March 2016 – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Health Freak Mommy’s Breakfast – 31 March 2016

My healthy low-fat, low-carb, low-cholesterol, high-nutrients breakkie today 🙂

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Bright, fresh and crunchy baby radish with a slice of cool cantaloupe.
Pork bone soup with radish and carrots. The soup was meant for dinner last night but at an eleventh hour change of plan, we ate out. So we’re going to eat last night’s dinner for tonight’s dinner 😀

After a light yet filling breakkie, I had a dose of retail therapy at Mid Valley Megamall.

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The temperature eased a little today but still blistering at 36 degrees Celsius.

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With this kind of crazy heatwave going on everyday, I hope the girls won’t fall sick after Cheng Meng (Tomb Sweeping Day) this Sunday. I’ll lug back my Izumio and Super Lutein to Ipoh for everyone. I won’t leave the house without them. They are my life savior 😀

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Top 4 Bodyweight Exercises For Building Muscle

Most people think that bodyweight exercises are pointless, and you should only lift weights. Well, I’m here to tell you that they’re completely wrong. There are some great exercises out there that will help you build muscle and increase strength. To help prove my point, here are four of the best:

Push Ups
If you want a basic bodyweight exercise, then the push up is for you. It’s not hard to do one, and there are variations to make them easier or harder to do. This exercise will target your chest and triceps, depending on how you do it. The closer you have your hands together on the floor, the more triceps activation you get. A typical push up will be done with hands at shoulder width, so you get a great bit of chest activation going on. You can also do clapping push-ups to make the exercise even harder, and grow bigger muscles. Plus, you need no equipment for this movement, all you require is enough space to lie down!

Pull Ups
The pull up is the greatest test of upper body strength there is. By doing this exercise, you’ll be working a whole host of muscles against the weight of your body. Primarily, pull ups will target the lat muscles in your back. Also, you get considerable activation in your trapezius muscles, most notably the lower traps. As a bonus, pull-ups will also work your forearms and biceps; it’s an all round muscle building masterpiece. Most people think you can only do pull-ups in the gym, but this isn’t the case. You can do them on a door frame or the back of some stairs in your home. There are also companies like PullUpMate that do portable pull up stations for indoor use. I strongly recommend you find a way to do this exercise at home, as it should be done every day to maximize muscle growth.

Dips
As far as triceps bodyweight exercises go, dips are the best for building muscle mass. The reason for this is that you’re in a suspended position when doing them. So, your triceps are working hard to keep your body stable, while also moving it up and down. And, you can also alter the angle of your body to target your chest more. This means you’re essentially doing a suspended pushup, and can get serious chest growth. You can create your own dipping station at home by using two chairs or the corner of a kitchen counter. So, they’re great to add to any home workout.

Handstand, Evening Sky, Beach, Sun, Summer, Sunset

Handstand Push Ups
The final exercise will target your shoulders and make them burn like crazy. Simply do a handstand against a wall, and lower your head to the ground then push up using your shoulders. If you can’t do this, then pike push ups are a good alternative. Get into the downward dog yoga pose and lower your head to the floor then push back up.

All of these exercises can be done without any weights at all. And, each can be modified depending on your experience and strength levels. Add them to your workout routine today!

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Random Events – 30 March 2016

Today is one of those days that I made a trip to school to check on Cass. Her school organized a free watermelon day today, with mothers as volunteers. I was caught by surprise when I saw a gazillion of watermelons at the lobby. All the students were treated to freshly juiced and cut watermelon to beat the blazing El Nino heat wave.

