Owner: Suzette's Parenting & Breastfeeding Blog URL:http://www.thesuzette.com/ Join Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 01:59:04 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Blog managed by a frequent traveler. Being a mother of 2 young children and a strong supporter of breastfeeding, I write mostly about parenting, breastfeeding, development of my children, and interesting stories of my trips. Site statistics:Click here
Trying to Find a Day Care? 2007-03-30 04:08:06 Below is a paid review.
If you are parents trying to locate a daycare for your children, you may want to try using Daycare Bear.
This site was launched in Dec 2005, and it covers all the followings:
Daycare center / preschool
Non-profit daycare center
Family / home daycare
Babysitter / nanny
Occasional daycare center
If you follow my blog regularly, you would know it took me a while to find a good daycare for Ian. In fact, I started out clueless where they are located! After getting a list of them, I have to call/visit each and everyone to confirm the minimum age they take-in, as Ian was only 2.5 years old then. In Malaysia, you don’t get many of those that accept children below 4 years old.
Daycare Bear allows you to search daycare at your fingertips: by zip (vicinity), children’s age, and enrollment date. This will save you the hassle of creating a listing (like what I had to!)
Well, what I like most about this site is their tips on how to choose a daycare. It is org Read more:Day Care
Ian and Play School 2007-03-30 03:40:10 Finding a daycare or play school is never easy, especially for us, new mommies. I have spent nearly 6 months before deciding that the current play school suits Ian most, and am happy that I’ve finally settled with this current one.
The first one Ian was enrolled last year, ended up a disaster. He might be too young then (2.5 years), but even I disliked the school. We decided to discontinue after 3 months (had to finish off the deposit month).
Ian was ‘free’ for a month while I searched for other options. I came across this current school, and brought Ian to visit 3 times before we finally enrolled him. He loved the place (of course with mommy around), during the 3 visits.
We tried it for a month, during the school holiday program. He had a mixed behavior - refused to go when DH sent him, okay when I sent him.
I’ve decided to continue when the school reopened this year. Since he was okay when I sent him, I took up the responsibility to do that, whenever I& Read more:School
How Secured Are Your Locks? 2007-03-29 09:49:41 Last week, when I was in Houston, the meeting started with a security briefing. That was the first time I heard about this Bump Key security issue.
Do you know that it takes very little training for literally anyone to pick any locks? Millions of locks on houses and even padlocks can be opened within a second if you know the trick! And the trick has been told and has been sold all over in the internet for quite a while already! And, da-da-da-da! The Bump Key is the trick.
It is very surprising to find out that the Bump Key can open up to 95% of locks in the market. It actually looks very simple, just like any keys with shorter ‘teeth’. It only takes a few minutes to learn and master the skill. To pick a lock with the bump key only takes less than a second –> just insert the key, bump it, turn the key, and the lock is opened! Even a young kid can do that without any help!
Hey, imagine, this tool is sold in the internet and many have already own it!
More Friends Reading My Blog 2007-04-03 03:22:13 Last Sat night I attended an ex-colleague’s (LK) wedding dinner (the same night I dropped Isabel on the floor).
On the way to the restaurant, I found out that some of my ex-colleagues (of the same badge) are my blog’s regular readers! The bride has once told me about that but I didn’t really pay much attention. The fun thing is, they are also bloggers themselves. Looks like blog bug has infected this circle of friends too.
I actually know WSL only briefly. She told me Cowie, who doesn’t know me in person, introduced her to my blog. WSL then started reading and introduced this blog to Buzymum, who is also an MMB member. That’s how WSl found out who I am!
What a small world. I didn’t know Buzymum in person but we finally met in the same wedding dinner.
Agree with WSL - need to be responsible of what we write in our blog. Who know who is reading! Read more:Friends
, Reading
FUMMO - Make Money Online 2007-04-02 09:54:02
Interested to earn money online? Why not try FUMMO? Just click the banner above to sign up for free, and you can start earning onlin money via 3 ways:
1. Referring friends to sign up for free. Each referral will earn you $5 - so if you sign up via the banner above, I get $5.
