so i have decided to finally get my freedom. i have been tied down for almost 4 years now. i just thought i couldn't take it anymore. my life became so limited when i decided i would do it. for the sake of my kids i'd been keeping on. for their sake i did it. i wanted to give them the best of me and from me. i have sacrificed a lot of things because of it. now i think is the best time to stop and break free. it's good while it's good and i enjoy it. but when i no longer enjoy it, it's a different story altogether. so i better consider moving on.

day 1:

1. i bought marmite. i got this idea from friends in church who had the same experience i am having now. i thought of using the Filipino traditional way of using red chili, but i thought it's too cruel to do that. so i wanted to try marmite. it might work it might not. i just wanna give it a try.
2. have i told you i wanted to break free from breastfeeding? oh yes, i wanna wean off samantha from breastmilk so yesterday, i tried putting the marmite on the "milk machine." it was a total turn off for her.
   
3. gave samantha extra hugs and extra attention as she was confused of what has been going on. she wanted to drink milk from me and yet she couldn't take the smell of the marmite. in fact, she was throwing tantrums already - as expected. i have to harden my "mother's heart" a little bit.
4. went to see doctor for prescription to supress lactation. i actually used bromocryptine to supress the production of milk supply last time when i weaned my boy from breastmilk. a doctore friend gave it to me. but this friend won't be available because he's in a conference. so i tried getting bromocryptine off the counter. but looked like i needed a doctor's prescription to do that. so i went to see doctor and he prescribed me another pill.
5. but the doctor said i should wait for another day or two and see whether i'd be so engorged. you know when you're engorged it's so painful it's like you're carrying the whole world on your shoulder. so i waited. i didn't get the pill. and i regretted it.
6. i had to carry samantha to sleep. i usually put her to sleep when she's drinking milk from me. and since she didn't want to take my nipple in because of the marmite, she was crying so much. I had to rock her off to sleep.
7. we all slept early coz i was feeling a bit of pain in my breast already. i also couldn't open my eyes more. i was feeling like my head was foggy and my eyelids heavy. but i woke up in the middle of the night feeling the pain. so i tried expressing the milk a little bit. but it didn't work because after a few minutes, i would feel the pain again.
8. samantha woke up also, wanting to drink milk. and you know what this mother did? cleaned off the nipples and offered samantha a drink! LOL! i just couldn't take the pain. i also couldn't sleep because of the pain.
   
9. i actually offered her milk twice. one at 3:00 am and one at 5:30am. my... i felt much relieved.

So there goes my journey into freedom - season 1. watch out for season 2!

my breastfeeding journey with samantha started like this: you may click the image below.

Has taken over the donut market! Big Apple Donut has indeed made it to the Malaysian market as they introduced their new concept in making donuts. I love their donuts. It's like a fresh breath of air... Well, compared to Dunkin Donuts, they have new flavors that you can truly enjoy. One of my favorites is the donut with white chocolate and cheese filling.

The other one is called the alien - below.

My kids' favorite is the glacier. Just plain donut with melted sugar on top (photo not available). The only thing with Big Apple Donuts is that their donuts are smaller compare to Dunkin Donuts. But it's fine with me as I can't eat too much. Big Apple Donut is available everywhere in Malaysia.

There are just so many web hosts appearing nowadays. They appear like how mushrooms sprout overnight. Sometimes when you look for webhosting, you just feel so overwhelmed with all the offers and features. And with all the offerings, we tend to forget what we really want for a web host.

But the good news is that there's one website that does webhosting rating for all these web hosts available. Right now, they have listed the top 6 webhosts that they recommend. From yahoo hosting to inmotion hosting, you'd see what gets the 5 star rating. Actually, their rating is based from the customer feedbacks, availabiltiy, affordability, etc. I was just reading a forum and there is just so much complain about a certain web hosts. So it doesn't mean that when a webhost is cheap we go for it coz the quality might be jeopardized and we end up disappointed because it doesn't our needs.

