Spicy Fried Dried Stick Noodle

Everybody loves noodle, including our family. We love almost any kind of noodle such as beehun (rice vermicelli), kwetiau (large rice noodle), yellow noodle, ifumie or bakmi. We love them all. My daughter's favorite is always the kwetiau and indeed its delicious especially the fried kwetiau. But right now, I want to share a recipe using different kind of noodle which is dried stick noodles.

We need to boiled this stick noodles first before cook. Usually, I boild the water first before adding the dried stick noodles. I add salt for savory flavour and cooking oil to the boiling water to prevent the stick noodle from sticking to each other. Wait until the noodles turn soft then put the hot noodles under tap water to stop the cooking process from the heat. Drain. Well, I want to keep the ingredients simple and use garlic and fried shrimps as the main focus.

Spicy Fried Dried Stick Noodle

Ingredients:

1/4 kilos of fried stick noodles, boiled and drained

3 garlics, smashed then chopped

1 Onion spring, sliced

10 cayennes

1/2 Tomato, sliced

2 eggs, scrambl

Soy sauce

Sweet soy sauce

Sesame oil

Salt and peppers

Blended ingredients:

10 shallots

3 garlics

1/2 ounce of dried shrimps

3 candlenuts

How to cook:

Heat cooking oil on a medium size skillet with medium heat, add smashed garlic and cook until brown

Add the blended ingredients, cook for about 5 minutes then add the sliced tomato and cayennes, stir well.

Add soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, salt and pepper and then add the scrambled eggs. Stir well

Then add the boiled and drained fried stick noodles and stir all together until the colour turns brown and smells wonderful :) 

Add the sliced onion spring then add one last stir :D

Put the noodle on a large plate then splash the sesame oil to add more flavour then sprinkle with fried shallot. Enjoy! :)

A Dumb Who Wants To Marry You

Marry You

By: Bruno Mars

It's a beautiful night,

We're looking for something dumb to do.

Hey baby,

I think I wanna marry you.

Is it the look in your eyes,

Or is it this dancing juice?

Who cares baby,

I think I wanna marry you.

Well I know this little chapel on the boulevard we can go oh oh oh,

No one will know oh oh oh,

Oh, come on, girl.

Who cares if we're trashed got a pocket full of cash we can blow oh oh oh,

Shots of patron,

And it's on, girl.

Don't say no, no, no, no-no;

Just say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah;

And we'll go, go, go, go-go.

If you're ready, like I'm ready.

Cause it's a beautiful night,

We're looking for something dumb to do.

Hey baby,

I think I wanna marry you.

Is it the look in your eyes,

Or is it this dancing juice?

Who cares baby,

I think I wanna marry you.

I'll go get a ring let the choir bells sing like oooh,

So what you wanna do?

Let's just run girl.

If we wake up and you wanna break up that's cool.

No, I won't blame you;

It was fun, girl.

Don't say no, no, no, no-no;

Just say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah;

And we'll go, go, go, go-go.

If you're ready, like I'm ready.

Cause it's a beautiful night,

We're looking for something dumb to do.

Hey baby,

I think I wanna marry you.

Is it the look in your eyes,

Or is it this dancing juice?

Who cares baby,

I think I wanna marry you.

Just say I doooooo-ooo uhu,

Tell me right now baby,

Tell me right now baby, baby.

Oh, it's a beautiful night,

We're looking for something dumb to do.

Hey baby,

I think I wanna marry you.

Is it the look in your eyes,

Or is it this dancing juice?

Who cares baby,

I think I wanna marry you.

***

First of all, I must confess that I really really love all Bruno Mars' songs. But this particular song has few dumb words which irritates me. I bold all those words on the "Marry Me" lyric above.

I like this song ever since I heard it. The music is fun and the singer's voice is great, until I listen carefully to the lyric. Well, English is obviously my daily language so at first I was doubt and maybe somehow I listen to the wrong words. So I google the actual lyric and found out that I was not that wrong anyway. Turns out that the lyric is not as fun as the music and the singer's voice.