2. Complete offers from 20 May onwards
3. Search via its search engine, from 20 May onwards
Why items 2 and 3 are for 20 May onwards? Well, FUMMO is still in beta stage, and will be officially launched on 20 May. I believe this is their recruitment drive, to have a good member base before they are launched to the advertisers out there.
While waiting for them to launch, why not go ahead and earn some referral money, since it is free and no commitment? Read more:Money
Isabel On The Floor 2007-04-02 06:25:38 Last Sat, I attended a wedding dinner, slept very late (to my standard) at nearly 1am.
Probably too sleepy, I slept before Isabel
during one of the midnight feeding. The next thing I knew was a lout bang, and Isable screamed on the floor! Apparently I slept too soon, while she was suckling on the side near the edge of my bed. I didn’t manage to put her back to her cot (or in between DH and I) before I slept.
Poor Isabel… But then, the moment I picked her up and placed her on my bed - she already fell asleep before I could lay down beside her to sooth her! So cute… Read more:Floor
Ian - Going to be 3 y.o. 2007-04-04 12:52:49 Ian will turn 3 years old soon. I am cracking my head trying to decide what to buy for his birthday present. I am eyeing on the ‘computer’ that shoppingmum bought for Justin. But after checking out the prices, I backed off. A good one can cost me RM200! I wonder if it is really worth or not, coz children don’t really play a same toy for long! I am still checking out what to buy…
Okay, in terms of his development…
I have finally toilet trained him, i.e. he is not on potty now! He is using the toilet bowl for both small and big businesses!
He is out of diaper in the afternoon nap, with occassional accidents. To avoid this, it is our responsibility to wake him up every 1.5 to 2 hours.
He sleeps through the night now (finally!), even if Isabel cries/screams in midnight he can still continue sleeping.
He is still very emotional - sometimes cooperative sometimes not, depending on his mood.
He likes to go to school now. Whenever teachers see me, they l Read more:Going
Isabel - 10.5 months 2007-04-04 12:30:38 Okay, her milestones…
Her bottom 2 front teeth has already 3-4 mm emerged. Top 2 front teeth are growing - with the right one 2mm ahead of the left, and the gum is very full. She looks very cute, and a little silly, whenever she smiles showing her teeth - like a rabbit.
She now likes to smile, not as ‘cool’ as before, even at strangers.
She tries to talk, a lot of noise. Most prominent word is ‘Mama’ - which makes me extremely happy!
She fights back now, when Ian bullies her. She is actually very fierce, and I predict that she would be the one bullying Ian in the future - let’s see!
She understands things better than I expect. When I said: “Isabel
, where is your baozhen (bolster)?” She’d turn around and look/grab it!
One thing that really irritates everyone, is her eating habit. She is the most difficult baby I ever seen, to be fed. She refuses every baby food - porridge or cereal. She only likes fruits, biscuits and bread
Ian and Isabel 2007-04-04 12:18:33 I am always very touched to see both children’s response when I get home. Isabel
, especially.
Ian, as usual, would stand by the door, shouting ‘Mama!’, and he’d run in and continue playing his toys/games.
Isabel, cannot speak yet, would have her eyes fixed on me, crawl towards me. If I don’t notice or pretend to not notice her, she’d stare at me expectantly. Until I look at her, she’d smile happily and extend her arms to me, wants to be carried. If I continue not to notice her, she’d be very frustrated and scream at me!
At the sight of me picking up Isabel, Ian would normally want the same attention, and he’d come and want me to hug him too.
By now, I’d have one on each arm, struggling to balance myself (normally I squat down)! I love this. To be frank, how long will my children want to be in my arms? When they grow big, they’d probably be embarrassed to be held by their mom, who knows!
