First purchase in iHerb

my first purchase from iHerb in Nov last year, 2012.

 the main reason that made me browsed through iHerb was Childlife Liquid Vitamin C.

i bought one bottle for RM 67.90 from GNC. 

and i managed to get 15% discount using a friend's membership.

after that i found out that the SAME thing was sold in iherb for USD 6.

after conversion would be about RM 24 maximum? say using a conversion of 4.

O.O

of course i have to buy from iHerb!

and i stopped visiting GNC ever since.

cost of shipping from iHerb is also cheap!

what are u waiting for ?

a shopping spree!!

Avalon Organics shampoo

'good' shampoos usually do not give lots of suds.

so it might take a little get-used-to.

yeah im losing my hair..getting bald. sobs

no idea why i bought a Volumizing conditioner.

think i must have clicked on the wrong one!

when i was at Taiwan, i saw Avalon Organics in Watson too! :)

there are just lots of things that u can buy from iHerb.

they sometimes do offer free international shipping as well.

be on the look out people!

also, do inform me when there is such promo.

i love free shippings!

New to iHerb? Use coupon code WHH623 for up to $10.00 off your first order.

Bubble play

all kids love bubbles don't they?

 we have a warm neighbourhood here and the road here leads to a dead end, so presto!
very few cars will pass by as we are at the end.

the 'lau da' (big bro) demonstrating.

i like this look.

the look of concentration, seriousness.

there are many DIY recipes available online for this soap bubbles.

homemade bubble solutions

can even be creative and come up with the 'wand' as shown here,

or here or this blog using pipe cleaners.

pipe cleaners are available in Daiso or tailor shop which sells buttons and threads and etc.

happy face. happy kid.

= happy mom.

kids learn through play!

hence i will always release him from home once the sun reaches the horizon.

he has to GET OUT of the house.

and sometimes he'll go back in to someone else's house. sigh.

i will still try to pull him out though.

i dont blame him.

sometimes it will only be him alone outside and im not exactly a nutty cracky play person so he feels bored.

Oct 2012

family first

wearing his father's glasses.

yes so he learns an extra vocab : glasses / spectacles.

he would kindly help to fetch his dad's glasses in the morning.

VERY cheeky

back in ipoh attending his Uncle's wedding.

being the youngest in the family,

he gets to be the KING!

upsets his popo by rejecting her and being nasty to her.

family comes first.

yes, im a family person.

im glad that hubs has a huge extended family and they are close to one another.

we flew home many times last year for joyous celebrations and those are the times that KJ gets to bond with the family.

worth it :)

Nov 2012

Two months old update

1 month old

GASP!

spossies? = disposable diaper?

of course not! :)

we are a cloth diaper  (CD)  family.

this disposable acts as a cover.

you can DIY. soaked a used disposable in water until all the gel swells, then remove the gel leaving only the cover.

this cover can be washed and be recycled for a good couple of times.

Matty is currently using lampins/prefold 80% and CD 20%.

when we were in mom's house in his early days,

it was 90% lampin and 10% disposables.

disposables are for nights only.

it will be difficult washing CDs in few pieces so i closed one eyes and let mom have it her way.

back here in my own home,

i rule of course ;)

i sub the disposables with CDs and therefore washes them every 3 days.

it is quite difficult for my washing machine to spin if i don't have one amount of diapers in a load.

usually i wash the diapers on its own. i do not mix.

reason is because diapers need its own detergent.

and they have special cleaning cycles.

currently the frequency of his poo has reduced.

from almost every 2 hours to about every few changes of diapers once.

he changes lampin every 2-3 hours.

this was 1 month old.

3.1kg

vaccination:

just this monday 19th aug when i brought him to KKIA for his 2 months old vaccination, DTap

evening after the jab,

he was slightly feverish.

37.7 celcius when i checked.

i dilly-dallied and by the time i was about to administer paracetamol, the temperature drops.

hence no pcm for this little chap.

next day fever gone.

growth:

he weighed 4.1kg,

growth chart on the line

 he can lift his head!!!

one crazy strong kid!

his brother loves him to bits. i hope?

