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7 Random Facts About Zara June 29, 2007

Posted by Zara's Mama in Zara.
23 comments

Aunty Milkmaid and Babyshern’s mummy tagged my mummy on 7 vanity related facts, and Aunty Mott tagged my mummy on 7 random facts. Since Mummy is not vain, but lazy very efficent, she’d combined them, and got me to do it instead.

Here are 7 facts about me :
1) I think I’m pretty, because I look like my mummy (mummy held my hand and type in the last phrase).

2) Every time after a bath, I have to put on this Mustela face cream, and then have my hair combed nicely, this is my beauty regime. But kakak doesn’t stop there, she’ll rub on diaper cream on me even though I’d stopped wearing diaper, and also put on this ‘spicy’ oil on my stomach as though I’m still a baby.

3) I like to wear my Ja Jam Bo clothes (my kakak called it sexy clothes, my mummy say it’s called spagetti strep, I called it Ja Jam Bo clothes because that’s what the jie-jie who sings the Ja Jam Bo song on TV wore), showing off my shoulders and back, but I don’t like to show off my belly button, because I don’t want people to shame-shame me.

4) I like to have my hair long, but I don’t like to use clips, so sometimes I look like a shaggy dog (that’s what my daddy and mummy call me when they want to put on that clip on me).

5) I like to learn new words read books to expend my vocabulary, but when my daddy and mummy ask me to remember how to write A, B, C and the numbers; Oh boy, I think they are pushing too hard. They don’t know it’s ‘difficult’ for me to remember all these.

6) I love my meimei, but I think my mummy and daddy sometimes over react to some of my meimei’s achievement. They hooray her when she knows how to throw things, or when she says pbbbbttt! What about me? I can do all these and more!

7) I’m obsessed with scent, a training I got since young, because my Daddy and Mummy got me to smell whatever new things they showed me.
“Zara, see, this is a pumpkin, smell it.”
“Zara, this new lotion is nice, smell it.”
By sniffing a linen cloth, I know if the cloth is mine or mei-mei’s (mei-mei’s have puke or milk smell which is quite obvious).
And guess what, every time I come back from an outing, I like to smell my feet to see if they are smelly and need washing! Am I clever or what? But why my mummy and daddy didn’t hoorray me for this?

Now, I want to tag my mummy’s old friend Uncle Benny;
My mei-mei’s potential mother-in-law no. 1 Auntie Dr;
My mei-mei’s potential mother-in-law no. 2 Auntie Whoisbaby

How Zara relates to Things June 27, 2007

Posted by Zara's Mama in development, language, Zara.
41 comments

Her love for Daddy :

Her relationship with Daddy has improved a lot since Zaria was born.
She told Daddy, “Daddy I love you so much”
Daddy asked her back, “Why do you love Daddy?”
She said, “Because you (are) so clever to jaga (Malay : take care of) me. That’s why.”

She told me, “I love Daddy so much.”
I asked her why she loves Daddy, she told me, “Because Daddy never scold me, only angry with me.” (what she didn’t say is : unlike mummy who always scold me and occasionally smack me or send me to the naughty corner) “o.O

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On why I can’t cane her :

She tossed some sea shells into the court yard the other day, crushing them.
Me : *shook my head* “I think I have to go and buy a cane already. When someone is naughty, I’ll cane that someone.”
Zara : “NOOOOOOO! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
Me : “Why are you screaming?”
Zara : “YOU CANNOT!”
Me : “Why I cannot?” *looked at her and wait for an answer*
Zara : “Because…” *thinking*
Me : “Yeah? Because…?”
Zara : “I’M ZARA!”
Me : *trying to stiffle a laugh* “I know you are Zara, so…?”
Zara : “I.. I………..” *Lost of words* “AAAAAAAAAAH!” *cry*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On boiled egg :

I wanted to make some steam egg and Zara wanted to help me shell the egg.
Zara : “Mummy, I help you peck peck the egg.”
Me : “You cannot peck the egg because it’s not boiled egg.”
Zara : “Oh, this is girl egg.. cannot peck, only boy egg can peck.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Hamburger :

We saw a Ramly Burger stall, with a big burger picture.
Me : *pointing to the burger picture* “Zara, what is that, do you know?”
Zara : “It’s a bun”
Me : “It’s a special bun with a special name. Do you know the name?”
Zara : “Hmmmm… It’s a McDonald Bun
(talk about branding!)

