My blog... my knitting... my sanity!!!

Ok... I have to admit I've been neglecting this blog for a few months. Not that I don't have anything to post but life is so hectic nowadays... there are many more tasks to carry out everyday. Alright, I need to review my time management either for personal and work as well.

Latest update about the kids is - they are growing way too fast and I missed out too many incidents, be it happy, sad, grumpiest (this must be Zheng!), fun, ... from them to be jotted down here. One thing that amazed me lately from the blogger mummies are many is having baby No.3!!! This is quite a shocking news to me since they told me they are doing good with one girl and one boy (you know who you are yeah...) but I'm very happy for them.

So up next is baby bloomers I can't miss should be baby knits! Oh gosh... where on earth I have the time to knit so many baby gifts?? But I still love baby knits and hopefully I will be able to squeeze in time to knit more so that I can have extra baby gifts if I have surprises like this next time.. LOL!!! Just realized many of the mummy is having or going to have baby GIRLS!!! Girls tends to have more options when it comes to knitwear...

Alright, switched topic - My sanity? Well, today is my happy day coz I'm ON LEAVE!!! Not only that, I got my hair trimmed and dyed in red undertone, even it's not so obvious but can see the red under sunlight; visited Bobbi Brown counter in Gurney Plaza which I long to many many years ago and got myself this:

Want to see the actual products? Well, I have been eyeing them (yes, one palette and one set of mini brushes) since the launch and really can't wait to have them...

Hmm... a little small fortune spent there. I'm definitely a Bobbi Brown's fans since 10 years ago!!! Oh... how time flies, now you know why I need makeup... Opps!

When I reached home, there was a parcel waiting for me. I think I know what it was and Ta-dah -

The online contest prize that organised by mybabybay.com. I'm not sure whether En En will like it or not but this is really an early Christmas gift.

So I shall be a happy mummy today! YEAH!!!

Birthday Cakes

In the morning @ office

In the evening @ home

Yes, today is our big girl's birthday! En En turns Six today!

She is so excited about her beautiful & colorful birthday cake and posed more for mummy to snap photos. Her school will be having a birthday party this Friday. There is another bigger birthday cake that she selected the design in the cake house last week. So many birthday cakes in a WEEK!!!

Happy Birthday, our little darling!

Number 3??

Mummy: "En En, you want another little brother or sister?"

En En: "I want a little sister to play with me..."

Mummy: "If you have another sister or brother, who is number 3 in the family, you won't have chance to go to indoor playground or buying new toys as usual now."

En En: "Why not?"

Mummy: "Because we need to buy extra milk, clothes, food and also toys for number 3, so mummy and daddy's money will be used up."

En En: "Then no need to have number 3 already! Didi and myself is enough already..."


"Brain-washed" session end. LOL... She is so realistic...

It's just 2 days before Mummy's birthday...

But mummy ended up staying in hospital with Zheng! Zheng was having some virus attack from the blood test on Friday. He suddenly vomitted non-stop after arriving to school and mummy still remember he was so active in the morning before school.

Mummy received phone call from daddy around 4pm, informing that Zheng already admitted to Adventist Hospital and was on drip! By the time mummy rushed home to pack his neccessity, it's the perfect time to change shift with daddy who was taking care of him after he's admitted.

Zheng didn't cry when he saw mummy but he was so weak and finally cried due to discomfort in his tummy and the vomit. It was recorded that he vomitted after meal or took any liquid. Basically, what's went in, went out eventually. This is quite a serious case and according to paed, there are a few same cases in the hospital already. It is contagious and we all avoid En En to visit her little brother during his stay in the hospital.

Zheng slept quite early last night due to tiring and his weakness, he can't even fight back when doctor and nurses poke him with the needle. Totally not his usual self... first time we seen Zheng so inactive and weak! Luckily he still able to take milk at night even it's just 2oz at a time. The next morning he seems better and able to eat half plate of the noodles. He drinks more and most of all, no more vomit after meal or drinking. He started to jump and run in the playroom at the paed wards unit. Glad to see he is recovering.

Paed advised not to discharge him yet and better still stay another night to monitor his condition. He still need to get his antibiotic injection for 3 days continually. What is more glaad to see is that he is not throwing tantrum or screaming wild in the hospital. He is alright if we reason with him and putting him to sleep is a bliss! He will tell you " It's dark already, switch off the light and sleep!" When he's in that mood, we quickly switch off the light and within a few minutes, he's already in his dreamland.

