PAPA

Ultrasound-3D Image
October 31, 2008 (Friday)

The above 3D image was captured when Mama was around 12 weeks into pregnancy during the nuchal scan at FMGC three weeks ago. I've been contemplating whether to share this image with everyone here. I suppose it's normal to be happy & joyous all round whenever you've found out that your wife is pregnant, right? It's only true to those parents that have never gone thru any pregnancy complications. For us, an early announcement has became supertitions or even taboos. Well, since it has not been scientifically proven, I'm not going to list out the do's and don'ts for pregnant women here.

The challenge that I'm facing now is to answer the question of the baby gender posed by my relatives and friends. At 12 weeks, with modern ultrasound equipment, usually your doctor will manage to 'spot it' but the problem is that the doctor refused to confirm. Hmm...looking at the ancient Chinese birth chart, it has predicted the sex of my unborn child is a female. It has been said to be 99% accurate. Let's see! 

Zuma, Gwen's baby boy
October 30, 2008 (Thursday)

We've made it to the world news headlines!
October 29, 2008 (Wednesday)

For the wrong reason again?? I'm not amused at all when I saw the report titled 'Malaysian man attacks wife for not getting him new spouse' as reported by AFP.

A 57-year-old Malaysian Muslim man assaulted his wife and threatened to shoot her after she failed to secure him a young second wife, news reports said Wednesday.

Mohamad Haris Daud, a local police chief in Kuantan in central Pahang state, said the man forced his 60-year-old wife to seek the consent of a woman in her 30s to be his second wife.

The frightened wife then went to the woman's house but found out that she was already married, he said.

"After she told her husband that the woman was married, he ran amok and started beating her and threatened to cut her with a machete", Mohamad was quoted as saying by the Malay-language Utusan Malaysia newspaper.

Mohamad said the man, a security guard and member of civil volunteer corps RELA, which rounds up illegal immigrants, also threatened to shoot her with a shotgun after she failed to obtain the consent from the other woman.

Muslim men in Malaysia are allowed up to four wives but activists and women's groups say polygamy is cruel and has deviated from its original purpose in Islam, which was to protect widows and orphans.

Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, where more than 60 percent of its 27 million people are Muslim Malays. Polygamy is illegal for non-Muslims.

Police have detained the husband and he is being investigated for criminal intimidation.

Well, at least I was relieved that the "Jalan Alor" name will be retained as confirmed by our jetsetting mayor Datuk Ab Hakim. Btw, do you know that the Jalan Kejora is now equally famous as Jalan Alor? Don't believe me? Try google it.

Just Imagine
October 29, 2008 (Wednesday)

Pickup story from The Star. A babysitter is appealing to the parents of an 18-month-old boy to come get their toddler before he is handed to the Welfare Department.

The woman, identified only as Ah Moi, said that the boy, Richard, was brought to her on Oct 13 by a man who claimed to be a friend of the toddler’s father.

The man, known as Mr Charlie, had promised Ah Moi RM400 to look after Richard for a week, said MCA Public Complaints and Services Department head Datuk Michael Chong.

Mr Charlie, who was supposed to return for the toddler after a week, has not shown up at Ah Moi’s home in Chow Kit, he said.

Chong said the department had received several cases involving babysitters who were saddled with babies after their parents did not return for them.

“Three of these cases involve teenage mothers.”

He said two children were handed to the Welfare Department after efforts to trace the parents failed.

In other cases, the babysitters themselves decided to keep the children. Those with information are urged to contact the department at 03-21618044.

What's Your Shortfall in Your Life?
October 28, 2008 (Tuesday)

So, what's your shortfall in your life? I think parents tend to fullfilled whatever their shortfall for their kids. I must say I'm Bahasa educated guy. In the early nineties, my Chinese-educated parent enrolled me into our national school instead of mandarin-medium school. Well, they're actually afraid that I may not able to pursue further education in our local universities if I were studying in any mandarin-medium school then. I failed miserably in my SPM as I got no credit for the Bahasa paper. Basically, I cannot further my studies in any government funded school as I'm not qualified for the STPM. Today, I'm so used to blame my parents for not sending me to any mandarin-medium school. You see, if I were in mandarin-medium school back then, even if I failed my SPM, I'm still able to speak or listen and understand to more than a billion mandarin-speaking people today.

