HEALTH FREAK MOMMY – Page 303 – The joys and throes of motherhood…

I Want To Suck Chicken Bone

Ummmm, really tasty & yummy this chicken bone.

I love it mummy. I want more, I want all the chicken bones!

I also want to suck chicken bone mummy!

Alycia has discovered a new found skill recently. She discovered that the chicken meat tastes sooooo much more yummy if she sucks the flesh out directly from the bone. For the last few weeks, each time we had a chicken dish, she would shout “Mummy, I want to suck chicken bone!” She even knows how to use her tiny fingers to dig out the tiny pieces of flesh from between the bones. It’s really finger licking good for her.

Sherilyn who loves to parrot and rubber stamp everything that her sister does also followed suit, only to spit out the meat after chewing it. Being a herbivore, Sherilyn dislikes meat of all sorts, except for fish balls. She tends to spit up the meat after chewing them. Sigh…. what a picky eater.

Now, I have one less task to do, no need to debone and cut chicken meat into tiny pieces for Alycia, but got to be extra watchful so that Alycia doesn’t choke on the bones.

No. of times viewed = 186

My List

I was invited to participate in this project by Montessorimum.

This is another way to give you a lot of back links to raise your PR rating. We love! We scratch each other’s backs, k?

Here’s the instructions I got from Earn Money Blogging site :

Introduction
The purpose of My List is to gather all Malaysian blogs under the banner of unity and creating a huge bookmark. So much richness can be found within our very own Malaysian blogs and this will open up our minds and hearts to the lives of our fellow bloggers. If you are keen to participate, kindly read this page entirely for instructions and guidelines.

Who can Participate?
Malaysian bloggers residing anywhere on mother earth.
Non-Malaysians whose blogs feature anything pertaining to Malaysia (example: Malaysian food, Formula 1 in Malaysia and etc).
Blog submitted must be of good quality contents. Please do not submit your blog which is less than 2 weeks old.

Deadline for Participation : 31st May 2007

Important Guidelines
One reminder email will be sent once the final list is updated on this page after the deadline.
All participants must then feature a brand new post before 15th of June with the final updated and complete list of participating Malaysian blogs downloadable directly via the email or from this dedicated My List page.

All My List Post must be permanent and accessible.

Submitting Your Other Blogs
You may submit as many blogs which is owned by you but each blog entry must contain their own My List post.

How To Participate
Download My List in Text format.
Make a new post promoting My List and guide your fellow Malaysian readers to this page if they are keen to participate.
Copy the entire Text File you downloaded.
Paste it at the end of your post. (You can arrange it however you prefer if it goes lengthy but ensure the entire list is there)
Publish the post and ensure all links are in working order.
Submit your contact details and the permanent url of your MyList post by using this contact form.
Your blog url will then be added to the list.
Post a new post of the final My List after receiving an email notification as mentioned in the guidelines above. This is done to ensure everyone will benefit from this even those who participate later or close to the deadline.

Here’s the list I’ve downloaded :

My List Participants Nukilan Jejari Azhad ITCHY HANDseng Just My Lil’ Organic Life Oooh La La… Weird World of MerapuMan Fibre Art The World at My Fingertips Organic Income Organic Parade Shopping Flavor Daily postings of a chung ling student Something about LAI KennyP’s Technology Blog Women Mumbles KuKuJian.com Lyon & Wien Under The SUN Crumbs In Life… SotongZai’s Flow In the Ocean allthingspurple Christene’s Kitchen toxicle.org [ Wood ] [ Earth ] [ Cheap ] [ Flight ] COMtech Ah Ling’s blog http://judychow.blogspot.com/ ~WoOLaLA~ vivivava Design My Mothering Corner Shoppingmum’s Home Office My Filling Station Shopping Mum All about Beauty Shoppingmum and Kids datotalrandommessy.grey Notes from my heart Joy Montessori wahlau’s online hut Cedric’s Asylum mott’s mutterings Just My Thoughts delephant Incoherent Ramblings HOT STUFF Make Money Online with Malaysia Love AGLOCO MONTESSORIMUM.COM Funky Cookies Earn Money Blogging PabloPabla’s Whatever Make Money with Blogging Paris Beaverbanks Free Links Giveaway Free Blogger Templates Blogsreview.Net Making a Living 5xmom How to be a Better Blogger My Women Stuff Hochiak! Delicious Asian Food Best Recipes Champagne Tastes on a Beer Budget Daryl’s Discovery Journey The fluff must go somewhere

No. of times viewed = 280

Just Need To Rant….. Someone Spoilt My Sunday Morning

We were supposed to view a property today and I had made arrangements for the real estate agent to meet us at the site at 3pm today. However, last nite, DH’s aunty asked DH to fetch her to KLIA and thus, I had to call the agent to move the appointment to tomorrow. I called Agent E at 10:30am on my way to the church. Here’s the conversation :

Me : Hello, is that E?