Anyways, it is best to check the webhostingrating.com first to know which ones has the best offer for quality and more value for money. It not only help us decide which ones to use, it saves us a lot of time and energy searching about webhosting services ourselves. Also, they have a lot of articles that you might find interesting. I just visited the website and I read an article about web hosting and how it all began. Interesting read.

our guests just left. we had such a great time with them. their daughter izabelle was such an adorable baby. she's only 9 months but she can already mimic everything we say. such brilliant baby. they're going back to the Philippines for one week and will leave for Burkina Faso after that. they lived in burkina faso for 9 years and they had such interesting experiences there. heard from them that burkina faso was the second poorest country in the world! it takes a real calling to be able to live there for a long time. i pray for God's grace and blessings for the family as they embark on another chapter of their lives. they've stayed in the Philippines for almost a year for a furlough and to give birth to izabelle. I'm sure when they go back to BF, there will be another adjustment for the family, especially for the kids and also especially that they have a new baby with them now.

it's me,

It has been a long time since we didn't have any guests staying in our house. But yesterday, our Filipino friends who are based in Burkina Faso came over and are staying with us for a couple more days. They have a baby with them so I took out my long kept baby bedding. Baby Isabelle is 9 months old. I pity her because she's teething. So went out to find a teething gel for her. She's quite an adorable baby, actually. Anyways, glad to have guests in the house again. They were in Burkina Faso for many years already. They just went back to the Philippines to give birth to Isabelle. But they're going back to BF in two weeks time. Having them in the house is fun. I had fun learning things about Burkina Faso. And yes, they brought me a wall hanger which they got from Burkina Faso. I love their wall hanger. I've been having one of those hanging on my wall for a few years now. Just glad to have a new one now.

it's me,

I know there's a kiddie inside me. I always like kiddie books and kiddie movies, especially that of Disney movies. I have seen countless disney movies but I can tell you my top 15 favorites Disney movies and with my favorite characters for each (not necessarily on order though):

Tarzan - Trazan and Jane

The Incredibles - Elastigirl

The Three Musketeers - I saw this a long time ago but I still love it now

Wall E - Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth - Class (he is very cute)

George of the Jungle - George

Pocahontas - of course Pocahontas was my favorite character

Prince Caspian - The Chronicles of Narnia - I loved the movie as much as I loved the book.

Ratatouille - Remy Rat as the chef

Remember the Titans - I watched this for 50,000 times. Hehehe. I loved Denzel Washington as Coach Boone. This is a very inspiring movie. Not a kiddie movie but it encourages kids to dream and pursue that dream with determination.

Aladdin - Princess Jasmin

Atlantis - Milo James

The Emperor's New Groove - Pacha (the real cool guy)

Enchanted - a mix of real people characters and animated ones - Princess Giselle was adorable here.

Finding Nemo - Nemo was everybody's favorite but mine was Dory. She cracked me up to the brim.

And Robinhood - Sherwood Buzz

How do I remember all 15? I kept all their DVD's! What about you? Can you remember your top 5 favorites? Care to share with me? We might have some common favorites. It would be fun to know. Anyway, there's a ScreenLife Game Disney Bingo DVD game which is available at amazon.com and drugstore.com. You might wanna try this game. I'm sure you will enjoy it.

it's me,

When I came to Malaysia, I have discovered a lot of things. I was opened up into a new world. One of the things that amused me was the use of English here. In the Philippines, our English is American standard. Here, the English is British standard. So you can imagine the difference in pronunciations and usage inspite of sameness in terms. We have quite a good discussion with those with my husband before. Like when you say "a couple" of things, how many are they? For us, technically conscious people, we straight away say:"of course, two." But in Malaysia, you can actually say "a couple of chairs" even if you mean more than two chairs. Another word which created another discussion for me and my husband recently is word "fittings."I have read in another blog that she used the word "fittings" to mean things that you use to decorate your house like lighting, furniture, fixtures, etc. So I asked my husband if it was right. He said yes. But for me, fittings can only be used for pipes! LOL. What say you guys?



