Catch me (again!) in New Sunday Times featuring HM4HB Malaysia!

18th September 2011, Sunday - Yet another happy day for me and HM4HB Malaysia! All thanks to Tan Choe Choe of NST who did a very good write up about milk sharing for us :D

Part of the lovely (ahem!) mama behind the stage - The administrators for Human Milk 4 Human Babies Malaysia network in Facebook! Can you spot my lil QQ? :D

We (the ladies with bubs in the above pic) met Choe Choe on 3rd day of Hari Raya (2nd Sept) at Subang Jaya, one of HM4MB administrator's house for the interview. She is very keen to know about our milk sharing network in Facebook thus she wanted to do a write up on this interesting topic. By publishing this to the public, we all aim to create better awareness to everybody especially to those who are still skeptical about milk sharing as well as those who are not aware of such activity.

There are a few more admins in our group, but unfortunately some of them were out of town thus only 4 of us could make it. This round QQ was in the picture too, at the far right corner :) If you have missed out reading my very first milk sharing story which was published in The Star newspaper back in May 2011, that time only a photo of YY and I were captured. QQ didn't want to join our cheesy smile action back then.  In the above picture, QQ was standing beside Jean and her 11mth old son, and 3 of them pretending busy on the lappy. Jean was also my junior in my secondary school! What a small small world heh!! I really love the picture very much, as it portrays us nursing our loved ones calmly. Portrays only?? Hehehe. The truth is, yeah,  not all of us nursing our baby in real at that point of time :P In fact it was only ME who acted out! A big credit to YY who was very cooperative with me and the photographer. I had nursed her in the car, while on the way to this house. So when the photographer wanted to snap a picture of us nursing our baby, I was worried a bit coz YY had enough of my BM less than an hour ago. So, how to latch her on leh?? To my surprise, she didn't make a fuss at all when I put her to my boob. She didn't want to latch on but she stayed on that position exactly like latching on! It was funny to me as I looked at her acting skill. She was facing my boob, her eyes started to wander around - looking at the ceiling, then the stand fan, the sofa and my blouse. She gave me the look "are we done yet??" LOL!! She didn't perform any acrobatic stunt - arching her back with both legs stretch out straight, which she would definitely be doing it at home when I tried to latch her on and she wasn't keen on it. Even the photographer asked me, "you both are acting or for real?". I said "she's acting". Photograher was laughing and said "good actress!!". Oh YES she is!! ^_^

Here's the link to read the articles in NST. If you want to know who and how HM4HB being formed, have a read! Choe Choe came up with 3 write ups! Awesome-moresome!!!

http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/18ccmik/Article/



http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/2milks/Article/


http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/18ccmilk/Article/

Teacher and Parents Day

Haiiiiih....time flies like nobody business! I always ask myself, what have I done? Tik tok tik tok....Nothing much actually (except for diligently being a moo-moo cow for the past 7mth down the road serving my 2 lil fella) but time is always not enough for me. Not that I'm super busy in the office (thank God!) BUT a new CEO came in lately  +_+ therefore....I am busy now (oh God!), and that makes my blog covers with spider web, untouched for almost a month. I have so many rubbish things to write actually. Everything is in que now, till I don't know where and which topic to start. And I've got sooo many photo to be edited and uploaded here. My Sabah trip lah, YY's milestone lah, YY's skin issue lah, QQ's silly update lah, Father's Day celebration lah, etc etc.... All no time to update, cum M.A.L.A.S is part of the reason as well.

Anyway, this should be a very short update (minus the above long intro) So, I met Teacher Nel couple of weeks ago for QQ's first half year performance review. Fuuuh...I tell 'ya, it was just like yesterday I met Teacher Nel for the same matter. Now I did it again.

