Back to juicing with Kuvings

I love my Kuvings! Guess this is the best investment that we've made so far. Everyone in the house loves juice! I've not been juicing for a while ever since I started pregnant with no3, and after I gave birth, I hardly have time to juice. Taking care of a newborn is so tiring that I just leave my Kuvings to rot on the table top.

Baby Vi is now 4 months and slowly, I started to find some extra time that I can juice. One of the reasons to juice is to skip dinner and get rid of all the unwanted fats. Thanks to the delicious RT Pastry swiss roll that I'm hooked and putting a whole lot of weight. *cry* Secondly, to nourish my body to produce the best quality of breastmilk for my baby and the little toddler. Oh well, many said that breastfeeding can help mommy to go back in shape, yeah right, I'm still running out of shape. Blame my appetite? I eat more than I used to. And I always worry if I didn't eat much, I won't produce enough milk. It's quite true though, every time I skipped lunch/dinner I notice that I don't engorged neither do I feel full. 😂 So, I'm determined to go back to juicing!

It's not pure fruit juice, but more of vege juice. If you plan to juice, don't go for pure fruit juice. You're drinking fructose/sugar. Put more vege instead of fruits.

Juice for the day consists of:

kailan + cucumber + carrot + green apples + lemon + oranges

 

 

Our little baby... 

 

This is for the kids : orange + green apple + carrot + cucumber

Mommy and daddy's juice : kailan + cucumber + carrot + lemon + green apple + orange

Kuvings is the best! Look at the dry pulp. Fruits and veges are juiced out to the max!

And today, we're juicing lotus root. After googling the benefits of lotus root, I felt assured that this will help with the little boys' fever. He woke up from his afternoon nap and I felt his forehead was hotter than usual. Checked with the thermometer and true enough, he was down with fever. 38.2 degrees. Sigh. He just recovered from fever two weeks ago and today, he was down with fever again. So sad. Hopefully it's just another round of viral infection and nothing else. Every time when they fall sick, my mind just couldn't stay positive. Sigh. I just need to learn to let go and let God.

 

Lotus root is high in Vit C and it helps to cool down the body as well. If you're prone to nose bleed, this will help. And it does help to bring down your fever. So, I'm gonna juice this and let him drink. But make sure that you wash it properly because you do not want to juice any mud. =D 

It feels good to go back in juicing for health. Gonna grab more raw veges from the store and start to eat healthy!

Salmon Carbonara

Recently everyone in the family is addicted to western food. We are all so bored of chinese food and the hubby kick start the fire with his pork chop pasta. It tasted so good that I asked him to cook again this week.

Not enough of pork chop.. I saw the salmon lying in my freezer for 3 weeks already. 😱 And I decided to come out with my own recipe of salmon cabonara. It tasted good tho, the hubby said it was delicious. Not sure if he's trying to please me. Haha.

Here's my version of salmon cabonara, use what I have in the fridge.

Ingredients :
Salmon (marinade with some salt and coarse pepper)
Cherry tomatoes (cut into halves)
Cooking cream
Milk
Salt to taste
Butter (for healthier version use olive oil)
Onion (chopped)
Garlic (chopped)
Few tablespoons of white wine vinegar
Fettucine/macaroni/penne (you decide)
(since this is my own version of salmon cabonara, I don't have the exact measurement how much you should use and so on, I just go by feel. 😛)

Method:
1. Heat up butter in a saucepan with medium heat. Stir fry the salmon.
2. Add in onion and garlic. Stir fry until fragrant.
3. Add cherry tomatoes. Stir fry again for few minutes.
4. Add in cooking cream and some milk. I make it more watery so that it's easier for the kids to eat.
5. Add cooking vinegar and salt to taste. Set aside.
6. Boil a pot of water with some salt and olive oil. After water is boiled, add in pasta and cook until it's soft. Follow the instructions on the packaging. Drain and mix well with some butter and coarsed black pepper.
7. Serve together with the salmon cream sauce.
8. Enjoy!

