A Visit to the Vet

Dr Merv had been Nimz' vet for quite a while now. Just on Friday I brought Nimz to see him for his annual vaccination and deworming trip to see Dr Merv. I washed Nimz just an hour before and hairdryed him (after the vaccination, you were not supposed to bathe the cat for about a week).

Dr Merv recognised Nimz straightaway and took out his file (which in under his name) with my name as his owner.. altho i do think that I am more like his slave than owner. NImz is brought into the cat room where Dr Merv would start the procedure by taking him out of his cage gently and mumbling soothing words to him and even smelling his fur to see if he had a good or bad odour. He then tickled his chin and told him "You are such a good boy! Come, let me see your eyes". He looked into the crystal ball like eyes and pronounced that NImz looked perfectly healthy via the eyes, then he touches his nose to see if its slightly wet. He also used his fingers to feel Nimz all over the body to check for any unusual lump or inflammation. He took his temperature (of course via his 'behind' and talked to Nimz cheerily all the time while the thermometer was in his bum. Clearly Nimz was quite upset and moved his tail violently. Lastly he checked his ears, and sniffed at his mouth.

Dr Merv always cleans Nimz's ears by putting some ear drops into his ears and then for the next minute of so, Nimz would resemble and an Ewok with flattened ears.. damn hilarious sight for those whose cats always have erect ears! Dr Merv advised me to clean his teeth with gauze and cat mouth wash to help with his gingivitis. "Gingivitis would shortened the cat's life span by 20%... oh dear.. Nimz, you did not hear this" he lowered his voice as Nimz gave a whimper.

After the procedure, I got a tour of his latest acquisition of a cat which had been run over by a car. The hinds legs were crushed and the cat was almost put to sleep due to him being injured quite badly. However, the cat showed such resilience that Dr Merv amputated his legs and now when i looked at Gump.. he had the appearance of a normal cat sitting down on his haunches but when he walked towards me, only his front legs moved while his back was sliding over the floor. He was such a lovwly looking cat, with bright green eyes and a narrow sweet face. Such a lovely disposition too. My heart melted as i tickled him. The amazing thing about Gump, well he probably does not realise that his legs are missing and just carried on living with his new situation. No grumbling. just a cheery meow when you come over to say a few words to him.

Weddings

A few friends gathered over a sumptuous Japanese dinner at Iketeru, Hilton. The reason for the dinner was to kind of have a hen's night for the bride to be.. altho i have to say that the hen's night was a bit too tame...;) Maybe its becos we all have hit the middle age line this year and hence not too keen to do anymore of the 'fun' stuff.

It brings to mind my own wedding 6 years ago at The Mines Beach Resort. It seems such an ethereal time. With the white frothy wedding gown dotted with blue flowers (i had always wanted some blue on my wedding gown), bouncy curls on the head, a gathering of beloved friends and family... it was such a special moment. I think it was very special because I made my vows to God in front of the people whom I cared about (altho I no longer speak to half of the guest invited due to one reason or another). It really was such a sacred moment. To walk down the aisle towards the man that you love and whom you know reciprocate that 'verb' towards you. To forever be joined in spirit with this one person who also pledged to walk the journey with you. It was such a comfort, a homecoming of sorts... this wedding which is the start of a marriage. What a wonder it was.. these moments which i like to think about as it brings a smile to my face.

Here's to you my friend who is going to begin this new journey together with her man. Its downright scary but heck! I'll cheer you on!

Eggy names her pink Elephant from Laos

Its been so long since I last wrote and heaps of things have been happening to the kids and to me too. But today, i particularly wanted to write about Eggy and her pink elephant which Uncle Sargeant from Laos got for her (Cookie got a yellow elephant). We were playing with the elephant in her cot with her throwing it out of the cot ever so often and me putting it back in there.. it's great fun for her!

