Any Mommies in mid-late 30s or over 40 with small children?

hi everyone.... have not been on this link for a while.

Sambucol: My three kids have been taking it since they are 1 year old. Touch wood, it's also been a long time since they visited the doctor with BIG illness. Just the slight cough and cold which we have medicine at home..... No high fever (touch touch wood).

My son just had 9 stitches done on his forehead. Jumped from sofa and landed face front on the side of the coffee table. Had stitches removed last Friday. Any recommendation on scar healing and lightening?
 


Hi Diana, Snowball,
No problems and no stress leh. My kids are now older and very independent, I am quite relax now compared to a few years ago. My work is also quite easy. I normally wake up after only 4 to 5 hours of sleep, then feel very tired the next day, sian...

Hi snowball,
It's that you have free body checkups, I envy you. It's not cheap !
 
Tam,

thanks. I will put in more work on reading chinese books
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Just that at times I get frustrated telling them words they dont know cos I fear it is so interrupted that they may not know the meaning of the story already.

re: Body checkup:
Where do you guys go for full body checkup? I want to do one and one for my mum, but not sure where to go.

Snowball,

envy you to have free full body checkup. It should be expensive. Are those checkup intrusive and painful? I wanted to do one (especially after removing a borderline tumour last year) but scared.
 
Hi Poohy/ Tam - Yes, my company is very kind to send us for annual body checkups. It is being done at a private clinic under the Company's Panel Doctors. The checkup includes detailed blood test, scans, X-Ray and medical review.

Its not cheap but my company still do it for all staff. For lower level operational staff, my company arrange for SATA to do onsite checkups (X-rays, blood checks, etc) at our company's premises.

I am very fortunate that our Company's medical plans also covers medical benefits for our dependants (Spouse and kids)
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Hi Tam - Maybe you should relax and not read too much before you go to bed. Maybe age is really catching up with us....I have been to bed rather early in the last few days and I wake up these few mornings feeling very tired by mid-day, despite having 6 - 7 hrs of sleep.

Think I am really getting too lazy to move....the gym and swimming pool is just at my doorstep and I am not making use of the facilities. Got to make resolution to go for exercise (at least once a week) :p

Hi Sophia - Yes, yes, I agree with you, my kids have been on Sambucol for more than 2 yrs now and they have been to the Doctor less than 3 times, all not for BIG illnesses and they managed to ride the few flu seasons. My hubby and I were down one after another and they were going strong
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HI all,

Yikes... no wonder I thought the meatballs taste different from those in the past. Hope the ones at Singapore Ikea are not amongst those (and the ones I had ONE time before xmas)
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Link: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/horsemeat-found-ikea-meatballs-sweden-005741696.html



Hi Sophia,

Oh dear! Is your son more mindful about jumping on the couch now? They really don't care about gravity (literal and also abt the dangers of the stunts). Mine fell off the sofa when he was one -- think he somewhat remembers so he doesn't jump on our sofa anymore.
 
Tam,

Think you are sleeping too little hours lah......our mind hv to rest de...if nt no good.

Snowball,

your company benefits is good.

Poohy,

think most clinic do hv body chk up but the difference is the price.

Btw ladies, if you all dun mind, I can do a free fats analysis for you all, which you will know your visceral fats level. Do let me know if you all are keen ya...
 
Hi Sophia,

Guess what... we no longer have a coffee table 'cos he needs space for all the vehicles/systems/tracks + he broke the table after jumping on it
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We're virtually left with a sofa, sideboard, a row of tall shelves and TV console in our living hall.
 
Hi Sophia/ Mumusings,

When we shop for our sofa set for our new place, we did not even bother to look at coffee table.

Instead, we bought a set of Nestling Tables (3 tables) from ScanTeak and tuck it in a corner. We use the nestling tables when there are guests for them to put their drinks.

We have a big and spacious living area now, also less accident prone for my kids
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Hi Mumusings,

U can look out for sale adverts by scanteak....they have special buys for nestling tables which are much cheaper than std price
 
Hi Mumusings - for liquid sambucol, u can drink it on its own....but, I personally prefer the tablet form that is chewable n I find it not as sweet as the liquid form.
 
