An Itsy Bitsy About Me

Mom to a charming prince and wife to a wonderful hubby who loves to play football and watch football matches but have no favourite team...

UPDATE: Hubs claims that he is now an Arsenal fan...

Archives

- Older Posts - August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009

Hellowwww world!!

________________ Add this to your site

*HUGS* TOTAL! Do you wanna give my precious Ethan more *HUGS*? :)

Pap smear campaign @ Sabah Family Planning
Wednesday, July 1, 2009

If you or your mom, MIL, sister, SIL, niece, daughter, daughter in law, girlfriend, wife etc haven't done your or their pap smear this year...read on for the details:

Date : 1st – 31st July
Venue: Sabah Family Planning
Price: RM15 (test using normal method – results in 3 to 4 wks) ;
RM50.50 (test using liquid method – more accurate – results in 1 wk)
Time: Monday to Friday - 8.00 am to 4.30 pm (I think thy close during lunch time – do check wt them)
Saturday - 8.00 am to 12.00 pm (closed on every 1st and 3rd Saturday)

For detailed information and clinic operating days and hours, please call 222703 or 217553

Labels: health, info

posted @ 7/01/2009, ,

Great loss indeed
Friday, June 26, 2009

Labels: sad

posted @ 6/26/2009, ,

Lucky number 8th - me!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009

I know it isn't much, but hey, I'm one of the lucky 30 winners and I got myself a free eVoucher worth RM10 that I can redeem from thebabybliss.com teeheee!! ;D Someone forwarded me a new kiddy stuff eMall recently. And as I was surfing through thebabybliss.com site, my eyes caught a section of the site which stated I could win a RM10 voucher for being the lucky 8th person that sign up for The Baby Bliss mailing list. Although I didn't expect to win coz I rarely do anyway hehe...I went ahead and got myself registered...and wala' am one of the 8th lucky winners thus the happy me!! ;p Anyway, if you haven't heard about this new eMall, hop on to thebabybliss.com! ;p It's pretty new so I guess they are still stocking more stuff onto their site :)

Labels: fun stuff, shopping

posted @ 6/24/2009, ,

Toddler & fine motor skills

• Filling Up and Dumping Out
  As your child's daily wake of destruction has made perfectly clear, emptying a container requires a lot less precision than filling one. This is one of the first fine motor feats your toddler will master — and once she does, she's likely to repeat it with a vengeance. As exasperating as it may be come cleanup time, this dumping is an important cognitive exercise, too: Your child is beginning to realize that one object, like a bucket, can hold another object, like a load of dirt. Once this dawns on her, she'll delight in establishing that the dirt can also be emptied out.
  
  Prepare for this stage by setting up play areas and offering manageable activities. Taking blocks out of a large box, pegs out of a pegboard, toys out of a trunk, and sturdy puzzle pieces out of a puzzle will keep your toddler busy and may distract her from less charming pursuits, such as emptying a bag of cat food onto the floor. Once she has the "taking out" step down, it's time for the "putting in" step. Some of the above tasks can be reversed (although you may not be able to generate much enthusiasm for putting toys away) and will flex your child's visual and mental muscles as well as her fine motor skills. For a follow-up, encourage her to try a more challenging feat, such as dropping "O" cereal bits into a container with a slightly narrowed neck, or trying her hand at a shape-sorter.
  
  
• Dressing and Undressing
  Ten minutes ago you dressed your toddler in his Sunday best. Now that you're ready to head out, he's stark naked again! Putting things on and taking them off is a toddler delight. But your child isn't doing it to tax your patience. And dressing and undressing — himself or a toy — provides a host of opportunities for him to practice his finger and hand coordination.
  
  Help your child out by creating as many chances for success as possible. Tiny doll clothes are too intricate for him and will only lead to tears, but big capes or ponchos for his teddy bears will be manageable (you can cut these out of felt). Felt boards with people shapes and changeable outfits are perfect, too, since they let toddlers indulge their fashion sense (and sorting skills) without being too challenging. Reusable stickers can also fascinate, though very small ones are tough for little fingers to manage. If your toddler especially enjoys dressing himself, provide him with a big box of dress-up clothes that are easy to manage — dad's old coat and shoes, your old scarves, and hats galore.
  
  When it comes to dressing himself for the day, your toddler will do best with pants that have elastic waists, pull-on tops, and Velcro-fastening shoes to minimize morning struggles. Be sure to introduce new challenges — a single large button or a big snap — one at a time.
  