Agent E : Uummmm……. (in a real cold tone, as if I’d disrupted him from his morning act with his wife)

Me : This is Shireen. I have an appointment with you at 3pm today. Can I postpone it to tomorrow at 5pm?

Agent E : Long pause followed by a heave of sigh. Caaaaaannnnnn (and then his tone became colder and annoyed) Aaaanything eeeelse huhhhhhh?

Me : Er, that’s about it. So I’ll see you at 5pm tomorrow.

Agent E : Nnnext timmmmme……. don’t call me so early on a Sunday morning ok? Another big heave of sigh and he sounded really pissed off……

Excuse me, it’s already 10:30am and this is not the way you talk to your client.

I got so cheesed off with his comments that I just hung up on him. I then ranted to my DH & MIL that we will NOT use this agent again, ever, period!

I was on the verge of sending him an SMS to chide him off for being such a terrible real estate agent, with zero sense of customer service and for having such an unbecoming attitude toward his client. DH stopped me and asked me not to get myself into trouble. I heeded his advice. I told DH & MIL that I will not even bother calling Agent E to cancel tomorrow’s appointment for I know he will most probably not even turn up himself.

I was still seething with anger until I heard the pastor’s sermon and he was talking about “Forgive Someone Now”, with the word ‘now’ underscored. Oh, how appropriate and opportune was the sermon.

No. of times viewed = 287

Drug-Free Relief For Constipation

Every now and then, I’d suffer from constipation. I’ve got a handful of real handy tips from my ‘Alternative Cures’ book by Reader’s Digest which I’d like to share. Here’re a few drug-free alternatives, as recommended in the book, tried & tested by myself:

1. Mixing 1 tbs of psyllium husk in a glass of water on an empty stomach. I do that on most mornings. You can easily get psyllium husk from pharmacies or organic shops, they are not very expensive.

2. Getting a daily minimum of 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, 3 servings of whole-grain foods and 1 serving of beans. I normally eat almonds, pumpkin & sunflower seeds, lots of fruits and vege. I also make my own multi-grain and seeds bread every week.

3. Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of plain water a day. I drink way more than that.

4. Squeeze the juice of lemon into an 8-ounce glass of warm or hot water and drinking it first thing in the morning to help stimulate a bowel movement.

5. At least 30 mins of exercise daily.

6. Maintaining a regular routine & consistent time for elimination.

7. Break up the jam with colon massage. This is one new found method which really works for me. I do it almost everyday to break up the jam.
Method:
Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor and your knees bent.

Beginning in the abdominal area on the right side just above your hip, use the fingertips of both hands to press as deeply as is comfy, then move your fingertips in a circular, massaging motion.

Continue upward just below your ribs. Then using the same pressing, circular motion, move across your abcomen just above your belly button. Continue to massage down to your left hip.

The book recommends doing the massage for 5 – 20 mins a day.

If there is bowel in your intestines, you can actually feel something hard inside while doing the massage. Normally when I can already feel them, within 5 – 10 mins, the bowel will get eliminated smoothly,without any pain or discomfort.

No. of times viewed = 324

Food Glorious Food

One of Alycia’s favourite food is roasted suckling pig. She loves it so much that she is even capable of chomping down 1/4 of a small suckling pig, if not for my intervention. 2 nites ago, MIL pampered Alycia by treating all of us to a sumptuous dinner of suckling pig, sharks’ fins soup, sashimi big clam, roasted pigeon, amongst others, at Imbi Palace Restaurant. Wah, it was really a ‘foong foo’ (gastronomical) dinner. Before we left, the Captain even insisted that we bring home the clam shell as she said that it would make a good ornament piece since the clam is so costly, approx. RM200 for the clam only.

Hopefully the gals won’t fall ill again as it’s been days of eating out since MIL came back last week. As tomorrow is Sunday, DH has already planned on bringing us to have a buffet lunch at Lemon Garden, Shangri-La Hotel as farewell lunch to MIL who will be leaving for HK again next week. Goodness…. another day of gorging on sins. Love it but feel damn guilty after that. Gotta have extended jogging sessions again for the next few days.