Miserable 2007-04-04 05:29:42 These days, bad news are getting me more miserable everyday… Few days ago (or last week?), there came the announcement of liquid-ban policy in KLIA now.
My breastfeeding journey for Isabel is getting more and more bumpier. My first trip after maternity leave already challenged with this. It was to Chicago, USA, during the first month of the tension period.
Ever since then, my breastfeeding journey has not gotten any easier. Now Malaysia airports also implement the same policy, which make it even worse.
My last trip home from Houston was disasterous. I used the same technique I did from Chicago, i.e. put dry-ice (i.e. frozen CO2). But probably due to chilled ebm that I put instead of frozen ebm, and due to smaller amount this time, nearly half thawed when I reached home.
I am extremely upset with this. But I still used the semi-thawed ebm for the following week, and re-freeze those that still look quite solid. Feel ’sayang’ if I have to throw all them away - 1 Read more:Miserable
Obesity and Eating Disorder 2007-04-05 05:32:06 In Feb this year, Crazedparent wrote about an obese case in London, where the authorities considered taking an 8-year-old boy who weighted 218 pounds (98kg) into protective custody. The family had repeatedly failed to attend appointments with nurses, nutritionists and social workers. A court decided that his mother could continue to look after him with help to control his diel.
Few days ago, a similar case reported. The 10-year-old Spanish boy, weighed 220 pounds, taken away from his family 10 months ago. Since then, he has lost 44 pounds (20kg). His obese was merely contributed by over-feeding from his grandmother, who is now allowed to visit him.
It is disheartening to hear cases like this, when children is taken away from the family because they are unable to control kids’ diet. Is this considered spoiling their children with food? We tend to get worried when our children don’t eat much, and less concerned when our children eat too much.
My mom knows of a little g
AF Visits 2007-04-05 03:14:38 I expected this to happen, but still very disappointed. Auntie Flow finally visited me since last night.
Well, for those who are not aware, if a mother still actively breastfeeding the baby, AF will not visit after confinement is over. It will only start again, when breastfeeding is reduced/stopped.
I have been diligently expressed and fed as frequently as I could. Managed to prevent AF from visiting in 9 months already (discount the 1st month postpartum). The last US trip has ruined this whole thing.
During the last trip, my AI didn’t work well due to the new and inefficient valve. I couldn’t empty McB completely everytime I pumped. And I skipped too much too, due to tight meeting schedule. On the way home, in the plane, I even had blocked ducks, which I couldn’t clear with the pump. I knew my body started to change, towards the end of my meeting in Houston.
Last 2 weeks, my body was changing so much that I could tell. My nipples are getting sensitive and so
Tower Crane (2) 2007-04-10 04:46:11
Ian’s new creation, tower crane. This looks a lot better than the previous one, and he is very proud of himself. Read more:Tower
Houston Trip At the Kitchen Table 2007-04-09 04:39:11 Okay, now I’ve got a little time to write about my last trip to Houston
. This trip is really a mixture of fun/play and work. Of course, I won’t write about work stuff to bore you… The highlight of this trip was in two events, both evenings/dinners.
First evening, we went to The KitchenTable
at the Brennan’s. This was the same place that we went three years ago, when we first became global, i.e. during my very first visit to Houston/America. Though we went to the same place, this visit 2 weeks ago, was definitely a much more pleasant one, probably because we know each other better and I am not heavily pregnant (was 7 months preg the last time).
Okay, what is this place? To put it simple, it is to have a dinner in a kitchen of a famous fine dining restaurant. I know, I know, you’d ask (just like I did) what an idiot is Suzette, dine in the kitchen and thought so highly of this stupid and insulting experience?! Wouldn’t it be smelly and hot
Cowbie Houston Trip 2007-04-11 04:39:12 As you might now, Houston
is in the state of Texas, and what is famous in Texas apart from the Houston Rockets, basketball, oil & gas??!! COWBOY!