I mean, who among you beautiful ladies out there who want to marry a guy like this? He wants to marry you just because he wants to do something dumb on a beautiful night and of all other dumb things to do he chooses to marry you. He doesn't mention anything about love since I can not find a single word in this entire lyric. And the dumbest of all is the part with underline above. That if somehow, after got married on a stupid night, you wake up and wanna break up, he says: its alright, since last night was fun after all. In other words, you can always get a divorce a few hours after getting married. I can tell you that indeed it is a dumb thing to do. 

I consider marriage as sacred thing to do. You need to make sure that you are ready to marry someone and put a commitment into it before putting a ring into your finger. You need to make a plan for your life and think about what you need to do to establish your marriage life. It is not easy. That is why so many people choose to live together with their partners instead of getting married. You face different kind of responsibities when you choose to get married instead of living together. And I am sure that each and every adults know what's the best for their love life whether its married or living together. No one should judges anyone's choice after all.

But considers marriage as a dumb thing to do is totally different. If you really don't feel like want to be with the same person for the rest of your life then why bother getting married at the first place? Every woman wants to marry a responsible and committed man who willing to pour his heart into his new family. Instead of a dumb guy who wants to marry you just because its a beautiful night and he's looking for something dumb to do. Tell him to go away and that he can marry the first tall palm tree he found instead. LoL. Have a nice day ladies :)

Chicken and Potatoes Smoor

Most of Indonesian recipes are spicy and salty. We use chillis in almost every meals but this one is different. It has sweet taste with a lot of spices on it. The original name in Indonesia is SEMUR but I can not find a suitable word in English so I use the original word instead, smoor. Meat is the common ingredient for this recipe, you can use beef, pork or chicken. But sometimes people also cook smoor with hard boiled eggs or tofu. In this recipe, I use chicken with additional potatoes.

Chicken and Potatoes Smoor

Ingredients:

1 kg chicken, cut into medium size

0,5 kg potatoes, cut and then deep fried.

A ltr of water

2 pcs cardamom

3 cm cinnamon

3 pcs star anise

Sweet soy

Salt and pepper

Blended ingredients:

10 pcs red onions

3 pcs garlics

3 cm ginger

5 pcs candlenut

1 pc nutmeg

How to cook:

Heat cooking oil in a medium size pan, then add the blended ingredients, stir well for about 3 minutes

Add the chicken breast and stir until medium cooked.

Add cardamom, cinnamon and star anise. Cook until you can smell fragrance of the spices.

Add sweet soy. The amount is depends on how sweet you want your smoor to be. The more sweet soy, the sweeter. My kids love sweet smoor so I always add more sweet soy :) 

Add the deep fried potatoes then stir well until all chicken breasts and potatoes turn brown with sweet soy. Then add water.

Let it boiled for at least half and hour until all the spices absorbed well.

I usually sprinkle parsley on top of it before served.

Enjoy! :)

Old Style Christmas Card

Well, I realize that tomorrow is our last day with wonderful 2013. Time really goes by. Chrismas is over but I can still feel and enjoy the joyful moment until today. This year, we received quite few Christmas presents from family and relatives, including FIVE CHRISTMAS CARD! I was so excited to read them. Well, don't you? LOL

I mean, its been a long time a go since people started to replace the old style Christmas card with new method such as: text messages or emails which seems to be more effective and time saver. Your friends and relatives will receive your Christmas greeting in just a second after you send it. Even these days, in social media era when every places seems to get closer and closer, we can send Christmas greetings through various ways such as: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Path or Blackberry Messenger. And the fun fact is that you can add pictures of you and your family (in colour!) then send them along together with your Christmas greeting. Your friends and relative will receive it in just a second! How awesome is that! And as we all can see, Christmas cards have been forgotten.

Like it or not, Christmas cards do take time and efforts, just like. I describe above. But actually I miss them now. I miss the colourful card (sometimes you can find one with musical instrument attached and play Christmas songs while opened), I miss the beautiful words of Christmas inside. I think Christmas cards are personal compare to short messages we used on Twitter. We may call it old style but Christmas card will never be totally forgotten. Somehow I feel that someday people will get bored of all these social media phobia and return to use the old style Christmas card again. 

Anyway, I still want to give you my own Christmas greeting here my fellow readers. I hope your Christmas there as merry as ours here. Merry Christmas and Happy Welcoming New Year 2014

Fish with Salty Soybean Paste

Soybean is commonly found on Asian cuisine. Its made of soybean (obviously) and has been preserved with salt and other ingredients so that it can be keep for longer time without being rotten. The taste is salty with dark brown colour and you can still see the soybean inside. This time, I want to share a recipe using this soybean paste.

