Neighbours

I hear alot of people say that blogging is addictive. Much like smoking. Its true you know. Why else would I be here writing up a post when I should be out having fun in the sun? Ok, you got me. I confess, I'm addicted to blogging even when I say that I would not blog or blog once every 3 days. It just won't do. I need my quick fix on the net before I end the day.

Since I need to write something, something dear to me, something close to my heart...I've decided to dedicate this post to my neighbours.

Let me start with the neighbour on my right. We or rather I nick name them Fatty and family since we didn't know their names initially. A friendly couple with 2 small children, the elder one, a 2 year old girl and the younger one is a 3 month old baby boy.

One day, my husband and I had a deep and profound conversation about Fatty and Family, it went something like this

Hubby : How old do you think they are (Fatty and the wife)?

Me : Probably the same age or younger, definitely not older.

Hubby : (With a bewildered and a creased-up temple on his forehead look) Eh, how you know wan? As if you can tell by looking at their faces meh, you Madame Zorra ah?.

Me : *Rolls Eyes* It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out, especially with my detective and CSI-like deducing skill, cos we are not young anymore and we can't assume that everyone is older than us.

Hubby : Why, I am young what.

Me : I don't think so, my dear. Please la, for eg, whenever you watch tv, after 30 minutes, the tv ends up watching you (he falls sleep). Rock music is too loud. You wake up at 6 am even though its the weekend. Gardening is therapeutic. Tell me, aren't you old?

Hubby : Yeah Yeah, you are so smart, hhmmpphh *walks away*.

So, did I find out how old they are? Of course not, are you kidding me? Some things are better left not knowing.

That's the neighbour on my right. The one on my left was the one that got both my husband and I cracking our heads, trying to figure them out. We call them Jazzy Boy and Family. The newlyweds came, surveyed the place, renovated and eventually, moved in. They have a cute little dog that I'm sure this hip mom would love *wink* and recently, the wifey gave birth to a baby boy. They are pretty quiet and kept to themselves mostly. Whenever we pass each other, we would just smile, nod and say "hello".

Anyway, again, we (my hubby and I) had our profound and deep conversation about them :

Me : Eh, the Jazzy Boy's MIL like don't leave wan worr. Think she is staying with them permanently ah?

Hubby : What makes you think that, that is the MIL? Could be the mother and Jazzy Boy and the wifey could be siblings? (Ok, for the record, we didn't know about their family structure at the time this conversation took place).

Me : No la, I don't think so cos I saw them unpacking their stuff together, Jazzy Boy and wife and if was the sister, she won't be so nice kua to help. I know my sis won't, "choy ngor tou sorr" (wouldn't bother), move myself la.

Hubby : Maybe its Jazzy Boy's mother leh?

Me : I doubt it cos the mother and daughter look alike. *Thinks Hard* Could it be that Jazzy Boy is dating or married to the older woman ala Bold and Beautiful after all the mom looks quite "hot"??? Sound effects..zheng zheng zheng The plot thickens.

Hubby : Hmm...why not you go and find out the exact details since you so "pat" (busybody).

That, I did (find out). As it turned out, the older lady (I call her Aunty now) IS the wife's mom cos during one of my conversations with the Aunty, she referred to the wife as "my daughter" and told me that her daughter was also pregnant. I suppose that explains why the Aunty stayed on for such a long period.

Despite my pre-conceived ideas about my neighbours, they are really nice people. When we went on a hiatus for a couple of months after my confinement, they helped water our plants and occasionally, was our home's watch-dog, not literally..but you do get what I mean. So, to my neighbours, thank you for being such nice and considerate neighbours, one that we can't do without.


P.S : Incidentally, Jazzy boy and family invited us to their baby's full-moon party tonight. I need to get Ashley ready for her first. Hope she doesn't get cranky *cross fingers*.

Pop Quizzzz

Can you spot the difference?


1.


2.


3.


4.


5.



Can you? Still can't? "What's the meaning of this??" you say.

Nothing really, it just means that the tennis season is starting. Actually, it started yesterday. Since its the US Open, I have to be awake during the wee hours of the morning to catch it live. I know I can always watch the repeats but ask any sports watching fans, they'd say that repeats are a no-no, there's just no exception to this rule.

So, for these 2 weeks, I'd be writing up post sparingly cos I want to catch up on some zzzz during the day whenever I can after chores and when Ashley is asleep. Don't worry, I'll continue to visit and drop in a line or two when I'm up and about.

If you don't hear from me (no new post) from after this post till Thursday, a very happy holidays. Enjoy your weekend.

Is it worth it?

Yesterday evening we had a surprise visit from my uncle and his family. They came over to visit Ashley cos they haven't seen her since she was born. I know its not very nice of me to say this but they are a queer lot. My aunt gave us a present. She said (as she handed me a parkson grand plastic bag)..."here, this is for your baby...we didn't buy anything in particular". Of course as a matter of protocol, I replied "Thanks aunty but you didn't have to".

