Happy 31-month-old to my Darling!

I'm so guilty that I've been too busy and missed joltin down her milestone which happening in lightning speed. 

The next thing I know is that Darling turns 31-month-old already! The newborn that I've cradled and woke up each night to breastfeed is now a young little girl. I'm so glad that her nature is very cheerful, outspoken, talkative and creative as I do not want her to take after me who's quite the opposite!

Potty Training

Darling's totally an expert now handling both pee and poo very well. Before doing the business, she will raise alert to the people around, then get her potty ready, pull down her pants and sit down on it. One of the great milestone of learning self-care skills. But I'm struggling to shift her poo routine from bedtime to daytime. It's really inconvenient to poo upstairs as she doesn't have towel after washing. And it disrupt her bedtime too. Anyway, I'm glad that she will inform me,"Oh, oshi! Oshi!" Then she will get her potty ready, remove her pants and nappy, sit down and get her business done. I'm proud. 

Speech

Darling can pretty much say anything she wanna express quite accurately. She observes and learn to speak like us so well by picking words up immediately. Sometimes when we will say it with a different word or misheard her word, she will repeat the word by saying,"See my mouth, beautiful!" That's exactly what we did when we teach her pronunciation. So cute and hilarious! 

Singing

We've exposing Darling to piano at home just to see how much she likes it. And her music class is going pretty well even sometimes can be quite boring for her. We will be upgrading her to the 3yr-old class for next semester. Gotta prepare her to be independent soon!

Manner

As much as we can, we remind her by showing her how to request for things with manners. Magic words like please, no thank you etc. She learned to say when Grandma cooked her chicken drumstick,"Thank you PoPo for the drumstick!" She practice it very well without us asking! 

Just last weekend at the park, she's happily popping bubbles as a family is blowing huge bubbles. Kids ran towards the same huge bubble so accidentally she and a toddler sort of knocked at each other. Then she ran back to me and I told her nevermind it's ok. To my surprise, she walked to the gal and say sorry! That's really great and I hold myself from telling her there's no need to apologize for the accident cuz I didn't wanna stopped her good manners practice. Eventually she will be able to judge what's right and what's wrong :)

Tantrum

Tantrum is the major challenge now in her terrible-two stage. She will grab forbidden things and refuse to release, even by exchanging or persuades are hard! She will wail and scream at my parents and just ignore anyone who tries to console her. 

I'm against body discipline but when other babysits, it's out of my control. And I rather try time-our method. But so far there's no opportunity to try it as she's listening well and calm down each time we explain to her and divert her attention to something she likes. 

Meal

Darling is no longer using her high chair for meals. Reasons are she's kinda hard to be fit into the high chair and Mom is no longer able to carry her up. 

So I implemented the manual seat belt for her on the adult's chair. As much as we can, we try not to let her walking around during mealtime. Otherwise our effort of training her from young will be down the drain!

Dancing

Last Sunday was Darling's very first Ballet class. I bought the groupon voucher without checking it's actually for 4yr old and above. So we let her try anyway. Starting well with the friendly instructor. Norra seen that it's kinda fun thing to do with the bigger sisters and enjoying quite a bit. It doesn't last long till the loud music started. She turned to me and wanted to cry, walked to me and never wanna go back to the group. Half way when the music stopped, I managed to convince her and she's actually walking towards the instructor again. When the loud music started playing, she turned back immediately. Oh well, I guess she just has to give it a few more classes to warm up. Though, she's still the cutest ballet dancer ever! :D

Mommy love you more each day!

xoxoxo

Playdough Day!

It was intended as a practice before putting her hands on the real thing :)

I'm glad that it came out well, Darling showed quite a bit of interest in making cuppa cakes! Especially when I showed her how she can explore on decorating them :)

Masterchef presented her creation of the day! :)

Preloved - to let go

Tommee Tippee: Closer to Nature Baby Food & Bottle Warmer

Preloved Tommee Tippee Electric Breast Pump

Used only less than 3 months

Let go price: RM200

(Inclusive of shipping within Peninsular Malaysia)

Tommee Tippee: Closer to Nature Baby Food & Bottle Warmer

Preloved Tommee Tippee: Closer to Nature Baby Food & Bottle Warmer

Used only less than 5 times

Let go price: RM90

(Inclusive of shipping within Peninsular Malaysia)

