My plant at the office over the weekend

I have always like to have plants on my desk. It makes me feel fresh and happy. And usually, it is one of those money plants which are quite easy to take care of. You can leave them and forget to water them and they will still turn out alright.

But my latest plant is not as hardy as that and look what happened when I left on Friday without watering it first. Isn't it sad?


I was a little horrified, thinking that it had died on me. I started to water it, hoping that it has still the strong will to live. After about an hour, voila!

It survived and going strong! I love that plants are on my desk making me smile each time I see them. Hopefully when I get back tomorrow, it is still sitting pretty!

I am happy but also jealous

When Ryan was small, he used to look up to me and depend on me a lot. It sometimes overwhelm me to a point where I wonder if he was ever going to be independent. And needless to say, he enjoyed a closer relationship with me than he did with his dad.

Although hubby did mention this to me, I brushed him off saying that Ryan adored him anyway so he does not need to be so silly about it.

4 years on, exactly around the time Ryan celebrated his 4th birthday, he began his process of breaking free from me. It started with wanting to sleep with his daddy instead of squashed with me in the middle and Megan on the other side.

He also began to go to school and go up the stairs on his own instead of clinging on to me. He also started to change his own clothes, button them up, bathe himself, feed himself and even helped to soothe Megan when I was unavailable.

And now, his relationship with his dad has improved a lot and I think his daddy is extremely happy about it. Although I know that deep down nothing can replace a mother's love, I cannot help but feel jealous sometimes when Ryan gets close to his dad or when he wants his dad to brush his teeth, change his clothes or even send him to school.

Some people I speak to seem to think that it is cute and he is so grown up, I just cannot help but feel jealous about it. But I have this deep sense of pride knowing that he is growing up just right.

There are still many years to come where he will display his readiness to break away and be independent, but at the moment I wish that those years will come slowly.

I am not ready to break free ... am I just being silly?

Megan is 5.5 months old!

Yay! Megan is 5.5 months old! And this is what she can do now:

* More mobile

* Able to roll right over and over and over

* Soothe herself when upset, most times I will be there though

* Be able to add new sounds to her vocabulary almost everyday, well almost!

* Be able to scan room and follow a moving object with her eyes as her vision improves

* Be learning about cause and effect, much to the amusement of her brother

* Be able to recognize herself in the mirror, she usually will smile and shy away

* Love repetition and enjoy doing the same thing again and again

* Try to sit up unaided

* Pivot whole body in preparation for creeping or moving

* Pull up to standing position from sitting

Was told that she too should:

* Practice her talking skills with single syllable words such as 'da', 'ba' and 'ma' - not noticeable yet
* Be able to do push ups with arms so that she lifts her head, upper chest up off the floor - not really
* Use her mouth to test the temperature and properties of different foods - I did not allow this yet

* Begin to understand object permanence - no quite since she cries whenever I move away from the room

* Be able to transfer an object from one hand to the other - not yet, Megan grabs with both hands though

* Start sleeping through the night - not a chance since she is still breastfeeding

* Babble combining vowels and consonants e.g. ga-ga-ga, ma-ma-ma etc. - not yet apparent

Isn't it fast? My little girl is growing so quickly now. I am just loving her more and more each day.

Happy Father's Day

Last Sunday was Father's Day and we went back to PD for a change instead of getting my folks up to KL. We intended to have breakfast on Sunday but instead became brunch. My mum said that their house in PD is a recuperation centre, everyone who goes back there sleeps exceptionally well!

Between Avillion and The Thistle, we decided on The Thistle, mainly because it is new in town. You can see below how nice the environment is from the lobby to the poolside to the garden.




We went to its Glass restaurant. We had called earlier and was told that the buffet ends at 11am. We reached at 9.45am. However, upon reaching, we were told that the buffet table will close at 10.15am! What a disappointment! But wanting to celebrate anyway, we went to get as much food as possible and then sat down to enjoy it.

Needless to say, we were all so stuffed with food that nobody really wanted to walk, much less in the sun. But Ryan was so excited about flying his kite at the beach that we all had to go with him. It was actually quite windy - luckily!

We spent close to 2 hours by the beach watching Ryan and his daddy fly kite and play in the sand, Megan was nursing and sleeping quite a bit despite the heat. We even undressed her to give her a quick shower, she was happy! We also bought some ice-cream and it was melting faster than we can lap it up! Although we were all ready to go, I think Ryan felt a little heavy hearted.

