Phnom Penh

For a week, I was away in Cambodia on a business trip. This was my longest trip away from the boys. Initially, I was quite worried that they would not be able to adjust with my absence, especially Jaden, since he's a sticky-molly BUT they were alright :) And I was so glad to hear that Jaden sticks to papa like a glue...haha....Papa, now you know how I feel when I've to be there for Jaden when he bathes, change, eat, sleep.....basically everything!

It was a good break away from the kids for once. Anything longer than 1 week would have caused my heart to miss family dearly but 1 week was just nice.

I arrived Phnom Penh on a Sunday (21/9) morning flight and upon arrival, I was cheated RM10 by the immigration officer. Since it was my first time to PP, I wasn't sure whether there were any charges imposed at immigration counter. I asked the officer 'What is it for?' but he pretended that he couldn't hear or could not understand English. Anyhow, now I learnt my lesson. Later, I was surprised to see my colleague at the arrival hall. Asked him why he came, and he said that he was worried that something would happen to me.....haha....didn't know that I was that naive!

The company driver fetched us to the 'low-ya' 3 star hotel, Holiday Villa, which is owned by Malaysians. My Malay colleagues chose the hotel as they provide halal food and the morning sahur before they puasa. The hotel is located in the city center and many eateries are within walking distance and the famous Central Market is also within the vicinity.

Once we reached the hotel, I literally dropped my luggage bag in the room and headed off to see Phnom Penh city with my friend, Lynnette and her family, who have been staying there for 7 years. A long time to stay in a 3rd world country, in my opinion. Well, I guess in life, one has to give and take - in their case, I would say staying as an expat is a good opportunity whereby the fringe benefits include a bungalow, driver, 2 maids, international schools for the children, etc...

There's nothing much to do in PP except eating and shopping. I have the opportunity to try Cambodian food (which is similar to Thai and Vietnamese cooking), fusion, halal Malaysian food, halal Khmer food, Vietnamese, Japanese, fast food and North Korean.

Also, things are relatively cheap at the Central and Russian market, so much so that I bought so many gifts for the little ones and family.

Despite all the 'fun' shopping (I was shopping till the wee hours before my morning flight on Saturday, 27/9), my heart grieved at the condition/state of living of the people in the country. There are times when Lynnette would come after work to bring me for a coffee at a nice place and I notice Cambodians sleeping with their child on the street. Women with babies are begging almost everywhere and street children are roaming the streets, smoking and doing what-not.

And our children in Malaysia are so pampered and spoilt because they are so precious to us.....just a thought

Bento Creation #1 and Ryan's Concert

Pooh bear says 'Hi'



My first attempt at bento creation - quite fun actually :) The boys were looking for me while I disappeared and they later found me peeling grapes in the kitchen. Ryan insisted that he help and he put the grapes into the animal picks and helped to make the peanut butter pooh bear sandwich. Jaden was not left out in the fun too, he helped with the sandwich cutter as well. I quickly snap a photo of the bento before Ryan reached for the sandwich...hehe...

Ryan ate a few of the seedless grapes and said 'ok mama, enough already, after I choke'. Oh my...excuses excuses....

Piano



We have been looking for a piano ever since Ryan started his Yamaha JMC classes in July 08. Earlier this month, there was a Piano Fair organised by Yamaha and so we went there and managed to buy the last 'Early Bird' piece for the model we wanted. Phew...that was like RM2k off the original non-revised list price, plus they gave us a RM250 Jusco voucher. Hmmm....not too bad a deal.

They delivered the piano last Saturday and while I took a picture, Ryan uttered 'Mama, why are you taking a picture of my piano?' cheeky fella

Ryan's Concert

It was a simple concert this year, quick one too, organised before Aunty Hian Yook's farewell to Kazakstan. I arrived late and managed to hear a few songs and snap a few pictures before it ended. Thank goodness papa recorded the whole concert and we replayed it a few times at home. Ryan enjoyed watching himself on TV :)

Bento tools

Finally, the bento tools arrived. I've been waiting for the items for more than a month and some have not even arrive from Japan. Anyhow, the most important thing is to put them to good use. Hmm...this is the difficult part :)

While I was looking through the things, some busy bees were also happily taking out the items from the plastic packaging.