KJ, u want to be gege or koko?

i want to be ge ge

he likes me oh mommy!

didi likes me.

he is so cute!

still jaundice.

eyes and skin yellow.

feeding:

cluster feeding until last weekend.

over the weekend he started becoming drowsy and feeding decreases.

diaper change reduces too naturally.

i complained that he becomes inactive.

bothers me that he is not hovering for my boobs.

but according to our doctor friend,

he says he is fine.

when he is awake, he looks active. -_____-

anyway, we have got an appointment for him with Vasan next week in paeds clinic.

kj 3 y 6 m

Matty 2 m

What we eat at home

despite being independent,

no moms or inlaws or relatives here,

we thrive to be on our own.

ever since we fired our part time maid a year ago,

we have been doing household chores ourselves.

we also cook whenever we can.

green tea ice cream with adzuki beans

mushroom bacon risotto

can prepare this in a jiffy!

doesnt look appealing but it tastes good! :p

hawaiian chicken pizza

all the above were cooked at home.

if u still dont know me,

i prefer to eat at home.

what more if you are living in Kota kinabalu.

there are not much choice really.

especially in the weekend when i have my children home with me,

all the more i'd want to serve them HEALTHY home cooked meals.

Green tea ice cream recipe:

ingredients

150g sugar

15-30g green tea powder (i use 15g)

50g unsalted butter

2tsp vanilla extract

100g milk

500g cream

4 eggs

method

1. mill sugar 15 secs/ speed 9

2. add butter and vanilla + sugar. 15 mins/ varoma/ speed 1

3. add cream, milk and whisk . 30 sec/ speed 5

4. add egg one by one through the hole , at speed 4. time? just keep the blade running

5. add green tea powder, also at speed 4. cook for 5 mins/ 80 degrees

6. pour into cold metal tin and freeze

7. after 8 hours when it is partially frozen, transfer into ™ bowl again and blitz at speed 10/ 1 min.

8. return to cold tin and continue freezing until ice cream is formed.

9. all done. thaw for few minutes before serving.

Push Pin Activity

 found a box of push pins so i remembered this push-pin activity in Confession of a Homeschooler Blog.

 get a piece of paper,

write an alphabet,

ask the toddler to poke along the line.

this activity can strengthen 3-finger grasp.

it can also enhance letter recognition and patience building.

KJ truly needs the latter.

i did asked kj to put the poked page on the glass door so that he can see the holes clearly, as shown here.

raw goat's milk

Raw Goat's Milk

the trend now is that raw milk is best!

better than pasteurized.

unhomogenized is better than homogenized.

read is raw milk safe?

why is homogenized milk bad for you.

bought this from Happy Goat in Penang.

they also have Facebook.

do contact Ivan.

i bought frozen ones.

thaw them overnight in the fridge and u can drink them once they have melted completely.

although the bottle states to warm before drinking but there is no such need, really.

they are safe for consumption.

i cannot quite accept the taste if they are warmed!

the smell of the goat was amplified and make me feel like puking!

they definitely taste better when chilled.

nevertheless, chilled or not chilled, 

i still need to hold my breath when drinking.

:p

just because they are healthy and good to my body,

i have to drink it.

im helping KJ to finish up the milk.

we both share, half a bottle each day.

he seems fine drinking this.

but given a choice, he would still go for pasteurized, homogenized, cow's milk :)

this kid has never consumed Formula Milk Powder.

with the current hoo-ha over the contaminated formula milk powder,

i am glad he drinks fresh cow's milk - pasteurized.

not raw cow's milk.

i would subscribe to raw cow's milk if they are available here.

once in a while i do buy goat's milk - pasteurized for him.

too bad, we dont have any raw milk here.

a bottle of 250ml costs RM6.00

if you buy in litres, it will be cheaper.

If you want to drink raw milk, it would be best if you can visit the farm and get to know them to ascertain good hygiene.

not convinced about drinking Raw?
i like the info in this blogspot.

