the walk into parenthood

Starbucks freak

2013-12-12T23:52:00.003+08:00

I didn't know since when I've become a Starbucks junkie. Every morning I have this thought that my morning would be totally perfect if I could get on hold of hot steaming Mocha.

*why starbucks you no near my house?"

or

*why starbucks you no delivery?"

And since I frequent Starbucks outlet at Setiawalk quite a lot (actually I purposely make excuses to go there all the time, hah!) I bought myself a tumbler. Can't wait for my tumbler coming back from US which I asked my cousin to buy for me.

A nice Starbucks tumbler :)

And with this tumbler I could get RM2 discount. Pretty cool heh?

Bought it few weeks ago at Sunway Pyramid. They insisted on wrapping it although I said it's ok. Why waste a wrapper when you know you gonna ripped it off the next moment right?

Nice eh. Like it so much. Even Caleb said he want to bring this water tumbler to school.

80 bucks tumbler to school?

No way hosey....

Bonda Villa 1st Anniversary Birthday

2013-11-14T14:21:00.002+08:00

As many of you know I did my last confinement at one of the most prestige confinement centre in town and that is Bonda Villa.

The first 100% breastfeeding friendly confinement centre located in Kota Kemuning. Their package, well.....not really cheap but hey, if you do the calculation yourself with 6 organic/healthy meals a day, 24hours nurse service, lactation consultant and relaxing resort/villa 'feel', it's worth it.

I know what's running through your mind right now....hehe, I'm not rich myself and definitely not rich man's tai tai (wife) **chuckles** although that was my childhood dream*

What I can say is I'm very very lucky that I stumbled upon this place accidentally when I was 4 months pregnant, bought Gina's book on breastfeeding months before at Fabulous Mom and was ecstatic when I found out the Gina actually own this place.

That means I'm sure I will have 100% success in breastfeeding my baby. Why? Because it stated in term and condition that there will be NO formula-feed throughout the centre. Wow.... isn't this a good news or what? Hahaha....no one will sneakily feed my baby with formula milk behind my back. Well, that's what happened to Caleb previously during my confinement. *cough-milfeedformulabehindmyback-cough*

And since they had this new opening promotion price, it's really REALLY worth it! But you know how Chinese/Malaysian mentality about 'cheap thing no good, good thing no cheap' philosophy. We were in doubt, of course. Jk actually drove me to the stated address and check the place out. Indeed, the place exists. :) Pheewwww..... and they're really good! I enjoyed my stay very much.

Last month, they were celebrating 1st anniversary and I was invited! Haha....Gina still remembered me. Well, how could she forget? Me and one of the mommy rummaging their refrigerator for foods during our stay.

Always. (*wink to Lauren Lai)

Pictures above: The celebrating cakes and 2 leng lui si tau pohs. (Pictures taken from Bonda Villa Facebook)

I'm so happy able to see all of them again. Especially Lauren, Sherry, Gina and Shirley, the 2 si tau poh. Because of them, I'm still breastfeeding Caven. Woww.....never I thought I can breastfeed for this long.

The nurses missed Caven so much and they even nicknamed him, 'Mr. Handsome'.

Generous Gina even gave us a copy of her 2nd edition Love Breastfeeding book. I know I don't need it anymore but hey, I can lend it those who need it right?

For those who are serious about breastfeeding should get a copy of this book. It is very informative. Everything you want to know about baby, breastfeeding positions, breastmilk nutrients, breastmilk storage, how much baby needs milk, why baby's crying......it's all in the book.

Now I'm looking forward for our next meeting. Birthday celebration in December!

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Oven bake chicken wing

2013-10-29T17:17:00.001+08:00

Oven baked chicken wings for tea time. No wonder I can't shed off my fatty flabby tummy. Fml

Anyway, this is seriously delicious man! And this is the 3rd time I made it. No recipe or whatsoever. All ingredients put in just according to 'feeling'. Haha.... "mmmm, today I feel like putting in salt, pepper, sugar, teriyaki sauce, soya sauce and garlic oil". I marinade it for 2 days in the fridge. Not that it needed that long time but I kinda forgot about it after I chunk it in fridge. Talking about memory lost eh?

Anyway, ....

Back to the chicken wing ;)

Pre heat oven to 150C, coat with some corn flour before putting it in the oven and bake for about 1h to 1h30m.

After it done, drizzle some honey on top and eat while it still warm.

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Pedi-mani for rotten feet

2013-10-29T15:13:00.001+08:00

My boss was so nice to me and approved my half day leave last friday. Nola, not half day, just a few hours because Caven needs his fix after he woke up from his nap.

And so I went for pedicure manicure session, pampering my feet, beautify myself and what's not....wtf hahaha. Anyway, should go for facial session too as my face was slightly 'yellowish' if you get what I mean.

Anyway this is the most relaxing moment I ever had. I nearly dozed off sitting on the sofa with someone fiddling with my feet. Soooooo nice. Done some nail art as well. RM6 per toe. Not bad right? Of cox you can do for all the toes but considering need to fork out RM50 for it, nevermind thank you very much. I guess I can live with 2.

I need to do this once every month! :)

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Dinner in room

2013-10-22T00:12:00.001+08:00

I ate my dinner in the room just now with the door shut, away from Caven's sight. Haha....why? Because my sticky little pacat is so clingy on me till I can't sit on chair because he'll climb up the chair to my lap. I can't stand and eat because he'll climb and hanging on my leg, pulling my pant down. At last, the father came and carried him away but he cried yelling his lungs out and his eyes kept on looking into my direction. So what to do? Hide in the room and eat lor.

