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Sunday 27 April 2014

Baby Who Reads


Bean LOVES books. 

This is how he reads and occupies himself. No longer contented with being the passive reader of being read to in our laps, he now selects his own favourites and turns the pages himself while blabbering away the story.

Some think is the way kids read. I am happy as long as he loves books!


The Closet Caddies

Recently updated my outdated inner wear closet caddies. Makes for faster, neater access when dressing up and speedy clean laundry refill.

Has my housekeeping and organising bug bitten you yet?
Friday 25 April 2014

Stunted Sophie


Bean does not really chew on his teething ring in the shape of Sophie La Giraffe and neither does he care much for squeezing/chomping on the full size Sophie La Giraffe. 

Inadvertently, The Little Girl has claimed this adorable full size version to be hers and stuffed her into her IKEA kitchen shelf resulting in a stunted display. 

Poor Sophie!

Shoe Loving



I love wearing flats and ballerinas. Makes dressing up prettily a lot easier without compromising my ability to work the stroller, pushing heavy supermarket trolleys and chasing after an energetic four year old.

Admittedly, I am not super diligent in caring for my shoes after every single wear so once a fortnight, I try to wipe them clean, air and admire before placing them back into the shoe closet.

Here is an easy solution for basic shoe loving:

Does a fabulous job in cleaning and shining the leather babies!


My Little Man

Bean is 10 months old now. I still cannot believe how fast he is growing. 

Here is what his favourite food looks like at the moment:


Chopped organic carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnip, broccoli stem, potatoes with soup pasta.


Bean also loves a cous cous salad with some sweet bananas!


Brown rice, quinoa and butternut squash,  when I have to rush his evening meal preparation without compromise to his nutrition.

He can chew and swallow quite well now but is not overly keen in feeding himself despite our baby led weaning. As long as he eats, we are only too happy to feed him. Indulgent, I agree. He has his while life ahead to feed himself so I am not fussed.

On a different but similar note, Here is a good cheat sheet for cooking vegetables that I stumbled upon:

Happy cooking! May all your meals be nutritious, tasty and full of blessings!




Favourite Colours


Gray, cream with some mint tickled my fancy in matching the gray clouds outside with high chance of rain.

And did it rain that day!



I have been praying for wind to blow clouds over to the local dams so that rain can fall there. 



Please pray with me. Thank you!

Bib Begone


It was 2002 the last time I put this bib on. 12 years and countless yellow spots later, I have decided to part with this tiny physical attachment to my legal eaglet days. 

Memories is what I have with this bib. 

Goodbye, bib!

Closet

Spring cleaning and organising stuffs to increase efficiency seems to be my "hobby".

This week, some serious amount of clothes hangers found a new home.


The photo above is half of the amount I needed and purchased. Yes, I counted before carting them home.



Removed the labels and stickers, washed and dried them. Meticulously checked for defects. None!



Sorted my head scarves.



Sorted my traditional wear. The brown bag on the left is how I keep my hair dryer tidy after every use. Good for child proofing as it is put away beyond reach of the little ones.



Sorted out my stay at home clothes. Not to be worn outside without a cardigan/outerwear.



Even The Other Half's wardrobe got my OCD touch now, of which he had expressed his gratitude.

I can be borderline OCD by placing my fingers to divide space between each hanger equally.

Which results in this:



Oh, never mind me. 

I am so happy with this little project! The Other Half is such a lucky man that I am so easy to please.







Stiff Fingers

I was trying to apply super glue to the insole of my pregnancy slippers hoping to save me a trip to the cobblers.

Note to self: do not attempt DIY no matter how simple past midnight.

Look what I have gotten myself into:


Will I ever get back my soft skin? These fingers are now covered in super glue which dried in less than 10 seconds. They dried up the minute they came into contact with my skin without burning so I couldn't wash them off in time.

Luckily, there were no burning or stinging sensation. 

No trip to the cobbler indeed. Maybe one to PCMC to get these stiff fingers fixed.

What can I say?

Alhamdulillah, the digits are apart and not stuck together. Could have been worse, much much worse.

