OMG Pancakes!

Do you like pancake? It was not my favorite until I met my hb and after we have got married. Pancake is not really one of my mom's menu in her kitchen so I seldom eat it. But after tasting the pancake that hb made for our breakfast, I started to love it. Hb was a scout. And he is the type that cannot go hungry. So die die also he would cook something whenever he went camping with the scout team. And the easiest thing to cook when you were camping? Pancake. That's how he started to cook pancake. And since he can make good pancake, why should I bother to learn to make, right? *Wink* (I'm sure you know what I mean, LOL!)

We used to have pancake for our breakfast every weekend. But not so frequent anymore. Our kids do love pancake. Sometimes hb will add raisins to the pancake; sometimes we eat with peanut butter and jam; and sometimes we just eat the plain pancake by itself. And since pancake is selling so expensive outside (I cannot understand a simple food made with the cheapest ingredient with just flour, egg, milk, sugar and some butter can cost so much?), we hardly buy the pancake to eat. I still love the soft yummy pancake made by hb. :)

And when I come across this book from Net Galley, I could not resist not to request it. I have never expect it can be so much fun making pancake!

Title:         OMG Pancakes! SubTitle:   75 Cool Creations Your Kids Will Love Publisher:  Penguin Group (USA) Imprint:     Avery Pub Date:  10/04/2011 ISBN:       9781583334430 Author:     Jim Belosic When Jim Belosic started making pancakes in unusual designs, he was just trying to earn some cool cred with his daughter, Allie. Little did he know how happy he’d make her—and the millions of fans who eagerly await his latest creations on the Internet. Pancake unicorns, beehives, and even bridges, ferris wheels, and construction cranes have all risen to life through Jim’s artful use of squeeze bottles, tasty and nutritious coloring and flavor techniques, and fearless creativity. Now—with a little help from Jim—everyone can turn breakfast into art. Filled with delicious recipes, four-color photos, and step-by-step techniques, OMG Pancakes! will be devoured by families and crafty foodies alike.

Note: The images taken are from the uncorrected advance proof for reviewing purposes and author may make changes on the final printed book.

The book covers the tools required for making pancake.

Recipes for making standard pancake and other types of pancake, for example pumpkin pancakes, banana pancakes. It also tells the natural food coloring used for the pancake.

 The author also shares the tips and tricks, on adding juice coloring to the batter, how to draw with the squeeze bottle, guidelines on cooking etc.

For each recipe, it shows the preparation  needed, step-by-step how to create the pancake shape, and how to fit those pancakes into the plate for the intended shape.

The author has divided the recipes into 5 categories:

• Animals (Real and imagined), Insects, and Ocean Life (e.g. alligator, lion, caterpillar, crab)
• Pancake Food (e.g. bacon 'n' eggs, spaghetti, ice cream cone, hotdog)
• Holiday Themed Pancakes (e.g. pierced heart for Valentine's Day, Easter chick, ghost and pumpkin for Halloween)
• Activities and Adventure (e.g. kite, football, tic-tac-toe, wand)
• Just for Fun (e.g. balloons, earrings and bracelet, flower pot)

I think this book is a must for those dads and moms that love to cook for their little one at home. I'm sure kids going to enjoy eating those pancakes! And you can use your own imagination and creation to come out more pancake recipes for yourself! As for me, I'm going to ask hb to make some pancakes from this book this weekend. :D



Additional info about the Author

Jim Belosic is an advertising and marketing specialist and founder of Belosic, ADG, a boutique advertising firm in Reno, Nevada, where he lives with his wife and two children.

• www.JimsPancakes.com has 25,000 Facebook fans and has received more than two million views there and on YouTube

• Jim and his pancakes have been featured on Rachel Ray

• The perfect gift for the winter holidays and Father’s Day

Note: Note: I receive the ARC of this book from the publisher via Net Gallery. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Falling in love again

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person" - Mignon McLoughlin

I learn about this few weeks ago on a friend's wedding.

I think if I come across it 6 years ago, I won't be able to understand it. I thought I was mature at that time but apparently I was not.

I made mistakes.
I was in pain.
I learn my mistakes.
I paid expensive price for it.
I finally got my lessons learn.
And I changed, as I don't believe in changing others.