Well, not really complaning about him sticking to me but at least can let me do my basic necessity? Like pee, poo, bath, eat and drink?

Darling ar darling......why you so sticky one?

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Caven's 10 months development

2013-10-11T15:53:00.000+08:00

Little brother Caven is 10 months now and in another 2 months, he'll be celebrating his first birthday. I'm still contemplating whether we want celebrate it. Where to do it? Small party? Home? Kl or Bentong? Gahhh.....How ar?

Anyway, this little fella is growing up fast and is just as cheeky as his brother. He'd quietly crawled to the bathroom or kitchen without me noticing it. The moment I realised his disappearment and called out his name, he would turned his head, flashing me his million dollars smile, continue with his crawling agenda heading forward, only this time, twice the speed followed by loud shriek. You say la, cheeky or not?

"Ah Di ar (short from from di di, means little brother), why you so cheeky one?"

Hahaha.....Using short form is breath-saving, considered we need to call his him thousand times a day (*wink eye).

Some updates on his development:

Teething
Oh yes, he's teething now which explained why he is pooping 3 times or more in a day. Big explosive one, mind you. And yes, it stinks to the core!

Got this picture in the Internet. Currently there are 2 teeth at bottom are sprouting. Symptoms: Whiny, clingy, sticky....mmm...not sure. He's been like that for the longest I can remember :) so, I'm not really sure if these are the symptoms.

Sleeping

He slept 3 times on weekday and 2 times max on weekend. Why? Because Caleb doesn't need to go to school, that's why. Caven just did not want to close his eyes when his big brother is around. Awwww.....isn't that sweet? Hahaha...not really when I have to deal with 2 whiny kids later in the evening. Caven would be all cranked up due to overly tired and Caleb throwing big tantrums out of no where. *__*

Caven's morning nap is around 9ish and he'd nap about half an hour to 1 hour, depending on what time he woke up that morning. In the afternoon, at around 1pm or 2, he'd nap again for about 2 hours and a quick one late in the evening. Sometimes, he would skipped this round (especially when Caleb came back from school) but he'll be cranky later on and I've to tuck him early for bed, say around 7:30pm - 8pm.

No more carrying him to sleep (thank gawd!) instead both of us lying down on bed with him crying, climbing all over me before he found a comfortable spot to doze off. Haaiii.....better than carrying la.

If I'm lucky, he'd wake up 2 times at night. On bad, bad day, he's wake up 4 times or is it 5 times.....until I lose count in a night! Most of the time I dream-feed him and he just suckle suckle suckle himself to sleep again. I'm just glad I've boobies. Can't imagine I need to wake up, make milk and carrying him back to sleep 4 times in a night. *Shudder shudder*

Motor skills

*self-feeding

His motor skill in picking up food is excellent. Haha....thanks to all those little finger foods that I bought for him.

This Happy Puffs is great. It's organic, bland (but slightly sweetened with fruit juice), crispy and mess-free. This is the 3rd bottle that I've bought for him so far.

This is how it looks. Little pieces just right for little fingers.

With his fore finger and thumb, he can feed himself effortlessly. This is really crucial especially when we eat out. I just plonked him up on baby chair, scattered a few finger foods for him on the sticky mat and he just helped himself picked up one by one and put it into his mouth. Ahhhh....bliss. We can eat peacefully now.

This is another one of my favourite. It is brown rice cakes and slightly bigger in size. Caven takes more time gnawing into it thus giving us little more time in finishing our meal. It tough being a parent, ya' know?

This is another one of my favourite. This is Heinz teething rusks and it's as hard as a steel. Caven took ages in finishing one whole stick and would leave ample of time for us during dinner. But, the only downside is at the beginning, Caven can't really bite into it because IT IS REALLY HARD. Sometimes he'd whine a little and getting impatient. He actually need to drown that stick with his own saliva to soften it before he can start gnawing. Hah....noticed how I like to use the word 'gnawing'? LOL....like a rabbit and yes, he is as cute as a rabbit :D

A peek in to his foods when we eat out. One of the must have item in my diaper bag apart from diapers.

*Crawling

Caven has been crawling on four cruising everywhere he fancied for more than few weeks now. I think way back when he was slightly more than 9 months old, he started to crawl with tummy off the floor. At the beginning before he mastered the skill, he already been an impatient baby. He would crawled so fast before his hands could bring him forward thus he stumbled and knocked his head. No need to guess what followed next..... Uhhhhwahhhhhh!!!

*Standing

At slightly more than 6 months old, he first started pulling himself up to stand in his baby cot and smiling cheekily. Other time, I caught him standing and bending over his toy basket rummaged through his toys.

Now at 10 months old, he managed to stand independently for a bout 3 seconds and we're waiting for him to take his first step forward.

Meals

He's taking 2 to 3 times solid in a day and still breastfed him by latching on directly every 3-4 hours in the day and countless times at night.

He loves fruits such as apples and bananas and often I cooked and blended it together with his millet for lunch and dinner. He hates salmon thou. Once I popped a cube of Salmon into his porridge and he didn't want to open his mouth. So I thought maybe it the new food/new taste to him, cannot accept it yet. Fine, I tried for 3 consecutive days and he didn't eat more than 3 spoonfuls each meal. Hahahaha....ok, he won. I stopped cooking salmon straight away much to his father's delight.

I'm so busy and being able to write such a long post required me one week to complete. You know, before I could finish another sentence, I've already heard somebody yelling at the background. Like right now.... :)

Caleb's school project

2013-10-08T16:07:00.001+08:00

Yesterday Caleb brought home one of his school project. He was so excited when he saw me and started telling me about it.

