Here is my grossly under-aged store assistant and she is not even three yet. She now knows how to help me separate the Pos Laju consignment notes into 2, which requires a degree of dexterity, something which sometimes my 2 older girls have trouble doing. I was really impressed when she insisted that she wanted to help me (I really under estimated her and thought she would not be able to separate the carbonized copies) and then TA DAA…. she proved her capability in a jiffy. Now, she helps me do this everyday!!
Yesterday evening, Baby was reluctant to finish her dinner. So I used my most-effective tactic to get her to finish her food…. by asking either one of her sisters to eat her food! It works 100% of the time! When Alycia ate a spoonful of her rice, Baby bawled! For the next 15 minutes, she lay face down on the dining table chair and sulked. She was really angry with Alycia, her favorite jie jie for ‘betraying’ her. I tried to sweet talk her and coerced her to finish her food but nope, this hard headed girl just won’t open her mouth. It was after bribing her with 1 teaspoon of ice cream that managed to douse the flame in her and she polished off her plate of food in a jiffy!
Minutes later, Baby ran to Alycia, spanked her jie jie on the butt and screamed vengefully “I beat your butt and will kick you out of the house!” and then zoomed away from her jie jie… in a fist of rage, as if pouring out her utter disappointment that her most beloved jie jie had betrayed her. O_o!! This came out from my not-even-3YO toddler’s mouth??!! I was shocked over the words that came pouring out from her mouth…. but had to laugh hard at what she had said.
You like this sweet dress that she’s wearing? Hop over to my online store to check out a whole range of kids clothing, kids accessories and chic ladies wear!
Today is another quiet but fun Sunday for us. My hubs left the house at 4:30am for Ipoh to perform Ching Ming rites to his late grandparents and late dad. It was a day-trip for him and he had just returned to KL. In the morning, I brought the girls for jungle walk round the condo and then we walked to the shops nearby to pack some breakfast.
The girls at the jungle walk trail… They call it jungle walk as there’s lush greenery surrounding our condo like a jungle. Here they often stop to admire the green bananas and banana flowers on the banana trees, flowers, butterflies, bees, squirrels, birds, ants and other living things.
Sunday is a junk food day and I allowed them to eat fish muruku. Baby the cili padi insisted that she had to hold the packet of muruku and refused to share it with her 2 jie jies. But when her 2 jie jies pretended to be puppies, she relented and fed her sisters the muruku like a master rewarding her pups LOL!
2 weeks after CNY ended, we removed the cash from all the ang pow packets that the girls had collected to have them banked into their Savings Accounts.
Daddy in full concentration counting the cash while Baby in full concentration looks on in awe…
The girls collected about RM500+ each and we topped up another RM1k each for them, making a total of RM1,500 for each of them in their Savings Account…
By the time they graduate from secondary school, I am pretty sure that the money in their Savings Account will be enough for a year of their college fee…. while the hubs and I have to continue working hard like dogs to keep topping up our bank accounts for their university fees!
There is a big toyogo box in the storeroom which I have been keeping Sherilyn’s unused XXL diapers ever since she stopped wearing diapers to sleep at night over a year ago. The other day, I decided to use them on Baby but upon taking a closer look, I saw yellowish brownish stains all over the diapers…. not on 1 or 2 pieces but on all the diapers! Not wanting to take any chances of Baby getting a UTI attack from the possibly fungus on the diapers, I threw all the unused diapers into the bin… with a heavy heart. Those XXL diapers cost over RM1 each and I threw over 30 of them!!!
Luckily the XXL pull-up pants still looked white and nice and I let Baby use them immediately, though the diaper is oversized on her (the waist band is almost reaching her chest LOL!!!).
Check out those brownish stains. Would you let your child wear stained unused diapers?
My hubs is a die-hard basketball nut. Through playing this game, he has suffered injuries on every part of his body, from head to toe. Consequently, he had spent and is still spending money getting physiotherapy to ease the pain and aches on his body. I always ask my hubs why he is still so fanatic over basketball when ironically he is spending so much money to treat the injuries but he can never give me a satisfactory answer. Several times, the sprains on his back were so bad that he needed several rounds of physiotherapy. A friend recently recommended cold therapy or Cryotherapy, one of the most widely-used treatment methods for certain muscle and joint injuries. But after reading how dangerous cold therapy can be, I advised against such a treatment. If cold therapy devices are used too long, or at too cold of a temperature, it can result in serious injuries such as nerve damage, chronic pain, or frost bite.
