Review on Adam's stuff - Part 3

Dilemma on which stroller to buy? Sling or carrier? Friends were asking for help in making decision so let me just share my experience..

Mothercare Travel System

I was so tempted to buy Quinny or some other state of the art la konon 3 wheeler strollers and almost get one when suddenly my father gave me a call asking me to pick up my stuffs from Mothercare. Yeap, my father was kind enough to buy us this travel system. Anyway, back to the point, why do I love this travel system? First, you can easily attach the car seat to the stroller. So even if the baby is sleeping you don't have to wake the baby up when you reach your destination. The car seat also works like a bouncer so you can just park your baby on the table while you are having tea.

The stroller only needs one twist to close or open. That means I can handle it with one hand while my other hand is holding the baby. And of course the best part is, the stroller is so roomy that I can fill the stroller with all my shopping bags even with the baby inside it. And when the baby is bigger, he/she might be able to help you push the stroller full of bags just like Adam did.

Mothercare 3-position carrier

When Adam was a baby, I used this carrier a lot especially when we went out for dinner to places that was hard to park a stroller. With your hands free, you can eat or gossip freely. Even when we were out with stroller, I still bring this along because after hours in the stroller, babies tend to be cranky and want to be held. You can either carry him facing you, facing the front or carry him on your back. When Adam was younger, he loves to be carried facing me but when he was bigger, he preferred facing the front as he can see where we were going.

Mothercare Walking Assistant

I bought this Walking Assistant when Adam was about 7 months. By then he can stand on his own and walk sideways while holding tables or chairs. I was in between maid and Adam stayed with my parents in Terengganu so I seldom had the opportunity to use it. I found it helpful as it helps your child to have the confidence to walk and save you from back pain if you hold the baby's hands to help them walk. This is how you hold the walking assistant. Unfortunately I don't have any picture of Adam in it.

Siri Mari Memasak: Tray-baked Sardines

I posted this picture on FB and received a few requests for the recipe. Actually I got the recipe from "Healthy Eating for Lower Cholesterol" book by Daniel Green (a chef) and Catherine Collins (a dietitian), supported by H-E-A-R-T UK. I hope they don't mind me posting the recipe here as it was really good. Many other recipes in the books are very good as well. If you are looking for recipes that are healthy and easy to prepare, I really recommend this book. I bought it for RM67.90 at Kinokuniya KLCC a few years back.

Ingredients
4 lemons
12 fresh large sardines, gutted (I can only fit 10 into my baking tray)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed (I used a heap tablespoon of blended garlic)
4 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas mark 5. (My oven can only be set to either 180ºC or 200ºC so I opted for 180ºc and add the baking time).
Grate the zest from 2 of the lemons and set aside in a small bowl. Squeeze the juice from the zested lemons. (refer here on how to zest a lemon)
Put the sardines in an ovenproof dish.

In a bowl, mix the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and oreganos. Drizzle  this mixture over the fish and season with black pepper.

Put  in the oven for 25-30 minutes. (It took me about 45 minutes).

Cut the remaining lemons into wedges. Serve the sardines hot, sprinkled with lemon zest and accompanied by the lemon wedges. (I forgot to sprinkle the lemon zest on top of the sardines)

Done! Have fun trying! :)

Wordless Wednesday #1

post spring cleaning

semoga dapat membantu anak bangsa :)

Review on Adam's stuff - Part 2

We meet again in Part 2.

'Lamaze' Zebra Rattle

This pic was taken when Adam was almost 2 months. Why the inverted comma? Because I am not really sure if it is a real Lamaze toy or not. I bought it at a very small store in K.Terengganu for RM9.90 if I am not mistaken. When I tried to google for the picture, could not find it in Lamaze website but found it in 1 Thailand website and in 1 local online shop. The online shop is selling it for RM29.90. 