Next, I went to my favorite coffee shop to get takeout of noodles. While waiting for my noodles, I chatted with the seller. I asked him where his Indon helper was coz 3 weeks earlier, I had seen her crying when we had breakfast at his stall. I thought she had the flu, thus the watery eyes and nose. I asked her if she was OK and she replied that she was “sakit” (sick). The next day when I went to the stall, the Indon girl wasn’t working there anymore and I saw a new helper. Initially the noodle seller was reluctant to let me know the truth, however, after chatting further, he revealed that the young Indon girl had gone for an abortion! Oh no, I felt her pain!! Why was she so gullible? Did her boyfriend cheat on her and force her to go for the abortion? I can’t stop thinking about her the whole day. The seller told me that the girl would be resting for 40 days. I wonder if I would see her again. She’s always been a cheerful and hardworking helper.

Back home, the heat has been really unbearable. While waiting for Cass at the lobby at 2pm, I was sweating by the buckets! I checked the temperature on my phone and it was 35 degrees Celsius. This couldn’t be as it’s way too hot to be 35 C. Two hours later at 4pm, I checked the temperature again as our house felt like a furnace. I had 3 fans blowing at me 😀 Lo and behold, the temperature was a sizzling 40 degrees Celsius! For the first time in many years, the mercury has shot up to the 40s.

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Above – taken from the 5th floor of our condo.

In the evening, half way through explaining to Cass the mistakes that she made in a BM test paper that I gave her, hubs dragged the kids to play at the pool area with their 2 little uncles from the UK. After that, we went to a neighborhood cafe and had Italian food.

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Tonight the girls had a late night and I hope that they will have no issue waking up at 5:30am tomorrow. I better move my arse away from the computer, else I’ll be the one oversleeping and end up having to chauffeur the girls to school. Knock on wood!!

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Easter Sunday – 27 March 2016

Cass seems to have a thing for Easter Day. She’s really obsessed with those colorful Easter eggs. She used to make them in the toddlers Sunday School and still misses making them.

Cass has had a fun-filled and EggCiting Easter this year! She got to do everything that she wanted to do on Easter this year 🙂

We almost missed Easter Service in church yesterday as I thought that there were 2 services – one at 9am and the other at 11am. When my friend replied my email at 8:45am to inform me that there was only 1 service at 9am, OMG, we rushed as if we were trying to catch a flight that’s about to board!! Thank God for the smooth traffic and I sped like an F1 driver on Federal Highway 😀 Thank God, we were only slightly late, albeit having to walk quite a distance to the church (as all parking bays had been taken up by early birds) under the blazing El Nino heat.

My bad.

Above – Cass in church.

After church, we chilled out at Bangsar Shopping Centre. We were caught by surprise by an eggciting Easter celebration at the shopping centre.

Cass was really eggcited when she saw an Easter Bunny giving out chocolates!

We had lunch at Chilli’s…

No prize for guessing what’s next after lunch, eh?

We had dessert of rich cakes, tea and coffee at Just Heavenly. I felt really cloy as we had just finished a heavy lunch.

There was an Easter Day celebration activities for kids where FREE pop-corns and candy floss were given out. Other fun activities were egg painting and colorful sand painting.

Back home, Cass did Easter egg painting while her 2 che ches followed daddy to a basketball match, along with their two little uncles (8 and 9 years old) who arrived from London a few days back. Later, Cass cycled and then played football with her che ches and 2 little uncles at the pool area. She was totally knocked out by 8:30 pm and so was everyone. The weather was really hot and humid yesterday at 39 degrees Celcius and we finally succumbed to cooling off the living room area with the air-cond. Heck the RM600 electricity bill! We just wanted some sanity and enjoy our Sunday at home! 😀

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Tucking Into Roadside Indian Rojak & Cendol

I have not done this for donkey yonkey years – sitting at the roadside to tuck into a plate of Indian rojak and cool cendol!

I can’t even remember when the last time I did this with the hubby. I think it was way before Alycia was born. Now, that’s more than 13 years ago alright! And it felt so good to be doing it again yesterday, just the both of us, under a shady tree next to a longkang and tucking into a plate of not-so-hygienic Indian rojak with only a piece of disposable plastic paper lining a re-used zillion times and unwashed plate. The bowl where the Cendol was placed was washed in only 3 small pails of water, with hundreds of other used bowls!

