Magical Milestone

Kids Are Sure Honest

2012-01-15T08:35:00.003+08:00

The other day I brought Zen and Kay to the pasar malam. Wanted to get some fruits and fish. Oh, do you realise how expensive fish had gotten?! The fishmonger even told me that it has and will steadily rise towards CNY. When I ask if the price will come down after CNY, he said he wasn't sure... Hmmmm... But enough of see lai talk :-)

Anyway, we were walking towards the fruit stall when we saw the man walking in front of us (think he was in his 50s) threw his finished cup of drink on the ground. Zen's first reaction was "Mummy, why did he throw that onto the floor?" I was disgusted and so was my boy. the difference was that this boy of mine talks spoke out loud. I paused a little and saw that the not-so-civic-minded uncle did not turn around or think that my son was talking about him despite being only 2 steps behind. There was another auntie who was walking towards us who heard Zen's comments and turned around to look at who he was talking about :-)

So I continue walking and temporarily abandoned my plan to buy the fruits (the uncle stopped at the fruits stall). But I also took the opportunity to talk to zen about the act eg "was it right" and "where should he had thrown it?" :-)

Penang Property and Real Estate

2012-01-10T12:20:00.016+08:00

A good friend of mine is planning to get marry this year and I am very happy for her. They had been dating for almost 10 years now and to us (and I am sure to their parents as well), it is about time they got married! They were college sweethearts and were each other's first boyfriend / girlfriend. How sweet...

Since both of them are from Penang, they will be having the wedding in Penang. Yippee, and I get an excuse to go up to Penang. Perhaps I can persuade hubby to take a few days off and we can stay a little longer. It has been ages since I last visited Penang.

As for my friend, she said that they will be moving back to Penang after they are married. She will be working at her husband's family business and so, now they are looking around for some good Penang property. She had been checking online for some properties to buy or at least rent around Gelugor. There is this website called Propwall that she had been frequenting and she was telling me that it was one of the better ones so far. She gave me a few condominium names and asked if I could give her my opinions about them. So I happily went into that website and looked at some of the condos that she had mentioned. Gosh, some of them are asking for over RM1 million for a furnished condo!! I hope her husband is a wealthy man! :-)

As for the website, I like the layout and it' s pretty well-organised. There are quite a lot of different properties ie condominiums, houses, offices, shops, factories and even lands, though there are more of the first types of properties than the others. What I find most helpful about this website is the amount of pictures and also the vast information available about the properties, from location to maintenance fee to nearby amenities and so forth. What I also like is that the articles are unbiased. They do not concentrate only on the positive parts of the properties but also highlight the cons as well eg if it is near polluted areas. So I guess I would recommend this website to those who are seeking properties around major cities in Malaysia, especially if you don't have the time to personally visit all these properties yourself.

Happy 2012

2012-01-08T08:55:00.002+08:00

Happy 2012 everyone! yeah, I know I know... am a little late... okay okay... more than a little late in wishing everyone but like they say, better late than never :-)

Things had been busy around here... Admit I have neglected my blog for some time. When I check it up recently, I found that my old template somehow had shrunk! The contents were still screen size but the background were all smaller so it looked really weird like me trying to wear Kay's clothes! :-P Anyway, took some time to look for some templates and decide that this one looks kinda nice.. will do until I find something nicer, if I ever get round to doing that!

Kay recently turned 2 on Jan 2. It was a simple celebration, just family and a birthday cake... and of course presents. :-) Happy Birthday sweetie!!! Love always from daddy, mummy and koh koh.

picture taken during a recent trip to a park...
here, she is on the way to chase some ducks... not kidding!!
[cue "Final Countdown" as background music *grin*]

When Will My Son Grow Out Of His Bad Habits...

2011-11-18T22:39:00.005+08:00

I seemed to have abandoned my blog for quite awhile, didn't I? Truth be told... I am just too tired these days. Zen is 4 years and 4 months old and there is still no sign of him toning down. Instead, his terrible two continued into temperamental three and frightful four... sigh :-(

Almost every day, it's mayhem here in our house. He would refuse to do what he was told and after you had say it to him a millionth time, he would throw tantrum and say you are nagging him. And this is just the basic routine stuff like brush teeth, take shower, eat lunch / dinner, pick up clothes, do the dishes etc. Just kidding about the dishes. And he can be rude. When his daddy comes home from work, he would sometimes say nasty things like "don't come back" loudly, though I think he didn't mean it and was only trying to get attention (?). When I ask him why he said such things, he couldn't answer me and tried to divert attention to something else.

He is very active and could not stay still. Even in kindergarten, he would not sit still. According to his teacher, he would flap his arms and hit those or run around the classroom and disturb others. And during story time, he would not sit and listen to the teacher. But then again, I would not blame him for that because I have heard the teacher telling the story and she made it sooooo boring :-)

But what I wished he would stop doing is hitting others. He would hurt us both for fun and in frustration. Sometimes, he would use things to hit us eg a rolled up cardboard and sometimes, with his limbs. When my two kids are playing, Zen occasionally would use his legs to pin Kay down till she scream. And his kindergarten teacher told me that he was hitting his friends in kindergarten... and this was after just 1 week in kindergarten. During the 2nd week, a girl came up to me when I picked Zen up from kindergarten and said "Zen mummy, Zen hit me just now on my arm and then he stepped on my hair!" Stepped on her hair?!? Was she lying on the floor then? And if she was, what was she doing on the floor?!? Didn't ask her that but I did ask Zen if he hit her first and he said yes so I got him to say sorry to her... Did you ever had other kids complain to you that your kid hit them?

I tried to be positive and guide him but he is really testing my patience... I am not one who would get angry easily but these days, I find myself blowing my top almost every day. I tried reasoning with him, threatening him and even hitting him with the cane (yes, I admit I have hit him... which makes me feel so guilty after that as I believe that kids should be talked and listen to and not hit...) and yet, he does not change. Sometimes, I wonder if those parenting sites were written by parents... and if they were, perhaps they never had kids like mine...

NB: Just needed to get that out...

My Attempt In Removing Gallstones Naturally

2011-10-21T00:01:00.002+08:00

This is a long overdue post. I had completed my first attempt to remove my gallstone naturally many weeks ago but have yet to post on it. The reason why I didn't do so was because I didn't feel like it. Why? Well, I don't know... maybe because it didn't go as good as I had expected it... Anyways, I had better write the steps down before I forget.

It was a 7-day program that anyone can do at home. The steps taken were:

(1) For the first 6 days, eat 5 medium size organic GREEN apples everyday. If it's the small size, then you will need about 7-8. And yes, it has to be green apples. You could juice them. what I did was juice 2 apples with lettuces for breakfast and then eat 1 apple before lunch, tea and dinner. Preferably organic because since you are going to do detox, why not go all the way. But must warn you that it can be quite costly. It costs around RM5 per apple for me!

It's not a must that have to take the exact amount so don't panic if you ate one less apple on one of the days. :-D The idea is for the apple juice to soften the gallstones. You can eat normally during these 6 days, though try to avoid fried and oily food.

Alternatively, you could buy the detox set that organic shops carries. I believe there's apple juice and olive oil and Epsom salt in it. I have seen it at Justlife in IPC and it costs lesser than buying the apples. But if you ask me, I prefer the apples because I eat them fresh.

(2) On the 7th day, you will need to skip dinner. Breakfast and lunch are ok but for the rest of the day, only drink liquid. I took milk.

At 6pm, dissolve 1 teaspoon of Epsom salt in a glass of warm water and drink it. It doesn't matter how much water you use. I was told by the organic shop owner that I can increase the amount of Epsom salt a little (ie a heaped teaspoonful) if I am usually constipated... This mixture has a slight bitter aftertaste.

At 8pm, repeat the Epsom salt mixture. This is to open up the ducts

At 10pm, mix half cup of olive oil ( I used organic olive + sunflower oil meant for cooking) with half cup of fresh lemon juice (am not sure if you can substitute with lime juice). Drink it and go straight to bed. No physical exercise please. So websites advised that you should lie on your right side. Not sure why though.

You will then feel the urge to purge some green stools. Different people different timing. My SIL felt the need to go to the toilet only half hour after drinking the olive oil + lemon juice. As for me, it was the next morning.

Many websites mentioned that you will feel much better after the purging but I didn't. In fact, I'm still losing weight now (it's a symptom of gallstones). Hmm.... will re-do the detox in another 2-3 months.

Addendum:
Forgot to mention this earlier. Do try to get someone to stay with you on the last night (the night where you need to drink Epsom salt, olive oil and lemon juice) and the following morning. Some people experienced vertigo / dizziness (like yours truly) and hunger. Others were ok (like my SIL) Apparently, you would feel as such if you have a lot of toxic... So would be good to have someone to help you in case you erm... need help while in the toilet! But this would go away very quickly especially after breakfast.

Disclaimer:
One last thing, I am not a medical personnel. The above is written based from my experience and what I know from researching from the internet and speaking to organic shop owners and others who have tried it before. So far, I have not yet heard / read of any serious side effect from this method. But if you have any doubt please consult your doctor first.

First Big Bad Wolf And First Bus Trip

2011-10-09T22:39:00.002+08:00

We were at the Big bad Wolf book fair today (Sunday). I was so excited. If there's one thing that I love most, it's books. Whether I have time to read them or not is totally irrelevant in this case. :-D

I was studying the map for the longest time trying picture the way there. Seemed easy enough if we were to take the North-South Highway. But hubby knew better. he took a "shortcut" and ended up at UPM (and not all the way to Kajang toll). At one point, I was telling hubby that we should have gone straight when he took a left turning towards UPM ie heading towards the campus. But turned out he was right and we didn't get lost. Hurray for hubby! I should not doubt his sense of direction *big grin*

We arrived at around 4pm, hoping that there were not that big a crowd but fat chance. It being a weekend and all. But I think some of the crowd had left especially the morning crowd because we were able to drive all the way up to the nearest parking lot to Hall A. All we need to do is walk up a slope and pass a couple of huge buildings and we were there. :-D

Once we got inside, there were so many people! Overheard someone saying that he didn't realise that so many Malaysians were readers. We started towards the children's side, working towards the other end where the cashiers were. Hubby offered to take care Kay while I took Zen over to the children's books. This little guy was happily picking up nice looking ones and telling me he wants this and that! Since they were around RM5-RM8 per book, I said yes and we ended up with 10 books for Zen and Kay. I wanted to look for nice picture encyclopedia type of books for them but was kinda difficult because there were quite a lot of people at that time. Meanwhile, hubby and I got some manga, cookbooks and fictions. We wanted to look for more books (rather I wanted to) but Kay was getting restless and hungry so we left.

We decided to take the complimentary bus service to go down the slope and boy, were the kids excited! It was their first trip on a bus! When it was time for us to get down from the bus, Zen was so disappointed that he threw a tantrum! hahahaha!

So it was a fruitful weekend and I have enough books to last me till next years' fair.... unless I can persuade hubby to drop by again next weekend before they end...

1st week Of Trial Kindergarten

2011-10-02T09:53:00.006+08:00

There are two things that I want to blog about and still haven't... Been a little busy lately with my gallstone home detox (one of the things that I wanted to blog on) and the kids being sick (yeah, again...). Zen got the sneezes and cough from school and now Kay got it too. Am going to pen down Zen's trial kindergarten week before my memory goes away! hehehe... Oh, digress a little here... did you know that a congested liver will result in us having bad memory? Apparently it does... hmm... Maybe liver detox next for me?

Anyway, Zen went to kindergarten the last week of September and am planning to send him officially from Oct.
Yes, I could start him beginning of next year but was thinking that there will be too many new students at the beginning of the year that the teachers will not have time for him. Here's what happened during the week... hopefully this blog still exist in a few years' time in order for Zen to read it himself!!

This was last year's trial kindergarten...
and pic taken before he was crying and throwing tantrum wanting me to stay!

Monday:
Had been psycho-ing him about school and preparing what to expect. Let him chose the clothes he wanted to wear and closed an eye when he insisted on mismatched clothes. Had milk and I made him peanut butter and cheese sandwich for break later. Told him that's for picnic in school :-D

Reached at 8:28am. School starts at 8:30am. Walked him to kindergarten and he was ok all the way. All the kids were seated listening to the principal telling them about a party on Thursday. He went in and sat down right in front. I was still outside at the porch. He kept looking at me to check. Kay was looking around at the new environment. Then the teacher took him upstairs together with all the 4-years old's. I left.

Came back at noon but he hasn't finish yet. Kay wanted to play on the slides so I let her. Then I heard Zen calling from upstairs. He and about 10 other kids were looking out the window at me! I waved and they waved back. How sweet... Zen then said "I had fun today"! Wow! That's a good sign.

Tuesday:
Mood was ok when we were on our way to kindergarten but he cried just as he stepped inside. He wanted to dash out and the teacher held onto his bag. He twisted himself free and lost his balance and fell onto the floor, but not too hard. Insisted that I stay but told him that I'll back at noon. Hugged him and said goodbye.

Came back at noon and the teacher said he cried off and on and was throwing tantrum on the floor. He was not in a good mood and he let himself out of the compound and walked towards my car.

Wednesday:
Was ok today. Didn't cry and neither was he happy. He cheered up when I picked him up at noon and told him we were going to buy some eggs to make egg roll for his school party the next day.

Thursday:
Party day. Just a small one where they get their photos taken and a few parents contributed food. Sent him there first and he was ok when I told him I'll be back at 10:30am instead of noon. Came back around 10:30am with the egg rolls and they were outside playing. Naturally, Kay wanted to play too and... well, just imagine almost 50 kids running around laughing and screaming :-D It was actually quite fun to see them so active.. but the teachers seemed to have a tired look on their faces... hehehe After that they washed up and had their food, including nuggets and hot dogs and fried noodles etc. Zen loves hot dogs and since he doesn't get them much at home, he kept asking the teacher for more hot dogs!!

Friday:
Walked him to the gate and asked if he could walk in himself. He said no. Was about to persuade him to do so when Kay started wiggling wanting to go in to play the slide! Funny how things are ya... the one that I wanted him to go to kindergarten doesn't want to and the one that doesn't need to go to kindergarten yet is screaming to go in :-D

Wish us luck for next week and beyond!

Preparing My Kid For Kindergarten Again

2011-09-25T22:17:00.005+08:00

Am in the midst of preparing Zen for kindergarten again after a "failed" attempt last December!! Oh, in case you did not read that post back then, I had sent Zen for trial kindergarten classes last December. He was crying so pitifully during the three days when he was there that I thought I will delay his kindergarten. Come to think about it, he was crying for two days only because the third day was the school's party, where I was allowed to stay for the whole duration. He did not cry then but was happily running around and getting balloon toys from the clown the school had engaged.