Anyway, the zebra's legs has magnetic ends. So it could clasp together when I put it around Adams's leg. I love it because it helps Adam to exercise his tummy, neck, arm and leg. He will try to kick it off his leg and then he will try to lift his head to see what was that stupid thing Mommy put at his leg and after a few days, I noticed he tried to grab it using his hand. I believe small babies should have some exercise to strengthen their muscles instead of just lying around and sleep :)

Playgym

I can't recall what brand is this playgym but I remember buying it for less than RM60 at Giant. I personally feels that every baby deserves a playgym. It allows them to exercise their legs and hands while lying on their back and exercise their neck and hand muscle when they are on their tummy. Don't worry of SID. Just make sure you are not sleeping while they are playing on their tummy. From my experience, Adam turned his head just a few minute after I put him on his tummy for the first time (he was 9 days old). 

 Adam was about 3 months in this picture. If your child seems to be bored with his/her playgym, just buy those dangling toys and add on to your existing ones and you will have a new set of friends for your little one :) I know in the market there are alot of playgym ranging from RM50 to RM300. The trick is, find one that is washable and "modifieable" (the toys can be rearranged or you can add more toys)

Lamaze Spin and Explore Garden Gym

This is one of my favourite! Saw it at an online shop and was drooling over it for a few days before I click the 'buy' button. Was contemplating at first because it was above RM100 and what if Adam doesn't like it? Initially, Adam was not a fan of the spinning ladybird. He will cry every time I tried to put him on it. After a while, he got used to it and will spin around the mat playing with all the little toys attached to it.

You can also remove the spinning ladybird and put your baby right on top of the mat. Adam loves the mirror attached to the mat. And of course, this mat and the cover for the spinning ladybird are washable! If you haven't have one, and your baby is still small, go and get it! :) Here is the top view of the gym.

Baby Cot Mobile

Ours was a present from a family friend I guess. The original video has Adam 'talking' to the bears for more than 8 minutes! That is long enough for me to change his diaper and clothes. I found cot mobile a big help especially when you need to change baby diaper. Looking at the material I bet it was not that expensive but we love it! It's just a simple cot mobile with bears making a circle and a simple musical background. Recently, my mom and I tried to look for something simple like this but all those in Toys R Us are wayyyyy above RM100. If you found one like this at less than RM100, do give me a buzz as my sister in law is looking for one.

bebePOD plus

I can still recall this moment. Adam was trying hard to pull off the toy from the tray. I love this bebePOD as it allows baby to sit wayyy before they can sit on their own. When Adam was bigger and started eating solid food, this bebePOD helps to make sure Adam sit still throughout his meal. Kalau tak, sibukla nak merangkak sana sini. Why I chose this over Bumbo Seat? Because it is much much much softer and comfortable compared to Bumbo Seat. You can either attach the toy to the tray, or just have the tray, or you can just take off the tray. BebePOD comes in 3 different colours.

For me, the downside is its price. You can almost buy 2 bumbo seat with the price of 1 bebePOD plus. The choice is yours :)

Happy Safari Lion Mirror

Adam loves this mirror! As you might have already known, babies looove mirror! Adam still plays with this mirror till today! I was lucky I found this on sale at Mothercare. As much as Adam loves it, I don't think I would pay for its original price. Wayy to pricey for a mirror :) Maybe if I live in UK and earn in pound, than this lion is worth the price :)

Guess that would be all for today. Will do some more if I have the time :)

My first loaf of love :)

My new toy is here! Tried the first recipe in the recipe book that came together with the breadmaker. It was soooooo easy! The recipe called it Egg Enriched White Bread but I called it my first loaf of love. Hehehehe!

This bread does not even has milk in it hence the crust is not that dark though I already chose Medium. I had one slice and I am full! It is very soft but maybe not as light as Gardenia but I love it! Healthier la konon as tak ada preservatives and all :) Want some? :)

Review on Adam's stuff - Part 1

As I mentioned in my previous post, dah lama giler I made a promise to my friend to write a review on some of Adam's toys. Tapi asyik tangguh2 sampai semua toys ni dah masuk storeroom dah pun :) Better late than nothing! :D

Lamaze Gardenbug Wrist Rattle and Foot Finder Set and Nuby Teething Blankie Toy - Monkey 

 Adam and his wrist rattle and monkey blankie

I think Adam was a week shy of his 3 months birthday in this picture. I really love these two stuff.