We left at about 1pm and came back all tired and happy.

It was my dad's 35th year of celebrating Father's Day and only the 4th for my hubby. May we all have many more Father's Day to come!

Ryan's words on me

Last night, I was in one of my particularly agitated mood. And so, I was scolding both Ryan and Megan. Ryan - because he was constantly talking and could not finish asking his questions. Megan - she was being agitated too because she could not sleep although she was tired.

In the middle of me scolding them, Ryan asked "Mummy, why are you always scolding people?" I stopped momentarily. It never struck me that I was having this negative effect on him. I always thought that I was only doing it for their own good, never because I wanted to annoy him or anything like that.

What he said made a mark on me, I guess in my day to day chase of the tasks I need to complete, I lost sight of what they mean to me and how I should handle them. His words made me realise that to be a good mum, it is not easy. But it served to stop me in my tracks and reflect.

Ryan dearie, mummy is sorry for scolding you. Mummy will try to control a bit more thanks to your words. Hopefully tomorrow I am not so "mang chang".

Influenza A (H1N1) virus

The Star has this piece of news on line. And personally, I am very concerned about letting Ryan go to school tomorrow. There is just no certainty anymore about this. Seems to be anyone who is anyone could be affected by this virus.

And the weather lately has not been helping too. We seem to get sore throat and fever and flu quite easily. And all these are symptoms of this terrible flu.

Some weeks back when Ryan had a fever, we rushed him to the hospital fearing the worst but thankfully, he was alright. Back then, we did not have any children in schools being infected. Now we do. I am just thinking how we will be handling it if any of our kids suddenly develop fever or anything like that. Do we immediately rush them to the hospital? Do we wait to see if our usual fever medicine works first? I am really at a lost.

I just texted my kid's principal asking her if she thinks it is still safe for the kids to go to school. I am not sure what I am expecting her to say, I guess I just want to get it out of my system. As it is now, I am very worried.

What about you? Have you pulled you kids out of school? Are you staying indoors more? Or am I overly paranoid?

Of flying kites and glow sticks

Some weeks ago, we took Ryan and Megan to the park to fly a kite. Apparently there were loads of people at the particular park and we thought joining them would be loads of fun.

However, when we got there, it started to rain and then it poured! Arghh, all the way there and can't even get out of the car! But then, being the stubborn me, we waited in the car. And then, the rain started to slow down to a drizzle and then, it stopped!

Yay! We got down to get the kite going, but then there was no wind!! But we still refused to give up and got Ryan running along the park with the kite barely lifting off the ground! Poor boy. All this while, we were trying to convince him to stop trying to fly the kite since it was going to be tough with the slippery grass and all. Finally, out of breath, he threw the kite on the ground and proceeded to the playground.

Once on the swings and slides, there was no stopping him. He was enjoying himself so much that it was such a joy to see him. After a while though, the wind came back and we were finally able to fly that silly kite. Actually, it was WSL's kite since she came along to join in the fun as well.

All this while, I was thinking "Thank goodness Ryan did not see anyone selling glow sticks". Can you imagine if he saw them and then went on and on about wanting those glow sticks? I think I would have screamed (in my head, of course) at him for whining about it. I am very sure that he will like it and then I will at a lost as to where to buy them.

But thinking about it, have you seen anyone selling glow sticks lately? I want to know so that I won’t have to be at a lost should Ryan ever want to have it. I think kids should be exposed to it and have at least an idea on what it is.

So, do you know where I can find it?

I have heel spurs

A couple of months ago, I injured myself while doing Body Combat at the gym. I felt a sharp pain when I landed on my right leg in the middle of the workout and it had not been the same since.

At first, I thought that I would just leave it, but then it got more and more painful to the point that I cannot walk properly. That is when I decided to seek help, but who??

Thankfully my neighbour is a sports doctor (well, he told me what he was, but I forgot, so we will call him the sports doctor) and he has seen my cases all too often. While he assured me that it was not very serious, I cannot help but to wonder why then does it take so long to heal.

Apparently, heel spur is a condition where you will feel a sharp bony projection on the bottom of the heel that pokes the bottom of your foot causing you pain. Painful heel spurs are actually a result of damage to the soft tissue at the bottom of the foot.

So you can imagine me with this pain. Gone are my heels as well as flats. I have to wear soft insoles to support my wrecked foot. If left unchecked, my neighbour said it can lead to chipped bones at my heel, and then a surgery is needed.

