Through the eyes of my children ...

When I was young, I always envisioned myself working in a big company with a big position, but life is full of surprises. It's like a box of chocolate. Would I really just “throw it all away”? Should I just sing "Let it go?"..........

2011. The day our little princess greeted us in this world, deep down in my heart I silently wished that how nice if I'm a SAHM. 2 months of maternity leave passed by just like that, and on the first day I dropped her off at the babysitter, I cried. I was so sad. Looking at other moms who have the privilege to stay at home with their baby makes my heart ache even more. I don't mind the paycheck, I don't mind the luxury to buy things, I don't mind the simple lifestyle.. all I want and need is to play the role as a mother. I don't want to get separated from my child.

2 years later in 2013 we gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. And the urge to stay at home became stronger.

We discussed among each other, what we can do, how we can save up to settle our debts (car/house loan) so that by the time we make the decision, we are debt free. That is our dream. Our new goal.We talked to both our parents and we thank God for parents like them. Without them, this dream will remain a dream. And we will never ever dare to dream of living on just one paycheck. We look highly on our parents, our role model, and we want to be like them. Parents that love their children wholeheartedly. Unconditional love. Looking at who we are today, where we stand today, it is all because of the sacrifices our parents made.

Being a stay at home parent can be a very worthwhile experience and yet it can also be a scary decision to make. With the price hike, increased in tuition fees, GST in few more months.. can we still afford to pay off the bills. Oh yeah, electricity bills are going up too. Recent news : no more subsidies for RON95. Great. This is scary. 20 years later when the kids are ready for university, the money that we saved up means Nothing! Perhaps that savings can only pay off their year One tuition fees.

We're at the crossroad. Both paths are scary because we do not know what the future lies ahead of us. Ultimately, we followed our heart, we surrender our future to God and I ditched the allures of the corporate world. Did I feel any better after making this decision? Not really. I felt sad tho. Deep down in my heart, I knew this is the best decision ever. But, another part of me, I felt so incapable. I felt lousy that I have to fully rely on my husband now. That my husband has to work harder, extra harder. Oh wait, I should be happy right. I can be with my children 24x7, ain't this a happy decision?

I have two more days before I leave the company. I finally signed the resignation letter early this month and I knew, there is no turning back. Friends from all over provided me with their "reviews" on my resignation to be a SAHM.

* Carysse, give you 6 months. I'm sure you will be back
* Carysse, why you decided to do this? Coming out to work is more fun, more colors in your life.
* Carysse, you are so "wei da".
* Carysse, staying at home will make you outdated. You only live within the walls. You need to come out and see the world.
* Carysse, hopefully the next time I see you, I won't see a double you. (he's saying I will be double fat)
* Carysse, your children are lucky to have mom like you. A huge sacrifice.
* Look at her face. A sao nai nai face. The first day I look at her, I knew she won't work long. She has the sao nai nai face. Stay-at-home face.
* Carysse everyday will chase after children.

But here are some encouragements from my fellow SAHM friends...
* Children are the best treasures of the earth because if we raise them well, we are contributing the best to the society
* I no longer think about pacyheck. I only think of budgeting and my child's emotional growth development
* My baby is only a baby once

Anyway, being a SAHM or not, we are still mothers. We give the best to our children. Since we have chosen this path for our family, we pray and uphold our future to Him. I might or might not go back to work , it all depends on situation. For now, we have made this decision and we hope and pray for the best.

Our lifeguard walks on water!

The more you want to give your child the best, the more unexpected incidents happened. Oh well, I've tried my best to provide the best shield/protection to my kids and yet incidents still happen. And the more I love my child, the more I'm afraid that I might lose them due to my negligence. Suffering from two miscarriages was already a huge trauma to me. One moment we rejoiced, the next moment we mourned. The first checkup was a bliss when we saw the sac and our little seed. The next checkup we cried when our little seed stopped growing with no heartbeat detected. It happened twice. I cried for days. I cried for months. I cried for years. And I only stopped crying when our precious daughter was born. At that time, I was so afraid that I was not fit enough to carry a baby to full term. I claimed God's promises, that the fruit of my womb will grow. And when He said He will bless the fruit of my womb, He definitely will. I proclaimed the promises of God, I claimed it loud and clear. 2 years later, we welcomed our beautiful girl and then our handsome boy. I've been taking care of them like a gemstone. So precious.. I've been one paranoid mom, hold them close to me, this-cannot-that-cannot.. and I'm well known for the over-protective mom. And yet, mistakes still happened. I felt so weak at this point.. I've been struggling to give them my best and yet I can't prevent accidents to happen.

This week was a little scary. Our little boy, the boy who loves to climb and kick, the boy who is well known for his all sorts of drama and the little handsome that melts our heart in everything he does... has enough of falls and bumps on his head! It's enough for the week! He fell twice. Earlier this week, he fell from the bed when we were all sleeping on the bed. He woke up to nurse, he struggled and he kicked upwards. The next thing I heard was a loud "Pomp". Followed by a loud cry. He fell down from the bed. I jumped out from the bed, quickly picked him up and consoled him. He settled down after few minutes. Such a strong boy. I was so worried for that huge impact on his head. I prayed and prayed and prayed. He acted normally after this incident, so I'm not that worry.