Baby Vi's studio photoshoot

You know when you're not going through the process of taking care of a newborn anymore..and when you know she's the last baby you're gonna have.. All you want to do is to go all out for everything! I just want to enjoy her as much as I can before the newborn and baby phases are over. 

Initially I wanted to secure the professional photographer Papierhat that is quite famous in family photography, but they were fully booked. The next available slot is when baby Vi is 2-3 months old. My intention was to get a newborn photography done but sad to say..  I just have to DiY my own. I started Google-ing around on which angle, how to position your baby and so on.. And I came out with this.. 

This was taken at 18 days old. When I was still in confinement, I moved up and down just to get this shot done. At first my mom thought whose baby is this because it looks so professional.. And my friend asked if I did this shot myself. Lol. I can't believe this shot is up to standard. But I still feel that it wasn't the newborn photography that I expected it to be.

And I started to look in Groupon. Hopefully to find a cheaper photography rather than to secure a professional photographer that might cost above RM1k. And I found one! House of Brides and Blooms at Puchong offers two packages RM19 or RM29 photoshoot. After I did some research and reading reviews in Facebook, it seems ok. Many good reviews about them. Excitedly, we bought two RM29 coupons. Which means we will have two photoshoots done, one when she's 2mo and another one at 3mo. Most studios only offer one groupon per family per year, but there's no such rule stated in the terms and conditions, hence we happily booked two slots. Until the day we told them we have two coupons, they said sorry, only one baby per coupon. No repeat. Is either they refund the money to us or get Ash or Da to do the second photoshoot. We checked the terms and conditions again and it was not stated any such rules. The hb was not satisfied and wanted baby Vi to get the photography done because that was the reason we bought the coupon at the first place. After some discussions here and there, the manager was kind enough to honor the terms and conditions and said ok, get baby Vi done for both coupons. 

So here's baby Vi's first photoshoot at 2 months old. She was such a trooper. She didn't fuss from the start to the end..  From changing costumes, changing positions, changing poses.. A whole different kind of environment and she adapted so well. Am so proud of her! 

The two pictures below were done this afternoon at 3 months old. She behaved very well, except she reserved her smiles for mommy only. We acted silly, squeezed the plush toys to make squeak sounds, kring-krang the bell toys and yet couldn't make her smile. Aaaahhh.. Our cool baby girl. 

I just can't wait to see the end result and get the photos printed. Oh, how much I love photography. They grow up too fast and by snapping lots of photos and videos, it creates a beautiful memory down the lane. We do not have time machine to go back to their newborn-baby days, but we have photos and videos that we can always look back and smile and appreciate the "once upon a time" memories. ❤

Daniel, Mommy loves you.

While feeding him his lunch, I kissed him on his head and we started a short conversation.

Me : Daniel, Mommy loves you a lot a lot. Do you know?

Daniel : Yes, I love you too. 

Me : Why do you love me?

Daniel : Because you always give me your milk.

Me : You like mommy's milk? Is it delicious?

Daniel : Yes. So Yummy.

Aaaahhh.. All the sleepless night is paid off. Those words are so sweet to hear, sweet sweet words to my ear. It gives me a lot of strength to carry on with what I'm doing. Baby Vi sleeps long hours at night and I still have my alarm clock set every day at 3am just to express out the milk for him. Some days I might have a lot of stocks and Jie Jie gets a share as well. But she's not so keen. She said yucks. Haha. It works if I add some milo or yoghurt. 

Breastmilk is definitely very powerful. When Jie Jie was down with flu and cough for almost 2 weeks, Di Di doesn't get any symptoms. Even if he does, he recovers very quickly. So thankful for the more-than-enough supply that I get to give them the best! Jia you mommy!

My daddy, my superhero!

Indeed, it is true when the quote says it only takes a special man to be a dad. The man that I love is now a doting father to our three beautiful children. 

