You grabbed my foot

Out of the many many warm memories I have with tomato, this one never fail to put a smile on my face. :-)

Tomato has started to use her hands to grab things. She is always an early riser. On this particular morning, we were still in zzz land.I was having a dream.Should be a pleasant dream though I can't remember much, when I felt something touched my right pinky toe.I woke up in shock, to find my darling daughter, lying on her belly, hand out-stretched and she chuckled happily when she saw that I have waken.

Ahh..life's simple pleasure.my daughter is so cheeky at a very young age. *smiles*

People come, people go

This is a rather sad post.

2 of the half day kids at my Tomato's nanny is going to Primary 1 next year. And they might not be coming to the the nanny's place any more.

This morning, I had a short conversation with Big Piggy, in which she started.

Big Piggy : After xmas, I won't be coming any more. I will miss everyone :(

Big Piggy : I manage to take aunty's(me) photo (actually she curi-curi snap a photo of me with her tablet), Tomato, Little Piggy,  Baby, but didn't manage to take photos of Miss Notty and Ah Boy. I am sad.

All I could say was : You can come on Saturday then can take their photo liao..

I felt sad, all these kids grew up too fast. I feel a bit sad that I might not see this talkative Big Piggy any more.

Maybe I will develop photos taken on Tomato's birthday and give it to her as memorabilia.

The Birthday Girl

Meant to post this months ago. But heeee....I was occupied with (*insert excuses*).  Well, better late than never.Anyway.. my princess had her birthday earlier on a weekend, not on her actual birthday, when most people can make it. We surveyed a few places and settled for Yun Yan Restaurant, Stutong. The price was reasonable, its near from home and its spacious enough. They (Yun Yan) surprised me by setting up the place nicely with balloons and fake flowers(LOL). It was a private event, where most of the guests are families. We only invited our close friends.

Future SIL and my BIL helped to set up the stage. Nice? I designed the banner and Oink printed it out in his office. Selina helped to order the Teddy bear cake. It turned out better than I expected. In case you are wondering, the cake is from Bake and Chilled.  I wrapped all the kids' gifts with teddy wear plastic bags that I procured from Daiso. Enlarge the photo to look at the cute bags. KEKEKE.

Tomato, you were sick at that time, And boy, your mood was not at its best. And worse, you had runny nose. My poor baby. First photo with Nelly, but you were not in the mood to make friends. Sigh...oh well~

You looked so cute in this photo my dear Tomato. The whole night, you were clingy and not in much mood to smile. You only want to be carried or run up and down the stage        -________________-

To make the red eggs "laku" <-popular, I printed a small note. Red= Huat ah, so if you want to Huat ah, faster take one egg!!..LOL. Btw, I wrapped the egg basket myself. Nice bor? The note must have worked, cos by the end of the night, we only left a few eggs. I've been to parties where LOTS of eggs was left. What a waste. In case you haven't noticed, the birthday was teddy-bear-themed since Tomato loves bear bear :->. Selina made the mini chocolate cup cakes which was so moist and yummy despite the plain look, and also the agar-agar. THANKS SELINA!! I <3 u..LOL! 'x'

Finally a photo of you, Tomato. Happy Birthday My love! Mommy & Daddy loves you very very much. Hope next year we can take lots of photos of you smiling on your birthday :-))

P/S : all photos taken by Ah Tiong @ Barkley Lim.

It gets better..oh joy~

Remember a few months ago, I blogged about the horrible experience on flights for Tomato's first trip to Singapore. She was 11 mths old then.

We recently brought her for a family visit cum trip to Tawau. FYI, she is almost 17 months old now. We need to fly from Kch to KK, then KK to Tawau. Needless to say, I didn't get too excited about the trip. In fact I am a bit worried how shall we cope with a crying  and loud kid this time. I pray to GOD so that she will cry less.