Maybe because he is attending school? Frankly, his attitude changed alot even he is still pig-headed and has storm-like temper. He is able to express himself more and able to listen to us now. But downside sending him to school too early will be having more frequent paed visits due to kids in school may spread health-threatening virus anytime... Conflict, right?

Anyway, wish he will be fine tomorrow morning and we all can go home.

My Sanity

Modelled by En En of course, but i t's for her cousin sister X (well, it still was all the while) ... I still have many projects on going...

Below is the one completed 3 months ago, the name is Macy Top / Dress... a very fun knitting project with many possibilies of changes to the look. It can be a top for older girl or a dress for young toddler.

 
Too bad En En is not really in love with this Macy Top, maybe the wool yarn is not suitable for our climate. So, any taker??

Busy... busy... busy...

Life... yes this is mummy's life at the moment... rushing here and there.... sending Zheng to school, fetch him back from school after working hour... oh yes... mummy started a new job in June. Long story behind... still a part-time music teacher so mummy only left 1 day for weekend spend with the kids...
Suddenly everything happened so fast and mummy still need knitting for that therapeutic moment...

En En and Zheng suddenly grows up so fast, glad that mummy never miss out for the past three years spending more time at home with them. It's really a brand new experience, so as starting a new job too!

Arrgh.... kids are calling it's time to bed, mummy need to get busy for them to go to bed before can visit the dreamland... so busy is going to stick with mummy again...

The "ME" Time

It has been a very long time mummy never have that little time to send sms to friends which mummy used to.

Today brought En En and Zheng to visit paed as En En is having sore throat after CNY celebration, sounds familiar huh? The actual culprit must be late night sleep (imagine at 12.30am or even 1am!!!) and lack of fluid intake since the last few days. Too excited, perhaps which is very common for special festival.

While waiting to collect En's mediacation, mummy finally sent out sms to say hello to friends who has been "neglected" for such a long time. Sound cruel to whom are friends to mummy... hehe... well, this is life. But mummy still miss them and really wish to know what's up to them lately... Hmm... maybe because mummy never bring knitting project out this time... :P

So, lesson learned... there is no ME time in motherhood, you have to find it out on your own. So, kampateh mummy! Keep on moving for the very own time management course... :)

Lazy Bug with mummy...

Oh yes... lazy to blog lately. Lots of happening actually, we went to Genting Highlands at the end of November. One week later, En En following Po Po and Gong Gong back to Alor Setar and now in KL!!!

Mummy and Zheng stay in Penang with Daddy... this weekend Ah Mah, Ah Gong and Uncle Eric is in KL as well... visiting relatives and meeting En En there. So funny, all from Northern region but suddenly meeting up in KL.. LOL! Mummy and daddy not following as need to work. En En is having a Great Holidays this year.

During Christmas time, mummy wll bring Zheng back to Alor Setar and we, together with Gong Gong and Po Po will go somewhere north for vacation!

In fact, there are many things to blog especially milestones of the 2 kiddos... but never mind. Lazybug is here again... untill then...

Colours Rule!

The kids especially En En is very sensitive towards colours... well, most children love pretty colours. En En and Zheng can't get enough with colours stamping or they call it "chop" (on paper most of the time).

This is one of the creation they both created with a four colours stamp ink mummy bought from Popular bookstore some days ago...

1) En En's is more likely will stamp multiple colours on paper in row, one by one neatly while singing the "Red, yellow, blue, green" tune. Mummy think she learned from Mickey Mouse clubhouse about the tune.

2) Zheng will just follow whatever JieJie is doing or snatch whatever JieJie is playing. So, mummy gave him to try on stamping too and guess what? He's able to "chop" same colours on the one he stamped previously. More like grouping the same colours.

Mummy also love pretty colours too and En En was bugging mummy to make rainbow colours shirt for her. How mummy wish can sew because it will be much faster but never mind... mummy decided to knit one blouse for her according to her colours selection. The blouse is still work in progress...

The green-beige stripy shirt below is knitted as a birthday gift for Zheng. He needs to grow into it first before can wear it... LOL! Yeah, it's very huge on him currently.

Happy Birthday to Mummy!

Today is a special day, we went to Gurney Plaza for lunch. So in the morning, both kids behaved well... this is a good day. (Hopefully!) So, here we go...

 Rare shot of the threesome... but cute!!!