Hmm what did they get my baby Ashley huh? Well, I too couldn't bear the suspense but since its not very nice to open presents in front of your guests, I waited till they left. So, we chatted and then they did leave. Momsie with her itchy fingers took the 'present' out from the bag immediately and guess what? Ashley got an opened, half-eaten box of Kellogs cornflakes!! Hmm, methinks they don't like us very much huh? Have to eat our cornflakes some more then only give to us :)

Don't worry, I'm not going to write an entire post about my uncle's family cos it would be too boring and probably would drive all of you guys away reading about people you can't relate to. I was merely illustrating how queer my uncle's family are.

Actually, it was something my aunty asked me that triggered this post. "I heard you are full time housewife now. Do you enjoy it?". I get that alot. People are surprised that I've decided to stay at home full-time to take care of Ashley. Probably I'm never pictured as a housewife. I admit, I don't have the patience or the aptitude for that.

But honestly though, I do enjoy being at home with Ashley. I'm not saying that because this is pretty much a place for public viewing. Its not all a bed of roses frankly speaking. For instance, I don't get to go out as often as I had imagine. They don't call us stay-at-home mom for nothing you know. Its hard to even sneak some time for a hair-cut, let alone facials, pedi or mani. Sometimes I don't even change my pjs in the morning until I take my shower later in the day. Don't even mention about shopping. I still wear some of my pregnancy clothes although slowly (very slowly) I'm getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I've only bought one or two normal wearing clothes of late.

Doesn't sound like a fun job, does it now? It isn't. I would dare say that its not a job for everyone including me. It took a lot out of me initially. At times I do wonder if I am fit for the role or that I wish to be out working again. But you know what, being with Ashley ever since she was born, being there for her first roll-over, her antics, the changes in her..its an amazing and wonderful feeling. Feelings that I can't describe, much like labour pains.

I do enjoy being there for my kid, and I don't feel that I've made a big sacrifice because nothing is or can be bigger than my lil Ashley (though her crying is something that I am still getting used to). So, yes, its worth it, every second if it.


P.S : I'm not sure if I'd say the same when I have my second child, I'd go back to work eh? :P

Midnight E-Talk Show

Hi, you're tuned to 97.9654 www.shireenloh.blogspot.com-FM and welcome to the first edition of Midnight E-Talk Show with Momsie. Today's weather, warm and sunny with a high of 89 and low of 79. Absolutely a fine day with no rain or threats of rain whatsoever which made drying Ashley's clothes much faster and easier cos the Momsie didn't do Ashley's laundry since Friday (the grandparents [on both sides] are not privy to this blog so all of y'all shhhssshh about my laziness ok!? No one breathes a word!).

Ok now, we're back! Oppss...sorry, according to the time-table here, I must play you a song. So, here goes - Start : Mary had a little Lamb.

Momsie takes a break to make milo.

Stop : Mary had a little Lamb.

Ok, now we are REALLY back! Let me begin by telling you that today we celebrated Chinese Halloween. Before you go "how wonderful?" let me explain that this is not your ordinary Halloween celebration. I did not dress Ashley up in a bunny suit and went trick or treating for candies and chocs.

According to the Chinese Taoist belief, today we offer prayers and food to the wandering souls from the "other world" to bless, keep us safe and not to "ka-ka cau-cau" (disturb) our families. So that, my MIL did for us this evening. She came over with a bag of goodies. Joss-sticks to pray and some paper money for burning. It was a fairly simple ceremony. Actually, it was hardly a ceremony, just simple prayers and offerings in front of our house.

Lets take a break with another song. An all time classic and a favourite among young children including Ashley. This is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by...err...ok, lets listen to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Start : Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Momsie goes to take a leak.

Stop : Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Thank you for still tuning in to 97.9654 www.shireenloh.blogspot.com-FM. Today for the first Sunday in weeks, we went over to my parents' house for lunch and some family bonding time. You know, before I had Ashley, whenever I'm back at my parents', my mom would dote on me. As soon as I walk into the house, she would be there to greet me with the usual mom-like greeting "aiyoh, why so thin? Never eat ah? Alot of stress from work" "Got eat vitamin or not? Probio 5 leh, still got or not?" "Must eat proper meals you know, don't skip breakfast"...etc...well, you get the drift. Then she will proceed to take the plate or bowl (depending on what we're having for lunch) out for me, then she would sit next to me for some chit-chat and then take out fruits from the fridge.

Now that I have Ashley, whenever I walk in with Ashley (today being no exception) its "Hello, Ashley girl!! Come por por carry you" "Oh, has she eaten? Did she poo-poo today?" "Have you started her on solids like the doc advised?" "How many times do you feed her cereal?" "Oh yeah, food is inside, go take yourself. Got fruits in the fridge, go take it out yourself, don't be lazy".

