Mothering Corner

If you saw a couple busy feeding a baby who’s trying hard to climb out of the high chair, or sitting on mommy’s lap, and a toddler who’s demanding for rice and more white rice only and eating messily while the daddy is busy eating and walloping the meal ASAP so that he can help carrying baby, and let the mommy eat, most probably, you saw me eating out with my kids and hubby.

I like eating out with my kids, even if they may be troublesome, noisy, messy, and annoying to some people (LOL!), but it’s quality family time to me. We will eat out with the kids at least once a week, especially during Sunday afternoon, after hubby’s golfing.

Most of the time, I only prefer to go to restaurant that are less crowded and “baby-friendly”. If it’s a messy and dirty coffee shop, even if the food is good, I try not to bring my kids there. It’s quite inconvenient if they don’t have high chair, plastic bowls or serving food that suitable to my kids (like curry mee).

So, if I’m traveling to other places, I will search for places to eat, see the pictures to get a rough idea on how the restaurants are, asking other bloggers and friends who have been there, and then only decide if we will dine there. If I’m going to San Diego next time, there is a list of San Diego restaurants (http://www.discoversd.com/) which is quite complete from this site. I’ll definitely look into it next time if we are planning for a trip there.

Before being a mother, I like to dress up according to occasion. I was quite fashion-minded, and liked to shop for trendy clothes and flatter my figure. However, my fashion sense changed a lot since I became a mother.

If I’m going out with my kids, I will be wearing jeans and tops most of the time. It’s more convenient for me to walk around carrying a baby and chasing after a little boy in jeans. If I’m wearing skirt, I have no idea how am I going to squat to my boy, walking like running, and make sure that my skirt is in place as it should be!

Luckily I have always look good in jeans, either flare boot cut or straight cut jeans. But now, I like skinny jeans like 7 Seven jeans (http://www.couture-clothing.com/Seven/). But I got to make sure that the top is long enough to cover my butt! If not, I look weird.

So, the only time I can dress up nicely and prettily would be the time I’m going out by myself, or after my kids are older later.

I have thin fine hair all the while. If you see Isabelle’s photo, and was wondering why she doesn’t have much hair, well, she got the genes from me. Thus, it’s really frightening to me when I started losing my hair after having my babies.

I had to be very gentle when I was washing my hair, so that I won’t pull or break them further. I was worried when I saw the bunch of hair strand stuck in the draining hole. It’s quite a lot! Thus, I surfed around and found info like this from slashhair.net.

The usual reason for postnatal hair loss is ‘hormonal change’. Hormonal changes in general are a very common cause of female hair loss, although not the only cause.

About 98% of all women who have given birth, experience some extra hair loss. During the pregnancy however, hair is often at it’s best because of the high levels of female hormones oestrogen (good for hair growth) and progesterone (bad for hair growth), more hair follicles enter the growth phase than normal. After childbirth hormone levels change dramatically, often causing the hair growth cycle to become ‘disturbed’. The normal hair growth cycle soon returns and many hairs re-enter the resting phase, which causes excessive moulting. It’s at this point that most women notice the hair loss, there is often a massive collection of hairs in the plug-hole after washing, especially if one has long hair. Hair loss occurs from the sixth week to the thirtieth week after childbirth. This type of hair loss is common and the condition is temporary, once the body has settled down and returned to the pre-pregnancy state, normally at around the twenty-eighth week after childbirth, the moulting spontaneously stops. If the loss continues for more than thirty four weeks, one is entering into the realms of androgenetic alopecia (time to see a dermatologist – general practitioner – gynecologist).

If you are really worried, and wish to get help on hair restoration, check out Phila hair restoration (http://www.drpistone.com/).

I was not the lucky one who slimmed down effortlessly as soon as giving birth. Since I was breastfeeding exclusively, I couldn’t go on diet, and dare not try any supplementing slimming products that claimed to be safe for breastfeeding. I didn’t want to risk my milk production and was forced to wean off my babies earlier.

Thus, I went for yoga and pilates class for at least once a week. It’s a group class, with only one instructor and about 10 students. Not all students were trying to get back into prenatal shape like me. If you can afford it, and would like to see faster results, it’s better to have a personal trainer, such as San Diego personal training (http://www.theboxingclub.net/), which designs a program specific to your needs and goals and motivates you to achieve the body shape you wish to have.

