Cakes that you should avoid giving to your children

Rainbow cake & Red Velvet Cake

When come to selecting a birthday cakes for your family, especially your children; I hope that you would think twice if you are planning to buy a cake with very attractive color such as a rainbow cake or a red velvet cake. The reason is you need to add in heap of coloring in order to produce those cakes. Red velvet cake for instance, it is actually a chocolate cake often colored with almost 1 bottle of red coloring to make it appeared red! Although there are some people substituting the red coloring with natural ingredients such as beet root nowadays, it doesn't seems common here in Malaysia.

Nice looking rainbow cake is full of coloring

One piece of red velvet cake containing almost one bottle red coloring 

Instead, choose cakes with white color (color from the cream) or a chocolate cake. It is as delicious and much healthier choice. Fondant cake also looks nice and alright to eat except for the fondant which is basically sugar and coloring.

Research has associated food coloring with problems in children such as allergies, hyperactivity, learning impairment, irritability as well as aggressiveness. For some very sensitive children, they may even displaying attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. This causes them not being able to  sit in a chair, paying attention, finishing school work, forgetful and not listening to others etc. Sound so familiar? So the next time we observe our children having these symptoms, we should find out what have we given them to eat recently :).

Pampers Deal in Malaysia

Drypers Wee Wee Dry- Best deal 2014

Although I still find Mamypoko being the best pampers available in Malaysia, I tend to use together with Drypers, which is much cheaper to save cost. Recently I have found a good deal at www.lazada.com.my selling Drypers at RM96 for 3 packs and on top of that, we got an additional 15% offer if you were to purchase using your Mastercard on Monday. Each pack of pampers which normally cost RM34 (normal offer rate) will now cost you RM27.20 (a saving of nearly RM7 per pack)! Delivery is FOC!!

I have grabbed the deal and I hope you will benefit the same way too.... Happy shopping online to save money and time!:)

Shall we give our children electronic pad like an I-pad or a Samsung Galaxy Tab?

Well although I have done my reading and I knew that we should not let our children watch too much TV or even use a-pad before the age of 2; however I have totally failed in executing this theory.

My hubby bought JY a Samsung Galaxy Tabs 3 as her 2 years old birthday present! Before getting this tab, she had already been using my I-pad for some times. She usually stream the You Tube videos playing kids songs until later on, she started to watch "products review"! Yes, I am saying "products review". She watch how people opening each piece of the Surprise Eggs for example, and how people use Play Dough to wrap the Surprise Egg and dressing up the Princess dolls!

There is no return of giving a kid an I-pad or a tablet I think. JY now cried non stop whenever I decided to keep her tab....until I would give her back or bring her out!! I enjoyed letting the i-pad or tablet baby sitting JY for me while I can do other things but worry that this would ruin her eyesight and make her unable to focus when start schooling! Well, everything has its pro and con I guess. The good thing is JY could sing the ABC song before she approached 2 years old and recognized all the capital and small letters from A to Z without "anyone" teaching her. She learned it from the You Tube!

Can I obtain a balance by getting our kids out more often while still letting them jiggling around with these electronic pad???  I wonder.....

Let's go outside so that we can stop using electronic items and instead watching the birds and trees..... and of course taking some fresh air and sunshine... Showing JY with JL in our old fashion stroller. The old fashion stroller enable JL to have her 360 degree unobstructed view.  

Online Shopping for Affordable Baby and Children Cloths and Food in Malaysia

Where do you guys buy your baby stuff from?

1. Try www.tongtaionline.com (discount code "tongtai30" to eligible for 30% discount) 

Well again, I normally get cloths for my little one at Jusco (now AEON) although the choice was somewhat limited. Recently, one children cloths company, Tong-tai had emailed me asking if I am interested to try and review their product (children wear). After browsing their webpage at www.tong-tai.com.my, I found that their cloths were of good quality and sold at an affordable price. Hence, I decided to give it a try.

I have received a giftcard from Tong-tai and bought one T-shirt and two leggings for JY. So happy to received it after 2 days. I will take some picture to show here during this coming weekend. By the way, Tong-tai had also offered me a discount code to be given out to my readers in this blog. Just go to www.tongtaionline.com, select the cloths you like and upon checking out, key in "tongtai30" to be eligibled for 30% discount!

One of my colleague who had been looking everywhere for a plain white shirt for her daughter's performance but in vain. At last, I browsed in Tong-tai web site and found a white shirt which I immediately recommended to her. She was so happy with it. So the next time you are looking for some good quality cloths with affordable price to shop for your little one, why not give this a try?