But the two days that he was there without me, has been a real taxing. It was a struggle of power between him and I just to get him prepared in the morning. I almost had to drag him to the car. Talking nicely, bribing and threatening did not work. He was stamping his feet and screaming when I was about to leave after settling him down at the kindergarten. And when he got home, he was so unhappy that he sulked for the rest of the day. It was then when we struck a deal. He was to go to kindergarten when he reaches 4 years old and in the meantime, I will home school him. After that, he was his mischievous self again and he would cheekily tell everyone (who had asked if he was going to kindergarten yet) that he would be going when he's 4 year old!

Now that he's way past 4 years old, I am preparing him for kindergarten again. I had gotten him one of those nice book bags which I hope will last some time. He was telling me that he is going to put his toys in the front compartment and a writing pad in the zipped pocket. Hope his enthusiasm will last too. Actually he had asked for a backpack like his daddy's, which by the way, is a really premium one! I told him that when he has finished schooling and has started earning his own money then he gets to choose whatever bag he wants!

I was also brain washing him about the fun things that he gets to do in school. He loves arts and crafts and I told him that there will be more materials in the kindergarten than at home. And since he had taken interest in other kids his age when we go to parks, we also told him that there will be more kids and friends at the kindergarten!

Wish me and Zen lots of luck.

Results of My Blood Test (Part 2)

2011-09-21T23:28:00.006+08:00

Sorry ahhh.. didn't mean to create suspense by making it into 2 posts... but was so sleepy after the previous post that I had to stop there lah :-D

Anyway, I went for the machine test and ultrasound last Saturday.

First was the machine test. I passed the ECG and lung's tests \^o^/ But am osteopenia. They got me to put my feet, one at a time into a machine that presses onto my foot to calculate my feet's bone mineral density and it was below normal. So time to increase my calcium intake and get some exercise (as if taking care of two active kids are not enough!) and morning sunlight (for Vit K)...

Then it was ultrasound and consultation. During the ultrasound, it was slightly painful when she pressed onto the middle of my rib cage, the place where gastric pain and heart burns are. Then she asked me if I had a history of gallstones. My heart sank. I looked over to the monitor and looked at where she was pointing. Initially, I saw only 1 small stone :-D but then she pointed to the whole white colored area at the bottom of the gallbladder and I suddenly shivered. She told me it was quite a lot of small stones, so small and many that she could not measure the size. When I asked her if it was serious, she said yes... if it get inflamed and if the stones get dislodged and travels down to the duct and blocked it :-(

When I asked her what are my options, she told me that I could choose some method where I drink some stuff and tried to have the stones washed out but it may recur. She said she would recommend me to have my gallbladder removed. I didn't really know what to think. On one hand I wanted to get rid of the stones and on the other, I don't want to lose my gallbladder. Though many websites suggested that a gallbladder don't serve much other than store bile for fat digestion, I'm sure God gave us a gallbladder to serve a purpose.

Actually, my dad was born without a gallbladder and he survived till for over 60 years before finding that out!! So we could live without a gallbladder, our liver is so amazing that it can adapt to it. But still...

I am hoping to save my gallbladder so am currently trying to detox and see how it goes. Will post on this soon.

Results Of My Blood Test (Part I)

2011-09-18T23:55:00.006+08:00

I had not done a blood test for almost three years so I thought I should get one done. The last one I did was wayyy back in 2008. So during the Raya holidays, hubby took me to BP Clinical Lab for a blood test. the one I did in 2008 was at Pathlab but they didn't open during holidays so I decided to try BP. This time I opted for the "machine test" too. Machine test included ultrasound scan, ECG, lungs test and also for osteoporosis.

As it was the holidays, I could only draw my blood for the test. Had to make another appointment for the machine test and consultation. Since I could only go on Saturdays when hubby is available to take care of the kids, I had to wait till more than 2 weeks after that day for my appointment.... with Saturdays being their super-peak day and all.

But I didn't want to wait so long for the blood test results so I went back a couple of days to get the results. The "only" abnormalities were low white blood count (probably because I just recovered from flu), slightly high on LDL - Cholesterol (which the nurse assured me was ok but should take care of my diet) and a higher than average total bilirubin count. This was the one that gave me sleepless nights. The nurse who handed me the report told me that it could be because I ate too much "yellow colored" food eg carrot, sweet potato, papaya etc which was partly true. You can read more about bilirubin here. Basically, this is what causes jaundice in babies and in an adult, a high count can sometimes mean there is a problem somewhere.

Since both my parents passed away due to cancer though in my mum's case, it was highly suspected that she contacted the Hep C virus from blood transfusion back in the 80s... I am, medically speaking, a time bomb. So when I saw that my total bilirubin was high, my body's alarm bells went off. I googled for it, went to a GP to ask for her opinion and spoke to my friends. Which was why this blog was left untouched for some time... sorry... Most of the researches that I did and the people that I spoke to assured me that there's nothing too serious about it but the 2 weeks wait till I get to do the ultrasound scan was a torture.

We Can't Go To Mid Valley Anymore

2011-09-07T10:31:00.001+08:00

Somehow, whenever we go to Mid Valley or The Gardens, at least one of us will fall sick.

Take last year, we were at Mid Valley on a Saturday after not going there for ages. You see, we kinda dread the parking or rather lack of parking on weekends there so we have not been to Mid Valley for a long long time. I used to go early in the morning and leave when the crowd starts coming in but with the kids, it's bit difficult to do so. Anyway, I digress. Back to story. The following day (Sunday), was the day hubby started having very high fever, which later turned out to be H1N1! Don't think he contacted the virus at Mid Valley as it takes about 3 days before the symptoms show up. But still...

Fast forward to this year. Last Thursday, we decided to take the kids to Mid Valley to jalan-jalan. It was fun for them but on that night, Zen started coughing really badly. Poor kid. He just recovered from flu a few days ago. :-( And by today, Kay and hubby too are infected. As for me, am taking lots of Vit C and garlic supplements and drinking glasses after glasses of honey lime.

But don't worry... that doesn't mean that Mid Valley is jinxed! So please don't say that I told you to stay away from this mall ya... In case I get sued by them!! Out of curiosity, did something like this happen to anyone of you before? Maybe not malls but any other place?

Rooms For Rent In Malaysia

2011-09-06T20:14:00.001+08:00

I remembered when I was first started working in KL more than a decade ago. I was both excited and anxious. I was finally going to be independent and earning my own pay and staying up as late as I wanted to and going out with whom I choose too!! muahahaha...

Initially I stayed at my cousins' house but it was a bit out of the way to my workplace. I needed to take 2 buses to get to work and the total journey takes between 1 - 2 hours. I was not one of those fortunate ones who was given a car when I started work but I think I managed well. :-) So everyday, I had to spend almost 2 - 4 hours trying to get to office or home. I am almost always exhausted by the time I reached home and had spent most of my weekends in bed trying to catch up with sleep. So much for staying up late and going out!

After a couple of months, I decided to move out and nearer to my workplace. And so everyday I was going through the newspaper's classifieds looking for rooms to let. And weekends were spent going to all the housing estates around my office looking for room to rent. During those times, many "rooms to let" advertisements were pasted on conveniences stores and mini markets.

There was no online service back then compared to now. These days, looking for rooms to rent is as simple as logging onto rooms for rental website. There are literally tens of thousands of rooms to be let listed here. Master bedrooms or single rooms, with or without cooking facilities, is internet available? All these descriptions comes with the advertisement making it easy for tenants to choose.

It is pretty user friendly as the rooms are categorized into states and "hot locations". All one has to do is narrow down to the state or location that one is keen on and start searching for the criteria and budget that fits. Therefore, a soon-to-graduate student in Penang can start looking for rooms to rent in Petaling Jaya without needing to travel all the way there.

This way also allows comparison which works well for the tenant. One can compare which house owner provides the best facilities at the lowest price in the same location. Very convenient indeed.

Cheesy Kids and Cincai Lah

2011-08-29T22:44:00.003+08:00

During lunch today, Zen was especially messy. I made them macaroni and cheese (it's their fav food these days). Initially, I used Campbell's pasta sauce but these days, I make the pasta sauce myself. It's pretty simple and best of all, my kids love it. You can check the recipe here. Go ahead and modify them if you like. I did. instead of milk powder, I used fresh milk so I reduced the water accordingly. And you can also add grated cheese on top of the hot pasta just before serving. By the time you serve them, the cheese would have been slightly melted and it'll be so yummy. Yes, we are a cheesy family!! :-D

Anyway, the kids were messy eaters and I was telling Zen to try not to spill them all over and not to wipe his mouth on his sleeves. Yes, that's his habit lately, even though I had put his hanky / tissue on the table besides him. And when I reminded him after he "accidentally" wipe his mouth with his sleeve, he said "Opps sorry... But it's OK... Cincai lah". I thought I heard the last part wrongly and I went "What did you say?" He repeated and I asked where he learn the word "cincai" (which means "anything will do" in Cantonese, at least I think it's Cantonese). He told me that daddy always said that to me and he just repeat after daddy!! Hmmmm, kids :-D

And here's wishing all Muslims

Selamat Hari Raya

Giveaway #3: Fisher-Price's Products Results

2011-08-26T18:03:00.000+08:00

This is it folks... the last of the Fisher-Price giveaways from my blog. I hope you had as much a great time participating as I had in running it. To everyone, thanks for being such a sport and participating and to all the winners Congratulations again!

Now, for the giveaway #3 results as selected by Fisher-Price's management as per my post:

THE RESULTS

Drum-roll please...

1st prize goes to Sheryl O

2nd prize goes to Baby / Susan Kong

3rd prize goes to May Lin

To all three winners, CONGRATULATIONS!!
Please email your name, IC number, contact number and address to magicalmilestone@gmail.com and I shall forward them to the organizers for them to arrange delivery of your prizes. And your blog name (if any) too so that I know who is who :-)

Have a great weekend everyone!! Take good care and enjoy your prizes... Erm, if it's not too much trouble, do write a blog post (if you do have a blog) or FB about the prizes and your kids playing with them.. kinda like a thank you to Fisher-Price but this is not mandatory ok.. only if you feel like it. :-D

Giveaway #3: Fisher Price Products Results Slightly Delayed

2011-08-24T13:05:00.004+08:00

To all participants to the Fisher-Price giveaway #3, there is a last-minute change in this final giveaway's contest mechanics. Instead of having my son draw the names of the winners, Fisher-Price will be deciding the winners. Yes, the sponsors are going to announce who will be getting the prizes for this round. So it's going to be exciting and yes, more fingernail-biting wait :-D

I'm afraid I won't be able to share how they will be picking the winners though as I have no access to that information yet. But no worries, will update you guys as soon as I have the list ya...

So here's a big GOOD LUCK to all the participants again!!!

Giveaway #2: Fisher-Price's Products Results

2011-08-17T11:43:00.000+08:00

Here are the results for Giveaway #2. As with the Giveaway #1, the process goes like this.... In case the suspense is too much, do scroll down for the winners' list :-D

Yes, it's a name draw yet again... Zen is having loads of fun doing this. In fact, he has been asking me if he could do the "write-name-and-take-out-of-box" game almost everyday since Giveaway #1. I hope he won't make it too much a habit or else he will end up being a professional number / name drawer!!

Here's Zen hard at work writing up all the names and then his lil sister wanted a piece of the action and so she took over the chair and Zen had to stand and write. There are 10 name this time and all folded and place into the box for the draw.

THE RESULTS

1st prize goes to Cindy C:

2nd prize goes to Michelle Gan:

3rd prize goes to Mummy Rae & Zeta:

err... Zen wanted to continue with the draw and here's the 4th name he drew... but sorry Alice, no prize ahhhh :-O

Actually he continued to draw everyone's name but I didn't take any pictures of them. I guess to him everyone was a winner... hehehe...

To all the lucky winners, CONGRATULATIONS!!
Please email your name, IC number, contact number and address to magicalmilestone@gmail.com and I shall forward them to the organizers for them to arrange delivery of your prizes. And your blog name (if any) too so that I know who is who :-)

Check out the Giveaway #3 ya..

Giveaway #3: FIsher Price Products (Closed)

2011-08-17T08:13:00.002+08:00

All good things come in 3s right? So here's another (and final) Fisher-Price products giveaway. And this time it's based on the Fisher-Price's stride-To-Ride Lion post.

CONTEST CLOSED

Contest rules:
(1) Giveaways are for Malaysian citizens residing in Malaysia only.
(2) Giveaway is from now till Tuesday 23rd August 2011 at 11:59pm.
(3) The 3 lucky winners will be determined by a name draw by Zen :-D
(4) Draw date will be on Wednesday 24th August 2011 and results to be posted on that day itself.

(5) The 2 questions this time are as follows and do post them in the comments below:
(a) The Stride-to-Ride Lion can be "transformed" from a ......... to a ........ (fill in the blanks)
(b) Which part of the lion will lit up when pressed?

And the awesome prizes this round are:

1st prize: Learning table worth RM269.90
2nd prize: Doodle Pro Glow worth RM149.90
3rd prize: Doodle Pro Basic Color Asst worth RM99.90

This is the last chance to win some great Fisher-Price products so here's wishing all, good luck and all the best!!

Giveaway #1: Fisher-Price's Products Results

2011-08-10T08:37:00.006+08:00

Ta-da-da... Announcing the winners for the Giveaway #1. But first, here's how the process of selecting the winner came about.

I decided on a manual name-draw (and not those electronic number generator, which works great, don't get me wrong) mainly because it's more fun this way. And it fits Fisher-Price's tag "Play And Learn". It also gives the illusion that my son is giving the prizes away, well, at least to him it was. Teaching him to share :-D

Zen having fun copying the contestants' names on the little pieces of paper. Sorry some of the names were slightly wrongly spelled. The little guy refused to re-write his masterpieces! Oh, yeah, if you were wondering if he's having fever, yes he is and also bit of sore throat...

After that, we folded the pieces of papers and put them in a container and Zen drew the names out. Sorry, forgot to take picture of these.

The first name /prize he drew was... Iyson

The second name / prize was... KL Yee

And the third name / prize was... Alice

To the winners, CONGRATULATIONS!!
Please email your name, IC number, contact number and address to magicalmilestone@gmail.com and I shall forward them to the organizers for them to arrange your prizes. Oh, do remember to include your blogger ID too so that I know who you are :-)

Check out the Giveaway #2 here.

Giveaway #2: Fisher-Price Products

2011-08-10T08:09:00.004+08:00

More Fisher-Price giveaways here. Sometimes, I wished I were my readers. These prizes are super cool. Anyways, this giveaway is based on the Healthy Care Deluxe Boaster Seat post.

Contests rules
Again, the rules are:
(1) Giveaways are for Malaysian citizens residing in Malaysia only.
(2) Giveaway is from now till Tuesday 16th August 2011 at 11:59pm.
(3) The 3 lucky winners will be determined by a name draw by Zen :-D
(4) Draw date will be on Wednesday 17th August 2011 and result to be posted on that day itself.