No. of times viewed = 300

The Benefits of Green Tea

What is my favourite beverage? It has got to be green tea. Not a day goes by without me drinking my cuppa decaffeinated coffee in the morning and…. green tea of course, after my lunch. After I weaned Sherilyn off breastfeeding, I drank green tea to shed some pounds. It is known to help in curbing appetite.

The Chinese have known about the medicinal benefits of green tea since ancient times, using it to treat everything from headaches to depression. Today, scientific research in both Asia and the west is providing hard evidence for the health benefits long associated with drinking green tea. For example, in 1994 the Journal of the National Cancer Institute published the results of an epidemiological study indicating that drinking green tea reduced the risk of esophageal cancer in Chinese men and women by nearly sixty percent. University of Purdue researchers recently concluded that a compound in green tea inhibits the growth of cancer cells. There is also research indicating that drinking green tea lowers total cholesterol levels, as well as improving the ratio of good (HDL) cholesterol to bad (LDL) cholesterol.

To sum up, here are just a few medical conditions in which drinking green tea is reputed to be helpful:

cancer
rheumatoid arthritis
high cholesterol levels
cariovascular disease
infection
impaired immune function

So instead of heading for another cuppa cappuchino or kopi-o, why not try green tea, a much healthier altrnative.

No. of times viewed = 307

Learning Through Food

Kids learn best when they are having fun and in a relaxed and non stressful state. Recently, SIL got the gals a pack of organic alphabet biscuits. They love it whenever I play the alphabet game with them. I will ask them to tell me the letter on each biscuit and whoever guesses it right gets to eat the biscuit. We all have so much fun playing this game and eating the biscuits at the same time. This is really another great way of feeding info to your kids, thru food of course.

No. of times viewed = 206

Mosquitoes And Insects Trapper

Do you know what DH hates most? Mosquitoes. That’s because 5 years ago, both he and MIL contracted Dengue Fever, both at the same time. I remember it was a few weeks after I had finished my ‘confinement’ when I suffered a miscarriage, that both DH and MIL were down with Dengue Fever. Barely over from the heartache, I had to muster up enough strength to care for 2 sick people, travelling to and fro house and hospital. It was one of the darkest moments in my life.

Ok, enough of sob story. After DH recovered from Dengue Fever, he developed a strong hatred for mosquitoes. Everyday, he’d carry a huge torchlight and a battery-operated mosquito zapper (like a badminton racquet) and go on a mosquito-hunting spree.

Recently, DH bought a mosquito/insect trapper which is really very effective. This trapper emits Carbon Dioxide (CO2), the kind of gas that we humans emit and an ultraviolet light that attract insects and mozzies. When the insects and mozzies enter the trapper, a fan will pull these bugs down to the base, which is a sticky pad. Everyday, there will be lots of mozzies and little insects trapped in the sticky pad. This device is so effective that DH bought another 3 units recently, with each unit costing around RM300. So for those looking for a solution to mozzies woes in your house, check out this trapper.

No. of times viewed = 211

Transition From Co-Sleeping To Sleeping Independently

My gals used to co-sleep with us since they were born. When they were newborns, they slept with DH and I, wedged between us, that made them feel oh so secured. That also made breastfeeding so much easier for me. After I weaned them off breastfeeding, I transferred them to their Safe n Sound baby cots, so we had 2 baby cots in our room then, one next to me and one at the foot of our bed.

After we moved to our new place late last year, my mum strongly advised me to wean them off co-sleeping with DH and I. You see, this new place of ours has a connecting room / kids’ room to the master bedroom, which makes weaning off co-sleeping all the more easier. So DH bought a queen-size mattress and a kids’ bed railing for the gals. Later, he bought a big cupboard and filled the cupboard up with their toys. My mum also bought cute cartoon bedsheets for the mattress and we all tried to make the whole transition appear really fun. The gals and I slept horizontally on the mattress, with me sandwiched between them. Everynite, after lulling the gals to sleep, I would quietly sneak back to my room to continue sleeping or to do my work.

Of course, there were teething problems initially. It took the gals almost 2 months for them to begin identifying that that is their room, the place for them to sleep and play and the master bedroom is only for daddy and mummy. I had 2 months of continuous interrupted sleep everynite, a few times a nite. I’m glad that they now adore their room. Even when DH sometimes invites them to sleep over at our room, the gals would insist that they want to sleep in their own room, on their own mattress.