A bit of some development speech (i now understand why mothers get so excited with their kids speaking.. from a only crying mass to a distinctly articulating mobile cave-kid.. its really like celebrating a crippled person walk again in a lesser degree). Anyway, Eggy can call me Mama or Mummy, point at Cookie, Kaka and Nimbus... but today, she pointed at the elephant and said "Mimi" and again "Mimi". I was wondering why.. cos i kept calling the elephant "Pinky".

It seems that Eggy is developing quicker in her speech than Cookie... She has also a repertoire of susu, tidur, butfly (butterfly), frawer (flower), frog (which she like to call mama as well) Aunt rene is really teaching her some nonsense..*grin* So far, no chinese words yet..

Also funnily, everytime we say "Papa", she would turn up her palm and shake it as tho to say that he is not around.. in many cases, he is not around. Marido is missing all the fun! Poor chap.

Beef Curry and Pork Bacon

In a hotel restaurant in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, a couple on holidays was scanning the breakfast menu. "Here darling.. bacon and eggs are on no 4"... said the wife.

"Ho ho.. bacon.. yummy.. er but why is it beef bacon?" wondered the husband. "Waiter... can I get some pork bacon instead?"

The waiter looked a bit flustered "Sir, this is a halal restaurant.. we don't serve pork."

"Oh I see.." The man replied but clearly from his facial expression, he did not understand the situation at all. When the beef bacon arrived, and the man was trying to bite into the stringy piece of meet, he grumbled "What type of restaurant is this that does not serve pork!!?"


Later in the night, they were seated in a lovely Indian restaurant with pictures of Shah Rukh Khan and other Bollywood actors (which incidentally held no meaning for them although they loved Indian food). "Where is the beef curry?" demanded the husband to the waiter.

The waiter must have rolled his eyes under his closed lids before opening them and stiffly said "Sir, we don't serve beef in this establishment" God forbid.. cows are sacred in our culture!

"But but" sputtered the man indignantly "we have beef curry in Indian restaurants in our country!" The waiter patiently said "That may be true Sir but here, we don't serve beef on our menu" .. "May I suggest a Chicken Vindaloo instead?"

A fren is preggie!

No more being a cow

It has been like 3 weeks since i stopped breastfeeding. I thought that i would miss it but actually i did not really suffer much after effects.. perhaps a tad sad cos of the hormones are not released as much to make one happy but the freedom enjoyed certainly makes up for it. at least now i can disappear from the kids for more than 4 hours.. that certainly helps with work (meeting clients) and of course, my work has picked up a lot more now.

So, officially I stopped breastfeeding in Sept 2009... which means that I actually breastfed for 16 months... i am amazed that i actually did it. to think that I did not sleep straight for more than 4 hours at night for one whole year due to the breastfeeding is like psychotic... looking back, i believe that God must have given me a steely edge to my determination. I wonder if i can do this all over again.. God help me!!

The kids are adjusting well to their Mama not feeding them anymore.. they have had the bottle for a long time and so the total switch was accepted with no fuss... In fact, after stopping the breastfeeding, Eggy's weight has slightly improved.. she was a tad skinny for her age.. in fact, below average. We shall see what the doctor says the next round.

I think i can be a lactation consultant... jajajaja.. but i noticed that many women arent interested to breastfeed. Mostly never even make the 2 months mark. Some just go straight to formula.. dunno..whether its lack of education or the pressure of working. But working... in the 2 months maternity.. no work, right?

just for you and this is not a forwarded message!

it's not the myriad emotions that makes me long for you
its the quiet smile on your face
the warm glint in your eye
the laugh lines around your mouth
the little marks that make you you

it's the distance that separates us
the hurriedness of our conversations
the difference in time zones
the many events that distract us

It's the promise of a cosy silent evening
holding the hands of our children together
ruffling Nimbus and snatching him from each other
staring across to the hills and feeling the wind

So many things... so little time
how can one be bored?
how can one be a skeptic?
how can one be blind?