(5) Just answer these 2 questions and post them in the comments below:
(a) How many trays does the Healthy Care Deluxe Boaster Seat comes with?
(b) Name one of the purposes of the front and rear seat straps.

The three great prizes for this round are:
1st Prize: Learning Kitchen worth RM219.90
2nd prize: Rumble & Learn Driver worth RM169.90
3rd prize: Singin' Soccer Ball worth RM99.90

All The Best!!

PS: The result post for giveaway #1 should be out by today...

Giveaway #1: Fisher-Price's Products

2011-08-03T10:28:00.002+08:00

I am so excited! This is going to be my blog's first ever giveaway, courtesy of Fisher-Price and is based on my review on the Newborn to Toddler Rocker post. Contest closed

Contests rules
Entering is simple enough:
(1) Giveaways are for Malaysian citizens residing in Malaysia only.
(2) Giveaway is from now till Tuesday 9th August 2011 at 11:59pm.
(3) The 3 lucky winners will be determined by a name draw by Zen :-D
(4) Draw date will be on Wednesday 10th August 2011 and result to be posted on that day itself, subject to the co-operation of Zen!!

(5) Just answer these 2 questions and post them in the comments below:
(a) Can the Newborn to Toddler Rocker's seat angle be adjusted?
(b) The Newborn to Toddler Rocker's toy bar provides fun and is educational to baby. Name one area of baby's development that it stimulates.

The Prizes

The three awesome prizes up for grabs are:
1st Prize: Peek-A-Boo Leaves Musical Mobile worth RM279.90
2nd prize: Link-A-Doos Kick 'N Play Piano worth RM149.90
3rd prize: Musical Mobile worth RM119.90

Good Luck and Have Fun!

Fisher Price's Stride-to-Ride Lion

2011-07-27T09:21:00.020+08:00

Hubby and I have always been the kids' horsey. You know the type where we go on all fours and they get on our backs and we neigh our way around the house... Yeah, it's in a parent's job description alright. Then we got this Fisher Price's Go Baby Go Stride-to-Ride Lion and it became our replacement, which was good coz the kids were getting a little too heavy for this old horsey! :-D

Before we got it, I have read about it and I find that it was a pretty good toy cum walking tool. It's suitable for babies and toddlers who are learning to take their first steps as it serves as a walker for them. There's only so much of furniture that babies can cruise with and when when they reach the end of the coffee table, they had to fall onto the floor or cruise back. But with the Stride to Ride Lion walker, they are more mobile and can be more adventurous. Imagine the fun they will have. A word of caution though, this is the time to child-proof the house!

And when they are able to walk, you can "transform" it into a ride-on, which by the way, both my kids love and as I am writing this, are currently fighting for it. I find that the wheel base are quite wide so you don't have to worry about whether it will provide a sturdy support for the kids.

Actually the first thing that grabbed the kids' attention was the cute lion's face. And kids being kids will start playing with it... and this is where the visual and audio stimulation comes in. Press the lion's nose and it will lit up like so in the picture and there will be upbeat sounds coming from the lion's mouth. Kinda catchy tunes if you ask me...

In fact, so catchy were the music that my girl was dancing and my boy was drumming to the beat! :-D Over and over and over again... Yeah, it's party time!

Oh, in case you are wondering, it's very durable. Here, you can see Kay trying to errr... I'm not sure what she was trying to do. The poor lion was hit and pushed and stomped on (yeah, I have active-to-the-point-of-being-violent kids, tell me about it!) even before I got it out of its box! But after we took it out and had it fixed up properly, it was still working. So thumbs up from me.

How To Get My Son To Eat Vegetables

2011-07-21T21:51:00.002+08:00

Zen doesn't like to eat vegetables... at all. He used to like them when he was young for I always gave him quite a variety of vegetables every day. Then, suddenly one day, he decided that he does not want to eat them anymore. Just like that.

Since that day, he refused all things that look like vege, no matter how much I coax him to or even threaten him with "poo poo cannot come out". :-D I even tried disguising the vege in other food eg meatballs but he will insist that I dig them all out! Luckily he likes fruits.

The other day, I tried another way and it kinda worked. I let him plant his own vege. I started with spring onion and bean sprout, the two easiest and fastest ones. Zen don't have much patient with plants. Earlier we planted some papaya seeds and it took so long to see the seedlings that by the time the little leaves came out, he couldn't really remember the planting procedure. But that's another story.

Anyway, he was pretty excited in the spring onion and bean sprout coz they grow very fast and he could literally see them grow by the day. And when I put some in his meals, he willingly ate them. Not much but it's a start. Especially when these two veges are notoriously unpopular with kids.

Sorry I didn't have any picture. I did take some with my phone but Kay was playing with my phone and somehow deleted all of them. And errr... we have eaten them already. Perhaps the next time when we grow them again. :-)

So if your kids do not like vege, try letting them grow their own. It's fun and educational for them too, not to mention you can get them to eat them too! Good luck.

Fisher-Price's Healthy Care Deluxe Booster Seat

2011-07-13T22:54:00.009+08:00

Kay has outgrown her high chair quite awhile ago. Actually, she can still fit in but she doesn't want to sit inside anymore. She would wiggle and twist and scream to be let out and this is even before I give her her food! So in order to maintain peace and my sanity, I let her sit in her children chair which does not have any straps, meaning that she could get up and run if she so chooses.

Then we got this Fisher-Price's Healthy Care Deluxe Booster Seat. And feeding time had became so much better! She is able to seat down happily at the dining table throughout the meal. And that makes me a happy mummy.
The things I like about it is that there's a height adjustment where the height of the seat can be adjusted as the child grows or to fit the table height and also the fact that it can be strapped down to the dining chair. The feeding tray (white) can be snapped onto the main tray (blue) so there is no worry that the tray and food may fall over should the child pushes it. And then there also the snap-on lid (green) to cover the food when it's not touched.

Once meal time is over, just simply bring the feeding tray and lid for washing. The main tray can be used for other activities too eg Kay was doing her coloring (with crayons) on the main tray. Thank goodness for the easy cleaning part.

Setting up the booster seat is quite simple.

There are instructions but you can figure how it works even without it.
Here are the kids "helping" me fix the booster seat.

The front and rear seat straps can used to hold the booster seat in place and as over-the-shoulder straps, making it easy to bring along eg on a trip or a picnic.
"Look, it is not heavy. Even I can carry it!"

"Hey mummy, where are our lunch?
Could you please stop taking our pictures? We are hungry. "

3 Broken Appliances, 2 Virus Attack & 1 Birthday

2011-07-09T22:58:00.003+08:00

It has been an incredible week. So many things happened and I think I need a break now.

3 Broken Appliances

First, we had 3 things broken down at home within a short period of a week plus. The first was our water heater which decided that 6 years was enough and went into retirement. Water heaters used to last longer than that I remembered. Then our DVD player thought it was fun to make its sliding panel stuck everytime we press "Open". So now, we have to kinda use our finger to "help" it open all the way. Ours is the type where the DVD compartment has a sliding panel. Real cool to have but like most things cool, was delicate. I think it was less than 3 years since we bought it.

As the cliche goes, "bad luck comes in three". And our washing machine made it to the 3rd spot! Actually we should have seen it coming, for it had been grunting like a volcano erupting for the past few weeks, especially during the final spin. Then the other day, it was shaking so hard that the whole washing machine shifted 1 foot away from its position and you know how heavy a washing machine is... And that was the day it RIP. Oh well, it was more than 10 years so I guess ok lah.

2 Virus Attacks

Then, on Thursday, I allowed Zen to play some online games that he had been nagging me about. I had not let him go into all these free games site for the longest time and relented on Wednesday. He was disturbing Kay's nap with his whining so I gave in. He was enjoying his games when he suddenly came running screaming that the "computer got something wrong".

I found that internet access wasn't working at all and there was a very suspicious looking "anti-virus" called "Personal Shield Pro" claiming that they had found viruses and I should protect my computer by purchasing their "anti-virus". Quickly called up our IT support and it turned out that this anti-virus was a virus itself! long story short, IT guy came at night and got it fixed. But in less than an hour after he left, the computer as infected again! I still do not know how it got downloaded because we did not click onto any downloadable matters from email attachments or websites. So twice bitten on the same day. So do be careful ya, and don't give them your credit card number for they are fake.

1 Birthday

It was Zen's birthday on Thursday but I only got to post about it now since the computer was out of action till today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY my wonderful son!! We love you very very much!!

My Son's Many Nicknames

2011-07-03T23:09:00.003+08:00

Zen has many many nicknames. Some of these were "bestowed" upon him by his father, regardless of whether he likes it or not :-P For example, his daddy had called him...
(1) Handsome -which daddy doesn't call their sons this right?
(2) Macho man - Zen can get pretty rough especially when he gets really excited when playing... and let me tell you that for a kid so young and thin, he sure has great strength!
(3) Prince - yeah, and that makes me the Queen! muahahahaha!
(4) Cute - lately, he does not want to be called cute anymore, he'll tell us that "I'm not cute, I'm just good" okayyyy....
(5) Destructive - need I elaborate?
(6) koh koh - well, this is not a nickname but his title as older brother but am putting it in this list too

And some nicknames were requested by Zen himself. For example "banana". Yes, he would tell you "My name is Banana Zen"! No prizes for guessing what is his favorite fruit ya *grin* And then, there was "Pizza Zen". Sorry, no prizes for guessing what is his favorite food either. Oh, not forgetting "Diego" awhile ago because he loves to watch "Go Diego Go". I was praying he wouldn't call himself "Dora"!!

Once he suddenly decided that the girls in the family (Kay and I) are to be called "Bambi" while the boys (him and daddy) are "Bamboo". Don't ask me where he came up with that! Do your children have special nicknames too?

Fisher-Price's Newborn to Toddler Rocker

2011-06-28T22:10:00.011+08:00

When Kay was born, there was one baby equipment that I had wanted to get for her (actually, and for me too). And that's the Fisher-Price's Newborn to Toddler Rocker. Well, there were others too but this was the one that I always went to check it out at the baby department when we go shopping.

I like the fact that it is so versatile and can be converted from a rocker to a chair as baby grows. Also, that it can be used for both sleep time and when she's awake. Yes, I do like my investment to give good returns. *accountant's grin*

As I read more about this rocker, I begin to find a few more interesting facts about it. It has 3 sleep features ie low profile frame, calming vibrations (it is very gentle actually) and rocking motions. Don't worry, babies can be placed in this rocker while they sleep as there is strap and buckle to keep them from falling. Having said that, do note that it is still important to keep an eye on them while they sleep, which is not too difficult as you can always bring the rocker with you.

When they are awake, there is the toy bar to stimulate visual, auditory and eye-hand coordination. And when it's meal time, you can also place baby in it and feed him/her and at the same time, bond with baby. In case you were wondering, the seat angle can be adjusted to suit the activities eg to lower when baby sleeps and to prop it up when baby is awake. With so many features, it is not surprising why I was aiming at this rocker for so long ya :-D

Well, I guess power of attraction worked here. Last weekend, we gotten hold of one unit and boy, were my kids happy. They excitedly helped me fixed it up.

Here's Zen testing the almost fixed rocker. The picture is slightly blurred because he is rocking it and refused to stop for pictures. Oh and I think he had the vibration on at the same time too! He sure was having lots of fun with it. He's proof that this rocker is meant for newborn to toddler to preschooler!

Zen being the good koh-koh, helping to fix the toy bar while Kay was taking her turn at sitting on it. And yes, Zen managed to fix the toy bar. Good job, Zen!

Oh, the seat cover is machine washable, which is real good news for me for my toddler is at the stage where she is learning to be (read: insisting) independent when it comes to meals. In fact, she did spill her lunch which was pasta (the corn in the picture was pre-lunch snack) and erm... also wet it too, all within a period of 5 minutes. Am in the middle of potty training her (and not so successful from the look of it... hehehe) . Luckily the seat is easy to clean.

"Betrayed" By My Son

2011-06-15T10:58:00.004+08:00

Seemed like I have not been updating for some time ya? Well, we had been sick... for the past one week and half! Only hubby was spared. Zen got the flu first and was sniffing for a few days. I knew that we would be getting it too coz he was sneezing all over me and Kay.. I did taught him to share but not in this way!! So we caught it too and poor Kay was having difficulty sleeping at night and was clingy all the time. Can't even go bathroom without her clinging onto me.

We are much better now, phew... But Zen seemed to be sniffing again this morning... arghhh not another round!! Told him not to eat any cold fruits but his grandfather go sneak him some behind my back!! When I turn around, I saw his grandfather hiding his hands (with the cut fruits) under the table. Zen was looking at me mischievously. And this was right after I told them that Zen can't have any. Felt betrayed :-(

Zen Has Conquered Our Computer

2011-06-04T13:32:00.007+08:00

Our son is truly a Generation Z aka Internet Generation. He has taken control of our computer. And he does not even know how to read many words yet!

An example. I let him play the kids virtual world game Jumpstart and MathBlaster. I had it saved on the toolbar so that he can just click on it to login. Yes, he can login by himself! I have saved the login name and all he has to do is type the password, which is alphanumerical. This for someone who still could not recognise the word "say" in his story books. I guess it all boils down to motivation right? And he visits Starfall, Disney Playhouse, Learning Chocolate, Driving Kids, PBS too. Still trying to look for some good chinese sites or online games for him to learn chinese since I am not able to teach him much. Me banana!

There is also this online game that I love to play. Oh, make that USED TO play. I no longer have the time nor computer to surf the internet much these days. It's called Bloxorx and it's a kind of logical game where we need to move a block around so that it falls into the hole. Simple but challenging :D Anyway, Zen watched me play awhile ago and insisted that he had a go. And there was no turning back. Now, he wants to control the block himself and me to sit beside him and guide him.

Oh you know who is his best fan? Kay! She would stand next to him watching him play his games. So sweet... Would be fun to see what Kay will be like since she was born in Jan 2010, which is supposedly the next generation, I think it's called Generation Alpha.

Penang Property

2011-05-26T00:09:00.008+08:00

One of hubby and my favorite pastimes is to visit property launches. Not that we are thinking of buying any properties for the moment. Nope, we are staying put at our current house for many more years to come I believe, unless some irrefusable bargain comes our way ie our current house is able to fetch a good enough price to allow us to get a new property. Wishful thinking... Properties in Malaysia, especially in the Klang Valley seemed to be at a all-time high lately. Those who had invested in properties a few years ago would be laughing all the way to the bank now if they sell now.

Anyway, for the time being, we enjoy very much looking at all those new houses and condos and to check out how they are furnished. Some of these properties are elegantly done up while others leaves much to be desired. Think this hobby of ours is weird? Or do you do this too?