Then, yesterday... the most scary incident ever. He fell down from his baby COT! Gosh... my heart literally stopped beating. I was so scared! At that time, I was so scared that I might lose him. I quickly picked him up and again, he settled after few minutes. His lips was a little pale.. and I checked his bones, his arms and so on .. everything looks OK to me. Few minutes later, his lips was back to normal pinkish color. And he was back to normal. He walked, he ran, he sat, he ate, he drank .. everything seemed to be ok. The whole night I couldn't sleep. I checked on him every now and then. I checked if he's breathing. I'm so afraid that he might vomit blood or any nose bleed without me noticing it. Ok, I admit. I'm one drama mommy. I think a lot. I think too much. I quickly lift up a prayer that God will heal him. No internal injuries. No side effects.

After this, I'm going to look after him so closely. Two bumps on the head in a week is too much for a young toddler like him. I prayed that the impacts weren't that hard, I prayed that the hands of the angels were at the bottom to support his head when he fell. I felt so sad. I felt like a failure. I felt miserable that I can't even provide a safe environment for them to grow and learn. Today, I hang on to God. I lift up my hands and pray.
I pray for the hands of God to be upon my children, His angels will guard and protect them. I proclaim Psalm 91. Thousand and thousands of angels on their left , right, front, back. Everywhere, wherever they go, the angels surround them. That they will be safe and sound all the time.

Thank you Jesus!

People, listen!

Days like these are tough. Extremely tough that I can barely open my eyes. Imagine a toddler that cries on and off in the middle of the night due to discomfort. And I have to wake up every hour to check if he's running any high temperature. The fever came back at 4.20am. Gave him a dose of paracetamol and he didn't sleep straight away. When he finally dozed off, my alarm rang. It's time for work. I'm so tired. My head is heavy. My eyes are sore and my eyelids are heavy.

Days like these are tough. It's tough on the parents, and even more tough for a child to bear with the sickness. My heart is heavy and sad. At once I felt victorious (he's well and healthy), the next moment I felt defeated (fever,flu again).

I've been keeping this in my heart for a long long time, it's time to say it loud and clear. If you love little children.. this is what you must do.

1) Parents. Stay healthy so that you do not transfer any viruses, germs, bacterias to your child. Eat the right food. Eat the right supplements. Pump up with more Vitamin C if you know you are not well. Drink lots of water/cooling drinks if you foreseen the bugs are coming.

2) Friends. Babies are cute. Yes, they are. What more their little fingers, their chubby cheeks, their little hands... You know, babies love to put everything inside their mouth, especially their little fist/ or their thumb. So, don't ever touch a baby's hands if you haven't wash your hands. And, don't touch their cheeks! SOme babies are prone to eczema (rashes). Not only that, babies like to rub their cheeks with their hands, and the hands will then go inside their mouth. Enough said, WASH your hands before you deal with babies! And if you are not well, don't go near a baby. Baby's immune system aren't as strong as an adult.

3) Don't share food! I dislike it SO much when you take a piece of bread, you take a bite and then you let my child take the next bite. Sometimes your body could be immune with a certain type of virus/bacteria, but that virus/bacteria might be new to our child. So, please please don't!

4) Before you touch any babies.. please make sure you ask the parents for permission if it is OK to touch. I guess only parents will understand this situation because again, handling a sick child is never an easy job. What more when you are running out of annual leave.

5) Parents, if your child has developed any contagious disease (like HFMD), please don't bring them out and this act alone is so selfish! You think only about yourself. What if a newborn baby catch that disease.... When a newborn baby cannot suck/drink, a tube will be inserted through the mouth to the stomach. This procedure is not fun, but a traumatic experience to the child!

6) Last but not least.. in a daycare/nursery/public areas. Parents... if you have a hyperactive child, please watch over your child closely. Don't let your child run wild in public areas and harm any other children. I was shocked when a 4yo took out a toy hammer and punched into my baby boy's stomach! My boy lost his grip, he swung to the left and then dropped on the floor. My daughter was so shocked when she saw his brother was being punched. My heart pumped so fast. I quickly picked him up and check if there is any swell on his abdomen. Thank God he acted OK after that incident. Otherwise, I will sue the parents! Parents, please! Watch over your child closely!

Ok. I've said all I wanted to say.

Thank you.

Frozen.

*Sad*

I have so many frozen party ideas in mind, but this year, we ain't doing any party for our going to be THREE baby girl. It's sad to say. We just have a birthday cake and present. That's all our plans for her Third birthday. I wish I can do a party. I wish to be busy at this time cutting, sticking, preparing cake toppers, banners, etc.

Since I'm not doing anything for her, I decided to bake her a Frozen birthday cake. We couldn't afford one customized fondant frozen cake, which will cost about RM150 the cheapest. Thus, I purchased some Frozen figurines online as cake topper and after cake cutting, she can use it to play. This whole set cost me RM35 + RM3 for shipping.

 Well, I guess the whole DIY Frozen cake will only cost about RM50-RM60. That is if my home-baked cake is Successful. *keeping my fingers crossed*

#Prayforme
#Wishmeallthebest
#Unleashedmyhiddentalent(hopefully)

I've done some google-ling and the cakes below caught my attention. The inside of the cake will be something like this. A watercolor frozen theme cake. 

 Picture credit to bakedbyrachel.com 

And the buttercream frosting design will be something like this! I saw some designs on castle, snowy mountain, snowflakes but I think all those will take a huge time to design and frost. And I think the one below is much easier. Hopefully it turned out as good as this.

#prayformeagain

 

Picture credit to http://freshandhappy.com/

Oh Well, this is the least that I can do for her. I don't have any baking talents nor do I have any frosting skills. All I can do is to pray for hidden talents in baking/designing/frosting. And I don't have to bake over and over again. One time success! I really pray that my sleepless night is worth it.