Nah, it’s ok if it’s done once in a blue moon. Our body needs the germs to gain resistance to diseases ok! 😉 And I have my Izumio to help me zap away the free radicals! 😀

After sweating it out under the 4pm El-Nino heat, we went to collect my car from the Hyundai service center. Back home, I needed my 3rd shower for the day before I tucked into a heartwarming home-cooked dinner of chicken soup with carrot + Camerons gourd + sweet corn (where I threw in a few tablespoons of organic oats) and braised piggy tail with black beans and peanuts 🙂

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Beet Root Smoothie On A Hot And Hazy Day (38 Degrees Celsius)

I knew it. As expected, today has been a sizzling hot and hazy day! So hot that I had already taken 3 showers as at 3pm today — first shower was after 26 laps in the pool at 630 a.m. (which made me feel SO GOOD!), second shower was after having breakfast with the hubby outside while waiting for our car to be washed and then did some groceries shopping at an air-cond mart. Third shower was after waiting for 15 minutes at the lobby for Cass and Sherilyn.

As I am typing this post, I have 2 fans blowing at me at full blast. I am still trying really hard NOT to press on the air-cond remote control at our living room! Our electricity bill last month was a frigging RM520!!

Today I made 2 types of smoothies: orange + apple + chia seeds smoothie for the girls. Beet root + orange + apple + chia seeds smoothie for myself.

If you do not already know, beets are not only choke-full of vitamins, minerals and cleansing properties, they are nature’s Viagra! Seriously! The ancient Romans used them medicinally as an aphrodisiac and it’s backed by science. Beets contain high amounts of boron, which is directly related to the production of human sex hormones.

Nuff said, right? Beet roots are a health powerhouse, taste good, prevent cancer, detoxify the liver and increase one’s libido! Sign me up! Beets will be a staple in my fridge from now onwards! Make them yours too 🙂

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Our Sunday – 20 March 2016

To escape the predicted heat wave due to the equinox phenomenon today, we sought ‘refuge’ at Mid Valley Megamall.

But what do we know? It ain’t that hot after all! Well, the heat was bearable. When we left the mall at 3ish pm, the skies were gloomy and it drizzled a wee bit too. Let’s hope it stays this way. The kids will be going back to school tomorrow and I pray that the weather will be kind to them.

Lunch today was dim sum at Han Room… after a 30-minute (or maybe longer) wait. What? Yes, there is always a perpetual crazy long queue outside the restaurant yet people are thronging this place! The hubby is crazy like that. I would hardly want to waste my time waiting for food but the hubby would do anything to enjoy his favorite food.

Did I tell you that Han Room recently moved a few floors up to an even bigger space?

After lunch, I brought the girls for retail therapy while the adults had cakes and tea at Alexis Bistro.

Cass’ Shopkin fever is still not over yet. She made a pact with her 2che some time back. Here’s the deal: Cass agreed to give away her Dork Diaries book to her 2che and in return, her 2che is to buy her a pack of Shopkin costing not more than RM30.

And so here they are at Aeon today. I could not help laughing at the two of them re-negotiating on the terms at the mall. After haggling for a good 20 minutes, they both settled for a pack of Shopkin that cost RM28.90.

Back home, I made the girls do a few exercises on their BM work books. First term exam is less than a month away and they (Cass and Sherilyn) are so NOT READY to sit for their BM test. I will have to give them intensive drilling over the next few weeks to shape them up for their BM test papers. Good luck to us!

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Delightful Home-Cooked Dishes

Here are a few more wholesome and delightful home-cooked dishes that the mil wok-ed up this week…

Below – Braised chicken with dried sand ginger, shallots and tomatoes.

Below – braised chicken with dried tofu sheets (fu choke) and mushrooms.

Below – pan fried prawns with soy sauce and Chinese cooking wine.

