November 2012 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Of Sherilyn And Eventful Tooth Shedding Moments

Remember I wrote about Sherilyn and all of her very eventful tooth shedding moments? Well, she shed another shaky tooth that had been bothering her for months just shortly after we reached Ipoh at my parents. And just like previous incidences, this one was very eventful and hilarious again! This girl is naturally a clown and a tear jerker too. That shaky tooth had also been obstructing her each time she ate, which made her complete her meals even longer. She is already a habitual slow eater who used to take 1-2 hours to finish her meals!

Anyway, this time, it was me again who almost yanked off the shaky tooth when I shoved a slice of orange into her mouth. This girl has an issue with eating fruits and as I was shoving the slice of orange into her mouth, the orange almost yanked off her tooth. But she did not scream blue murder and yell at me, albeit she was bleeding profusely in her gums. I dared not take a closer look as it was just too bloody. Thank God for grannies and my mum came to our rescue. On the pretext of checking out her tooth after giving her a piece of gauze to bite on, brave granny pulled out the tooth with her bare hand, effortlessly!! Everyone cheered and laughed just like in previous tooth shedding moments from this rascal. LOL!!

No. of times viewed = 2657

Girl’s First Train Ride

I had wanted to bring the girls for a train ride from KL to Ipoh since KTM launched the ETS (Electric Train Service) not too long ago. Apart from the monorail train ride in KL, the girls had never been on an inter-city commuter train ride. Since the girls’ grand aunt was able to accompany us, it was a perfect timing to bring the whole rambunctious jing gang up the train. Thankfully we managed to get a front seat, which had ample space for us to put our luggage bags and paraphernalia. We were in Coach B, which was WiFi enabled but heck, though I was connected to the ETS WiFi on my handphone, the WiFi strength was really bad and I could not surf at all. The toilet was also located at the back of Coach B, which made it easier for me to bring the girls to experience peeing in a moving train lol!

Occupancy in our coach was only about 40% full, so there were many empty seats for rascal #2 and #3 to roam about and choose where they wanted to sit, throughout the 2 hours 15 mins train ride. My social butterfly made friends with 2 little Indian girls seated behind us and they exchanged snacks. Sherilyn gave her a bun and she gave Sherilyn a packet drink.

The wall-mounted TVs were right in front of our seats and besides getting the privilege of large space for our belongings, we had clear view of the TV too.

Rascal #2 walloped 3 big buns during the train ride.

Peeing had never been this fun on a moving coach lol! The cleanliness of the loo met my high standards.

Will there be a second time boarding the ETS? Why not? For sure I will bring the girls for another train ride. It was definitely way more fun than being belted up in a car!

For North bound rides, ETS is only available from KL to Ipoh.

You can call 1 300 88 5862 to inquire and even make your booking through the phone. We booked our tickets through this toll-free number and tickets must be picked up by 5pm the day prior to boarding the train. We boarded the train at KL Sentral station. You can opt to board the train at the main train station in KL too.

No. of times viewed = 2271

Cassandra’s 1st Art Piece From Art Class

Cass attended her very first art class last Friday. Her excitement in attending her very first art class was shown all over her, which she took no effort to contain. The day before her art class, she kept asking me if I was really, really sending her for art class. And I took advantage of this to bribe her to get things done, without fuss! On the day of the art class, as we were walking to the art teacher’s unit, Cass gave me a really HUGE ‘I can’t wait’ grin.

1.5 hours later, this is what she produced:

Not bad eh? The art teacher was taken by surprise that a 4.5yo girl could produce this piece, which she said many of her 4-5YO students could not. She did this with very minimal supervision from the art teacher. My baby girl must have been observing how her 2 che ches paint and draw at home. Plus she must have regurgitated all that she had videotaped in her head whenever we bring her to art exhibitions.

Good job Cass! Mummy’s really proud of your art work.

Cassandra at 4 years 7 months and she can’t wait to attend the next art class!

