The Baby Steps Of Life

BKT on CNY

2012-01-23T23:25:00.000-08:00

Looking out for Bak Kut Teh on a the first day of Chinese New Year is truly a mission impossible. It all started out when my hungry half and I stole 2 hours from our lives (with the kids carefully tucked away with my parents) for a short date as a couple.

With most of the shops closed on CNY, we went for the yogurt parlour nearby, and ate frozen yogurt at unimaginable cost (this is where my mom, and even me, would say 'I can make yogurt at home for nothing'). We were like kids at the candy store, spoilt for choice and a bit blur blur with their self service method... I was like 'kids these days have such fancy ice cream shops'.

As we were done and driving back, it started raining heavily, and my hungry-for-non-vegetarian -food half spoke about this BKT shop my uncle recommended, which is just on the other street. In my mind I was praying for the 'almost impossible' BKT on the rainy CNY. We just decided to drive over and see if the shop is open, just in case.

We both nearly fainted when we saw the shop open, and fully operating! No questions asked, we walked inside and ordered the regular and dry BKT.

The regular BKT had a slight flavour missing from the soup, but the meat was just too good. Although we don't like meat with bones, this one was extra special because the meat was so tender and slipped of easily from the rib bones. As for the dry BKT, this is the best it can get! Lots of garlic and okra together with the meat. Our important condiment of chopped garlic was also there, and they even had fried garlic. Needless to say, we had extremely terrible breath the rest of the day, its good that we are in a very much advanced stage of our relationship. Extra points for the happy looking owner Auntie wearing her red CNY dress. The cost of the meal had a huge surcharge due to the festive season, no wonder such happiness oozing out of her.

We were totally pleased with our CNY BKT rendezvous, especially since we are this BKT snobs from Klang. I am very sure hubby will look forward to more trips to JB just for this. If you are interested, this is Restoran Phang Yew BKT at Jln Permas 9/2, Permas Jaya JB. The best in town for sure! It was indeed our lucky moment, now I feel that I should have wished for more than just BKT!

And He Turns Two

2012-01-23T23:05:00.000-08:00

My baby Sanju, whose pregnancy news came to us in July, and born in 3rd week of January 2010, 3 weeks before his due date, turned 2 years old just few days back. It was the perfect time to celebrate his 2nd birthday with Jeev's overdue 30 day prayers during the Chinese New Year holidays.

It was a nice small gathering with close relatives to pray and celebrate for the 2 little ones, a rare chance as Sanju's birthday fell right on a festive weekend.

Here is Sanju down in his diapers enjoying his after-party with loads of balloons. It is amazing how something as simple as a little balloon can keep him occupied for hours. His other toys do not capture his attention for long.

The 2 year old also sips well on the wine glass, even calls for a toast with his aunties and grandparents.

NOTE: The drink in the wine glass is homemade yogurt lassi, the boy believes in good nutrition.

The Broken Disc

2012-01-19T18:46:00.000-08:00

It all started when me, the (desperate) housewife aka SAHM (Stay At Home Mom) wanted to watch Ra.One on Astro First. Sanju got hooked after the first viewing. He watched Ra.One and nothing else for the 48 hours, and after that started using the dance gesture of 'chammak challo' to ask for more.

My generous half bought the DVD of the Hindi version, and he watched again and again till a point I got so angry and hid it. But the mother in me packed it with our luggage when we were going to in law and my parents house for the holidays. With Sanju persistently asking for it, I decided to bring it out for just a limited time. To my horror I found the CD broken into half in my travelling bag!

I was so upset for the next few hours. True enough I was to hide it from him for once and all, but yet I felt bad he could not watch it as he wanted. So we decided to buy another CD, this time only Tamil version was available. It worked for Sanju, he watched again.

Once back at my parents place I got my brother to download a clearer version for him to see on the big screen again. And he does. Again and again.

So much that my dad got inspired to write this on the fridge.

So much that my dad got inspired to write this on the fridge.

Sanju is also an ardent babywearer, he wears his bear, Podolski this way, using my Jumpsac Ringsling.

Don 2, Chocolate and The Gift

2011-12-29T23:00:00.000-08:00

This post was actually meant to be a movie review for Don 2, but it was a rare opportunity for movie, shopping and dinner date for us parents of 2, hence the title. So we had the kids safely tucked away with their grandparents, while we had once in a lifetime experience spending quality time (and watching SRK movie).

It is the double bonus season for SRK fans, after Ra.One, Don 2 comes hitting the screens worldwide with huge expectations. And whats more, this film boosts of the sleek director Farhan Akhtar's venture after his successful acting stints. Don 2 is the sequel of the remake Don from the early 80s. After the success of Don, Farhan Akhtar left no stones unturned in coming out with the sequel that is huge in every way.

After conquering the Asian underworld, Don 2 is back to take over the European scene. This time he does it by planning a crime such that he foils his enemies, gets money printing plates and leaves no evidence behind. The story is very fast and gripping, and somewhere in the middle it starts to falter and drag a little, only to come back with a bang later! Little details and sub plots suddenly fall into place and you won't realise what hit you. The screenplay is perfect and Don-Roma's love hate relationship is used well in this movie. The audience (and Roma) is still left wondering what Don really feels. And the ending very much suggests another sequel. As long as Badshah Khan is in business, I bet there is going to be a huge franchise of Don sequels in the future. He did an awesome job as the self-absorbed criminal.

I am about to blow an extra candle on my birthday cake, so we were also busy shopping for my gift in between the movie. Yes you read it right, before and after the movie. It was one of the moment that you have bought the movie tickets, and while walking around you suddenly like something, and you don't have adequate time to purchase it without missing the movie. Thank goodness we made it for both. As for the gift, I ain't revealing it here, lets just say I added another bling to my possession. Although my dear half was more into getting me a gadget, I turned out to be a typical woman who swoons over the blings. Lets get the i-anything for our next celebration.

In all happiness we went on for our planned dinner at Bubba Gump. Movie and shopping made us so very hungry. We ordered a huge appetizer, two main courses and a desert. We ate like 2 hungry horses and sped up to our most favourite part of it, The Chocolate Thing. The experience is definitely one of a kind, at the risk of sounding like junkies, we can suddenly feel a rush of happy hormones into our already happy system. How happy can one get? Definitely not happier than The Chocolate Thing!

Here is hubby waiting for the shot to end, before the gobbles up the desert.

The Many Faces of Sanju Part 2

2011-12-15T23:35:00.000-08:00

Here's the second part of the Sanju series. Disclaimer: Pictures are in no particular order of event or preference, and captions are my wittiest best, not necessarily relevant.

Do not adjust your computer screen, the boy does circus acts

This side table of 25 years is now turned upside down to serve as a push car

Chocolate monster

I support ahimsa - Mahatma Kanth-i

I'm tribal boy, in a tribal world

This is my seductive pout to get the models

Enough of the camera flash already!

Getting bald rocks with so much of green notes!

Baby Jeev stole is exact same look/face of mine

Can we get a dress for me, pretty please!

Sanju Revisits Babyhood

2011-12-14T21:45:00.000-08:00

With the presence of Baby Jeev, it is a revisit to babyhood for Sanju as he tries to replicate, copy or even demand similar attention as his baby brother. Here's listing a few:

Whenever I rub yu yee oil for Jeev, Sanju comes over and lifts his tshirt, to get some yu yee in his own tummy. I don't blame him, it smells refreshing
Sanju asks to be put into (his former) Baby Jeev's cot, and lies down for pretend sleep. After a few minutes he will start moving (and destroying) every single thing inside. The highlight of this whole experience is when we put the mosquito net around the cot
After his shower, Sanju likes to be swaddled with his towel, and then wiped dry. He sometimes also cries out like a newborn. I had actually started practicing swaddling him after bath when I got to know I was expecting another baby, just a small step to prepare and hopefully familiarise him with the coming events
Occasionally Sanju would take over the bouncer, and watch tv or drinking whilst rocking away
When I took Sanju's old play gym out, he did not give any chance for the baby in it, because he hogged all the space in it before lifting it away to another play corner
Sanju has observed Baby Jeev wailing and crying his lungs out, hence whenever he wants to throw a tantrum, he uses the same style of wailing to get his way
Sanju tries to 'use' Baby Jeev's bottle and pacifier if he spots them in the drawer
When we bring the stroller out, Sanju ends up playing in it, instead of Baby Jeev
Baby Jeev inherited Sanju's bangles, but each time Sanju sees them on baby, he will try to take it out and wear on his own hands. Too bad they don't fit anymore

Other than that, Sanju behaves like a responsible elder brother at all times, taking care of Baby Jeev very well. He also is a good listener (like his dad) whenever I have anything to complain abt the fussy little baby. He likes to kiss baby, and loves lying down beside him any chance he gets. And at other times he is responsibly naughty and is capable of making me insane. That is part and parcel of being a parent, so I suppose Sanju is doing a great job at it.

The Many Faces of Sanju Part 1

2011-12-11T00:21:00.000-08:00

Inspired from a fellow blogger Mabel, I decided to dedicate a few series of blogs with pictures for my first born, Sanju.

Sanju will be turning 2 years old soon, and I can't imagine how fast time has passed. There are so many photo memories of his growing up years, and it is amazing how much Jeev resembles him in most of them. Jeev, however, does not have that many photos taken. I suppose that is the advantage of being the eldest, Sanju's every step was recorded by every family member, like papparazis.

Here are photos of Sanju in some of his best and funniest moments.

World Cup 2010 Fever mode!

Cocooned in mommies tshirt, he looks like a refugee

Tipah tertipu, bang!

Sanju sitting on his throne, every morning

I'm sexy and I know it

He learnt mocking me this way each time I scolded him, incidently it was on our 2nd wedding anniversary

Watching tv the adult way

Playing sick at the Pantai Klang children's ward

Another AIO Love: Grovia AIO

2011-12-09T08:14:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across the new Grovia AIO diapers for sale on the FSOT by chance. Still in confinement then, I was itching to click 'Buy', and getting new diapers for my then newborn was just the right thing to do, as he was outgrowing the petite and cute newborn dipes. Whats more, the AIO diapers are in cute pretty prints!

Previously I had tried the Grobaby (older version) AI2 for Sanju but I did not find love in it because the soakers would scrunch up once soaked. It did not look right, and would also leak due to that. But still I wanted to give Grovia AIO a try because I wanted to get something different from the current stash of pocket diapers, hoping for something more convenient.

The cutting of Grovia AIO is on the smaller side, hence it fit my baby well from early stages. The trim and snugg cutting looks very nice on baby. It comes with a snap on booster, which I only started using recently to reduce the bulk. Another feature that I like is the fact that its a side snapping diaper.

The inner body and soakers are organic cotton and very soft to the touch. I can only imagine how gentle it would feel to the precious bums. And most importantly it does not scrunch up. Washing and drying the AIO is a tad faster than bottombumpers, maybe it is due to the organic cotton soakers.

For AIO lovers, or if you wish to try an AIO diaper, Grovia is definitely a great choice, apart from Bottombumpers. Now I am itching to stock up on these diapers, if you know of a good deal in town, do let me know!

Superhuman Me

2011-12-07T23:52:00.000-08:00

I don't watch superhero movies because they seem ridiculous to me (except Endhiran and Ra.One). I never thought superhuman was ever real, until I became a mother, of two. Pardon the not-so-humble post, but the content on this blog entry is totally my very personal views and opinions, and you have the very right to think otherwise, if you dare to.

When I was a full time working mother of one, Sanju, I believed I was definitely a human of a higher ranking given the amount of multitasking I did. From household chores and work to my baby care from scratch. I stayed home for the first 4 months to do everything for him on my own and witness every single milestones.

And even after going back to work, I researched, planned and prepared all his solids by myself, ensuring no stones left unturned. That is just one of the small (more humility) things I did, and I rightfully felt pretty super myself.

Fast forward to the arrival of my second baby, 19 months after Sanju, I was in serious doubt if I could cope. Gone were the ambitions of working full time. Hubby and I decided there is no day care or babysitter that can take the combination of kids, only the mother can provide the proper care (and juggle) for the 2 of them, hence we decided that I will be a stay at home mother.

After confinement period at both our families place, I put myself to the challenge. Never realised there was such a potential in me. I am now officially a superhuman with super abilities of handling 2 kids of 19months gap by myself.

I handle the household chores, while ensuring both are fed, burped (not Sanju), changed, you get the idea. This involves a lot of running around, tripping, forgetting, misplacing, and some tantrums in between, of myself or even Sanju. At all other times, it is Jeev's frequent crying that keeps the ambience lively.

I get to cook if both of them nap at the same time. Ocassionally I do my nails. I also try to pluck my eyebrows and upper lip facial hairs, but there is a huge risk if either of them wake up in between, because I will end up with only one side done. And if either one is asleep, I try my best to make sure the other does not get in an activity that might wake the sibling up. Some sanity is all I ask for. And some sanity is all I get, sometimes.

While Peter Parker says 'With great power comes great responsibility', I say 'Great responsibilities unleash the great powers within us'. I'm amazed at myself, for the superpowers and the super-quote, no offence Spiderman!

Speaking of superheroes, here is Sanju, eating his favourite chicken rice, and refusing to wear his bib, so daddy put it on like a cape for him.

How are the kids doing? Well, growing up well, still finding the harmonious balance while spreading superpowers to their mom.

Here's wishing more superpowers to enable me to update my much neglected blog more often. Perhaps I need to make the kids nap longer. Till then, superpower dust to you all!

Breastfeeding And Me

2011-11-01T06:52:00.000-07:00

Today, 2nd Nov, Jeev turns 3 months old, and it also marks the 3rd month of my breastfeeding journey. I cannot say my baby has been fully breastfed in this period of 3 months, but it is more like 3 months of my struggle, determination, hard work, blood and sweat (and breastmilk), sleepless nights and tonnes of research.

Right after Jeev was born, I suddenly remembered I needed to inform the nurses that he is to be fully breastfed, and no formula. They were cooperative in bringing baby to me during feedings, but Jeev was a sleepy baby, would not latch much, just sleep till kingdom comes. There were times when he would be awake, but cannot latch. We got worried, rather hubby did, and got the nurses to feed him formula whenever can.

Once home, it was the same problem. Sleepy baby, hardly latching, and would immediately sleep off if he did indeed latch. I remember he would hardly feed two or three times per day, just be sleeping away. I tried many methods in getting him up, to no avail. My impatient half insisted in giving the bottle of formula to ensure he is feeding well. Overwhelming emotions were all over me, and I did not want to make things worse for my newborn at least.

By 3rd day, baby preferred the bottle and refused to latch at all, and I was frantically sms-ing my support network to get some help and advice. In fact I was even feeling awkward to call out for SOS, but they reached out to me knowing I was indeed facing problems.

Kit, Denise and Yvonne from LYN forum really supported and gave me the strength to be determined and continue latching and latching. And that is what I did, tried and tried latching like every time my baby showed slight signs of being awake. And on the 6th day it happened! He latched! I finally felt complete! There I started latching constantly to build supply and soothe baby. Formula babies are fed every 3 hours, but breastfed babies latch like every single second.

While breastfeeding we don't really get to see or gauge how much is baby taking. I would worry and wonder if baby is drinking enough. I tried monitoring the disposable diapers, and I was convinced that he had not peed in his diaper in the last 4 hrs at all. Even got my mom worried over this. But upon closer examination, the diaper was soiled, it was just too absorbant and waterproof that I could not feel any wetness. Good job there, diaper!

Fully determined further, I bought a manual pump to stimulate and increase supply, because baby was still being sleepy most of the time. He was latching directly most of the time, EBMs (expressed breast milk) ocassionally.

Things were indeed going fine, but somewhere around 2 month onwards, baby started being very fussy while direct latching. I got worried, wondering if my supply is not enough Even tried pumping to see if the supply volume is fine, but it only made me more upset because it seemed to be so little, then I began to wonder if my pump was working fine. And due to the fussy baby, I started topping up with formula milk like up to 3 feedings per day! I was frantically searching online, I began to wonder if my baby was indeed latching properly. So many uncertainties in my mind especially after reading the information online.

I sought help and ideas through the breastfeeding advocates FB group, and reached out to Lactation Consultant, Gina Yong. It was the best thing I ever did for my breastfeeding journey. Gina confirmed that my baby has a classic latching, and my supply is fine. It was such a relief to know that, and I just had to be strong and continue just latching baby otherwise he would prefer the bottle forever, and I would have to forever pump and feed EBMs, which was not convenient for me. As advised by her, I now drink water of 3 tablespoons of fenugreek seeds daily, and eat the seeds too. The water is bearable, but the seeds are really bitter. By now my tongue has lost its taste buds, so they are pretty tasteless. I would prefer taking barley water and seeds any day, but it seemed to have less effect on my supply.

As for the manual pump, I decided to have a closer look. After some meddling here and there, I noticed that the stem beneath the diaphragm was slightly tilted, losing suction when using the pump. I suspect this is the result of my engineer half's vacuum pump knowledge brushing off on me. Thanks to all those interesting (yawn) work related discussions.

Looking back to my breastfeeding experience, I could now give an advice or two. I may not be an expert, but one thing is true, never stop, never give up. Another thing that Gina told me I always keep in my mind when breastfeeding. When we are stressed, our shoulder muscles are tensed and baby can sense this. It not just increases baby's fussing, but also affects the supply. So I always remember to relax my shoulders whenever latching.

I never thought something so natural can be so difficult. Seriously. Isn't it made to be convenient for both mother and baby? Or have we humans just lost touch with our natural side and prefer something easier (like formula milk)? I want to talk more about my take on breast feeding, hopefully in an upcoming new post, if Jeev allows me to.

Ra.One

2011-10-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

They call him King Khan for a reason, for he is the Badshah of Bollywood whenever he has a new movie release. Ra.One is the most awaited film after My Name Is Khan, apart from Don 2, of course. After being labelled as candy floss lover boy, King Khan has moved on and tried his hands on different roles, proving his critics wrong again and again.

Ra.One brings what would be known as Bollywood sci-fi masala in the future. You have all the elements in one, comedy, emotions, song and dance routine, and action with a bad-ass villain. Shekhar, played by SRK, tries hard to impress his son despite his clumsy self. Upon his son's request he invents a game with a super villain that is almost unbeatable. Things go wrong on the day of the game launch and they find themselves in a challenge with Ra.One, the bad-ass villain. And that is when the real hero, G.One comes to their rescue.

SRK acted adorably as Shekhar, the Tamilian who even eats noodles with curd. Kareena was just ok, not much required of her in the film, except to shine in the Chamak Challo song. Armaan Verma as Shekhar's son did a great job, and his chemistry with G.One is amazing. Arjun's avatar as Ra.One was good, but one wishes to see more of him.

The effects are so good that comparisons with Endhiran is inevitable. In fact, we even see a special appearance of Chitti in a comedic scene. That being said, the effects in Ra.One is a tiny notch better than Endhiran, especially the train sequence that ends with the Mumbai train station being partially destroyed, truly breath-taking!

The downside of the movie is the pace could have been done more intense considering the action nature, but I suppose in order to fulfill the masala genre, the spoof-like comedy scenes were serving that purpose. The first 15 minutes were totally hilarious with the dream sequence.

The moral of the story is to be a superhero with a HART, and don't smoke!

On the whole, Ra.One is the movie to watch this year, and due to the fact Don 2 is yet to be released, this statement is subject to change. Don't hate me, SRK is the King after all.

Sanju Got Spiked

2011-10-27T04:38:00.000-07:00

In all the Diwali festive excitement and busy-ness, Sanju had all freedom going out, eating (or rather refusing to eat) and being his naughty self as I have been busy in preparing for the celebration. The lucky chap hardly ate, played, and broke things the whole day. Also going out for last minute shopping was his main agenda with my in laws.

On Diwali eve afternoon, I found him to be unusually quiet. Once I carried him over to make him nap, I realised his body was rather warm than usual, read abt 37.5 Celcius on the thermometer. When the cooling patch did not bring the temperature down, we rushed him to clinic. It was our aim to make sure he is all well before Diwali.

Doctor diagnosed low fever due to throat infection, and prescribed antibiotics apart from the paracetamol. It was a huge relief that it was nothing serious. However as Sanju is not even 2 years old, I was very skeptical in giving him antibiotics and preferred him to recover on his own.