Currently all the launches we visited are located in Klang Valley. We would like to travel to other states to view their property launches and perhaps to check out some of their properties there too. Our next destination would most likely be a Penang property. Have read some descriptions and reviews of the properties there and many sounds like a good investment. Would love to take a short trip up north and drop by some of those sea-front apartments. Both of us have quite a few friends living there so it would be nice to drop by for a visit too. It has been ages since I last been to Penang.

Talking about apartments with sea-view, hubby and I had stayed at some of the hotels at Gurney Drive before the kids came along and I absolutely love the idea of waking up to the view of the sea. I could certainly get use to living with such views. :-D

My Loud Sweetie Pie

2011-05-25T07:15:00.000+08:00

Kay is a loud girl! This toddler can really scream. She's got it from hubby's side of the family :-P Hubby said so himself. My side are the quieter genes.. maybe that's why they didn't "win".

But all toddlers do scream a lot, you said? Well, you see, Kay has a very innocent look when she's quiet. And then when you least expect it, she would let out an ear-piercing scream for no apparent reason and then continue playing happily. There was once when we were in the car, happily listening to the radio when she suddenly screamed. Gave us a scare and hubby almost lost control of the car!

And she had done this in lifts (imagine how we felt when others looked at us wondering if we were ill treating her!), in the bank, a bookshop and restaurants. So if you do hear a screaming kid in the next table at a restaurant, chances it could be us :-D

Hats On

2011-05-24T23:21:00.003+08:00

My son is going into the vain stage. Why do I say this? Well, nowadays, he has become very particular about the clothes that he wants to wear. Nothing's wrong with that, right. All kids do that. Yes, I agree but out of his many shirts, he only wants to wear 3 of them. Only 3!! I have to make sure I wash them so that he gets to wear at least one of them the next day... or else all he's gonna throw a tantrum.

It's not like the other shirts are not nice. They are still good and comfortable to wear but he absolutely refused to wear them. Only after much coaxing, bribing and threatening will he wear them and that too, reluctantly. I think it's the picture on the shirts that makes him insists on wearing those 3 shirts. He's into sports these days, thanks to Chanel 613 on Astro and his cousins. He loves basketball, baseball, badminton, cycling to name some. Not that he knows how to play but he will tell me that he "loves to play basketball!" :D

Oh, and don't get started on caps and MLB hats. He loves them too. He used to hate wearing hats when he was younger but these days, he wants to wear them. Sometimes, he would wear them the "right" way and on certain days when he is in the mood, he would turn the caps around so that the back of the cap is now at the front. Ahhh, signs of my son growing up fast huh?

And try to guess what he wants for his birthday this coming July?! One of those giants mlb fitted hats. Being the "resourceful" mummy that I am, I have been using that as a negotiation tool. Yup, the ultimate "if you behave yourself / be a good brother, then I will consider getting it for you" line. I know I'm mean but hey, it definitely got him to behave!

One Trip 15 Years Ago

2011-05-11T23:36:00.002+08:00

I was surfing the internet and found this website on auto glass replacement. The first thought that came to mind was what happened almost 15 years ago. Yup, that long but it is still fresh in my mind because of the unbelievable coincidence of the whole incident.

I was on a trip with some friends to Tasik Chini, Pahang. There were 6 of us, 3 guys and 3 girls and it our first trip to the lake. We went in 2 cars. Actually there was a motive behind the trip. One of the guy was interested in my girlfriend and wanting to get to know her better, had invited her to this trip. He planned to bring along his male friend and asked her to invite another girlfriend of hers. And that will make 4 people, a comfortable fit in 1 car. But my girlfriend went and invited another 2 girls (including yours truly) and another GUY! hahaha... So that was how the 6 of us went for this trip. It was awkward alright because the 3rd guy (that my girlfriend invited along) was also interested in her! :D

It was a day to remember for the 1st guy (the inviter) because his car's windscreen was cracked just as we almost reached Tasik Chini. Some rocks from a passing lorry hit it and made a small hole on the windscreen and as he drove, the crack grew bigger. As there were not auto glass services available at Tasik Chini, he has to drive about 100km to Kuantan... and that's just one way trip! He got it fixed and came back exhausted. We, on the other hand, had a great time at the lake, though we did feel sorry for the guy.

On Sunday, we packed and were bringing our luggage to the car when we heard the same guy let out a loud cry. It seems that some tree branches had fallen on his car that morning and... guess what... yes, the less-than-2 days' old windscreen was broken again! This is a true story. If I had not been there myself, I would find it difficult to believe. He was speechless. As it was the weekend and most workshops would be closed, he decided to drive back to KL with the broken windscreen and then only search for an auto glass repair workshop. His friend accompanied him. The rest of us went into the other car. On hindsight, good thing we went in 2 cars! And as if things were not bad enough, it rained cats and dogs on our return journey and he and his friend was soaked... Talk about bad luck coming in 3s!

I guess he was not fated to be with my girlfriend. Both of them are now married to different people :D

Too Much Scolding

2011-05-04T07:31:00.003+08:00

Lately I realised that I had been scolding Zen a lot... everyday... His daddy used to be the one who would scold him and I was the more patient one. But not these days unfortunately, as he seemed to take delight in testing my patience to the limit! He would push his sister, snatch her toys and purposely do the things that I tell him not to... sigh... He makes me yell more than I want and I do not like to yell at all. My hopes that this terrible three will turned into fabulous four is quickly diminishing

After scolding him this morning for pushing his sister, he put on his hurt face (he always do this after a scolding) and ran out of the kitchen. Immediately I felt bad so I switch off the gas stove and went out to look for him. He was sitting on the bean bag sulking!!

I sat down besides him and try to make up. Asked him if I scolded him a lot and he said yes. What about his daddy... did his daddy scold him a lot? No. *shake head* His grandmother and grandfather? No. *shake head* His uncles and unties? No. *shake head some more* Ooookayyyy... maybe I should try to be more patient (goodness knows where I can find some more in me!) with him and just close one eye sometimes or maybe both eyes?

But but but mummy, I'm an active boy...
wouldn't you be more worried if I were too quiet?

Charming Charms

2011-05-03T21:31:00.007+08:00

I loved wearing necklaces when I was working last time. It gives my dresses and myself some character. Or I would like to believe so. Not those flashy types of necklaces with huge lopes and long dangling pendants (it was popular once a upon a time but I don't see much of them these days).

I like those that you can change the pendants every now and then. And you should see my collection! I had those multi-coloured strings-like necklaces, the usual silver necklaces and also those cable necklaces, which were my favorites. Nope, not gold necklaces for me because I am those who can't wear gold as it will turn dark after wearing it for some time. As for charms, well, I have so many of them! hahaha.. Didn't have many commitments back then so I can splurge a little more on myself. Talking about splurging, I also had a small collection of watch faces. Only a few that I interchange depending on my mood that day. I picked this interest up from my late mum. You should see her collection! She has quite a number of really interesting ones and it matches her clothes well.

I used to frequent this shop in Ampang Point which sells lots of these things. What I like about them is that they have new and different designs almost every week. Yeah, guess where the bulk of my measly salary went! Not sure if they are still there though for I have not been back there for ages now. Come to think of it, I can't recall where I had put them. I had moved a round quite a bit since then and may have misplaced them during all the moving. Or did I accidentally donated them with my other items. *horrors* But no worries because with the power of internet, I'm now able to find more from wholesale watch faces stores.

Fisher-Price's Play And Learn

2011-04-28T01:00:00.004+08:00

This is a backdated post! The weekend before last, we were invited by Advertlets to Empire Hotel in Subang Jaya for Fisher-Price's "The Power of Play". It was a mini workshop conducted by their guest speaker Ms Carrie Lupoli, who is the Founder of Live & Learn (Singapore) prior to the actual workshop in the afternoon.

Unfortunately, we could only make it for morning talk and not the afternoon workshop since it would clash with Kay's nap time. And you know how grouchy a toddler can be without her sleep! Though I'm certain Zen would have loved it!! How do I know? Here's the proof...

Zen and Kay having a great time
playing the toys with Ms Lupoli before the mini workshop...
as we arrived 15 minutes before the start of the programme...

As for me, I did learn a lot about "learning through play"... though I had always wanted to put this into practice, sometimes, with 2 screaming kids each demanding my full attention, it was a bit hard not to fall into our parents' learn-or-else method... But I'm glad to say that I had been more patient with Zen (though my blood pressure is rising) and let him learn at his pace and making it as fun as possible... wish me luck, lots of it...

Here's Ms Wong Lai Kwan, brand manager of Mattel Southeast Asia (left) and Ms Lupoli (right) introducing the age appropriate toys. Actually, it doesn't mean that kids from other ages can't play with a particular toy meant for a certain age... I mean Zen still play with (read: fight over) Kay for their toys... I believe the most important thing here is the process of playing and of course, having great fun!...

and last but not least... the goody bag!! Yippee!!!

Nip And Tuck

2011-04-27T23:17:00.010+08:00

Was reading about this guy who had spent RM80, 000 on a weight loss programme but instead of losing fats, he lost his money, his job and almost his life! According to the news report, he was persuaded by his friend to go for this "needleless injection" treatment. Hmm, I am curious about how they go about "injecting" whatever that is that they inject into the guy's body, without a needle... Anyways, he started developing blisters and inflammation at those places he was injected. Obviously, the doctor (though I doubt if he was a doctor, let alone a certified surgeon) who treated this man was no Lloyd Krieger.

The guy's condition deteriorated until he had to get himself admitted to hospital for surgery. Poor thing! He had to spend 6 months to have his wounds clean and eventually heal. Pity the guy. If only he went for the Rodeo Drive Plastic Surgery instead. Then he wouldn't have this much problems.

I do wonder if if this type of treatment does really work and it just so happen that this guy didn't react positively to it or if the whole thing was a scam... If it was the latter, then those guys behind this scam should be held responsible and not allowed to continue to hurt more people.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not against beauty treatments. In fact, if it does help improve a person's self esteem, then do go for it. If one so desire to go for a Beverly Hills breast augmentation, by all means go ahead. Just do some research about the programme and surgeon first and make sure they are reliable. I do have friends who had seek beauty treatments like going for some nips here and some tucks there and are happy with the results.

From Innocent Princess to Drama Queen

2011-04-22T07:04:00.000+08:00

My soon-to-be 16 months old has transformed from the adorable and innocent baby that she was to become an aspiring drama queen! Her favorite part would definitely be to play the "damsel in distress". *rolled eyes but LOL at the same time*

When she wants attention, this toddler will "accidentally" fall down and "cries". And the way she falls is oh so sweet... She'll first drop to her knees (gently...) and then go on fours and then stretch out and lie on the floor as if she had tripped and fell. She'll give a quick glance to see if I was looking and only after that will she "cries" to attract my attention.

The other day I saw her do her stunt from the corner of my eyes. I was in the kitchen and she was at the dining area. I pretended not to see her and when she cried out, I just entertained her with "yeah? you ok?" I was marinating the chicken then :-) Then this girl stood up, came up behind me and then "fell" down onto the kitchen floor and cried again!! hahahahaha! Yes, it worked and I did carry her :-) Her motto is "If the mountain don't come to me, then I'll go to the mountain!"

who? me?!?

Honda Cars For Sale

2011-04-21T00:29:00.012+08:00

There was once when I almost bought a Honda. A Honda CRV to be exact. To tell the truth, I was never the type who really cares much about the type of car I own. You will not see me washing my car every week nor polishing it every few months. How could I stand a dirty car? Erm, I park my car outside when it rains. Just kidding! When it gets quite dusty especially during the dry season, then I'll either wash it myself or get hubby to do it or send it for those popular RM3 speedy car wash.

For me, as long as my car takes me from A to B safely and doesn't need much maintenance, I'm happy. Yes, I'm that easily satisfied ;-) And I don't freak out when someone scratched my car when it was just a couple of weeks old. So you see, I'm not one who will go gaga over a certain car model or brand.

But this changed when I hitched a ride on my ex-colleague's CRV. I think we were going for lunch or was it for a meeting outside. Can't really recall now. But I was sold on her car! I remembered I thoroughly enjoyed the ride, especially when I was "higher" than the other drivers on the road! It's amazing what you can see when you peep into others' cars! hahaha! Now, don't you guys start thinking elsewhere... most of the incidents that I saw were people using their mobile phones. Yes making calls and sms-ing while driving is indeed a required skill among Malaysian drivers. Wonder when JPJ is going to include this as part of the driving test...

Anyways, since then I was keeping a lookout for second-hands CRVs at the cars for sale website CarSifu. An interesting website this is. They have quite a comprehensive list of cars for sale, both new and used. From luxurious cars like BMW to more affordable ones like Perodua. It's a simple website and there's nothing too fancy about it. Guess that helps make it easier to maneuver around. So I do pop over once in awhile. You know, to see if I could find a hard to resist bargain. Though I had put this wish on hold ever since I had resigned. Perhaps when I go back to work later and have a steady paycheck coming in, then I can re-think about owning one?

Daddy's Girl

2011-04-13T16:39:00.000+08:00

Kay is so so so Daddy's girl! She would go "papa papa papa papa papa" everytime she sees her daddy... and also when she doesn't see him! She calls "papa" when we go shopping, when she wakes up, when I change her, when I bathes her. Her other "words" are berd (for bird), nen nen (this one's obvious!), mah mah (grnadmother), yeh yeh (grandfather), pak pak (uncle) and of course mum mum (for food). Is she calling mummy? Well, a little and she calls me "meh meh" :) And should I add that "meh meh" also meant meimei (younger sister) which is what we sometimes call her. The first time she identified herself as "meh meh" was when she pointed to her picture on our computer wallpaper and said "mehmeh mehmeh"! So sweet!! Now that she's older, she knows how to play sweet and coy to get something especially to her daddy! And we are talking about a 1 year 3 months old toddler who has yet to be potty trained! She sure know how to melt her daddy's heart by hugging him and tilting her heads sideways while smiling sweetly! AND she knows how to throw tantrum to get her way too... She would sit and scream and kick her legs till kohkoh gives her his toy, which he seldoms does! Ahhhh, signs of sibling loves (read: fights) to come.

Been busy...

2011-04-10T01:19:00.002+08:00

Been quite busy lately and had not updated this blog for awhile... Many things to think about and worry about too.. sigh..

Wished I had lots of money!! That would solve quite a few challenges :D Nope... didn't borrow money from loan sharks in case you were wondering so don't worry...

But health wise, we are doing good *touch wood* so that's something to smile at... Have a good week ahead everyone!

Looking For 2nd Hand Safety Gate

2011-04-01T22:21:00.001+08:00

Anyone wants to let go of their safety gate? My friend is looking for a 2nd hand safety gate. Her baby is 8 months old and is actively crawling so she is thinking of getting a safety gate... yes, just 1 gate to be fixed at the bedroom door entrance (instead of the stairs).

