No. 3 ?????.............

Sometimes I would think of having baby no.3, unfortunately, my husband said “no-no”.

It has not been easy on all my 3 pregnancies. Yes, 3 pregnancies. I had a miscarriage at 24 months with a baby boy while I was in Cambodia. I can’t say Cambodia does not have good medical care because every Cambodian woman got pregnant and delivered there. Maybe it was not my luck. I had seen and consulted few doctors but no one knew that I was having the premature contraction. And I know it was not my luck as the best gynaecologist in town was in France that time (She was the one who tried her best to keep my daughter the second time around). One gynaecologist at a private hospital even wants me to go for cesarean section when the ultrasound showed that the baby is in birth position. I still remembered at that point of time, hubby and I felt helpless because I was advised not to travel back to Malaysia as I was bleeding and the option given by the private gynea is to have a c-section. I can't imagine how this type of profit minded doctor is qualified to save lives of babies and mothers.

I delivered the baby at Calmette Hospital, Phnom Penh with hubby at my side and also a friend of mine, Ros Dara who helped to translate for us. (Dara and Susi, if you are reading this post, Yee and I would like to say a big thank you to you for helping us to go through the difficult times with my pregnancies while we were in Cambodia)

Some of them asked me whether the baby still alive when he was born…I don’t know. I really don’t know because the doctor did not tell me anything and the nurse just asked us whether we wanted to bring the baby home or let the hospital to take care of it. I remembered after I was wheeled out from the labour room, the nurse put a bag of ice on my tummy. Yes, a big bag of ice (big ice cubes).

Until today, when I think of it, I felt guilty that I didn't find out whether the baby still alive when he was delivered. ...........to be continued....

My leave application

Yup, my home minister has approved my leave application and hurray, we're going back to Kuantan in August. It has been more than a year I didn't go "home". But, I am still seeing my parent quite often as they spent their new year here in January/February. Besides, my father travels here quite often to see his cucu.

I am really looking forward to the trip because I can eat my hometown food, seeing my old schoolmates and old friends and off course go "paktoring" with hubby. It has been ....hmmm....don't know how long we didn't go out for a movie. I am sure we'll catch a movie there as I know my kids are in good hand with their wai kong, wai poh, yee kong & yee poh around.

We will be going to KL for 2 days and hubby already made a reservation at Boulevard Hotel. I still prefer to stay at Lanson Place Ambassador Row as it has a big space for kids to run around and also a small kitchen for me to prepare the kids' food and drinks. But hubby said that Boulevard is best as they can go back to the room to take rest while I do my shopping at Mid Valley. Good point!

Snacks Time

Other than fresh fruits, smoothie and biscuits/cookies, these are the stuffs that I normally provide them after lunch or dinner……….

Heinz summer drink is my girl all time favourite. She always ask for it when she returns from her playschool by saying this: “ mummy, I want the yellow juice and I want to drink from the nen-nen bottle”. and my boy says “ mummy….juice juice nen-nen bottle”

….also prune juice and Vitagen.

..off course yogurt and pudding.

Oh…one more thing, I can’t find any Yakult in Miri. I normally get the Yakult while I do my groceries shopping in Brunei.

Something new

Trying to find something to cook for the kids this afternoon but there isn't any much veggie left and yet fish fillet has been “out-of-stock, so, I have come out with a new dish.

红笕菜炒蛋

I beaten up 2 eggs with some fresh milk. Cut the red spinach into pieces. Stir fry the veggie with some garlic and then add in the beaten eggs and put in half slice of cheese.



It does not looks "appealing" but quite yummy.

Jia Jia finds it so-so as I can see from the speed she finished off her rice. But, surprisingly, the picky eater likes it so much.

I even use the leftover to mix into their macaroni cheese for dinner.Another quick fixed meal, lazy mummy!

Self Feeding

I remembered Jia Jia started to learn to self feed at the age of 13 months. However, only at 18 months plus, I am just started to let my boy to learn self feeding. Most probably I am kind of a clean freak person and I am scared and frustrated if I see them dirty and mess up themselves and also dirtying the floor.

I tried to let him to start off with a cup of pudding after dinner.

He was happily digging in the pudding with the plastic spoon.

See, he is in a mess. He knows that his mouth is dirty and keep pointing at his mouth, requesting me to wipe him.

My ballerina

My girl has another ballet costume today. It is actually a hand-me-down from my husband's colleague. Her daughter has no longer wear them and she has even gave us a pink “mini” cardigan to match with this ballet costume.

Jia Jia was really happy when she it.