I believe - Whatever happened to me, there must be some reasons for it to happen. I may not know the reasons now, but I for sure will learn about it when the time is right.

It's this belief that keeps me moving on one after another challenge that I have been facing.

I also started to think more and more, especially after finish reading a book. Sometimes even a simple romance story also can teach me about forgiving.

 My dear husband,

Thank you for trusting me and having faith on me.

I always amazed by how we feel connected, how we can chat for hours, how we always want to order the same food.

I feel blessed that we are on the same side when come to parenting.

The only regret that I have is unable to love wholeheartedly the other person that you love too, no matter how hard I try.  

Thanks for giving me full freedom to do things that I want to do.

Thanks for never complain I do not really put much effort on the household chores.

Although we hardly celebrate any anniversary or birthday, not to mention receiving gifts from you on those days; however whatever that I asked from you, you always happy to fulfill  my request regardless the price.

Most important is I feel appreciated.

I love you. 

Happy 6th Wedding Anniversary. ^_^

Adjusting to New Schedule

I know I have been very quiet for these 2 months. Not only I write less, I also blog hopping less. One of the reason is I don't get to access internet outside my home. Another reason is the change in our schedule.

Last month, hb has changed job to work in new company. For the first time after 9 years, we are not working at the same place. So no more going to work together using same car, no more doing crochet at the car on the way to work, no more resting or reading in the car whenever there is traffic jam, no more having lunch together too. It is totally a new schedule for all of us, including the children.

Since the workplace is farther, hb has to wake up much earlier than before. Kids also have to wake up early as hb will be sending them to school on the way to work. At first, I was worried if the kids will get sleepy in the school. However I received a very positive feedback from Lynn's teacher. Lynn is a slow person in the morning. She needs longer time to "warm up" after waking up. So waking up earlier means by the time the class started, she will be fully awake and become active. :) Since they need to wake up early, I'm trying my best sending them to bed as early as possible at night. Depends on the time we reach home, the kids may go to bed as early as 9pm, or latest by 10.30pm. And they have to wake up before 7am. Mon to Wed, there is no change for us. My parents will go pick up the kids and we will have dinner at my parents' house. Thursday and Friday me will go pick up the kids and then I will take them for dinner near our house.

After hb started new job, we hardly have dinner together during working days. He works much longer hours in this job. He always come home late and has dinner by himself before coming home. Sometimes he even reaches home after 12am. So now left I pick up the kids myself. Whenever I go pick up the kids, for sure they will ask me where is papa. They are so used to both of us go pick them up together. But now they are used to papa always working late. Instead of asking me where is papa, they will say is papa still working? So most of the time when we are at home, I'm alone with the kids. Not only kids, I'm seeing hb much less nowadays too. Sometimes when he reaches home, I am so tired that I want to sleep. I started missing having lunch together, I miss the time we can chit chat in the car on the way to work and back home. I'm sure the kids miss their papa come pick them up from school too. Because every time when I go picks them up, first thing they ask me is where papa is. And I feel bad that every time I have to tell them papa is working late today. And they don't understand why last time papa doesn't have to work till so late and now has to.

In the past, we hardly call each other as we don't need to. However now, every night I will call him once for the kids to say good night with him. Other time I will sms or skype with him. In the past, we see each other almost 24 hours everyday. Now, sometimes we just manage to see other less than 1 hour in a day excluding the sleeping time. Many times after he comes home, he go to bed right away. If he's not that tired, he will tell me about his work during the day. Sometimes he needs to work during weekend too.

As for myself, temporary I'm helping my friend to prepare the financial statements for her company. The only challenge is I have to use MS Excel to do the bookkeeping manually. It is tedious and very high human error. Anyway, this is just temporary. My schedule will still change. Hopefully I get to settle down soon. And be more active at blogging again.

It's all started from 10 years ago...

Today is Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day brings me lots of memory, both good and bad.

10 years ago (Wow time flies, I feel that I'm so old now! LOL!), hb and I went out for the first time on Valentine's Day. It was my very first so-call Valentine's Set Dinner at a hotel, together with another couple. And that was also the only Valentine's set meal that I ever have. And coincidence, the other couple and we get married on the same year and same month.

3 years later, on V-day too, hb and I registered with the Registrar of Marriage at Thean Hou Temple. We paid RM150 for the group registration.