But guess what??? GOD answered my prayers. In fact it was more than I had hoped for. Tomato was very manage-able this time around. Compared to the little Devil a few months ago, she was such an Angel for this trip. She didn't cry at all and willing to sit still longer.  When kids near her cried, she just look and pointed and goes eee-eeee-eee . LOL.

Out of the 4 flights (return trip ), she manage to sleep throughout on 2 of them, and she didn't even drink milk till sleep, I fed her milk before the flights. Even if she wakes up half way, she can still sleep back.  She enjoyed sleeping on her daddy's chest.
I found she love to feed herself from this trip. She will fight the spoon off my hands. Although she always make a big mess, but I can see that she can spoon her food better now. When its difficult to spoon up the food, she will just use her hands 'x'. AHHAAH. As long as you keep her bowl filled with food, she can sit still and eat herself, and I can eat in peace. OH BLISS! My little girl is growing up tooo too fast. T.T

Tips & Pointers from this trip:

• I don't know is it because of the age, or because she has been on a flight before. She is much more manage-able now compared to before.

• bring disposable bibs. It is very handy when you travel and if your infant love to self-feed. Once they made the mess, you don't even need to pack/ wash the messed up bib. Just throw it. Convenient, I love. I got mine from cosway. It has a pocket to catch dropped food.

• Let it go. Don't mind the mess. Practice makes perfect. As they practice to eat by themselves more, the mess will get lesser and lesser. If you only focus on the mess/ worry about how ppl look at you when your child is making such a big mess, your child may never learn to be independent.

Grow Baby Grow (7 mths - 14 mths old)

SEKALIGUS UPDATE for many months..keke..And because so many months forgot to update, some details I can't really remember already..ooops. But got update better than none.

7 month old

Weight :??
Height : ??
milk intake : 4.5 oz every 2-3 hours.

- Can sit up longer.
- Had carrot puree, pumpkin puree, Japanese sweet potato puree, potato puree and a bit yoghurt by this age. But mostly still eating rice cereals.

8 months old
Weight : ??
Height : ??
milk intake : 4.5 oz every 2-3 hours. (don't really increase :/ )

- mix purees into her porridge. I cook her different taste porridge everyday. I would make the purees from carrots, japanese sweet potatoes, potatoes,  pumpkin, sweet potatoes, purple potatoes and pour in into ice cube moulds. Then when its frozen, I will put the frozen puree cubes into a container and keep it in freezer. When I want to cook the porridge, I just mix in one cube of puree after thawing them in the fridge.

9 mths old
Weight : ??
Height : ??
Milk Intake : ??

- start to have diced vegetables in her porridge. We also cook soup with meat which will be used to cook her porridge. Also notice she is growing longer but not as chubby as before.

10 mths old
Weight : ??
Height : ??
Milk Intake : ??

- start to give her some fish. And I cook her porridge with meat (which will be taken out and given to Mango after cooked). Every night I will prepare ingredients for her porridge, put everything in slow cooker and cook it overnight.  I think I also started to use whole rice by then instead of grinded Bario Rice. I cook different porridge everyday for Tomato. I use onion, ginger, and garlic depends on what I am cooking to flavour the porridge.

- Grew 2 bottom teeth

11 mths old
Weight : about 8.3kg
Height : 73cm ( know this because her passport was done when she's 11 mths old)
Milk Intake : around 5 oz

- brought her to Singapore for her very first trip overseas. 'x'
- Start to show interest to walk. Can crawl nicely.
- Can call mama. And sometime di - i think is for daddy. 'x'

1 yr old (12 mths old)
Weight : 8.55kg
Height :74.1cm

- she got sick before her birthday. :(( And refused milk and water and food after 2 days of fever.  She only wants to be spoon fed with water, and this doesn't work with milk :(. We tried feeding her glucose water but she wailed. After whole day of no eating, she was quite lifeless. Only sleep and not moving much. Her grandma (my mom) shed tears when she came to visit her. Tomato, if you read this in the future, remember ah, your Ah Mah so siok lu, shed tears for you. When we carry her, she would lean her body on ours and her head on our shoulder.Her hands hanging loosely at her side. :(( We tried everything, I even cook some porridge. Which she refused. End up we tried offering her the organic puff she always liked. And she ate them! Was so glad, I immediately went to buy another one for her. 'x' We went dinner that night, and she liked my carbonara.