Zaria’s First Solid – Home made organic cereal June 24, 2007

Posted by Zara's Mama in parenting, recipe, Zaria.
44 comments

Whoosh! 4 more days and Zaria will turn 6months. We let her have her first solid yesterday.

Preparing Zaria's 1st Solid

Soaked rice grain; blending the rice; Zaria all excited in the kitchen; Zaria kept entertained while the cereal was being cooked

Recipe:
1 soup spoon organic brown rice
1 oz breast milk
some water

Soak brown rice for 2 hours
Blend brown rice with water until grains become fine
Cook liquid rice over slow fire, stirring often for about 5~7mins
Stir in Add breast milk and bring to boil.

Yummy Yummy

Yummy Yummy, faster, quick, feed me, feed me!

She loves it! Kept opening her mouth and trying to grab the spoon! Next week, I’ll add quinoa and millet into her cereal.

Happy and Satisfied baby

Me : “Are you happy? Pao pao (Chinese : full) already?” Zaria : *big grin*

Sisterly Love 2 June 22, 2007

Posted by Zara's Mama in my two girls, sisterly love, Zara, Zaria.
43 comments

Sisterly Love

Sisterly Love

Zaria will be turning 6months next week, and is more responsive to her surrounding. She adores Zara, especially when Zara is dancing or singing, she’ll be watching Zara intently smiling. On the other hand, because Zaria is tougher now, Zara is able to hug and hold her and not crush her, Zara is enjoying the company of Zaria more.

Zara is also starting to show her love for her sister. She is willing to share her toys with Zaria, and when Zaria takes one of her favourite item, she will swap it with another less favourite and tell Zaria, “This one jiejie play. You take other one.”

At Zara’s bed time, if Zaria cried in the midst of me cuddling and talking to Zara, Zara will tell me, “Mummy, you go feed Zaria.” She no longer clinged on to me leaving her sister to cry.

2 days ago, when I was having a teleconference, Zaria cried because it was time for her feed. Since the meeting was about to end, I told Jelly (my other maid) to pacify Zaria while waiting for me. I heard some commotions downstairs caused by Zara. After the meeting, I checked what happened. Jelly told me Zara was very anxious when she heard Zaria crying so pitifully, so she kept saying, “Aunty Jelly, mummy meeting, you feed meimei the milk in the fridge! Meimei hungry.” “My mummy meeting cannot feed meimei, you feed meimei with this one (shoving a pack of frozen milk into Jelly’s hand).” “You don’t feed meimei after I smack you huh!”

When my aunt came visiting a week back, she pretended she wanted to bring Zaria home, and carried Zaria to the door. Zara cried, looking desperately for me for help, “Don’t take meimei! Cannot! Cannot take! It’s my meimei.” She only stopped when Zaria was back into my arms.

Sometimes, when she thinks I’m not looking, I can see her leaning over to kiss Zaria and mutter, “I love you meimei”.

I’m rather pleased to see this progress. 🙂 But being her normal self, she still say things like, “I’m pretty. Mei mei is ugly” “Meimei ugly because meimei’s eyes look like ganster (I wonder if she really knows the meaning of this).” or “Meimei so ugly because meimei’s eyes so small like daddy. Meimei’s hair botak like Ah Ku (my bro). My eyes big like mummy and my hair so long and soft.” “o.O

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On another note : My sister came over with Tasha 2 weeks back, I attempted to take photos of the 3 girls together. Boy, it’s tough. It’s hard to make them look at the camera the same time. Here are some ‘nicer’ shots.