Few years back, our relationship was at a very rocky state. It happened right before the Valentine's day. So the V-day of that year brought me lots of pain. But eventually we have survived.

Can't remember is it last year or 2 years ago, we had the worst V-day meal. It was a working day. Both kids were with us. We did not particularly go for anywhere for the celebration. We wanted to dine at the western restaurant near our house, but it was fully pack. Both of us did not like to wait long for the food. So we went to another restaurant, serving western food too for our dinner. We have been to that restaurant few times only. Usually this restaurant had very few patrons, as the food were so-so only. But that night, the food was terrible. Hb and I swear that we won't go back there again. And not too long after that, the restaurant closed down.

This year, earlier I was thinking where should we go to dine for the V-day, and was hinting hb I have not received V-day gift for many years. However something unexpected came up last week making us on a very tight budget. We decided not to buy any V-day gift. Tonight follow the usual schedule; we will be having dinner at my parents' house. So it will be just another normal day for us. But more important is we are still loving to each other, we still care for each other, raise our 2 kids together. Nonetheless, we still wish each other

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cheeky papa

Last Thursday, while on the way home, I asked hb to stop by the Chinese shop near our house as I needed to buy milk for the kids. Lynn asked for lollipop. I did not want the kids to get down from the car to the shop with me as I wanted to make it quick, so I asked what lollipop she wants and I would buy for her. She was happy that I agreed to buy the lollipop and did not insist to come down with me. So three of them (hb, lynn and hao) were waiting for me in the car. This happened while I was inside the shop and hb told me about this the next day.

While waiting for me, Lynn saw there was a ride in front of the Chinese shop. Immediately she asked hb to take her for the ride. There was no parking space and hb stopped the car at the road side. So it was not possible to let the kids to have the ride.

Lynn: Papa, I want to sit that one. The kitty cat!
Papa: Er... why do you want to sit that one? The one that you are sitting now (referring to the car as all of them were sitting inside the car waiting for me) is better! It's bigger and can move. That kitty cat cannot move.

Obviously Lynn did not know how to answer papa. She asked for one more time and get no response from papa. Then a while later, she told hb "So sit this one is better-la, bigger and can move, that one just sit there shake shake shake and cannot move."

LOL LOL LOL! I wonder next time the same cheat still work on her or not. LOL LOL LOL!

5th year anniversary

This post is to remind own self not to repeat the same mistakes again.


Today mark the 5th year wedding anniversary for me and hb. We have been dating for 4 years before we get married. Altogether is a 9 years relationship. During these 9 years, we have been gone through many many things - many tears, many talks, many fights, and of course many happy moments too. We had 2 major fights and almost split. First fight led to a 3-months cool down period. Where in these 3 months, we did not talk and we did not go out with each other. Second fight made me depressed for 9 months. It is the worst time in my life and it is a very expensive lesson learn. I definitely would not like to go through it again. It also has changed me to a different person:

1. Set no expectation

In the past, during weekend I would like hb to help out in the housework. However hb always not motivated to do housework, even though he just needs to clean the floor. One task only. While I had to handle other things, like washing, cooking and taking care the kids (they are very attached to me). So I would feel frustrated over hb's attitude. I would blame him for not helping.

But now not anymore. Because I have changed my thinking - this is my house too. Why would I care if hb helps to clean the house or not? If I want it clean, I can just do it myself. I don't have to depend or rely on other person. So I stopped blaming him. I stopped feeling not happy just because of he's not helping. If I'm not too tired, I will just do it myself. He probably is tired too and would like to rest. It's just us living here. So no rush to stress ourselves to keep the house freaking clean. And what do I get in return? Hb will automatically do the cleaning part without being asked for. This means he's more willing to do it without the "stress" from me. :)

2. Move from family focus to self focus and now try to balance it with the kids

I used to do lots of things for other people in the family - hb or the kids. I enjoyed doing things for them, and even willing to sacrifice my limited personal time just for them. I feel terrible when I feel all effort spent was not appreciated. But in fact, I never think of is this what they want. If it is not what they want, of course they won't appreciate it. So I'm making myself getting hurt. Feel stupid right? I learn my lesson and started to keep some personal time for myself everyday. That's how the sleeping late habit started. I realized that without fixing myself, I cannot keep others happy. Without fixing myself, I won't be able to have more energy for others. Without fixing myself, I cannot feel happy. So the me time is important. It also helps me to de-stress after a full day work in the office.