I have been going to my neighbour to seek relief but sadly, it is not very apparent yet if my pain will go away. It doe feel better after the treatments but it is still not back to normal and I have yet to go back to Body Combat yet.

Arghh!!! Please pain, go away!

School holidays

So fast, the school holidays are over. We have not been doing very much because I was reserving the big items for the long holidays in November/ December.

The first week of holidays, Ryan was at his school camp for half the day while Megan was at nanny's. I was having FGDs for the whole week and that pretty much took care of whatever energy I had to think and carry out any activity with Ryan.

the second week, Ryan and Megan were at nanny's on Monday and Tuesday. on Wednesday, only Megan went to nanny's while Ryan and i went to 1-Utama for a movie and a visit to Toys r Us. his daddy came along too.

Thursday saw us driving back to PD. thankfully Megan and Ryan were well behaved in the car, else I would probably have to stop somewhere to scream at them! A visit to my parents' place is always good as it is like a place for recuperation. Everyone sleeps and eats and sleeps some more.

Today is Sunday. Our drive back was smooth and school starts tomorrow. I am actually looking forward to school re-opening since I think it is better for Ryan to be learning and socializing in school than to be watching TV and screaming at nanny the whole day.

And as usual, I am looking forward to work too ...

Megan fell off the bed!!

On Thursday, I slept at 1.20am. At 2.30am, I woke up when I head a loud "THUD!"

I thought it was Ryan knocking against the wall or something in his sleep. Actually it was Megan falling off the bed!!! Thankfully there were some bags on the floor and so, we was spared from feeling the hard floor on her body and head. It did not stop her from the shock though and she cried for a while.

I figured it must have been when she turned and flipped herself off the bed despite me putting some pillows to prevent her from falling over. I was in such a shock that I did not know what to do apart from calling out to my mum.

after examining her, we thought that she was ok and after nursing her, she went back to sleep. I am so thankful that she is ok. Now, I think I have to get the bed rail for our beds. I already have one on one side for Ryan and think now I have to get the other side's for Megan.

Sigh, I must be more careful next time.

A new business idea

The other day, I was sitting with a friend and we were thinking about how we mummies can afford not to work while still being able to enjoy the many pleasures of shopping and spoiling ourselves.

After 30 minutes of talking, she exclaimed "How about we drop ship through the net?!" I was like "Huh?! What is that??" We then spent the next 60 minutes discussing about this business idea. The whole thing will only work if we are able to find some great wholesale partners who we can get good deals from. This included anyone we can find on the net or through any of the business associates her husband has.

Some of the businesses included kids' clothes, maternity wear, bras, MLM products, toys or even health supplements. We figured if we are able to gain sufficient awareness and subsequently, orders for these products, we can strike a deal with the wholesalers and then ship the customers the goods without us having to store any physical products.

We were very nervous about having physical products around us - mainly for security reasons. What will happen if there is a theft or if there is an unfortunate fire arising? The risk is too much to bear.

We then debated on what the margins would be like. Obviously the difference between what we pay the wholesalers and what we charge should be pretty attractive for us to go through the hassles of setting up the site and then having to do all this manual tracking and matching of orders.

The other consideration point was that, what would make us stand out in the market place for people to approach us instead of linking up directly to the wholesalers? We should ideally be offering some sort of guarantees, after sales service, on-going loyalty redemption etc., else it will be very hard to differentiate ourselves from the rest of the people in the cyberworld.

In the end, we ended our afternoon tea with some satisfaction in mind. Whether or not we will eventually go through with this drop shipping idea is a separate matter. What mattered was that we shared the same dream and we are at least putting our minds into it.

Do you have any business idea for us mummies here? Can you share?

Stealing moments for myself

I honestly cannot remember what I used to do before I had Ryan in my spare time. I do know that I was very free though. I vaguely remember me and hubby going to the movies whenever we wanted.

Now, my me-time is very limited and very precious too. And this time need not be long and need not be far, just some minutes to myself.

Because of this, I have learnt to appreciate blogging time when the kids are asleep, the coffee time in the morning before work at the Imbi marketplace, breakfast time alone at home when the kids and hubby are still sleeping, jam time in the car listening to my favourite songs or cursing the stupid driver next/ in front/ behind me, window shopping time when I want to see all those clothes I know I cannot fit in and of course the gym time.

Heck, I even consider being able to pee quietly without the kids calling me my me-time too!

What about you? What is your me-time like??