On the second night of our meeting, we were given a cowboy shirt to wear. Well, I didnt’ really like mine due to the bright colour, and I didn’t think I’d wear it again, so I got it exchanged. Anyway, we went in to the shop, and each of us were given a budget and bought ourselves a cowboy hat.
We then, wore in our cowboy costume, proceeded to a local BBQ dinner place and had some cheap BBQ dinner (like $8 per person as compared to the previous night of nearly $150!!).
This is my cowboy costume:
They just had their rodeo ended on the previous Sunday, so everyone were staring at us. Some thought we were the rodeo committy. Oh, some tourists (or local, I am not really sure) took our photos too!
I ate BBQ pork ribs for my dinner. They are not as good as Tony Roma’s, coz some are charcoal-like burnt. Anyway, the
Crossed Legs 2007-04-12 04:48:55 Ian likes to sit crossed legs. My mom noticed him since he was a baby and able to sit up by himself. Lately, this crossed leg scene is particularly prominent when he is sitting on a chair:
Luckily he is a boy, otherwise I’ll have problem.
Vacation in HongKong 2007-04-17 03:46:07 I have been away the whole of last week. What you’ve read last week was my scheduled posts, written on Monday, just before I left for my holiday - to keep my blog running!
I went to Hong Kong for vacation with my sister - just the two of us, for 5D4N. Just on the second day itself I’ve already concluded : Money Not Enough, Time Not Enough.
It is really expensive, especially the food. We knew it would be expensive, but since there are so many nice food we couldn’t resist, we had to withdraw money twice to fulfill our desire.
Okay, okay, actually I forgot to budget in the cost of transportation to two places in my itinerary. The new NgongPing360 and Macau. I will blog about my trip later, after I get the pics from my sister. Will write that in my travel blog, perhaps next week or so.
Anyway, just want to note here about BFG. I took my PIS with me, and it proved to be my best travel companion. I didn’t get the chance (and facilities) to express when I wa Read more:Vacation
, HongKong
Star Wars Costumes 2007-04-17 03:32:47 I wonder if one day my company’s annual dinner will use Star Wars
as their theme.
I’ve attended company annual dinners including the following themes:
- Flowers (I won the best dressed, with flowery hair and long dressed sewed with real flowers)
- Colors
- Black
- Iced (I won, with white dress and ice-cube-like necklace)
- Glitters
- Water (this is the most difficult one)
- Tropical (I won, with a fruity hat and floral dress)
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Masquerade
I wonder one day will they do Star Wars or not? I guess this depends on who is the organizing committee, what he/she likes! Girls will probably do Fairy Tale, and we can all dress in Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and … ahem, the Little Mermaid? –> will surely make the guys’ eyes popped out!
Actually I quite like Star Wars, coz once you are inside the costumes, people really have to guess who you are. Kekekeke! I think I will probably dress in Chewbacca Costume - the big beast, if they hav Read more:Costumes
Isabel and Her First Few Words 2007-04-22 09:38:37 Isabel has been forming her own terms, which we don’t understand. These are the 3 terms that she always repeat…
‘Wee Wee’, ‘Bee Bee’, ‘Me me’
Only one that we understand: Mama
When she says Wee-wee/ bee-Bee/Meme, she sounds very cute. Sometimes I wonder if she was calling ‘daddy’ when she says ‘wee-wee’. One morning when DH was playing with her, they went this way:
DH: “Daddy!”
Isabel: “Wee-wee!”
DH: “Daddy!”
Isabel: “Wee-Wee!”
This went on…. Read more:Isabel
, First
, Words
Fancy Dresses 2007-04-22 09:30:43 Talking about fancy dresses, I remember the company’s annual dinner two years ago, which was supposed to be masquerade, but somewhat people just misunderstood, and dressed in fancy costumes.
One colleague of mine, who was also the committee of the event, dressed in the Monkey King (based on the famous Journey to The West character), and he won 3rd price in best dressed.
