July 2011 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Clandestine Snacking!

For weeks, I had been eyeing the last stick of Mini Magnum that had been sitting in the freezer. Each time I opened the freezer door to take bread and frozen dish, the Mini Magnum seduced me invitingly. But my girls were always around. Today, my cough is better. I was itching to rip apart the Mini Magnum wrapper and sink my teeth into the crispy chocolate coating and cold luscious, creamy milk. I had an opportunity finally. Baby was playing. Rascal #2 was playing too. The maid had gone done to wait for Alycia. But I had to do it quick. Alycia would be back anytime. Baby would notice me missing from my work area. I covertly went to the fridge, opened the freezer done and quietly removed the Mini Magnum very carefully so that the sound of the aluminium wrapper will not rouse suspicion. Kids are ultra sensitive to the sounds of ice cream wrappers or sounds of the junk food bag. You yell at them and they seem deaf but the sounds of junk food shaking in the bag would raise their ears up instantly!

I made a quick dash to the wet kitchen, quickly ripped the wrapper apart and then sank my teeth on that sinful carb. Woohoo, very nice feeling and I could feel some of my stress melting away. I quickly chewed and swallowed. I heard Baby calling out for me. Then I heard Alycia and the maid’s voice at the door. They had returned!! OH NO!! Baby then yelled out “mummy, I want to wee wee!!!” 4-5 times. I ignored her and tried to gobble the whole damn ice cream down my throat but darn it, it was too cold and my mouth and forehead got numb!!! I quickly put the remaining 1/4 of the ice cream in a bowl and quickly sneaked it back to the freezer. Alycia greeted me and I attended to Baby’s needs. No one suspected and noticed that mummy had chomped down the last Mini Magnum hahahah! After washing Baby up and fixed Alycia’s lunch of homemade fried noodles, I discreetly took the remaining quarter Mini Magnum out from the freezer and with one mouthful, finished off the decadent sin. You may ask why I have to do it so discreetly? That’s because the kids have a slight cough too and I don’t want them to eat ice cream. Phew, what a life having to eat like a thief! I will miss the suspense of clandestine snacking when my brood leave the nest 12 years down the road.

No. of times viewed = 266

My Precious Baby… and An Unforgettable Journey

Before my girls came along, I told God that I would do anything for Him if only He could grant me a child. I was desperately longing for a baby but faced so much problems trying to conceive and sustain a pregnancy. I was often on the verge of crying after attending full-moon parties thrown by my friends. The hubs and I spent over a year in full-swing on our ‘baby project’. On our very first visit to the fertility specialist’s office, the doctor did a scan of my ovaries. We did not plan to perform an IUI so soon. It was supposedly a mere consultation and to seek advice. But after the first scan, our doctor was very excited and told us that he saw a nice round egg sitting in my ovary. Woohoo, so he did what was necessary – hormone jabs, hormone suppositories and hormone oral tabs were prescribed. I dutifully took all those and I think about a week later, went to the gynae’s office to have the procedure done. But all was not rosy on the day of the IUI procedure. Our doctor shook his head in disappointment after analyzing the hubs’ little swimmers. I will never forget his words when he walked into the Procedures Room. He said this solemnly to me :“only 3% are good”. I was lying on the bed, getting ready for the procedure but his words dashed my hopes. Nevertheless, I prayed fervently that lots of miracles would happen. Only a miracle could make the 3% good little swimmers find their ways and embrace the one precious little egg, that was about to make its descend in the next few hours or so.

Long, long story cut short. Miracles did happen to me. God answered my prayers. Alycia my first miracle was born 8 months later. She was an extremely precious baby to all of us. Though we could not afford an expensive baby nursery for her, she was nonetheless given the best of every other thing in her life, up until today. Alycia will always have a very special place in my heart and I am forever thankful to Him for giving her and my 2 other angels to me.

No. of times viewed = 420

Business Minded!

Yesterday Alycia came home from school grinning away. Half way through lunch, she went to her school bag and dug out something and happily told me that her friend gave her an Angry Bird plastic zip-type pencil case. This girl of mine has been absolutely crazy over Angry Birds lately. She sleeps with her Angry Bird cushion and has Angry Bird pencils, erasers and pencil case. She plays Angry Bird on the iPad2 when she has completed her homework. She draws Angry Birds everyday during her free time. Oh coming back to the Angry Bird pencil that her friend gave her. I wasn’t too happy that her friend had given her things again. This girl always comes home telling me that her friends had given her this and that (stationery items all the time) to reward her for helping them do their homework!

