Busy busy weekend

Weekend is always so short.....and this weekend, I have so many things that I want to do:-

1. Facial for mommy
2. Warehouse sale - Pureen warehouse sale to stock up on my Pureen HAD liquid detergent (for all my cloth diaper) and baby wet wipes
3. Visit my friend newborn baby @ PJ
   
4. Service my car
5. Bring Anney to make her passport
   
6. Blogging and update my blog. So many thing to write but haven't been able to update my blog since Monday!
   

Aiyo.....tell me where to find all the time! I really wish I could take some time off from work just to do my own things!

My powerful antioxidant lunch

Being home alone and without voice (yes, not sure why I lost my voice today!) could still be a good thing. At least I don't have to shout after my 2 "samseng" girl and also the daddy (sometimes!) and I have some hours for myself to surf the net and make myself a powerful antioxidant lunch. Not to mention, I could also have my lunch in *peace* too!

See, this is my powerful antioxidant lunch with a mug of green tea with honey (not in picture) *burp*.....

Wolfberry ("Qi Zi") with multigrain bread, one slice of turkey ham, blueberries, strawberries and one kiwi

All the above are known to have powerful antioxidant impact and vitamin C to fight off my current bug. Besides popping the medications prescribed by the doc, I also popped a tablet of probiotics as a precautionary measure for stomach upset whenever I am on antibiotic.

I bought this small loaf of wolfberry with multigrain bread from my neighbourhood bakery. Wolfberry is known to have many health benefits and is rich in Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBP) (good for the immune system and is a powerful antioxidant), beta-carotene (good for the eyes), 19 amino acids and vitamin A, B & C. I used to add wolfberries to Chinese soup or into any hot tea and the soup or tea will taste very sweet. Great that they have it in bread now too!

Yummy wolfberry with multigrain bread

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Today's DH's birthday. I am not working today, not because I am taking leave but because I've lost my voice today and having a bad cough, so now on medical leave. Went to the doctor in the morning and doc said the virus have infected my vocal cord, which is why I have lost my voice. Guess I can't sing the birthday song to DH today and will the job to his 2 princesses.

Thanks God have created computer and internet....no need to work today so can surf the internet!

Happy Birthday Hubby and many happy returns!

Living green - reusable shopping bag

I have started bringing my own bags when I go shopping nowadays, whether it is for groceries or a trip to the toy store. Do you do the same?

Why I love these reusable bags?

• Better for the environment and our mother earth.
  
• Plastic bag aren't biodegradable. Many plastic bags ended up in the sea which causes pollution and hundreds of thousands of whales, dolphins, sea turtles die every year after eating discarded plastic bags they mistake for food. Soon, our children will only see these animals in the books.
  
• Save money $$$ in the long run as more and more retails are charging for plastic bag e.g. Ikea etc.
  
• These reusable bag are usually roomy, waterproof and very durable. I just need one or two bags to carry my groceries and not like 10 plastic bags from the hypermarket. I am not sure why these cashiers at the hypermarket love to give out so many plastic bags. They tend to put only like 5 items or so in every bags!
  
• It is so convenient, these reusable bag are so compact and light, I could just fold them and pop a few into my handbag or car dashboard. Just fish one out whenever I need it.
• A good way to teach my kids about going green, I guess it is best to start them young.
• Lastly, of course the GLAM factor lol....imagine carrying the stylish reusable bag to the wet market, surely I can't be another one of those "Ah Soh" (aunty), right? Many times at the malls, I overheard some mothers asking their kids what free gift (the reusable bag) is this, ah? Well, of course, they are too shy to ask me!
  

I have just purchased a few more Envirosax from TinyTapir to give to my sisters and family.

Envirosax is made from lightweight polyester, portable, waterproof, and weighing just 1.4 oz each. The bag is quite roomy and can take weight up to 20 kgs.

Bag dimensions (unrolled) approximately 19.5" x 16.5"
Bag dimensions (rolled-up) approximately 4" x 1.5"

Currently, Tiny Tapir is clearing their old stock of Envirosax due to some drama they had with the manufacturer. They are selling each bag at RM20 (the normal retail price is about RM25 each). Of course, Tiny Tapir have other range of reusable bag in their store.