Can't you see there's an obvious shift in attention? I want to be pampered too you know. Then again, I shouldn't be complaining cos while the grandma, grandpa and aunties were busy with lil Ashley, Momsie got to eat in peace and even managed a short zzzzz on the couch...:)

Alright, we are coming to the end of our programme. Stay tuned for Hot Rod from 12 till 6 am next on E-Mix Tunes.

I hope you will have a nice and resourceful week ahead starting with manic Monday. I'll leave you with a song which is my personal favourite, Ba Ba Black Sheep (Ashley is not too fond of this one though, beats me). Good Night.

Start : Ba Ba Black Sheep.

Don't expect, You will disappointed

Your husband goes out of town and he's supposed to call when he reaches his destination but doesn't until later or when your doc tells you that you are expecting a girl but turned out to be a boy or when you crave for your favourite food that you hadn't had for ages and when you did order it, it looks different.

Yup, that's exactly what happened to me except for the expecting a girl part cos that happened to my sister's boyfriend's mom.

I love Indian food. I have a favourite restaurant I visit quite frequently before I had my baby. D'Tandoor, a northern indian cuisine. A few days ago I craved for my favourite dishes : Briyani Rice, Prawn Vindaloo and Brinjal Maasala. Since I didn't think it was feasible bringing my baby out to dinner, I ordered take out.

The guy who took my order repeated my order and I was so sure he got it right. "It will be ready in 15 mins Ma'am", he said. I was thrilled to bits. After many months of abstinence, I was finally able to enjoy these glorious yum yum yet again. Daddy'O offered to pick them up on the way home. So, I waited patiently while imagining the 3 dishes and me digging into them.

When the bag reached me, I grabbed it and headed right to the kitchen and lay the 3 plastic containers on the table. Quickly grabbed my plate, fork and spoon. Nothing was going to stand in the way of a super hungry woman.

I opened the first one, my Briyani Rice had turned multi-coloured! With grains of pink, purple and green rice??? I didn't remember my Briyani Rice being so colourful. Ok nevermind, it smelled nice. Then I opened the Prawn Vindaloo...To my horror, the prawns have shrunk in size and had lots of other irrelevant stuff cooked with the prawns. Its definitely not my Prawn Vindaloo. For the record, the brinjal was safe.

As expected, my expectation turned to disappointment. I shouldn't have placed so much hope in it. I should've learned my lesson not to expect too much cos people have said to me "When you have high expectations, you will be disappointed". I sure learned my lesson. The next time I walk into that restaurant again, I'm demanding a refund!

Something New

I have something for you guys. Last Sunday, Ashley turned 5 months!! *momsie grinning from ear to ear*...and and, Daddy'o bought something to celebrate Ashley's 5 months. Am I going to tell you? Of course I am! What you think I took all those pictures for nothing and wrote about Gwen Stefani (by the way, she rocked!!) as a form of "diversion" so that I can take, re-take and take again the pictures for today's post, for nothing? Yes I confess I did deviate from the essence of this blog when I talked about Gwen and I am indeed guilty (and apologise) of trying to fool my blog readers but but my blog readers are really smart people and they obviously knew that and was kind enough to wait around for my coming posts!!

Boy do I have something to share with you fine folks out there. Take a look at this!! Ashley's 5 month present from Daddy'o



Before you all hurl obscenities such as "WTF?? Where has she been sleeping all this while"..please, allow me to explain...you see, we didn't get her a proper bed because right after my confinement, we had to pack our bags and move over to in-laws place for a few months. So, we got the portable ones, the playpan/cot which was alot easier to carry around and move about. Now that she is getting a little too big, we thought it was time we got her a proper bed. And it was such a coincidence that when Daddy'o bought it last Sunday, it was Ashley's 5th month birthday (so to speak)!!

Momsie also bought her a semi rabbit pyjamas from Giant RM15.99 but since Momsie is such a novice at this blog-stuff-you-buy-for-ur-kid, that the pyjama is in the wash now and Momsie didn't take any picture of it!!

Lastly (wow, this post has a beginning, middle and end!), many faces of Ashley.

Book Review : Babyproofing your Marriage

"When he comes home and tells me he's had a tough day, he thinks he's done. Doesn't he know that I, too, am exhausted and have an equal desire to park my ass on the couch?"

"If empathy and cheerleading just aren't your thing, just pretend. When you think your wife is behaving like a lunatic and you don't understand why she is so upset that she bought the wrong diaper size, just fake it, look concerned, make soothing noises and just tell her she's an amazing woman."

I got this book, Babyproofing your Marriage, when browsing in the bookstore one day while looking for some books on pregnancy. I thought it would be a good heads up for the coming days. I was right!