Tam
help !
S make a lot careless on sch works and exam !
how to help her ?
anyone care to share did ur P1/P2 kids also the same ?
 
Hi Sharon,

My DD1 attends 3G Abacus class as enrichment. She used to be very careless when it comes to her class work and homework. I make her mark her own homework and tell me the mistakes she made.

I think it helps as I see improvement in her work with lesser careless mistakes made and nowadays she checks her work before letting me check.

Maybe you can start by asking her to "mark" her own homework before letting you check? They will be more cautious of their doings.
 
Hi snowball,
I haven't stay at Karon beach before, may be you can try tripadvisor to view customer reviews :
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g1215780-Karon_Phuket-Hotels.html

Yes I have been reading a lot of free online novels on my ipad :p, may be that's one reason why I wake up easily. I have joined Amore fitness recently, the exercise seems to help. I still wake up but I can fall back to sleep after a while.

I like your idea of making your DD1 mark her own homework.

Hi Sharon,
The way to prevent mistakes is to train the child to check. Tell her that she must work out every question again after she has finished the whole paper. However, if the child is a slow worker, she may not have time to check through. One advise is to ask the child to at least double check the numbers in the question and the numbers in the working, it is very common for kids to transfer wrongly !
 
Hi Tam,

Thx! Will chk out trip advisor on recommended hotels on Karon beach. I stayed at Crowne Plaza hotel when we went there some yrs back. But its now taken over by another hotel gp n rates have risen quite abit. So thinking of trying out other hotels.

Btw, my maid decided not to extend her contract with us. She failed the last round of Interview by Canadian high comm (reason being she has no exp in looking aft elderly / infants). She is going to try her luck in HK to look after infants to get higher chance to go Canada.

She recommends her auntie's daughter to work for me. Her auntie is currently also working in S'pore. I m still considering as her daughter is too young (23 yo with a 3yo son). If I employ her, I save ard $1500 on placement fees. Hiring a maid is very expensive these days.

What is your opinion?
 
Hi snowball,
Your maid is really very forward looking.

It's hard to decide whether to employ her auntie's daughter because you have never met her before. If you get a maid from an agency, there is also no guarantee that you will get a good maid. Hiring a maid is like gambling, you just have to trust your luck. See if you can arrange a phone interview, if she can communicate well with you, then may be she is worth your consideration.
 
Hey ladies,
My maid will be going off for home leave from this saturday for two weeks. Can anyone recommend a short term cleaner that can come in about 6 times for this period of time? My mom is at home but she will be taking care of my small one and I don't want her to do any housework.
By the time I get home from home, too tired to take care of housework. Plus with the twins around and looking into their needs, damn tired.
Still want the basic cleanliness to be met as I have the small one at home.
Any recommendation?
 
Hi Tam,

Yes, I agree that hiring a maid is a gamble....from my maid telling me, this aunt of hers is ok (works for same employer for 6 yrs now). She is the one who encourage her daughter to come here to work tho' she got a diploma.

That's what I'm thinking to do....phone interview. I'm getting the maid agency to help me process her documentations n their counterpart in Philippines to also interview her. Think I'll arrange to phone interview her at the agency. My maid also told me that she will seek her mum's advice if its ok for her to intro her cousin as her aunt is her mum's cousin.

I m also considering part time maid option which means I'll hv to rush home to do cooking n do half the household chores....headache
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Hi mumusings

My feedback for sambucol: my gals prefer the one with vitamin c and zinc as it has rasberry taste. Personally, i prefer this too. Bought it for myself n hubby initially but gals complained the original formula tastes yucky. So after they finished the original formula, i gave them the other one and they like it. At least i don't have to wrestle with them hehe. So i will be ordering the sambucol with added vitamin c and zinc.
 
Hi mummies,

Brought my kids to the SEA aquarium yesterday. Its a huge place & good educational trip in ocean life for kids. Its worth a visit. The watercove adventure park is also a nice place to visit if you like water adventures....kids will like it. 2 places to visit for staycation
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Hi Helen,

My kids are the opposite....they prefer sambucol original taste instead of the one with vit c n zinx. You are right, need to let them taste first before bulk order.
 
