My Happy Boy is turning 3!

I always telling myself and telling people that Hao is a gift from God to me. He came earlier than we have expected. He came when I was not expecting a baby during that time. He is the one who made me believe things happen for a reason. He accompanies me going through the worst time in my life. He made me strong. He made me grow. However he himself does not have an "easy" life when he's still inside my stomach and at the infant stage which I'm not proud of it at all.

Hao at birth.

I was having depression when I was pregnant with Hao. I was worried if that will leave some side effects on him. Instead, Hao was a happy baby. He always made me smile; he gave me strength to come out from the depression. Despite I have experienced breastfeeding Lynn that does not make my breastfeeding journey with Hao much easier. I still remember I had to nurse him every hourly and sometimes every half hourly during second month and it drained all my energy. Even my mental state was at the weakness too as I was very much stressed up and depressed during that time. I almost gave up breastfeeding him. The thoughts came into my mind several times but as I feared I may regret later, I did not give up at the end. And I'm glad I did not give up.

Guess probably this is the only photo I was breastfeeing Hao..... Hao was 7 months old.

I have the most un-forgetful confinement month with Hao, a month full of pain. Before giving birth, baby was pressing at my perineum, causing much pain, even when I was not walking. After giving birth, the pain did not go away immediately. The pain remained with me for another one week, causing me difficult to go up and down the bed, not to mention walking and climbing up stairs. Before I was discharged from the hospital, I was tested super low on iron and the fastest way to boost up the iron in my body was to take the venofer. In total, I had to travel to the hospital 5 times for the dripping. I'm not a person who is scare of needle and injection, but let me tell you to let them poke the back of your hand with a 2 inches long needle into the blood vein is not fun at all. In fact, it was very painful. Especially if the dripping did not flow into the blood vein and the nurse had to poke and poke again to get it right. Each time after the dripping, the back of my hand would be swollen. So after 5 dripping sessions, both the back of my hand were swollen for many days. Each dripping session was about 1 hour, plus the traveling so I would be away from home for at least 2 hours. Since I was fully breastfeeding Hao, I had no choice but to take him along to the hospital if I was expected to nurse him soon. I feel blessed that I received no complain from the confinement lady. She accompanied me to the hospital, helped to take care the boy when I was not required to nurse him.

Hao @ 1 year old.

But I guess whatever pain that I had gone through, cannot compare to his pain when he was merely 2 months old. He scared the hell of all of us when we found out his femur bone was fractured. I would not forget the 4 days spent in the hospital with him. The interrogations from the doctors and nurses; numeral tests that Hao had to go through; and the sleepless night in the super cold hospital ward was like a nightmare to me. I could not imagine the pain he had to go through and he was just a baby. Regardless what's the cause (it's not caused by us or the babysitter), I feel grateful that Hao is healthy and normal now. It did not seem to have left any side effects to him. Although he started walking late, but he can run and jump as other normal children.

Hao @ 2 years old.

Unlike Lynn, Hao did not have a very good babysitter (not in my eye). Hao was not a very friendly baby at the beginning. He would cry when I brought him back to my parents' house. His social skills get improved after I sent him to child care after having enough dissatisfaction with his babysitter during that time. Now Hao is extremely friendly with any adult, to the stage that I got very worry and we have to constantly remind him not to talk to any adults that are not papa and mama's friends. On the contrary, he's friendly to selective children only. He is quite protective when any children get near him.

Hao @ 3 years old.

He likes to smile, but recently he also likes to cry for small little thing. *roll eyes* When come to doing things, like wearing socks by himself, he always lack of confident and require us to give him lots of encouragement and pushing. He's still mostly converse in English but can understand Mandarin and Cantonese very well. He can eat quite a lot if he's in good mood. He loves to jump, always jumping around. He loves to read book, and will repeat the words after me. Of course there will be times he has his moments and will make me start pulling my hair. Anyhow, I just wish he will remain healthy and happy!

