A Jolly Good Christmas

My Girl and My Boy had a jolly good time at my eldest sister's Christmas gathering last night. We got them santa hats with flashing lights. A bit tacky looking but all for some good fun, so who cares. My girl loved it and wore it all night long. She even wanted to wear it to sleep. "Mummy, if I wore it while lying down, will the hat still be ok?"

They were so excited and distracted they didn't eat a thing all evening and I forgot to give them a bite before leaving. Just changed and whisked them off after they woke up from their naps. Hmm... next time must remember to give them a bite first. Bad mommy!

They did however have a little bit too much stimulation with so many people and presents that by the time we got home, we had two tired little crying babies to deal with. My Girl had to be carried by her daddy to calm her down while she clutched her little santa hat in her hands till it dropped on the floor when she eventually slept. My Boy fell asleep promptly after his breastfeed but cried VERY loudly while waiting for me to get My Girl ready for bed.

Relatives commented that MG has lost weight and looked a little bit more like her previous self. Woohoo! So I that gives me even more motivation to carry on this weight loss thingy into year 2006.

This year we got a large square brownie, a floor mat, two decorative ducks, a tissue box holder (just nice to be used for Chinese New Year deco) and a potpourri. My Boy got a Winnie the bear cushion, some glow in the dark stickers, chocolates to share with his sister and a Winnie the poo Santa hat (another hat?) and My Girl got a Snow White sweater and a Mickey mouse Santarina hat (hat again?). Such a whole lot of presents.

And we gave away a comic book, a magician set, a joke book, a bracelet, a yoyo set, two stationaries set and a teddy bear to my 8 nephews and nieces. Oops! Didn't bother to get anything for the adults. Yup. MG got lazy and got most of the presents from the bookshop. ;)

In the Still of the Night....

I think I slept too much in the afternoon, now I'm bright eyed, fresh and wide awake. And here I sit enjoying my moment of solitude. Its so silent. The only sound I hear is my "chapalang" pc which sounds rather like an airplane engine! :O

Weekends come and gone. We're always busy during weekends. It comes and goes in a whirl of activity. There's hardly time to sit still. We always do the same things every weekend. Our routine is quite fixed. We even eat the same food for our meals!

Dad seems better sometimes, sometimes not. Only time will tell. I've lost some more weight. Down to 128 pounds now. Probably due to worry rather than exercise and diet. Hmm... not good.

The kids are growing up so fast, right before my very eyes. Just thinking about them makes me smile. Their adorable little faces, their hands and feet so tiny and small. Writing this makes me realise that I haven't blogged regularly for a while and that has stalled my positive thinking a little. For when I do sit to write is when I gather my happy little thoughts for jotting down and thats a really nice exercise to do...... writing happy thoughts.

Thinking about hubby gives me a warm feeling too. We are so very different, he and I and sometimes we have trouble communicating and we have our little fights but we're learning to get along... all the time. I think thats what a marriage is all about. Lots of give and take. Hubby has been saying that I am a poor listener, that I don't listen to him. Now, I should do something about that shouldn't I? Yes I should.

Christmas is round the corner. My girl simply loves learning to sing the Christmas songs. I found a nice site to download some for her listening pleasure. My boy enjoys dancing and babbling to the songs as well. He's really funny to watch when he does that. And he won't be pleased to see me sitting still when he does his dance and song. He would invite me to join in by pulling my hands and indicate to me to move my feet and when I do, I would be rewarded with a big smile.

Not really sure whats the point of this post. Just felt like writing whatever comes to mind. And if I don't post again before Christmas.......

Merry Christmas to all!

"Mummy, why daddy beat you?"

One night I was reading with my girl about a story of a girl making a wish upon a star....

My Girl: Mummy, what do you wish for?

MG: Well, I wish that you and baby will be good always.

My Girl: What else do you wish for?

MG: I wish that we will always be one happy family.

My Girl: What else do you wish for?

MG: I wish that daddy will always love mummy as much as mummy loves daddy.

My Girl: But why did daddy beat mummy?

MG: Huh?

My Girl: Why did daddy beat mummy in the kitchen? (Hahaha. She must be referring to the time when Mr MG came and playfully smacked MG's bottom in the kitchen.)

MG: No. Daddy was not beating mummy... Daddy pat pat only.

My Girl: Then why mummy say Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

MG: ----------------

Moral of the story: Be careful what you say and do around little ones whose minds are always working and learning. Hehehe.

Stroke

Dad had a minor stroke. He had a sudden behaviour change starting Saturday night and we got worried. He wasn't his own cheery self. He became forgetful, a bit confused and slightly obsessive in his behaviour ie. he couldn't seem to snap himself out of activities he got engaged in. Otherwise physically he looked fine. Finally yesterday, we managed to persuade him to go to the doctor for an evaluation.

Dad was hard to persuade. He can be very stubborn when it comes to seeing doctors but his resistance is due to fear. We had trouble deciding which doctor to go to at first. We didn't know any and we didn't know where to start because his symptoms seem so vague. Dementia, Alzeimers and a Stroke crossed our minds. Eventually we took him to a physician for a full body check. A CT Scan of the brain confirmed he had a stroke. The physician said he was lucky. It missed the nerve areas or he could have been half paralysed.

Dad is 73 and has been on blood pressure meds for about 8 years. However this stroke was probably caused by hardening of the arteries so the doc gave him some blood thining medication.

I first noticed his changed behaviour on Saturday night when I went to visit him. On Monday morning he rang me at 6.30am to say he could not find his house and car keys. He said he did not go out at all on Sunday and did not take breakfast, lunch or tea. He was watching TV. He probably forgot to take his meals. I feel terrible. I could have at least called him on Sunday to check on him and not left him alone. Sunday's I'm normally busy with my own family routines and forgot! Thats so terrible.

I hope dad is able to recover to his old usual self. It pains me to see him walk slower, to see him quieter and agree to most of our suggestions (accept seeing the doctor) as if he has lost a bit of will or is simply too tired to think.

Dad has always been independant. At 73 he still drives around and goes everywhere on his own. He would feel very unhappy to lose his independance. I really hope dad will be able to recover to his own usual self in time. I read that once brain cells are destroyed, the damage is irreversible. However our brains are smart enough to reorganise itself so hopefully his old personality will be restored.

I want my old cheerful dad back. At the same time I'm thankful he is not physically affected.

Weight Loss Diary

On Oct 3, two months ago, I blogged about my new resolution to lose weight and keep fit. Here's my update. Ahem! Ahem! So far I've lost ******drumroll******* 2kg! (or about 5 pounds) Chey!!!! Only 2 kg? Thats only 1 kg a month. Yup thats right! And its mighty hard work too! At this rate it'll take me another 10 months to lose that extra 20 pounds. Boo Hoo Hoo! No Cheongsum for Chinese New Year. Oh well, I am able to fit into smaller clothes now and family has begun to notice the small changes. Thats a start.

I've been a good girl. I exercise daily (or almost daily), am mindful of my food intake which leaves my poor tummy rumbling quite often (when it rumbles, I have to be mindful and take a small piece of something and a drink as I have to be sensible whilst breastfeeding).

I still indulge everynow and then in foods that I like but in smaller portions instead. Hey! Must still enjoy mah. Total denial is bad.

Phew! Such hard work. Nevermind, I have a smaller base to lose from now. I shall perservere and hopefully continue to write further weight loss updates.

Marry a Bimbo or an Intellectual?

Mr MG recently had a chat with some buddies about wives in general.

There are two school of thoughts here.

1. One side mentioned that they would rather be married to a bimbo (my words actually), defined as someone less smart who will presumedly give you more peace at home than an intellectual (who is smarter but presumedly more prone to arguing with you about everything under the sun.)
2. The other side mentioned that they would be unhappy if not married to an intellectual for lack of stimulating conversation at home.

Hmmm... men! Wants to have the best of everything don't they. Want to have stimulating conversation and at the same time wants some peaceful pampering by the less smart woman. Hmmm... food for thought. food for thought. I forgot to ask Mr MG which he thought I was. I would imagine I'm an intellectual disguised/pretending to be a bimbo. :PpP (Although some of the men defined an intellectual as a Phd Holder.) Well, I'm no Phd Holder but who says only a Phd Holder can be an intellectual right?

Parrot

We have a new parrot in the house. Actually, its just My Boy's latest development stage. As of Saturday, 26 Nov, 2005, he has started to repeat words after us. This is a really fun stage.