I have been an ardent follower of the Natural Parenting and Living Loft group in Facebook, there are a huge number of ideas and tips on natural living which I have been trying on myself and kids. I had bought the virgin olive oil (VCO) months back, and been using it externally for skin issues. Admin of the group and a fellow blogger and CD mama, Hanz has shared some of the VCO benefits on her blog.

I decided to try the VCO on Sanju for the throat infection and the fever. I did give him paracetamol to control the fever. At the same time I wanted to give him VCO for the throat and supplement for his health. As usual, it is a huge chore feeding him medicine, even for the paracetamol doses he ended up throwing it all out 2 times, but as my mom would say, it is good to vomit because the fever comes out, whatever for the best.

For the VCO supplements, I sneakily spiked his food with a tablespoon of VCO each meal, something that I learnt from other mothers from Natural Parenting FB group. 2 days later, fever is gone, and the throat infection is gone too. I am officially a convert of natural medication. Will update more of my success stories later, and who knows, you could be a convert too! Till then, Happy Diwali!

Where Did The Year Go?

2011-10-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

As I stand beside the baby cot, Jeev sleeping peacefully in it, while Sanju is sleeping peacefully on this mattress on the floor, I see a reflection of Sanju's baby face, look, expression and days in the baby cot. I ask myself, where did the days, months and one whole YEAR go to?

Before I go into deep deep thought looking for the passed days, I remind myself this is the most peaceful time of my day, when both brothers nap together peacefully with full tummies while granting me some peaceful time on my own. I get to do essential things like surfing, facebook-ing, plucking my eyebrows and even cutting my nails. You boys are the best, do keep it up!

So, where did the year go to? While in their babyhood, we are so tired and stressed with weird sleeping patterns and fussy evenings and even nights. The first couple of months, baby refuses to sleep on time, rather, sometimes refuses to sleep at all. How did the saying 'sleep like a baby' come into effect any way? That is like the biggest conspiracy ever!

Before I even started going to office after maternity leave, it was the constant worry, will I ever find a trustworthy babysitter? If yes, how would I manage it? And then the teething day (or rather nights), those weird come and go fever, and crying through the night making sure that us parents go to work looking like a zombie. Then we have sick nights, which makes us parents go all cranky and think weird like rushing baby to the emergency room of Pantai Klang for a blocked nose only to be told only the doctor on duty can have a look, unless we call for the paediatrician. We ended up going back home like a pregnant woman with a bout of false alarm. Then before we realise it, comes solid feeding, and yeah going all over to research the best ever first solid and subsequent best solids and the subsequent best of it and so on. Everything has to be the best in the world. Oh yes, I see hubby nodding to all of these.

Thinking back, that is how the year has gone by. We were so caught up bringing up our baby that he grew up and we suddenly feel it was too fast. With baby no. 2, we are enjoying (ok, maybe not 100% of the times) reliving those moments and experiences. Instead of panicking, this time we sit and give ourselves a break, remind each other that this will pass, or that he will finally have a proper bedtime. And this time, we will give ourselves a pat on our back for the job well done, or done better. This is a special one for hubby dear!

Self Feeding for Sanju

2011-10-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

Ever since we got back to our place after my maternity leave, life has not been the same. There is one attention demanding toddler, and one boob demanding newborn. Juggling both of them while ensuring the house is clean and the toddler gets fed nice meals and snacks daily are just some of the highlights of my 'new' life. Cooking, laundry and baby hygiene are another.

While at my parents and in laws, Sanju had picked a rather good habit of sitting with the adult for meals. Previously I had let him use his hands to pick fruits and biscuits for self feeding. Now he had even started using fork and spoon, thanks to our folks.

Let me first confess that the highchair we got for Sanju has been collecting dust, except for the rare occasions where we make him sit for 5 seconds and he cries to get out of it. It was now time to get Sanju on the highchair and self feed him once and for all. Being the clean freak I am (oh yes, I am monster at that), I have always dreaded the mess the toddler might create if given a chance to self feed. Few friends suggested I put newspapers below the chair to capture the waste and make cleaning easier.

My strategy was to allow Sanju to explore the food on his own, while I feed him the real food. So with Sanju on the highchair, I gave him a bowl and spoon. He was hooked, trying to pick, play and bang the spoon. At times, he even feeds himself with impressive accuracy. The first time I had newspapers layered on the floor. But during subsequent feeds, I allowed the food to drop on the floor, because cleaning it somehow turned therapeutic (guess another traits of being a clean freak).

Feeding is much easier now with Sanju doing half the work and staying put during meal times. In the past he would totally climb over his father during meal times but now he is happy with his bowl on the highchair. Hubby is pleased, the recent trip for bak kut teh is evident to that, too bad I did not capture the moment. However, I did capture the sweet moment Sanju picking up food with his hand to eat when the spoon did not seem to work.

Sanju And The Newborn

2011-10-08T22:41:00.000-07:00

Ever since Jeev (Sanju V2.0) was born, I am often asked 'How is Sanju taking it?'.

On the day I got admitted, that night was the first night Sanju slept without me beside him, but his father was there for a nice lullaby session than his mom who can't sing for nuts (his father can't sing either, in fact enjoys singing out of tune most). By next morning, Jeev was born, and overnight Sanju grew up from being a baby, toddler, into a kid, at least in my eyes.

Once Jeev got home, I was busy having him latch most of the time. Thankfully, hubby was around for a week to help out, and keep Sanju accompanied. In fact, Sanju does not recognise any of his lovely grandma, grandpa, uncles and aunties as long as his father is around.

The real challenge began once hubby left back to Klang Valley. I tried to manage my time with both of them, but with a newborn, he wants to be constantly latching, and during this time I can see the pissed off look in Sanju's eyes.

Sanju and Jeev were made to sleep in different rooms because I did not want either one's crying to affect the other. Every night after settling Jeev down (as a newborn he did not sleep on time, so I got my mom or sister to babysit him ) I spend time with Sanju and make him sleep. After that my dad would sleep with Sanju through the night. Next morning, again after settling the non-sleeping Jeev I would go lie down beside Sanju so that he would wake up with my presence. I did not want him to feel left out, plus I wanted to be with him like how we used to back at our place.

Sanju's reaction to newborn Jeev was pretty normal in the beginning, he would smile and be excited with the newborn in the room. He acknowledged the presence of a new baby, always eager to touch him, which we were very careful about. However, at one occasion, he wailed out loudly when he saw hubby carrying Jeev, he even left the room!

Now after 2 months, things are better. Sanju loves to kiss his baby brother at any time possible, he even asks to hold him, we let him hold Jeev and 'sayang' (while us doing the real holding of course). Sanju even helps in handing me towel and hanky for his baby brother. And now that Sanju is even self-feeding, he sometimes wants to help by feeding Jeev.

As for the sleeping part, hubby and I co-sleep with the 2 kids in the same room, neither of their cries interrupts the other's sleep, it is amazing how the 2 brothers have started tolerating each other now itself.

Thinking back, I can laugh about it now, but the first 1 month of being a mother of two, it was really tough for me, I even wondered if I would ever pull through. The saying is really true, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going!

How is really Sanju taking it? Only Sanju knows, while Sanju's mother misses Sanju's baby days and wishes to re-live it with Jeev, while watch Sanju grow up smarter and more handsome by the day.

Here's some brotherly love for you:

Accidentally Efficient

2011-09-29T03:00:00.000-07:00

We were parents of two, a toddler and a newborn, taking some time off running some chores, and having some 'us' time. The kids were left in good hands of hubby's family and we went to the Jusco shopping mall nearby to possibly watch a movie, get something (healthy) to eat and buy some home essentials.

Hubby has been on some serious diet mode lately, this time really serious. So we decided to get some Subway sandwich to eat. Checked out the cinema listings, but the timing did not suit us as most of the earlier shows were fully booked on the Sunday afternoon. Is the whole of Klang out watching movie or what?

We had a slow and somewhat romantic sandwich meal, talking about our kids (we were missing them alright) and wondering what to buy home for the folks. We walked into the household department browsing for a rack for the kids' clothes. Sadly, we did not find the one I was looking for, another trip to Tesco or Giant needed, which I later decided can be done another time.

Then we took our time choosing various pastries at the Lavendar bakery, and with the crowd there, the queues were long even to just pick up one bun! Once done we headed to the autopay machine to settle the parking fees, and guess what, we took only 56 mins to be there, and the parking was free!!

Usually when alone I would time myself and rush back to the car so that I don't get charged for parking (Jusco Bukit Tinggi gives the first 1 hour free for their card members), and it is often very very difficult to achieve this target. However, whenever we are doing shopping with the toddler, we are always in a rush due to his antiques, not for the parking hours. Without our permanent 'rushing mode', we seem to have it naturally in us. Thinking back how slow and steady we spent over there, I still can't believe we only spend 56 mins there. But I have this to prove, the photo below:

I credit the timing efficiency to parenthood. Once a parent, always a parent.

Cloth Diapering My Newborn

2011-09-07T09:06:00.000-07:00

My initial plan was to put my newborn on disposable diapers for at least the first week. And for the same convenience to my mom who did my confinement, I had put my toddler on DD for the duration. Later on it got so convenient that it stretched to 1 month. At the same time my baby was 2.84kg when he was born, even the newborn diapers were too big for him.

After 1 month of DD slumber, I suddenly realised all those pretty, petite and cute newborn diapers would fit and thank god I tried them on! The best thing is, since my newborn is on breast milk, he tends to poo once in a day or two, making it easier to use CDs on him - read less CD mess and CD laundry.

Cloth diapering a newborn has a number of challenges. Getting a perfect or even close to perfect fit is really difficult especially if using one size (OS) diaper. OS pocket diaper can get bulky when in small settings, also the microfiber inserts can add up to the bulk. Sized diapers and prefolds work best, but won't grow with the baby, hence of short term use only.

Below is my current newborn cloth diapering solution, derived from some serious CD experiments:

1) OS Pocket Diapers
I was told that older version of Babyland diapers are smaller in size. The small settings fits my 1 month old newborn. The only problem is that the microfiber inserts adds up a huge bulk. I was about to retire the babyland diapers temporarily to be used as cover (over fitted and prefolds) when I realised I had some bamboo hemp & zorb inserts. They fit well into the babyland diapers, and since they are thinner, the fit is more snug on my newborn! Whats more, bamboo hemp and zorb have better absorbancy and microfiber.

2) Extended Tab Prefolds
The 2 ETPs I got from Maybel's Closet are true gems. They fit so well, look so pretty, and absorb really good. And my newborn has done his poo on them a couple of times. The ETP is able to contain the poo, and did not create any mess outside.

Shanjeev modelling his ETP

3) Contoured and Fitted diapers
These both from Crystal Princess Cottage work wonderfully. The contoured diaper is so trim and suits daytime use. The minky fitted diaper suits for overnight use, and the fluffy minky outer makes you want to leave it without cover.

NB Minky fitted diaper. That pose will one day be for a CK perfume ad

4) Diaper cover
The Twinkle Toes diaper cover in S/M size fits my NB at the smallest settings. Its really handy to be used over the ETPs, contoured & fitted diapers. The babyland pocket outers also double up as diaper covers, as I do not want to spend on sized diaper covers at the moment.

5) Diaper liners
Diaper liner is a must on all newborn diapers so that the poo is easier to manage. Just pick and throw it away. The mess on the diaper is minimal this way. I cut pureen diaper liners into half to fit on my baby's diapers

6) Traditional Lampins
Never ever forget the traditional lampins (especially since I have bought 2 dozens from my firstborn). I use them on my newborn when I know he is due for his bath or going to wear for a short while. Otherwise the lampins are handy as burp cloth and towel for the baby too!

The pretty, petite and cute NB diapers are making me crazy about newborn diapers, and my finger is itching to click buy for more. But the more sensible side of me tells me to wait, and buy OS or at least larger sized diapers for a longer use later!

Now that we (meaning my kids) are back on the CD routine, I realise how much I missed CD-ing. Enjoying every moment of cloth diapering my newborn, and excited to see him graduate into larger CDs... don't they grow so fast? The babies, and the quantity of cloth diapers!

Second Time Parents for the First Time

2011-09-07T08:18:00.000-07:00

We thought by the time Sanju V2.0 arrives, we would be experts. Experts in preparing for the new family member. Experts in going through labour and delivery. Experts in handling a newborn. Experts in knowing what to expect. Experts in everything that baby care requires.

Reality is, we never become experts. And we never stop to learn. Everything is new and first time experience, only difference is this time, we can compare with the first time experience.

Phase 1: Pregnancy

We thought 2nd time pregnancy will be some sort routine, and pretty much expecting the expected. We didn't realise seeing the positive sign during pregnancy check would be so exciting. We both had our hearts melting away while we saw the little one for the first time during the ultrasound scan, and during each scans later on.

While in tummy, baby was very much active, making all sorts of movements that scared the daylights out of me, and gave my tummy amusing weird shapes. He even went ahead and gave me several premature contractions that got me worrying away. And finally, he decided to pop-up 1 month before his due date. Thank goodness for the false alarms that we got all prepared for another eager boy who can't wait to see the world soon enough!

Phase 2: Labour and Delivery

My water broke, when I realised something is wrong, and I need to get admitted. Even still I was pretty doubtful if it was indeed 'the' water break, or just some weird discharge. For the next 16 hours, there was no contraction. In this situation, I was praying contractions would come soon and save me from my kind of intervention for this delivery, and I slept off. All of a sudden contractions started, and baby was delivered within 2.5hours of labour. A much better record, compared to what we went through with Sanju V1.0. The feeling of seeing my 2nd newborn was just like my first... he looked just like his brother! And coincidentally it was also the same mid-wife on duty during the wee hours of the night.

Phase 3: Newborn Care

All of a sudden our newborn felt so small and delicate to handle, and Sanju V1.0 seemed so grown up. Forget cloth diapers, suddenly we forgot how to fit the disposable diapers on the tiny newborn. And those hands, how to get mittens and booties onto those tiny hands and feet? What if we hurt him, or make him uncomfortable? And with my determination on breastfeeding this time, there was a lot more new frontiers to conquer.

Till now we are still learning and coping with his unsettled sleep timings. Sometimes we wonder if he sleeps too much, or too little. And all that fussing, night feeding and growth spurts, I swear it feels like the first time, because its been so long (yeah right, 18months ago) since we last experienced them. And I keep reminding myself, and my better half, this is just the beginning.. newborn care to baby care to child care, it never stops. There is going to be teething, solid feeding, crawling, walking, etc... Just a lot of more 2nd first time experiences coming up.

No wonder we feel they grow up so fast. Time passes so fast, and in the midst of enjoying the moments with our kids, we forget the nitty-gritty details. Yet it is exciting learning and picking it up all over again.

Three Fitteds and a Cover

2011-09-07T01:01:00.000-07:00

I went through a crazy fitted diaper phase, and I joined a couple of group buys and saved a great deal by purchasing on a lower price from usual. Alright it is an oxymoron to say save when in actual fact I spent money to get that much of savings. No matter what, retail therapy is so therapeutic, whether is saving or spending, it is well worth it.

What makes fitted cloth diapers different from pocket & AI2? Fitted diapers have a full absorbing body which provides a larger area for pee soaking, generally can be used longer, and better for night and heavy wetter use. What I dread about fitted diapers is that they require cover ($$$), cost more (more $$$) and tend to take longer to dry.

Till now I have tried the other types of cloth diapers, and it was suddenly a good time to start trying fitted, with newborn on the way, my toddler could use up the fitted diapers while the newborn inherits the pocket diapers. Also, I got these diapers on sale or group discount, that made up for the cost factor.

Here are the newly bought (and money saved) diapers:

1. BabyBeehind OS Hemp Fitted

This was a part of a group buy, it was during sales so we got a pretty good deal on it, shipped all the way from Australia.

2. Super Soaker OS Fitted

I totally love the Robot prints! I bought it on 40% sale from the Lildanzil online store. Since it was a sale anyway, I got the OS diaper cover of the same brand, with Camo Dino prints.

3. Bamboolite OS CM True-Fit

I bought this brand new from a fellow blogger friend Mei Hooi. Since I was on a fitted spree, I had to try the fitted from my favourite brand, Bamboolite.

Technically, I have another set of fitted diaper and a cover on the way, but the title would have sounded rather funny if it read 'Four Fitteds and 2 Covers', so lets leave those two for another post, shall we?

The Comeback

2011-08-21T21:51:00.000-07:00

So you ask... Do I work? Uh yes, I work 24 hours a day. Why? Because I am a Mum! That makes me an alarm clock, a cook, a maid, a waitress, a teacher, a nanny, a nurse, a handyman, a security officer, a photographer, a counselor, a chauffeur, a lifelong student, an event planner, a personal assistant, an ATM, & a comforter. I don't get holidays, sick pay or days off. I work through the DAY & NIGHT. I am on call at ALL hours for the rest of my life. Post if you are a PROUD MOM!!!

Yes, I am still here, still hanging out, still blog hopping, still a mom, but now mom of 2 cheeky boys! Finally decided to get back on blogging after the long long silence of the lambchops. I seriously hope I did not lose my writing skills while being away due to work, pregnancy, delivery and now a newborn!

Coincidentally as I was about to start blogging I saw the above quote in a friend's Facebook status. Heck, I had to share it on my own, and also here in the blog, because it is how motherhood really is. It also goes out to my mother, who has been strong by my side in this motherhood journey, second time round.

I have been meaning to blog, to write, and to share my latest thoughts, happenings, and online buys (you knew this was coming), but working from home with a fussy toddler ain't no easy task. Although I have been at my parents place for over a month now, the toddler had increased his demands by two folds, probably realising the arrival of a sibling for him to rival on.

And oh, did I mention that I delivered my newborn? Sanju v2.0 arrived on 2nd August, 4 weeks before his estimated due date, no wonder those premature contraction and false alarms. Not that I am complaining, thank god for those, I had limited number of MCs and worked from home for like the whole of last 3 months.

Gosh, checking the date of my last post, its almost 2 months since I blogged. I even prepared a draft on second time parenting experience and expectations, but it never made it out cos my work laptop has been shutdown (gladly so) since I have been on MC for the 2 weeks before I delivered. Now since Sanju v1.0 slept after his lunch, and Sanju v2.0 has been sleeping peacefully after giving me sleepless nights for the past 3 days, I could finally come back and make a comeback to the blogworld. HELLO blog-WORLD!

Whats Up Dipes?

2011-07-07T19:40:00.000-07:00

While enduring all the pregnancy discomforts and preterm labour scares, I have been stocking up on diapers for the little one on the way. And I must say there is no therapy better than online retail therapy, but I think you already know that, don't know?

So what have I got for the newborn stage? I decided to go for different types of cloth diapers this time round, such as extended tab prefolds, countoured diapers and fitteds. This is definitely a new frontier, road not taken, and new horizon for me, but I am anticipating it would be fun to have something different with the whole cloth diaper system.

With numerous WAHM mamas making diapers, I had no hard time choosing, the possibilities are rather huge out there! Earlier on I was kind of hell-bent on not getting sized diapers for the newborn due to it not being economical and all, but after seeing the lovely items in the WAHM stores, how is a girl to say NO? Plus, I know my newborn will thank me for it!

Firstly, I have got 2 Small sized Extended Tab Prefolds (ETP, don't I love it when CD-ing gets all technical) from Maybel's Closet.

Next, I got a complimentary newborn sized countoured diaper tester (left) from Annie Chan of Crystal Princess Cottage, and one minky newborn fitted diaper. Now, if you get seduced by the minkyness of the minky diaper, don't blame me.

The all so economical and frugal me, made sure that I got some OS pockets as well. I bought these babyland diapers at a steal, and since its a rather small cutting, it is said that it fits a newborn well at the S setting.

Surely these are not sufficient for the newborn frequent poo and pee, I have traditional lampins and covers as backup. And for my rest and sanity during the confinement, I also plan to get disposable diapers for the first week or two. Sorry environment, I will make it up later.