If anyone of you have been injured through the use of Cold Therapy, you can get initial consultations for a cold therapy lawsuit without any charge from O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath.
Here’s their address:
O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath – Personal Injury Lawyers – 808 West Avenue, Austin, TX. 78701 – 512-494-9949
We spent our weekend, which marked the end of the 1st term school break at Westin Hotel KL. We paid an additional RM100++ to upgrade our rooms to the Executive Floor so that we could enjoy free dining 3x a day at the Executive Lounge. We booked 2 rooms – 1 room for the mil, the helper and 2 older gals. The other room was for hubs, Baby and me. It was more of an eating trip, thanks to the hubs who enjoys nothing more than trying out food at new places.
On Friday after checking into the hotel, we went across our hotel to Athena @ Pavillion for dinner. Athena is a premium dining Mediterranean restaurant located at the Connections, Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur. It looks more like a pub and the majority of the patrons there were tourists. Not really a family-friendly restaurant (hate the cig smoke-filled place) and price wise, it IS EXPENSIVE! We not only paid for the food but for the rental too! But the food was good, which we thoroughly enjoyed.
View from our room on the 32nd floor of Westin Hotel, KL.
No prize for guessing who ate fruits, muesli and drank coconut water for breakfast eh?
The workaholic in me just could not help bringing along my lappie along to the Executive Lounge so that I could work after my meals. The only thing I don’t like about Westin KL is that broadband internet is only free at certain areas and NOT in the bedrooms.
The girls enjoying their free pink guava ice popsicles at the pool area.
Today marks the end of the 1st term school break. Tomorrow all the mad rush and stress associated with school will resume again. Can’t wait for the 2nd school term break to come!
Today while we were in the bathroom taking our shower together again, I asked Baby yet again what she’s going to give me for my birthday.
Yesterday she told me that she will buy me a water tumbler. Today, she told me that she will buy me a handkerchief so that I could wipe my teeth, like how I wipe her teeth muahahahahah!!! That was really the joke of the day for me.
Me – Baby, so what are you going to give me for my birthday?
Baby – errrrr, handkerchief….
Me – Handkerchief?? Why buy handkerchief for me?
Baby – then you can wipe your teeth after you eat your birthday cake (with actions on how I should wipe my teeth with the hanky)
That was just too funny. My Baby is one practical girl who would buy mummy a tumbler and a handkerchief so that I could put them to good use. Smart girl but sometimes can be curt with her words on mummy like saying “you silly mummy” or “are you crazy?” to me. Oh she even calls me a fatty bum bum… not that I have a big ass but because I have a jelly belly!
Baby and I take our shower together everyday. While drying her up after the shower just now, this was our conversation:
Me – Baby, it’s mummy’s birthday very soon. What are you going to give mummy?
Baby – a surprise! Flowers… party packs…
Me – oh really?? And what else? Are you going to buy me a present?
Baby – I will buy you a tumbler for you to put water…
Me – water tumbler? Oh good. So do you have any money?
Baby – NO!
Me – so how are you going to buy me a tumbler if you have no money?
Baby – then I give you my tumbler.
Me – can you give me your new Strawberry Shortcake tumbler? ( I gave her a new Strawberry Shortcake tumbler today, which she adores to bits!)
Baby – can. Anything you want. We share.
My little cutie pie can really yak and yak the whole day. Her chatter and babble are really entertaining and can cheer me up on days when I feel down. I thank God that the daily antibiotics that she took for14 months of her life did not impair her speech.
New Express Spring 2011 Swim Collection
Alycia’s first term was finally over yesterday. Both Alycia and I could feel a heavy burden taken off our shoulders yesterday evening. I promised the girls that I would bring them swimming during the school holidays. So I dug out my 2-piece swimsuit last night and tried it on but the top looked too loose on me. My friend who came to help me with my stock check yesterday commented that I had lost weight. Now, that’s something to rejoice about and I definitely want to get myself a new swimsuit that fits my body perfectly!