3 cousins

3 cousins

3 cousins

Going Green – Cloth Diapering June 20, 2007

Posted by Zara's Mama in notable, parenting, Zaria.
43 comments

A couple of months back, Channel blogged about Miabambina’s online shop which specialises in cloth diapers. It got me interested, I went to check out the site as well as Miabambina’s blog; asked a few questions and few days later, I ordered my cloth diapers.

I ordered 4 pieces from her (3 pieces of Drybees and 2 pieces of Bumgenious), and also included 2 extra inserts. Just to give you some information, these cloth diapers are washable and reusable. It has valcro fastener, and comes in some really cool colours and nice designs. To use the diaper, just slip in the absorbant insert into the diaper pocket. It’s pretty simple. The absorbant insert will absorb all the pee, while the diaper suedecloth inner keeps the baby dry. Because the diaper is pretty light weight,  2 hours of sunning will dry it after a wash. The insert itself takes a while to dry, that’s why I bought extra for cloudy days.

They don’t come cheap, each diaper is about ~RM75 with insert, it’s however more eco friendly; and in the long run, I will save some money from having to buy disposable diapers.

Zaria is fully on cloth diaper in the day when we’re home. She only uses disposable diapers in the night as well as when we go out (just because I don’t want to carry a soiled diaper home if she did a poo). She’s comfortable in it, makes her bum very well padded, which also makes her look rather cute!

The only problem I have with this is that Zaria is allergic to the suedecloth inner of the diaper (which is in contact with her skin), she had some rashes when we started using the cloth diaper. This was very quickly resolved with us lining the diaper with a piece of nappy liner (which cost very little).

I should have discovered this when Zara was still on diaper, then I would really save money big time! For those of you who have young babies, you may want to consider cloth diapering as well.

Zaria in her cloth diaper

Zaria and her cloth diaper, in retro pink, baby pink and celery green

Food Around The World June 18, 2007

Posted by Zara's Mama in myself, trips.
16 comments

Oh boy, Miabambina and Ms Fairface tagged me on the subject I’m most passionate about.. food. I love to eat, I love good food, and this is one thing I’m willing to spend. I have so many things I like, I don’t know where to start…

So I’ll stick to the title : Food Around The World, literally, what more with my recent trip to Singapore, I made two delicious ‘international’ discoveries.

In Singapore, I was shopping for something to eat for breakfast on my last night, and I saw this pot of yogurt for sale in Market Square, Tangling Mall. I was more interested in the terracotta pot which was holding the yogurt, so I bought it, even though it was S$8 per pot (1 serving). I chose the one with honey, the way I like my yogurt.

The following morning, when I scoped the first spoon into the mouth, mama mia, what a heavenly sensation!! I had never tasted yogurt this delicious before. It was very creamy and smooth, and the honey taste was very distinctive (in Chinese you’ll say it’s very ‘hiong’ or ‘siang’). I normally gobbled up my breakfast because of hunger, but this time, I slowly tasted every spoon of it; letting the euphoric taste linger. Too bad, my ice box was full, or I would have bought a few pots for later enjoyment back home. This is the La Fermiere yogurt from France. If you haven’t tasted it and is a great fan of yogurt, you have to try this!! I heard, it’s one of the best yogurt in the world (from doing a google search).

Too bad, it’s not available in Malaysia, or I would have gladly paid RM20 a pot for the occasional indulgence.

The other gastronomic discovery is the zhongs from Hong Kong. A nice Hong Kong colleague of mine brought two from Maxim for me when we met in Singapore. We had one over the weekend and boy it was delicious!!