On the other hand, I didn't have to buy most of the baby essentials for the newcomer as yet because we have got most of the items in excellent used conditions. I am feeling rather proud for having made good buys earlier on so that we can save, and instead spend on cloth diapers (I can hear hubby laughing at my statement). Plus, we still have a number of brand new clothes, still unwashed and unworn, some even still in gift packs, to use. It would also be a rather deja vu moment seeing the newborn wearing Sanju's clothes, bring us back to good old times when Sanju was a good behaved baby, unlike the obnoxious One he is now.

And oh, while shopping, I 'accidently' bought one Itti Bitti for Sanju from a recent group buy. I just love the colour!

In the meantime, there is this sudden fitted craze in the group buys in Facebook, so I have got some on the way too, local and Ozzie made as well. I suppose they would be perfect for my newborn later. Let him be the pioneer in using fitteds (in my house at least).

Who Run the World

2011-07-05T18:21:00.000-07:00

SO asks Beyonce in her latest single, chorus later shout 'GIRLS'. Admittedly Beyonce is a very strong female figure in the entertainment business. From the Forbes ranking shown in Channel E, she makes the most money among all female singers, even the accumulated income of husband Jay-Z and hers make it to the top of the list. I suspect she might even be making more than him, and why not, she deserves it with her hardwork and versatility in the entertainment and fashion industry. This quality of hers I truly admire for a long time now.

Beyonce's songs have long been on the feminist and girl power side, perhaps boosting her own image and confidence in how she has led her successful life till this point. However, I sometimes find her to be more of an extremist feminist.

Mistake me not, I am not anti-feminism. I do believe women deserve equal rights against men in the world, definitely seeing a lot of change for the better for womankind everywhere. I just find this song to be too extreme, and ironic in the way 'girls' are portrayed, for a feminist song. Maybe I am just being too sensitive and over analysing the song, but this is just my opinion on seeing the video clip.

The song insists that women are running the world, and how so? Skimpily dressed lead singer/dancer, Beyonce, doing vigorous suggestive dance moves, in outfits that seem might come apart anytime, and take very less to cover the necessities. What kind of message is the video trying to portray? Women (or girls) running the world in vulgar dresses? Is that even encouraging men to take 'girls' who are running the world seriously? As it is numerous video clips of numerous regular club songs display women like a sex object, they usually dress in nothing less of lingerie. In comparison, what is so great about this song about girls ruling? Rule or not, audience see you as an object in skimpy clothes, otherwise no one is going to listen/watch your song/video. How pathetic is that?

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon Movie review

2011-07-01T00:53:00.001-07:00

When it comes to movies, there is this law of expectation that applies. When you anticipate or expect so much, you end up being disappointed, and when you expect nothing, you are surprised by unexpectedly good stuff. This is what happened to me when watching Transformers first movie and the sequel. When the first movie was about to be released I wrote it off as a typical comic-cum-movie. In fact I only happened to watch it 3 months after release when my company had a subsidized private screening, and boy was I surprised! Although mostly sci-fi, the machine-human connection in it was amazing.

Next came Transformers 2, I had my expectations so high, and with Transformer crazed hubby, it is difficult to avoid it at all. Day in day out I had lots of trivia info thrown my way, and heck, I was so excited to see the whole sequel of a satisfying first film. But, I was disappointed big time, as there was only metal-clanking action all over and little to do with storyline, come to think of it, I can't even recall if there was any.

When Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon is slated for the summer release, I was anything but excited. Yet again hubby fed me with enough information to get me convinced for it, at least only abt 2% of me. I was still skeptical of these CGI laden movies that make effects top notch but forget to feed the intelligence of the audience. And the law of expectation did not apply here, the movie sucked as much as the earlier sequel. However it is a full metal-mania action, I am sure action loving audiences would have loved it. And for the guys, Michael Bay has ensured that Megan Fox's absence is filled well with the newcomer Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in skimpy clothes and posture, and a cheesy love story to contribute to the rest of the cliches of the movie.

I am not going to talk about the plot or even review it, there is hardly much to say expect it is so cliched that it makes any cheesy cliched movie look normal. Actions and effects of the CGI was amazing I must say, but that is not all that is needed to make a good movie. We have numerous illogical and science defying things happening everywhere. Even the seductive aspect of the movie had ensured an excellent change of clothes despite being held hostile by the antagonist McDreamy of Grey's anatomy, Patrick Dempsey. The human team into the invaded city mostly escapes without a scratch despite being through hell lot of falling building, machine attacks and whatnot. And the whole conspiracy theory linking man's first step on the moon does not fit into the rest of the story from the first 2 films, or did I miss it while blinking?

So much for a movie escapade before I get tied down with my secondborn later on. Thankfully this time round hubby and I went in with a no-popcorn decision, as to avoid any kind of popcorn mishap from Sanju as happend during KungFu Panda 2. He slept througout the movie only to wake up towards the end catching the Autobot vs Decepticon war. I just all that metal clanking session did not encourage him to create more metal clanks that he already does on his high chair with the spoon!

The Joys And Woes of Working From Home

2011-06-27T23:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the nature of my job and my kind boss, I was able to coax him into allowing me to work from home for the last one month. And oh, did I mention that I am 31 weeks pregnant with massive backpain and dizzy spells? Being IT geeks, our team makes full use of virtual and online meeting facilities that our company provides, this makes attending meetings and discussions a breeze from home, and Sanju gets to attend it with me as well, making his presence felt with occasional inaudible words.

Working from home is almost like a bed of roses, that comes with its fair share of thorns. For one thing, I stopped putting alarm for waking up. My kid's wake up time before 8am is enough to get us up and get ready for the day. As for hubby, his working timing is pretty flexible, we even get time to go out for breakfast before start my day at work (at home). On certain days, I cook up a nice breakfast meal for hubby and us that gets him charged for his work day. He could not believe his taste buds when my pancakes tasted 10 times better than McDonalds Big Breakfast! Damn, I have lots of hidden talent to be discovered, all the more excuse to continue staying at home.

I have ample of time to spend with Sanju while I stay standby with my laptop over the virtual network. But the tiring part is I have to plan my work tasks, house chores and Sanju bath/meal times alongside with each other.

I also get to plan and deploy (ok not intentional to sound so technical here) some new and improved recipes and meal plans for Sanju. There is nothing better than taking care of your own kid, I must admit. I have the convenience of feeding him different types of food and fruits throughout the day, which I must say, he seems to enjoy a lot.

However, emergency work issues become extremely difficult to handle if I have a similar emergency at home with Sanju, that requires an immediate diaper change, delaying which might bring unimaginable consequences of terrible smell and mess, and a mess of management emails on the other side.

For those demanding projects or issues requiring more effort and time, I end up burning midnight oil after I get Sanju off to bed with his daddy. It is seriously not easy trying to debug a script with a toddler climbing all over you for attention. Speaking of which, I now have a loose J and M keys, thanks to Sanju who did not have enough of pressing random keys and moving the mouse around, he decided picking out the keys was more fun. And yea, the space bar nearly came out too, but since its pretty wide, the other side is holding it in place. I tried to mend the J & M (I am having a hard time pressing these keys right this moment) keys with the trusted Uhu gum, but apparently, it does not work, as the plastic support is too small to get a grip. Remember, you heard it here first, Uhu gum does not work in fixing loose keys. If you know a method that does, do drop a comment.

At one time, Sanju singlehandedly changed the laptop display to a vertical mode. It took me good ten minutes to google the solution and fix it back. Apparently the mouse navigation do not work the same when your display is vertical instead of horizontal. I had to turn the laptop standing on its side to get this done. As they say, you learn something new every day, and with a toddler, it is not always about baby/child care.

Right now, being back in office sucks big time. I had a hard time leaving my toddler back at home with my mother in law. I know he will be fine, its me who is suffering from withdrawal symptoms. I am spending my free time wondering how to get off office next. I am addicted to being at home with my kid, and working on my flexible terms. Suggestions and ideas are welcome. I miss sipping on my morning ginger tea whilst checking my inbox!

SnuggBaby Cloth Diaper Review

2011-06-20T03:17:00.000-07:00

About 1 month back I won Snuggbaby's new product on the block through their mini giveaway, the Snugg Cloth Diaper. It is the hottest new diaper in the local market, and what separates it from others is the unique selection of colours offered.

My prized diaper is of the spiceberry colour. The set is a diaper shell with snap closure, 1 microfiber and 1 hemp insert to provide flexibility on the degree of absorbency desired.

The Snugg CD has been among my (toddler's) workhorse diaper for day time use, and I have been loving it so far. The diaper shell inner is made of jersey-like material that is stay dry and easy to remove unwanted stains. It is also very quick to dry, either under the sun or indoors under the fan. The 2 row snap closure is easy to put on, and gives an excellent fit on my toddler. The additional hemp insert provides better absorbency for my heavy-day-wetter needs. The PUL outer is sort of stretchy type, which means it can fit the kid longer than the regular PUL types. And did I mention that the colour is so pretty, even on a boy?

Snugg CD is definitely value for money as it is reasonably priced and comes with excellent features that a good cloth diaper needs.

In my opinion some improvement can be done on the inserts. A thicker microfiber insert and another extra layer on the hemp can provide more than just basic absorption. The hemp insert does shrink a little after washing, this can be taken into account to provide larger hemp insert in the set. And my wish is that Snugg CD comes in pretty prints, surely a CD-mama can ask for that?

The special thing about Snuggbaby Cloth Diaper is that it is fully Malaysian-made, and I believe in supporting our Malaysian talents and products, especially when it is a sweet WAHM.

The Laundry Ball Revolution

2011-06-09T22:06:00.000-07:00

Its been a month since I have been using the latest (well, at least for me) revolution in laundry, The Green Pocket Laundry Balls I won at the GCDC event.

The result? Clothes, cloth diapers, beddings and even comforters come out clean, smelling so fresh, while being free of harmful chemicals. I am kind of a clean freak, I take a sniff at most of my laundry while hanging them to dry, and seeing my laundry come out with great results gives me the high of junkie on drugs.

Here's the product description from the Baby-Mel website:

A REVOLUTIONARY NEW WAY TO CLEAN YOUR CLOTHES

That is Environmentally Safe and will Save You Water & Contains No...... !!

No Sodium Lauryl Sulphate
No Petrochemicals
No Harsh Detergents
No Toxic Chemicals
No Animal Testing

At Last! The Quickest, Easiest Way To Do Your Washing
That Will SAVE You 'Loads' of WATER, MONEY, TIME
and ... Contains NO Harsh Chemicals!

BENEFIT :-

- Wash Clothes without using detergent
- Green product (Environment Friendly)
- Neutral pH 6.8 (Normal Detergent pH13 - Harmful to body)
- Save washing detergent cost
- Last for 3 years, with usage once a day
- Comes with 2 laundry balls

HOW IT WORKS :-

The Green Pocket Laundry Ball generates strong infrared rays wavelength to break the bond between molecules, enabling the individual water molecules to penetrate into the fabric. The water is also highly charged with negative ions. The dirt, which is positively charged, is attracted to the individual water molecules and is flushed out with the water during the rinse cycle.

The good thing about this laundry ball is that since it requires no detergent at all, there are less (almost no) chances of detergent build-up on cloth diapers. As I have toddler clothes, cloth diapers and adult clothes to manage daily, with the laundry ball I just dump everything together in the washing machine and let the laundry ball do the magic! No more worrying over cloth diaper or baby laundry care. My laundry hours are now half of what I used to spend, and imagine the electricity and water saved!

It really works like a miracle, and the skeptic me does not believe in miracles, so I usually put in one third of a cap of Cosway Kiddiwash for luck. I'm still trying to gather the courage to one day go completely detergentless.

It retails at RM189, which may seem a little steep, but like cloth diapers, it is an investment as it lasts for 3 years, about 1000 wash cycles. Definitely would be buying another one after this completes its service in 3 years time.

A Foodie Tale of 3 Cities

2011-06-08T00:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend turned out to be quite a food adventure. It was not meant to be that adventurous, but it was inevitable as we were travelling down to Port Dickson to attend a friend's wedding. Adventure here is not like Andrew Zimmern's (from Bizzare Food) experience, although hubby would have wished for it. It was like a twilight zone moment where good food was suddenly scarce, especially when we have pledged to not go for the usual fast foods or franchise restaurants.

On Friday night, after 5 days of working from home and cooking food full of homecooked goodness, we decided to try this newly opened ikan bakar (grilled fish) franchise (this one exempted because we had not tried it before) named after a Selangor small town. You will know soon why I am restraining from mentioning the full name. Seeing the crowds there daily, it really made us curious to know how great is it after all. To our surprise, it turned out to be self service. Never mind that, we went ahead to choose our ikan bakar, we choose siakap as it was our usual fish we ate outside. Next at the nasi lemak stall, apparently they were still cooking, and it was already 8pm, weren't they expecting customers at the normal dinner time? We settled for plain rice, and had our ikan bakar, which in the end turned out to be not that great or even bakar-ed (grilled). The fish seemed to be just steamed (hours ago) and upon our order they just put on the spicy sauce over it. I was not impressed and I missed my Kampungku ikan bakar! But wait, this is not the worst part yet, the bill for 1 siakap bakar, sotong bakar, 2 rice & 2 drinks came out RM80!! The freaking siakap cost RM56, like what?? It was the most undeserving RM80 I ever spent on food. For that much of money, I could have had a nice main course with bottomless drinks at Chillis, or even eat at Kampungku Food Court like 3 times! Since the review of their food is pretty bad from my side, I think I will let you guess the name.

The next day in Port Dickson, it suddenly became so difficult to find any good place to eat, with a toddler in tow. Plus we were stuck in the jam, and had our breakfast hours before, my hungry-half was getting very hungry indeed. After checking with his PD friend, we quickly rushed to PD Eating Point after checking into our not-so-fancy hotel (thanks to the school & public hols). The menu was impressive and for an odd hour eating, there were plenty of customer in and out of the restaurant. We had local nasi goreng kampung (very spicy, me likey) and Singapore mee hoon. Never felt more grateful for good food in my life. Speaking to the owner we found out that he has been in the hotel line for 14 years. He definitely did a great job with the restaurant. And yeah, Sanju had also made good friends with him. As I was still traumatised from foodie ordeal the night before that I made hubby bring us there again for dinner. This time they even had western food in the menu, with damn reasonable prices and finger licking taste! You can check out more on the restaurant here.

The next morning was the wedding, and due to unforseen circumstances, we could not eat our breakfast at the wedding. Hubby was furiously driving around to at least get the cranky preggy wife something to munch on but with no luck (and we were being choosy too). As we got on the highway, something struck my mind. There was this chicken rice shop in Shah Alam that we used to frequent during our courtship days, and we had not gone there like in ages, literally! I convinced my tummy to wait and promised baby super-yum food in less than 1 hour. And the rest is history. What do you get with a hungry man & woman at the Spring Golden Restaurant? Stares of disbelief. We ordered chicken and pork portion for 3 people. The char siew turned out so succulent and heavenly, the only thing I can compare it to is Tony Roma ribs of unbelievable softness. We ordered another single portion of the char siew as we can't just get enough. The portions were rather huge though, which is the reason to the stares we got from the auntie serving the food. Apparently this restaurant is huge in Malaysia and has made it to the papers and TV a few times.

Highly recommended chicken rice and char siew in the most unlikely land of Shah Alam. It turned out to be a great ending to the foodie weekend, and since Spring Golden is just a toll booth away, we pledged to go there more often to earn more stares of disbelief!

Cloth Diaper Conspiracy

2011-05-31T09:17:00.000-07:00

Interesting article I saw on my Facebook today: The Cloth Diaper Conspiracy, Is there one?

I have always wondered, why the mainstream baby & departmental stores do not display or sell any kinds of modern cloth diapers? If it was not for the blogs and online stores, I would have never known about the existence of it, except the traditional prefolds.

It might not be wrong to say that the mainstream baby diaper market is very much monopolized by the disposable diaper manufacturers, who are afraid of losing business once parents start going disposable-less. This reminds me of the (not-so) classic case of AMD vs Intel processors where AMD sued the hell out of Intel for monopoly. It is not just the geek in me that knows this, I was once employed with the underdog AMD. If only there was a super-huge cloth diaper manufacturer that could sue the daylights out of the disposable biggies. These are just my wild imaginative desires, do not sue me back.

Back to cloth diapers, in real daily life, it is not easy telling or suggesting to people about cloth diapers. More often than not, they think that I am selling a product. I am merely just sharing my experience of better baby diaper management and use. There are also people who comment cloth diapers are inconvenient because we have to wash the poo/pee, instead of just throwing away the dispos. Point very much valid, but think again, don't you have to wipe/clean your baby's bum bum after the business? We don't find that difficult or dirty. In fact, once you have given birth and are taking care of your baby, I think there is hardly anything that we can find disgusting.

The additional cloth diaper laundry is regarded as burden to some. We do manage the numerous baby laundry of tops, pants, burp cloths, bibs and what not. It is not like we have disposable versions of these clothing items. If you wash these laundry, cloth diaper is just another. With prior rinsing of cloth diapers, you can very well chuck them all into the washing machine together with the baby clothes.

Cloth diapers may seem a little expensive in the beginning. It is more like an investment that you see the savings in the long run. At average, one cloth diaper could cost from RM30-RM60. Assuming you have 20 pieces of RM50 each, total of RM1000. The cost of a disposable diaper is about RM0.50, assuming you need 8 diapers a day, you spend about RM1460! RM460 savings in the first year itself! The cloth diapers that you buy will last your well throughout the 2nd and third year. With disposables, you will continue buying more and more till your kid is toilet trained.

Sanju has been on cloth diaper system for 14 months now, and with proper budgeting and planning, I have saved a great deal on disposables. And what about the utility bills? They are almost negligible as I wash the cloth diapers with baby laundry. At the same time, I have saved myself a lot of hassle and sanity from the tedious traditional diaper laundry!

Kung Fu Panda 2

2011-05-31T07:25:00.000-07:00

My rating for the movie, total awesomeness of the highest degree!

I am no Hollywood movie fan, in any case, these days I am no movie fan at all, but then I totally love animation movies, especially if they come with awesome reviews. It was time to bring (test) Sanju out for another movie after A Tangled Tale, and as promised, his 2nd trip to the cineplex was very very much less girly than the first.

In this sequel, the Dragon Warrior Po finally finds out the shocking truth about his past, and how the goose is not his real father after all (real shocking, LOL). The best thing about this movie is how clumsy, candid and real Po is portrayed, despite being the Dragon Warrior. As you can guess, the movie is damn hilarious, even serious moments of confrontation with the antagonist cracks you up. The furious 5 and Po work in the most comedic way that every action in their fight against evil has something that cracks you up. The bouts of kiddy laughter in the cineplex was a proof to that.

My toddler however, was busy snatching the popcorn cup from his mother, and halfway through the movie, he successfully spilled the popcorns all over himself. Papa voluntarily took some time away to clean up the 'sweet' boy, and then we got back watching the movie together.

I love movies that come with a feel-good motivating one liners. In this movie it goes something like this: 'It is not where you came from but it is what you want to be'. I believe it applies to all of us when we tend to dwelve over the past and forget to live for the present. It was a nice thought for the day, and I really feel such one liners make your 1.5hrs at the cineplex more meaningful. It does not matter if the movie is about a Kung Fu fighting and food loving panda.

This was definitely a rare case of sequel being made as good as the first film, if not better.

THEHONEYBUNCH FINAL GIVEAWAY - Naturally motherhood giveaway

2011-05-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

You know how much I love giveaways. This giveaway, however, is very different. A fellow blogger, who fully supports natural parenting is having Naturally Motherhood Giveaway in conjunction to the start of her new niche blogs. I am an ardent follower of Hanz's writings are they are so informative that they make me come back for more.

Not forgetting about the prizes in store (it is a giveaway after all!), they are sponsored by some lovely mama owned online stores:

Maybel's Closet
Sweet n Cozy
Mama Sewbulous Shoppe
Muhammad's Playtime
Chago Mago
Deana Design
Crystal Princess Cottage
Blu Cotton
TheHoneybunch Marketplace

Now for the final requirement of the giveaway, my slogan for the giveaway:

Motherhood to me is about love and passion for life, constant learning and improving at every step in providing for my baby, and natural parenting helps me achieve just that.

Raising a Toddler

2011-05-26T20:48:00.000-07:00

It is like almost yesterday I was in labour and Sanju was born 13 painful hours later. It is like yesterday that they showed me his little manhood right after he was born and took him away to clean him up. It is like yesterday the nurses passed Sanju into my arms minutes after delivery.