Caleb: Mummy, see? I got a plant. It have leaves, stem and roots.

Mummy: Wahhhh. ... that is nice. Who helped you growing it?

Caleb: Teacher helped me. But my plant want to die already.

Mummy: Hahahaha (I don't know why but I found it hilarious hearing the word 'die' from a 4 yo)....yes, your plant is almost dying.

Caleb: Ya, it wilted.

Wahhhhh...... wilted wor. The word 'wilted' coming out from a 4yo. I don't even know that word exist when I'm 4yo.

Sometimes he's really amazed us with his words like a few months ago he told us about the 7 continents in the world.

Hahaha.....I guess paying RM800 a month is kinda worth it :)

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Sunset

2013-09-26T13:25:00.001+08:00

These are a few pictures sunset pictures I took from my balcony.

It's beautiful, isn't? But not if it made my house on fire each time. Soooooo hot!

Silly thing I did

2013-09-12T20:39:00.001+08:00

I love sushi but I don't eat sashimi. Be it salmon, tuna, octopus, squid or anything that is raw. It just feel weird to me munching on a bunch of cold uncooked sea-creatures.

So, the other day, jk's friend said he got some delivery for us (or for me to be exact because jk don't like Japanese food). So I thought "oh yeah! Sushi!!"

The moment I saw that plastic container with a row of sushi in it. I was like "hah!! Eeeeee!" Why? Because everything in there is raw. Gahhhh........

I can't throw it away. Wasting ma....just think about all kids in Africa who don't anything to eat. So, I pan-fried them. Hahaha.....

All cooked and I ate them. Not really nice though and it tastes weird. Well, I guess they were supposed to be eaten raw, not pan-fried! :)

What we did in Bentong last holiday

2013-09-10T17:26:00.000+08:00

Last school holiday, we went back to my parent's house and stayed there until school reopen. I forgot to let the teachers know that Caleb won't be going for daycare because apparently they still have daycare during the whole stretch of school holiday. Received an SMS from the school principal saying all of them missed Caleb so much. Haha...of cox, the 'haywire guy' aka 'holland guy' wasn't there creating a mess!

Anyway.........

This is what we did.

My cousin's family came and stayed for a few days. Brought my cousin sister around for Bentong food and she likes it very much and every year like a routine, these are on her to-eat-list.

Bentong Wan Tan Meen. This wan tan meen should bring shame to all wan tan meen in Klang Valley. The noodles are springy with no alkaline whatsoever. Dark soya sauce is super fragrant and super nice and the char siew.....mmm....I love the char siew nonetheless. But for some people who like caramelize char siew would find this like a tree bark but still, I like it. Hee hee....talking about weirdo. And oh ya, if you want to find the best wan tan meen in Bentong, forget about Hoi Kee. They are over-rated, crowded to the max and be prepared to wait for 30 minutes before you could got on hold of a table and seats and another 1h for a bowl/plate of wan tan meen. Spare me, pluhlizzzz....

Wan tan meen @ RM3.80

Another must have. Pan meen or 'mein fun cha kuo' as what the local called it. The anchovies soup was delicious with firm texture noodles. Definitely is a must-have....oh, did I just repeat that? Heh heh....

I tried to order this every time I came back to hometown and I always too full to eat it. This is roti bakar but the local called it 'siew suet yau'. Siew of course means 'bakar' or toasted and suet yau means butter. So, it's basically is kaya and butter toasted bread.

What's so special about it anyway? Mmmm.......nothing special. But I like it very much :) The kaya is fragrant and the butter is melting on the way to your mouth. Blocks and blocks of butter melting simultaneously.

In the afternoon, we went to OldTown White Coffee. Nothing particular. Just chit-chatting with my cousin sister while Caleb was on the Iphone and Caven 'koala bear'-ing on me in baby carrier. Oh, I super love my Boba 3G carrier now. I don't think I can live without it. My life saver..... Works very well if you have a leechy baby like me.

Every trip to Bentong will only be completed when my cousin sister get to taste the old favourite nasi lemak and spicy chicken chop. One thing about the nasi lemak is it comes with a very very spicy sambal and alot of onions. I always love onions in my sambal. Soft, tender and fragrant chicken curry and sambal sotong. Topped up with a nice hat, in this case is half cooked egg. Believe me if I said I can't find something like this in Klang Valley nor in Penang. SJ, agree? >.<

Somehow, I need my nasi lemak fix....NOW!

Next up, my childhood favourite. A very simple, nothing fancy, old school chicken chop with french fries, fried egg with chilli sauce. I'd trade this for myBurgerlab anytime. I love this for as long as I can remember, over 20 years ago, perhaps? My cousin sister love it too, being hooked on it ever since I introduced to her.

If you happen to visit Bentong and wonder what in this small town could offer? Drop me a mail and I try to 'korek-korek' the address or maybe direct you to there, ok?

After my aunt and family went back, I got another 1 week to stay at my parent's house. Reason being: still holiday ma..... So, I brought Caleb for his hair cut. Oh yes, no more messy fringe and curly maggi mee. So leng chai.

On one of the day, I just left the little leech at home, asked my mom to look after him and I took Caleb for some cakes at Secret Recipe. We get to talk a little, eat cakes and of course play games together with my phone. Just a simple activities makes him a very happy man.

Since we got a lot of free time at home and gadzillion darn flying mozzie around in the living room, most of the time we spend a lot of playing, jumping, shrieking, hugging and making funny faces in room. Aaaahhh.....a bliss.