I am not exactly the authority on books review but I thought I'd give you my take on it, being a new parent and all, I can safely say that this is a good bet. For starters, this is not at all heavy. With lots of humour, examples from real life situations and practicality, I would say a good read aside from your usual parenting or pregnancy books.

The husbands are not being left out either. There's a huge section on the husband, what they are, what they can and ought to do. It tells you why you should include your husband in the process of taking care of a newborn and how to do it. Why and how? Ah well, we just have to read the book then don't we?

The best part : The in-laws!!! Who will have the greatest influence on the grandkids? How do you handle that? Ah, it gets more exciting doesn't it.

The babyproofers are 3 professional women whom 2 of them turned full-time mommies. The inspiration for this book stems from their experiences of motherhood and alot of what is written, were taken from what they've encountered along the way plus experiences of their friends.

On the whole, it was ideal for me simply because it allowed me to understand the reasons for the emotions, feelings of anxiety, fear although at times, I don't think I was the best person to live with in those early months.

So, no need to wait la, just grab one. After all, you get to claim tax for the purchase right :)

When I'm lucky, I'm very lucky

It's good friday people. For me that is. Yay to Friday, means I get to party all weekend while someone gets the job I've been doing for the past 5 days. How cool is that?

Actually, I'm not referring to that as being lucky. Yesterday when I was "hard at work" on my desk (ahem), I left my baby outside in her cot all by herself with her animal friends and plastic beetle. She made no sound as if she knew when to disturb and when not to. I just carried on doing what I was doing to a point when I realised that I had LEFT HER ALL BY HERSELF!!! Yikes!!!

I ran out and found her snoozing with her favourite monkey. Aww...how sweet is that! I covered with her makeshift blanket (cloth nappy). Its moments like these when I feel how life is so complete and there's nothing more in the world that I would want. Except maybe that 2nd honeymoon trip to Alcapulco, that weekend spa retreat at...what? no? ok lah...well, happy weekend people!!!

Routine - What Every Baby Should Have

I don't think I'll be up late tonight posting cos tomorrow is a Friday and I'm pretty tied down on Fridays so I'd like to have a goodnight's rest.

Just yesterday my cousin, who is preparing for the birth of her second child end of this year, told me that her elder daughter just wouldn't sleep early at night and she will get up at least once in the wee hours of the morning. Not that she needs a feed or to the loo, she just gets up and stay awake for a while before falling asleep again.

Frankly, I've never experienced that with Ashley. The only time Ashley was awake all night was when she was colickly and even then, it lasted only till she was 2 1/2 months. She asked how I did it for Ashley and I told her "lei pou jong (you're on your own mate)"..hahha...no I didn't DO THAT.

I told her that she needs to establish a routine for her child. A little late no doubt (her eldest is already 2) but there's no harm in trying. Anyway, this is what I told her.

Ashley wakes up at 7 am and I will give her her first feed. We would play around or she would sit quietly with her toys while I go have some breakfast and do some house chores. I would then give her a bath around 9.00 am and after that she would have her nap for 2 hours from 9.30am. If she oversleeps, I will wake her up for her feed and then she will stay awake till around 1.30pm. She has her 2nd nap then and wakes up give or take 3 or 3.30pm for her feed. Sometimes she'll get tired and nap again at 4 or 4.30 (3rd nap) but if she does, I'll make sure she gets up by 6 pm. She'll have a sponge bath and her feed all done by 7 or 7.30pm. Sometimes if the hubs is home early, he'll give her the bath and feed. We will get her to bed by 8 and will usually be yawning by then. She sleeps through and I will wake her for her last feed at 11.30 or 12 but she will go right back to bed after that till the next morning.

You will notice that Ashley takes 2 to 3 short naps during the day which is actually enough. A 3 to 6 month old needs an average of 15 hours of sleep so try to break her sleeping pattern to 5 hours (give or take) during the day and the rest, at night. The trick here is to establish this routine consistently and not to over-tire your baby because contrary to us adults, when we are tired, we fall asleep easily. But not kids, babies especially. If Ashley is too tired, its difficult getting her to sleep.

Sounds like what most mothering parenting books will tell you right? Well, how do you even get started with a newborn? What we did was as soon as Ashley was 2 weeks old, we tried to keep her awake for most parts of the day, letting her sleep less and getting her to feed more frequent. Though she did continue to wake up during the night for her feeds but she would fall right back to sleep after.

It worked for Ashley and I hope that my cousin would find it useful. Though I did tell her that every baby is different and its only a guide so her routine should be modified according to what she feels suits her and her baby.

Confinement Issues

You know, I got carried away last night writing about my baby colicky incident that I forgot about the weekend conversation I had with my other neighbour which I wanted to blog about.