- Warms food and bottles within minutes 

- Designed especially for food jars and the Closer to Nature bottle 

- Thermostatically controlled for safety 

- Suitable to use from birth

Reason to let go?
we're only discovered to use cups to manually warm up breastmilk as we only bought it before baby is born. Whichever is more convenience for you 

Damansara Utama House To Let

Damansara Utama, 2-Storey Terrace House To Let

[ HOUSE TO LET ]

Damansara Utama, 2-Storey Terrace House
Partially furnished, 4 Rooms & 3 Bathrooms
Rental: RM2,000/month negotiable

Interested to view, kindly contact us at:
Kitt 012-315 8002
Louise 012-657 0337

Darling is 28-months old today!

Happy 28-months old, my Darling!

My then little baby is now a beautiful young girl. You've grown so much beyond my expectation. 

One of the most obvious area is speech development. We can no longer talk secretly with a foreign language in front of you. Oh wait, we can still use Malay as of now. Even that, I suspect you can actually understand too! 

Bedtime routine, we're still struggling. For the pass month. You've done pretty well in self-soothing to sleep a few times. I let you tire yourself to bed so it's late by the time you dozed off. About 11pm to 12am. But most of the time, you cried and insisted for nen nen till I couldn't bare the heartache and nurse you, even though there's nothing left in my boobs. But we're figured that when you have some milk before bed, you will doze off much easier and sleep through the night. 

Tantrum. You've developed something really awful of late. Each time you cry, you will scream. That shocked me the first time I saw it. Couldn't help but wonder how or when did you pick this bad habit up? Undoubtedly, it's for attention. But it's too much to ignore it when you use the tactic. I can just constantly reminding you on how horrible and misbehave it is to scream. Or, should I try any other punishment method like wall-facing or guarantine? Till then, nothing works yet. 

Emotion. I never knew my Darling can be such a sentimental little gal as such a tender age. It all started from your music class few weeks ago. It was a bonding session, light dimmed, soft music was playing. And I hugged you in my arm, we cuddled. Then you started sobbing, I wasn't sure why was it but to soothe you at the very moment as all your classmates were enjoying bonding time with their parents, it wouldn't be nice to interrupt them with your cry. So I was telling you, "It's ok, Darling. There's no need to cry, Mommy's here. Mommy sayang." Then you're crying even louder. But when we quickly went into the next story session with the light on, you're fine again :)

So now, each time you're about to cry in front of me, you will look at me in my eyes, pout your little lips with teary eyes. You know how to make use of it now! 

Mommy's so proud of you, despite all the handfulness, it's just means that you're smart and what's more to ask for, right? 

Luv ya,

Muah 

World Breastfeeding Week

Breastfeeding Week Sharing Session:

Nurse in Public (NIP) : 
- how was your first time nursing in public? where was it? were u nervous or confident? 
- how to overcome the clumsiness of trying to do so many things at once i.e. unbutton your nursing bra, take put the nipple, lift up your shirt etc? 
- words of advice for new mums to make NIP a breeze?

Watches

You learned how to compliment on a nice watch. "Waaaa... So nice wo..." said while looking at GrandPa's gold watch. 

So I bought you this wrist band "watch" from McD's :) and you're happily posing with Mommy's. 

<3

Royal Baby!

Woohoo~ The Royal Baby is arrived!

Congrats Kate & Prince William for their little prince - who's very healthy weighed in at 8 pounds 6 ounces!

Find us @ Djacaranda, Setiawalk!

We're excited to be part of the artisan handmade store, Djacaranda!

Drop by for the opening ceremony @ 1pm, Sunday, 1st June @ Setiawalk Puchong. 

15% off everything, see ya there! 

<3

***** Updated after the launch *****

We're facing the pool with a wonderful view :) it's a nice place to have a cuppa by the pool :)

Thanks for the many enquiries! 

The ambassador, Norra Claire, with the founder, Louise :)

Djacaranda's owner, Winnie, and Claire Organics' founder, Louise :)

It was a good start on the first day of sales! Thanks for the many enquiries and I shall see you all again soon! :)

Handmade with Love,

Louise

<3

Stuffed Cheesy Bacon Jalapeño & Portobello Mushroom

One of my all time favourite, finally got to try it - Stuffed cheesy bacon portobello mushroom! This time tried it with Jalapeño too!