Envirosax (rolled-up) from Tiny Tapir

Envirosax, it is quite roomy and great for groceries. Can takes weight up to 20 kgs

Other than Envirosax, I also love the Village Grocer (at Bangsar Village) 's chiller reusable bag. Got this for RM7 for every purchase above RM100. This is great for storing milk, juice or ice-cream!

This is one of my baby step to live greener and little thing I hope I could do for our children. Please say NO to plastic whenever you can!

Sports Day 2009

Last Saturday morning, we attended Werney's kindergarten sports day @ Indoor Stadium, Taman Titiwangsa. Grandma, my sis#3, DH, Anney and myself were up and early, all excited about the sports day.

This year, Werney participated in a game where she was required to flips through 4 hula hoops, then takes a bean bag & climbs up a low bench, walks across the bench, aims & throws the bean bag into a pail and then repeat the above again before giving a high-5 to her friend. It may sounds easy for an adult but I could see some of the kids struggling with the hula hoops.

The sports day was really well-organised. All the kids get to participate in the games and win a medal - "gold", "silver" or "bronze". No one go home empty handed! There are also march pass, performances by the age 4 & 6 groups, games for the parents and also lucky draws.

Werney's team won a gold medal this year and my little girl was all smiling for the whole day!

Students getting ready for the march pass

Some parents even come with banner to cheer their little girl/boy!

Performance by 4 year olds

Werney posing for a shot before the game

Werney in action

All smiling after the game

Performance by 6 years old

Lucky draws presents for parents

More presents for the lucky draws

Werney with her "gold" medal

My "samseng" girl

Anney has always been a super-duper active baby.

She started crawling at 7 months, standing at 9 months, cruising at 10 months and walking before she turns 1 year old. She just loves the freedom of her mobility but poor mommy and daddy, always have to keep an eye on this active baby who refuses to sit still!

Her latest "love" is to climb up the family sofa, slide down from the arm rest and climb up again. At times, she would also stand on the arm rest and pretends to be like a super girl and this really sweat mommy out!

Check out some of her photos "monkeying" around.....for a good 30 minutes or more.










Dear baby, dear baby, I think mommy must take more essence of chicken to keep up with your energy level.

My cloth diaper story

Why cloth diaper?

With the modern age of disposable diaper, you must be wondering why anyone would go back to cloth diaper?

It all started with my mom. She was the advocate of cloth diaper for the family - for all her 4 daughters and now her grand-daughters too. In my mom's view, she always thinks disposables are so stuffy, hot, no air circulation for baby's bum and causes diaper rash. And true enough, both Werney and Anney have sensitive skin. If I put them in disposables for a day i.e. 24 hours, I will immediately see the diaper rash attacking the nappy area and it takes ages for this nasty rash to go away.

Werney was a cloth diaper baby. We started her with the traditional cloth diaper (white muslin square type) because back in year 2004, I didn't know that they were such thing as modern cloth diaper. These white muslins square type were easy to maintain, airy, but were not good for holding pee as it get really soaked up after just one pee.

I discovered the modern cloth diaper when I was preggy with Anney in 2007. It was still pretty new in Malaysia then and all the canggih and confusing terminologies like fitted, pocket diaper, one-size, microfiber, hemp, bamboo soaker etc were really confusing for any mommies. I started reading more on cloth diapers over the internet and bought a few diapers from Mia Bambina to understand more on cloth diapers. Werney was already toilet-trained then and I couldn't try these diapers on her! Yes, mommy was too eager to try these out!

Anney was born in March 2008 and I started with prefold / traditional muslin square and combined with the modern cloth diaper cover. My diaper stash was really limited then and I find that this is the best option for a newborn as Anney is a breastfed baby and she poo poo like 8-10 times a day! I just have to change the prefold and alternate the cloth diaper cover. Sometimes, I do put her in pocket cloth diaper and I find that Bumwear petite works best for newborn than any other size or one-size diaper. Even my confinement lady commented how great were these modern cloth diapers.

When Anney was 3 months old, I started getting more diaper stash as I will need to keep sufficient stash at my mom's house during day time and at my house for night time and also weekend. I started getting more one-size diaper as Anney was growing really fast and all my S and M sizes diapers look tiny on her. At that time, the one-size diaper seems to fit her better too as you know, sometimes, it is difficult to find the best fit with one-size diaper. You will have to adjust the snaps etc to find the best fit!