I am so thankful that I do not have to slog in our uber hot kitchen during this El-Nino heat. If ever I have the moolah to get a bigger house, I am so going to install a uber big ceiling fan plus a misty fan in the kitchen!

And let’s all pray and hope that the predicted heat wave on 20 March 2016 will be blown far far away by some strong winds!

It’s the last weekend before school starts again. Am I happy? Yes and no. Yes that I get to swim again during pre-dawn and I get back my ME TIME. And NO to waking up at ungodly hours again.

Happy weekend everyone 🙂

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Febrile Fits Caused By High Fever And How To Perform CPR

Today I had a shock of my life when I read from my friend’s blog on how she almost lost her 2-year old son who had high fever caused by viral fever. Her blog posting made me realize how lucky Cass was to have survived a fever above 40 degrees C without any unfavorable incidences just 2 weeks ago. I must thank God again and also my Izumio for helping Cass to recover in only 4 days without medication and hospitalization.

The El-Nino weather these days has been terribly hot. Many people whom I know are down with high fever, Influenza A and B and other upper respiratory tract infections, including yours truly. Thank God I managed to self-treat myself (with lots of Izumio and Super Lutein) and have just recovered. Another friend of mine, her daughter who is the same age as Cass and studies in the same school as Cass has been warded in the hospital for 18 days, also for viral fever.

Back to my friend’s 2-year son. When his fever shot up to 39.6 degrees C, he went into febrile fits. Then his eyeballs rolled up leaving only the white eyes visible. Moments later, his body went limp and his lips turned blue. He had stopped breathing!! It was the first time that her son had febrile fits and she wasn’t prepared or experienced to know what to do. But thank God for blessing us mothers with the presence of mind and quick thinking. My friend then performed CPR on her son. You can read more on the story by clicking on the above link to Merryn’s blog. Good job to you Merryn for your quick thinking action and composure!

What got me really thinking hard after reading her blog post is this. Do I even remember how to perform CPR? I learnt CPR when I was 14 years old at a Bronze Medallion swimming life-saving class. But that was almost 30 years ago. I can’t even remember what I learned 3 months or 3 years ago. And as a mother, knowing how to perform CPR is a MUST. Do you know how to perform CPR? I am sure most of us have forgotten or have zero knowledge. Don’t worry, it’s still not to late to learn it now.

I spent half an hour at You Tube just now watching videos on how to perform CPR. I have included here a video on how to perform CPR on a child (1 – 12 years old). Have a watch and do search You Tube for more videos to get yourself familiarize on how to perform this life-saving act. You’ll never know when you’ll need to do it to save a life.

https://youtu.be/c7Q1s7ppSwc

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Kids Say The Wittiest Things

A few nights ago, in my bedroom.

I was having a bad menstrual stomach cramp and was lying on the bed, applying peppermint essential oil on my tummy. When I let out a cough, the strain sent a sudden piercing pain to my abdomen. I cringed in pain, turn to my left side in a fetal position and muttered to Cass that my stomach hurt like h*ll.

Upon seeing me in pain, Cass who was on the bed sprung up…

Cass – mummy, are you OK? Err, do you want an ice lemon tea? Or apple juice? Orange juice, mango juice? Bitter gourd noodles?

I burst out laughing really hard upon hearing what she blurted out so candidly. The pain miraculously disappeared momentarily. What made my sweetie say such things at the spur of the moment? Perhaps she wanted to distract my mind away from the pain in my stomach? She’s such a witty smarty pants!

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Lego Nexo Knights Launch 2016 @ Mid Valley Megamall KL

Lego Nexo Knights has finally landed on our shores!

LEGO Malaysia proudly and grandly launched the Lego Nexo Knights at the Mid Valley Megamall on 12 March 2016. It is Lego Nexo Knights’ maiden appearance in South East Asia and you know what? We are the first few in South East Asia to own a few boxes too. The girls, especially Cass is SO happy!!

The LEGO Nexo Knights, depicting a medieval kingdom set in a futuristic world, where five young brave knights “download” special powers to their shields in order to battle the royal court’s evil Jestro and a cast of monsters to restore peace.

