Sneak preview...

Prince William's royal wedding to Catherine Middleton is today, also the same date is my very own prince William's 3rd birthday. Here's a sneak preview of his birthday cake, made by Ivy






Happy Birthday to William, my very romantic boy boy. He told me "I love you, Mummy!" and then said I was his Little Mermaid. Last time I was his Cowgirl, then I was his Cinderella, and now his little mermaid *heart melt* (how come the daddy don't say this to me one?)

More pictures next week. Have a great weekend, everyone! I'd be glued to the tv later to watch the royal wedding, once I put this William to sleep. Haiyaa, the Prince William will have to wait!

When I break one of my own rules

We read about regretful stories of parent(s) leaving their kids in the car just for a short while, only to discover a mishap has happened to their child. Call it their own fault - serve them right - if you're cold hearted, or cry along with them.

As a mother, I set my own rule when it comes to leaving behind my kids in the car - DO NOT, even if it's just to pop into a shop to buy something. If out of convenience, I'd have at least the maid in the car, LOCKED, with strict instructions NEVER to open the door even if confronted, and the car is within sight of where I am to be or less than 15 seconds walk away.

My rule. I'm an accounts person by background (eventhough I don't practice much of it now... or even then, hehe) so maybe this explain why I set some basic rules for myself - afterall this is what accountants have been trained... all the principles, remember?

So I broke that rule once or twice. Or thrice *guilty*

The most recent one was leaving Vic in the car, making sure she has locked the door before I walk away, and the car in sight to where I was going. It was raining, quite heavily I must say, and I promised her fried kuey teow for dinner, as she requested.

One more hour to dinner time and this evening rain doesn't seem like it will stop, so I thought I better buy the kids' dinner at the night market before they get hungry and cranky (or before I get hungry and cranky).

No crowd, so quickly I bought some fried noodles and popiah and then arrived back at the car in less than 10 minutes. Vic quickly unlocked the door for me, helped me with the food stuff, whilst I struggle to close the damn umbrella.

Just as I entered the car, my dear daughter thanked me for buying her kuey teow, and how she will repay me by buying anything I like when she's older (or did she say when I am an old woman?)

When we got home, I asked her to switch on the livingroom light. But she defied me, and went upstairs to... check on her sleeping brother!

Haiyoo, kids can surely surprise us with their nice-tist! At other times, they'd be on each others nerves (don't even get me started... we were having lunch at Souled Out today, and they almost started WW3 over a blue coloring pencil!)

First Gymboree class

We finally decided to start William on formal education... haha, Gymboree! OK I can hear your silent protest that Gymboree is NOT school. It's just play. Well, all we wanted was to get this boy out of the house, see a teacher, spend some hours playing or learning, and basically just getting used to taking instructions from another person than his parents, and yes, being away from mummy!

Am totally afraid that next year when he goes to kindy, he may freak out, and cry for weeks... or maybe mummy would (I'd be crazy lady in headscraft snooping around the school compound trying to peep into the windows just for a glance of my boy boy)

So after his first trial at Gymboree a month back, we decided to sign him up, after contemplating another kindy.

This time William wasn't as excited as the trial class, and he was sometimes distracted during the play time, and I had to carry him back a few times and remind him to listen to teacher.

Music class... William holding his drumsticks : )

And eating the microphone... oops! Sorry I meant, William did a rendezvous of the ABC song. Loud and clear, that's ma boy!!!
Catching the bubbles ... see his serious face!
Errmm, he does this best... clean up, clean up...
Art class the next day... look at my butterflies mummy!


May I add that after that first day of class, Mummy was very very tired, but William still showed lotsa energy after that... I can't imagine another 50 plus more classes!

Nose bleeding

After that severe allergic attack on Vic, and then her one eye conjunctivitis a week later, followed by a nasty episode of impetigo on her right elbow... I thought all was over. The toxins in her body, if I could solely blame all these health problems on it, should have finally been purged from her body.

But last Thursday April 21st, Vic complained of mild pain on her left abdomen during lunch. The discomfort went away after lunch with a warm cup of soya milk. Then I went to church, whilst hubby babysitted the kids at home during my absence.

My handphone was off, and at 3pm when I on my hp back, hubs called to say Vic's nose was bleeding non stop, and he will rush her to the hospital's A&E. I rushed home too, as fast as my little baby benz could fly me, heart so troubled that something bad will happen to my little princess.

By the time I got home, hubs messaged me that they have arrived the hospital. Apparently he was flying faster than me. After I put William to sleep, I went to meet them in the hospital. The ENT explained that the little's area in her nose is very sensitive and delicate, top with the fact that she is highly allergic. If her skin outside is considered dry, what more inside her nose.

