Mom's little garden

When I went back home and saw mom's garden patches, I couldn't be happier. Seeing the growing plants always make my day. It was a refreshing sight.
Every morning when I wake up, I'll just walk around the garden and look for the ones that can be harvested. The rewarding feeling was awesome.

So people, try planting vegetables instead of flowers. (That's my mom's current philosophy. Flowers feed the eyes but vegetables feed your soul and tummy. It's convenient and we can minus the threat of ingesting pesticide too. Whatever we need, we pick them fresh from the farm.)

You don't have to have a large piece of land. You can always start planting in pots. Spring onion, brinjals, chillis and parsley are great potted plants. Tomatoes, bittergourd, okra and peas are a lot more trickier though.
But anyhow, just give it a try. I'm starting on mine soon.


Mom's parsley..She has 10 pots of them!
She often sell the extra harvest at the market.


Crazy tomatoes....extra sour too..

Sayur apa ni ah? I have no idea what's the name of this bean.

Harvest of the day....

Merry Christmas!

My Christmas Wish : Peace in my heart.

Somehow, unknowingly, I found peace. All the prayers sent up, I think I've received the answer.

Each time when I'm nearly in the brink of losing control, I'll tell myself 7 times 77 times. It's just something that caught my attention from an article in Daily Bread. It taught me patience.

I just want to wish all of my beloved friends and relatives that have supported me in the past few difficult months, a very Merry Christmas. Thank you very much for the care and love. May the faith, hope and peace of Christmas be with you always.

Crossroad

As depressed as I sound, I am really at the crossroads. Telan mati bapa, luah mati emak. Only a few of my clossest comrades will know the why I am like this.
Kindness in this world is difficult to find but I found it in the hands of strangers.
Human psychology is the least of my understanding. The harshness and softness of words can change the course of human lives. Some words are full of meaning but some uttered aimless and empty.
The motto that my husband opted : Respect and thou shall be respected; is this true?

I need to some convincing.

Well, I had my neucloplasty in the early September. Recuperated quite good and started yoga class in October. Thought I'm well into recovery. Somehow my nightmare is recurring.
Starting to have numbness in my right side of my jaw and neck. Right hand is hurting. Left foot doesn't work as efficient. I'm off for another MRI in 3 weeks time.
I have no idea what to feel right now. Better not think about it.

Remember to learn to use your body right. Posture is everything.

One step at a time...I guess...

Just had a review today. I went to SMC for a full body MRI and finally found the culprit.
I have a disc prolapse in between C6 and C7, which is compressing my spinal cord. Since my C4 and C5 are fused into a block, the orthopaedic is against the procedure of replacing the prolapse disc with titanium plate or bone block coz all my other cervical discs will be placed under further stress. He suggested to do a new procedure called nucleoplasty.

Neucloplasty is a procedure where with the help of an x-ray machine, a laser probe is inserted into the disc through a needle. The probe is used to evaporate part of the disc with the hope to retract the herniation that's indenting my cord. This is the least invasive procedure. I can only hope that the disc lifespan can last me for a few years to come. There is a high chance that I would be needing another surgery in the future to replace it coz it is already weakened. The MRI also showed that all my other cervical (neck) discs are degenerating. I wonder what else can go wrong.

I just talking to myself now. Guess this is the only place I can cry out for now coz I don't want to get all teary in front of people. Right now I think laughter will be my best medicine. I really miss my husband and Alden.
Gosh...I'm really blabbering to myself...

Tick Tock..the pain is ticking..

What is supposed to be a time of refuge and peace turns out to be one of the worst episode of my life. But I'm glad to be home.

My right shoulder started hurting after confinement. Thought it was due to what's normally known as 'masuk angin' or 'novingkat (for Kadazanlah)'. When I came back home for Chinese New Year earlier, I went for a couple of traditional massage sessions and it gave relief.