Then, a call came in and MIL answered her hp. Her friend who stays nearby saw 2 thieves opposite our house and that house is vacant as my sis has yet to move in. I was alarmed and scared and sure enough when we looked out the window, we saw 2 suspicious Indian men loitering in the garden. One held a guni sack and he put it against the wall bricks. My daring MIL brought the Indonesian maid and went across the street to check on the guni sack and to scare the Indian men away. My maid attempted to carry the sack but was unable to do so as it was very heavy. One of the man came back and snatched the bag away. The thieves were still loitering around the area for a while until I decided to call 999. I was quite worried that they'll think it's a prank call but somehow the lady connected me quickly to the police station and I was quite impressed that 2 police cars came swiftly.

To cut a long story short, the police men went in but the thieves had by then, climbed over to another vacant neighbour's house and more guni sacks were already taken away by an accompliance on a motorcycle. And since it was buka puasa time, the cops decided to leave instead of pursuing the thieves who were hiding in the neighbour's house.

Arggh....

Anyhow, a peaceful picture of the boys sleeping taken in the morning somewhat changed my mood for the day...

Back to basics

Why o' why did I even bother buying any mama pads? It's the same question I've been asking myself when I started buying cloth diapers for Jaden. But it's so convenient to use disposables, so why not just continue using them? Because of the hesitance, I've deprived Ryan of the chance to experience the softest material - bamboo velour next to his bum bum.

I thought I would like to try using a bamboo velour mama pad too (so that I can feel how it feels like to be in Jaden's shoes...hehe) and since Mia Bambina carries the HomeMadeMama pads made in the USA, I thought I would give it a try. The other smaller pantyliner is from Lunapad, made in Canada. The how-to-use and washing instructions came in so many languages, including chinese characters, and I was somewhat impressed with these WAHMs. The pads are being prep washed now, so no product review yet.

I've also bought 2 more natural soaps - hopefully, natural soaps will replace all pumped liquid soaps used in the household in the future. Recently, I've received an email purporting that J&J baby lotions contain cancerous ingredients. This led me to research more on ingredients to avoid in our daily shampoos, body cleansers, lipstick, face cream, etc. And for the first time, I looked at the ingredients used in my daily body cleanser - oh my! so many chemicals....

I've also received another email saying that we shouldn't use the same sanitary pad for more than 3 hours, else cervical cancer will develop. Don't know how true...but all these prompted me to use more natural products.

06.09.03

We tied the knot on this day. It's our 5th anniversary this year! :)

We dated for 6 years before we got married.

We were colleagues at the Big 4 before we dated.

Some sweet memories....







Btw, Michelle Yeoh is my relative. Family and friends thronged to take pics with her instead of the bride and groom....boohoohoo....

Indon maid

As I'm writing this, I feel rather sad. On one hand, I know that I shouldn't be treating the way I'm treating Els (my Indon maid) now but on the other hand, her work/actions are making me so frustrated, that at times, I feel like hitting her. I have not hit her or anything but on the verge of it. I couldn't help it but held (not pull) her right ear last weekend when I wanted to tell her that her ears are for listening. She actually left the Filipino maid standing outside the gate for 20 minutes even after she rang the doorbell for 6 times. Hubby and I came home from the playground with the kids and saw Meli (Filipino maid) standing outside after her day-out. I was furious and we checked what she was doing. She said she was ironing and couldn't hear the door bell. Deaf or what? Imagine my kids crying for help upstairs in their room - she would most probably just pass it as 'saya tak boleh dengar'.

On many occassions, she has hurt my 2 boys unintentionally (at least I would like to think of it that way). She would hold Ryan's hand and at the blink of an eye, Ryan would suddenly fall down. Her legs are always in the way of the boys'. Or on another occassion, she would be tidying the boys' toys and putting them in the toy box and while she's holding the lid, she would knock against Ryan's face. I really cannot put words to describe her. Or yet another occassion, she would be walking in the living room and suddenly she would squat down to pick up something not knowing that Jaden is right behind her, and her big butt would cause Jaden to fall against the wooden door.

