Wednesday 25 February 2009

Mommy, it hurts!

You never realize how difficult it is to be a mother until you feed her, and you hear her cry for help. And I truly understand the meaning of those words today. 
Rania is now 6 months old, the starting of weaning period. So just like any mother, I've been trying my ass off to feed her. And just like any baby would at first, she refused. It's either she spit it out or she threw off the spoon. Papaya, peaches, or banana. Instant milk rice, bottled pureed or real fruit, I've tried it all. So I thought, what the heck, if she doesn't want to eat then she doesn't want to eat. Well, guess again. 
Today, just this afternoon, suddenly she had constipation, it was so bad, I had to dug out some of her stuff! And what's make it worse, she cried like hell so for a baby as quiet as Rania, that means she really is in deep pain.
After an OMG moment (read: panic attack) at the doctor, she finally can pass some stuff. Like some VERY BIG, THICK stuff. Man! I never thought baby can pass out poo like that!
So in conclusion, turns out that she actually HAS to eat, especially fruit that's rich with dietary fiber. SHOOT! so that's mean I have to FORCE her to eat. 
The moral of the story is: when you are a mom, you have to do your duty even if it will make your baby uncomfortable, like forcing her to eat stuff that she hates. It's better to do that, than to hear her crying for help, trust me. And oh yeah, and the second moral of the story, baby poo stinks, ugh !

Sunday 22 February 2009

Hello From Jakarta (3)

For those of you who thinks that Jakarta is Hell, think again. I went to a hectic trade center (yes, hectic like hell) yesterday and found this baby store. There is not even a proper signage or placement shelf, but the stuff that you found were no lesser than branded stuff in a pricey baby store like mother care or the first few years (In Singapore). And the price? 30%, 40% or even less than 50% off!!
I found this jumparoo ( just like the name, it's like a jumping seat for babies over 6 mths) in Singapore for 240 SGD.

We planned to buy it at first, but then decided to spare some time to think about it. Then, yesterday, out of the blue I found the SAME ITEM exactly, sitting on the floor of the cheap baby store, for how much? No, not 200, not 150, not even 100 SGD... it's only 87.5 SGD!!! CHEAP LIKE HELL!! That's less than half from the original price of a branded baby store in Singapore! I bought the item directly without further ado. Now, I'll search for more bargain items in more places. Perhaps some designer baby bag? Hi hi hi. VIVA Jakarta!

Hello from Jakarta (2)

I promised you all i'll write once something interesting came up. And well, something did come up alright. 
One day after I and Rania arrived, my brother came up with high fever. Followed by my Father, and then my mother's helper. We thought at first it was  just a common cold, but the fever wont come down even after a booze of antibiotics. After 2 days of uncertainty, the lab test result finally proved it that it was actually DENGUE FEVER. Gosh, 3 people from the same house was infected by the same virus!
For those of you who didn't know, dengue fever was spread by a mosquito called aedes aegypty. The infected would have myalgia, loss of orientation, cold sweats and super-high fever. There is no vaccine nor antibiotics to kill the virus, and the virus would leave only after 7 days. The treatment would be: to drink a lot of water to flush out the virus, and paracetamol to treat the fever and the aches/ myalgia. 
To get rid of the virus in the house, and to prevent it from spreading, we need to kill the mosquitoes and the larva by a process called fuming, or spraying the house with some sort of anti-mosquito killer spray.The fuming took a couple of hours, and left my parent's house with a distinct smell that can even make a cat puke. 
Anyway,  I just hope this is the first  and the last time for us to have the disease in our home.  

OK, since its already 11pm Jakarta time, I think I need to go. So see you in the morning, hope to bring you more stories than just a mosquito disease. 

Friday 13 February 2009

Give me some choco please, it's valentine's day!

When I was a kid, I cherished Valentine ’s Day like every normal teenager would do. I would cry whenever I hear any valentine’s inspired songs. Cards, Chocolate and valentine emails. Ouch, so corny.
But as I grew older, I feel that valentine has lost its meaning. I’ve tried to look for the real reason behind the story of Valentine ’s Day and I don’t find the story meaningful cum romantic. Well, what’s so romantic about a priest or a saint who got beheaded because he helped young couples getting married and declaring their love? So later in life, I concluded that Valentine, the same as Halloween, is just a big conspiracy of major corporations that sell: greeting cards, candies and chocolates, balloon and flowers. And oh, Teddy bears and plush toys (FYI, I got one when I was 21, ha ha!).
But then again, now that I’m married, I look back and try to reveal what made me think that way. Was I just being skeptical, or being cynical? Because there’s a big difference between those two. Then after carefully investigating the attestations (d’oh…) I concluded that I was just being cynical. I mean, what’s so bad about giving cards and stuff, as a symbol of our extra attention? And you just don’t have to give it only on valentine’s day, you can give it anytime. And if you wanna give something extra on Feb-14, then go ahead!
Hence for me now, every day would be Valentine ’s Day. I don’t need any cards to tell my hubby and my daughter, others surround me, or even mother nature me how much I care for them. I can do it verbally, or by doing something valuable. In fact, we can only show your affection to Mother Nature only by ‘greening’ our routine. (Well, you can hug a tree or give it chocolate, but it won’t love you back, so there’s no use).
But in case anybody would like to give me a V-day present, I’d love to have chocolate. In fact I still love it, whether it’s valentine’s day or not. Hi hi.

Sunday 8 February 2009

Just some silly post from Jakarta

Finally.. I have arrived in this busiest city in the region... oops sorry.. the CROWDIEST (is there such a word?) in the region...

The sight, smell and sound...

Jakarta, Jakarta, Jakarta.. I welcome my self in ur arm (he he he..)

Rania was a bit awkward when we arrived last nite, we spent like an hour trying to calm her down, I guess she was a bit of afraid of the high ceiling and the bright lamps and the BIG room (compared to her room).
But today she's already adjusting, she did some bird watching and met some of her cousins who came by.

AND she ate her first portion of peach and BANANA! and she liked it (although she didn't dig peach that much). I guess deep down inside she's still a tropical girl.

Anyway, gotta go now. I'm gonna keep posting more stories from Jakarta tomorrow.

Friday 6 February 2009

Rania's New Job : Forest Ranger

Hi, I'm Rania, Boogie-Jungle Ranger




To keep in shape, I do some baby wiggle in the morning


Followed by some push-ups


This is me, look how happy I am with my job!




But, afterwards, I become soo tired...

And my Lovely mum would try to feed me this stuff..
a whole mug of baby rice milk....


well, things still under control at first..

But then I become bored...

... And I ended up pouring the stuff ll over my face... ( Don't I look like Charlie Chaplin?)

Thursday 5 February 2009

long time no post

hola hola.... Sorry for not posting so long.... Things come up, this and that and suddenly i just forgot to write in my precious bloggie! Hoa! Anyway, just wanna share with you that i'm reading this book called 'momstown' it's like a guide for new mothers about juggling life, family, sort of a survival guide of motherhood! recomended for you mothers outthere! Anyway....i'll be away for quite a while -i'll be going to jakarta for 6 weeks. hopefully i can write some interesting stories from there. Thats all for now, keep watching, ill be loading some ranias photos soon