However, my right fingers became stiff every morning when I woke up a few weeks afterwards. At times I woke up in the middle of the night coz the fingers became painful. When I got back home early this month, the first thing I did was to go for the traditional massages. It gave only a bit of relief. I decided to give the orthopaedic a visit. Was told that a nerve in my neck was swollen thus affecting the function of my right hand. Gave me a few medication and a session of physiotherapy. The next morning, I wasn't able to grip both of my hands. So, off to the doc again. The bomb dropped on me that morning. The x-ray I took of my neck showed clearly of the C4 and C5 fusion. I didn't feel anything when he told me of my condition. Then I asked him what is there to be done and he repeated the same question to himself. Tears unknowingly started trickling down my face when he told me it is impossible to surgically separate the 2 bones. 'Lifelong medication and therapies'.....the words just went sailing through my mind and boy, was I sad at that moment. 'You better not carry your son.' I became depressed when I heard those sentence.

What am I supposed to do? Kept on asking myself that. I cried a river when I called hubby that day. Mommy was braver than I anticipated. She didn't shed a tear though her eyes became red when I broke the news to her. She's trying to be strong for me. I'm forever grateful for that coz I was determine not to cry in front of her, ever.

I started daily therapies from that day on. My condition worsened last Tuesday. Both of my legs and hand were terribly painful in the evening. Got myself warded into QEH that night. However, the orthopaedics and neurologist could not figure out why my limbs are hurting as the symptoms are not associated to my fused vertabraes (according to themlah). They only know there's problem with my nerves. I have to depend on painkiller each time I have a bout of the near-cramps experience. I couldn't walk properly at times.
The neurologist wanted to do a Nerve Conduction Study but my appointment is on 18 Sept coz the queuing line is a mile long. I got discharged as there is nothing to be done or can be done. I only have gabapentin - a neuropathic pain reliever, to help me at the moment.

Guess I got to check myself in the private hospital eh....hope I'll find the answer and correct treatment soon or else I might end up being a drug junkie..he,he,eh..fancy that..

Red and delicious.

I just made apple puree to add into Edric's cereal this morning. When I look at the ripe, red fruit, I told myself that I did not give this fruit the appreciation it deserved. Other than being used as the name for one of the largest American multinational corporation, I didn't really know the benefits and the nutritions of it.

Why does the proverb say an apple a day keeps the doctor away? Research suggested that apples may reduce the risk of colon, prostate and lung cancers. It contains antioxidant and helps regulate bowel movement, though it relatively contains less vitamin C than the other fruits.

All that I know is this fruit is 'safe' for pregnant ladies and a sick child with flu and cough. Safe means it's not 'cold or too cooling' (for the chineselah).
It's great as a titbit when you are in a rush, a ready-to-go kinda fruit. It's yummy for a soup, tastes great in salads (green ones), scrumptious in pies and cakes, good for a baby, refreshing when juiced and makes a fine vinegar.

The apple tree comes from the same family as the rose. Do you know that the apple seeds are poisonous? Found out about it in Wikipedia. The seeds are only mildly toxic and not enough to be dangerous to human but the birds do stay away from them.

In Christianity, the apple tree has been labelled as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The whole of my life, that's what I thought. When I read further into the article, found out that, apple is the generic term for all foreign fruit in Greek and also means ' fruit ' in Old English.

The forbidden fruit in the Book of Genesis is not identified, yet the word apple has been used several times in it. The Renaissance painters also helped etched this fruit as the forbidden one in our minds as they added the elements of Greek mythology into the biblical scenes.

I love apple-picking season. Used to go to the apple farms with my housemates to pick the nice, juicy ones. Miss the sight, miss the smell, miss the feeling of total bliss when I saw the fruit-laden trees. Most of all I miss the friends I had fun with. :)

Don't really eat fruits everyday, which is bad. I don't really drink lots of water as recommended, which is even worse. I drink caffeine everyday, which is the worst. Sigh..I think I have to make a food resolution soon or my skin gonna go from bad to worst.