  
• Drawing and Scribbling
  Sometime between the ages of 12 and 18 months, your toddler will probably attempt to "write" by making marks on paper, and sometime between 18 and 24 months she may surprise you by drawing vertical and horizontal lines and perhaps a circle. Applaud these early doodles, which encourage a whole raft of new abilities: Drawing with a crayon involves fine motor skills such as grasping and holding, for instance, as well as boosting your child's visual acumen and tapping her imagination.
  
  Set up your budding artist with big sheets of thick paper taped to the table — after all, nothing inhibits creativity like a dismayed shriek from Mom when the crayon slides onto the tablecloth or rips through thin newsprint. Thick, sturdy crayons or washable pens in a few primary colors (so as not to overwhelm) are a good choice. If your toddler isn't interested, offer some alternatives: chunky sidewalk chalk to use outdoors, paper pinned to an easel instead of a flat surface, or soap crayons in the tub might pique her interest.
  
  And don't forget finger-painting. While learning how to hold and manipulate an implement is important, finger-painting gives your toddler's fine motor skills and creativity a workout, too. If she's tired of paints, try printing. Hand- and footprints on paper makes great gift wrap. Or tap into her interest in nature and brush leaves, acorns, carrot-tops, or flower petals with paint to use as homemade stamps. For a special treat, let her finger-paint with pudding or brightly hued fruit juice — she'll exercise her motor skills and will have fun licking her fingers.
  
  
• Stacking, Sorting, and Stringing
  From carefully balancing one block on top of another to placing colored rings on a pole, stacking (and knocking down, of course) is a toddler tradition. It's also a fantastic way for your child to use her ever-more-nimble fingers and to work on her sorting and building skills. To make these architectural pursuits even more intriguing, let your child experiment with blocks of different sizes, shapes, and colors, and offer a variety of other materials for building and manipulating. Though ABCs and 1-2-3s games are a ways off, your toddler can sort refrigerator alphabet magnets by color or size. Or introduce her to bead stringing with plastic snap-together beads. Once she's mastered those, offer her a thick shoelace and a piece of felt with holes cut in it or a sturdy string and big wooden beads — before you know it, she'll be making edible jewelry (colored pasta shapes or fruit rings are perfect for this).
  
  
• Poking and Pinching
  Toddlers are sensualists above all else — they love to smell, taste, and touch. If you give your child plenty of fun-to-feel materials to keep her little hands busy, she'll have a great time developing their strength and agility.
  
  Non-toxic modeling clay invites hand and finger movement as your child rolls, shapes, punches, and molds the material to her liking. A few simple tools, such as a lightweight rolling pin and some plastic cookie cutters, stretch this activity out longer. If your toddler seems reluctant, try a few different products — she may not like the smell of one or the feel of another. And the softer the dough, the easier it is for small hands to shape. Real edible dough is, of course, the ultimate treat, so when you bake, give her some leftover dough to shape into her own "pie" and cook it with yours. (If baking isn't something you have much chance to do, check out the frozen dough in the freezer section of your grocery store.) And finally, don't forget "gak," the gooey preschool favorite made from equal parts white glue and water (often colored with food coloring), which kids just love to squish and squeeze.
  
  Outside (or in the basement, if you have a big one), a mud pie kitchen or a sandcastle construction zone creates opportunities to use those same manipulative skills. As your toddler molds a tower and carefully tops it with a feather, she won't even realize she's honing her fine motor skills — but you will!

Labels: info, toddler development, toddler milestone

posted @ 6/24/2009, ,

Focus on Children Best Way to Stop Flu Bugs
Friday, June 19, 2009

LONDON (Reuters) - Travel restrictions and other measures help limit the spread of the new H1N1 virus but officials are largely ignoring the best way to stop the bug: focusing on children’s hygiene, a researcher said on Thursday.

Citing a review of 51 studies examining different ways to contain respiratory virus epidemics, Tom Jefferson of the Cochrane Library said encouraging children to do simple things like wash their hands is most effective.

“I don’t really understand why some governments are obsessed with popping pills and giving injections,” Jefferson, who led the review, said in a telephone interview.“The evidence is clear,” he added. “Hand washing offers protection against a lot of things, not just respiratory viruses.”
The review of published studies from around the world suggested that frequent hand washing, using gloves, gowns and masks with filtration, and isolating people believed to be sick help reduce transmission of viral respiratory diseases.

It also found that the greatest potential for preventing disease from spread came from focusing on children, not adults, Jefferson said.

