kakak pinched me!

yesterday evening when i picked ziyi up from the kindy, i noticed the tip of her nose was slightly bruised. i asked her what happened to her nose?

zy: kakak do like that (her hand pinching her own nose)


me: kakak pinched you?


zy: kakak pinched me (doing the gesture again)


me: why kakak pinched you? did you cry?


zy: kakak beat you..

i was enraged when she told me about the pinching part. she couldn't be simply telling us that if it did not really happened because none of us have taught her to pinch her nose before. well, about kakak beating her, i don't think i should believe her because she sometimes just like to simply say something..after all she's just 2.5 yr old.

i immediately called Teacher Tan to ask her about this but she said she did not hear ziyi crying and did not see kakak doing anything to her. she insisted that ziyi could have hurt herself when she was playing with other kids. i still think ziyi told me the truth coz if she really fell and hurt herself, she would have told me she fell and knocked, pain pain! 

i shall wait till this evening to query them again when i pick her up. it must be very painful for my little girl since her bruised nose has not subsided this morning. :(

my naughty little girl

i was talking to ziyi's teacher one day when i picked her up after work. her teacher showed me a video clip of ziyi running around with 2 older boys and 1 older girl. ziyi was chasing one of the boys and screaming on top of her lung and then she climbed up the storage cabinets like a monkey!

teacher:  ziyi is very active. she likes to play with the boys.

me: is she always like this (running and screaming)?

teacher: yes

me: is she very naughty amongst the girls?

teacher: yes, there's another girl who's also hyper, but not as naughty like ziyi.

me: oh dear... how about comparing her with the boys?

teacher: errmmmm.......about the same.

*slap forehead*

i was not surprised with her answers though. because lately i have to use the cane almost every night otherwise she won't listen to me and very rebellious! she's only 2+ now, what a long long way more to go.

Family Trip - Melbourne Oct 2010

...continued from Sydney Trip post

we reached Melbourne on the 18-10-10, weather was cold, drizzling and windy. hub's cousin (Phelix) was waiting for us outside Melbourne Airport T3. he told us we are going to stay at his sis-in-law's house in Berwick and the drive back to Berwick took about 1 hour. ziyi fell asleep in the car again.

we went for dinner at a nearby mall when we reached Berwick. we had asian food since it was already 7+pm and most other shops were already closed by then. we went home after dinner and put ziyi to bed early that night.

happy girl waiting for boarding at Sydney Airport

Day 9

we decided to stay home today. ziyi was unwell, and so was I. ziyi was having mild diarrhea due to her antibiotics. i spent the day washing her poops all day long. it got so bad that i had to get her lactose free milk. she practically survived on milk throughout her stay in Australia. being a fussy eater and unwell at the same time, she hardly ate anything and was interested only in bread, biscuits and milk.

we walked out to Coles @ Eden Rise to purchase some grocery items to cook lunch and dinner. our relatives are vegetarians so we couldn't bring any meat home.

we love this neighbourhood very much!

this caught her attention especially the Dora & Boots cake :)

Day 10

another staying at home day :(

hubby was getting bored, but what to do.....ziyi was having diarrhea and i didn't want to risk having poop soiled pants all the time. so, nothing much to write about day 10....

Day 11

Phelix arrived our place at 8.30am to bring us to the city. public transport was inconvenient at where we stayed and the distance from Berwick to CBD was about 1+ hour in the morning!

he dropped us at the Melbourne Museum. it was so big that we could have spent half the day here but we only spent about 2 hours there because ziyi was getting restless and i was hungry too. i bugged hubby to leave the place and off we went to hunt for food.

the Dinosaur track... awesome!

without any maps in hand, we simply 'tembak' our way to Chinatown. luckily i still remember some of the road names and finally we reached Chinatown. went for Shanghainese food, surprisingly it was very good.

shanghai noodle with homemade dumplings.. 

very tasty, the noodle is very different from what we have here.

hub's stir fried beef with chilli oil with rice

later we walked around the place and went to Target. things were cheap but after conversion (x 3.06), i ended up buying only a pair of Dora sandals for ziyi only... nothing for myself :((

we 'tembak' our way again and we managed to get to the Visitor Information Centre at Federation Square and hubby collected as many brochures as he could to help us plan our visits for the next few days.

