Hospital Stay

After almost 6 days of persistent fever, Erin was admitted to the hospital recently.   :(

My poor baby!

 

 

On her hospital bed

I expected a wailing scene when the nurses poked her hand to draw blood and for the drip. But Erin was just so, so brave. She struggled a bit toward the end of the procedure (nurses took TWO vials of blood) but she hardly made a sound or cried. So proud of her!

 

 

Both hands with plaster and board

*Sigh*, so sad to see my poor baby like that. Nurses plastered her left hand as well to prevent her from pulling the tube from her right hand.  Surprisingly, Erin wasn't very disturbed by the boards. On the next day, she could even comfortably play games on the Ipad using her two free thumbs.

 

 

Her admission was around 11pm on Monday night. Still had fever on-and-off and it spiked again on Tuesday morning.  When the doctor came to check on Tuesday, she did not give the green light for discharge, so we had to stay on for another night.

 

Both hubby and I stayed in the hospital with her, while Elyssa stayed over at Ah Kong and Ah Mah's house.

 

Going for a walk in the ward

 

 

Luckily, she didn't have any fever on Tuesday afternoon onwards and on Wednesday morning, doctor said she could be discharged.  Yay!

 

 

Happy with her balloon

The tube was removed around 11pm on Tuesday. The 3 of us went downstairs for breakfast @ Subway the following morning and she happily chose her Hello Kitty balloon right after that.

 

 

And what was the diagnosis?  Nothing conclusive actually. Dengue ruled out. Urine results showed no infection. So, the general term "viral fever" was used. She was put on drips for about 24 hours with 1 dosage of antibiotic into the last round of drips as well as standard oral paracetamol every 4-6 hours.

 

A part of me still thinks the fever would have ran its course anyway and the hospital stay could have been avoided. But then again, I suppose it's better to be safe than sorry. (and hubby who's Mr Panicky would have driven himself crazeee with worry!)  

She said it!!!

Yay....... my baby can finally call me!  Ok, instead of "Mummy" it's "Ah Mee"  but that's good enough for me.  During dinner just now, she happily pointed at me and said "Ah Mee", Ah Mee" Ah Mee" in quick succession.  Yippeee Yay  :-)

 

 

I can't believe the fuss mummy is making about me saying "Ah Mee"!

 

 

Her other words:

1.  Eh Dee  (Daddy)

2.  Ah Tong (Ah Kong)

3.  Ah Mah (Ah Mah)

4.  Jah Jah (jie jie)

5.  Pohr Pohr (pom pom)

6.  Mine (mine = she says this when trying to take things from other people)

7.  NO ! 

8.  Toup (soup)

9.  Thoo (shoe)

10. I wa!  (I want)

11. Elvi (Elvis, our dog.  Either that or she's asking for an LV bag. keke)

 

A big improvement indeed, in just this couple of weeks. I think we're going to hear plenty of words from her very soon  :-)





Juicing

My latest craze is -- JUICING!!

 

I bought a second hand Hurom slow juicer about 2 weeks ago, and have been happily juicing almost every day since then.

 

I started off with pure fruit juices. My first attempt was a combo of apple, orange and pineapple. It was of course, very nice to drink but that wasn't my purpose of getting a slow juicer.  

 

Pretty soon, I got my veggies in! 

 

Fruit &Vege Combo - carrots, broccoli (yes, broccoli!), cucumber, turnip, lettuce, orange

 

 

Elyssa helping with the juicing

 

 

As expected, Erin didn't want to be left out!

 

 

Juice from above combo

Both girls gulped down their portion and asked for more :-)

 

 

Another Fruit & Vege Combo - carrots, celery, broccoli, organic sweet potato leaves, turnip, green apples and oranges.

 

 

Green juice from the combo above.

Hubby and I were pleasantly surprised with the taste but both girls refused to touch it

 

 

Here's a more "potent" combo - bitter gourd, carrot, celery, sweet potato leaves, turnip, apple

 Verdict : bitter but drinkable!

 

 I knew Elyssa won't touch the combo above, so I asked her to pick her own combo of 2 fruits and 2 vege.

 

She picked this for her personal combo : carrot, sweet potato leaves, orange, apple

 

She drank it all up !

 

 

Didn't take photo of the rest, but so far, I've also added - yellow zucchini, lemon, pomegranate, spinach, guava and Japanese cucumber.

And here's my take after 2 weeks:

a) Adding any leafy greens makes the juice a lot less palatable  :(

b) Thumbs up for carrot, celery, turnip, yellow zucchini and cucumber

c) Adding bittergourd makes the juice bitter (ahbuden!) but lemon helps a lot

 

On weekdays, I make these juices after work and I'm really glad to add on all these fruits and vege to the daily diet. Once, after being stuck in a particularly horrible traffic jam on the way home, a simple juice of celery and green apple made me feel much better :-)

 

 

Oh, I've been making nut milks with my juicer too. There's a lot of negative studies about cows milk (hormone injections, not meant for adult humans bla bla....). A bit worrying since we drink a lot of  cows milk in our household. Not going to go for a drastic change of zero cows milk, but I like the idea of having an alternative milk in my fridge :-)

 

 

My first attempt  - creamy, nutty, Almond milk with some added Milo.  Yuh-mee!!  

