2009 First Half Yearly Review

Time flies, today was the last day of the first half year 2009. It is so proud and please to say that my children achieved 2 significant milestones in this first half year of 2009.


1, they have slept independently in their own bedroom. This morning was the 3rd morning that they woke up happily from their beds. We will check on them twice every night. Once, before we sleep, and the second time, when I wake up for the toilet. We will make sure on their room temperature and bring May up to pee. April is able to do that on her own now with a torch light that we put on the side pocket of her bed. The yellow side pockets that hubb hang beside the rail of the beds are to keep the torch lights, story books and water bottles. Bravo to both my girls, and not forgetting to thank the father for setting up all the necessities.

2, so far, we only enrolled one extra Art class for April, other than her normal kindergarten class, whereas May was not attending any class before. Last Friday, I enrolled April in UCMAS Mental Arithmetic class, and May in the I-Mathematics class. I did worry of whether April would be able to cope with the additional class in the evening and whether May would cry for being apart 2 hours from us. To my surprise, May only wept for a while then she was just fine for the whole session. Her teacher even praised her for being very good and clever girl in the class. On the other hand, April was also showed high interest in the course after dismissing from the class. Both of them were like a chatter box, talking non stop about their first lesson for the entire night.

April was excited over all the new items that was given on her first day in UCMAS.

Both of them were given a new T-shirts as their uniforms. Wearing these T-Shirts to the classes will enable them to get 5 stars. The collected stars will later be used to exchange for little gifts from the teachers.

Talk 2 - New bed

Like I mentioned in my earlier entry that May's new bed was arrived, but we have yet to move April's bed from master room to their room. On the first night after we have arranged her new bed, while April was still watching her favourite Dibo on Disney Playhouse Channel, I secretly brought May up to see her new bed. She was so overjoyed. On the following night, almost about the same time, she held my hand after she had finished her bedtime milk and whispered to me that she wanted to go up stair earlier. Then, I knew that she wanted to drop by her room to visit her new bed. While I was busy taking photos of her on her new bed.
She said to me, "Mommy, why aunty (babysitter) said this is not my bed?".
I said, "Oh, really?".
I said again, "This is your new bed, it is yours.".
She said, "Tomorrow, I want to tell aunty that.".
My little May is satisfied after having my re-assurance.

Children Room Part 2

The ordered single bed for little May was finally here. Not only the bed is new, the bed sheet, the pillow and the bolster are new too. She is a big girl, she is going to have her own bed and sleep with her jie jie in their own room.

April already identifies that Aurora from The Sleeping Beauty and Snow White are her favourite princesses. So, May also identifies that Cinderella and Belle from Beauty and The Beast are her favourites.

The new Disney Princesses bed sheet.

This Friday night is first pilot run of sleeping independently from me. To be continue......

Talk 1 - Playground

Last night, while we 3 ladies went to the bed and off the light, May told me that she went to play at the playground for very long time. Then I knew that it was the playground at the Klinik Ibu Dan Kanak Kanak, as this morning hubb brought her there for her half yearly check up.

When hearing this, April went a bit agitated and jealous, as she was in the school that time and she didn't get to play in the playground at all.

So, April said: "Mei mei, next time you cannot go to that playground, there got a lot of mosquitoes. Don't go there, ok!".

I just kept silent and waited for what May was going to say.

May said: "Papa asked me to go one ma! Papa asked me asked me to go one wo!".

April was so geram, and I said: "You both keep quiet, mommy wants to sleep already.".

Children Room Part 1

During the last June school holidays, April put up a stay at her ex-baby sitter's place. May has a chance to sleep on her jie jie single bed on her own for the first time. She suddenly told me that she wants a single bed like her jie jie too. When I conveyed what she said to hubb, hubb made a big decision suddenly. He wants to buy May a new single bed, and he wants to move them to sleep in the up stair second room on their own. Initially, I thought he was just having a rough idea only. However, I saw him relocating all the stuff in the second room to the third room on one day after I returned from work. The same night, he asked April and May, what color they want their room to be in? April said pink, and May said blue. After he has cleaned up the second room, he has someone to re-paint the wall. The original color of the wall was all blue, and now are 2 sides pink, another 2 sides blue.

Old wall A

New wall A

Old wall B

New wall B

Old wall C

New wall C

Old wall D

New wall D

We are now keeping on telling them that the room is almost ready, and they are going to shift and sleep there soon. They are both quite exciting at the moment, as they are expecting to live in their new and own space. I have yet to know how this transition will be. Keep my fingers cross. Everything is going to happen in this coming weekend. However, I'm sure that I will also miss all the "huh hah" which they have created so far in my master bedroom. I miss them when they can eventually sleep independently. In fact, I shall be happy, as we finally can get back our own space like the time we were just newly wed. How confuse I am. T_____T.

My Sleep Aids

I have to admit that I'm a fussy sleeper. So, I have my own sleep aids. Missing any one of the following components, I may fail in having a 100% conducive sleep.

