The visit at UM Hospital

The collection was an awesome success. I have been chasing time purchasing more than 79 gifts and collecting more than 20 donated gift parcels the last 4 days precedent to the day of the visit.

I stopped counting at one point and just purchased gifts based on the donation banked in as and when because donation were still pouring in on Friday itself. I had been out most days and hadn't time to put up a notice to state the last day of donation. So as at 9pm I was still purchasing last minute gifts but fortunately, had them all wrapped just in time by Saturday.



I can't thank Nancy, the gift store's owner, enough for helping wrap most of them without any service charge. She says it's her contribution to the charity. She also gave 20% off all wrappers and went down as much as she can on the prices of some of the gifts I purchased from her store.

We grouped at the entrance of Menara Timur at UM Hosp at 9.30am on Saturday morning.

When Ros came and unload her other 100(?) odd parcels and donated cupcakes from her 4 seater, and adding some more gifts that the volunteers brought along, it came to this awesome pile. This is amazing considering that the project were initiated only 10 days before. Some of the parcels which we thought weren't substantial enough in term of appearance, we combined 2 parcels into one.

.

The datuk pengarah of the hospital, Professor Ikram Shah, came out to have a look and we took this group picture together, although picture taking wasn't the main priority of the visit. This group picture is probably the only one most of us volunteers have for the visit.



My apology if some of the faces were blurred out. I distorted the features of the volunteers at their requests.

The volunteers who turn up to assist in handing out the gifts besides Ros and me were Salwa, Montessorimum, Sofhib, Geok Hong, Shamira, Wai Han (home birth consultant), Wai Leng, Suzette, Pauline, Gladys and Ellena.

We split into 2 groups. One for the ICU and pediatric ward, and one for the maternity ward. Although I have assisted My Moms Best forum in purchasing and wrapping gifts before, I have never made trips to the ward to hand out the parcels. Ashley was still very young then and I had been maidless for 2 years before this.

So this is my first visit. Nothing prepares me for the heaviness in my heart resulting from these ward visits. At our first stop at PIC One, (ICU Ward One), we were greeted by heart wrenching cries of a child. The cries sounds tired. The child must have been crying for a long time, and consistently. It echoes through the corridors. I imagine the child must be in extreme pain or in constant discomfort, and I imagine the mother of the child and the nurses must be offering the child the best comfort in whichever way they knew. It was a shadowy beginning which accompanied us throughout the rest of the rounds.

We weren't allowed into ICU One, although we were allowed in the other wards. We chosed the best gifts among them ie. those Russ Pillows valued RM52 which Nancy, the gift store owner had obligingly reduced to RM28 being her further contribution to the project, some Hello Kitty pillow unsnapped into blankets, some bolster unsnapped into pillows and other gifts of higher value, (of which the higher value were made affordable from Lilian, the founder of My Mom's Best's bigger cash contribution for 5 gifts) and the nurses pushed the trolley into the ward to distribute among the mothers.

We were instructed to just hand out, wished the mothers a Happy Mothers Day and proceeded along. Even then, it took us till noon. During the round, I note one child of around 3 years old wearing a mask over his face while cruising around his bed. It was thick and it looks heavy, like those scuba diving mask, except it covers the whole face, including nose and mouth? It was heavy enough to compress into his tender young skin. To have to endure constant discomfort at such young age, isnt that sad?

On the next bed, a wisp of a little girl of about 5 years old with puffy white skin all over her face, her neck and I presume, her whole body.

I had thought that it was calamine. On second look, it is the colour of the skin. And there is a layer of skin like tight plastic sheen over her skin. It looks as if any accidental poke or tear in her tight white puffy shiny skin would result in a spray of body liquid. Very tender and fragile looking. She has only one hand and someone had placed an old worn out bath towel over her handless shoulder. Her other hand, peeping out from under the blanket, is terribly swollen, deformed and hasn't any fingers.

This is the most heart-wrenching experience I have ever encounter. She was labouring to breath. And her mother had stepped out during the child's nap, I suppose to run some errants. I note that under her closed eyelids, her eyes were bloodshoot, a line of red running along her closed lid. Looking at the little one, I felt this tightness at my throat. The little girl's suffering haunted me till today. I wish I could do more for her and her mother than just handing out a donated parcel and a cupcake.

We ended about 12.30 noon and had a drink to quench our thirst downstairs at the deli one floor below before bading each other goodbye. I know I haven't added the links to the above-mentioned names yet. It's my sister's wedding today and there will be stuffs to do. will add them as soon as time permit. And will upload the links of the others' blog soonest possible as when they have time to post.

