Learn, Live and Hope

In light of what is happening lately, we must remember to learn from yesterday, live for today, and continue to hope for a better tomorrow.

I pray that the Lord will comfort the hearts and bring peace upon the families and those who are affected by this tragic event in Sydney.

First Day of December

For once, our Christmas tree is up on the first day of December. All it needs now is a nice tree topper, a tree skirt and lots of presents beneath the tree! Ho Ho Ho!! Have you all put up your tree yet? Do you have any Christmas tradition?

This year I've been quite organised compared to the previous years as I've almost completed my Christmas shopping!!! Just a few more presents to buy and I'm done!!! I'm actually quite proud of myself this time around as I'd normally leave it till quite last minute and then it's panic mode!!!

However, with a toddler now, I do find it hard to leave things to the very last minute. Planning ahead and being organised do make things a lot easier, and I have to find that out the hard way.

Speaking of some home-made presents, I've been searching the internet for some nice recipes that will make small Christmas gifts. Do you have any go-to and fail-safe recipes to share?

My Latest Kitchen Gadget: Thermomix TM5

Yes, I've jumped on the Thermomix bandwagon and I'm really glad I did. I've been wanting one since I attended a demo quite awhile ago when they were still selling the old model. My dearest Mum decided to give me her Thermomix since she hardly uses it and I used that opportunity to trade it with a brand new model TM5.

I placed my order in the beginning of October and it was an agonising 6.5 weeks wait for it to arrive!!! Boy am I glad when it did arrived and guess what I cooked as our first meal a few days later?

I knew what I wanted to cook as my first meal after I attended my second Thermomix demo as I was completely blown away. It was the Salmon Velouté Meal. I love that dish so much because you're actually cooking 3 dishes at the very same time!! You get a really nice potato and leek soup, a side of vegetables, and the beautiful Salmon, served with a lovely sauce. Even Sabina loves this dish!! She kept asking for more!!

Since I had my Mum and Sister with us at the same time, I decided to cook the Chilli Mussels with Thyme and Tomatoes, and also prepare the Lemonade drink. It was a total hit among my family.

I can't wait to try out more recipes with my new gadget. What's your favourite Thermomix recipe?

Princess Sabina's 2nd Birthday

Happy 2nd Birthday to my beautiful Princess Sabina!! I can't believe you're now 2 years old and that you're no longer a little baby but growing up to be a cute little girl!!! Time has certainly flown pass by way too quickly the last 2 years. I still remember clearly when I was planning your first birthday party!! In fact, I still remember clearly the day you were born!!!

For her 2nd Birthday, we decided to have it outdoor in a park. The weather was lovely and nice, apart from being a little bit too windy!!! Hence the hair in my face photo below LOL (and it was the only family photo of us DUH).

My Mum flew over to visit us and of course, was able to join us in this wonderful celebration. Sabina has been spoilt quite a bit since my Mum has arrived but I guess that's what grandparents always do!!

Now, the highlight of birthday parties are always the cake and this year, it's a Peppa Pig cake!!! Those of you who knows my daughter well enough, will know that she loves Peppa Pig and is a huge Peppa Pig fan. This cake is made by the talented lady, Kerry and if you ever need a cake, you contact her at Rainbow Designs. Not only does her cakes look amazing, they are actually really yummy and delicious too!!

Sabina has been very blessed by all our friends and family. Look at all her presents!! Thank you all so much for coming to her party and showering her with gifts. I hope everyone of you had a wonderful time :)

It's a Girl!

As mentioned on my previous post, I went for my 19th week scan yesterday. I didn't really sleep well the night before. Maybe that's because I was too excited and couldn't fall asleep!! Anyway, hubs is really really happy with the news because that's what he wished for. Every single day, hubs would tell me, "I really want another girl". Thank you Lord for blessing us with another beautiful daughter into our family.

Pregnant and Being Sick

Being pregnant and coping with morning sickness was bad enough. Furthermore, my morning sickness this time was a lot worst. However, nothing prepared me when I was down with glandular fever and suspected bronchitis at the same time. 

It had been quite a horrible past few months with me being quite sick. Firstly, I had been trying to get rid of a chest infection since June but it was so stubborn, it won't go away. Then I had glandular fever middle of September. I've never felt so sick in my life before and it is definitely one of the worst feeling ever. One moment, I'll be freezing cold and the next minute, I'm boiling hot as if I'm on fire. I was down with high fever continuously for a few days and after numerous blood tests, urine tests, etc., I was finally diagnosed with glandular fever. Prior to that, I've never even heard of this sickness before!!! It is awful. I had no energy and constantly feeling exhausted. My hubs had to take time off from work just to look after both Sabina and myself. There were times I feel so hopeless because I was unable to do anything at all. Most of the time, I'll be either sitting on the sofa or just lying in bed. It took me more than a month to recover and feel ok again!! I do not want to get this glandular fever ever again. Had it once is definitely more than enough. It is definitely an experience I do not wish to go through again. 