• He puts the family first before himself. 
• Playing time with daddy is more fun than mommy. Daddy always goes beyond... 
• When daddy hits the kitchen, he cooks up a storm. The best food on earth. So much love in that one pot meal. 
• Daddy works hard for the family, and yet he still makes time for us. 
• When daddy is away for business trip, foods are stored up in the freezer and cupboard that we can never go hungry. I even have difficulties to find a place to store them. Overflowing! 
• He always gives the best to the family, he's not a cheapskate daddy. 
• He ensures that his family always have enough. Enough in everything! 
• He does everything just to make us happy. He builds a happy family. 
• He loves mommy! He loves his children! 

And we are blessed to call him our daddy! Our hero!

She's the best!

God blessed us with this pretty bubbly little girl. She's blessed with a little brother and a little sister. She's the big Sister in the family. She's a wonderful amazing gorgeous little girl. She has brought so much joy to the family. She's funny, and when she laughs or talks, she makes everyone laugh. Such a joyful personality she has.

She loves her little brother and sister. She takes care of them. Even though they do have some arguments over toys and wanted to be number one all the time, at the end of the day she still loves and protects her siblings. She will take care of her baby sister when mommy is busy in the kitchen or busy with houseworks. She will sing songs, play and talk to her. She just loves her so much.

She's such an understanding little girl. When daddy is far far away for business trip, and when mommy is so so tired and busy..  She's like the "little daddy" that helps out with the simple house chores.

She helps to set up the bed in the living room.. 

She helps to put dirty bowls into the sink. She even tries to wash them herself. But she told me,  "Mommy, I tried to wash but I'm not tall enough." It's ok baby girl, next time when you grow up taller you help mommy with the dishes yeah. 

She helps to feed her brother when mommy is busy with the little baby.

She's none other than our precious daughter. Our firstborn. Our heartthrob. I'm just so proud of her, playing her role as the big Sister. We all love her so much. Thank you dearie for being the best sister and daughter. We couldn't have asked for more, but we're just so thankful that God blessed us with you. Our perfect gift from heaven above. 

Love you very much! 

She moves 180 degrees!

Wow weee! You know the joy of being a stay at home mom? You get to witness your baby's growth and development, everyday! All the "my first"  development cannot be missed. So so precious! I didn't get to witness the day by day growth of my two older kids because I was still working back then and they were under the care of nanny. So, what I got were only reports. The nanny will report to me all their firsts instead of me witnessing them with my own eyes.

I'm so blessed that today, I get to witness baby Vi's first 180 degrees move! The left was before and after I went out from the room to attend to the two older kids, I came back to this. I was just so amazed and I cheered her on. She looked at me with a big smile.

Many many more Firsts to come and we're so excited to watch her grow as the days go by. Truly, we're so thankful for such a healthy and cheerful baby girl. So so blessed. And even more blessed to be able to stay at home with all the three kids. Even though sometimes I miss my working life so badly, but days like this just make me feel like I have made the right choice. To be available all the time for my children. And to watch them grow. From faith to faith. Glory to glory. Grace to grace.

The perfect parent

We brought the kids to farm in the city located at Seri Kembangan. The kids had so much fun feeding and petting the animals, they were beyond thrilled to have such a close interaction with the human-friendly animals. I was glad to see such excitement in their faces and yes, we did not let them roam around freely in the farm, even though all are human-friendly animals. Because. This paranoid mommy afraid that even though they are friendly animals, they are still animals. So, we held hands and walked together all the time. I watched over their steps closely. Unfortunately I missed my own steps and I fell on the ground. My pants were covered with mud and my legs were sore. It was ok! As long as it was not the kids. We moved on from one section to another and the park has few stations to wash your hands after petting and feeding the animals. So, don't worry about hygiene. We washed the hands all the time. I even brought my own dettol soap. 

We spent almost 2 hours there and it was time to go home. But the kids persuaded us to feed the giant tortoise one last time. And who can resist those soft baby voice saying please, can we feed the tortoise one last time? Of course babies, one more round and we shall set our foot home. I squatted together with them, looking and watching at them feeding the giant tortoise. 