Basically you can always use anything other than fish to cook with soybean paste, such as: shrimps, squids or eggs. This time I choose fish instead.

Fish with Salty Soybean Paste

Ingredients:

1/2 kilos fresh fishes, wash and cut into half. Sprinkle with salt and lemon, leave it about 15 minutes. Then deep fried the fishes until golden brown.

10 pcs of green beans, sliced

10 pcs green pepper

2 cm ginger, smashed

1 dried tamarind

1 lemongrass

1 bayleaf

Half tomato, sliced

1 tsp of Oyster sauce

Blended ingredients:

10 pcs shallots

5 pcs garlics

1 cm ginger

A spoon of of dried prawn

Shrimp paste

How to cook:

Add oil into medium size pan and heat it

Add smashed ginger and fried for 2 minutes, then add all the blended ingredients, stir for 2 minutes

Add tamarind, lemongrass, bayleaf and the green pepper and sliced tomato, stir well

Add the sliced grean beans and oyster sauce, then let all cook for about 5 minutes, then add 1 cup of water to blend all the ingredients. Cook until the green beans become soft.

Add the fried fishes into the pan and stir well so they covered completely inside the sauce, leave it for 5 minutes for to fishes to absorb the sauce.

Ready to serve ^^

Note: since I have already use enough salty ingredients such as soybean paste, shrimp paste and oyster sauce on this, I do not add anymore salt into the recipe but you can always add salt anytime you like :)

Spicy Sausages Fried Rice

My last post about Crab Soup with Corn here  is an usual menu for main course. Now, I want to share another favorite menu for my family, this time for breakfast. It Spicy Sausages Fried Rice. We all love fried rice for breakfast and I usually combine it with other type of additional and not just sausages. I love to combine it with scrambled eggs, pepperoni, mushroom, salted-fishes, etc. So, basically, you can always replace the sausages with other additional dish you like. 

Spicy Sausages Fried Rice

Ingredients:

- Two plates of rice (I usually keep the rice inside the freezer over night to get rid of the moist we usually  find in hot rice. Cold rice will taste crispy when used as fried rice. But its your choice :) )

- 2 garlics, finely chopped

- Chicken breasts (as many as you like), thinly sliced

- Sausages (as many as you like), sliced

- 6 onions, thinly sliced, fried

- 2 eggs, scrambled

- Sweet soy sauce

- Oyster sauce

- Spring Onions and Parsley, finely chopped

- Salt and pepper

Ingredients to blend using a blender:

- 10 onions

- 3 chillis (add more if you want)

- 1 ounce of dried shrimp

- 1cm of ginger

How to cook:

Add butter or cooking oil into medium size fried pan and heat it.

Add chopped garlics and stir for a while

Add all the blended ingredients, stir for about 2 minutes.

Add chicken breasts, oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce and stir well

Add sliced sausages and scrambled eggs. Stir well altogether.

Add cold rice into the pan, stir well for a few minutes until all the ingredients mixed well and the white rice turn into brown colour.

Add salt and pepper then sprinkled with fried sliced onion.

Sprinkle with finely chopped spring onions and parsleys.

Ready to serve :)

Happy breakfast...

Crab Soup with Corn

It's been raining a lot in here recently. Usually, we have rainy season in Medan starts from October to December. It's not like all day long kind of type rain of course. Only few hours daily. I especially call this as Christmas season. Yay! Christmas is almost here....

Anyway, any kind of hot soup will be suitable during this season. A kind of food we usually enjoy together. This recipe is one of our favorite meal that I'd love to share with you. The recipe is very simple and  can be served within an hour.

Crab Soup with Corn

Ingredients:
1kg of crabs, cut half
3 medium caroot, peeled and slice diagonally
1 potato, cut into 8
1 medium corn, cut into 10 part
2 spring onions, thin sliced
1 parsley, finely chopped
1 tometo, cut into 4
Salt and pepper
Onions, sliced and fried until golden brown

Blend these ingredients:
10 onions
5 garlic
Ginger 3cm

How to cook:
Boil water in a pot.
Cut 3cm of ginger and smashed but not broken. Put inside the water.
After the water boiled, add sliced carrots, potatoes and corns and let them boiled for half an hour.
(Since I have toddler, I want the carrots and potatoes softer and I will boil them longer)
Then crabs and let them boiled for another half and hour than add sliced tomato.