-She was still not so well on her birthday. Poor girl. But at least her appetite was back by then. I on the other hand, had severe sore throat, every time I swallow, its like I'm swallowing a knife. 'x'

- can call mama, di, baby, mam-mam , eiiiii - when want to scold you

13 mths old
Weight : 8.3kg
Height : 75cm

- has salmon porridge  at least once a week. Starting to let her taste some table food. If eat outside, I will ask them not to put MSG into my food, and also to put less salt. Willing to try anything we offer. Bread, pasta, fruits, etc. I believe this is all thanks to me for my effort to cook different porridge for her everyday. 'x' Started to introduce mushrooms, cauliflower to her. Will point to food and say "mam mam" to tell you she wants it.

- encouraged her to walk a few steps without any support by standing a few steps away from her and cheering her to come towards us. :) It was cute I tell you.

- Oh ya, when we take off her clothes to get ready for bath (we say pong pong), she will pat both hands on her chest and say pong pong too. Cute max.

14 mths old
Weight : 9kg
Height :76cm

- start to eat 3 solid meals a day instead of 2 only.

- we notice she suddenly become so clever. AHAHAHA. Easy pick up and learn new things.

- can suddenly say a lot things. can call out Ko-ko (elder brother), di-di (younger brother), ball ball

- more demanding 'x'

- keep want ppl to hold her hand while she walks around

- 2 teeth  sprouted from top gum, about time!

- love to flip books she got as present and look at the pictures. When she sees a lion, guess what she say?
 She goes " ARRRRHHHHHHH" <- don't know is growling or roaring, and I suspect she picked this up from her Isaac ko-ko or from her lion toy (that roars).


******************************************************************************

Found out my girl LOVES TO DANCE. When she can sit up (around 7 mths old) , she will just move her head and hands whenever she hears music. When she can stand up (with support) she will move only one hand, while the other hand supports on something. And most of the times, she will also shake her booty. ROFL. But I always cannot manage to capture it in video. The booty shaking I mean.  Once she can walk, she brought in new moves, beside shaking her butt more , she also stomp her feet/ jumps to the rhythm. That day I saw her sort of "vibrating" her body  cos the song on TV was a fast rhythm-ed one. And finally I manage to capture her butt shaking move on video. It was soooooo cute, it would have made Beyonce proud 'x'

Chickens and Eagles

Just weeks ago, our company attended a seminar with a renowned speaker who came to motivate us.

I went expecting to feel sleepy, but he is an interesting man. And funny too.  I need to leave half way though, to pick up Tomato.

My colleague didn't attend. So when we met, I shared with him some of the things I find interesting and still remember. One of it is the speaker say we should be an eagle, not a chicken. Chicken always do what others do, while eagle soar successfully high in the sky, preying alone, working independently.

So after that, we keep metaphorically relate our situation to the topic.

We talked about how we are chickens, everyday do same thing, and get chicken feed as salary  'x'!! AHAHAHAHAHA

Then we talked about a project where some staff will be required to be attached to the site, far away from home and family. And I commended how pitiful it will be. He said, chickens are meant to be slaughtered when needed. AHHAHAHAAHAHAH

And then, I mentioned how guys in IT field have thinner hair 'x' He said, its ok, since chickens need to have all their feathers plucked before being slaughtered anyway. 'x'!!! AHAHAHAHHAH

Got once, he suddenly appear without me realising and I was slightly shocked. So I scolded him, don't walk so silently like a cat, he said where got? I walk like a chicken. AHHHHHHHHHHH But then chicken is not quiet ler, they keep kok kok kok  kok kok kok...AHHAHAHAHH

Some of the things Tomato use

I wanted to share some of the things that Tomato is using now.

