Monthly Archives: May 2010

What’s your secret, little one?

Posted by Misty Mom on 30/05/2010 None comments

I’m really amaze at how some kids can sleep anytime, anywhere – it is definitely an ability that I would love to own. I could fall asleep in 2 blinks and be rested. A clear example would be Arianna when she was younger. I would take her grocery shopping and if I timed it right, she would be asleep right through the whole experience and wake up just as we reached home.

With KR, it’s a different story all together. If she’s home, she’s like clockwork…time to sleep means it’s time to sleep, no compromise. But if we’re out when she is supposed to be asleep, she quite happy to remain awake. She’d only fall asleep when we’re out if she really can’t keep her eyes open.

Here’s a pic of her asleep :

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Don’t you wish you knew what her secret was to falling asleep or if she’s been secretly using any sleep aids? *lol*

I reckon she fell asleep while playing and just couldn’t make it in time to lie down. :P Poor little thing….at least she got the appropriate support! ;)

Latest fabric loot

Posted by Misty Mom on 30/05/2010 None comments

I finally managed to find some time and went for some fabric shopping with Mum and Sis last week. We had to bring the kids along of course and mind you, it was no easy task trying to pick your fabric and keeping your toddler happy in her stroller.

It always ends up with me buying her something to keep her happy and this is not something I like to encourage but then again, any sewing mama would know that a fabric store is no place for a child, let alone an active one like Arianna.

So I guess I had to sort of give in and ensure that she was happy enough that I ended up buying 3 pieces of fabric. If only she was happy to be sitting there longer, I could have bought more. It was unlike the time when we went fitness equipment hunting – that’s all we did though. We hunted and in the end, decided that it was cheaper to just take walks to the shops every evening. *lol* We got our exercise and the girls got their evening walk in the pram without having to actually walk about. You can’t possibly complain about that, can you? :P

Going to the movies alone

Posted by Misty Mom on 30/05/2010 None comments

It can’t be that bad, can it? See, with just me at home, bored with nothing to do after the kids have gone to bed. I have been tempted many times to just take the car and go to the newest cinemas in town….just some 10 minutes away from home but I have been putting it off coz it seems so pitiful for me to go on my own.

One of the reasons that I have never gone alone is because it seems boring to do so. With a friend, you can hang out before the show starts and after, you could just pop out for a drink, to wind down before heading home. But alone, I think I’d end up at the cinema just as the show is about to start, and then zip back home right after coz what else am I suppose to do? Go for a drink all by myself? Golly, that would be really sad!!!

But the one thing good about going alone is that you could pick any seating you like especially in a 3 seat row (if you pick the middle one that is), it is highly likely that you’d end up having the whole row to yourself. :) No one dropping popcorn on your shoes or cold drinks dripping on your jeans. That’s not too bad a reason to go alone but nah, I think I’ll still wait for sis to come home to go to the movies. But sis, humph….she’s a brave one, she is. She’s gone many times on her own and I’m not sure what it is about going alone is that people tend to laugh at you when you do. But she pays them no heed. Good on ya, sis!!

Me, I’m too chicken, I think I’ll still stick to our good ol fashion home theater seating…. :P That way, I don’t have to stress out about anything at all. Ok, maybe in order to feel as if I *was* in a cinema, we might need to get a bigger tv. :D

Poor Cheeky!!!

Posted by Misty Mom on 30/05/2010 None comments

We just got back from the childrens clinic just now. Took Arianna there after she woke up from her nap. Poor thing had a swollen right eye which looked as if she got punched in the eye. Thank goodness it wasn’t blue black or I’d be in trouble for no reason!! :/

I only noticed it a little bit before noon that she had a slight swollen right eye. It bother me too much because sometimes, she gets these panda eyes from lack of sleep and such. But Mum told me that it had gotten worst and it would be a good idea to take her to the doc. But I said to wait after her nap to see if it had improved or not. I wasn’t THAT concerned because I knew she didn’t fall down anywhere or on anything coz she hadn’t cried the whole day, nor was it tearing and she wasn’t even scratching it. Heck, she didn’t even flinch when I touched it either…so I made the conclusion that it couldn’t possibly be
anything threatening until Mum mentioned that it could be conjunctivitis and that SO freaked me out for her sake and for mine!

So after her nap, the swell seemed to have gone down a little but it was still there and before I had a chance to say ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’, the swell seemed to have had ballooned up! So I quickly got dressed and we both headed off to the clinic without Mum and KR.

Praise the Lord that it was nothing serious at all. In fact, doc said that it was perhaps due to an allergic reaction to something she ate (which I have no idea what it was since I don’t know of any allergies that she has) or some insect bite which she is allergic to. Either way, we came back with some medication as well as a cream for the bites. Just those 2 medications cost me a whooping RM64. *pengsan* I’m wondering if it’s because she is a foreigner that we got charged so much coz I saw on the register that the patient before me only paid RM20.