Add the blended ingredients into the pot, stir in and season with salt and pepper.
Add half amount of the spring onions and parsley, stir for a few minutes more.

How to serve:
Add the crabs in a bowl, add carrots, potatoes and corns.
Pour the broth.
Add the rest of the spring onions and parsley.
Last one, sprinkle with fried onions..

Bon appetite....Selamat makan ^^

You can always make new friends, dear

My 6,5y old daughter is now a 1st grade student. She always loves school and she enjoys almost all activities she has in school everyday :) Sometimes I pretend about not taking her to school one day with many reasonable reasons, she always refused and said she need to go to school to study and meet her friends no matter what! LoL. That's how she loves school.

One day, when I picked her up after school, she entered the car silently and with no smile at all. Well, this is not her very much. She always enter the car in smile and can not stop talking about what happened in school that day. But on that particular day, she act different. I asked why she looks like having a bad mood. I wonder whether she's sick or something. But she said, No. 

"Angeline, my classmate, doesn't want to play with me. And she asked my other girl classmates to stop playing with me too. So I have no friends to play with, while I'm waiting for you to come and pick me up."

She told me about that in a very sad voice and face. I thought: oooh geeezz, this kind of bully has already started among a very young children nowaday. I remember back in my time, almost every 1st grade students get along with their classmates well and play together everyday. And bullies began to start when they grow older such as 5th or 6th grade after they meet more kids in school and trying to make new friends. But now, it seems that it starts early enough among the 1st grade students.

To be honest, this is the first time for me to deal with this. I read a lot and learn from other parents about how to deal with this kind of problem. The conclusion that I got is that we need to teach our kids about self-confidence first. To teach them that they are equal with their other friends, so there's no need to be afraid and you can make friends with everyone. In my daughter's case, I think she's dissapointed to see one of her friends has managed to push other kids to stop playing with her and how they listen to her. She was afraid that this means she will be alone all the time and no one will play with her again unless she follows the rules made up by this Angeline. She thought about what will going to happen with her in school without any friends to play with. School will be fun no more.

I don't want to add more negativities to this anymore. I don't want her to pay hatred with hatred since that will never solve the problems. Instead it will add bitterness into her heart in the future. So I told her that she does not need to feel sad about it all. There will a way out of every problem she has in school and she needs to keep that in mind. In this case, if Angeline stop playing with her and order her other classmates to stop playing with her either, she can always find other friends in school to play with. If she can not play with her classmates, she can always go and meet friends from other classes. In there school, there are five classess for 1st grade students and many of them are her former kindergarten's classmates also. She can go and play with them instead.

She looked surprised with my opinion and started to smile.
"How can I not think of that before?" She said excitedly. "I still can play with Ayumi, Anastasia or Zsezse in Rainbow Class (name of other 1st grader class room). And she said she will absolutely visit them tomorrow. I was happy to see her smile back again. And to add a little relief to her dissapointment before, I asked her to tell this Angeline:

"Hi, Angeline. If you refused to play with me, that is fine. I still have so many friends out there who willing to play with me. You are not my only friend. So, please be nice with your friends."

After that day, she realizes that she still have so many friends outside her class room to be friends with. And teach her how to make new friends too by saying 'hi' first to other kids and introduce herself first and remember to be nice to them. She makes more and more friends right now and knowing that so many new friends to come in the future. So no need to be worry about not having friends in the future anymore.

Good job, my daughter. I love you :)

Young girls in inappropriate dresses

There's a short quotation I found on a movie yesterday. The movie is about a serial killer who got caught by police in his last "action". The killers common victims are young girls whom he raped first before killed. Apparently, he's in some kind of therapy for his "craziness" and still try to get rid of his beast intention over young girls. In the end, he failed and once again caught by policemen. When he's been interrogated about why he could do such a horrible thing to young girls, and why he prefer young girl instead of adult women. Because he can actually get a prostitute anytime he wanted. It's his answer that I think we need to realize.