3. Have common interest and stay connect

Hb and I used to go exercise - jogging, gym or swimming when we were dating and also after married before we have any kids. We stopped the weekly exercise routine after Lynn was born. Lynn was very much attached to me and I felt bad had to trouble the parents to take care the baby. With no activities being done together, slowly we didn't feel stay connect with each other. Many times, I did not know what is in his mind. Of course we were still talking. However it is just not the same feeling anymore.

Now we will do some activities where both of us enjoy. Whether we are staying at home, or going out, with the kids or without the kids. We have common group of friends or people that we know. We have common topics to talk about.

4. Support each other

In the past, I gave my support to him using my way. Thinking it was what he need. But now, I learn to support him in the way that how he want it. We give each other full freedom on things that we want to do. He is fine with me going out with friends leaving the kids with him at home.

Right now, I would say we are in a very stable relationship and there should be nothing that can break us apart. Hb is not a very romantic person. So I won't hope for any flowers or candle light dinner. In fact in the past 4 years, there was no celebration on this day at all. But this is not important. Most important is, we still love each other and we want to keep this relationship moving on.

Happy Anniversary to me, and have a nice day to all of you. :)

A quiet weekend

Normally weekend is busy days for me. Busy attending needs and demand from the kids. Lynn will demand for sweets, biscuit, cold drinks etc throughout the whole day as she hardly gets to eat those foods during weekdays. This strict mommy here has a rule that is no sweet and biscuit at night before going to bed as it is bad for the teeth. However, this weekend the house is quiet. My parents wanted to take Lynn to the park on Saturday. So Lynn was staying overnight at their place on Friday night. And the whole weekend Lynn will be with them and my brother family.

Without Lynn around, the house is quiet. No one is shouting or running around. No one is complaining. But still can hear the crying sound. It’s from Hao. :) He’s still with us. He cannot walk by himself yet, and he’s still on breastfeeding. It won’t be easy for my parents to take care of him for long period without me around. Therefore, he did not get to go to the park with his sister.

I took some time in the afternoon, taking Hao along to visit a friend who has just delivered a baby boy mid of last month. So hubby gets some time for himself to do his things that required some thinking process. To me Hao is not difficult to handle, especially now he’s becoming less dependent. He can play by himself there. However, he gets bored faster without his sister around. Then he will come over to me or hubby, looking for someone to play with him. I’m still able to get sometime to do my own thing. That’s why I get to write for a bit, which normally I did not get to do so during weekend.

Hmm… enjoying my quiet and peaceful weekend at home.

Today of 3 years ago...

Warning: This is a very long post. When I was writing this, I amazed by myself that how much detail that I still can remember.

Today is Lynn's birthday. She turns three today. My mom told me, my late grandmother told her that birthday, is a day to remember your mom as she gave birth to you on that day. So today, I am going to write about the birth story of Lynn here (since I had not started blogging back then), while me still can remember all the details in my mind. :)

Lynn's due date was 25 May 2006. Since she’s our first baby, we knew nothing about baby and childbirth. Hubby and I went to attend a pre-natal class, recommended by a friend. It costs us RM400 ++, for 6 sessions x 2 hours for each session (the price increased to > RM600 in the following year). It looks costly but worth going. The pre-natal class covered from pregnancy, to detailed childbirth process, breastfeeding and taking care of newborn. She’s also a lactation consultant. So I get to clear some doubts about breastfeeding from her.

When I went for the routine check up at Week 38, the gynae told me I would deliver at any time. I already have packed the bag to the hospital, getting myself ready for the arrival of the baby. Feeling excited and nervous too. Even though I have learnt about the childbirth, but still it’s first time for me. Everyday I will tell the baby, be good girl when she comes out. Don’t let mommy in pain for too long, don’t be naughty, and come out smoothly. :) Just few months before that, 2 friends of mine had to go for last minute C-sec, as the baby was distress during the delivery process and poo-poo while still inside mommy’s womb. I do not want this happen to me.

