Mommy at home doing the sales talk

It just struck me when I am spoon feeding little Marc that I imagined myself as a sales lady wearing an apron, a small cup containing milk on my hand and flashing my robotic fake smile saying "try milk, try milk, buy milk, buy milk". I guess I am associating myself feeding little Marc with sales talking him into finishing his food.


I hear myself repeatedly saying "mam mam" (meaning to say eat your food) to little Marc as though I am selling my food. Ohh and that is not it, if the food is not colorful enough or not up to his taste, he will not open his mouth anymore for another spoonful, as though he is telling me to come next time with better things to sell.

But because I am his mother, he will entertain me with a few spoons before turning them away.

This tells that there is no escape from the art of selling even when we are minding our children. Maybe I should go and get myself a book on that subject.  :)

Hot Bargain: Canon IXUS 105

It’s the Mega Sale month and being thrifty, this is the time to look for good bargains. My husband had just bought this Canon digital IXUS 105 from Harvey Norman sale and I love it to my toes. Guess what? The camera is only RM599 compare to other retails which would have been selling for about RM 700++. It’s a good bargain actually.

The most attractive feature about this camera is that it is slim, small and easy to carry along. You can even hang it around your neck if you want to. Being out and about carrying a bag full of diapers and other baby stuff is already too much, what’s more if I were to bring along a big camera. So, this camera will lighten my burden when I’m going about being a nosey, snapping pictures for my blog.


About the functions of the camera:

12.1 mega pixels

Mode: Program, portrait, night mode, kids & pets, indoor, self-timer, low light, beach, underwater, foliage, snow, fireworks, long shutter, ISO, AWB, vivid, evaluative, multiple shots, macro

Video recording

Optical image stabilization

Lens: 5.0 -20.0 mm

28mm wide - angle

                                                    The camera comes with....

                       Battery charger, 1 battery, CD, Instruction manual, connection cables

Sample picture taken from a park

                                             
                                            Macro mode

 screen view

Tags: Canon Digital IXUS 105, camera, megasale, malaysia, technology gadget, photography

Play activity on Monday

Every other day I will take out magic colors and see if little Marc is interested in coloring. It seems he is not interested yet. I tried to tempt him by drawing the outline of my hand and his hand but he doesn't seem to be interested. He is more interested in taking the pens and analysing them, tried to pull the caps away or try to connect each one of them into a longer pen. This is interesting watching him, he is definitely not that type of a person who can sit and do things.  He is more of a practical person. Oh gosh! Will it mean he won't be interested in reading and writing in the future? If this is so, I have to put more effort to help him with his homework when he starts schooling.

Oh well I just have to put those anxious mommy thoughts about his education on hold. After all he is only coming to 2 years old. What he needs now is more play and exploration time. Don't want him to stress out at such a young age. He loves to jump on the bed (we had the bed frame removed when he was few months old) especially when I top up a few gigantic pillows to make them into some sort of a slide. He can giggle a looong time playing with his "slide".

Tags: toddler play, activity, things to do with a toddler, fun time

Healthy snacks for toddler

Just to get myself prepared if little Marc is on his "no mood to eat" again. Off and on he will refuse to eat.....so all I can do is to provide him some healthy treats that he won't resist. So wish I have a kitchen to cook other things for him. Oh well it won't be long until I have my own kitchen :).

Bought these 5grain nutrient bars at the BMS organic shop. No sign of chemicals in the ingredients printed on the packaging. The ingredients are Organic brown rice, quick oat, pearl barley, buckwheat, millet, red rice, wheat, corn, black bean, Soya bean, red bean, mung bean, green pea, pumpkin seeds, sunflower kernel, black sesame, white sesame, almond, walnut, pine nut, wheat germ, sea salt, glucose, grape seed oil.




Looking at the ingredients, I would say it’s the healthiest, more fiber, protein and it's not too salty. yummy! This is 100% better than the salty chips and cheezels that are on the market. As Dr. Gillian described in her book "You are what you eat" that these chips and cheezels are fake food. They fill your stomach, drain away your nutrients and put calories into your body. I'm not going to spoil my baby for it. So I have to be a “picky” mommy now when it comes to food choices for little Marc.



The Star newspaper just did a write up on an article last weekend about some teenage boys going for plastic surgery to remove their breasts....yeah they have women’s' breasts and teenage girls removing their hairs from other parts of their body. What are we having here? A mutated generation? I don't think the mutation is alarming yet but few years down the road we might have an X-men generation. Not so much of a human being with super powers but more to a human with four eyes, without legs, men with breasts, women with hairy legs, men able to get pregnant...what will we become?