Hello to all mummies here!

Iam 37 with a 2 yo boy and a 4 mth old bb boy. Iam still on maternity leave and is returning to work soon. Gonna miss my boys..

I start to worry whether I can cope after returning back to work.. How can I allocate my time equally for the both of them when I reach home after work?
 
Tamarind, do you still travel a lot? I wanted to go tour during both my maternity leave but in the end I didn't cos worry about my boys.
 
Hi Helen,

My son likes the sambucus and elderberry+zinc lozenges a friend bought for us. Maybe it works better when vitamins come in the form of sweets.
 
Hi mumusings

Yes it does help when it comes in sweets or gummies. At the moment, it is only available in chewable form not gummies yet. I suppose to make it into other forms, other undesirable ingredients need to be added which may be a minus point.

Meanwhile, i will keep to the one with vit c and zinc.

Btw have you come across alkaline water? There are many water ionisers out in the market and one famous one is Kangen water from japan. It is a product of a MLM company. Cost of one machine is about 2k to 5k. Was so tempted to buy but was advised against it.

Would like to hear from mummies here.
 
Helen: I've been introduced to one too. The one showed to me was about $1.6k for the entry level machine.
I'm just wondering that if I grew up without all these fancy stuff and am fine and dandy, is it necessary? With 3 kids, the money is really useful for other necessities.....
Also feel that if everything is so pure and clean for them, in the end like not too good as their stomach not so exposed to 'germs' and cant fight bacteria..... Just my thoughts......
 
Hi Helen,

Agree with Sophia. My mom has such sensitive stomach that she's sensitive to non-filtered water at times. She bought one of those 2K+ water machines 10 years ago and she's still with eczema and her usual ailments. No marked diff for the rest of us.

There are cheaper and handier filters etc. Check out Novita and Best Denki (they carry Mitsubishi filters and shower heads). Hb has tried the crystal-filter shower head before and he says that one is very good. All between $150 - $500 if I remember correctly.

No offence to folks doing MLM but their products are so overpriced. Likely priced as such to maintain enough profits to pay out commissions at all levels! Just my thoughts. I've attended such talks before (a few friends used to be agents for certain products). Entry level 10% rebate for every sale; after hitting X amount, you get upgraded to higher % of commissions. There are so many levels so when a product is priced at S$1000, 100 goes to your immediate sales person, X% goes to her upline, XX% upline's upline... so how much is the S$1000 product really worth at the end of the day? Maybe it's really just S$300, like other commercial brands? Anyway alot of products are made at OEM factories. Different bottling, labelling and look. I sometimes browse through Alibaba and it's shocking how many similar products there are and the prices. When they finally reach the pushcarts and shops, something that's 50 cents becomes S$29.90 even...

My mom's invisible group of 'friends' always invite her to demo = end up buying cosmetics, skincare, pots, SOD tea etc. All these products aren't bad. Just terribly over-priced. She bought a double-pan (similar to Happycall) for S$300+ a few years ago. Happycall JUMBO grill pan is now just S$80 at CK Tangs. And I suppose even S$80 = decent profit margin.
 
Hi Sophia and mumusings

Thank you for your inputs really very helpful to me. My elder gal has eczema and being a kiasu kiasi mum, i will not mind spending on her to help make her feel better. Indeed, MLM products are more than often overpriced. I would not hesistate getting the alkaline water system if it is not sold by MLM.

My mum,too, warned me that if I am too clean at home, my kids will be at a disadvantage when they are out of the house. I simply cannot bring everything out right? I have decided not to get the system and use the simplest way to get alkaline water ie add lemon juice into water. With the many thousands I can buy so many lemons right? Thank you very much for sharing. Btw, My chiro also warned me abt the titanium plates inside the machine if not maintained properly will produce toxic products!

Thank you once again. Really happy to be able to meet nice helpful mummies here! Cheers!
 
Hi Helen,

I think I've posted something on eczema before. My ways of reducing skin rashes etc ('cos my mom and I have eczema).