May 16, 2006 (Tuesday)
2.30am – I woke up from stomach ache. I went to the toilet.  Thought may have eaten something not clean. The pain did not go away. Suddenly, this thought come into my mind – am I having contraction pain? I checked the interval – regular pain at every 5 minutes. Yes, five minutes apart. Alright, so yes it was a contraction pain.

I was kind of worry – is 5 minutes apart too close for stage 1? Am I going to reach stage 2 very fast? Should I wake up hubby now? I quickly go to check all the reading materials that I have – printed from internet, from the pre-natal class, parenting magazine etc, and confirmed that 5 minutes interval is normal for stage 1. I decided not to wake up hubby. People said normally first baby would have longer labour process. I would not want hubby to be sleepy and tired when reaching the time I need his support.

5 minutes interval, seems long and fast – feel the pain last very long and soon after some rest, another contraction pain come again. I went down stair (so that I won’t wake up hubby), and try to find the best position during contraction pain. I tried sitting on the floor with head resting on the sofa, lying down sideway, sitting on the sofa with lots of cushion to support the back, walking etc. And the best position for me – walking. And the worst position? Lying on the back. (Which made me feel so bad while in the hospital as I had to lie down on the bed?)

I was feeling very hungry, looking for some food to replenish my energy. Unfortunately, no food available at home. :( Found some biscuit, but not appetizing to me. I also cooked the Chinese herb tea (十三太保) that my mom bought for me (not say I believe or not believe in it, just try to be good daughter since my mom had bought it for me). It took 3 hours to cook that.
5.30am – The Chinese herb tea was done. I went to take a hot bath, clean my body and my hair. First sight of some blood but water bag still no broke. After coming out from bath, I woke up hubby. Telling him that his daughter want to come out today. :)

Still feeling very hungry. I was very tempted to have a bowl of hot porridge for breakfast. However, at the sane time, I was also worrying that the baby maybe coming out soon. My instinct told me that I should just go to hospital. Maybe I should not take the Chinese herb tea with empty stomach? I throw out everything outside the house, just before I get into the car.

7am (4.5 hours after contraction started) – We off to go to the hospital. As it was a working day, slightly slow traffic but no traffic jam. I sat on a pillow, to avoid dirty the car if the water bag broke. And on the way, I kept on telling the baby, don’t come out first, mommy had not reached the hospital yet. :P

7.30am reached the hospital. After registration, the normal blood pressure and urine test etc, at 8am the nurse put the belt over my stomach to check the baby heart beat and contraction. Waited for quite some time for the gynae to come down to check on me. Was told that the gynae was engaged. Hubby was not allowed to be there. He was waiting for me outside the waiting hall. Still the water bag did not break. And I could feel the contraction become more and more intense, and the pain becoming more and more unbearable.

Finally after a long wait, the gynae came. Wow, I was shocked to hear that I was already 8-9cm dilated! He told me that the baby would come out within 1 hour. When I was pushed into the labour ward, I looked at the clock – close to 9am. Still the water bag did not break. And I could feel the baby had started to ‘push’ herself out.
It was a very small labour ward and cold. The wall clock was facing me directly so I could check the time easily. Hubby went to register himself so that he could come into the labour ward with me. There were two mid wives inside the labour ward. One of them broke the water bag for me in my next contraction. Still no sight of hubby yet. And they kept telling me not to push yet. (Kind of difficult, as during that time each contraction I could feel the baby was ‘pushing’ herself out.) I asked for sitting more upright so that easier for me to push, and hoping that I would feel less pain. No anaesthetic, no oxygen tank was given. However I did not ask for it too (my mind was focus on get the baby out). And no time for me to do so too.

Finally, I saw hubby coming in to the labour ward. Then the mid wife told me, I can push in the next contraction (Oh what a relief to hear that). Soon when the next contraction came, I pushed. Well, was not trained how to push but somehow you just know how to do it. :) In total, after one short and one long push, I could feel the baby was ‘sliding’ out from my body.

My feeling seeing the baby out – Amazing, amazing, and amazing. A new life was born. And I could not believe that I had done it. It was a very touching moment. My eyes were filled with tears actually. It was like – so magical. I looked at the wall clock in front of me – closed to 9.30am. From first contraction pain until baby was born – 7 hours.