The rice was first wrapped with two pieces of bamboo leaves, then tightly bundled up with lotus leaves. The zhong has both the fragrance of the leaves. It was big enough for two big eaters like myself and Daddy, filled with pieces of roast duck (which I’m a big fan), lentils (I think that’s what it was), a nice salted egg yolk, a piece of lard (which we discarded), and a whole scallop. Oh boy.. what a treat it was.

Food Around The World

The zhong and the momento of the orgasmic experience

Now I’m a convert for Hong Kong zhong and french yogurt! Can’t wait for the weekend to arrive so we can share the next zhong; and I’m looking forward to my next trip to Singapore for more La Fermiere orgasmic experience. Sorry yeah, these 2 items are not from my home town and I’m not sticking to the original tag.

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Here’s the trail of the tag 

Mybabybay loves Asam Laksa from Penang, Malaysia
JustMyThoughts loves Penang Char Koay Teow
My Lil Venture loves Laksa Sarawak
Monterssorimum loves Teluk Intan Chee Cheong Fun
Chinnee loves Melaka Wan Tan Mee
PeimunLeah loves Hakka Lei Cha
Hui Sia
Jonamum
Karen loves Pan Mee
Something about Lai loves Crispy duck skin from China
Simple American loves Cheese Enchiladas
Nicole Tan loves Char Tau Kueh
Velverse loves Otak-otak
Kenny Ng loves Jawa Mee
Fatty Poh loves Nasi Dagang Kelantan
wmw loves Kuih Tutu
Lyrical Lemongrass loves Asam Boi
Pinkelle loves Mee Siput and Keropok Lekor
Ms Fair Face loves BBQ Sambal Stingray
Mia Bambina loves Chicken & Beef Pie
Zara’s Mama discovered Hong Kong Zhong and La Fermiere Yogurt

I would like to tag :
Malaika’s Mummy
Mom of Cairo
Vien
Ah Ben
And Baby Shern

Recovering the Milk June 14, 2007

Posted by Zara's Mama in bitching, breastfeeding, trips.
45 comments

continues from here

2:30am : Still no news from MAS Lost & Found counter. Tried calling them numerous times, no reply.
Called MAS 24hrs line, to check if they can locate someone in the airport to understand the situation. Repeated my whole story for the 3rd time (Breast milk, precious, urgent, spoil if arrived late were words/phrases I have to keep repeating to add urgency to the situation). Harry from MAS checked, and confirmed MH610 already landed. He would try to call his colleagues in KLIA, and then will call me back.
3:00am : No calls from Harry. I called the 24hr line again. Rosa was the one who picked up my call. She said they are still trying to locate someone in the airport, but wasn’t able to. She kept silence most of the time when I asked her, “What is happening on your side?” “So how now?” This really frustrated me. Asked her for the manager. A Patma came to the line, and she said she’ll try her best to locate someone.
3:15am : Roslan from KLIA called, said my things were with them, but they could only deliver to me at 5am. WTF?!!! He called from his mobile so I have his number. I paced around the room wondering if I should wait till 5am.
3:30am : Decided to drive to KLIA on my own to collect my liquid gold instead. Called and informed Roslan, I could hear a delighted tone in him when he added, “So we don’t need to send it over to you?”
4:15am : Arrived KLIA. Roslan’s crew handed my things to me. “Sorry yeah miss, lots of problem today, that’s why can’t call you earlier.” I just sped off. Niah mah fu lat!! Now how do I claim my toll and petrol to the airport?
5:00am : Reached home. Sorted the milk. What was still frozen, I quickly tossed it back into the freezer. What was partially thawed, I poured out the thawed milk into the bottle and then tossed the frozen back to the freezer. Took me half hour to do this.
Wrote a note to tell Daddy and the maids I wanted to sleep in, and I wanted no disturbance. Moved a mattress over to the study (didn’t want to be awaken when the kids wake up at 8am), and dozed off.
6:00am : Daddy came over with a crying Zara. “She wants you.” Dropped her on my mattress and walked back to the room. I was too tired to argue with him or I would have given him a big knock on the head for doing this since I needed to sleep. I carried Zara back to the room and tried to pacify her as well as get her back to sleep.
6:15am : Went back to the study and when I was about to doze off. Daddy came over again as Zara woke up and cried when she didn’t see me!!!!
6:30am : Made sure Zara is asleep. Since the maid were all up, I told them I’ll be sleeping in, and moved my mattress to their room, locked the door, and slept!
10:00am : Woke up feeling like a zombie.