No. of times viewed = 6109

Preparation For The Absence

The MIL has been busy clanking pots, pans and spatula in the kitchen for the past few days, dishing up pots after pots of dishes. Not that we are having a feast but the dishes will be our ration for the next 2 months until her return from overseas lol! The dishes are for deep freezing, to be eaten during her absence, on days when I am in no mood to sweat it up in the kitchen.

A big pot of braised Hakka pork with wan yue (cloud fungus) and dried oysters. This is the mil’s specialty.

The Hakka pork dish, stored in 3 containers for 3 meals.

Braised chicken with potatoes – enough for 3 meals.

Braised chicken and chicken feet with Chinese chestnuts and mushrooms.

And 3 loafs of walnut wholemeal bread. I think this is enough to last us for over a month 😀

No. of times viewed = 1201

Would you pay your kids to do housework?

Our part-time helper (who is the hubs’ kitchen helper) will not be coming to help us in the morning for the next few days, starting from today. And today has been an extremely busy day for me as today is a day that I am receiving stock from all my suppliers. Nonetheless, I can still squeeze out some time to update my blogs as I’ve always find that blogging helps to squeeze out the stress from my within. So I enlisted the help of my most reliable daughter to help me wash the dishes and mop the floor. And I paid Alycia RM5 for it.

My kids will help around the house but sometimes, they will do the chores reluctantly. Money has always been a good motivator for Alycia and Sherilyn. Alycia uses the money from rewards to buy comics and books that she likes. The mil ain’t too happy that I used money to reward Alycia for doing housework. I do not really encourage paying kids to help me but if it can take the stress and burden off me, why not? And it is better to channel my money to my own kids than to a part-time maid who costs way more. Tsk tsk, my mum used to pay me to wash the bathrooms too when I was a teenager ;P

Would you pay your kids to have housework done?

No. of times viewed = 470

She Says

Lately, my 4.5YO baby girl has been telling me this “mummy, I wish I am four years old forever… so that I don’t have to work so hard for money when I grow up!“. I think that this is a pretty ‘well thought of’ and mature expression from a 4.5 year old. I wish my baby girl would be 4 years old forever too so that she remains this cute forever but she has to grow up and leave the nest one day. Much as I want her to grow up as soon as possible so that I can have some me time once again and get some peace at home, I know I will surely miss the kids chatter and ‘turmoil’ in the house when my girls are all grown up.

No. of times viewed = 532

Busy And Bored

School holidays are here and I am even busier than school-going days. When the kids are at home 24/7, I have NO me time. They sleep late and wake up early too, especially Cass. I cannot even go jogging early in the morning as Cass wakes up at 7am. I have to wail till the MIL returns from swimming or the gym before I get to go and it would already be around 8ish am, during which time the hot morning sun is out, thus making jogging not favorable anymore. Then the kids have a really LONG breakfast, chatting and enjoying their food while reading the newspapers. It is difficult to concentrate in my work when it is too noisy at home, with the kids fighting, bickering and getting mischievous all the time. As I am typing this post, I have a heap of newly arrived stock next to me, waiting to be checked, packed and sent out.

Our holiday only begins in 2 weeks when we make our ‘yearly pilgrimage’ up North to my parents and then to GMC Penang for Cass’ yearly ultrasound scan and appointment with the surgeon. Hubs has been super busy with his latest project and we hardly see him these days and this will go on until his partner comes back from overseas in 2 weeks. So the kids and I are pretty bored and all cooped up at home.

How have your school holidays been?

No. of times viewed = 335

Low Blood Pressure

I hate the feeling I get whenever I stand up after squatting down for a short period of time. I feel light-hearted, have momentarily partial blackouts, am unable to walk straight and feel faintish. Sometimes I will bend down (with my head touching my knees) after standing up from a squatting position so that blood reaches my head and I would not get those partial blackouts and dizzy feeling. Lately, I feel really lethargic and lack stamina too when I work out in the morning. It must be a combination of several factors that causes this and low blood pressure is just one.