"Why do you think the use young girls on posters? Why young girls want to be portrayed half naked with mouth and legs opened wide, just to promote clothes? And they call it modelling. I think deep inside their hearts, they want people like me."

Geezz, I never think that way before. But I think that something is real about this thought. Pedophiles are increased in numbers. You can read or watch or heard about so many young girls have become the rape victims. The police caught so many of these criminals everyday but somehow their numbers are keep growing and growing. The rape victims are getting younger and younger every year. I keep asking myself, why?

Yes, these predators are animals! They destroy young girls' life and leave nothing but a traumatic memories behind. But young girls aren't innocent either.

Have you noticed how young girl dressed themselves nowadays? It's true that almost of them look half naked. Tiny tank tops, tiny shorts/skirts, tight dresses, etc. They walk with almost every part of their body opened. They don't feel ashamed because almost every young girls dress like that. And they considered it cool because that style is in trend. You can see it in many fashion magazines. How young girls as models photographed in certain kind in order to sell clothes. And most of the time, almost naked.

Well, you may say that it's all for art, yes you may. You can also say that it's not that picture's fault, it is depend on how you interpret them. It's not porn until you consider it nasty, some says. But you can't control other people's interpretation. Some sick guys like the criminal above is one of the nasty people.

You can see those half naked young girl portrait as art and fashion, but guys like those predators considered it as invitation. Young girls with tiny tank tops and tiny tight short can easily become their victims. You can also become the victim even if you dress properly. You can imagine what will happen to the half naked ones.

My point here is, you should watch what your young girls wear everyday, mommies. Will you let your daughter leave the house topless? We can explain to them why they should avoid that kind of dress, not just as mom but also as woman. Tell them how crazy the world outside. Don't make yourself as a trigger to those predators craziness. It's doesn't mean that they have to dress like nuns everyday, just dress properly. Don't show off too much of your skin. Cover your breasts properly. Do not expose your thigh and your behind, just because your favorite models dress that way.

We realize that it's not easy to get understanding from them. But still we must teach them this, right? Before something terrible happens to them just because some sick guys watch them walking in the mall with some friends and most of them wear tiny tiny tops and bottoms. It's a hard world :(

Image source: claireverity.wordpress.com

Asha's New School

A kind of stupid-silly thing happen in my daughter's kindergarten a few days a go. I was informed that they're no longer receive any students anymore and will close down the school start from next month. Ridiculous! I've never found a school like that which obviously close down the school while so many students still willing to continue their study there. While so many school out there were forced to close down due to lack of students interested to study there.

But the most unfair part of this story is that because we're given the information without any notes from school at least a month before. All parents don't have any idea at all that their kids won't be able to continue study in that school anymore and totally unprepared to find other school right away. As result, the options left are only expensive school which still available for new students for next months since almost all school were already full with new students and unable to receive any new ones.

Asha's New School

Well, that means that my dear Asha will be removed to other good school which fortunately still have 2 spots left for new students. This is truly a precious experience for me as parent that I'd rather pay for a quite pricey school with trust-able reputation in the future. Well, what can I say, education is not cheap. But parents will do anything to get a perfect school for their children and work as hard as possible to earn more money for their education funds. I just hope all the best for my cutie Asha :)

You Are Still A Mother!

Every mom will be very happy to have her own new born baby in her hands from the very first second, I suppose. I said “suppose” because apparently there will always be mothers or mothers to be out there who plan to get rid of their new born baby as soon as possible with various reasons. One of the reasons I got is because having or nurturing a baby is such an enormous responsibility.

You can’t just say: 
--> “Alright, I’ve had enough of taking this tiny person in my womb for nine months. Now it’s your turn to take care of her from now on.”
Or
--> “I’m still feeling exhausted. Could you please take my baby away for couple of years then bring her back to me right after she can walk on her own feet.” 

Then, maybe that’s why some of those moms choose to give up and ask someone else to take their places as moms. Breastfeeding is also one of issues that mom should deal with after delivering her baby. And for me, breastfeeding is all about decision. It’s sad to see someone looks down on a mother just because she’s unable to breastfeed her baby.

--> “Why don’t you breastfeed your baby? That is really irresponsible!” 
--> “What?! You choose to give that synthetic milk for your baby? Ewww. What kind of mother are you?” 