The LEGO Nexo Knights set enables children and LEGO fans of all ages to relish an augmented play experience in both online and offline realms as they immerse themselves in the world of Knighton to be the best knights!

Can you spot Cass in this picture?

It was an event of great fanfare with attendance by a converge of media and bloggers, including yours truly, ahem!

This unique multi-platform product line which integrates a modern story line and technology with the timeless enjoyment of building blocks, should capture the imagination of children and parents alike, empowering them to learn together in a new fun way through play.

To extend the story and increase playing fun, more than 170 unique LEGO Nexo Knights powers represented as knight shields, have been scattered across the kingdom of Knighton. The powers can be found existing in both physical and digital forms, including building sets, print ads, books, comics and even the new LEGO Nexo Knights animated television series using the LEGO Nexo Knights: Merlok 2.0 apps which is now available for free via App Store and Google play. Once added to a digital power collection, children can creatively and continuously find new ways to join the knights to defeat the enemy with their ‘power ups’.

You can help your child to register at the NEXO Academy website at . Cass registered herself on our iPad and obtained some shields / POWER UP when she scanned the shield sticker on her Lego toy shield and Lego card bearing a shield using the iPad.

The media and bloggers were treated to lunch at Olive Garden. Cass’ eyes lit up instantly when she saw more complimentary Lego Nexo Knights on the dining table awaiting her! She was tickled pink!

While waiting for the food to arrive, Cass managed to assemble all the complimentary Lego Nexo Knights miniature sets. I must say that Cass is really GOOD with LEGO. She must have inherited the genes from her daddy, who is a big fan of LEGO. And it’s no wonder he so patiently waited for the entire event to be over. I think he enjoyed himself more than us!

Below – Yummy Italian food, courtesy of Lego Malaysia.

In under 1 hour, Cass managed to fix these Lego Nexo Knights.

After lunch, we were brought to a Virtual Battle Tour, where the kids had the chance to play with the Merlok 2.0 App game on iPad.

Below – Cass all soaked up in the Merlok 2.0 game on iPad at the Battle Zone while totally oblivious that she was being filmed by the media!

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Below – Cass trying her hands on the LEGO NEXO Knights SKU interactive game in the Power Zone @ the Center Court, Mid Valley Megamall yesterday.

Check out the shield she’s holding to obtain ‘power ups’.

From 8 March through 20 March 2016, these limited edition LEGO NEXO Knights 3D/hologram cards are exclusively yours when you make any purchase of the Lego Nexo Knights. There are 5 characters, available on different days.

Below – Cass waiting for a free print-out of her photo, which I posted on Instagram.
If you post a picture of yourself/kids/etc at this event on Instagram, you’ll get a FREE print out too!

Below – Our free print-out photo posted on Instagram, courtesy of Lego Malaysia.

Below – Cass receiving her new Lego Nexo Knights! She’s one very, very happy missy!

Back home, Cass was glued at the table and within 2 hours, she managed to assemble the entire set of LEGO Nexo Knights Beast Master’s Chaos Chariot (314 pieces) on her own.

Below – Cass is scanning a toy shield from her Lego Nexo Knights set with the iPad to obtain ‘power up’ for her Merlok 2.0 game.

Below – Macy (a female knight) now has more ‘power up’ to fight off Jestro and the monsters!

Cass thoroughly enjoyed herself at the launch of the Lego Nexo Knights as well as assembling the Lego and playing with the Merlok 2.0 app game on iPad.

That’s the sweetest thing to hear from your child when you know that you are only an imperfect mom!

Well, I must say that I enjoyed myself at the event too 🙂

The Lego Nexo Knights launch event is happening at the Center Court of Mid Valley Megamall from 8 March through 20 March 2016. Since it’s the school holidays, do bring your kids to check out the range of awesome products while letting them try their hands on the free interactive games, while getting some cool freebies too!