MG: "Baby, baby.... Say Mama. Say Mama."
My Boy: "Mama"
MG: "Aaaaaah!" (clap clap clap, big smile)

Mr MG: "Baby, baby...... Say Papa. Say Papa."
My Boy: "Papa"............ "Aaaaaaah!" (clap clap clap, big smile)

Its really hilarious the way he says "Aaaaaah!" after he repeats the words, as if to congratulate himself for being so clever.

Dirty swimming pool water

Recently we took the kids swimming. Its the first time my boy joins us. Previously he sat in his pram and watched. Poor baby!

My boy is younger and I watched him more closely than my girl who is more independant now. My girl saw me sitting on the steps at the side of the pool and wanted to do the same. I let her but did not notice that she was happily drinking the pool water. 'Cos when she sat down, the water reached her face level.

"Mummy there's so much water." she exclaimed happily. "I drank some because it reached my mouth. So much water everywhere!"

That night she threw up in the middle of the night. All over the bed and comforter and she had diarrhea for 5 days! Poor girl! (Its not fun feeling sick) and poor mummy! (Its no fun cleaning the comforter and changing sheets in the middle of the night! We had all been passing colds and sore throat around the house so it could have been due to that but I somehow felt that it must have been due to the pool water. Children's pool water can be rather dirty even though it looks clear and nice.

I must remember this lesson, ie. that little children can get into trouble really easily with their curious nature and eagerness to learn and experience. Must be more careful next time.

P.S. Maria, Egghead, thats my 3 posts as promised. Haha! Actually I haven't come out of hibernation but I can't sleep so might as well post my head blogs before I forget them.

Pull and Point!

My boy is a full blown toddler now. Time flies! At 19 months he can't speak yet (I think my girl spoke earlier but I can't remember now cos I didn't have a blog then!) but he can certainly communicate his wishes quite clearly now.

When he wants to eat something on the dining table, he will Pull and point! (ie. he will take someone's hand, pull them all the way to the dining table and then point at the desired food.)

When he wants to have a toy he can't reach, he will Pull and point! (take someone's hand, pull them to the playpen and point to the craved toy.)

When he wants to show us that his soft toy is on tv, he will Pull and point! (pull someone's hand, point to the soft toy then point to the tv.)

Hehehe. Smart boy! Mummy loves you!

Mummy's Afternoon Out

Some time ago, I blogged about suffering from mommy burnout but I never really found the opportunity for a break. I found myself getting annoyed and irritable more easily as I longed for some time alone. I longed to have a slooooooooooow meal without any interuptions. So finally I called my sisters and invited them to take me out. Hahaha. (Thats the benefit of being the youngest. My sisters still regard me as such and are happy to take their little sis out on call.)

So finally, I got my afternoon break. I had "planned" with a rather mean streak to let hubby feed, bathe and nap the kids on that afternoon. After all, I "reasoned" with myself, whats a break, if I had to feed and bathe them first, then come home to two fretty kids whom I had to get to nap. Besides, I also "reasoned", theres no better way to get hubby to stop telling me to stop being so grouchy with the kids and to try to feed the picky little eaters better then allowing him to do it himself! Hehehe.

However, the plan didn't quite work out that way. Sisters were late, so I ended up feeding and bathing the kids first 'cos I didn't have the heart to carry through with my "plan". Ceh! Such cowardice. Hahaha. Actually, I think its the nurturing instinct in me that does not allow it. Whenever I leave the kids with hubby alone, I always try to make sure everything is in order before I leave. I sometimes wonder if I should just leave things as it is instead of going all out to ensure "order'.

The other thing that I wonder about is how much instructions I should give. Actually I think I should not give instructions but sometimes hubby does ask for it "If you don't tell me what to do, how am I supposed to know?" I think I went overboard with my instructions the other day though. Hubby said he wanted to take the kids out for a while because thats the easiest way to look after them. Time passes faster that way he said and I replied "Oh no please don't! I want two rested kids when I get home. Just give girl her milk and take them to the room and read to them. They are fed and clean now." (That was probably too much instructions!)

Anyway, I had a really good time. I had a sloooooow western meal with my sisters. I ate my soup, salad, main meal and desert verrrrrrrrry slooooooooooowly. Then, we went window shopping and tried out some outfits and costume jewellery to show each other. Later we pigged out some more on teh tarik and rojak buah before they dropped me home. We only managed to cover ground floor of the shopping complex and joked about meeting up again for lunch, first floor and tea another time.

When I got home, hubby was playing his computer game and kids were happily napping. I even had time to do some exercise ('cos feeling guilty from all that food) and had a rest and shower before they woke up and yes, hubby did take them out as he planned but he still managed to get them to nap. He said he expected baby to cry a little before he slept but he was so tired he just fell asleep promptly when put on hubby's chest. Hahaha.

One line blog!

Due to special request from Maria aka twinsmom, here's my one line turned into many lines blog. (*wink wink*) Maria, now you won't see the Jekyll and Hyde heading any more. Hahaha. Everyday I still blog... in my head, though I have other priorities at the moment than my blog. The number of stuff accumulated in my head to blog getting more and more, when I finally get back to blogging, I think I have to post 3 times a day to make up for lost time. Hehe.

Mrs Jekyll and Mdm Hyde

I'm a Mrs Jekyll and Mdm Hyde mommy.

Mrs Jekyll often comes out:

• at bedtimes when the stage is set for relaxation. Apparently Mrs Jekyll likes to take it easy
• when the kids say or do something funny and sweet
• when the kids need comforting

Mdm Hyde often makes an appearance:

• especially during mealtimes
• when rushing to go out or simply when rushing
• when busy with chores especially those that require concentration and no interuptions for eg. writing a cheque etc
• when sleepy
• during times of stress

Oh my gosh! When writing this out, I realised that its very hard to think of the times when Mrs Jekyll appears but it was easy to think of the times Mdm Hyde came out to play! Hmm.... must do something about this! Hope the kids don't get too frightened by the horrible, ugly, scary monstor Mdm Hyde!

On another note, I won't be blogging very much over the next couple of weeks so my blog posts will be rather short (I'm usually long winded). I won't have very much time to visit blogs too (sorry guys and gals) but lack of time won't stop me from blogging because my blog is my positive place. Its a place where I gather my positive thoughts, practise positive thinking so to speak, and its a place where I remind myself to be thankful for the little things. Most of my life, especially during my teenage years, I have been a negative person, a pessimist and an intovert but not anymore. (Now, reading my blog you wouldn't think it would you because my blog is mostly positive, or so I hope it to be. I won't rant very much on my blog, I promise.) I love my blog too much to stop blogging even when I have little time. So I shall blog on. Thank you for visiting.

Goodie Bag

Being a kiasu Malaysian woman, I persuaded Mr MG to take me to Metrojaya at 10am on a Sunday morning to collect my goodie bag from the Malaysian Women's Weekly magazine. (Recently the magazine was having an anniversary celebration thingy and doing a promotion with Metrojaya so one can redeem a goodie bag by presenting a card that came with the mag.) Anyway, for an early Sunday morning, there sure was a reasonable amount of kiasu readers lining up and to my surprise half of them were men, probably boyfriends or husbands persuaded sweetly by the wife to queue up on their behalf. Some of them queued up again and again.

The goodie back was supposed to be worth RM200 but chey(!), apart from an Estee Lauder mascara and a full sized shower cream, the rest were mainly worthless vouchers (to me that is), sample sized facial washes, and 4 packet drinks. Thats supposed to be RM200 altogether in there???? Oh well, since its a freebie one shouldn't expect too much now should they. Still, they could have done better ie get better gifts from the sponsors. Afterall, in a marketing promotion like this one, everyone benefits, the magazine, the sponsors, the kiasu readers. Yah or not?

Really kiasu hor? Got freebie summore complain. Hahahaha.

Theres no such thing as a free lunch but if you look really hard, sometimes you get good bargains or freebies because its worth the while for the other party to give it out. I do like freebies but not free food because of the way Malaysians behave when they see free food!

Why?

My girlfriend who is living in the States emailed me yesterday to inform me that her father had passed away suddenly earlier this year. She said she was too grieved to tell me about it earlier and that her heart aches everytime she called home and imagined that he would be picking up the phone and she could hear his voice again.