ENT adviced no air condition at night during sleep (my immediate thought was he was crazy, with the hot humid weather in Klang Valley, the air conditioner is no longer a luxury but a necessity) and we have to make do with just the fan. Aiseehhh!! Already this little girl likes to sleep with long sleeve long pants and socks (yes, you heard me right, socks!) and complains that the air cond is too far from her bed. Now, she's not to sleep with air cond?

OK, we tried that out for the past few nights, I put the fan speed a notch higher, and used the air cond only for a while to cool the room down. We all survived quite comfortably during the night. Also good that the weather has been rainy in the evenings that brings the room temperature down.

In the meantime, Vic is on Fucidin cream for her right nostril and Leftose syrup until her next follow up this Thursday.

As this is NOT Vic's first time, and there have been easily 4 episodes last year, we are still very much concern and hope to solve the root of the problem. Am in the market to look around for good humidifier right now so we can use this with the air conditioner. We already have a HEPA air purifier in the room which works on part time basis.

Thank you all for your concern and prayers for Vic's health when I last posted about her allergy attacks. For those who think she may be deprived somewhat in her childhood because of the restricted diet and periodic hospital visits, I beg to differ. Vic is a very happy girl, although she has her bouts of moodiness but she's more blessed than many kids her age, and is stronger mentally than most of us, her maturity beyond her age and her patience unbelievable.

Lego creations

Last week I had a fresh discovery, that my foreign domestic help has a hidden talent... in lego building!

She's built a KLCC-inspired twin tower, complete with a link bridge, double fire stairways, sky garden and a clock at the top of the tower. All these within the one hour when I was upstairs with Vic last Thursday (trying to separate Vic and Will as Vic was having conjunctivitis that day).



Madam is very impressed! : )

Looks like Daddy has a challenger now... kekekekeeke!!


And this is my William's very own little creation which I must emphasised that he made this "all by himself" and presented it proudly to me... he calls it the tortoise although it looks more like a giraffe.

Approaching 3

William is just a week away from turning 3yo.

A couple of months back he has been more assertive in wanting his independence, I suppose this is a good thing. But it gets annoying when we are in a rush especially, and he seems to be struggling or taking his own sweet time to complete the task.

For example, he wants to choose and wear his own shoes and here we are rushing to go out. Then there's William wanting to brush his own teeth "all by himself" but you know how clean that is? For a cleanaholic like myself, I rather not see, than to get agitated at the many spots not cleaned. And there's also a time when mother-son had a dispute over wearing his pants, which ended him in tears.




William has many wants. I guess he feels bored at home, and he can tell me within a day that he wants to see snow in the morning, and an hour later, he wants to sit on the cable car, and in the afternoon he wants to go swimming. These days he'd also say he doesn't want to go to school, and asked why, he'd answer, "I ALONE, how?"

The unevitable truth is he kisses me less often now, but still oblige if I ask him, and I hardly hear his spontaneous "I love you, Mummy"s. But his little pleas for me to play with him, still melts my heart. He'd go... "Mummy play with me. Please... please... pleaseeeeee???"



Prince William will be marrying Kate Middleton on April 29th, the birthdate of my William. How coincident is that! : )

Is it time to give up?

Eversince Vic's recent allergy outburst on the evening of Friday, 8th April, which resulted in rashes all over her abdomen, chest, back, nose bridge and eye area, part cheek, arms. This was considered her worse allergy outburst since 2year plus, when she had the one bite of a muffin that resulted in red clumps on her arms and body, which gradually subsided within the night.

Since September 2008 when she had her first blood test which confirmed her severe food allergies, her diet has been well controlled, even until today, and as parents, we more than applaud Vic for her patience, maturity and understanding in abstaining from all the allergens, not easy for a child her age.

The rashes that appeared two Fridays ago took about 3-4 days to totally clear off, and thinking that was the end of it, Vic contracted one red eye on the Thursday after, 14th April and thinking it was a result of her aggressive rubbing when she woke, I brushed off the thought of conjunctivitis. But her school, being very precautious, called me within half an hour and asked me to pick her up "just in case".

The doctor later confirmed it to be conjunctivitis, caused either by viral or allergy (??). She was prescribed antibiotic drops which cleared her red eye almost immediately, and antibiotic cream for her lip area - which has been very dry, cracking, peeling, bleeding and now letting out secretions showing signs of slight infections.


Last evening, I realised her right elbow skin has lumpy dots, some bleeding and looks very scary.


