Searching for Utopia

I’ve been trying to introduce Indonesian and Hungarian recipes to Adam, so that he can get used to eating both.

He eats well, although there are times when he refused to eat anything but Heinz’ custard.

So this is my own version of custard. Luckily Adam also loves it.

It’s easy to make, and a good source of protein, calcium and iron.

Ingredients:
400 ml water
100 ml milk — I use breast milk
Fruit puree — I’ve tried banana, pear and mango (one at a time)
Ground brown rice cereal — Cook according to instructions on package
2 tablespoon custard — mix well with 2 tablespoon milk (I omit the sugar since the fruit is usually sweet enough)

* Bring water to a boil, add fruit puree, brown rice and milk.

* Stir in prepared custard mix, return to boil, simmer for 2-3 minutes stirring continously.

* Let cool.

It’s official, we’re moving into our new apartment on Dec 21. Well, it’s not ours really — we’re renting, but you’ve got the point.

It took us two weeks to find the new place. We’ve viewed like twelve units before that.

Basically it will be around the same size like our current flat, only the location and view are better.

Unlike here, supermarket and restaurant will be at walking distance.

I just hope that the people will be as nice as here.

Within the last one year, Adam has made quite some friends. It’s a pity that he won’t get to see them as often as now.

Hopefully later he’ll make more friends in the new place.

But that’s still far. As for now, pack, mommy, pack!

Yesterday we went to browse for laptops at a nearby computer store. Interestingly, they played a Pussycat Dolls’ video right next to Korean sensation, Wonder Girls.

Zsolt pointed that even girlbands’ styles are that different here and in the USA. So true!

Which one do you prefer?

The Hi-5 gang is coming to town. Yay!

Can’t believe I’ve got excited by such news — Adam doesn’t even care as much. And the show’s supposed to be for kids.

We missed their concert last September while we were in Indonesia. This time it’ll only be meet and greet.

But hey, it’s better than nothing. I hope we could come.

For other mommies who are also going through Hi-5 craze, you can meet them at Takashimaya, 3-13 Dec (1PM, 4PM, and 7 PM daily).

I received a mail from DBS yesterday. It said we’d get an exclusive Hi-5 plush toy if we spend $300 at Takashimaya.

Hmm–

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Dirt Devil. All opinions are 100% mine.

Time flies. It’s been three years since we moved in to this flat, and we’ve decided to look for a new place.

Many reasons have led us to come to this decision, but mostly it’s for Adam’s sake. The tiny tot needs more space to grow up.

The only thing that daunts me a bit is to do spring cleaning. I could always find the time to wash the dishes and dust the furniture — it’s Zsolt’s task to mop the floor — but other things are not that easy.

How will I clean every single cabinet in the house? We’ve got lots of them! Not to mention all those windows.

This was when I thought I’d need a good vacuum cleaner.

Now, going to shop is not easy with a baby — I hardly have time to check catalogues one by one online.

It’d be handy to have something like the Dirt Devil Holiday Buying Guide. Not only it provides information about vacuum cleaners that the company is selling, it also helps you to find the best deals for the holiday shopping season — black friday, cyber monday, you name it.

Hundreds of online retailers provide free shipping day across the US on December 17 2009. Many others give promo codes, rebates or other special offer. You can find all about them within this guide.

There are, of course, also special offers from DirtDevil.com for each one of your entire family on Gifts for Him, Gift for her and Family Favorites.

The best is that this guide is free.

Singapore is said to be a shopping haven, but I haven’t seen such a comprehensive shopping guide here. Time to have one.

What could you be doing all day when you have a one-year old baby? A lot, if you asked me, and I’m not talking about the household chores.

Unlike many of his friends, Adam still can’t walk. He’s still learning to stand on his own.

But he’s grown a lot since last year — not just physically.

When we were in Hungary last month, his grandma taught him to clap his hands. It took him only a few times to pick up the skill.

Now he can also wave goodbye and give a high five.

He likes exploring with his hands, and that gives us many options on what to play.

Adam loves sound too. No wonder at twelve months he still plays with his rattles.