And that what we did last holiday in Bentong. The next school holiday should be in December, I pressume? :)

Spot the difference

2013-08-22T12:33:00.001+08:00

At 8 months old - Caven

Caven glued/stuck to me like a leech every moment, every day. He can't bear to see me out of his sight even for only 2 seconds. The moment I put him down, he started to wail almost immediately, crawled to me pulled himself up while gripping hard on my pant. For a moment, I thought I was having a third breast to deal with. Imagine I got a third breast weighing 7kg. Hahahaha.......

Anyway, I took both of these pictures yesterday. Note the difference? On the left is his 10 minutes bathing time versus mine.

so pity right?

I'm definitely show him this picture when he grow up.

I'm the mosquito-slayer

2013-08-17T23:10:00.001+08:00

My parent's house is badly infested with mosquitoes. Real bad. These blood-suckers are everywhere especially in bathroom. I guess because it cooling, damp and dark in there. Just imagine when you go inside the bathroom, there are 20 over mosquitoes flying all over you. Arghhh....... I just have the urge to squash everyone of them into paste.

I remembered when i was young, my brother and I used to compete on who got the most numbers of mosquito and both of us would parade our 'result' on tiles in the bathroom. Of course my brother win every time. What's not? He is taller and has bigger hands than me. Of course la right?

That picture is my self-proclaimed-victory. With my bare hands filled with foam, I caught 18 blood-suckers in less than 10 minutes. I feel good!

See if I could catch another batch tomorrow.

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Little angku @ hometown

2013-08-14T23:37:00.001+08:00

As usual, when there's school holiday, we are back to my parent's house. And as usual, my mom would cook a lot of stuffs at home enough to feed a whole loot of army.

My mom made this the other day and I ate 3 at one go. Burrppp......full. This is called angku, in this case is 'chehku' because it's in green color. My mom blended few strands of screwpine leaves and juice out the essence. The aroma was intense. I likey.....

Notice the mold? Well, that is family heritage mold which will not be traded for anything in this world. It's so unique and classic and I believe I can't get it anywhere now. This is so rare and beautiful. Just told my mom to keep it for me although mmmm......I haven't mastered the skills of making angku yet. Don't care, I shall keep it under my bed first. Hahaha....

Caleb's 4th Birthday Celebration

2013-08-06T12:28:00.001+08:00

Arggghh.....this is soooooo backdated. I'm suppose to post this up on 24th July, a day after Caleb's birthday and now I'm still stuck at this post. Most of the time, I don't even have time to touch my lappie, what's more to blog. Anyway.....

It was Caleb's birthday ~~yesterday~~ ~~last week~~ two weeks ago (blehhh) and as usual I made him a birthday cake as I always did every year. This time a red velvet birthday cake. How nice is that? But juggling between a crying-whining-leechy-baby-who-just-want-to-stick-with-his-mommy and baking was indeed a challenging task.

This is the birthday cake for the birthday boy. It look so 'homemade', right? There were a lot of flaws on the cake if you look closely but I guessed the most important is the face on my birthday boy. His eyes lighten up when he saw this and that was priceless!

A few accompaniment of red velvet cupcakes with flags made from washi tape. I really fell in love with washi tape already! However, if you noticed, the papercups detached itself from the cake and honestly it looked hideous. I did around 20 cupcakes but only 9 of them looked presentable. Why ar? Anybody know why? (*scratching head*)

This time, for the first time he has the whole crowd to celebrate with him because he was celebrating it in school. Oh boy! He was soooo happy and for the first time he woke up before 7am. That was a record because normally we need to drag his fat bum out from the bed, spend 5 minutes just telling him to brush teeth and another 10 minutes asking him to finish up his milk.

The happy birthday boy!

I know he has been dreaming of sitting there for the longest time, in fact maybe every kid. It does feel special when you're sitting on special chair where you got a birthday cake with your name on and everybody singing birthday song to you.

I asked him if he wants to take some pictures with his friends and he said yes. How could he resists?

Everybody is sitting on chair singing birthday song. Cute little people...

This become his signature post. Must have to 'V' sign. Mmmm...where did he learn this from? I don't know.

Cutting the cake and grins on his face.

We picked him up after his daycare and went to Sakae Sushi for dinner. His favourite 'frog sushi'. He love it so much. Probably because of the kid's set bowl that there are providing have frog face on it. I don't know, just guessing..... :)

After dinner, the father brought him to games arcade for some fun. You know, doing guy's thing. Like basketball.... mmm.... I guess if I have a girl, I would definitely bring her for pedicure and manicure on her birthday. Hah!

We had another birthday song singing and candle blowing moment back at home. I have a few more cupcakes and decorated it. Bahhh...I need more improvement on my decorating skill.

Caleb was so happy. He even asked my if he could have another birthday tomorrow. Hahaha.....

Lack of updates

2013-07-20T16:29:00.003+08:00

It's been a week since my mil gone back hence explained the lack update.

Having say that I'm still well, alive and kicking managing housework, laundry, partially cooking and cleaning and of course simple baking. Thank god Caleb had started daycare since a month ago that kinda took of some 'pressure' off my shoulder.

And now there's no Monday blue for me, instead I have Saturday and Sunday blues. Hahaha......because that is the time when Caleb hoo-haa jumping around at home and sometimes I have to manage both of them alone. Last Sunday I told jk "Gosh....I'm famished. Luckily tomorrow is Monday" wtf lol.