Bath items:

- Pureen 2-in-1 baby shampoo when bath at my nanny's at mum's place. Gaia body wash and shampoo when bathing at home. I love the smell of Pureen's blackcurrant and Plum. At the same time I love Gaia just because its organic 'x'..AHAHA.. Pureen is available at all supermarket. While Gaia was brought back by MIL from her Aus trip. But I think it can be purchased online too. You just have to google.

After bath:

- will rub her chest and upper back with 21st Century's children's vapor rub to prevent cold. We sleep in an air-conditioned room on most night. Available in pharmacies, Watson, Guardian,  Mummycare, Poppies, not sure of others) . So far, I find it cheapest at Poppies.

- then rub her tummy and lower back with 如意oil. Available at most shops.

- then apply moogoo's skin udder cream  on her limbs, emphasizing on her legs as my friend told me kid's legs get drier as they grow. So I suppose prevention is better than cure? I love the idea behind this product, go read the history and I guarantee you will LOL. And the ingredients are natural and I love the fact its not greasy. LOVE IT!I sometime use it on self too. You can buy it online if you are from Malaysia here.  I got this online for RM39.90.

- As for diapers, she use PetPet during the day (cos she poo quite frequent, not LS type, but soft stools) and Mamypoko for the night. And as claimed by the advert, Mamypoko sure last for whole night. Its more expensive but definitely worth it.

For rashes, insect bites, cuts ...

-  Lucas papaw for rashes, bites and minor cuts.  Love this product.  If you apply this on the area a mozzie bit soon enough, the swelling and redness will heal after half an hour! When Tomato has a more serious rash on her bum bum, I use this too. Heal very fast! Avaialble at Poppies or you can source it online, of if you are going to Australia, grab some back!

- Drapolene cream as prevention. After Lucas pawpaw heals Tomato's nappy rash, I will use this as a protective barrier. I don't use this much though. Only when necessary.  Available at most supermarket and pharmacies. And again, cheapest I find is at Poppies.








Insect Repellants

We used a few. Patches, spray-type, balm type. And the best I think is this one : Badger's  Anti- Bug balm Twist-Up Stick. Bought it from iHerb.com. My nanny's house is infested with mosquitoes during rainy days. I think its because she has a lot of plants. :-s Spray and patches don't work as well. This balm is also not 100%, but I see its works much better than the rest. Plus the twist up design makes it easier to apply. Another plus is its organic. Safe for babies :))

Oral Care

- There's this chinese herb powder thingy where you can buy from chinese herb stores. At least this is what other mothers I know is also using. I don't know the exact names, but the chinese herb seller will know what you want when you ask for it. You are to wrap a pc of sterilised bandage ( I use snowflake brand 3x10'' if I am not mistaken as it is the perfect size and I am lazy to cut myself into pcs if I buy the rolled ones 'X') . Plan to change to use a proper toothbrush when she grows more teeth. At this point, she still only have 2.

Toilet paper chit chat

This is too funny not to share. So I decided to blog it.

One fine day. I chatted with RedSponge.  You see, we have moved office. Each to a different one. *sob* And both of our new office *drum rolls* ...wait for it...wait for it....has NO toilet paper in any toilets. Yup, you have to request for it (by roll). Yup. You can laugh at us now. What era already, even toilet paper also need to request! By roll somemore!

Anyway.

Toilet Roll now is luxurious commodity to us. Must use it wisely.
Since its so troublesome to request for a single roll of toilet paper (we have to login into the system etc) I decided to just bring my own.
So below was our conversation through gtalk. It was not the exact words as it happened sometiome ago, but its close enough.

me : I brought 3 rolls of toilet paper. Must jimat-jimat use.

spongie : I already counted, I need 5 squares of toilet paper to shee-shee.

me : what, why so little? I need 7 pcs. 5 to cover the toilet seat and 2 to wipe *ahem* 'x'

spongie : so waste! my toilet is squat type.

me : oh. Then how much you need for big business?

spongie : ummm.. I think 23 pcs.

me: walao eh, need so much meh?

spongie: u ler?

me: I not yet got chance to PS here (just moved) 'x' But today I got some feeling. (ROFL). Let me mentally 
count now and see enough not.