it's me,

My husband has been telling me that I've been looking tired these days. Owe it to making money through blogging. Indeed, I'm having fun writing until I tend to forget the time already. So for the past few days I'd been sleeping early. It's good because I wake up earlier than everybody does. That means, I have time to reflect God's goodness before I get disturbed by: "Mommy, mewk!" (samantha saying: mommy I want milk). There are really a lot of benefits from sleeping early. It's good for the skin. It's better than those acne treatments available in the market. It's also good as we wake up with lots of energy, ready to face another day. I am a night owl. I've been one ever since. I used to wake up late too. But since my boy started his school, I have to wake up early. That's why I need to sleep early now. And it's good for health. I'm all for it.

photo taken from: istockphoto.com

it's me,

Looks like the kids are not going to Banting at all. Their grandmother is in Klang now, looking after our cousin who's having a cancer. Thusiani is suffering from cancer for two years now. She got better earlier this yet but in the middle of the year, there was some kind of relapse and it got even worse. She got an extensive chemotherapy and she needed to be isolated for three months. But she's a strong girl. After a month, the doctors said it's okay to send her back home. The only thing was, their house is not ready for her to stay at so she's staying in Ramesh' (my bother-in-law)house. My mother-in-law is the instant nurse because the grandkids she's been taking care of are now in Terengganu. Have I told you she's a nanny too for her grandkids? Sometimes I pity her because shes not that young anymore. But she pity her grandkids so much she didn't want them to be sent to a nanny next door so she offered herself. Very sacrificial she is. She even sacrifice her husband just to take care of her grandkids. Poor daddy. He was working from Singapore and he was all alone there only to come back here with the same situation. Well, life's like that. We can't do anything about it. As for Thusiani, they should at least obtain life insurance quote for her. Her life is at risk now. Nobody would know what's gonna happen. We can just pray. So today, instead of going to Banting, the kids with their daddy are going to Uncle Ramesh house to visit Thusiani and their Amama (grandma in Malayalam).

photo courtesy: signsbyyou.com

it's me,

I have started joining our team devotions on Tuesdays again. Thank God. I thought after my boy started his school I would never be able to go to the office and join the devotions. Samantha loves going to her daddy's office too. She sits quietly and "joins" us withe the devotions. But of course, I have to give her pencil and paper to entertain her. Otherwise, she'd get bored and ask for milk! Anyway, after devotions, since her daddy's office is spacious, she would run around. The good thing is, she doesn't climb on the office furniture. She just plays around and bully some of her daddy's staff. They all think she's cute so I'm not worried. Anyways, glad to be back to team meetings. I really missed the office fellowship.

it's me,

my computer is finally back, up and running. it has never been this fast. i have upgraded its memory and had the power plug changed. i've been having problem with this computer since i got it 1.5 years ago. thank God it's working well now. it used to be very slow it took 30 minutes to 1 hour just to switch it on. same thing with switching it off. that's why i usually put it on stand by mode (although my Linksys router is on all the time) when i don't use it so when i wanted to use it again, it's easier to turn it on and easier to reconnect to internet too.

it's me,

I love Voir. I like their clothes and shoes. Last month when there was a month-long sale in Malaysia and my husband asked me to shop for clothes for myself, I went to Voir in Subang Parade. Some of the clothes are really nice and fit me well. With my size like this, it's now hard to find the right kind of fit. There's a lot of plus size available of course but when you're not a plus size and yet the curves are not in the right place and diet pills won't work because I just need to exercise, then you would know what I mean. Voir is not cheap but I noticed that if I wait, some nice clothes that weren't sold out before would be on sale. Like the red chic dress I bought a couple of months ago. I loved it like crazy but I hesitated to buy because it was beyond my budget. But when I saw it a couple of months ago, it was on sale and I bought it straight away for half its previous price. Anyways, Voir is having a warehouse sale on 17-22 September. I might go for this one.