The pride of 'another' profession

I think it isn't fair if you look down on any profession. Every profession is equally important in today's society. The only difference is the level and salary. If you're sitting on top of the chart, you get more pay ... so, when you look down from your chair... how do you feel? If you think you're the most important person in the company that helps the company to make profit, I feel so sorry for you. Poor you. 

I've heard countless times about IT. Be it good or bad...

Remark #1 - IT is a waste of money

Remark #2 - IT makes no profit

Remark #3 - IT likes to hire a lot of people, wasting money

Remark #4 - Why do we need IT? Olden days no IT, still can survive. Make use of Secretary lahh.

Oh well... a stab in the heart of IT-cians. Today, how can one survive without IT? Look at the phone that you use. Look at the global communication. It is almost impossible to totally eliminate IT in a company. And yet I've still heard countless time people condemns about IT guys. Sigh.

#Theprideofanotherprofession

Baby Fever

I have few friends that just gave birth recently, and some of them are heavily pregnant.. and all these tickles my heart to get pregnant again! I can't wait to have our 3rd baby .. I'm having baby fever now! 

Again, it will be a very mixed feeling knowing that we will stop at 3. 

Look at the cute baby pictures below... how can you not fall in love with 'em. And how can you not loved pregnancy / newborn babies. 

I think I'm ready... hehehehe. But ! It's not the right time yet.... we have lots of things to settle. With two kids around, I would prefer that Daniel is at least 3yo when baby #3 is born. At least I have two older kids at home to help me with the newborn baby, they can play on their own, can feed themselves, and then, I have more time with #3. Oh wait, by then big sister will be going to the kindergarten. Which means in the morning I have a little extra time with big bro and baby #3. 

 

Awww... thinking of all these, I just couldn't wait for the entire process again! 

Baby Fever!

SAHM vs FTWM

FTWM = Get paid with nice paycheck. Shopping spree every month.

SAHM = Get paid with much hugs and kisses

In Summary, this is a difficult decision to make. I wish to have a nice paycheck every month end, and on the other hand, I wish to be home with my kids 24x7. 

As the day is getting nearer, I'm having mixed feelings if I've ever made the right decision. What if we couldn't settle with just one paycheck? Will it be wise to just survive with one paycheck? At the end of the day, it's still all about money and money and money. Can we survive? Yes or No? If we can merely sustain on the border line, is it worth all the sacrifice? 

And this explains a lot of sacrifices to be done.. No purchasing power, no overseas holiday, no nice dine out etc. It will be a little tough since we are so used to "enjoying" and "relaxing" .. and very soon, we shall not have such freedom to spend and enjoy. We have to set limitations. We have to set a budget for food, entertainment, groceries, etc. And we shall hire a finance minister to ensure budget is met.

Oh well.. a tough sacrifice to be made. But... what's more important than our own kids. Our kids definitely need us more than the materials in the world. I've chose this path because of the few concerns:
1) health (Daniel has been falling sick every alternate weeks *sad*)

2) safety (Knowing that the kids will one day go to school, I have the responsibility to send them to school and fetch them back home. And I can keep an eye on their whereabouts)

3) guidance (I can look after them after school and ensure their days are good. Be the pillar of strength 24x7)

4) tutoring/mentoring (in their homework)

I guess, I've made the right decision. No money can guarantee my kids' safety and health, but all these are guaranteed through my own eyes and hands. I do hope I won't be one paranoid mom in future.. and all I can do, I surrender them all to God's loving hands. He looks after the flocks in the sky, the flowers in the garden and what more us, His little children. 

God is good. I'm thankful to be given such privilege to be able to stay home with the kids. Even if we can only survive and not having any luxuries of life... it's worth it! 

I love you my little children..... we shall sail together no matter what the future unfolds, but don't forget, we have a Captain in Heaven. =)

The danger of Yelling.

I was stunned for a moment when I heard this statement from my going to 3yo daughter...
She said.. Mama, I shouted like you.

I froze. And I asked her, "You shout like mama? When did mama shout?"
And she said, "You shout lah"
(I was shouting at her earlier on when she decided to run around without getting dressed)

Yelling is doing more harm than good. I admit, many times I did lost my patience and I yelled. I've tried my best to stay calm, relax and slowly explain to her, but this calmness does not work if I'm too tired or when I have too many things pile up at home.

But recently, things seem to be a little better. I yelled lesser and thanks to Daniel for keeping me calm, steady and no-yelling at home. Reason behind this is that every time I yell, he gets scared and he cries and he quickly comes towards me for hug. It happened few times at home when I raised my voice and he got so scared that he let go all his toys and quickly crawled to me. Looking at him like that, every time when I lost my patience, I look at Daniel. It works.. I did tone down my voice and speak nicely/slowly to Ashlynn.

Don't underestimate the side effects of yelling.

The picture below clearly illustrates what happens when shouting is too normal at home.......

Your child is immune and eventually they WON'T listen! Your anger goes from the left to the right ear.. your advice no longer make sense to your child.

You might think that your child is afraid of you when you yell, but it works on the surface only. Deep inside their heart, they are imitating after you. They are taking you as their role-model. Every time you shout, they think it's OK to do so. They shout when they are unhappy. They shout when they didn't get what they want.

And they started to shout at their siblings.