Hazy hazy days

This photo was taken from my balcony.

On an ordinary day, we can see KLCC clearly and it is even more beautiful at night with the lights blinking and all. On clearer days, we can even see the lights at Genting.

Now, I cannot even see the development area behind my place. Look at all the haze. Some may even think that it is mist if they do not know where I took it from.

All this haze is making me quite agitated. All the heat and stickiness, not to mention the tempers flying too. And they say we will see 3 degrees higher in temperature and may last till September.

Today, they say we may be heading for water rationing.

I am at my mum's now and even sitting still and blogging will make me sweat! Air-conds are switched on all day. I think I am partly to be blamed for the global warming saga, but if I don't switch on the damn air-conds, my kids will be screaming and my tempers will flare.

How la?? Hazy hazy days, please go away.

Streamyx and their never ending problems

My house uses Streamyx. And I really dislike them. If other providers are there, I would just switch. I am looking forward to moving to my new place and hopefully connect to Maxis or Celcom, whichever is faster. On top of their already slow problems, I received this mail today.

Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) will be performing their network upgrading exercise from 11.00 pm, Friday, 12th June 2009 until 6.00 am, Saturday, 13th June 2009.

As a result, Streamyx customers nationwide may experience a disruption of service during the stipulated period.

Customers can call TM at 100 and select “Internet Services” or e-mail them at help@tm.com.my for any Streamyx related problems.

For further information, please visit the announcement published at TM official website.

http://www.streamyx.com.my/whats_new/whats_new.php?id=article_20090605

I wonder if this upgrading exercise will improve our services. And I wonder if they have to pay each of their customers back if they have a downtime, will it help improve their services? Arghh!!!

The English language

When I was young, my mum used to speak to us in English and insisted that we do not add in the "lah" when we speak.

When I was in primary school, our teachers spoke English to us and it was spoken very well too.

When I was in secondary school, I had my first taste of school mates not being able to converse in English. I also had teachers who could not speak the language well.

When I was in university, I was horrified to learn that some of my fellow uni mates could not speak this language well, let alone write it. Forget about conversing, some could not even understand some basic words I use.

At work, thankfully, most could speak this well. Although I did come across candidates at interview sessions who could not understand our line of questioning.

And then, I read our DPM has this to say in The Star, should I laugh or should I exclaim in horror?
"... surprised to learn that English is not a “must pass” subject for SPM and wants public feedback on the matter."
"...it was a revelation to him as he had always thought that it was a prerequisite since students had to learn English in school."
"... shocked to learn that national schools no longer taught English grammar."

And apparently, a pass in English has never been compulsory for SPM. Since 2000, a pass in Bahasa Malaysia was sufficient to get the SPM certificate. Previously, a credit was a must. And one wonders why we have people who cannot speak nor write the language well.

To top off the whole fiasco, he has this to say "...he wondered if rural students would be at the losing end if a pass in English was required in SPM."

wtf??

A Day Out With Ryan

It's the school holidays now and I have been planning a day out with Ryan since last week. I had wanted to bring him to watch Monsters vs Aliens at 1 Utama, followed by a visit to the Toys r Us outlet there.

We reached 1 Utama at 10am and hurried to buy the movie tickets. His daddy said that he will join us. What a rare thing indeed. After getting the tickets, we went to FOS Kids and Teens. It was great. Every time I go there, I find gems. Affordable and nice clothes for my kids. Yes, I am a cheapo mum, I can't help it.

11am came and we rushed to get our popcorn and then into the cinema. To my delight, the hall had about 20 people in it. Good, good, no disturbances. His daddy arrived in the middle of the show but Ryan was just as happy to see him. The movie was quite good especially the part where Susan (the oversize girl) realised that her fiance was a real jerk and proceeded to make up her mind that she did not need him to shine, she was doing it just fine.

When the movie ended, we proceeded to lunch at Delicious. Ryan wanted cup cakes and so, we went. We also had fries, pasta and sandwich, on top of 2 milk shakes. By the time we finished, Ryan was so full, I think he wanted to vomit.

His daddy had to go back to work and so, we went to our favourite place - Toys r Us!! I think we spent over 2.5 hours in there. I had my book in my hand and all I did was follow Ryan around and find a spot for me to read while he played with the toys. We left the store with RM100 worth of toys and puzzles. The good thing was that Ryan did not whine about wanting the toys, he just went with the flow and I said yes to some of his requests.

