Megan's A - Z Animal Chart

Finally completed!!! I am so happy...Now here goes, introducing the first 26 washable felt toys YY sews for Megan's Animal Alphabet Chart

A for Alligator (Yes not crocodile, Megan learns chim words)

B for Bear (Ken says this is him!)

C for Cow (Mimi's Fav)

D for Duck (ok, I designed this as a Bird but everyone picked this up and go quack quack... I get it- change to Duck, easy)

E for Elephant

F for Frog (dun it remind u of the sakea sushi frog?)

G for Giraffe (cute loh this one)

H for Hippo

I for Iguana (Kinda like how this turns out)

J for Jellyfish (My fav coz its so simple to do)

K for Kangeroo

L for Lion

M for Moose (This was the Deer which no one recognised so its now a Moose)

N for Newt (too lazy to do the fourth leg.. anyway I think newt can regenerate its missing limbs rite?)

O for Owl

P for Penguin

Q for Quail

R for Rabbit (Florence say it looks so sad)

S for Sheep

S for Snail (ai? why I do double Ss?)

T for Turtle (I know Dolly, you wanted me to sew the other turtle because that looks like a friend for the penguin. BUT turtle is ME!!! I dont want to be the friend of the penguin...)

U for Unicorn (The imaginary animal)

V for Vulture

W for Whale (The first animal I sewed - Ken calls him, Heli the Whale with the helicoper wings)

X for Xray fish (Jess suggested to just do an Xmas tree if we cant find an animal for X. The convincing reason she is going to give Megan is - Its Xmas, all the animals are on holiday so no need to learn any animal for X!!! - I have to admit, I love your logic, no wonder we are friends...)

Y for Yak

Z for Zebra

The Makings of the Animal Chart

He pointed to the blank wall in Megan's room and said "will look great if we hang a colrful alphabet chart there..." Sure my love, looks to be Project Number Two for YY!! I will do an animal alphabet chart for Megan. Better than anything the shop sells... First, draw out the animals! Then take the drawings to people who actually knows how to sew felt toys since I have never done these stuff before. Rumour has it that Jess knows... Soon, everyone along Legal Lane got involved... One great thing about girlfriends is that they can all get excited with you on craft projects... Suddenly Project Two becomes very exciting.

First question everyone asked is if I drew these animals myself. The answer is Yes. Are the designs all original? Yes and No. I researched online on the images of the animals to check out what is the most distinct and easy to draw profile. Then I will sketch out a few possible profiles in the actual scale of the stuffed toy to gauge cuteness and if they will be easy to cut and sew. Galfriends choose their most preferred sketch and those usually will be the chosen one. 

With 26 alphabets and many gals, it can get very confusing. Dolly rooted on Penguin and Jess wanted Panda. Cindy suggested Vixen while Dolly prefers Veal (once an animal too u know). No one likes Iguana and since they are all IJ gals, they demanded IJ gal!!! *faint* But we really have fun, I must say...

Sometimes, inspiration comes from toys in my room! Was cutting the felt for my zebra when I saw the wooden zebra toy Ming gave me sitting on my shelf. So much cuter than my original. Mai tu liao. COPY. Trace on butter paper, tag onto 2 pieces of felt, cut and sew. Excuse me, all the stripes are sewn on, not glued on ok! Add beads for eyes, wool for hair, stuff the body with foam and TADA!!! One animal is completed... 25 more to go!!! On a free day, I can make approx 5 stuffed toys... animals like Giraffee or Zebra with too much details will take much longer.

With all the animals completed... within 2 weeks! Great job YY!!... now comes the second part - doing the A-Z chart to house all the animals. The idea is for me to ask Megan during one of our play times - "Megan, where does Giraffe go?" And Megan will take the Giraffe and velcro it to R... "Good gal, now Whale??"...

We went to Spotlight to buy fabric for the A-Z and the fabric chart... Man, I hate that place... messy and confusing, why cant Spore open better craft shops (like Queen's street???). Why didnt I have a collection/ a secret stash of bits and pieces of fabric/ribbons/strings? Sigh...