This blankie helped Adam with his gripping. Masa mula2 bagi tu Adam tak pandai pegang lagi. Tapi sebab blankie ni kan nipis so sangat senang dia pegang and of course masuk mulut lah kan.. I noticed lepas ada blankie ni lah Adam started to grip better. The best part is sangat senang nak basuh! Masuk je washing machine :) So sentiasa bersih for your lil baby :)

These wrist rattle and feer finder pun sangat bes! Sebab babies kan sentiasa gerak-gerakkan kaki and tangan dia tana arah tujuan. So, bisinglah rattle tu and dia akan cari-cari. Helped me to keep Adam occupied if I had other things to do.

Owh and both of these adalah less than RM100. Harga sebenar tak ingat tapi affordable lah.. And banyak lagi brand lain di pasaran.. Yang penting boleh keep baby occupied :)

Alamak, lambat dah nak pegi meeting. To be continued.... :)

monday tralalalaa~

It has been 4 days since I last switched on my laptop. Twitting and FBing through my BB only in the past few days with the hope to stay focus on the spring cleaning. In 4 days I only managed to clean up the store and the dressing room. Owh and sort out my textbooks to be given away. Mission accomplished but masa tengah amik buku and barang2 kat bilik lain, I noticed my room and the reading room also need spring cleaning :( Tak pasal-pasal kena buat phase II pulak lepas nie. Nak buat macam mana, tak reti ajar bibik kemas so kena kemas sendiri lah :( Tapi dah warning bibik, after this, kalau nak masukkan barang dalam store she has to ask for my permission.. heheheh.. kalau tak dia main longgok je semua...

Anyway, last Thursday, I baked another batch of the chocolate chip cookies. Tapi kali ni adalah lebih malas so gentel besar and the cookies jadi chunky. And this time, after masukkan grated chocolate tu, I kept the dough in the fridge for 1 hour and after that baru masukkan chocolate chip and gentel bulat2. The results? Cookies were not as flat as before and the chocolate chips can be seen clearly :)

Tapi, mula mula tu they were crunchy on the outside and chewy in the inside. After a few days dia jadi crunchy throughout. I prefer them kecik kut sbb bila makan tu dia macam crumble in your mouth :) kalau besar ni dia lagi keras. Tapi jimat masa lah sbeab kali ni I just need to bake 2 batches (sebab dah guna 2 tray :p) je compared to before. Maybe nak kena beli lagi 3 cookie trays to optimize the baking time :)

My discussion later this evening is cancelled so adalah tak sabar nak balik to google for bread recipes so boleh go for ingredient hunting esok or lusa :) The other day I saw one bread recipe that has rosemary, Italian spices and peppercorns in it. Sounds and looks yummy but I can't recall where did I found it. Another one that I want to try is caramelized onion bread. Never seen or heard of both breads in my life before.

As I was reorganizing the store, found some of Adam's toys when he was a baby. Seronok dia nak try main semua. Most of the toys are still as good as new. Has already packed them to be sent to Adam's cousin in Terengganu barulah worth every cents bila ramai boleh pakai. Lepas ni adik Adam pulak :) So Adamla yang untung asyik dapat barang baru. Lucky anak/cucu sulung :)

 Adam testing the tummy exercise

This Bebe pod is not safe for Haziq mommy! It can tilt over ;p

Bila post these pictures teringat pulak, a promise I made to someone to do a review on Adam's toys. Maybe I will do it in a short while walaupun dah berkurun giler her request tu :)

Have a great Monday!

spring cleaning

Spring cleaning is the period in spring time set aside for cleaning a house, normally applied in climates with a cold winter.

The most common usage of spring cleaning refers to the yearly act of cleaning a house from top to bottom which would take place in the first warm days of the year typically in spring, hence the name. However it has also come to be synonymous with any kind of heavy duty cleaning or organizing enterprise. A person who gets their affairs in order before an audit or inspection could be said to be doing some spring cleaning.