Homemade Yogurt

Many years back, one of my Indian colleagues during that time taught me how to make yogurt at home. But I did not make it very often until recently, after all these "no added-sugar" awareness from those formula milk companies. Besides, it is cheaper to make it myself too. :) Both hb and Lynn are huge fans of yogurt.

It is very easy to make yogurt at home.
What you need: -

1. Fresh milk (low fat or full cream also can). Or if you can use milk powder also.
2. Plain yogurt - any brand.
3. Soup bowl, or whatever size that you prefer depending on how much yogurt that you want to make. 

 Steps: -

1.  Pour out the fresh milk, with the amount of about 2/3 of the soup bowl (about 400-500ml), to a small cooking pot. Heat up the cold fresh milk using small fire. No need to wait until the milk is boiled, just make sure it is not cold.  **If you want the yogurt to have some sweetness, you may add some sugar into the milk.
2. Transfer the milk from the small pot into a bowl. If the milk is hot, leave it there for a while until the milk is at room temperature. If you are using milk powder, you can directly mix the milk powder with warm water in the bowl.
3. Add one tablespoon of the plain yogurt into the milk. Cover it and leave it overnight (about 8 hours) at the counter.
4. The next morning, the milk now becomes yogurt. The texture should be something like tofu fa. If it is still watery like milk, leave it at the counter for longer hours. Once you are happy with the yogurt, keep it inside the fridge. The longer hours you leave it at the counter, the more sour it becomes.
5. Scoop up one tablespoon of yogurt to keep it for your next round of yogurt making.
6. Before you serve, add some fresh fruits to the yogurt for flavor and sweetness. We found that banana and mango are the best. If you don't have fresh fruits, you can add some honey and raisins, or Ribena into it.

This is the bowl that I use to make yogurt. This is a little too much milk actually.(This picture is actually showing the milk has already become yogurt. But the level of milk won't increase or decrease after becoming yogurt.)

This is after becoming yogurt with tofu fa texture.

Fresh mango cut into cube. For the amount of yogurt that I made, a medium-large size mango will do.

This is after adding the mango into the yogurt. It's too full, that's why I said I have used a little too much milk here. :) Serve it on cup or small bowl and keep the rest back to the fridge.

This one is with mashed banana and raisins.

It can last for days inside the fridge. But so far I have not kept it for more than a week. Usually we finish it within 3 to 5 days.

Hope you enjoy the homemade yogurt as much as we do. :) 

Early Father's Day Celebration at Han Lim Seafood Restaurant

This Sunday is Father's Day. However since my parents have to attend a wedding dinner on this Sunday, we decided to have the celebration last Sunday. My SIL brought us to this seafood restaurant in Cheras.

We reached there about 7.30pm. And I was surprised to see the restaurant already full house, with some people waiting for the table too. We waited half an hour for a table for 10 of us (6 adults and 4 children).

There are various type of fish, prawn, squids, crabs available. Choose what you want to eat from here. Put your selection into the basket available. Can you see how big is that garoupa fish?

After that get your selection to be weighted. And tell them how you would like it to be cooked.

We waited one hour for our food to arrive. These are what my parents and my SIL had ordered.

Steam crabs. My parents are not eating crabs, so they ordered 3 crabs only. 600g here and cost us RM27.

.

Curry fish head, with long beans and brinjals. The Garoupa fish head weighted 2.5kg and it cost RM113. It tasted very good and not very spicy. The kids had been asking for it non-stop.

Steam ikan bawal (dou dai chong). It was a little over cooked. Rm35 for 500g.

Squid stir fry with salt and pepper. The taste was not bad but a little tough for the kids. RM18 for 500g.

Steam tiger prawns. The prawns were Very fresh prawn and not over cooked. Too bad only 4 tiger prawn left if not we would get more. I like this dish most. RM81 for 900g. Expensive?

Steam garoupa (the belly part) with bean sauce. RM28 for 500g. The sauce is a little too salty for me.

Fish ball soup. My mom wanted the la la soup but no more la la. So she just ordered this for the kids. I think Hao drank the most of it. Hahaha. RM12 for the soup, which can serve about 10 small bowls.