He doesn’t really need expensive toys. Just put a coin inside an empty plastic bottle, and give it to him. He’ll be thrilled to shake it.

Tearing newspapers and plastic bags are also among his favorite things to do.

But when he gets cranky, there is one thing that would calm him down: Hi-5.

He doesn’t have the patience to watch the whole show, but he wouldn’t miss the song.

Can’t blame him, even I’ve found their songs catchy.

Stevie Nicholson is no Zac Efron, but he knows how to entertain kids.

Tim and the girls are also very cute. Unlike some Disney stars, they keep their clothes on all the time. My personal favorite is Casey.

So what I usually did was selecting the videos on YouTube and just played them. Altogether it would take around twenty minutes, and I’d have a happy baby afterwards.

Meanwhile, I could steal some time to wash the dishes or prepare dinner.

Here’s Adam’s favorite song. Enjoy!

It’s well past midnight in Singapore, and I haven’t slept a wink. Feeling like an emotional wreck for no reason.

I’m sure I’m way past baby blues period of postpartum. Adam has grown to be a super cute and healthy boy. I have nothing to worry about.

What is it then? Depleted mother syndrome? PMS?

Whatever it is, I hope it will go away soon.

Heidi Klum on staying healthy:

“I cook really healthy dishes for the whole family. I already try now with our kids, to have them understand this from early age so they don’t get to be the next generation of pizza-, mac-and cheese-, and peanut-butter-and jelly-sandwiches-loving kids.”

What did you get on your wedding anniversary? Me, nothing that I couldn’t get on any other days.

In the first few years, Zsolt had always been diligent in buying me a bouquet of flowers as anniversary gift. After a while, he gave up — the poor chap.

And who could blame him,after all it’s a common knowledge that most women are flower sniffers. Isn’t it why they have that saying “say it with flowers”?

For me, though, it’s not necessary to celebrate wedding anniversary. Come on now, aren’t we supposed to celebrate our marriage everyday?

Of course I love getting gifts, but not flowers please. Methinks flowers are the easiest, most useless and predictable gifts.

Choosing a gift for somebody takes time. Many men don’t have the time — nor patience — to do it, so usually they’d just grab some red roses. It works most of the time!

But really, what can you do with flowers besides showing them off to relatives and friends? They’ll wither and die after a few days, and there goes the hubby’s hard-earned cash.

Seriously ladies, do you prefer flowers to — say, D & D books? I’d choose the books anytime!

But that’s just me. The truth is that men keep buying flowers, and women continue sniffing them like there’s no tomorrow.

Anyways, happy sixth anniversary to my husband Zsolt. Thank you for not getting me flowers.

Today Adam is ten months and eight days. He only gained a few grams since last month, but at 10 kg and 82 cm he’s still bigger than other infants in the same age.

His four teeth appeared exactly on the same day a few weeks ago. I thought brushing his teeth would be a difficult task. It turned out that he loves getting them brushed.

Besides finger toothbrush, I also use Spiffies twice daily. He simply can’t get enough of them.

If you can’t get toothwipes, you could make you own. Just wet a small clean cloth with luke warm water. Wrap it around your index finger, and it’s ready to use. Not sure whether the baby will like it as much though. I’ve never tried this myself.

However, dental hygiene is important. Maybe I’m a bit paranoid about this, but you can never be too careful.

I know as mothers we have like never ending tasks to do. Well, who said raising a kid was a part time job? For that reason, I’ve seen many mommies forgot to pay extra attention to their children’s dental care.

I hope I’m not one.

Not only decayed teeth will mar the baby’s smile and give him unpromising breath, they may affect the growth of the permanent teeth.

Guys always seemed to complain about girls’ preference for bad guys. Is it true? Take a look at this pie chart that Zsolt tipped me off.

Actually, I prefer a wizard.

What have you been up to?

Me, I’ve been telling people that I’m too busy to be online since Adam occupies most of my time.

But psst, that’s not totally true. With Gmarket being all the rage in Singapore right now, I’ve always spared some time to check it.

True enough, online shopping is nothing new, especially in Singapore — where most people are internet savvy. But let me tell you why Gmarket is better.