It's funny to meet my ex-school mate to get feedback about my own child's academic performance in the pre-school. Never thought this could happen. Hahaha. And of course, it was a very relax and happy moment with Teacher Nel coz we were not only talking about QQ though. Kepoh a bit of other student's (and some silly feedback from other parents) performance lah :P Not back-stabbing lah Ok. Info sharing sahaja =)

Overall, I am satisfied with her performance this far. Teacher Nel commented that she pays attention to the teacher in the class, she follows teacher's instruction (and disregard mine all the time!!) and also a fast learner. But even if she doesn't perform very well, I will not force her either. She is just 3.5yo, she still has a looooong way to go in study. Knowing every single thing perfectly is not a good idea actually. My colleague shares with me that her son reads and writes very well in kindergarten. But when her son started Primary 1, he began to complaint the school work was boring. You see, the primary teaching will start from the scratch ie ABC and 123. That's the reason why the boy felt boring. I will feel the same too.

QQ's weakness lies on Mandarin and Bahasa Melayu. For Mandarin subject, she recognises words, quite a number of it. I'm so impress by her lah actually, knowing myself got no exposure on it at all coz I came from Convent Sentul ^_^ So now I'm literally learning Mandarin from my 3.5yo girl. To me, she champions it well as compare to myself! Hahahaha! Occasionally, I will buy some exercise book for her. Too many toys liao...enough of toys. So I would rather spend my money on coloring/exercise books instead, just to keep her occupied and to kill time on the weekend. 

Currently the school is busy with daily concert rehearsal (Teacher Nel told me that she gotto train 80 different "species" LOL!) and QQ is very active and sporting in this matter. Guarantee my lil dancing queen can never failed to give full cooperation to the teachers lah. She keeps on performing part of her dance to me, and sing "and the turtle rock, Yeah Yeah!!" That's the loudest and most "understandable" part of her rehearsal so far :P

From flower girl...to bride

QQ loves to be a flower girl, ever since she had been appointed as one last year. Basically she loves to throw the petals on the floor lah, that's her favorite - throwing things all over the place to be more precise!

2nd time @ May 2011 for my close friend

1st time @ November 2010 for my cousin

And as a result of being hired as a flower girl twice, she has decided to be a bride instead! A run away bride with her very own D.I.Y. gown made out of a Disney  princess bed sheet which Popo bought from the pasar pagi. By just tucking in the bed sheet behind her tee and voila! a no sew bride's gown for herself.

She has been very very obsess with this bed sheet lately. She sleeps with it (not sleep ON it ya coz she uses it as her blanket konon). She plays with it. She eats with it. As usual, Popo starts to nag and nag telling her don't walk around the house with it! She practically dry mopping the floor day and night with the bed sheet hanging behind her tee.

Carefully re-arranging her "veil" before she does the cat walk

Pausing her cat walk for this killer pose to the paparazzi!!

I think her 3rd assignment as flower girl might take place sometime in October 2011. Betul ka, cik Teng Teng? =)

My 10th EBM recipient

Last Sunday was a very busy yet happy day. Morning, had a quick brunch gathering with my 2 ex-colleagues at Wangsa Maju. Then left the place at 12noon coz HubB's cousins would be coming over to our house at 1pm. Main reason for meeting up with the cousin was, cousin's wife read my milk sharing news last week from The Star newspaper. Thereafter, she contacted me and was asking if I still have any surplus for her 3mth old baby. Yes I have! So she had arranged to come over to my house to collect my frozen EBM for his baby. She is still breast feeding her baby now, but she doesn't have enough time to express her milk during daytime. She is a FTHW, so I know how it feels to juggle between house chores and taking care 2 kids at the same time. Though I'm not a FTHW but to handle my kids without my parent's help on the weekend is darn tiring!! I had given her 28 bottles of frozen EBM (each bottle 5oz milk), and with this she is my officially number 10th recipient  =)

Moving on to the next agenda in the evening, we attended another cousin's son's birthday party at Subang. We all had a great time there. YY wasn't cranky at all. Cousin sisters were busy taking turn to carry YY and play with her. That allowed me to have plenty of my own sweet time enjoying my meal there. I don't really have to focus on QQ too coz she was happily running around playing with the birthday boy and other kids.