I’m the kind who has to take 8hrs of sleep every night.. so I’m not in my element today!

Screw Malaysian Airlines for such screw up and such customer service! Damn the new regulations and Changi not giving exemption to nursing mums!

Now let me see if I can claim back my return trip to KLIA to collect the missing baggage the airline caused!

Crying Over Spilled Milk June 14, 2007

Posted by Zara's Mama in bitching, breastfeeding, trips.
17 comments

I was on a business trip for 3 days.
I woke up daily at 6:30am to express milk.
Shortened my lunch hour to 1/2 hour to express milk.
Instead of going shopping immediately after work (Great Singapore Sales is on), I stayed back in the hotel for another half hour to express milk.
Every night, after I’d expressed milk for the last time, got the hotel to store all the milk in the freezer for me, washed all the bottles, it would be 12am.
Now, is the milk precious or not?

8:00pm : Arrived Changi airport for my 9:20pm flight MH610
8:15pm : Checked in my suitcase, and was told MH610 has been delayed to 9:45pm. Suitcase tagged with MH610.
8:20pm : Before passing immigration, I asked security check point if I could carry my 2litre of frozen milk with me on board. I was denied entry, even though it mentioned “special dietery requirement” is excempted. They let me get out to ‘sort out’ my problem.
8:30pm : Got some masking tape from the shop, and taped up my cooler box and cooler bag.
8:45pm : Checked in my cooler box, and cooler bag. I was told flight MH610 has been delayed infinitely, and we would be put on MH608 departing at 9:30pm instead. Both my cooler box and cooler bag were tagged wtih MH608 tags.
9:00pm : Rushed through immigration, and went to the gate.
9:30pm : Started boarding the flight.
10:00pm : Flight took off finally.
11:00pm : Arrived KLIA. Went straight to claim my baggage.
11:15pm : Suitcase appeared.
11:45pm : Still no sign of my cooler bag and cooler box (anxious).
11:50pm : Was told no more items left in cargo, and I should proceed to Lost & Found to lodge a complain. (fuming)
12:00am : Have to tell the guy the content in the cooler box and cooler bag, and how important it is. He told me there’ll be no more incoming flight from Singapore. Have to tell him Susu Ibu is Breast Milk in English, to help him type that in to the report to indicate the urgency, and see if Singapore can help me to store the milk back into the freezer. I also took the Changi baggage handler number from him.
12:10am : Boarded my cab. On the way home, called up Changi baggage handler, phone was answered in 3 rings. The guy who took my call told me that at his end, he couldn’t see the cooler box or bag, he told me to call MAS counter in Changi. Called MAS counter in Changi, Nur who answered (picked up within 3 rings as well), told me she’ll help me trace the bags, and will call me back.
12:20am : Nur told me bags have been located, they have been mistakenly (she didn’t use this word, but how else could the bags ended up in the wrong flight) loaded into MH610, which will depart at 1am or later from Singapore.
12:35am : Reached home. Called Nur again, and she confirmed MH610 would be departing at 1am. Called MAS Lost & Found counter, it took me 6 attempts, infinite rings, before I reached a Roslan. He’s aware of my situation (probably became the big talk among the boys, this susu ibu thingy), and said he’ll send the bags immediately when the flight arrived.
1:00am : Called Nur in Changi again, and she said MH610 has taken off.
1:40am : Waited and Waited and Waited.

