My Life in Canada – Page 68 – And My Journey Thru' Breast Cancer

October 24, 2009

Vitamin D – For Your Kids

So i’ve slowed down on my writing recently – due to unforeseen circumstances – but that’s alright coz’ i can do more stuff with Chloe and look for pet beds for my best g/f from home. You see buying it back home is pretty ex and they probably don’t have the same stuff.. so i am buying them for her here.. and then bringing it home with me.. next year.. when i go home for a visit. Anyhow, i also have more time to do more catch up on my reading .. and plan for more activities for Chloe, so the unforeseen event turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I’ve always believed in making the best outta any situation .. and staying positive at all cost is my motto, afterall, Chloe is my only daughter.. and i need to do what is best for her.. and the rest are secondary right..?

So i read that the Vitamin D can do a lifetime of health benefits for our kids..?? Chloe is already taking a vitamin E supplement because she doesn’t take a lot of vegies. So what does Vitamin D do..?? and how much do they need to build strong bones and help prevent serious health problems in the future..?? It looks like the vitamin D can deliver a wide range of benefits. It is said that vitamin D plays a role in the prevention of seious chronic illnesses .. such as type 1 and type 2 diabetes.. and multiple scleriosis, cancer, heart disease and mental health problems like depression .. and schizophrenia. And since i have diabetes.. and rumor has it.. that it will run in the family.. i have no choice.. but to keep abreast on stuff like that right..?? So yes..! i’m heading out to the pharmacy .. and getting some for Chloe. But i’m gonna check with the pharmacist and see how much a kid can take.. becuase i read that one shouldn’t take more than 1,000IU of it a day – plus don’t forget to tell the pharmacist what you kid’s diet is already.. this will help determine how much your kid is able to take. Overdosing your kid with vitamin D is not advisable .. because it can make your kid feel nausea and long period of overdosing can lead to kidney stones and damage to the heart, lungs and blood vessels.

October 22, 2009

In Service – School

It’s in-service tomorrow.. but like any parents would know.. in service usually starts the day before – haha! for those who are not aware of what in service is .. don’t worry, i didn’t know till i came to Canada. It means the school teachers either have a meeting or needs to go for some upgrade – so there is no school tomorrow. For some kids, its great.. but for some parents they need to make arrangement for their kids to be looked after while they are at work.

For Chloe .. it is not a problem at all. because we have her at work with us all the time. Now that she is older, she is a lot more easier to look after and she can do stuff on her own. As she likes painting and drawing a lot .. you can see what she is up to already.. even before her off day from school.

We also explained to Chloe, she is a very blessed kid .. because she can follow mama and daddy to work and she understands it .. because just the other day, she told us that her friends don’t get to go to work with their mama or daddy. When she was younger, we were fortunate to have a babysitter who will come play with her at the store and go home with her when the need arises. But now that she is older and plus i don’t have so much online work, she is pretty much a self sufficient kid. I’m sure all mummies around the world would agree with me.. that spending time with their kids is the best gift one can give their kids right..?? and yes… i’m enjoying my special dates with my daughter. Tomorrow, we are heading out to watch Astro Boy in the cinema and a playdate as well.

October 20, 2009

Flu Shots & HN1N Shots

So the flu shots are supposedly to be here soon .. and with the HN1N thing going around, we too wonder if we should take the needle, for those in the US, i think they are covered by short term health insurance NC. But of course, there are so many speculation and theory .. and so much to read online, you’ve gotta wonder right ..?? to take or not to take. With the babysitter having mono and stuff going around, it’s a good thing – the brat didn’t catch mono from her. Luckily, I had also curb and forbid Chloe to kiss the babysitter for the longest time.. actually since she started school. But she knows better not to kiss anyone on the lips.. yes – she sometimes does try with the babysitter.. moreso, to defy us.. and to irritate her. So we thank our lucky star – that she didn’t catch mono from the babysitter – when we heard 3 weeks ago, she caught it.

Which brings us back to – should we take the flu needle or the HN1N needle..?? so a call to the public nurse told us that she didn’t have as much info as she wants to yet – since the vaccine has not arrived. She feels that even if we did get HN1N .. she didn’t think that it would render life – threatening to be admitted to the hospital. But since PB has asthma, he will be eligible for it.. and so will the entire family. She wants us to check back in a week about the vaccine. As for the babysitter having mono, we don’t know where she might have caught it .. and even though she is out of the contagious stage, a check with our family doctor – he had said that she was gonna be quite tired for now, therefore, we had told the babysitter not to come in .. till later, in order not to stress her out or to strain her immune system – because chloe can be quite handful too at times. For those who have taken the flu shots or the HN1N vaccine, please let me know how it went.