Flinders Station, just opposite the Federation Square

Federation Square, where we found the Visitor's Information Center

Day 12
another city day.... i lost my voice and was not in the mood for sight seeing/shopping at all! but still we went around the CBD so that we wont waste anymore time staying at home instead.

Phelix dropped us at the famous Queen Victoria Market. walked around the place but didn't buy anything here. we left and walked around the city for almost 1 hour and later we headed back to Chinatown for Dimsum. ziyi was very cranky and wanted me to carry her again....haihhh....

some of the stalls at QV Market

we left the city pretty early since i was not very well.... Phelix picked us up and brought us to St Kilda beach. it was a very beautiful place and the weather was very nice too!

little rascal running around St Kilda Beach with her purple sunnies

Day 13

they planned for a trip to Ballarat which was going to take about 2 hours car ride. i decided not to join them as i was worried i would have motion sickness and i don't really like long hour car rides. but hubby called the plan off as he'd prefer me to tag along with them. so we changed our plan to somewhere nearby. we went to Sunnyridge Strawberry Farms but we had no luck in picking strawberries as it was only available Nov onwards. so we had some hot drinks and scones with devonshire cream & real jam... so yummy. oh yea, ziyi had her share of Baby Cino too... it's kids' version of Cappucino, minus the caffeine.

daddy made me posed while i'm eating the yummy strawberry!

baby cino? mummy, cappucino tastes so much better than this!

hubby ordered scones with devonshire cream & jam... thumbs up!!

next was the Ashcombe Maze. love this place, not the maze though as it made me dizzy, but the Lavender Garden and the nature. perfect weather for an outing like this.

beautiful lavenders

then we went to Arthur's Seat.... superb view from this place. very windy though, i had to stay with ziyi near the car while they went off to see see walk walk.

love the view and the weather!

Day 14

since we won't be going anywhere too far, we planned to go to the city again. thought of visiting Melbourne Zoo, but gosh, when we saw the Qs at the entrance, that really put us off. so we changed to Crown instead. while on our way to Crown, we were given 4 free entrance tickets to Baby & Parents Expo at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre.  Phelix was pretty excited to visit this expo since his wife just gave birth recently. i left ziyi to hubs care and i shopped on my own... hahaha.... peace for me.

will you join the queue if you were there too? or is it just me.

after about an hour or so, we left the place and went to Crown. had a quick lunch at the food court (Jap food again) and it was my turn to care for ziyi while hubby and Phelix went to the casino!! i had to wait for more than half hour with nothing to do except pushing ziyi in the stroller around the place, couldn't even sit or rest my tired feet!

when they were done, we decided to go for shopping! yayyy!! there was this big mall nearby with all the factory outlet stores.  i was supposed to be happily browsing through everything that was on discounted price but ziyi again, spoiled my day, wanted me to carry her. we had to leave early as i was not in the mood to shop anymore.  we headed home right after that.

Day 15

souvenir shopping day...

went to Westfield but couldn't get what we wanted, instead we ended up with a Sesame Street Drumset for ziyi at a steal... only AUD$25! then we drove off to somewhere nearby to a Warehouse Chemist to buy vitamins and some body lotions. i got myself 2 bottles of perfumes too...at a very cheap price.

bought some baby toiletries and the Sesame Street Drumset

then we went to Boxhill to buy the ever famous Golden Boronia Nougats. Boxhill is flooded with Asians. for a sec, i thought i was in HKG or China! later, we went to get some t-shirts as gifts for the in-laws too.

i fell asleep in the car later when we were heading home. too tired!