We love becos
we choose to love
So i say that i love you
by the things that i do

Both of you

I thought i'd like to have one of you...
But instead i got the both of you
you were something i wanted to have so that i would not regret not ever having
and when you two arrived ... regret came as well...
not becos there were 2 but becos i sud have asked for you much earlier

when i am with you...
i feel a tiny warmth infuse my soul and and it threatens to make me laugh out loud
and i do... becos you infect me with your happiness
when i am not with you...
i keep seeing your little faces on the dark canvas in my mind
funny faces, sad faces, adorable faces
runny noses, tearing eyes and drooling mouths
so disgusting but how i love the smellyness and the unique scent of you
In the quiet of my room when your brother is sitting next to me on the bed
with my hand stroking his brown head, my other imaginary hand is stroking your heads in the next room where you are

it's just splendid, magical and mysterious..
the way i love you
i've been given a gift, precious beyond belief..
thank you for giving me the privilege of loving you.

Bubs at 16 mths

Loving sisters


Eggy laughing



Small cookie in her big pram



twins' great pose



Eggy



Cookie loves to read

Time to move on

I think sometimes we outgrow something we hold dear for far too long and so today... is the start of doing what Alex likes to tell me "Move on".

Stopping the milk

It has been about 16 months of breastfeeding and it is time to give it up.

Busy? - so what else is new?

Yeah.. as the title suggests, i am busy but so is everyone else? But let me just share with you what my busy means at this point of time.

I have been staying in Brisbane and Gold Coast the last 2 weeks in a 2 bedroom apartment. The one in Brisbane is the Oaks Festival Tower (The Oaks are everywhere in Brisbane!) near to Queen Street malls and other amennities like the library (which I love as it is baby/kids friendly) and Woolies or Coles which I cannot live without ;). The day starts off at 7.30am with either one kid howling or both of them placidly playing in their cots. Then, it's a whirlwind of feeding, bathing, more feeding and cooking and yet more feeding and cleaning the mess they make due to their inability to eat like an adult. Honestly, after eating, my kids have food all over their heads cos their will take the food out of the mouth, look at it with deep interest and with a happy squeal slap it on their heads. Garrr! One of my friends told me that everytime her son has some bits of food at the corner of his mouth, her mother in law would jump up and wipe it away.. I can just imagine her having a fit if she sees my children. I dont have a baby high chair here too and feeding kids without strapping them down is terribly irritating. I dont know how mothers run around chasing their kids for food. At least for me, my kids walk up to me and open their mouths. Phew!

Sometimes in the midst of taking care of the kids and preparing them for outings, i forget to eat.. but no worries.. i am not losing weight at all. That is because i get good sleep cos the kids are down for 12 hours in the night... all that training works!

Then, in the afternoon.. it starts all over again. But in between, i managed to read 2 books in that week (Life with Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse - darn farnee but after one book, i have had enough of that idiot, bumbling Bertie and his all too clever butler Jeeves. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami - also after one book, i think i shall give the rest of his books a miss... it's good writing and completely unputdownable but I find the bizarreness of spirits taking over one's body to murder people, fish falling from the sky and people fainting but yet having their eyes open and moving to the left and right... a bit too much for me. I have just got to read.. it keeps me sane somewhat. in between, I managed brisk walks along the incredibly lovely burleigh beach.



The kids are so adorable (to me only lah) and i think that perhaps they need to be adorable and funny so that the exasperated parents dun kill them off. I think the secret to calm parenting is to be just that.. calm.. in the face of whatever that happens.. like Cookie cracking her head on the edge of the glass table when she fell on it, Eggy smiling at her grandmother with a mouthful of zinc oxide, Cookie and Eggy dipping their fingers in the Bottom Butter and licking them.. it smells really good! Eggy walking into the wet bathroom and falling like she slipped on a banana peel, Cookie dangling my new Iphone out the 11th floor railing on the balcony, Cookie grabbing Eggy's fuzz on the head and looking at me as though she has done something incredibly crever while Eggy is bawling away, Cookie eating a bar of soap that she managed to open from its plastic packaging, Eggy upsetting a bowl of soft boiled eggs and soiling the hotel carpet and our clothes, both of them eating bananas and stomping them on the carpet when they feel like it. Or better still, Cookie discovering the soiled diapers and opening it up and smearing the delicious poo on her hands and clothes and then passing it to Eggy - really should have taken a photo of this!

