Go Green

Earth Day is approaching and this is mama's effort to save the environment (haha, like real...)

1. No more Disposable Diapers



These cloth diapers were bought from an online store in Oz. I particularly like the itti bitti CDs because they are trim and very absorbent. I like to try different types of CDs on Jaden, like the Aqua snap-in AIO, Apple green fitted bitti boo, which comes with an inner of bamboo velour and bitti d'lish lime green CD which has a soft outer waterproof layer.





2. No more Disposable Wipes



Got this from the mail yesterday. The prints on the wipes are totally irresistable. Haven't used them yet but they felt extremely soft on the hands. Jaden has a liking on the dog wipe while Ryan loves the shark.

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An email that I received from a friend shows the environmental impact of diapers are staggering:

• American babies use an average of 3,796 diapers before they are potty trained.
• It takes 950 gallons of oil, 715 pounds of plastic and 4.5 trees to make those 3,796 diapers.
• American children use a total of 18 billion disposable diapers each year - enough diapers to stretch around the earth 90 times.
• It could take 500 years or more for a disposable diaper to decompose.
  

Hmm...I sort of regretted that I didn't use CDs on Ryan's bum bum :(

Over the Weekend

Marriage Time

One of the concepts we learned from our recent completed marriage course is 'Marriage Time' whereby 'we' as a couple should spend quality time together (without the kids) just to do about anything under the sun. We could go for meals together, bowling, sports, vacation, etc.... and just enjoy the ber-dating days :)

Last Friday, we spent our Marriage Time at Lobsterman since papa was craving for lobsters the whole week. We had a wonderful set dinner:

* Baked escargot

* Wild mushroom soup

* Live Atlantic Lobster (800g) in Simmered (North America) and Thermidor(Italy)

* Seafood pasta

* Dessert

* Tea/Coffee

The Thermidor cooking style tasted somewhat better than Simmered as the lobster meat was sauteed with white wine sauce and baked with cheese. Simmered tasted more blend but had a traditional authentic taste.

Yum Yum!

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Outing with PECH children at Bread Factory

Every Easter evangelistic event, our cell group will organise a makan time with friends and guests but this year, we decided to do something different - to bless a home and to bring the kids to the bread factory! PECH (Praise Emmanuel Children's Home) is home to 17 kids aged between 3 to 14 years. The children came from difficult backgrounds, either abandoned, abused, orphaned or neglected by their parents.

Our last visit to PECH was during Christmas in 2005 where we blessed the children with X'mas gifts, spent time with them and played games together. We were somewhat glad to hear that 2 of the children we befriended in 2005 had since returned to their mother.

This visit, we brought Ryan to PECH since he loves to mingle with children. Also, it would be an eye opener to him as it would be his first visit to an orphanage. It was good to see him mingling with the kids, hugging and playing with them.

Many of the cell members also invited their friends to join in this outing. There were a total of 41 of us travelling to the Silver Bird factory. Imagine the logistics! Thanks to the good coordination work of Ronnie & Rosalyn and all involved, the outing was a success!

Ryan's New Bicycle

Gong-Gong's Birthday


The 5 grandchildren celebrated gong-gong's birthday at Ah Yat Abalone Forum Restaurant on 8 April 2008. It is always fun to see the children playing together, snatching toys, pulling each other hair; with the anticipation of crying after that....haha....normal la, children mah :)

The food at the restaurant is so-so only. Not so good, I would say....abalone was rather small for my liking, prawn also quite small and the almond dessert - smelled yucky, so I didn't take it.

The signature cake by hubby's cousin, Ruijing is super good though...

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Ryan's New Bicycle



I have wanted to buy a bicyle for Ryan since last year, before we moved house but pondered on the idea as we stayed in the condo and there would be no place for Ryan to cycle except downstairs. So, on Monday (7/4/08), we finally decided to get one for Ryan and we went on a 'mad' hunt for children's bicycle that night. We travelled from Uptown to Desa Parkcity, to find the right bicycle for Ryan. Hubby insisted that we buy from a proper bicycle shop to ensure that the bicycle is adjusted to Ryan's height, shoulder/hand, etc.... And the boy has been practising on his new bicycle these past few days - and he's a pro now at cycling!

Jaden on the other hand, had to settled with the old car. We didn't want to buy a small bicycle for him as he would outgrow it very soon. Poor baby...

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Hi-5 Dancing

The boys really love to dance and on this very rare occassion, I managed to capture them on video....Hehe...Got talent or not??? :p

2 Active Kids + Trip = ??????

We were quite apprehensive about the trip initially - how we'll cope with no maids around, time difference, meal times, bath, etc etc but the tip is Be Cool, do not stress up unnecessarily :)


Take it lightly and be flexible when the kids:

• cannot wake up early in the morning due to jet lag

It happened to us on the 2nd day of the trip (7/3/2008). We planned to visit Australia Zoo on Friday but changed plan to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary when the kids woke up late after the long flight the day before. The zoo is much further than the sanctuary and we would have lost precious time on the journey.

• be creative

During our check-in at KLIA, we were informed that MAS requires 6 hours before a flight departure for a passenger to request children's meal on board. Waliow eh...what kind of rule is this.... So, that means no kids' meal for Ryan and Jaden. So makan apa? Thank goodness, mama brought along some potato bread for the kids. And thanks to papa's creativity, Ryan had a pretty decent meal. The two adult meal choices on board were not suitable for kids - nasi lemak (too spicy) and chicken potato casserole (too meaty). Ryan, being a china-boy insisted on having rice, so papa mixed the coconut rice (no sambal) with the chicken sauce.

• take it easy when the kids refuse to brush their teeth or eat their meals - normal routine stuff

After all, they're on holiday - so why not give them a break!

Clash of Elections with Australia Trip

Hmmm....I haven't been updating this blog for soooooooo long now and hubby had not been helping either, altho' this blog is theoretically his :(

Don't know where to start...so many things have happened these past few months. Elections came and gone but we were not around to vote this time round. Our trip to Brisbane were pre-planned since last year and ticket paid up before the polling day was announced. As much as papa would love to vote for the Opposition, mama, however, would be torn between voting for BN or BR, else be labeled a traitor. You see, I came from a family whose father is heavily involved in politics (BN) for as long as I can remember and voting for Opp would be akin to going to Pavilion KL, the very land that my school used to be.

But I guess times have changed and people need to move on in their life. I'm glad that the people have spoken and elected their representatives in Parliament. I can say this partly because my dad has retired from politics :p. In fact, my dad was rather relaxed when we called home (from Brisbane) on polling day and even tho' the counting of votes has not completed at Batu constituency (my brother was contesting there), my dad left to play mahjong. As he put it...'Phew, I'm glad I missed the tsunami :)'

And as to our Brisbane/Gold Coast trip (6th - 15th March), we truly had a fantastic-a time there! The boys were totally knackered by the end of the 10-day trip and Ryan lamented that he wanted to return to home sweet home :)

To update more on the Australia Trip in the next entry...