cry when she saw so many people in the hotel room as she was napping and was awoken from her nap. After a while, she was comfortable and happy again, especially when her favorite cheh cheh, Alycia climbed into the baby cot and tried to make her laugh.

This pic was taken just after Baby C’s cheh chehs arrived in Penang. Alycia was dancing away, to cheer baby up.

While Alycia entertained baby, Sherilyn was busy helping herself to the tit bits that I had bought. She was busy nibbling on pine nuts here.

Alycia and Baby C sharing a tender moment here… just like they have always had. They were just making each other laugh and giggle.

Notice how long Baby C’s hair is here? Well, I finally brought her to the hair saloon to have it trimmed today… and her pretty curls at the back are finally snipped off 🙁 But she still looks as cute as ever even without her curls. I’m pretty sure the curls will grow again.

No. of times viewed = 297