My blood pressure has always been on the low side, even during pregnancy when many expectant mothers would experience high blood pressure. My gynae used to joke with me on my low blood pressure, telling me that it is better to have low blood pressure than high. But happy not I should as extreme low blood pressure can be hazardous too. Some of the symptoms of low blood pressure are dizziness, lightheartedness, a tendency to faint, pain in the chest, black or maroon colored stools, irregular heart beat, headache (which I get whenever I am stressed to the max), back pain or stiff neck (I suffer from these two disorders all the time), consistent high fever, wheezing and burning sensation when urinating. And severely low blood pressure from any cause can deprive your body of enough oxygen to carry out its normal functions, leading to damage to your heart and brain. If low blood pressure causes lack of blood flow to the organs of the body, then those organs will start to fail. This may result in stroke, heart attack and kidney failure. Scary facts eh?

With three girls who challenge me mentally, physically and emotionally all the time, my blood pressure should be shooting sky high and I wonder why it is still not? LOL! It must be the daily consumption of green tea that is bringing my blood pressure down. I have not checked my blood pressure for quite some time. Perhaps, I should use one of the MIL’s blood pressure monitors to check my pressure tonight. With the increased stress ever since the maid left, my blood pressure should have a rise. I’ll see tonight!

No. of times viewed = 287

Melagel For My Open Wounds

Time flies. Today is the 8th day after my bad fall on the road during my routine morning jog. I injured both my palms very badly and had open wounds on both palms. The left hand is more severe. As the impact of the fall was very strong, both my hands are very weak now and is still bruised on the left palm. The veins and upper arms are still achy as of today.

On the first day of the fall, I applied Dettol cream. On the 2nd day, I applied Melaleuca oil aka tea tree oil and Betadine cream but little did I know that the oil and cream stung my flesh till I felt giddy. The sting lasted for an hour, during which time, I could feel the oil going into my veins and stinging my entire arms, gosh! For 2 days I suffered. Stupid me. I should have asked the pharmacist or ask my doctor friend if I could apply ointment onto an open wound directly. On the 3rd day, I applied Melagel from Melaleuca and VOILA, NO PAIN wor!! I was so relieved when there was no sting after application of Melagel. Since the 3rd day up until today, I have been applying nothing by Melagel and Renew (both from Melaleuca) on my wounds and had both wounds bandaged up as I had to wet my hands all the time (tough life I have!) and have to use the mouse to type most of the time. I leave my wounds unbandaged during bed time so that the wounds can dry up fast. Today is the 8th day and I am so happy that I do even need to bandage up my wound when I bathe Cass. However, I still put on a pair of plastic gloves when I wash the dishes or have my hands in contact with dish washing liquid or detergent.

This is the wound on day 1 of the accident. Fresh wound, red with blood and hurt till I felt giddy. Can you see the flesh shining? That hurt the MOST!

My left hand today. My left hand has a very deep gash on the palm with a small chunk of flesh scraped out by the tarred road. After 6 days of Melagel topical application, the open wound has closed and I can see a layer of pinkish skin growing 🙂 Thank God my palms did not turn gangrenous, had no pus and I do not even need to get sutures to close up the open wound.

Though the wound has healed fast, my hands are still feeling a tad weak and I cannot even price open a mangosteen. Darn the basket of mangosteen sitting in my kitchen, luring me each time I walk into the kitchen. I am so going to buy a huge bag of mangosteen to wallop when I regain POWER on my hands and can whack open each mangosteen in just 3 seconds LOL!

No. of times viewed = 2388

Alycia The ‘Rice Pot’

Without rice for a day, Alycia would be like a fish out of water. If there’s sandwiches or porridge served for lunch, I am rest assured to see a sulky pot sitting at the dining table, flipping the newspapers with a black face while forcing the food down her throat.

On Thursdays, Alycia and Sherilyn would only be home at 4ish pm as they have UCMAS class. I normally serve them something light like fruits, cakes and a drink and dinner would be cooked earlier on Thursdays.

But 2 Thursdays ago, they came back and announced that they were famished, though they had eaten chicken rice for lunch at school at 1ish pm. Alycia the fan thoong aka rice pot insisted she only wanted RICE and nothing but RICE. Luckily the mil was efficient and she had earlier cooked rice but the dishes were not ready. So my fan thoong rummaged the fridge and fished out a packet of seaweed and suggested shredding the seaweed to go with her rice!