For first time attempt, successful! :)

My own version of recipe here:

Stuffed Jalapeño/ Portobello Mushroom with Cheesy Bacon

Ingredients:

Base:

4 Portobello Mushroom

2 Jalapeño, sliced into half

Stuffing:

100g Bacon chunks

1 big onion, chopped into small cubes

1 egg

A bit of dried herbs: oregano, basil, thyme

A pinch of black pepper

A pinch of salt

Sauce:

Salsa, or, I substituted with Ketchup

Topping:

100g Mozzarella cheese 

Steps:

1. Spread the bases with sause

2. Mixed all the stuffings well, spoon evenly onto portobello mushrooms and jalapeños 

3. Cover with toppings 

4. Pre-heat the oven and bake for 10 minutes or till it's brown or the cheese melted

5. Or, since I don't have an oven, i used a non-stick pan :) Line the non-stick pan with a little oil, heat up and lightly sautée the bottom of the mushrooms and jalapeño. Cover the pan to allow slow heat for 10 minutes, or till cooked. 

6. Served warm, enjoy! :)

Let us know how it goes! Or, what's your version of this recipe?

Today. My Princess Turns Two.

Who just turns two? I still can't believe it, my then newborn little bunny was now a 2year old little lady. All happens in the blink of an eye!

You can sing, so many songs and, even created your own tunes sometimes! And you are one of the top students in your music class :)

You can fetch the potty, manage your pants down, finish your business and pull up your pants again. I'm proud!

You love drawing. Crayon, water colour, colour pencil, next I'll buy you marker okay?

You love company. Early in the morning when I'm getting ready to work, you'll hold my hand,"Mommy, sit down please." I'll spend a brief moment with you drawing stuffs or enjoying your sticker activities. Untill I'm running late, I hate to rush away from you while you calling me to come back. That makes me cry all the time :'(

You love wearing pretty stuffs. Ribbon, nice dress, pretty hat, fancy bracelets. You will request on certain items at the children's accessories department while you're busy trying them on.

You will grow up to be a happy gal, clever gal, healthy gal, good gal. And a gal who you wanna be :)

Mommy love you. Love you so much.
xoxoxo

Birthday Party Packs

Busy preparing party packs for my little Darling :)

Claire Organics @ Easter Bazaar

It's happening now @ Easter Bazaar, Desa Parkcity.

To thank our customer for great support, we're giving away free gifts with any purchase!

Come over with your little ones for lots of Easter crafty fun! Easter egg painting, henna tattoo, mini photo session, cookies workshop etc.

Grab your free Easter Bunny Ear hair band! Available at 12-3pm, 6-8pm

Norra @ 23months!

Cutting watermelon :)

Her first 'masak-masak' set :)

Sorry Mommy's been so busy (and lazy too) that I haven't been jotting down your milestones.
It's too fast that I missed catching up!

Loving
Stickers! Started having stickers from music teacher and we noticed how much you loved them. Mommy specifically ordered a set of sticker story books for you. That's something you really enjoy playing with us :)

Potty
You're officially on nappy-free completely. Grandma practices with you in the day for a while and now we're confident enough to let you go to bed without one! Not even need it when we're out! Definitely proud of you!

Speaking
Lots of sentences. You can express freely in terms of wanting or "no wan". Calling people morning when we go downstairs after waking up, without me asking you to :)
Part of the bedtime routine, "Mommy, I want, Miggie and, Donner Duck!" demanding for your favourite video clip.
In the middle of the night, sometimes from my deep sleep, I can hear,"Mommy, peez, guhm! Oi Oi Chuuee, dwink nen nen!"

Watching
Love watching Winnie the Pooh. Not even a few times watching and you can already tell me the stories :) after a while you started singing the songs in the videos. Love you!