We left 1 Utama at 6pm and Ryan immediately fell asleep. He said he was so tired and so sleepy. Poor boy. I let him sleep in the card till about 7pm when I had to wake him up. He was still tired but thankfully was in a good mood. He is such a dear. After dinner, he played a while and finally hit the sack at 10.30pm, still late I think.

All in all, we had a good day. I am happy to have him with me and to celebrate him, just him. I am looking forward to doing it again with Ryan and in the years to come, with Megan too. Tomorrow. we will be back at my mum's for the remaining school holidays.

What about you? Where are you going?

I dropped my milk

I was cleaning the fridge last night when one of the ice-cream milk bags fell out. I had just put it in, so the milk has not frozen yet. The whole thing just fell on the floor with a soft thud and the milk were all over.

I had a sudden heartache. Although my production levels this time round is great, I still felt that I had wasted my precious liquid for Megan. I could not help but to feel a little agitated about myself. I supposed I should be thankful that it was the small tube that fell out instead of the big bag.

Sigh, breastfeeding is really not easy. I always feel very defensive about my stand to breastfeed and even more so when it comes to pumping and storing. I really hate people who ask me whether it is safe to feed a baby frozen and thawed milk, if it is fresh, if the nutrition is still there etc. And I always feel that I have to "protect" my stock, all the time.

To have one of them fall out the fridge and spill all over made me cringe with anger, at myself. Argh, stupid silly me!

"I want 2 brothers and sisters"

Yup, this is what Ryan said just now and his daddy stared at him with disbelief.

At some point I think his daddy was holding the bedsheet tightly when Ryan went on and on about wanting 2 more brothers and 2 more sisters.

His daddy said "Aiyo, you already make me pengsan, some more ah?"

LOL!!

Ryan goes working with me

Last week has been tough for me. We had to run some fieldwork and I have been coming home late. I figured that it would be easier if I had Ryan with me while hubby takes care of Megan.

2 out of the 5 nights I was away, Ryan was with me. He was a darling and I must say, even I am surprised with his behaviour. I had half expected that I would have to go off half way.

The first night, he was happy with some papers and pencils. The second night, I had a laptop set up for him so that Mickey and his friends will be able to help keep him happy.

But I think the 2.5 hours being cooped up got the better of him and so, he did not follow me after that. I was very happy with him being able to get a glimpse of what I do for a living. He told me that he wants to see me work so that he knows how I get the money for him to go school and buy toys.

Meanwhile, when I got back home, Megan is usually ready for her milk after her screams with hubby. And life is just great after the kids are down, I usually get reminded of how great my role is as a mother to my wonderful kids.

Auntie P

Auntie P came on 1 June 2009, almost 5 months after Megan was born. With Ryan, she came 3 months after he arrived.

I was a little surprised the last time and asked the gynae what happened as breastfeeding mummies generally do not have their aunties visiting so early. He assured me that all is fine and that it just means I am fertile.

And age made a mark, this time, older, Auntie P also came later, although it still means I am fertile. Sigh, and who says we are not getting older??

One of those nights

I had to observe some fieldwork tonight and I had the whole night planned out, or so I thought.

Megan was to be with nanny while hubby takes Ryan. I figured it is easier for everyone this way and I will pick Megan up when I finish.

However, the fieldwork started late and I had to take calls from hubby saying that Ryan was being difficult. I was half cursing and half wanting to just leave. In the end, I left.

When I got to nanny's, I was told that Megan was on hunger strike since sunset. Great, I have wonderful kids who knows when the sun goes down, mummy's coming and no other food is allowed. I don't know where this character comes from.

When I got home, hubby said Ryan was having a fever. Me, in a panic, did not know what to do first -change Ryan and get him to the hospital or to feed Megan and put her to sleep. Thankfully, hubby remained calm and got Ryan out the door to the hospital. I stayed at home and Megan was asleep in no time.

The wait at home was horrible. At some point, I called hubby and heard Ryan whining on and on. He told me he was in pain and that his stomach was upset. I cried and went into a mess again, not really sure what to do.

Sigh, having kids is really a whole new world. So much can potentially happen. So much can change in a second. I just received a call from hubby saying that Ryan is fine, he just has a normal fever, not the nasty swine thing which I was nervous about. I am so so relieved. Megan is sleeping like a baby now. And I am just thankful I have my brother around who is always called to be on stand by should the situation needs him. Bless his soul.

Now, have just made Ryan's milk and waiting for him to come home to me. What a night huh?