The article goes on to say that the culprit of all the abnormalities stems from the diet and food that we are taking. It says that eating too much of meat with growth hormones and food with chemicals jumble up our hormone system. So shall we stop eating those food altogether? It's hard to do but I'll try.



Here is another treat that little Marc loves:

Yummy seaweed.....it's a great snack rich in iron, calcium, iodine, high protein, vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium, magnesium and riboflavin(B2). Sometimes I’ll add some into his porridge or rice for some flavor.




 
Tags: Health snacks, mutation, plastic surgery, X-Men, toddler refuse to eat

Showing signs of "The Terrible Two"

That is what I heard from my mom that once a child turns two, they turn to their extreme uncontrollable moods. I don't think my little Marc can wait anymore. He is showing signs already......staying at home with a child is really hard work especially when they throw tantrums. He has been rebellious ....maybe he is bored or he is experimenting his emotion, I really don't know what are the reasons. Some of the scenes can be terrible. Like yesterday, I told him "No" to not throw his toys so hard on the floor but he wouldn't listen. Then later in the evening during his dinner time, he will munch on his food and spit out onto the floor. The worst is he will step on the "half-processed" food which is already on the floor. If I don't wipe the mess right away, he will use his hands to wipe all over the floor. Then you will hear me screaming with my "not so much hair" on my head standing in alarmed.......argggh.... then I have to wash him up right away.....plonked him on his cot and finish cleaning the floor before attempt to feed him again or I will eat the leftover myself. He just can't sit still while he is feeding, he prefer to walk about and feed at the same time. Oh dear me, please give me more strength to deal with this toddler.

But I am not always at war with my son. Sometimes, he can be sweet, cute and obedient .....but other times.....ohhh I can't imagine....

Then I read something which is very useful online, this could help mothers to soothe their temperamental kiddos :

Twenty Alternatives to Punishment - http://www.awareparenting.com/twenty.htm

I can't imagine how all the "Ah mahs" do in the olden days when they don't have internet to seek for professional or experienced information.





Tags: obedient, discipline, toddler throwing tantrums, parenting

Playing piano without any arms

This 23 year old young chap really shows us that nothing is impossible. It's the mind that drives our freedom to do what we wanted to do. If we feel that we have some limitations, it's because we allow them to limit ourselves. Most of the time it's the fear of rejection and fear of others telling you what you can't do that limit your potential. If we can do away with our fears then we will become the person that we truly want to be.

I can't understand what the video is saying, so if you want to watch him play, go straight to 1.27 minutes.:)

Video courtesy from: leojia613

"The choice is entirely ours. The great thing is, we do have a choice, if we practice religiously to make our thoughts great then it is inevitable that we will become great..." - Geoff Thompson in his book "the elephant and the twig".
















Tags: Self-help, self-improvement, Liu Wei, armless pianist, will, positive thinking

Dumping babies

What can I say, our society is turning into beasts…. first we have a case of a 10 year old girl being raped by a bus driver in a school bus within the presence of other children.

Then we have youngsters dumping their own flesh and blood. What have tempted these wild beasts to do such a thing? As reported in the news, the numbers of dumping babies are rising.

I would say that nobody take religion and morality seriously anymore. Some of us, we joined a particular religion not for the sake of making us a morally respectful person but for our own personal gain and for some, they were forced into having a religion but have never embrace the principles and teachings of it. I think some of the youngsters now will think having a religion is a joke. They rather selfishly engage in the pleasures of having the latest techno gadget like iPod, Notebook, latest killing games, great places to eat, great places to shop,"lepak" here and there and even engage in sexual pleasure.

I am not saying it is wrong to have pleasures in life but we have to keep in mind that pleasures don’t go overboard that it affects the society and in turn become social ills.

The other issues are that most of our Malaysians have this “Tidak Apa” attitude. This is dangerous especially if we adopt such an attitude when we are parenting our kids throughout their life. I know some parents they have this thinking that so long as their kids are well fed, receiving good education and enough toys to play then it is enough. But they never teach their kids the reasons that some acts should be condemned and how to control temptation.

At the end of the day I think all of us whether we are parents, Government, teachers, preachers have to play a part in preventing such issues from occurring in the future. 

Love is almighty!

