How to change disposable diaper

Do husbands change diapers these days? If I were a Daddy twenty or thirty years ago, it would be a joke. In our society at least. But it will be a disaster should a husband doesn't know how to change diapers today!

I do change diapers. Lots of them. More than thousand times. I would not say that it's a dirty job. Baby less than one year old who drink breast milk or cow's milk, how bad the poop can be?

Jacob poop every day. Sometimes, before his evening bath or after his morning bath. Right after his morning feed.

When the 'smell' comes, the first thing that I look for, will be the wet wipe. I'm not that systematic and things are left around here and there. Pull out three pieces of the wipes from its packet. It's sufficient and at RM0.05 a piece, it's good to be frugal.

Alcohol free to prevent dryness

I normally put his chest resting on my arm, so that his back is facing me. His legs seem like standing on the floor but actually his weight is on my arm. Normally, I don't lay him down to avoid his poop spilling out from the diaper. Untape the diaper and remove it.

This is the most messy part. I'll take a wet wipe and clean as much as possible. Leave no stains behind.

Take another wet wipe and wipe the back thoroughly and the anus.

With the back cleaned, I lay the baby down. Starting from genitalia towards area between skin folds, make sure no yellow stain is left unwiped.

 

Well, that's about it. The last part will be putting on a new diaper. Simple but needs some practices. A friend of mine lamented that he could change a diaper in a minute. The fastest I can do probably 5 minutes. I wonder how he can manage so fast?

Husband should cook this simple dish

I believe that husbands should cook at home once in awhile.

Like this simple dish which can be done in 40 minutes.

Maggi's 5-Spice Mix (I grabbed from Mydin supermarket randomly)

Ayam's Green Peas (Any brand will do. I was in a hurry and didn't even bother to check the price)

Half a kg of chicken (Make sure the date on the label is the day it is bought)

I soaked some fragrant mushroom and black moss since my son likes them. While waiting for the mushroom to soften, why not wash some leafy vegetables like baby kailan?

Let's start with the dish. Simply follow the instruction given on the Maggi's label.

Boil some water. Put in the 5spices mix, chicken (do wash the pieces of meat), shredded mushroom, black moss, green peas (how much? suka hati lah).

Then, stir the mixture every now and then so that the meat cooked evenly.

The meat should be ready in 30 minutes. So, while waiting, I got myself a bowl of muesli.

True, a lot of waiting period. Then, why not proceed to cook the baby kailan?

A lazy man like me can cook, so can you!

The result? It's really nice. Your spouse will like the dish. Your children will love it. And of course a husband will earn credit for his effort.

All the best in cooking the dish!

Last day in Penang

We went for the hotel's breakfast the next morning. The varieties of food were great. Nasi lemak, Noodle station, cereal station, Western breakfast food, Japanese rice with assorted side dishes, pastries station..

I liked their Nyonya kueh dipped in kaya. Heavenly. Not too sweet. Just nice.

We didn't fill up our stomach as we went off for our makan trip again. We tried 'Apom Manis' and fried sandwich coated in bread crumbs. Our first time trying the snack food but I missed the 'Apom'.

It's really difficult to take photo as we're eating in a coffee shop. The big drain was just next to our table. Darrien accidentally spill our host's cup of coffee. He wanted to go to the toilet. He wanted to kill the ants on the table. He wanted to use his hand to pick up the noodle.

So, the best place to take a picture would be in controlled environment such as Toys' R Us.

Wife went off to Pulau Tikus to ta pao dinner and I liked the snowy sweet iced concoction sold there.
 

Gurney Drive on our last day in Penang

We went to Public Cafe, a stone throw away from our hotel on the third day. We had loh bak , which was pretty good and of course, no Penang trip would be perfect without a char kway teow picture, right?

My dinner from Penang.

A short walk in Gurney Drive Hawker Centre

As last Thursday and Friday were public holiday, we went to Penang to visit our friends whom we had not seen for many years.

We started our 3 days 2 nights road trip with great excitement. We haven't visit Penang since time memorial.

Time was 6.13 a.m. Our boys were still having their peaceful sleep. Jacob was strapped onto the baby seat while his brother slept next to him. With Google Map pictures neatly saved in the Ipad, we proceeded to Rantau Panjang, some 35 kilometres from our rented house. Some turns later, we drove over scenic surrounding. I think we drove on Banjaran Titiwangsa, East Coast Highway. The hill view was similar to a journey to Genting Highlands or Kundasang. Misty. Breath taking.