Here's my favorite shots with YY, with a bling bling party hat on her! See, YY was on my ring sling. I have started to put her on my sling recently and she loves it a lot. I bought this sling from Mama Patch. Actually I've bought their cloth pads way earlier during my pregnancy, wanted to try it out during my confinement lah but then ding dong here and there, I have not collected it from Chinnee (our house are near to each other). So after YY's full moon, I asked Chinnee whether she would allow me to exchange my cloth pads with ring sling. She said OK! =)  My first encounter with it was not successful. Really need lotsa practices to get use to it. I really need a sling and gotto ensure that YY is comfortable sitting on it  coz next month, we will be flying to Kota Kinabalu. Will tag along QQ and YY too. I'm excited and looking forward to a holiday trip, and this will be YY's very first flight. She beats her jie jie coz jie jie only had her first flight when she was 18mth old to Guangzhao, China. I hope, and pray hard that YY will not mess up the short flight coming June 2011. HubB bought the tickets last year when Air Asia offered zero fare promotion. Gotto start planning what to pack and I bet it's gonna be a massive packing job again.

My angry bird!!

Catch me in The Star newspaper today!

Tadaaa!!! I certainly don't anticipate this. Never. But it happens today, that my breast feeding story is featured in The Star newspaper. Check out Star2 pull out section and you'll see a lady clad in pink top on the 2nd page. That's ME ^_^ I read the article at 6.50am this morning and it really makes my day. You may read the article here

It all started when Siok Hui, a senior journalist from The Star newspaper read my milk sharing story in Human Milk 4 Human Babies Malaysia page in Face Book, sent me a message asking whether I would like to be interviewed (in a form of questionnaire) about my milk sharing experience. Without second thought, I said yes. Siok Hui shared with me that she was supposed to publish this write up since April, but due to some circumstances, she has to postpone it until the month of May so that is how I came into the picture now.

I really hope that my milk sharing story is able to create awareness to the public, and to encourage more mommies to BF their babies. I am so overwhelmed by my friends' lil note congratulating me after they have read the article, not because I become a "star" today (1 hit wonder :P) but their positive acknowledgement on what I've done means a lot to me. I would like to thank Teacher Nel again for lending me her entire freezer compartment for me to store my "gold" and also thanks to Gina, the lactating consultant who is now my friend, for giving me infinite support during my very first BF journey with QQ. It wasn't a rough BF journey though but I did called her day and night (yes! at night about 10pm++) whenever I have doubt during my confinement period. She has never failed to reply me on time.

My close up! Glad that YY was smiling to the photographer that day =)

Apart from this happening news, today YY turns 6mth old too. Yay!! My double joy of the day!! YY is still not able to crawl nor sit up right by herself. But when I hold on to both her hands while she is lying down on the mattress, she knows how to push herself up to sitting position, without me pulling her up at all. She's quite wai-sek too. Each time she sees us eating, she'll start to move her lips and starts munching! Munching her gums :P I hope that when we really start her on solid food/puree, she cooperates well with us and give us a fuss free feeding time. Happy 6th month old to you baby!

 

7-11 in the house!

Not the virtual shop though.  I'm talking about my 2 girls. Yesterday I brought YY for her routine check up cum injection. Phew....that was the 2nd last injection for the first 6 month of her life. Next month she's due for the Influenza jab and that's it. The very next jab will only take place after her 1st birthday.

YY's weight fluctuates a bit this month. Her milky appetite doesn't seem to be so good lately. Like Kit Kat, now you want it, now you don't. Last month check up (on 21st April 2011) she weighted 6.8kg. Then on 28th April, we brought her to see Dr Tan coz her right eye had greenish discharge. When put her on the weighing scale, the reading was 6.2kg! Haaiihh...sakit hati ooo to see her weight dropped so much. We noticed the problem arised since she was born. Initially she just had clear discharge very frequent, only from her right eye. Paed said it was due to her blocked tear duct. We need to constantly massage the side of her nose as it helps a bit to prevent from further blockage. We did it but it doesn't help much lah ;( Paed said that this problem will go away when she's reaching a year old. Hey, that's quite a long wait leh. But since the discharge looks greenish already, she has been prescribed with an antiseptic eye drop.