Then this morning, I awakened to hear about the demise of our PM's wife, Datin Seri Endon. My family, and as I believe, the rest of our nation too is deeply saddened by this loss. She was our first lady but most of all, she was a wife and a mother. The image that I had of her is that of a loving and supportive wife and a strong lady. I had hoped that she would be able to win her battle with the big C but alas.... My heart goes out to the PM and his family for their loss.

Sad as I feel, I feel scared too. My mom lost her battle to the big C many years ago. My dad's sister (my aunt) has breast cancer too which is in remission so I hope it does not recur. With both maternal and paternal sides of my family having it, does that make me the ideal heriditary target? Its a frightening thought. Even with all the advances in technology, we still have not found a cure for cancer. Thats so sad.

Why do people fall ill or disabled? Why do they grow old and die? Why? Why?

Life is short and unexpected. We must remember to tell not only in words but through our actions the people that we love how important they are to us. We must not be so carried away by our daily grind and routine, get caught up with stresses of life and in the process forget to give love and receive love. Don't you agree?

Fair and Lovely

Some people say that consuming a lot of Soya Bean drink when you are pregnant will ensure that your baby will be fair and lovely. Not sure what basis there is in that but during the 3rd trimester of my first pregnancy, I enjoyed the cool sweet taste of the drink and drank some to keep me cool. Things can get pretty hot in the 3rd trimester especially if you're very big. In the first 2 trimester when I was having bad morning sickness, all I could think off was 7-up/Sprite and boy oh boy did that make me feel guilty. Anyway, My Girl turned out fair and lovely (probably due to the amount of 7-up I consumed!)

However, My Boy turned out tanned. Mr MG never fails to "blame" me because during the 3rd trimester of my second pregnancy, I enjoyed Soya Cincau (Soya Bean drink mixed with black jelly and brown sugar) instead!

I can never understand this new craze to be fair and lovely. Why is everyone craving to make themselves look fairer with all those skin whitening products? Each time I buy a face powder or foundation, the salesgirl will never fail to tell me "Miss, this one good, it will make your face look fairer." and I tell them "No, please get me a darker shade, I want one that looks natural that blends with the colour of my skin or even one a shade darker than my skin colour coz I don't want to look pale like a ghost or like I have a white mask on! Geez!"

I think skin of whatever colour or shade is lovely as long as the person is lovely. No need to slather white paste onto your face to become "fair and lovely!"

Grocery Shopping

One of the things that I really appreciate about Mr MG is:

HE HELPS ME WITH MY GROCERY SHOPPING :)

You hear that husbands out there? Faster go help your wife today! kekekeke. And wives, if your hubby helps, don't give him a sour face for rushing you, don't shoo him away and make him feel like he's not of any help (even if he isn't), just smile and praise him for his good work to encourage more. hehehe. Though I must admit that sometimes when we are in a rush, I forget to thank hubby and forget to be appreciative. Instead I may show a sour face when he rushes me or we may argue at the checkout counter over some minor this and that. Poor hubby!

Not only does he help me with it, he helps me perfect it. How? Well, I'm those forgetful, dilly dally, no plans or impromptu type of person. So if left to it, I'll probably dilly dally at the supermarket, buy unnecessary items or forget to buy essentials. But my dear hubby helps me with the planning and the buying and I really appreciate that very much and whats more, he's usually patient when I dilly dally. Haha.

With two young children, its not advisable to dilly dally. With two young kids, our grocery list has grown a mile long, the rubbish we generate daily from our house is tremendous and our dirty laundry basket is always full but thats another story.

Now, we have the perfect system for grocery shopping, thanks to Mr MG. Its his system actually. He is the systematic one, me well.... when I was younger, my girlfriends used to call me Ms Kelam Kabut. Need I say more? We do our shopping systematically and quite fast. Mr MG will take a trolley and one of the kids and me another trolley and another kid and we go separate ways then meet at the cashier. I will buy the fresh foodstuff while Mr MG buys the tissue, diapers, milk etc. (The dear man actually keeps track of whats running low at home better than me.) Sometimes we meet halfway and exchange kids so they won't get bored.

Usually we shop at the end of our outing after we have spend some time at the bookshop and window shopping. So by then the kids are quite fretty, tired and bored. Can't be helped as we don't have time to go out just for grocery shopping alone and we can't stop at the supermarket first because of the fresh meats we buy. Before the kids, we used to shop at the wet market. We would walk there together and hubby would help me carry the vegetables. Ah..... he's such a sweetie.

To me, thats the best advantage of not having a maid. An involved husband and father to the kids and can even have family fun at the supermarket. I know Mr MG enjoys pointing out the different foods at the supermarket to our Girl and he loves to tease them by putting cold cans of drinks next to their faces and say "Cold!". Sometimes he tries to tease me too but I run away! Now, if I had a maid, I'd probably have to shop with the maid or let the maid do the shopping and miss out on all that fun.

Salsacise

In line with my new resolution to include exercise into my daily routine, I went out and bought a Salsacise tape. Hehe. Thats Salsa dancing and exercise rolled into one. Really fun! It has 6 routines ie:

1. Warming up
2. Twist and Dance
3. KickAss Combo
4. Mambo Mania
5. Fab Abs
6. Cooling Down

So, here's how I do my daily exercise:

On the stationary bike:

Huff huff puff puff. "Baby! Don't touch the pedals or mummy may accidentally hit you. Girl! Stop pulling on the wires (hooked on to show pulse rate) or daddy will scold! Both of you get away from the bicycle!" Huff huff puff puff.

Salsacise - Yeah!:

Huff huff puff puff. Kick legs, swing arms about. My Girl enjoys doing the dance with me. She especially like the Fab Abs routine where we lie down on the floor and do sit ups. Baby also tries to lie down on the floor and he puts his face to the carpet and gives me a cheeky smile (a smile that says he's very proud he can do too!) ........sooooo farneeee and lovable! Then they both fight for space to see who can lie down nearer to mummy and after some pushing and shoving about, both start to cry! Sometimes baby switches the vcd off halfway thru our routine! Sometimes, he comes and clings to my leg and wants to be carried up to do the dance together! Huff huff puff puff. Kick legs, swing arms about.

Hope to keep to my routine with all the distractions and all! (No weight loss to report yet despite my discipline to keep up with my routine and being mindful of what I eat. Boo Hoo Hoo. Nevermind, I shan't be disheartened but shall perservere!)

Paperdolls

I'm waiting for My Girl to be a little older before I buy those cute little printed paperdolls to play with her. I loved playing with paperdolls when I was little. We used to make our own though. We would draw out the dolls and the clothes then cut them out painstakingly before playing with them. Big sis even made paperdolls with cleavage! Haha. She put cotton padding and glued real cloth clothes on the dolls as a base doll. Big Sis is very creative and good at art.

Nowadays, you can easily find the paperdolls at most bookshops. Some of them come with all sorts of materials and ribbons too. You can even find the paperdolls online. Here's a funsite for paperdolls lovers. The clothes are really amazing, with glitters, sheers, shawls, jackets, hats, accessories, high heels etc and celebrities to dress up and makeover. Geez. That makes me feel like I wanna be a kid again! Nevermind, can play with My Girl soon.

Pssst. For those of you at the office, don't come after me, if your boss catch you playing with those online paperdolls at work. kekekekekeke.

My 5 Childhood Memories That Relate To Food

I got tagged by Ai Lian from Tips and Tricks to Happy Parenting blog. I'm normally lazy to do memes but since I'm on a semi-diet might as well blog about food. Anyway, here's my 5 childhood memories that relate to food.

Durians the King of Fruits! I remember me and my siblings crowding around dad, each with a cold glass of water, eagerly anticipating the fruits of his labour. And mind you, opening a durian fruit is hard labour indeed. Haha! Dad would boast of his durian cracking skill. He would arm himself with lots of newspapers, a cleaver and his boots. He'd bang on the top to flatten some of the thorns first, push the cleaver at a certain line/point, then stand up and stomp on the durian. No joke! Nowadays durian are sold in plastic containers at supermarkets. Takes half the fun out of eating it. After devouring the durians (we sat on the floor to eat), we would each take a portion of the shell to fill up with water to wash our mouth and hands with. I swear it takes the smell off a lot better than soap!

Prawn Fritters, my all time favourite. I love prawn fritters from a very young age. I remember dad would take me everywhere to find the perfect prawn fritter and at last we did, at a chinese restaurant in Kuantan where dad was posted then. He would take me there frequently just so I could enjoy my prawn fritters. Ah.... a father's love is sometimes shown through food. Now I'm busy trying to convert my whole family to become prawn fritter lovers so that I can make and eat it more frequently. Hehe.