Anyhow, I just found a nice site out of sheer curiosity. Been searching for games that feature apples and I bumped into The Apple Season game by Orisinal. It's a straightforward game but addictive coz I just can't stop catching the falling apples!!!

http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/g2/applegame.htm

Orisinal has a lot more online games to play. The toons are cute too; lovable creatures (ha!)... Have a go at it if you want to kill time once in a while... (By the way, I love the Bugs game. I'm just like the kid popping bubbles so I can see the ladybirds fly. Weeeee....feel like I'm 10 years old again playing this game.)
http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are girls really like apples? Hmm..some of them should not wait when the right guy passes by. She just have to fall from the tree and give the guy a knock on the head as the first hello...

Mensa Fun Test

Hubby asked me to take an intelligence test last night. I was relunctant to do it especially when he was sitting next to me and grinning like a buffoon. I really felt dumb at that time. Took me quite a while before the questions I read began to sink in. Nevertheless, it was fun and I scored rather fairly. Just sort of relieved that my brain cells are not dead yet.
The quiz was made by Mensa International, a high IQ society with the aim to identify and foster human intelligence. Mensa accepts individuals who score at or above the 98th percentile on certain standardized IQ tests. (Ha! I definitely would not qualify...)

Try it. It's interesting. This is not an IQ test but rather for entertainment only.
http://www.mensa.org/workout2.php

There was another great brain teaser he asked me to do. It is also taken out from the Mensa workout.
http://intelligence-test.net/part1/

Have fun!

Milk price controlled?

The Star reported in yesterday's paper that the government is considering whether to include powdered milk for children (above 2 years old) into the list of price controlled items. The fast increasing price trend for milk formula has been going on for more than a couple of years now. I am not so sure what is there to consider.

True enough that all mothers should be encouraged to breastfeed their babies but there are many factors that affect decisions on breastfeeding. Working mothers may find it hard to put their babies on total breastfeeding and may resort to mix-feed. Fair enough if the government doesn't subsidize infant formula but I do hope that the milk formula for children above 1 years old will be price-controlled soon. Each family with young children will definitely need to fork out a few hundred ringgit just for milk. Unless we too, start to give them diluted condensed milk.

Milk Loves You

Didn't know that there is a World Milk Day. It started in 1 June 2001. Malaysia started celebrating this since 2005. I read the paper yesterday and discovered that they have Feed-A-Child programme. Each time you click on a feed-a-child icon, 1 pack of UHT milk will go to a needy child.

I have fun surfing the site coz there are a lot of information to be gathered. There are contests to be won, printables for fun and lots more.

The companies that are involved in the free milk and awareness programs include Dutch Lady, F@N, Fonterra (the Anmum brand and lots more), Nestle, Cotra Ent., and Tetra Pak. These companies are giving away 100,000 packs of milk. (In my opinion, give more!!!)

Please lend a hand if you could, by visiting http://www.milklovesyou.com/

The milk pledge meter is still very low.

What irked me is that I don't see other milk product conglomerates are involved.

With the rising milk prices especially in infant and toddlers formula, all of us, parents, feel the pinch. I'm thankful that I'm still able to give my kids milk to drink.

Last month, when I brought Edric for his vaccination at the klinik desa, I saw a lady with 2 kids and a baby. After she left, I couldn't help but overheard the nurses conversation about her. She couldn't afford to give milk to her baby. The little girl is only about 7 or 8 months old. The mom is actually out of work and she has to put her 2 older kids in school too. I cried silently for the baby.

In another story, a friend of mine once told me that there is a young couple who gave tea for their baby coz they couldn't afford the milk formula. Just imagine, pure tea and sugar.

I wish more could be done to help the poor. The government and the milk product companies should be able to help out by distributing free milk formula at the klinik desa. The free milk formula doesn't have to have the high DHA or the fancy stuff that they claimed to put into the milk nowadays. Just the basic formula to ensure good growth of babies and toddlers.

I saw that the klinik desa is giving away formula but it seems limited in source.

How can our younger generations aspire to be angkasawan when some of them don't even have milk to drink? The irony of it.