“The main thing is if you teach children to wash their hands in schools, that is the biggest benefit to the whole of society,” he said.

One large study, for example, looking at 4,332 children in poor Pakistani households found children who washed their hands with soap several times daily had 50 percent fewer episodes of illnesses such as pneumonia or cough than the others.

“One of the explanations we found is that children are the most sociable beings and have the most physical contacts between people,” Jefferson said.

Since the emergence of the new H1N1 virus in Mexico health officials have scrambled to contain the infection that has so far spread to 33 countries, killed at least 65 people and put the world on the brink of a new pandemic.

And while quarantines, travel restrictions, school closures and facemasks have all been used, getting teachers and daycare workers to encourage good hygiene practices may do the most.
“If you enforce these kinds of hygienic measures in schools that is where the best benefits are,” Jefferson said.

Another study showed school absenteeism dropped 43 percent when children used alcohol gels along with hand washing. Others showed younger children taught hand-washing at school or home were significantly less likely to develop a respiratory illness. - (Reuters Health)

Labels: health, info

posted @ 6/19/2009, ,

Folic acid helps full term pregnancy

Our precious Ethan was born prematurely at 35 weeks and 2 days. Hubby missed the birth of our precious Lil' E as he was away in Trinidad due to work commitment. It wasn't easy for me (but thank goodness my dearest friend F was with me in the labour room) and it was certainly not easy for hubby too coz it took him 3 days b4 he was able to meet our precious due to the long journey. Anyway, I was told that I have about 35% chances of a 2nd premature baby since my first one was a premie (though it is considered borderline premie ;p) ....it does worry me at times ... and it has actually been at the back of my mind especially now that we're trying for 2nd baby...but at the same time I know there are still 65% chances of me having a full term pregnancy ...I guess the only thing I could do is just to wait and see ;p Anyway, here's an interesting article on folic acid and full term pregnancy for the sharing ;p

Almost 12 percent of babies born in the United States are born prematurely (before the completion of 37 weeks of pregnancy), although full-term pregnancies last about 40 weeks. These babies are at greater risk of having breathing difficulties, learning difficulties, and developmental disabilities in addition to being less likely to survive.

Finding a way to prevent premature birth could improve the health of thousands of babies annually. Although there is currently no sure way to prevent premature birth, studies have indicated that mothers who consume lower amounts of folic acid may experience shorter pregnancies. To test this theory, doctors from the University of Texas followed the progress of nearly 35,000 pregnancies during which a number of women had taken folic acid supplements for at least 12 months prior to becoming pregnant, while others took the supplement for shorter periods of time, and still others took no supplements at all. Of the total, over 1,600 of the expectant mothers gave birth to their babies prematurely.

The results of the study revealed that taking folic acid supplements for a least one year prior to conception reduced spontaneous premature birth occurring between 20 and 28 weeks by 70 percent, and also reduced premature births between 28 and 32 weeks by 50 percent. These findings were made in comparison to the rate of premature births resulting from mothers who did not take the supplements. Folic acid appeared to have no effect on births occurring between 32 and 37 weeks. In addition, no reduction in premature births was seen in those women who took the supplements for periods less than one year. The results of the study were published in the journal PLoS Medicine.

Women who plan to become pregnant have long been advised to take folic acid daily, or at the very least, after stopping contraception and continuing through a minimum of 12 weeks of pregnancy. This is recommended to reduce the risk of birth defects including spina bifida and anencephaly, which are known neural tube defects (NTDs).

According to researcher Dr. Radek Bukowski women are advised to take 0.4mg of folic acid daily, which is the same amount advised for prevention of NTDs, well before they plan to become pregnant. He held that folic acid most likely reduces the risk of infection, which is a common cause of premature births.

Labels: baby health, info, news, pregnancy

posted @ 6/19/2009, ,

Free bag of your choice??!!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Yes, you've read it right and it is for real! So if you've not heard or read about it yet, hop on and join the very first Joint Venture GIVEAWAY CONTEST of Malaysian Online Baby Shops (MOBS). And for its first JV giveaway contest, MOBS is organizing it with alicewonders.com that sells affordable yet chic and classy bags for any occasion. You name it alicewonder.com has it i.e. casual bags, sling bags, grab bags, laptop bags, evening pouches, shoulder bags and many more.

Labels: contest, fun stuff, shopping

posted @ 6/17/2009, ,

Daily Dose - Quotes

Free chat widget @ ShoutMix

Networks:

My stats...