And there was one time when I came home from grocery shopping. She was putting the eggs into the fridge and the next thing you know, one egg fell on the floor. Closer inspection on how she put the eggs - she put the smaller rounder tip as the base on the egg casing instead of the wider base - of course lah not stable. She can have the guts to tell me that that's how she put the eggs in her home in Indon (Don't play play, her house in Indon got fridge and not only that, should be relatively big to put non-essential items like eggs too).

And with food, she can be clumsy as well. There was one occassion when Meli caught her giving the wrong formula to Ryan. Ryan has just changed from Enfagrow to Enfakid and the confusion in taste would cause us more problems. I told her off to be more careful in the future. I am just worried that she would be giving Enfakid to Jaden.

There was one night when papa was overseas. The boys slept and I slept in their room on the floor after switching on the house alarm. The next thing I know, the alarm went off and I quickly dashed into my room to disable the alarm. Went downstairs and saw the backdoor open, which triggered the alarm. And emerging from the dark, was the maid. She said that she was hanging the wash cloth. My gawd, at 11.30pm!! And she can tell me that she doesn't know there's a house alarm after staying with us for more than 6 months!! Bloody *stu***

Often, we'll tell her to do something and she'll end up 'maaf - saya lupa'. Called her to put the sausage bread in the fridge and not to leave it overnight outside cos the sausage will spoil and when I wake up in the morning, the sausage bread will still be on the table. Called her to prepare one roti canai for puan and one for tuan in the morning and I'll end up not having any for breakfast.

I guess me and her no 'yuen fan', just can't understand and get-along with each other. Hubby and I can't wait to send her back home next year after her contract ends *sigh*

Beijing Olympics 2008

I've never been a real fan of Olympics and therefore, has never really paid attention to any of the opening ceremony, let alone to watch any of the games.

Somehow, this year, due to the uniqueness of the opening time/date of 08.08.08 at 8.08pm, I fell into the trap of watching it. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the ceremony (up until the marching-in of athletes from different countries) and the association with 2000 years of China history. I was particularly awed by the fireworks, the unveiling of a giant scroll and the participation of over 15,000 performers in the opera performance, movable-type printing, acrobats, etc.

While we were watching this on TV, my parents were watching the ceremony LIVE miles away. This was the account from my mother after her arrival back from Beijing 'Wah, it was really torturous. We had to reach the Birds' Nest stadium by 4pm for the 8pm opening ceremony. We went there in an official car. The ceremony ended about midnight and since the security around the area was so tight, no cars were allowed in. We had to walk many kms to board a public transport and by the time we reached the apartment, it was 4am!' Furthermore, we weren't staying in a hotel, and we couldn't find any food at that time. So, we didn't have dinner and was left with an empty stomach'

Oh my...lesson learnt?! Better to watch the opening ceremony in the comfort of our home sofa than to suffer there :p *but I guess the experience would be wordless....*

And being the nice and lovely grandparents, they of course, did not come home empty-handed. Needless to say, the grandsons were overjoyed to see their po-po on Monday.



Mama taking the photo at the backgrd :p

Cloth Diapers and Soakers

Papa came back from Canada not long ago and he brought back a luggage full of children's clothes and most importantly, fitted cloth diapers and soakers for Jaden. Mama had been waiting for months for these to arrive from US as these were made by WAHM in US. They were sent to Aunty Min Yau's house in Houston so that mama could save on shipping costs :) And since Aunty Min Yau's visit to Canada coincides with papa's visit, the plan was just perfect.

Jaden is a super heavywetter and the use of a single disposable Mamy Poko at night doesn't solve the leaking problem every night. Mama gets so frustrated waking up in the middle of the night to change Jaden into a new PJ and diaper, and not to mention the wet bed sheets and all. So after weeks and months of research, mama found a better night time diapering solution - which is to use fitted cloth diapers and wool interlock soakers. Fingers crossed, the last few nights have been wet-free nights for Jaden!

Below: Wild Child Woolies shorties and soaker


Wollybottoms soaker


Goodmama OS marigold bamboo velour CD.