On a positive note, here's my first bump shot when I was at 17 weeks pregnant. It was still a tiny little bump last week. Thank God morning sickness is over now and I've got my appetite back. Hopefully I'm beginning to put on some weight now as I've lost quite a bit of weight when I was sick.

I'll be having an ultrasound scan this coming Friday and will be able to find out whether I'm having a little girl or a little boy. Stay tuned if you want to find out :)

MIA and an Annoucement

Firstly, so sorry for the lack of posts and the unannounced 5 months hiatus and missing in action (MIA). A lot has happened in the short 5 months and there will be too much to update in just one post. My daily live has sort of taken over and zapped out all my energy and being sick for a month was not fun at all either, but I'll update you all on that some other time.

The most important announcement for this post is this:

Yes, I'm having another baby!!! We are all very excited and I can't wait for the next scan end of this month, where we will be able to find out whether I'm having another girl or a boy. DH wants another girl badly and he's been telling me that every single day. However, Sabina's already a "Daddy's little girl" so I myself am hoping to have a "Mummy's little boy". However, having said that, I'll be happy with either a boy or girl, as they are greatest gift and blessing from God.

This is my favourite ultrasound scan for now. Love its little feet!!!

Hello, I'm Peppa Pig!!

Did I mentioned to you before that "Peppa" was one of Sabina's first few spoken words? Everyday at 5 pm I would switched on the ABC for Kids channel on TV for her, so that I can prepare and cook dinner without having her clinging onto me like a little koala bear. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. But I do notice that she tends to like Peppa Pig. One day, when the Peppa Pig programs started, she shouted, "Peppa"!!! I was soooooooooooooooo amazed and of course a little bit jealous at the same time too because she hasn't said the word "Mummy" yet!!

Anyway, I think that's when I started buying Peppa Pig items/merchandise for her. Her very first item was a Peppa Pig handphone. That was a very impromptu purchase actually. We were shopping for nappies at Big W when I saw the handphone. It was a big mistake when I showed it to her. That's because, she wouldn't give it back to me!!! Therefore, I had no choice but to buy it!! HAHA!!

Second Peppa Pig purchase was again made at Big W but I initially wanted to get her a Peppa Pig jacket but the smallest size they have available was a size 2 and it was way too big for her. I was a little bit disappointed because I did drove all the way there and didn't want to leave empty handed. Therefore, I decided to check out the books department to see if there's anything suitable to add to her little library. Lo and behold, Peppa Pig books on sale for just $8 each!! I showed Sabina the book and asked her "Who's this?" and she answered "Peppa!!" What a smart cookie. 2 books ended up in my shopping trolley and we were happy.

3 weeks ago, there was a "Peppa Pig" appearance at Target and of course, I took Sabina there so that she can have a photo with her favourite character!! She was so happy when she saw the Peppa Pig mascot from a distance. However, when it was our turn to take a photo, she cried!!! LOL

Anyway, my sister asked me the other day if Sabina likes Peppa Pig more or I like Peppa Pig more. Erm...I think I might have a slight obsession with Peppa Pig now??

Lastly, I know this is a little bit late but I hope all of you have had a nice Easter break. I still haven't eaten our Easter eggs yet, I meant Sabina's Easter eggs :P

PS: Did you notice the bucket is a Peppa Pig bucket? LOL

Lovely Easter Long Weekend

I really love spending the long weekend with my little girl but it's so much better when DH is home to be with us during the same weekend!! I normally try to maximise the time that we can spend together as a whole family especially when he's home as the time is so precious. I must admit that having a DH that works away is very hard but you just got to learn to manage and deal with it. It's not easy but it always makes you treasure every single moment even more.

We had a really lovely day yesterday even though our outings were all very impromptu. We started the day with a little bit of shopping. I personally think she had more fun than us!!! She insisted on carrying one of the shopping bags, although I must say, she should carried it since it was her pair of shoes!! LOL

She really enjoyed walking around the shopping centre. She was even stopping and pausing at the shops, literally doing window shopping!! Starting them young eh?? :P

We also stopped at Myer's children department for a short while and I love it that they have a little table and chairs, with papers and crayons!! Sabina was really enjoying herself and seems like she loves to draw too!! Looks like it's about time I should get a small table and chair for her!! Does anyone have any recommendations?

