We will miss you, Lulu..

I have been putting this off for the past 2 weeks hoping by the time I'd have write this it will be a happy news, but, alas!

Let me start at the beginning..

As you know, our bunnies, Marbles and Lulu do not get along. At all. On a couple of occasions, Marbles chased Lulu around the house and once managed to corner her and was pounding on her until she ran off. The second time this happened, they were both outside the house and hubz interfered and rescued Lulu from Marbles' snarls! I was a bit worried that Lulu might have gotten hurt but hubz checked her for bite marks or bleeding but there were none, so we left it at that.

Two weeks later we noticed she was getting less and less active and was slowing down on her food. We also noticed her left eye was swollen, so we took her to the vet. The vet turned her upside down, pushed her head up and asked us, "Did you notice this?" pointing at a patch of raw skin with puss oozing out of it when he pressed. Imagine our horror??! We obviously didn't. Hubz who grooms her so often has missed it because underneath her chin is not an area he brushes, and bunnies don't usually allow you to touch their face that way.

Apparently there were two nasty bites on her face, one on her neck underneath her chin and another at the side of her face, which has become septic. The one on her neck has become worst causing the hair to fall off as the puss built up underneath her skin. The vet said he'd need to surgically remove the affected skin & tissue and explained we'd have to dilligently clean her wound morning and night if we want to keep her. He also explained in length the limited medications and antibiotic available to treat bunnies, making us realise, how fragile these little creatures really are. (Which also explains why they breed as they do, doesn't it?) He gave us antibiotic to be administered daily and asked us to clean her twice a day with salt water.

I must say that hubz was the one who really took care of her, waking up so early in the morning to clean her before we go to work and cleaning her once more the moment he gets home.

Here's Lulu, healing nicely..

Last Saturday we took her to the vet again to get more antibiotics and get them to clean her wound. We came out of there beaming as the vet said she seem to be holding well, her raw skin does not look so raw anymore, her appetite is insatiable, she eats so much daily! Just like any 6 mth old bunny would, I guess. The vet said since she's a fighter, we should do all we could to help her. We were delighted.

By Monday evening however, we noticed she has not eaten much, so we took her to the vet again to get her cleaned, and this time the vet noticed one of her forelegs was red, apparently septasimia. Yesterday I got home early to take her to the vet again to get them to clean her up and I noticed both her legs were covered in red spots. The vet said to me, "You should just let her go". She has not been eating since Monday and although her neck is getting better the septasimia seems to be spreading. I called hubz asking him to call the vet to make a decision. I can't bring myself to tell the vet to put her to, you know.

So, today is the day Lulu is going.

I do not want to go to the vet to face this, at the same time, I can't let hubz go through this on his own. Me knees go weak when I think about it. But I guess, it's better for her than to continue to suffer.

I hold it true, whate'er befall;

I feel it, when I sorrow most;

'Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all

From Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem In Memoriam:27, 1850

Goodbye Lulu.

My Rat Girl

I finally found some information on Nia's Chinese Zodiac sign just to see if I could make sense of it vis-à-vis Nia's behaviour and personality. This is what I found:

Chinese Zodiac - Rat
Personality
Occupying the 1st and most prominent position on the Chinese Zodiac, the Rat symbolizes such character traits as wit, imagination and curiosity. Rats have keen observation skills and with those skills they’re able to deduce much about other people and other situations. Overall, Rats are full of energy, talkative and charming but they have a tendency to become aggressive.

The Rat Infant
Rat babies love to be loved and cuddled. When they are young, Rat babies tend to depend tremendously on their parents, but later in life they develop natural leadership qualities. During their baby years, Rats mature slowly, but gain momentum as they become toddlers. Eventually, they begin to exhibit active mentalities, so, in the early years, plenty of sleep is necessary. Rat toddlers tend to want to do everything before their time and in the process there will be many a frustrated cry and tantrum. In school, the young Rats are eager to learn. It is then, too, that Rats begin collecting things, and like to fill their bedrooms with pebbles, shells and keepsakes of every kind. Generally, young Rats are smart little people who are artistic and literary students. They are well-rounded and many of them do well in sports, too. Being born in the first sign of the Chinese horoscope motivates these children to be pioneers and gives them a need to be first in line.