Jackie Evancho, another child prodigy singing opera

Video courtesy from : AmericanBestTalent

My eyes just popped out hearing this young lady singing " O mio babbino caro" by Giacomo Puccini on America's Got Talent show which was featured on Youtube. My god, she is only ten and she sing like a 30 year old. Wish i can sing like that ....wow..... we couldn't underestimate the talent that young children have nowadays. She is another young child star after Charlotte Church and sweet Connie Talbot. Blessed them all!

Baby girls developing breasts?

As a parent, I tend to worry a lot when it comes to news about tainted milk that kills precious tots. And to have it tainted and caused babies developing breasts is outrageous. You can read the news in this website: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100812/wl_time/08599201004400

Truth will tell whether the company really claim that there is no hormone added when tests were conducted. But my personal opinion is that though there may not be hormone added but the cows that they are farming could have been tainted with bovine hormones which could be damaging for our health. Bovine hormone is used to inject cows in order to increase their milk production.

So many food products are tainted with chemicals because companies want to reap more profits. You have cows injected with hormones to give us more milk or chicken to give more meat and so on. But nothing is about the effects of it on human health. This is what I call unethical.

I think the best choice is to breastfeed our babies and if not we should pay more attention in reading labels and opt for a more natural or organic products. Labels may not tell anything, but it’s the best we can do.

Reasons to blog

The first time I created this blog I have no directions and purpose as to what I am going to write. But as I slowly move on, my reasons for blogging become clearer. Here are my reasons to blog:

1) It’s therapeutic to blog about what comes to mind as though what I felt is heard and acknowledged. Spiritually I am not a strong person. So if I get negative and I write positive thoughts, I become a better person.

2) Share with you my opinions and my rants in life. A space for me to generate more friends and I welcome comments from all of you.

3) Keep my mind occupied and evading my mind from drifting off to unnecessary thoughts.

4) To have my life documented and hope that one day I can share my blog with my children. As people say life is short, you never know what might happen along the journey. Have you read “The Last Lecture” written by Randy Pausch? It’s a wonderful book that makes you appreciate life more. Though he is no longer in this world but he documented a book about himself for his children; describing his childhood and his life so that his three lovely children are able to grow up knowing the kind of person their father was. If you want to know, he died of pancreatic cancer in 2008. A very touching story and Randy is entertaining too with his funny and positive attitude.

5) To strengthen my life purpose. I gain a lot by blogging and writing. Everyday I find a few pieces of me that are going to make a whole picture. :)



Tags: self-help, blogging, Randy Pausch, Life purpose

What diaper is my baby using?

Picture: New Petpet design

I am sure a lot of people would have given good thumbs up for Mamypoko. It is the best diaper in terms of absorbency and it is friendly to baby butts. But it is way too pricey for me. If given a choice I would have use the normal cloth diaper because it is environment friendly but sad to say I don’t have a place to hang the cloth diapers to dry.

Anyway my baby is going to be 2 year old soon and as soon as we move, I can toilet train him. I have used Drypers, Mamypoko, Huggies and Petpet before; and I find that Petpet is the best in terms of price, absorbency and it is friendly to baby’s butt. Drypers has got a strong fastening tape but generally it is ok. Huggies cutting is not suitable for my baby and it is easily leaked.


Now, my baby can sleep all through the night with Petpet diaper because it can hold a lot of pee. Although it is not as soft as Mamypoko from the feel of my hands but it will do. So far my baby didn’t have any diaper rash. I change him 5 times a day and if he poo 2 times then an extra 2 diapers.

Recently Petpet has changed its outlook, I still prefer the old diaper because the material feels more solid but I was surprised that the new ones have the same absorbency effect. But there is no more aloe vera as an ingredient to prevent rash. The previous sticky tape fastening has been replaced with a velcro fastening.

I have used this new packaging for over a month now and it has still the same goodness. No more green colour as they printed them in purple instead and the price is cheap. My husband bought the L44 and it costs below RM 30.

Picture: Previous Petpet design

Tags: baby diaper, diaper review, absorbency, baby rash

Good Spirit

All of us need friends and family to encourage us to be a happy and a worthy living being. When friends are scarce like I do because of being a mom at home (attending to house and a child at home) I have hardly any time for friends outdoor. But thank god we are bless with so many social network system that allow us to keep a brief conversation with them.

And so I rely a lot on books and videos to raise my spirits up and everyday I change into a new person. Recently I discovered a video by Joel Osteen and all his speeches are both inspirational and incredible. Once again my life changes for the better because of him.



curtesy video from mrthomasmx- youtube.



tags: self-help, self improvement, how to be happy, Joel Osteen