Time to consult the guru for the actual A-Z chart construction. Instead of velcro, Mimi suggested animals returning back to their homes/ nests/ caves/kennels etc.... At different age, I can use the chart to teach Megan different aspects of the animals...wow! "Megan, which home does the Doggie go back to? Yes Kennel.. Lion? Cave.. Good Job..." Fantastic idea mum, my heart is with you... but time is running out since one more week I am popping... We simplify the chart construction and hey guys... that will be in the next blog... Wait and see!

The Good Body Guide by Dr Carole Hungerford

The doctors of today prescribe medicines of which they know little, to cure disease of which they know less, in human beings of whom they know almost nothing.

Voltaire 1694-1778

Reading a pretty good book these days recommended by a stand in GP who does not behave like the usual GP. She must be one of the extremely rare GP who actually ask questions before dishing out a conclusion on what is wrong with you. And she is the only GP who actually explain to us what drugs she intends to prescribe and if we are comfortable with the side effects or alternatively, can we adjust our lifestyle so that she can cut back one type of tablet. So impressed with her that Ken went to grab the book she recommends - The Good Body Guide.

The book is an easy read which covers many topics that question what we thought we knew. Starting from the agriculture evolution which encourage monoculture that narrows human intake of dietary variety, Hungerford pose the question if variety is important for optimum health. Even meat we eat are not free ranging anymore. We feed farmed animals crops we grew, which reflects needs other than nutrients. Yield, ease of harvest etc took precedent over a chemistry which we did not yet understand.

Our parents and doctors always tell us common facts like - "take more of this vegetable because this contains iron which is good for health". But nobody ever question where the iron in the vegetable comes from? Minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, selenium, iodine etc - if they are not in the soil that the plant grows, there will be none in the plant. With poor soil health across the globe even in agriculture wonderlands like NZ & OZ, how do we know if the vegetables we are eating contain all these vital minerals at all? How about hydroponics (oh clean soil-less vegetables grown out of water) and GM species?

I was just flipping through a locally published health and lifestyle magazine which ran an extensive article on the importance of calcium, if milk is not adequate, go for tablets supplements. If I did not know better, I would head out to optimise my health by popping tablets after meals. No where is there a mention that too much calcium intake actually competes with our body's vital intake of magnesium and selenium - trace minerals that are associated with prevention of asthma, osteoporosis and depression... so why no mention of such information and need for balance? Who fund the article? Any politics involved in the drug or pharmaceutical industry/ companies which diagnose, fund trials and offer treatment drugs?

A chiropractic clinic promoting healthy lifestyle opened near my office recently. They advised to fix my slightly off-centered spine with a 12 months package which consist of 3 sessions per week for the 1st 3 months and 9 Xrays sessions (5 radiation shoots per session). Are they really concerned about my otherwise healthy 32 yr old body? Absolutely not.

An interesting matter of speech highlighted by Hungerford is one of language and mathematical reasoning of statistical analysis in the industry. Suppose your doctor tells you that Tamoxifen will reduce your breast cancer recurrence by 20% as stated by the drug company. You will most likely opt for the treatment. But if the doctor tells you that your cancer recurrence is 20% and Tamoxifen will reduce the 20% by 20%, reducing your real risk by a mere 4%, will you still so readily opt for a drug that has its own side effects?

Insight into many questions we should be asking... A highly recommended read my friends... Go grab it

Mothers

I delicate this blog to myself and all mothers and mothers to be out there. Guys, stand aside.

This is my 36th week of pregnancy. Technically I can deliver anytime starting from next week. Time flies... Carrying Megan so far has been smooth sailing and relatively easy when I compare to many of my friends' pregnancy. No morning sickness, no cravings, no mishaps etc.

At 5th month's scan, our gyne confirmed that Megan has cleft lips. I had to undergo scans and tests to assertify that there are no further abnormalities or else I would have to abort the child. Cleft being a facial defect is the least of a mother's concern. It is the inside that matters to me. On the outside, some may think I show few emotions. No. It is just that I do not think cleft makes any difference. Megan is the same as any child outside, no need to make a big fuss over it.