After the baby was born, they wrapped her in a towel, and put her on the baby cubicle next to me. Still not over for me yet. They gave me a jap on my thigh, so that the placenta would come out faster. Then the stitching. Gosh, it was even more pain than giving birth! The mid wife told me that anaesthetic was given to me and there were in total three layers that she needed to stitch, being the outer layer is the most pain one. Oh yes hubby was being required to wait outside after the baby was out.

I doubt the anaesthetic was working. The whole stitching lasted more than 30 minutes. It was even more unbearable than the contraction pain. Finally the stitches were done. I was given a hot drink and some biscuit to eat, before I get to hold my newborn.

I still could not believe that I had delivered a baby. :) They had cleaned and weighted her – 2.67kg. Holding her in my arm, admiring her face, soon she cried looking for my breast. The nurse taught me how to breastfeed her. She did not suck for too long. Very soon, she fell asleep.

Family outing @ Aman Rimba

End of last month, the playschool that Lynn is attending had organized a family outing to Aman Rimba at Janda Baik, which nestled in the hills of Pahang. Children from the playschool were free of charge, but the parents had to pay for the transportation. They chartered a school bus for the parents and the children. There were few parents drove there themselves.

We gathered in the playschool at 9am and departed around 9.30am. It took us about 1 hour to reach Janda Baik. The bus could not access Aman Rimba directly. Therefore, we had to walk about 400m from the main road. The parents who drove there, helped to transport the children to Aman Rimba. Thanks to Hao, I get to ride the car also as it was too sunny to carry the baby to walk all the way in. Poor hubby had to walk himself.

Aman Rimba is a private estate. Its design and architecture has been heavily influenced by the yesteryears of Malaysia. Capturing the aura of "kampung life", with its artistic impressions and natural highlights, while fusing the convenience of modern amenities, Aman Rimba is the priceless masterpiece of its authors, Sabri and Norwati.

Aman Rimba was designed primarily to be a private sanctuary for family and friends of the Sabris. Every corner features a story to be told through years of personalized creation, offering a homely aura. It encompasses three acres of fruit orchard in a natural forest environment.

Various activities are available – swimming pool that overlooks the freshwater lake; boat ride at the freshwater lake that you get to enjoy exotic birds like swans and a variety of ducks and fishes; multi purpose court; refreshing dip at the cool mountain stream which flows calmly over large boulders and rocks; or relaxing yourself at the “Sireh” house, a traditional Malaysian village house constructed entirely of wood that is very cooling and just nice for the hot weather of that day.

After a brief introduction by the guess relation, we were free to enjoy ourselves. First thing that attracted the kids was no other than the swimming pool. Same for Lynn. She was bugging me to let her go to the pool. I found that it was hard to say no to her looking at most other kids were in the pool even though I was reluctant to let her dip into the pool when the clock was closed to 12pm!  It was so hot. Luckily, I brought the sunscreen along.

 

While I was with Lynn at the swimming pool, hubby brought Hao for a walk to the mountain stream.

This is their Outdoor bathroom, where the walls are made from bamboo. Amenities such as Aromatherapy shower gel, hair shampoo, hair conditioner and body lotion are well prepared for the guests. Noticed the water is coming out from bamboo too.

 

The “Sireh” house features an expansive living area, complete with television, daybeds and pantry. It  has a separate bedroom houses a four-poster queen sized bed with attached bathroom.

We packed some hotdog, snack and fruit juice for our lunch. Hao was so tired that he fell asleep on my lap after taking his milk. Lynn definitely enjoyed herself there. A boy always looked for her to play with until his mother asking the teacher is Lynn his little girl friend. Hahahaha! We left the place at 3pm. It was a good trip. We all had a good time. It was nice to forget about the work and spend the day with the kids. Thanks to the playschool for organizing such event for us.

Strong arm

Hahaha, the person who is having the strong arm is not me. It's hubby. :) Hubby was playing with Lynn early this morning. Me and Hao was lying on the bed lazily, looking at them having some good time. After a while, Hao started to make some noise, as if he's complaining how come papa only play with jie jie and not me? So hubby picked up the boy. And now it's the jie jie who get jealous! At the end, hubby had to carry both kids, one each on his arm.

Developing comfort sucking

Recently I have to spend more and more time nursing Hao. From half an hour, to one hour and sometimes even more than 1 hour! Especially towards the end of the day. I noticed Hao has started developing comfort sucking habit.