She asked me to dress her in this leotard and tutu while watching the Twelve Dancing Princess vcd this afternoon. Girl oh girl!

Play Dough

Jia Jia kept asking me for play dough since this morning. I didn’t bother to do it as I was busy tidying up the refrigerator and kitchen the whole morning. I didn’t even prepare them lunch and just asked hubby to pack some noodle (the kids like most) and bought some bread and croissant (Jia Jia’s favorite) home.

After we had our lunch, she still kept pestering me for the play dough. Thus, I took out 3 types of flour and simply mixed the rice flour, wheat flour and corn flour, put in the blue and rose pink coloring essence, then out the “self made” play dough!



The good thing is that the play dough kept them occupied for about 40 minutes and I managed to prepare and cooked their dinner.

Then, mummy also joined in to play with them. It is actually fun playing the play dough!



Here I made the princess tiara, bracelet and watches for her ………

Seem that my boy doesn't quite like the scraf that I made for him....bleh!

Sibling's Tender Loving Moment

I was mad with my son while feeding him lunch the other day. So mad that I couldn't control myself and flicked his mouth after he refused to take in any food after just a 2-3 scoops of his rice. Bad mummy, huh!

Off course he cried and then I just carried him down from his highchair. My girl saw this and walked to her brother and hugged him tightly to calm him down.

They fight sometimes but I know this little girl is quite fond of her di-di (younger brother) and also protective of him too.

these photos was taken at my mom's house, Kuantan. Jia Jia was 2 years 1 month and How How was just around 6 months plus.

Tell you, I just like the sight of them hugging each other closely and lovingly.

First Teeth Toothpaste

I went to a few major pharmacies here looking for this toothpaste but to no avail. I was told that the stock has not been replenished and it has been quite long already.

I asked hubby to buy this from KL while he was there last week but he went to Guardian and was being told the same.

Any mommy use the same toothpaste? Where do you buy it?

Father's Day Dinner

We had our Father's Day dinner at Rosita Cafe, Dynasty Hotel which is famous in Miri for buffet meals as it is "phieng-liang-cheng" (Cantonese, means cheap and nice food)!

For all the buffet meals that I go, I normally favour appetizers/salads and desserts but main course is not my preference. Last night I stuffed myself with the appetizers as Rosita Cafe serves a good and various variety of salads. Also, lots of cakes and pastries.

Hubby with his "ma pou" (double happiness)

One of the salad counters

Some shushi . See the fish head...it is salmon salads

Diners await for the roasted lamb......

Lobster salads

Another salad counter...I love the ummai dish...Sarawak raw fish salad...taste good. Yum-yum!

Not forgetting my dessert........

They had an enjoyable night!

Berries Smoothie

Here is what I prepared for the kids today as snack.

Mixed Berries Smoothie

Some frozen blackberries

Some frozen strawberries

1 cup of strawberry yogurt

some fresh milk

I wanted to add frozen cranberries at first but just forget about the idea as cranberries taste a tad sour taste.

She's in her class with full ballet costume

My girl attended her 3rd ballet lesson on Saturday last week with her full ballet costume. Thank you very much to Shireen for giving me the contacts of her gals' ballet school in KL. Hubby managed to get those stuffs in his trip this time.

She stayed up late until 12am on Friday night just to wait for her papa to come home, and most important, to bring her "pressie" from KL.

She's in the class with other "ballerinas".....

Guess her mind is wandering elsewhere.......zzzzzzzzzz......

I am not sure whether this little girl is the "hangat-hangat tahi ayam" type or not.......

Hubby is away...........

Yup, just the 3 of us here......Hubby is in Kuala Lumpur to attend a traning course since Tuesday. It is good for me as I have plenty of time preparing my daughter for school in the morning.No rushing!

I can also drive my son around to go for grocesseries shopping at mid morning or even bring him to the park for a stroll.

As we have only one car and it is difficult for me to bring the kids out anytime I like. I'm actually pitty my girl that she has to wake up at 7am and get ready by 7.40am for hubby to drop her at playschool. So, every time when she reached home around 12.30pm+, she looks really tired!

For the past 2 days, I only wake her up at 8am, get her ready, wake my son up and tug him along to drop my girl at school.

Picky Eater

This little boy of mine has become a picky eater recently. I don't think it is teething problem but I just do not know why he acts this way. It has been difficult for me to cook his meal as his sister eats everything I prepared.

At times, I got so frustrated that I just stopped feeding him after he rejects plus turning his head away by saying "no" to me. .....aii...what to cook lehhh........

Our Brunch on Sunday

We went to Piasau Boat Club to have our brunch last Sunday. I like the place as I have no worries about the kids running around whether indoor or outdoor. It provides such a safe and good environment for kids.