For the past one week, every morning after we dropped off Caleb at school, we proceed for breakfast with Caven stuck on me like a koala bear. Most of the time, he sleeps snugly in the Boba 3G baby carrier.

Last week, we had Chicken Rice at BBQ Soon Hing. Apart from nice charred BBQ Char Siew and Siew Yuk and of course roasted chicken, they have a very nice springy Wan Tan Meen as well.

We ate this at 8:30am. Would you eat something this heavy for breakfast? :)

Belated Father's Day

2013-06-29T11:59:00.002+08:00

This post is wayyyy back on Father's day.

I bought a voucher from Groupon site for 3-day children's holiday programme consists of art and craft, cooking and Dance class at only RM69.

Mmmm...3 classes for RM69 seem worth it, right? The only downside is we have to drive all the way from Puchong to Mutiara Damansara to attend it. That is, I don't know, like 25km away?

Anyway, I called them up and booked a slot for Caleb on the father's day weekend. I asked if I can book 2 slots in a day and surprisingly they said ok because in their terms and conditions, it stated they only allowed 1 class/day. Pheww.....save time and petrol on that.

So, Caleb attended dance and art class. I didn't take any pictures on the dance class because apparently Caleb was too shy (can you believe it? he's shy wor) to join in with all the kids dancing. He just cling with me on the floor watching them dancing. Great, there goes my RM23.....

The next class is art and craft class. I went in with him and he's ok sitting on the chair and listen to instructions. I let him settle down and left him after a few minutes told him that I'll be outside should he need ~~to see my face~~ me.

Hi baby, mami is here! Took this picture just outside the room in the waiting area.

Good, he is concentrating. Luckily he didn't jumping up and down or going haywire like that.

The theme that day was 'A gift for father's day', so this is it. The end product..... beautifully wrapped up in fishy warping paper.

It is actually a book. Cute huh.... shirt with buttons and necktie.

Probably next year (MAY!) I'd get him going for another round of art and craft class :)

Hazey Dazey

2013-06-27T20:50:00.001+08:00

The haze was so terrible few days ago. We closed all windows and hibernated inside our house for 5 days. Even that I got itchy in my throat and eyes. Caleb was down with running nose, coughing with phlegm and nose blocked at night.

This 2 pictures was taken from my 11th floor apartment. It was so bloody scary. I can't see things that I would normally see. Everything is so blur, dark, sad, gloomy....exactly like doom day!

I don't like it. I can't breath properly and got really paranoid. Is the door closed? How about the window in the bathroom? Should we get face mask? Should we get another air purifier? Caleb, drink water!! Boiled a lot of chrysanthemum tea and paranoid in getting everybody to drink it.

I was praying for rain to come. I never like rain. I mean rain is wet, messy and dirty and I can't get anywhere without getting my shoes and feet wet.

But I appreciate rain now. Please, let it pour.......

At last, it rained yesterday and we were so happy. I wish we could go out jump and dance in rain but that would be a very bad idea. Rain water at this moment contained a lot of chemical, I pressume?

So, today, the sky looks so clear. I can see clouds and sunshine. Light blue sky, white cloud......oh!

It hits me how we always took thing for granted. Nothing is forever. The air we always breath in, the rain which pour like dog shits, the freaking sunlight which burns my skin.....everything.

Now I appreciate them a lot more. :)

And oh, found this video in youtube and it quite hilarious. Enjoy!

The little story of the little Caven

2013-06-21T23:20:00.000+08:00

Caven oh Caven....You are officially 6 months now. How time flies....

Mami remember how excited we were in the morning of 10th Dec 2012. Me and your dadi had our breakfast at Oldtown White Coffee (what's new,right?) at 9am. We went to hospital after our brekkie but the person who gonna pull you out said mami was suppose to stop eating at 9am. Mami argued with him saying that he gave the wrong information but he insisted he did not. Oh well, better shut up or else mami's stitches is going to be like 'Frankenstein'.

Instant noodle with sausage and fried egg and Ice white coffee.

Mami remember how mami was being tied down with devices showing your heart beat on the monitor, on the bed, waiting anxiously for your grand arrival.

Mami remember how tiny you were when you first came out. You smile at mami for the first time and mami's heart just melted because you are so beautiful. You got a perfect fingers and perfect toes. You got a lot of hair and that's what makes mami happy the most. You really look exactly like kor kor, except of the hair part. :)

You @ 2 days old

Mami remember how kor kor first met you in the hospital. He was so excited because he knew you got a big present waiting for him.

You @ 1 day old

You were constantly fed with formula milk by the nurses because they claimed you were a big, fat, heavy eater baby and your mami got no milk. (Please la, just give some time for the milk to come in, wil'ya?) Thinking back, you are fat, aren't you suppose to have alot more reserve?

And your paed in Sunway Medical Center was telling us you got don't-know-what-sort of medical problem/infection that needed to stay in nursery all night to monitor your face (they said you face turned blue once and that's enough made mami and dadi shat in our pant). They kept you there for the whole night and mami didn't have the chance to breastfeed you.

You were put on drips for antibiotic. Mami hates it because they put a big arse needle into your tiny hand. Mami heart broke into thousand pieces. After 3 freaking days, you turned out to be ok.

Dadi whisked us to Bonda Villa Confinement Centre on the 4th day. The best confinement centre ever because mami got to breastfeed you with the correct way. Thanks to Auntie Gina and Auntie Shirley. But since you were fed with a lot of formula milk in the hospital by the nurses, you latched on poorly and that resulting in getting not much milk and mami got sore nipple. You didn't poo for the longest 10 days and your pee was minimal. But we kept on trying and mami kept on latching you without fail and finally everything is fine. There's pee (wooopie!) in your diaper and there's POO (*doing breakdance at the background*) and mami was so so happy when mami saw your poo. Best poo ever! Oppss....forgot to take picture.