See her big small eyes? :D

Yesterday, her weight reading was 7kg, and measuring at 66cm height. Aaahh...at least got put on some weight and taller by 1cm! Haha! YY will turn 6 month old by next Wednesday, 25th May 2011. Yippie!! Can start feeding her some puree very soon. 

Ok back to the subject of this post, 7-11. My 3.5yo QQ is only weighing at 11kg since...erm...last year!! +_+ So here we have this 7-11 duo in the house. YY @ 7kg, QQ @ 11kg =)

7-11 ^_^

I've hit the Baskin Robbin Age

Happy Birthday to ME!! My birthday has passed way too long but still within this month, so this is a belated post. Didn't realize how time travels lah. Sekejap saja I'm touching 30-ish age group already. Feel so old :P I was just trying to recall back my sweet 16 day.....any sweet memory? Can't think of any actually! (That shows how fast I've started to loose my mind oredi) But to be honest, I think I love my life now more than before. I have a good HubB and 2 beautiful monsters daughters now, and living in a world of motherhood has changed my thinking, my perception, and my lifestyle.

Tagging along my 5mth++ bumbo while dining out, we can't really enjoy our food for longer time coz everything gotto be hurry up. Eat fast fast, drink fast fast, but not drive fast fast lah. YY doesn't really like lying flat on the stroller anymore. She wants to be seated on our lap and enjoy the view of every angle. As if there's nice view in the restaurant huh. We didn't go far that night, just had my favorite chicken and turkey ham cabonara fettucine at Key's Garden, Desa Park City. That's my favorite spot to hang out with Teacher Nel together with QQ most of the time.

My sweet 13 moment. Yeah...still sweet 13, no typo here.

  

After a quick dinner, we went back home for the cake cutting ceremony. As usual and by default, QQ will always be the one to sing for me, blew the candle for me, and cut the cake for me =) So that's all for my birthday celebration this year. Nothing special, BUT with an added family member ^_*

YY eyeing on the cake!

Muaahh!!

YY is 5mth old now

Last Thursday, YY was due for her check up. Luckily this round no feverish at all after the jabs.  Yesterday she turned 5mth old and is now weighing at 6.8kg and 65cm tall. Also glad to know that there isn't any more phlegm in her lung, but still have very little bit left in her nostril/throat. See, it all started during CNY. It took her almost 2 month to get rid of the stubborn phlegm. She still can't roll her body 100% yet, just half way thru only. But each time I carry her in front facing position, she will not lean against my chest and she'll be in up right position. When put her on the bed in tummy position, she doesn't want to lift her head up! Confusing.....she's just being lazy or what ar?

Anyway, that doesn't really bother me much. She'll do it right when the timing is right.  QQ was pretty slow  in performing the same rolling stunt too. YY smiles and laughs a lot throughout the day. Each time we just stare at her without  noise, she'll look at us and smile back without fail. But she starts to  cry when my cousin, who's a stranger to her, carried her few days ago. This is the so call  "recognizing people" stage lah.  She really loves to interact with QQ. No matter what kind of funny or weird noise QQ made infront of her, she'll laugh out loud. And her favorite activity would be having her to sit on our arms and gently swing her front and back while QQ  jumps  up and down non stop +_+ I tell ya....my lidi arms cannot tahan any longer!!  I can't barely have her on my arms (and gotto swing her some more!)  for more than 5mins. 

YY's favorite position on my skeletal arms

Overall, YY is growing well and eats well. Currently she's taking 5oz - 6oz of my EBM at every 2.5 to 3 hour in day time. But sometimes when she is asleep for longer hour, the interval may varies. So that sums up to at least 3 to 4 bottles of milk per day while I'm at work.

I notice that YY shares the same birth mark with her jie jie. See the small patch near to their belly button? Almost the same spot huh. QQ's one is getting more and more unnoticeable as she grows. It was once looked exactly like what YY is having now. 

Happy sista!