After much probing, Alycia finally told me the truth why her friend (a boy) gave her the pencil case. Her friend had asked her to help him complete his homework. This girl always helps her classmates with their homework and then receive benefits in kind! While I am rather happy that this girl has an entrepreneurial mind, just like her mummy (I made my first few Ringgit when I was in Standard 2, by making bookmarks and sold them to my classmates), I am not too happy that she is doing this in class. What if her classmates’ mummies come after me and question why my daughter is ‘extorting’ their child!! I told Alycia to return the Angry Bird pencil case to her friend. I doubt she will do it but I will follow through today. I just bought her an Angry Birds pencil case on Friday last week.

Would you allow your child to receive benefit like this from his/her classmates?

No. of times viewed = 270

Good Question

It was raining just now and still is. While having lunch of mushroom soup pasta, rascal #2 asked me this question while staring at the top of the huge rainforest trees that can be seen from the 5th floor of our unit. Very often huge bee hives and perhaps bird’s nests on the trees can be seen from our unit.

Sherilyn – mummy, is bird’s nest sticky?

Me – huh? what do you mean? No, I think they are not sticky. (I thought she meant the edible bird’s nest).

Sherilyn – then how come birds’ nests stay on the tree during heavy rain? They must be sticky and stick to the tree.

Me – errr, good question. I am not too sure too.

How do birds’ nests stay on trees even after a heavy downpour? Rascal #2 had just asked a very good question which I need an answer too. LOL!! Anyone?

No. of times viewed = 259

Healthy Chips Made From Soy, Flaxseed, Organic Corns and Sea Salt

Here’s my latest stress buster –

When I am stressed out to the max by the girls and with work, I munch on feel-good comfort food like this. This Food For Friends tortilla chips are made from organic soy grits, organic stone ground yellow corns, lots of organic brown flaxseeds, lime and sea salt. Not very salty and taste good to me. I am going to grab another bag of these chips from the mini market tomorrow when I drop rascal #2 for ballet 😀

Good source of DHA and fibre from the flaxseeds. But quite costly at RM12.90 a bag…. well actually it’s only half bag full!

No. of times viewed = 4597

Learning From Their New iPad2

Rascal #2 learns very well in an environment that has elements of fun peppered with lots of visual and audio enhancement. She likes sounds and colors, not the boring black and white words and numbers. So our new iPad2 is now her best tutor. I love Apple for creating such wonderful apps for kids in their iPads. There are thousands of free apps for kids Math, kids flash cards, spelling, kids eBooks, kids songs, free online Mandarin help and awesome flash cards and loads more. The only apps that I purchased is nciku.com which only cost USD7.99, which is still way cheaper than getting a Besta.

Solving Math equations…

Learning Mandarin…

Free Mandarin apps…

Learning the flags of the countries of the world through game. This game is really ‘shiok’, even I find it thrilling as the brick letters will fall off if you don’t stick them hard and fast enough to the squares and there is a time limit for it…

Rascal #3 multi-tasking… drinking water and learning spelling…

With all these fantastic kids apps, Apple has been pocketing loads of money from parents like myself. I think my girls are learning loads from the free iPad2 educational apps as well as paid ones like nciku.com and other e-books websites.

No. of times viewed = 469

Our Weekend

My girls look forward to Saturdays and Sundays as I will bring them to the park in the morning. After jogging and playing in the park, we will walk to the nearby coffee shop to have breakfast, then walk home. After 1-2hours of fun and exercise, I find that their minds are better conditioned to start doing their homework and other academic stuff.

Get, set and go…. with backpack.

Walking at the lobby of our condo.

This morning, we did not go to the park but went for a walk at the jungle trail at our condo compound. While walking, Sherilyn stumbled upon a huge gold fish on the grass and it was dead! We were all very surprised to see a dead gold fish on the grass. Some inconsiderate tenants must have flung their pet fish out of the window, how disgraceful! Anyway, when we walked towards the guardhouse, Baby waved to the guard and announced “hey guard, there’s a dead gold fish over there!!” We all broke out in a guffaw LOL!

No. of times viewed = 180

Sam Pei Jie Chicken

My mil can whip up a very good chicken dish of Sam Pei Jie, a Taiwanese dish. This dish comprises of chicken, basil leaves, ginger, garlic and Chinese cooking wine. Now that she’s away for a few months, my girls’ meals are fully taken care of by me – 3x a day! And I’m talking about 3 fussy eaters. 3 of them have different preferences and different favorite food. The most pernickety is Alycia. And of course the man of the house!