It's a shame because I failed to communicate in mandarin with my Singaporean business partners although I can still fallback on my setengah masak English but I'd felt the relationship is just not there. I also found Chinese literature to be more interesting than anything else but I'm lucky to rely on Mama that has been faithfully translating it for me. I'm still trying to learn to speak in Mandarin everyday with my Coo Coos (with a little bit mix of English, Cantonese & Bahasa) as I believe you're never too old to learn.

I've pledged to never allow this happen to my children. Therefore, for sure I'll be sending them to learn the mandarin languague when they're grown-up, get them to learn swimming, get them to enter university by any means, buy big car for them, buy big house for them, get them great job, not too sure whether to find them good-looking husband or not?...Oops! Am I listing all my shortfalls here??      

HAPPY DIWALI
October 27, 2008 (Monday)

Discover Hong Kong
October 24, 2008 (Friday)

I've not recovered till today after back from the Hong Kong trip. Unlike those years where I could easily completed several km at ease, nowadays my legs get tired easily after a few km. I'm quite amazed with Mama cos she too managed to walk with me for 45 - 60 minutes everyday along the streets of Hong Kong. You see, pregnant women heart must work harder because as the fetus grows, the heart must pump more blood to the uterus. *salute*

Well, after we've completed on the official matter the first day, we did indulged in some great food and have visited several interesting places as well. Hong Kong food is such a central part of Chinese culture and if we compare apple-to-apple to Malaysia in terms of cost, we're a bit on the higher side. Let's start with breakfast at any fast food style Chinese tea restaurants. A typical set of breakfast would cost about HKD20 (abt RM9) combination of bread and butter, sausage and fried egg, a plate of 'instant' soup noodle topped with port cubes and veggie, and also with a cup of either tea of coffee. With RM9, you couldn't get the same deal at Kim Gary Hongkong Restaurant in Malaysia. I even found Dim Sum, something not to be missed when you're in Hong Kong is cheaper than our Tai Thong restaurant. Another recommended things to do in Hong Kong is to check out retail outlets like Esprit & Bossini. Their clothing line features fashionable dresses, stylist coats and great looking pants. You have lots of variety to choose from with reasonable pricing as well. I've bought three pieces of T-shirt from Esprit, a discounted rate at HKD120 (abt RM55). That's approx RM18 per piece!

Here is some photos for your viewing pleasure..

Delicious roasted & honey BBQ pork

The Grand Cinema located in the Elements Mall at Kowloon MTR station

Bustling Tung Shoi Street (view from the footbridge)

Resting our tired legs near here

Did you notice the traditional Chinese junk ship?

The breathtaking view of HK Island from Tsim Sha Tsui promenade 

Olympic rings at the harbourfront exterior of HK Museum of Art

Beijing 2008 Olympic torch

Statue of HK Film Awards at Avenue of Stars

Bruce Lee statue

The chained monstrous at Ocean Park HK. It's part of a decoration in conjunction with coming Halloween celebration

I was told by this handsome guy, unlike most owls, this owl often active during the day!

This is a real shark! Same goes to others at the background

Nice view, right?

No choice lar, human seems like to see us performing live

Make sure our 'dolphins treats' is ready. Let's jump now!

I'm adorable, lovely, lazy & always hungry!

Le Le & Ying Ying 

Where to find a good gynae? Or is there any?
October 17, 2008 (Friday)

Pic source

Just found out you're pregnant and what would you do? Okay, assuming you're old enough to have sex and already have a legitimate partner. The usual process will be to find a good gynae. In Malaysia, I understand that doctors were not allowed to advertise their services. First time expectant parents will usually rely on family or friends or even the Internet for recommendation on any good gynae around town.

