避风港

这里已渐渐的成为我的一个秘密基地。一有些不说不快，可又不想影响身边人的时候，就会跑到这里来写一写，让情感得以释放。

今天又有所领悟：
小时候，期待长大，
长大很像要花很长的时间；
长大后很怕变老，
事实是原来变老也很难。

默默

四十岁前的领悟。。。默默

默默流泪 
默默担心
默默承受 
默默接受 
默默祷告

默默。。。因为冥冥之中皆已有了安排。

Making Jellies with Cola's sister

It is always Cola's sister favourite things to do for her pass time. I have been trying to involve her in tasks that she can handle.

Today, we dedicded to make jellies with Ningxia Red. Our ingredients:

1 packet of Ningxia Red

1 1/2 agar-agar powder

1/2 cup water

crystal sugar (amount up to your preference)

Melt the ingredients and bring them to boil. 

Let it cool down before pouring into the mould. 

Wait for 10 minutes and put them into the fridge for about 2 hours.

We make it in the early morning of Sunday and  so that we can have it as our snack in the afternoon!

Self Interrogation

After being away from blogging for a few years and come back, I found that blogging is still a very good therapy for me to relax.

Through blogging, I get to know myself better. I am glad that I am back to blogging again but maybe not active in this blog, but in the other blog Essential Oil Castle.

Regardless which blog that I am posting, it is still something that presenting myself, a carefree soul, the King of the Castle.

Different from few years back, this time I blog using my real identity. Haha! 

Self reward or Birthday gift

So I bought the Premium Starter Kit from Young Living after a few weeks of using essential oils and notice the improvement it brings to me.

2 boxes delivered to my doorstep.

Feeling loved.

AND

TA-DAH!

This is what I got!

Besides from the Premium Starter Kit, I also bought the ART facial cleanser, and 2 types of essential oils. And I got an extra bottle of essential oil as gift from Young Living.

I can't wait for weekend to come, so that I have time to play around with the oils. Just like a kid! But how many times do you get to feel like a kid when you are getting older? Right?

A little bit of sharing on Lavender Essential Oil

I shared about my journey of adding Lavender Essential Oil in my skin care regime in other blog which is all about essential oil.

It has to be at least a post or two in my personal blog because I mentioned about it in one of my new year resolution post that I would want to have clear skin with no pimples.

I am not sure how far can Lavender Essential Oil bring me to, but at least after one and a half month using it, I can see big improvement on my skin

I have this very bad habit that cause pimples keep growing and getting worse. I will scratch on the pimples and try to remove the pus (if there is any) with my fingers whether consciously or unconsciously. A Habit, that is. And you know how bad it is when I touched the pimples with fingers that brings bacteria, it gets inflamed.

Lavender essential oil has this anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties which really helps a lot. When the pimples can grow in an normal environment, without the bacterial help, it will not get worse further.

Secondly, lavender essential oil also help me to sooth and calm my skin, I apply it at night, and my skin get to rest and recover effectively. Somehow, the aroma of the lavender essential oil on my face did improve my sleep. I wake up with more energy and feel good these days. With good sleep, my body get to repair the cells and tissues faster.

I am just sharing based on my personal experience without scientific-proven how it really helps me.

I am truly happy with the effect that Lavender Essential Oil brings to me and exploring what other essential oil can further improve my skin for example lighten the scar and slow down the aging appearance. I am still a newbie here, when I share about my experience in using eo with my friends, most of them have already heard about it and using it. So, do share with me if you are willing to. Hehe.

A wonderful 39th birthday

Thank you, my beloved parents for never fail to celebrate it with me by bringing me out for a dinner.

Thank you, husband for buying us air tickets and give me a wonderful getaway on my birthday.

Thank you, friends for spending time with me during the short trip. You guys make it an unforgettable birthday for my last birthday starts with 30th and give me the positive vibes welcoming the years start with 40th next year.

I appreciate every "Happy Birthday" greeting on facebook as well as through whatsapp.
A face-to-face birthday greeting makes me feel the warmth.

I wish everyone that I loved will stay healthy and happy.

My stubborn little girl

She is now 3 years and 8 months old. 

She has been going to kindergarten for about 2.5 months crying everyday except for the first 2 weeks. We have then decided to let her stay home. 

I cant find the reason why she does not want to go to school: the teachers are fine, the children plays with her, and she loves the activities there. But she just waking up everyday crying and telling us that she does not want to go to school. 

I have tried to bribe her with candies and chocolates, tempt her with the school activities, yet she managed to continue crying till she lost her voice.

Dear baby, you win! Mummy and daddy have to give in. We will send you to kindergarten when you are ready. Muacks. 

Recent online purchase

Bought this very cute pair of shoes from an online shop. Show it off to my friends.

Friend: Redsponge, where did you buy the shoes?
Me: Bought online!
Friend: AH, obviously they mix and match the last shoes they found in the store and send to you. A lesson for you, do not buy things online next time.
Me: ...