Components of my sleep kits include:
2 big pillows - stack up to provide the best support for my head, neck and shoulder.
1 bolster - allow me to sleep side way and rest my knees on it.
1 pair of ear plugs - block out sounds that wake me up like the snores of your significant others or the barks of dogs.
1 small pillow - act as a sleep mask for me to shade all the light, though the extra thick curtain has done a very good job, I still need it to cover 50% of my face from nose upwards.
Pajamas - change into a comfy sleepwear is my permanent habit. I am still practising wearing new pajamas on CNY's eve.

Elements of the good night sleep environment include:
Total darkness - achieved by wearing the ear plugs.
Total quietness -achieved by covering my eyes and head with the small pillow.
Room temperature is maintained at 28-29C. So, blanket is not a must for me. I can sleep without blanket, unless the temperature is low.

These are all my favourite sleep wears. Looking HOT or sexy is not a key thing, but I rather want to feel really comfortable when I sleep in them. If I want to turn on my partner, I will go naked, hide myself under the blanket, and wait for him to find out with his hands .

Drink more water

This is my 1500ml water tumbler that I bring to office every day. I usually finished the water that I brought from home in the morning by 11.30am. Then, I topped up it again with another 1500ml of cold water from the pantry. I would normally finish it again by 4.30pm. So, I have drunk about 3000ml of water before the evening. Drinking more water is actually crucial for those who want to stay slim. That's why I drink so much everyday.

'Drink more water' is also become my daily phone reminder to my children, and also to my baby sitter. I reminded her to remind my children to drink more water, other than having them to wash their hands with soap more frequently, these the minimal preventive actions from getting the H1N1 virus infection.
My children like to stick their stickers everywhere, even my water tumbler also won't get missed. One side is Belle from The Beaty And The Beast.

The other side is Ariel and Prince Eric from Little Mermaid.

Happy Father's Day to you

老公，我和孩子祝你父亲节快乐。谢谢你这些日子对家庭的付出。你是这个家的枝柱，一定要好好保重身体。为了我们，你辛苦了。

9 ways of staying slim naturally

Recently I try the following NATURAL ways to stay slim and healthy.

1. Increase the intake of fruits and veggies. They are lower in calories, but will still make me fell full.

2. Drink plenty of water. It is not only flushing out toxins, it is also teaching the body that it no longer needs to store water

3. Weigh every day before it is too late to know that I have put one extra weight.

4. Resist the urge to over-eat, so I try to avoid places such as "all-you-can-eat" buffets and fast-food joints.

5. Take less meat and carbohydrate.

6. Pay attention to food labels and keep an eye out for unhealthy preservatives, added sugars and fat content, such as soft drinks, chocolates, sweets, cakes, ice-cream and etc.

7. Eat only when I'm hungry.

8. Exercise regularly!I sign myself up for a Yoga class and Aerobics class.

9. Sleep more. Having not enough sleep may cause sleep-deprived and lead to over-eat.

Hot Summer

Recently, the weather is really very hot. If tomorrow is still not raining, it is already full 2 weeks that no raining at all. I don't know how long this hot weather will last. Everyday, I stare at the sky, just to hope that I can find a dark cloud, but still fail.

These long stretch and hot summer days have actually affected me a lot. It causes me to lose interest in SEX, outing, exercise and food. I just like to sit still on a couch under a fast fan or in an air-con room. I do not like to move my body at all. I take plenty of cold drink and a few times of cold showers a day, in order to cold down the body and the soul. The hot weather has also affected my mood and temper. My temper is getting HOT very fast. My mind is getting irritated easily too. So, my hubb and kids are the targeted victims, and I feel guilty most of the time.

I feel extremely uncomfortable as I sweat a lot. The moisturizer, lotion, toner or mask will never have chance to be absorbed by the skin. After I applied the skin care products, it would be blended with the sweat and got wiping away with the tissue at the end, and leaving the skin pores widely open. It is really bad for my skin. T____T.

I'm not a greedy person. I just wish to have RAIN. No need to be very heavy one, but average one is good enough. The best is to last for about 2 hours. Then, I won't be complained so much here.

I born and raised up in Raintown. No rain can actually weaken my spirit. I know this is out of my control. I have no power over the GOD. But, I miss RAIN. I really love having rainy day again.

This is the view taken from the place that I sit in the office. It is like burning hot. Tonight will be another unbearable night.

Guilt at lunch

I have tried my very very best to maintain my weight at 60 to 61kg on the past week. I have cut down in my sugar, rice and meat intakes so far. It works quite well for me. Every morning, I put myself in great pressure, when I stand on my digital bathroom scale after taking a shower, and I wear nothing.*blush* I hold my breath before I look at the figure that is stagnant in the scale. I tell you, one single gram increased is killing me..... softly.

Today, I feel deeply in quilt again. We went to Old Town for lunch. I ordered the Simut Milk Tea and Mee Jawa. I finished both them "kering kotang", as I was very hungry that time. Too bad, I should have reminded myself of the famous quote by Oprah Winfrey: 'no starve, no lose'. T___T. Sigh... already too late.

Before I started eating, I have drunk half of the Simut Milk Tea. Now, I think of the sugar and milk in it, damn high in calories man!