Feel the urge to do spring cleaning. Not so much of cleaning the house from top to bottom but more of decluttering and reorganizing my belongings. Maybe I should take leave on Friday since Thursday is a public holiday. My maid is not really good in keeping things in order hence the need of spring cleaning not only in spring (macamla ada spring kat Malaysia) but almost every 3-4 months. Partly it is my fault as I am not that strict with her. When she piled things in a corner or chuck things in a plastic bag, I did not even say a word. 

Anyway, my main objectives this round are clothes and books. As I am no longer in finance industry, I don't need my college textbooks anymore. I wanted to donate them to my Uni library but was told they only accept up to 2005 edition only. I graduated in 2004 so I am sure all of my books were written way beyond 2005. Any idea on what I can do with them? Each costs about RM100 when I bought them and they are as good as new. It would be a huge waste to send to recycling center. 

I have been holding on to some of my clothes for quite some time. They have survived a few spring cleaning just because of that tiny little hope to lose some weight and able to wear them again. With the growing number of my son's clothes that could to be kept for his future siblings, I just can't afford the space to keep my clothes anymore. And I have given up hope to fit into S and M size at least in the next 2 years. So, hopefully I won't be too emotional this time around and ended up with another round of spring cleaning on the same stuff. Do I need to buy these cute baskets? :)

missing my Adik

I was browsing through old pictures. I miss staying in the same house with my sister. I miss having our girly chat before we sleep. I miss our camwhoring session. I miss going to movies with her. I miss sharing chic lit and other story books with her. I miss our coffee session after midnight. I miss cooking Brahims with her. I miss driving to Giant to eat Kuey Teow with her. I miss her boring face when I told her my boring story. I miss our gedik time together. I miss our makeup session together. I miss our gossip hours. I miss our berangan session. I miss having her around. I really miss my Adik :'(

Way back in 2005 after one of our midnight movie session with my girlfriends.

Adik is so far away now. She has been quite busy lately with her internship and all. She's in her final year in medicine. All the on-calls tires her and she doesn't have much time to BBM me as much now. Most of my BBM to her went unreplied. I pray God to give her courage and strength to go through her days as Doktor Muda and passed all her exams with flying colour. So she'll come back and we will be together again. I love you darling!

Siri Mari Memasak: Sambal sotong (lada hidup)

Hari ni balik keje awal dari semalam.. and satu stress kat ofis dah selesai so pulang dengan hati yang tenang and berkobar nak masak.. tapi lauk dalam peti tinggal ayam, sotong, paru n ikan je.. nak masak ayam, boring... nak masak paru, malas.. ikan pun macam tatau nak masak lauk apa.. so decided to masak sotong..

Tapi dah sangat boring sambal sotong yang biasa (yang kaler gelap macam sambal nasi lemak)... sebab rasa dah tere pun.. hehehehe.. so called my mom tanya macam mana masak sotong dengan asam tu tapi nak pedas.. so dia bagitau suruh guna lada hidup n cili api.. so gamble ah.. try je.. ni resepi yang ditry tadi..

Bahan-bahan:
10-12 ekor medium sized sotong
3 biji Cili hidup (tumbuk sampai lumat)
8 biji Cili padi merah (tumbuk sampai lumat)
2 batang serai (diketuk)
1 sudu besar asam jawa (campur sedikit air)
1 sudu besar belacan
1 biji bawang besar (hiris kasar)
3 sudu besar bawang merah yang dah blend (sbb kat rumah mmg bawang merah semua dah blend)
6 keping daun limau
1 sudu kecil gula
1 sudu kecil garam (secukup rasalah)

Cara-cara:
1. Tumis bawang besar sampai dah half cooked
2. Masukkan bawang merah yang dah blend (sbb bawang merah blend masak lagi cepat dr bawang besar yang dihiris)
3. Masukkan semua cili yang ditumbuk tadi dan tumis sehingga bertukar warna (x lama sangat bukan macam cili kering)
4. Masukkan gula
5. Gaulkan belacan dengan air asam jawa dan masukkan ke dalam kuali
6. Bila dah sebati, masukkan sotong dan serai. Masak sehingga air sotong keluar dan lepas tu dia kering balik.
7. Masukkan garam
6. Masukkan daun limau yang dicarik-carik. Biar sampai sambal agak-agak dah hampir kering. Siap :)

dah habis makan baru teringat nak amik gambar.. 