I can't believe how time flied, and Sanju has grown from a newborn, into a baby and now a toddler. And this toddler is very much into his Obnoxious One (a term I created for him) before he enters the Terrible Two.

I used to think taking care of a newborn and later a baby was the biggest challenge. Boy, was I wrong. Everyday is a revelation to how and what more can I expect from this tiny toddler who looks as innocent as an angel while he is sleeping. In Sanju's point of view, Obnoxious One means redefining pretty much everything in daily routines and challenging parents to come out with ways to work it out. Here is some of my experience:

Diaper & outfit change is war time. He sometimes refuses to get any piece of clothes off or on him, and just walks away or shouts loudly like he is being kidnapped by mean villains. I counter this by playing 'here comes ma-monster to attack!' and he gives in by laughing
Makan time means he needs to hold the spoon and play with his food, no cooperation in eating whatsoever. A dummy bowl of food with a spoon is needed to distract him while feeding him. Mind you, the end product gets pretty messy when he decides to swing the spoon around
He can be on unexpected eating strikes on one day, and eat so well on another that i have to pinch myself. We just have to be patient and keep on feeding different types of food throughout the day hoping that this would click and make him eat more
Taking medicine is fine as long as it is a game where ma and papa taste it as well
While I am so concerned on him taking a warm shower, it is ok for him to play with the spray hose and wet himself throughout bath time.
Toys are a thing of the past, household items rock his boat. He only plays and explores with the household item which can be fun to watch especially when he puts things apart and tries to fix them back together
Any handheld item can be used as a phone, and even have a long conversation on it
The OO is adorable beyond words, and I thought baby is the cutest stage!

So You Think You Can Eat?

2011-05-23T22:05:00.001-07:00

The title is inspired from this morning's discussion on FlyFM and FOOD... yes, I think I can eat and be legally fat and bloated! In fact I have a lot of people always commenting I am looking thin (despite the 10kg I put on in the last 6 months) and telling me to eat more and more. Why not, I don't mind even a drop. It is another thing that you will catch me complaining on not losing the baby fat later *touchwood*.

Like my first pregnancy, I don't really have any particular cravings but I am just enjoying all my favourite foods a little more. Hubby makes sure I get my weekly dose of Roti Bom from our favourite restaurant, and lets me have most of the sweet and yummy desserts. Thanks to mom, I have like 'a laddu a day' stock in the fridge for 1 week too!

Now the weird part about this pregnancy is my preference and love in smelling. Imagine getting into the car in the evening, and turning on the aircon. There is the heat smell that I love to savour for the few seconds before the air con starts coming in. And how about the smell of burnt or short circuit, I get it quite often along the corridor of my plant daily and I simple love taking the walk slowly to have the smell linger longer. Petrol and wet paint smell is something I never minded before, but now I love it even more. Also, I love to smell the after wash smell of laundry, it has this slight detergent sting that I enjoy even for a few seconds. Don't call me weird... I am legally weird.

Going back to something more normal, here is something that greeted me at the mail (reception) this morning. My winning Spiceberry Snuggbaby cloth diaper that I won during the recent mini giveaway. Right now I am loving the colour, its my favourite purple, and it comes with 1 microfiber & 1 hemp insert! I shall review it soon once I get it tested on Sanju's cute bum-bum.

The Boy Who Stole A Slipper

2011-05-09T21:37:00.000-07:00

There comes a time in every toddler's life when they simply love wearing adult shoes and slippers. Sanju in particular, does not even mind if he is already wearing his bubblegummer baby shoes, his feet will easily slip into our slippers and shoes all the time.

Last weekend, while my mom, sister and I were busy window shopping, my dad was babysitting Sanju at the bedding fair in Jusco Bukit Tinggi. Dad is quite used to making himself busy taking a walk while we shop, this time he brought Sanju along for the ride (walk).

They walked around the bedding fair, as there was a lot of colourful bedding items that attracted Sanju, keeping babysitting fuss-free for dad. Suddenly, dad realised that Sanju was stopping at his steps, while trying to adjust this footwear. Little did he know that Sanju was actually wearing (dragging) an extra slipper on his right shoe!

When he checked around, he noticed a guy in his 50s was standing crossed feet, one feet out of his slippers, looking at some pillows, and the slipper in Sanju's shoes matched his other side. Dad left the slipper some 5 metres away from the guy, and decided to watch the show from far, so see how the guy actually manages to spot his missing slipper.

It took a good 10mins for the guy to realise that one of his slipper is missing. He looks around, looks below the display railing, and then gives a blank look (guess he was wondering how is he going to walk back to his car without a slipper on one feet). Thankfully he looks further and spots the missing slipper, grabbing it fast. He probably vowed to never ever take his slipper out in a crowded area again.

After that, dad had a hilarious time repeating and re-enacting the situation over and over again, and the laughter never ceased for the whole night.

Right now the big question is, how did Sanju manage to drag the slipper away from the guy without him realising? I must say my little boy is growing up to be very smooth in his moves. Baby girls out there, beware!

Later that night, I realised I lost Sanju's straw cup, probably left it at the restaurant. Footwear paranormal experts (my dad) say the ghost of the slipper devoured it.

When he is not dragging unknown slippers, Sanju lounges around in a make-shift hammock.

Around The World and About

2011-05-05T09:04:00.001-07:00

Its been a week since I blogged and it feels like ages to me. Partly because I have been so held up with work, home and baby that somehow the (internet) world around me has just frozen momentarily. It is not fun when you are back at your hometown to spend some nice family time and you end up being stuck in some ad-hoc urgent production requests and a misbehaving server. Things we have to do for our career (and monthly salary). The so-called holiday turned out to be a super busy working week trying to figure out how to get the server working.

So many things happened in the past one week.

Prince William and Kate Middleton got married. Prince William, who used to be the better looking brother in the 90s, is now well overshadowed by his brother Harry's good looks. How times have changed. Kate Middleton, the middle-class girl, looks nothing short of a stunning lady, no matter at which age. None of the paparazzi pictures of hers on the channel E! shows have any flaw, natural born princess perhaps?

Datuk Shazryl Eskay swore over the holy Quran on the controversial video. And now Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is much challenged to do the same. How easy if everything in life could be resolved by just swearing over holy books. The police and court system would lose their jobs. And I swear I am gonna get mental if my server does not decide to behave itself over the duplex network very soon!

Another highlight of the week is definitely how the Obama administration finally nailed Osama Bin Laden down. The guy who was thought to be in hiding, somewhere in a cave in the Afghan deserts, happened to be living quite happily somewhere else. Alas, the end had to come, and together with this, there was some spam in the facebook apparently showing horrifying pictures of Osama's body, even though the Obama administration never did reveal any. Come to think of it, without any proof, how is the public supposed to believe that Osama is indeed dead? It is ironic how lengthy of a speech President Obama had given over the news of the demise of the notorious terrorist. It almost made Osama sound like an important figure, in a positive way.

Over here at home, the baby inside me is getting very active, perhaps warming up to join forces with my obnoxious 1 year old. Speaking of which, Sanju is so pleasant at times, I can't imagine where did the angel come from, and at other times, I wonder why are there so many tantrums and demands from a little angelish looking devil. Right now, I am just enjoying the quiet moment while he gets his beauty sleep with violent movements.

Excuse me while I get back to my work, weekly reports and resolving tickets. Ah, life!

Girls have more fun

2011-04-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

Whoever said that, is definitely right. Even as adults, we have so many choices of accessories and attires for girls/ladies. There is so much that the whole retail business perhaps depends only on females. Whenever I am at the mall around the kid's section, I get attracted to those pretty like dresses and girly outfits. When I was expecting Sanju, before knowing the gender, my sisters and I used to walk through the aisles of these pretty little things, making mental notes of what to buy if it were a girl. The list is still waiting to be cashed.

The kids' and baby fashion these days is no small business, they are definitely up to the latest trends and can cost more than adult clothings. It is amazing how manufacturers can create something so chic in a tiny human being version, for as young as newborns!

And then there are those nice hats, scarfs and head bands. Even the shoes and socks for baby girls are so pretty that calls out to you, to touch, to hold and to buy! It would be a different case if I had a girl. These pretty items would call out to me, and would end up in my hands, and later in my house.

For now, the fashion selection for my kiddo is very much the tshirts, sleeveless or the other, bermudas, rompers (which he is growing out already), and the occasional leggings. Even the leggings become difficult item to get as most of the prints are made for girls. When I am bored, I usually surf the children's clothing for some nice refreshing therapy for my eyes, wondering what I would do if I could. Even those e-stores on Facebook are constantly sharing their new arrivals of (no prize for guessing) girl clothes. Why the discrimination over the boys? Pity my boy, pity me!

In a way it is perhaps a good thing that I don't end up spending a huge amount on clothes for my toddler, but I make up the fashion trends loss by stocking up on cloth diapers. At least I can't go wrong there, ok maybe I can if i get something too pinky, but most others are ok.

Come to think of it, the expenditure for boys would be on a different note altogether, with the obsession on sports and games. I can imagine having my kid ask for a XBOX v5 in the near 5 years, or perhaps the PSP genX. Worst still, he might be aiming for iPhone 10 that probably comes with the latest virtual game applications. Till then, I think I better save some moolah!

Maybel's Closet FI2 and Twinkle Toes AI2

2011-04-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

Here are the 2 new CDs on the block that I am so excited about:

1) Maybel's Closet OS FI2

I scored this Fleece-in-2 (FI2) tester from a friend WAHM who wanted CD mamas to try out her latest invention. Me, well, just wanted to buy a FI2 in the pretty printed fleece! And the best thing about this FI2 cover is that it comes with 3 snaps positioned in such a way that we can use it with any existing soakers that comes with 1 or 2 snaps. The body is totally made with fleece, with embelished wings (cotton, me thinks), and extra bullet-proofing (as Maybel says) at the wet zone for no leaking.

I have used it with bamboo fleece and also zorb soakers (from the below Twinkle Toes AI2) for night use. It has performed pretty well, and the print looks damn gorgeous on my baby's bum. On the downside, it seems a little bulky, but the fleece fabric makes it look sort of fluffy, instead of plain bulk. Using it on largest size settings works for me so far. Using the smaller settings might increase the bulk, which is why Maybel had earlier opted to make this a sized FI2.

2) Twinkle Toes AI2

I bought this new from a fellow CD-mama. This diaper is S/M sized, the smallest settings enough to fit a newborn. The cover can be used as a cover with fitteds, or with prefolds, or as a AI2 system with the soakers. The added leg gussets allows it to contain any kind of mess, especially when using prefolds or traditional lampins. I am hoping this to come in handy as a cover with lampins later with my newborn. It comes with 2 pieces of snap in soaker made from cuddly soft bamboo fleece, two layers of Zorb and it's topped with a stay dry layer of suede cloth. The best part, the soaker is versatile enough to be used with the above mentioned FI2, what else can I ask for?

We did it! GCDC Kuala Lumpur!

2011-04-25T03:55:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was perhaps the biggest event in a cloth diaper mother's life. With the Earth Day on 22nd April, a world recording breaking event in cloth diaper changing was held worldwide, at the same time. It may sound simple, but to coincide with the main event in the United States, the event was held about 12.30am local time to do the 'cloth diaper change'. Which means that mothers and babies had to brave our bedtimes, get together at one venue, equipped with commercially available CDs and other environmentally friendly items to participate. I am proud to say that I was one of the 39 other mothers in Scriptory Box Puchong who attended and participated the record breaking challenge.

It was a sisterhood meeting of sorts. Cloth diapering mothers from all parts of Klang Valley and also other parts of Malaysia (yes, one particular mama travelled down all the way from Gurun, Kedah, salute!) gathered together to be a part of this historical and world record event. Most of us from the Malaysian Cloth Diapering Parents group in facebook were already pretty familiar with each other from the group from months back. And it was a nice way to meet, greet and build the bonds stronger.

Sadly, I could not make it for the daytime bazaar and talks sessions. I heard there were a lot of great deals on natural parenting, and of course, lucky draws!! *envious of the pretty diapers given out in the lucky draws*

All participants received a goodie bag consisting of gifts from sponsoring parties. Here is my goodie bag as a participant & committee member for the GCDC KL. There are too many nice items to list, in short, they are environmentally friendly products for both baby and mother. One express facial session for the mother and a few shopping vouchers too! Sanju also received a certificate of participation for the event! I am so proud of my little boy!

Right before the main event, there was a cake cutting ceremony by our celebrity guest, Dynas Mokhtar, witness Pn Zatul and Event Moderator, Farhana from Cloth Diaper Malaysia. Don't you think the cake is too pretty & adorable to be eaten? I can't believe someone can actually create a cake that looks so real.

And oh, speaking of cakes, thats not just it. We also had another sponsor providing us with a cake of the exact GCDC logo. It just does not look like a cake! And surrounded by the cake are zallions of cupcakes, which were just too yummy for my tummy!

Enough about food now. My record-creating-toddler was sleeping from 830pm with his father in the car all the while. I had to wake him up right before registration to get his height measurements done, as a part of the condition for this event. Needless to say, he was pretty fussy after that because he was so sleepy and i guess being with so many babies and mother's around is not something that he expected in the middle of his bedtime. Anyway, a baby's gotta do what he's gotta do. Get his diaper changed and create a world record. It is amazing how it sounds like such a serious business, but truth is, baby diaper changing is no small business especially when you have a fussy and sleepy toddler who not just wriggles around while changing, but also disturbs babies next to him by grabbing their pillows and stuff. Don't get what I mean? This picture says it all:

There were a number of lucky draws done, and many gifts given out. There was also a quiz session on cloth diapering (what else?), and guess what, I scored myself a nice hamper of mother and baby goodies. There's the laundry ball, 2 cloth diapers (Envipink from Sentuhan Bayu & Wahmies from Mia Bambina), ahmies wetbag (contains the wahmies CD & a cloth wipe), Gin & Jacqui multipurpose bag, another wetbag, and Mia Bambina's aroma soap. If previously I did not own any wetbag, well now, I have 2! Double happiness for that!

At sharp 12.30am, the bells were rung as a sign to mothers to start changing the diaper. Just imagine, at that particular moment, thousands of mothers worldwide were doing the same. And just within seconds, we are done participating and creating a world record. Here's a group picture of all participating parents (yes, there was one proud daddy doing the diaper change!).

The best thing about this event is that it not just creates mass awareness on environmental friendly cloth diapers, it also puts Malaysia in the map with the record. Here's wishing to have more parents jump into the cloth diapering bandwagon!

Bringing The House Down

2011-04-19T20:18:00.000-07:00

Once Sanju turned one, and was walking around vigorously, we decided it was time for him to inherit the family heirloom - my baby sister's Mickey Mouse Playhouse. It is just a simple tent-like playhouse that stands on a skeleton of plastic pipes. We bought it like in 1996 from then-hot-and-famous Macro warehouse store. In fact plenty of Pooja's (that's the baby-devil-sister who is no longer a baby) toys were bought there as they had good variety of brands. After she outgrew it, the thoughtful sisters packed it nicely to pass it on to the next generation, but honestly, I never ever thought the time would ever come when my own kid would be playing in the house.

Little did we know that giving a tent playhouse to a baby boy is so totally different from having a girl enjoy it. Within weeks, Sanju decided that he does not want to play in the playhouse anymore, and that it looked better upside down, taken apart, abused in all ways possible.

Here's a picture before:

Busy turning it down:

Mission accomplished:

And when he is not taking things apart, he drives around in his mini:

And at other times, papa's car:

I Want to Win Babywearing Gears for Great Cloth Diaper Change – KL!

2011-04-18T22:39:00.000-07:00

What does the Great Cloth Diaper Change KL have in common with Cloth Diapering? Natural parenting, of course! And I am proud to say that I am a babywearer, who also fully cloth diapers my kid for the last 1 year.

After much research and consideration, I purchased a Soft Structured Carrier (SSC) for our then 10-month-old baby. It turned out to be so convenient and gives this secure feeling, bonding and closeness while carrying out daily chores, such as cooking, doing the laundry or even during shopping or other outings. Whats more, babywearing proves to be a good workout for me, with the baby weight and chores burning calories at the same time.

Experts say babywearing benefits the baby by promoting better physical development and secure feeling by being close (almost skin to skin) with the wearer. We are often told how swaddling and massaging baby promotes growth and better health, it works the same way here. I remember how newly born Sanju constantly needed to be carried to soothe him down. Now that I am expecting my second baby, I intend to babywear my newborn sooner for better bonding and communication. The best part is a single babywearing gear can be worn by either mother or father.

When choosing a baby carrier, convenience and comfort for both wearer and wearee is most important. The material should be breathable and extremely gentle to baby's tender skin, as well as the super-emotional mother's back. It should provide so much support that baby wearing should feel almost a breeze, with no back or muscle straining. It is important that it is convenient to put the baby in or out, as needed. An added advantage is that if the one carrier is able to be shared by both mother and father without needing excessive adjustments during the transition. This goes very well as I fully support father's involvement in baby care, especially in the early months.

My ideal baby carrier does fit the qualities of a ring sling (RS). I have had one great chance of trying a ring sling on my baby once, and I truly loved the convenience of wearing my baby right from home. The RS also works well for breastfeeding mothers, as it allows discreet nursing, and doubles up easily as a nursing poncho! And with the multiple possible positions to wear my baby in the ring sling, there are so many ways to soothe the fussy little one.

The requirements of an ideal baby carrier would be of a luxurious looking fabric yet comfortable to be worn, perhaps of linen or silk. A reversible carrier, that comes with attractive fabric in both inside and outside would give the effect of having 2 carriers in one. Something of a maroon or purplish colour would give just the right sophistication to the baby wearing mother, and a neutral coloured-printed or just plain on the other side would suit the baby wearing father well. This reversible carrier can have some sequine or embroidery works on the feminine side, and to further add the glam factor, a shiny golden rings would be just perfect!

Now with 4 more months to the arrival of my second baby, I have been working (and shopping) hard on purchasing and building up baby stash. While Sanju is participating in creating a world record, it would be absolutely delightful if my newborn baby carrier stash comes from this event as well. Given the choice, I would love to win the Deana Design RS because their range of RS is in lovely colours complemented with gorgeous prints on the tail. Now that would go well with baby and me, and look awesome on any outfit!

Needless to say, I am very excited to carry my newborn on a RS. Last but not least, the feeling of knowing my baby is secure in the carrier is just priceless. Here is a picture of me and my happy baby in a ring sling.

More details on the world record event here at Great Cloth Diaper Change KL and join us to learn more on cloth diapers, babywearing and eco friendly parenting at the GCDC's Eco & Health Friendly Sales Bazaar!!

Pumpkin Pasta Stars

2011-04-13T19:44:00.000-07:00

Pasta is something Sanju has been eating since he was 10 months old and he loves it till now. Earlier when I was not able to get the baby pastas, I just used the regular pastas (ensure no preservatives and flavourings) and mashed them to smaller pieces. This time I got lucky at Giant and spotted Heinz pasta stars!

Ingredients

3 tablespoon of baby pasta

For sauce:
Pumpkin (diced)
Broccoli (cut small)
Carrots (cut small)
Coriander leaves (cut small)
Coriander powder
Some grated garlic & onion

Steps
1. Cook the pasta as the direction on the packet, and keep aside.
2. In a frying pan, sautee garlic & onion till fragrant
3. Add in the pumpkin, broccoli and carrots. You can add other vegetables/meat as you like.
4. Cook for 3 mins and add in some water, and coriander powder, and let it simmer.
5. Cook for 5 mins and mix the pasta in before turning off the heat. Add grated cheese before serving.

The pasta sauce is my most used recipe as it is easy to cook and freezes well for quick toddler meal fixes. It also gives me the flexibility of adding any veggies I have available int he fridge. I also tend to use the sauce with rice or baby oats on the days I don't have time to cook up some pasta.

Why I Love Bottombumpers Side Snapping AIO

2011-04-12T20:51:00.000-07:00

All-in-One (AIO) diaper come with a waterproof outer layer and an absorbent inner layer. It sometimes comes with extra piece of soaker to lay on, which can be separated for washing and drying. This already spells convenience at my fingertips, as far as laundry, and no insert stuffing is concerned.