Keropok Lekor. We stayed in the East Coast of Malaysia for a while, hence the enjoyment of this type of keropok. I remember enjoying it with my siblings whenever we finished our swim at the public swimming pool. (My second sis was the one who taught me how to swim. She also taught me how to ride a bicycle, patiently pushing me up and down the back lane of our house.) Ravenous after a swim, the keropok lekor tasted marvelous dipped in a some chilli sauce.

Shrimp wanton soup. This one is related to my memory of travelling back to our hometown Penang to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Back then, our journey took almost 10 hours! We were happy to stop for a stretch of legs to enjoy the shrimp wanton soup and noodles in Bidor. Now the highways bypasses the restaurant so we don't go there anymore.


Ju Hu Char. (Not sure what this dish is called. Its sengkuang, carrots, shitake mushrooms, dried cuttlefish and meat, thinly shredded and stirfried). Must be eaten with a fresh bed of lettuce. This is another Chinese New Year related memory. Its one of our must have dishes. It brings back memories of warmth, laughter, excitement and that special feeling of festivity in the air.

Speaking of which its almost time for Deepavali and Hari Raya. Aren't we all lucky to get to feel the air of festivity for so many festivals all year round? I do feel lucky indeed.

This meme came from the following blogs (I noticed that they're mainly food bloggers blogging about places to eat/find good food. Haha. I'm not much of a food blogger so hopefully, I haven't killed the meme! ( I probably have by not passing the baton on to 5 others as required but who cares!)

Oswego Tea
Masak-masak
Funky Cookies
Thinking Aloud
Tips and Tricks to Happy Parenting
Mumsgather

I think I know of some people who love food and wouldn't mind writing about food on their blog but then not sure if they like being tagged so anyone who reads this and feels like taking up the meme, well..... just consider yourself tagged! And remember to let me know when you post your meme up so I can come and kay poh.

Mealtime Frustrations

My Girl is a picky eater, no doubt about it. She's extremely reluctant to try new foods and her diet is rather limited though improving slooooowly. My Boy on the other hand used to be a joy to feed. He would wallop all of the porridge I gave him in a jiffy, mouth after mouth after mouth and finish his meal very quickly.

Now that he is growing up......(haiyah!)..... and have a more discerning tastebud.....(*shakes head*)....he has become a lot more selective about his food. Unlike My Girl, he likes to try new foods but he can be rather choosy too. When he first tried rice, he loved it probably due to the newness of the texture. He chewed each morsel carefully and wanted more. Not anymore though.

Now, when I feed him anything that he finds "offensive" including rice, he goes "ptuuuii!". So at every mealtime, its ptuuuii on his clothes, ptuuuii on his highchair and ptuuuiii on the floor. (*Sighs*). After the first one or two ptuuuii, if I continue to offer him the same food during the meal, he would shake his head vigorously and smile. (*aaarrggggh - pulls hair*)

So, at every meal, as I try to feed myself, My Picky Girl and My Choosy Boy all at the same time, I want to throw up my hands in despair and declare (and sometimes I do) "If you two don't want to eat, forget it. Don't want done! I have no more food for you. Afterwards you hungry... I don't know!"

I'm actually beggining to emphatise with that maid who abused the kid by not feeding or merely feeding kids in the house instant noodles (which was news sometime back in the papers) but my kids wouldn't even eat instant noodles!

Ahh.... just another joy of motherhood right?

Not so merry-go-round

I hate being sick!
But there's one more thing I hate more than being sick.
I hate being sick and passing on that sickness to another person in the house!
But there's one more think I hate more than being sick and passing it on.
I hate being sick and passing on that sickness to another person in the house who passes it on to another person in the house!
But theres one more think I hate more than being sick and passing it on and on.
I hate being sick and passing on that sickness to another person in the house who passes it on to another person in the house who passes it on to another person in the house!
But theres one thing I hate most of all.
I hate being sick and passing on that sickness to another person in the house who passes it on to another person in the house who passes it on to another person in the house who passes it back to me!
Geez!!!!!

Now, I've just started this not so merry-go-round going ie. I'm the weakest link. I have a bad cold and sore throat and just passed it on to my girl. Hope it stops there or it'll be a really tiring not so merry-go-round.

One thing that any mother and wife hates most of all is for any member of her family to be sick because its hard looking after sick manja people but its even harder doing that when you yourself are sick!

What is this thing called blogging and how to start a blog?

I'm trying to explain to my second sis about blogging infect my second sis with the blogging virus. "How ah?"

I think I better rope in all the blogging gang to help me with the explanation. So, to all you good folks out there who happens to be reading this post. Can you help me out please? Its better for her to hear from the different horses blogger's mouth words themselves. That will surely give her a good idea of what blogging is all about and how to go about starting one.

Please help me answer these 3 questions in my comments board. (If you can think of more than this 3 questions to help out with the explanation, feel free to let loose.) Thank you for helping me be lazy. Saves me a lot of explaining. I'll just email her this entire post. Hehe.

1. Why I blog?
2. How I started blogging?
3. What I love most about blogging

Ok, I'll start the ball rolling....

Answer to above:

1. I hope that someday when my children become parents themselves, they can read my blog as a source of reference or simply for amusement sake. I'd probably be too old and grey and forgotten the details or perhaps not even here anymore to advice them.
2. I didn't start by reading blogs first. I didn't know of anyone who had a blog and was not introduced to blogs by anyone. All I knew about blogging was "a blog is an online journal" and since I had my breastfeeding difficulties experience which I wanted to jot down somewhere, I started a blog because it was much easier to create than a website. I also thought it could be a space where I could copy and paste some of the nicer email forwards that I wanted to file up/keep. However, ever since twinsmom and 5Xmom showed me through their blogs what blogging is all about, the rest is history and I haven't copied and pasted any stuff because I have too much to say myself! (I eventually moved my breastfeeding story to my website after I learned how to create one.)
3. Blogging allows me to do something I love..... write! I hadn't realised myself what a passion I have in writing as I'm discovering now when I blog on. And fuihyoh.... got feedback for my thoughts summore..... lagi shiok!

   Ok folks. Over to you...

   P.S. Got prize or not for responding? No lah... but got strategies for how to win yourself a prize. Hehe. So to all contest lovers from my previous post, I recommend you to hop over to Lydia Teh's right after this to learn those winning tips yourself. (Thank you Lydia for the post.)

Living Doll

My Boy: "Duh. Duh. Duh."

My Girl: "Whats duh duh duh?"

My Boy: "Tek. Tek."

My Girl: "Whats tek tek?"

My Boy is like a living doll for my girl. She likes to bullly play with him. She would take him by the hand around the house, pretend to feed him, force comb his hair, play hide and seek, catching and wrestling with him. My Boy loves to play wrestling, catching and hide and seek with his sister. It never fails to draw excited and loud laughter from him. (and palpitations from me.) They also have conversations together, like the above.

Its really fun to see them interact. Although sometimes my voice does get a little hoarse from telling My Girl to stop pushing My Boy. My Boy is a strong little boy but he hasn't discovered how to push back yet. Is she in for a nasty surprise when he does!

I won! I won!

Hehe. No lah. I didn't win the lottery.

I merely won a RM50.00 shopping voucher from Metrojaya from some contest. Cheh!

When we went to collect the voucher, Mr MG's eyes grew big big when he saw other ppl collecting bigger prizes and commented "How come your prize so small one?"

"Now just you wait hor, dahling, I'll win a house or a car some day!" Kekekeke.

BTW, I've won a wedding gown voucher which I never used because I won it after my wedding. I've won a pearl neckless sitting somewhere in my dresser and I've won a RM1k ugly watch hiding somewhere in my drawer. Anyone knows of any pawnshop which will accept watches? Hehehe.

Whats your most memorable win? I know twinsmom won a trip to somewhere. (Care to share that story with us?) Come and share your winning stories with me and make my mouth water a bit lah..... Then I will be off to enter more contests. Maybe lydiateh can share some winning tips from her book? Hehehe.

Nice clothes are for thin people only (*pouts*)

Went shopping during the weekend and could only look at all those pretty clothes made for thin people. Bleargh! Tried some but they're oh so boring! I hate it! I hate shopping when I'm overweight. Clothes for fat people are sooooo boring. I'm tired of wearing jeans and shirts all the time but nothing else looks nice.