I think it’s not fair. No one should ever judge a woman’s capability of becoming a mother based only on her capability of breastfeeding her baby. There are many reasons why moms unable to breastfeed their babies and turn into formula milk and I don’t see anything wrong with that. Formula milk is not poison! It was carefully formulated by the expert to support baby’s growth so that the ingredients will be as good as mom’s milk. Some said that mom becomes unable to make physical contact with her baby since she feed her with plastic bottle, which is not completely true. You still able to hug her in your arms while feed her with bottle. Anyway, feeding your baby is not the only physical contact you’re about to have when nurturing baby, right? My point is that you, moms out there have all the rights to choose whatever you want to do with your body. No one should ever judge you just because you’re different from the other side of group. You are still a mother with our without breastfeeding your baby. Just do whatever you think the best for your new born sugar. Happy nurturing!

Image Source: www.breastfeedingproblems.org

Managing Online Business With A Proper Web Hosting Service

You can say that managing a business nowadays is quite different from the way we did couples of years ago. In the past days, we usually bring our products and sell them directly to customers in need. Then some people started to use media as show case to gain more interests. It’s not uncommon for us to find certain company sent catalogues of their products via mail. Then there’s improvement when people started to use email as well.

Then what about selling your product online? People usually pay more attention to products displayed online on a professional website. Well, I also love to spend time to look at beautiful products displayed on certain online store and sometimes buy a few of them just a moment after that. That’s the power of selling online. You don’t have to carry your entire product anywhere. Just put pictures on your website and everyone will be able to see them no matter where they are.

So, if you’re thinking (and planning) about having an online business, make sure that you use a proper web hosting or managed hosting to support you, such as Superb Internet. It’s important for you to have a professional and trustable website as your online store, so that your customers (or customers to be) can access your online store easily. But, if somehow you already have your own server but still need more help, then colocation is another option for you. I hope you will be able to manage your business properly, whatever options you have there.
This post is brought to you by a friend of mine.

Expand Your Readership With Web Hosting

Every blogger like me wants their thoughts to be spread and read by lots and lots of people out there. Because it's actually the main idea of why you should have your own blog in the first place. If you think that no one should able to reach and know you through your article, then why bother to make a blog then? Use an old fashioned style diary with a cute lock outside to prevent anyone from peeking.

Since you want to share your opinion with other or even want to start a discussion with your readers, you need to have and manage a proper blog for it. An accessible blog/personal website will be a great advantage for you to gain more readers. And for this, you need to choose a right web hosting to support you. As a matter of fact, web hosting can be used for other purposes too, such as promotion, information, online shop or public service. It will help you reach more readers even from different countries, especially if you use the internationally known language, English, as your main language in your blog/personal website.

Of course they will provide you with many options first before you make any decision by reading their review. Choose one from the list according to your need and budget. Happy blogging!
This was brought to you by a friend and all opinions are 100% mine

Way To Invest Smartly

There will always something about money that makes you think about what to do first before taking action. Budgeting and making a complete financial plan is not easy. There are several things that you need to consider before. But what exactly those things are? For this answer, maybe you will need help from credible people who are expert in helping people managing their money, whether it’s about saving, debt management, investing, budgeting, taxing, or credit card issues. They will be able to answer your entire questions and help you manage it.

And the best thing is you can find them online now. So, you don’t have to set a special appointment to meet your financial advisors directly but you can still communicate with them through internet. They usually ask you to provide some information about yourself before and create a new account in order to pull your all financial information into one place. They will guarantee that all your information is always secure and that your data is always protected.

You can discuss almost about anything. Not only just a serious part of financial such as online stock trading but you can also find out about how to spend your money properly so you still able to save some of them by the end of the day. That’s the easiest part of financial solution that most people need to find out. Well, those financial advisors are there to help us now.

It's Going To Be Hectic Real Soon

I feel a bit confused and worry at the same time right now. My pregnancy is getting older and my due date is getting closer, about 3 months again. I've been reading a lot about contaminated formula milk in my country before especially formula milk for new born babies. It really makes me hesitated to feed my new born baby with formula milk. I plan to purely breastfeed him for at least 6 months before introducing formula milk as additional. And that's a huge plan!