Healthy breakfast

Recently, refrigerator oatmeal has become my favourite daily breakfast. It is easy to prepare, no need to cook. Just throw the ingredients (rolled oats, low-fat milk, low-fat Greek yogurt and dried chia seeds) into the cute little jar and then shake well or stir till they combined. Optionally, you can add on some fruits. Store in the refrigerator overnight and you will have healthy breakfast the next morning.

To have the full recipe, please visit The Yummy Life.

*feeling loved*

刘德华 - 《悟》

I would like to dedicate this song to everyone, especially to the families of the passengers on MH370. 凭借这首歌的歌词，希望在生者好好活着，已故者得以安息。

無量心　生福報　無極限　無極限　生息息　愛相連
為何君視而不見　規矩定方圓　悟性悟覺悟空心甘情願

放下顛倒夢想　放下雲煙　放下空慾色　
放下懸念 多一物　卻添了太多危險　少一物　貪嗔癡會少一點

若是緣　再苦味也是甜 若無緣　藏愛在心田
塵世藕斷還絲連　回首一瞬間　種顆善因陪你走好每一天

唯有心無罜礙　成就大願 唯有心無故　妙不可言
算天算地算盡了從前　算不出　生死會在哪一天

勿生恨　點化虛空的眼　勿生怨　歡喜不遙遠
 纏繞慾望的思念　善惡一瞬間　心懷懺悔陪你走好每一天

再牢的謊言　卻逃不過天眼　明日之前　心流離更遠
浮雲霎那間　障眼　人心漸離間　疾苦連連不斷的出現

無量心　生福報　無極限　無極限　生息息　愛相連
凡人卻視而不見　規矩定方圓　悟性悟覺悟空
心甘情願 簡簡單單陪你走好每一天

Happy Valentine's Day 2014

互敬、互爱、互谅

When stubborn girl watch 《爸爸去哪儿》

Despite she is only 2 and a half year old, she can understand what she is watching on TV.

When she watches the China TV program entitled  《爸爸去哪儿》, she will sob whenever she saw the little kids crying. And most of the time she will look for papa when the kids looking for theirs. You can really tell she is sad when she starts sobbing. She can never finish watching one episode not even the mtv of the song
 
Watch it yourself: 《爸爸去哪儿》主题曲

P/S: CCW, you are such a lucky man to have a sweet daughter like her clinging on you 24/7!  
*J E A L O U S*

Stubborn girl

She is 2 years and 6 months old.

She fell sick. Had fever, sore throat, stomachache and cough.

She refused to take medicine.

She spat out every drop of the syrup!

Well done. 

Shopping with the kids

Last night, we had a great experience shopping with the kids.

I think it was the first time we go shopping with both of the kids at the departmental store for CCW's apparels where Princess Cola can walk on her own. Most of the time, we carried her.

So the Princess was like a horse being let loose. We lost her the next second after I placed her on the floor. Aden and I were looking and calling for her in the bushes (racks of hanging clothes). We could not find her and I was a bit panic. I was standing in front of a fitting room with its door closed. The sales girl whispered "Fitting Room" to me, and I was not too sure what she meant and she pointed to the fitting room in front of me. I slowly pushed open the door and then I heard Princess Cola's laughing with joys!

Baby Cola was very happy to have a mate playing hide-and-seek. Usually he will be the one who is bored when we go shopping. Now, I think he will not anymore. And I guessed, he will not say that the sister does not know how to play with him anymore in near future.

CCW finally decided to carry princess and asked me to find him something suitable. Then bring the princess into the fitting room together so that she wont go missing. LOL!

03.07.2012

This is our 5th Wedding Anniversary.
I was asking ccw, are we celebrating paper or cotton wedding? He then told me, we are too early to celebrate anything wo.

So I googled, and found the below:

Yes, we are actually celebrating something more firm and solid compare to paper or cotton, which is WOOD wedding!

Ccw actually bought tickets for us to celebrate the anniversary at Langkawi but it clashed with our son's first sports day at school. Both of us do not want to miss it. So, we decided to stay back.

But, we managed to take half day off to "pak toh".
We went for shopping peacefully from one mall to another.
When we stopped at the traffic light,
ccw: Wow, we are very fast today without the kids.
me: *laugh*
ccw: the fat boy always lazy to walk and need to carry.
me: the daughter always cant sit still and cry.
ccw: then the fat boy always find things to cry over.
me: yeah, we go out without them!

Well, even though the kids are not physically with us, but they are always with us mentally. Ciak-lat.

We buy clothes. Try them out happily without having to chase after the fat boy.

We had ding cha and berrylite yoghurt without having to control how much the fat boy want to have it.

We left the mall without the need to seek for permission from the fat boy.

The pak toh session ended with a meal at Top Spot - Bukit Mata 25, which we used to go when we were dating each other, which is now too hot for the kids to go there.
We ordered 2 big crabs! Each cooked with different sauce: butter + egg yolk and black pepper. We can enjoy the crabs slowly as we do not need to handle the kids.