5 mins later...

me : ok, I only need 15. 6 to cover the toilet seat. The rest you know what happen 'x' how can you use up to 23??

spongie : I think I remembered wrongly. Let me count again. Ok, I only need XX pcs ( I forgot how many..LOL, less than 23 pcs). In fact, I found that 3 pcs is enough if I pee at the squat type toilet.

me : If you PS at squat type toilet, you can save alot toilet papers.

spongie : cannot...I cannot tahan squat so long. LOL

me : oh ya, i forgot you always constipate.

spongie:....cis.

me : LOL

Well. That's about it. I hope I didn't miss out anything. LOL. This conversation is so memorable, it deserved to be blogged 'x'. Hope you enjoyed it

I know how they feel now

Hi blog. Its been a while. I have not abandon you. I just have to neglect you for a while. I am busy. Both work and life.

Recently, we brought Tomato on a short trip to Singapore. Why Singapore you say? Because its a safe and modern country. And the flight to there is short, just a bit more than 1 hour from Kuching.

I was really nervous before the trip. How would Tomato behave? Would she scream and shout? What if she poop in flight? I don't know if I can change her in that tiny bathroom. I prayed hard she will sleep then I can enjoy the flight a bit.

ALAS! That didn't happen. She was super-hyper. Her mischievous mode was on FULL mode. My mum had to support her body while she's busy "walking" up and down the boarding hall. When its time to check in, she was all hyper and wanted to stand up on the seat. And guess what?she stood up, and pulled the front seat's passenger's hair. OMG. 'x' Then there's this game she like to play with me, she like to point at my mouth, and I will pretend to bite her. But I was so nervous at that time, I bit her for real, and she cried real loud 'x' I know, my bad but no one's perfect ok. She was restless the whole flight, bored because she is not allowed to move much. End up we manage to keep her at one place by using FOOD 'x' YUP, I took out her snack from the bag, and she happily munched away. I should do that earlier. GRR.

If you think that was a bad, the flight back was even worse. 'x' Our flight was scheduled at 5+pm. She is tired as she didn't get her afternoon nap.  So she was being really fussy. She kept crying  and her lung performance was really great. The guy in front of us, kept throwing me disgusted look.  OMG! Now I know how those parents with crying babies felt when people threw them the look. I carried her up and down, I look to my husband for help (he was assigned to sit a few rows behind us), but he was ASLEEP *grumble* I had no idea what to do any more, end up I thought of making her some milk. She drank it and fell asleep. *GROANNNN* should do that earlier! And she get to sleep 15 mins before we arrived at Kuching. Yup, for the whole 1 hour+ flight, she cried 70% of it, and only manage to get her to sleep for the LAST 15 mins. *pulls hair* actually, there's no need for me to pull hair, my hair was already messy from all that 'x' 

That night, after tucking her in back at home, and everything, I plonked down on bed, and zoned out. Exhausted!

I hope our next trip will be better. At least I know what to expect and what to do next time.

I've learnt :

(1) When out on trips away from home, make sure your kid is well rested. If not, all you will get is a CRANKY kid 'x' - means cannot go out explore too long.

(2) Give milk before naps.

(3) Make sure snacks are easily accessible. 

OR :

(4) Wait till your kid is older to enjoy trips better. Go on a couple's trip instead. It will be better. Trust me for  you and for the kid. You come back rejuvenated (not to mention days of good night sleep 'x') and your kid enjoys back at home, pampered by grandparents and not get cranky and tired from trips. So its a win-win situation.

Little Miss Naughty

Didn't have a nice z last night. Tomato kept waking me up. She was coughing and kept tossing and turning.