When the mil saw how hungry her 2 precious grand daughters were, she speedily steamed half a fish and blanched some ladies fingers for the 2 hungry girls.

While waiting for the fish and veggie to be ready, I gave them each a bowl of lotus root soup to go with their plain rice with seaweed. I cannot be happier to see how happy Alycia was to see that there was rice served with just seaweed and soup lol! Next time, I should cook a bit pot of rice and deep freeze them in smaller portions in the freezer, just to cater for this fan thoong.

Finally the ‘real food’ came and they happily chomped down the steamed fish and the bowl of soup.

Thankfully I have a mil who can cook very well and loves cooking very much. But she will be away overseas again for some time and that’s when my stress will start all over again with cooking and planning the menu to satisfy 3 fussy eaters! I have already requested that she pre-cooks some popular dishes so that I can deep freeze them to last my 3 girls until she returns in a month or two.

No. of times viewed = 355

A Health Freak’s Breakfast

While everyone else started to attack the sausages, bacon, porridge, Japanese cuisine and jammed up the egg omelette counter at the coffee house @ Hilton Sentral, I breezed through the fruits counter, albeit the queue at the fresh juice counter was pretty long.

Here’s what I started with for breakfast…

Fresh fruit juices, fresh fruits, muesli, seaweed, baby squids and tofu sushi (I omitted the rice though) from the Japanese food counter.

Next I helped myself to some eggs, a sausage but no bacon (too salty for my preference) and a little bit of everything that’s low in carb from the buffet line.
Instead of gorging myself fat with pastries, breads, cakes and tarts, I munched on hazel nuts, walnuts, almonds and nutty bars for dessert.

I’ll bet not many people would want to pick these items from a continental buffet breakfast at a 5-star hotel. Would you?

No. of times viewed = 1437

Silver Lining Behind My Dark Cloud

Now that I have limited movements and usage on my injured hands, I have no choice but to rely on the little ones at home. My girls have been pretty obedient since yesterday — helping to wash their own cups and plates after meals, Cass bathed herself with me standing next to her telling her what to do, whilst Alycia helped me to towel dry Cass, put baby oil on her baby sister, combed her hair and helped Cass to put on a diaper before bedtime. It’s really heartwarming to see my angels roping in to help me in dire straits. I could even muster a laugh towards bed time. I was feeling really down and in great pain the whole of yesterday but when I saw how my girls had helped me and cheering me on when I screamed out in pain during dressing of my wound (I cleaned the wound with alcohol swab, super OUCH!!), I got comfort and solace from my 3 cuties. Even the mil asked me not to wash the dishes but stubborn me just cannot stand the oily floor after cooking. So I wore 2 layers of gloves (a pair of disposable plastic gloves followed by a pair of disposable rubber gloves) when I moped the floor and did simple chores… in slow motion. Today, my whole body felt as if I had carried 10kg of weights in the gym yesterday and I could barely stretch my hands to scratch my back! The impact of the fall, landing my hands on hard, pokey tarred road had not only caused exposed wound but aches all over my body.

Alycia sacrificing 10 mins of her sleep time last night to help me wash Cass’ cup after her sister finished drinking soy bean milk. She also lent me a hand when I dressed up my wound… while Cass and Sher cheered on and kissed me.

My filial daughter helping Cass to get ready for bed last night. She was combing Cass’ hair here.

Fresh exposed flesh… as painful as my 3 C-sect ops!