Anyhow, all in all, this is a leadladen-heart experience, of which although I had prepared for it, I still have a hard time dealing with. I would still visit again the next project though.

But, thank you, all, for all your kind contribution ! And thank you to Lilian and Ros for initiating this project again this year.

May the next Mothering Mother project be as successful. Have a great Mother's Day today, all !

Mothering Mothers 2009 at UM Hospital - update

Some bloggers and friends have msn me to ask why my blog has been so quiet the last few months.

Not by choice, really. Lots of stuff which makes time scarce and things hectic. Kids sick, me sick, kids sick again, me sick again, its a vicious cycle. Then my sister was admitted to the hospital, then it was Ashley. And that is coupled with extra workload, datelines, trials and hearings, and being maidless.

Phew, it is exhausting just running through these. Haha.

Now that things are somewhat settled, I have to schedule some time to coach the kid her revision for her coming exams and get the guest room cleaned up for my brother who is coming back from Miami for holiday with his wife. So, for the moment, bento posts may still take a back seat.

That aside, the main reason for today's post is more important.

Many of us love our kids from the bottomless pit of our hearts. They are virtually our whole universe, our sunshine, our everything.

Just imagine, "if" one's own kid is terminally ill. And the kid may never ever live long enough to celebrate Mothers' Day with his or her mother on this coming 10th May, or the many many 10th May to come. How does it feel.

However, Mothers Day is probably the least issue on a mother's mind when their child is labouring to breath, or when their child is growing weaker and weaker by the day with tubes stuck all over its tiny little frame.

Lilian of My Mom's Best ("MMB") , a breastfeeding forum, has on many occassion initiated the Mother's Day do, Mothering Mother, at the UM Hospital for those courageous mothers of the terminally ill children.

I, along with other MMB forum members, had the pleasure of helping out 2 years ago with purchase of gifts, wrapping and collection of gifts from pledgors. When Ros asked me again this year, I am more than willing to assist, since I couldn't gather as much funds as Lilian or the other MMB members and this is the only way I could assist. We have some volunteers but we may need more. This year, it is not restricted to MMB members. We welcome all volunteers.

But more importantly, we need more contributors for the presents for the mothers.

I will cut and paste the details from Ros' Blog


"Mothering Mother 2007"

How you can contribute?

1. Gifts
As much as we love to have each contributor to put their own personal choice/touch to the gifts, we are aware of certain matters regarding sensitivities related to religion, belief or taboos. Breakable items and perishable food are also not suitable. So we have come up with the following list of gifts:


"Mothering Mother 2005"

Non-perishable food/beverage
Toiletries
Journal / Diary (better the one without rigid dates daily)
Photo album
Framed painting /pictures of landscapes, beautiful moments, etc
Mini cushions (for hugs)
Mini fancy containers / boxes
Small elec. appliances
Comfy slippers or socks
As for others: mini card + dry fragrant flower, scarves, aromatherapy candles, magnetic decorative item and sarong can be put as side gifts if contributors like.

We tried not to have cash last time, but we receive it on the basis that some volunteers did the buying and packaging.


For those who interested to contribute in cash, you can make your number of pledges in numerical order in the comment box below and pay the money to the account the a.c. number as follows:

RHB Bank a.c. number : 2140-71000-98939
(and please leave a comment to let us know how much each of you have banked in on which day and we will email you with an email address for the printscreen, if any).



Packaging

Normal shoe-box size, but not so rigid - size should not be too big or small as we don't want people to think we do double standard. Not necessarily in shoe boxes, some mothers came with nice paper bags etc depends on their creativity. Make sure they are properly wrapped or tied for easy transportation. We agreed that the price per gift should be under RM20.



2. Be in the hospital
Due to some reasons, the event will be held on Saturday a day before Mother's Day 2009. More info as follows:

Venue: Menara Timur, UMMC

Date: May 9th, 2009

Time: 9.30 am to 12 pm

3. Picking up or dropping off

Volunteers to do picking up or offer a place for dropping off. Keep the pledges coming in and pass the words. Feel free to ask any question.


Please take note each gift will be RM20, so it is up to you how many gifts you want to contribute.

