au naturel

I for one have gone absolutely bonkers and crazy.. well for a very good reason. about 12 weeks into the pregnancy, i develop this horrible irritating itchiness all over my legs n arms. it is so horrible, enough to send me to a skin specialist. About a month after that.. its gone.. but while i was itching like mad I did a lot of reading about if the mom has eczema, which my dermatologist said i had acute eczema. (ACUTE??? gilo apo..tak penah hayat kena..huhuhu)  it is most likely the baby will too.. but  I always had this sensitive skin thingy not sure what how or why. it is just that my skin has a mind of its own would flare, rash and itch as it likes.. great huh?

So i decided to go natural, organic, and chemical free as possible. starting with my own shower gels and shampoo. It certainly is not cheap but bearable. Shop here! http://www.iherb.com/mypage/eQin-goes-shopping. Get the $10 off your first buy. Murahhh!! Since I am mostly at home, i use very little daily. hahaha.. i mostly only shower once daily if i didnt go out. why should i shower so many times? its not like i go anywhere and bring back germs.. i did not even get out of the house.. duh! =p

next stop, baby's toiletries... searching online for some organic natural baby brands.. and I found this..

http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/#

and

http://safemama.com/cheatsheets/

AWESOOOMMMEE!!

I really wanted to get it from US or UK... But looking at the cost of ALL baby products- clothes, breastpump, diapers etc etc..MAHAL okies. huhhh. Maybe I want to go local with this one and supplement with imported ones.. plus Belilah barangan buatan Malaysia. and if it is bumiputera/muslim/malay companies.. why not support them rite? Try first.. if its good than by all means continue..if its crap... hahaha.. might as well buy imported.

I talked to hubby about using cloth diapers and he said it is too much time consuming which we dont have. I rather he spends the few hours with our baby rather than with dirty diapers.. but it is still an option.

So the next one i want to give a good read is Baby Wipes. And I read a whole lot about it. I have gone from organic disposable wipes, to homemade wipes to cloth wipes, and back to homemade wipes. Ok i stopped there.. the best is of course is the cloth wipes, but it only work best if we decide to cloth diapers anyway. So the next best thing is homemade wipes which i think is CHEAP and EASYYYYY. Read here..

http://naturesnurtureblog.com/2013/06/04/homemade-natural-baby-wipes/

I would just buy some good kitchen towel and ask hubby to precut it in half on a weekend. I reckon 6 rolls cut into 12-half rolls would be enough for a month right? but it is a good starting point. If it is more than enough.. i would just do less the next round or not enough it is easy enough to do it in mid week. I would just buy a lot more kitchen towel and ask hubby to precut it all and do the solution as i go. All other 'ingredients' are easily bought on iHerb or readily available. As for the container, I might want to grab the nicest disposable wipes in container from the babyfair this weekend and start using those 'chemical loaded' wipes on my kitchen counter or bathroom. hahaha.. then i get to use the container with this homemade wipes. cheapo. awesome yet? i think so!! time to measure and count..hehehe...

ok that is sorted out.. I sort of know what to buy and where already for most things. For clothes in the earlier months, we would just go F.O.S. haihh..janji pakai baju dah la. jangan balut kain batik plak kannn.. plus i know that babies grow so freaking fast. no need to buy mahal2 or cantik2 sangat. hhahaha.. mummy pun pakai baju pasar malam je okies. but of course la, baju raya akan di beli kat pumpkin patch or baby gap. hahaha...itu sudah kemestian. Daddy boleh pakai branded! Mummy takpe...tapi baby harus. Mummy happy dah kalau bawak bag Kate Spade n pakai kasut French Sole, baju beli kat tepi2 jalan pun ok jer. =p But as the baby grow, we see if daddy's income grows as fast as you are or otherwise and adjust accordingly. =p Mana la tau, we can afford Baby Dior or Armani junior right??!! hahahahaha.. T_T

Lain2 aku tak kisah sangat..e.g bottles. i want to use glass tapi hubby cakap berat. pemalas. so i go to the next best thing which is BPA free. Tommee tippee or first year's breast flow. nengok la kalau nak beli online local or oversea or beli kat kedai or fair. tak kisah sangat sbb sama je. sket je pun beza. rezeki la tuh kira.

nursery related cot (inherit je dari cousins yg comel2 tuhhh) tilam bantal etc...sudah usha lamaaaa dah. aku dah target ada sorang online seller ni.hahaha..sudah plan pun mau beli kat mana kain and mau buat apa. Harga je blom tau. Hahaha must start saving ya!!