I have tried some baby specialty shops and I find them pretty pricey with Baby Jaya having the cheapest at RM139.90

Since she's going to move in a few months' time and doesn't plan to bring along the safety gate, she didn't want to get a brand new one. Just a cheaper one or even a 2nd hand one. Does anyone have one or know of anyone who wants to sell? Thanks :-)

I'm Not Your Papa!

2011-03-28T23:53:00.002+08:00

My kids had this "conversation" just now:

Kay: baba.. bababa.. baba (babbling as she walks over to her koh koh)
Zen: I'm not your papa... he's (pointing to hubby) your Papa!

I couldn't stop laughing at that! Zen and Kay were looking at me as if I was weird!!

Wishing Japan Would Recover Soon

2011-03-21T14:50:00.000+08:00

It was quite disheartening to hear about the earthquake and ensuing tsunami in Japan. Really heartbreaking to see all that were lost in the disaster. And now, with the nuclear power plant crisis... what could go wrong next. We deeply share the sorrows of the Japanese people during this trying times.

And yet, at the same time, it's lifts my spirits up when I read about the Japanese people taking in the recent happenings pretty well. There were queues waiting to buy limited food supplies and no one jump queue or try to cheat .

I managed to speak to a good friend who lives 150km away from the nuclear crisis and he was pretty optimistic about the future, albeit worried. Just so you know, his wife is due to give birth to their first child in a week's time and that his company's building was badly damaged during the earthquake, hence work would be disrupted for some time. Don't know whether his pay would be affected... can't ask so much right?!? :-)

May the people of Japan stay strong and steadfast in this troubled times. We will continue to pray for all who's affected by this tragedy. Gambare !!!

A 3+ Year Old's Eating Habits

2011-03-14T11:05:00.000+08:00

Lately, Zen's been extremely fussy with his meals. He wasn't like this last time. Was more adventurous and willing to try various of food, including vegetables. But not these days.

These days, he's into:
1) white rice or one pot chicken rice (similar to claypot rice)
2) noodles - yee mee and udon
3) eggs - hard boiled and omelette
4) meat - chicken and pork but has to be tender and with sauce
5) fish - fried yes, steam so-so

He used to absolutely loved hokkien mee but would not touch it now. Rather go hungry than eat it! I was trying to look for one picture that we took of him with his mouth smeared with the dark hokkien mee sauce to show you all but dunno where I saved it leh! I think it's because he doesn't like the kan sui taste. He doesn't like the yellow mee either.

Yes, he still doesn't take his veges. I read that a lot of mummies recommended that we give kids veges since young so that they will not reject them later. Well, I did that. Gave Zen veges almost everyday and he happily ate it all up. Then, one day he decided that he does not like anything that is green, including peas! :-S

Oh I almost forgot, he also loves his sister's food!!! Even if it was plain fish / meat porridge. Someone else's food always taste better I guess...

Lighting Up

2011-03-13T23:36:00.006+08:00

When we first moved into our house, we didn't do major renovations to it, opting to keep it simple and we didn't want to get into too deep a debt. It wasn't a new house when we moved in so we gave it a good scrub (actually hubby did most of the scrubbing! thanks hubby!) and some repair work and re-painted the whole house, in and out.

But there's a little bit of regret that we did not get some contemporary lighting fixtures. Since we got it second-hand, there were lighting fixtures in the house already. So we thought we'll just get a couple of nice wall sconce lighting in the living room and that was it. I do wished we had gave it more thought and gotten a few more nice ones. I mean the ones in our bedrooms and dining room and kitchen are those white florescent lights. Nothing really wrong with them but would be nice to have some yellow lights to make the atmosphere more cosy. Hubby said there are yellow florescent lights that we could get... hmmm, perhaps we could check that out when our finances improve...

I guess while we are at that, I could also check out some vanity lighting for the bathrooms!

Blogging Slower

2011-03-08T08:10:00.000+08:00

Am posting less these days... Not that I have less things happening. Contrary, lots had been happening, some good and some challenging. Unfortunately, the challenging ones outnumbered the good ones... worrying more these days... Not a good sign...

Zen is getting more difficult. It seems like his main mission in life currently is to defy all my instructions. Oh and his "why?" is driving me up the wall. When he started asking "why this" and "why that" around 3 years old, I thought it was fun and I encouraged him by answering all his questions. These days, he's like a broken record.

I get "why are we going home?", "why take shower?", "why cannot watch TV?", " why cannot hit meimei?" over and over again despite me telling him the same thing every time. Occasionally, for the fun of it, we also gave him some irrelevant answer eg when he ask "where are we going?" for the tenth time in a row, we would tell him that "we are boldly going where no one has gone before!". :-D

A Kid With Many Expressions

2011-02-28T06:23:00.000+08:00

We took the kids to the park the other day and now that Kay is much more mobile, she's loving it!

Opps! Mummy! These green things at my feet are making it difficult for me to run! (If you are thinking why is there a ribbon on her left shoe and none on her right shoe, well... she tore it off!!)

Hmmmpphh! Am gonna try again... This green carpet will not stop me from having fun! Look at the way kohkoh is running around...

STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!

Hehe... I came, I saw, I conquer... Daddy, can we please come again tomorrow?

One Maid Scolding Another?

2011-02-20T00:03:00.000+08:00

We were at this shop which sells pan mee (the tear-by-hand type) for breakfast the other day. It was a very popular shop as the tables are always full no matter what time you go. And you have to wait 15-30 minutes for a bowl of pan mee, depending on what time you are there. I kid you not! So we hardly ever go, especially when hubby is not a pan mee fan and I find their pan mee taste just like any other pan mee out there.

Anyway, we were lucky as we managed to get a table (the last available one) when we reached the shop. Waited for 20 minutes for our food to come. So I was people watching (while trying to entertain Zen and carrying a sleeping Kay). This shop sells only 1 item ie pan mee and business was so good that they have 5 female Indonesian workers helping with the preparation of the noodles and this is excluding the cook who is a local.

As I watched, I noticed that there was 1 of the worker who was more experienced as she was in charged of the final touch ups ie putting the ikan bilis and fried bawang. And she oversees the other workers too. And was she bossy!! One of the worker did something wrong (not sure what though) and she screamed at her calling her names and saying she was tak guna (good for nothing). :-O

Quite a few customers look up at the commotion and this bossy worker was enjoying the attention for she shouted more and once even raised her hand as if she was about to hit the other girl! Gosh, I felt so bad for the other girl. Hope this was just a one off thingy for her...

Sale At JJ 1-Utama

2011-02-14T15:54:00.000+08:00

Went for Jusco sale at 1-Utama over the weekend. They were having this pre-renovation clearance sale and we thought we just pop over for a look. And boy was it an adventure!

It was almost like a typhoon... no make that tsunami... just swept by! Especially at the children toy department. Many parents were seen carrying a few toys and still looking around for other bargains. We didn't get much, just a play-doh for Zen and nothing for his lil sister! Were just too many people and wasn't easy to manage 2 active kids in the toys department!! Am not a crowd person, no matter how much discount they gave... (except perhaps for books and food!)

Oh the discount were pretty good, with a lot of items going for 50% and some at 70%. I guess it's worth it if you can brave the human traffic. Saw many people at the shoes and clothing area so I guess there were good buys there too. But we didn't go over coz were hungry by then...

Am excited to see the renovated Jusco though :P Wonder when they are re-opening...

Not Your Typical Taxi

2011-02-14T11:08:00.004+08:00

I remember my first taxi ride. I was probably 4 or 5 years old when one day, my mum told me (yes only me with no other siblings...hehehe) that we are going shopping but not in our family car as my dad needed to use the car. We walked to the main street and she hailed a taxi and it took us from our small town to the city. Can't recall the fare but I remember it was a real fun ride for me. And the taxi driver was a very nice old gentleman. It was something like the Sanford Airport Transportation, not exactly but similar.

Then when I first came out to work, I had to travel often to client's office. As I didn't have a car then, I relied heavily on taxis. And I realised that taxis were then mostly run by companies who rent them out to drivers. And most of them drove like they are training for F1!

So I guess I was pleasantly surprised that there is the Orlando Airport Transportation who actually is an association of independent drivers who each owns and drives their own taxis. This is the best part because when they work for themselves, they will strive harder to make a good impression in order to gain customers' trust and loyalty.

You can call them ahead to make a booking so there's no need for you to wait at the road side trying to flag down one, especially under the hot sun. And they work on a flat rate depending on your destination. Which is good in the sense that you can budget your trip without worrying about peak traffic or having to keep your eyes on the meter all the time! The Orlando MCO Airport Transportation cover quite a few destinations including the ever popular Disney Parks too.

Our Balik Kampung

2011-02-08T09:29:00.000+08:00

Kay was feeling better on CNY's eve which was a relief. Had a lovely steamboat dinner at MIL's house. MIL was still in UK, coming back end of Feb. So we skype her just before dinner (the laptop was placed in the kitchen!) and wished her and my SIL a happy chinese new year. Some of her grandchildren were feeling cheeky and brought the dishes up to the laptop to show MIL the food! hahahaha!

On CNY first day, we went to MIL's house to pai nien. Zen was oh-so-happy with all the ang pows he collected! He resisted the temptation to open them immediately. Proud of him coz it was pretty difficult if you know him! Then in the afternoon we balik to my kampung. And boy was it JAM! It's like the whole of Klang Valley was on the road that day! Literally stop and go... Zen was so restless. Good thing he didn't ask to stop coz the queue to all the R&R was soooo long and those R&Rs were unbelievably packed. Took us double the usual traveling time.

"Come over here kohkoh... Mummy finally got us a new toy that seem more durable that our last one.. and it makes a teet-teet sound when pressed..."

"huh? oh ok... coming...."

*remained in this position without moving an inch*
"kohkoh.. what are you looking at... ooohhhh..."
*both remained in this position.... glued to the TV!!*

Like Kay's dress? Got it from this mummy way back in Dec. Was so tempted to let her wear it before CNY but glad I waited! :-)

Chinese New Year's around the corner

2011-02-01T10:56:00.000+08:00

Now that Zen is older, he understand what all the major cleaning and decorating are all about this time and even chip in to help (after he mess it up in the first place) :P He's been looking forward to CNY this year especially the "kong xi kong xi" part! Kept asking me when CNY is coming over and over and over like a broken record. So I showed him a small calendar where he gets to strike off each day so he can "see" CNY coming. Oh, and we kept the goodies high away from him, in case it gets eaten well before CNY! hehehe

As for Kay, she had the MMR jab last week and was feverish since last night. Didn't know that the jab will give delayed reaction as in fever will only come between 7-14 days later... Hope she'll be ok by CNY or else we may not be able to go back to my home town...

Here's wishing you and your family a very Happy Chinese New Year...

Zen with his "I made this mess and proud of it" smile...

The Day My Heart Almost Stopped

2011-01-27T00:55:00.001+08:00

Accidents can happen anywhere and anytime and when you least expect it...

Last weekend, we were having dinner at Old Asia at 1-Utama. Chose it because it wasn't as crowded as others, meaning we don't have to wait too long and chances of our kids disturbing other patrons are slightly lower :P

We placed Kay in one of those white color plastic high chair but unfortunately, this one doesn't come with safety harness. Actually, neither did all the other high chairs. So I had to hold onto her whenever I see her wanting to climb out and then seat her back, which was almost all the time! Did I mention she's an active kid?

By the time hubby finished his dinner, I was only half-way through mine as I was feeding both Kay and myself. So hubby offered to feed Kay while I finish mine. My dinner was on my left while Kay was on my right. Needed to move all breakable things from her reach! I was into my 2nd scope when I heard a loud THUD! Turned around and saw Kay on the floor... face down... My heart stopped a beat. Apparently she had climbed out of her chair and fell onto the floor in the 5 seconds that hubby turned away to take her food! I immediately picked her up and scanned her for injuries. Then she started to wail ever so loudly... Carried her out of the restaurant so I can calm her. She didn't cry for long but I could see her right eyebrow and corner of her right eye was red. The poor girl... She was still in shock and cling onto me tightly, sobbing...

After that we decided to leave. We were still in shock too as we forgot to take our stroller. The waitress had to run after us with it! We were so worried that Kay might have internal injuries...

Well, so far there's no sign of internal injuries, cross fingers. Kay is back to being her active self and attempting to climb everything that can (and cannot) be climbed.

That was really a heart stopping incident! Parents out there, do be very careful when you place your child in a high chair that do not have any harness, especially when you have a child as active as mine! Had tried to occupy her with toys and books during dinners but she's more likely to experiment with gravity by throwing them onto the floor than to play with them.

Delay Kindy?

2011-01-22T01:10:00.002+08:00

After Zen's kindy adventure here, I have second thoughts about sending him to kindy in January which was my initial plan. Yup, am going to delay it for a couple of months, maybe till he's about 4 years old. Am probably the only mum out there who thinks this way.

Everywhere I go, be it the clinic or the shopping malls, there are people talking about sending their kids to kindy at 3 years... Not that I have any problems with that. It would be easier to teach them at a younger age since they can absorb better.

A lot of people was telling me that kids need to "cry it out" at kindy then in a few weeks time, they'll be ok. I guess I'm the one that has to learn to be tough and to let go ya? :P

Everything's Well For My Cousin

2011-01-16T23:38:00.000+08:00

Remember my post on my cousin who was hospitalised? The one who said everything in him was not functioning properly. Well, I called him this weekend wanting to pay him a visit. And guess what? He told me "everything is fine now"! And that he was properly going to be discharged on Monday (Jan 17)! He just need to keep his diabetes under control.

I was so happy for him and at the same time, was also speechless! This was the same guy who, a week ago, told me that it would be very difficult to cure him as most of his organs were not functioning properly. Even his sister who had migrated, dropped everything and immediately booked a flight to came back to visit him. And my brother who had visited him was telling me that our cousin had 6-7 specialists looking at him! No kidding!

But am so so glad that he is much better. He didn't want me to go visit, saying it was troublesome for me especially with 2 young kids. Actually I still wanted to drop by but he insisted that I shouldn't go saying that he was better and that he needed rest too... So I guess I'll pop over his house during CNY... Thanks for all who prayed :-)

My Love Is Worth RM1

2011-01-15T23:18:00.001+08:00

I had been trying to teach Zen about monetary values and prices of things by showing him catalogues / flyers that get dropped into our mail box. I would point to an item and ask him "how much is this" while pointing to the price stated besides it. Then I would get him to repeat the price after me.

Didn't know the impact of this until the other day when we were asking him:

Us: Do you love mummy and daddy?
Zen: YES!!
Us: *smile* So how much do you love mummy?
Zen: Erm.... One ringgit...
Hubby: *laugh uncontrollably*
Me: Only one ringgit? How about daddy? How much do you love daddy?
Zen: One ringgit *smiled and flashed the number 1 sign*
Us: *ROTFL*

We love you too son.... love you much much more than one ringgit!