 

 

Cashew nut milk 

Made 3 rounds so far

 

 

 

Really loving my juicing (and nut milk) journey so far :-)

Erin is TWO years old!

Oh my, oh my......my "baby" is 2 years old already??????   I can't help thinking she's still a leeeetle girl!!!  

 

For her 2nd birthday, we had a simple birthday celebration for her at home.  And as with current tradition, of course I had to bake a girl for my little princess.

 

Ta daaa.......here's the birthday girl with her birthday cake.

 

 

"That's MY cake!"

She loved her cake.  *Grins*

 

 

Clap Clap during birthday song

 

 

Blow!

 

 

The 4 of us

 

 

Inside of cake
Simple butter cake with chocolate cake. I was happy when I found the M&Ms and Kit Kat decoration idea from the net. Practically fail-proof!  Ok, not healthy at all but what the heck, birthdays come only once year!  And as expected, kids loved it. (ahem....even 70+ year old Ah Kong was "caught" munching on a Kit Kat before the cake was cut. Haha!)

 

Party food
Got lazy and tapao'ed everything this time. This neighbourhood restaurant even loaned us the serving trays.

 

With some of her presents
Didn't manage to get a smiling photo



Cousins playing after dinner
I didn't even bother trying to get everyone in the photo this time. Practically an impossible task ;-)

 

Opening presents

Jie jie seems even more excited than birthday girl ;-)  

 

 

Birthday hug from jie jie 

 

 

My dear princess Erin....you're TWO years old already.  We are all still waiting for you to talk properly.  Though sometimes, daddy and I think it's your ploy to make us believe you are still a little girl.  And by doing that, Yes, you do get away with murder sometimes!  Ah Kong still insists that you shouldn't get scolded because you are far too young. But from your actions, your responses and your gestures, we know you understand and comprehend a lot of things.  So, we will wait until you are ready.

Mummy doesn't update your milestones diligently like for jie jie last time, but rest assured, mummy loves you LOADS and LOADS!  Happy 2nd Birthday!

 

 

 

Teacher's Day Gift

---another late post--

 

Similar to last year, I decided to bake something for Elyssa to give her teachers on Teacher's Day.

 

I baked Chocolate Chip and Macadamia Cookies this time.

 

Cookie Box for her class teacher

 

Single cookies for her other teachers

Thought it look a bit plain, so I added a simple ribbon loop at the top.

Supposed to be 2 in a pack, but I burnt my first lot of cookies  :(

 

 

Back View  : Simple thank you note from Elyssa

No masterpiece cos all were done in < 20 minutes. No time to even colour.

 

A bit rushed to do things on a weeknight after work, but glad we managed to pull it off  :-)

On a Hot, Hot Day

What's good on a Hot, Hot Day??  Pool time !!!

 

Both girls were jumping and shouting with joy when it was time to change to their swimsuits  :)

 

Happy in the pool

Errr...... dunno why Erin insisted on wearing the swim float around her neck

 

I wish I was small enough to fit inside the pool too !

 

Busy "cooking"

 Erin playing with water

  

And that's hubby playing with water... 

 

 

Girls happy = Parents happy.  Yay !!  

Renewing Cambodian Maid Passport and Work Permit (DIY)

*long-post ahead*

Few weeks ago, I found myself in this predicament:
1. My Cambodian maid's permit going to expire in 17 days
2. Her passport had less than 1 year validity
3. My agent wanted to charge me approx RM2,800 for renewal of work permit and passport.

I felt the amount quoted was wayyy to high! Felt like daylight robbery. But I wasn't sure how to do it myself and googling on the internet didn't give me much information. I posted some questions on Facebook (what would I do without FB? ha ha) , got some useful leads and then decided to walk the path slightly less travelled.  ;-)

In the end, I managed to get everything done on time without any penalty.
   Number of annual leave taken : 1 day
   Amount saved :  approx RM 1,500
   Satisfaction of not paying agent :  PRICELESS !!!   :)

Here are the steps, for the benefit of those who do not want to pay exorbitant agent fees.
There's 2 parts :  A - For Passport Renewal  and B - For Work Permit Renewal.

A : For Passport Renewal

Step 1. Contact PIKAP - Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Agensi Pekerjaan Malaysia.
  Link : http://www.pikap.org.my/cms/
 (i)  Not much information on their website, so I called one of the numbers listed : 012-2032007 for Haji. (a bit skeptical when I saw it was a h/p number at first). Haji turned out to be really helpful and re-assuring. He asked me to sms him my email address so that he could send me all the required forms.
(ii) The next morning, he sent me an email with multiple attachments - extension employment contract, salary confirmation, salary letter, insurance cover letter,checklist of documents required etc

Step 2. Fill up all the forms and collect necessary items as per email from PIKAP.
Items required - passport photo of employer, spouse and maid, electricity bill, *bank book/draft, **insurance, stamping of contract etc.