We usually judge a good gynae when many people talk about how great or fabulous for their services. We've always thought that whenever there are a lot of patients waiting at their clinic, it must be good. Just like a restaurant, whenever you find a lot of people either queueing or eating, the food must be great, right? Well, I would say this is not always the case. Whether you manage to get a good gynae or even good food is solely depend on luck! The following are my past bitter experiences with Mama on meeting up with various good as well as not so good gynaes...

Case 1
It's Mama first pregnancy and she was diagnosed with fetal abnormality around 10 weeks. We're confused and totally lost then. We were told to meet-up with this specialist called Dr T for further examination at UMMC. Before that, like any other inexperienced and nervous expectant parents, we seek various gynaes for second opinion. We went to Gleneagles and looked for Dr A after being recommended by my elder sister. The initial fees is rather high but we really need to find out what went wrong in the first place. During examination, Dr A asked Mama whether she conducted any blood test on AIDS?? I told Dr A that I'm not into hooker thingy (nope! I did not say that. Both of us instead said we've conducted the test before). He proceeded to asked Mama to undressed and also unhooked the bra (his wife cum nurse was there too) and started very slowly to examined Mama's chest using his stethoscope for approx 10 minutes! Although Mama and I are both nuts and miserable then, I found quite amusing as I've never seen any doc using stethoscope examining a patient for more than 10 mins long with his eyes focusing on the boobs! (I do not want to elaborate further on how he volunteered to conduct the breast test on Mama earlier). 

Well, I maybe a bit sensitive here and later when I asked what is the diagnostic for when our problem lies not in Mama's breathing difficulties or watsover but purely on the fetal problem. Oh, he said he need to listen to Mama's heartbeat to check for any irregulaties first. Well, I asked, did you find any irregulaties? He said yes! Hmm...seeing my growing impatient square face, he finally proceeded to scan Mama's tummy using ultrasound equipment. You know what, he failed to see the problem that we've pointed out earlier. When pressed further, he said 'Ya! Ya! Spotted'. He later referred us to another specialist that can offer a better diagnosis using a higher end sonography machine. We've paid-up the exorbitant fees and left the place without going to the specialist that he recommended earlier because we were told it's going to be very expensive.

...still case 1...
So, we've decided to meet-up with Dr T at UMMC when Mama into 12 weeks pregnancy (it's cheaper because it's a public hospital). This Dr T is actually a full time lecturer in this hospital. No doubt, UMMC is well equiped with the latest medical devices but the problem creeped in when Dr T examining Mama in front of several medical students. Look, with Dr T explaining what's going on to all these students actually doesn't help our anxiety, worry and to a further extend, our emotional instability. Mama suddenly became their laboratory white mice! First, to confirmed the actual chromosomal abnormalities as the fetus detected a hole in his (yes, it's a boy) heart, Dr T performed chorionic villus sampling (CVS) procedure on Mama with large needle punched into her tummy, my heart immediately broke apart when I saw Mama's tears started to flow, I couldn't shed my tears too. The result, Dr T had failed to extract cells from the placenta. Dr T suggested to go for amniocentesis instead. No problem, for the unborn child, Mama & I have strong mentality when facing any uphill battles. We've agreed to give another go on the procedure. Another punched into Mama's tummy but this time round the needle was smaller to extract the amniotic sac. Failed again because only air coming out from the needle. Dr T had gave another try and punched it into Mama's tummy, failed again! Why? Mama is only 12 weeks then, certainly she does not have enough amniotic sac for such procedure. As a specialist, Dr T should have advised us to perform such procedure when Mama is 16 weeks, by then there will be sufficient ammiotic sac for amnio test. Mama and my tears atmost run dry after all the failed attempts but those medical students present benefited from witnessing the entire procedures (1x CVS & 2x Amnio). We've paid the fees & came back at 16 weeks for another amnio test. The fetus doesn't survived in that espisode.