Coming back to this Sam Pei Jie chicken dish. It was my first time trying out this dish and I am very glad that the dish turned out really delish – exactly like how my mil cooks it and even better that the one from Fong Lye Taiwanese restaurant, ahem 😀

I got the thumbs up from my 4 fussy eaters and a rating of 10/10 from my #1 critic – Alycia.

Will definitely cook this dish again and this time, I shall add more basil leaves to add more minty flavor to the dish.

No. of times viewed = 278

Nanny 911 Needed

I am currently facing a big issue with my #2. She is an extremely whiny, screamy and crabby child. At 6years 5 months, she cries, screams and throws tantrums every single day. She is late for school everyday as she has trouble waking up, drinking her milk, washing herself up and dressing up. When told to do homework or anything academic, she will switch from smart mode to dense mode. Though she attends Mandarin tuition together with Alycia, she is a far cry from her che che in terms of words recognition and attitude towards her school work. She argues with me everyday as she will not take instructions from me. She fights with the maid non-stop the whole day, with her stomping her feet in anger. The maid is partly to be blamed too. Both of them are like cats and dogs put together.

I give her a pair of fork and spoon for lunch, she will change it to chopsticks. I give her chopsticks, she changes it back to fork an spoon. I give her a bowl, she will change it to a plate and vice versa. She asks me to choose a dress for her and I do, but she will whine and say she does not like it. Ask her to do homework, she will come up with 1001 excuses to evade doing her homework. When I set Math questions for her, she will copy the answers (though I had reprimanded her countless times that it is a big offense to copy). She will also rebel and switch to another book and do questions meant for younger kids. Wherever she goes, I have to pull my hair and my blood pressure shoots sky high as I will be nagging her non-stop to hurry up to prepare herself. She has no sense of urgency.

Our relationship is becoming from bad to worse each day and I want to salvage it before this girl becomes wayward. I hate to have a resentment towards her and I don’t want her to resent me too. I don’t want her to be a missing teenager, with her picture in the newspapers 8 years down the road. I am trying my best to be nice to her but her disobedience annoys me to the pit of my guts every single day. I used to dot on her so much when she was a toddler.

I’ve just had a major melt down with her. I told her to do Math subtraction but she told me that she did not know how to do. Those are simple equations that I have been teaching her since last year. I tried to remain patient and cool and explained to her more than 10x again but she told me that she still did not know how to do. She knew how to do them before. Suddenly, she did not even know how to do simple subtraction meant for 5-6 yo. I feel like she is deliberately trying to piss me off. I gave her a good whipping. Oh God, what am I going to do with her? If only there was a Nanny 911 here that I can hire to help me tame this girl. She is like an uncontrollable puppy seriously in need of training and discipline. I really don’t know how to manage her. HELP!!!

No. of times viewed = 503

My Snyder’s Cheddar Cheese Pretzels

I love Snyder’s Cheddar Cheese Pretzels. It’s one of my simple indulgences to break away from stress at home. I lost my voice last week, from a minor throat infection which I got it from Alycia. I self treated myself without the need to go to the GP to get antibiotics by gargling my throat with sea salt water a few times a day and sucking on Difflam anti-inflammatory lozenges and Tussils anti-cough lozenges.

Back to the Synder’s pretzels. I stayed away from snacks and fried food for almost 4 days during the time I lost my voice. When I could no longer resist my temptation from the pretzels that were kept in the fridge, I grabbed the bag and put a few pieces into my mouth… secretly in the kitchen. Then rascal #2 caught me sneaking the pretzels into my mouth and teased me “mummy, why are you eating this? I thought you lost your voice? I thought you can’t eat this? Just now your voice was coming back. Now you are losing it again”…. to which I lied to her that I am feeling OK now and then popped another pretzel into my mouth *greedy me* LOL!!!! Rascal #2 questioned me again with full concern when she saw it “hey, why are you eating some more? See, you are losing your voice again!” O_o Next time, I better eat my junk food when the girls are in school or taking their nap!

No. of times viewed = 285

Bound!