This is my JY dressing in clothing bought from Tong-tai. The size for 3-4 years old looks fitting on her although she is only 2 years old. The cloths look and feel comfortable and I will definitely shop again there.

2. Try www.babydash.com.my

I seldom purchase things on line until recently I found it to be a good experience. I have tried purchasing organic rice cereal for baby JL at www.babydash.com.my. As it was my first time purchasing from that site, the seller contacted me and offered to give me two pieces of organic cereal bar for baby as a free gift! The products arrive the next day upon ordering, saving my time to shop practically just for two item. The seller also assured me that they offer the best price for baby products sold online! It was my another wonderful experience of shopping online for baby goods. Being a busy working mother, I hope you could benefit from this site too :)

 Showing here instant organic brown rice porridge (Baby Natura brand) which I bought from babydash  at RM11.20. It was made with 100% organic brown rice without addition of other ingredients. I found this as a very good choice as baby first solid. It comes in 6 small individual pack rendering it handy to bring along when we go out. My milk powder dispenser now also served as a little bowl to prepare the porridge for baby wherever we go. The porridge was nutritious, easy to prepare and delicious :)

When shop for baby food, I normally choose the simplest (if possible without additional of artificial ingredients) formulation. You may refer to the ingredient list to check it out next time you shop for your little one.

Look at how happy my little JL was with her first solid food. It was delicious I guess :)
Do share with me if you found other good, convenient and affordable baby food around the corner.


3. Cheap and nice pajamas and casual wears for children
Try: http://www.qqbabyshop.com/

Lately I have tried to purchase pajamas from an online store namely QQ Baby Shop. There was a promotion selling pajamas and casual wear for children at RM150 for 10 sets. Since Chinese New Year is just around the corner and I could not spend time doing detail shopping while taking care of two, I decided to give this a try.

I have ordered a total of 10 pairs of pajamas plus casual dresses for JY and JL respectively. Three days after ordering, the goods arrived safely. Interestingly, some of the cloths quality were over expectation while some were merely acceptable although they were of the same brands. However, selling at RM15 per set, I think I couldn't ask for more but were overall satisfied with the trade. Showing here two sets of the cloths that I have bought which I thought were a super value buy. I recommended buying from this site especially for those who have many children! :)

Hello kitty T-shirt with tutu dress

Princess Sofia the first short sleeve pyjamas

Details of the dress

Details of the Hello Kitty picture

Sewing was neat

How to select a breast pump that fits you?

As there are so many brands of breast pump out there, how do we actually make a choice? I suggest answering these questions to narrow down your choices:


1. Electric or manual?
       The major advantage of using an electrical breast pump is pumping hands free! If you have limited time for pumping (especially those who are working and need to steal time pumping during work), consider a double electric pump. With practice, you could pump both side of your breast together while typing! If budgets allowed, buy one with optional electric power source (operated with either a power adapter or batteries). You will never know when you would need to pump outside without power source easily available! There was once I have to pump inside a ladies toilet while attending meeting outside as the place is not BF friendly!

       However, if you are worry that you will not have enough milk supply, or you are not going to breast feed for a long time, or if you do not want to spend too much money on breast feeding, consider buying a manual pump.
   
       I have came across many new mothers to be worrying that they will be wasting money purchasing a proper electrical pump and end up not breast feeding and hence could not decide on what kind of pump to buy. For this kind of mother, a cheap and useful manual pump would be the answer! If you are going back to work and continue pumping later, you could still upgrade to purchase an electrical pump while using the manual as a spare.

      I bought a double sided electric breast pump at less than RM500 two years ago (Autumnz brand) and it never fail me until today. Except for one side of the pump was once spoiled due to back flow and I got it repaired for free. Recently, I have also purchased a manual breast pump on line (looks like Avent brand) from Internet and I start loving it. I bought the manual pump as I am planning to travel with it soon and I thought it would be embarrassing if people could hear me pumping while traveling on a bus using my electric pump (electric pump could never be as quite as a manual pump).


2. What is your budget?
      Depending on your budget, there are expensive and cheap manual pump as well as electric pump available. Brands like Medela and Phillips Avent are most popular and considered branded pump in this region. Medela Freestyle model double breast pump cost around RM2500 while Phillip Avent manual pump cost around RM200 in Malaysia.