Current Number of pledges:
1. Mama23beas: 5
2. Moo Mommy: 10
3. Lavender: 3
4. Geok Hong: 2
5. sofhib: 5
6. Eydd: 10
7. Charine: 5
8. Christene : 5
9. Chanel :5
10. Lyza: 5 (at least)
11. Eida: 5
12. hui-wearn: 5
*updated*
13. Misha Paris's Mum - 5
14. Jacss - 5
15. Amy - 5
16. Jessytai - 2
17. Eve - 2
18. Anggie - 3
19. Michele Soo - 3
20. Elaine - 5
21. Hijackqueen - 2
updates :
22. Pek Imm - 3
23. WCP - 2
24. NST - 2.5
25. Sqkiki - 2
26. Javapot - 6
*update*
27. Lilian - 5
28. Annieq - 3
29. Adrine -5
30. Wai Han - 1
31. Redbabe - 1
32. Eva Razali, Delliah, Liza Masrina and Ninuk – 10
Update*
33. Sheryl Hen – 3
34. JO-N : 5
35. Vedis – 2
36. Pohling – 2
*update*
37. Shamira - 5
38. Zainab - 4
39. Inbha - 3
40. Salmiah - 1
41. Suzana - 1
42. Nalini - 1
43. Alina Grace - 3
44. Suzette - 2
*update*
45. chinnee - 3
46. Arthur chu - 5
47. GiddyTigerS - 5
48. 5xmom - 5 pledges
49. Elaine Lai - 3 pledges
50. Janice Loke - 2.5 pledges
51. Karen Yiaw - 5
52. motherly journal - 2
53. Kerry - 3
54. LJW - 5

total : 208 (and Big Pumpkin - contribution for petrol)

Thanks to Lildanzell and MyLovelyA for contributing 60 foldable recycled bags (Linda Linda Envirosave Eva bags) as carriers of gifts. We have decided that instead of using it as carriers for gifts, we will add them to some of the gifts to make it more substantial and the balance will be split between volunteers to be dished out for particularly deserving mothers as an extra item during visits.

Keep the pledges coming in.

note : As you pledge your gifts, write down in the comment box below in numerical order and we will update accordingly time and again)

Drop-off points
Thanks to Lily of UmmikuSayang and Vivian of Fabulous Mom :

1. AlimKids Bookstore, 6-1 USJ 9/5Q, Subang Business Centre, 47600 UEP Subang Jaya.

2.Fabulous Mom Sdn Bhd, 2A, Jalan TK2/1C, Taman Kinrara, Seksyen 2
47100 Puchong, Selangor, Malaysia (First floor, corner unit, above Shanghai Coffee Shop) Tel: 03-80765262,Fax: 03-80765562
Email: info@fabulousmom.com

3. Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam - email Elaine at dragonmummy@gmail.com for instructions



Ros is waiting for confirmation from 2 more drop-off points, and will update it here.

Volunteers at UMMC (limited to 12)
1. Mama23beas
2. Sofhib
3. Geok Hong
4. Shamira
5. Eydd
6. Christene
*updated*
7. Elaine (Montessorimum)
7. Wai Han
8. Redbabe
9. Yan nie

Please confirm your participation with Ros. Due to the hospital regulation, there is a limit of 12 participants in the visit. Those who are coming can bring their gifts on D-Day, but we need the number of pledges so that we can plan better. For example which wards to go if we have extra or what to do if we have less, number of trolleys that we need etc.




Please also check Chanel's blog for any additional updates.

Each pledge is for a gift of RM20. To quote Ros, "Keep those pledges coming in".

Each additional pleadge will brighten up an otherwise dreary day of one more preoccupied harried exhausted mother of a terminally ill child.

So, in the name of mothering mothers, LET US TAKE OFF FROM HERE !!!

Deana's Gifts !

Deana came down last week. We were suppose to meet at Midvalley so that I could pass her those diapers, and perhaps have coffee and a quick chat. As luck would have it, she is only in Midvalley for 2 days and I couldn't make it on the first day.

She mentioned that she would be leaving the next day itself. I didn't expect her to be leaving so soon. So after sending Ashley off to school, I drop by Boulevard to meet her.

There isn't time for a chat , only for a quick hello!

Deana is such a lovely girl to talk to , and her baby !

I tell you, I can't stop gushing over her baby ! Earnestly I have not seen such a pretty baby girl for a long long time !! Her photos at her blog doesn't do her any justice at all.

She has this "I am such a cutie" written all over her !!! And gurgly laughters, to boot. I think she could charm anyone if she is minded to. haha !!

For such beautiful babies, I think you should have half a dozen more babies, Deana ! Just kidding !

Anyhow, Deana, the sweetie that she is, not only collect those dipes, she also bake my 2 little girls those cupcakes ! How did she know that my girls absolutely have this thing for cupcakes and pretty decorations adorning cupcakes ! Probably the fact that I rave over every cupcakes my little girls enjoy has something to do with it. Ha ha !



Aren't these amazing?

And they are in lavendar, right up my little girls' alley ! Especially Kimberly, who loves all shades of purple!

They each have one on that day itself and the second piece were saved for another day in the fridge.