Why I love cloth diaper?

• No nappy rash attack (yes, this was my main reason to use cloth diaper)
  
• Better for baby as it is soft and cloth-like. Who likes to wear paper and plastic, right?
• Better air-circulation for baby's bum
  
• No chemical on cloth diaper
  
• Better for our mother earth
• Cost less in the long term
• Encourages early potty training (Werney was potty trained for both day and night @ 2.5 years old)
• It's so cute on baby
  

Well, cloth diaper is really simple and works as great as disposable. With simple instructions, daddy, granddad, maid, nanny or babysitter could also use cloth diaper with ease. It is as simple as wear and go! For laundry, I will just put everything into the washing machine and wash them together with baby clothes.

Looking back, I have traveled far with my cloth diaper journey, trying out many types and brands and introducing cloth diapers to friends and relatives. I'm sure Anney loves the cloth diaper too as it is definitely more comfortable for her nappy area!

At 16 months, Anney is already showing some signs that she is ready for potty training now (one of the benefit of cloth diaper!). She would tell us "mm mm" after she has poo-poo in her diaper and would regular sit on the potty to tell us "mm mm" but nothing comes out!

At one hand, I am happy that she would be potty trained soon and on another hand, I know I would miss all the wonderful cloth diapers!

Should we cancel our Phuket trip?

We have been looking forward to the coming August 2009 school holiday as this will be our first overseas holiday with both Werney and Anney. Werney have been really excited about our Phuket trip and regularly asked when are we going to Phuket, how many days and how many nights are we going to be there, have we made Anney's passport and etc.....

However, with the increasing number of H1N1 cases being reported daily, death toll climbing in Thailand and university in Phuket closed for "disinfectant", we are really thinking whether we should just cancel our trip. Yes, I know we also have H1N1 in Malaysia and life still goes on as usual here but my main concern is while travelling in the plane! The seats are so near one and another and also the air-circulation!

Hubby said to keep an eye and ear on this first and we will evaluate the situation when it is closer to the travel date. I know sooner or later this H1N1 will be another common flu but as at now, there is still no vaccination for this H1N1 virus. I really hope the vaccination will be out soon and ease the current pandemic situation.

Check out Anney's picture in Bumwear.com

I've recently sent one of Anney picture to Bumwear.com for the Baby of the Month Contest and guess what, she has been chosen to be Baby of the month for June 2009. For winning the Baby of the Month contest, we will get a Bumwear gift package consisting of a Bumwear diaper or one swim diaper and one wetbag of our choice. Total value is S$44.90!! Many thanks to Bumwear.com for choosing Anney!

Little Anney in Bumwear cloth diaper

I've tried out many many brands of cloth diapers in the market and I really like Bumwear diaper. This made in Singapore diaper is so cute and is definitely compatible to other US/Australian brands. Bumwear is more affordable too! If you have always wanted to try out Bumwear cloth diaper for your baby, please go for it!

I have been using cloth diaper since Werney's time (from year 2004) but that time, the cloth diapers were those white square muslin. When I was preggy with Anney in 2007, I was so glad that the modern cloth diaper has evolved so much! I will blog another time why I am totally in love with cloth diaper!

Another weekend activity

Since the H1N1 scare, we have been visiting less shopping malls and crowded areas to avoid catching the flu bug. So what have we been doing with the girls at home lately?

Cycling, water play, sand-art, painting and lately baking too!

I bought this Green's fairy cupcakes mix from Cold Storage recently and baked these lovely cupcakes with Werney last Sunday.

Although the instruction indicated that I should use an electric mixer to mix the cupcake mix but I haven't got any, so just use hand to mix the batter. The result is still the same and I gave some cupcakes to Sis#3 and she said they are yummy. The mixing, baking and decorating all done in 40 minutes!

Werney helping me to mix the cupcakes batter

Cupcakes batter with egg, water & oil

As my cupcake baking tray is rather big, managed to bake 9 cupcakes only

Final product and added with edible icing and glitter. The princess sticker idea is from Chin Nee.

Closed up of fairy cupcake with Snow White sticker

Werney posing with her Ariel (Little Mermaid) cupcake

Bento-ing

Bento-ing has been a craze in the blogging world for the last 1 or 2 years, particularly in many mommies' blogs. I have also caught the bento-ing bug but for me, it is mainly to pack simple and healthy breakfast for DH and myself to bring to work.