While checking out online stores for women’s swimwear, I came across Express, an online store that carries a wide range of trendy clothing for both women and men. I really love the NEW Spring swimwear at Express. There are so many choices of chic and sexy designs ranging from bikinis to halter neck, dress-like swimwear and 2-piece body loving swimwear. My favorite is this black Rhinestone Tankini. It is really alluring and I like the top that can cover part of my jelly belly 😀
PICTURE OF BLACK RHINESTONE TANKINI
Here are some of Express Spring 2011 Swim Collection Highlights:
* Available in our always-popular monokini, sexiest string bikini and must-have strapless and halter bikini styles.
* Shop bright solids, on-trend graphic prints, the essential reversible style, nautical-inspired striped and sleek metallic styles.
* Designer details include flirty ruffles, sexy self-tie sides, glam beaded embellishments and polished metal hardware.
* Removable padding in tops.
* Bottoms fit smaller to size for moderate back coverage.
* Swim shorts available for men.
* Accessorize with Express spring essentials including sandals, tote bags, sunglasses and hats For Him and For Her.
If you are a fan of sexy swimwear, here’s a chance for you to win one of ten $200 Express GiftCards when you sign up for Express e-mail . It’s really simple. Just sign up from now through 21 April 2011 and you are entered. Check out the sweepstakes rules for more information
This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Express for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
Alycia’s first term was finally over yesterday. Both Alycia and I could feel a heavy burden taken off our shoulders yesterday evening. I promised the girls that I would bring them swimming during the school holidays. So I dug out my 2-piece swimsuit last night and tried it on but the top looked too loose on me. My friend who came to help me with my stock check yesterday commented that I had lost weight. Now, that’s something to rejoice about and I definitely want to get myself a new swimsuit that fits my body perfectly!
While checking out online stores for women’s swimwear, I came across Express, an online store that carries a wide range of trendy clothing for both women and men. I really love the NEW Spring swimwear at Express. There are so many choices of chic and sexy designs ranging from bikinis to halter neck, dress-like swimwear and 2-piece body loving swimwear. My favorite is this black Rhinestone Tankini, which I think is really alluring and I like the top that can cover part of my jelly belly 😀
Here are some of Express Spring 2011 Swim Collection Highlights:
* Available in our always-popular monokini, sexiest string bikini and must-have strapless and halter bikini styles.
* Shop bright solids, on-trend graphic prints, the essential reversible style, nautical-inspired striped and sleek metallic styles.
* Designer details include flirty ruffles, sexy self-tie sides, glam beaded embellishments and polished metal hardware.
* Removable padding in tops.
* Bottoms fit smaller to size for moderate back coverage.
* Swim shorts available for men.
* Accessorize with Express spring essentials including sandals, tote bags, sunglasses and hats For Him and For Her.
If you are a fan of sexy swimwear, here’s a chance for you to win one of ten $200 Express GiftCards when you sign up for Express e-mail. It’s really simple. Just sign up from now through 21 April 2011 and you are entered. Check out the sweepstakes rules for more information.
I had witnessed this scene at the gym of my condo several times. First scenario. The man was working out in the gym and he was the first to step inside the gym in the morning, followed by me. He switched on the air-conditioner as he prefers a cold room when he works out. I am fine with it as I prefer the air-cond turned on too. Moments later, a lady walked in and immediately switched off the air-cond. She told the man that he should open up the windows and breathe in fresh air. She told him that he should sweat it out without the air-cond, which defeats the purpose of sweating. The man was fuming mad, so mad I could see lava spewing out from his head! He felt insulted and was cheesed off with the lady’s bossiness. There was a war of words throwing around in the gym and I was dragged into the war by the man. I just smiled and did not say a word. After a 15-minute or so of war of words, the man stomped out of the gym with lava spewed all over the gym. Later he walked into the gym again when the woman left and was cursing the lady to me.
Second scenario. A woman was working out on the Air Walker. The air-cond in the gym was not turned on. Another woman walked in and she turned on the air-cond in the gym room, to which the woman on the Air Walker said this “excuse me, can you turn off the air-cond? I don’t like the air-cond.” The woman who just walked into the gym reluctantly went to switch off the air-cond. When she walked nearer to the woman on the Air Walker, the woman on the Air Walker added “sorry, I don’t want the air cond as I want to sweat it out. I don’t like the air-cond”. The other lady looked really pissed off and I could see that she wanted to blurt this out : “why do I need to listen to you? The gym belongs to all the residents and not you alone. I am paying RM300 – RM400 a month to use the facilities, so why do I need to listen to you. If you want to sweat it out, wear a jacket!!?” but she fought back the words and looked really angry as she worked out on the other unit of Air Walker. As a matter of fact, all gyms in the world are fitted with an an air-cond and the air-cond is always switched on when the gym is open for use. Whoever wants to sweat it out can wear a long sleeved jacket and long pants.