Geez, I'm feeding QQ with 11-15 teaspoons of SUGARY milk everyday

Sigh....I guess many mommies must have got shocked over the latest TVC about the sugar level content in the growing up milk powder which are available off the shelf. When I first saw that TVC, I told myself that maybe QQ will not be the "victim" coz she's not taking those ordinary milk powder.  Don't know why  my first impression over that TVC was "aaah, COW's milk powder is high of sugar".  QQ's  milk is meant for picky eater and needless to say, price is sky high. So it is not really a pure cow's milk powder. The purplish color tin. Can guess which brand ka? Hehehe.

But later due to my itchy hands, I went to check out the ingredients printed on the tin. And after reading my friend's blog about the same matter, that add on my worrisome so the more I wanted to find out the fact or rather the sugar faith between QQ and the milk powder she's been taking.

Here's the result @_@ Very the scary and disappointing. You may check the sugar level contain for your choice of formula milk brand at this website www.semakgula.com

There were once my dad tried QQ's milk (the leftover from the bottle) and he told me that the taste was superbly sweet. So now it is proven that the milk which QQ has been taking really contains high sugar level. But what can I do ya? Change to the brand which the company declares that it has zero added sugar?  QQ is a picky eater. She's very much underweight (11kg @ 3.5yo) but luckily she catches up pretty well in her pre-school. Only when she started attending pre-school last year, I can see some slight improvement on her appetite. She eats the most while in pre-school. She takes 8oz of milk as breaskfast, then 9.30am snack time and lunch at 12.30pm. Dinner time at home is the most pathetic lah, but she eats more than before lately (with so much of nagging and scolding from us!) For the past 1mth, she's kinda addicted to the milk, where she'll ask for a small bottle of milk (5oz-6oz) before she sleeps. Even if she took quite big amount of dinner, she still asks for her milk.

11-15 teaspoons of added sugar per day for her milk intake is crazy. I forbid all sorts of sweets for QQ - lollipops, gula-gula, chocolates, etc. She only gets to try some on special day, which happens once in a blue moon. My thinking is, she's already a picky eater so why want to let her help herself with these unhealthy food? Yes, she's just a small kid and some told me EVERY kid EATS chocolate/sweets as they grow. NO. I don't grow up with these junk food, same goes to my elder brother and sister. So in my family, none of us fancy sweets/gula-gula, or anything that is sweet. And I thought that giving her this special milk as food supplement is a wise choice. Now think twice.

With my over supply of BM, how I wish that QQ accepts my BM now. Once again, it is proven that breast feeding is the best feeding =)

4mth old milestone

Oooh...at the moment the stone is not moving that far yet. YY is 4mth 3days old now. She's not ready to show me the full flip stunt, just half golek only for now. When put her on tummy position, the most she does is lifting her head up, no mini push up. Ok no problem, take your time ya.

Other than that, 1 thing which she excels is she squeals, gurgles and coos much more than she usually does (since she was 1.5mth old). Is that a sign of her becoming a talkative girl soon, just like her jie jie? As I remember correctly, QQ started to talk - 1 word at the age of 8mth old and in full sentence when she was around 18-20mth old. Also, YY grasps toys easily and hold 'em tight very often too. Since 2 weeks ago, her milk intake has  also increased  thus currently it's between 4.5oz to 5oz/feeding. Thank God that she is not (and hope not at all) showing any drastic sign of rejecting bottle for the time being. Once in a while, she did reject bottle but the most will only last for a day. QQ started to reject bottle feeding when she was 4mth++ and the terror began from thereon +_+ Cup feeding, syringe, spoon....all these were so time consuming and tiring for my mom. I pray hard that YY will not let us experience such historical torturing milk feeding moment again.

Mei Mei...last time Popo used this cup to feed me milk...slurrpp...fun for ME but torturing for Popo! :P

 

Mom, must you snap picture each time I sh*t?