Well, talking about the school milk programme, some of it has been put on hold due to food-poisoning cases. Are the distributed milk stale or somehow during transportation, the milk was not kept in cool condition?

I remember in my kindi and school days, the milk trucks will come bearing metal cases of packet milk which were kept cold in ice. I always loved the milk coz they were fresh. Never had stomach ache or diarrhoea. Those were the days. I wondered what ever happened nowadays...

Like Father, Like Son

Alden and his dad need their haircuts badly. So the father and son went to the barber last Saturday. Both of them came home sporting crew cut. Well, Alden usually gets his head shaved coz it looks much better on him. This time his hairstyle looks like grass growing on uneven earthbed.
I couldn't help but laughed (quietly this time coz Alden might take it by heart if I say his hairstyle doesn't look nice. Mau cantik ja ni budak ni.). When I look at both father and son, I'm seeing double. Since a baby, everybody tells me that Alden looks like his dad. It's not something new but their looks that day amazed me. An exact mould. When Hoe scolded Alden in one occasion that night, I just told him that he looked silly coz it was like he was scolding himself.

Posing maut...

The cheeky one...

Like father, like son....

Just another day...

Goodbye 20s hello 30s. Yeah..another year older and stepping into this age is not something I'm eager to celebrate. Didn't want a party, didn't have a cake but the calls and wishes I get this year were enough to satiate me to year end.

I'm not celebrating my years of being on earth but rather celebrating the friendships that stood the test of time. All of us are busy building and rebuilding our lives. Eventhough we lost touch for a while, I'm thankful I'm able to be in contact with some of them. Am glad that I have some golden ones for keeps especially my childhood friends. (I think we should call ourselves the nerdy 4. Ha,ha..we did not stand out to be glamorous type of students but I guess we did good eh.)

The artist : One of them is a very soft-spoken type of gal but very talented in art. She managed
to learn to write Chinese on her own; of course with minimal guidance from her
mom. I salute her for that. Nowadays, she drives like an F1 driver. When she just started driving and we became her beloved passengers, our knees went weak, our hearts dropped off in the middle of the road and we couldn't speak. So, you can imagine how it was like..

The cutesy : She loves to buy stuff; just about anything that fascinates her. She really surprised
me when she became a nurse. Though small in stature, she's the toughest of us 4.
(I mean not physically onlylah...ha,ha,ha..don't kill me for this.)

The sporty : She's the athletic one. Very lanky kinda girl. Her competitive streak and out-going
character are the things that make her attractive.

Well, childhood friends or not, to all my friends out there, you are brighter than the sunshine.

Slow Dance

Just a little something I found written on my fading bookmark.


Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round, or listened to rain slapping the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight, or gazed at the sun fading into the night?
You better slow down, don't dance so fast, time is short, the music won't last.
Do you run through each day on the fly, when you ask "How are you?", do hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed, with the next hundred chores running through your head?
You better slow down, don't dance so fast, time is short, the music won't last.
Ever told your child, we'll do it tomorrow, and in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die, 'cause you never had time to call and say "hi"?
You better slow down, don't dance so fast, time is short, the music won't last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere, you miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day, it's like an unopened gift thrown away.
Life is not a race, so take it slower, hear the music before your song is over.

Sigh of relief

I can sigh for relief now. The review checkup brought good news. Both Alden and Edric's lungs are clear. No more chesty cough, no more phlegm and the boys can sleep soundly at night too.

I know there will be more episodes to deal with in the future; virus or bacterial infections, fever and chills, cuts and bruises, all that is included in the growing up package. Guess I just have to brace myself and to take the extra precautions. I remember last time, us kids, can play with reckless abandonment; come rain or shine, in mud or sand. Now, each time I see Alden plays with the soil and grass around our home or even petting the dog, I just coiled up and ready to hiss orders to ask him not to dirty his hands. Am I over-reacting? I'm just phobic. He seems to be allergic to environmental allergens coz he gets stuffy nose and blow-up eyes a little too frequently.