Humph….double standards right? I’m Malaysian what…..anyhoo, we’ll see how it goes tomorrow. I don’t have any worries about giving Arianna any meds….she loves it! Crazy girl….. ^.^

20 weeks scan

Posted by Misty Mom on 29/05/2010 None comments

Can you believe that I am now close to 20 weeks???? :P Although this is round 3 for us, I am just as excited as I was when I was preggers with Arianna when I went for my 20 weeks scan. Although with Arianna I was still in Malaysia and had only done the scan at 26 weeks after we got back from Malaysia.

Of course the results were not so clear since she had grown so much but it was enough to satisfy the doc. With KR, I had picked the wrong doc for my checkups and didn’t really have a say when he took merely 5 minutes to carry out what should have been at LEAST a 20 minutes scan. Turns out that it is not a routine scan done here in Malaysia and if you do want it done, you’d have to go to a specialist. Hence, I’ll be booking my appointment with Dr. Maha from Island Hospital this week.

If you didn’t know (especially my non-Penangite readers), Island Hospital is the most expensive on the island. And given the choice, it would not have been my pick due to several reasons. Mainly because it is located in Penang Island and I am in Kulim (now). The drive takes approximately 1hr (most times less) and I have to drag the kids along. Of course the cost is also another factor as well. It will burn a hole as big as RM260 in my pocket for just that one scan and it is not something I can claim back, which is a mighty big bugger for me. :/ And the only other reason why I am going to her is because my aunt’s doc told me to when I called to ask if he does the morphological scan. In fact, he recommended her and when I asked him about getting my glucose test done, he was kind enough to tell to go straight to the lab and get it done instead of going to a clinic. Told me that it was the cheapest shortcut for me. *lol* Guess he knew I’d be paying through my nose when I go to Island Hospital.

Anyway, I’m not sure what to expect but Aunty B reckons we should bring our ipods along just in case to keep the kids entertain in case they are not equip with stuff for kids to play with, etc. One would think that they should have toys and such there because mums go there and they should have something there for kids to play with to occupy themselves, right? In any case, I am not expecting much because the lower my expectations, the less horrid I’d feel if they did turn out to be below the standard that I’ve put them on. *sigh*

Such focus, such concentration…..

Posted by Misty Mom on 29/05/2010 None comments

Yes, this is exactly what Arianna is when the tv is on and its playing her fav DVDs. Not too long ago, we had canned all her DVDs because of her behaviour and terrible temper tantrums. In fact, we went cold turkey with her and within 3 days, she was doing great without the tv. My mum said it was harsh and to be honest, it was rather painful to hear her pleading and begging to watch the telly but we had to do what was best for all of us, especially her. After that, we slowly let her watch her shows again but this time, we limited her to certain shows during certain times of the day. Then KR came along and things sort of regressed because we were learning to cope with 2 under 2.

Since we’ve been in Malaysia, I’m ashamed to admit that I am back at square one with Arianna. Because they do not have any of the tv programs that she watches back in Sydney, I am forced to allow her to watch her DVDs. It was only recently that I realised myself that I have been lax in monitoring how much she is watching a day. Not only watching too much tv but she likes to stand close to the screen. We don’t really have a huge tv or a flat screen or anything like that but Mum is thinking of getting one and I told her that, it would be mighty wise to also get a flat panel mount as well just to ensure that the screen is away from grubby fingers and that it is also out of reach from the kids.

We haven’t really decided on whether we should or should not get a flat screen, but it sure as hell would make movie watching a whole new experience compared to squinting at our minute Sony 14″ x 12″ tv screen! LOL :P (The bigger one is with Sis at the moment and will only be moved over here end of June….)

Arrrgghhh, present buying!!

Posted by Misty Mom on 29/05/2010 None comments

One of the things that I would absolutely avoid at all cost is buying gifts for people. I find it extremely hard to pick something out that the other person would like and appreciate. More often than not, I also end up getting stuff that I would never dream of buying because it’s just not something that’s on my wish list. But a present is a present and most times, it is meant to be a surprise.