Those who don't know, Deana takes cakes orders. She is from The Land Below the Wind aka Kota Kinabalu ! Check out her cakes at Deanacakes !

The sweetie also gave my little girls these bento boxes ....



One pink and one blue!



and complete with straps ! Kimberly likes the bunny one but I like the red floral one. haha.

These are lovely, aren't they? We don't have these in our 100yen stores in KL !

Thanks Deanna !! Lurve you lots !!! Muakkk !!!

Hope we can have that coffee and chat the next time you come down here for a holiday !!!

The day she came home without her bento box

Just the other day, I was reading Jo-N's comment that her only concern about packing bento is that her kid may not bring the bento box home, since it happened once before.

I had remembered thinking, "Oh, it's probably because Jo-N's kids are younger than my kids".

After all, Kimberly is already in Primary Two. Not only she comes home with her bento box, its complete with the day's foodpicks and dividers and food cups.

Today, my 7 1/2 year old rang me up at the office. She asked if I could go to her school's lost and found store because she couldn't find her bento box. She said that she had left it on one of the round tables while she went to play. When the bell rang for ending of recess, she came back for it and found it gone.

That was her favourite bento box. It's a Love and Berry bento box.

For those of you who haven't any little girls or are not familiar with Love and Berry, it's those 2 Japanese girls, who, according to my little girl, dress up in beautiful clothes and had dancing contests.




They have this Love and Berry arcade card games at the play area at Jaya Jusco Midvalley. You can see little girls choosing their selected dress , hair do, shoes from their pile of card collection before punching the "go" button and swiping the cards through. The Love and Berry girls would be magically transformed into the outfit chosen. Cool. yea? And those who coordinate their outfit better get higher points! Ha ha.







Anyhow, I got Kimberly this Love and Berry bento box for USD16, and Kimberly was ecstatic over it. It's her all time favourite bento box.



Today, according to MIL, she came home in tears. She has been holding back her tears till she got home, the poor dear.

So I packed up my laptop, left office and phoned the school's lost and found person in charge to arrange for the key to the store room to be passed to one of the security guards so that we may have assess to it after the person in charge has gone home for the day. It was after 5.30 pm when I got there.

As usual, one of the guard would escort the parent in , due to safety measures taken by the school. The particular guard, Rashid, went with me to the cafetaria where a pile of food containers were stacked up on one of the tables. Apparently, every day after school, some kids would inadvertently left something behind.

One glance told me Kimberly's favourite Love and Berry container isn't among those in the pile. So I asked the guard if I could look through the lost and found baskets in the storeroom.

Rashid said it probably wouldn't be in the lost and found storeroom because the day's pile is still in the cafetaria, but I thought I take my chance anyhow.

We went upstairs and I pulled up my sleeves and rummaged through the pile of leftover containers with rotting food still inside them, trying not to breath as I do so.

Nope. Nothing. Feeling disappointed, I asked Rashid if we could look through the cafetaria again.

We went down and Rashid asked the cleaning lady sweeping the floor if she had seen a pink coloured container. She said," Yang itu saja ada" , pointing to the pile that I had looked over.

You know, when your kid love something so much, you do everything you can to try to get it back. I am sure lots of moms would agree with me on this.

So, I continued searching. I look under tables, behind doors, on trays, behind counters, under the sinks etc, all the while the cleaning lady keep stealing glances at me.

On searching the last of the 4 corners, just before I reach the tall 4 footer metal dustbin, the cleaning lady said, "Oh, ya, Ada satu, Yang ini" And she walked to the very dustbin and whipped it out from behind somewhere.

I was so grateful she found it, I keep thanking her and Rashid.

See? Like I found gold only !! And it's only a bento box. Ha ha.

When I reached home, Kimberly was overjoyed and gave me a hug,

"Momma !!! You found it !!!"

But what Rashid said earlier struck my mind, "kadang kadang bukan kanak kanak yang mau. Orang dewasa pun nak juga. Boleh bagi anak sendiri"

I am half minded to think that he is refering to the cleaning lady, with her initial denial and her quick recovery of memory loss, because Rashid looked at the cleaning lady funny.

Malaysian being Malaysian, we like to give people the benefit of doubts. In all probability, the cleaning lady could have earnestly forgot that she placed it behind the dustbin and not pile it together with the stack of left-behinds.

In my opinion, whether she had the intention or not,whether she had forgotten or not, at least she has conscience enough to disclose it at the end or had jogged her memory in time. To a grown-up, it's just another container, but to a certain little girl, it's really important.

And a little girl got back her favourite bento box !

...popped goes the bubble....

Further to my post below on this cute looking car.... popped goes the bubble.... Ha ha.