Case 2
Mama experiencing first minor labor pain and we've rushed to CMC to visit Dr N. We didn't panic as we've learned that laboring take times and the baby will not going to pop out suddenly. At first, we expected our baby to be delivered in CMC. Guess what? Dr N tore-off Mama's amniotic sac using his fingers and all the amniotic fluid came gushing out. He then asked us to move to next building to Tung Shin Hospital as he said there were some on going issues between him & CMC (Dr N is a panel doc in CMC then). You see, Mama & myself are not very fuzzy people and we've agreed to change the delivery location and walk over there, messy and hastily! The trauma doesn't end there. Before I managed to put-up a good smile for my lil princess & Mama, Dr N asked me whether I can pay him by cash first for his delivery service portion!! Thinking back, we're just dumb and dumber!     

Case 3 
Mama complaint about her uterine discomfort. We went to visit Dr L and I guess he must be the richest doc around as you can easily count at least 20 over pregnant mamas waiting outside his clinic before open. Dr L conducted ultrasound on Mama's tummy and he concluded there was a bloodclot in the uterus. He prescribed some medicine to excrete it. Several days back home, women's instinct kick-in. Mama conducted a pregnancy test & it was positive! Mama immediately stop taking the medicine and we went to see this Dr L. This time round, he said it's a fetus and not bloodclot. I asked him whether is our baby safe after taking your medicine earlier?? He said the fetus' heartbeat is very very weak. He immediately gave only god knows what injection (which is costly) to mama & prescribed some medicine in hoping the fetus will survive. After one week, we went back to check out the development of the fetus. Ultrasound shown no more heartbeat, the fetus must have been dead several days ago in Mama's womb. At that time, I tried to hold back my tears and composed myself in front of Mama as I do not want to further aggravated the situation. Mama still require to undergo surgery to remove the dead fetus. Dr L never seemed apologic either for his wrong diagnosis. As a gynae, he should have first analysed Mama's mestrual cycle before quickly jumped into any conclusion. In this case, basically we've paid him to kill off our unborn child!   

All the above incidents must have something to do with bad karma surrounded me at that time. I don't really care where the bad karma originated from. To me as long as you're doing all the good deeds in this life, everything will be taken care off. I'm right because now I'm blessed with two lil healthy Coo Coos  and ahem...another one coming on board soon, IF everything goes smoothly.

Let see whether Mama got her appetite back in time during our Hong Kong business trip this Sunday. I may treat her well with all the delicious dim sum. ;-P

5,800 babies still in hospital due to toxic milk
October 16, 2008 (Thursday)

China's Ministry of Health announced here Wednesday that 5,824 infants are still receiving treatment in hospital nationwide for kidney diseases caused by tainted powdered milk.

Six of them are in serious conditions, the ministry said in a press release.

No child died of toxic milk last month and all death cases reported so far occurred between May and August, the statement said.

A total of 43,603 children have recovered and left hospital since milk powder produced by Sanlu Group was found containing a banned chemical melamine in mid September, the statement said.

Later inspection involved several other dairy producers.

On Wednesday, 203 children were hospitalized and 764 recovered, the statement said. Source

Jessica Alba Plans to Bring Baby to Movie Set
October 15, 2008 (Wednesday)

Credit: Amanda Schwab/Startraks

Working on her first film since giving birth to daughter Honor Marie four months ago, Jessica Alba says being away from her baby is "tough."

"To be honest with you, it's tough – and if it was any other movie I wouldn't be doing it," the actress, 27, says of filming An Invisible Sign of My Own, in which she plays a young math teacher helping troubled students. "It's difficult to spend any time away from her."

But Alba, speaking to PEOPLE at a party on Monday hosted by the Cinema Society and Dolce & Gabbana for Madonna's new film Filth and Wisdom, is determined not to miss out on any mommy moments once shooting starts.