Anyway...

Mami had the best confinement there with 6 meals a day, soft comfy bed, met with other mommies and you were really well taken care of.

Breakfast on bed.

Some of the great mommies. Auntie Lauren Lai and Auntie Sherry. We are still keeping in touch with each other and even planned for a yearly gathering. Every year on the December because that's when our baby celebrating birthday. Niceee....

Mami's wide spread of foods for lunch and dinner everyday.

Mami even found you a girlfriend! Hi Olivia......!

You @ 2 weeks old

Your electrical eyes never fail to melt mami's heart.

You @ 1 week old

Your first outing to Sunway Pyramid shopping mall. We didn't expect to bring you out so soon but since CNY is just around the corner and mami desperately needs some new clothing. Mami don't think mami can fit into any of mami's clothing in the wardrobe anymore.

You @ 2 months old

Mami remember your first laugh on the couch. Dadi was not around to witness this. Oppsss....too bad.

You @ 2 months 2 weeks

We balded you when you were 3 months old. Your dadi doesn't want in the first place but your hair was really spiky and dropped quite a lot. Maybe we were quite naive in thinking that you might have a good night sleep after you were bald :) Nope, it didn't happen. You still woke me up 4 times.

You @ 3 months old

Mami remember you did your dolphin flip when you were 3 months 3 weeks old at Ah Ma's house. You were so cute because you always yelled for help everytime your hand stuck underneath. Mami helped you each time, well almost. Sometimes mami just sit at the back and chuckled at you. :)

You @ 3 months 3 weeks old.

Literally you were all over the place when you were just about 6 months old. Boy, you can crawl really fast. 2 weeks later, you were cruising around the house without much struggling. Mami can foreseen you will be just like wind in no time. "Now you see me, now you don't"

You @ 6 months

You just started your first solid food few days ago. Mami made you a avocado puree with a little bit of breastmilk. You like it. In just 3 days, you were gulping it down like a pro!

You @ 6 months 2 weeks

You are one amazing baby and mami hope mami can witness more of your 'first time' in time to come. May you will be bless with good health and happiness.

Love you baby!

Product Review: PIGEON Sakura Baby Toiletries skincare range

2013-06-12T16:46:00.005+08:00

*This is a sponsored post

Few months ago, I was invited to do a product review on Pigeon Sakura Range Baby Toiletries, their latest range in skincare products.

I've been using Buds baby products ever since Caleb was born and continue using it on Caven. For skincare I would to go for organic and natural, free from harsh chemical such as Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS), Sodium Laureth Sulphate (SLES) (which widely used in personal care products such as soaps, shampoo and toothpaste) parabens, mineral oils, petrochemicals and so on.

So, when I was approached by Pigeon Malaysia to review their products, I did a quick check on the website about the ingredients. I was quite happy because of their reputable brand, their products are free from chemical contents, no paraben, sulphates and coloring agents. Best of all, this is the Sakura range where they are using natural Sakura extract that has many benefits on skin. One of them is anti-inflammatory properties which suitable for sensitive skin and ezcema.

I received the whole range of Sakura skincare product which consists of Baby Wash 2-in-1 (200ml), Baby Shampoo (200ml), Baby Milky Lotion (200ml), Baby Oil (200ml) and Baby Powder (200g). All were nicely packed in flowery cloth texture packaging.

This is when whole army lining up one by one.

Can you guess which of the 5 that I was eagerly to try out? Oh yes, Pigeon Baby Wash 2-in-1. As a ~~lazy~~ busy mother anything stated 2-in-1 or 'from head to toe' baby wash got into my first priority. Haha, why? Because one bottle is all it takes when I need to bath my wiggling little 'caterpillar'. Gosh, he can move non-stop. His hands will grab anything within reach and those far from reach, leg and foot come in handy.

- Baby wash 2in1

This is Caven having his morning bath with Pigeon Baby Wash 2-in-1. It came in clear liquid and quite bubbly to use. Only a small amount will do and it lather so well.

And the scent, it smell sooooo good!. Flowery, musky and very earthy scent filled up the whole bathroom almost instantly. It was easily to rinse off and Caven smells so good while his skin feels so soft and stay moisturized. I can't help but pick him up for a sniff throughout the day :)

- Baby Shampoo (200ml)

As Caven's hair is not much and one bottle of Pigeon Baby Wash 2-in-1 is more than enough and can lasts him for quite some time, I used this for Caleb instead. As I said earlier, I am a ~~lazy~~ busy mother (ahemm), I always use 'from head to toe' wash for Caleb and this resulting in his hair feels dry and rough.

I tried Pigeon Baby Shampoo on Caleb and very happy as it rinse off quite easily. After rinse, his hair feels so soft and manageable. Combing his curly hair become so easy nowaday and he didn't run away when he see me coming with a hair brush :)

I like it. Caleb like it. Everybody is happy.

Oh, it smell equally good and most important, it tear-free. I know my son can whine like a girl when something like this goes into his eyes.