The Mee Jawa has a lot of crushed peanuts and prawn crackers. Besides the noodles and the gravy are all fattening la! I feel so full after taking them.

Moreover, I have a very bad habit, I must take cup of either Milo or coffee with a few biscuits at 3.30pm for tea time one .

So, I must force myself to go light at my dinner. Otherwise, the bathroom scale will reveal the truth of my greediness tomorrow. It is killing me.........softly.

Sticker Fun

Every child loves stickers, so as my kids. At first, I only allowed them to stick their cartoon stickers at their sticker books. Very soon, they lost their interest in their sticker books. Then, I controlled them by only allowing them to stick on their story books, colouring books, exercise books and all types of books they have.

After April went to the kindergarten, the teachers always used stickers to reward her. Day by day, she has plenty of them already, and caused her sticker containers overload. When I went for a hair cut in one evening, they were too bored at home with the father. So, they played with their stickers, and started to find a new place to stick them. When I returned home, I was stunned by seeing their wardrobe become like this.

Till now, they still find it fun to stick their stickers there. I will try to well-keep this wardrobe, and let them have a look at their most creative activity during childhood, when they have grown up as an adult in future.

New look

Pardon me that I purposely put a small pics today. Smaller pic isn't appeared that obvious. wtf!
First, I cut my hair. I failed in my mission to keep my hair long. T___T. My hair haven't longer enough, then I already gave up in keeping it any longer. Blame it to the very hot weather and also the discouragement of my hubb.

What else is new in me? Not the hair color, the color is the same. Now only I realise short hair can bring out the color of the hair better. The answer is that I get my eye brow's embroidery a re-touch up treatment. Besides, I purposely show you my left eye bag. It is so swollen and having blue black as well. It was due to the oil seeds extraction treatment. My beautician used the ultraviolet scan to treat it after the extraction. It is damn painful and it is scared now. I keep telling myself that everything will be fine after a few days. I pray for no side effect afterwards. Really "Ai sui mai mia".

Movie Time

Yesterday was the family movie time again. We chose to watch Night at the Museum since there wasn't any children friendly movie this season, except Monster Vs Aliens, but April didn't like to watch any movie which has monster. At first, I was a bit worrying that April and May couldn't accept and comprehend the storyline of Night at the Museum. To my surprise that, we were still able to hear some laughter and exclamation on many scenes. Both of them even talked it out loudly when they saw the excited parts, hubb and I kept reminding them to lower down their volume.

Overall rating of this movie is 7 out 10. Many said that part 1 was nicer, but we have yet to watch it. May be we should try to look up for its DVD soon.

Working mom lunch break

What a working mom will do during her lunch break? Working mother's life is very hectic one. The one hour lunch break is so valuable that we have to fully utilize it to its fullest. We, Angeline, Yvonne and me, 3 working mothers went to Taiping Sentral, one of the biggest shopping complex in town. At first we planed to have our lunch at Noodle Station. Then, knowing that Elianto is having 50% sales, Yvonne who is so into the cosmetic nowadays wanted to go there first. Too bad that we didn't get anything from Elianto, we then proceeded to a newly opened cloth shop, which is just next to the Elianto counter. Yvonne and me bought a dress blouse, and Angeline bought a pair of leggings there. Why called dress blouse? As it is a blouse for me and it can a dress for Yvonne who is more petite than me.

These are our grabs during lunch just now.

Mine have a ribbon in front the v-neck. I plan to wear this with a pink tube and black leggings this weekend.

We were spending too long time in browsing and testing in the shop, and forgetting about our plan to eat at the Noodle Station. After reaching office, I already damn hungry. Quickly, we went to canteen to hunt for some snacks. Luckily, the canteen was still opened.The hungry ghost was opening up the snack with her shivering hands. My stomach was having loud drum noise already.

Confessions of a shopaholic, instead of having the yummy tom yam seafood noodles, I have to eat one 'ubi goreng' and two 'kuih badak' only. Padan muka lo!

My very sweet neighbour Yvonne was posing with her new dress. She complained about her new neighbour, who just sat next to her since yesterday, caused her to lose her privacy at her work place. LOL!

Fun time

We haven't had chance to go anywhere during this school holiday. My children are only allowed to have fun at home due to the bad weather. It is so hazy and hot everyday. Besides, it is not advisable to travel too, as there is a risk to get the H1N1 infection. So, it is more healthy, safer and more economic to stay indoor. However, my children definitely won't feel bored at home.

Hubb utilised his credit card collected points to redeem these two mini laptops.

This one is meant for age 3 + children. So, this is May one.

This is for age 5 + April one.

April only enjoys playing the word scramble so far.

And, May is learning her ABC and 123 here.

Learning can be fun too. I let April do some exercises with this Kindergarten English book from Aunt Su In too. She likes to do the exercises here, as all the exercises are designed in a very lively and creative way.

My brother went somewhere else and got this mini ice-cream key chain for my children

They both hung it on their school bags. So lovely.

My girls like pink, so both of their school bags are pink.