Every now and then, I still get ‘night visitors’ to my room. It’s really freaky you know, to be jolted up from your sleep and dream with a tap on your shoulder or hand, only to find 2 little figures standing next to you smiling. A few nites ago, Sherilyn had climbed onto my bed herself in the middle of the nite and slept next to me at the very edge of the bed. When I turned over, it freaked me to find her sleeping next to me with her 2 tiny legs dangling over the edge of the bed. One roll over from Sherilyn would have landed her hard on the floor.

I think I better get DH to fix a security gate at our room door now.

No. of times viewed = 203

The Great Flood

It was the early morning of Sunday, 26 February 2006. This day will forever be etched in my memory. It was pouring cats and dogs at 3am and by 5am, rain water started to seep into our house. My maid, DH and I were jolted up from our slumber when the power supply was cut off and we had heard sounds of sea water waves outside our house. When we peeped outside, we saw rain water everywhere. When we got down to check, the rain water was already slowly seeping into our house. The 3 of us were like headless chickens, running thru and fro, don’t know which items to salvage first. Within minutes, the rain water gushed in and then the water rose higher and higher and within hours, the rain water was already up to my chest. Oh, btw, I still had the presence of mind to grab my camera and snap some nice pix whilst DH posed nicely for me to snap pix of him. I was also a ‘star’ for a few minutes when the NTV7 news crew came to interview me. When the flood water receded and for the next few weeks, our housing area looked exactly like the scene of the tsunami aftermath and Hurricane Katrina. It was really a sorry and pathetic sight to behold. I felt I had no home to go to anymore. Whilst we sought shelter at a relative’s house and later I brought the gals & maid back to Ipoh for 2 weeks, DH and his staff ‘rebuilt’ our home.

Long story cut short, we lost almost everything that was on the ground floor of our double storey house… our 2 refrigerators, 2 washing machines, wardrobe of bedsheets, clothes, new Lorenzo sofa set and cabinets, nice Tupperware containers, the list goes on…. and the most expensive item of all, DH’s new MPV and my Proton Wira with our Mothercare baby car seat inside. Both our cars were submerged in water, up to the roof top. In total, we lost more than RM40k to the flood. The worst news of all was we later found out from our insurance agent that she did not renew our insurance to cover for flood. Blardy s*** that lady. Nvm lah, let bygones be bygones. Now, we have a new place to stay. Thank God, there was still a buyer to our house despite the fact that this buyer knows very well that he’s buying a house that is in a flood-prone area. Another of God’s miracle.

So the moral of the story is, do insure your house against natural disasters as well, on top of the usual householder and fire policy as you never know when tragedy / disasters will strike.

No. of times viewed = 203

Hip Dysplasia In Babies

Before Sherilyn came along, Alycia was indeed very very precious to me. I’m not saying she’s not precious to me anymore now but being the only child then and an extremely hard-to-get precious baby, I was really very ‘kan cheong’ (overly anxious) over her then. Even a body temp of 37.5 degrees Celcius then would sent DH and I rushing Alycia to the paed, only to be sarcastically told off as being overly anxious parents by the paed.

During Alycia’s 5th month well-child check up and immunization, our paed discovered that there were some ‘clicky sounds’ from both her hips. He then suspected hip dysplasia or dislocatable hips on both her hips. He then referred us to have Alycia checked by an orthopaedic. Upon doing an ultrasound scan of Alycia’s hips and performing a few tests on her hips, the orthopaedic confirmed that Alycia indeed has dislocatable hips and a shallow hip socket. I was frozen with shock and disbelief and was dazed at the orthopaedics clinic as the dr. explained Aly’s condition to DH and I, treatments available and showed me the human bone anatomy. When I heard that diagnosis, I felt my life and happiness were beginning to crumble to an abrupt end. Oh God, what’s going to happen to my precious beautiful Alycia? Is she going to be cacat or hobble in future? What would the future behold her if she really can’t walk normally? All these morbid thoughts came flashing thru my mind as I was seated at the clinic that I wasn’t even listening to what the dr was saying. My mind just went blank. For the next 4 months, I again surfed thru the net to study Aly’s condition. The diagnosis, prognosis and pictures shown on the net weren’t too encouraging and I was really depressed. All I could do was just to pray to the Lord.