"I love my daughter," says the star, "and she's going to be with me every day on the set." Source

Aguilera's son Max at Heathrow Airport
October 13, 2008 (Monday)

Credit: Ian Lawrence/Splash News Online

This is one carry-on worth its weight! Christina Aguilera totes her adorable 9-month-old son Max as she and her husband Jordan Bratman land at Heathrow Airport Saturday. The pop star is reportedly in London to perform at the ThisDay Music and Fashion Festival on Oct. 14.  Source

It's Twin Girls for Lisa Marie Presley
October 12, 2008 (Sunday)

Lisa Marie Presley and her husband Michael Lockwood welcomed twin girls on Tuesday, Oct. 7.

"The babies and mom are happy and healthy and resting at home," rep Cindy Guagenti tells PEOPLE.

The baby girls were delivered by C-section at 2:46 p.m. and weighed in at 5 lbs., 15 oz. and 5 lbs., 2 oz.

The singer, 40, had said on her MySpace page before the babies were born that she and husband Michael Lockwood, 47, were "beyond thrilled and blessed, elated and saturated in happiness."

The girls are the first children together for Presley and Lockwood, a musician. Presley, who proudly displayed her baby bump in the September issue of Marie Claire, has daughter Riley, 19, a model, and Benjamin, 15, with ex-husband Danny Keough.

Presley's mother, Priscilla, had confirmed the twins. Read more

Breastfeeding Jolie on W Mag
October 11, 2008 (Saturday)

Angelina Jolie is seen breastfeeding one of her twins (Knox or Vivienne) on the November 2008 cover of W Magazine,  photographed by Brad Pitt. The mother-of-six was photographed in mid-August in the backyard of their French Chateau.

According to PEOPLE, Angelina Jolie says she had only intended to adopt children – until her love for Brad Pitt changed her mind. 

Nicole & Joel On Parenthood
October 09, 2008 (Thursday)

She purees her own green beans and records her daughter's every smile in a journal – making her "the best mom I've ever seen," Joel Madden, raves about girlfriend Nicole Richie.

Richie and Madden just moved into a new L.A. home after spending the summer touring with Madden's Good Charlotte band, and are in the midst of organizing an Oct. 19 walk in L.A. to help end family homelessness. But when they spoke with PEOPLE, what they really enjoyed talking about was their 9-month-old, Harlow. Read more

MAYFAIR Plus at Pavilion's Seventh Heaven
October 08, 2008 (Wednesday)

Open for business: Lim (right) with Jean Marie Loh, senior area manager of Mayfair, during a tour of the outlet. Picture source

MAYFAIR Plus launched its new outlet at Pavilion’s Seventh Heaven together with its brand ambassador, television host Lynn Lim.

“Modern women will not be satisfied with a normal spa experience and this is the perfect place for everyone to have a different experience,’ said Lim.

Unlike other Mayfair slimming centres, the new Mayfair Plus has a feminine feel combined with luxurious interior design and facilities.

It is a private refuge for those who would like to undergo treatment and not have people stare at them.

Lim, who is seven months’ pregnant, visits Mayfair Plus to maintain herself.

“I come here now for hot blanket treatments and the spa therapy. It makes me feel great and rejuvanated,” she added. By Priya Menon. Read more at The Star

STARBUCKS outlets worldwide wasting 23.4m litres of precious water a day
October 07, 2008 (Tuesday)

Picture source

I came across this report and thought of sharing it with all of you on the great drain robbery. Btw, I've seen most of the Malaysia's STARBUCKS Coffee outlets also doing the same thing.

Story pickup from Guardian UK. Environmental campaigners have attacked Starbucks after the discovery that millions of litres of water are wasted in its coffee shops every day, contradicting its much-boasted green credentials.

An investigation by The Sun revealed that over 23.4m litres of water are poured down the drains of 10,000 outlets worldwide due to a policy of keeping a tap running non-stop.

It is enough daily water for the entire 2 million population of Namibia in Africa, which has severe droughts, or to fill an Olympic pool every 83 minutes.

A single Starbucks tap left running for just over three minutes wastes the amount of water one African needs to survive for a day in drought conditions.