Honestly, if these are all caused by that one allergic outburst, it must have been something very "poisonous" for Vic's body to react this way. I don't know what this is, and she says it's painful. I'm sure it is, because it even pains my heart just to look at it.

I'm bringing her to see the doctor tonight, after the Elomet steroid doesn't seem to show any signs of improvement. So is it time to give up on the doctors? Her allergies are manifesting in so many ways, it's hard to pinpoint one out and say it's the culprit, it's even hard to find out what is her allergy now, because just recently she has been zerorised by Dr Wong.

What can Dr Yadav say about this? He will just run another blood test to confirm her allergies, tell her to abstain, becareful of what she eats, and that's all. Can anyone heal her? No.

I'm saying this in public now, I am giving up on the doctors. We have seen enough, and unless there is one who can confidently, through proven records with patients still living, stand up and say s/he can heal her, we will pay! But at this time, I am feeling the hopelessness in human beings. I almost think there is no cure, and the sad thought always creeps into my mind... can my precious little girl be as normal as she can be?

So the big question... is it time to give up? Yes. On doctors. On humans. But no, although I'm giving up on people, I am not giving up on God. If He will, He will. If He doesn't... well, when I get to heaven, I will ask Him.

Vic, mummy shed tears for you. I am helpless as it is now. One day when you read this, I hope you would have been healed and stand as testimony for the One who created the miracle for you.

Update @ 510pm

Brought Vic to see the nearest GP as our paed is not opened yet. He diagnose it as impetigo , and later mentioned furunculosis. I googled both and felt Vic is more of the former ie impetigo. He has prescribed oral antibiotics for Vic, and suggested the same antibiotic cream used for her mouth and her elbow too. Healing should show in 48 hours. The cause of this could be due to her weaken immune system after the allergy attack, and resulted in all these. Hope this is the last.

What a day for HRH Queen Victoria

Sunday, April 10th 2011

Morning Walk

Nearing 5am I was awoken by Vic standing by my bedside, asking me to come sleep with her. So I quickly shifted down to her bed. At this hour, Vic however was unusually in a good mood (unlike other mornings when the Queen has lack of beauty sleep and gets grumpy easily) and even joked that she felt like brushing her teeth then! I just mumbled that she should go back to sleep, and didn't want to start up a chat at that time, for fear William might wake.

The next thing I knew at 7am when I next woke, she was still awake. I doubt she even slept a wink, and which later I found out was true. At 715am my lazy self finally got out of bed and I suggested we go for a short morning walk. It's been such a long time since we last did this together.

When she was much younger, at William's age, we used to have lotsa morning walks together. Vic seemed to know where she wants to walk to... straight to the playground nearby, and then as if walking down memory lane, she asked to sit on the swing. I obliged her : ) Oh, and did I mention that her favourite Heh Heh came along as well? That definitely made her happier!

Dim Sum Breakfast

Daddy brought us all to Yuen Garden in Petaling Jaya for dim sum breakfast. We called all her favourite, from hong kong rice roll with BBQ pork (chee cheong fun), to yam cake (uu kok), to fishpaste wrapped with bean curd, and her favourite drink, MILO! Macrobiotics Lunch After church, we went for lunch at Bangsar - Woods Macrobiotic. This is my first time having lunch there, although hubby's been there to pick up some buns for Vic before. My nasi ulam - everything vegan... aiyoo, how to eat?? Surprisingly I was full after the meal, although not entirely satisfied. The kids had hijiki fried rice

Let me do a short review of this place.

Variety - Good but could be better.

Pricing - Average (one plate of fried rice cost RM13.90, for comparison)

Hygiene - Good (although I saw a vegan fly flying around)

Food taste / portion - Below average. I had trouble downing their super healthy, organic, microbiotic, power boosting vegan food. I ordered their special of the day, nasi ulam, by the way. Service - Below average because they did not allow outside food for our maid, eventhough we noted that their food is vegan and not suitable for our maid. The lady boss' crappy excuse? She's scared the outside food will have additives and might be contagious! (I kid you not)

Overall - Will not return if no special request from Vic. They didn't have their ice cream which was the main reason why we planned to eat there in the first place. Not only that, our bill was overcharged by 3 items that we didn't order. The worse was the lady boss' non-compromising attitude, and their misleading discounts that didn't apply on weekends.

Irene gives Woods Microbiotic Cafe in Bangsar only 1 out of 5 star. Hubs will think I'm too generous even for this.