One of our mini maps

6 hours passed. The journey was smooth and we realized that there hardly any other vehicles following or overtaking us. We're all alone on the journey to Penang! After we passed some toll booths, I was ecstatic to drive on the Penang Bridge for the first time. We paid a total of RM13.40 toll fees for our 2-way trip.

The sakai gesture to show the almost finished second bridge

Our hosts were waiting for us at The Gurney Hotel & Residences.

Our room was facing Penang Strait

After checking in, we went to New World food court for our lunch. I didn't manage to catch any pictures at all. Few seconds away from the kid, he'll be missing! We had the cendol with slices of banana, asam laksa, chee cheong fan, chai kueh, meat dumplings, while Darrien had his white rice with meat stew and potatoes.

As our hotel was situated along the Gurney Drive, we went to ta pao some Penang food at the Gurney Drive Hawker Centre. The place was congested and it's very difficult to find parking lot. We parked our car in the Gurney Plaza's basement. Parking fees were RM2 for the first hour.

Open spaces at the Gurney Drive Hawker Centre.

 First stop, Nyonya Kueh.

These delicacies probably will vanish in the next 15 years.

 We had Muar Chee for every dinner. The texture was nice and smooth.

We bought Pasembur, Asam laksa, curry mee, cuttlefish with convulus, which we shared together for dinner.

The other end

 With my son walked, jumped and ran 10 feet in front of me, this was the best shot of CNY deco at the entrance of Gurney Plaza.

Bouncer

Jacob has a Bright Starts Bouncer which is actually a cradling seat fit with playtime soft toys.

As he cannot sit yet, I can't be possibly hold him all the time (which he likes me to do all the time. Else he'll be crying, asking to be held and walked around the house). After feeding, he can sit on the Bouncer while resting. After my muscle starts to ache, he can sit on the Bouncer. After he calms down, he can sit on the Bouncer.

I love turtle

 Notice that I forgot to strap him onto the Bouncer. Silly me. It's very dangerous if he bends and throws himself off the Bouncer.

Recently, he starts to play with the dangled soft toys. Pulling it nearer to him while looking at it attentively.

Enough photos, Daddy. Time to boh boh around the house.

Ipoh kaya puff and home cooked chicken in soya sauce

Our friend, William brought us a box of 10 Sin Eng Heong fluffy kaya puffs. As he went back to Ipoh for the weekend, he dropped by the famed biscuit shop to get us the gift.

I prepared my cup of Ipoh Oldtown 3-1 white coffee. It must piping hot to go with the confectioneries.

I had four pieces in one seating. One down, another one, yes one more, err.. one more please. It was great afternoon snack food. I agreed with William that the kaya was so-so but with as a whole piece, it's nice to eat. Not too sweet. Not too floury or heavy.

When the puffs are put into fridge overnight, the texture improves, says Wife.

It was our first time trying the Ipoh kaya puffs and we love it. Thanks for the puffs, William.







Home cooked food is easy to prepare. If I, a lazy man, can cook, so can you.

Today's menu is chicken cooked in ginger and soya sauce.

Shred the ginger thinly and soak the black moss. Supermarket these days, offers free service of cutting the chicken into small pieces.

Put in some oil. Our very own palm oil, of course.

You can use wok, pan or any cooking wares. If there's fume emission or 'dancing of oil', just let it be for 5 seconds. Put in ginger shreds and WORK the spatula. Don't leave the ginger by itself. It'll get burnt. The gingery smell will in the air.

Put in the chicken and turn and twist and swirl and any ways you like with the meat. Else the meat will never get cooked. And ends up burnt.

Put in 325ml of plain water. Similar amount to a can of Coke. Soya sauce secukup rasa. For best result, put in chunks of potatoes. Let the meat simmer for 20 minutes. Don't let it boils. I can't emphasize more that it might get burnt.

My boy is fast in getting all the black moss out from the pot.

School snack box

Daddy: What do you want to eat in school tomorrow?

Darrien: Biscuit

I had packed bite-sized apple, mini biscuits, grapes and even groundnuts for him before. Once, I put half a sardine bun in his snack box but he told me that his teacher threw it into dustbin. Probably it fell down onto the ground or my boy simply played with his food. It's wiser to pack food that he can nimble with his fingers. He loves Nestle's Koko Crunch cereal but not the Milo cereal balls. Slice of bread is not his liking too.

Malay kuih seems to be good choice but whenever he's offered a kuih, the chances are he'll mash it up.

