Bak Kut Teh - Boooo

There's a new restaurant opened in Queensbay mall, claiming to be the "king" of bak kut teh. Few people I've known that had eaten there, most commented that doesn't taste like "bak kut teh" at all. One funny comment was it tasted like pork dipped in black soy sauce soup. However, being curious, I went there for lunch on my own to try it out. I opt for individual meal that comes with "original bak kut teh" with "yau char kuay", 2 appetizers, chinese tea and desert.

There were some customers having meal there as well, but I did not smell any herbs fragrance at all. When my order came, I tried the soup and indeed, there's were totally zero herbs fragrance but there's some slight taste of "bak kut teh" when I drank the soup. The portion was large, I was very full but it was quite a disappointed meal. It was missing one very important factor, nice and strong herbs fragrance. I've tasted even better "bak kut teh" at the hawker stall and at a even cheaper price.

Transformers Convention at Queensbay Mall

There were 3 days Transformers Convention being held at Queensbay Mall from 26th June till 28th June 2009. There are few exibition areas where toys collectors get to show off their prized collections for public to see, and some booths for people to buy some transformers merchandizes. We ended up getting Mickey Convoy for RM155.

Mickey Convoy in action

There were only few collections that are note-worthy and most of the toys that we saw, are in fact already available in my husband's own personal collection. Funny thing is, since it's named as "Transformers Convention", it is weird to see Macross is part of the display. Perhaps there's a missing link that we are not aware of.

Macross lost in translation

Fell from Bed

My poor baby fell from bed last weekend, all thanks to his dad who was too busy setting up the camera when trying to get some snapshots of him. Fickle fickle, turn head up and the baby is down on the floor. I just came out from the bath and saw my baby crying on his father's arm. We're so worried and monitor the baby closely, to see whether there's a need to bring him see the doctor. Luckily nothing happen my baby except for a small bump on his head. Somehow my baby's first fall was captured by camera as well. Here's the action, and boy, the father gets a good lecture from me...

Babywearing

I came across this term from one of the group in Facebook. Curious, I went in and checkout the group and unknowingly, joined the group as well. All these while we used baby carrier to bring William around for shopping, and after reading articles about babywearing, it seems that the baby carrier that we had are not so ideal when the baby reached certain weight. Other alternatives for baby wearing includes pouch, sling, mei-tai and some mothers DIY themselves.

I attended one of their monthly meeting in 'Masyarakat Penyayang' recently and they had this 'library' where for RM30 per year, you can checkout these items to try out rather than buying it (I've scoped around, the cheapest is around RM80+). I've tried the pouch, sling and mei-tai and all of these had it pros and cons. Pouch is easy to slip on, but not adjustable should your size changes. Sling is adjustable but take sometime to put on. Mei-tai is easiest and comfortable to use, but only allow 2 types of carrying position. I prefered sling instead.

I've bought a sling myself recently but need to opt for plainer color so that my hubby can wear it as well. So tempted to buy another colorful one for myself. One of the babywearing mother taught me how to DIY it easily just by having the ring for RM20, and we can change the cloth anytime we want. Hmm... maybe I'll buy the ring during next group meeting.

My Breastfeeding Journey

Initially, I never had any plan to breastfeed my baby as I am someone who is more career-minded. In fact, most of the people around me are also mis-informed about breastfeeding and I did not even bother or interested to study any further information about it. When I was about to give birth, in my mind I was thinking "ok, why not try for 2 weeks for experience sake then let him go on formula". However, everything changed when I saw my baby for the first time after giving birth to him. He looked so small and fragile. From there on, I decided to breastfeed my baby for as long as possible as I know (even with my limited knowledge about breastfeeding) it is the best thing for my precious baby.

For the first 3 days at the hospital, I manage to breastfeed my baby but had bad case of sore nipple due to improper latching. I told myself not to give up and ignored the pain. After discharged, I went to confinement centre. Once there, the nanny there asked me to choose formula milk to feed my baby but i insisted that i want to fully breastfeed and did not give them any brand name of the formula milk. Things went well but later that evening, my baby keeps on crying and no matter how long i feed him, it is just not enough. The confinement lady kept on saying "breastmilk is not enough", "in hospital they secretly feed with formula", "all mothers also supplement with formula initially", blah blah blah till I was convinced that I had no choice but to supplement with formula.

A day later, my baby was admitted to hospital due to jaundice. It was then I was introduced to Spetra 3 breastpump, a unit provided by the confinement centre for mothers to express their breastmilk. When I first use it, it was only a mere 1oz, but as days passed i notice an increase of milk quantity and i knew then that the this pump is really suitable for me and is able to help in stimulating for more breastmilk production. Slowly my baby takes less formula milk supplement as I'm feeding my baby directly during the day (though he gets hungry every 1/2 hour), while express using the pump at night for the nanny to feed from bottle. By the third week, i am able to get 3oz and it was then I was introduced to Melissa from BabyParadise in order to buy the breastpump. While meeting her, she gave me valuable advice as to how to increase my breastmilk and how to breastfeed successfully. Her stories inspired me alot and I tried her advice at home after leaving the confinement centre. Furthermore, I took the chance to study more information about breastfeeding and milk storage from internet during my second month of maternity at home to better equip my knowledge. When I'm back to work, I still supplement my baby with formula for about 2 weeks and then onwards, it is breastmilk exclusively till now.

So far I've managed to balance my worklife and motherhood successfully. There are people around me who have mis-conception about breastfeeding and I gladly took the chance to explain to them with whatever knowledge that I have. It really take times for some people to understand but it is worth the effort as you will end up having more people supporting breastfeeding.