Toilet trained, we're almost there...

For the last 3 nights, Hayley woke up with dry diapers.
For several days she didn't wet her cloth diapers or disposable diapers (in the day) unless when we're out and we didn't visit the toilet.

Does this means that she's now toilet trained? Unfortunately she still won't tell us when she wants to pee or poo, we have to ask her constantly or bring her to the toilet every 1.5 - 2 hrs and especially after her milk and before bedtime.

This is how we trained her:

1. Put her on cloth diapers on weekends or whenever she is home with us. She's still on disposable diapers at the babysitter's on weekdays. This is so that we will know when she wet herself.
2. At the beginning we'll need to bring her to the toilet every half hour or every hour. Tell her to pee or poo.
3. Praise her when she's done. We love to say 'clever girl'.
4. Sometimes even after visiting the toilet, she will still wet herself especially at the beginning. When this happens, we beat her and sternly tell her that she must tell us when she wants to pee or poo and she must not wet her diapers.
5. After a couple of weekends, she will be able to hold her pee longer and we don't need to bring her to the toilet every half hour or every hour. We can bring her to the toilet every 1.5 - 2 hrs and she will still remain dry.

We did all the above for 4 - 5 weekends. We have to say it wasn't easy and it does take a lot of effort. I had to wash her cloth diapers and clean her mess very often. There was once when she pooed and she poked her finger through the poo and came to show me in the kitchen. Luckily she didnt put it in her mouth ~lol~ and on many occassions she would wet the sofa or the mattress.

Now, whenever we bring her to the toilet, we don't need to watch or listen if she did her business. She will tell us. She will say 'clever girl' when she is done :-)

The funny part is she still won't do her big business in the toilet. We only had 1 success so far.

Hopefully we'll be able to fully trained her in the next few weeks.

Muscle strain and Tui Na

I had a bad muscle strain over the last week and I thought I was having a heart attack! We have history of heart problems in the family (my dad) and we do pay special attention to whatever aches that is near the heart or feels like it's coming from the heart.

It started with some minor chest pressure/discomfort on the right side which travelled to the left side after 3 days. I went to see a GP near the office who said I could be having some gastric problems (I don't have gastric problems in the past) and pescribed me with some anti inflammation for the chest and gastric pills. I was told to monitor for a few days and to return if the pain didn't get better or got worst. 3 days later instead of chest pressure/discomfort I was having pretty bad upper backache (in between the shoulder blades). I couldn't sit, sleep or walk comfortably and I couldn't even carry Hayley without being in pain.

I went to see my regular GP and he confirmed that it was merely a muscle strain. And my heart was fine. He checked my blood pressure and heart beat a couple of times and said they were perfectly normal. I was hugely relieved.

The muscle strain, he said, was a result of being in stress, overworked, lack of quality sleep and rest. The body reached its maximum and decided its time to send out some warnings. He prescribed me with some painkillers, muscle relaxant and gave me a day of sick leave to rest at home.

Instead of resting at home and being in pain, I decided to seek out some traditional treatment. Friends and colleagues recommended tui na and a couple of them recommended Reborn. I went to Reborn and since it was happy hour (office hours), I paid RM78 for an hour of foot reflexology and an hour of Tui Na back massage. I find that a pretty good deal.

The foot reflexology was ok (I can't really compare as I don't do foot reflexology that frequent to be able to tell the difference). It was a combination of pleasure and pain. The masseurs commented that I don't sleep well and my shoulders are not good when I reacted in pain when she applied pressures on certain spots. I would say she was spot on.

After about an hour, we went upstairs for my back massage. I was given a pair of shorts and was told to take off my shirt and bra. I lay on the bed face down and the torture began. The back massage was painful. Almost every part that she presses hurts. I am not sure if it hurts because I was already in pain originally or it was meant to be. Some parts hurts more than the others.

The masseurs kept asking me if she should reduce her strength. I guess she could tell from my body gestures and the sounds I made when I was in pain.. haha.

She ended the body massage with some hand and head massage. I didn't like it when she massaged my face using the same hands that touched my back and hands. Anyway, I think if I were to go back next time, I'll ask her not to touch my face!

After the massage, I left with a sore back. When I got home, I found this:

Not sure if this is again normal but it does scare my little girl. She kept saying 'pain pain, pain pain' and blew at my back to relieve the pain while rubbing it... sweet eh... hehe

Its been 4 days after the treatment and my back is less painful now and the marks have more or less disappeared too. I was told that I need to do this more than once to see the results over a period of time. I don't mind doing this once or max twice a month but definitely won't do more than that.

A nice compliment from a stranger

An aunty in her late 30s (I think) came up to us while we were having lunch yesterday at our usual McDonalds and asked us the strangest question.

Aunty: Excuse me, sorry to disturb but I noticed that your daughter's skin is really nice and very fair and I just want to know what you ate during pregnancy?