Day 16

as we were to leave Melbourne tonight, we decided to stay home and walked to Coles to buy biscuits and some other snacks back home. there were so many things i wanted to buy but my luggage will definitely be overweight! moreover, things were not that cheap after conversion :(

before we leave, we gave away the Sesame Street Drumset to baby Shang (our relative's son) since we did not buy them any gifts when we were there. i was glad that he like the drumset. ziyi, oh ziyi, mummy will buy you another set later ok...

we left for the airport early, reached about 2.5 hours before departure time. gosh, i was shocked to see the long Q at the check-in counter! we had to wait for 1 hour for our turn to check-in. ziyi, as usual was very cranky and cried at the airport coz it was already way way past her bedtime. when we were finally on board, she cried non stop again during take-off. i thought i was going to throw her off the plane at that moment...she really drove me nuts!

we finally reached LCCT at 7+am and oh boy, it felt so good to be home especially when i have a  sick and difficult child to lug along.........

traditional cold and cough relief

i'm taking these supplements to help strengthen my immune system. Bio-Allisure from Bio Life and also Esberitox N. there are many types and brands of garlic pills over-the-counter.  apparently Bio-Allisure contains 100% Allicin powder produced by an enzymatic reaction of garlic amino acid, alliin, and garlic enzyme, allinase. Allicin contains special type of bond which giving allicin its remarkable antibiotic properties. In particular, the properties are to assist the immune system in a number of important ways, including stimulating cells, killing foreign bodies and detoxifying cancerous substances.

Esberitox N is a combination of plant extracts which has been clinically proven to boost and support the body's immune system and help reduce the symptoms of the common cold.  i tried giving it to ziyi, but she spit it out. i may have to crush it and add into her milk bottle. 

to give or not to give......medicines

each time ziyi falls sick, i would bring her to the paediatrician for consultation and prescription of medicines. i'd diligently feed her all the meds till she's fully recovered.

when we were in Australia last month, my friend was shocked to see the number of bottles of medications i had to give ziyi! she said in Australia, her family doctor hardly prescribe any medications for her daughter unless it's absolutely necessary. they believe in letting the child's antibody to do its job and at the same time strengthen her immune system to fight against infectious organisms and other invaders.

for the past few days ziyi's been having stuffy nose, especially at night and coughing every now and then. when i see my little girl suffering in her sleep every night, i'm very tempted to give her medications for her speedy recovery. but hubs and i still think we should try the conservative way and not rely too much on medicines!

i hope she'll recover soon but if it prolongs for more than 2 weeks, i may have to bring her back to her paediatrician.

probiotics

i brought ziyi to her paed for her follow up check up. she was prescribed with probiotics this time as she had 2 courses of antibiotics after falling sick in Australia last month. the paed gave her Prolactor Suspension (80ml) which cost me RM35.00!

i used to give her Biolife pre & probiotics but i think this is not the best probiotics around. i'm still hunting for a good probiotics for her and myself too. i've been falling sick pretty often lately.... age factor??? hhmmm....

i read about Prolactor from a few mummies blogs and apparently this is a very good brand but to me, this is too expensive. i think the 80ml bottle can only last her for about 2 weeks. that will definitely burn a hole in my pocket.

Family Trip - Sydney Oct '10

this was our 1st family holiday trip over-the-sea! we left on the 10-10-10 and spent 1 week in Sydney. flew with AirAsia to Melbourne, then transit to Sydney on Tiger Airways. It was so tiring! the little one gave a hard time during our transit period in Melbourne Airport. she cried and cried and cried till we boarded the plane and finally knocked off. phew!

in brief, these are the events that happened during our stay in Sydney:

Day 1
we reached at noon and took a cab back to my friend's (Angel) apartment in St Leonards. the cab fees cost us AUD$62.00. the weather was perfect in time like this. i immediately called her neighbour to pass us the key to her unit. the apartment was strategically located near to the train station with other amenities within walking distance. ziyi was overly tired and she napped till 7.30pm when Angel, her hubby (Tun Pin) and her cutie daughter (Isabel) came home to bring us out for dinner. they brought us to a nearby Japanese restaurant in Chatswood.