(1) Don't use anti-bacterial anything (wipes, detergent, dish liquid, body bath)
(2) Use non-alcohol and fragrance-free products if possible
(3) Reduce use of products with FLORAL scents (especially lemongrass, rose, lily and orchids)
(4) no diaper creams, skin lotion, body creams and powders etc

Point #1 ranks as the most crucial for me. I've noticed that whenever my kiasu hb caves in to wiping the kid with anti-bacterial wipes when outdoors, the boy will somehow get patches of redness soon after. Too strong, perhaps? Same with those kirei kirei or dettol body wash. no matter how gentle they claim the product to be, it's still harsh.

We have NEVER bought any diaper/body creams/lotion and baby powder for my son. If there's redness, I apply anti-fungal cream from the pharmacy (eg. Daktarin). We leave things as they are.

These days, we bring spare shirt and small towel out. If things get too grimy, we change him out of his top and wet the towel to dry-clean him.

My mom has learnt not to anyhow-buy beauty products. Just use more 'natural' and gentle products by Nature's Gate and Avalon.

For us (whether housewives or working),
(1) reduce use of many beauty serums and creams on the face at any one time
(2) avoid piling on too much make-up unless there's a major function which requires dressing up

My skin has improved so much (despite lack of zzz and not eating enough greens) because I only spray Evian or the Bio-Essence water on my face (as toner). When I go out shopping in town, I apply a pore balm (someone bought from Korea for me), BB cream, loose powder and lip tint.

Alot of savings too this way, reducing beauty products to only those that work and do not cause clogging.

Singapore is too hot a place for our skin to hold all sorts of over-nourishing products!
 
Hi mumusings

Thank you for your sharing. The point abt using anti-bacterial wipes and lotion did not occur to me. Thank you for highlighting to me. Now i am only using those body wash which are free of parabens etc for my gals. For myself and hubby, i still need to look for products that are free of these. Have not tried nature gate products, as for avalon, i tried the hair wash but my hair became very stiff. So i stopped. Will consider nature gate.

Thank you once again!

I am a lazy person so also no makeup, only lip gloss, lip stick and sunblock. Yes save me alot of money but more imptly i do not feed my face with those cancer causing cosmetics
 
Hi Helen,

I've totally stopped anything that reads 'anti-bacterial' because my skin starts flaking after use. Also dont like the smell of antibacterial products. Only use for it is my bottle of floor cleaner -- when I have to disinfect after we kill off a lizard or when the grease gets too much.

Avalon shampoo does make the hair stiff haha. My son likes a shampoo called OMG from Mustafa. Made in UK - only $2.90 a bottle. Lovely smell, we bought it last week.

I know some kids are allergic to cammomile. I can't take anything with witch hazel although most soothing ptoducts have it. You must really know what you're allergic to and stare really carefully at the main ingredients.

For some strange reason, I can't take Kao, Pantene and Dove products. Scalp gets itchy and I feel irritated feeling like there's a layer of goo all over my face/body
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Hi mumusings
yes yes! same here! i will scratch like mad if i use dove.and i do not like shower gel that leaves a layer of "protection", makes me feel very unclean. hahaha now i see foc sample, i will pass to my mum. she said she has thick skin, anything goes. geez.. wondering why i did not get her non-sensitive skin but my dad's. sigh...

both myself n hubby have sensitive skin so the chances of our gals having it are higher. my younger one is showing signs of sensitive skin on her legs n chest n back....

i just saw a baby shower gel from nature gate which i ordered from iherb a few weeks ago heehee forgot all abt it. will try it soon! nature gate is priced quite reasonably.

today my bulk order for sambucol has arrived! will start "drowning" my gals with it. have one case of HFMD in my class today. child was sent back home but am so paranoid, cos i have young ones at home. would not want to pass any germs to them. jus keeping my fingers crossed the other kids in class do not catch it.....
 
Hi Helen,

Yes, the extra moisturising is not needed for me - makes me feel icky all day..

My son uses the usual Nature's Gate shower gel for hair and body (or whatever there is in the toilet). Try acai or pomegranate. Pleasant fragrance. As for Avalon, I am okay with the Biotin shampoo.