Been longing to take sashimi since last pregnancy with Zheng, then breastfed for about 20 months which was advised not to take raw fish if possible. Mummy did anyway but not till the satisfactory level... :P Today... haha... yeah, dream came true!!! Indulged as much as possible...

The two tots were well-behaved first but later... I know Zheng looks mischief and DANGEROUS too! En En enjoy the sushi and kept on telling us she wanted those sushi with rice inside. Well, all sushi comes with rice either inside or underneath. In fact, that's Inari Sushi.

 Inari Sushi - new food for En En 

(mummy never take any photos for the Inari Sushi, this pic is courtesy from Wikipedia... gee!)

Next stop was the Toy R'Us and MPH bookstore. More likely for the kiddos to exercise and enjoy the outing... not PARENT...
Then, we headed to Secret Recipe for a slice of White-Dark Chocolate cheese cake. Yeah... it's fattening for mummy who's in the middle of diet (or perhaps planning  to go diet).

En En and Zheng looks tired as already passed their naptime... so before we went home, they took a a rest on the massage chair. So, not the parent who got to rest though...

Regarding the surprise gift from the previous post... IS REALLY A SURPRISE!!!

Daddy said mummy is the first owner in Penang having the latest and limited edition Intel Dual Core LENOVO Ideapad!!! In short a netbook... comes with eye-catching cover.

Just look at the front cover, the pink-lavender based flora and fauna motif ... simply beautiful!!!

 The Inner look... it is a very small, petite like notebook.

Mummy is really in love with it and a big thanks with lots of love and kisses to daddy!!! Today is really a warm and memorable birthday~

Wednesday's Surprise of 2010!

Saw this cover and a card with envelope in the bedroom 2 days ago. Guess what it is? Will reveal the answer on mummy's birthday, which falls on 9 Oct...

Coxackie??!! And the end of Breastfeeding Journey

Not really a real one but suspected symptom. Both En En and Zheng have ulcers in the throat but no spots on hands or foots. It started with fever on En En since last friday while Zheng was having flu. Visited paed on Friday as well and we only brought back medicine for flu and fever.

Zheng started to have bad appetite then refused to eat since Sunday's afternoon, and then at night... After that refused to drink at the end of the day. Worst still, he rejected to breastfeed! Mummy think this is really weird as Zheng never rejects McB since he's a newborn. He started to get fever too at midnight and was screaming and crying non-stop. All of us were so tense and panic with his reaction and therefore we brought both of them to visit the paed again on Monday morning. En En got a few red/white dots ulcers at the throat while Zheng got... Oh God! Countless ulcers all over his throat!!! No wonder he refused to eat and drink. Both were given antibiotics for 5 and 6 days treatment.

The most terrible part is Zheng still woke up at 1-2am, 3-4am screaming and crying non-stop for 2 nights! Everyone in the family couldn't sleep as long as Zheng was awake no matter during daytime or night time. He even asked us to bring him "kai-kai" at 2.30am by pointing to the door!!! We can say that almost 80% of the time Zheng was screaming and crying with occasionally complaining pain. Daddy got fever as a result of lacking sleep for 2 days... luckily mummy is well enough to take care of Zheng while gratefully Ah Mah is taking care of En En. Mummy is very determined not to fall sick during this difficult period... thanks God En En is recovering fast although she's feeling been left out as we pay more attention to Zheng.

Last night, we decided to bring Zheng for an emergency visit to the paed again thinking in maybe can get some solutions to let him feel calmer and sleeps well at night or maybe something to ease his throat pain. He took less than 10oz of fluid for a day! He has extremely dry lips and smelly breath. We only can feed him plain water, ice-cream and some juices with "leong fan" , one of his favourite drinks. Besides crying, he took very small amount of watery porridge and oat. The other paed at night clinic said he's having Coxackie, most probably got it from the elder sister. She only prescribed XYLOCAINE VISCOUS solution to make the throat and mouth numb for ease of feeding. Anyway, haven't really use this solution till this morning.

Last night Zheng slept well and never woke up till 6am... so did En En. Well, better way to say it is as long as Zheng is not screaming, En is able to sleep well too. Another weird scenario is Zheng wants Ah Mah to sleep with him at night and refuse mummy!!?? Maybe because Ah Mah accompany En En and Zheng for afternoon nap everyday, so once Zheng stop breastfeed to sleep, he's turning for another comfort with Ah Mah. This is just too strange to mummy.

