Any resemblance?

heheh....

Tagged....better late than never :) (from Lanostzz)

Second Mother's Day. Did absolutely nothing. Ziltch. Na-da.
But thoroughly enjoyed the day.

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(Note: Some of the links were lost before the tag was passed on to me. Sorry, but you can google the name of the blogs if you're interested to find their links. Thanks!)

Cut and paste the following starting here.

I have randomly selected 5 of you below to be tagged and I hope that you will similarly publish this post in your blog. You will have to tag 5 other bloggers and just keep adding on to the list. (Do not replace, just keep on adding! Yes we hope it will be a long list!)It’s real easy!Tag others and see your Technorati Authority increase exponentially!

The benefits of Viral Linking:
- One of the fastest ways to see your technorati authority explode!
- Increase your Google PageRank fast
- Attract large volume of new traffic to your site
- Build your community
- Make new friends!

The Strategist Notebook, Link Addiction, Ardour of the Heart, When Life Becomes a Book, The Malaysian Life, Yogatta.com, What goes under the sun,Roshidan’s Cyber Station, Sasha says, Arts of Physics, And the legend lives, My View, My Life, A Simple Life, Juliana RW, The Callalily Space, Petra Summer in Blue, Confessions of an Army Wife Bless’ Sanctuary Happy Life, http://bless519.bravejournal.com/, La Place de Cherie, Chez Francine, Le bric a brac de Cherie, Little Peanut, Pea in a Pod, The Creative In Me, Me and Mine, Pinay Mommy, Expressions from the Heart, TeacherJulie, Sweetbites by Bang, Paul, Toni and Lance - Bridging the Distance, Our Growing Family, The Uncensored life of me, My Untamed World, Something Purple, A Detour, Something Purple, Wifespeaks, Changing Lanes, Bits and Pieces, My Chocolate Coated Glasses, God's Gift, Through the Rain, My Small World,My Life, My Hope, My Future,Nyumix's Blog , The Lings, , Life In Secret City, Gateway City Window View, This is My Life, moralle, Ripples of Rasp, Tod. Ted & Ned, MAMA RYAN, Mami Hafiy, Lanostz, ummi sa'eed

Pretty pink rose tag goes to~

phantasma
ibuhannah
adamandimran's mummy

In Bali...

...my merry friends, not me. They left for Bali yesterday. Four of them. All single girls. The last time they went, cool headed, rational Hawa was there to make sure things are well under control...but this time around, it's without Hawa. Oh how I shudder...heh.

I need a holiday. My hubby and I particularly like Cameron Highlands. We could stay in Bala's Chalet. I loved that place as a kid...I remember the red comfy warm blankets and how one time my brother was chased by a dog outside the place. But I dread the ride up. Will Sa'eed be okay? He likes to look out the window from his carseat. I'm sure he'll get nauseous if he does that..or won't he?

Or maybe we should go somewhere like Port Dickson? Or even Pulau Redang...oh wait, what about the boat ride? Should we just go and see what happens...like how I usually do things?

Talking about holidays, I remember the time my girlfriends and I went for a road trip in the States when we were studying there. We covered North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska, all in a week. It was probably the best roadtrip I've gone to. What I remember the most was that although it was in the summer, it was really really cold in the mountains. All 4 of us girls were definitely under dressed.

Once we went hiking and found a secluded stream. Because we haven't showered for a couple of days, we thought, why not? But going into the water, it was freezing cold! We only ended up washing our feet in it...heh.

Mind you, we stayed in different National Parks every night. There was a campsite in the middle of nowhere, one was near a creek where we woke up surrounded by deer and moose and my favorite one was the one where we could lay out a mat, lie down and watch the stars. That night, we decided to buy Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Sobe drinks to pig out because it was our last night on the road trip. As we laid down and watched the stars in pitch dark, we could hear annoying dogs barking. Suddenly we heard what sounded like coyotes howling...they seemed to be really close by! And the dogs promptly quit barking their heads off.

So back to my main point. I need a holiday.