Her daughter had just given birth last week. So, as usual me very 'pat' talking to the neighbour and she was telling me about how she will be helping out with the confinement and yadda yadda.

That brought back memories. Not vivid ones, very CLEAR, crystal. You know what's worst than giving birth? Its the confinement period. I thought the worst was over once Ashley was born. No sir, it wasn't. The 18 hour labour was easy peasy compared to what came after that.

For the benefit of those who are not familiar with the term "confinement", let me just explain a little. Its a chinese tradition of postpartum period for women who has given birth. This is commonly known as postpartum confinement or confinement period. This period usually lasts for 30 days but it can last for up to 100 days.

Similar to our western counterparts, its a time for women to rest and adjust both physically and psychologically, to the process of childbearing but with a twist. Yes, just like Jamie, there's a Twist. Not only are you physically drained from labour, there are many restrictions during the confinement period.

What kind of restrictions? Before my pregnancy, I was all talk saying that I could do it, I could do it all. For the sake of my health, I will embrace it with open arms. Boy I had those words shoved down my throat even before I could say "I"!

First, I was not allowed to wash my hair. Can you imagine your hair not being washed for 30 days? I can't go without a wash for a day let alone a freaking month.

You may think, well, no big deal, its just your hair. How bad can that be? Try not washing your hair and not having any shower for a month!!! Yes, no shower only limited sponge baths on alternate days. These are not your ordinary baths, there were boiled herbs in them.

Ok, no hairwash, no shower, what else? Lets see, no air-conditioning allowed. No fan blowing. I live in a very tropical country and the temperature is always 80 and above. Well, you can just imagine.

Food. Lets talk about the food. Its the same food every single day. Chicken and/or fish cooked with sesame oil and ginger. Lots of ginger. Apparently it has some medicinal benefit to a recovering mom. Oh I forgot to mention that I could not drink a drop of plain water. Yep, no H2O. It had to be some boiled chinese medicinal herbs.

So that, my friends, in a not so nutshell, was my confinement days. I went through that every single day for a month. So, I didn't wash my hair, shower or get to enjoy any artificial cool breeze and not to mention, lack of sleep plus no going out of the house. It didn't sound so tragic until I went through it myself. I seriously think that postpartum depression was induced, for me at least.

Colic : Every Parents' Nightmare..

I've decided from now on, I will blog at night which makes more sense cos I can think better with my baby snoozing in bed. Speaking of which, for today, no more funny goofy stuff. I shall blog about something which was the reason for this blog in the first place. Yup, to share with those who are new at parenting or for some who are not new but are or will experience new things with a second newborn baby (I was told every baby is different).

Ashley was a colicky baby when she was 3 weeks old. She would start crying continuosly from 10 pm till 3 or 4 am. Nothing works. She would fall asleep in our arms but as soon as we put her down, she would wake up in an instant and begin her bouts of crying. It was really heart-breaking for us to see her in that state and not able to do anything. Even though our parents told us that its normal for newborns to bahave this way but we weren't used to it and it just didn't feel right.

Initially, we didn't know what was bothering her. We were told that when a baby cries, its usually because of 3 things - hunger, wet/poo or too warm/cold. We tried everything, feeding her, changed her diaper even though it wasn't wet. Adjust the air-con, dim the lights, carried her in our arms to soothe her. At one stage, we even fed her every hour thinking that she was hungry when nothing else seemed to work.

Then our worst nightmare came true, visible signs of colic. Oh no, we knew there was nothing we could do except to try and soothe her as much as we can even though it was tough on her little lungs and body. Sleep deprivation really set in then and we were awfully tired.

One day, the hubs came across an article on The Towle Method of Colic Management. We might as well try it since we had tried everything from rubbing her tummy with medicated oil to controlling her feeds.

The towle method explains the process of digestion in a baby's stomach and why colic happens. Its easily understood and if you follow the method diligently, it does help, for us anyway.

So, after a few nights of administering colic management ala towle method, baby Ashley settled down and we could see that she felt a whole lot better. It didn't go off completely but the pain was well managed. She was also able to sleep better which was good for all of us.

Tag : 8 Random Phats About Moi

My second tag from Health Freak Mommy. The first one was a disaster cos you know, me being new and all. Hopefully I get it right this time. Here are 8 random facts about me :

1) I had lice when I was 8. Boy, was that terrible, got my hair chopped off and the medicine for it was utterly un-breathable.
2) The first time I put on ice-skates, I couldn't move. Frozen as ice. Luckily, friends were there to help 'push' me towards the side so I wouldn't obstruct traffic.
3) I've never been called by my chinese name so in primary school I decided to ask my friends to test it out. My friend did during our break, she came up to me and said "Oi! Called you 3 or 4 times, you never answer wan". So much for that.
4) I love Indian food and Ramly burger.
5) I met my hubs at the Bon Jovi concert.
6) I have really poor hand-eye co-ordination, I can't play racket games even if life depended on it.
7) My favourite place, the Grand Canyon.
8) I suck at doing tags.