Me, I personally prefer personalized gifts. This could include anything from a simple handmade/hand-sewn table cloth to a handmade birthday card compared to buying something from the shop because when you get something that someone made with their own hands, you know that they made it with love. It is most special and I always cherish such things. When we were growing up, sis and I always made birthday cards and Mother’s/Father’s Day cards for our parents. And till today, Mum still keeps them. :D

I haven’t made a proper handmade birthday card in years. The last one I made was a simple printed out one for Ted for Father’s Day…or was it his birthday – I forget, and I didn’t really feel particularly good about it because it was so simple and printed from the computer. My excuse was that I couldn’t go out to shop for something for him. Sad, right? :/

That said, MIL’s birthday is coming up real soon and I’m thinking that perhaps I will make her a birthday card with a pix of the 2 girls together and send it off. I reckon she’d get a kick out of it!! It will definitely bring a smile to her face. :D I’m pretty sure of that…. :)

Now, if only I could get them BOTH in a pix!!! *rolls eyes*

Dunno whether to laugh, cry or get mad

Posted by Misty Mom on 28/05/2010 None comments

Today would make it almost 2 weeks that Arianna has been sleeping in our king size bed. I reckon because it is huge, she has more than enough room to spin about if she feels she needs to. However, sleeping with her is not a problem. The problem is getting her to go to sleep! She made it a (bad) habit that I have to lie down with her for her to go to bed. While she can convincingly tell me, ‘Mummy, sleep.’…that is hardly the case. What really happens is that we both go to bed and lie down and then she will start singing songs which is fine until she insist on repeating them a million times. She then tends to jump up and down on the bed. And this child is fond of doing the exact opposite the minute you tell her not to do something.

She doesn’t wait to be sneaky, she does it right in front of your nose! Each time she goes to bed, I just stay with her awhile and then tell her that I’m off. Most times she will fall asleep after a long bout of entertaining herself and on rare occasions, she stirs up some mischief. Yesterday was one of those day…

I had to go out to do some chores so I didn’t stay in bed long with her. After ‘tucking’ her in, I pretty much got dressed immediately and left. That was approximately 2.30pm, it was close to 4pm when I came home and both girls were asleep. In fact, the whole house was asleep except me, coz I came home hoping to see Mum and sis awake so we could have some tea together but I ended up eating by myself.

Anyway, at 5pm I went in to check on Arianna and what I found left me speechless for a couple of moments. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or get mad at Arianna. She had, in her idle moments, pulled out every single piece of wet wipes which I left on the side table and piled them up nicely, almost in the middle of the bed. It totally took me by surprise. She was half awake and while I was stuffing them back into the pack, I was sort of scolding her but not really making it sound so bad coz she was still half asleep and in that ‘I just woke up so I’m in a foul mood right now’ mode, so I just packed them back and left the room. I should have taken a pix of it but it completely slipped my mind. While it would be nice to take a shot of it again, I don’t think I’d want it to happen a second time. ;P The pile she made, left a really wet spot but thankfully it was on her side and not mine. Mmmhhhwwwaaaahahahahaha! :P

All work and no play…

Posted by Misty Mom on 25/05/2010 None comments

…makes Ted a very tired daddy. :( Since we’ve been away, Ted’s been killing time by working long hours and spending what little time he has left after those long hours, just chilling back and working on his game/mod. He loves his mod and it is one way for him to unwind and rest after a hard days work. I know how tough it was for him to concentrate on his game with us around because kids being kids, they are not a quiet bunch and are always seeking his attention. But I guess with the noise gang gone, he is making full use of this time to get as much done as possible.

I reckon his job is something that I couldn’t do even if I tried. He works with the disabled and spends most of his time caring and looking after them…from ensuring they take their med to taking them to doctors appointments to the simple basic things. I don’t think I have the patience nor the ability to take on the responsibility he has. Sometimes he even has to do loads of paperwork which would include those related to things to things like social security disability benefits and such. I don’t blame him for wanting to soak in the tub for hours on end just to relax. Poor thing…

We sure miss him a lot….can’t wait till he comes to visit!! :)

The new happy family

Posted by Misty Mom on 23/05/2010 None comments

What great news! :) Very soon, sis will be moving back to Kulim permanently!!!! :D Yup, at least I can leave Kulim with peace of mind knowing that sis is here to accompany mum and that she is not there in JB all by herself and mum here in Kulim, all by herself too. This is the problem when you live far away from your family. Your heart is always split into 2, or in my case, 3. But now…YAY, everyone will be together. :D Even the pups have welcomed back their old friend, Gerh(kovsky) – my sister’s dog. Imagine 3 dogs barking in unison, protecting their casa (home)! *lol*

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This was taken at sister’s place in JB – all sharing the sun together. Apparently sunbathing was and is still the in thing. From the top, Gerh – Bingo – Zorro.

It took some time for Gerh to realize that this is her new home but now she’s claimed territory so she defends her home rather ferociously. We seriously do not need doorbells at all!! In fact, she’s been defending it so well that the boys have to step up. *lol*

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This is also taken in sis’s place. Note that Bingo is the anti-social dog while Gerh and Zorro are on very good terms. *lol*

I have yet taken a pix of the 3 of them together here in Kulim but I reckon it shouldn’t be difficult, unless Bingo decided to cast himself out of the circle…. *lol*