Some dressed in Cat Woman, some dressed in Disney’s characters, e.g. Snow White.
The first and second best dressed couples actually were in fairy tale characters costumes. No wonder at one point I really confused on what I should be wearing. Luckily I was pregnant, and decided to use that as an excuse not to dress in theme! Well, I usually like to be sporting and dress in theme as much as I could.
Sponsored post Read more:Fancy
, Dresses
Ian’s Birthday 2007-04-22 08:59:39 It was Ian’s birthday yesterday. We celebrated it on Friday, as SIL and my mom were not free last night.
SIL bought Ian a 3D Mickey Mouse cake (pic). It costs RM100! The cake is not only nice to look, it tastes nice too! Better than a lot of other cakes that I had eaten.
We invited only closed relatives, and told all of them not to buy any gifts - but they still did. My sister, BIL and my parents came too. They bought Ian a junior laptop, which Ian is still fascinated now.
Yesterday, as requested by Ian himself, we brought him to the national zoo. To my surprise, the zoo is no longer the smelly one that I remembered, and it is not too hot as there are many big trees.
We arrived slightly over 9am, started with a ride around the zoo in the FOC ‘train’. Then we watched the elephant show at 10:30am, multi-animal show at 11am, then Ian was already exhausted and wanted to go home! He is not that durable, as I expected.
Anyway, these are the highlights (to Ian)
- Read more:Birthday
Baby Clothing 2007-04-28 06:17:20 This is a sponsored review
Belly Dance Baby is a site carrying selections of top baby brands in clothing, footwear, bedding, nursery décor, furniture, mealtime and bathtime gear, hip toys, diaper bags, and nursing essentials.
The brands that they carry include Skip Hop, Tea Collection, Dwell Baby, Netto Collection, blabla, Zid Zid, Oeuf, and Paulina Quintana. I personally have a fond of wooden toys for my kids, and have somewhat fell in love with Melissa & Doug’s products. I am quite happy to see this site carrying them!
Baby girls clothes are also very cute and nice. Somewhat I always find girls’ clothes are a lot more attractive than baby boy clothes. It is also easier to buy clothes for baby girls than boys! Oh, BTW, I must mention that the site has a very good collection on socks. I like colourful socks for kids, and their collections are just unressistable!
Though they recommends the little giraffe baby blankets, I never bought any blankets for my children, Read more:Clothing
Human and Earth 2007-04-25 01:32:12 I love imagination. Or you can say I love day dreaming. Whatever it is, I somewhat always imagine this and almost convinced it is real (though it contradicts with my religion… :P).
Okay, what is my imagination?
——
Do you notice how different we are compared to all other life forms in the earth? We know the difference and we call ourselves intelligent lifes and feel superior about it.
But the key difference I notice is: All other life’s living activities blend-in with the earth, forming good ecosystem and relationship, living in harmony (with the earth, I don’t mean with each other). But Human’s activities actually kills the earth. We take from the earth, we harm the earth, we make the earth sick…
As if we are an intruder to a harmony Home of Earth
, ransacking everything we want, ignoring the original residence here…
Human just don’t blend in to the Earth. Our lifestyle is just so contradicting with it.
——
So, t
3D Mickey Mouse Cake 2007-04-24 03:07:59 Talking about having a 3D MickeyMouse
head birthday cake…
It was actually quite funny, when we started to cut the cake.
One kid exclaimed: “Wah! 开脑啊!” (wah, cut open the brain!)
Ya, we were all laughing coz it really looked like we were operating the Mickey Mouse
’s head, disecting parts of it, distributing, and eating.
Some wanted the ears, some wanted the eyes, nose, mouth, brain,… kekeke, sounds disgusting.
Isabel’s Recent Development 2007-04-30 09:24:35 Isabel is actually very playful. Lately, before sleeping, on the bed, she practices standing up and let go of her hands, then enjoys dropping down again. She does this repeatedly, giggles with every fall, until she finds it so joyful that she laughed with her head facing up, arching her back, and topples, then continue to laugh. She repeats this until she is too tired to continue, then only settles to sleep!