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Attacked But I Am Winning!

Ok, it’s my turn now 🙁

Shucks, I have a bad throat and some of the symptoms that Cass had when she was down with Influenza A last week! The hubs too has just recovered from inflammation of his tonsils. He was down and out for almost 2 weeks! And I have been sharing a room with these 2 sick fellas for the past 1.5 weeks. It all started about 3 days ago when I felt nagging discomfort in my throat and a slight runny nose. Those pesky virus sure are virulent. But I am winning them in the battle! 😉

Yesterday I felt as if there was a raging fire inside my throat and body. It did not help that the weather has been really hot with temperature of 38-39 degrees C. I gulped down cups after cups of water, like a camel… icy cold water that is. I couldn’t take the heat, especially after going out and exposed to the sun. The sides of my head had short spurts of painful attacks. My body felt a tad achy. I felt as if I was walking on air. In the late afternoon, I felt slightly cold, inspite of the burning sun outside. Great! I told Cass that her Influenza A virus has spread to me. She kept urging me to take a nap and told me that she could take care of herself. The hubs said I needed antibiotics, just like him. But NO. I ain’t going to succumb to antibiotics. I know my body too well. Next to come would be vaginal yeast infection if I took oral antibiotics.

My home remedy to treat myself:
1. Drink hydrogen infused water. I drank 3 packets yesterday.
2. Pop carotenoids supplements. I popped 3 capsules yesterday.
3. Drink Manuka honey UFM 10+ with concentrated bee propolis – twice a day.
4. Drink coconut water and barley water.
5. Pop Esberitox – 6 capsules a day.
6. Get lots of sleep. After giving Cass a massage and putting her to sleep, I shut my room door and didn’t want to see / know what’s going on outside my bedroom. The 2 older girls should know what to do. I went to bed at 9:30pm… for the first time in years!

This morning, I was feeling a tad better. I could still do a 40-minute brisk walk. I had skipped swimming for 3 days coz it’s really uncomfortable to swim/breathe when you have phlegm.

Your body is in a better position to fight off illnesses when it is not overloaded with free radicals. Hydrogen water neutralizes & reduces free radicals in our body. And Izumio hydrogen water does just that.

I am down but not out. I am definitely winning this battle against the virus, yeeehawwww!

This is my cool breakfast this morning to soothe my cactus throat…

Homemade sugar-free yoghurt with seaweed, pecan, macadamia, walnut and pistachio (nuts are all raw). I also chowed down a slice of wholemeal bread with extra virgin coconut oil and palm sugar syrup.

Happy Friday and happy holidays peeps 🙂

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Working From Home And Nursing My Sick Baby Back To Good Health

On days when I feel like I a minnow at home caring for 3 kids who are unappreciative and disobedient, I could feel myself corroding with regret – for quitting the job that I loved 10 years ago. The job paid me very well, complete with enviable perks and status.

It was only when Cass fell sick last Monday that I realized how lucky I am that I could be with her 24 hours a day, caring for her and nursing her back to the pink of health. For mothers who hold a full-time job, they will need to apply for emergency leave. If their application for leave gets rejected, they will have no choice but to take no-pay-leave to tend to their kids. I had gone through all these when I was working full-time. As I have the advantage to stay home to monitor Cass’ fever and to self-treat her last week, I have saved a lot of money from expensive pediatrician fees and medication.

When Cass’ temperature hovered above 40 degrees Celsius for 2 days early last week, I told the hubby that if the fever did not subside, he had to be prepared to fork out another RM200-RM300 to our pediatrician at Pantai Medical Center. This hospital is well-known for exorbitant charges (thus it’s called ‘tai park sar‘ in Cantonese. Or big shark – translated into English. A shark eats you up and having to pay exorbitant bills is akin to being eaten up by a shark!) but we have no choice. My most trusted pediatrician whom Cass has been seeing since she was an infant is now attached to this hospital.