I just have to lose weight so that I can wear body hugging outfits again.

So I'm gonna have a new resolution to lose weight today. Its not the New Year but who says resolutions are for New Year only? Anyway I don't make New Year resolutions.

I'm 25 pounds overweight. I'm stuck. I'm not losing the weight. I've never been fat for most of my life but after the kids, my weight got stuck up there. Its probably due to my age and too sedentary lifestyle. So as of today, I'm going to:

• exercise at least 20 mins daily (except Sat)
• eat more vegetables and less meat and rice/noodles
• drink more water and home made natural fruit juices and avoid soft drinks
• stop eating my kids' leftovers
• stop sharing buns, cakes, chocolates and ice-cream with the kids

Ok. Thats for a start. As of today. I'm between 133- 135 pounds. There! Now its public. Can't back off from my resolution now. Thats the purpose. I need some motivation.

Please people, motivate me, share tips with me, or join me. I shall be reporting my progress from time to time.

The Magic Cup

Tuesday night My Boy could not sleep after his feed because I did not get the timing right. Timing is of essence here. My Boy must be just a little bit sleepy but not too sleepy during his feed and he will fall asleep contentedly. Otherwise, I will have a fully charged, active baby to deal with.

So there I lay half asleep listening to My Girl chatting non-stop. All I could hear as I struggled to stay awake was "Daddy..... repair.... no batteries..... the golden car.... there at the kitchen there....why....mummy...." With my eyes half opened, I watched as My Boy clambered off the bed, his bottom and feet first. Then he toddled over to the shelf and took a lone toy cup (dunno what its doing in the bedroom) and came back to the foot of bed, his eyes pleading me to carry him up again. (Because the bed is too tall for him to climb up on his own, no problem getting down though.)

I took my time to carry him back to bed and then he was off again trying to climb down. This time, he stopped halfway on his tummy, his feet dangling in the air as if undecided whether to continue his descent or to climb up again. My Girl stopped her chatter momentarily to laugh at his antics. Luckily he decided that the smarter choice would be to climb up as lazy mummy may not carry him up again.

This time, he came and sat next to my head, he played with my hair and face before giving the toy cup his full attention, turning it this way and that, dropping it and picking it up again. He pretended to drink from it, then offered to feed me with it. He tried to clamber over me to reach his sister but when he found that his obstacle (me) was too difficult, he gave up and went back to his cup.

Meanwhile, his sister chatted on and on as I struggled to fight my sleepiness. After a time, I saw that his sister had fallen asleep and a little while later My Boy fell asleep too, on my head! At least, he didn't fuss, nor cry, nor cling to mummy. He played with the magic cup till he fell asleep all on his own.
Hmmm.... I think I'll bring the cup to bed again soon.

The next night....

My Boy did his climbing stunt again after a feed. This time he went over to the shelf and took some books. I produced the magic cup but he wouldn't even glance at it. So I let him "read" his book in bed next to my head. After some time, he got up, walked over to his pillow and started to drag the pillow over to me. He looked very unhappy and I couldn't figure out what he was doing.

Then My Girl said "maybe he wants you to breastfeed." Haha. Now why didn't I think of that. She was right of course because the pillow she was dragging was the one I usually use to put him on for a feed. And it was confirmed as soon as I took the pillow from him and put it on my lap. His happy face and excited demeanour confirmed it. He must be thinking "Dungu mummy got it at last!"
And soon after that, he was sound asleep.

Cheap Thrill

Here's how some people found their way to me recently:

1. Someone...somewhere searched for "international kids song rhymes"
2. Someone...somewhere searched for "memories of mum"
3. Someone...somewhere searched for "taiwanese family hierachy" (Huh?)
4. Someone...somewhere searched for "breastfeeding wars" (Huh again?)
5. Someone...somewhere searched for "five languages of love articles"
6. Other searches that found its way to me include "I'm in shape round is a shape", "confinement lady in malaysia" (anyone interested in my confinement services. Its cheap! Haha.), "barney vcd", "mamak stall roti canai", "sahm housewife", "how to bring down a high fever", "if you" (huh?)

"Mumsgather" came out first place in the first 3 searches. Muahahahaha. (Cheap thrill)

My own quick search:

1. Yahoo Search for "mumsgather" resulted in 14000 mentions
2. Googled "mumsgather" and found 13800 results

Muahahahahaha. (Cheap thrill!) When I first started my website, a google search merely found 5 results. Now its 13800! Ok ok, its a small number compared to the big time bloggers but still a thrill nonetheless.

*Drumroll* Applause please! Thank you! Thank you! Ok. Thats my 5 minutes of fame. Now back to reality and back to work! See ya! (*Sighs* Blogging is so much fun. Hehehe.)

Just Another Day

Its Just Another Day
Of spit food and messy faces
I struggle with words to say
Till I get sweet smiles and big embraces

Its Just Another Day
Of big pools of pee on clean sheets
I no longer care my home's in disarray
But then innocent faces they look so sweet

Its Just Another Day
Of small tantrums and big tears
I look around in dismay
Then little voices bring me cheer

On my knees from morn to night
Picking toys, wiping butts and stopping fights
Always never far from sight
Its Just Another Day for this mom of might

Feeding, bathing, entertaining
My day is full from dawn to dusk
Chasing, scolding and then teaching
Its Just Another Day filled up with tasks

Dispelling fears and wiping tears
My day quickly passes from day to day
And soon I'll look back through the years
On this day when I'm old and gray


Help! I'm suffering from

Copyright: Mumsgather

(Copy this poem and you too shall suffer from endless mommy burnout whether you're a mommy or not, so there!)

There! I feel better now..... after letting out this cyber scream..... since I can't very well go to a mountain top to scream!

This poem was written yesterday and finished this morning inspired by my inability to provide Mr MG with a peaceful, happy, evening with the kids as I resolved to do since he is having a stressful time at work. Instead what he got was crying kids and a screaming wife and mum. So sad. I think I need a little time for myself again so that I can give the best of myself because I've run out of energy, batteries and patience from my exhaustion just being a mom!

Young Again

The wind blew our damp hair over our faces. We laughed and giggled as the car cruised down the road. We wore happy smiles and did not have a worry in the world.

The sun shone down on us. I could almost hear the sound of the waves lapping on the sandy beach. The radio was playing a fun, holiday type of music.

Our hair was drying up under the sun and the wind. It was a moment to remember.

"Mummy, the wind blew your hair over your face, so ugly." said My Girl and she giggled even harder as she struggled to keep the hair out of her own face. This made My Boy burst into joyous laughter. He was laughing simply because everyone else was.

We were merely taking the kids out for a drive in the car with the windows down to "ventilate" it after spraying insecticide to get rid of some insects we discovered to our horror in the car. (Crash! Back to reality. Enough daydreaming. Haha.) Seriously, apart from the coloured text, everything else was real, not imagined. Thats what having kids is all about. Even a drive in the hot afternoon sun with the windows down can be so much fun. I think as adults we would probably grumble about the heat instead of enjoying the moment as we did.

I've forgotten how it feels like to drive around without the aircond on. My Girl kept on asking "Whats that sound?" because with the windows down, you could clearly hear the sounds of the traffic which is often blocked out by the shut windows.

Truly, having kids does not make me feel older. It makes me feel young again, seeing the world through their eyes. Instead of feeling hot and bothered, I felt as if we were driving around a stretch of beach in a sportscar. Hehehe. (*Grins*)

Specialists. Hmmrmph!!

Warning! Ranting post ahead.

I hate going to Specialists, eye, ear, heart, whatever. Perhaps it usually means that something is wrong with you (accept if you're seeing a gynae during pregnancy). When I think of visiting a specialist my mind is filled with the image of packed waiting rooms, waiting for hours just to see someone for a few minutes. And more often than not that someone would give curt replies to our questions and usually we have many questions to ask during the visit. Its almost as if the specialist is saying "C'mon. Out with it and out with you. Next!" Its even worse when you have to drag two young kids along with you to the visits. Geez!

Anyway, I'm ranting because I had an ear infection that wouldn't go away. No choice but to visit the ENT. No packed waiting rooms as I envisaged but he wanted to make me come back for repeat visits (I think). After two visits and a whopping RM450 gone, my ear problems have not gone away. I decided to discontinue the visit and went to the pharmacy to buy more of the eardrops I was prescribed. It cost me only RM4!!!! Hmmmm..... Ear infection was cured when I finished that bottle of eardrops but its back now. (*Grumble grumble grumble*). Thats probably why I'm ranting. No offence if you're a specialist reading this blog.