I was eager to show my little girl the pictures of this Disney Aladdin car that i took at Ikea earlier this morning. To look at more pictures of the car, scroll down below this post or click "here".

So, I called out to Kimberly the moment she got home, "Come here, hon, Momma got something to show you"

"What?" she asked suspiciously, " I dont want any lunch. I ate my lunch already"

My little madam has this morbid fear that I am forever trying to shovel food down her throat the moment she step into the house. This is because I am so paranoid that my kid may have starved throughout the whole day at school from 8.00 am to 3.30 pm. Ha ha.

"No ! No food", I promised, "I just want to show you this neat looking car"

She came forth and peered into the screen.

"Oh, this car !" she said dismissively.

" I have seen it before".

Suprised, I asked her, "Where?"

I mean, she cant have seen it if I havent seen it. After all, she only goes out with me.

"I saw it in school" She said.

"Really?".... still wondering, I asked,...."When?"

"I see it EVERYDAY, Momma !! It's at the busbay waiting for some kid"

Sigh..and I thought I have something neat to show her.

Well, never mind. There is still my husband. I still can get a kick out of showing him that.

So when DH steps into the house, I called out to him too.

"Hon, come over here, let me show you this car !" DH climbed up the stairs.

Taking one look at it, he said, "I have seen this car around. It's been around for a long time!"

Oh, okay. Now I am deflated.

But, humour me, it still is a neat looking car, is it not?

Is that cool or is that cool?

Every morning after sending Ashley to school, I rush to complete my datelines of causepapers and stuffs. Today, Ashley woke up late and since she went to school late, I didnt bother doing any work before I pick her up. I thought I hang around Ikea and have my lunch till its time to pick her up again.

When I came out to the carpark, what do I see besides my car?

Now, is that cool or is that cool?

Cool for a little girl, that is, and I am not that little. Ha ha..





close up of the right hand side..



close up of the left...



interior....



I figured the owner must be either a fan of Disney Princess, Jasmine ......



or...he/she must be in this business and doing this to promote awareness.

But anyhow...Kimberly is going to love looking at this pic when she comes home from school later.

An incredible love story

My husband forwarded this mail to me and I thought I should share it with my fellow bloggers as well. I thought their love story is so touching to the heart. And I like to record this so that when my children grew up, I would like to show them this simple and beautiful story.


An Incredible Love Story





An incredible love story has come out of China recently and managed to touch the world. It is a story of a man and an older woman who ran off to live and love each other in peace for over half a century.




The 70-year-old Chinese man who hand-carved over 6,000 stairs up a mountain for his 80-year-old wife has passed away in the cave which has been the couple's home for the last 50 years.




Over 50 years ago, Liu Guojiang a 19 year-old boy, fell in love with a 29 year-old widowed mother named Xu Chaoqin..

In a twist worthy of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, friends and relatives criticized the relationship because of the age difference and the fact that Xu already had children.

At that time, it was unacceptable and immoral for a young man to love an older woman.. To avoid the market gossip and the scorn of their communities, the couple decided to elope and lived in a cave in Jiangjin County in Southern ChongQing Municipality.




In the beginning, life was harsh as hey had nothing, no electricity or even food. They had to eat grass and roots they found in the mountain, and Liu made a kerosene lamp that they used to light up their lives.

Xu felt that she had tied Liu down and repeatedly asked him, 'Are you regretful? Liu always replied, 'As long as we are industrious, life will improve.'

In the second year of living in the mountain, Liu began and continued for over 50 years, to hand-carve the steps so that his wife could get down the mountain easily.


Half a century later in 2001, a group of adventurers were exploring the forest and were surprised to find the elderly couple and the over 6,000 hand-carved steps. Liu MingSheng, one of their seven children said, 'My parents loved each other so much, they have lived in seclusion for over 50 years and never been apart a single day. He hand carved more than 6,000 steps over the years for my mother's convenience, although she doesn't go down the mountain that much.'




The couple had lived in peace for over 50 years until last week. Liu, now 72 years, returned from his daily farm work and collapsed. Xu sat and prayed with her husband as he passed away in her arms. So in love with Xu, was Liu, that no one was able to release the grip he had on his wife's hand even after he had passed away.

'You promised me you'll take care of me, you'll always be with me until the day I died, now you left before me, how am I going to live without you?'

Xu spent days softly repeating this sentence and touching her husband's black coffin with tears rolling down her cheeks.

In 2006, their story became one of the top 10 love stories from China , collected by the Chinese Women Weekly. The local government has decided to preserve the love ladder and the place they lived as a museum, so this love story can live forever.


Now isnt that a rare and beautiful story?