Phat choi tags to these lovely people. Err...I don't have 8 so I'll just go with :

mommyta66y
Mama Pumpkin
Mommy to Chumsy

Me no Jane, You no Tarzan...

When I woke up this morning, with splitting headache and all, there were a few things I wanted to blog about, about the things that happened over the weekend. Oh nothing major earth shattering types but funny strange all rolled into one...

Well, what would a SAHM be doing on weekends? For me, it was house arrest this weekend cos the Hubs hasn't been feeling too well and the Momsie was made to be nurse once again. Same ole same ole the entire day...yadda yadda...then it happened!

It was past midnight, I was reading on the couch whilst the tv was watching me. The phone rang. I didn't pick it up at first thinking that it would stop after the 1st ring but it didn't. It went on to ring for 3 times before I rushed to it. A million things went through my head as I went to pick it up..who was it? my mom? is she ok?

Me : Hello?

Caller : Hi, its me. (I was like "huh"? by the way, he sounded yummy...voice deep and husky. Who could that be? Someone hunky stalking me? The hunky guy down the road from my house whom I walked passed with my baby one morning? Who who???)

Me : Hello?

Caller : Ahem (clears throat), its me (sounded like very hiao)

Me : Who is this? (very curious by now, extremely cos he seemed so connfident that he knew who he was talking to and I have no freaking idea who this person is)..

Caller : Err...is this Jane (no longer hiao sounding)?

Me : (I didn't know what to feel disppointed, angry?? but I said "Me no Jane, you no Tarzan!!..

Caller : Ooppss...sorry wrong number...

Sigh and I thought he actually wanted to talk to me, the Momsie.

p.s : By the way, Rog lost this morning...what a bummer!!!

Bright and Early

I am not usually up so early but since its going to be a long day for me today, I thought I'd get a headstart on things.

I first came to know about blogging a few years back, since 2003 to be exact. At that time I was just a serial reader...heheh...Never thought I'd start one myself. Now that I have, I find it fun and interesting. To write down my experiences with Ashley as she progresses in life, things I find inspiring, quirky and funny, strange moments etc...To look back 5 years down the road, its been good.

I can't belive Ashley will reach her 5 month milestone soon. Too soon in fact. I remember enduring the labour like it was yesterday, when we "met" for the first time when the nurse put her in my arms after birth. She's changed so much since then. She listens attentively when we sing or talk to her. She rarely kicks up a fuss and always never fails to brighten up our day with her giggles and smiles. I look forward to the next phase of crawling, solids, walking, running etc...it doesn't get any easier and she's certainly not any lighter, carrying her around is like lifting weights at the gym but we're excited.

Where is the fun???

Blogging is indeed fun. The fun comes with all the neat things you can do with your blog. However, I am so not IT savvy, these fun things became not so fun anymore. In fact, I almost gave up posting today cos I've been spending alot of time figuring out how to post pictures, downloads, resize, links as well as looking for useful links which I came accross before I started this blog and which I lost as they were not bookmarked, trying to figure out what happened to my missing profile picture which I eventually gave up and posted a cartoon instead. See, it doesn't seem fun to blog anymore.

Since I gave up doing all those things today, why not bring Ashley to my grandma's place for a visit. Then, I decided not to since she has just recovered and I didn't want her to tire unneccessarily. So, I thought, why not write a few things about my Mama.

She's 90 but could be older. She took care of me when both my parents were working. She's real little, she didn't use to be so little. We used to wear the same shoe size but no longer. She lives in a small house. Her house looked real big and the front gate real high when I was little. Her bed is real big and on it, its filled with lotsa stuff. Stuffs like 5 pillows, 3 bolsters, 5 different kinds of purse, her radio, her mini 4-D collection of numbers, soft toys, 2 blankets, alarm clock and massage tools. She used to be a real good cook, she still is but she now supervises my aunty for the cooking. She has 9 children and took care of them all by herself, now her 9 children plus her grand-children plus her great- grand-children takes care of her.





Baby Ashley and her Tai Ma

Maid Becomes Her

Lately lotsa stories about maids...can't live with them can't live without them. Stories in the newspaper, internet, blogs...Anyway, no I don't have a live-in maid, I use the hourly ones like Merry Maids...and this post is not about my maid, more like a conversation I had with my very nice neighbour (Ms T) last weekend :

me whilst drying clothes
Me : Cho Sun (Morning!), how are you? hows your baby?

Ms. T : Oh hello, cho sun. My baby is fine. Wah, so early you are out here drying your clothes.

Me : Yeah lor, have to cos otherwise, it will rain later in the afternoon. You just came back from breakfast?