Sitting on the fence, who should have the right to have the air-cond turned on or turned off in both scenarios? All the residents pay between RM300 – RM400+ a month for maintenance fee and they have every right to enjoy all the facilities in the condo equally. Sometimes I feel quite stressed out, when I work out in the gym because of the idiot box air-cond in the gym. Instead of bringing together the residents, it has caused tension and unhappiness.
This week has been an extremely busy week for me. It’s Alycia’s first term exam week. Sherilyn has her spelling, ejaan and ting xie as usual. And business has been pretty good for me for the past 2 weeks. I have been waking up at 5:30am everyday for the past 5 days so that I can wait with Alycia at the lobby for her transporter to pick her up. It is during this 10-minute wait that I will remind her to be careful when she tackles the test papers, to double check her work and to remind her of points that she keeps forgetting. I have been the one who is anxious and kan cheong for Alycia who is sitting for her exam. I feel as if I were the one who’s sitting for the exam LOL!! Alycia is as cool as a cucumber and has not an ounce of panic or worry in her. She goes on her school day as usual and it is me and my mil who have been busy doing revision with her. After sending her off, I will jog and then work out in the gym and on some days, run to the produce-on-wheels to get some fresh meat and veggie.
Today my 2 suppliers sent me my stock of 3 big bags + 1 box of ladies clothing with over hundred pieces of clothing. I flipped looking at the stock and had to make an SOS call to my friend to come and help me. Thankfully she is a lady of leisure and can come almost anytime to help out. She is still helping me to perform the QA check now. Tomorrow another box of stock for kids items will reach me. There goes my weekend, sigh…
Notice the hair saloon set in the background? That’s my ‘prize’ from my supplier of kids stuff. I emerged the top 5 best resellers in her shop last year 😀
Do hop over to my online store to see what you can get for yourself 😀
As the day for Baby to do a post surgery MAG 3 scan is drawing nearer, I am getting more anxious. I have started once again to prepare her mentally for the procedure and to remove any fear that is in her as the procedure will be a traumatizing and painful one (painful when the catheter is inserted into her hand and down under). It would be traumatizing even for adults. I hope she will not cry like she used to, each time she sees hospital staff wearing medical scrubs getting near her.
As Baby grows older, she is getting more matured in her thinking. She understands reasoning and explanation more and I can easily knock sense into her. She seems to be able to understand why she needs to do the MAG 3 scan. She knows that she did not have a normal urinary tract system when she was born and she knows that she had undergone some surgeries when she was little. Once in a little while, I will show her the pictures of our 3-week stay in the hospital after her surgeries about 2 years ago. That 3-week stay in the hospital will forever be etched in my memory. I can remember vividly everything that transpired in the hospital, how Baby would bawl whenever she saw the OT staff in Dickies scrubs and how frail she had turned into after the hospital stay. Can you believe that she weighed a pathetic 7.5kg at 14 months old?
Yesterday, after I had told her how ‘fun’ and rewarding the whole procedure would be, she seems to look forward to the MAG 3 scan 😀 I promised her that she could have a big ice cream and some new toys after the procedure in the hospital. My motherly instinct now tells me that Baby will be able to go through the procedure without much fuss. She has gone through enough hospital visits and hospital stays to mould her into a tough cookie.
It was a revision day for Alycia yesterday as she will be sitting for her exam starting today for a week. As usual, we did some last minute revision. In the afternoon, we went to Xenri @ Wisma Elken to have Japanese buffet lunch. The lunch was to celebrate the birthday of our good friend, Alan Yun (local actor, model, restaurateur and entrepreneur).
When my girls heard that we were going to have lunch with Alan kor kor to celebrate his birthday, they zoomed to the cupboard, fished out some colored papers and began to transfer their artistic minds and imagination onto the papers… to whip up birthday cards and wishes. Baby did not want to be left out and also drew a card for Alan kor kor …. a paper filled with colorful circles and ovals as that’s what she’s good in drawing now, LOL!!