I have started packing breakfast to work about 2 weeks ago. Reasons?

• Morning is a crazy rush for all of us as I need to feed Anney, change & boil the water, wash and clean the bottles & then drop both my angels at my mom's house before heading for work......and the morning traffic could be quite stressful at times! Where got time to sip a cuppa of coffee at home?
  

• The recent medical screening that DH & I did indicated that both DH and my cholesterol levels are at the high risk group! This could be due to all the nasi lemak, roti canai, fried meehoon, fried rice etc and whatever unhealthy foods we have been eating for breakfast.
  

• My company has imposed a new policy and punctualiy at work is a MUST now. Do or die.....we need to clock in by 8.45am! No more traffic jam excuse lol!
  

Packing my breakfast to work would also ensures that I have a good start for the day and I definitely need all these energies! After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right?

Anyway, this is my first attempt of bento-ing

• Vegetable buns with avocado, ham and lettuce

• Kiwi fruit and strawberry

• Cherry tomatoes
  

Quick Mac n Cheese recipe!

I found a quick and easy homemade mac n cheese recipe over the internet. I have tried it and the result is simply delicious!

Ingredients:

150g macaroni elbow
1 can Campbell mushroom soup
1 can milk (use the mushroom soup can for measuring the milk)
1 medium size yellow onion (mince this!)
10 pieces of button mushroom (mince this!)
2 sausages or 100 g of ham (mince this!)
3 slices of Cheddar cheese (more if you like it cheesier)

How to make this delicious mac n cheese?

1. Cook the macaroni elbow till the texture is just right. Drain the macaroni and set aside
2. Fry the onion, button mushroom, sausages or ham with olive oil till fragrant
3. Add the mushroom soup, milk and simmer for 5 minutes
4. Add in the macaroni elbow and Cheddar cheese
5. Once cooked, transfer into stainless tray
6. Bake in oven at 150 degree Celcius for 8 to 10 minutes


Try it and any extra could be stored in freezer for a quick weekday dinner.

H1N1 home quarantine

You've read about H1N1 everyday and everywhere and have taken steps to protect your families by visiting less malls or go anti-social for crowded events. Yet, it can still strike you.

I just got a call from hubby that he will be on home quarantined from today till next Monday as one of his colleague, who has returned from Jakarta has been confirmed to have H1N1 virus. His colleague returned from Jakarta last Friday and was at work on Saturday and also the following Monday. Then on Tuesday, he did not turn up for work and just yesterday, confirmed to have H1N1. Everyone in the company with close contact with this guy has been given the flu vaccination (not sure how effective this will be!) and will be home quarantined from today. The people from Ministry of Health (MOH) even sanitized the whole office floor to contain the spread of the H1N1 virus.

I am getting a little panic now....what should we do since we got two young kids at home? It would be difficult not to have close contact with hubby since we all stayed under the same roof! The door knob, door, remote control, kitchen utensils etc? Can you imagine how difficult that would be? Also I don't think my two young kids would understand not to go near daddy? Maybe should restrict hubby to a room and toilet only!

Anyway, in order to take precaution, family members of those quarantined have been asked to practice extra hygiene

• Avoid close contact with hubby
• Cover our nose and mouth with disposable tissues when coughing or sneezing, and dispose of them in the waste bin
• Wash hands regularly with soap and running water, especially after coughing or sneezing. Alcohol-based hand cleansers are also effective
• We should also avoid touching our eyes, nose or mouth (Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth)

So far, household members have not been directed to be quarantined by MOH but if hubby develops any H1N1 symptoms, then we will also be quarantined. Just prayed that hubby will be fine!

Update @ 12 July 2009

Hubby got a call from his HR that the home quarantined has abolished by MOH so hubby is free now! Luckily, hubby still didn't develops any H1N1 symptoms which is good news for all of us.

Should you clean your child's ear?

We were at the Paed again yesterday and this time, Werney has complaint about minor ear discomfort and Anney has developed some kind of rash. Anney's fever has subsided but now it is the rash on her body and nappy area (will blog about this later).