So I was praying and hoping that she will be a good girl while I am driving her to the nanny.

She was surprisingly quiet. I didn't turn back to check on her as I was driving. As long as she's not shouting and fussing then it should be ok.

I wanted to stop by my parent's place for a while, and as we were nearly there, she started to whine. Still, I didn't turn back. I concentrated on driving. Attempt to soothe her by talking to her.

When we finally arrived. I stopped the engine and turned back to look at her. She was covered with white stuff. And as I look harder. They are pieces of torn tissue papers.-___________________-. She must have got her hand on the pack of tissue paper I left behind. Pulled out the tissues from the packet, tore it up to pieces and I believed she also ate some. -_________________-

So THAT'S why she's so quiet. She was UP TO SOMETHING. And she whined after she got BORED with it. :D

She's so cute, I love this little miss naughty so much.

The Accident

Date : 18 Jan 2013, Friday (not even friday the 13th, don't know why I am so suei...malang betullll)

Time : Around 2.30 pm (On the way to customer's site)

Location : According to the google map I was shown at the police station, its somewhere at Jalan Abdul Rahman, just before the roundabout.

Weather & Traffic condition : Jam at the city, and fairly smooth traffic after the toll. And it was raining non-stop.

And the million-dollar-question-of-the-day is HOW DID IT HAPPEN? I think I've been asked about this like a million times 'x' Until I am quite fed up, I put up on my gtalk status that I DO NOT WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT ANY MORE. But then why do I blog it now?

Yes I want to forget the horrible incident, but would also want to remember it so as a reminder to drive safe. I want to learn from the incident so that it will NEVER happen again. I want to face it, learn from it then move on with life. All in all, I am VERY THANKFUL to god that I am still alive and be able to go home to my dear family. I hugged my Tomato hard and tight when I saw her.

Ok, back to the story. How did it happen? I have been playing it many times in my head. I am almost at where I am suppose to be. It was still raining, and I was driving in the right (fast) lane. And there's huge trees lined up in the divider. So technically speaking, I was driving in the right lane, under the trees while its raining.
I guess from quite far I can see a while Toyota in front of me already. So when I got a bit nearer, I started to break, but the car didn't stop, it felt like I had stepped on a banana peel. And it happen so fast, before I know it, I am ramming into the Toyota's back. And my chest hit the steering wheel :( It was so painful, I thought I am hurt seriously somewhere. But luckily I didn't.

Immediately I called Oink. The driver, a malay came up after some time and asked me why I knocked his car 'x'

I didn't really look at what model of Toyota he was driving but I was later told its a Toyota Mark X. That explains a lot cos after a while, a big gold Rolls Royce/ Or was it Jaguar?  (I am not very into cars) came to pick up the young son away. I felt terribly guilty to see the kid, OMG! luckily he was ok because he put on seat belt! I kept apologising to the driver and his pretty wife and kept asking how is the kid. Thank god they are friendly, nice, civilised people who didn't scold/ yell at me. They say if I knocked into a Chinese's car, sure kenak tiam tiam 'x'. Frankly speaking, the guilt I felt outweighed the pain I felt. :(

I learned a lot through the horrifying experience. I learned from own account that LIFE IS SHORT. LIFE IS PRECIOUS. Because life is short, I am thinking of doing some major decisions in my life which I haven't really decided yet. Because life is short, I show my appreciation towards my family more.

And I learned the importance of SEAT BELT. All of us, me and the people in the car  I knocked into had their seat belts on. I don't know what will I do if something happened to that kid in the car. I don't want to think about it.

Now that this is out of my chest, I would like to take this opportunity to also remind all of you to drive SAFE especially during the monsoon season. Better be SAFE and SLOW than SORRY.  And! Don't forget those seat belts. Wear them once you get into your car even if you are only driving to nearby shops.

Ok, before I stop, HAPPY CNY EVERYONE! And please drive safely during this festive season.