Confinement aunty, please don't leave!

My life has no day or night since the confinement aunty left. In fact I wanted to extend her for 1 more month but she has accepted another confinement job in Australia. Yes, you heard me right... Australia! The pay is double of what I paid her, plus it's chinese new year month so I'm sure she's earning a bomb and ... her air tickets are also provided. It seems like she's more of a high flyer than me.



I ate this much of ginger every day for 6 weeks!

 On my last day of confinement, this is what the aunty did, which I thought was pretty funny (in a nice way).

Pomelo leave tied to the shower - supposed to spiritually cleanse any family members who uses it.



Bath water for me - 7 colours of flower with some pomelo leaves

By the way, I won't be posting anymore photos until I change my maxis broadband to other service provider. It took me close to 30 minutes just to load the page and post these 3 photos! Argh!

Letter of Appeal to Immigration Department of Malaysia

Due to several requests I've received, here's a sample of Letter of Appeal (Surat Rayuan) for submission to the Malaysia Immigration Department if your maid enters Malaysia using a Social Visit Pass. Please double check with Immigration Department whether maids can still come in using social visit pass.
Hope this helps!

x

Date

Your name
Address

Ketua Pengarah
Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia
No. 15, Tingkat 2 (Podium)
Persiaran Perdana, Presint 2,
62550. Putrajaya.

Tuan,

PER: RAYUAN KELULUSAN (JP VISA) BAGI PEMBANTU RUMAH YANG TELAH BERADA DI MALAYSIA

Merujuk perkara di atas, saya merayu kepada pihak Tuan untuk mendapatkan kelulusan PRA yang telah berada di Malaysia. PRA yang dipohon bernama [name of maid] dengan passport Indonesia [passport no.] telah masuk dengan pas lawatan sosial pada [date of entry] melalui LCCT.

Saya amat memerlukan pembantu rumah untuk menjaga 2 orang anak saya yang masih kecil dan bersekolah kerana saya dan suami masing masing bekerja.

Bersama-sama ini saya kepilkan dokumen yang berkaitan. Saya memohon agar rayuan ini dapat dipertimbangkan dan mendapat kelulusan dari pihak Tuan. Kerjasama dari pihak Tuan saya dahului dengan ucapan ribuan terima kasih.

Sekian, terima kasih.

Yang benar,


NAME
I.C NO

Babies are cute when they're not yours

Soiled diapers. Incessant crying. Every two to three hourly feedings. That's my son.

Tantrums throwing. Making demands. Shouting. Biting. Loud crying. Clingy. That's my daughter.

What happens when both of them do all the above at the same time?
I'm missing my single life!

Parenting

Twenty nine and still counting

The day before yesterday was my birthday. Not just any birthday but the last birthday of my twenties. And I didn't even get to blow out candles on a birthday cake or have any cake because I'm in confinement. How pathetic. Maybe someone should get me a ginger cake or something. Nevertheless, I have the most precious gift for my birthday; baby Keagan. And one of my good friends actually brought me some ice blast fags. I know, I know... breast feeding & fagging aren't exactly the right combination but hey, a stick or two won't hurt. Moreover, it was my birthday! 

That'll be me when I touch a century old.

Hello. I'm a mother of two.

I am officially a proud mother of two! A daughter and a son before the age of 30. That was one of my goals in life since I was 10 perhaps? I still remember the essay I wrote in primary school and the big, huge zero I got for it because my ambition is... to be a housewife with 2 kids. 

To the beloved teacher who gave me the big, huge '0' in red,

1. Up till today, I still do not understand why a housewife can't be an ambition.

Ambition (definition by cambridge.org)

A strong wish to be successful, powerful, rich, etc.  

P.s. A housewife can be successful by managing a home well, powerful in her own ways (haven't you heard, behind every successful man is a wise woman?), and rich (why do you think Prada & Chanel are blooming like mushrooms? - thanks to the rich tai-tais. duh.)

2. If you think lowly of a housewife, think again. Do you think everyone has the privilege of being one?

3. Thank you for the time taken to mark my paper. But I wonder did you even read it before giving me a zero? You're supposed to assess a student's creativity, grammar and language proficiency in an essay, not some standard answers of 'I want to be a doctor when I grow up'. Do you know that suppressing a student's creativity is the root to his or her stupidity yet?

x

I'm turning 29 in three days time and I'm glad to have made it this far, in my own definition of success.

Next list: Goals to achieve before I reach 40.

Improving brain health in babies - Blueberries and bananas puree

Since the last round (that was 2 weeks ago) I made apple cinnamon pork puree and sweet potatoes with cherry tomatoes and broccoli puree, I decided to make fruits puree this time. 

I went to my usual neighbourhood fruits store this morning and bought some persimmons, apples, carrots, avocados, blueberries and bananas. I must say it's not cheap to make fruits purchases nowadays. Persimmons are selling for RM1 per fruit and the blueberries are selling at RM9.80 per pack. Apples and the avocados are selling at 6 for RM10 and 3 for RM10 respectively. And they're not even organic.

Since the avocados have yet to ripe, I can only make blueberries & bananas puree. It's one of the most simple baby food recipe around but be ready for a blue baby when it comes to feeding time.

What you need

1 box of blueberries (120g)
5 small ripe bananas
Steamer & blender (I use Avent Combined Steamer & Blender - this product makes my life much easier!)
Containers suitable for freezing

(Makes approximately 15 oz / 150 ml of puree)

Method

1. Wash the blueberries thoroughly. Discard any squishy or moldy ones.
2. Peel the bananas and break them into small pieces.
3. Steam the blueberries and bananas for 5 minutes or until the purple juices start to ooze out from the blueberries.
4. Blend to a puree. If the puree seem to be too thick, stir in water / breast milk / formula milk till the desired consistency is achieved. Alternatively, if the puree is too watery, add in baby cereal or oats to thicken it. You may also choose to blend it a little coarser for older babies and toddlers.
5. Scoop the puree into containers, depending on how much your baby eats per meal. Let it cool before storing into freezer.

Important: Once food is thawed / heated, do not put it back into the freezer. Discard any leftovers.