Our Paed told us that he could see quite a fair bit of ear wax inside Werney's ears and the ear wax is blocking her ear drum. He told us he will try to remove the ear wax, provided Werney could sits very still as the Paed needs to use a sharp ear forceps to remove the ear wax.

The forcep look like this....

Of course, my little girl was terrified and I have to try to distract Werney by asking her to look at my face and counting the number of moles on my face and also playing the statute game with both her hands touching her own knees to stop her from moving her hands and arms.

The Paed was quite skilled and all this was done within 5 minutes and Werney doesn't feel any pains. I counted and there are about 8 pieces of ear wax measuring 3-5 mm each. Sorry for being so grossed or if you just had your meal!

Now, Werney could hears us clearly and no wonder, she has been talking so loud at this while! Anyway, our Paed told us her ear drum is okay and there is no sign of infection. The Paed said it could be just the ear wax causing the discomfort and we were told not to use any metal ear cleaner or cotton bud to clean the inside part of the ear (Po Po who was with us yesterday strongly disagree with that idea! According to her, we have to remove the ear wax or otherwise, it will grows more and more.)

Although cleanliness is important for good health, parents should never clean their child's ear canals. According to our Paed, cleaning the ear canals will increases the chance of developing ear infection or inflammation.

Although cotton buds are the most common, bobby pins, toothpicks, and many other objects are also used to remove wax. These misguided attempts at cleanliness scratch the thin lining of the ear canal and could even cause the ear wax to go further inside the ear canal. Nothing, not even cotton buds should be inserted into a child's ear canal. If there is really a need to remove the ear wax, this should only be done by a health care professional lol.

For daily cleaning, our Paed advises us to remove what we can see only at the outside of the ear canal using a moist face cloth!

Baby loves to chew her finger

Anney's Chinese zodiac sign is a RAT and true to say, this little Minnie Mouse loves to chew anything and everything!

We gave her a pacifier when she was a baby as she loves to stuffed all her fingers into her mouth and cause the choking and vomiting sensation. She still does it every now and then, especially when we tried to put her into her playpen or baby cot whenever we were busy and doesn't have time to supervise her. She uses this trick to threaten daddy and mommy!

Recently, we discover that she loves to chew and bite her index finger. As a result of this, her index finger (at times) becomes red and raw and mind you, this Minnie Mouse already has 14 teeth! I even noticed that there are teeth biting marks on her index finger. This poor baby who doesn't seems to feel the pain?

I was also going through some of my picture collections and noticed that there are quite a few shots of Anney chewing her finger.



What could I do to stop this habit? I am already trying to limit her time with pacifier and could this be the reason she is chewing her finger now?

Mama

Today is one of my happiest day.

My little girl said Mama. Yes, Anney could finally said Mama. I thought I heard it wrongly the first time and asked her to repeat a few times. Ha, even asked DH to listen and confirmed that. Then, DH asked Anney to say Papa and she smilingly shake her head to indicate NO. This little girl is quite a cheeky mouse.

Anney's speech is picking up real fast and she can repeats quite a few words after us like hello, bear, cow, duck etc. I think she would probably be another chatter box like her sister soon.

By the way, Anney is down with fever and acute tonsillitis. Our paed has to gave her antibiotic, throat infection syrup and ibuprofen because her temperature was 39 degree celcius. Although she has fever and don't really have appetite but this cheeky mouse is still active as usual. She still climbs everywhere and mess up the house with her toys and books. And poor Mama has to be the "kakak" to clean up the house when all of them go to bed!

Anney is napping now and I really hope her fever will subsides soon.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

It's my mom and the girls' grandma birthday today. Mom will be turning 57 today. Happy Birthday Mom! We love you.

Most of my family members & in-laws' birthday fall in the second half of the year except Sis#3. So from now onwards....there will be many dinners and cakes to savour!

I bought mom an Esprit convertible bag where you can hang over your shoulder or sling it. I think it is great for travelling or even a trip to the shopping mall with my girls to leave my mom's hands free. Will put up some photos later.

As it is a weekday today, I will only take mom out for dinner after work and follow by cake cutting. Werney get overly excited today coz' it grandma's birthday and she already told my mom that she will blow the candle and cut the cake together with my mom (as though it is her birthday!). Well, Werney really adores my mom.

Hope to be able to leave office early today.