When Lynn was still a baby, she can't sleep without me. She started comfort sucking to sleep since she was born. Most of the time gone due to this. And she had developing a habit must sleep with me. Else she can't sleep. I have spent lots of effort to make her to able to sleep without me around. In the past, when I was not around, she will cry looking for me. And eventually fall asleep getting tired after crying. I certainly would not like this to happen to Hao. This will make hubby getting headache to get the kids to bed if I'm not around. Hao does not seems to be too attach to me yet to be able to fall asleep so I certainly would not want him to have to comfort sucking habit to

A Sweet Birthday

Today seems just like another ordinary day for me. Morning took some time off to take Zhe Hao for his scheduled check-up. Then go to work after that. As usual, work is busy. Discussions, meetings etc. filling up the days.

Something unexpected coming up in the afternoon. Hubby bought me a piece of birthday cake! Well he's not the very romantic kind to me (but at times he will do something which surprise me too). He's so sweet! Suddenly all the work pressure, date line, tasks have been put aside. Enjoying the sweet moment I seldom get.

This is probably the sweetest birthday I ever had. :)

Well, it's another working late day. We only get to eat the cake at night as our dinner. ^_^

What kind of service is this?

In the past almost 3 weeks, my house phone was not working properly. My mom was complaining whenever she called the house phone, it was engaged. When I pick up the phone, there was no dialing tone. Well, this happen before especially during raining days. Usually after 1 or 2 days the phone line will back to normal. However this time, it seems like after 2 weeks the phone line is still not working properly. There is no problem on the internet access, so I did not realize the phone line is having some problem until my mom was complaining about it (I seldom make phone call at home).

So on 2 days before the Hari Raya break, I called to lodge the house phone problem. They said it will be fixed in 24 hours. The next day the home phone was fixed. However the streamyx was down. Me and hubby was so upset. Hubby later called up the streamyx help line to lodge the complain. They said will be fixed in 2 working days. However the next day was the Hari Raya holiday.

So the 2 rest days at home was without internet access. I had nothing much to do so I took the opportunity to sleep a lot (replacing the insufficient sleeping hours for the previous 2 days before the holidays due to working late till midnight in the office). And also take my own sweet time to clean the floor of the entire house.

Soon after the Hari raya holidays - Guess what? The home phone line was down again! Now both home phone and internet access are not available. What kind of service is this? I'm so upset and disappointed with the service provider.

Poor Zhe Hao

Have not been posting for the past 2 weeks. Yes, something has happen., to the little baby Hao, and all of us are very shock about it.

Aug 31 (Morning): After I have bathed Zhe Hao (wanted to take him out to visit a friend, who has just give birth few weeks back), when I was changing diaper for him, I noticed his right thigh was much bigger size than the left thigh. I thought maybe he did not exercise that leg much so causing the different in size.

Aug 31 (Afternoon): When I changed diaper for him again, I paid a closer look to both legs again. This time I realized the different in size was due to the right thigh is swollen. That's why it's so much bigger. I was wondering how come the thigh was swollen.

Aug 31 (Evening): Zhe Hao was crying. And I noticed that the right leg was not moving. I started to get more worried. Tried to call up the child clinic nearby our house to check if it was opened (usually it opens on Sunday night but due to Aug 31 was a public holiday). Unfortunately no one pick up the call, means the clinic was not opened.

Sept 1 (Morning): Called the child clinic again. It was opened in the morning. So me and hubby quickly took Zhe Hao to see the doctor. I was praying nothing bad happened on him.

The pead advised us to take Hao to the hospital for further checking as he found the thigh is quite swollen. So he wrote us a referral letter to HUKM.

Sept 1 (Afternoon): We reached the HUKM Emergency unit. Zhe Hao was immediately given treatment and brought into the treatment room inside. I followed the nurse into the treatment room while hubby went to make the payment. Only 1 parent is allowed in the treatment room. They took some blood sample from Hao. And then he was sent for the x-ray.

The x-ray showed that his right thigh was having fracture. We were all shock. There were no falling accidents ever happen at home, and I did not hear any from the babysitter too. So how is Hao get the fractured bone?

According to the doctors, the fracture had been happened about 1-2 weeks ago, as the new bone has grown. As to we cannot explained how he got the fractured bone, they suspected NAI (Non-accident injury) and wanted Zhe Hao to be admitted for further investigation.