So, like they were say, there is no ugly woman in the world, only lazy ones.

I like to put my kids to sleep before 10pm. After that, it’s my free time for blogging, blog hopping, surfing for celebrity gossip and news (http://www.damnimcute.com), watching TV or just doing my stuffs.

Mothering is a full time duty, but I do not wish to “lose myself” too. I have always been looking forward to spend a little personal time for myself, for a few hours a day. Unless I was too tired to stay up, most of the time, I can really enjoy myself after the kids have fallen asleep.

But what I really looking for is the days when both my kids are in school. If they are going to the same session, than I will have a few hours per day for myself. Yippie! But if one of them is going to the morning session, while the other one is in the afternoon, then I will be a lot more busier.

Don’t hate me, I don’t have big tummy even after going through 2 childbirths. But I admit that it’s really flabby initially, and it took a long time, and determination to tone it up. I used to dance ballet, and got used to tucking in my tummy whenever I remember. So, the muscle around my tummy are strong enough to tuck back the flabby tummy. Over the time, it just became smaller and firmer.

But if you are concern with your big tummy, why not check out New York City Tummy Tuck (http://www.drphilipmiller.com/Procedures/TummyTuck.asp) for more info? It’s a short cut to flatter tummy, but I’d rather go do more sit ups. It sounds like a big procedure to me.

If you asked me what’s the hardest part in my breastfeeding journey, I think I’ll answer the lack of sleep. I’m blessed with 2 kids who prefer to be nursed to sleep. I didn’t introduce pacifier as I was afraid of nipple confusion. Thus, whenever Isabelle wakes up at night, I have to be there to fulfill her suckling needs and nursing her back to sleep. She’s still yet to sleep through the night, thus I have been sleep deprived for a long time. Not to mention I’m blogging until so late!!!

Thus, I have really bad dark circles and eye bags. So, my beautician suggested that I go for eye bags removal surgery when I’m in my 40s. Seriously, I’m really thinking for that. Maybe I’ll do it abroad at some centers like Texas plastic surgery (http://www.todaysface.com/).

Unless there’s a good eye cream to restore my eye area, plastic surgery is really the best option.

I may be a breastfeeding fanatic, but I’m really vain about myself. Even if I’m a moo, I’ll make sure that I’m one pretty moo. LOL!

If I ever get in an accident (Choy! I don’t want this) and got myself a scar on my face (Double Choy!), I’ll surely go for facial scar revision (http://www.aafprs.org/patient/procedures/facial_scar.html). I can’t live with a facial scar, I’ll lost all my self-esteem then. I know it’s meant more for facial functioning, but I’ll do it for appearance more.

See, I’m helplessly vain.

One of FIL’s apartments have been left empty for a long period of time. We decided not to have any tenants as the apartment was badly maintained by the previous tenants. So, FIL decided to sell it off.

Hubby has been putting up some ads at the lobby for weeks but there is still no response from potential buyers. Time is running short, and everyone is impatient. So, we need to get some help from real estate marketing company (http://rismedia.com/services/meeting-and-branding-solution/). Hopefully, they can help us to see of the apartment soon.

Most people who see my kids for the first time will tell me that Justin and Isabelle look alike. But after a while, they think that Justin has a westerner’s look, while Isabelle looks pure Chinese. The reason behind this is that Justin has a tall nose, while Isabelle has a typical oriental one. My mum said how come both parents have tall nose, but the daughter doesn’t have one?

I have always joked to her that, so what? Nowadays, lots of people have nose jobs. Look at those Korean actresses!!! If she thinks that western countries are more developed in plastic surgery, that she can get it done at Chicago rhinoplasty (http://www.drdayan.com/procedures_6.html)!!! LOL!

Maybe Isabelle’s nose will change its shape when she grows up. She’s just a baby, it’s really too young to determine. Anyway, she will always be my little princess, and the prettiest girl to me. It’s still ok to me if she tells me one day that she wants to have plastic surgery, as long as she’s old enough for it, and really knows what the procedures involved, it’s 100% safe and effective, and pays for herself too. LOL!