I'm a full-time mummy

I came across this article which I must definitely share with you guys as I'm very interested to know your thoughts on this. Do note that sharing this does not mean I agree or disagree with it. For your convenience, I have copied the excerpts from the article here:

Kids are fabulous — but frustrating. If you're like most parents, you desperately want to be a great mom or dad and do the right thing. But it’s so hard to know what’s right, and often what appears "right" seems almost impossible to do. (Prime example: staying calm. Please, show me one parent who manages to stay calm all the time!)

 But you know what? Good parenting doesn’t have to be rocket science. As a parenting coach and mom of two myself, there are a few tried-and-true tips that I find work well for almost every parent. Here are the seven simple things that every great mom and dad knows to do:

 1. They show their anger (the right way).

You’re allowed to get angry. Really. What actually matters is how you display that emotion.

The key to getting this "right" is knowing the source of your frustration. For example, think about those times when you arrive home and have to get dinner on the table and everyone is tired and cranky. It’s always then that the kids keep interrupting and wanting your attention.

But the problem isn’t the kids' interruptions — it’s the workload. So in times like these, instead of barking back at my daughters, I try to explain, “I’m sorry, I can’t look at that now. I’m frustrated that we’re late, and I’m trying to get sorted out and get dinner ready.” This way they know it’s the situation — not them.

2. They wait to dish out consequences.

Many experts say you need to respond immediately when your kids misbehave. But I think it's pretty poor advice.

If you don’t know what to do, it’s perfectly fine to say, “I don’t know how to handle this right now. I’ll get back to you.” You can even say, “I’m so angry I can’t think straight. I’m going to deal with this when I’m calmer.”

In my own parenting, I find that I feel better about myself when I give a considered response rather than a knee-jerk reaction. My kids also get a more powerful message when I have well thought-out consequences and am able to deliver them calmly.

3. They focus on quality time.

You don’t need perfect "work-life balance" — but you do need daily one-on-one time with each child. Even just five minutes of quality time every day can turn your relationship around. For example, my older daughter used to be very challenging. She would constantly provoke me and tell me that Daddy was her favorite.

But when I started spending regular time with her every day, doing an activity of her choice, we became much closer. She transformed from someone who worked against me to someone who wanted to please me. We felt closer to each other, so our behavior changed. We both became kinder and more understanding toward each other. It was truly amazing.

4. They hug their kids when they're being horrible.

When children behave hatefully, it’s because they feel awful about themselves. So they end up provoking other people to behave hatefully toward them. They feel that’s what they deserve. But if you do the opposite, they change. That's why when my daughter lashes out and is mean to everyone, I take her aside. I wrap my arms around her and ask her what’s wrong, and she melts. She has a cry, lets it all out, and tells me what's bothering her. Then we move on.

5. They don't solve their kids' problems.

Raising independent, self-reliant children requires that they make their own mistakes and solve them on their own. So, when your child tells you a problem, empathize — and then hand it back.

When my kids tell me about something they're having trouble with, I bite my tongue to stop myself jumping in and saving them. Then I say something like, “Oh no, that sounds upsetting! What are you going to do?” If they ask for my advice, I say, “I don’t know what you should do, but I can give you some ideas.” After each idea I say, “How would that work for you?” That allows them to think through the consequences and take ownership of the solution.

6. They don't overanalyze.

It’s fine to think about situations and establish what you can learn from them. But sometimes our mind gets a little obsessed and repeatedly churns things over, on an endless, self-flagellating loop. We end up analyzing a situation to death.

When this happens, I recommend telling yourself "thank you, mind" and then moving on to other things. It’s a little like a reset button that allows you to acknowledge the thought and then continue on with your day.

7. They keep compliments simple.

The most powerful thing you can say to your kids isn't "I love you" — it's “I love you just the way you are." And yes, those last five words are critical.

The first time I told my older daughter that I loved her just the way she is, her eyes went huge. She said, “Really?” and I nodded. She looked visibly relieved, and then she melted — it was lovely. It was clearly a very powerful message.

Best of all, we can all use this powerful technique on our kids, as often as we like. Give it a try and see the look on your child's face.

What do you think?

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

I have been cutting down on doing product reviews since 2014 and only accepted those that I feel will definitely fit into our family dynamics (especially books on parenting or homeschooling stuff, family products, something along those genre)

Few months ago, I received an offer to review some products carried by iSuperFoods.my. After browsing through their website and seeing the potential on how I can incorporate the products into our family, I decided to go ahead with the review.

About the company:

"iSuperFoods.my's mission is to provide nutritious, organic or natural foods and skin care from the farmers or company people can trust. iSuperFoods.my is more than just a superfoods company. We are passionate about natural health and beauty solutions. We're committed to offering superfoods and skin cares with premium quality, free from harmful chemicals at reasonable price."

I received the following items for my review:

# 1 - REA Organic Ginger Powder

I started my review with REA Organic Ginger Powder. I was planning to cook Ginger Chicken with Scallions for dinner that night, so might as well do something new! Instead of using the ginger in my kitchen, I opened up a sachet of the ginger powder.

I did taste the powder a wee bit, I feel it has a very strong ginger taste and smell. I added a few tablespoons of water and mixed it with the powder and poured the mixture onto my chicken as I cooked it. Taste wise compared to my previous cooking, this time using the ginger powder yields a slightly more bitter taste - mostly because I also cut down on sugar and salt in my cooking that day. But otherwise I think it is one of the many good ways to incorporate ginger into our cooking.