Because I already have a 4 years daughter right now and she needs a different kind of attention right now. I never use a nanny service before because I can't simply imagine anyone else will ever take care of her as best as I could do. That's why I choose to resign from my previous job and become a stay at home mom. And I make it. I manage to raise my first daughter by myself until 4 years old. But by the coming of my second child everything would be different. I don't think I'll be able to breastfeed my newborn baby and at the same time nursing my 4 years old daughter all by myself. I can imagine that it would be very hectic for me. The only way out is to find more help and support.

I'm going to need a nanny eventually, no matter how hesitated I am about it. I've been trying to find a qualified and credible nanny for about 3 months now and end up with nothing. Meanwhile, my due date is getting closer. It makes me hold my breath just to imagine how hectic the situation with me in the next few years. Being a mother is never easy and it's going to be harder and harder. May God help me to take care His two amazing miracles in the future.

My Baby's Kicks

Every time I feel his kicks inside my belly, I just can't stop smiling no matter how sleepy I am.The funny thing is this is my second pregnancy. That means I've been in this situation before with my first daughter. But the magic is just can't stop. You will always feel amazed when you realize that there is a little tiny person who's growing inside of you everyday and how he shows you that he's alive, by kicking you regularly. Hahaha..

This is my 6th month pregnancy and my baby is big enough to show some actions that he's alive, everyday. Sometimes I feel my belly is so tight then I have to find a place to (at least) sit or even laying. The more I touch my belly (or talking to my belly) the more he will kick me. Amazing!!

Blessed you all mother out there who's been given a chance to have this amazing experience. To be able to feel the growing life inside your body and praise The Almighty God for His beautiful plan over you. May God bless my little tiny baby inside my belly right now. I already love you even when you're just a tiny spot inside me.

Image Source: /www.ourbabyhuman.com

Get an upgrade with bold hues and body-loving shapes for Spring

This post brought to you by Express. All opinions are 100% mine.

What do you love the most about swim wear? Is it the pattern? Or maybe you prefer the color best? Also, do you love bikini or monokini instead? For me, I prefer a simple cutting with simple pattern in bright color. Sometimes I like light blue or soft pink. But I can also love this color below. Gorgeous!

Anyway, there's a chance for you ladies to get this beautiful outfit online just by joining Express e-mail now. Express is an online store which provides various kinds of women's swimwear in affordable prices. Follow the sweepstakes rules for a chance to win one of then $200 Express Gift Cards they offered.

Their collections are including sandals, tote bags, sun glasses and hats, either for women or men. They will be perfect to accompany your swim wear, right? You can pick a simple cutting or flirty ruffles. Also available in strapless or halter bikini style. You will find any kind of style and color you like.

If you're one of the lucky winner, you can have one of those gorgeous swimwear for free. Take some times to look around at their collections online now. Enjoy your spring time, ladies.

Nanny And Your Kids' Independency

It's hard to find a nanny who loved our kids as sincere as we (parents) do, right? So when you've found one, you will try your best to keep the nanny with you and please her with everything she wants. By doing so, you hope your kid will be happy and in a good care of a loving and professional nanny. And at the same time, the nanny feels comfortable to work in your house and willing to stay for a long time.

But, watch out, mommies! Your kids could become so attached to the nanny and slowly forget to learn about how to be an independent person according to her/his age. Let me tell you a story about a nanny of my daughter's classmate in playgroup.

This little girl (usually called Taya) is 3 years old. The regulation in the school is parents must leave their kids study in the class room alone. Parents can wait for their children in a special room together with other parents. But no adult people is allowed inside the class room except for the teacher/s. If your kid is new, you can accompany her/him for the first three days only, after that you must leave the class room and wait with other parents in the waiting room. Most of the kids usually cry and upset when watching their parents leaving them inside, but it's only happened for a few days. They will soon understand that parents aren't allowed to accompany them inside the classroom and they will accept it and happily meet their parents back outside the classroom, after the class is over.

But this little girl, Taya, has been accompanied by her nanny for almost 5 months inside the class room. Her nanny makes an excuse that Taya will be very upset if she leaves her alone in the classroom. But regulation is still regulation. The teacher finally insisted that the nanny must wait outside the class just like other parents did. When this happened, Taya screamed and cried so loudly, but her teacher managed to persuade her after 10 minutes. She has been told that her nanny is waiting outside, no one is going to leave her alone. She stopped crying but still refuse to study. Her teacher keeps persuades her and at least she's willing to stay inside the classroom without her nanny. Next time she'll get better.