Full Moon Give Away

full moon give away set!

we ordered this set to be given away on our babies full moon.

on the real day, we have to be in inlaw's house so this was ordered in my house and they were distributed by hubs and dad to friends and family on our side.

whereas in hub's home, we had a party so there were no such give aways :)

the set comprises of red hard boiled eggs, nasi kunyit (yellow glutinous rice), curry chicken, and ang ku (red tortoise cake)

the Ang Ku Kueh is special in this case.

it symbolizes the gender of your baby.

if you have a baby boy, this kueh will be round.

if u have a baby girl, they will be in the shape of a peach.

i am a Hokkien by the way.

eat the curry chicken with the glutinous rice.

these days, modern parents would prefer to give away Ayamas or pizza hut or kfc voucher, or cakes or other not perishable items.

with this type of meal set, you need to distribute them fast!

knowing me, i'm a traditional lady.

hence i opt for this, to keep the tradition alive. :p

chinese usually has their confinement for 30 days,

whereas some do it for 40 days.

i opt for 40 days.

malays do it for 44 days.

after full moon (30 days), im still watchful over my diet.

that photo shows what i ate.

MUST NOT eat 'cooling' food.

can begin to eat 'neutral' food :)

confinement red dates tea

my red dates tea throughout confinement.

comprises of black dates, red dates, dang shen, and the herb (dont know the name) and a little ginger.

sometimes she'll add in some longan. longan is very heaty so i did not drink it everyday. mom reasoned that the baby is still jaundiced - heaty- so i shouldn't be too warm inside.

preparation of this water or tea is superbly easy. just chuck the entire plate above into a big pot of water and boil it.

some recipes i checked online uses more red dates but when i double checked with mom, she actually uses more black dates.

for the entire 30 days, i drank warmed red dates water.

my mom has a thermos flask shaped like a teapot, instead of the common bottle shaped thermos.

this teapot thermos can hold quite a lot of water, (forgot to check the size) but those who knows me, water is my life. i drink lots of water so this teapot thermos is really handy.

my mom does not need to refill that often. at most twice a day.

the only exception of me drinking plain warm water was when i was traveling, as we flew back to the West and the entire journey took approximately 8 hours. and that was on day 14 of confinement. 

being a scaredy cat, i felt insecure having no red dates water. lols. so i only took sips of plain water to wet my mouth and satiate my thirst :( 

some people also drink Rice tea during this period. i have not tried this rice tea before.

i think it is more cumbersome preparing the Rice Tea before u need to fry the rice with ginger.

anyway, i have no idea why red dates tea is more popular amongst my family and friends.

 Bentong Ginger

they are spicier and more fragrant than our usual ginger.

since SIL is from bentong, mom called up and asked them to help us to buy 3 kg:)

double boiled chicken essence

i did not take the bottled chicken brand at all.

neither during my pregnancy nor now.

best would be home made double boiled chicken essence.

MIL prepared for me everyday when i was back in her place when i was 6 months pregnant. 

and now mom cooks this essence with kampung chicken every other day.

was told that i should drink at night before i go to bed.

my usual confinement meal

sawi with minced pork

turmeric grilled fish

pig's trotter in black vinegar

this is a close-up view of the pigs trotter

i LOVE this dish.

mom dont usually cook this during normal times.

so during confinement, i always have appetite and we (both mom and i) will usually put on weight.

hubs always teased me that I put on more weight than when i was pregnant.

hah!

menu from sandra boynton's book!

 saute onion and garlic in olive oil and butter

 add milk and blend

 broccoli stew

 eat with rice!

yum!

i prefer a more diluted and smooth thick soup but papa chef likes to cook it this way.

i love pumpkin soup which could be whipped up in the thermomix in 20 mins but no one else likes pumpkin besides me.

hate it when hubs is a picky eater this way.

his excuse is that he can eat or  he will eat anything (not exactly everything) that i cook, but it is just that he does not fancy eating those certain food.

since im a healthy person,

i need to compromise a little.

i dont cook bittergourd at home for example.

so i eat them when we eat out.

smoothies today: sawi, 1 red apple, 1 orange, 0.5 inch ginger, few cashew nuts soaked, 2 large dates, half avocado, brazilian nut milk.

too much variation so the concoction tastes weird but who cares? as long as it is nutritious!

i dont care.

hentam saja.

kj gets half a cup if the drink is not palatable.

i do need to be sympathizing.

albeit saying YUCK! not good.

he will still obediently finish it.

:)