It's All About Leads

2011-01-14T23:16:00.000+08:00

I had been thinking a lot about finances lately. Can't help it. Am facing some financial turbulence and it's kinda giving me white hairs and I already have a lot of them!! Sigh...

I see some of my friends opting out of the J-O-B and venturing on their own, from freelancing to providing services eg insurance to starting a company. Well, being your own boss sure beats working for someone else. Though the hours may be more but the satisfaction is there when your see the return. Which is why I guess it's so important to have proper business sales leads and for those offering services online, to have good online sales leads.

But good news is that there are leads for sale. Yes, we can actually buy sales leads. Imagine that! One can log into your account and source for Business Loan Leads or Business Financing Leads. I know some people who would love to get their hands on these lists!!

And for those who provided leads like Equipment Leasing Leads to the lead marketplace, they do get compensated too.

Some Recent Pics

2011-01-12T00:22:00.000+08:00

Only when HealthFreak Mommy highlighted it in this post, did I realised that I had not been putting pictures of my kids for some time... aiiiisskkkk... so here are some recent ones taken when we were at the airport to send MIL off.

Kay in her teddy bear cardigan... She's got 4 teeth with 2 more coming soon and boy, can she bite!!

Getting both my kids to stand still and look at camera at the same time is a major feat, almost impossible!
Here, you see Kay was more interested in the cardboard picture while Zen was trying hard to maintain a smiling face for the camera...
And here, while we managed to finally get Kay to look at the camera, Zen decided that his 5-seconds of standing still is up...

Everything Not Working

2011-01-10T00:19:00.000+08:00

I received a call from my auntie yesterday that one of my cousin was hospitalised. Seemed that he was in serious condition and that "everything was not working!". Tried calling cousin's dad (cousin's mum had passed away many years ago) but could not get him so decided to call my cousin directly.

Cousin did pick up the phone but he sounded so tired and couldn't talk much. Told me that his heart was not in good condition, his diabetes level was too high and uncontrollable, liver and kidneys were no longer working! Good thing didn't talk long coz I would have cried on the phone!

Now, I wasn't really close to this cousin when I was younger as he was 10-15 years older than I was and we hardly see each other back then. But when my dad was diagnosed with cancer in 2008, he had been extremely nice and helpful from visiting my dad in hospital to funeral arrangements. Was grateful to him. So you could understand my sadness to hear the news.

Had wanted to go visit him today but had to postpone it as hubby was down with food poisoning (from a wedding dinner last night!!). My brother did visit and told me that it all started 2 months ago when he was involved in a head-on car accident, where the other car was driven by a drunkard.... sigh.... The impart was so strong that his head hit the windscreen (not sure about safety belt or airbags... brother didn't want to sound like an investigating officer) and lost 2 (or was it 3) teeth! Didn't really recover from that accident and things just went downhill. But the good news was that his diabetes level had came down just now and as such, the doctors may be able to proceed with treatments. Do help pray for him...

Mixed-up Letters

2011-01-09T22:52:00.003+08:00

Zen loves it when he hears the postman's motorbike. This kid of mine would then insist on going out to get the letters / bills. Opening them is his favourite pastime! Oh yes, he is our official letter opener :P

Lately however, our letters seemed to be getting mixed-up with our neighbors' letters quite often. Just the other day, our neighbor opposite our house came over and pass us some of our letters that postie had delivered to his house. And a couple of weeks ago, another neighbors' letters were in our letter box. Good thing Zen hasn't opened them yet!

In fact, not only did the postman had this mix-up but the electricity meter reader too! We had to exchange our bills with our neighbor on our right! Perhaps we should consider getting one of those nice and big home address plaques so there won't be mistakes anymore?!?

Happy 1st Birthday Kay

2011-01-04T23:15:00.003+08:00

Was Kay's birthday last Sunday and we had a small celebration at MIL's house. Sundays are usually family day where all MIL's children (except SIL who is in UK and whom just gave birth, which is why MIL is in UK now) and grandchildren came back for lunch. So we decided to get a cake to celebrate Kay's 1st birthday with everyone.

And guess who was most excited about birthdays.... Zen! He wanted to pose with the cake, blow the candle, sing Happy Birthday, cut the cake. He even wanted to put the candle into the cake when he saw me doing it. So in order to make him happy, I let him push the candle slightly deeper into the cake!

Hubby wanted to get Coffee Bean's log cake but we weren't sure if they still have it since it was after Christmas! hahaha... So we settled for the ever-popular chocolate cake. Zen had 2 big pieces!!

The birthday girl? She was happily soaking in all the sudden attention and presents (actually more like the wrapping papers and boxes) and even smile and laugh when we took photographs!

Happy 1st Birthday my sweet lil girl. May you always be cheerful. Love you very much.

HAPPY 2011

2011-01-01T09:00:00.001+08:00

HAPPY 2011 TO EVERYONE!

Not Around For 2 Months

2010-12-30T23:00:00.001+08:00

No, not me :D Actually it's my MIL. We just sent her to airport this morning. She's flying to UK. Her daughter, my SIL (who married a British and has migrated to UK) has just gave birth and MIL is flying over to help her out with confinement food and baby.

Am a bit worried about her. MIL doesn't know much English and this is the first time she's traveling alone to such a far and foreign country. We had requested for MAS' wheelchair service at the airport. First time using this service and I think it's good coz the staff will help MIL to go through Customs and Immigration. Am checking her flight status online now. Yeah, she's not reached yet. Hoping things would go alright.

Initially her son-in-law was supposed to come pick her up at the airport. And we were joking that it would be such an awkward situation because MIL doesn't quite understand English and he can't understand Chinese at all!!! But then my SIL's baby did not want to wait for her poh poh to arrive and decided to come out one day before poh poh arrive! SIL's EDD was mid Jan 2011... So SIL's hubby can't come pick MIL up as he will be at hospital with SIL. They live quite a few hours from London.

And so the new arrangement is for MIL's relative to pick her up (good thing MIL has a relative there as back-up). The only set-back is MIL needs to wait for this relative to finish work before taking the train to pick MIL up and then carry all her luggage by train to this relative's house.

Am thinking of waiting for the flight to land and call MIL to see if everything is alright... not sure if I can stay awake till 2am... yawn....

Care for The Old

2010-12-30T22:01:00.000+08:00

Sometimes my BIL has extra vegetables from his farm that he couldn't sell. It may be because the veges are "too old" or "too short or too long". Believe me, the supermarkets and wholesalers have very high standards. Very high indeed. The veges has to be a certain length / age / colour. Take kai lan for example, anything longer than dunno-how-many-inches (which results in the veges being required to be oh-so-slightly bended to fit into the plastic bag) and it'll be rejected. Even if the veges are in good condition, they won't accept it because "customers won't buy them". Me? I think it's a waste of good resources / food! So we would cook these "rejected" ones for ourselves. :-D

As for the balance "rejected" veges, my BIL would donate them to the old folks homes around our area. I think it's very nice of him to do that since he doesn't get anything from the homes, not even word of mouth advertisement. When I commended him on this, he just said that it's only a small part that he's doing. It's the people who are running the homes that are contributing more, making people feel that it's a place for mom.

What If Another Kid Snatch Your Kid's Toys

2010-12-23T18:19:00.001+08:00

When we were at the pediatrician's clinic last week (seemed to be a lot of "sick" / clinic posts recently ya?!?), Zen wanted to play with some ball game. Actually I didn't want him to coz I'm sure those balls were not washed and this is a clinic... where most kids who came here were sick... and I had enough of my kids being sick!

But he insisted and kept asking why he can't play... Hmmm, can't really tell him that "the toys are full of germs" in front of everyone else right? So I thought I'll let him play and then get him to wash his hands just before our turn to go in...

So he was happily playing with the balls and throwing them into holes when this mummy and daughter came into the clinic. The daughter was probably Zen's age but you can see that she was a bully! She ignored all the other toys and came over to Zen's side and before I could do anything, she snatched one of the two balls that he was holding!! I was like "huh?! what was that for?!"

Zen was really upset and almost crying and as I pacified him, glared at the girl and then at her mummy. Not sure if her mummy saw what her daughter did but when looked up, I saw the mother looking over the dispensary window and not at us...

So what did I do? Didn't want to cause a scene so brought Zen to wash his hands and told him that that girl was "not nice" so we "don't play with her"... Good thing it was our turn soon anyway.

A Need For Good Lockers

2010-12-23T17:20:00.003+08:00

I desperately need a good locker! My important documents are kept in a drawer. Yeah, can you believe it? Sigh... My MIL had been telling us to get a locker for all the documents and we had been postponing it. You never know what will happen right.

I remember reading somewhere that some chap lost some bank statements when his house was burglarized and the next thing he knew was that someone had been transferring money from his account out! Scary isn't it? At the same time, how did they do that? I mean you can't really convince the bank to transfer your money by using only bank statements right? Perhaps we should start to look for some lockers for sale soon. Or maybe get a shredder for all those bank documents that I don't need anymore!

Hmmm, or do you think I can ask Santa for some wood lockers for Christmas... I've been pretty good this year :D

My Girl's Lost Weight

2010-12-19T23:55:00.000+08:00

Kay was sick earlier in the week and so had lost her appetite.

When we were at the pediatrician's clinic, Kay's weight was 7.5kg. I was like "WHAT?!? That can't be!" The doctor probably was thinking whether I was challenging her :-P So the doctor weigh Kay again and yes, it was 7.5kg. She's almost 1 year old and still so skinny. Hmmm, perhaps the doctor's weighing machine was not working properly leh...

My girl was around 8.5kg before she got sick. Was doing my best to try increasing her weight. Feeding her more often these days. Thing is that she's not interested in eating after about 7-8 spoonfuls. Her brother is always distracting her with his tactics / noise and she would run off to "join" her brother.

And all it took was 2.5 days of being sick for her to lose 1 whole kg. Hmmm, how ironic that when you want to increase weight (like when you were young) you will find it easier to lose weight than to gain it. And that when you want to lose weight (like when you are older now) it's easier to GAIN weight instead? "Food" for thought.

On another note, she's very active and I guess she's burning most of the calories that she ate. Walked when she was 10 months and mummy's counting the days till she could run and become Zen's partner in crime.... not!

Safety First

2010-12-19T22:57:00.004+08:00

The other day when we were in the car going out for some Christmas shopping, there was a gang of bikers who overtook us. By the way, do we call them "a gang"? Anyway, it was those big bikes who always seemed to ride together as a group and they sure turn heads, especially when they have their full face motorcycle helmets and couldn't care less attitude!

Zen was intrigued with them and kept asking hubby to drive faster and go after them!! hahaha... I have a biker-wannabe son it seems. But I don't think I'll be buying him those Nolan helmets anytime soon.

However, there's the other thing that I might consider getting... for myself. *huge grin* Motorcycle boots. I'm not a shoes type of gal probably because I have size 8 feet and finding good shoes for that size is a daunting task. But I had always love boots. I remember many years ago that I parted with a huge chunk of my then salary for a lovely pair of boots! Still have them and still loving them. Yup, still have room for another pair of boots in our shoes cabinet...

Zen's First Week At Trial Kindergarten

2010-12-15T22:36:00.000+08:00

Zen had his first taste of kindergarten last week. How did it go? Sigh, wished I could say he loved it like what most mummies blogger did... :-( My prince cried... no, no, more like wail his lungs out! After all those mental preparation too... This was what happened...

Monday
Brought him there before 8:30am. I stayed with him from 8:30am to 9am and he was ok. Mostly ignored me as he was busy playing with the puzzles with other kids. Then when its time for me to leave (Kay was whining already), he cried and held onto me. Teacher had to pull him back and asked me to leave. Not sure if that was a good idea but it's heartbreaking to see him like that...

happily playing puzzles...

Tuesday = holiday

Wednesday
I sat with him at the kindy's porch trying to boost up his confidence. Asked him about his friends and the toys in the kindy. Then he pulled my hand to go into the kindy. At the door I told him he has to go inside alone and that's when he started stamping his feet and crying. The teacher held onto him and he screamed more and was kicking his legs! Double sigh... Later, when I reached the kindy to pick him up, I could hear him crying from outside... really breaks the heart. Saw him standing in the middle of other kids crying pitifully...

Thursday
Decided to let him skip school. I think I could sense the teachers' relief when I told them that :-) Took him to the library and he was my mischievous son once more.

Friday
Took him to kindy again coz they had a party with clown and magic show. He threw a fuss in the morning and refused to shower and change, insisting that he "dun wan to go gin-der-car-den". Finally managed to persuade him and reached the kindy at 9:10am. He started crying when he saw the teacher coming over and cling onto me. Teacher told me that I could stay for the party. So I took Zen home as I need to change Kay and prepared Kay's lunch... had to persuad Zen again and finally got back to kindy at 9:45am. Clown came at 10am. Did he enjoy the party? Hmmm, yes and no. He loved the balloons and the nuggets. Paid absolutely no attention to the magic show at all and went roaming all around the kindy!

happy coz he got a poodle balloon from the clown...

ignoring the magic show and was trying to stuff poor poodle balloon into the garden hose...

Sick Again!

2010-12-11T23:16:00.002+08:00

Zen went for trial kindergarten this week... and gotten the cold bug. He's been having runny nose since Thursday. Today his sister contacted the bug and was having runny nose in the morning. By afternoon she was having high fever the poor thing... Given paracetamol and fever subsided. Now it's back. Gave medicine again and is sleeping in my arms as I type...

Looks like mummy's gonna have a sleepless weekend :S

How was Zen at kindy? Will post it up soon ya...

Security Evolvement

2010-12-10T23:36:00.005+08:00

These days like it or not, you are bound to have bullet cameras pointing in your direction wherever you go, from the banks to the guarded housing that you want to enter to visit your mum to that tiny little neighborhood photo printing shop. At the risk of sounding like an old woman, back in the days when I was a kid, whoever heard of all these?! The only thing that I have pointing at me was our dad's trusty old camera... and err, the rotan too!

We usually had our doors unlock in the daytime and we could roam in and out of the house whenever we wanted to... and so did the stray cats (coming in too see if they could find free meals much to my mum's frustration) and my pet duckling (who went awandering out and was lost).

Yes, technology has since came a long way. In fact, the security hardware these days are so high tech that they are equipped with infrared capabilities too. So come rain or shine or night, they do work perfectly.

My Baby's Got Carotenemia

2010-12-01T23:08:00.003+08:00

When we were at the pediatrician's clinic the other day for Zen's diarrhea, the pediatrician wasn't too worried about him. Instead when she was done with Zen, she stood up and came over to me and Kay and said "It's her that I want to look at".

