Toilet independent

Just wanted to put this into the record that my little rascal at 2 years and 6 months old is finally independent to go to the toilet on her own supported by a stool. Of course this is only for the small business and not the big business :-).

She will stand on the stool to gain enough height to sit herself on the adult toilet (without a child toilet seat cover) and then balances herself holding the sides of the toilet while she completes her business. Once done she will climb down on her own, grab some toilet paper and wipe herself clean. Then she complete it with a 'flash'! Yes, that's how she pronounce 'flush' despite us teaching her over and over.

We are so proud of her :-)

Bun at 29 weeks or 7 months

Had our monthly check up last Saturday and surprisingly it wasn't crowded (maybe Dr Lee wasn't that popular :-)). Reached the hospital around 9.45am and this time we brought Hayley along again to let her see the baby and we were done by 10.30am. As usual she was very excited and she got even more excited when Dr Lee gave her a chocolate and then another one as he promised as she was well behaved during the scan.


As for Bun, everything looks normal and good although the head was still on top. It was a quick routine scan. As for me, I gained another 3kg (oh shucks!) and I am now at 56.3kg, 11.3 kg gained. Dr Lee said anything between 12 - 15kg in total is considered normal. Looking at the rate I am going, I think I will become 'abnormal' at the end of it. I really should start watching my diet from now on (say only but can never resist the ice cream, donuts, murtabak chicken).... hahahaha...


Since the last check up a couple of things have changed in me.

1. The pain I mentioned in my previous post here is getting so much better. At least now I could walk without being in a lot of pain. It only hurts once in a while now especially when I have walked too much or when I am too tired or when I toss and turn in bed. Otherwise not so much pain.. so that was a huge relieve.
2. My tummy is also getting a lot bigger. Everyone who bumps into me (even strangers) will ask if I am due soon cause they said it looks huge and very low [nail biting].
3. I find it challenging to stand up after sitting on the floor. Even when I am seated on the chair I can feel the bump directly resting on my thighs. Don't remember feeling these when carrying Hayley, at least not until the last month.
4. Both my feet (around the calves) started to swell more than a month ago. The calves felt very hard and tensed. Even when I walk I can feel the calves hardened like I will be getting a cramp soon that kind of feeling. Dr Lee said the swelling could be caused by me sleeping on my back as he said sleeping on my back will reduce oxygen flow to the legs causing swelling and varicose veins as well as cramps. It won't be good for the baby too. I have been sleeping on my back since the pain down there started to avoid having to toss and turn but I have now started sleeping sideways despite the pain and hopefully the swelling will go away soon.
5. I have had 2 cramps so far, both times on my right leg. They happened in the middle of the night and I suffered in silence... sob sob
6. I am also feeling more pain around the tummy. Sometimes when Bun stretches ie when you see the tummy turning into an odd shape, it hurts. I had to stop doing whatever I was doing until the pain is gone as it really hurts. Don't know if these are called 'Braxton Hicks' contractions. I sometimes feel it a few times a day more so at night.
7. The midnight need to go to the loo is still ongoing. Sometimes after going to the loo, I won't be able to fall asleep until 2 hours later hence waking up in the morning feeling very tired.
8. I get lower back ache if I sleep on my back. Thankfully they only last for a while.

We still have not decided whether we will go for a normal or c-sec delivery. Dr Lee suggested checking the weight of Bun the next round which will be in 2 weeks. He said if Bun is between 2.8 - 3kg, I could still attempt a normal delivery but if Bun is going to be as heavy as Hayley (3.4kg) or around there, he would suggest a c-sec as he foresee that I will encounter similar problems ie baby not crowning due to my petite size (small bum). I am leaning towards c-sec as of now as I definitely do not want to go through the labour pains and then c-sec post surgery pains all over again.

Help! My daughter got heat rash!

Since Sunday we noticed some rashes around Hayley's feet and body. They looked like blisters or small mosquito bites or Chinese called it 'fung mok'. Some appeared in patches, some just one or two. Sometimes they even appear on the face. The heat rash will appear out of the blue and then suddenly disappears. Initially we though it was food allergy but we did not recall giving her anything strange or new prior to the symptoms.

After monitoring her for a few days, we noticed that she will get the rashes more when she was hot ie in the afternoon and they will apparently get better after she has had her bath.

Both the babysitter and my mother said not to worry about it as they are just heat rash and will go away in a few days. My mom who was an ex nurse asked me to apply some calamine lotion when the patches appear. The rashes doesn't seem to bother Hayley as well.

Today is Thursday (5 days after the first symptom) and the babysitter said she is still getting the rash in the afternoon. When we took her home in the evening, only a few could be seen, probably because it was cooler in the evening.

What should I do now? How long more do I have to wait before I have to bring her to a doctor? My mom said there is nothing the doctor could do, they probably will prescribe some cream or some medicine to treat the itch. Have anyone else experience this before? Is there any other home remedy that I could try?