- Baby Milky Lotion (200ml)

I don't normally massage my baby because he flips, tosses and turns as soon as he's on his back. So, after bathing Caven, I'd put on his cloth diaper and dressed him up in the speed of lightning. But for the last few weeks, I started to massage him with Pigeon Baby Milky Lotion and amazingly, he calmed down. No more turning and flipping (yeah!). I guess he enjoyed it so much that he decided to stay still for me to ~~molest~~ massage him :)

What I did was squeezed out a 50 cents size on my palm, rubbed it with both hands. Once it got warm, I started to massage him beginning on his forehead, cheeks, neck, chest, both armpits, arms (but not his hands because he stuff his hands in his mouth), tummy and all the way goes down to his butt, both legs and feets. It feels good because it's not sticky at all. It got absorps into his skin so fast and it leaves his skin soft and supple.

Not to mention he smells so flowery too.... haha

- Baby powder (200g)

Caven sweats a lot eventhou he is not consider a big size baby especially skin fold at the back of his neck, nappy areas and his armpits. This Pigeon Baby Powder comes in handy when the mother is ~~lazy~~ busy to do baby massage using lotion. (Hahaha....why la this mother so lazy oppssss....busy one)

I like the texture of this baby powder. It is so fine and easy to apply. The smell is just as same as the other products, musky and flowery. That is why I can't resist to sniff him even when he asleep. Really love the scent.

- Baby Oil (200ml)

Frankly speaking, I don't like baby oil because in my mindset they are greasy, messy and very very oily which explained why I don't normally apply it on both of my kiddos. But I decided to give it a try with Pigeon Baby Oil. I pour a little bit on my palm, rubbed it together and started to massage Caven's chest, tummy and butt and watdayyaknow, it absorps quikly and didn't leave any greasy feeling. Love the scent, as always :)

Sometimes, Caven and Caleb have this flaky/dirty stuff in their inner ears. So, what I did was, I took a cotton bud, dabbed it with a little Pigeon Baby Oil, gently wipe around the areas. After a few rounds of wiping, all the dirty stuffs came off on the cotton buds and leave their ears clean and smell fresh.

Overall, I'm quite happy with Pigeon Sakura Baby products and most important, I really love the scent. Musky, mild and flowery. More reasons to like this products:

Hypoallergenic
Paraben-free
Sulphates-free
Free from coloring agents
pH Balanced
Tear-free (for Baby Wash 2-in1 and Baby Shampoo)
Mild and Gentle

Pigeon Sakura Baby Toiletries skincare are available at all Pigeon counters at Parkson, Isetan, Metrojaya and Sogo outlets in Malaysia.

For more information, please visit their website at Pigeon Malaysia

*Disclosure: I received the above products from Pigeon Malaysia for review. There is no monetary involved and all opinions expressed are based solely on my own.

Food in Bentong (Homecook) - part 2

2013-06-10T16:51:00.002+08:00

Part one is here

Holiday in bentong just mean one thing and that is FOOD! I or rather we (me and Caleb) were stuffed with good foods everyday and I think both of us putting on some weight. My mom's favourite question of the day: "What you want to eat today?" lol. Ain't I lucky?

Anyway, here are some food pictures that I managed to capture. Most of the time I need to glup down as fast as I can because my mom is helping me look after Caven while me and Caleb eat. So, after we're done, only then my mom could eat. She always the one who eat last, all the time. <3>

Fried banana fritter with ice cream. My tea time.....love it! My all time favourite. Anything with banana won me over upside down.

This is Cheah's family (aka my mom's side) recipe for dry-curry prawn. It's a hand-me-down recipe from my maternal grandmother and every siblings in the family know how to cook this dish. Spicy, fragrant and so delicious especially with hot white rice.

Spring rolls with minced pork, chopped prawn black fungus, carrots, mushroom and corrinder leaves. Mixed all together, seasoned with salt, pepper, soy sauce and sesame oil. Rolled up in beancurd sheet, deep fried it and voila....these yummy cute little rascal.

Minced pork, prawn, carrot, black fungus, mushrooms and corinder leaves.

Next up. Bubur cha-cha.

Bubur cha-cha is a sweet dessert made of coconut milk and gula melaka with diamond-shaped yam, sweet potatoes, tapioca flour jelly-like and bananas! Mom said that this bubur cha-cha origin from Penang Nyoya food because there's banana in there. With the banana, I've got to say that it's an excellent combination and leave a kick in my tastebud. You'd find me looking for banana chunks in that pot of bubur cha cha, all the time :)

This purplish color of bubur cha cha is due to dark purple sweet potatoes. It does look a little scary right?

Mom's dumpling. Every year my mom made her own dumplings (bak chang) and trust me if I say my mom make the most delicious kick-ass bak chang. I grew up eating her bak chang and only her bak chang thou I'm not a fan of glutinious rice. It makes me heartburn all the time, wtf. She uses the simplest ingredients which are mushrooms, half-fat pork belly, dried shrimps and yellow bean (not sure what's the name) but she seasoned and stir-fried everyone of them separately. Nice, very nice.....

Cha siew pau - left (BBQ pork steam bun) and tau sah pau - right (red bean bun). My mom can whip this out in 30 minutes as she always have spare red bean paste and cha siew filling in the fridge.

Caleb loves to eat buns so much and he just need to ask "Ah ma, char siew pau?" and it drove my mom straight to the kitchen. Spoilt, spoilt brat, ish ish ish......

Filling oozing out.....mouth-watering ...uh la la......

My mom's signature dish called chye kueh (vegetable dumpling). Ocassionally my mom would make this and give it to her friends and neighbours. Sometimes she would sell them too but depend on who's ordering. She don't do stranger's business, only a few of her close friends.

Kiam chye boi. The leftovers, hokkien style. But actually there's nothing leftover here. My mom basically cooked it and purposely keep it in fridge for a few days. Just because her dear daughter (that's me!) wanted to eat this dish. Sweet, sour, spicy and aromatic because of the big roasted pig trotters in there. Yummmm, thick collagen...oh yeah!