Vic's half eaten cherry fruit cake After lunch, we went to pick up her Omnitrix cake from Ivy : ) and this is definitely one happy moment for her. Sorry Vic, mummy daddy cannot afford the real Omnitrix watch for you, but hey wait... this cake doesn't come cheap also... hehehehe

Burger Dinner at Cristang Petaling Jaya

This was the highlight of the day... dinner with both sides of grandparents, Yee Sam, Yee Sok & Theodore, and our family. Grace joined us too, although Yee Yee couldn't as she was not feeling well. Some of us... So "hou meang" got cousin sister Grace to feed him water I'll let the remaining pictures do the talking. This is more delicious than it looks... the bacon steak! I'm definitely going for this the next time I'm there. My P6 burger - with cajun prawns besides the pork burger... something like that. Hub's tandoori pork burger We all had our yummylicious burgers and orders served before the most important person, the birthday girl. She waited patiently, with some complaints towards the end on where her dinner was. Fortunately she had some buffalo wings for starter. Here is her double eggless-pork patti with organic flaxseed buns. And finally... The Omnitrix. With all the candles on... well almost, because the alphabet A candles broke just before putting them up... sheesshh!! China-made, what to expect! Look at Vic's expression... William and cousin Grace wanted to cut her cake, until she's headache

I like the kids' expression here.. William is just amazed at the fire on the candles, and just as he blew off all Daddy's cake candles during Daddy's birthday, he couldn't wait to blow Vic's cake candles here... I was ready to stop him because that will definitely anger the Queen.

My prayer for you Vic, remains unchanged over the years, the same I have for you even before you were born into this world, still in my womb.

"May God bless you so much, that His blessings overflow in your life, to the people around you,

May you be surrounded by people who love and appreciate you for who you,

and may you mature into a beautiful girl inside and outside.

Daddy Mummy and William love you very much."

Getting his first cane

Last Friday, whilst I was typing a complaint letter, William and Vic played Playdoh after promising me that they will clean up.

Half way playing, William got probably got bored, and decided to irritate the sister, which he normally does, and poor Vic started yelling, and then he threw the clean but unfolded laundry onto the floor, which got Vic telling him to pick them up.

I let them be all these while, as I was engrossed in pouring out my unhappiness in a complaint letter, and just wanted to get it off my chest. Afterall, I read in Nicky & Sila Lee's parenting book that it's good to let our kids sort out their own conflicts themselves, to hone their problem solving and negotiating skills.

As William was in his cheeky mood, Vic decided to abandon the Playdoh for her homework. The next thing I knew I heard Vic screaming for her brother to "stop it! It's painful!" Pain is a horrible four letter word that triggers me, so I quickly got hold of William to reprimand him, at the same time checking that Vic was alright.

He refused to pick up the laundry mess that he created earlier, despite my yelling, and then I threatened him with the cane. In the early days when he sees his mother angry, he would cry immediately, or when I mention or take out the cane, he would then relent.

But that day, that faithful Friday 8th April, when I went to grab Mr R O Tan, William immediately ran upstairs, and I decided to give chase. When he saw me, he started running the remaining halfway up, laughing all the way! Hhmpk, with the angry mother behind him holding the cane, and he thinks it's funny????

He ran into his room, and cornered himself near the window beside some toys. Quite smart, because I didn't have much angle or space to whack him. So I told him to give me his hand, but he hid them both behind his back, and I proceeded to land Mr R O Tan on his legs.

FIATTTTT!!! Once. No tears.

FIATTTTT!!!!! Second time. Still no tears.

Third time. Still no tears. This boy is very hardy, can tahan pain, not that I hit him very hard, but for someone his age and size, that should send the tears flowing.

So I give up caning him. No point whacking him anymore. Just told him (again) that mummy is very angry, disappointed, and what he did is not right, and if he was going to be obedient or disobedient, easy way or hard way, he had the choices all laid out.

I went downstairs. He came down later and I told him again to clean up. I'm not giving up, so he sat next to his Playdoh, refused the sister's help, and even told her "not to friend mummy."

Yea right!

So what did I learn from all these? I think it's gonna be difficult disciplining him in the future, if he's not even afraid of Mr R O Tan. If the cane doesn't break him down into tears, then I smell problem. Haha. Oh well, cross the bridge when I come to it. Or easier, pass him to hubby.

Vic's birthday celebration in kindy

Thursday, 7 April 2011

Vic had her first birthday celebration with her classmates, a simple sing song, cake cutting makan session with her classmates. We prepared party packs the week before, and mummy made sure that the items in the party pack consist of useful items, and no sweets (because I tell Vic that eating sweets is no good, so why should I give other kids sweets, rite?)

Arriving in school at 945am to prepare the food - chocolate ice cream, chocolate wafers and egg-free chocolate cupcakes with edible Ben10 prints from Ivy. Lovely cupcakes from Ivy 36 in total!! Thanks Ivy! Comes in lovely blue boxes too!