 

Parents, we are all still learning. We are not perfect parents but we are the best role-model that God has entrusted us to be. When God provides, He leads. We can be one of the best parents to our kids, all by His grace. Teach us O Lord... that we will always be the apple of our children's eyes. That they will trust us in everything and we are their pillar of strength.

Dearest Ashlynn and Daniel, even though we might lost our patience at times (most of the times), please know that we really really really really love both of you. Forgive us when we are not in our best of shape, and we promise that we will try our best to make your every day a better and loving day, that when you grow up...and when you glance through your childhood days, you cast a big smile on your face. The happy memories of those old days...... 

Lots of love, hugs, kisses,

Papa & Mama

The toughest part of breastfeeding......

When your little one has bottom and upper teeth growing

And then he BITES!

And there is a deep deep cut!

OUCCHHH!

That's all I would like to say..

Screaming in pain.. it hurts now. And I'm letting it to heal. So no nursing at the moment. Hand express saves me from screaming all the way to get the milk expressed. 

Anyway, I still love when he nurses. He knows how to nod his head whenever I ask him if he ever wants milk, and then when I lift up my shirt, he chuckles.

The beauty of breastfeeding.

Keep going mommies.. nothing is easy in this world. No shortcut to every happiness.

Cheers!

My Online Pharmacy - IHERB

Last week had been a rough ride for the family. First little girl was down with flu but since she's a little bigger, she cooperated well when we asked her to blow her nose/ when we sprayed her nose with Sterimar. No big fuss on the little girl. She coped well with the nasty flu bugs.

On the other hand.... 

We had a tough time settling the baby boy. He had fever.. blocked nose... running nose.. phlegm.. And that was not all, he decided not to eat/drink on the 4th day. I knew something was not right because his fever was ongoing and it spiked up during the midnight. On the 5th day, we decided to bring him to the Pediatrician but the slot was so packed due to Hari Raya and we decided to move on to the Emergency Dept.  

The Medical Officer immediately asked to admit him since his fever did not subside, the intention was to get him done with nebulizer and blood test to check what was the caused. Blood test came out to be not so good, it showed some bacteria infection. And his tonsils were swollen with some white spots. This was bad that he needed antibiotics. Sigh.... we managed to keep jie jie healthy without a single drop of antibiotics up to now, but at 1 year 2 months, baby boy had the first syringe of antibiotics. Sad enough to say .. but no choice, if this medicine will make him well. 

He was admitted for 2 nights and he seemed to be better after all the medications. =( MedicationS and not medication. It is heart breaking to see the amount of medicines given to him. Drops in the throat (to numb the pain so that he can eat), drops in the nose (to dry up the mucous), drops in the eyes (cause his left eye is a little swollen due to infection)... and today, the side effects of antibiotics, he had runny stools (diarrhea) and rashes on his body. 

All these are over! Now is the time to build back his immune system . I purchased probiotics to help him with his digestive system and hopefully it helps to make him stronger. Let's see if probiotics live up to its name. 

And yesterday, I purchased Animal Parade vitamins for Ashlynn. It's so much easier to give her tablets to chew instead of the liquid one. Daniel will consume the liquid form of vitamin C (Childlife brand). Hopefully with all these supplements, they are stronger and not prone to sickness. Praying hard that all these tough rides are over now ...

I purchased these two from Iherb.com. So much cheaper than purchasing it locally. Let's see if probiotics work on my children, if yes I will look for one in Iherb. My ever faithful online pharmacy. My hubby used to say I'm the Doctor. Haha.

If you're first timer shopping in Iherb, good news for you!

Feel free to use my product code (HUZ619) and get discount on first purchase.  You will receive $10 off the first order of $40 or more, or you can take $5 off orders less than $40.

My favorite gadget for baby food

We went to home expo fair at PWTC few weeks ago and we came across a counter selling this little hand gadget. I'm impressed with the functionality, especially in making dough / blend raw materials into pieces. This hand gadget is particularly useful when I need to chop meat. All I need to do is to dump a half frozen meat into the blender. This blender works great! I saved a lot of time in chopping and chopping and chopping. 

The first day itself, I've tried making dough for my pan mee soup. Super delicious! I don't have to knead with my hands and all I need is to put 6 spoons of water and 3 spoons of flour. Put some salt and oil .. and taaadaaa! The texture is good. Soft and elastic. Perfect!

So last weekend, as I was preparing porridge for the kids, I decided to fry egg with long beans + carrot + onion + garlic. So, I throw everything inside and blend................ If you want the material to be a little coarse, don't blend too long. 3-4 spins will do.

Ashlynn loves fried egg! See ... so easy!

This gadget indeed is so useful. I saved a lot a lot of time preparing the ingredients.. and I can actually kao tim everything in 15 mins . Plus washing.... =D Oh Yeahh.. this gadget is super easy to wash. Only 3 things to wash : Container + cover + blender knife ( I don't know what to call it, :p) So easy .. the most important thing when buying a kitchen gadget is whether it is easy to wash or not, how many things to wash. The lesser the better, the easier to dismantle the better. And this is super simple.

Highly recommended gadget .. buy buy buy! 

And I'm happy with this purchase.

Kindergarten Headache

We have plans to send our little champ to kindergarten next year. I started to look around, mainly in Google for reviews and feedback on the kindergarten that I'm interested in. For goodness sake, the more I read, the more I know, the more paranoid I became. I just couldn't believe some kindergarten is that of-a-kind. Oh well, don't judge a book by its cover. Don't judge a kindergarten by the environment, it can be pretty deceiving by the outlook, but when it comes to school time, we just wouldn't know what happens.