If the above collagen is not enough, fret not because mom cook another round of pig trotter in vinegar and ginger. Oh, so delivishing good!

Say, when is the next school holiday term? :)

The rant of the day - part 2

2013-06-05T17:00:00.001+08:00

I lost it again. 3 tight slaps on the thigh and 1 on the arm. I'm feeling like I'm the worst mother in the world.

*nuff said*

Panic button is ON

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

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The rant of the day

2013-06-01T00:12:00.001+08:00

I don't know what am I going to do with Caleb now. He's such in the mood for 'I can't hear youuu', 'I don't want', 'I know I'm not allow touch that but what if I try to touch just like a little bit like this.....' or 'I know I cannot shout when didi is sleeping but what if I just raise my voice just a little bit like this......' and trust me, there are a lot more =.=

More than often, what I asked him to do fall on deaf ears and thats irked a lot of shit out from me. I ended up screaming my head's off and resorted to cane (which I dislike very much) and performed my kungfu martial arts. Sighhh........

I mean I know kids are rebellious but such a young age at ...... not even 4? He showed me his angry face whenever I tried to displine him. He groaned at me when I tried to reasoning with him. Throwing tantrums is a norm these day. My spark plug just snapped and I went berserk over him.

Believe me it's not a pretty sight.

Just before school holidays, I went over to his kindy and having one on one talk with his class teacher regarding his performance in school. Basically what he has learned, how is he coping with it and his (OMG) behaviour. The teacher commented that he's very intelligent boy and a fast learner but (there is always a 'but') he is very egocentric, talks a lot when teacher is teaching, throwing bad tantrums (yes, even in school in front of teacher) and when the teacher asked him to stand at the corner, he said 'I don't want!' and he sulked.

Sigh....

I love him. I love him with all my heart.

That is why I'm changing myself and I hope by that, he could see some goodness in his mommy. I'm using a different approach now. Whenever he irked the shit out of me, I just closed my eyes and take a deep breath while telling myself "IT JUST A PHRASE", "IT WILL GO AWAY", "HE WILL GROW UP". Or I'll walk away and cool myself for 10 seconds. Or I'll use more softer voice to reason with him.

Eventually when everything failed, I just rubbed my ears and say " whooooosha".......

It's school holiday time

2013-05-29T22:10:00.003+08:00

Yupe, 2 weeks school holiday and 3 of us are having party time at my parent's house. Caleb can watch tv and snack as much as he want because my dad spoilt him like mad. Everything also okla okla. So for me I just have to close one eye lor. What to do...... grandparent need to spoilt and parent need to displine them back. That's the universal law :)

Anyway, since Caven is such a professional at tossing and turning, we re-arrange the beds in my room. Previously queen bed was separated in the middle with single one. Caven sleep alone in the single bed while me and Caleb sleep on the double bed.

Now, we have to put both bed together and got plentiful of pillows and bolsters to barricade the end of the beds. Sigh......I cannot imagine when he started to crawl. Probably I need a metal cage by then....

Caleb is watching Mickey mouse Clubhouse and didi just hovering around.

Our dinner last night

2013-05-20T13:44:00.003+08:00

Oh my, I cooked this for dinner last night. Glory dinner for jk as he loves luncheon meat so so much but I seldom cook that 'poison '. Imagine he was doing 'let's celebrate!' dance.

Anyway, mom in law went back to bentong over weekend and only came back yesterday. Nobody is doing marketing and we got nothing in the fridge except eggs. So, fried eggs and luncheon meat for dinner it is. Hot steamy white rice, dried sunny-side up egg with a pinch of pepper and soy sauce and fried luncheon meat drizzled with chilli sauce. Hahaha.....elegant ya?

For Caleb, I cooked dried scallops porridge and scrambled egg with onion. Yum! Everybody happy.

Toys 'R' Us Warehouse sale

2013-05-18T18:49:00.000+08:00

Last night we went to Toys R Us Warehouse sale at Summit Subang USJ. Saw the poster yesterday in one of the mummies forum and some mummies were posting pictures of their 'catch of the day'. Looks so tempting and cheap! So, WhatsApp jk and he said let's go.

We bought these....

We bought this set of cheap lego-looks-alike brick for Caleb - RM20.

Water spraying frog which Caleb loves soooo much. Normal price is RM14.95 and after 30% discount is RM10.45

Winnie the Pooh Sort 'n Learn Cart from vtech best buy at RM99 (A quick check in the internet, this piece is selling at RM139 for normal price). At first jk was buying this one for his friend's newborn but I hinted why not buying another one for Caven. Hehehe.......and at last jk gave in and said he'll find another gift for his friend instead. Yeah! so, Pooh Bear for Caven.

Stride rite Darth Vader Lighted Shoe for Caleb. Yupe, the bad guy. Normal price at RM179 but was on 50% discount so this is quite a steal. And after Caleb outgrown it, it will pass down to Caven. Hah! another 50%. Dai tou lan lar.....hehe

Something car with lights and music at RM47.90 after 20% discount.

A dollhouse playset at RM55.90 - best buy. If you are asking me what I am doing with this while I have 2 boys at home, I'm going to say that this is for jk's job project. What project I have no idea :)

Some sort of stencils working stuff for Caleb at RM28.70 after 20% discount.

Total damage in Ringgit Malaysia: RM351.45

If anyone of you want to go and check it out, tomorrow, Sunday 19/5/13 is last day ya...