Ms. T : Yeah, more like buy breakfast. Your baby leh, is she sleeping.

Me : Yeah, sleeping, then only can do house chores la.

Ms T : Yeah yeah...do so many things, like maid only (???)

Multiple Entry

Ok, before lil' Ashley wakes up, I'm going to make this a quickie...I've a few short stories to tell/rant, so I will make each one as short as possible...

1st : I've been watching d best of CSI Las Vegas on Wed and Sunday, I must say I can't wait for Season 8 cos I am desperately seeking (susan) the big reveal on whr Sarah gets killed or not by the miniature killer...suspense...hate it!!! I hope they won't cos no matter what they say about Sarah and Grissom having no chemistry but I think they do. So, lets keep all fingers and toes crossed that they don't get Jorja Fox's character killed!!!

2nd : Tho I'm not a fan(atic) of Ugly Betty but I did watch a couple of episodes a while back. Initially was good but after that, it kinda went weird...esp Rebecca Romjin (ex Stamos) appeared as the sex changed brother of Daniel Meade...so, my fren MT told me no more Ugly Betty and rightly said, what happened to Betty and Henry? Anyone?

3rd : My neighbour, both of us exchanging stories about our newborns yesterday. Very nice lady. Have to say nice and treat nice cos my aunty who lives in Ipoh told me a story about this 2 neighbours in her neighbourhood. They were really nice to each other, always visiting each other, 2 peas in a pod, bestest of neighbours, bla bla...until one day a lil misunderstanding went a lil too far. So, both started to erect 10 feet tall concrete fences so they don't have to see each other's faces!! (??)...no i don't want that to happen to me and somemore my neighbour from nearby Ipoh.

Ok ok, thats all folks...catch ya later!!!

Hot Life

Been busy yesterday but chope!, did you all manage to catch the momsie and her angel at the profile page? yup, in the midst of fetching d maid home, driving to MIL house and 1U, I managed to post the pic.

I know, Saturday right, no life but write post. Being SAHM kinda like this wan. Everyday also weekend, hehe...I know, sure you all working people would say "ceh! Sai Mang la (literally translated to "Hot Life"), can be "siew lai lai".heheh..

Why am i talking like this, its our "national slang" so to speak. Also, in conjunction with the post I'm about to paste by 5xmom whom I stumbled upon recently. Funny read. Good things must be shared among family and friends :


"Sempena bulan kemerdekaan, saya akan blog dalam BM!

Saya sudah jemu baca berita basi. Tiap-tiap hari tak ada lain cerita. Jadi mulai hari ini saya hendak tulis karangan saya dalam Bahasa Malaysia. Tetapi sayang sekali saya tidak dapat tukar semua pos saya kepada BM kerana itu celaka mia syarikat yang sumbat duit masuk poket saya kata blog saya mesti ditulis dalam Bahasa Inggeris.

Cakap pasal Bahasa Inggeris, itu celaka mia pompuan-pompuan semua kata saya dan lain-lain rakyat negara kita tidak fasih B.I. kerana B.I. bukan bahasa ibunda kita. Niamah, kurang ajar betul. Mereka beranjing betina kata bahasa mereka lebih cun kerana orang amalika, kulit putih kononnya.. Niamahfulat, I ingin tanya, eh, celaka, lu olang amalika bukan olijinal mia. Lu mia nenek moyang dahulu kena buang negara dari England ke amalika sebab nenek moyang hampa semua banduan. Keturunan banduan-banduan semua tau?

Kurang-kurang, negara saya dijajahi oleh orang Inggeris yang sebenar, jadi setidaknya, bahasa luntun (london) saya lebih cun dari dia orang. Hampeh betul. Jadi saya pun dah tulan dan tembak balik. Bila kita di alam siber, bukan tengok bahasa siapa lebih canggih. Kita tulis itu pos-pos dan dapat bayaran untuk SEO. Bukan English composition test lah. Niamah. Saya hentam balik kata, “Tak kira bahasa siapa lebih canggih. Yang penting, SEO skills. Siapa boleh lawan saya? Pos-pos saya masuk tempat #1 di Google.” Bhutoh mak hang, mereka semua cukup pandang rendah rakyat kita. KNN.

Anyway, the translated version :

I am writing this post in my national language, Bahasa Malaysia because we are going to celebrate our independent day on 31st August. Basically, the above is how much I love my country. How beautiful my country is. The national flower is hibiscus. The national food is nasi lemak. The national past time is blogging and calling each other names.

The end.

My translation correct or not? Say YES!
(and sorry I didn’t reply comments today ‘cos I was out the whole day watching Simpson)" - 5Xmom

News

Yup, this would be the first of my take on current world and local news. I'm sure you would have all read or seen on the tv about the recent killings of 2 South Koreans held captive in central Afghanistan. The latest victim was a 29 year old former IT worker, Shim Sung-Min.