 

It was almost time for lunch and I stood up, looked at my hubby and said Let's Go! The moment I faced my hubby face to face, I heard a loud scream! I quickly recognized the cry, it was Daniel. I turned over and saw that he was holding his fingers. The giant tortoise bit him while I turned away for seconds to tell the hubby let's go home. Everything happened so fast! I panicked and quickly picked up my crying boy. I looked at his small little hand and saw the few holes of bite. Thank God the tortoise let go of his hand and there was no blood. Only some deep holes and bruises. I carried him and quickly went over to the information counter and requested for some dettol wash. The farm is well equipped with first aid kits, and our little boy got his hand bandaged. 

I was so worried, and we were thinking if we should bring him to the hospital. We stopped at a nearby pharmacy and asked if he required any injection to avoid infection. The pharmacist said it was ok because tortoise are vegetarian. Therefore it was not as bad as dog/cat. 

Due to this incident, I couldn't sleep for days and weeks. I felt so guilty. I felt so devastated. I felt so lousy that I was unable to protect my children. I slept with the giant tortoise running in my mind. It was like a nightmare. And I woke up every few hours at night to check on my boy if he was ok. I checked his temperature all the time. Every time I see a tortoise, I remember this incident. I remember the bite.

Till today, I still couldn't get this incident out of my mind. As much as I tried to protect my children from the start, accident still happened. And lately, there are a lot of news regarding toddler's injury/accidents. Many people think they are the best parent and they can prevent accidents from happening. Oh well... read this.

An Open Letter To Perfect Parents: Put Down Your Pitchforks

This mommy wrote exactly what is in my mind. When accidents happen, keyboard warriors start slamming the wall : WHERE were the parents? WHY leave the child unattended? PUT the parents to JAIL! We are living in a world now that we cannot let accidents happen. It's so sad. Such a sad sad world. People condemning one another. People judge so quickly. Oh people, Accident means an unfortunate incident that happens unintentionally and unexpectedly! No parents of course want their child to get hurt. 
As much as we try to be very careful of everything, accidents do happen. And when that happens, don't be the first to throw stones. Offer some words of comfort. Speak words of life and not deadly words.

My breastfeeding journey with the three

When I had my first daughter, I had very little knowledge about breastfeeding. I thought it was as easy as abc until baby was born, I didn't know how to hold to feed a baby. A hungry baby cries the roof down. I felt so lousy whenever my baby cried because I couldn't hold her in the right position to latch. She cried and screamed and my tears just streamed down my cheeks. During the confinement month, the confinement lady told me the first few days I will not have any milk, therefore supply with formula and not only that, she fed my baby with water when she cried and it wasn't time for her to drink. As a first time mom, I just let her be because I didn't know that actually too much of water for baby under 6 months can cause water intoxication. Due to this, baby did not have enough of milk and her jaundice level went up and up. She was admitted to the hospital twice for phototherapy. Again, I felt so lousy as a mom. I ended up being an EP mom, expressing my milk all the time. Baby had nipple confusion because of the limited latching moments and most of the time baby was on bottle. She would scream when I tried to latch her. Felt so lousy and like a failure. I continued pumping and pumping, and unable to empty the breasts completely. Due to this, I  suffered from mastitis twice and sore nipples due to the wrong size of flanges and pumped with a high suction. The nipple bled terribly that I thought I had paget until I went to see a breast specialist. I even pumped out a bottle of fresh blood milk. So terrific when I saw it and I quickly poured it down the sink. After all these trauma, I gave up on breastfeeding and at that time, my daughter was only 8mo.