Food tasting the day before, just after we picked up the cuppies - Digging into one first... I asked her to share, and she scooped out soooo little, might as well don't share!

Items we put in the party pack Party packs - couldn't find Ben10 packs that's why we settled for these One sweet smile for the camera, Vic??? Here comes the birthday girl... and her whole class!

Enjoying snack time together. Enjoyed his time in jie jie's school! End of the month will be your turn to blow candles, boy boy!

Today is Vic's actual birthday - 10th April. We will have another celebration tonight with the family. Vic is looking forward to the Omnitrix.

Victoria's journey to healing : halted!

Two days ago we brought Vic to see Dr Wong in Tangkak for her follow-up check up. Her allergy drops have finished, and we needed to know what's her allergy points too, since being zerorised in the previous visit.

Her points remain ZERO for all of the following:

Eggs
Candida
House Dustmite
Yeast
Mint

and in the same visit, we brought William for a check up too since he have been nursing this nagging cough for more than one month, which our local paed said was symptoms of childhood asthma. William has taken more 3 bottles of Ventolin syrup, 3-4 bottles of antihistamines and is still on ventolin and zyrtec now, and seretide inhaler and Flixonase nasal spray.

Dr Wong tested William for house dustmite, and his points showed a high 15. : (

Last night we had dinner at the Chicken Rice Shop, and immediately after dinner, Vic developed a lot of rashes on her belly, back, arms and part face. We were shocked, as she have eaten at this shop before, and there was no eggs, mushrooms or yeast. So, why the sudden outbreak? It's been a long time since she last had such a drastic outbreak.

Today her rashes have subsided a little, and I continue to give her antihistamine due to the itch. Question is what was the offending food, and how can her body reacted this way when she was supposed to have been zerorised???

Are these clothes for sale?

Quiccckkk!!! Help me! Irene is desperately in need of funds... any kind, foreign money also can, or Jusco teddy bear money, but best in MYR! Here are some clothes... ... NOT for sale... hehe.. ok seriously now, these were all arranged by William who insisted to put them "nice nice" before changing (oh ya, check out even the underwear is not spared - in the first pic).

Survival is a dying art

Life is fragile. We heard this many times, different places, different times, different circumstances.


Last weekend, I went for a talk by Kaptan Bala Supramaniam. For those who have not heard of him, he is a safety activist, holding positions amongst others, President for Road Safety Marshal Club and Chairman for Malaysian Volunteer Fire & Rescue Assoc. Long titles can be hollow, but wait till you hear his creditials and experiences in saving lives - he is truly a hero yet he denies that.

Honestly, I have not met Kaptan Bala before this. I have not even heard of him, but I have been encouraged to go for his talk, because he is a joker (by making the topics interesting, but NOT making fun of the topics) despite the gruesome things that he see almost daily, and the high profile, sensitive criminal cases that he is involved in. He doesn't joke about safety, though. And I salute him many times over for his contributions to society, his sacrifices and efforts to safe lives and create awareness amongst the public, especially ladies.

What have I learnt? Alot! The 2 hour talk extended to 4 hours, because of the many topics to cover, the case studies, experiences, tips that he shared and many questions from the floor. He touched on prevention on home burglary, snatch thief, women's general safety (taking money from ATM, carpark), how to do if you have been marked or targetted, what to do when car or dwelling caught fire, kidnapping cases, rape, suicidal cases and phedophile cases. Some advice sounded like common sense, but we can all be so careless.

He shared pictures and videos, mostly never seen on the media before, and my, I tell you, they are not for the faint hearted, and even until last night, I thought of some of the unfortunate stories and gruesome pictures that he shared.

Survival is a dying art. He kept reminded us that.

I urge you all, if you ever have a chance to hear Kaptan Bala talk, please go for it. There are many sessions, but go for the general topic, and if possible, go for the talk specially for women's safety. I cannot share much here on open space, but I assure you more than a 100% that his talk was very enlightening and very moving. Hearing one story, I was holding back my tears, not because I am a emotional person, but the realisation that all these is happening in our very backyard, how fragile life is, and how real all these cases are.

Don't take safety for granted. Stay safe, stay informed, and stay alert.

William dancing... DON'T MISS THIS!!

This is a video of William dancing to a song entitled, "Feeling Great Yeah" from Vic's music class DVD. I find this quite hilarious... check out the leg movements, the part where he twist his neck and and the very serious boy!

Enjoy.

Guess who?

Some old pictures I transfered into my lappie after it was reformated. Brought back sweet memories... enjoy! I'm turning 6! It's me!!!