Actually tadi tengah masak tu tetiba datang idea masuk serai and daun limau tu. Bagi jadi wangi sket. And hasilnya? Apabila dimakan dengan nasi panas, sayur bayam goreng dengan sos tiram dan ikan keli goreng kunyit, my hubby cakap bess :) Bertambah-tambah dia makan.. My cousin yang ada sekali pun makan bertambah.. Maka hati pun gembira sebab tengok hasil usaha masak dengan kasih sayang dihargai :)

My Boring Weekend

It's almost the end of the weekend. Sigh~

Saturday was spent watching Junior Masterchef. I cried and cried especially during the last 2 episodes. As I said earlier, the bond between the two sisters is soooo amazing. And all of them are amazing cooks. And the hosts cum judges are even better cooks. Imagine preparing a pasta dish complete with grilled chicken and all in 15 minutes. And they even made the pasta from scratch. If it's me, in 15 minutes, the most I could probably do is prep the chicken, let alone making pasta from scratch!

In the evening, my bother came so we went for tea at Kedai Kopi near Tasik Shah Alam. Actually he wanted to take his notes from my store room but it was too much work as we have to take everything out of the store room first before we could reach his box. My brother loves the cookies too so I gave a small container for him to bring back.

My Saturday night was spent watching Eat Pray Love. I have downloaded it for quite some time but wanted to read the book first and finally last weekend I finished reading the book. The movie was not bad but they missed alot of things in the movie.Well, it definitely took me more than 2 hours to read the book so to be fair, they have to cram everything in the 2 hour (or was it almost 3?) movie. So, I prefer the book than the movie.

This morning, I was up very early for a Sunday but just couldn't go back to sleep. Decided to cook breakfast for hubby n Adam. Initially I wanted to make pancake but hubby does not really like pancake so I decided to make lempeng instead. It's the Malay version of pancake. Much simpler I must say. Just flour, water, a pinch of salt and an egg. I threw in some sliced onions in the dough and it taste good :) As the lempeng is too plain to be eaten on its own, I made sambal sardin to compliment it. Had to make one without chilli for Adam. Happy to see both of them enjoying their breakfast.

Spent the whole day lazing around reading a book my friend lent me. Quite an interesting one as the book was written in the perspective of each of the main characters in the book. How people view things are entirely based on what they want to believe and almost always, people has a good reason for everything they do. Even if it is the wrong thing. So, that sums up my 4th book in 2011 :)

My First..

Baking Cookies! Yummy one plak tu.. hahaha! perasannye :)

Hubby was never a sweet tooth. But one day, while eating his favourite Famous Amos cookies, he said "If you bake this, I will eat." That gave me a new aspiration. So there I was, excited to bake something that finally hubby would eat.

I went all out googling for the recipe and finally found one with very good review and seems doable from Suzette  Cooks. So, after work yesterday, with a help from my cousin, we messed the kitchen and baked the cookies.

The first batch was crunchy on the outside and chewy in the inside. Reason being, my oven, a very old one that is, does not have 190c. It was either 180c or 200c. For the next batches, I increased the baking time to 11 min and 15 seconds and the cookies were perfectly crunchy throughout. Hubby loved the chewy ones better though.

As hubby loved his cookies to have more textures, I added some crushed walnuts to a small batch of the dough. With walnuts in it, I baked the cookies for about 10 min 30 seconds only as anything more than that will burn the nuts. I made half of the recipe and it came out to 150 pieces of delicious melt-in-your-mouth cookies :)

My little boy loved the cookies so much and kept coming to me with the cookie jar because he could not open it himself. When hubby wanted to take one of the cookie jar, he screamed angrily! So cute! I have to give him another jar of cookies then only he allows hubby to take one of the cookie jars.