My rock-a-by babies

See my big baby and small baby here....they love this new rocking chair quite a bit. New item in the house, but a pre-loved one. First saw it in my MIL's house, my SIL bought it for her baby. Hers is also a pre-loved one, so that's how I've got the idea to get 1 for my gals as well. I find it a bit silly to get a brand new one coz it'll cost me a bomb. Fisher Price brand ma....sure mahal gile neh. Original price is RM369 and I've got mine from a blogshop which sells branded pre-loved items at RM89 inclusive shipping. I tell ya, this item is  really selling like hot cake among the pre-loved stuffs! I've browsed thru many blogshop which sells pre-loved branded stuff, and all sold out. Don't know why my fingers were itchy that time, I text to this particular seller just to ask whether she still have it  or not. Jeng jeng jeng!! She said YES and would upload the picture onto her blog shortly. Lucky me lah.  It is still in very good condition (no scratches at all on the metal legs of the rocking chair) and not really worn out (the kain part) so I'll say it's a steal! By right it comes with a toys bar but I guess the owner misplaced it so no toys bar for YY. Not important at all so I don't mind. This baby rocker supports up to 18kg child's weight. My big baby who's now 3.5yo is only weighing at 11kg, so she has a loooooong way to go with it =)

It has 2 reclining position. The one in the below picture is the lowest position which is just nice for baby to nap on it. Push 1 level up will be best for feeding. It also vibrates, a very mild vibration only lah, to sooth baby. Can see the white box at the bottom of the rocker? It's battery operated but I never used this function.

Most of the time YY will be using it. I've already told QQ upfront that she needs to share it with her lil mei mei, so no rebut rebut action. So far, QQ is kind enough to let YY use it more often. YY's favorite past time on this rocking chair is to enjoy her fingers and sometimes half of her fist inside her mouth!! Yummy....

It's nice...trust me.

Banana mama vs little learner

The other day, Teacher Nel was telling me that QQ could read and spell some English words, e.g. ant, bee, bun, cat, dog. But as usual, when I tried to test her, she just gave me her blank face look. Teacher Nel said that she reacted such way because at home no other children appear as her competitor. Whereas in school, it's like a pop quiz session where kids will shout out the answer to compete with each other. 

So last week, I brought her to Popular book store to get some very basic learning books, Mandarin and Bahasa Melayu. It took me a while to find the suitable ones from the big shelf. Finally I found this, and it's meant for 3-5yo children. There are a few series so I took Book 1 for beginner. As she progresses further, will get her Book 2,3 and 4. This book is darn cheap @ RM1.90 each.

I really love this book, coz a pure "banana" me can only read Chinese words with the help of translation for each of the word, as seen below. Well, this is meant for the beginners - children and ME!

I knew QQ has been coping quite well in the class for most of the subjects taught in the pre-school. But Teacher Nel did informing me she seemed to struggle a bit to recognise Chinese words +_+ I started to worry when I heard this. See how kiasu of me lah. HubB gonna send QQ to a Chinese primary school. With my superb knowledge on this complicated word with hundreds of strokes (I want to pengsan learning Chinese words!) I don't know how can I do revision with her in future. Get HubB's help? Yeah, when he HAS the time to do it lah. If he continues to travel (or even more often) in future, my last resort would be QQ's Dun Dun and Popo. My dad knows how to read and write Chinese word very well, whereas my mom can only read coz she was English educated. She took extra class to learn Mandarin back then. Not bad ha. At least she can read and understand Chinese news paper.

As I flipped thru the book with QQ in the book store, she immediately read out to me all of the below words, except "didi". WOW!! Impressive!! Didn't know that my little 3.5yo monkey daughter can read so well! See, I underestimated her liao. With this, I took the courage to learn together with her. Erm...more to learn FROM her I guess :P

And she could also match the picture with the correct word, except for the moon picture. Teacher haven't taught her yet. Ok, she has reached far much better than my expectation. I'm happy now =)

Face the (pathetic) wall

For the first time, I've demanded QQ to face the wall as punishment. When I said so, she immediately stood right in front of a wall. A very small pathetic wall which you can see in the below picture. Smart ha. 

The drama is like this....when I carried YY upstairs for a quick bath, QQ followed me. After I was done with YY, I looked around for QQ and she was not at my sight. Fishy...fishy...she is not the duduk diam diam type. I've spotted her in Ah Yi's bathroom. She was doing something secretly there, and as I called out her name she got shocked and jumped up. I asked her what she did there, and she said "nothing". The more she said so, the more suspicious I felt. She left the place in seconds! I went to that bathroom to check things out. 