I wish to delay one more year so that the time spent with little champ is longer. And I don't have to worry so many things. I just couldn't imagine what will happen next year.

What if little champ is not happy going to school
What if little champ kena bully at school
What if the teacher punishes her because she pee pee in her pants
What if little champ do all sorts of drama when waking her up to school
What if little champ feels stress in school


I just couldn't free off my mind with all these What If(s).

Oh God, please keep our little champ safe. Please help us to find a good passionate dedicated kindergarten for our little champ. Please give little champ the excitement to go to school. Please guide little champ to mix around with good kids. Please guide little champ in her studies that everything is so easy for her. God, we uphold little champ into your hands that your grace, blessings and mercy will follow her all the days of her life. Amen.

All I need is relax and breathe in breathe out. Surrender all to God's hands knowing that He will protect His daughter. =)

Little Tikes Slide - A happy Purchase

I've been eye-ing this slide for quite some time and I couldn't resist the urge of buying when I saw this at Preloved. We don't really have much time to bring the kids to the playground, and it has been raining almost every evening. So, it's a little impossible to let the kids run freely in the playground. Not to forget, the big irritating mozzies that loves the sweet blood of your sweet child. Forget all those hassles, I decided to get a mini slide for them to play at home. And when I saw someone selling this... I just couldn't be happier. Buy Buy Buy! Of course, I do get the permission from Mr Hubby. The moment he said "OK, buy". I was like.. is that him? Haha. I didn't expect him to agree that soon because this item will occupy space at home. And we already have a lot of things in the living room, so I was just trying my luck if he agrees to purchase this. Voila!! I contacted the seller, we discussed the price, the location and ta dahh... the Little Tikes junior slide is now at our home sweet home. =D

 

And Jie Jie is one happy girl! Mama, One more time.. Mama, One more time. Haha.
Very soon, Di Di will join in the fun and both of them will have a fun time at home, in their mini playground.
Hehe...

Some reviews on this slide:
1) I wish this slide is a little higher and longer.. a little too short and few seconds, jie jie is down on the ground. If it's a little higher then it's perfect.
2) This slide is stable! Not to worry the steps will fall apart or the slide will suddenly get dismantled due to the weight.. no. Don't worry.
3) The purple and pink is so sweet.... *ok, this is out of topic* Haha
4) Very easy to dismantle and fix, but too bad, this slide is not easily fold for storage. They do have any range of Little tikes junior slide that is easy to fold and unfold for storage. You can check it out at Amazon.

Overall, I'm happy with this purchase. There's another brand from China, oh well... I don't really trust China products these days. We purchased one training potty with stairs for Jie Jie but the potty drops easily when jie jie climbs up the stairs. Not safe. Not secure. So, I still prefer children products that has proper quality assurance. For a peace of mind. =)

Mix and Match

If you read my posts about Daniel's adventure in solid food, he dislikes apple puree so much that he will fight with all his might just to make sure no apple puree down his throat. But, knowing that an apple a day keeps the Doctor away, I never give up in trying.

Idea come and go, and I decided to play mix and match. Since he dislikes apple puree on its own, why don't I mix with something interesting? The other day, Isetan was having Laughing Cow cheese promotion and my colleague said her SIL used to mix the cheese in the porridge for her son. Why I've never thought of that, perhaps I could try to mix with Daniel's apple puree! So, I bought one pack of the cheese and mixed with his apple puree. He's a clever cheeky boy. He tasted some first and he opened his mouth wide the moment he finished the first spoon. He gobbled down the whole bowl of apple cheesy puree like a champ! No fuss. No struggle. I win!! Haha. And the next morning, I went back to Isetan and bought 4 more boxes of laughing Cow Cheese. Super Kiasu. Lol.

Next, I decided to mix apple + Dragon fruit. I was just trying my luck the other day, hopefully the sweet dragon fruit will cover the sourness in the apple puree. And it did. First, I steam the apple and then blend it together with 2 slices of dragon fruit. It made one big bowl of apple dragon puree. I was a little not confident if he can finish up the whole bowl, or I must add some cheese to cover the taste. But But, I was so wrong. He finished up the entire bowl! No cheese added. It's pure blended apple + dragon fruit. I win again!! Muahahaha.

Tonight.. I'm going to try apple puree + banana. Haha. Let's see if I win this game as well. =DD

Favorite Baby Apparels

I'm on top of the moon every time when it comes to shopping for baby apparels. I love shopping. I'm a real shopaholic. And I love to shop for my babies! So, here's a list of my favorite baby apparels.

1) Next
Website : http://www.next.co.uk/

Number ONE in list goes to Baby NEXT! Unfortunately, there's no NEXT in Malaysia. I shopped like crazy when I was in Sweden and Shanghai. Just wondering when and who will attempt to open an outlet in Malaysia. Otherwise, I plan to purchase online at nextdirect.com, they do provide free shipping to Malaysia. I will try one day when my kids outgrow the batch of NEXT clothes I bought. The clothes aren't really cheap, but the quality is good and the design is awesome. It's either too handsome or too pretty. See it to believe it... I love NEXT!

2) Carters/OshKosh
Website : http://www.carters.com/

Secondly, I like Carters/Osh Kosh. Especially the onesies. Those carters Onesies material is so thin that it fits perfectly in our hot and humid weather. I love their dresses too. They have few ranges of dress, from party to home wear. And I like the designs of their tshirts, especially for girls! Awwww.. I wish they do have such cute designs for adults. =/

3) The Children's Place
Website : http://www.childrensplace.com
 

What I like about Children Place is their tights for girls! I hardly buy Children's Place tshirts, but I always buy their tights for my daughter. Good quality and it has few ranges of sizes that fits my daughter well.