    Anyway, some medium range brand such as Autumnz (electric pump) which cost RM400 over for double pump, and Thinby (manual pump which looks like Avent) which cost less than RM100 are also a good choice based on my own experience.


3. Do you prefer a single or double electric pump?
      My answer is always "double". It is much faster and in case where back flow happen and once side break down, you still have another side of the motor to be used!


Some of my recommendation as following:

Manual Breast Pump
If you are still indecisive on what pump to buy, kick start with a manual pump which is good enough but will not break your bank.

Showing here the Thinby brand of manual pump which I have recently bought at less than RM100. With practice, pumping session completes in 10-15 min (both sides) using this :). You don't have to keep on pressing and releasing in order to pump. After the first few times of pressing and releasing, you only need to hold it there and milk will come out continuously. I rate this 5 star, value for money!

Double Electric Breast Pump (picture from internet)

Recently I have bought this double electric breast pump online at <RM400 to be presented to a best friend of mine. My friend complimented on the pump being very good suction and very quite. You can even pump when baby is asleep. I highly recommend this pump to those who is on a budget but still need an electric pump. The design is very similar to the Medela Freestyle breast pump which cost us more than RM1000 in Malaysia :)

Other Accessories that You May Need

After selecting and buying a pump, don't forget to get yourself some milk bottles to store milk, ice pack to keep the milk chill, cooler bag as well as back pack to keep all these together with your breast pump. If you don't have much time left to shop and are looking for option which are safe and value for money, try this shop: One Baby World. There are many franchises available and you can even purchase their products online conveniently at http://www.onebabyworld.com/. Among all brands available, I found Autumnz as one of the brand that value for money. 

1. Breast milk storage bottles 

I recommended getting a BPA free milk bottle of 5oz size so that you can use it for a longer period of time without transferring to feeding bottle. Besides, I also find it more convenient to stick to one brand so that you will not have to waste time finding the cover that fits later. I recommended Autumnz brand milk storage bottles. It come in a pack of 10 pieces in less than RM35. 

Picture showing Autumnz brand milk storage bottles (adapted from www.onebabyworld.com)

2. Breast milk storage bags  

You may also buy some milk storage bags to spare in case you have insufficient storage bottles. Buy those with good plastic material (with certain thickness) and BPA free. Again, I found Autumnz a great choice as it is good value for money. 

Autumnz brand milk storage back, less than RM0.40 per piece (picture from Internet)

3. Ice pack and milk bottles bag

Don't forget that you will need some ice pack to keep your milk chilled while travelling back from work. The cheapest option like Autumnz (around RM20 for 3 pieces) will do the job just as great. 

Ice Pack from Autumnz, picture from internet

4. Cooler bag and bag pack to carry your breast pump 

Last but not the least, a cooler bag that could fit the numbers of bottles that you pump at work (minimum 6 bottles for example); and a bag that could fit in all your pump together with milk bottles with cooler bag. 

Showing here cooler bag from Autumnz which is currently selling at around RM16 per piece (picture from internet). I have two of these so that I could give one to baby sitter while bringing one to work on the same day

Life with 1 new born and 1 toddler- still surviving as a working mum

Level up – surviving as a working mum with 1 toddler and 1 baby

Slowly, after adapting the life of having a baby; and after the baby turned into a toddler, I start planning for another baby. I have no choice but only to “gap them” for almost 2 years apart since my biological clock was ticking :P

Conceiving while taking care of a toddler

Conceiving while taking care of a toddler was still manageable except for the month where I had serious “morning and night sickness” and my toddler became super demanding. She seems like able to sense that I was having a baby hence started to demand for more attention from me. In the evening after picking up JY from the baby sitter, I could hardly cooked as she will be crying until I stopped cooking and paying full attention on her. Daddy’s console and hugs are not helping at all. I was so stressed up during that whole month!

Luckily this passed quickly after I entered second trimester of pregnancy when the morning sickness started to subside. I then resumed my lifestyle like before conceiving, continued playing with JY in the playground whenever I have time. Knowing which I will have to spend less time with her after the second baby is borned make me wanting to fully utilized the moment we have together.  I could hardly recall how many times I went to the playground nearby my house with JY before delivering the next baby. I have even sprained my ankle while hanging in the playground with her when I was 8 months pregnant.

I brought JY to the beach when I was almost 5 months pregnant while she was 14 months old. I am glad I did it as It would be a long time later when I can bring her to the beach again. 