We visited paed again this morning according to the scheduled appointment date. Thankfully both of them is recovering well. We are so relieved to hear that and in fact Zheng started to eat and drink much more than 2 days ago only in the morning. En En too has almost clear throat. They are slowly back to their usual self.

Now, daddy need to rest more for the following days and mummy feels grateful to have back sleeping time... Just feel so miserable mummy's breastfeeding journey ended up in this way. So, Zheng is breastfeed exclusively exactly 21 months and 17 days!

Mummy is sick!

Still feel the wind pushing here and there in the stomach... no appetite to eat.. not a good news coz the weighing scales reading never goes down, ok?

It was last Tuesday mummy was feeling nausea and diarrhea for 3 days continually!!! The cause? According to doctor, it was food poisoning. Maybe it's the soon to be expired bread or the yoghurt drink that stay outside of the fridge for one night. Yes, mummy took these two stuff the day before Tuesday.

Visited 2 different doctors for THREE times... at the end swallowed Imodium and Motilium which already stand by in the house to ease the tummy wind and stop the diarrhea. So weird that the first doctor never mentioned to take Imodium to stop the diarrhea. Maybe he wanted mummy to clear all the "Poison" with bowel movement. The maximum was 20 plus times mummy headed to the toilet in a day! Yeah... even so, never drop a pound yet! Only the next day mummy weighed lighter of 1.5kg... arrrgh!

Everything was back to normal on Friday morning and we were able to go back to Alor Setar for mummy's maternal grandma 70th birthday celebration. En En and Zheng were delighted to play and stay late at night during the 2 nights stay at Po Po's house.

Today mummy went back to music center and was not feeling well again since afternoon. Wind was forming in the stomach again... Got to pop in Charcoal tablet or some Chinese traditional medicine powder to reduce the uncomfort. Praying hard that mummy will get well soon...

Oh yeah... irritable bowel syndrome was the name given by a specialist doctor about mummy's tummy's problem after the diagnosis few years back, before got marry. Guess mummy made some damage to the tummy during teenage years by taking too much cold food and vegetables.

Life is busy...

as a mother...

as a wife...

aa daughter in law...

as a music teacher...

as a knitter...

and on top of all, the same old saying...

as a LEARNER regardless of how old you are...

Many, many updates...

Before the end of Chap Goh Meh (the 15th day of Chinese New Year), must update the blog!

Mummy lost count of how many things or incidents to be jotted down and blog about En En and Zheng. Well, about mummy too...

Too many things happen before, during and after Chinese New Year. Mummy just not so determine like last time to blog so often. Oh yeah... one of mummy's THIS YEAR resolution is to blog more... hopefully able to get there.

Let's start with En En

Characters

En En is now no longer the shy and timid little girl we once used to know. Ever since she goes to nursery school, she is now talking louder and clearer, mix well with her peers, responding well to questions we throw to her and also reasoning.

She is VERY INTERESTED in ANIMALS! PHDC programme from Astro no longer her favourite and guess what's her favourite channel?? ANIMAL PLANET! No.556... gosh... She LOVES documentary film! Well, it's good that she's learning alot from the animal world.

Health & Diet

But, still a very terrible picky eater and of lately we notice she will vomit out her food if she feels pressure from us scolding her or raise up the voice tone when talking to her. She seems weak after attending school... probably due to lung allergy too. Gosh, my girl been confirmed having allergy and from our monitoring for the past 8 months, she has reaction towards room temperature changes.

The other problem is and still is CONSTIPATION! She refuses vegetables and fruits, that's the major culprit. We are still trying to give her variety of food selection but she's not even interested to taste them. *Sigh*

Zheng

Weaning

Started trying to wean 3 days before CNY, but only wean him off McB for afternoon nap! It's so terrible and difficult as Zheng is a very strong will boy. He is the type that you don't give me nen-nen, I don't want to sleep! On top of that, he cried non-stop for 1 hour with annoying screaming and cursing in his own words that only God knows!

Some methods used to wean him off from direct feeding:-

(THE FAIL METHODS)

- Mummy tried to substitute direct feeding by expressed breast milk in milk bottle. Guess what?He threw the bottle back to us!

- Then we tried to carry him in arms to calm him down and he hit us so hard with his little strong palm!

- Already passed his napping time, he got even fierce and angry... he insisted to have McB! Mummy never give in, therefore must be very determine, no means NO! Poor little fella kept on crying and screaming. Mummy offered other drinks and food to make him forget about McB.