She can be funny like this, but she can be also very irritating. She has very bad temper. One of her acts when she is in bad mood is, pulling her hair and scratching her face. I can’t remember whether I wrote this before… There was once when I reached home attending Ian first without looking at her, she got so furious, screaming and pulling her hair, behind me.
Another act of her is, when you take away stuff from her, she can be angry and knock her forehead on the floor. She does it so hard until her forehead is bruised. And after she knocks her head, (pain Read more:Isabel
, Recent
, Development
SiewBak Noodle 2007-04-30 03:15:18 I had lunch at Uncle Ho’s the other day at the Mid Valley Mega Mall (Lower Ground). Ordered the Aglio Olio (spelling?) with roasted pork. They are famous for their roasted pork (or so called siewbak 烧肉). This is a dish using speghatti cooked in aglio olio style, and topped with this famous pork.
Tastes very well at first, but towards the end, feel very oily and err… jelak (how to say this in English?). Furthermore, since the roasted pork is so oily, the aglio olio is also oily (not sure whether they used olive oil like more of the a/o, I just felt very unhealthy towards the end…
Hmm.. don’t think I will order that again in the future. Read more:Noodle
Boy’s Perspective 2007-04-29 11:39:14 After started telling bedtime stories many months ago, I’ve ran out of interesting boy’s stories, and found myself repeating the same old stories.
Though Ian is still fascinated with those stories, I’ve decided to give it a change. So, I told him those girls’ fairy tales. He doesn’t seem to be that interested, but as long as I tell him something before bed, he is satisfied.
When I told him the story of Sleeping Beauty, I remembered I have a VCD of that Disney’s cartoon (original), which I collected long time ago due to my love of its songs.
I let him watched it a couple of times already. This morning, he took out the VCD and requested me to play for him. I asked him what story is the VCD, he responded:
“The prince and the Phillip” (i.e. Prince Phillip).
See, this is what he remembers. He watches this VCD, to see the brave Prince Phillip, instead of the beautiful Princess Aurora. To him, Prince Phillip is the main character. Boy i Read more:Perspective
Remote Control Toy Car 2007-04-29 03:14:31 Ian’s uncle (DH’s brother) gave him a remote control toy car on his birthday. This is a very nice car. The brand is LEVAN. It says 1:52 radio control racing car.
It requires 4 AA batteries at the controller set, nothing for the car. Before playing, user has to recharge the car from the controller like the pic below. Just a few minutes the car will be fully charged (when the red light is off).
The car is fun, coz when forward it has headlights and when backwards it has reverse lights. A lot of fun for Ian…
Read more:Remote
, Control
, Remote Control
Hello 2007-04-28 09:38:06 One day, Isabel took up a remote control, put to her ear and said:
AH-OH!
She slowly would want to use the phone soon… Read more:Hello
Sick Ian 2007-05-03 04:38:44 Today is the 5th day Ian having high fever - can be as high as 40.9 degree.
Took paracetamol, sponged him, no use. Doc gave Voren to insert, effective to bring down temperature, but temporary only.
On 3rd day/night, I brought him to emergency dept in the midnight of the labour/wesak holidays. Doc took blood sample (worried of dengue). Whilst blood test was done, doc recommended to do test on mycoplasma, since he coughed for more than 4 weeks, no signs of recovering.
Blood test confirmed no dengue, but mycoplasma antibody existed at low level. Seriously, I don’t really understand what it means.
Did a search on Google. It is related to ‘walking pneumonia’ or ‘atypical pneumonia’.
Again, what does it mean? Low-level of the antibody - serious or not? I have no idea. The hospital asked me to bring Ian to see pead. I have 2 meetings in the morning, can only bring in the afternoon.
I have so many questions in my mind… Is it serious? Is it contag
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