I’ve tried Amazon. The service was good, it’s just that the shipping cost a bomb. Recently I wanted to buy a bunting for Adam which cost US$14.90, which was very cheap. The only problem was that they charged US$80++ for the shipping — not to mention that the US is all the way round the world that Adam would be a man when he received the bunting.

e-bay is a little better, in a way that there are many sellers from our areas. I just think it’s a turnoff to make a bid before buying. And I may love budget shopping, but I don’t buy secondhand stuff from people — unless for books. Excuse me, but who knows what have happened to those items before. You can never be too careful, can you?

What we need is a local trustable site, which is exactly what Gmarket is. I’ve purchased several items from different merchants. So far I’m a happy customer.

But as I’ve said, I do budget shopping. So if you’re into expensive branded stuff, you don’t belong here. Otherwise, you could find cheap useful items which you might never see before. I’ve bought little romper extensions for Adam for $4 per piece. What a genius invention! Well, it depends. Actually for the same price you could even get a brand new romper. I know I did.

What’s better is that many sellers offer free delivery, including the ones from Korea. Usually your item would be delivered within 3-7 days. Meanwhile, you could contact the seller if you wished to ask questions about your purchases.

I guess I’ll still be coming back for more after all. Here’s the T-shirt I received today. I paid $5.90 for it. What do you think?

I’ve been receiving this notice several times this week. The spaminator is so good that it doesn’t even allow me to write comment on my own blog.

What’s a girl to do?

If you asked me about Manohara Odelia Pinot, 17, three months ago, I’d certainly say I had never heard of her. But within these last two months she’s probably become more famous than Susan Boyle in Indonesia.

The reason? It’s none other than her “Cinderella” story. In short, last year the girl married a thirty-year-old prince from Kelantan, Malaysia. Yet, instead of living happily ever after, she ended up locked in the palace. The prince charming allegedly abused and using her as a sex slave. She was said to have her breasts slashed and things like that . Long story short, the tale has become national headlines thanks to Mano’s mommy dearest, Daisy Fajarina.

And at last, Mano could flee from her husband while she’s in Singapore. She reportedly called the local police and pleaded for help. Now she’s back in Indonesia and already filing for divorce. Good for her.

Momma Fajarina, on the other hand, was still working her fifteen minutes of fame. Always being helpful to the press, she provided all details of the treatments received by her daughter, and ended it by saying, “No parent could be silent if their child was treated in such a barbaric way.”

Well since I’m a mother myself, I couldn’t agree more with her on that. But then again, no parent in their right mind to give consent to their underage daughter to get married at all — and especially not to a 30-year-old man!

There may only be two reasons for the marriage to be so urgent. First, if Mano couldn’t live unless she received financial support from the guy. But this is obviously not the case Mano’s situation. She’s a model, and she was actually romantically involved with Adrie Bakrie, the son of Aburizal Bakrie. Just thinking, how old was she when she started dating? Hmm, and mommy actually allowed that?

Anyways, the second reason is if Mano had unplanned pregnancy. But this is also not the case. So why Ms Fajarina didn’t ask the prince to wait is beyond me. Mano was not short of suitors, so it’s like mommy was selling her to the highest bidder.

Would she give her consent if the guy weren’t a prince? Nah! Methinks it’s clear what her motive was in marrying her daughter to this prince. She was actually the one to introduce the prince to Mano at a gala dinner hosted by the Malaysian PM when she was only 14, saying that the prince wanted to befriend her. Lame!

Many parents see their children as long-term investments. Just think of the old saying “banyak anak banyak rejeki” or “many children, much fortune’, which means children are the major source of income. In other words, children must repay their parents — usually materially. Of course there’s nothing wrong with children helping their parents, especially when they can afford it. But it’s not okay to ask them to give more than what they could.

Don’t forget, parents may choose whether or not they want a child — and not the opposite.

Just thought I’d share a picture of Adam with you guys. Here he is at Istana, on last Labor Day.

Now in his sixth month, he’s 9 kg and 75 cm. His height is already more than half of mine. In short, he’s BIG, but not that kinda big. His height and weight percentiles are evently matched–both are over 90 per cent.

Who knows, I could be weightlifting champion by next year!