Size M on the left, and size L on the right. Sanju fits both at their respective settings

Bottombumpers AIO is one such diaper with an absorbent certified organic cotton as the inner layer, and a snap on soaker of 4 layers of organic cotton, topped with bamboo velour for baby's skin contact. A whopping total of 6 absorbent layers for an AIO diaper is very generous indeed! To make it work better for night use, I have recently discovered that adding a bamboo doubler totalling the layers to 8 are sufficient to last the whole night for my kiddo.

Inner view of the BBs

Another special feature about the BB is that they are side snapping diapers, which means we can reduce the bulk of the front snaps. It is an advantage when putting on the diapers on an active toddler who moves and walks around more often during diaper changes.

The soakers are designed to be longer than the body, because as we put it on the baby, the elastics would stretch the body longer and hence covering the soaker sufficiently. Access front soaker length proves to be rather useful if you have a boy, who are front wetters.

My personal love for BB is the fact that the organic cotton soakers are indeed a jiffy to care for, and so far have showed no signs of molding or staining despite long use. If you kid ever poos in the diapers, you can easily knock it off in the toilet and wash off ther rest with water spray.

No doubt BB is my top favourite together with the Itti Bittis for the trim cutting. When I purchased my first BB of M size, I realise it managed to fit my chunky kid pretty well, and hey the side snapping feature gives it a unique and neat look!

Know Your Spices

2011-04-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

Living at home with mom's home cooked food daily, I kind of took the spices for granted, and never took the initiative to know what and why are they used. All that mattered to me was that the food smelled and tasted yummy for eating. Once I got married and moved out, I had to take a crash course on spices from my mom, and thanks to my notebook (a real one), the heirloom of Indian spices was passed down to me successfully. And now I can proudly acclaim that I know my spices pretty well, and use them damn good in my cooking.

Benefits of Spices

The ancient Ayurvedic texts list the herbs and spices for curative and therapeutic properties, such as:

Curative properties - Most spices are known to make digestion easier, help in controlling cholestrol and blood pressure
Preserving food - Back in the days when fridge and electric supply was unknown of, spices helped in preserving the foods to last longer
Aiding digestion - Most authentic Indian restaurants provide mints or fennel seeds for after meals, as mouth fresheners and to aid digestion
Balancing taste and properties of food - spices provide us a flexibility of adding a certain aroma or taste into your daily cooking

In picture above, we have Coriander Seeds, Cumin, Black Peppercorn, Cloves, Indian Cinnamon, Star Anise.

Curry powder is perhaps the most popular spice known to most. The curry powder is actually known as the 'masala' which means 'blend of several spices'. It is not just curry that requires spices, but there are so many other simple daily dishes that you can rev-up using a simple spice

My favourite spices that I use very often are:

Coriander seeds - Usually used in powder form, great for flavouring a simple vegetable or chicken dish by sauteeing 1-2 tablespoon with onion, garlic and ginger where I do not intend to use curry powder. I also use it to flavour most of my toddler's meals, instead of soy sauce or salt
Cumin seeds - Works same as coriander seeds/powder, both provide a great combination of aroma and taste
Black pepper - Soak and blend it well to make nice spicy soup. I also use it occasionally in the masala tea for the spicy taste
Cloves - Crushed together with cardamom & ginger for ginger tea. Also great to be sauteed together with cardamom for great smelling dry chicken dishes
Cinnamon - Sauteed together with star anise for great smelling chicken dish. I also use cinnamon powder to make toddler's version of gajar halwa or applesauce, it gives a nice sweet smell & taste
Star anise - Same as cinnamon
Cardamom - Same as cloves. Also great to make lassi
Fennel seeds - Works best when sauteed with cumin & coriander. Also great to boost up milk supply for breastfeeding mom.
Fenugreek - It is extremely beneficial to the health, so I sautee it with almost any vegetable or non-vegetable dish. Also great to boost up milk supply for breastfeeding mom.
Asafetida - Due to its anti flatulence properties, I use it as a sautee for any dish, especially for dhal.

Try adding some spice to your dishes for a new aroma and taste!

Mad about Angry Birds

2011-04-07T21:11:00.000-07:00

Ever since I got my Wildfire resurrected from the SIS service center, I have totally revamped it with just one application, the Angry Birds! I used to read so much about the Angry Birds on Iphone, and Wildfire users complaining the earlier Android version Eclair did not have good speed on supporting the Angry Birds and apparently the new version Froyo was a somewhat better option to play the game.

I had to re-install all my favourite applications once my phone was back with the new software, kick me for not doing a backup, some system analyst, eh. But I did use the old traditional method of listing out my applications on a post-it note so that I would at least know what I needed. While installing, I came across the Angry Birds at the market and got it installed out of curiosity.

It was hubby, who always uses my phone at late nights just to play the game who discovered the addiction and adrenalin (and battery usage) rush in the game, got me playing with him to bring down the green pigs in their challenging structures. And the rest is history.

We play like a team, an excellent one at that, taking turns to give a shot (literally) and climb the ladder of levels and themes. It is so addictive that we both have had sleepless nights just trying to clear a level, waking up next morning like a zombie for work. After a sleepless night, there is no better news that 'sayang, I already cleared XX level' and the other one goes 'OMG thats so great!'. And this is coming from a non-gamer hubby and myself. The last game I was totally into was perhaps CD-man and those handheld brickgames.

Angry Birds also come in handy when I want to de-stress while waiting for the famous Subang-Summit traffic, now with the game in hand, I hardly feel the time passing (slowly) by! No more cursing the traffic police for being biased allowing more time to the other side traffic, and if I get to clear a level, its an added bonus! Do I sound like a paid TV advertisement or what?

The Angry Birds is a total revolution in smartphone gaming. I am not sure if the android version is the same as Iphone's, but heck, it is so good I am not complaining! And hey it is not just me, according to wikipedia, Angry Birds has 100 million downloads across all platform, the game has been called "one of the most mainstream games out right now", "one of the great runaway hits of 2010", and "the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far.

The Angry Birds are so famous, they even have their trailers on youtube. Definitely better than some other tasteless youtube videos circulated by media. Check it out!

Cinematic Trailer:

In-game Trailer:

The Great Diaper Change KL

2011-04-05T23:25:00.000-07:00

Remember the new world record that we are out to set for the Great Cloth Diaper Change? In conjunction with the night event that coincides with the worldwide diaper change record setting, there is also going to be a day event of fun-filled informative activities as well as some retail therapy session for the mothers and mother-to-bes.

Below is the official flyer for the event, with a lot of CD hugging baby models.

Checkout the details on the GCDC's Eco & Health Friendly Sales Bazaar FB page for full details. There are several sales booths with environment friendly and safe, healthy products. There are also going to be mini talks sessions and lucky draws happening every hour. So don't miss it!

http://clothdiapermalaysia.com/2011/03/great-cloth-diaper-change-kl/

Week 20, here I come!

2011-04-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

I am way past the 1st torturous trimester of nausea and morning (evening, all-day) sickness. It is enough that brushing my teeth early in the morning makes me gag and want to puke, the rest of the day goes with this yucky taste in the mouth that makes me want to eat and eat to get the taste away. That is why I ate frequently during the 1st trimester, in comparison to now.

There was also frequent backaches and feet cramps by the end of the day, but I got rewarded with some TLC and very nice feet massages before bedtime.

Compared to all that, the 2nd trimester is almost like a honeymoon. Less, if not none, backaches, and feet is behaving very well, or maybe it is just due to the new pair of hush puppies I got hubby to buy for me. Either way, both works fine for me. But I miss those feet massage I was getting earlier!

On the downside, I think I am overloaded with preggy hormones that is causing me to be super emotional and I can weep at the drop of a hat. I know I should be avoiding reading or seeing depressing stuff, but sometimes it is just there when you least expect it. And sometimes I am just too curious to know what/why/how. I remember one incident in 2009 when I was expecting Sanju, it was 6th or 7th month when I was reading Marian Keyes' 'Anyone out there', and when I came to the part of a huge revelation of the deceased husband, I started sobbing like nothing, shouted out to call hubby who was watching tv downstairs. It all just felt like it was so real and I was living the character. Spooky stuff, I know... motherhood/pregnancy turns you into things you never imagine you would be!

Braxton Hicks is also in town, didn't know it was possible to have it so soon, but apparently it is normal. This is definitely kicking in earlier that my first pregnancy with Sanju.

Just in this last 2 weeks I started embracing back my maternity clothes. It was just too soon to start wearing them in the earlier stages of 1st trimester. Of course baby bump is there, but with the high cut tops these days, you can pretty much hide it. Only now baby bump is beginning to look more than a bump, but somehow I am still reluctant to start wearing those maternity stuff to work. Its not like I am in denial, but I feel it is too soon... now into the 20th week, I think I have to give myself a kick and allow me to embrace it.. or should I?

Elcerdo's KL - Romantic Lunch For 3

2011-03-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

This was a very historical and important day for us indeed. It was the eve of our 2nd wedding anniversary, and also the day Sanju's first signs of being the Obnoxious-One. We had been planning for a trip to Elcerdo's in KL for a while after Lisa's very tempting suggestion for their dishes.

Hubby was all excited to get porked up, and the fact that this was our 2nd wedding anniversay, that too with Sanju in tow, added to the excitement. We made bookings on the eve of Valentine's Day for a romantic lunch for 3. Thats right, when you have kids, you tend to arrange romantic meals differently. Looking at the bright side, most of these restaurants offer free meals for kids, so I don't have to pack like we are going for a picnic trip.

For appetizers (as if we needed to be any more appetized), we had the Spanish Ham Platter, that came with yellow and green buah-kana like fruits, which on one bite turned out to be olives, absolute yum! The hams went well with the bread basket that came before the meals... yeah, we eat our food the Indian way, bread (capati) and veggies/meat LOL!

We decided to pass the suckling pig, as there were just the 2 of us eating, and the 3rd was gonna be a huge distraction. Sure enough, Sanju started his menacing ways. He was just about to learn walking, and loved holding our finger to walk, and so he decided papa was going to give him a tour of the restaurant!

Back to food, our main dishes were German Mini Sausages and Smoked ribs. The ribs were just too fine, I wished we had a bottomless plate of that, seriously!

For a quick end to the (romantic) meal, we had a quick taste of the Andreas Special "A Dream In Chocolate". Hubby the chocoholic, was not impressed, mainly due to Sanju's tantrums, but heck, I loved it all the way.

I must also add that the waiters there were very pleasant in helping us to provide toys and other distractions for Sanju, but when you are 1, you are just uncontrollable. I bet my mom would say the same about me if I asked her.

On the downside, we felt the food portion was rather small, this is coming from the people who whack 3 huge dishes at american diners, and hey, the nice waitresses could have at least offered to babysit my Obnoxious-1, ok just kidding.

This is How I Store My Cloth Diapers (I WANT TO WIN JOLI DIAPERS!)

2011-03-28T18:16:00.000-07:00

Cloth diapers are my life saviour when I was a new mom, juggling baby care together with the heaps of laundry that babies came with. I wish someone had told me that earlier, or maybe they did, but maybe I did not see the magnitude of the effect then.

The convenience of using the cloth diapers works well when coupled with convenient storage of cloth diapers. You know how babies can be, diaper change needs to be done in a flash otherwise they'd be screaming on the top of their lungs, and if the baby has started moving or turning, you can expect some very intense wrestling session with your little one, gently of course.

I store my cloth diapers and daily used baby clothes in a hamper basket, as the picture below. The hamper is placed right in the living room, where all the nappy change is done during the messiest and busiest of the times. With a light mattress on the floor right beside the hamper, diaper change never got easier.

Apart from that, the hamper also gives me the flexibility of carrying and moving it to anywhere in the house. Also, if we are travelling back to hometown, all we need to do it to place the hamper in the front seat of the car, and we are good to go. If there is a need of diaper change while on the road, it is easily accessible for me, while hubby is concentrating on the driving.

This giveaway is a part of the giveaway by the Cloth Diaper Malaysia sponsored by my personal favourite cloth diaper seller LovelyGoody *secretly hoping to win win win!*

Cloth Diapering For Beginners

2011-03-23T21:52:00.000-07:00

I have received a few queries lately on getting started to cloth diaper for baby. I am glad that my experience and informations in writing has helped to inspire other mamas to try cloth diapering their babies.

There are 4 types of Cloth Diapers in the market:

1. Pocket
Diaper with a stay dry inner fabric, waterproof outer fabric, with a pocket opening to insert the soaker/insert. This type of diaper is very popular and easy to use for newbie CD mamas, and generally dry faster as you separate the cover & inserts. Example: Bamboolite, Bumgenius

2. All-In-One(AI0)
Diaper with a waterproof outer layer and an absorbent inner layer. It might also come with extra piece of soaker to lay on, which can be separated for washing and drying. Example: Bottombumpers AIO

3. All-In-2 (AI2)
Diaper with a waterproof outer later and stay dry inner fabric. Lay on absorbant soaker is placed on the inner fabric. This diaper gives the convenience of just changing the soakers and use the same outer shell with a clean soaker, if not soiled with baby poo. Air drying the shell is required for better hygiene. Example: Itti Bitti, BlingBumz, Bamboolite AI2

4. Fitted
Diaper with a full absorbing body. To waterproof the diaper, a PUL or wool cover is required. The full absorbing body provides a larger area for pee soaking, generally can be used longer, and better for night and heavy wetter use.

For more cloth diapering terms, refer here.
Each of this type comes with its own pros and cons, which I will discuss on my blog next. Hope this helps!

But before you step into the cloth diapering world, let me warn you. Whilst cloth diapering my baby for convenience, cost saving and doing good to the mother earth, I kinda got hooked to the whole pretty diaper world out there, so be careful and be wise!

Bamboolite Printed AI2 Diapers

2011-03-16T01:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, they are here, in my hands. I managed to get it through a group buy with a price tag to die for (about 20% discount) and I can't be more excited. If you did not know already, Bamboolite's spanking new offering is the Bamboolite Printed AI2 diapers.

Whats so great about it? Firstly, is it printed in lovely cute and yummylicious prints, and it is the all-in-two type. This means you can just change the soakers, instead of changing the whole diaper. There are 2 types of soakers, Lite and Premium. As the name goes, Lite is suitable for medium wetters and day use while Premium serves best for heavy wetters and night use. The best thing is that the soakers are designed in such way that once taken apart, it is light and quick drying. Couldn't get enough, I ordered one of each type.

Although I am yet to prep wash and use it on my toddler (I am kinda planning to keep it for now), from the outside, I can see some lovely new features that I love in the new Bamboolite Printed AI2. They are:

Lovely prints (needless to say)
Trimmer crotch (as compared to Bamboolite PUL or older version)
Better soaker designs for fitting and drying
Love the suedecloth topped bamboo soaker as the top soaker, guaranteed super-dryness!

The Great Cloth Diaper Change KL - Setting A World Record

2011-03-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

In conjunction with Earth Day on 23rd April 2011, cloth diaper mothers in Malaysia are getting together to set a world record for the most cloth diapers ever changed at one time. Yes, you read it right, it is a new WORLD record, as the event is held simultaneously worldwide!

Get more details on Cloth Diaper Malaysia The Great Cloth Diaper Change KL and register to be a part of this historic and Earth loving event. Do your bit in promoting environmental awareness, what better than a baby step with your precious baby?

Little Doodlez Pants

2011-03-14T00:21:00.000-07:00

I love giveaways, especially if the giveaway is giving away cloth diapers. This time it was a photo contest giveaway organized by Cloth Diaper Malaysia and Tini of Little Doodlez on Facebook, giving away Little Doodlez pants.

It is slightly different from the conventional cloth diapers. It is a pull up CD. Very suitable for the very active toddler to refuses to get on his back for diaper change. As the name goes, you can just pull up the CD onto your toddler. Plus it can also be used as training pants, during potty training. Love the dual coloured diaper body and elastics, my suggestion is for them to come up with printed dipes, I am sure CD mothers like me will be running over each other to get one for our toddlers!

Apart from running away from diaper changes, this toddler even runs away from the camera, or at least refuses to stay still for the camera. Here's a photo of him in his prized Little Doodlez while he was sleeping.

The Smartphone Liberation

2011-03-09T19:35:00.000-08:00

After being back to basics with my old Walkman phone, I am liberated, smartphone-wise, yet again. Yes my HTC Wildfire is back from the medical (service) center, and after a software resurrection and upgrade, it is alive and kicking!

I must admit, that I really really missed it. Admittedly, I am not a huge fan of the touchphone part, but I missed my applications and the convenience! At first my keypad walkman phone felt like such a relief with the close-your-eyes-and-type-away kind of thing, but truth is, I missed the greater techie things in life. What I missed, lets see.. I can make a list of it (with due respects to my Walkman phone, it served me well, although even the handphone shop guy commented how 'ancient' it is now):

1) The photos in my SD card, missed admiring Sanju's pics at times of boredom and frustration
2) The Wifi convenience, it is so easy to catch any wifi (at home or outside) and get online to get the little information you suddenly need!
3) My one touch power/silence applications... call me finger-lazy but these come in hand when you have a toddler whining to get sleep and you need your phone to shut-up right away
4) My blogger application, I can type away on the blogger any time anywhere, even boring meetings
5) The camera, that allows me to take photo of every small detail for my blog or FB
6) Handcent SMS application, I like the conversation bubble-like sms display, makes life easier in tracking smses
6) The slimness and the sleekness of the Wildfire

The only bad thing now is that I can't sms while driving, ok so it is a good thing, but hey, I have my games back on track to keep me occupied during the peak hour traffic!

The Fat Momma and Baby Flannel Wipes

2011-03-08T17:45:00.000-08:00

I am a fat mama alright. Going into week 15 now and have successfully put on 4-5kgs. The good news is, my baby bump is not showing yet, unless you see me before bedtime all stuffed with nice dinner and cow's milk. The bad news is, I am growing, sideways!

People seeing me daily might be thinking I am putting on weight like no tomorrow. And the person in the next cube must be noticing how super-duper hungry and greedy I am all the time, and I eat like almost all the time. He might be thinking I am just one hungry woman. Truth is I am not hungry (yeah rite), but just want to make sure I dont starve myself, and my little one in me. I could do with skipping whole meal those days, now even 2 hours before some snack is impossible.

Whatever it is, I guess I am going to have my own gala time eating while it lasts, but this weight better better come off once it is all over, otherwise... I will miss all my clothes!

Speaking of gala time, it is yet another happy time for shopping. I kicked off the newborn shopping with a recent WAHM-made baby flannel cloth wipes. I got them from Maybel's Closet, she even does pretty diapers! They come in very cute colours and prints. I can see Sanju getting jealous already, but hey, big brother will get to share the new wipes with his baby sibling later.
Picture from Maybel's Closet blog shop.

Dilemma of a CD mama

2011-03-06T18:39:00.000-08:00

Sanju has been having mild diarrhea for the past 1 week, and I have resorted to disposable diapers to help with the mess and lighten my burden from the already fussy purging baby. It has been great to be relieved off the laundry duties for a while, since I can just wash his clothes in regular detergent with the rest of the laundry. But I can't help feeling guilty of enjoying the moment (talk about true CD mama at heart, LOL). Everything good comes with a downside though, I noticed that Sanju is developing rashes almost every other day, this is something I never saw with cloth diapers, even with the messiest of the messy poo-ed diapers!

Sanju has been fully cloth diapered for almost 1 year now, with occasional sposies for rainy days (literally), so its been a while that I have been using sposies full time. From my recent exprience, here's my list of pros and cons of using dispos.

Pros:
1) No laundry to rinse and wash
2) No poo mess to deal with, just throw and use a new one
3) Convenient when travelling with a poo-ing baby

Cons:
1) $$$ expensive! I have already spent abt RM60 on DD in the past one week, and mind you, I only buy cheaper brands such as Hey Baby & Fitti. I could have bought me (Sanju) a brand new Bamboolite printed diaper and it would be usable! (OK, I did order 2 pieces of the new BL printed dipes, a CD mama can never resist)
2) My waste bin fills up ever so fast with very bad smell (landfills & smell pollution)
3) Rashes on baby's bottoms, isn't the super soaking silica gel in the DD supposed to keep the bums dry?
4) White and light printed DD don't look nice on my gorgeous Sanju's bum-bum, I miss his bright printed dipes, plus laundry folding is so unexciting

The verdict, I don't mind resorting to DD for emergencies times such as diarrhea baby, but CDs are definitely my choice for daily & long term use.