Me: *responded with a dumb look* (caught by surprise ma)

Aunty: Err.. did you drink a lot of soya milk or something?

Me: *came to my senses and responded* Err... I didn't take anything special wor. But I did take some bird's nest, avoided black soya sauce or any sauce that is black and some soya milk.

Aunty: Oh.. is that all?

Me: yes wor.

Aunty: Oh ok, thank you very much ah

Me: you're welcome.

I continued with my nuggets, papa smiled, Hayley continued with her fries dipped in tomato sauce and the aunty went back to her table.

It was indeed a nice compliment. The first in 19 months :-)

Pedicure and manicure, not my game

This story is actually quite old, about 2 weeks old but I've not had the chance to write about it until today. So here it is.....

Friends who knew me will know that I am someone who is quite stingy when it comes to spending on me. I wouldn't mind to spend on my hubby, my baby, my family or even my friends but when it comes to spending on me, I would think twice and sometimes thrice. And most often I would end up not getting the thing that I initially wanted to get (not bad strategy eh, money saved yet again hahaha).

One Sat, I got crazy (influenced by my hubby who told me about the nail salon near the house) and decided to go for a manicure and pedicure. I have been thinking about this for quite sometime but didn't really go for it cause I find spending RM100 on such small nails and toes wasteful. I could spend the RM100 on something more useful for Hayley - be it a new toy, a fancy book or maybe top up her bank account.

Would you believe that in my entire life, I have only had the combination of manicure and pedicure done ONCE and that was for my wedding? Believe it. I have also had a pedicure done once when in Phuket (it was really cheap there and I couldn't resist) and that was it. Pathetic right?....

Before I had Hayley I used to paint my toes on my own. When I was pregnant with her, I couldn't reach my toes anymore and after having her I didn't have the time to bother. As for my nails, I never paint them with colours (only strengtheners) cause they won't last due to all the housework and washing that I have to do plus my nails are short and ugly. I think they look odd with colours.

After putting Hayley to nap that Sat, I sneaked out to the nail salon. They were having promo and I spent RM66 for both pedicure and manicure. The normal price would be RM83 for both. The treatment lasted almost 2 hours and although it was lovely to be pampered, lovely to have my toes and nails taken care of and lovely to see pretty colours on them, I don't think I will do it on a regular basis. I still can't get rid of the guilt that I could actually put this RM66 to better use than this!

I have friends who have their manicure and pedicure done on a weekly basis and I often ohhs and ahhss over how pretty they look. I don't think I can do the same. Maybe we just have different priorities and mine is just not me :-)

My ugly toes in colours

My nails painted with stregtheners

By the way, the shine on my nails only lasted for a few hours. When I got home and got to the housework, they were not so shiny anymore and the sides actually came off bit by bit!

See..... that's why I didn't bother [lol]

A masterpiece

Hayley's first masterpiece captured on film just for fun :-), more to come...

By the way, if you ask her what she has drawn, she will say 'hands' hahahaha

I finally gained weight

My weight used to be very consistent before I got pregnant with Hayley and it plummetted a few months after I had her. During the worst months, I was 5kgs under my usual weight. Jeans and clothes no longer fit nicely and friends would comment that I often look frailed, skinny and lethargic. It was so bad that I had problems buying clothes as I can only wear XS and not many brands offer clothes in XS :-(

For some reasons, I found it tough to gain weight during those months. I was often sick and even my regular GP monitored my weight very closely for me - he was concerned. My weight remained the same for a few months.

2 weeks ago, I stood on the weighing machine again and voila... not only did I get back my usual weight, I even gained an extra kg! I have never been able to reach this number except when I was pregnant. Motherhood can really mess up our system man! :-)

My old jeans and clothes can now fit nicely (in fact they are a bit tight now and I only realised it after I stood on the machine.. haha). I am not sure what contributed to the sudden weight gain. I was trying to think of the reasons and here are a few possibilities:

• We moved office in April to Mid Valley (which is closer to home) so I do not deal with travelling stress as much as I used to. And definitely do not have to deal with flooded roads anymore.
• Hubby cooks more often of late too and he is on a diet so he made me finish everything.
• I am sleeping longer hours now compared to before. I normally put Hayley in her crib around 9pm and while I accompany her to sleep, I would often end up sleeping myself until the next morning. So I am getting about 10 hours of sleep a few nights a week.
• Hayley is now 18 months 3 weeks old and she is so much easier to care for than before. She can now eat whatever we eat and I do not need to 'stress' about what to cook for her, how to balance the nutritions, how to make it tasty so she would finish them etc etc. Told you I was kiasu. Anyway, now I am not as stressed as before when it comes to preparing her food.

My guess is the reduction in stress (travelling and looking after a baby) which contributed to the weight gain OR maybe it was a combination of all the above :-). Anyway, doesn't really matter. I am happy that I can go to clothing shops now and pick up a size S dress and the possibility of me being able to fit in them nicely is much higher now ~lol~