As any mother will wish, I hope both of my boys will grow up healthily.

Off to the clinic....

Had a good chat with a few of my old chums on FB. Though short in time, I'm still happy I got to talk to them. Just like old times... I missed highschool and college years the most. Bittersweet memories still stuck to my head and all of them feel just like yesterday. Hmmm....I'm just being mushy.

Have to bring both of my pups back to the paeds for review today. Fingers crossed. Hope everything will be okay and new x-ray pics will bring good news.

Oh, by the way, Edric made the attempt of doing 'bye-bye' action with his hands two days ago. Babies start with imitation huh.

Old friends that I miss...

It's 4:40 a.m and I'm wide awake. Thanks a lot to a certain Mr Mosquito that managed to give me a few bites before hubby ended his feeding spree. When I woke up, I was quite surprised to see him sleeping on the floor. Well, hubby caught a flu and was asking me where should he sleep coz he doesn't want to be near the kids. I just told him "sleep with the seahorselah". He really did and I almost want to laugh out loud in the middle of the bloody night.

Rupa-rupanya dia pun kena gigit nyamuk and set himself on a revenge hunt for the bothersome insect. After the fruitful hunt he went back to sleep on the bed. (aikkk...hmmm..thought he'll stick to the crib on the floor for awhile..penipu dia ni.)

The leftover crib..kesian tu seahorse kan?

Anyway, talking about old friends. I was doing my things in the noontime and the thought of Sharon and Grace just came to my mind. They were the ones I looked up as big sisters when I was still studying in college. Decided to give them a tinker. I called Sharon first and had a pleasant chat with her. I always love her voice and laughter. Soothing to my ears. (Chewah...kembanglah telinga dia ni.)

Phoned Grace afterwards but no pick-up. Luckily she called me back eventhough she has no idea who called her. She actually remembers my voice. It took her like 5 seconds to know who I am..indak sioklah macam ni....no suspense....ha,ha...
After the tete-a-tete, I just realized I really miss them both and was sorry for not keeping in touch for so long. Well, better late then never right?

Fowler anyone?

Alden finally was able to say the word flower correctly yesterday. Ha,ha...I know I know..what's the big deal you say?

Since he started to talk, there were a few words he could not pronounce correctly. When he was 2 years old, he had difficulty saying a couple of words that started with the letter ' S '.

Spider will be pronounced as ' Paisder ' and snake will turn to ' Nakes '. Boy, it made me worried in the first place. However, he was able to say superman, star and other ' S ' words correctly (not including the S**t ah. Never taught him that.) So, I let the worries go. As he grows older, he managed to correct the flaws.

However, the biggest challenge is to get him say 'flower' right. Each time we corrected him, he will still say out loud ' fowler ' !!! (Ayamak...smacked my own forehead.)

Yesterday, his kindi teacher gave him an assignment which is to colour a drawing of hibiscus.

I just asked him "What is this?" As usual, "Fowler". I let it passed and asked him to complete the drawing. Relunctantly, he did. Then, came the pronounciation exercise. Asked him to say 'fla' and 'wer' separately and repeatedly till I became thirsty myself. Told him to combine the two words and miracle did not happened. Sighh....try again....repeat and repeat until he got tired.

I guess the fairy was smilling at him coz he just said "Mommy, Fla! Wer!" Wah...just imaginelah this mommy, I got so happy, I hit the roof. Guess he was just as happy as mommy, minta hi-five pula. Well, it was a small feat but a commendable one coz my boy didn't give up yesterday.

I taught him to say hibiscus and he answered back "biscuit?", "ping kan?"

Sigh...let it flow...let it flow.....

He switched on the TV afterwards to watch his favourite Marsupilami and heard the music.

"Mommy! Where's my tagi?" Odoi...hit another boulder...I've totally forgotten about this one.

(He was actually asking for his guitar.) Shrug...

Under the Weather

Alden has been sufferring bouts of flu and cough for almost 5 months now. It started before CNY. We thought it was just a normal virus that he caught when he started attending kindergarten.