Each Starbucks has a cold tap behind the counter that runs into a sink known as a "dipper well" - used to wash utensils.

Under the company's health and safety rules, staff are banned from turning the water off because management claim that a constant flow of water prevents germs breeding in taps. Read More

Petrol Ringgit Ringing Loud
October 07, 2008 (Tuesday)

Three months ago, the crude oil surged to above US146, a record high. Malaysia, an oil producing country indirectly benefited from the increasing of crude oil price. However, we should not rely solely on our oil company to shoulder all the burden during the crisis because we as the responsible Rakyat must do our part too. Therefore, our government increased the price of petrol from RM1.92 to RM2.70 per litre, an increase of about 40%. The current crude oil price (below USD90) has dropped 38%. Basically, our price of petrol should be RM1.97 per litre by now. (Note: As of todate, our price of petrol stood at RM2.45 per litre)

To be frank, I don't expect our current government will going to reduce the petrol to anything below RM2 per litre. Have you all came across any food cost reduction lately? A simple mixed rice (formerly known as economy rice) of one meat with two vegie dishes cost between RM4-RM5 per plate (one year ago, it cost you between RM3-RM4 per plate). In Singapore, assume you earn SGD2K per month, you will still get economy rice of one meat with two vegie dishes for around SGD2-SGD3. See the different? A simple cup of Starbucks coffee cost about SGD5 while in Malaysia, it cost you more than RM10, blow us down. ;-(

I think our country's economy is mismanaged all these while!

Desperate Situation Requires Drastic Measure

World's tallest man becomes world's tallest dad
October 06, 2008 (Monday)

REUTERS/Stringer

The world's tallest man, China's Bao Xishun, became the world's tallest father this week with the birth of his first child, a boy whose initial height seems a compromise between his gigantic dad and average-sized mum.

Bao's son measured 22 inches long at birth, the senior doctor at Zunhua Hospital in Hebei province told Reuters.

Although slightly taller than average for newborn children, Bao's boy came up well short of the 29.5 inches claimed as a record birth length last year, also in China.

"Bao is quite happy. The baby is healthy and a normal size," the hospital's senior doctor Zhang told Reuters.

Bao, a 7-foot-9-inch herdsman from Inner Mongolia, last year married Xia Shujuan, a pygmy by contrast at 5-foot-6 inches.

"I hope he or she can be about 2 meters tall," Bao, 57, said last year about his wishes for a child. "Then he or she can play basketball."

His son weighed 4.2 kilograms at birth, a touch heavier than average.

Bao briefly lost his Guinness World Records title as the tallest man to Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk but regained it in August when Stadnyk refused to be measured under new guidelines.

Bao's son was born on Thursday but news of the birth only spread widely on Saturday, with the Chinese press according the newborn a level of privacy that is rare for the world's tallest man.

The former goat herder hires himself out for publicity stunts and his wedding last year was sponsored by at least 15 companies. Reuters

Johnson’s Baby Raya Campaign
October 05, 2008 (Sunday)

Bundles of joy: Ong (left) with the new mothers, (from second left) Shahera, Deivanai Krishnan dan Sarifah. Picture source from The Star.

Ah, no escape from Johnson's Baby Raya Campaign. Some 700 babies and young children travelling with their parents on balik kampung trips received complimentary Johnson’s Baby products in a travel pack when they stopped at the Seremban and Tapah rest and service areas along the North-South Highway. The travel packs were part of Johnson’s Baby Raya Campaign this year, to celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri with Malaysian parents and their children.

Their products also reached for the families of three newborns who arrived on the first day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri. The new mothers and their babies (picture above) received hampers from Johnson’s Baby as well. Too bad, their products doesn't capture the imagination of hundred of thousands of mothers & babies during the recently held Parenthood Expo where they've no presence at all.

The current melamine tests are going “too slowly”
October 03, 2008 (Friday)

Our authority so far only managed to test 26 product samples for melamine compound. Meaning that, thousands of suspicious products in our market have yet to be tested. We were assured by the Health Ministry earlier that the suspicious products are safe for consumption solely based on the letter of assurance by these companies to the Ministry only. * sigh *

Consume at your own risk!