Wednesday 23 April 2014

Eczema

The Little Girl used to suffer from cow milk protein allergy which manifested in eczema. 

Ego Skin Cream kept her eczema spots moisturised and healed her rashes. We usually rub a thin film onto her dry flaky skin right after bathing her in almond shower oil from L'occitane.



Occasionally in her sleep, she had scratched on the itch so we dabbed a little calamine lotion on to take the edge off.

Wished I could have put mittens on my kitten on some nights but she had clever ways of throwing them off!

I know the agony of having to explain eczema to well-meaning strangers, neighbours and friends over and over again but sometimes taking an advice from survivors who beat this helps. 

In our case, it was a mix of the weekly sea salt bath for her and cutting down/out the allergens in my diet while I was breastfeeding her.

We had agreed to a blood test when she was 7 months old and the "culprits" were egg-white and cow's milk. Needless to say, my diet changed nearly overnight. I tried my best but it was so difficult not to be able to include those into my diet.

Miraculously, her allergies reduced when she turned 30 months old, much to my delight!

If your child has eczema, please do not give up just yet. Keep trying to find a solution that works for you and your beloved little one.

Happy healing!

Clean On The Go



Handy multi-purpose spray for families travelling with young children. 

Messy faces, hands, bottoms? Not a problem. Works wonders for us, every single time.

Just a light spray and wipe mess off with tissue paper in absence of water supply or the unfortunate event of running out if wet wipes. Love how natural spring water has so much benefits and gentle in skin too!

Sunday 20 April 2014

Replacement


The Little Girl was drinking this for months until the last pack was paid for and carted home from our local grocer.

15 April 2014 was the expiry date and we finished her stock on 12 April 2014.

We have been looking for this everywhere but to no avail.

Please let me know if you have any leads.

Thank you!
 
(update as of 25 April 2014: Cold Storage IPC has them, Alhamdulillah!)


Post Holiday Kit


Home sweet home!

Note to self: Dhoby Ghaut Laundry Service could use less fragrance in detergent, but beggars cannot be choosers. Best find us a serviced apartment Meriton style!
Monday 7 April 2014

Subh

What if I snooze at Subh and wake up in barzakh?

So going to work on this one.

Thank you, Ustazah!

Saturday 5 April 2014

30 Months

"And We have enjoined on man doing of good to his parents; with trouble did his mother bear him and with trouble did she bring him forth; and the bearing of him and the weaning of him was thirty months; until when he attains his maturity and reaches forty years, he says: My Lord! grant me that I may give thanks for Thy favor which Thou hast bestowed on me and on my parents, and that I may do good which pleases Thee and do good to me in respect of my offspring; surely I turn to Thee, and surely I am of those who submit."

[Al-Quran 46:15]

30 months, pardon my ignorance about period of breastfeeding being 24 months. Al-Quran 2:233 states 24 months. 

Someone help me with tafseer, please?

In any case, happy nursing, fellow mamas out there!
Wednesday 2 April 2014

Numbers Do Not Lie

RM11,650.00 is the current average gross salary in my industry, says JobStreet.

Compared to our monthly budget, we are still "overspending", as we are currently on the average of RM15,000.00 per month in running the household of 2 adults and 2 kids. As The Other Half puts it, we have to remain healthy and cook our own meals as much as possible. We have no ASTRO subscription, no club membership to pay for, no helper, and take minimal local holidays on our own expense.

In crude summary, I cannot even make ends meet if I were to return to work full time and be the sole bread winner in this family, with my current expected salary compared with the industry average. Ouch! The only way is to continue to work from home with higher expected salary?

Kuala Lumpur is indeed an expensive city to live in. How do we cope? How prepared are we in the face of 6% GST coming into force April next year?

So much to pray for.

Please share with me your tips and ideas on how to cope with the rising cost of living, inflation and GST. Thank you.
Tuesday 1 April 2014

Independence

Independence comes in many forms. The Little Girl is slowly but surely achieving hers in the pool.

Front crawl with mini kickboards, and I am counting weeks until those pink Speedo foams will be left redundant.


Swim, baby, swim!

I am so proud of you.