The sickness will subside after a round of medication but rebound back after only a couple of weeks. The paeds told me that he might have environmental allergies ie to dust or mold spores or fur.

Since we are staying near the railway track and our room windows are facing the tracks, there are bound to be dust flying in even though I made a habit to wipe them off almost everyday. The doc also told me to keep all the stuffed animals away from him, which I did. Packed up his Winnie the Pooh and Santa and baby Jack Jack in a bag and store them aside. Thank God he doesn't seem to miss them. Then comes the dog fur. Our Rottweiler is shedding her fur like crazy. My mom in-law has to wash the outside compound every morning just to get rid of them for she's scared the wind might blow them indoor.

Despite the precaution taken, there is no end for Alden's flu and cough. To add to the frustration, Edric caught them too. Poor baby. So I brought both of the kids to the paeds on Thursday. (Mommy pun rasa macam mau sakit.) The doc was going to put Alden on asthma medication from that day onwards but she decided to have a chest x-ray taken coz just to rule out TB (scare the s*** out of me). She made a right choice for the X-ray. When we got the pic back, saw that there are a lot of white streaks all across his lungs. No wonder he didn't recover. He has lung infection, either from a type of supervirus or worst, mycoplasma pneumonia. Mycoplasma is a type of bacteria with no cell-wall and therefore, considered as a stealth pathogen. A strong antibiotic is given to Alden. Hope this time it will work. As for Edric, I have to observe him for a couple of days and if the cough did not subside, then he has to take the same antibiotic as well.

I think worrying about them also put me under the weather. Caught a throat infection myself. Sigh...wish all will be well soon.

(Alden's chest X-ray almost look like this but his white streaks are lesser and milder. Got this pic from the web and this is the x-ray of a person with a full bout of presumably mycoplasma pneumonia infection.)

My Superhero Turns 4..

With the cuppies craze catching the baking world nowadays, I thought I might as well give it a try for Alden's birthday. Managed to get in touch with Diba through her blog D'Muffins (have been blog-hopping from Deana's), gave her the details and walah!! Below are her creations.
(Thanks Diba, for the wonderful cuppies...)

I ordered a train theme for Alden and another tray of cuppies to give to our relatives.
I just went 'gaga' all over. They are so so cute....


The train, bearing letters on its carts...clockwise, swirling in....


Tulips and ladybirds..sayang mau makan...




The cunning smile after nagging his mommy for the cuppies..


Alden's been drooling over them the whole evening and kept asking me when can he eat them.
I asked him to wait for everybody to come home from work and we can take the pics after dinner. The boy will not stop bugging me until my ears gonna fall off. Oh..he's wearing his Bob the Builder shirt (another favourite), a present from his elder aunt.

More pictures here :

Alden's 4th Birthday

Souvenirs from abroad

Alden got a very nice surprise from his aunt who just got back from a tour yesterday. She got him the official England soccer jersey with matching socks.

Guess what? The kid got so excited, he donned the jersey straight away and refused to take them off the whole evening. Finally managed to persuade him to change by dinnertime. Told him that he wouldn't want to soil the nice getup with his food. The boy has a bad habit of using his shirt to wipe his mouth. Thank God the notion pass through his head. Barulah sanggup dia tukar baju.

Then, yet another surprise since his birthday will just be a couple of days away. His aunt threw in a Batman Flik Flak watch plus a mini beamlight that emits the batman logo when switched on. Bukan main lagi tu budak. Satu malam dia pasang tu torchlight until I can see the batman wings in my sleep.

The boy was so smitten with the gifts, he stuck to his aunt the whole night. Reason? Mau minta tambah present lagilah. Kids nowadays are a lot smarter and cheekier. May we blame the DHA, SA or whatever AA that they add in the milk? Hmmm..

Coincidently, the dad also went shopping for his soccer getup yesterday. Si gentua indak mau ketinggalan juga bah. His old soccer shoes went to pieces when he used them last week.