Swiss Garden Kuantan

This is actually a long outstanding post. Its been almost a month since our trip to Kuantan was from 25 - 27 July. Anyway, I have been busy at work and at home (too tired to do anything at home) and didn't have time to sort out the photos.

Anyway, not going to elaborate much here (maybe just a little bit la in case some of you are keen to go) but instead will let the photos do most of the story telling :-)

This is the view of the pool, the beach and the coffee house taken from the lobby.

The lobby, the place looks a little dark as it was taken late afternoon on a rainy day. But the newly refurbished lobby is really nice. Very cosy and welcoming.

Hayley love taking photos with the trishaw, and of course her papa

A shot of us taken by Hayley

Her favourite ie playing sand and catching crabs

At the fruit farm, eat all you can (seasoned fruits only) paid for by the hotel. The tour is for 2 hours and includes transport. We only managed to eat rambutans (Hayley asked 'how come got hair one?') and of course durians. We experienced picking up the durians from the ground and then the orchard owner will open it for us. He will also pick up a couple from various trees to let us try the different types. They were delicious! Unfortunately Hayley didn't like it. She also enjoyed following the goats we saw at the farm.

More time at the beach on the 2nd day. Papa is going to kill me for exposing his 5 months belly. At certain angle, his looks bigger than mine.. hahaha

Her second favourite place ie the swimming pool. We spent most of our time either on the beach or at the pool or in the bath tub in the room.

Of course we dropped by the turtle sanctuary. It was hot and therefore we didn't stay for too long. We arrived around 1.45pm and was told that the place is closed from 1 - 2pm (lunch time probably). So we waited and snapped some photos instead at the beach nearby.

Lastly, a family photo taken at the entrance of Club Med where the beach and the sand are so much nicer. This beach is just next to the turtle sanctuary. Unfortunately we are not allowed to pop into Club Med so we only stopped for a while to snap some photos before heading home. And yes I do look very fat in the photos... I blame it on the angle and the wind blowing my hair away from my face :-(.

Here are some general comments on the hotel, food etc for those who may be keen to visit:

The hotel and the room

As you can see, I didn't take any photos of the room because it wasn't at all impressive. We booked the garden view room as per the promo package but instead we've got the car park view room. I requested for a room closest to the lift so I don't have to walk too much but ended up getting a room in the middle so I still had to do some walking to the lifts. The furnishing in the room were old and I didn't have any mood at all to snap photos (yes bad).

But I do like the lobby and the pool area. They have an adult's pool, a children's pool and a jacuzzi which unfortunately was out of order the 3 days we were there.

The check in was also quite disappointing as when we arrived there were 3 staff on duty and 2 families checking in/out and I am not sure why I still had to wait almost 20 mins to be attended to. As for the staff, most of them are not very friendly. We had to wait for 10 mins before someone (and that is after us calling many times) came to attend to us at the coffee house.

The food

On the first day when we arrived, we were too lazy to go out for food. So we had hi-tea at the hotel. The price was RM28nett per person and the food I would say was quite ok - acceptable la. We also had dinner on the 1st day at the Blossom Chinese restaurant that comes with the package. The menu were pre-selected so as expected it was nothing fancy and definitely nothing to shout about. We got 3 dishes (chicken, beancurd and vege) with 1 soup, a fruit platter and chinese tea.

On the 2nd day, we had lunch in town at one of the regular kopitiam. As for dinner, we got slaughtered at the Beserah Seafood restaurant. We ordered a steam fish (can't remember what fish), a spinach soup, fu yong egg and 2 drinks and the bill came up to RM70! So please do not go to that seafood restaurant unless you want to get slaughtered! But I have to say that the fish was really good and tasty :-)

On the 3rd day, we checked out and went straight to the turtle sanctuary. On the way back we stopped by at another Seafood restuarant located at the entrance of Legend Cherating and we ordered venison, vege, seafood fried rice and drinks and it cost us less than RM40. The price is very reasonable and the price list is displayed in the menu. So definitely no hanky panky here.

We also bought some prawn and fish crackers back for families, colleagues and neighbours.

The trip

I would say Hayley enjoyed the trip the most. She was so happy throughout the whole trip. It makes us happy to see her so happy. She kept telling us that she wanted to play sand, go to the beach and sea after we got back. She was also a darling throughout the whole journey of 5 hours (2.5 hrs each way). Although she didn't nap on the way to Kuantan, she didn't really fuss at all and remained seated in her car seat, although occasionally we need to entertain her. On the way back, she slept for 2 hrs :-).

Papa on the other hand complained about the driving. He finally admits that he was getting old and driving for 2.5 hours non stop was too taxing for him. I guess he was just tired as he didn't really sleep well both nights as we shared a king bed and 'Hayley the terror' who slept in the middle terrorised us both during the night with her kung fu kicks and punches.

To summarise it all, it was definitely a simple but memorable trip for us as it will be our last trip as a family of 3!

I want to go school!

Everyday whenever my little rascal spotted a passing school bus or a school van she will say 'Bas sekolah, I want to go school' with puppy eyes. I don't know if she knows what a school is and what she will get from a school but we tried our best to prepare her by telling her that she will have friends in school, she will learn ABCs, learn to count, draw, paint, and play with friends. She will have a teacher who will teach and guide her. Don't know if it all make sense to her yet.