Thank God I managed to self-treat Cass with hydrogen water and some home remedies and her high fever was brought down on the 3rd day. Thanks to Izumio, it has not failed me again!

It Was Influenza!

When Cass was burning with fever last week, I was worried sick and wondered what was wrong with her as she had NO symptoms of cough, flu, sore throat or UTI pain. What worried me the most was that she was listless, slept all day and had zilch appetite. Many things crossed my mind, including dengue and cancer. It was only later, after receiving Whatsapp messages from Cass’ classmates’ mothers and checking with Google that I realized that Cass had Influenza. I am still not sure if she had Influenza A or B as both the ailments have similar symptoms.

On another note, there have been Whatsapp messages circulating that a few schools in the Klang Valley have outbreaks of Influenza A and Influenza B. The affected students have been quarantined.

These are the symptoms that Cass displayed when she had high fever last week:

High fever hovering at 40.3 degrees Celsius for the first 2 days.
On the 3rd day, fever was hovering between 39 – 40 degrees Celsius
Pain on head, chest, eye balls and body on first two days.
Loss of appetite and stomach discomfort. Thank God no nausea.
Diarrhea when fever subsided (around 4th day).
Stomach pain when fever was almost subsiding (around 3-4th day)
Blood shot eyes resulting from the fever
When the fever subsided completely, the flu came! She had runny nose with thick goo, dry throat and mucous for 3 days.

I am so glad that Alycia and Sherilyn did not succumb to the virulent bugs responsible for Cass and the hubby’s ailments. It must be the carotenoids supplement that they are popping (and occasional Izumio) that’s guarding their body. Sherilyn and Alycia who both have history of never ending throat problems with phlegm have not had any bad breakouts of throat infection and flu ever since they started consuming Super Lutein.

Both Cass and hubby fell sick at the same time. And they swapped sleeping places at night. Poor hubby had to sleep on a mattress in the living room and Cass slept next to me so that I could sponge her throughout the night.

Super Lutein is essentially the extract of vegetable essence encapsulated in a sealed soft gel capsule completely safe for babies. It has more than 11 ingredients from top quality Lutein (best in the world) to other carotenoids from tons of fruits and vegetables that one could never eat in a day.

I have tried umpteen times to coax Cass to swallow or chew Super Lutein but this girl just can’t seem to do it. After puking the last time she tried to swallow the capsule, I gave up. It is time for me to get her to try again, to strengthen her immune system.

I noticed that since November last year, Cass’ immune system is slightly weakened. In November last year, she was hospitalized for 1 week for UTI. She was given 1 week of strong antibiotics via IV and another 1 week of oral antibiotics. I try not to resort to antibiotics unless the ailment is life threatening and my daughter is in great pain. Antibiotics are known to have negative side effects on one’s body. It kills the bad and good bacteria altogether and wrecks havoc internally. Bacteria eventually become resistant to it. Your body becomes weakened and you succumb to bugs easily, thus fall sick easily.

In addition to Izumio, I am also giving Cass unsweetened yoghurt with life probiotics to replenish the good bacteria in her guts.

Today is exactly a week since the high fever and Cass is 100% healed. Even the thick mucous /phlegm that came along with the post-fever flu is gone! Thank God!!

If you are a full-time working mother and are considering working from home to be closer to your children, you can seriously consider this business that I am doing from home. Depending on how ambitious you are, you can be earning RM60,000 a month within a short 1 year (like my upline). Or several thousands of Ringgit a month in less than a year, working at snail’s pace, like yours truly 🙂

Do drop me an email me at shireenyong@gmail.com if you would like to know more.

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Dental Care For Our Kids

It is important to take care of our kids’ teeth right from the time they have their baby teeth. As the kids grow, mothers or care givers should train the kids the importance of keeping their teeth clean as young as possible.