Rascal #3 has a very bad habit of running around whenever she eats. She takes after rascal #2 who can never sit still at the dining table during meal times or when she’s asked to do homework. Thus, these 2 rascals get whacked a lot during meal times. A few days ago, I got so pissed off with her jumping up and down and running everywhere during dinner that I tied up her hands and legs! But her 2 che ches ROTFL out so hard and Baby thought it was funny too. They laughed till their tummies hurt! Soon, Baby managed to release herself from the cloth strings and she finished up her food obediently. But this brat went back to her old habit the next day, sigh!! I don’t like to use the whip on her or on any of my girls but it appears like that is the only thing that they are truly scared of. Threats and punishments don’t work on Baby. Only the cane does. Such a cutie pie but she is one hard-headed fella. Does anyone have any better idea of keeping a toddler and a 6.5yo seated still at the dining table during meal times? I know that if I put them right in front of the idiot box, they will obediently polish off their food and glue their butts onto their chairs but that’s bad discipline!

No. of times viewed = 189

Baby and Alycia

A few nights ago, Alycia was fuming mad and whining away non-stop when she could not find some cards that her classmate had given her. This girl is very fond of having an outburst, which results in fits of rage and bawling whenever she cannot find her school books or other stuff. When Baby heard her favorite che che whining and crying that night, she, who was in the bedroom with me, getting ready to sleep shouted and waived across to her che che : “don’t worry Alycia! I will help you look for it tomorrow ok? Don’t worry ok, ok!!!” When she did not get any response from her raging che che, she repeated those assuring and comforting words, which made me burst out in a guffaw. That was so thoughtful and sweet of my Baby, to have offered her assistance to help her che che find those cards.

Baby at 3 years 3 months old and Alycia at 7 years 7 months old.

No. of times viewed = 173

Braised Pork Ribs with Yam

If I prepare simple sustenance for lunch, I’ll ensure that there is something more ‘proper’ for dinner. If my girls have sandwiches or porridge for lunch, I will prepare dishes that are more meaty like braised pork ribs, chicken or fried fish for dinner.

Braised pork ribs with yam is one of the more popular dishes among my 2 older fussy eaters.

The pork ribs were marinated with 5-Spice Powder, pepper and soy sauce for over 3 hours before cooking. I garnished the dish with lots of spring onions and julienned cool cucumbers to give this creamy and meaty dish a more refreshing taste.

Alycia, my no. 1 food critic gave me a rating of 10/10 for this dish HAHA!! This fella is normally very stingy with her rating and to get a 10/10 for a dish, you must try it to believe the rating 😀

No. of times viewed = 309

Kids Say The Darndest Things

Conversation with Baby over breakfast this morning:

Baby – mummy, last time you had a spotty dog right?

Me – yes. But Spotty is dead now. Mummy was so sad when he died.

Baby – don’t be sad ok? (then pats my lap) I will buy you a new spotty dog. A new puppy dog ok?

I wonder why this question suddenly popped out from Baby’s head. She seems to have funny questions popping out every now and then. Just like last night. When she was sitting in the potty just before bed time, she said this to me “mummy, I feel like eating roti canai”! LOL!

Cassandra at 3yrs 3 months

No. of times viewed = 164

Terriyaki Chicken Sandwich

My kids are getting fed up with having fried noodles, fried rice, noodles, pasta and spaghetti for lunch. So I whipped up sometime different for them – Chicken Terriyaki sandwich complete with lettuce, mayo, cheese and cucumbers…. Subway style!

I marinated the chicken breast fillet with some Kikoman Terriyaki sauce and black pepper, then pan fried them till brown.

Spread the walnut wholemeal bread with Tesco brand mayo (made with free range eggs and made in Belgium – cheap and yummy!). Then put a piece of organic butterhead lettuce, a slice of terriyaki chicken, a slice of cheese and topped with Japanese cucumbers.

A complete meal with protein from the chicken, cheese, walnuts from the bread, fibre from the veggie and wholemeal bread and carbs from the bread. I got thumbs up from my 3 fussy eaters and orders for more 😀

No. of times viewed = 202

Kids Nap The Darndest Ways

I saw Baby dozed off on the couch in a half standing position and in her bathing suit… with her panty on 🙂 I just had to snap a pic of this as I think it was too funny. Rascal #2 was so absorbed in my laptop activity that she did not even notice that her baby sister was just behind her sleeping. This is quite a typical scene on most afternoons. Rascal #2 will be glued to the lappie with Baby alongside her or vice versa. They take turns to play the lappie. Then rascal #3 will doze off around 4ish pm on the couch when her batteries run flat. But this rarely happens to rascal #2. Her batteries are perpetually in full bar. If she takes a nap in the afternoon, I’ll have to run to grab the ear thermometer to check her temperature!

No. of times viewed = 219