A review on breastpumps

This review is from my own experience in using breastpumps. Hopefully this will help some new mommies out there. This is mainly for working mums, but even if you are a stay-at-home-mom, you might need at least a manual pump in case you get engorged or if you need to leave baby at home to do groceries or for a dinner rendezvous with hubby.

Snow Bear Electric Pump

USELESS...don't even attempt to try it.

First Years Manual pump (package as pictured above)

Cost: Free (My cousin's kind hearted wife gave it to me because I was having an ultra hard time pumping for Saeed in the hospital when he had jaundice). Bought at Toys R Us if I'm not mistaken.

Time: 20 to 30 minutes

Pros: Anytime anywhere since it was manual, very comfortable

Cons: Long time to pump (pumped every 3 hours, about 3 times at work: 9.30, 12.30, 4.30), tiring too
Sometimes milk would get into the ‘pump head’, which cannot be dismantled to be cleaned

*decided to buy another one due hygiene issues when milk started to leak into the head

Avent Isis Manual Pump (pump + a few bottles)

Cost: ~ RM 200

Time: 20-30 minutes

Pros: Anytime anywhere since it was manual, very comfortable
Can pump straight into Avent (or other wide necked bottles), don’t have to transfer milk to other bottles to be given to baby

Cons: Long time to pump (pumped every 3 hours, about 3 times at work: 9.30, 12.30 and 4.30), tiring too

Spectra 3 Electric Pump

Cost: Used this at the hospital during one of Sa’eed’s check up (I think it’s about ~RM 600 for complete set, but only ~RM 400 for the pump body + 1 set of tubing/bottle *thanks mommyadam for highlighting this)

Time: 10-15 minutes

Pros: Double pumping

Cons: No battery pack, have to depend on electricity outlet
Have to buy 2^nd set of tubing and pumping horn separately (not that expensive)
Bulky (can leave it at the office and have manual pump at home)

Medela Pump in Style Advanced (package as pictured above)

Cost: RM 1688.00

Time: 10-15 minutes

Pros: Double pumping, saves time (very important for me since missing 1 ½ hours per day to pump is a bit too much)
Can pump straight into typical narrow necked bottles; don’t have to transfer milk to other bottles to be given to baby

Cons: Need electricity outlet (but has battery pack (or car adapter, sold separately), uses 10 batteries, lasts for about 10-12 pumping sessions)
Earlier models can be noisy

Note: most brands now have double pumps. I think Avent's is about RM 1800, not sure about First Years

Fun answers...

...to when your significant other asks the question:

Why did you marry me?

• Only coz you asked...
• The other guys/girls I stalked found out and got freaked out.
• You owned a Toyota Prius Hybrid with 45 mpg mileage...how could I resist?
• There was this bet...*pause*...and I lost.
• You were the only guy/girl tall enough for me.
• You weren't living with your parents.
• My mother liked you out of the 5 guys/girls I was dating.
• Yeah...what was I thinking, right?

Haha...okay, time to do real work... :) Guess which one I used on my man?

aaahh...labor day weekend

Yeah I know, the public holiday for labor day was only on Thursday. Hubs and I took leave on Friday and it was a looooong weekend. Full of activities and eating out :)

Thursday
Went grocery shopping at TESCO in the afternoon. Ran into makcik there, but weirdly enough Sa'eed was scared of her...and the boy sees her everyday! Maybe because she had her scarf on. Oh yeah, before that we went to have lunch at Secret Recipe because I wanted cake. Hubs had an office gathering with SR cake, so I had to even the score. The waiters there were really efficient (or is it due to lack of anything to do?). Everytime Sa'eed dropped the spoon he was playing with, one of the waiters would come running and replace it.

Later for dinner, we went to Andalus at Jalan Damai, Ampang. It is an Arab restaurant. We went with my parents and maktok. The food was delicious. I had tabouleh, chicken kebab with rice and yogurt....yummy :) If you ever go there, make sure you get the mango juice..it is definitely superb...pure mango!

Friday
In the morning we went to Sa'eed pedi because he was due for his 12 month jab...chicken pox and something else which I can't remember. And he was also beginning to become a little ball of eczema, so we had to get that treated. Alhamdulillah I can clearly see that his skin is getting so much better. I bathe him with EUBOS for baby and also put on cream for extra dry skin and also put on Emolet cream for spots where the skin is more reddish. Eczema runs on my side of the family and unfortunately Sa'eed inherited it.