Custom made Very Baby Simple Nights (VBSN) diaper with additional bamboo fleece insert


Custom made Holden's Landing bedbugs - Natural dyed cotton fleece (R)


Bedbug - pumpkin dyed bamboo velour with BV inner


Muttaqin 3 Step Rise (3SR)


So far, the VBSN and Bedbugs have been bullet-proof at night...yippee!

Of Body and Sex.....

Mama came home from work one day and decided to take shower. Lil' Ryan insisted that he follow mama to the bathroom.

Mama: Ryan, why don't you play down here with didi and kakak?
Ryan: No, I want to follow mama upstairs

Mama went upstairs and took off baju.

Ryan: Mama, where's your kuku-bird?
Mama: Kuku-bird is for boys only. Mama is a girl - no kuku-bird. Got pet-pet
Ryan: Pet-pet? What's pet-pet? Can I touch?
Mama: NO! Cannot touch...Pet-pet is for she-she

Mama went into the shower area.

Ryan: Mama, you got ton-ton.... (I didn't teach him this word, I think he learned from MIL...lol)
Can I drink milk from your ton-ton?
Mama: Mama don't have any more milk
Ryan: How come mama don't have any more milk for me?
Mama: *not sure how to answer* Because mama is not a COW! lol

*geling kepala* I've got to go through this with Jaden again next time.....*sigh*

Ryan's 4th Birthday!

We had a small family gathering at our house on Saturday, 19 July 2008 to celebrate Ryan's 4th birthday. The early celebration was arranged to ensure that papa would be around for the party before his flight to Bangkok and Toronto on Sunday morning.

Ryan specifically requested for a Transformer cake and Auntie Ruijing obliged even tho' it looked pretty difficult to come up with such a cake :p Her supplier printed the transformer pictures onto sugar paper and voila, result as below. Print colour is apparently food safe but to be double safe, we took it out before eating :)








Ryan wanted me to take a photo of him dancing naked, so there you go. There's something about children and nakedness, they really love being naked and I wonder why :p

BPA free bottles

I know I've not been a good blogger, hardly any updates for more than 1 month now :p Sorie...

But I've been a good mama or rather I hope I am one :)

I've been researching a lot on internets on baby-safe products, in particular baby bottles and recently, I've got a new addiction - cloth diapers! I've been spending so much time on the internet and I think hubby is really annoyed with me too :) Sorry dear....






These pictures were taken some time back but basically what we did was to replace our easy-to-use plastics bottles with aluminium Sigg bottles and children's Avent milk bottles to MAM BPA-free bottles. BPA is actually Bisphenol-A, which is a type of chemical that manufacturers include in polycarbonate plastic manufacturing to ensure that the plastic bottles do not break easily upon impact. BPA has been known to leach from the plastic lining of canned foods and, to a lesser degree, polycarbonate plastics that are cleaned with harsh detergents or used to contain acidic or high-temperature liquids.

BPA is also believed to be carcinogenic. Studies on laboratory mice were performed and the possible effects are listed below (obtained from wikipedia):

• Permanent changes to genital tract
• Changes in breast tissue that predispose cells to hormones and carcinogens
• Increased prostate weight 30%
• Lower bodyweight, increase of anogenital distance in both genders, signs of early puberty and longer estrus
• Decline in testicular testosterone
• Breast cells predisposed to cancer
• Prostate cells more sensitive to hormones and cancer
• Decreased maternal behaviors
• Reversed the normal sex differences in brain structure and behavior
  

So, you scared or not? I vely scared loh....

Feel Lurved....

We came home from bowling on Friday night and while I was having shower, lil' Ryan barged in (talk about privacy with kids, they won't understand....haha). He was holding a card he made in school and my eyes brightened. Then he sang 'Mummy, mummy I love you.....' and my heart melted....

This is the first Happy Mother's Day card he made. So simple, yet I lurve it so much!

And this is the flower he made and presented to me during Children's Church on Saturday.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all mothers!!!

Jaden, you're TWO!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARLING!






*More photos on Facebook...

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.

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

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 :(