Listening and Singing
You're definitely loving music so much. Especially the songs we played from your music class. That's a must-have for nap time routine :)

Enjoying going to your music class, of course. Spending time with your peers and oh well, you can actually pay attention to teacher too. Mommy's so proud :)

Learning
You've been playing with crayon for a while, water colours and even pencil colours. Though not much interest in drawing but we're learning colours at least. We're working on numbers too. Almost counting to ten. You often go from "one, two, theee, voh, seven!" Mommy will usually correct you by saying six, seven, then you'll be able to go,"egg, nai, ten!" Gave me a high-five and laughing away.

Eating
Favourite snack at the moment - seaweed! Though raisin still hold its top 3 places but seaweed can calm you instantly without failed.

Loving you more each day.
Proud Mommy
Xoxoxo

Cheesy Tuna Casserole

Cheesy Tuna Casserole!

Happycall Pan! Seen here on my Delicooker

My very first attempt on Cheesy Tuna Casserole! I did some modification, with spiral pasta and "pan-baked" with my newly bought Happy Call Pan.

Here's the recipe:

Tuna chunks in olive oil - 2 can

Spiral pasta - half a packet from 375g

Cheddar/ Mozarella cheese - 150g

Mushroom soup - 2 sachet, stir well in 1 cup of hot water

1 medium carrot - cut into small cubes

1 big onion - cut into bite size

Bacon - cut into bite size

Herbs - basil 1 teaspoon, oregano 1 teaspoon, thyme 1 teaspoon

Black pepper - half a teaspoon

Salt - 1 teaspoon

Nacho - 1 medium packet

Steps:

1. Cook spiral pasta with a teaspoon of salt in water, drain and mix well with olive oil, for later use

2. Stir-fry carrot, onion and bacon till brown

3. Mix all the ingredient in the pan (I mixed mine seperately in a large bowl before transferring the mixture to the pan, whichever easier for you)

4. Bake for 10mins or till brown

5. Sprinkle the top with lightly crushed nachos.

6. Serve warm, enjoy!

Relactation

Of late I've been experiencing extremely low supply, for the whole of last month. I was working extremely busy and often skipped pumping sessions. Most of the day I managed to pump only once at work. Feeling so guilty to bring home only about 3oz of breastmilk.

I've also started going on a no-carbs diet. I can't be going on feeling and looking disgusting. So I'm expecting that will further reduce my supply as I'm cutting down food and carbs intake.

To my surprise, lately I noticed a slight increase on supply. Especially this morning, instead of my usual 2-3oz, I got myself almost a 5oz! That's really something that I didn't expect! So I traced back what I did, only thing I can think of that helped me would be the oats that I've been taking every morning for a week already. I'm glad that my breastfeeding journey is not going to end soon. Next, is to stock up more oats! :)

Seaweed Soup To Boost Your Supply

Thanks Mom for the lovely home cooked seaweed soup. That's exactly what I needed!

Kombu seaweed is rich in protein, calcium, iodine, magnesium, iron and folate. Lower rates of breast cancers have been reported in Japanese women eating a diet high in kelp. Lignans, which help fight cancer are found in high quantity in kelp and may provide protection against certain cancers. In many asian cultures, seaweed soup is considered a must for pregnant and nursing women, as eating seaweed is an effective way of stimulating healthy breast milk production.

Seaweed is also given to students, usually without fail on the night before an important exam, as seaweed is believed to support optimal brain function. Also, because of its high protein, essential nutrients and chinese medicinal qualities it can help support healthy weight loss.
In Korean, this soup is called mi-yuk gook. and can be purchased at most Asian markets and health food stores. Dr. Kim provides a delicious recipe at his website here: http://drbenkim.com/recipes-seaweed-soup.html

Ingredients:
1 package of dried seaweed (1 ounce is fine for four servings), available in all Korean food markets – ask for the kind used to make seaweed soup, or mi-yuk gook (you don’t want the thin kind used to make sushi rolls.)

6 cups of vegetable broth or organic chicken broth 

2 teaspoons of sesame oil

Naturally brewed soy sauce or sea salt, to taste

1 teaspoon of minced garlic (optional)

Directions:
Soak seaweed in water for two hours or until soft. Drain and rinse really well, as dried seaweed can come with a lot of dirt, just like spinach does.

Put all ingredients, including seaweed, into a large pot and bring to a boil, then simmer for five minutes to allow all the flavors to come together.

Koreans traditionally enjoy this seaweed soup with a bowl of white or brown rice, sometimes together in the same bowl.