Told me his going to get new shoes and the man got carried away with his shopping. Got himself a new football jersey as well. Anybody can tell me where can I get a jersey for a 5-months old baby? He,he..just kidding.

The old....


and the new...

I watch you as you sleep....

I watch you as you sleep

a sleep so deep

you gave not more than a peep.

With a face so serene

my heart could only joyfully beam.

God has sent me an angel

to remind me of my being

We are, together, growing;

you with you kiddy antics

and me with my daily practics.

You helped me find my purpose

I could only guide you to yours.

I hope you'll enjoy your journey

pick up the wisdom, keep the memories,

you may need them for life many tourneys.

May God keep you safe and warm,

so you may come back to your mother's home.

(Mommy's little poesy for the two of you)

To burp or not to burp?

When we first brought Edric home, my heart was doing the twirlies inside as I was happy as a teacup filled to the brim. I had to leave him at the hospital for the first 4 days of his earth-being due to jaundice. I couldn't really describe the dismay I felt when I was discharged and have to go home alone. The little guy had sunburnt (literally) when he got back home.

The confinement lady fed my breastmilk from the bottle to him. Then came the burping part. He gave quite a loud burp and without anticipation from anyone of us, out came the milk. By the look of it, the volume was almost 1 oz. Hmmm..probably this was just a one-time, off and on kinda thing, but sorry to say, not. So, the nurse actually leftout one tiny itsy bitsy info; Edric is a spitting baby.

According to an article I read, reflux is common in infant and can affect up to 50% of young babies. Most of the babies will grow out of it during the first year. As long as the baby is gaining weight, there should be nothing to worry about except for the nuisance of having ingested milk thrown up everywhere plus the additional washing. I had to purchase 4 dozens of hankies for him. To save myself the confusion of which hanky belongs to who, I have to sew each one of them with Edric's initial. Can't really go for colour-coding coz Alden's hankies consists of a variety of colours. I swore to myself to find a better way if there should be another new member of the family in the future.

As for the burping part, Edric's paeds suggested to observe the occcurances of reflux when burping against non-burping. My mom tried not to burp him. After feeding, she would lay him down with his head raised. The refluxes were lessened but Edric was sometimes uncomfortable due to the trapped tummy gas. Nowadays, I just burped him once and waited for a few seconds for his reverse peristalsis to settle and then lay him down on his crib.
When he was about 3 months old, the paeds also suggested to add in a spoonful of cereal in his milk to thicken the feed, which will be less likely to be brought back but it will also harden the stool. Being more concerned with constipation than the messy regurgitation, I opted to hold from introducing cereal to his diet. When he was about 4 1/2 months old, I added the cereal in.
His regurgitations were lessened as he grows and I think the cereal helped a lot too. Even when he rolled over on his tummy, he would not throw up as much as I anticipated.

The following tips helped Edric's regurgitation more or less :-

1. I have to ensure that he is relaxed during feeding time. If he started to writhe and kick, I'll
stop the feed. Feeding resumes again only if I manage to soothe him.

2. If he is gulping too quickly, I'll pull the bottle off for a few seconds and then reintroduce it.
This action sometimes needs to be repeated several times until he finds his so called sucking
rhythm.

3. After feeding, I'l lay him on his cot immediately but with his head raised up. No upright
position or 'jiggling' for about half an hour or so. Sometimes, he'll just fall asleep after he is full.
So that's another bonus.

4. I have to ensure that his diapers, either disposable or linen, are not secured too tightly around
his tummy. If the diaper is fastened snugly, it might press on the baby's tummy when you put
he/she in a sitting position. My rule-of-thumb is to ensure there is a two-fingers space
between the tummy and the diaper.

By the way, I read that acidic drinks, such as fresh orange juice, may stimulate reflux.

What's in a title?