Two years later, my son was born. This round I was more prepared and determined to go for direct latching more than pumping. Joined the breastfeeding advocates in Facebook helps a lot. I learned a lot from all the mommies. Breastfeeding with no2 was sailing smooth. Baby no2 latch on very well and he has a big appetite. On the first day itself he almost latched on for 24hrs. I was so tired but I just continued to sit down and latch and latch. The bonding was so sacred that I was so determined that I will breastfeed him as long as possible. He did not have any jaundice, thank God. And breastfeeding went on so smooth until I left for Sweden for 3 weeks. He was under the care of my mom during my trip with the freezer filled with frozen breastmilk. Unfortunately my stocks were not enough for the 3 weeks that we had to top up with formula. My supply dropped tremendously when I was there and to make it worst, when I was back, he didn't want to latch! I missed the bonding so much and eagerly waiting to go home and latch him, but he just didn't want to. My breasts were so engorged due to the long hours of flight and I didn't get to drain them up completely in the plane and during the connecting flight. I regretted that I left him to sweden and the feeling was like I reaped what I sowed. I tried to dream feed him but failed as well. I just couldn't hold back my tears when I told my mom he rejected me. But I did not give up. I kept trying and trying to dream feed him for 3 weeks and finally, glad to say that he remembered my nipples! I placed the bottle near my nipple and when he drank well from the bottle, I pulled the bottle away and stuffed my nipple. It works! Haha. Awwww..  Baby boy, no more next time yeah. Thank you for giving mommy a chance and remembering how to latch again. Our breastfeeding journey then continued on until I was pregnant with no3, when he was 2 years plus. Initially he refused to wean but after much explanation to him that mommy's milk has dried up, he finally accepted the fact and as a big brother, he said let baby drinks mommy's milk. Such a good kor kor. 

This year, baby no3 was born and I was more than prepared to start the breastfeeding journey again. I missed the sacred bonding of breastfeeding and couldn't wait to start all over again. Baby no3 is a trooper! She latches so well and I  breastfed her from the first day she was born and till today, we are still going strong! She was born with only 2.8kg and on the 20th day, she gained about 1kg and when we brought her to check on her jaundice, the doctor was so so pleased of her growth. And that makes me a proud mom. All the hardwork of sleepless night and feeding on demand finally paid off. I'm so so glad that I'm able to breastfeed her right from the start and today, she's one happy girl whenever I hold her in the latching position. She will first look at me with the sweetest smile ever and then started to open her mouth to latch. Aaaahhhh baby girl, let's stay strong in this beautiful journey together. On the other hand, kor kor is now back on breastmilk! He doesn't want to latch, so I just have to work harder to pump out the milk for him. I even filled up the freezer with frozen breastmilk just in case we need the stocks in future. From time to time, I would clear the frozen breastmilk so that I do not keep the stocks for more than 3 months. Baby Vi and kor kor accepted the frozen milk's taste and smell. =D This journey is so beautiful that I do not have any future plans to wean unless she decided to wean on her own. 

Here's the chilled breastmilk for kor kor. Sometimes there are too many that I have to heat up for jie jie as well. She will say yucks, but she still finishes up everything. 😂

Frozen EBM for emergency.. I know I'm super lousy in the arrangements, but I'm running out of bottles and space. So I think these stocks should be sufficient. 

Here's my breastfeeding journey with all the three and indeed, this is the most beautiful journey ever. I love to breastfeed. The chemical connection and bonding is so real and precious! 

Baby V at 3 Months 16 Days

Date : 15 June 2016

How far along : 3 Months 16 Days

Weight :
Newborn : 2.87kg
20 days old : 3.8kg
1 month : 4.65kg
2 months : 5.8kg
3 months : 6.41kg

Height :
Newborn : 47cm
2 months : 58cm

Head Circumference :
Newborn : 37.5cm
2 months : 39cm

She does not have any checkup on the 3rd month. Therfore I do not have the measurement for her height and HC. But I managed to get her weight checked because I hopped on to the emergency room at columbia hospital and told the nurse "nak check baby's weight boleh?" "nak timbang berat sahaja ke? Tak jumpa doktor kan?" "ya, timbang sahaja. Nak tahu berapa berat dah." The nurse was so kind. 😁

Sleep : Recently, her sleeping pattern changed again. I started to bath her in the evening due to the hot and humid weather over here. After bath, sometimes she will just fall asleep on her own. She will then sleep until 9pm and when she wakes up, I will nurse her and she will go back to sleep. I'm so so glad that I will be able to stay home for her. The bonding is so sacred and I treasure it very much!