Holy cow! The toddler bit is very true! Nia does get frustrated when she's unable to do something that she isn't, shouldn't, be able to do just yet. For example, just yesterday she threw tantrums for not being able to put on her sneakers on her own! I mean, she can't even stand steadily with both feet on the ground and still wobbles when she walks, how in the world is she supposed to put on her shoes by herself? I noticed she does not give up easily as well, for example the shoes incident, first she tried putting them on while standing, then she sat down and tried and tried and tried, then she went on all fours and tried and tried, and finally started crying after a good half an hour of trying! At least she has patience (which I sorely lack), that's a good thing, no?
Hmmm...how interesting.

Music of the year - 2009

Yea, so here we go again.. my favourite singer/band of this year ~ that I cannot get enough of ~ is The Script. If you have been on a different planet or under some tempurung, you are forgiven for not knowing who they are! :oP
I particularly ((HEART)) the lead singer Danny O'Donoghue's voice ~ gosh, how do I explain it, it's so lunak, yes, that's the perfect word for it, I can't think of a suitable one in English, sorry about that. Plus, it also helps that Danny is oh-so-cute! I know, I know I shouldn't still sound like a 15-year-old, but I say it as it is, he is cute, what else can I say? Nah, see for yourself (pix from MTV.com)! Please don't ask which one is Danny, isn't it OBVIOUS? Duh?!

I admit, I've always had a thing for boys who wear their hearts on their sleeves, but ONLY in singers/musicians.. I don't think I could live with such a boy, but I love listening to them croon.. hmmmmm *off to la-la land now*

Meatball Sauce

Almost the same as baby's recipe, just add more tomatoes, hot chili or paprika and some puree for the strong red colour!

Mild Chicken Curry

Here's step by step pix of Chicken Curry I made for Nia last week, before we go on to the pix, Here are the ingredients list:

• 100gm of chicken pieces, preferably filleted and sliced thin
• 1 shallot, sliced thin
• 1 clove garlic, sliced thin
• 1 clove
• 1 star anise
• 1 2" cinnamon stick
• 1 cardamom pod
• 1 tbsp meat curry powder
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 small potato, skinned and diced
• 1 small tomato, diced
• 3 tbsp milk
• coriander leaves for garnish
• butter

Method:

1. Heat a little butter in a small pot, add the spices (clove, star anise, cardamom and cinnamon), then the garlic and onion. When the onion is translucent and the mix is fragrant, it's a good idea to remove all the spices to save the trouble from picking it up from your child's plate later! (I hate accidentally biting into cardamom or cloves - YuCk!)
2. Now add the chicken pieces and potatoes (or any other root vege you are using) then stir in the curry powder, milk, tomato puree and top with some water to cover the ingredients in the pot and let it simmer on moderate heat. Tomato puree helps the curry retain a nice colour while making it so mild and tasty.


3. For more gravy, add more water. Once it comes to a boil, throw in the coriander leaves and remove from heat. Coriander actually adds an exotic aroma and taste that only coriander can, that's why I love coriander in my curries as compared to curry leaves. But then again, there are no hard & fast rules about it, if at all you can't get any, use curry leaves by all means!

One of Nia's favourites so far. I make that judgement on what's her favourite and what's not based on how much she finishes at one sitting and when she doesn't mind having the same thing again for dinner or the next day. My little one is quite the demanding princess when it comes to food, she won't generally eat the same thing for lunch and dinner! I served this with butter rice and steamed carrots & broccoli.

Hush Little Baby

When Nia was younger, actually since she was born, both hubz & I like to sing this particular song as we put her to sleep. Not that it was needed when she was younger, as all she does is wake up drink milk and sleep again, day in day out. But I enjoy singing to her and somehow end up singing this particular one more than the rest. Anyways, some nights, hubz and I will get into silly row over the words. Yes, it's true!