I've been ravaging every nooks and crannies in my head for the title of my blog and the answer came as easy as the wind blows. Edric was in his crib napping when he relieved his sinus irritation and still manage to doze off after the bout. It had me thinking on how I should act and treat every life situation I meet along the way.

sneeze : To expel air forcibly from the mouth and nose in an explosive, spasmodic, involuntary
action resulting from irritation, as from dust, in the nose.

( To sneeze is a semi-autonomous way our body react to foreign particles that irritate our breathing pathways. When a problem comes our way, we naturally face and deal with it in our own mode of action, responsibly or irresponsibly. Some say we shouldn't take a problem lightly as it may have a domino effect. Well, I often tell myself to look into the problematic situation and try to react/solve it as calmly as possible. A problem is like a sneeze. The relief I felt after the
'Ah-Choos' is the same kind of relief I felt after a situation is solved. ( Life will always be full of sneezes eh?)

snooze : To take a light nap; doze.

(Hmmm, who wouldn't mind taking a few minutes of snooze after a meal in the middle of the day or after a tiring meeting in the morn. I passed the notion for a little nap so many times in the past even when I was dead-beat. When my body was crying for little rest, I kept pushing it aside as I told myself there was still something to do, problems to settle. The nature of my work had my brain ticking, all the muscles tensed and on the move all the time. So many emails to look into, and the need to offer help and solutions to other people were large in scale. Then one day, I just decided to take the long awaited snooze and I feel great. I resigned from that crazy, 1 leg-kick stupid job. Being a stay-at-home mom wasn't all that bad but I won't be satisfied with where I am now, careerwise. So there'll be another job-hunting process, interviews to go to, heartsickening truth to be known whether you manage to get the job of a lifetime or not. Oh well, guess I'll have to react to them with a sneeze and a snooze...

What a boring, rainy day.....

I've been planning for a family outing today as I managed to complete my to-do list kinda early. However, my excitement was trampled flat by my lovable bunch. Edric decided to snooze off at noon time. Thought it was only going to be a short nap, which eventually took the whole afternoon away. He'll screech if I even try to move him.
Then, on another level, hubby was complaining of his sore bum courtesy to his newly-found love; futsal. The fella just started playing last week. In the first meet, he actually scraped both of his knees. That injury had him walking like a praying mantis. This week, he walks like a tin-man in need of a walking stick. Had a sweet time taking my revenge for ruining my mood and plan though. His wails were music to my ears when he asked for massage. I couldn't help but laughed evilly when I pushed a little harder at the sore places and he howled for help. (Snorted.)
The sky took the grayish hue when Edric woke up. Then it poured. Ah well, I'll have a raincheck for that outing then. When it was time for his cereal, his refusals were ultimate. First come the cries but still I managed to shove in several spoonfuls. He stopped crying and I thought 'that's a good boy'. The greatest protest came silently; he just stuck his tongue out everytime the spoon went his way. Should I be mad? I couldn't be angry with this 5 months old baby that had me smiling and dumbfounded.
Anyhow, I was searching for a rainy, gloomy pic and found this sweet story for toddlers instead. Just click on the link below and enjoy.

http://lil-fingers.com/sky/10.html

The start of something new.......an amateur attempt..

I love to read blogs from my friends. Found it quite enriching and enjoying to learn about other people's life, love, travels and antics. These blogs have been and will always be the extra nutrition to supplement my thirst and hunger for interesting reading materials.
I have been tempted and lured so many times to try my hands on blogging but stopped myself once my fingers are on the keypad. Do I dare to bare my thoughts and feelings for others to see? This morning, when I looked at my two sleeping angels (cum devils when they're awake), I wondered whether I'll be able to remember the sweet little moments of their laughters, mischiefs, and out-of-the world growing up surprises. Heck! My brain won't be able to hold that much as proven. Been trying to reel out the memories of my eldest son's first smile, the first crawl, the first clap but failed to get to the timeline. Gone are the days of writing diaries. I was never a fan of writing one. Typing's easier.
So, this is how I end up creating my own blog and hope I'll be able to provide some zinger for thought. (Still trying to reason with my sorry self, that is.)