No. of times viewed = 862

Bad Morning

It was a jinxed morning for me. This morning during my morning jog round the neighborhood, I saw a mad dog chasing a man on a bicycle. I turned back to check if the man was OK and if the dog was going to chase me too but shit, I tripped and flew straight down on the hard tarred road, landing on both the palm of my hands. The skin on my palm on both hands were badly scraped off and there was a lot of blood. Well, the man who was chased by the dog was unscathed and he gave me a good “I’m OK but you are NOT!” stare as he cycled passed me, shit! My hand hurt like hell, up until now. There were scratches all over my skin beneath my sports top. I don’t mind getting my hands hurt if I had nothing to do but sit and watch TV. But I have household chores to do, lots of typing on the PC, a 4YO girl to bathe and wash up. My hands are my no. 1 assets and now they are so injured. Shit shit shit. I am feeling so lousy now. Thank God it was not my wrists that were injured, else I would have bled to death while scurrying home.

Blurred pic of my fresh wound, taken by Cass.. it was her first time snapping pic using my digital camera. My hands are now plastered and I need to put on a pair of plastic gloves when I am working in the kitchen and bathroom. I am going to suffer for the next 1 week. Hate this injury as it is slowing down my work. My palms are still throbbing with pain and had turned blue black now.

Any volunteers tonight?? I want to cry each time I see a pile of dishes in the wet kitchen…

No. of times viewed = 403

My 4.5YO Baby Girl

My little rat was so tired helping mummy fold clothes that she dozed off. I just had to snap her picture as I think she looked too cute, just like a baby sleeping in a fetal position. At 4.5YO, my baby girl still sleeps this way and I really miss her being a baby (though she’s brought me along for a very, very rough ride when she was a baby). I love having a baby to cuddle, to smell and to coo with but but but NO NO NO, I ain’t going to have another baby, no way! It is the process of raising them up and ensuring that they have good, tertiary education that gives me the big shudders * shivers and quivers with cold sweat *!

No. of times viewed = 407

Defense Spray For Ladies – Pepper Spray

For almost 2 months, I dared not go jogging far from where I stay as I had left my pepper spray in Ipoh when I went back during the August school term break. I had asked the hubs to get me a new one but he could not remember where he got me the previous one which was bought about 4-5 years ago.

After our dim sum lunch at Oriental Pavilion at Jaya 33 recently, I hopped over to Ace Hardware shop which was located just opposite Oriental Pavilion. Just as we had stepped in, Alycia called out to me excitedly and told me that she saw pepper sprays! I was so excited when I saw such a wide range of pepper sprays on display. I of course got attracted to a pink color one, which is my favorite color, priced at RM23.50 each.

A pepper spray gives me a peace of mind and security. When I was without a pepper spray, I carried a whistle in my pocket whenever I went jogging in the morning. Never underestimate these tiny but mighty defense gadget. Stay cool and aim directly on the mugger’s eyes. It can blind him momentarily. And as for the whistle, the sound of it will just scare the mugger and attract the attention of passers-by.

Do you carry any defense gadget in your handbag or pocket? Please do ladies. It may safe your life!

No. of times viewed = 578

Short-Lived Joy

I was truly thankful when I found an Indon helper to come to my place to help with the dishes and some house chores last week. With the mil’s baking and daily cooking, the dishes, pots, pans and baking equipment are a handful to handle. And doing the dishes is one area which I absolutely hate! Sometimes she washes them and at times, I will help out. This chore is really tiring us out, especially me as I am also working from home. So when this helper came for 3 nights last week, I could not be happier and thankful. I treated this helper really well and gave her tips each time she came. However, my joy was short-lived just after 3 days. This helper claimed that she injured her hand as it was squashed by the door of an elevator at the condo that she was working as a cleaner. I have a feeling that she does not want to work for me anymore and she had cooked up this story. Oh well, I should give her a benefit of the doubt. I guess she is already too jaded by the time she comes to my place at 7:30pm as she has a full-time job as a cleaner.

This morning, I thought I have found a replacement helper. I met an Indon lady at a roadside stall. She helps her mother sell nasi lemak at the stall every morning. On my way back to the condo just now, I bumped into another Indon lady whom I have known for over 5 years. She told me that I should reconsider hiring that Indon lady as her husband has just been out from a rehab centre like the Morningside Recovery. Well, I know that this will have no bearing on her work but still, it is advisable not to hire someone who has a husband who was once a drug addict.

No. of times viewed = 172