Fried noodle, mihun, nasi lemak or nasi kerabu, not an option either since he is too lazy to use the spoon. It'll be nightmare for his teachers later.

Cookies will be, most probably, crushed to crumbs, without being eaten.

Surprisingly, he asked for a piece of white bread after seeing Wife spread Philadelphia cream cheese onto toast bread. He spread some cream cheese onto the bread and promised Wife he would eat it.

Meticulously shaping the bread into bite-sized

Eat like Japan fastest eater, Takeru

Sumbat mouthful

It's the very time that I have ever seen him eating a slice of bread!

Happy Birthday Mummy!

Our friend, Jasmine was so kind to organize a birthday party for my Wife. We went to Pizza Hut, Kubang Kerian outlet for a nice dinner.

Thank you Jasmine for the very nice cake

It was a great meal with friends and their children. Laughs and chats abound. The kids were having fun time, eating pizza and slurping fizzy drinks. Darrien was behaving well and despite being very sleepy, Jacob was enjoying himself. Even letting the aunties and uncle hugging him.

 Darrien, being so fond of tomato sauce, couldn''t resist himself of getting hold of a bottle as soon as he entered the restaurant.

And helped himself to several portions!

And kept Jacob anxiously curios.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MUMMY!

Nasi kerabu and long cabbage soup

Nasi kerabu with its side dishes barbeques chicken wing, keropok, raw vegetables and herbs, budu and hot chilli sauce, makes up my breakfast today. The meal is a must try in Kelantan, as kolo mee to Kuching and kampua to Sibu.

The price is RM2 for regular nasi kerabu. With additional RM1.50, one can get a piece of chicken meat in curry sauce, fried or barbequed chicken, half a salted egg, pieces of grilled beef or a generous portion of gulai ikan tongkol, as one pleases.

Always, barbequed chicken is irrestible, don't you think?

After Jacob dozed off, I started to prepare our meal. A simple Chinese cabbage soup with fish maw, clam and fatt choy.

It's sort of steamboat version. One needs to prepare the ingredients and simmer them in a nice meat base soup.

I have long Chinese cabbage, fish maw, fatt choy (a type of black moss), clam, Japanese tofu and pieces of chicken meat.

I boiled a pot of water before putting in the chicken meat. And let it simmer for 15 minutes.

While waiting for the soup, I started to wash the cabbage, soak the fish maw and black moss.

It really doesn't matter how to cut the cabbage. As long as it is in bite size, one needs not to call his Mummy to ask whether to cut diagonally, horizontally or at 45 degree angle. Just enjoy the cooking experience. Cut it as you like!


After the soup is boiled for 15 minutes, put all ingredients in the stock and simmer (not boil) for another 10 minutes. It's that simple. Remember to put in salt secukup rasa.

Wow, did you know that fatt choy is sold for al least RM160 per kg?

My two sons

This is the story of my two young sons.

Darrien, 3 year 2 month, is a Sibu-born active boy. He spent his first year of life in his father's hometown. He was moved to Kuching soon after his first birthday. He had spent his mornings, to mingle with other young children, in three Taska before. One run by a group of Catholic nuns, another, Taska Alam Ceria (highly recommended), the last for a short 2 months duration in Montessori Sinaran.

Currently, he's enrolled in Tadika Fatima, Kota Bharu. His school starts at eight in the morning, hence he needs to wake up early at around 7 a.m.

His favourite activity : Watching Ultraman series, cartoons, drawing O, sharpening colour pencils and shouting for milk.

Favourite food : Apple, Mentos candies and sweets

Drink: In his words " colaahh.."
 

Jacob, 5 months 11 days, is a Sarawak General Hospital-born infant. Recently he got his DTaP/IPV/Hib jab. His cries is much softer compared to his sibling. From his recent health record, he is 8.6 kg, 66 cm child.

He is still breast fed since birth and drinks his Nestle's NAN 1 during the day when his Mummy's at work.

3 ounces of feeding every two hours.

Favourite activities : Sleeps every two hours and moves in circle when he is put on his stomach. He loves to suckle his thumb, in between feeds and even before sleep.

Daily routine : Wakes up at 7.30 a.m. - Drinks milk - Takes morning bath -Sleeps - Drinks milk - Sleeps - Drinks milk - repeat - repeat - Takes evening bath - repeat - Sleeps at 11 p.m. or 11.30 p.m.


The journey of life, with the boys, continues.