Stir fry choy sum. I like it very much. All young leaves. RM10 for this one.

We were very hungry after waiting for long. Plus the food was tasted good. We eventually finished all the food above, including that big pot of curry fish head. Hao had a very good appetite that night and kept on asking fish from me. Lynn was not picky on the food too and she ate quite a lot. Despite long wait, we were satisfied with the food. Everyone went home with tummy full and a smile on their face. :)


Han Lim Seafood Restaurant
No. 12, Jalan Midah 12,
Taman Midah, Cheras,
56000 Kuala Lumpur.

Happy Father's Day!

This is crazy!

When my office moved to the current location 3 years ago, I started frequent this Chinese Shop to do my groceries. Since then I hardly shop at hypermarket anymore. I could get butter spread, fresh milk, cheese slice, vitagen, yogurt, baby cereal, jam spread, even those muesli like Dorsett brand one from there. And the price was reasonable too.

However since the shop changed ownership mid of last year, I only buy the fresh milk, vitagen and occasionally yogurt from there. Other products no more available or they are not the usual brand that I used to buy. For example, they only have Mr Potato but no Pringles at all! There are many 3-in-1 drinks available but I could not find Milo powder. And I notice their stock turnover for non-perishable goods are low too. The biscuits that I bought from there were not that crispy and crunchy. Once the snack that I bought from it was already expired! And recently I'm making my own yogurt, so I have stopped buying yogurt totally after they have increased the price. Another reason that I don't like to shop there anymore is unlike the previous owner, the staffs are not friendly. 

The only reason that I still go there is they offer good price on the fresh milk, way cheaper than other place. I used to buy Farmhouse brand for the fresh milk for kids.  However since after changing ownership, the price of Farmhouse fresh milk had increased RM1 per liter to RM7.90, thus I have switched to buy Dutch Lady. They used to sell Dutch Lady Fresh Milk at RM5.50, while Speed99 sell at RM5.75, not too sure the price from hypermarket but I guess close to RM6.

Last week, as usual I went to this shop to replenish the fresh milk supply at home. I was shocked to see the new price is now RM6.20, 70cents more! Straightaway I walked out from the shop and went to the Speed99 near my home and tried my luck there. The new price offered in Speed99 for same fresh milk is RM5.99, from RM5.75. I think this is much more reasonable increment. However the supply of fresh milk in Speed99 is very limited and they don't have new stock coming in as often as compared to that Chinese shop. So it's really has to depend on luck.

I did not survey what's the new price in hypermarket but to me, 70cents increased is too much. My office is going to move soon too, guess no more reason for me to buy anything from that Chinese shop anymore. And I also foresee more fresh milk hunting for me from now on.

Charming Pirate vs Strong Panda

We seldom visit cinema. Mostly just about 2 to 3 times in a year. Both kids do not really like to watch movie. They don't mind sit in front of the TV watching the same Dora or Sleeping Beauty or Barney or other children programs again and again, but not on watching movie that last more than an hour. Usually approaching 60 minutes, they will start telling me to change to another one. So it never comes across us to bring them to cinema. Since not taking them to cinema, means if me and hb want to go for movie, we have to arrange someone to take care the kids. Putting the kids with my parents while both of us go for dating is something that I like to do. I feel guilty about it, instead of taking my parents to cinema, I leave them with responsibility to take care my kids. So we only go to cinema to watch those movies that we really like to watch from big screen.

However early of the year during CNY, we watched Kung Fu Panda at my parents' house. Surprisingly the kids enjoyed it a lot. So I guess maybe it's time for me to bring them to the cinema. Thus early last month when I know that Kung Fu Panda 2 is going to show in the cinema, I told hb we must bring the kids for it.