First, I saw 2 tubes of toothpaste, both kena squeezed already. But surprisingly, there wasn't any toothpaste stain on the sink. She CAN'T be so hak hei, played so little toothpaste only? Cannot be lah.

When I turned around....OMG....she had chosen to attack the toilet bowl instead. There was some toothpaste near the rim.Worst part was, she threw in some sotong crackers inside!! I took a toilet brush and tried to scoop them up for a closer look. Those brownish crackers became big and soggy (kembang due to contact with water) and they really really look like SH*T!! I wanted to take a picture of the disastrous-looking toilet bowl, but I couldn't coz from the look at it, I had stomach upset de. Hahahaha!! I quickly clean up the toilet bowl and tapao all the soggy crackers, and I flushed the toilet. I washed my hand and I think God made me turn around again for the 2nd time. With the clear water in the toilet bowl, there were more to be discovered.

The toilet bowl has turned into a wishing well. See, so many coins down there, with more toothpaste! Duh....although the water is consider clean, but I can't put my naked hand into it to remove those coins. I covered my hand with a plastic bag first before I do the collection.

Of course, QQ get lots of scolding from me. She cried badly when I asked her to face the wall. While she faced the wall, I sat opposite her to BF YY. She cried louder and louder but I just ignore her. Then she apologized to me repeatedly. I gave her my killer look and she turned back to the wall :P She continued to cry cry cry....then I peeped on her. It was crocodile tears!! She was facing the wall, gave me her fake cry and fake sobbing, and she was playing with the wall. Her little fingers were digging the side of the wall!!! She saw me peeping on her and she stopped immediately. She then apologize and said "har chi ng kam" (next time don't dare to do it again). Dear, I've heard this for x-amount of time already. Kinda immune to your pledge lah.

From that incident, whenever she started to drive me up the wall, I will always ask her "want to face the wall?", she would tame back a bit. Don't know how long can use this trick to stop her from  doing all the blood boiling stunts. 

BUT...that's not the end of the story. She had fever on that historical night +_+ Gosh...I felt so bad. Traumatized due to the punishment ka? In fact, when she was asleep, I had the feeling that she might get fever.  Mother instinct. I kept checking her temperature throughout the night. At 3.30am finally fever striked. Luckily her body temperature was not too high, the first thermometer reading was 37.7 degree. I gave her the fever syrup and fever subsided an hour later. The next day almost the same time around 3.20pm, mild fever revisit. I brought her to see Dr. Tan, and her throat was a bit swollen thus trigger the fever. So confirmed not due to the punishment lah.  I feel better de.... =)

An avocado away, brings back my kilos straight away?

I hope so! Avocado is rich in vitamins and fats. Yes, FATS!! Healthy fats which I need the most.  Also,  since I'm breast feeding YY, I want my BM to be rich in nutrients, to pass on to YY too.  So now I'm taking it  daily as my snack, right after my moo moo session in the office.  But an avocado is not too filling lah, I will take a cup of yogurt (unfortunately it's a low fat yogurt)  and some bread /biscuits to cure my shaking  hands and legs .  After each moo moo session hor, my body will be shaking, sign of hunger! So I need to fill in the blanks with proper food.

QQ had taken lots of mashed avocado with fragrance pear puree mixed with some plain yogurt when she was younger. As she grows, puree foods (even porridge) is too yucky for her, so she has stopped taking this richie rich avocado as snack. I will definitely feed YY with it when the time comes.

When I used to feed QQ with avocado, I didn't quite like it. I find the taste and texture are very...weird and a bit yucky as well. See, I fed things that I dislike to my girl :P And slowly she also dislike it :P But lately, I had no idea why I fell in love with it. Last week, I was in the supermarket and I saw this, a pack of 3 Hass avocado @ RM11.99. Best thing is, there's a guide on how to choose a ripe avocado, as shown on the box cover.

Psst...my dear cousin sister had a bad experience with an unripe avocado. She wanted to make avocado salad, thus she decided to boil it. No matter how long she boiled it, the avocado can never be cooked! Kekekeke. That was her first and last time to purchase 1. 