The past 2 weeks sees me going downhill fast. I am exhausted yet cannot sleep. Fully alert at 3am every day is certainly nature's way of preparing me for Megan's 12am, 3am, 6am's feeding pattern in the near future... Ha! If I do sleep, it is plagued with dreams of labour, laundry, cooking etc... Tsk tsk.. At this late stage, Megan is still in beech position and that worries me (I am hardly a worry wart)...

My backaches get intensely painful, especially when Megan suddenly moves. If only I have an inhouse massage lady at beck and call!!! But Limin's orange massage ball (wee my birthday present!!!) came to the rescue... what a fantastic self help product! Thank you babe... 100 points! Highly recommended.

Shower, bending down, cooking, ok everything... everything starts getting difficult now that I suddenly ballonned. But at 9 months, I have only gained a modest 11.5kg. So if I am already dying, how did those mothers who gained 20plus kg survive??? I salute them.

Carrying a baby for 10 months is a very enriching experience. Something only the mother can truly understand. Not to discredit the guys' contribution to childbearing but this blog is not about the man anyway. And I haven't even experience the delivery part yet. No wonder all songs sing praises of mothers's greatness.

It is quite obvious why nature selects woman as the child bearer. Woman has an inner strength man do not have. Woman may appear weak and cry easily but that is because we always embrace and deal with problems in life, we break down to release tension by crying and seek comfort from friends when we thought we cannot take no more, then go back to facing our everyday life with renewed energy.

Woman may be the fairer sex bur certainly not the weaker sex. If anything, pregnancy has gained me a whole new respect for mothers and woman in general.

The world is becoming a better place for woman. But lets not decieve ourselves that we hold equal social or professional standing as man. Before my pregnancy, I see very clearly a fairly male dominated work environment... (mine is a construction industry in general). Woman need to put in extra to prove their worth and usually get half the respect as compared to man. Discrimination is commonplace in some countries and no matter how good we are, it is getting nowhere. But when we arrived, we arrived in a big way. Victory is sweet for a woman.

At home, we have the roles of wives, daughters, daughter in laws, now, mothers to play... And we are still "we" when we do find time to look within ourselves to rediscover who we are and what we want... These few weeks I thought of all the working mothers I know with infants or toddlers. Architects, lawyers etc... many of whom recently promoted to higher positions while still in breastfeeding and expressing milk stages... wow... did anyone tell you gals what a fantastic job you gals are doing? Can I join your rank?

To my mother, my mother in law, kei, andrea, belinda, song, limin, stacey, whyee's sister, karen, claudia, connie, moon, fion, kj, shufei, this blog is specially delicated to you for simply being who you are.

Cheers!!!

Fathers

Being dads these days is very different from our own father's or grandfather's times.

As a generalisation, the previous eras produce fathers who have many children but whose main role is to bring the bacon home to waiting mouths. And bring the bacon home they did since they are the sole breadwinner. These fathers are not very involved in the family. Post war sees a shift in this trend with a breed of fathers who show more struggle in the sudden galloping economy plus more demanding needs of the family. Mothers started to join the workforce. Family dynamics changed.

Man of today embraces even many roles. Although woman now share the burden of the finance, the social pressure is still on the man to prove their worth. Woman who are now on the go are also demanding their man to take on more domestic responsibility. Family unit is smaller with one or two children but we want better of everything...

On top of all these, today's dads are also very enthusiatic to play an active role in their child's life by being a caregiver and a nurturer. All in all, they want to be involved! And involve they did. A look around young fathers around me, it is not hard to discover that these guys are very well versed in the process of pregnancy, child birth, child rearing and home making!!! Having quite a few male friends with v young kids or infants gives me good insight to their psyche. I have to say theirs is not an easy role to manage.

Sometimes, I listen to them talk of doing more in their career, giving their family a better life and their guilt of not spending enough time with their wives and kids... These already make me want to give them a pat on their backs to encourage them forward.... Unlike woman who generally has a precedent to follow, these new dads appear to have to depend on themselves to figure out the best way to contribute to meet the needs and expectations of all he loves in this new generation. Man, unlike woman, also has less excuses nor do they want to make excuses for anything not done well...

Kudos to fathers of today and all the fathers to be... Today's daddy role is tough tough tough... don't be too stressed by trying to do too much, just trying your best is good enough. No one is born to know the role of a father so all fathers learn more of this role from living it from day to day...