I called the Montessori Playschool mentioned in Alice's blog but sad to know that they are full for now. The principal said they might have classes starting mid October provided they successfully rent the additional corner house they are currently still discussing about. Anyway, I will need to wait until end Sept for the outcome and she will keep me informed. Hopefully it will be good news. As there are many playschools around where we lived (Alice and I live nearby I think :-)), but I always prefer to go to a place that a friend has been to so I know that it is realiable rather than sending my rascal to somewhere I don't even know or have not heard of.

As for rascal, everyday we try to talk sense into her in preparing her for school. You see, my rascal is not like any ordinary rascal. She's rough, impatient and loud. I know some kids are like that but I do hope it's not permanent. When she's at the playground and if someone in front of her going up the stairs to the slide slowly, she will sometimes ask that kid to 'go away'. I always tell her she can't say that whenever I heard it. Sometimes she will even push the children in front regardless of their age. Again I will interfere and she is slowly showing improvements. So we are quite afraid that she will end up making enemies in school (and end up hating school) rather than enjoying it. Or she may even give the teachers so much headache that they teacher will ask us to take her home (I know I think too far ahead.. hehe). So we have now started to talk sense into her by telling her that if she wants to go to school, she must be a good girl. She must not scold others, she must not push other kids, she must share, she must listen to the teacher and we even tell her she must eat fruits and vegetables if she wants to go school. The fruits and vege part worked sometimes :-).

Eventhough she's rough and impatient, she likes to play with other kids. When she's at the playground she will pretend that she's friend with a particular kid and start following that kid. Or she will start a conversation with that kid like 'catch me' or 'you cannot catch me' etc and most of the time they ignored her. If some kids are running around, she will run around as well as if she's part of them. Sometimes it breaks my heart to see that she has no one to play with but luckily Bun is on the way :-).

I can't wait for her to experience her first day of school. I hope she will enjoy it and I hope it comes soon!

Do kids know when they are lying?

Some interesting conversations with my 2 year 5 months old got me thinking.

• Do kids know how to lie?
• Do they even know they're lying?
• Or are they just implying whatever that comes to mind ie whatever we've been indrectly teaching/showing them?

Scenario 1
I saw some bruises on her feet, obviously from her constant running around, climbing and bumping into furnitures.

Me: why your feet got so many scars? (she knows the word scar but don't really know what a bruise means yet)
Hayley: because papa pinch me, mummy pinch me lor
Me: when did papa or mummy pinch you?
Hayley: huh?!
Me: repeat my question again
Hayley: huh?!

This can go on and on.....

Scenario 2
She was scratching her ears until they bled

Me: what's wrong with your ear?
Hayley: because I notty papa beat me lor
Me: when did papa beat you?
Hayley: ha?!
Me: repeat my question again?
Hayley: ha?!

Again this can go on and on......

Scenario 3
Papa and I were talking in the car and she didn't want to be left out

Hayley: calling me or making all sorts of sounds trying to get my attention
Me: Shhh... mummy and papa talking, you cannot interrupt, mummy will talk to you after this ok? You cannot be so rude..
Hayley: Shhh.... keep quiet, if not papa will beat you!

*FAINT*

Maybe we have used the word beat too much in the past and it's now haunting us.

I am so tired. I don't have me time.

I feel so tired on weekdays. And since I am pregnant, it only got worst. Today is one of those days where I just felt like doing nothing but unfortunately that is not possible.

Every weekday my routine is just so repetitive and time is so limited, I wish there would be 30 hours a day instead of just 24:

• before 7am, got up and get myself ready for work
• 7.20am, wake the rascal
• 7.30am, send rascal to the babysitter
• 8.30am/8.45am, reach office
• 5.45pm/6pm, leave office
• 6.30/6.45pm, reach home and pick up rascal from babysitter together with papa
• 6.45pm, rascal wants to either go to the playground or walk outside the house to the neighbour's to pick flowers or baby mangoes (from the ground of course). I will have to accompany her while papa cooks
  
• 7.15pm, dinner (if papa didn't cook then we eat out)
• 7.35pm, do the dishes while papa bathe the rascal
  
• 8pm, clean the kitchen, prepare fruits for dessert
• 8.30pm, have my bath
• 8.40pm, play with rascal/watch TV with her/drawing etc
  
• 9pm, we bring rascal to bed. She will have her last feed, papa will attend to her when she brushes her teeth or uses the toilet while I rest in bed.
  
• 9.30pm, story time
  
• 10.00/10.30pm, gone to lala land
  

It's the same thing everyday. I hardly have time to do anything for myself and I wonder what happens when the second one is out. I don't dare to think.

Whenever I feel low and demotivated, I will turn to rascal. Her hugs and kisses will make all the pain and tiredness magically disappears. Her 'I love you mummy' will make everything worthwhile and I will feel energised again just like popeye with his spinach!