# 2 - REA Organic Camu-camu Powder

To be honest, I have no idea what I can make to incorporate the camu-camu powder. I googled around and read that it can be used in drinks and meat dishes. I was planning to cook garlic minced pork on the day so I thought why not? But I hesitated as minced pork is my 4-year-old's favourite dishes and I really don't want the dish to turn out horribly wrong as my very picky girl will straight out flat refused to eat a dish if it tasted funny. She is that picky and sensitive. Nevertheless, for the sake of my sanity, I tore open a sachet and poured into the mixture that I'm planning to use to cook my minced pork. I tasted some of the camu-camu powder and it tasted bitter and strong spice smell. The real test is after the dish has been cooked and watching my 4-year-old girl tucked into her plate of rice with some of the minced pork.

No reactions. She continued eating. She did ask me 'Mummy, is this pork?' LOL I said yes and tasted some myself. The dish tasted more herbish (is there such a word?) this round, fruitier too if I might add but nonetheless, edible as how my minced pork dishes taste like usually. Pass!

# 3 - REA Organic Wheatgrass Powder

It is easy to think of what to make with the REA Organic wheatgrass powder. My first plan is to make some honey wheatgrass drink for myself. So what I did was pour myself a cup of hot water, add in a sachet of wheatgrass powder and stir in some honey inside. Easy peasy for an afternoon tea!

My next idea on how I can incorporate the wheatgrass powder is to add them into the homemade yogurt drinks that I regularly make for our kiddos. You can click on the link above to find out how to make the homemade yogurt drinks. What I did was to add in the wheatgrass powder before adding in the fruit juice and stirring the yogurt drinks before chilling them in the fridge.

My 6.5-year-old boy who is a fan of my yogurt immediately noticed the taste difference this round and politely declined my yogurt. However, my 2-year-old girl slurped all the yogurt by herself. She loves it!

I made the yogurt again a few weeks after that and our youngest kiddo loves it still! I will continue to sneak in the wheatgrass powder in my yogurt since my youngest kiddo loves it. As for my oldest, I'll just have to separate out a batch without the wheatgrass powder added in for him.

# 4 - REA Organic Chia Seeds

It is easy for me to incorporate chia seeds into my cooking. On the day I planned to make my Chinese steamed egg, I just scooped some chia seeds into the egg mixture before steaming them. Taste wise no difference to me except with chia seeds, the eggs have a crunchier feel now.

I also added some chia seeds as garnishing to my stir fried vegetable dish. A wonderful way to spice up a dull looking dish I feel :)

# 5 -Super Sprout Organic Lemon Powder

What comes to mind when I see lemon is LEMON CHICKEN dish! I scooped some lemon powder into a mixture of water + sugar before adding them into my chicken and braised into lemon chicken dish. Delicious!

# 6 -Manuka Vantage Hand Creme

How awesome is it that I also get to review beauty products?! According to the product page, this protective and repairing hand creme is useful for dry and damaged hands. Exactly my skin type! Other than that, the hand creme is also suitable to use on minor burns, cuts, grazes, insect bites, skin irritation and sunburn. I applied them onto my arms and elbows and yes, even my legs hehehehe.

You can see the picture before and after applying the hand creme. My skin is really dry and cracked up looking but the lines are much more subtler and not so noticeable after applying the hand creme few times.

# 7 - Manuka Vantage Oil

The last item in my review list is the Manuka Vantage Oil. To be honest, I am still not a fan of the smell. I just think it smells awful to me. But trust me, it is very very very effective! Just a drop or two onto your wounds and it heals very fast!

The manuka oil comes in a small handy bottle, perfect to carry around in your handbag or diaper bag. So happened my 6.5-year-old boy hurt his leg on the very day I received the items for my review, so I dropped some of the oil onto his wounds. I just smeared the oil around his wound gently and let it dry off by itself. The wound start healing and the very next day, it started scabbing nicely. You can see the before and after picture shown below.

I also applied the manuka oil onto other wounds that I discovered on our active boy's body and the wound healed up nicely in 1 day time. I also had a minor cut on my foot and the wound starts scabbing in a day as well. No itch, no stinging sensation or anything while healing. Awesome! FYI, the anti-microbial activity of Manuka Vantage Oil is about 20–30 times more active than Australian Tea Tree oil, meaning the levels of the substance that kills or inhibits the growth of bacteria and fungi is higher in comparison. I have tried tea tree oil before and it is good, so to know that the manuka oil is 20-30 times more active than the tea tree oil is all the more awesome!

Btw, not everyone's skin can tolerate the 100% pure manuka oil, so you can do a skin test before using by diluting 1 part Manuka Oil to 10 parts water and apply it on your sensitive skin/area.

To sum up my review, I am very grateful to be given the opportunity to try out the products from iSuperFoods.my.

My favourites are the wheatgrass powder, lemon powder and Manuka oil.

Highly recommended!

For more products, do check out http://www.isuperfoods.my/.

Don't forget to use the code 'IMAFULLTIMEMUMMY' when you make your purchases!

Do note that I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the products in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

I came across this article which I must definitely share with you guys. For your convenience, I have copied the excerpts from the article here:

A team of doctors in Kerala for the very first time performed a surgery on a 29-week fetus to relieve narrowing of the exit of the unborn baby's heart chamber. The heart of the unborn baby was accessed through the mother's abdomen under ultrasound guidance and a widening of its heart valve was performed.

The procedure called 'aortic valvuloplasty' was performed by the doctors of Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center. The 29-week fetus suffered from aortic stenosis -- which causes restricted blood flow through the heart valve -- and ran the risk of heart failure.

After the surgery, the baby is expected to be born with normal circulation of blood. The mother and the fetus remain stable after the procedure performed by the team of doctors led by Balu Vaidyanathan. "It is expected that over the ensuing weeks till the pregnancy reaches term, the ventricular function will recover and baby will be born with a stable circulation at birth," said Vaidyanathan.

What do you think?

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.