Father's Day 2009

This year's Father's Day was just about the same as the rest of the years.. we go out to dinner. However this year, it was very merry with 4 grandchildren and 2 children with their husbands and the father and mother.

Just want to wish Pa "Happy Father's Day!" Here a photo of Pa with me and the kiddos.



Does not my Pa look happy? That's smum next to him!

A monologue for an audition

I had this big Siamese cat named Nimbus, who came and went as he pleased. One day he went out and didn't come back. Days went by, and I went up and down the corridors of the apartment, calling, "Nimbus, Nimbus!" I put up signs and knocked on doors and stopped my neighbours,--"Have you seen a big Siamese cat?"

I was very very sad all the time—oh how l loved this cat! He was cuddly and loved to be cuddled. He followed me around like a shadow as if he was a dog. He was hardly silent, he chatted to me during the day, waked me up in the morning with his meowy alarm clock voice and broomed like a bike whenever he ran down the stairs. He loved being petted and he greeted me every time I walk thru the front door. Many nights I had slept holding on to his 2 small furry paws.. bliss!

After more than a week of frantic looking and calling my husband said, "Maybe we should go for a walk downstairs at the lobby and asked the security guards if they have seen him”. We were talking loudly at the lobby when I suddenly heard a frantic meow and saw a cream and brown ball hurtling towards me! Oh Nimbus Nimbus.. I was almost in tears of happiness.

No more running away boy! I was so thrilled for him to be home and he never wander far away after that.

Hand Foot and Mouth Disease

Poor Eggy had fever last Friday and did not want to eat or drink any milk unless its from my breast directly. So I had to just let her drink milk for 2 days. On Sunday, I saw some red spots on her feet and on her bottom. I quickly sent her to the polyclinic nearby. The doctor there cud not confirm whether she had HFMD (which I suspected). He also did not take her temperature, nor opened her clothes to examine her body ... sheesh! He then gave her medicine for allergy (was there an allergic reaction??) and antibiotics (but babies sud not be given antiobiotics unless its very very critical!!). I just wrote him off as a very lousy doctor!

The next day, I took her to Damansara Specialist Hospital to see Dr Vasantha... immediately she diagnosed that it was HFMD by looking at the spots and checking her genitalia. She gave a pain numbing throat medication which must be given 30 mins before eating so that the pain will be gone to enable the child to eat, some Cataflam for the fever, Daktarin oral gel (treats fungal and bacterial infection). After a day of treatment, Eggy looked much better and by the next day, she could eat without relying on the pain numbing medication.

Doc said that she will take about 4 days to return to her usual self. So today, Wednesday, she is back to eating her normal portion... yay!

On the other hand, Cookie had high fever last night with axillary (armpit) temperature of 38.3 C which is considered high. Even with paracetamol, her fever refused to subside. I took her to the A+E at 11pm (dang! Marido is not in the country again!) The doctor told me that there is nothing much he can do cos I had already given the paracetamol at 9.45 and I sud not give another dose for another 4 hours (to prevent liver damage). So I had to sponge her when I got back and she went off to sleep. At 5am, she woke up warmish again and after her medication and sponging, she drifted off to sleep again.

This morning, i checked her throat and saw white dots.. sigh.. she caught the HFMD...so another round again. My hope is that neither my maid or I will catch it. I suppose we will know on Thursday or Friday.

p/s HFMD is not dangerous at all.. however I remembered that about 10 children died in Kuching some time ago of this. Probably because they cannot eat or drink due to pain and so they actually die of dehydration.

p/s 2 : I am definitely blessed that I dun have to worry about the big bill caused by this ... as it is.. it is almost the same amount as my sister's family get to claim for one year in her hubby's sorry organisation!