10 months passed away peacefully with my busy working lifestyle. I only started taking leaves after my due date and it happened that my second daughter was born 3 days overdue. Knowing what to expect, I went to the hospital with the letter written by the doctor from clinic who thought that I was 8 days overdue by then. Two doctors had been giving me two different due date which was 1 week apart and I have been following the later due date since it had taken my period cycle (longer than 28 days) into consideration.  I was lucky that my stomach ache approaches me before the doctor decided to induce the delivery process. Thank God that the whole process from labor pain to complete stitching only took me less than an hour this time. My second baby, JL was successfully delivered naturally. I was very grateful to the Indian midwife who had leaded other nurses to help me during the delivery. She gave very clear instruction on what to do, when to push so that I could deliver my second baby with minimum tearing and within shortest time. I felt indebted to her.

Confinement

I have my confinement at home with my mother coming over to help me in cooking and taking care of the baby when I am tired. As I was breast feeding, I took care of the baby at night and let my mother rest. It was a good experience having your own mother to help you for confinement. We could voice out whatever practices that we don’t like and our mother will normally give way to accommodate our needs. I also took the opportunity to understand my own mother better when she was here for two months. 

If you want to know what to eat for confinement, I recommend drinking a lot of soup such as black bean soup, peanut soup, fish and tomato tofu soup etc. These soups helped in promoting lactation and hence ensuring sufficient milk to feed the baby.  Effortlessly, I have pumped and stored 30 over bottles of milk (around 3 oz each) in the freezer for my baby before going back to work. I only pumped milk during second month of maternity leave as I was very tired during the first month. I was happy with my confinement as I was able to fit into my skinny jeans again after 2 months. 

Needing more tips for confinement? Here you go:

        1. Sleep whenever your new born is asleep to ensure you have enough rest

      2.  Breast feeding on demand. This will enable your uterus to shrink back to its normal shape faster and 

              keeping you fit.

      3. Eat less salt during confinement to slim down faster. Salt resulted in water retention.

.     4. Brown rice is better than white rice for slimming purpose and supplying you with more nutrients

      5. Do not watch too much TV or hand phone or even reading too many books during confinement. This 

              will strained your eyes and our eyes sight will be affected later if we do so.

      6. Drink red dates drink every day to promote circulation

      7.  If you are unsure of what vegetables to consumer, eat broccoli, kai lian or spinach. These vegetables             will not be too cooling for confinement purpose
      8. Consume multivitamins if you do not consume enough variety of food on particular day.

Going back to work after confinement

Two months passed in a blink of an eye.  Resuming working after being away for so long is challenging! I have to wake up earlier than last time before having the second baby, JL. To ensure continuous milk supply, I cook soup every morning before heading to work so that we can have soup for dinner.

Here is how you could cook soup easily and saving your electric bill. First of all, you need to invest in a thermo cooker（焖烧锅). Upon boiling the water and dumping in all your ingredients for soup, you only need to boil them for around 15min before putting back the cooker into the thermos and leave it there until you come back from work. By then, everything will be tender soft and ready to eat. You just need to re-boil it for a while, adding salt to taste before serving!

To save time cooking for dinner, I just buy two dishes and go back home cooking rice and re-boiling soup. This ensures that we have good food everyday without breaking the bank. J

Having two daughters is the key to a happy and harmonious family life, according to a study

Researchers came to the conclusion after examining the lives of families with different combinations of children, both male and female.
The results show of all the variations, two girls make for the most harmonious family life as they are unlikely to fight, will play nicely and are generally a pleasure to be around.
It also emerged two girls rarely annoy their parents, make limited noise, often confide in their parents and are unlikely to wind each other up or ignore each other.


'BEST' TO 'WORST' COMBINATIONS OF CHILDREN:

1.Two girls

2.One boy and one girl

3.Two boys

4.Three girls

5.Three boys

6.Four boys

7.Two girls and one boy

8.Two boys and one girl

9.Three boys and one girl

10.Three girls and one boy

11.Two boys and two girls

12.Four girls

The above information was abstracted from www.telegraph.co.uk.

If this research is true, I am going to have the most happy and harmonious family life, with the birth of my second daughter... :D However, being a researcher myself, I don't trust in research outcome. They normally differ from case to case as a results of various factors isn't them? And if it is true, my parents should be having a least happy family by having 4 daughters!! :P

Me and my biological sisters.

Perhaps we are not the least happy family because we still have another brother (holding the camera)...