Since this is not a political or current affairs blog, I will talk about the family aspect of it. I was watching Star News Asia on Ch 70, it was a heart wrenching scene seeing the mother to Sung-Min wailing as she learned out about the death of her son on television.

I won't even attempt to express how I would feel in the same situation cos honestly, I don't know and unless you have personally gone through the same thing or similar, I don't think anyone does. I can only imagine what it must have been for Sung-Min's parents when they first found out about the capture. Sleepless nights, endless praying, worrying, hoping against hope that he would be released unharmed. Only to find out, in the same manner later, how a body was uncovered believed to be Sung-Min's and subsequently confirmed that it was. You have raised a child and proud of the fact that he has done good in his life and for such bravery. Even though you can believe the idea of it being "God's will" or some would say "its fate" but deep inside, you can never truly accept it. It's human nature.

I feel sorry and terrible for Sung-Min's family only in a way that a 3rd party observer can for the tragic loss of a son, a brother in such tragic circumstances. I pray and hope that there will be no more blood shed and the other hostages will be released alive.

My Plan on 08.08.08

This method of posting is rather new to me and I don't really have 5 other blogs to list. In fact I have none. Maybe 2. But I don't think that is sufficient for the purpose.

Back to the plan on 08.08.08..hhmmm...strike lottery of RM100 million, buy bungalow, nice fancy car for hubs and myself, a yacht, go for vacation to the Greek Islands...sounds more like a DREAM than a PLAN right?

Realistically, Ashley will be say, 1 1/2 years old by then so I guess I would most probably be doing what most SAHM do when they have a toddler around the house. If she starts walking by then, I would most probably have to run after her around the house.

Similar to Health Freak Mommy, I would hope that our family and friends continue to be in good health and peace around the world.

Baby is sleeping, ssshhh...

Ashley is napping at her usual time at the moment. Its nice outside, cool breeze, stopped raining. This calls for a cup of coffee (nescafe), some nice keropok (I know, junk food) and reflect on the day...the day that got me pissed MAD!!!

Ashley's fever came on and off for the past 3 days since she received her jab last saturday. The fever hits only in the evening/night but thankfully, its slight and she's still manageable i.e no fuss, no waking up in the middle of the night...But I thought, this can't be cos everytime she has her jabs, her fever will be gone completely the very next day.

Late last night, her temperature was high again and not wanting to wake her, we decided to take her to the doctors this morning. Which we did. Her paediatrician is from the hospital where I gave birth, haven't changed yet. Anyways, since Ashley temperature has been yo-yoing like a yo-yo, the doc recommended for a blood test and urine test just to play safe that there's no infection, dengue etc...

I was there with Chek (luckily) and we took her to the other section of the hospital to get the blood and urine test done.

First, urine, I'm not about to go through explicit details on how you get a baby to urine with her diaper on but let me say that the method they were using, didn't work. Lets just say that we could be there the whole day and they wouldn't be able to collect any urine.

I'm not mad about the urine test...Its the blood test that I'm furious about. The lady, I am not sure if she's even a nurse or just simply someone they hired to mechanically extract blood for testing. Lets call her the Blood Lady. I wasn't perturbed or apprehensive at first cos Ashley is not afraid of needles. Trust me, she's not. So, I thought it could just be a few cries and that would be it. Ashley was on my lap and the Blood Lady struck a needle at her heel and went on to squeeze blood from her feet onto a tiny container??? Is that how you draw blood from a baby? Its my first time so I really don't know. That wasn't half as bad, the worst was when she began squeezing the bejesus out of Ashley's tiny feet, twisting it cos the Blood Lady wasn't in the right position. With each squeeze Ashley screamed and cried louder, the Blood Lady was even at one point seemed irritated with her cries which made it worst. The squeezing went on and on, blood dripping everywhere, on my pants.

Those who know me, I mean really know me, would know that if I wasn't holding on to Ashley, the Blood Lady wouldn't see daylight. I was amazed that I could be calm trying to soothe my poor little girl and not frighten her anymore by not reprimanding the Blood Lady. I was fuming inside. Really, if they had taken my temperature at that point, they would probably have to send ME to get my blood checked!

Chek and I, we were dumbfounded. To react or not to react? Anyway, as soon as the Blood Lady was done, I promptly got up and went away from there with Ashley. We didn't wait for the test results and just asked the doc to phone me with it. We didn't even bother with the urine test cos I told the doc we didn't want to do it anymore.

When we got home, the doc called and told us Ashley caught some viral fever that will last from anywhere between a week to 10 days. Nothing we can do except to give her water and fever medicine.

For what its worth, we got a proper diagnosis on Ashley and we can now stop worrying about her.