Then she proceeded to press and release Kay's palms and soles and told me that Kay looked "yellow". I was alarmed and started looking at Kay more intensely but couldn't tell if Kay was "yellow" or not. Kay was surprised why she had all these attention!

Pediatrician asked if I had been giving Kay lots of carrots, pumpkin and papaya. Well, yes and no. Given pumpkin porridge but stopped coz Kay didn't like it. Given carrots indirectly through ABC soup that I use as flavor for her porridge. Given papaya weekly, only 2-3 bites. Was told to stop these 3 food for one month and then see how it goes. Apparently she seemed to be having overdose of Vit A.

Came home still worried in case Kay has jaundice. She had it when she was born. Goggled for it and I think Kay's condition is called carotenemia, which here described it as "a change in color caused by the consumption of foods rich in beta carotene". Hmmm, sweet potato too. This I did give Kay off and on.

Hopefully it's nothing serious. Will check with pediatrician in a month's time when Kay is due for her 1 year old jab and see how "yellow" she is. Frankly, I can't tell and neither can hubby! :-P

Given Wrong Medicine??

2010-12-01T22:40:00.003+08:00

Zen's fever has subsided which is a very good thing :-) However, he's now having bad case of tummy upset and diarrhea. Was thinking that maybe the medicine especially the antibiotics didn't suit his tummy coz he only had diarrhea after each meal / medication. Like what Little Lamb said in previous post, the doctor may have prescribed the wrong medicine.

So took Zen to his pediatrician and was told that Zen needn't take the antibiotics after all!!! Apparently he had virus attack and not bacteria so antibiotic was no use in his case. I always had the impression that we HAVE to finished the whole antibiotic course no matter what but according to the pediatrician, we only need to complete it IF it was a bacteria-caused sickness. Ohhhhhh.... now I know! So in Zen's case, he can stop taking antibiotic. And the pediatrician also suspected that the antibiotic may have caused the tummy upsets and diarrhea. Poor Zen!

I usually try not to give the kids antibiotics unless their sickness are quite bad... but in Zen's case I was too quick to give him the antibiotic... hope his tummy gets well soon...

Sick But Active Kid

2010-11-29T23:17:00.002+08:00

Last night Zen was not quite his loud and active self towards the evening. We thought it was because he had been playing a lot for the whole day and so was tired out. Towards bedtime, he was so tired that he couldn't keep his eyes open and couldn't even finish his milk, something that had never happened before. And he was complaining that his legs and arms were painful. I massaged them and he said he was better and then dozed off...

At about 11pm, I heard him whining and went to check at him. He kept saying he was in pain and I found his forehead hot. A quick check and his temperature was 38.7C Hubby immediately took him to a 24-hour clinic. I had to stay home with Kay who was sleeping throughout (luckily).

At the clinic, hubby found the doctor alone. Apparently the night nurse who was supposed to come didn't and the doctor who was supposed to take over the night shift didn't come too and this doctor was supposed to make a house call at that moment!! And so you can imagine how lousy his mood was :-) The doctor was probably thinking what else could go wrong.... And this was where Zen decided to make his day!

Just as the doctor was preparing the medicine, Zen threw up in the clinic... all over hubby and on the clinic's floor. The doctor looked up and according to hubby, "the doctor's expression was really priceless". Hubby kept apologizing for the mess as they left!!

He was still having fever today but was back to his usual active self when the fever had subsided....

What I Missed About Working Life

2010-11-27T22:58:00.003+08:00

It's the year end... again! Soon it'll be time for bonus paid-outs. Well, one thing I missed about working life was the year-end bonus... and increment (if any). Ok, that's 2 things I missed :-P

While it was my decision to be a SAHM, I do feel sad when I look at my bank account these days. I don't mind the balance staying stagnant but to see it decreasing is a quite demotivating sometimes. And I don't spend on a lot of things either. I used to be able to spend on Zen's books and clothes last time. But these days, I take him to the library instead and will only buy clothes for the kids when there's a good bargain.

My cousin who works in a bank told me to buy gold now if I want a long-time investment. Apparently, he had invested in some of those capital guaranteed investments and they didn't make any money for him.

Whose Cooking Did My Son Like Best?

2010-11-19T23:07:00.001+08:00

Was talking to Zen the other day and the topic of food came up.

Me: Whose cooking do you like better, mummy's or mah mah's (paternal grandmother)?
Zen: (without pausing) Mah mah
Me: Oh, what about mummy's cooking?
Zen: Yes (meaning: yes, I do like)
Me: I see... so you prefer mah mah's cooking is it?
Zen: (pause a bit)... I like both *nod his head and smile*
Me: awwwww... If you were to choose one, which one do you like better?
Zen: Mah mah

Kids.... they don't lie... yet :-)

Tracking My Child's Online Activities

2010-11-19T21:48:00.001+08:00

These days when I need to put Kay down for her nap, I had to find something for Zen to do that could stop him from disturbing his sister. Oh by the way, Zen doesn't take naps anymore, not since he was 2 years old! Can you imagine how active this kid is, that he can last 13-14 hours without any naps?!? I used to say he's like my personal energizer bunny... I take my word back. Even the energizer bunny loses out to him!

So when I need to put Kay to sleep, I needed him to be distracted long enough for his sister to fall asleep and so here's where the computer comes into the picture. I know I know... there's the computer security risk here but he was wayyyyy too noisy when I asked him to play with his toys.

Usually, I will open up a few kids games sites for him eg Disney Playhouse and Nick Jr. I had repeatedly told him that he isn't allowed to go into other sites without my permission and so far, though without any covert monitoring, he had been pretty good.

Give him a few more years and I think I need to start keeping track of his online activities. By then, probably a keylogger will come in handy.

Accident Prone Child

2010-11-16T22:31:00.002+08:00

For the past week, Zen had been having accidents everyday! Yes, everyday. Some quite major like the bump on his forehead when he knocked onto the wall real hard at MIL's house. Still can see a small bump though it's been a week already.

Then he slipped and fell on the stairs, hitting his tummy... also at MIL's house. Luckily he was on the first step after the landing...

Yesterday he was running into the kitchen and slipped (again!) and knock his thumb onto the door frame. It was blue black but the nail was ok. Think it was pretty painful coz he cried and he seldom cry when he hurts himself. It took a Mickey Mouse plaster and lots of kisses to make him feel better...

Really hope this accident phrase will be over soon...

Brotherly And Sisterly Love

2010-11-14T20:10:00.001+08:00

Found this picture in my phone when I downloaded the pictures recently. Yeah, it's been a long time since I last downloaded pictures from my phone. Where has all my time gone :-)

This was taken wayyyyyyy back in July. Zen was 3 years old and Kay was 6 months old then. By the way, if you were wondering why you have never seen this kind of bouncer being sold anywhere before, that's because it's tailor-made. Got his from hubby's aunt who had it made for her only grandchild. Her grandchild is 12 years old already so you can imagine how long it has lasted :-)

I love this picture very much coz they still have the cuteness and innocence of a kid and baby. They still do now, albeit more mischievous. Note to self: must must must be more patient with them as their childhood won't last... take deep breaths.... in-out... in-out...

You know... when they teach you breathing techniques during prenatal classes, I think they meant for you to use it AFTER the child is born like when they:

(1) ... pull off the mannequin's arm at the shopping mall and bring it to you with a "mummy, fix it" and have all the sales people staring at you trying to force the arm back in!!

(2) ... drop the row of Yakult bottles from the trolley to the ground (as if imitating the WWII bombs) and breaking them in the process so you will need to quickly pick them up before the spilling drink makes too big a puddle in the middle of the shopping mall and thus cutting short your shopping trip...

Is She For Real Or A Con Artist?

2010-11-10T09:47:00.000+08:00

We were at 1-U last weekend. Were walking around after dinner at the new wing when we saw this little kiosk selling kids' clothes and we went over to browse around. Suddenly there's this old woman who sprang out of nowhere and approached hubby. She's probably in her 70's and had this sad look on her face. She touched hubby's elbow and asked hubby to (use his handphone) help her call her son at 012-... She was quick to mention part of the phone number hoping that hubby would not start asking other questions and would help her call. She was mumbling something after that which we didn't catch.

Actually Hubby wanted to help but having read about so many con cases in the newspaper, he hesitated. Then hubby suggested for her to use the public phone (which he was willing to help her look for one and to pay for the call) but she mumbled that she's too tired to do so... and went off to ask someone else. Some avoided her while some spoke to her. Then she was out of our sight... The kiosk owner told us that she had seen this old lady few times before and she's always alone... Hmmm...

So did she really want to make that call to her son or was she a con artist? Or maybe this was her hobby?

If she was for real;
- why didn't she ask the kiosk operator for assistance but target only customers?
- why didn't she agree to look for a public phone

If she was a con artist;
- how does it work? Did she want the phone? Would she have requested to speak to her "son" and then walked away with the phone? But I'm sure we would be able to catch up with an old lady if so, right?

Sleep A Little Bit More

2010-11-07T23:54:00.000+08:00

These days, I had been trying to wake Zen up earlier at around 8am. He usually wakes at about 8:15-8:30am... and then can lasts till 10pm without any naps. So now you know how exhausted I am. Since he'll be going to kindergarten next year, I think he should start waking up earlier or else he may doze off in school later!!

But this kid of mine would continue sleeping even though Kay who's awake much earlier, was crawling all over him and poking / hitting him, trying to get her favorite koh koh to play with her. Yeah, I allowed her to do so in order to "help" me wake him up. *grin*

When he finally opened his eyes, he would tell me "5 more minutes"!! This, he learned from me... because sometimes, when he calls out to me (for the not-so-urgent stuff) and I was busy attending to my demanding daughter... I would tell him to "give mummy 5 more minutes". Now he's using it on me! Next time, I'll tell him that we are going to get some gold coins, perhaps then he'll immediately jumped out of bed.

My Boy Loves Hair Clips!

2010-11-07T10:43:00.000+08:00

Hubby went for a haircut the other day and Zen was being his usual self ie running around and shouting off and on, pretty much disturbing the peace that was there before we arrive. :-) This time he kept insisting that he too needed a haircut. Actually he just had a haircut the week before...

So what did mummy do to distract him? She asked the hair stylist to give Zen a hair clip to play with. He was nice enough to give Zen two clips and thus turned my son into "Mickey Mouse"!! Zen was happily playing with the clips, putting them on and taking them off. I no longer roll eyes these days....

Did this manage to make Zen forget about wanting to cut hair? NOOOO!! When hubby finished his haircut, Zen still insisted he wants a haircut too. And so the hair stylist sat him on the chair and then trimmed his fringe... for free... Happy kid happy mummy :-)

Brush Teeth with Hand Soap!

2010-11-03T23:54:00.000+08:00

Nowadays, Zen knows that he has to brush his teeth before going to bed. He always (and I mean always) make a fuss about it but we were determined not to give in and insist that he brushes them. However, he tried using toothpaste a few times but he didn't like it so we let it be and will try again off and on.

Anyway, when Zen was brushing his teeth just now, he pressed some liquid hand soap onto his toothbrush and brushed his teeth with it! Dunn why he did that though... But he went "ARGHHHH!!" and hubby made him rinse his mouth many many times.

One thing for sure, his mouth is clean :-)

Transformation

2010-11-03T22:46:00.000+08:00

In today's world, transformation in the name of health and beauty is not uncommon. A decade ago, it was something to be gossiped, discussed and even frowned upon, depending who you are. Then, celebrities would need to have it hush hush in case the entertainment magazines have a field day should they get wind of it. Though they are a few exceptions who had wanted the limelight.

I remember my friend went for Botox treatment and mind you, it wasn't even beverly hills liposuction, and she was hot topic for many weeks after that! She was asked so many questions about her experience as well as her reason for opting that treatment. I guess it was because it wasn't just a simple lunch break procedure during that time, like it is now.

But now, things are different, so much different isn't it? People are openly going for Rodeo Drive Plastic Surgery and that's very much acceptable. Not just celebrities or the rich and famous but the "normal" people like you and me. And I guess prices for these treatments too had come down compared to previously, which explains the increase in people going for plastic surgery.

But a word of caution, do go to an experienced doctor like perhaps Dr Lloyd Krieger and not to risk it with unlicensed ones. Have read about many cases of surgeries gone wrong and the patients ended with lesser money and a whole lot of problems, some affecting health.

Playful In The Morning

2010-11-03T07:03:00.000+08:00

Kay is very playful in the mornings. She usually wakes up between 7:30 - 8am. Give her a few minutes to fully wake up and then she'll be looking for her toys and giggling away. I had put some of her toys in one part of the bed so she would have things to entertain herself.

Some days she would go for her Touch and Feel book, other days her small plastic bottle and her teething toy... but lately, she's going after... my alarm clock! Maybe she's intrigued with the "tick tock" sound or maybe the way the second hand is moving? Or maybe it's the "taste"! :-)

After 5 minutes of playing, she'll be looking for her brother to play. Most days, her kor kor is not awake yet. Yeah, he sleeps late. I figured he'll be having to wake up early soon when he starts kindergarten so might as well let him sleep bit more lah... And when Zen wakes up, my whole neighborhood wakes up too!

Kay's Update

2010-11-01T07:18:00.000+08:00

I'm not one of those mummies who diligently update on their kids' progress... sigh... Now when I looked back at my posts on Zen, I wished I had been a bit more consistent on his updates...

So here's some updates on Kay before I forget and for her reading pleasure in years to come... At 9.5 months, she:

(1) ...finally has 2 bottom front teeth peeping out. A relative who is a dentist had mentioned that most baby girls would start teething at 6 months and that Kay is "late". Oh well, it's not a race :-)

(2) ...doesn't quite like her fish / vege porridge anymore. Would take a few spoons and then would look away when I try to feed her more.

(3) ...is more interested in our food than her own, which I guess is pretty normal for babies her age. If our food grabs her attention, she would first become quiet staring at it as if trying to decide whether it would taste good or not and then would make sudden lunges / attacks towards our plates! I was caught off-guard a few times and she ended with some rice and pieces of chicken!

(4) ...loves pan mee. MIL was given some organic dried pan mee and she gave me some. I made them using ikan bilis soup base for Zen. Zen loves them and Kay was most interested in them too. She was refusing her porridge so I gave her some of the pan mee and she loves it. So much so that she screams when I was slow in feeding her :-P

(5) ... loves bread, banana, papaya and orange. She loves diluted orange juice and I also gave her orange pulps whenever I peel once for Zen.

My Son's Fav Toy

2010-10-29T07:10:00.002+08:00

This Legoville Duplo train set (picture below) is Zen's current favorite toy now. We saw this at ToysRUs sale in 2009 at 50% off which was a great bargain! However, we were quite undecided whether to get it for him or not.