So to those who don't know how to choose a ripe avocado or to make it ripe, here's the tips:

1) if you want to eat it as soon as you have purchased it, choose the black skin 1. Black skin means fully ripe. Also try to press on it GENTLY. If it has soften a bit, lagi best =)

2) if you only found those with dark green skin, you still can purchase them. When you are back home, DO NOT keep it in your fridge (even  for 1 day) to wait for it to turn black. If you do so, they will NEVER be ripe even if you take it out and keep in room temperature later. Remember, once already in the fridge, no turning back ya =)

So how do you make it ripe/skin turn black? Easy peasy.....keep them inside your rice container. Firstly clean it with water and then wipe dry before you dump it in. Check on it every day, coz  by using this method, the avocado ripe faster compare to leaving it on it's on in room temperature. Once it turns black, cut into half and scoop out the flesh. Yummy!! The taste is very much to "buttery feel". My mom loves to mash it and spread on bread.

My avocado - mixture of ripe and semi-ripe

A soften ripe avocado ready to serve!

Mom said that Hass (from Australia) brand is good. Last time she did lots of baby food research for QQ, and that was why she insisted to feed QQ with avocado, so that her tiny lil grand daughter will grow bigger and stronger. QQ was a small-built baby (due to her mama XS gene), that was why Popo wanted to feed her all the good food hoping that she could have more flesh (to flaunt). Hehe.

Below are some good facts about avocado, which I got it here . Can see the amount of vitamins it carries? That's why it is highly recommended to babies and toddler, even adults too.

Description:

• There are 384 Calories in one cup of avocado
• 1/2 an avocado contains 145 calories and 14gm of fat

Avocados, despite being high in fat are very good for you, and people keep discovering more of the health promoting properties.

Once does want to keep a close eye on overall fat and calorie consumption, but a little avocado in your diet, especially in a salad can go a long way.

The fat in avocado is primarily monounsaturated, and has been shown in studies to lower bad cholesterol, and raise good cholesterol.

Serving Size 1 cup, pureed (230g) 1/2 fruit without skin and seeds (173g) 1 NLEA serving (30g)
Amount per serving
Calories 384	Calories from Fat 319

Hide Daily Values

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 35g		54%
	Saturated Fat 5g	25%
	Polyunsaturated Fat 4g
	Monounsaturated Fat 23g
Cholesterol 0mg		0%
Sodium 18mg		1%
Total Carbohydrates 20g		7%
	Dietary Fiber 16g
	Sugars 1g
Protein 5g

Vitamin A	7%	Vitamin C	34%
Calcium	3%	Iron	8%
Thiamin	12%	Riboflavin	19%
Niacin	22%	Pantothenic Acid	34%
Vitamin B6	33%	Potassium	33%
Phosphorus	12%	Magnesium	17%
Zinc	10%	Copper	20%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

100th day old celebrity

YY was exactly 100th days old on 4th March, 2011. According to my MIL, we have to let YY lick a kai pei (drumstick) to initiate the "hoi zhai" day. Never heard of this tradition before? Me too! But we did the same to QQ as well. So far, none of my friends have heard of this practice, so it's kinda rare tradition. But fun! =)

This is my favorite picture. YY was smiling when I held the kai pei infront of her, touching her lips. And the forever kepoh QQ tried to adjust her head lah, kept telling YY " sik kai pei lah!! sik laaa...sik laaa!!" O.o  See the meaning of fun which I mentioned just now?

After the kai pei licking good session, I told QQ to pose with the kai pei for me before she bite it. Very cooperative. She even said that she would "bai pou si", means show me different pose for my camera! She loves posing for the camera, just like her mama lah :P

There goes the kai pei.....first, QQ declared that she wanted to finish it all by herself. This kampung chicken was a bit kenyal, but surprisingly she could chew 'em nicely. But there were some left over meat on it, so baba didn't want to waste it and he polished the kai pei properly.

And finally, happy mama managed to take picture with her 2 ultimate gaga girls! Small gaga seemed to be happier than me!