Alan was too nice and sporting and insisted that I took a picture of the girls’ cards to him ^^
When one of the waitresses saw Alan and overheard our conversation with him during lunch, she gathered her other colleagues who all scrambled to take pix with this movie star. Other diners who saw him also lined up to snap pix with him.
Next up… Alan has invited me and probably a few other bloggers to sample some of the food in his newly opened restaurant and blog about it! Am looking forward to that…
Being the 1st child, I spent the most time reading and playing with Alycia when she was a baby. Next was Sherilyn. I spent the least time reading and playing with Baby. Because of her medical condition since birth until she was 15 months old (after the surgeries to fix her problem), we spent a lot of time in and out of the hospital and I did not have much time, energy and mood left to do academic stuff to stimulate her. Then in the year 2009, I started an online store business and my quality time with my 3 girls went downhill. As a result, I hardly have the time to read to my girls, especially to Baby. I know how bad this is. I know I should spend as much quality time as possible with them during their first few foundation years. Thus, my New Year Resolution for 2011 is to read more to my girls and spend some quality time with them before bed time every night. I’m glad that it’s moving right on track now.
Anyway, back to Baby. I have never really taught her how to fix a jig saw puzzle. It was through observing her sisters that she learned the tricks and ropes of fixing the puzzle. Her latest prowess now is fixing 24-piece jig saw puzzles that koo mah bought for the girls from the Starfall website years ago. My girls love reading from www.starfall.com. Alycia and Sherilyn learned their ABCs and reading from the Starfall website. Now Baby is loving every bit of the Starfall jig saws. I am very amazed that she has the patience to sit on the floor for 1-2 hours to fix the puzzles. She’s occupying most of her free time fixing these puzzles now and I’m really proud that she can fix a 24-piece puzzle in under 10 minutes as no one had really taught her.
Big baby and small baby fixing jig saw puzzles together…
My girls’ prized possessions – jig saw puzzles from Starfall.com
Refusing to sleep, eat, nap and even refusing to go out…. see how engrossed she is fixing her jig saw puzzles. I kid you not, this kid stayed up to 11ish pm to complete her jig saw puzzles, then dutifully kept every piece of the puzzles back into the respective boxes!
Though it’s been more than a year Alycia is taking paid private transport to and from school, I will still start to miss her and worry about her each time she gets into the van in the morning, when the skies are still dark. I worry about her a lot and will say a prayer for her each time she hops into the van. Ever since the incident where the transporter left her behind in school and I thought she was kidnapped, I worry about her even more. Today Alycia told me that Aunty J (her transporter) told the kids in the van that a boy from another private van was badly injured on the head when an accident happened. Alycia did not know how the accident happened but the boy was one of the students from her school who sat in a private van like her. When I heard that, I started to worry again. Did I tell you that I am a very good chronic worrier? I have morbid thoughts and would think about the worst case scenarios all the time whenever negative things happen.
Next year my bag of worries will grow heavier as Sherilyn will be in Primary 1. Baby will also start to attend pre-school. I have already started to worry about how Sherilyn is going to cope in Primary 1. And knowing that she is a very curious child who likes to try everything, I worry that will she try doing dangerous things in school. I also worry about how she is going to get ready by 6:40am as she will be taking Aunty J’s van too. She can’t even be ready by 8:15am for pre school now.
As for Baby, I will worry about her a great deal when she starts to attend pre-school next year. I have also started to worry about her hygiene in school, especially on the toilet part. She did not have a very perfect urinary tract system since birth and after a major surgery in 2009, she’s much better now. Though she has no more monthly UTI attacks, she still has a slight urine leakage problem. She will definitely need to be in diapers when she goes to pre-school. I even plan to go to her pre-school to bring her to the toilet at 10am everyday next year. My most immediate worry now is Baby’s MAG3 scan which is drawing closer each day. I worry that Baby will be very traumatized as the procedures are very, very intimidating and painful (when the catheters are inserted on her hand and down under) and I am already worrying about the scan report.
Sigh… I guess every mother would have their own set of worries and the worries that they have will never end. What are your worries about your child/children?