it's me,

we had lunch with a friend last sunday after church. went to TGI Friday's at Sunway Pyramid. i love sunway pyramid. there's a lot of things going on there on weekends. at tgi friday's, we ordered:

fried calamari as an entree

barbecue chicken caesar salad (which was very filling by itself because they serve a big portion.

sizzling chicken breast with cheese. the chicken was very tasty and tender

and diablo chicken pasta (with wine) which also came in a huge serving.
and of course, what is a good meal without dessert?

now with extra income coming in because of my paid blogging, it is easy to decide which food we want to order without worrying if we still have money for the rest of the month. weehee. and also, with a food like these, I sure don't need those diet supplements, do I?

it's me,

We went to Sunway Lagoon yesterday for a day trip. It was my first time going there after my being in Malaysia for almost 7 years. Thanks to my bloggy earning we could do it now. The children had a blast there... so did we, actually. But what interested me most was their wristband. It's in a watch form so you won't lose it. We paid 10RM each for the deposit. That will ensure that everyone will return the wristband. But when we were about to return the wristbands, there was a lady outside that offered sunway lagoon watches in exchange of the 10RM deposit. We took two: one for Samantha and one for Schenker. They have cute watches. It might not be as elegant and as hot as Oakley watches but hey... we don't need expensive ones for kiddies, right? I might need one of those though. he-he.

it's me,

I did a little bit of gardening today. While I was watering the plants, I saw a swarm of ants nesting in my oregano potted plant. Yikes. It looked awful. I took the pot out and put it under the sun, hoping the ants would go off with too much heat. Hehehe. How sensible was that, huh? But then just a few minutes ago, it started pouring cats and dogs. Probably the ants will go away too. Well, the best is to buy insect spray. Will do that soon.

it's me,

With the existence of digital technology nowadays it is so easy to create family keepsakes that will serve as a memory for the family. You just click that small button and you could store a lot of great captions and videos. But then, with digital technology not all people know how to maximize their digital experience. I, for one need help in creating movies, slideshows and such. The good thing is, there's Roxio Digital Makeover for us dummies. Roxio is there to help us add color to our digital world.

Take a look at this video created by Roxio Digital Makeover (Zoey and Chris). I saw the two movies they made: A Walk in the Park and Wedding Day Crunch. I especially like the Wedding Day Crunch as Zoey and Chris helped the couple Micheal and Monika put together a multimedia show that chronicles their lives just before the wedding. What amazed me was that they only started doing this two weeks before the wedding! I sure wish though that they were here before my wedding. I could have used some tips from them on making that multimedia presentation to show to our guests. It would have been more memorable. And with Monika and Michael, they helped them turn their shoeboxes of photos into a very memorable show to be shown on their wedding day.


Now you too can be star of your own show. Just enter the contest to stand a chance to be featured on the show and you can even win some prizes like HDTV, cameras and more! Ain't that fun?

My husband is making a day trip to Alor Star tomorrow. He's going there for a meeting. He flies in the morning and flies back at night. It's another family day he's missing. He is just too busy nowadays, with Tour of Hope event that is going to happen in November. He's the chairman of the organizing committee so he's having his plate full just for this event. I hope he gets a long good break after this event. He's really working hard and he deserves it. Well, I've been working hard and I deserve a break, too, don't I? We're thinking of going for a nice holiday after this event. But I'm wondering, do we ever get a chance to go to Carribean? I heard there are nice Caribbean villa rentals available. It would be nice to go somewhere quiet and get ourselves ready for Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, I should start making a countdown now. I haven't started telling my boy yet but I'm sure he'll be excited. There are just too many things to do during Christmas holiday season.

it's me,