Hubby said, as cookies they are great but maybe not 100% like Famous Amos. Well, if it is the same, Famous Amos must have been out of business long time ago. I guess I just have to keep on looking for Famous Amos cookie recipes and try them to find which one is the closest to the real one.

It gave me such a pleasant feeling to see how much hubby and lil Adam enjoy the cookies. To make it easier for you, I have copied the recipe from Suzette's cooking blog. Give it a try! I promise you won't regret :)

‘FAMOUS AMOS’ CHOCOLATE COOKIES RECIPE

Ingredients

1 bar butter (approx 250g)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla essence

2 cups plain flour

2 1/2 cups oatmeal, blended to powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

340g chocolate chips

250g Chocolate bar, grated

100g nuts (your choice), chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven at 190C

2. Cream the butter and both sugars

3. Add eggs and vanilla, mix evenly

4. Fold in flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda.

5. Add chocolate chips, grated chocolate bar and nuts. Mix well (I used my hands in a food grade plastic bag, as it is too thick for my mixer).

6. Roll into small balls (around 1 inch in diameter) and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet/tray.

7. Bake for 10 minutes at 190 C.

When the cookies are removed, they are soft. But when left cool, it will harden up and become slightly crisp outside (but chewy inside).

masak - masak

The good thing of having a good and reliable broadband at home is that you can download any series or movies of your choice and watch them at your convenience. Kadang-kadang tu streaming je sebab malas nak tunggu download (tp hubby kata baik dowbnload je sbb streaming makan bandwidth)..

As now is mid season break for most of the shows that I follow, last weekend I decided to download Season 1 of Junior Masterchef Australia. Baru je tengok 5 episodes so far. Sangat gerammm tengok diorang ni kecik2 lagi dah pandai masak. My mom taught me how to cook rice when I was 11. Tu pun electric cooker je. These kids started to cook when they were only 4! Sangat kagummmm!

The episode I watched last night made the contestants to bake pie with lamb as the core ingredient. They were so good! The winner was Pierre, an 11 year old boy who cooked Lamb Wellington with Spinach and Mushroom Duxcell. Even the judges were impressed with his techniques and skills. He rolled the lamb into the pastry and baked them in the oven and it cooked to perfection. I don't think I could ever bake that. This is how the pie looks like:

Apart from their amazing capability to cook great dishes, what I like most about the show is their expression. They are so young and pure. It was amazing to watch how excited they were at each round and how happy they were supporting for each other. Unlike other reality shows where the the judges could be very harsh at times, the judges and the host for this show were very encouraging and motivating. Can't wait to watch the whole season! :)

Vaccination for your child(ren)

A couple of weeks ago, my cousin's 6 months old daughter was hospitalized for diarrhea caused by rotavirus. She was hospitalized for about a week. It was heart breaking to see the drip bandaged to her hand. Last week, a friend to my friend lost her 15 months baby due to diarrhea and rotavirus, again, was the culprit. I was told the virus has creeped into her central nervous system and infected her brain. The baby had diarrhea so the parents brought her to a clinic and was given some medicine. After 2 days her condition did not improve so they brought her to a private hospital and were told the baby was already dehydrated. After 5 days on life support system, she left to heaven.

Both babies did not take extra immunisation apart from those made compulsory by the government. And both could actually be prevented if they have taken the rotavirus vaccine. The first mother was not even aware of the existance of rotavirus vaccine while the second mother thought it was too expensive. It costs about RM600 to RM750 for 3 shots. But the cost for not taking it? More than RM2k for the first case and the life of the baby for the second case.

When Adam was younger, I took the initiative to ask Adam's paed and the doctor in our local clinic for advise on whether we should take the additional vaccines. My favourite book on childcare, "What to Expect" series also listed the vaccines that are made compulsory in developed countries. That was how I learned about the importance of vaccination.