Most kids will not have much problems with their teeth if they have healthy eating habits and are trained to clean their teeth properly. Sometimes, little children do have problems that need proper dental care. Common dental problems such as tooth decay, teeth growing out of alignment or even lack of jaw space needs proper dental care. Early corrective measures will prevent further complication e.g. interfering with proper chewing or proper speech development.

Before taking our kids to a dentist, it is very important to get a good dentist who has good working experience with little children. The pleasant experience our kids have during their first visits will contribute to their openness and willingness to future visits to the dentist. If they had a traumatic experience it will be very difficult to coax them to trust dentists again.

Finding a certified and a highly qualified dentist who has good experience with little kids is never easy. My search for a good dentist in Kuala Lumpur is through the recommendation of my friend, who is a mother of 5 growing kids.

One of her older children had braces fitted because her teeth were growing out of alignment. This child has always been afraid of doctors and nurses since small. She had to be coaxed by her mom using all kinds of bribes to get her onto the dentist chair. Surprisingly, there was no coaxing or teary eyes for the following visits. She has been happily flashing her smile in spite of the braces because of something that the dentist told her!

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Our Sunday (7 March 2016) – Lunch At Bru Cafe

Yesterday, being a Sunday, was indulgence day. Into food, of course. What else would make the man happier than food? Lots of yum yums!

We had lunch at Bru Cafe @ Faber Tower after church. Bru has just opened its doors last month. Just last Sunday, we had grilled chicken and mushroom pizza takeout for dinner. The girls loved it very much. Yesterday we tried other items on their menu.

First dish that arrived was a soft pizza bread cheese sandwich. Sorry no picture was taken. I was a tad slow. Everyone was famished and could not be bothered with my phone camera. By the time I had fished out my phone, the platter was already empty! The pizza bread cheese sandwich was really delightful and I would definitely order it again.

Then the pepperoni pizza with arugula came…

And the lip-smacking Linguini Marinara…

Mediterranean seafood salad…

We also ordered 2 servings of omelette with toast (picture below, which I had taken from the Bru Cafe Facebook page) and a Carbonara pasta (not in picture). The beef lasagna was very scrumptious too but the picture turned out very blur, no thanks to my shaky hands. Thus, there is no picture for you to drool on, my apologies. With 6 pairs of hungry eyes on the dish and lots of impatient groans prompting me to hurry up, I am often allocated only a few seconds to take a quick snap of the food. There ain’t time to focus, zoom and snap the best food picture when dining out.

Dessert was tiramisu (swoon!)…

And crispy waffle with 2 scoops of vanilla ice-cream – sinfully wrong to indulge in this!

I am most definite that I had overloaded on the calories and cholesterol in this meal. This morning, I swam 2 extra laps in the pool, making it to 28 laps.

The lifts at our unit conked out this morning. After shopping for groceries, I had to climb 5 flights of stairs up to my unit carrying over 10kg groceries. Moments later, I had to carry a box of Izumio weighing about 7.5kg and walked down the stairs to the lobby to pass to my customer and then climbed up 5 floors to my unit again. I will need to walk down and up again when Sherilyn and Cass come back from school later. This morning too, I climbed 2 flights of stairs to my dentist’s clinic for an appointment. Though I was cussing away when I was carrying those heavy weights and drenched in my sweat, good thing is I sure have melted away the calories 😀

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Home-cooked Dinner – 3 March 2016

Yummy home-cooked dishes for dinner last night, lovingly dished out by the mil…

Stir-fried baby sweet potato leaves with garlic, vegetarian ‘cai’, blanched lady fingers and crispy fried baby pomfret fish with tomato + onion sauce. Cass who has just recovered from high fever had pretty good appetite last night. It’s a joy to see her enjoy her food again 🙂

Soup of the day – watercress with carrots, Chinese almonds and lean pork.

She also cooked porridge (pork + peanuts + dried oysters + salted egg + century egg) for hubby, who is still nursing a badly inflamed tonsillitis.

Life gets much easier and sweeter when you have someone living with you who loves cooking. I am going to enjoy this before she goes away again! 😛

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