Funny things children say

My Girl continues to amuse and thrill me with her words.

My Girl: "Mummy, what is that?" (points to my eye)

MG: "What?"

My Girl: "Its me!" (she exclaimed with excitement.) "Like mirror like that." (as she points to the pupils of my eye and saw her own reflection.)

MG: "Hahaha. Ya, thats mummy's reflection. Look! Mummy is in there too." (Points to her eyes.)

New Game devised by My Girl.

My Girl: "I want this one." (points to me.)

MG: "Whats this?" (Puzzled)

My Girl: "Mummy!" (Beaming. Then comes and hugs me and we would both break into laughter at this funny game she devised.)

Too Tired

The day before yesterday My Boy did not have a good afternoon nap. Later in the evening around 9pm....

Baby was all ready for bed and Mr MG had gone into the room for a rest so I told him to watch baby while I got My Girl ready for bed.. ie brush teeth, wash face etc.

When I was changing My Girl into her pyjamas I could hear baby crying on and off and Mr MG singing very loudly in the bedroom. After changing My Girl, we went into the room and there was baby sound asleep on daddy's chest. Hahaha. Baby must have been very tired to fall asleep with his daddy singing so very loudly.

Daddy didn't want to move for a while savouring the moment so we let him sleep that way for a while.

According to Mr MG, baby was tired and fretful so he sang very loudly to provide him with some distraction to fall asleep and it worked! Hahaha. Thats the loudest lullaby I ever heard and it wasn't even a lullaby song. It was just Mr MG's signature tune/bedtime song for the kids. My Man can't sing! He certainly won't sing for me but for the kids.... anytime... but I don't mind.

Of waving bye bye and flying kisses

Just wanted to record here an update of My Boy's development. My Boy has many skills now. My Boy Can:

• Clap Hands (One of the first skills he learned. Wonder why its that way with most babies. Hehe. I think its becos they have just discovered their hands and are delighted they can make sounds with them.)
• Point Here and There ("I wanna go/see here/there/this/that")
• Wave Bye Bye
• Blow A Kiss
• Pull my hand to guide me to do something for him (eg. take a toy back from his sister, read a book etc)
• Dance (ppl call him a disco kaki in the making wor)
• "Read" a book (Or when I read to him, he would smile from ear to ear when I open a page to reveal a favourite nursery rhyme or story)
• Do some of the actions in an action song or rhyme when being read or sang to. For eg stamping feet (If You're Happy And You Know It song) or tipping himself over the side (I'm A Little Teapot Song) as is required by the song.
• Give a wet kiss. Hehe. Meaning a kiss full of drool for mummy only!
• Climb down the bed by himself in the morning (the bed is almost as tall as him but he would go to the edge, turn himself around, then come down, legs first. hehe. smart boy.)
• Play with toys in the correct manner instead of merely flinging them around. haha. He likes to take his sister's masak masak toys, pretend to "cook" then "feed" us with the toy spoon
• His molars are out! Ok. That was not a skill but just wanted to record this development somewhere.

On Sunday night we were playing with some blocks when we stuck some blocks together and pretended that it was a phone. Putting the 'phone' next to our ear, we said "Hello" and he did the exact same thing and said "Hello" too. (Though it sounded more like "Ewa". He repeated it a few more times. Hubby and I wants to wait for more confirmation before we declare "Hello" as his first word. Hehe.

On Monday night, we were reading bedtime stories and we pointed to the clock and I think he said "Clock" after us. Tried it again last night with the real clock and again he said "Clock". So maybe thats the second word. Must hear him repeat it a few more times before can confirm.

My Girl's first words were:

1. "Daddy" (not even dada or papa but "daddy" - is it any wonder that she is daddy's girl?)
2. "Car" (maybe she likes to go out in a car ride)
3. "Lights" (becos everytime I put her down to change, I point to the lights and say "lights" so that she would be distracted and not turn over. Me things My Boy will say "Lights" too pretty soon becos I'm using the same old trick. ) and
4. "Chair" (not sure why)

Blog Birthday Present

Anyone noticed the brand new animation I've got on my sidebar? Its lovely isn't it? Its supposed to be me trying to do some work with My Girl and My Boy "helping" out. Hehehe.

Many, many thanks to the talented blogger Maria for this wonderful blog birthday present. Jeles or not y'all? Wanna have one? Go be nice to her. Hahaha. Just kidding.

P.S. Maria, you did it on white background so I made it transparent to blend with my sidebar colors using this tool from GIFWorks.com. Maybe you can find the site useful for some of your works. Thanks again!

Once upon a moonlit night....

Attended a mooncake festival gathering on Saturday. Hmm.. I thought I was a bad case with my lost culture but it would seem like the next generation is going to be worse off. Why?

• the gathering was merely an excuse to get-together so that the kids could play with lanterns and candles. Don't think anyone quite fully understands the significance of the celebrations.
• the mooncake didn't taste like mooncake
• some of the lanterns didn't look like lanterns, they resembled normal battery operated toys
• the kids (ranging from toddlers to teens) played with the lanterns for a very short while only after which everyone ran into the house to enjoy the cool aircond comfort, play the piano, guitar and organ and computer games.

Haiyh! Oh where oh where is our culture gone?

Tags, tags and more tags....

I owe twinsmom a shoe tag from looooonnnnng ago. Don't have many shoes, so going to give that a miss. Sorry Maria.

I pretended not to see Egghead's tag on 7 things you plan to do to do or something like that. You see, first I've got to go and do the 7 things on my priority which I've been procrastinating on. Sorry Egghead.

Then I chanced upon the life history tag from Atiza. Oops! I almost missed that. Sorry Atiza. That sounds like a fun tag but I'm not doing it becos James has spoilt it for everyone (*pouts*) since he did such a good post on that. Just looking for an excuse or someone to blame for not doing it. Haha. Sorry James.

I still remember the first time, I got tagged.... by Papi. I was a real dungu and didn't know what a meme was then and so I replied his tag... in his comments page! Sorry Papi. Then I got wiser and one day I tagged him back... but he didn't reply so he got his own back. Hehehe.

Solbi also owes me some tag on some subject matter which I can't quite remember now. Don't be sorry Solbi.

Mama22beas also tagged me before, but I've forgotten.... on what and whether I replied. Sorry Mama22beas.

Did I forget to mention anyone? I can be rather forgetful as you can see.

These tags/memes can be fun and often allows one to know a blogger better and its a good way to know more bloggers if you are linked and you link others back but sometimes, just sometimes it feels like an empty 'filler' post, or sometimes its just plain boorrring depending on my mood. Sometimes it feels just slightly better than an email chain letter which I will delete without reading. At least I read tags, occassionally. Jason calls it spam.

If you ever get tagged by me and don't feel like replying, well, just ignore it then.
If you ever tag me and I don't reply, or don't even realise it, then don't feel offended ok?
If you read a nice tag and feel like doing it even though nobody tagged you, then just go right ahead and write a post on it.

Well, that just about sums out how I feel about tags and memes.

Whats your feeling about tags or memes?

"We Don't Hold Grudges, Mummy."

Its funny but I think very young kids don't know how to hold grudges the way we adults or older kids do.

The reason I say this is when I'm scolding my kids, aged 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 years old, instead of getting angry at me (if they're not crying that is), My Boy will smile at me and My Girl will try to hug me. Its very disconcerting. Hmmm... I think its their secret little trick. I must learn that trick too and apply it to My Man. Khihkhihkhih....

A Blog Is Born

A Blog was born on 17 September 2004. It was called Mumsgather. How time flies. Its been a year!

I first started to try blogging in September 2004 but then I stopped after just two posts! Haha. Now, if it wasn't for 5xMom and twinsmom who infected me with the true blogging virus in November 2004, I wouldn't still be here, a year later. (Thanks ladies! *Muaks*)

I wanted to "celebrate" my blog birthday in November instead since thats when I really started blogging but since I had the first two posts in September I shall use this date as the anniversary date instead. (Hehe. Just like how couples not sure which date to celebrate anniversary ie the ceremony date or registration date if they fall on different dates.)

Since I don't blog on Saturdays, I'm posting this today.