At first it was hard to convince my husband as it costs alot of money, and I had just had a caesarian which costs us alot more money. After I made my case, he finally agreed to it. My mom was not too happy at first as she said I gave Adam too many shots so to her it was like so many chemical going into that little boy's body. So I explained to her what vaccination is all about and now she is the one who encouraged other new parents to give the additional vaccines for their baby.

During vaccination (most but not all), the doctor will insert a weak or dead disease germ into our body. That is how our body will develop its own defence system (antibodies) to protect ourselves against the germs. So, the next time a real strong germ attack, our body can already recognize it and do what needs to be done to shoo them away. Some of these antibodies could remember the germs for the rest of our life. But some, needs a periodical reminder that is why sometimes we have to take the booster shot.

So, what additional vaccines can you get for your child(ren)? I am not qualified to recommend them to you but these are the additional vaccines we took for our little Adam:

1) Rotarix (Rotavirus vaccine) - at 2, 4, 6 months. It helps to fight Rotavirus, the main cause for severe diarrhea in babies.

2) Prevenar (Pneumococcal vaccine) - at 7, 8, 10 months. If your child is above 1 year, only 2 shots are needed. It helps to fight among others, pneumonia and meningitis. I took this vaccine because each time Adam had flu and cough, he will also gets ear infection apart from the high fever. Upon consulting with our local doctor, she advised us to take the vaccine as Pneumococcus is one of the common bacteria that causes ear infection in young children. So we took the chance hoping to kill 2 birds in one stone. Alhamdulillah, after taking the vaccine, Adam did not have ear infection anymore. So we did kill 2 birds in one stone :)

3) Flu Shot (Influenza Vaccine) - to be taken once a year. My colleague told me that she sent her kids for flu shot every year. At that point of time I was not aware of its effectiveness.We took this shot because Adam was about to go back to my parents' place and my brother was a doctor in the H1N1 ward at that time. So, as a precaution we took the shot. Prior to that, Adam had flu that leads to cough and fever almost every other month. After the shot, he had flu only twice. The first one affected the whole family so it might not be the common seasonal flu and the second time, the colour of the mucus was clear and it went away after 2 days without affecting Adam much. I will definitely continue to get him the annual flu shot.

Hope my experience could help you in making the decision whether or not to spend the extra money on vaccination. But of course, consult your doctor first :)

Random Thoughts

This morning, hubby greeted me with a tough question..
"If you are in a labor and I had to chose between you and baby, whom should I pick?"
"Whatt??!" I was dumbfounded. I had never given this a thought before.
Hubby said it was just a random thought. And he said he would pick the baby.
"Why?"
"So that you can die as a shaheed and will go straight to heaven" said husband with a smile.
"Kalau x belum tentu lagi masuk syurga sebab ayang degil" added him with a bigger smile. Chet!
"But if I were to have the option to die as a shaheed, I will chose it" he added with a serious note.

I hope we would never have to face this. Call me selfish but frankly, my first thought was for him to pick me. I could give birth to more babies if that is what we want. And even if we cannot have a child anymore after that, we already have Adam. And what if we already have a few children who are still very small and need their Mommy. Who would take care of them? Of course my family will give their full support and hubby could even get them a new mommy but it won't be the same right? The sadness and emotional impact on them for losing their Mommy might not be cured forever. And it could impacted more lives than it would be if the baby is the one who sacrifice for his/her Mommy. I mean, we barely know the baby.

Having said these, I haven't really make up my mind. What if I could never get rid of the guilt that will haunt me forever for being so selfish? I don't think I have the heart to live with that. It will eat me alive. Let us just pray I (and all of us) would never have to make this kind of decision.

On another note, have you thought of organ donation? I have been toying with the idea for quite sometime. Initially, just like the above, I was too selfish to give up my organs even if I am already dead. After given it more thought and read all those articles written by Muslim scholars, I felt more open to the idea. As what we read in the media, even if I have the donor card, my family are the ones who own my body upon my death. So, I need to get their blessings first.

Couple of months back, I popped the question to hubby. What does he think about organ donation? He is positive about it and has no objection to it. I haven't bring up the subject to my parents though.