4) Crazy8
Website : http://www.crazy8.com/index.jsp

Crazy8!! I definitely went crazy over the sales in this shop. I bought a winter jacket for Ashlynn for only $12.99. How crazy was that. And with that crazy sales, I went and sapu about 3 more jackets for Ashlynn and Daniel. Super kiasu that I just couldn't resist the sales.. Lol. During sales, their tshirts can even go as low as $2.99! I have been telling my friend in US that I really went crazy at Crazy8 and she couldn't agree more. This is her favorite shopping outlet too!

5) Gymboree
Website : http://www.gymboree.com

Gymboree is the last choice for baby apparels because of the price. But during year end sales, I still manage to grab some Gymboree baby wear for both of them. The quality of the clothes are superb, and that explains why they are expensive. You can only buy Gymboree clothes during sales. Other than that, no way. I managed to grab some sweater for $15, $7 for one dress, $8 for long sleeve romper and $4.99 for long sleeve tshirt during sales.

The best time to go crazy for baby clothes are during year end sales in December! That's when I really go crazy shopping for the next size for the kids. I wouldn't want to pay a full price for baby clothes, but I will spot for sales and grab as many different sizes I could to save more! =DD Spend wise I could say.. haha.

HFMD nightmare!

Hubby : Dear, if there is a vaccine that can prevent HFMD forever, will you let the kids take it?
Me : No, I won't. Because there are so many variants, no point get them vaccined.
Hubby : If there is a vaccine that cover all variants of HFMD, will you let them?
Me : Yes!! If only they can confirm 100%.

Last week was extremely tough. Jie Jie was running a fever, and few days later she complaint of "mouth pain" and then she refused to eat or drink. We forced her and when we looked at the way she gobbled the food down the throat, our heart sank. We felt it was a nasty sore throat. The next day, Di Di started to feel warm. And his temperature at night spiked up to 39. I sponged him, gave him paracetamol and off he went to sleep. The next morning, we brought them to Prince Court and thankfully, we were scheduled the third in queue even though we were quite last minute, no appointment made. We get to see the Dr and he said he saw few ulcers in the throat. Same goes for Daniel. In conclusion, it was the nasty HFMD again! Sighhhh............ We experienced it before and we knew how tough it was for the kids to get infected with this horrible disease.

We went home, struggled with both crying super cranky super demanding kids, trying our best to get them fed with water/milk/food/medicine. We all struggled. I cried. It was tough. Super tough on them. This disease is indeed a monster. Daniel woke up middle of the night, crying and struggling because the dryness + ulcers on the throat irritated him. He didn't swallow his saliva because it was painful for him to do so, so he has been drooling all over the mattress, his shirt, the floor.. and everywhere. And you wouldn't believe me how many thousand times I changed his shirt, napkins and bedsheets as he vomited every now and then, especially after feed. Poor baby. Jie Jie dealt with this much better, she only fussed when we wanted her to take a sip of water/milk/food.

The next day, I woke up feeling feverish. Not again! It was tough when you are sick and when both kids are sick. So, who's gonna take care both of them. Hubby is busy with work + MBA thesis. Tough Tough!

But... we all survived!!
It's all by His Grace!

And we are all now on the road of recovery.. The kids are healed, they eat like normal now (Thank God) and now I'm waiting for my ulcers to heal.

All is well!

Blessed Birthday Baby Boy

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to Daniel

Happy Birthday to you!

May the good Lord bless you

May the good Lord bless you

May the good Lord bless Daniel

May the good Lord bless you!

Last weekend's birthday party was a success and we were happy that our guests enjoyed themselves. We had a great time together, a great fellowship catching up with one another and a great time of candid shots, photograph after photograph. Nice!

Here are some shots on the day.... 

 A beary birthday banner... Initially, I wanted to do a Onesies birthday banner but it didn't turn out as it should, I find it so troublesome to cut and paste on blue color paper and then cut again. So, I googled and I saw this banner! So cute! And it fits perfectly in our birthday theme. A beary birthday party!

*Thank you my colleague for cutting all these for me, without her, I wouldn't be able to complete everything on time, or I have to burn midnight oil. Kam siahh!*

This birthday cake is super awesome! So so beary cute. And so so pretty! I feel like hugging the little bear there. Such a lovely cake! Oh well, this cake received lots of praises from our guests too. Bet this is really a good one. 

Here's where I order this cake - Cakelicious by Little Deer

 

 Macaroons!!! Freshly baked, delivered to us in the morning and the taste is awesome. No coloring, no preservatives.. all natural. I don't have the link where this is ordered because my friend gave this as Daniel's birthday gift. A nice gift to everyone.. the guests. Thank you!!

 Another surprise cupcake by Coleen. So so lovely and pretty! When I ordered from her, I just said chocolate cupcakes with blue icing and I didn't actually know how the cupcakes are gonna look like. The moment she brought this over to the party and setup for me with her cupcake stand, I was like.. wow, this cupcake is so pretty to be eaten. I wish to keep this forever!! 

Here's her link : Sweettreets by Coleen

 Birthday packs for the birthday boy buddies!! I did this on Saturday morning itself. Haha. What a last minute mom. But hey, I finished everything on time! Hehehe...

To wrap up everything, here's a perfect picture of four of us!