Let me explain why the hesitance. Zen does have "favorite toy" but always not for long. He doesn't have loyalty towards one particular toy. For example, at one point it was Mickey Mouse soft toy then he was over it and decided the orange toy car was his best buddy, only to be abandoned shortly and replaced by his toothbrush! So you see, we didn't want to spend so much for a toy that could last only a few weeks!

We ended up buying it but we left it in his room in the plastic bag for more than a year!! Zen asked about it often but we always managed to distract him. Reason was we thought he wasn't ready for it yet. He's got a history of throwing toys at people... :-S

And so this year we gave it to him as a birthday gift and boy, was he the happiest kid! And since then, he's played with it over and over again and I'm happy to report that it's been a good investment.... so far....

Spice It Up

2010-10-28T23:39:00.000+08:00

A close friend of ours got married last year and had been wanting to have a kid ever since then. Both of them are in their 40's which explain why they are in a hurry. Till today, we are still waiting for the good news.

Some well-meaning aunties of theirs are telling them to go for a check-up to see if, ermmm... there's anything wrong with them! And some of their friends are advising them to go seek the help of a Chinese medical practitioner (sinseh). Apparently, one couple friend of theirs who were childless for many years, decided to ask this sinseh in KL for help and after a few sessions, the wife managed to conceive. What the sinseh did was to "balance" the yin and yang in the wife's body by prescribing some herbs for her.

My friends seemed keen with that idea and asked for our opinion. Well, we told them it was up to them to either have a check-up at the clinic or go seek the sinseh's advice. But we also added that we thought that buying some lovely lingerie may also help spice things up! :-)

Too Much Shopping for My Kid?!

2010-10-26T23:39:00.000+08:00

How do you tell when you have been to the malls a little too often? Well, read on...

Was playing with Zen earlier today. Have spread out a long piece of paper (those that were used to wrap a bundle of cotton wool) and drew a road map for his toy car to run on. To make it more interesting, I added some "scenery" too eg some trees, a river and a bridge, a playground, some food stalls, a bank and not forgetting a toll booth and a shopping complex. He requested for the last two items :-S

And then he happily run his toy car along the path and play pretend. Then he paused and said "eh". It was so cute with his head tilted a little. Then he ran over to the rubber mats with numbers and alphabets and took out "B" and "1". Then he placed them over the shopping complex and said "B1 for parking"!!

Breastfeeding On The Rise Or Is It My Timing?

2010-10-24T07:28:00.001+08:00

We were shopping at The Curve awhile back and Kay started to whine wanting to be fed.

So we went over to the babies room. Hubby was taking care of Zen while I went in with Kay. Found it to be packed with daddies and mummies and kids running around. There were 2 babies on the changing mat having their nappies changed and the curtains for the 2 breast feeding rooms were drawn across. I tried to listen for someone in those rooms (in case some kids were playing hide and seek or some people trying to take a quick nap inside!) but couldn't hear anything. I went "okayyyy.... now what". Kay, sensing my indecisiveness, began to wail louder.

So I went out and got the female security officer to help me check. Bear in mind I was desperate! The female security officer was nice and helped me called out to those in the rooms and there were indeed occupied. Good thing by now the nappies-changing families have left. Kay was already feeling very cranky and was twisting around in the baby carrier. The officer then suggested I go to the handicap WC to nurse Kay. And so I did! Better than in the ladies... :-)

The Cost Of Health

2010-10-23T23:48:00.000+08:00

Am wondering if this was the national health week or something... Or did I miss the medical news today medicare? Coz within this week alone, I had received 2 cold calls regarding health insurance and was approached by a lady (while I was buying kuih...) from one of those fund management companies on medigap insurance coverage.

The fund management lady was really persistent. Initially, she said she had wanted to do a survey and if I could help her... I was in a good mood coz I saw some yummy-looking egg tarts at the kuih stall so I was nice to her and agreed. She started off with very general and vague questions about how much do I think it'll cost for medicare these days etc. And then she asked what would I do if I had illness and required lots of money to treat it. Without missing a beat, I told her I'll rely on my medicare supplemental insurance plans! Caught her by surprise coz that was supposed to be her line... :-)

Seriously, the cost of health care these days is unbelievable. And even with such prices, private hospitals are nearly always full let alone public hospitals. When hubby was at the Emergency Ward some time ago, I overheard a parent trying to call one hospital after another asking if they have bed for his child who was having very high fever.... felt quite sad for the kid...

Ahhhh, should have studied medicine last time!

My Turn To Do Kindy Search!

2010-10-22T07:42:00.002+08:00

Zen is going to be 4 years old next year. So we thought it's time for him to go to kindy / play school. And thus began my search for a kindy for him. Didn't know much when I started middle of the year. I would have loved for him to go to a "proper" kindergarten that's built for that purpose and not one that's converted from a house... But I didn't see any around our neighborhood...

The other question was the never ending debate of learning thru play or academic. Both of us wanted a non-academic kindy for Zen. We went through the discomfort / stress of being compared to our cousins academically and we didn't want Zen to go through that so we agreed that we won't push our kids too hard.

Actually we found one in May that both hubby and I liked very much. But since we wanted to look for others to compare, we didn't make any bookings and by Sept, we were told that it was full... Lesson No 1: don't procrastinate!

We also checked out Q-dees and were told that they emphasized very much on the 3R. So much so that the principal was telling me that playtime was only once a week on Friday morning for half hour! Are all Q-dees like that?!? And she was pretty proud that there was a 3 year old girl in her school who could memorised a whole story book, which she showed me. I admit that I was impressed by that but on hindsight, I don't think I want my son to memorise a book... that would kill the joy of reading, wouldn't it? So it was a no for us.

Then there was a Montessori kindy which I thought was quite nice. New kindy so things were very new. Got music class and daily playtime and art & craft so that sounds good to me. The class that Zen is to join has 15 kids with 2 teachers. The only thing is the principal is kinda pushy. Kept asking me to put Zen for trial class in Oct and then can start in Nov. They have 1.5 week of class in Dec with 3 weeks holiday but still gotto pay full month fees. So I'm thinking of starting him next year...

What else should I look for in a kindy?

Math Challenge

2010-10-21T22:43:00.005+08:00

You know... I love maths when I was in school. Yup, was my favorite subject. Reason was simply because math questions don't need much memorising. Am terrible at subjects that required memorisation eg history. I love that sense of achievement when I am able to complete those Algebra equations. And it does help that we had good guidance from our maths teacher. There were no such thing as online help then... actually, come to think of it, computers was limited to word processing and spreadsheet... With the advancement of technology, learning is so much easier these days.

I wonder if Zen did "inherit" my genes. Am trying to introduce the concept of addition to him, using raisins. If he can grasp it then only will I teach him how to divide.

Cousin's Wedding

2010-10-20T22:46:00.002+08:00

We were in Ipoh over the weekend for my cousin sister's wedding. Went there late morning on Saturday. Kids were ok, with Kay sleeping almost half the journey (we timed it to her nap time... hehehe). Brought along books and toys to entertain Zen before he, too slept.

The bachelorette party was on Saturday night. Love the food. They had the usual fried noodles and curry chicken etc but on the other long table, they had kuih-muih. That was a lovely surprise. There were kau chee, tapioca kuih, put-chai koh (rice bowl pudding), kuih lapis, kuih talam and a few other fried ones. Oh you should have seen me with one hand holding a sleepy & cranky Kay and the other trying to balance as many as possible on my plate! Sorry no pictures coz hubby was busy with Zen too...

Tea ceremony was on Sunday morning. The kids and I had nicely positioned ourselves in my cousin sister's air-con room with the other kids while hubby wait for our turn to be served tea :-)

The wedding dinner was on Sunday. There were almost 90 tables!! Don't even ask how was the parking like! Turned out the bride has less than 20 tables while the groom has a lot of relatives and the groom's father is a member of many many many associations. As usual, with so many guests, dinner was late. But good thing, we brought along toys and books for Zen.

Oh ya, Zen could easily had been one of the bestest looking kid (mummies are biased) at the dinner if he had not messed things up! 10 minutes after we dressed him up nicely, he wanted to pee and was fumbling with the belt. And before we knew it, he pee-ed onto his long pants, underwear and socks.... sigh... His back-up pants was those 3 quarters type and he did look quite funny with a formal top and a not-so-formal pants!!

Came back on Monday and had lots of washing and cleaning to do. Will blog-hop in the next few days ya... Take care.

Magarine For My Baby??

2010-10-16T08:54:00.001+08:00

Recently when I went to get my final cervical cancer jab (yippee! finally over), I weigh Kay again. She was 7.2kg. At 9 months, that weight is for 3%-10% of baby girls. It probably may be due to her fussiness in eating her meals these days as she's teething (yup, still not teeth yet!). Just didn't want to eat much. After only about 6 baby spoons of fish porridge then she refused to eat anymore. These days, I tend to feed her more often... about 4-5 times daily, including light snacks.

The doctor said Kay seemed pretty active so maybe she burned most of her calories quickly. Actually "pretty" is an understatement! She was very active and kept wanting to grab at whatever that's on the table eg toys, doctor's pen. :-) The doctor also suggested that I give her toast with margarine to increase her calories... Hmmm, should I?

giving kohkoh's new comb a taste...

Motorcycle Gears

2010-10-15T23:46:00.001+08:00

Did you know that I have license to ride a bike? Most of my friends whom I came to know when I started working wouldn't believe it... until I show them my driving license and motorcycle helmets. Can't blame them, I certainly don't look like a biker at all!

Want to know how and why? Well, way way way back when I was in university, it was a large campus and the in-campus bus service is well, not exactly dependable. My hostel was the furthest and by the time the bus arrived, it's nearly always full, especially for the 8:00am lectures. The other alternative was to walk. Take about 20 minutes of quick walk from my hostel to the lecture halls. By the time I reached the halls I would be tired out. Imagine if I had afternoon lectures... probably be napping in class!

Now, owning a car was quite rare for students back then unlike students these days! So I beg my mum to allow me to learn to ride a motorcycle after the 1st semester. She said ok provided that I earn her trust that I can handle the motorcycle very well. So off I went for classes, learning how to do the figure of 8 (I find this the tougher one compared to crossing the narrow bridge), learning all of its parts including the motorcycle tires. Managed to pass on 2nd try. Yup, failed the first time because I accidentally put my leg down when doing the figure of 8. Had wanted to ask mum for those cool full face helmets but didn't think she would agree so had to settle for the ordinary ones.

Haven't been riding for many years now so am not sure if I can still ride or not. Anyone got a motorcycle I can borrow? :-)

Hubby's Birthday

2010-10-15T00:37:00.000+08:00

It was hubby's birthday end of September. Didn't celebrate in a big way this time. Wasn't feeling very well then which explains why this post is sooooo overdue :-) But still need to post coz it's hubby's birthday... (need to score points)... hehe...

It started well. Zen made a simple card with "Happy Birthday to You" using stickers, with mummy's help. But he insists on doing it his way!! Well, under normal circumstances, I would have let him but this card was special right... I mean I can't let him have it as "Happy Birthday to ZEN" right!?! *rolled eyes and grin* Oh, he knows how to spell ZEN so can't trick him there...

Ever since he had grasped the meaning of birthday (or rather birthday celebrations), he's insisting that it's his birthday every time someone's having one! He would position himself in front of the cake and help blow candles too! hahaha... kids... :-)

Ceiling Fans

2010-10-14T23:45:00.004+08:00

It's been so warm lately that Zen was asking if he can switch on the ceiling fans whichever room he goes into. Sometimes he ask for the air-con but his mummy's trying to reduce impact to the environment and also was worried about the electricity bill so he didn't always get his request granted! If a ceiling fan is good enough for mummy and his sister, then it should be good enough for him.

We usually spend our afternoons downstairs where it's cooler. And also the fan in his room cum playroom is not working properly. It goes on high speed whenever it's switched on regardless of which speed we choose! It's those really normal ones which case with the house. Think the dial is not working. Should get someone to look at it or maybe I can look for a new one at Hansen Wholesale Ceiling Fans. There are some very interesting models nowadays and best of all, energy saving too. Interested? Then find out who makes the Best Ceiling Fans here!

Good Food + Bad Service = Lousy Dinner

2010-10-13T07:49:00.001+08:00

We were at Sunway Pyramid last Saturday night. Haven't been there for awhile so decided to drop by. As usual, we couldn't decide what to eat. If we ask Zen, it would be pizza or hot dog or wan tan mee, so no help there!

Anyway, we were at Sunway Pyramid and were looking around at all those restaurant and wondering what to have for dinner. I had asked hubby first and so hubby had to decide (a game that we usually play). He suggested Xian Ding Wei, a Taiwanese food eatery. We had tried them at 1-Utama before and found the food tasty so we agreed to try this branch.

Were there at 6:50pm and it was almost full, with 2-3 empty tables when we arrived. Well, better than a lot of other restaurants where there were queues to get in. Placed our orders and waited. And waited. Kay was sleepy so I took her for a walk and she slept. Came back around 7:10pm and soon, my food came. We were sharing the dishes but hubby told me to eat first while he take care of Zen's meal. Zen was already so hungry that he sat down and gobbled up his food.

It was 7:30pm and I had already finished mine and hubby's food was still missing. And a hungry man is an angry man, at least in my hubby's case! He had spoken to the waiter twice (he was the blur type) but still no food. Then he was so upset that he called the captain (she had better customer service skills) and demanded (yes, told you he was angry!) for his food. It was just sweet and sour pork rice set, not too difficult right? By the time it came, he was very upset to enjoy his food... sigh...

When we were leaving, I overheard another table complaining that "We have finished our food and have called for our bill and yet our drinks haven't arrived yet!" Well, at least they were not hungry, only thirsty :-)

Kids' Bedding

2010-10-12T22:10:00.000+08:00

At 3 years old, Zen's still sleeps with us in our bedroom. He has 2 single mattress laid side by side on the floor for him. He sleeps on one of them and sometimes, wakes up on the other the next morning :-) And on some days, I found him snuggled cosily besides me, especially when it's rained in the middle of the night...

Was thinking maybe it is time to get him out of our bedroom and into his room. Currently, "Zen's room" is his playroom and "Mummy's room" is where he sleeps! Tried to coax him to sleep in his room for some time now but he didn't want to. He'll need more hand-holding I guess. Maybe if I could do up the kids bedding really nicely, he would be encouraged to sleep there??

So far, I had put some lovely stickers on the walls to make it... well, more kids friendly. And all his toys are inside his room too... Next would be the bedding I guess. Had been looking for inspiration and good bargains on the net.

Found some interesting baby bedding instead and they are so lovely and sweet. Hmmm, I might end up getting some crib bedding for Kay! Kids nowadays are so lucky. When I was young, there were no such things. In fact, my brother's bed was "made" by my mum! It was something like the now-popular Japanese style platform bed. Wished I had my mum's talent :-)