Food : Give me nen nen please!! Another 3 more months to go to start solid. Which means mommy has extra work to do, but it's gonna be an exciting journey!

Best moment this week : She's chuckling more and more and more!! It's just so fun to interact and talk to her. She will reply me with her baby coos and if I'm lucky enough, she will chuckles. Her voice is so so sweet. I can just sit down and talk to her and listen to her baby coos. Aaahhh... gonna treasure all these baby moments before time really flies. =)

Look at her sweet sweet smile. Meltssss! 

Next direct shopping.. Again!

Shopping! Baby Shopping! Again! Can someone please kick my butt and tell me to stop shopping? With the free delivery to Malaysia when you spend RM150 and above, online shopping at NEXT becomes pretty addictive. Thank God Gymboree/Carters/JanieJack do not offer free delivery to Malaysia upon purchase of XXX. Or else.... I don't know what will happen to me. 

The reason why I shop this time is because of the purple sparkling shoes! It's too pretty to say NO, Don't buy! Little A has outgrown most of her shoes and I hardly can find any pretty girly shoes that can match with all her pretty dresses. And when I saw this gorgeous sparkling piece from NEXT, I told Justin please, let me buy it for her. He approved, and oh yes, I'm definitely one happy mom. So, in order to get free delivery, I have to purchase RM150 and above. Ta dahh... here's my loot for the day.

Free delivery by DHL. Super efficient service. I received this parcel in 4 days upon purchased.

Pink Pink Butterfly Dress for baby V. She's gonna wear this for our upcoming trip in Dec. 

*excited mode on*

This is the reason why I made this purchase. Berry Glitter T-bar Pumps! But, so so sad because the size does not suit her. It's a little too small!! Sighh... Gonna keep this pretty piece for baby V. For 4 years! *double sadness*

Textured Ruffle Socks two packs. Bought this to match along with her berry glitter pumps, but now I have to keep this pretty ruffle socks first until I find another piece of gorgeous pumps for her.  

Happy to receive this parcel, but sad that she cannot fit into the pumps.=(

Siblings competition..

Most of the times I only share the sweet moments of the kids and how much I love being with them everyday. Every morning. Every afternoon. Every evening. Every night. In reality, not everyday is as sweet as honey. When life throws you a lemon, you make a lemonade. Oh well, some things are easier to be said than done.

This phase of motherhood is tough when I have to be a referee all the time. Sometimes I'm just confused where I should blow the whistle. Left or right? And what if I blow the whistle to the right but the fact is the left is the one that starts all the drama? I'm not Justice Bao, and I'm learning to be one as days go by. Everyday I feel like I'm a new mother. Trial and error here and there, learning how to tackle different situations in a day. I admit sometimes I did make wrong judgment, when I think this solution might work out for them but it just didn't happen. Oh God, please impart to me more of your wisdom understanding and knowledge that I will always be the best person that my children can rely and shoulder on.

Recently, the siblings competition became so intense that I started to develop a mild headache whenever the noises reach the soprano level. I would then hide myself in the room to quiet down (to avoid myself to turn into a dinosaur and start roaring) and when I feel much better, I walk out again. Babies, can you guys please play quietly and for once be so good to each other? Please give me a 15mins of quiet time. Is it doable babies? Sometimes I'm just so amazed that they compete over petite things.