Breast pump pun I almost certainly have decided but want to wait till I get to visit some kedai2 to view it in person and listen to the sales person. So nengok la jugak...cos my budget is 1K for the whole set lots.. cooler bag, ice pack, storage bottles etc. Haiyoo banyak nyer menda...

Last but not least.. Post natal care package. Hohhh I bajet2...one month salary terbang begitu saja.. tapi takpe la.. janji sihat dan cantik dan kurus.. kah kah kah.. target sekarang 21 hari pakej untuk RM3k. It is within range with what is offered in the market.. Around RM150+ plus a day. Cantik cantik cantik! huhuhu T_T So far, in my piggy ada RM 2.8k...kalau berjimat2 dan menyimpan lagi..mmg boleh sangat la amik pakej 21hari AND beli baby bag Kate Spade idaman hati~~ Maybe the bag has to wait a little while..but what the heck..I am not going to use it until at least June 2014...sangat lama lagi untuk menyimpan di piggy bank...awesome!! Nanti bila sudah 3/4 confinement period sudah boleh usha2 nak beli bag itu....heee~ SUKA! Pastu boleh terus menyimpan untuk terus membeli my next french sole. hah?! Kalau 50% off apa salahnyer...hehehe..

So the journey shall starts soon...shopping.. and more shopping. Most likely hubby nak go for the stemcell thing...sbb buleh dapat free maxi cosi car seat.. haha.. vain kannn...tapi hentam je la. nak wat macam mana.. anak dia. mmg sangat excited la nak itu dan ini.. so suka la hati nak beli apa pun.. kalau buleh seme nak branded. huhu.. aku mau yang awesome takdak brand pun takpe.. tapi harus AWESOME.. hahaha..

nak p kira duit syiling jap.. kot2 cukup nak beli botol susu minggu ni.. buleh tak?? hahaha

everything but this..

When my doctor..*pergh...my doctor seyy....hahaha* ok fine i have been going back to him for the past 3 years..qualify la to be my doctor. He said I have to be on leave after week 20, I have a million gazzilion things on my mind how to pass the time without going out of the house. I planned to use my YES 4G internet access and my online shopping skills to pass the time.. well mostly. I also plan to do some light sewing and start gathering some supplies online..hehehe.. but never in a million years *i swear* this was in my mind...

Mug cakes.

I knew my beloved other baby will have to be on leave as well cos I was not supposed to lugging that heavy yet really gorgeous mixer around. and i tell u it is heavy bitch... some 4kg or so..huhuhu I spent a month gaji for you to be gathering dust.. haihhh~~

but it was 4pm and nothing on the telly and I was craving for something hot chocolatey not overly sweet and tadaaaa.....

My first ever mug cake..ok this is a brownie but what the heck...

My my i tell you.. it is as good as any cake i have ever bake.. even more so I must say... its hot..goey chocolatey..salty and sweet..and heaven...

I found the recipe online but as what i always do.. I never trust a single recipe.. i look at a few and find some common ground... the baker in me tweak the recipes so here is mine...if you do it like i did.. i guarantee u the best chocolatey goodness ever..

2tablespoon salted butter -melted in the mug for 25secs

1/4cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup milk

2tblspoon cocoa powder

1teaspoon vanilla

some chopped nuts -hazel, walnut,pecan etc

some broken pieces of dark chocolate

mix everything carefully and microwave it at 60-75 seconds at high while you clean up.. Do not microwave it too long or it will be too dry and cakey. You will want that extra melty chocolate pieces. Wait 15seconds for it to cool down a bit and enjoy!!

Go ahead do other things to it.. Nuttela, peanut butter, choc chips etc If chocolate is not your thing.. go on and find one to your liking... one tip: look for recipe with no egg. Anyone can do this.. it is freaking easy.. 

I had it for 3 days in a row before the doctor's appt.. and i gained 4kg instead of just 2kg.. ok saya insaf!!!! So as easy as it might be.. DO NOT HAVE THIS DEVIL EVERYDAY! once in a while is ok i guess.. huhu..i have another week before the next appt.. doctor is not too happy with my weight gain. Owh baby..

we are so going to be fat. 

haih...so easy so good so yummy mug cakes.. back to surfing and sewing. I have a couple of new house warming gift to make!! =)