While waiting for our meals to be served, they played at the Little Tikes kitchenette provided by the club.

We ordered :-

2 sets of American breakfast

chicken pita for the kids

chicken ceaser salad

My girl put a few scoops sugar into my cup of coffee.....She likes to stir in the sugar for me whenever I had a cuppa coffee....

The portion of the food is big and it lasts us until dinner time.We had a good time there.

Snack of the Day

I wanted to make a smoothie for the kids for quite a long time and only did it on Sunday last week. A yogurt and fruit smoothie is a quick , healthy and easy way to add more calcium and fruits into a child's diet. It is also the best way to boost up their 5 intake of fruits and vegetable per day.

The ingredient that I used to make the smoothie:-






I mixed fresh strawberries, frozen strawberries, banana, avocado with low fat milk and plain yogurt. Put everything in the blender and blend it. I didn't put in any ice cubes as the frozen strawberries serve as ice cubes.


How How likes it so much and keep saying...again..again" ...... Also, I find it is a good way to get Jia Jia to eat the banana as she does not like banana since a baby. She can't taste out the banana taste in the smoothie, maybe it has been covered by the strawberries taste.


I bought a pack of frozen blueberries and will try out other recipes this week.

How How @ 18 months

This cheeky boy had received his 18th month vaccination today. There will be another jab in November, which is the J.E. jab.

He weighs at 11.3kgs and I asked doctor whether there's anything to "plump" him up a bit. I remembered Jia Jia was more chubby than him when she was at this age. The doctor had prescribed him the Nutroplex to be taken once daily.

He is taking 3x - 4x milk feeding per day plus 3 solid meals and snacks. (Still wondering why he can't put on much weight!)

He's able to speak a few words, i.e. good morning, good night, papa, mummy, bye bye, again, nyam-nyam, good, cheh-cheh (his favourite), knock-knock (hands knocking on door), teh tau (falling down in Mandarin), eyes, nose, mouth...etc etc and some simple words.

He is quite a picky eater and he likes soup very much.

Safety Plus Feeding Bottles

My mistake that I did not search for the review on this brand before buying bottles for the kids. I wanted to change to BPA Free bottles for quite a long time and since their Avent bottles “koyak”, I decided to give it a try on Safety Plus. I got these from Toys World, Miri.

See what happened to the bottles…..




They boy pull his bottle out while drinking his milk half way and says this…” oh..oh!”…I took a look at it and saw the teat collapsed. Then, I tried to pull out the nipple teat, however, the teat drop into the bottle.



As for the girl's bottle, the teat collapsed. I have tried not to over tighten the bottle collar but it is still the same.

I brought the bottles back to the shop. The manager told me that he had checked the leaflet and the system works. There should not be any problems with the bottles. I could not ask for refund or change for other bottles.

Sunday

We did not go out last Sunday. We spent the whole day at home becuase the weather here is really hot. As it is really stuffy staying indoor, I let the kids running around and playing while I hang the clothes and watering the plants.





They're both playing with the pegs and Jia Jia come out with her own creation of an airplane with pegs!

Later that afternoon, I filled the Thomas & the Tank Engine tub with water and dumb all their “ka chang” in for them to play “masak-masak” there.

Our Week Long Holiday

Our week long holiday is over and we did not travel any places out of Miri and spent days jalan-jalan and makan makan!




















Day 1

We brought the kids to the Piasau Boat Club (PBC) and let them run around and play at the children playground.

Both of them like to go there and we normally go there during weekend.

After they had enough fun and hubby suggested spending our evening and sipping a cup of coffee at the Coffee Bean. The kids treat it as they second playground as there are not many people due to the public holidays. We got a chance “tan sai kai” there……..


















Day 2


We went to the PBC again but this time hubby went to the gym while kids and I playing by the beach. They had fun and the boy really enjoyed it.










…





















............

but mommy was bitten by the sand flies and ended up taking doctor’s prescription to stop the itchiness and inflammation.

















Day 3 & 4& 5


Spent time shop around at the shopping malls and eating out a lot. I was quite tired maybe due to the effect of detoxification.


Day 6

I went out with a friend to try out a massage. It was an Indonesian traditional massage and I love it so much. There was a bit discomfort when the masseur tried to push my uterus up when she massaged my belly.

As for the kids, they enjoy each other company and having fun now playing in their playroom on the kitchen set which we got for Jia Jia on our trip to Toy r us KL.

Hubby…..as usual enjoying his series and surfing internet the whole morning!

That’s our Saturday!