Later in the day after Friday prayers, we went to visit our cousin's wife in the hospital. She had a surgery to remove some implants in her back. Alhamdulillah I could see that she was recovering well. My dad saw the titanium implants they took out, but I didn't get to see it. Oh well, she would probably blog about it when she's up to it. Then we went over to my inlaws' house in Bangi. They're still in Gambia, but hubby's siblings were there.

Saturday
A day of lepak-ing in Bangi. Woke up late, ate late, didn't do much.

At night we went to eat at Uncle Chilli's in Amcorp Mall with hub's family (5 other siblings, 1 uncle, 1 grandma and 1 brother inlaw). I haven't been to AM for ages. The last time was probably when I was in highschool eons ago. The food at UC was good. We ate rice with tons of lauk-pauk (other dishes). Then after that we went back to TTDI.

Sunday
My camera is better....yaay. The psycho camera only accepts high end batteries and non of the cheapo stuff...hmmmph. Anyways, here's a picture of Sa'eed and his new hairdo.

Borderline girlish...or is he already there? gaaaah

In the morning after breakfast at home, we went to have brunch...yupp, you read it right..we went for brunch after having breakfast with my parents, brother and his family. It was at The One in TTDI. It's a nice kopitiam place. I had nasi lemak with rendang ayam and it was fabulous. Sa'eed had egg sandwich. He was very picky that day, he would refuse to eat the soggy part of the sandwich. And the only reason why it's soggy is because of his own saliva.

After brunch the three of us headed to One Utama. Hubby got a pair of pants and I got a little something for me too. And I got Sa'eed a pair of army pairs (because I really like Idraki's pair) and cheapo PJs for RM15. Below is a picture of Sa'eed modeling his PJs.

My lips pouty enough for you?

Later that night we went to Bora Asmara in Sg Penchala with hubs' family coz his grandma wanted to eat there. I feel like the quality of food there has somewhat deteriorated (this judging by the low quality of my favorite Blueberry Wild drink). And they changed the music guys from the usual group. One of them was smoking in the air conditioned room we were in. I was so annoyed and kept staring at him. But of course he kept on puffing away.

That was it. Our long, fun filled and food filled weekend :D And today I slave away in the office...ho-humm.

What do you think?

From www.kellymom.com

"If your baby is older than 9-10 months and still breastfeeds regularly (at least a few times a day), and is expanding his interest in solid foods, he does not require any additional milk (formula, cow's milk, soy milk, rice milk or the equivalent nutrients from other foods).
Instead of additional milk you can offer your child solids, with water or juice (no more than 3-4 ounces a day) and any expressed milk you may have stored.

The dairy industry has done a great job at convincing us that our diet is lacking in something if we don't drink cow's milk! Cow's milk is really just a convenient source of calcium and other nutrients - it's not required. There are many people in many parts of the world who do not drink cow's milk and still manage to get all the calcium, protein, fats, vitamin D, etc. that milk has to offer. Too much cow's milk in a child's diet can (1) put him at risk for iron-deficiency anemia (because cow's milk can interfere with the absorption of iron) and (2) decrease the child's desire for other foods.

After the age of 12 months (or sometimes later, depending upon your child), milk becomes a more minor part of your child's diet. If you have a child who refuses to drink regular milk and is no longer nursing regularly, you can offer yogurt, cheese, and ice-cream as substitutes. Also, you might put milk into various food products: pancakes, waffles, French toast, scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes, and baked goods. Added protein may be offered via creamy peanut butter and a well-cooked egg yolk; calcium may be derived from calcium-fortified juice or green vegetables. More info here on many other nondairy sources of calcium."

My milk supply has been dwindling and I can only get around 3 oz per day at work. This article has given a little bit of perspective in assuring that it's okay for my baby to have regular milk if my EBM runs out during the day. And I do nurse him after I get home from work, so insyaAllah it should be okay :D

But what do you think? Is it just a marketing ploy to give cow's/formula milk to babies after 12 months? Do they really need it or not?