Finally, we ended our fun filled day with a ride on the swings :)

The weather at the moment is absolutely beautiful. I'm looking to many more beautiful days like this :)

Doors

Sabina has a thing for doors. Everywhere she goes in the house, if she comes across a door, she must close it, without fail.

It is sort of our little morning routine now, where she will play peekaboo with me. I'll be getting ready in the bathroom and she will close the door. If after awhile, I still don't open the door, she will shout for me, as if saying "Hey Mum, open the door!!"

And when I do open the doors, this is the cheeky face that will greet me :)

After smiling at me, she will quickly close the door again. And this goes on and on and on until I get out of the bathroom.

Isn't she cute!!! I just can't get enough of her and I just want to kiss her all the time!!! There are times I wonder if I'm being a little bit too crazy in love her!! I'm a crazy Mummy!!

Coco is Recovering Well

It has been a few days since Coco had her surgery to remove the bladder stones. I'm so glad that she is recovering very well and is back to her usual self. Didn't even lose her appetite at all!! Well, she never really ever say no to food actually, apart from raw veggie.

As mentioned previously, they managed to take out all the stones in her bladder and the vet sent some off to the laboratory to do some testing, in order to determine what type of stones they are. That way, we can then plan what's the best preventive measures we can take so that the stones will not reoccur again. Well, good news is we got the results today and the stones are struvite stones.

Now that we managed to identify the type of stones, next step is to put her on a special diet. For the rest of her life, she will need to be on a special diet because of her condition and for the time being, the most suitable for her is the w/d Canine Low Fat-Glucose Management-Gastrointestinal Hills Prescription Diet. Haha yes....low fat diet, because she's a little overweight too!!! 9.6 kg!!! Almost one sack of rice!!!

Anyway, it's so good to have her home as she's always by my side, my little faithful companion. She follows me everywhere I go, just like a little shadow :)

Poor Little Coco

Bad things always seem to happen all at the same time. I really do hope that I can see the rainbow soon. 

Coco's been unwell when we noticed she started having pee accidents inside the house. Initially we thought it was just old age and that she couldn't hold her bladder. However, I later found out her pee was bloody and she was having a difficulty in peeing too!! That's when I took her to the vet straight away. First diagnostic was definitely a bladder infection but there's also a possibility of bladder stones reoccurring again. She had them before back in 2011 and they were surgically removed.

We had to do an x-ray on her to determine whether she had bladder stones or not and OMG!!! I was shocked at what I saw. Her bladder was full of stones!!! She must have been unwell for quite a while!!! My poor baby :(

I drop her off for surgery today to remove stones in her bladder and was told by the Vet that the surgery went very well. They found 5-6 big stones (largest was 1.5 cm in diameter) and lots of tiny stones. I hope she will have a speedy recovery and will be able to come home tomorrow.

The house feels a little empty without her. She's always by my side every where I go.

Stressful Week

It has been a stressful week but I'm just glad that it's getting better. Poor little Sabina was getting feverish last Wednesday and started coughing a little too. She didn't look very well yesterday morning and was very unsettled. Even though we had already seen our GP on Wednesday and Friday, you can't help feeling worried and stressful. I had to take her to the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children just to get her checked out.

I must have seem really worried or even shaking a little because when the Triage Nurse was taking down our details, she kept telling, "slow down and clam down, you're little girl is okay". We didn't really have to wait that long to be seen by a Doctor but we did spent a long and exhausting 6 hours at the hospital because we needed to get a pee sample from the little one, and somehow, on that particular day, she decided that she didn't want to pee nor drink much fluids!! In the end, we had no choice but to use a catheter instead. Poor little bubba, I felt so bad putting her through that but at least we know, she didn't get any UTI. Therefore, the conclusion was she must have caught a viral infection. There isn't really much I can do and the Doctor said she will not need any medication. Only thing I can give her are just Panadol or Nurofen. I seriously feel very helpless at times.

I was a little relieved when she did gave me a smile and drank more water last night just before her bedtime.

She was a lot better today too although she wasn't that keen on breakfast. Towards the afternoon, she was happy to snack on some rice crackers and even played with some toys. Hopefully, she's on the mend to a speedy recovery.

Lots of hugs, cuddles and kisses to my baby!! Get well soon little girl!!! Mummy loves you a lot!!!