Happy Birthday to Me
Happy Birthday to Me
Happy Birthday to Mumsgather
Happy Birthday to Me

Note: Singing to myself. Hehe. I'm only thick skinned on my blog.

Do you shout at your spouse in front of your kids?

When you're a couple, sometimes its inevitable that you should fight. I blogged sometime ago that happy couples fight and there are many stuff to fight about. If you don't, there's probably something wrong with you or the relationship. (Thats just my 2 cents). Its just not possible for two very different individuals living under the same roof, not to fight.

And so.... we fight and sometimes in front of the kids. Yeah! I know, I know. All the gurus and relationship books say "Don't fight in front of the kids." but how? Unless you have impeccable self control....... it happens.

One day in the midst of a shouting match, I could hear My Girl in the background, walking around mumbling to herself "Why is everybody talking like this?" Sometimes, during a fight, she would come to me and say "Why are you so upset? Its ok. Its ok."

OMG! OMG! I'm a bad mommy! I must really learn to tame that fiery temper of mine. Anyway, when we fight, no matter how angry we are with each other, our voices will soften with the kids or so we try lah! (I must admit that Mr MG is very much better than me at this becos his self control is better than mine).

Rainforest in a Shopping Complex

Took the kids to feed the koi fishes at the "Rainforest" in 1 Utama recently.

Baby/My Boy was so enthusiastic, had to keep on pulling him back by the collar to prevent him from falling into the pond. He kept on reaching out to try to touch the fishes. Hehe. Luckily none of them decided to try out the fish feed for themselves.

Before I forget, I also need to record my amazing "feat". Yes! Recently, we dragged two kiddoes out of bed at 6.30am, was out of the house by 7am (I even had time to put on some war paint to take photo for MyKad but had to wake up at 6.00am to do that :P), went to two govt departments (ie to do MyKad and to EPF for something else) and a customer service centre (to get update some documentation) and was back in the house by 12.00pm with breakfast and lunch all on the go. And we SURVIVED! Woohoo!

We were called to the counter at the same time when doing the MyKad and by that time baby was extremely fretful (What to do. Babies hate waiting around with nothing to do, much more than us adults hate it.) So we each took a kid with us. Yeeeee.... I dare not look at the MyKad photo when its ready. I'm sure I must look very hassled. Mr MG had to take his photo with toddler in tow. Luckily by the time it was my turn to take the photo, he could take a wiggly baby away from me, but I didn't have time to comb my hair....... or look in the mirror..... or put on fresh lipstick.......and I was sweating..... Yeeeeee!

The Lost Shoe

MG: "Oh No! Where's baby's shoes? Got one side only."

Mr MG: "Aiyah! I told you to check every once in a while to make sure they don't get lost."

MG: "I just checked a moment ago" :(

Mr MG: "Lets trace back our steps and see if we can find it."

This is very common occurence for us. We've lost one side of baby's shoes time and again. Dunno how many of the brand new kiddoes shoes we've lost this way during an outing.

I wonder why
Little shoes cost so much
I wonder why
Little shoes get lost so often

I'm amazed how
Little feet outgrow little shoes
I'm amazed how
Little people bring so much love

First Set of Wheels

I had some Jusco points to redeem before the year end and since we couldn't find anything we needed in the catalogue we finally decided on a tricycle for our little girl, her very first. Too bad, the tricycle was out of stock so we had to wait a couple of weeks for it.

My girl was really excited about it. We spoke about it everynight. We informed her that the girl in the department store said there was "No stock" so we had to wait till "the girl called us" before we went to "collect" the tricycle.

Everytime she was being naughty we reminded her that she was a big girl now and we had "ordered" her tricycle. Hahaha. (Bad parents). I also took this as an opportunity to take her off her diapers during naptime.

Finally "the girl called" and we went to "collect" the tricycle. My Girl waited patiently as we shopped around and went to the bookstore etc before we went to collect her new tricycle.

On Sunday we took her to the park and thats where she had her first fall! Ouch! Sakit Hatinya! We had just arrived there, put her on the bike and turned around for just a moment to look at baby and the next thing we knew, she was on the grass crying with the bike on top of her. Ouch! Ouch! Luckily that did not deter her from trying out her bike and she really enjoyed herself. Yeah!

Photo sourced from www.jusco.com.my

Are Women More Affectionate than Men?

I wonder whether women are more affectionate than Men? I, for one, love being affectionate. I love to hold hands, hug, cuddle and be close to my beloved. Perhaps thats because my primary love language is physical touch. Now, for those of you with one tracked minds, you'd have to read this to know what I mean when I say my love language is physical touch.

Previously Mr MG was not as affectionate as I would have liked him to be (he was quite stingy with his hugs/it was difficult to wrangle a hug out of him) but he is well trained now. Once he asked me "Huh? Go up the stairs (at home) also must hold hands ah?" Hehe. Another time I had to tell him (Hey! If I don't tell how would he know right?) that when we go shopping etc, I'd like it very much if he remembered to be affectionate..... this was told after the babies came along. Its hard to hold hands or put arms around each other when you have to carry baby or hold little hands but we manage.

Now, happily, Mr MG is very affectionate (maybe more than me even) and I'm loving it. I love when he strokes or brushes my hair/face or when he playfully hits my bottom when he passes by, things like that. I wonder if the men like to be affectionate like that or is it a woman thing, like the way we love to hear the words "I Love You" uttered. Do men like to be affectionate or do they say "C'mon. Stop fussing over me."

My First Goodnight Kiss

Last night, after our chit chat, my girl reached over and gave me several goodnight kisses. She is a very affectionate little girl, just like her mummy! Hehehe. Which brings me to my next post... "Are women more affectionate than men?"

Ok. Sorry, I got sidetracked. Anyway, suddenly baby stood up from his side of the bed and walked towards me. I was wondering what was happening when I saw his little face lunge towards me with mouth open and then I realised it. He was imitating his sister and giving me a goodnight kiss. (Only it felt like he was trying to eat my face. Haha.) He then tried again several times. *Muaks! Muaks! Muaks!* He looked very pleased with his new found skill afterwards.

Yes baby! Mummy loves you too! What a moment! I love it! I love the moment and shall include it among the snapshots in my mind.

Its so Easy..... (Reflections of a SAHM - Part 4)

Its so easy.....

1. to shake/throw a crying baby who won't stop crying
2. to leave a baby sitting in his poo/pee when you've changed one diaper too many
3. to slap a toddler who won't eat food you've so painfully prepared
4. to hit a noisy child who won't stop whining (its ok to hit to discipline but I'm talking about hitting very hard.. much more than is justified)
5. to beat up a kid who messes up after everything you've just cleaned/picked up
6. to starve a helpless baby who refuses to drink up his/her milk
7. to lock up a kid unattended in a room so that you'd have some private time/they'd quit following you around when you're too busy
8. to forget simple child safety measures when you are too distracted (eg. letting a child get too near the fire, playing with telephone or other cords, not being nearby to monitor when a child is climbing all over unsafe furniture, allowing a child to eat foods that could be choking hazards unsupervised etc.. its a long, looo...nng list)
9. to let a naughty kid have his/her way (ie to give in to unreasonable demands) so that you could get on with whatever it is you need to do (the opposite of hitting too hard)
10. to ignore/neglect a baby who needs attention when you're preoccupied

Its just too easy to abuse/neglect a helpless baby/child especially a child who is not old enough to tell. And it becomes easier and easier the more and more hours you have to deal with the baby/child. I know. Cos' I have to deal with 2 under 4 years of age 24/7 and I have to constantly remind myself not to do any of those things above. And I'm the mother! What more a maid/sitter who is unrelated to the child. Especially if its a young maid from a foreign country struggling to make a living away from her own family and friends in an unfamiliar place. Gosh. Scary!

Why I'm a SAHM.....

I don't have any mum or mum-in-law who could help out (Even if I had I would not ask them to help out. Looking after young kids is very hard work and I think its unfair to ask our elderly parents to help us out when they should be enjoying their golden years. Hey! They've already gone through the tough part with us! Let them enjoy a little bit now.)

I could never leave my child alone with a maid at home and I have no one to act as a watchful eye (Its important to have another adult around to spy monitor the situation at home) so that too is out of the question.