So 2 weeks ago, we had a chance to visit the cinema. I did not manage to make any booking online. So I expected to wait long on the queue. However to my surprise, they have a priority lane for online booking and Citibank card holders! One family was at the counter and there was nobody queuing in that line! So I happily went there to wait for my turn. And very soon it was my turn. :) Citibank is running a promotion to its card members now - buy 1 get 1 free ticket for weekend show. And weekdays show only cost RM10. However cannot book online, must come to the counter to buy the ticket yourself to enjoy the discount and this is for TGV only. I got 4 of us 2 adults' tickets and 1 child ticket. For 3 tickets I paid RM21 only. Feel so happy! Hehehe. Oh btw, we were not watching Kung Fu Panda 2. Only first row left and the next show was quite late. So I gave Lynn 2 choices - 1. We go home or 2. Watch Pirate of the Caribbean (hb told me earlier of the week that he wanted to watch this movie). I'm sure you can guess what she will choose. ^_^

There was more than 1 hour before the movie. We went to have our dinner, and we even had some time to hang around book shop. Before entering the cinema, I told both of them that it has very big screen inside cinema, and it may be a bit loud. They cannot make noise, cannot tell me halfway they want to go toilet or go home. It is always better I let them know in advance what to expect. We bought a regular size pop corn and 2 mineral waters. I brought them to toilet before the movie started. I tried to persuade Hao to wear diaper just in case as I really do not want to come out in the middle of the show. It is not easy to come out also seeing the seats are quite narrow. But he refused to wear the diaper. >.<

Both kids shared one seat in between me and hb. The starting was quite loud. I saw Hao used both his hand to cover his ear. Lol! Both of them were munching the popcorn. And they seem enjoyed the movie! I noticed Hao kept on focus on the screen (which seldom happens at home!). And maybe due to the popcorn, he kept on asking for water. >.< I was so worried he might need to go to the toilet soon, I was actually trying to stop him from drinking a lot of water and I did not feel good about it! As expected, Lynn told me she's scared. I told her the people won't come out from the screen, it's just like reading story book but this is "watching" the story from the story book. So there was nothing to feel scare about.

Finally the movie finished. Phew! We made it! LOL! The kids said they enjoyed the movie very much, and they wanted to come again. So last week, we brought them for Kung Fu Panda 2, hoping this time we won't miss it. We went to different cinema which less crowded, hoping we could get the tickets. However, front row again! >.< And the next show was 4 hours away! At the end, we decided just get it as hb would not like to come again. This time I did not ask Hao to wear diaper.

Sitting at the front row is not really that bad, as it is not that closed to the screen. However maybe still consider not a very good choice for the kids as they are much shorter than us. Anyway, Hao fell asleep towards the ending of the movie, though it is shorter than Pirate of the Caribbean. Lynn? No change. Told me she's scare. LOL! Scare but still want to come again. Hehehe. Now, whenever we drive pass the big Pirate of the Caribbean poster, Lynn will tell me "Mommy see, pirate! pirate!"

In summary, it was a good family outing. Finally we can enjoy the movie together with the kids, except that me and hb cannot sit next to each other. >.< Maybe I can bring my parents for the next movie outings. ^_^

Read and Share: The Ultimate DVD Bible - Volume 2

Book Description:
A Bible storybook with DVDs to help you share the joy and wonder of God’s Word with the children in your life.

These bite-sized vignettes in book and DVD presentations are perfect for the attention span of little ones, and give parents maximum flexibility to fit any time frame. This volume contains more than 100 beloved Bible stories, including time-honored favorites like Joseph, Moses, Balaam, The Promised Land, Solomon, Elisha, Daniel, Jonah, The Boy Jesus, Miracles of Jesus, Jesus’ Death and Resurrection, and many more.


We actually watched the DVD before reading the book. There are 26 stories in the DVD, all selected from the book. The animation is simple, accompanied with a voice narrating the stories, using simple language. At first I thought the kids may find the DVD dry with hearing the narration most of the time. However they love to watch it again and again. As for the book, I find the story is short and simple, but not too brief. Instead of having one long story, they break it down to many short stories make it easy for young children. Most of the stories are from Old Testament. All pages are accompanied with colorful illustration, with the right font size, the book is very attractive to young children.

So far this is my favorite bible stories for children. I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Note: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”