But outside the classroom, silly thing happens. The nanny's crying. She said she can't be separated from Taya (even for only about 2 hours!?) and the teacher shouldn't have forced her to do so. The nanny told us that Taya is so attached to her 24 hours a day. Even when she needs to go to the bathroom, Taya will drag her chair and wait for her exactly in front of the bathroom's door which must be left opened. Can you imagine how stupid that situation is?? Maybe the nanny told us the story in order to gain our sympathy and showing us how close and important she is to Taya. But, instead of looking at her with a smile and understanding, we look amazed and frowned. What kind of nurture is that?

The nanny failed to teach Taya about independence. I wonder what's going to happen to this little girl if suddenly her nanny can not work and accompany her anymore. In this Taya case, I don't think that the little girl has a problem about left alone in the classroom, but the nanny is actually the person who refused to let it happens. She's so proud that she can make her employer's kid so attached to her that she doesn't care about the bad impact that Taya will face in the future. I'm sure the situation will be harder for Taya when she moves to a higher step such as Kindergarten and Primary School. When all her friends can adapt just well in the new school, Taya will still struggle with the condition that she must be separated from her nanny everyday.

So, if you mommies hire a nanny to nurture your kids everyday, make sure you pay attention to this side of the story. I'm sure you want your kids to grow as independent persons who can adapt well and face everything in front of them on their own in the future. Nanny is good to help them with food, hygiene, doing homework, etc. But nanny won't stay forever, someday she will leave. And tell your kids, that they must deal with it someday. But life must go on and they still need to learn and grow bigger, even with or without the nanny beside them. That's the point. Don't let your kids so attached to them. And tell the nanny to teach your kids about Independence before she managed to make your kid so attached to her.

Home Made Meal For Kids Lunch

I think it much easier for parents to just give their little kids an amount of money for allowance without bother about how are they going to spend that money. The common purpose of this allowance is for lunch at school or to buy snacks on their spare time. But I think we still need to figure out how they spend their allowance. Little kids usually can't make a right choice for healthy food for lunch. If you just give the money and let them figure it out for themselves, then you couldn't blame them if they're getting over weight due to eating junk food everyday.

Kids would prefer burgers, hot dogs, chicken nuggets and french fries rather than fish or vegetables. They always try to get rid those kind of healthy foods even where you're there watching them. Imagine what will happen if they can choose whatever they want without having you around. Not to mention the food's hygiene and how your kids can end up with indigestion problems.

Maybe you would like to consider about preparing a home made foods for them instead of giving them allowance to buy meal for lunch. Healthy sandwich and fruit in a small cute bag which they can carry to school will be a healthier choice. You can guarantee the freshness and nutrition and maintain the hygiene level. Yes, you will going to spend more time to do this, but it's worth to do. You can find various healthy recipes for children every where (books or online) and serve it the way they like it.

I don't hate junk food at all, because junk food is actually tasty. LoL. But I don't want my child to eat junk food everyday. I still can enjoy junk food once a week, especially on weekend. But that's all.

Image Source: www.foxnews.com

Great Butt Paste For Delicate Skin

This post brought to you by Boudreaux's Butt Paste. All opinions are 100% mine.

Diaper rash is one of the most regular issues among you ladies who have been gifted babies. The itchy feeling caused by these rashes will give your baby a very uncomfortable feeling around his/her butt. It's usually happens if the baby wears disposable diaper every day. This could also affect their sleeping habit during the night as well as unstoppable crying. Babies can't tell you about it, they just can only cry and always look nervous.

Boudreaux's Butt Paste is one of their choices to cure diaper rash. It has been well formulated by the experts and make it suitable for delicate skin of your baby butts. Contain Zinc Oxide and Peruvian Balsam to soothe the irritated skin due to diaper rash. This paste is available in many convenient and handy travel sizes. It contain skin protectant inside the pleasant scent.

Oprah talk about it in one of her famous shows, just like Tonight Show, ESPN or People Magazine. Great product must be trustable by numerous number of people and this butt paste is also recommended by pediatrician. Go to their site to find a way to get a free sample offer. Just by sending them a self addressed envelope.