* Bank Book has to be in the name of maid only.  No joint account allowed.
  -While waiting for PIKAP's email, hubby brought our maid to the bank to open her bank account. We panicked BIG time when the bank officer said he cannot open bank account cos maid's work permit had  <  6 months validity.  I called up Haji again and he said not to worry - just buy a bank draft in maid's name. Phew!

** Insurance & stamping of contract - can do this outside or directly via PIKAP for a small fee. I chose the latter since I didn't have much time.

Step 3.  Go to PIKAP kiosk with completed forms and all required items (and maid)
It's actually a very small kiosk practically next to a busy road. Haji advised me to be there early.
With the aid of my GPS, I was there before 9am and got the 1st number  :)  Haji was there but I was attended to by his rather grumpy lady colleague.
She checked the documents, asked why I didn't fill up certain parts correctly (I felt like a school kid with a fierce teacher. ke ke)  and asked my maid some basic questions.
After about 45 minutes or so, she stamped my documents.  Yay!

My payment to PIKAP : RM 303.
Extension handling process : RM 150, Pikap endorsement : RM 50, Maid pass : RM 3, Document stamping and 1 year insurance : RM 100. (if not mistaken, one year insurance is RM 70)

Step 4. Go to Cambodian Embassy in Jalan U-Thant with maid
The embassy is about 10 minutes away from PIKAP kiosk. I was surprised it was an old bungalow with a small signboard and locked gates! I thought it was closed! Anyway, when I was parking my car, I saw a guy walking towards the embassy. Not sure whether he rang the door bell or hollered, but someone from inside came to open the gate. I told him I wanted to renew my maid's passport. His only question was "got PIKAP chop?" When I nodded, he asked me to go in.

In the embassy, I waited about 10 minutes to see the officer. He had a quick look at my documents and then interviewed my maid in Cambodian.(she later told me he asked her whether she was treated well, had enough food, had enough sleep, how long she wanted to stay and why, how much was her salary etc). He was rather pleasant and my maid was smiling a lot throughout the interview.

After the short interview, he collected my payment of RM200, got her passport stamped and DONE!

Time check?  10.45am. 

I couldn't help grinning at that point. I was prepared for a whole day affair!


B : For Work Permit Renewal
Since it was still early, I proceeded with the work permit renewal process.

-------------------------------------------
Step 1. Fomema Registration
 Link : http://www.fomema.com.my/
This part is similar to Indonesian maids. Plenty of write-ups on the net for this, so I shall be brief -

Step1(a). Buy Bank draft / postal order / money order for RM190. Payee name : "Fomema Sdn Bhd".
Step 1(b). Go to Fomema office with copy of passport. (maid not required to be there.) They will provide a free Registration Form to fill up. One of the items to fill up is choice of clinic. Choose from their list of clinics (hard copies posted on notice boards at the Fomema office. also available online) and a useful tip is to choose a clinic which has x-ray facilities so that only 1 trip to the clinic is needed.
Once done, the officers will provide a printed form with several carbon copies.

Step 2 : Bring Maid for Medical Checkup
Maid not required to fast beforehand.  Excluding waiting time, the whole procedure at the clinic only takes about 30 minutes.  It's basically a urine test, x-ray, blood test and a quick physical examination.
---------------------------------------------

Time check for completion of Step 1 and 2 ?  3.30pm.
And that included waiting time at Maybank for my bank draft, getting lost, taking ages to find a parking lot at Solaris Dutamas, leisurely lunch at KFC with Elyssa (who tagged along the whole process) and maid etc etc. 
Next step was to wait for Fomema results so that was all I could do for that day. Managed to squeeze in time for a latte at my favourite coffee place and then went to the cinema to watch Star Trek.  Excellent show  :-)


Step 3 : Check Fomema Results Online
This can take up to 10 days.  My clinic did it for me in 4 days. Yay!

Step 4 : Go to Immigration Office (no need to bring maid)
I went during my lunch break to the Immigration Department in Jalan Duta. Was a little concerned whether I would have enough time as coincidentally, my colleague renewed her own passport there that morning and she told me it was pretty crowded.

Upon reaching, I asked at the info counter and was directed to take the escalator to Level 2 and then the first room on the right.  Luckily, there were not that many people. I took a number (had to give the officer my IC and maid's passport to get the number), waited a bit and then was asked to make payment of RM 500 (either bank draft or cash) for the work permit levy.
Waited a bit more then the officer gave me back my maid's passport with the new work permit.  Yay!!!!  All DONE!!  I kept thinking : That's it???

Time Taken in the Immigration Office : approx 25 minutes only.


So, so glad I didn't go through my maid agency who kept telling me the process is soooooooooooooo  difficult and that her permit may get rejected.    ;-)

  Summary of costs:
PIKAP : RM303.  Cambodian Embassy : RM200, Fomema : RM190,  Immigration Dept : RM 500.   Total : RM 1,193