Call me Mem

My kids have taken to calling me "Mem"... wait a minute.....actually only Eggy calls me that. Cookie has not articulated anything resembling mum or ma.. or even pa.. while Eggy is busy with papapapa and mem mem mum mum. But in terms of activity, Cookie has started pointing a week ago.. in her 10th month. She also looks set to start walking.

Bookwise, Cookie is so interested in books and will sit still as I read her a book or two. Eggy.. lets just say that after a page or two, she would prefer to eat the book!

It also seems that Eggy is taller than her sibling and loves to torture her by beating her... poor Cooks! She just sits there and cry away.. of course Mem comes to rescue her!

Nimbus gets eaten by Eggy too! When she sees him from a distance, she would start crawling very fast towards him. After grabbing him violently, she would proceed to gnaw at his ears.. poor chap! He does not like it very much and would bite her and scratch her in return... serves her right... I dun interfere as I think that older babies sud realise that animals should not be grabbed and bitten.

Cookie is rather gentle with him. And so Nimbus would content to sit next to her and let her carress him. What a lovely picture!

Some black and white shots

Cookie looking pleased as she managed to get the ice-cream stick!


Eggy with a farnee face!


Cookie playing with "Mem"


Eggy looking like my friend Lawrence who has a bald head too!

The new Nicole Kidman

Lottie at her 12th year formal.. that's what they call the prom in Australia. So grown up, yes? And such a lovely dress... may I borrow it? Kakaka! I can't even fit in it!

Cookie on the walker

Cookie is 10 months in this and she can't stop walking with the walker.. she just goes on and on like an energiser bunny... but so farnee....

Eggy is quite reluctant to walk with the walker.. she prefers to stand and just hold on to it.

CNY and Christmas pix

Mummy and Cookie

Cacat mummy and Eggy.

My in laws and the bubs.

Uncle Tim and Eggy (i think that she looks like him!)

Marido and his 4 girls! Where is my boy?? Poor chap.. he was left behind in Malaysia to be tortured by Elyon!

5 tips to living longer

I have been watching this fab show during my ‘stint’ in Brisbane recently. While feeding my kids at 9.30am, I get to watch “What’s Good for You!’. There are many questions tackled during the one hour show. Today, I thought to just let you know about living longer.


1. Optimism – if you are the type that sees the glass to be half full.. you may just live longer than those who see it as half empty. How to get optimistic.. according to studies, you can do meditation, pray, retrain your mind…

2. Exercise – but of course, we know this already… but what we don’t know is that it’s not just the physical exercise.. mental ones are important too. So.. a half hour exercise of walking a day is ideal and an hour of shopping is even better… u get to exercise the body and the mind (by choosing and looking at interesting things).. what a great shocker for the wallet!!)

3. Eat well – what do you know… eating well… is my diet of bak-kut the every morning good? Hmm.. the Mediterranean diet is supposedly great… vino, pasta, tomatoes…plenty of antioxidants.

4. Friends – have more friends.. good friends apparently prolong your life… it’s not that family is not important but me thinks that family can create stress as you are stuck with them! (all u family who are reading this…what do you think?). Family can stave off the disability among the elderly tho according to studies which I cant verify cos I only caught bits and pieces of the show.

5. Getting married – sorry folks.. this only applies to men. Apparently men add 7 years to their lives by marrying cos of the element of care and concern given by their mates. Unfortunately for women… all that caring and giving takes years away from you as studies show that single women live longer than married ones… ok.. I better take some time off for rest and relaxation once in a while to ensure that I live long enough to continue to care for the hubby! An interesting note to add – if the man surrounds himself with women, he will live longer…. *dionngz* what does this mean.. he sud have loads of girl friends… well I think the studies only confined it to children. Men add 74 weeks to their lives for every daughter they have… hmmm… hubby will add 4 years to his life with our 3 girls! Women get 95 weeks for every kid regardless of gender! Does that mean that women are less bias about children gender?? Anyway, I wonder if this is true for asian cultures which ‘worship’ the male child!