I hate the idea of leaving my little ones at a sitter when they are so young (I'd like them to be in the comfort of their own home, not needing to be woken up very early and rushed from place to place. Life is a rush, so why start rushing them so young) so thats out too. My kids wake up when they've had enough rest. And they wake up to a relaxed mummy who's there to play with them a little before breakfast. I don't have to wake them up from their sleep, then change a sleepy baby and rush them out of the house. I just hate the thought of having to do that.)

Being of such untrusting nature. Hehe. (Especially when it comes to my kids), thats why I'm a SAHM. In my 10 points above, I was merely talking about the basic act of childcare ie feeding and cleaning but theres so much more to it. Theres the act of nurturing, disciplining, teaching, guiding, giving love and attention to build security and so much more. How could I possibly leave all that to another person to handle for hours on end? So thats why I'm a SAHM and loving it!

Disclaimer: These are my personal opinions. Please understand that I'm not saying theres anything wrong with mums who do not care for their children themselves full time. So don't flame me. :)

Relections of a SAHM - Part 3

I feel very fortunate indeed everynight when I take the kids to bed. I feel fortunate that I do not have any work stress to take my focus off my kids. No morning meetings to worry about, no important deadlines, business trips, etc etc to think about. My full focus and attention is on and for them.

Singing, reading and chatting with the kids is much more fun than if my mind was cluttered with other stuff ie. wondering elsewhere or is full of worry about the next day. Of course one could say that you should separate work from home by worrying about work only at work but its easier said than done of course.

Balancing work with family becomes very important after the kids come along. I'm sure even the men struggle with this. I personally feel that if anyone would rather spend more time working than with the family (taking money out of the equation) than something must be quite wrong.

Its really not easy to balance work with family. I'm glad I don't have to do it!

Reflections of a SAHM - Part 2

"I'm just a housewife." she said softly almost apologetically, her head slightly downcast.

Hehehe. Thats certainly not going to be the response you get from me if you meet up with me. Back when I was working, I remember when I met up with old classmates some of which have become very successful at work, some of which have become housewives and while the corporates were passing their business cards around, the housewives answer was as above. Ok! Ok! I exagerated but the gist is that they were not proud of the fact that they were housewives. Why ever not?! I can't understand that.

I'm certainly not ashamed or embarassed of the fact that I'm a housewife, staying home to look after my kids and my home. The response I often get when I tell ppl that I'm a housewife is:

• "Wah. You have the good life." or "Enjoy life lah you."
• "Wah! You goyang kaki lah. So good"
• "You can tahan ah? Stay at home all day? The kids don't drive you up the wall?"
• "Don't you feel bored?"
• "Good lah you. Made such a sacrifice."
• "Don't you feel that your skills are wasted staying at home?"

Well, they're all wrong. Its not a big, great sacrifice. Why should it be? I love to look after my kids myself. I'd like to be there for them, now when they are young and need a lot of care and attention and later on I'd like to be there for them when they get home from school with a hot lunch waiting and someone to chat with. I enjoy being with them. How can anyone call it a sacrifice?

Its not "the good life". Being a full time housewife is no easy job but of course I enjoy life. Life is short. I would try to enjoy life anyway, whether I'm working or otherwise.

Goyang kaki? More time? Hahaha. I had lots lots more time when I was working. Why! I had one full hour for lunch! One of my jobs was not deskbound so I felt I had even more time. (Sometimes I had to be at several places at the same time but thats ok because in between appointments can steal some time. Heh heh!) Now, I still have to be at several places at the same time, only... I can't steal some time with these bosses. In fact, I'll be happy if I had some time to have a long bath and an uninterupted meal and theres never any time to read the papers.

Skills wasted? I have many skills, yes (Hehe. Blowing own trumpet. All of us have our skills yes or not?) Do I fear that they are "wasted". Not at all. My skills are being put to the best use of all. For people that matter to me most. They're being used to teach, nurture and guide my children. Of course they're not being paid for financially but not everything is about money. And I'm never afraid that I can put my skills to work again should the situation arise or call for it. Once you have a skill, its always there. I have a good work attitude and I'm always eager to learn new things so I shall always be employable should I choose to be. (This is for mums who want to stay at home but feel afraid to take the step.)

Bored? Hahaha. Hardly! I don't have time to be bored. So next time, anyone tells you they are a housewife, please, puh...leaze don't give them any of the above responses. Now, I'm BORED with those responses because they're so cliche, unoriginal and inaccurate, YOU HEAR ME??!!

The Funny things she says

In the Living Room

"Mummy, look got Bob The Builder there!" points excitedly to a construction site.

In the Kitchen

MG: "Baby! You are not supposed to be in the kitchen. C'mon! Stop pulling at my leg. Don't be naughty. Mummy is busy. Aiyoh! Why are you following me everywhere!"

My Girl: "Daddy, daddy! Faster! Faster come and take baby. Baby has turned into a monster in the kitchen."

MG: Hahahaha. (MG sometimes calls out to Mr MG to take baby away when working in the kitchen and we sometimes refer to them as monsters when they are being naughty.. hence the funny response.)

In the Bedroom

MG reading: "Eyes for peeking. Ears for hearing. Mouth for laughing. Head for thinking."

MG explains: "Do you know that we use our heads for thinking? We think about what to eat, what to wear, how to solve the jigsaw puzzle, where to go... "

MG asks: "Can you tell mummy what you are thinking about right now?"

My girl: "I'm thinking..... about mummy!" (said with a big, happy smile)

My girl sure knows how to bodek mummy. I think she was a little bit embarassed by my obvious delight with her response afterwards. Haha.

Who Links To You?

When I first started blogging, the kind Narrowband told me that I could check who linked to me by typing my url on the search box in Technorati. I had a thrill trying it out. Haha! Cheap thrill I know. Thats part of the fun I have in blogging ie trying out the various blogging tools available on the web.

I was going to blog about this awhile ago when I discovered PubSub but then I saved it as draft and forgot all about it until I came across this article: "Blog Link Tracking Reviewed" in The Blog Herald. Its an excellent review and I had fun checking who linked to me as well as trying out some of the other tools available on Blogpulse.

Why not try it out too? As a blogger, you'll enjoy it I'm sure!

Reflections of a SAHM - Part 1

"He's afraid. He's resentful, frustrated and depressed. He feels trapped by his responsibility to provide for his family. He's locked into a job or career that he no longer enjoys because he must keep the kids in college and make payments on the house and car.If he's like most men, he may be in responsibility overload and desperately in need of a break from financial responsibilities and the daily demands of work that he's probably had since he got out of school. He may resent the fact he cannot make the choices that so many women can as far as choosing whether or not they want to work and at what. He needs a long break from responsibility but he knows that is an impossibility. If he stops, he loses everything he has worked so hard for, but, if he doesn't stop, there is a good chance he will lose it anyway. He's trapped."

excerpts from the article "HIS Midlife Crisis! Will Your Relationship Survive?" by Pat Gaudette, founder of The Midlife Club

My greatest regret about becoming a SAHM (housewife) is the pressure it puts on my man. Unlike women, most of the time, a man has no choice. He can't say "I want to quit to look after the kids." Thats tough!

Its even harder for men whose wives do not work. Not happy with the job? Not happy with the boss? the company? the long hours? etc etc??? Just grin and bear it or change jobs but change is never easy especially if your whole household depends on your one single income. The pressure must be tremendous. Sigh.

Somedays, I feel like my man is out there fighting a fire breathing mythical creature while me and the kids are in our cave protected and safe. Perhaps its time for me to don an armour to fight the creature alongside my man.

Easy Screen Capture

I just discovered that you can do a simple screen capture without using any professional program. So I'm putting the steps here before I forget how to. Being very vain (hehe), I've done a screen capture/screenshot of my webpages just for the fun of it and put them in this post with links to my pages. I haven't yet learned how to put the links on to the pictures itself. ("Next time lah...") For now, here are the steps on how to to a simple screen capture using your clipboard:

Step 1 Press Ctrl, Alt, Print Scrn

Step 1 (Edited) Press Alt, Print Scrn to capture the Active Window
Step 2 Press Start, All Programs, Accessories, Paint
Step 3 Press Ctrl V
Step 4 Press File, Save As, (Choose JPEG format), Filename. The File will be saved as a Pic file which can be called up to paste in any document you so desire. (I'm a copy and paste expert after all!)

Examples:

I'll Always Be Here

Mummy Play With Me

My Breastfeeding Story

My Kitchen

Step 1 has been edited, thanks to Tien Soon and Egghead.