Aisha Movie Review

2011-03-06T18:12:00.000-08:00

Q: What do you do when you are having a girly nail polish time with your little sister?
A: Get the slumber party on, while watching Aisha on the thumb drive lying around (for ages).

Aisha is about this super rich good-hearted luxury-snob who sees nothing beyond anything high class, and she can very well afford to. Sonam Kapoor plays Aisha, who is some sort of a cross between Sex and The City's Carrie (in her quintessential fashion sense) and Cher from Clueless (in her adorable snobbishness). She's into social services such as protecting animal rights, appreciating and creating arts, and not to forget her newly found talent, match making.

Teamed with her best friend Pinky, Aisha tries to match make a plain-Haryana-Jane (named Shefali) with her friend Randhir, whom she thinks is perfect for Shefali, but Randhir in fact is in love with Aisha herself. Her only obstacle is Arjun (Abhay Deol), or so she thinks.

In a nut shell, Aisha is a feel good movie, with cute and lovely characters, who each leave their mark with their roles and acting, although I felt Abhay Deol was shortchanged for the amount of potential he has. Amrita Puri (Shefali) in my opinion is the best one to watch out for. Sonam is also very lovable in the snobbish role of a high society snob whom we'd love to hate.

One downside of the movie is that I felt the movie was really pretentious with the amount of super high flying luxurious life shown, especially with the polo match and unreal river rafting getaway in a well-equipped camp house for the vain people. On a positive note, the movie was some very light hearted moments, even makes a what seems serious love declaration at the wedding function into a light comedy moment. You can't help loving Aisha!

Band Baaja Baarat Movie Review

2011-03-03T21:08:00.001-08:00

Q: What do you do when you are on medical leave, with toddler under babysitter's care for the day?

A: Watch the movie rotting away in the thumb drive given by your sister ages back.

Finally a YRF movie that is getting good reviews, and made me really curious to watch and check out what is the deal all about. Lead actors are debutant Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma, who has already had a box office hit with her debut film with SRK.

The movie is fully set and shot in Delhi, and all characters speak with authentic Delhi-ite accent, it almost becomes difficult understanding after being so used to the Mumbaiya accent in all the other films. Shruti (Anushka) aspires to open her own wedding planner business while Bitto (Ranveer) is finding a way to escape his father's plans to taking him back to village to help in the sugar cane business. They get together and start their wedding planning company, named Shaadi Mubarak, with strict policy of never involving emotions or love in between them. Business goes successfully for them, and predictably, emotions come in between, causing a conflict in running the business together.

The love conflict is not new, but the treatment given on the subject, and the whole execution of the movie is fresh and commendable. Also, the movie has a fairly fast pace where there is no dull moment. However, I wish the ending would have been handled a different way, but I guess the director did not want to opt for cliched ways.

Anushka is very pleasant to watch, and she is looking very good in her simple girl-next-door getups, some scenes even with minimal makeup. Ranveer does his role well too, but seeing his interview on Koffee With Karan, it almost feels like he acted as himself.

Highly recommended rom-com!

Fried Rice With Salmon for Toddler

2011-02-24T21:18:00.000-08:00

While I was playing temporary SAHM (Stay At Home Mother) 2 days ago, it was a great chance to try cooking some proper toddler food for Sanju. I managed to get some idea seeing the little vegetables we had in the fridge. Here's what I whipped up:

Fried Rice With Salmon

Ingredients
1 cup cooked rice
Grated broccoli, carrot, and garlic
Some coriander powder
Cooked & minced salmon (either steam or grill it in olive oil)

Steps
Heat up some olive oil in a frying pan. Sautee the broccoli, carrot & garlic together.
Add the coriander powder after 3 minutes.
After 3 minutes, put in the salmon & rice.

I love using the coriander powder for some flavour as well as providing some colour to all my toddler's food. The garlic sauteed with the vegetables will give it a very nice aroma. Warning, you may not be able to keep yourself off it!

My rice turned out rather soft though, because it was my first time with the new rice cooker. Need more practice I guess. Sorry could not snap any pictures because right now my phone is without a memory card. To know how it looks like, you can try it soon. Now I am back to planning for what to cook tonight!

Natural Parenting

2011-02-22T20:43:00.000-08:00

Cloth diapering, babywearing, home cooked food, home schooling, co-sleeping, and breastfeeding are the topics among parents (I was about to type mothers, but lets be fair to fathers too) these days. It appears to be the latest trend in parenting. In case you did not know, natural parenting is the IN thing right now.

Few months ago, I would have easily categorised these aspects as modern parenting, because hey, I am (considerably) young and practicising them, they seem modern to me. But when you dig the roots, these parenting methods indeed originate from older days.

Natural Parenting may mean differnetly for different parents. For me, natural parenting means promoting attachment and interaction between parents and kids while being environmentally aware for the sake of the next generation's future.

I am proud to admit that I have successfully adhered to most of the natural parenting I list, except a couple. Homeschooling is something I am yet to do with my kid once he starts school, of course we read and sing to him once in a while, but that is mostly on entertainment and play sake. Breastfeeding is something that I almost did, but had some hurdles to overcome, and in the end it was not so successful.

Cloth diapering is something that my blog itself boosts about. Co-sleeping is essential if you want to cuddle and snuggle to the little one to sleep, plus it is very helpful when you have a sick, crying or just awake and playing baby that needs attention. We can not live without baby wearing especially when out and about, or running household chores. Last but not least, I am addicted to home cooked baby food, so that works fine for both me and baby, I mean toddler. Sadly, he can take most adult food these days, I will be missing cooking his food more soon.

And speaking of babies, I am already planning for my newborn. Cloth diapering, is a must, this time not just the traditional flats (lampin), but hopefully with fitteds and prefolds as well. I intend to start babywearing earlier, especially if my newborn is gonna be anything like the elder brother, would need a lot of soothing, which I am sure a wrap or ringsling would do well. Co-sleeping is something we need to plan to manage, with a toddler and a newborn, some adjustments needed there! And the most important, I want to fully breastfeed my little girl/boy, I hope my body and baby cooperate with me!

12 Weeks and Counting...

2011-02-16T18:08:00.000-08:00

If you are thinking what I think you are thinking, yes, you are right. I am now at 12 weeks and counting down to the 40th week to welcome my second baby. It was on the new year's eve that we received this wonderful news on the new addition to the family. This means Sanju will get a sibling he can play with (and bully), because at the moment he's been hanging out with adults only, and most of the things he does is very much imitating adults rather than kiddy stuff.

It is officially the time for no-guilt-eating, for me as well as hubby. The first trimester has been relatively better than my first pregnancy. Minimal nausea, but I am forever hungry for something spicy or cold. I am feeling and looking fat, and feel sleepy and fatigued beyond imagination, and have got totally no mood or motivation for work at all, wait, is that even a morning sickness? Back pain has started a little too early, I guess I am not 2 years younger as before. But it is also the official time for some nice foot and back massage after a hard day at work.

It feels great to enjoy the perks of being pregnant once again, at the same time, I am not looking forward to the labour and delivery. For now, I am going to be busy planning and preparing for the arrival (read: Shopping, shopping and shopping!). Happy Valentine's day all!

Kiwi Fruit Heated In The Microwave

2011-02-10T20:51:00.001-08:00

Q: What happens when you heat up a kiwi fruit in the microwave?
A: It turns sour.

No trap, no joke. Kiwi fruit indeed does turn sour when you heat it up in the microwave. Sounds funny eh, what prompted me to heat up the poor kiwi fruit is another funny story of its own. Well, maybe not so funny for people who believe eating fruits, and on top of that, cold, causes cold, cough, and phlegm. It is no secret that Sanju was suffering from bad cough last month, and certain advocates of good health (read: Dr. MOM) demanded baby is given fruits only if heated up.

The first time I heated up a kiwi, I noticed the sour taste, and I dismissed it as a sour stock from Tesco. The second time round, I ate half the kiwi, noticed the nice (cold and) sweet taste. Had to heat up due to unavoidable circumstances, and the final product, turned pastel green from dark green, and very very sour to the taste!

If this was not a well known trivia, it will be now. And don't let anyone tell you that it is just an urban legend, because I tried and proved it!

While we are at it, if you are looking at creative ways to have your kiwi fruit, or maybe for your little one, you can try making kiwi lassi. It is super-yum to the taste, and super healthy for your system!

Dhobi Ghat Movie Review

2011-02-01T23:02:00.000-08:00

Not all films are made for commercial success, and not all the films are made for the masses. Dhobi Ghat is one such example.

As the tagline, DG indeed is the Mumbai Diaries. DG shows the different classes and masses of India, from both extremes. The poor is so down and dirty, and the rich are living luxuriously. It amazed me how different contrast of lifestyle can be put together in just one film, this is not something that you see often in an Indian film.

There are four characters with their lives crossing each other. Shai (Monica Dogra) is a New Yorker on a sabbatical in Mumbai, who meets Arun (Amir Khan) at this art show, and after a one night stand, she gets attracted, and perhaps in love with him. Then enters Munna (Prateik Babbar) who is the dhobi (washerman) for the two. He gets close to Shai, falling in love with her, while showing her around Mumbai and getting her to do his portfolio. Arun, who has just moved in to a new flat, comes across a few video tapes recorded by Yasmin for her brother.

One character is having fascination and feelings for other, and there we see the lengths they go for it.

The pace was slow, and very little of Amir Khan was impressing. Then again, he was playing someone serious, with a sad past. Monica was very pretty and alluring, and did her role well. But the show stealer has got to be Prateik Babbar, as the dhobi-partime-mouse-killer-actor-wannabe. His acting would make you empathize and yet laugh at his antiques.

Just as the trailers show, do not expect anything loud or overly dramatic here, just go for a simple showcase of Mumbai diaries.

Loving Old Fashioned Way

2011-01-31T19:16:00.000-08:00

I am now taking a break from my HTC Wildfire touch phone, and embraced back my good old Sony Ericsson W850i from the walkman series. My HTC has not been amusing recently with some frequent hang up and reboot issues, plus I am not getting the latest Froyo update yet. Decided to get it admitted for special care at the service center, while it is under warranty.

Once I turned the W850i power on from herbination, I realised how wonderful it is to once again have an actual keypad back! I can now type sms and make calls without looking at the keypad while multitasking (driving and all). This is something that I could never do with the touch phone.

And why is the touch revolution good again? I guess it is just the sleek look and the whole touch feature where you can drag and drop and do all kinds of wonders with just the tip of your fingers. Blame the iphone craze!

What I miss in my touchphone?

The one touch power & application buttons - Did not have to navigate through the whole menu just to find calendar or something
The Handcent SMS application

What I don't miss in my touchphone?

The wi-fi - Didn't know this was possible, but I don't mind not having it now
Touch screen keypad
Flat bulkiness - The W850i fits my pocket perfectly

While the Wildfire is away, the Walkman will play!

And He Turns One

2011-01-31T18:53:00.000-08:00

This is a very much delayed post, thanks to the four-letter-word issue and the very frustrating laptop repair ordeal that lasted for 3 months. The latter deserves a whole post of its own, I shall get on to it when I am in the mood for another ranting.

But hey, my son turned 1 year old 2 weeks ago, and is now officially a toddler. It is now legal for him to drink (fresh cow's milk, dont get ideas) and eat (whole egg), which have been tested (sounds like lab mouse) and certified good-to-go based on the 4-day rule! And why is mom so happy on the eating and drinking part? Well I guess I am just looking forward to the change of routine and habits in cooking... With him taking more chunkier food, I am excited that I can now cook for all of us, and let him have it (sans the salt, chilli).

We planned a small celebration at home with family, relatives and friends, which turned out not so small in the end. My favourite part of it, was the birthday cake. We choose a football themed cake for the little football enthusiast.

You might wonder why is the field red in colour. Papa requested it so that it would match Sanju's birthday vest... so fashion forward little fella. The cake of a whopping 3.9kg was american chocolate in the inside, and was so totally irresistable! Thankfully we had a good amount balance for us to savour once the celebration was over.

Here's a picture of the birthday boy on his birthday eve, he loves wearing kohl (kajal) just like his mom and mausis (maternal aunty), posing with his mother's headband. Sanju is a handsome toddler with a pretty girly face, don't you think?

Chick Pea Curry

2011-01-26T16:54:00.000-08:00

I was just scratching my head for something to cook that can cater for Sanju's meal, as well as for me to bring to work for lunch. Few days ago I brought some leftover black pepper mix vegs for lunch, and I loved it. Thinking it might be a good idea to have home cooked food for lunch more frequently.

Finally it came to me, I could make kichdi or some mild curry that I can take out for Sanju before I put the salt in. This is what I tried last night:

Chick Pea Curry
Ingredients:
2 cloves garlic and some ginger (crushed, you could chop them too but crushing gives better aroma)
1 tsp fennel powder
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp tumeric powder
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 cup milk
50g chick peas
1 large potato
1 tomato
some cooking oil
some capsicum, diced

Steps:
1) Soak the chick peas for a couple of hours.
2) Cook the chick peas and peeled potatoes in pressure cooker for 10-15mins
3) In a pan, sautee the garlic and ginger. Add all the spice powders, some water and cook for 5 mins.
4) Add the tomatoes and milk and cook a little more.
5) Finally add in the cooked chick peas, potatoes and capcisum, cooking for 10 mins more. Crush the peas with your ladle.

And yeah, some salt to taste, once you have separated it for your baby.

I kinda tasted some of the unsalted food, and my god, it tasted bland. How Sanju endures it, I don't know, but I am glad he does. I even had to add some chilli powder in mine for extra kick. And to further curb the blandness, I packed it for lunch with some yogurt and chopped onions (keep some mint handy alright).

No pictures for now, but will upload it soon!

The Four Letter Word

2011-01-25T23:42:00.000-08:00

I am not the swearing type, unless it gets really frustrating. Life's been busy enough with my baby graduating to toddlerhood, and on top of that, I have this four-letter word to deal with for the last 1 month.

The word is actually NISplus, it might not be a four letter word, but written most commonly, NIS+, it does make up into 4 letters. Then again, one might argue, it is 3 letters and 1 special character. It stands for Network Information Services which is more secure as far as authentication and encryption is concerned. And yea, it is NIS/NYS compatible.

I have zero idea and knowledge on it, and during numerous troubleshooting occasions I have successfully messed up plenty of the settings and features. The bomb has exploded, now waiting for post mortem and the aftermath. You'd think that after 1 month of extensive troubleshooting I am probably now an expert... in fact very far from that. It is not my fault that our workstations are all using OS of ancient legacies and different versions. By the time I read up one, I realise it does not work for the other.

Why kill you with the technicalities I have already been killing myself softly with? Just thought of using my blog to rant and vent my feelings on this four-letter word. The moral of the story, if its broken, let it be. Till then, have a nice time while I continue firefighting.

For your reading (dis)pleasure, info on NIS+ here.

The Encounter

2011-01-16T17:52:00.000-08:00

It was the Zee Cine Awards that my mom bumped into Aishwarya Rai. She asked to carry Sanju and bring him over to her father and mother in law, Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan, and yeah, Abhi(shek) was there too. They played quite a bit with Sanju while Aishwarya dashed away to grab some change (she owed some money to my mom). I was worried that she might just kidnap my handsome little boy, considering the amount of time they spent with him.

And suddenly my mom was awakened by my calls to make tea for breakfast, that she realised she was dreaming all the while. Dream encounter, but it was, an encounter my mother would not forget. Mistake not, mom is not an Aishwarya fan, neither of Zee Cine Awards. I guess it was the constant advertisement on Zee abt the awards that did it. And who can deny, my baby is so cute that everyone would want to play with him!

Baby Milestones

2011-01-11T20:18:00.000-08:00

Gone are the days of monthly milestones, now Sanju is reaching his 1st birthday, and would soon be on annual milestones, where did the time fly to? I still remember the night I started having contractions and knowing something was about to happen, I warned the (busy and tired) hubby not to put his phone on silent, and lookout for calls from me that night. My better-half actually packed his bags, sat in the hall watching TV, waiting for my call, for he had to make a fast drive down to JB once I give the green light. I went home 1 month prior to due date to pamper (and stuff) myself with mom's TLC (and homecooked food).

Thinking back, its been a sweet journey of ups and downs of different magnitude, vector and degree. Here are some of developments and experiences of my sweet 1 year-old-to-be:

drinks water from a straw cup since 11mo (sometimes sips too much that he sort of drowns LOL)

Crawls, stands with and without support since 10 mo. Can walk a few steps on his own

Claps, dances to songs, waves goodbye, shakes hand and raises his hands for a hi-5

Says mamam, mama (sorry papa, but I am coaching him for you)

Plays hide and seek, in English, Hindi and Tamil

Understands 'take' and 'give'

Can bite, chew/gum on papaya, banana, grapes

Loves chocolate - yea we broke some rules and gave him chocolates whenever his chocoholic papa was having it

Climbs up and down the 3inch step between our hall & kitchen (done with supervision)

I have witnessed him climb 3 steps of the stairs, no joke, again, with supervision

Is off the pacifier

Spent 3 days 2 nights at the hospital like a brave boy

LOVES AND ABSOLUTELY LOVES watching the football TV ads since like 5mo

Well this is just the beginning, more sweet memories to come while this boy grows into a handsome little chap, potentially a football player. While at that, hubby is pretty convinced that he will start breaking hearts at 14 years of age. Till then, lets count more and more birthdays, yeah, mine too, but I gotta remain a hot mama for a hot baby.

Its been a while...

2011-01-10T22:24:00.000-08:00

Its been a while since I blogged.. ok just one week, but I can't help feeling the withdrawal symptoms. So much has happened over the week that kept me busy and very much occupied.

Just as we started planning for Sanju's upcoming 1st birthday, he got down with flu and chesty cough. He was admitted to the hospital for 2 nights, for frequent sessions of nebulizer gas. My champ is doing very much better now, and after much pressure and persuasion from hubby and mom, I have decided to stop giving him fruits (apparently causes phlegm) to him for a while. Which means, no more mashed fruit preparation for the mother... I will miss it for a while.

This is like the 2nd time his cough has been so bad, and this time we decided to go ahead with the hospitalization. How do you protect your little one from getting such bad cough?

And yeah, I turned a year older than before, and a year younger than the next year. Here's hoping for a great year ahead!

Baby Oh Baby!

2011-01-03T20:45:00.001-08:00

Inspired by ClothDiaperMalaysia's post on the similar topic here, I thought I'd share my baby experience. I can't believe the little devil is about to reach 12 months in a few week's time. I can still remember same time last year I was busy shopping for baby stuff, and getting lotsa walking to ease the delivery.

5 Baby Things I Can't Live Without:

Baby Oil - Mom has this practice of massaging baby with oil before bath time. It helps to keep the water off and dry the body better, as well as provide excellent stimulant and skin to skin contact to soothe baby. Amazingly, apart from his first few massage sessions, Sanju grew to like his massage sessions, even now he'd happily turn to his stomach while I lather him with oil.
Fisher Price NB-to-toddlerhood Rocker - This was a present from my brother, and how useful! Came in very handy when I needed to put him for him much needed nap, or just keep him occupied with the mobile while I dash off to attend to something. But one thing I never understood, Sanju never liked the vibration mode.
Cloth Diapers - Need I say more? CDs were like god-sent. Made my life much better, especially with those revolutionary (to put it simple, thick and absorbant) night diapers. No more diaper change in the middle of the night!
Baby Sleep Routine - After 2 months of age, I finally managed to put Sanju in a sleep routine. It helped him to sleep more (if not throughout) at night. Also the discipline got him familiar with the ambience of sleep time, does not take much time to get him dozed off during his routine timings.
Pacifier - Well this happened to become an essential in times of desperate needs. I just happened to blog about it here a few days ago. And the good news is, he is finally weaned off. As Rancho would say, ALL IZZ WELL!

