Sunday Morning Brekkie

Reading Pancakes, Pancakes! By Eric Carle at bedtime seems to always invite a request from The Little Girl for this:

1 cup self-raising flour (for American fluffy pancake) 

or normal flour for french crepe texture

1 cup low fat milk

1 large egg

1 pinch salt

Optional:

1 fruit (grated or sliced): pear/apple/lemon/ strawberry/banana/blueberries

Honey or maple syrup for drizzling

Icing sugar

Whisk all ingredients until no lumps.

Heat pan on medium heat.

Melt dollop of butter to grease pan.

Drop one ladleful of batter.

Turn with spatula once golden brown.

Remove from pan once golden brown on underside.

Serve immediately with honey or maple syrup drizzle or sieve of icing sugar.

Bon appetit!

Air Zam Zam

I believe in miracles. I believe in Allah's power to heal and cure.

I drink air zam zam so that Bean can benefit from it. The Little Girl gets hers via a cup with her meals. The Other Half drinks it for overall well-being. We share them with the needy, especially.

A very kind cousin sister in law got me a bottle in my third trimester to drink and alhamdulillah the labour and delivery went smoothly. In fact, in between pushes during delivery my obgyn had asked me to drink some. 

We are very blessed that we have found a booth at the SACC Mall that sells every 500ml bottle for RM10 (the price is to cover the cost of transportation only). You may find the booth on the first floor near the concourse air well.

If we can pay for Evian, why not pay for air zam zam? The benefits are endless!

Do you practice this too? How often should we drink it? Do you know of any specific supplications before drinking air zam zam?

Do share!

Midnight Drinks

I have BP of 110/70 and quite often after a marathon feed, I feel giddy. Thirsty giddy. Too pening and lazy to saunter to the kitchen to help myself to a warm drink.

 

The Other Half is very sweet. He makes me a warm drink and serves it half-asleep!

 

The recipe is simple.

 

You will need:

3 level tbsp of Horlicks

100 ml of hot water

100 ml of fresh milk

 

Dilute Horlicks with hot water and stir well with a spoon. Add fresh milk. Stir well. Serve warm.

 

Bon appetite!

Nursing In Public

Yes, I do it.

 

Discreetly, if Bean is due for a feed and the public feeding room is fully occupied.

 

I use a nursing cover but Bean is at the age where he is able to throw that aside/play. He seems to be more comfortable nursing with just my somewhat long tudung covering. I wear a belly cover to hide what is meant to be hidden (who wants to see those two layers of fat?!).

 

Do people stare?

 

Not really, not where I frequently go for groceries, shopping or eat out. Thankfully, people are quite civilised on my side of town (trinity of KLCC, Bangsar and IPC). 

So far, I have not received those dagger looks that translate to "why do you wear the hijab and nurse in public?". Maybe I am discreet about it. Maybe I am just thick-skinned after all these years.

 

That said, I always try to feed Bean before leaving home, plan the nursing room visits for his feeds and pray that his feed will last him until we get home. Starting every feed with bismillah and ending it with Alhamdulillah never hurts.

Happy breastfeeding and confidently enjoy your NIP!

How Much Milk Is He Drinking?

I have been directly breastfeeding Bean since Day 44. I seriously do not know how much milk he is drinking. As in how many oz/ml per 24 hours. Ask me this back in 2010 and I would have been scared and unsure.

 

However, not this time. I am a little more sure of myself and arm myself with the confidence that Allah is The Sustainer. (Drinking enough water and eating well help too, duh!)

 

Well.

 

I know that he has more than 6 wet diapers per day, and 1 dirty diaper per day. That is comforting but every baby is different.

 

He nurses on demand, and he feeds during my breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper, mimicking our family meal times.

 

He is thriving, gaining weight and height.

 

He is sleeping well, Alhamdulillah.

 

If you are a first time mum who is feeding directly, BRAVO! If you are expressing, BRAVO!

 

If you are faced with naysayers who doubt your ability to feed your baby the best milk there is, soldier on! Do not let their doubts and insecurities poison your mind, heart and soul. Take ownership of your commitment.

 

My prayer for you is that you remain strong and true to your committed and perhaps a more polite answer than what I have just said above may come in handy *grin*.

 

Oh, and turn off your follow/like to certain online social media groups that purportedly supports breastfeeding but ends up otherwise will help too. Plus, you will get more sleep!

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Potty Training

The Little Girl is potty trained, day time. Her play school teachers thought that she was ready and it started the week Bean was born (stressful for me!). There were a few accidents but she got the hang of it. Well, I had to mop up at least twice during my confinement period.

 

We are still working on the night time potty training. She has cloth diapers on when sleeping at the moment as she has been able to keep dry throughout on most nights. We still have accidents every now and then. 

Hospital mats and bed liners, Febreeze sprays and Rainbow are real life (mattress)  savers.

 

Slowly but surely, we will get there.

Update: proud to say, after one week, The Little Girl is now fully potty trained! Yay!! 5 nights of trainers and 2 nights of normal panties later, we are free from having to purchase her pull up pants.

Spring Cleaning Mania

Yes!

 

I have reclaimed about 60% of the utilities room.

 

Bags and bags of unused toys from gazillions of play school birthday parties, clothes for 24 to 36 month old girl, my pregnancy clothes, my confinement clothes, my nursing tops (that weren't too practical) and my size UK6 pre-pregnancy clothes have all finally left our home.

 

To a much better place of a few deserving new owners.

 

I pray that my former cleaning lady's grand-daughter will find hours of joy playing with those toys, and wearing those pretty clothes.

 

I pray that her daughters will find my clothes ranging from size UK6 to UK18 comfortable and wear them in good health.

 

Now, on to IKEA for more organising shelves etc.

 

On second thoughts, I will wait till Monday when the weekend madding crowd is not there.

 

*sigh of relief*