We also order o-chien and buttered sotong ring (deep fried calamari with butter sauce) which we always try to avoid when we went out with kids, as they are too heaty for them.

Yum~~~~~

That's how we celebrate the day without flying! Hehe..

p/s: It has been ages since I last shop for clothes with ccw. Hmm...married life with kids! LOL!

Lucky Mom

Applied AmBank credit card about 3 months ago, because there is the 20% cashback on every weekend. And I did not realise that if you spend more than 1k within 2 months, you stand a chance to get a photo printer.

There, I got mine today!

Am a happy mom! Haha

吾家有子初长成

We finally registered Cola for kindergarten!

Cola is going to attend nursery class next year!

Breastfeeding

Actually I did breastfeed baby Cola for about 3 weeks. The reason I stopped is because I am lazy to express milk. But then it is also due to the production is low. So, I got advice from people that milk will reduce if you do not let baby latch on. Oh well, I do not care because I am not into breastfeeding at all!

For Princess Meimei, I am planning to do the same - breastfeed her until the milk stops. At first, I did try to let her latch on, but the experience is not too good. So, I decided to pump and feed her using bottle instead. Surprisingly, I am still on breastfeeding today as the milk supply never stop nor reduce.

Now, if you asked me how I found about beastfeeding. Honestly, I think the only benefit is that I can make sure my baby get balanced nutrients. It does not really save up much money after spending on breast pump, breast pad, nursing bra, breast milk storage bottles/cups/bags, cooler bag, lactating formula or supplements. Well, of course most of the items I mentioned are reusable for those who plan to have more than 1 child. Furthermore, it takes time to express milk. For me, I spend about 2 hours daily in the exercise of expressing milk. Previously, during the confinement, I think I spent at least 6 hours a day to pump milk. If time is equal to money, then I should say breastfeeding is expensive. Some more, it is tiring!

Alamak, I really sound very discouraging in this post. Very sorry to those who are planning to breastfeed your babies. But to look at this on a bright side, despite of how much I dislike breastfeeding, I am still expressing milk everyday for more than 2 months. I hope this part is motivating you! :)

Second childbirth experience

My expected due date is 15th July. Baby is too comfortable inside my tummy until past the expected due date.

My doctor is very concerned about it. He suggested me to induce birth. Even though I did not like the idea at all as I was told that induce labour is much more painful but considering the points he listed out:
1. Baby will keep growing and it is difficult to give birth to big baby naturally.
2. Baby is matured, and the environment inside the uterus is no longer good for baby. Reason being is food supply from placenta might be not enough.
3. As the water level is dropping, less space inside uterus for fetus to move, the umbilical cord might get twisted around and harms the baby during childbirth.

So, I gave in.

Doctor had a tight schedule, I was scheduled to induce at 1am on 19 September.

I started to feel the contraction at a quarter to 6 in the morning. After having breakfast and shower, ccw and I went to see my doctor.

At 8:30am, the dilation has just started. The pain level has reach 3-4 (based on my 1st childbirth pain rating) already. I was quite worried, I seriously doubted that if I could stand the pain! At around 9am, I really think I should get epidural before it is too late! We inform the doctor, but he gave me painkiller shot instead. That is much better. But it last for less than 30 minutes, and the pain is killing me again! Deep down inside me, I was praying that I wont pass out before I can push the baby out. Suddenly, I felt that the baby's head was pushing out. Ccw informed the doctor and he came to check. The dilation is 4-5cm. He reminded me to keep my mouth open to breath and not to push while giving me another shot of painkiller. It is around 10:30am by then. After 5 minutes rest, we rushed to hospital.

The hospital staff wheeled me into the labour room, the nurse helped me to undress and dress me up in the patient clothes. Doctor also got his attire changed and ccw fleed himself from the registration counter. Actually the staff insisted ccw to complete the registration before allowing him to go into the labour room. By then, it is already 11am.

Doctor and nurse adjusted the bed, then gave me the laughing gas and taught me how to use it. Then I was told to push when the next contraction is here. So, the next time contraction come, I gave a push, but not using too much energy as I was wondering why he never break the waterbag first. Opps. Then after that he broke it. So, I tried another push but nothing come out. For the third time, I push hard and long and just before i gave up, ccw told me he saw the bb head, so I continued pushing, and the baby's head is out! Baby is born at 11:12am. Everything just happened too fast. It is another unforgettable experience for us.

My conclusion on why induce labour is more painful. Induce labour is very painful but it shortens the whole progress. So the level of pain increase every time the contraction strikes whereas without induce, the pain level remains for an hour or longer before it goes up to another level during the contraction period. It takes shorter time to complete dilation than natural birth. However, after experience the second childbirth, I actually recommend my friends to go for caesarean section instead. HA-HA!

And here is my little princess:
Finally, let me end this post with the best phrase for childbirth: No pain, No gain.