What I do with leftover shampoo which I dont like? Use them for laundry. Hahaha... the extra moisturising ones work like softeners. I really dont care so I pour them in when I was floor clothes and not-so-impt pieces of laundry.
 
Hello there,

How is everyone?

Hey, can I ask, any mum here knows how to cook ebi don, the one that is like egg with onion and sauce on top of the rice?I would like to know what is the sauce in it?Is it teriyaki sauce?thank you.

Joy
 
Hi Joy,

How's everything with you?

I think terriyaki sauce can be used. Have done something similar before. You can always mix some soya sauce with sugar.
 
Hi Joy,

Long time no see u here....how's everything?

Yes, it shd be the thicker version of terriyaki sauce for dons. I've done similar don but its the terriyaki grilled unagi (I bought from Cold Storage) with egg & yellow ionion. U also gVe to use nishiki rice, more fragrant.
 
Hi mommies,

I have a question and itz bothering me. I hope someone could enlighten me.

Im turning 37 this year. Middle class income. I always wanted another kid. But wondering am i too late to have 2nd baby? By the time the kid turn 20, i will be 58. Will I be a burden to the kid rather than to bring the kid joy and happiness?
 
Hi Mumusings and snowball32,

Thank you for the info.

Can share with me how to cook the egg and onion, as in the egg will look moist?Thanks.

Joy
 
Hi Joy,

I stirfry the shredded yellow onion, spread over 3/4 cooked rice (on top of the terriyaki sauced unagi). Mix some chicken stock (I use Swanson chk stock) with beaten egg & pour over the rice with the onion. Bring the rice to cook. Mix well n rice ready to eat.
 
Hi mummies,

My DD1's teacher was on MC for 4 days. When she came back, she stuffed the poor P1 kids with 13 pages of Maths homework at 1 go! My DD1 scrambled for almost 2 hrs to complete her hw. Not forgetting that she still gotta revise for her spelling/ dictation tomorrow. I find this so ridiculous. Do anyone of you have similar experience.
 
Hi Cheer,

I feel that it's really entire up to you to decide if you can afford + have the energy enough to have another kid. Age isn't a problem if you put your mind to caring/nurturing a 2nd child. I know of relatives who had kids right up to their 40s.

Does your husband want a 2nd child too? He's the most important person to discuss this issue with.
 
Hi Cheer,

Yes! I agree with Mumusings on deciding to have 2nd child. I had my #2 when I was 37 yo. My hb and I decided to have a 2nd child so that our 1st child has a companion and playmate. We are happy to have 2 girls who are really close companions now.

It is rather common in these days for parents to have kids at late 30s or early 40s.

However, we need to have the energy level and commitment to keep up with care and nurturing of the kids.

Do discuss with your hubby and make a joint decision. Enjoy the journey of parenthood
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Hi mommies,
I have been reading the posts but no time to write, quite busy with family and work.

Hi snowball,
Have you got your new maid yet ?
I understand how you feel. I still cannot do without a full time maid now. My mother is getting very old. My kids have CCAs which means someone has to fetch them. I really cannot manage if I work full time. Furthermore, there is no way I can do cooking or housework after working full day, I am not a superwoman.


Hi Ling,
Welcome ! After I have kids, I travel overseas once or twice a year. My mother looks after my kids, so I don't worry about them. If there is someone you can trust to help you, you should take some time off to pamper yourself.
It's not easy to allocate time equally to 2 kids, especially since you are working full time. When my younger son was born, I tried to pay more attention to my older girl who gets jealous very easily.


Hi mumusings,
I also don't let my kids use anti-bacterial anything.

Hi Helen,
I also try to let my kids use products that are free of paraben and sulpates. There is a brand of shower gel which I like, Le petit olivier, however, it is quite expensive, selling at $18 a bottle in Singapore. I found out that it costs less than 4 Euros on their website in France ! Unfortunately, shipping to Singapore is not cheap.
I am also using a Nature gate shampoo, it is supposed to be moisturizing but feels a bit drying. I like the scent so I will continue to use it.
 

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