Thinking back, there are some things that I wish I could have done differently. For one thing, I would want to breastfeed till at least 1 year old, but it did not work out with Sanju due to many reasons. For another, I wish I went for babaywearing to soothe him during his fussy day, rather than using the pacifier. Buy hey, there is always a next time, isnt it?

Weaning off the Pacifier

2011-01-02T18:21:00.000-08:00

Sanju has been on the pacifier since he was 1 month old. We resorted to the pacifier because he used to nurse to sleep, and would immediately wake up once I put him down to sleep. Also, it came in handy when at nights that he woke up, cried refused to sleep. The pacifier helped to soothe him, while us parents got some sanity, and sleep. Since then, Sanju was on the pacifier strictly during naps and sleep time. Sucking on the pacifier helps him to fall asleep easily, and believe me, it is a bliss when he can sleep or nap when needed for his much needed rest and development, and for some break time for myself. I had planned to wean him off, but never knew when or how to start.

It was last week that my babysitter revealed to me that she did not use pacifier for Sanju's nap times for the last 1 week due to moulding on the pacifier after her 1 month leave. I read somewhere that it takes only 3 days to break or create a routine for baby. It then occurred to me, if he can do it at day time, I should start weaning him off at night time as well.

As the parents, there are 3 basic rules to follow:
1) Be patient, and do not stress, otherwise your baby will sense it and get stressed as well
2) Do not give up
3) Do not break rule #1 & #2

Here is how it progressed:
Day 1: Sanju drank his milk. Both ma and papa tried to put him to sleep by carrying, rocking, singing, patting, etc. For a while he nearly slept, but got excited by sudden movement from papa, and poof, he is awake! Gave up (yes, kick me), gave him the pacifier and my little angel slept nicely. Note: Papa=playtime. Papa to be away from bedroom on next few days try.

Day 2: Sanju drank his milk, and was pretty drowsy. Slept off after some patting.

Day 3: Sanju drank his milk, but was restless. Tossing and turning. Put him on my tummy and rocked him to sleep.

Day 4: Sanju drank his milk, was at in-law's place. New place, and he was a little restless. Took 5-10 mins of tossing and turning, but he fell asleep eventually.

Day 5: Sanju drank his milk, and by no means was sleepy yet. Carried and rocked him, sang song, but he was too alert. Took him back to the bed, and was asleep in 5 mins.

4 days without the pacifier and going strong! Of course his bedtime now involves a lot of singing, rocking, patting and hugging, but hey, he is a big boy now... Will only progress better!

Homemade Baby Food Strategies

2010-12-27T22:38:00.000-08:00

Suddenly it sounds like a war strategy, for some it might be, looking at the circumstances when we are battling against every odds to give the best to our baby. Homemade baby food is the best way to go, as it comes full with nutrition, no processing or preservatives. But time is something that we never seem to have enough of, neither can be bought. For things money can't buy, we find our own workable methods.

Here are my strategies in preparing baby food, usually about 2-3 times a week:

Since the serving portion for 1 meal is rather small, cooking a large portion (2-3 meals in one) is better to fully utilise the veggies you have bought for your baby. Freeze in portions enough for one meal each, and use as necessary. I usually keep frozen food for no longer than 7 days.
The same dish daily gets boring for baby. I sometimes cook 2-in-1 meals. Example one recipe here. This serves as the basic meal for either lunch or dinner.
I always keep stocks of powdered anchovies, cheese and yogurt to add taste and nutrition to the food. For example, with a basic meal of porridge or potato (consisting of carbohydrate and 2-3 types of veggies), I just add either anchovies, cheese or yogurt for added protein and dairy nutrition.
For some animal protein, I keep frozen stocks of boiled egg yolk, steamed fish or steam chicken for a twist to the taste and variety on the nutrition chart.
I cook and freeze some rice, banana or carrot puddings, for a change of taste on occasional meals or breakfast. A plain carrot or banana pudding is perfect to be served with cereal or on its own. You can also add in some fruits like apple or plum.

These methods gives me more flexibility over putting in more variety into his daily diet with reasonable effort. I usually cook and prepare stocks of his food while he's sleeping.

What are your baby food strategies?

How To Lose Weight - The Baby Workout/Diet

2010-12-27T21:02:00.000-08:00

During my pregnancy, I put on close to 20kgs. Can you imagine, it is like more than 2kgs per month! I can still recall the merry eating sessions I used to have when eating out, at my parents or my in laws place. Truly miss those preggy (and legally bloated) days. I truly did put myself up to my best food cravings and one after another, dessert became mandatory on even weeknights. During preggers I didn't have to worry about not fitting my jeans, at least, at that time. But yeah, on some odd ocassions I used to wonder, WILL I ever be able to shed all these 'food' off? If yes, how would I do it?

I really did not plan anything (other than sensible diet) like exercise or yoga, because I knew, with a baby and a day job, it is going to be a challenge doing that. Here's something I want to share, how I finally managed to lose abt 18kgs post-baby. I call it the Baby workout and diet. Below listed is the aspects of baby workout and diet that helped me shedding my glorious weight away:

Fussy Baby - Gives you power walks and arm muscle toning (hehe.. kidding here) while trying to soothe a fussy baby that wants to be carried and only carried the whole day. Constant sitting down and getting up also helps the whole body, as some babies, like Sanju, start crying the moment he realises I am sitting down
Flash eating - I think I should rephrase 'eating' to 'shoving food into the mouth' to get over with the meal as soon as possible and go back to attending the wailing baby that needs attention, refer to (1)
Baby wearing - When shopping or doing house work, the extra weight you are 'working' on is good for you
Lack of interest in food - It is not the appetite, but the lack of time you get to even sit and think, hey, I want to eat ABC, or BKT or CKT
Multitasking - Baby tending, house chores, (pampered) hubby tending... you get the idea?
Baby eating = burning calories - When your baby likes explore the whole house during his meal times, and if he takes long to finish his meals, you have longer workout

Disclaimer - This diet only works if you have recently given birth and have a baby tending to do. Baby Alive dolls do not count.

Manmadhan Ambu Movie Review

2010-12-26T17:04:00.000-08:00

Manmadhan Ambu is a classic example of half-baked story with an over-hyped starcast. The movie starts by showing arrival of movie star Nisha at the airport, later some details are thrown in as to how she is escaping from her personal life issues with her fiance back in India. The first half was so bland, with some hospital scenes of a cancer patient of some emotional factor. Nothing funny, interesting or engaging that happened at all. Yet, I continued watching, keeping some faith in the movie and Kamal Hassan's story.

It got interesting when some revelations came up in the second half, but only to be put down again with bad screenplay. The flashback song in the second half is the only engaging 5 minutes of the movie. I must say I was amazed at the whole song that was shot in a reverse order, at the same time, the actor was miming in a forward order, totally amazing. It feels as if 100% of the efforts in conceptualising & execution went into the song only.

Only at the last 1 hour that they decided to put in some comedy or errors, lies and cover-ups, which is nothing new, probably you would have seen this in 101 other films. The dialogue depends heavily on dirty and double meaning jokes to bring in the laughs.

So many things of important events were not explained or given proper justification.

1) What took Trisha 3 years to escape to a holiday away from Madhavan?
2) With such a bad accident happening just a distance away, how come none of the crowd of people heard it?
3) What triggers the romance between Trisha and Kamal? All of a sudden they announce that they are lovers?
4) The scene where Trisha was to confess about the 'accident', why does she suddenly turn all so romantic, citing her poem, and what not?
5) Why did Madhavan (the rich guy) refuse to pay Kamal?
6) Deepa promised to get Nisha to read Kurup's script, why does Kamal in the end walk around with it, saying he promised Kurup instead?
7) Deepa and Madhavan get together in the end, WTF for?

Instead of the comedy of errors and dirty jokes, they could have given more attention to Madhavan-Trisha-Kamal's relationships and development in a rom-com style. Badly disappointing. Kamal's 2010 offering is nowhere near Rajni's Endhiran. Better luck next time.

Giveaway: Bummis Review Series

2010-12-22T22:01:00.000-08:00

I have been following the Bummis Review Series on Mummy's Reviews and I must say the Bummis Diaper Kit sounds perfect for new mamas on the cloth diapering block. The kit comes well planned for a cloth diapering mother, makes it somewhat a one-stop solution to your diapering needs. Makes me wonder why didn't I get myself one? Maybe I still can... with this giveaway, of course!

To see more of TinyPants and their products, visit their e-shop.

For more info on the giveaway, click here, and I hope you will be interested in trying your luck too, as they say, sharing is caring, and extra entries!

Zor Ka Jhatka

2010-12-21T19:33:00.000-08:00

SRK is making a comeback to the small screen after his successful stints on Kaun Banega Crorepati (India's Who wants to be a Millionaire) and Kya Aap Pachvi Pass Se (Are you smarter than a 5th Grader), this time in the Indian edition of Wipeout.

Wipeout Australia is my absolute favourite weekend watch. It is not just fun seeing contestants act clumsy in all the weird obstacles, but the commentators' are amazingly hilarous, they actually contribute to the 70% of the fun in the show. And now SRK is to take on the hat of a host-commentator, I can imagine this show would be a blast, zor ka jhatka as they say! And in this edition, the contestants are Indian celebs from TV dramas and movies. This definitely makes for a even more fun commentating oppurtunity, and I must say, I know SRK knows best!

http://bollywood.celebden.com/2010/12/srk-makes-a-comeback-on-small-screen-with-zor-ka-jhatka/

Bananas Galore!

2010-12-20T19:33:00.000-08:00

There is a large amount of bananas my in-laws gave to us once they got to know Sanju loves bananas. However, bananas ripe and start to spoil very fast and I hate throwing any food items away. Thus, I decided, there has to be something that I can make and freeze, for Sanju's breakfast or meals.

Found some banana ideas from my baby food bible, wholesomebabyfood, and I was like, why didn't I think of that earlier?

Never too late to start, I got on working (once the ball of energy is put to sleep) and I hope Sanju enjoys eating it as much as I enjoyed making it! Here's the banana menu for freeze stock:

1) Mashed Bananas:

This is pretty simple, just mashed them in a clean bowl (leave it slightly chunky if you want your baby to chew on it). Put them in small containers and freeze. Can serve it on its own, or with cereal or breakfast.
Total cooking/preparing time: 3 mins

2) Banana Pudding:

You need: 1/4 cup of rice, 1/2 milk, 4-5 small bananas (mashed), some cinnamon powder
Cook milk and rice together. Once rice starts cooking (like the porridge), put in the mashed bananas, and some cinnamon powder. Serve it for breakfast or meals.
Total cooking/preparing time: 15-20 mins

3) Banana Custard:

You need: 2-3 egg yolks, 2-3 small bananas (mashed), some cinnamon powder
Mix all the ingredients together and steam or bake it. You can also pan fry it. Serve it for breakfast or meals.
Total cooking/preparing time: 10-15 mins

Easy breezy cover girl, err... I mean baby food!

I've Got Fluffymail!

2010-12-20T19:04:00.000-08:00

Well for those who are not familiar... I have just got some new cloth diapers! And this time it is not just any cloth diaper, it is custom made from a local WAHM mama who specialises in irresistible duo-printed diapers, called BlingBumz! This is probably the most awaited CD in my (and Sanju's) life ever. The maker, Lisa, was down with backpain for a while, I waited (im)patiently while she got working on it, and as luck had it, I managed to snab one in-stock diaper in another doubly irresistible duo-print while waiting!

They are:
1) Christmas Cupcakes (AI2 OS custom made):

This one is just a too cute of a print, even Sanju got attracted to it when it was in the laundry basket after drying. The soaker doublers have 2 different positions we can place, depending on a front or back wetter. And the diaper cover takes relatively faster to dry, as compared to a Bamboolite and Bottombumper! And I love the trim cutting, perhaps the trim factor makes the diaper look slightly smaller in size. Wish to have larger size designed for chunkier babies. Time to get all Christmas-y!

2) Blue Cheetah (AI2, M size, in stock):

Grrr... Cheetah print is what Sanju needs to become the player in the future, LOL! This one feels just as great as it looks, and the inner bamboo velour looks so black, shiny and feels luxe, Sanju's bums are indeed damn lucky!

Tempted? Get yours here.

Confinement Miseries And Irony

2010-12-15T20:25:00.000-08:00

Something on Facebook today brought me back to my confinement memories. Confinement is pretty much misery for all new moms. First of all you are already suffering from post partum recovery and whatnot. And then, for Asians, we have this strict diet and massage regime that makes it worse. You are required to be all covered top to bottom, and sweat your heart out. And to add fire to the heat, our diet is consist of food that encourages more heat and sweating.

Mom was quite particular about me not getting my hands and feet wet, about always wearing socks and long sleeves, about being coop-ed up in the room. The rebel in me, went against all of this. I washed my hair on 3rd day and even did some handwashing of baby's nappies and my poor mom, gave up, then again, I am sure she is secretly hoping that my kid would give me the same hell I always give her.

Everyone has baby blues during this period. Sometimes it is the feeling of incompetence or overwhelmed of being a new parent, worry of not being able to provide the baby. It does not help that this is also the time when babies have weird sleeping patterns, either stay awake the whole night, or wake up every 2-3 hours for feeding (and crying their lungs out). Or sometimes it is just the result of being confined. There would be times where we feel happy, and just the next moment we would be down, for no apparent reason. At times like this, it is important to talk and share your feelings with your spouse, mother or a friend.

Back to bad-mouthing confinement, to add more fire to the all sweaty heat, we, the mothers have to struggle with weight loss during confinement. Which is not easy for most of us. I had put on like 18 heavy kilograms during my pregnancy, and my weight after delivery was a whopping 60kg, which means 10kg more to my normal weight. Desperately looking out for some tummy tuck, I went out shopping for corset during my confinement. Ironically, most of the corset sizes that I found in Jusco were of size M and L that did not fit a 60kg lady. Pray, why? Someone of smaller size would not be looking for a tummy tuck, would she? Irony of all ironies...

New hobby?

2010-12-12T05:53:00.000-08:00

Well, I am still busy with my baby food cooking & cloth diaper hobby to catch a new one. This is in fact, about my hubby. We seem to have a photographer in the making, and we didn't even know it.

We took a walk to the nearby park on Sunday evening, and hubby took some real amazing shots of lotus flowers in the lake, using just a HTC wildfire.

Here are some of the best shots:

In fact, I used one of the shots on the right side on my blog as my blog image.

New Addition to the Cloth Diaper Stash

2010-12-08T18:39:00.001-08:00

Working from home for the past 3 weeks has been pretty fun as far as online shopping is concerned. When I am not occupied with work or Sanju, I managed to click 'Buy' at a few hazardous (to the wallet) and pleasure giving (to the CD-loving soul) online stores.

My latest CD arrivals are Bumgenius Artist Series, Joli printed PUL and Bamboolite Fleece cover. The main aim for these purchases are to sustain my little boy's pee needs, and yeah, for some retail therapy!

Here's a quick review on the dipes after one week's use:

1) Bumgenius Artist Series:

The diaper cover is so quick drying, it almost beats my coolababy dipes!
It fits the foldover inserts to the tee, perfect for outings (for the lovely print)
The inner fleece is the most stay-dry feel ever
The cutting suits my chunky little fella
This is my first ever BG dipe, and I am loving it!

2) Joli Printed PUL (below pic - left):

I love this one second to my bamboolites, so no explaination needed here
This is OS with a large cutting, definitely a good investment in the long term
A special thanks to Hannah from LovelyGoody!

3) Bamboolite Fleece Cover (below pic - right):

I got this cover to use with the foldover inserts, as an AI2 system
It is in size 2, so it appears rather bulky, only suitable for night use
Hoping to get some fitteds in future to be able to use this as a cover (oh my, more shopping!)

I have got a couple more coming in soon... So to keep the thrill going, stay tuned!

Baby Kichdi - 2 in 1 meal

2010-12-08T01:27:00.000-08:00

Kichdi is a traditional north Indian porridge-like meal, where we cook rice with dhal, and throw in some vegetables, and you get a complete meal all in one. It is the best eaten with yogurt.

Now that Sanju is familiar with spices (such as coriander, tumeric) and garlic/ginger, I decided to whip up a baby version of kichdi, which in turn comes out as 2 completely different meals in one: rice kichdi & mashed potato with vegetables.

Here are the ingredients (makes 3-4 servings):

2 fist-full rice
1 tbsp moong dhal
2 cloves of garlic
a small cube of ginger
2 cups of water/veg stock
1 carrot, some pumpkin - diced big enough to be scooped out later
some other vegetables (eg - cauliflower, asparagus, other vegs that your baby is familiar with)
2 potatoes
half teaspoon of tumeric powder
2 tbsp coriander leaves (cut small)

Cooking method:

Soak rice and moong dhal 1-2 hours prior to cooking.
Cook rice and moong dhal in the water for 5 mins.
Add tumeric powder, garlic and ginger. And add all the vegetables into it, and cook for 10-15 mins, stirring.
Once almost done, add in the coriander leaves, and cook for 3-4 mins, and turn off the heat.
Pick out the all the potatoes, pumpkin and carrots into a separate container. And voila! You have rice kichdi & mashed potatoes for 2 different meals.

You can mash the potatoes and vegetables to your desired consistency, and blend the rice or serve it on its own.

Here is the rice kichdi for lunch, you can reduce the water for thicker final product:

The mashed potato with vegetables for dinner:

Try it.. enjoy cooking for love!

Best Practices in Cloth Diapering

2010-12-03T05:37:00.000-08:00

We all have our best practice and tips that works for us that we follow religiously in our daily lives. Especially when a chore or task becomes a routine, we tend to build our own practice that works best for us!

With a growing number of cloth diapering mamas out there, I see (read & hear too) many questions and doubts on how/why/when/what/who all about CD. Believe me, I have been there too, 8 months back when I took my first step in cloth diapering my then 2 month old Sanju. And with my experience (and wisdom) I have established my own best practices in managing cloth diapering my little one, which I thought I will share here. These practices not just proved to help in effective CD laundry management, it also helped me to 'spend' smart on those pretty and irresistable dipes!

After use, always rinse the CD with water before placing it into the wet pail, to avoid creating a stink that can bring the house down, especially if you don't wash your CD laundry on daily basis.
Wash CDs with baby clothes, to reduce the amount of laundry you need to do for the little one. Since you have already rinsed the CD prior to washing, no worries about hygiene here.
Always put your CDs in a laundry bag before putting them for wash in the washing machine. It helps in preserving the elastics and avoid the velcro from spoiling the rest of the clothes.
Keep a stash of mixed type of diapers, eg pocket, all-in-one, all-in-2, fitted. This way, you have the flexibity of choosing the type for home use, outings or travellings. Plus, what is a stash without some variety?
For your all-in-2s, it is good to have a set or 2 of extra soakers to fully maximise the AI2-ness of it.
For those pocket diapers, always keep extra inserts. It helps especially on a rainy and wet day when laundry takes longer to dry. Pocket covers dry much faster than the inserts. It is also useful when travelling and hotel stays.
Buy one-sized (OS) diapers to be able to use it from baby to toddlerhood. This is indeed money well spent.
But hey, one can't resist those pretty, luxe, minky and oh-so-adorable sized diapers... so if you must, buy sized diapers once your baby is above 7 or 8 months, as they are almost over the rapid growth phase.
Use less detergent, more water, for the laundry.
It is recommended not to soak the CDs before washing. Therefore, you can soak the rest of the clothes in the washing machine first, and dump in the CDs only when you are about to resume washing.

In the mean time, here's a shot of Sanju's new Bumgenius Artist Series diaper to feast your eyes:

Good News and Bad News

2010-12-03T05:28:00.000-08:00

It was rather spirit dampening reading the news here about government subsidy reduction on fuel and sugar. One wishes more was done to provide incentives for the people to improve our lifestyles, indirectly helping our productivity and economy. Well I am not going to go all politics, but with the general elections coming up soon, the government could pay their cards better.

And... you might wonder, what is the good news? *Drum rolls* I won first prize for the LifestyleGreenSolutions Giveaway contest! I won products worth RM68, consist of Chlorine Free Baby Wipes and Clear Natural Laundry Detergent! Ya-ba-da-ba-doooooo

More winners and prizes here. This is my second online win in just 3 months and I am beginning to lurve it more and more!