*Thanks Catherine Ong Pictures for such gorgeous shot*

I heart and treasure this picture a lot. Indeed, the two cuties are our perfect gifts from Heaven.

I pray that they will always grow up healthy and strong. They have strong immune system. They won't fall sick easily. They have bright healthy mind. They will do well in their lives. They know what is right and what is wrong. They will be obedient children. They will love God and put God first. They will serve Him. They will use their talents and gifts to bless the people. They will grow up to be wise and full of wisdom. They will walk in His ways and in the light of His path. They will grow from glory to glory, faith to faith and grace to grace. They will do well in their studies and glorify God with their excellent results. They will know how to protect themselves. They will be safe all the time, protected from harm and danger. They will have a big heart, a heart that filled with love!

 Amen.

 Happy First Birthday Daniel! How time flies, you are no longer a baby, you are now called a Toddler. But, you are always our baby forever.. no matter how old you are, as long as we live, you are our baby forever! We love you to the moon and back! 

Have a blessed year ahead.. and God bless you richly!!! Stay strong, stay healthy, stay wise and keep growing =)

13 May 2014

13 May 2014. Just couldn't sleep well last night knowing that I didn't prepare anything for Daniel's big ONE today. Felt guilty for not getting even a birthday cake to celebrate at home. I wish Justin is here to celebrate this joyous day together. The four of us. A complete family on this important day. While nursing Daniel at 2am this morning, I silently wished him Happy birthday. We love you. Sorry for not doing anything. And my heart sank as I wished him. I nursed him at 5am again and I know deep down in my heart I must do something so that I won't regret tomorrow that I just let this day passed by not doing anything. It's still not too late to buy a birthday cake. At 8am, I get ready the kids, dressed them up, settled their food for the day, and at 10am, off we went to the bakery shop. Thankful for a helpful shop owner that helped me to load the cake while I buckled both kids up in the car seat and we drove home excitedly, big sister couldn't wait to cut the cake. She chose mickey mouse cake for Daniel. So sweet.

Happy and Blessed First birthday my boy! Greater things are yet to come! Mommy, Daddy and Jie Jie pray that you will grow up filled with wisdom, love, joy and success!

Daniel - 11 Months

I know and I know and I know that I'm pretty late with this 11 months old post. So sorry baby boy.

You're really my heart throb. You melt my heart in every single ways. And I love you more than words can say. Call me blessed. Beyond blessed. More than blessed to be gifted two precious gifts, a daughter and a son. A blessed mommy indeed.

Baby Stats:

 --------------------------

  Sleep

You're back to your pattern, that you fall asleep on your own again. You still wake up to nurse, at least twice a night. Oh well, I'm not sure how long this will last until you wean yourself, but I just love to do it for you, despite the less of sleep. Looking at it positively, at least I don't have to wake up to hit the breastpump. =)

Feed

Improves in feeding, especially on Apple Puree. The other day, I added some laughing cow cheese inside and you ate like a champ. Success!! And more food adventure to come baby boy... stay tuned! =DD

Solid Food Adventure:

20 Nov - First intro on Oatmeal Cereal (Yumm)

25 Nov - Oatmeal and Banana Cereal (Yumm)

1 Dec - Apple puree (Yuckk)

19 Dec - Butternut squash puree (Yuckk)

27 Dec - Potato, pumpkin and beef casserole (Super Yumm - bought from Woolworths Australia) 

8 Feb - Avocado + Oatmeal Cereal (Yumm) 

2 May - Apple Puree + Laughing Cow Spread Cheese (Yumm)

9 May - Sweet Potato + Purple Carrot Puree (Yumm)

Weight

 At birth : 3.02 kg

7 weeks : 4.7kg

3 months : (still not checked)

4 months : 6.2kg

5 months : (not checked)

6 months : 6.5kg

6.5 months (30 Nov 2013) : 6.7kg

7 months : (not checked)

8 months : (not checked) 

  9 months : (not checked) 

10 months : (not checked) 

11 months : (not checked)  

Funniest Moment

We're playing hide and seek!! Your mama just loves to make you giggle. The louder the better, more fun. Haha. Chasing after you is so fun, and when you run away, you giggle so loud. We've got it recorded and see it when you're older. Cute little baby boy =)

Milestone

- still learning how to stand without support. Go baby go!

- when you hear the song "If you're happy and you know it".. you will get ready your hands to clap!

Favorite Toy

Jie Jie's books. That he can chew and chew when nobody is looking. =/

Mama's baby boy is growing up so fast!!

Minions Addict

Her first mandarin word is Xiang Jiao. All thanks to Minion. =D

She loves Minions so much that I decided to get a minion cupcake for her and look at the smile on her face. So priceless. This genuine smile of genuine happiness from the life of a child. As days go by, I love her more and more. She's getting prettier and prettier, her vocab increases and she surprises us by singing the full lyrics of Twinkle Twinkle little star and also Jesus Loves Me. And she did all these at the age of 2.5yo. Wow. I'm impressed at how fast a child learns and unlike the olden days, child these days are so smart.

She happily wiped the cream, the Minion and then the butter cake. =D

Easter Artwork

When I saw this artwork in the baby's bag, I just couldn't be happier. Happy. Proud mama. Blessed. Thankful. All good feelings in ONE! My daughter is growing up too fast. We used to send her to the church's nursery during Sunday service when she was 2 months old, swaddled in a blanket and handed her over to one of the teacher's to be carried in the nursery. And today, she's 2.5yo and she did her first artwork in church!