Something like these:

• my chair no1. When I told them to put back their chairs, they are competing who can reach and place their chair first is no 1. No2 needs to stack the chair on top of the no1. Obviously, jie jie always win and then lil bro will shout and scream. In order to make both no1, both chairs are placed on the floor and no stacking. #headache1
• whenever I ask jie jie to help me to take my phone, lil bro will run very fast to get my phone and jie jie will run even faster. Who wins again? Of course the longer legs will win. Hence, the screaming again. So, after jie jie pass me my phone, I'll pass my phone to lil bro and then he will pass back to me. And you can see him smiling again. #headache2
• one second they play nicely together, the next second you will hear either one shouting "I don't want to friend you". "I don't want to play with you." "You snatch from me you never say please." "I got sticker I don't want to share with you." And the screaming continues until I go over and become a referee. #headache3
• don't take my things. No, this is mine. No, this one mommy bought for me one. No, mommy bought for me. You take my things you never say please. Shout and scream again. #headache4
• Daniel, can you share the toy with me? When the answer is no, there goes the screaming and shouting again. #headache5 
• La la la la la, I am the winner! You are the loser. I no1, you no2. Nooooo.. I no1. You no2. NO!!! I say I no1. You no2. Scream + Shout + Cry. #headache6

It's all the screaming and shouting and crying that makes my head explode. Especially when you're dealing with all these high decimal noise the whole day! Everyday I'm just looking forward for sleeping time. That's when I really get some peace. That's when my head and brain get some much needed rest. Haha. Then I started to dig out my favorite food and nom nom nom. Only mothers can understand mothers. =/

Despite all these screaming and shouting at one another, at the end of the day, I still must boast about their goodness. They still make the best friends. They care for one another. Once I spotted them holding hands to sleep (spying from the cctv). Jie Jie tells bedtime story to Di Di when daddy is busy with his work and mommy is busy nursing baby. They sing songs together. They look for each other when either one wakes up first. Ain't all these sweet? How nice if they stay this sweet for the entire day. *feeling hopeful*

 At the end of the day, they are still the best friends! The best soul mate! They care and protect one another.

Sometimes I keep reminding myself to focus on all the sweet memories with my children, to be thankful all the time, but most of the time my mind failed to connect. God, I need more of you! I need more grace in becoming a more graceful mother. Thank you for still entrusting these lovely children to me. The amount of grace and mercy you have shown to me, I shall do the same to your little children. Guide me Lord. I need Your strength to carry on with this highest calling! Amen.

Pandan and chocolate butter cake

I have this expired butter at home which was bought last year. 😱 I just couldn't find the time to bake hence few blocks of butter expired just like that. I have two more blocks to go after this. Guess I'll be on butter marathon for the coming weeks. Butter marathon and then exercise marathon. Haha.

I decided to bake pandan chocolate butter cake because the pandan leaves grew so wild in my garden. I harvested the whole bunch, about 30 leaves and blend it with very little of water to get a real concentrated pandan juice. Strain the juice from the pulp and keep the juice overnight. The next day, you will see two layers in the bottle and pour away the top layer. Use only the concentrated juice that sinks to the bottom. Then you'll get a real greenish nice color of pandan cake.

Here's the recipe for the cake which I altered on my own. Experimenting my own recipe. 😋

250gm of butter
250 of cake flour
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon of baking powder
60gm of sugar
6 tablespoons of pandan juice

4 eggs whites
60gm sugar

Chocolate powder

Preheat the oven.
1. Cream the butter and add 60gm sugar.
2. Add the egg yolks one at a time and beat.
3. Sift in the flour and baking powder and beat well until all mixed. Pour in the pandan juice alternately with the flour.
4. Beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the sugar in three batches and continue to beat until stiff.
5. Scoop 1/4 of the egg white meringue and fold in to the butter batter. Fold slowly until all are mixed well.
6. Then pour the batter into the remaining meringue and fold well.
7. Scoop some batter and mix with melted chocolate powder.
7. Pour the pandan batter into baking tin and then top with chocolate batter. Use a knife to create marble pattern for your cake. Bake at 160c for 50-60mins. Until your skewer come out clean.