The dr. suggested that we try a non-invasive, non-medical method of treating Alycia first. Since she’s only 5 mths old and her bones are still soft and not fully developed yet, there is still hope of ‘intervening’ the formation of the bones. Alycia has to be put on double diapers for 4 months and carried & put to sleep in certain positions in the hope of pushing the hips back to the socket. We spent lots of money on diapers for the 4 months, not to mention Alycia felt very unconfortable and hot in double layer of diapers 24 hours a day for 4 months.

4 months later, a scan and x-ray revealed that Alycia’s hips were symetrical and perfectly in place. When the dr said “I can now confirm that your daughter is ok and does not need to see me again”, I almost wanted to scream. That was another happiest day of my life. Thank God, my prayer had been answered again, it was trully a miracle.

So to all parents whose babies have some kind of imperfections or another, do not give up hope. Pray and miracles do happen.

No. of times viewed = 314

Trampoline

I love sweating it out by jogging, exercising on my fitball and jumping on my trampoline. I used to follow DH to the gym years ago, but now where got time leh? I read from an article that jumping for 15 mins is equivalent to a half hour jog. Eversince I started my fitness regimen 6 years ago, I hardly ever experienced insomnia anymore. Exercising definitely knocks me off to slumber easily everynite. My craze for this kind of sports has definitely rubbed off onto my gals and they also love to jump like jumping beans on the trampoline.

Children who regularly use a trampoline are shown to have less problems with obesity and related health problems. The following are benefits of trampoline-jumping:

Lower risk of illness
Reduced chance of obesity
Increased coordination
Better balance
Faster reaction times
Increased agility
Greater flexibility

With the recent rainy season, this is a great indoor sports. So go get a trampoline, a large large one so that mommy and kids can all jump together and have lotsa fun.

No. of times viewed = 386

Door Stopper

I notice that most people with kids do not place door stoppers on their doors at home. Those who place them only attach 1 door stopper to the front opening of the door. I’ve had my fair share of lesson learnt when both Alycia and Sherilyn’s finger and thumb got pinched and squashed by doors last year. It never occured to me that placing 2 door stoppers on a door is SO important, one on the front opening of the door and another one at the back, as shown in the above pic.

Alycia’s finger was pinched by the back opening of the door when the door closed by itself. I totally freaked out when I turned back and saw her little finger wedged by the door. I quickly applied cold/ice compress on the little finger and thank God, there wasn’t much swelling.

Sherilyn was not that lucky. She was playing with the steel door in the wet kitchen when she placed her left thumb at the back opening of the door and used her right hand to close the door. OMG, her poor little thumb was squashed by the door. That sight was totally gory. Blood was oozing out and dribbled everywhere on the kitchen floor, on my clothes, on her body. Oh God, I almost blacked out. An x-ray revealed that the little bone of the left thumb had chipped. Long story cut short, the nail eventually came off after 1 month. Now, I have a real phobia of doors.

So to all parents with toddlers, please please do place 2 door stoppers on both sides of your doors. It will help prevent an unwanted accident.

No. of times viewed = 211

Disney Souvenir

MIL came back from Hong Kong yesterday and brought home a big bag of Disney souvenir and soft toys for the gals. The gals were soooooo happy and excited when MIL took out the cute cute colourful stuff one by one out from her suitcase. Even I went goo gaa over those cute cute knick knacks, esp. the Minnie Mouse brolly as I’ve always loved Disney items, esp. Winne The Pooh and Mickey & Minnie Mouse since I was a little girl. Now, Alycia gets to show off her new Minnie Mouse brolly when I walk her to school.

No. of times viewed = 248

The Love For Reading

Alycia and Sherilyn love ‘reading’ books. Every morning after drinking their milk, they will sit on the potty to do their little poopy business whilst I read to them or they read themselves. I think it’s good to start inculcating the habit of reading to kids from young so that they will have a life-long love for books and reading. It’s much easier to nurture and shape kids from young.

No. of times viewed = 196

Disney Bunting

Recently, my SIL from Hong Kong sent another package of goodies to the girls and me again. This time, the box was full of Disney knick-knacks and souvenir and some very nice blouses for me too. Mmmmuack…. thanks tai kar cheh once again. When the box was opened, the girls went gila over the colourful cute cute Disney items. Amongst them were 2 Disney Mickey Mouse buntings, one blue and one red. When DH got home, the girls got him to hang the buntings across the dining room. Now, my house looks even more like a playschool. I suggested to DH and my mum that I can now even start a small comprehensive childcare service business to earn some pocket money but both advised me to DITCH this idea completely. Think very easy to earn this kind of money ar, can’t even handle your own 2 kids!

No. of times viewed = 236