OH baby girl.. where did the time go?

It was Easter week and she did her first Easter artwork in the church. She was happy with her artwork and I'm super proud with it. Not only that, her favorite song of the week is "Jesus loves me this I know". She sang and sang in the car, throughout the journey home. Baby girl, Jesus loves you so much!

Here's some random conversation with Ashlynn during the Easter week:

Chat #1
=====
Me : Ashlynn, mama loves you!
Ashlynn : Okayy... I love Jesus too!

Chat #2
======
Me :  Ashlynn, mama loves you!
Ashlynn : NO! I love Jesus!

So, it was all about Jesus the entire week. I couldn't be happier when she put Jesus/God above everything else (especially in the chat #2). Easter is definitely all about Jesus. Who He is and what He has done for us. For He came and He died for us, He rose again and He is alive! Baby girl, my prayer to you everyday is that you will love Jesus always, you will always put Him first above anything else and you will always walk in His ways and His words will always be the light of your path. Amen.

We love you so much! =)

Honey Bear Birthday Party - Part 2

Birthday Cards are ready!!! 

I'm satisfied with the printout. Very nice layout but the wordings a little blur. Anyway, I'm still happy with this DIY invitation card. I have a few more things to do, hopefully to get them done before I go for my holiday again. =D

Invitation cards will be out tonight! I'm excited for this birthday party.
It's worth celebrating for your child, even though they can't remember or they won't know anything at this young age, but when they grow up, this little celebration that we did for them, it will stay forever in their heart.

And most importantly, we celebrate Life! =)

Honey Bear Birthday Party - Part 1

Hello Everyone!!

ANNOUNCEMENT!!

Our beary sweet baby boy is turning ONE next month!! 

This mama is excited for a birthday party again... and the theme for the big ONE birthday is Honey Bear! How did I ever come out with this theme? Why not Cars or Mickey or Safari or any other boy's theme? And why Honey Bear? 

So, here's the history of Why Honey Bear. =)

The idea came when I decided to order birthday cake exactly like the design below. But customized it to only 1 tier, 6" since we are just hosting a small party with close friends. So, the design for the 1 tier will be exactly the same like below, with a 3D figurine, a Tiger!  

After ordering this cake, I ordered cupcakes from my friend. When she asked what is the theme of the birthday party, I gulped. I replied, "I don't have any theme in mind, just do anything with blue and yellow?". So, that was it. I ordered 20 cupcakes with an unknown design and she shall surprise me with the design on the actual day.

Then, I looked around for a matching birthday invitation card, cupcake pricks and so on. And thanks to Google, I found an almost similar theme, Bee and Bear. Too cute!! Honey bear! So, this was it. The birthday theme for Daniel. Honey Bear Birthday Party!

So, I decided to re-customized the birthday cake again, changing from a 3D tiger to a 3D bear. And I contacted my friend to do cupcakes almost similar to this honey bear theme. And I customized the birthday invitation cards and cupcake pricks and bottle labels. Everything is good! And I'm one happy mom. I wish I have more time now to DIY most of the snacks and stuffs.

Daniel - 10 months!

Daniel is growing up too fast! From 0 months to 1, then 2, and now 10! Gulp! Breathe in breathe out. On the other hand, I wish he grows faster, he walks faster so that he can play with his Jie Jie, can chase Jie Jie and we can bring both of them out in the park together and yes, we can have lots and lots of fun together! And, I can dress him up smartly in shirt and jeans! I couldn't wait to play the matching colors of summer wears that we bought in NEXT!

Baby Stats:

 --------------------------

  Sleep

There was a significant change in his sleeping pattern. Now, he cannot sleep on  his own, he cannot be left in the baby cot and then he dozes off on his own ... Such a drastic change after the Europe trip. He was too used to patting on the butt to sleep, and sleeping next to my mom and not the baby cot... So, after the trip, we had such a tough time to readjust everything. I'm just not confident that he will get back to the previous habit of sleeping on his own (self-settled).

Feed

Daniel oh Daniel, can you please eat everything that your mama cooks ? Haha. I actually had a hard time to feed him ABC porridge (which means I dump lots of vege in the porridge). Ended up I had to steam fish and pour in the gravy into his porridge and then only he ate like a Prince. Baby boy oh baby boy... We yet to try something new.. looks like his food adventure is a little boring compare to Jie Jie's time.

Solid Food Adventure:

20 Nov - First intro on Oatmeal Cereal (Yumm)

25 Nov - Oatmeal and Banana Cereal (Yumm)

1 Dec - Apple puree (Yuckk)

19 Dec - Butternut squash puree (Yuckk)

27 Dec - Potato, pumpkin and beef casserole (Super Yumm - bought from Woolworths Australia) 

8 Feb - Avocado + Oatmeal Cereal (Yumm) 

Weight

 At birth : 3.02 kg

7 weeks : 4.7kg

3 months : (still not checked)

4 months : 6.2kg

5 months : (not checked)

6 months : 6.5kg

6.5 months (30 Nov 2013) : 6.7kg

7 months : (not checked)

8 months : (not checked) 

  9 months : (not checked) 

10 months : (not checked)

Funniest Moment

Nothing much on the funniest moment as mama was away for almost 3 weeks. Sorry baby boy. But we still find your head banging style whenever you hear music is super funny. =D

Milestone

- knows how to clap!

- knows how to wave bye bye

- kept babbling mama dada baba

- able to hold objects and walk/move

Favorite Toy

Ball and stick!