Pickup story from The Star. The Health Ministry is setting up laboratories in every state as the current melamine tests are going “too slowly”.

Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said that of the 866 product samples which had been taken, only 26 have been tested and found to be melamine-free.

“That’s too slow. So, we are going to set up labs in every state as there are many samples.

“The (Chemistry Department) lab cannot cope with it and we don’t want the people to wait. There will be more than 13 labs and we are also getting help from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia.

“These are qualified labs. They have the equipment and they have the capability, so why not?” he told reporters when met at the Prime Minister’s Hari Raya open house at the Putra World Trade Centre here.

Liow said they could not depend on the Chemistry Department alone as they were short-handed.

On reports that baby milk from New Zealand dairy company, Tatua Cooperative Dairy Co, was found to be tainted with melamine, he said: “We do not import this brand of milk product from New Zealand. The ones we import are safe.”

Liow reassured the public that small amounts of melamine in food products were all right, as long as it was within the permissible level.

“European Union countries allow 30 parts per million (ppm) of melamine in all food products. When a food product is wrapped in plastic, there will be some transfer of melamine. If it’s in small amounts then it’s still safe,” he said.

However, he said melamine-tainted milk products in China had dangerous levels of the chemical compound at 2,653ppm.

Melissa Joan Hart: I Regret No Epidural
October 02, 2008 (Thursday)

Mark Sullivan/WireImage.com

Actress Melissa Joan Hart has second thoughts about her decision to give birth to son Braydon naturally.

"I told my mom and my husband, don't let me have [the drugs]," she told Usmagazine.com at the Celebration of Babies to benefit March of Dimes in L.A. Saturday.

"I kinda regret that one," she revealed.

"But the thing is, the healing was so much faster," the 32-year-old explained. "I didn't have to get the drugs out of my system and was moving around a lot more."

Hart, who had "a lot of medical intervention" during her first delivery, told Us that having a natural childbirth motivated her.

"I labored at home for 9 hours and then went to the hospital for an hour and a half - two pushes and he was out," she said.

"When your feeling all that, you want to get that out as soon as possible, so you really work," she added. "You're like, 'I'm gonna push really hard but I'm only doing it once.'"

Braydon, born in March, is now 6-months-old. Hart and husband Mark Wilkerson also have a 3-year-old, Mason.

"They're just starting to relate to each other a lot," Hart told Us. "[Braydon] loves to laugh at his big brother and his brother loves to make him laugh."

So how did Hart lose her pregnancy pounds?

"Four weeks [after], I started feeling really good so I started going to the gym and started working out, went about three times a week," she told Us. "I got delivery food for a little while.

"What I did was make sure no Sprinkles cupcakes [were] in the house, no candy," she said. "I got used to the no sugar so I was like ok, 'no starches.' I slowly started to get myself back on track and get my will power built up." Source

Melanine found in cheese packets. M'sia to Taiwan? (Part Two)
October 01, 2008 (Wednesday)

A follow-up to my previous posting about melamine product contamination that are connected to a Malaysian company called Eonlipids Sdn Bhd. Here is a statement posted on their corporate homepage news section:

Melamine Free

Our Non Dairy Creamer Have been verified By 3 Party Labs, showing Result Melamine Free.

EONLIPIDS at 29/9/2008 11:40AM

Pick Food and Machinery Corp said the creamer and cheese powder for making the cheese packets for the 145 Pizza Hut outlets in Taiwan were supplied by Fonterra Brands Pte Ltd and the Persnam Corp. 

Fonterra said its cheese powder came from New Zealand and was cleared of melamine by tests in Taiwan. Persnam Corp said its creamer was supplied by Eonlipids Sdn Bhd of Malaysia and now Eonlipids said their non dairy creamer is melamine free. So, where is melamine came from then??

Salam Aidilfitri 2008
October 01, 2008 (Wednesday)