I just love the bright green color of the pandan cake. Smells so good and the color is so refreshing!

My first lecture from baby A

I have this very not-so-good habit whenever I'm free..  Which is to browse the new arrival outfits for the kids! From Carters to Gymboree to Next to JanieJack. These four are my favorite outfits store for the kids. I bought mostly Carters and Gymboree for the girls and Next for the little boy. Next come out with pretty handsome outfit for boys. I love them. Thank God I'm not living in the States, else my purse will be bleeding to death. 😂

So today, I have some free time while the kids are playing by themselves and the little baby is sleeping in the room, I sit down in front of my pc and started to open few browsers at one go. Facebook. Hotmail. Carters. Gymboree. NextDirect. Janiejack. Crazy8.

Little did I know, my daughter is spying at me. I'm busy scrolling up and down looking at all the beautiful dresses for girls. They are so so pretty that I wish to have them all. One thing about Gymboree dresses are the designs are almost the same, only difference is the color of the cloth or an additional bow to spice up the dress. But I still like Gymboree dresses the most.

And here's the lecture..

A    : Mommy, why you always look at dresses .. So many dresses?
Me : because they are so pretty. I like to see.
A    : I already have so many new dresses. Cannot wear finish. Some never take turns to wear also. Daddy said cannot buy already. You stop buying ok.
Me : Oh really? When did Daddy say cannot buy?
A    : That day la. He said I have so many new dresses and must stop buying.
Me : Ok..  I'll stop buying for you. Then I buy for Victoria and myself ok?
A    : Ok. Buy for yourself and Victoria. But I  dun have new shorts. My shorts all old already. You can buy for me new shorts.
Me : ..........

My daughter has grown up. The very first lecture she gave me is to stop shopping and stop being a shopaholic. 😅

Being a parent doesn't mean you are always right. Being a mother to 3 beautiful children simply means I'm relearning life again. They taught me how to be patient, to be happy all the time, to be brave and not afraid of falls, to be strong even when I'm sick...etc. My children are my best teacher! 

Me time!

Everyday I'm just so busy with the two toddlers and a newborn and houseworks. It feels luxury if I'm able to have at least a 15-30mins of me time. If it's 1 hour then it's Gold! Can, if I stay awake middle of the night? Lol. So today, the kids skipped their nap in the afternoon and therefore, I put them to sleep as early as 8pm! Surprisingly the baby slept at the same time and I was just so excited that finally, I get some me time for myself.

That day I came across a Facebook post that asked "What do you like to do when you get an hour for yourself?" You see, whenever the kids are asleep, I just don't want to spend that precious time to sleep. Sleep when baby sleeps? It's just so difficult. No matter how tired I am, I just want to do something that I like to do, that I don't get to do when they are awake. Example. Baking! Or pamper my face with some toner/moisturizer and then mask. Or EAT-in-Peace!

Today, I chose to eat! Look at my supper. It was like finally, I get to eat in peace. Aahhh. Bliss!

Recently I'm addicted to RT Pastry's swiss roll. Their choclate and taro swiss roll are just so yummy that I cannot stop buying whenever I finished one roll. #fatdieme but #toodelicious and #Imusteat. The cream cheese cranberry bun is also yummy! Soft and filled with cream cheese. Gosh. Another #fatdieme food. Oh well, who cares. It's my me time! 

This matcha ice cream has been sleeping in my freezer for weeks and finally I found a perfect time to enjoy this little piece. I know my kids will love this, but I just need some time alone that I can eat in peace and enjoy every bite of it - when the house is silent, except for baby's sleeping Orchestra. 😂 

As much as I enjoy my me time, most of the time it doesn't last long. I was about to open the plastic of my bun and then I heard the baby's cry in the room. I wrapped up the bun again and sealed it for my breakfast the next day. Ahhh..  What a short me time. Hope to have a longer me time when baby V is older. But, please don't grow so fast baby V. Mommy needs to enjoy you as much as possible because you're the youngest in the family. 😍