(THE SUCCESSFUL METHOD)

- Feed him full with solid food before nap.

- Never drag his naptime pass 5/6 hours from his previous sleep time.

- Quiet envinroment and no playing with En En before nap. (Yes, they will get crazy when playing together)

- Insist him to sleep on tummy while patting his back.

If all the above successful, Zheng in fact will go into his dreamland in less than 10 minutes! Really a blissful moment for mummy... LOL!

Speech:

1) "Open the door!" Even ask mummy to Open clothes for nen-nen *roll eyes*

2) Able to call everyone in the family including close family members from daddy's and mummy's side... eg. Gong Gong, Po Po, Yi Yee (mum's sisters), Jiu Jiu (mum's brother). He is able to mimic almost every sound we told him for almost 80-90% accurate on pronunciation!

3) "Bei1" (in mandarin means Cup)

4) "Xi1 jou" ( in mandarin means Wash hand)

5) "tuok tuok" (supposed to be zhou4, means Sit)

Motor Skills

Since 14 months old...

- Able to put his arm through the shirt when mummy is wearing him a shirt

- Able to hold on mummy when wearing pants while lifting his legs one by one at the same time.

- Able to throw ball from above head

- Able to lift up daddy's laptop that weigh 3kg with both his hands! A Strong baby...

- Able to walk up and down the staircase with one hand leaning on the wall

- Able to use cup or small bucket to pour out water into another one ( well, in the bathroom...)

- Able to hold a pencil or pen and draw on a paper... JUST TO ADD - When En & Zheng having pen or pencil in their hands and no adults in the room, they made their master piece ON THE WALL!

Mummy

- Put on 2kg within 1 week of CNY... blame it on the cookies and non-stop feasting...

- Rejected the job offer

- Confirmed on job with music center

- Started a mini customizable handicraft online business (so far only 1 customer... haha!)

- Still hook on Farmville! Bad mummy, bad mummy,...

Surprise?

Mummy received a job interview call last week for the position of a purchaser. Was quite surprise since the application was about 2 years ago, before having Zheng.

Went for the interview yesterday and was unable whether to go back to the workforce after knowing that already been shortlisted. A huge commitment and sacrifice must make for the job and then feel so heavy to leave my little ones again. On the other hands, mummy already contacted back the music center to start a part time job which gradually will turn into full time. Headache!!!

So, the decision? Still uncertain... there are pros and cons ... must think carefully tonight... Another sleepless night...

Why always sick before CNY?

Including mummy too... blame the weather?? We all seen doctors and having medication now. The worst must be En En, she's coughing so terrible and vomit after her non-stop coughing most of the time...

Any advise?

Flu?

Mummy is not feeling well with little bit of stuffy nose and sneezing in hot sunny days! Zheng starts to cough today... En En not so much on coughing and running nose now ever since she got the symptoms last Thursday. She was coughing at midnight till vomit continuously for 2 nights!

If Zheng get worse, will probably bring him to see doctor. Mummy must take some Chinese medication as well called Ying Qiao but need to buy from the chinese medication hall tomorrow. Hopefully able to sneak out from the house without the kids...

New Year Resolution

Normally I don't have resolutions just for the year... it happens to be, well... all the time until I achieve or fulfill them. Quite bad huh?

So here goes for this year (or started from this year :P )

- spend more time in the kitchen which I seldom do

- taking charge of my 2 kids daily life together as much as I can (since En En still stick to Ah Mah)

- blog more, get more paid post (it seems like quite hopeless nowadays), spend more time with my kids, knit less (how could this possible???)

- do scrapbooking! It's been like ages I never touch scrapbook, no even 1 layout about Zheng and he's approaching 2 years old soon!

- pick up my music lessons, go back to music education industry (yes, starts to work gradually...)

- wean off Zheng from breastfeeding when he's over 18 months old slowly (sooo reluctant *sigh*)

- involve in more charity works with MMPS, other mothers' group (I'm still a new beginner in this area), lend a hand for new mothers in any form of help that I could offer

- live a greener life by recycling more in the house... (which means spend less money)

- reduce time spending in Farmville! (sounds familiar??)

What else? I think I still have a list of them but never mind... I'll be very happy if I could complete all of the above...

It's been so long...

Finally mummy's monthly friend visited mummy after 1 year and 10 months! Or exactly after 22 months! Muahahaa... One of the Benefit of BREASTFEEDING....