Playing WoW

For the past more than a year, I have been hearing hubby and colleagues talking about WoW (World of Warcraft). Hubby has been a die-hard fan of WoW since he started playing the game slightly more than a year ago. As for me, I used to play another online game with him, until Lynn was borned. Due to the breastfeeding schedule, and also need to take care of the her, I have stopped playing online game with hubby. Also, WoW require pc with better specs, as we only have 1 pc with better specs, so it is impossible for 2 people to play together at the same time.

However now Lynn has grown up. She will be 2 years old this year. So I'm thinking of trying WoW, before the second baby is out. Hubby help me get started. We decided to share on same the account, before we get another new pc. Well, it is not as difficult as I thought. I played Warcraft 3 with hubby before. That is tougher. As I'm not good in this kind of strategic game, and always having problem controlling multiple characters at one time. But for WoW, I only need to control one character at one time. And it is kind of fun and some of the quest are quite challenging. I gotto learn to read the minimap, get know to the direction, places, people etc in the game. Luckily, I got hubby here to help me out and get me more familiar with the game. I actually becoming enjoy playing it. And now we are always talking about getting another new pc so that we can play together, how we can help each other in the game, and the guild also. Hubby set up his own guild end of last year. The guild is his baby. And he is proud of himself in the game as well as the guild. So how can I miss all these fun and excitement with him?

Tiring weeks

Everyone in the house fall sick end of last month, after CNY. At first was hubby not feeling well. He has been affected by the gall stone problem since long time ago. However sometimes it get worse and make him feel very uncomfortable. He has been waking up in the middle of the night to go toilet etc. And due to this, my sleep has been interrupted and resulting me not having enough sleep.

Just when hubby was getting better, Lynn fall sick. She started having fever on Wednesday night and vomitted twice. Well, when a child is sick. They will be more demanding, especially to the mommy. I have no choice to let her sleep with me. I was worry as she refused to take the medicine. Lynn couldn't sleep well. She woke up crying after about an hour later. This time I took the opportunity to feed her the fever medicine.

We didn't take her to the doctor the next morning. She has stopped vomitting. I passed the fever medicine to the babysitter and asked her to call us if Lynn condition is getting worse. At night when we went to pick her up, Lynn still having fever. But no more vomit. She had no appetite and she had milk most of the time. The fever did not go up very high, just stay mild. However the fever did not go away for the next few days. She was also having flu and blocking nose, which made her could not sleep well at night. Keep on crying in the middle of the night.

As for myself, due to continuous lack of sleep for the whole week. I had becoming weak too. And finally on Friday, I had to take MC off from work as I was having fever too. I lost the appetite to eat. Whatever things that I had eaten I will vomit it out later. Yes, this is bad for me especially I'm expecting. It was a torture for me feeling hungry, and yet no appetite to eat. I ate very little during that few days with the fever with me. And due to my own sickness, I really don't have much energy to take care of Lynn. Hubby decided to leave Lynn with babysitter on Friday night so that I can get a good rest without worry about taking care of Lynn.

On Friday, Lynn vomitted again. She also vomitted few times at night after go to bed. So the next morning, we quickly took her for the doctor. Unfortunately, the regular child clinic that Lynn has been visiting is closed for a week. We had no choice but to go another child clinic. It was a long wait and finally it was Lynn's turn. She was making noise as she was sleepy. And after taking the fever medicine for few days, Lynn becoming not like to take the medicine anymore. I had no choice but to force her to take the medicine. She cried whenever we tried to feed her the medicine.

Finally after taking the antibiotic, Lynn has no more fever. However her appetite has not been getting better and she still vomitting. Poor Lynn, she had lost some weight due to the sickness. No more chubby face for her. As for me, my appetite has not been getting better too, even though finally I had no more fever on Sunday afternoon. However I started to get sore throat and blocking nose on Sunday too. Immediately I know I'm getting that from Lynn.

Lynn finally was recovering though her appetite still not good. She only resume taking porridge on following Saturday. And on the next Monday, she was fully recovered and resume her normal food intake. As for me, it took me more than a week to fully recover. It had been a very tiring weeks for me, as if I had gone to a battlefield to fight.