D & M: Hush little baby don't say a word
D: Papa's gonna buy you a teddy bear; If the teddy bear don't sing Papa will buy you a diamond ring
M: It's mocking bird lar.. bear and word don't rhyme..
D: Who cares if they don't rhyme, mocking bird is silly, teddy bear is more like it.. Kan, baby? You don't care, do you?
M: (Rolling her eyes) That's the reason why they are called nursery rhymes - because they are supposed to rhyme!
D in his Malaccan English: Roll your eyes lar.. wait your eyes get stuck up there, baru padan muka!
M: (Still rolling her eyes)

LOL. Most Malaccans I know speak similarly. Their favourite word seems to be 'wait'. It's supposed to the English version of 'nanti', get it? LOL.

Ooops.. side tracked.

Anyways, back to the nursery rhymes, yes, I've been so tired looping the song over and over again that I decided to add on to the song to personalise to Daddy's taste ~ since the song is about Daddy and baby, I thought, why the hell not?! So, here's my version of Hush Little Baby that I've been singing to Nia:

Hush little baby, don't say a word

Daddy's gonna buy you a mocking bird

If the mocking bird don't sing

Daddy's gonna buy you a diamond ring

If the diamond turns to brass

Daddy's gonna buy you a looking glass

If the looking glass gets broke

Daddy's gonna buy you a billy goat

If the billy goat gets sick

Daddy's gonna buy you silver chopstick

If the chopstick gets stolen

Daddy's gonna buy you Fried Chicken

If the Fried Chicken's not nice

Daddy's gonna buy you Cendol Ais

If the Cendol Ais' too cold

Daddy's gonna buy you a pot of gold

If the gold's not what you like

Daddy's gonna buy Chinese Fried Rice

If the Chinese Fried Rice taste funny

Daddy's gonna buy you a real live Bunny!

Which Daddy did, btw.. hehe

Some pix of Nia from last week

Monday - show teeth please

Thursday-rummaging through kitchen cabinet
Thursday afternoon - picking jasmine petals

Thursday evening - cosying up in daddy's arms

Friday noon - posing with messy mouth and no shirt, right after lunch


Friday - ice cream treat after MMR shot

It's really yummy, mummy!

Look at that contented face AND the baju!

Saturday pix, at Angelica's 1st birthday party:

There's Angelica and her mummy, Yvonne

And here's daddy with baby Syasya, "Heyyyy.." said Nia

Easy Peasy Fish Paella

Nia loves her rice but her mummy sometimes run out of ideas for dishes so on Saturday she took a short cut and made paella instead with whatever she could find in the fridge!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup long grain rice, soaked for a bit
• 1/2 a small eggplant, diced
• 1 tbsp frozen mix vege
• 1 small tomato, diced\
• 1/4 of a red capsicum, diced
• 1 large white mushroom, sliced thin
• pieces of deboned fish (any kind, I used Kurau, I think it's threadfin in English - but I stand corrected)
• 1-2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1/3 of a lemon
• 1 clove garlic, chopped fine
• 1 shallot or half a small onion, chopped fine
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• butter
• pinch of pepper
• herbs

Method:

1. Heat butter in a small wok or pan, add the fish pieces and cook through, this will take about 2 minutes. Remove the fish and set aside. In the remaining butter add garlic and onion then add all the veges, mushroom & capsicum.

2. Add in the drained rice, chicken stock, tomato puree, top with enough water to cook the rice and finally squeeze the lemon juice and stir to mix them all up. Reduce fire and let the rice cook for a few minutes

3. Before removing from fire, add the pepper (optional) and throw in some herbs, add the cooked fish and cover the pan/wok. I let it sit until the bottom of layer of the rice is a little burnt - that's the best part of paella!- and it's ready to go!
Believe me, this takes less than 10 minutes to prepare, something I'd usually make when I'm in a hurry or when I can't think of anything else to cook. I served this with some steamed carrots that I could distract her with.

Oh yes, we are now at the stage where feeding time is becoming tricky! Nia insists to feed herself but would end up feeding the carpet, the floor, the tv, her clothes, her daddy and at rare occasions, her mummy. So, instead of creating stress for both of us by denying her the independence that she's trying to exert, which sometimes turn into a crying match - first Nia followed by mummy - I found a way to work around it! I now have steamed vegetables like carrot, potatoes and brocolli ready to keep her busy while I feed her. Problem solved. Nia gets to feed herself, mummy gets to feed her too! No crying, no fighting, best of all no more having to clean the whole house after every lunch and dinner!