Day 2
we were still tired and body clock was still unadjusted to Australia's local time (gmt +11). so we decided to sleep in till almost noon and went out to Chinatown for a walk and a quick meal at Market City, which was a short distance from the Central Station. went home before 5.30pm to beat the after office hour rush. Angel was so nice that she rushed home after work to cook us dinner. her culinary skills was superb. i managed to "tau si" and learned some of her secret recipes..:)

Day 3
when we were about to leave the house, we received a call from Angel that Isabel was unwell at the daycare and she asked if i could help look after her at home. i voluntarily offered my help since i didn't mind staying home and let the 2 girls to have some playtime together.

with cutie Isabel... she puked immediately after drinking the apple juice.... and monkey see monkey do, ziyi wanted a juice too when she saw Isabel holding hers so i gave her the ribena which came with her kiddie meal from airasia.

Day 4
we decided to visit the iconic Opera House and the Botanic Garden nearby. perfect weather for picnic and outings like this. ziyi enjoyed herself so much at the Botanic Garden that she ran all over the grass area like a bird let out of a cage.

our first family photo in Sydney :)

happily running around the Botanic Garden

Day 5
our nightmare started on this day. ziyi started to puke at about 6am. and she vomitted like 7-8 times in a day. she had never vomitted like this before. she lost her appetite and was very weak. i was hoping it was just viral infection but....

Day 6
she continued vomitting in the morning. so it was like, more than 24 hours! we decided to bring her to the doctor. Tun Pin drove us to their family doctor in Chatswood. Dr. James Chong, a nice Malaysian guy, consulted ziyi that day and prescribed her with antibiotics (Amoxycillin) because she had inflammed throat with enlarged tonsils. poor baby...

but this girl was extremely cranky and she cried uncontrollably at the clinic for more than 1/2 hours! she refused to be carried and lied down on the floor, kicking furnitures, and cried non-stop! this girl has serious temperament problem. we finally managed to console her and pushed her in the stroller till she fell asleep, walked to Westfield to buy her med from the chemist there. the consultation fee cost us AUD$35 and med AUD$8.80. had a quick korean lunch at the food court and took a train home immediately after that.


Day 7
we decided to go to Darling Harbour as we would be leaving tomorrow. checked on ziyi that she was no longer puking and slightly improved, i dressed her up in slightly thicker clothing. first we went to the once a year festival near to where we stayed. it was like our flea market here and we left after about 1 hour or so. later, we visited The Rocks, Darling Harbour and purchased 2 adult tickets to the Wildlife World.

i had a hard time convincing ziyi to enter the Wildlife World! little did i know that she was afraid of the butterflies near the entrance! i had to carry her all the time. she was afraid of everything there except for the fishes in the big crocodile tank. aargghh...we made a mistake, should have brought her to the Sydney Aquarium instead!

at the fest...balloons and dogs everywhere!

on the way to Darling Harbour

2 adults entrance tickets cost us AUD$70

Day 8
we packed our stuff in the morning and took a cab (AUD$49) to the airport for our flight to Melbourne. i was very stressed again, worried that ziyi wouldn't behave herself on board.

we reached the airport darn early, 2.5 hours before flight. unfortunately, the flight was delayed for 60mins! gosh, i had to find ways to entertain ziyi, so i pushed her around the airport in her stroller hoping she'd sleep. but she did not! when we finally boarded the plane, she refused to sit in her own seat and strapped in. i requested for an infant seat belt from the aircrew but was told that ziyi was too big for it.

ziyi cried and cried, asking mummy to carry her but i had to strap her in her seat! sigh...the crew stood there till i strapped her in and gosh, that took us 15mins to do it. all eyes were on us because ziyi cried soooooo loud. i tell you, ziyi is a spoilt brat, and who's the culprit????!!!! sighhhhhhh...........................i can foresee the difficult road ahead...