…. to be continued

Crying June 6, 2007

Posted by Zara's Mama in my two girls, Zara, Zaria.
44 comments

If you walked passed my house and hear sound of crying, you can be quiet sure it’s Zara’s. The Two and The Half cries more than her Four Month Old sister in a day!

She cries in the morning when she wakes up and doesn’t see me next to her.
She cries when she wants to wear her choice of clothings but we give her another set.
She cries when she recently had her Hep B vacination.
She cries when she wants to come to the study to play with me but I disallow because I have to work.
She cries when she wants Daddy or me to bath her, but both of us are busy and we ask the maid to do it.
She cries when she wants a sweet drink during dinner and we refuse.
She cries when she is not able to yank a toy out from the toy box.
Basically, she cries when she doesn’t get what she wants; when she’s in pain, frustrated, or just moody.
When she cries, she wails, with big drop of tears flowing down, wetting her face, and the top she’s wearing.
She cries more, when her face is wet, and she demands to be wiped; and it normally takes a while to calm her down.
Zara was a high need baby and now a high need toddler.

Zaria on the other hand, cries only when she’s frightened (by a loud bang, or the unfaimiliar whirring of the blender; or by a bad dream);
When what she is holding is snatched away;
When I abruptly end a nursing session and she hasn’t had her fill of milk;
When she wants to sleep, but she’s not comfortable enough to fall asleep.
When she had her vacination on the same day as Zara has hers, she made just an Argh sound, and that’s it. No tears or wailling like her sister.
And when she cries, she’s easily pacified : the toy returned to her, the feed continues, or just picking her would normally do the trick.

When Zara was younger, I was able to capture lots of crying photos of Zara (see here, here, here, here, here). With Zaria, as she deosn’t cry often, it was tough, but I’d been waiting. Last 2 days, I managed to capture these shots and that’s about it:

Zaria Crying

She was unhappy when her book was taken away; She wanted to be picked up after lying on her stomach for too long; She wanted to sleep but she was hungry and Zara was making too much noise in the room

Homemade Salted Eggs June 4, 2007

Posted by Zara's Mama in recipe.
48 comments

I stumbled upon a blog entry by a Filipino who’s immigrated to US where she shared the method to make salted egg at home since it’s not easy to get them from where she lives. I wanted to give credit to this person, but I can’t seem to find the link now.

Anyway, after checking out the steps and realised it wasn’t difficult, I was very interested to try it out.

2 weeks ago, when we went to the market, we saw a man selling duck eggs (which was uncommon), and an elderly lady buying the eggs in bulk. I overheard her talking to her companion that she’s in luck as she will be able to make salted duck eggs now instead of salted chicken eggs. I walked forward and chatted with her, checking out her method and confirming the information I saw earlier (from the net) was correct.  So we went on to buy 10 duck eggs and a pack of coarse sea salt home.

Here is how I made them :
Boil a pot of water with coarse sea salt (or any other types of salt) until the water is saturated (no more salt can disolve in the water).
Leave it to cool.
Place the 10 unwashed duck eggs (the elderly lady from the market told me it’s important not to wash the eggs, or the process will fail) into a glass jar (I used the Old Horlicks bottle which can probably hold 20 eggs)
Fill the salt water to the brim of the jar.
Screw on the lid, and leave it aside.

You are supposed to take one out to try at day 14th to check if the egg is salty enough. If it’s not, leave them soaked for another week and pick one more egg to try. Repeat until you are satisfied with the saltiness.

We tried ours yesterday (Day 14th). It was good! Not too salty which is the way I like it, and the yolk is perfectly oranged.

Today, we had 2 more for dinner, steam egg with salted egg yolks. Delicious! (Err, Zara won’t touch the yolk, she’s not a yolk person, so she took only steam egg without the yolk. Suits me, since I love it and I can have her share.)

Homemade Salted Eggs

Maybe I’ll make some organic salted eggs the next round.

Pst, anybody has homemade century egg recipe?

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