Though it has been quite some time since I first thought about this, I haven't had the time (or courage) to actually go and sign up for it. Let us make this as one of my to-do list this year so by end of the year, my name would be written on one of this:

So what do you think of both issues?

P/s: For more information on organ donation in Malaysia, the process and the likes, you can visit Malaysian Society of Transplantation website.

Kitchen Gadget :)

Of late I have been spending a lot of time googling for all kinds of recipes (from curry to cookies to pancakes) and kitchen gadgets. Why? I don't know why.. It could be due to the constant reminder in FB of friends turning into the big 3 in the past few days and the fact that me too will join them in a couple of weeks. When my mom was 30, I was 6 years old and she cooked marvelous meals and cakes and pastries. As for me at 29 years and 11 months, could only managed to cook good sambal sotong and bake out-of-the-box chocolate cake. Sigh~

Anyway, I foresee my range of cooking skills to improve soon enough. I can't wait for the arrival of these two to my arms soon :)

Kenwood BM250 White Bread Maker

and

Ariete La Grigliata

Looking forward for more homemade and healthier food in 2011 :)

leka

Masa tengah leka nak habeskan Eat, Pray, Love tadi, this happened in the kitchen...

the overflowed dough :)

sorok menyorok..

Lately Adam suka main sorok2..

"Where's d bus? where's d bus?" (tatau kenapa tapi adam suka tanya dua kali) Adam akan tanya sambil sorok bus kat belakang pinggang dia... tu oke lagi sbb bus tu kecik je..

"Where's Dibo? Where's Dibo?" tanya Adam sambil angkat Dibo belakang kepala dia... konon-konon kitorang xleh nampak.. saiz Dibo?

tapi semalam.. tiba-tiba dengan muka excitednye Adam tanya Mommy n Daddy..
"Where's d hand? Where's d hand?" sambil angkat both hands ke atas n sebelah telinga dia.. (sangat terang dan jelas kelihatan hands Adam though dia konon2 sorok belakang telinga) errrr... Mommy n Daddy bantai gelak.. Adam blur.. :)

Oh my dear Adam.. macam mana mommy x rindu Adam masa kat ofis... :)

Project Adam 365 : 2010

Finally! After much work and effort from everybody in my family, Project Adam 365 is finally completed. I wanna thank everybody including those who commented and like the photos in my FB because all of you has given me the strength and courage to complete it. When people asked if I want to continue in 2011, without any doubt I said no. It was not easy. Especially when I send Adam back to my hometown. I have to trouble everybody to ensure they take a photo of Adam and send it to me. Having said that, I would want to take the challenge for my next child(ren) because at the end of the day, the compilation of photos showed how your child has grown throughout the year.

To my little Adam, I hope you would understand how much you mean to me and our family. Everybody played their part to ensure our little gift for you would be a reality. You made it easy for us with all your candid action and creative act in exploring the world. You inspired us by your positive atttitude and determination in learning new things. I wish you would stay as my little baby forever :) I love you son..

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year peeps!

So what's ur plan for 2011? Apart from a few personal goals that I want to achieve by end of 2011, I have 2 other goals that are not too personal that I can share here..

First, I hope by end of 2011 I could master 2 dishes that to some might be the easiest to cook, curry and masak lemak. All these while I have been shying away from these 2 dishes that has coconut milk as part of the ingredient. I just don't have the confident when it comes to adding the coconut milk in the dishes. Questions like when should I pour them, how much should I use, how much is too much, how much is too little, should I stir it or should I let it set on its own has been haunting me since I first learned how to cook. So, any one can help me with this? ;)

Secondly, just like last year, I wanna nurture back my reading habit. I used to spend hours and hours a day reading books but not since the arrival of my darling baby. I want him to read as much as I did when I was a kid and I think I should lead by example. Maybe I will put the list of books I read in the side bar to motivate me further. My target is to read at least 12 books by end of 2011. That is one book per month. I just finished one today so that gave me a good kickstart. Wish me luck!