Rapunzel: A Tangled Tale Movie Review

2010-12-01T06:23:00.000-08:00

I am a total animation movie freak. Fairy tales, however, usually do not count, because most of them, we have either heard or read them when we were young and pretending to be princesses.

What really made us watch Rapunzel was the fact that we needed some time out, and introduce Sanju, gently, to the cineplex, and what better than animation film to brighten up his time? Not to mention, this is a Disney musical, so there were songs in between, and I am pretty sure Sanju was as comfy as watching a hindi film with song and dance sequence. You know what I mean. Funny thing, Sanju's first ever movie experience had to be a princess story.

Rapunzel somehow diverts very much away from the usual fairy tale stereotyped stories. Forget the knight in shining armour rescuing the damsel in distress. This damsel actually rescues the the lad from trouble, not once, not twice.. err I think it is 4 times, if you count the ending (don't wanna give spoilers away here). She does this with her innocence, determination and a frying pan, yes you read it right.

The story is very much different from the version I have read during my childhood. But I am glad they spiced it up a little bit here, because thats how it becomes more fun. I shall not elaborate the story much here, as Rapunzel is as Rapunzel does... bring your kids for the fun, and yourself for the treat!

The moral of the story: Do not leave home without your frying pan!

Whats with fairy tales and princess stories anyway? I suppose it is the chic-lit and chic-flick of those days.

The Kasuri, The Baby, And I

2010-11-25T06:26:00.001-08:00

So much for the gempak title. Actually I just received the travelling pslings from a MBW mama, and being a ring sling, this was my first time ever using a sling to babywear. I received 2, the kasuri, and shijira.

Thanks to Norley for leaving the kasuri threaded. Me, the eager-beaver mama got to try it on immediately. And yeah, I shall earn some brownie points later in threading the shijira later.

Firstly I love the material, for a noob, it makes me feel comfortable and confident that my baby is in the right hands (sling). And surprisingly, Sanju seems more calm in the RS than he does in the SSC. In the SSC he tends to turn his head behind to see whats happening, while in the kasuri he is almost in his hand-carry position, so this dude was as comfy as ever!

And the most convenient aspect of the kasuri RS is that I put him on at home, wore him to the car (hubby drove) and got down easily at the mall. And I could take Sanju out of the RS for a few moments, and let the RS around me, felt like a sash LOL! Of course for a first timer I was adjusting and kept checking on his butt placement, but hubby told me I looked pretty expert with the RS.

Overall, great experience... if I get the chance, I would love to get on psling for myself.. but this 10 month kiddo might not last long in the RS.. but I love the elegant feeling it gave me. Thanks zana, for the chance to try this!

Here is a pic before we left home... planned for a movie, but there was nothing nice.. I guess the shijira will have the chance to make it for a movie, oh yea, it will also be Sanju's debut at the cineplex.

Perfect Sunday Brunch and Dinner

2010-11-22T21:12:00.001-08:00

What makes the perfect meal on a lazy Sunday? For the lazy brunch, my hungry-half likes to indulge in Pandamaran Bak Kut Teh, served with lots and lots of fried onion and raw garlic. Who cares if we have bad breath afterwards, it is after all, a lazy Sunday.

And the pigging (literally) out does not stop there. My favourite casual and lazy dinner is at Kampungku Food Center, where they serve the best ikan bakar, pork sausage and Uncle Bob fried chicken (beats KFC any day!). And oh, the food center kinda holds some very fond memories of our early dating days... awwww... No wonder they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach... Make sure you choose the right place to eat!

Why Cloth Diaper?

2010-11-17T21:13:00.000-08:00

As new and seasoned moms who are very much comfortable with traditional nappies and disposables, you might wonder, why even cloth diaper? Isn't it:

Costly
Require high maintenance
Difficult to manage the poo, and
Difficult to travel?

With so much of complications on cloth diapering (coupled with a baby and home to care for), who wants extra trouble?

Well, that is exactly what I thought about cloth diapers when I was doing my baby care research during my pregnancy. RM50 for a cloth diaper? I can get 2 dozens or more traditional nappies with that money... and plenty of disposables too... and I did.

So I achieved my cost requirement, for lampins with minimal maintenance - for the first 1 month, that is! My daily routine was washing and drying and folding lampins. Disposables were for night use, but it was difficult getting all the lampins done at times so I resorted to disposables for most of the evening and night use. With this, I went on washing/drying and buying disposables one after another. And we all know disposables are not cheap, a pack of RM40 (hypermarket price) can only go for 2 weeks, shorter if you travel in between. I needed a liberation, I was not prepared to do laundry for the rest of my FTWM life. Therefore, I switched, and man, that was the best decision I ever made for my baby!

From my experience, after converting, if I were to recommend, why CD?

Cost - lets look at the bigger picture here, your baby is going to be in diapers for minimum of 2 years of age. Imagine buying RM100 worth of disposables every month, that is RM2400 for the 2 years, and they all go down in the dumps creating landfill. If you invest in 20 CD (enough to rotate for 2 days), you will be spending RM800 on average. Plus, the reduced load of laundry contributes to lesser power and water consumption, and also baby detergent.
Maintenance for CDs is fairly simple. Use detergent with no enzyme & bleaching properties, wash them together with normal baby clothes (ensure CD is rinsed after every use) in the washing machine, and voila, you are done!
Managing the poo is easy-peasy with modern day diaper liners... just toss them into the bin. Also, once your baby is on solids, the poo is much easier to wash off the CD, try it to believe it. Honestly, I find it harder to manage poo on a lampin instead.
Travelling again, is easy-peasy, with a wet bag handy, you can bring your CDs with you anywhere you go. There are various CD systems to suit your travelling needs, eg All-in-2, you can re-use the shells by only changing the soakers.
Save the hassle and pressure of rushing to do laundry every morning to meet your diapering needs. Save the hassle of frequently diaper changing and cleaning for baby. Save the hassle of rushing to the supermarket to buy disposables (I've seen fathers at 99Speedmart buying beer & disposables on a Saturday night).

Make your decision today. Hey, I am not selling any products, just sharing my experience, to relief of the headache you might face.

Carrot Pudding with Cinnamon

2010-11-17T21:01:00.000-08:00

Remember I posted my Gajar Halwa recipe once. As I suggested, I went ahead to make a 'baby' version of it.

You need:

2 carrots (grated)
a pinch of cinnamon powder
a quarter cup of fresh milk (pasteurised)
a quarter cup of water

Method:

Put the water to boil, when it starts boiling add the grated carrots. Cook for 3-4 minutes.
Add the milk. Cook on a low flame for 5-7 minutes stirring occasionally
Add cinnamon powder, cook for 2-3 minutes more.
At this point, you can add a little amount of unsalted butter if your baby is ready for it.

Does not take that long, and it gives the whole house a yummy fragrance. The best thing is, if your baby still takes pureed food (like mine), you do not need to blend this one further as the grated carrots are good enough to be eaten, also give some coarser texture for your exploring baby to gum on it. You can serve it on its own, or with cereal. Works great as breakfast or mixed with other fruits for other meals or snack.

Lassi Recipe

2010-11-15T22:30:00.000-08:00

Yogurts are usually best kept over 14 days in the fridge, otherwise it would turn too sour, which is ok if you are like me. If you have plenty of yogurt leftover in the fridge and do not know what to do with it, try this lassi drink.

Lassi is a traditional Indian (mostly Punjabi) yogurt drink. They come in salty or sweet taste and these days, its even made the ice blended way with fruity flavours. You can get them at most Indian restaurants, and it doesn't take much to make it on your own.

For 2 servings, you need:

A cup of yogurt
2-4 tbsp of sugar (depends on how sweet you want)
2 cups of ice cubes
3-4 cardamoms

Mix all the ingredients into a regular blender, and blend till all ice cubes are crushed
You can substitute sugar with salt for a salty type of lassi.
Alternatively, reduce the sugar, and add your favourite fruits, eg mango, kiwi

Just made kiwi lassi for the first time over the weekend, and it was refreshing for a hot weekend! Great and healthy drink!

Homemade Yogurt For Baby

2010-11-14T21:03:00.000-08:00

Growing up, yogurt has been essential part of my daily diet. Mom always made sure there was sufficient yogurt in the fridge daily as we'd take it with our rice, dhal and vegetables. Recently started planning on including yogurt into Sanju's diet, and since the commercial yogurts are not that pure and fresh, I decided to make my own. But now without the access to fresh cow's milk, I resorted to Dutch Lady's pasteurized fresh milk.

The method is pretty simple.

Make sure you have about 1 tablespoon of yogurt (to use as a seed to culture your own) ready in a container you want to make the yogurt in (I prefer stainless steel containers, as it is safer than plastic, easier than glass.
Boil about 500ml (well it just depends on how much yogurt you want) milk in a pot. Boil till the cream starts expanding till the top of the pot and you can lower the fire and let it boil for 5-7mins more, making sure the cream does not spill all over.
Once done, turn the fire off, and let it cool (covered) for 5-10mins.
Mix the milk into the yogurt container, and stir it with a spoon. Leave it out for about 10 hours. And then store it into the fridge to avoid it turning too sour.

Here is the final product of my yogurt I made over the weekend:

You can serve yogurt to baby mixed with fruits, or cooked with pasta. Try it!

My new SnuggBaby - Good Earth Blooms with Maroon Straps

2010-11-14T20:34:00.000-08:00

We have now ditched the stroller for good - it was already under-utilised for a while now as my mightier half prefers to carry Sanju whenever we are out shopping, etc. Hate hitting the strollers onto people's behind and steering like we already do on the road. I suggested getting a Soft-structured carrier (SSC) to him, he agreed this could take much load off his back during (my) shopping hours.

My better half contributed significantly choosing the design (that I liked, LOL)... I don't know how but I am kinda good in letting him choose the one that I want...

Hubby: I like the checked design
Me: Err... ok...
Hubby: This one looks nice
Me: Errr.. it has beige straps.. not my kind of thing
Hubby: Which one u prefer?
Me: Good Earth Blooms with the maroon straps
Hubby: Ok, then take it
Me: Aww cool! Good that we chose together!
Hubby: (???) yeah right

Jokes apart... he likes it, and he wears it (voluntarily) most of the time while I get my hands dirty picking vegetables.

Now back to my Snuggbaby... I got it from the online store Snuggbaby and I am totally loving it! Thanks to seller Liza for the excellent job and wonderful after sales support! My experience on the SSC as a first time wearer is totally comfortable and enjoyable knowing that Sanju is safe on my back. I usually wear him when I am doing house chores such as cooking or laundry... but the little busy-body likes to lean sideways to see what I am doing at the front. As for my hubby, he loves carrying Sanju on the SSC while we are out... as expected, no strain on his back, and putting on the SSC is totally hassle free, we even put on/off a few times while shopping for hubby's Diwali clothes. Now, is that cool or what!

You may be wondering, heck all the talk but where is the real thing? Ok, here is a picture of me with Sanju on my back (my dad called this vietnamese-style-carrying).

Happy baby Happy mommy!

Bitten by the Babywearing Bug

2010-11-12T04:10:00.001-08:00

Well I won't say it is a bug, but more of an essential item, for me at least. I did kind of hear about babywearing when Sanju was much younger, but I guess I was kind of a slow pick-up there. Somehow it did not occur to me how beneficial and convenient it would be for me to babywear. Babywearing is a practice of carrying or 'wearing' a baby or child in a carrier, that comes in many different types.

Experts say babywearing benefits the baby by promoting better physical development and secure feeling by being close (almost skin to skin) with the wearer. We are often told how swaddling and massaging baby promotes growth and better health, it works the same way here. Remember how babies cry and fuss more often as a newborn? I remember my experience, Sanju constantly needed to be carried otherwise it was difficult to soothe him down. How I wish I had discovered (rather opened my eyes) earlier! And hey, while babywearing, you and baby can bond and communicate better.

Babywearing is so convenient you can provide this security, bonding and closeness while carrying out daily chores, such as cooking and doing the laundry. Whats more, babywearing proves to be a good workout for the wearer (thats you mama!), with the baby weight and chores going the same time, imagine the amount of calories you'd burn!

You'd not believe there are tonnes (ok maybe not tonnes, but the number of BW gears they own do add up to tonnes :P ) of BW mothers in Malaysia, you can find them at the Malaysia Babywears forum. About the babywearing bug that bit me, I shall share the details and picture soon. For now, if you don't BW yet, hop on now!

Confessions of a Shopaholic Mom

2010-11-11T22:49:00.000-08:00

Like many, I fully support and practice home cooked baby foods. They are not just healthier (free of preservatives and flavouring), also gives me full control and knowledge over what my little one is consuming in his diet. Also, it makes me feel like (sort of a) super-mom when I do my best juggling my work and his food preps on weekly and daily basis.

However, whenever I am out shopping for groceries (or just shopping for the adrenaline rush) I can't help getting attracted towards those pretty looking packed foods for baby. Whats more, they come with charming little labels seducing me that they are safe and healthy for babies, well at least, for occasional consumption... And I give in to temptation as usual, buy them, and create another stack in the fridge beside the frozen foods. Just today I was about to pick up a few more of those pretty containers when I remembered the current lot that I am already storing. And yeah, Pureen warehouse sales is coming this weekend.. they have pretty heinz stuff too... hmmm...

Lets take a look at my (baby's) stock:

So with all those home cooked foods stacked, when does one get the chance to use the pretty packed stuff? Well, I am hoping it will come in handy during those busy or traveling days. Even then, I am usually quite organized to plan some thing home cooked to insert into his meals.

Preparing (cooking and freezing) baby foods gives me some kind of high, sometimes I tend to get addicted to storing more and more types of food for him, as long as I have vegetables and fruits in the fridge. In the end, I hardly get chance to use up the yummy packaged stuff that I get him. What would that make me, home-foodie-holic, or store-a-holic? LOL... suggestions please?

Lets hope I stop buying more baby food before I finish off the current stock, or maybe I get a different addiction to keep away!

Tony Roma's Diwali Special

2010-11-09T19:38:00.000-08:00

It is not Tony Roma's that is throwing a Diwali special, instead we planned a Diwali special at Tony Roma's. In fact, this was a long pending plan, since last year's Diwali and it was only fair that we make it this time round since we are going to be back in JB for the holidays.

Yeah yeah I know there are a couple of Tony Roma outlets in KL itself, but due to the variety of the menu in the Singapore outlet (read: Pork), hubby and I decided to wait and plan for the ultimate trip to the Suntec City outlet for the full experience. We strategically planned our trip on a weekday to avoid the CIQ hassles and Singapore crowd at Suntec, and yea, we were accompanied by a lamp post - my brother.

It was not difficult to choose what to eat, we just attacked what we went for - Pork Ribs (St Louis Sampler), Baby Back Ribs, and (traditionally) chose a nice starter called the Tony's Sampler to go with it. Even though this was not my first time tasting it, I must say the excitement and the taste felt like a first time, surprised me again with it's tenderness and sauce variety. The usual pork ribs we have at Kampungku Food Center pales in comparison.

Our appetizer, Tony's sampler:

St Louis Sampler:

And once we were done pigging out, we washed it down with the Brownie Sundae, which was just oh-so-heavenly, could we ask more? While the bill arriving later was pretty much throat-cutting, the taste and the ribs were to die for, no issues having our throat cut!

Simply said, it was worth crossing 7 seas (the causeway) to just experience the taste of Tony Roma's world famous ribs! Now we're planning the next trip to Suntec City sooner!

Festive and holiday seasons are here!

2010-11-08T07:24:00.000-08:00

While I am still in the Diwali mood, I noticed that since Hari Raya holidays started, the festive and holiday seasons have arrived. Now with Diwali season, and Hari Raya Haji coming up next week, we are going to see plenty more public holidays in December, before welcoming Christmas and the new year!

With all the holiday excitements, do take extra caution to ensure safety while being on the road. Ok so my nonchalant and totally oblivious self has not much technical knowledge nor skills on auto or car maintenance and safety (I refer to each mechanical part as the *functional*-thingy), but it helps to know there are such sites as RepairPal that provides auto maintenance estimates.

During my time I sat for drivers license, we did not have the hands-on module, but at least I do remember steps such as adjusting the seat, checking the review and side mirrors, check engine light, check the indicators and wipers before starting to drive. This prepares us to ensure these functional essentials are working when needed on the road, also helps us to know if there are any specific or potential problems in the car condition.

To get a better idea of your car model's problem reports, Q&A, recalls and feedback, RepairPal provides search options, for example Ford F-150, to access and know about your auto. The auto shop directory page gives an overview and information on the outlets recommended, San Diego auto repair is one such example.

Finally I can enlighten myself with better auto knowledge on the 'thingies' involved, or at least, scrutinize a car model of my choice.

Happy Diwali!

2010-11-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

Saw this lovely rangoli in Sunway Pyramid last week.. what better way to greet fellow Hindus a very Happy Diwali! Enjoy the holidays with family and friends and great food!

I WANT SEVENTH GENERATION PRODUCTS!

2010-11-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

I am not an eco-friendly product user and I'd like to convert into one. How safe are your baby products? Read here. Heck, most of the products are those that I have been using on my kid, they are mostly the gifts he received after his birth. This article is truly an eye opener, and perhaps it is the right time to change now. This is why I am using this giveaway as a chance to score me some freebies to consider for full future use.

What enticed me towards the Seventh Generation products are the organic and chlorine free properties. The harmful chemicals on most commercial product don't just pose long term harm on the user, but also to the environment when it turns toxic. They are not called 'Seventh Generation' for nothing, the products are truly ahead of its time!

More info on the giveaway here. For more info on Lifestyle Green Solutions products, refer website here.

Ginger Chicken For Baby

2010-10-31T18:51:00.000-07:00

I am getting more and more obsessed in cooking and preparing different types of food for my little one. After his intro to fish, anchovies and egg yolk has been successful, I decided to introduce him to the taste and goodness of chicken. My first chicken preparation was a simple one, without ginger. Only during the second batch I decided to include ginger for extra taste & fragrance.

The method is pretty simple. Cut chicken breast meat (boneless and fat removed) in long/small pieces and boil in water with crushed ginger. Boil until cooked, remove the cooked chicken and shred into pieces and freeze. Put them in porridge or other meals as you like. You can choose to keep the ginger to be eaten or remove it. My little chicken in stock for Sanju:

The resulting chicken stock can be used to cook porridge, with or without the ginger, it retains the nice smell & nutrients. Alternatively you can also prepare chicken in powder form. With share that another time.

Beautiful Blogger Awards from Sheena & Mei Hooi

2010-10-28T22:36:00.000-07:00

Thanks Sheena and Mei Hooi for the beautiful beautiful blogger award. The award makes me blog much more beautiful indeed! Sheena and Mei Hooi are beautiful and wonderful mamas I got to know through forums of 'common interest' and now developing further into blogging interest.

This is how we go about doing it:

1. Thank the person who gave you this award and the link of the person

Thanks to Sheena and Mei Hooi both for giving me this award!

2. Need to choose 15 awesome bloggers and their blog!!

I have a short but very important list of blogger buddies... they are:

3. Tell 7 things about me

A FTWM who does overtime mama tasks to make up for the lost time *sob*sob*
Hubby thinks I am a CD addict, but I have a very humble stash
I love experimenting while cooking, and I have an 'always ready & hungry' guinea pig, no prize for guessing who
I am a new but avid blogger - love sharing informations and ideas with friends
I get extraordinarily excited doing perl scripting
I secretly love dunking cream crackers into ginger tea
I need my daily ginger tea fix, or at least, just tea

Lets keep this award going, I hope the bloggers I chose will post the same on their blog (except Sheena & Mei Hooi).

Giveaway: The Pat-a-Cake-Baby Wet Bag

2010-10-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

Q - What does a stylish mama need in handling modern cloth diapers when on the move?
A- The Pat-a-Cake-Baby Wet Bag!

Another Pat-a-Cake-Baby stylish products giveaway by Spinkie!

It comes in 6 designer patterns to fit your wet bag needs, either for cloth diapers or cloth pads. Whats more, it comes with a snap handle that makes it easy to be hung or attached anywhere while on the move. Say bye to those boring plain wet bags!

My favourite design has to to be the Blue Zoo (image from Spinkie website)To get your own entry for the giveaway, rush over to Mummysreviews now! And remember again, you heard it from me *wink*