I say cheers to fathers... Keep doing what you are doing.

Florence's Birthday

It is our dear Florence's birthday... only knew it mid morning. Got to do something for my cooking sifu!!! Legal Lane suggested flower delivery which we all know will make dear Florence smile.

I thought we need to do just a little bit more to enhance the surprise so I went for a walk to source for resources around vivo. Cold Storage was selling Chrysanthemum that looks so cute - like yam dumplings and I suddenly recall Daiso selling dim sum baskets. Hey dumplings and dim sum baskets go well together! YES! I can do a stack of dim sum baskets, each layer containing different hao liao! hahahaha...

Basket One - roses with honey

Basket Two - purple yam dumplings! yah...

Basket Three - Big cookie from Starbucks

As expected, Florence was blown away with the little surprise we planned for her. Remember to make use of the dim sum baskets to make nice char siew bao for us!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!

Megan's Height Chart

He introduced me to this shop called The Better Toy Store in Taka... I loved the shop! Not too sure how children will react to the toys but they totally appeal to me. Yes they do sell better toys by far... These should be the stuff that children play with - instead of pink plastic barbies, flashing colors mobiles, electronic games etc.... These days kids are only attracted to brain numbing electronics... this place sells good old slow toys.

We were fancinated with height charts sold in the shop... But those for gals are 'not surprising' painted in pink, pink and more pink... NO WAY MAN!!!!!!!!!! Plus they are really expensive... I cannot help thinking that I can make such height charts myself with cuter grahics and better colors (the latter is a total leap of faith). So it was decided that YY will create Megan's height chart from scratch... Off we go to Fancy Paper last week to purchase materials...

Day and night, I worked.... searching the net for inspiration of what to draw.... As you all know. CUTE is not my forte... The first owl completed is very telling - it has the most conservative colour scheme and looks almost albino. Tone on tone colors went out of the window with the second owl design - here comes the saturated blue and mango yellow!!
Paper cut out is tougher than I tot - No wonder hardly anyone does such craft now... Instant Gratification. Instant Graditfica
tion... It keeps ringing in my head... But this slow craft is really better than flat computer graphics...

Gee my back is breaking and someone should invent circle punchers of various sizes!!! Must be the sudden spur of maternal love that keep me cutting and pasting... God, when is the last time I actually use glue? Primary School?

My mini project completed and laminated!! YEAH.... I am so proud of myself. This must be the cutest and most colorful project I have ever done. My homones must be changing! Time for Ken to take over and paste the chart on the wall for Megan to meaure up in future... Now what is next?

YY's Cooking - Chapter Two

Ups and downs is how I will describe my cooking jounery since the last food blog.

I recall a good friend telling me how difficult and fustrating it is to cook and I cannot agree more. Especially for people like us who are new to this mix and match of ingredients... We put our hearts and efforts to creation of a dish and it turns out funny. By then, it is late, husbands are hungry and we all have to eat the product of our failed effort... This is not easy to swallow...

What to do? Try and try again... Out of 10 failures, there is always 1 or 2 success that will keep us going.

I shall start with the successful recipes

Double Baked Potato with bacon, cheese and spring onions - crispy on the outside, soft on the inside

Sauteed Portabello Mushrooms - such easy to make dish and so expensive when ordered in a restaurant!

Strawberry Banana Crepe with chocolate - Yum Yum

Savory Otah Egg Mayo Crepe - Spicy

Abalone Mushroom Baked Rice - Florence's little secret

The not that successful but can be greatly improved recipes:

Spicy Mango Salad - why is it not spicy at all? Not enough red onions? Steamed Fish - Timing timing timing.... plus its a bit blandStewed Tofu with Mixed Mushrooms - somehow the flavor did not enter the tofu... frustrated

Ginger Pork - Tough.... I must learn how to slice pork into thin strips!

At this point, I must give acknowledgement to him for very patiently trying out all the not very tasty food I put out on the table .

Total Failure dish:

Salted Fish Chicken - aiyah not that this is not well excecuted but we just dont like the taste of the salted fish...