October 19, 2009

One Month Into Dancing

Chloe is already into one full month of dancing – never missed a class.. and even had an invite for a dancing recital last Saturday. She loves her dancing but 3 weeks into it.. she said.. she didn’t wanna do tap dancing.. because it was too tiring. Can’t really blame her.. coz’ she already had a really long day. So we drop out from tap dance and continued with her other dance.. and today she came back showing us the dance steps as soon as she got home. We are just happy she is enjoying it so much.. and looking forward to it every week. More happy.. that she had been healthy .. all these time.. and never missed a class.

October 18, 2009

Dealing With Kicking @ School

So your kid comes back home the last couple of weeks complaining that the boy sitting next to her had been kicking her – what do you do..?? Well, we tried to determine if it was accidental or was it on purpose of course. And the kid said.. the other kid just loved swinging his legs. So we let it go.. and told her to speak up.. and ask him to stop kicking her – and if he was still swinging his legs at her.. then she should tell her teacher.

Unfortunately, for us – Chloe seems to have lost her voice when it comes to telling her teacher about things. So a few days ago, she came back with bruises and she thinks that it was because of the kicking – we think it is irritating her more than the bruises. And like any good mummy, we wrote a ” From Chloe’s Mommy” note… to the teacher – telling her that it had to stop – to please assist. Well, you would be pleased to know that her principal called immediately the same day .. the note was sent in. And suggested that we asked Chloe to voice up. And then another note came back from Chloe’s teacher.. that we should encouraged her to voice up too. Now, you would think that they should know this is our last resort .. because if Chloe would voice up .. we wouldn’t have to right the note right..?? So I wrote a note back to the teacher, thanking her .. for dealing with our concerns.. and also let her know that we did encourage chloe but to no avail. What would you have done..??

October 15, 2009

One Month’s Celebration

We were invited by the Zhu’s for their son’s one month celebration tonite. We left at 7.30pm from the store.. and already there were a few ppl there. The Zhu’s are very popular ppl eh.. 🙂 and we are indeed blessed to have them as friends. Jasmine on the far left.. is another friend’s daughter – she is definitely getting prettier each time i see her. It’s too bad we don’t see her as often. And Jessica – of course is so sweet.

I was so excited .. i forgot all about taking pictures of the food and my diet pill reviews .. hahahha!! to engross talking with everyone.. and watching the 3 gals play.

There is Mrs Zhu – Yen – and a friend/customer.. and Mrs Zhu looking very radiant. I salute this woman.. because she worked in the restaurant till the day .. she had her baby .. and all thru’ her labour.. she didn’t make a noise. Very tough lady!

Regular customer – Mike and his wife turned friends were also in the party of course. This couple is very sporting.. and very, very kind.

We had a feast..! got lobsters too..!!!! and roasted pork ribs.. and vegies with mushrooms.. noodles.. rice.. chicken, duck .. and other things too. It was pretty good.. but i already had dinner.. so i took a lil’ of everything. The dinner ended at 10pm.. but chloe was very happy .. running around with the other children.. and thankful for good friends, good food .. and good company.

October 12, 2009

Migrating To Canada

For those who are not aware of this, I get a lot of questions about migrating to Canada – because of my expat blogger status. And truth be told, I wished they had this .. or i had found this forum.. before migrating to Canada – because I had a lot of questions too. Plus migrating and uprooting is not like doing your garage flooring, it’s a huge decision .. and you want to make this life altering plan right?

For those who are planning to migrate to Canada, please note that Canada’s winter is wicked. Love may conquer a lot of things but the weather is really, really something you have to think about. Your health issues and which part of Canada will you be residing. If you think that Canada has a job just waiting for you – then you are in for a shock because for Asians like myself, you are fighting with the rest of Canada to get the job they want to. Now if you speak french – that is a different thing altogether of course.

And for those planning on visiting your girlfriend or boyfriend this holiday season and you are traveling alone, make sure you have prove that you have enough money for your trip.. and also your name cards from your office. Why..?? because if custom deemed that you might overstay or cannot afford your stay in Canada.. they might turn you away and send you home on the next plane. Good luck..!

October 10, 2009

Yard Sale Junkie

I have officially become a yard sale junkie.. hahahahah!! before coming to Canada.. i would imagine myself to buy things from a yard sale.. not that there is anything wrong with it.. but you know us Chinese right..?? so many superstition .. and feng shui reasons. But our latest purchase of a mini fridge.. because our 3 months old mini fridge broke down a few months ago.. and we refused to pay for the same brand and get stuck with it because the warranty insist that we mail it back to them. For the postage, I might as well get a new one eh.

We also managed to buy a scooter for a friend of the store .. his son is so cute.. we just adore him. So when we found out he loved chloe’s scooter so much..i just had to get him one. And guess what..?? one came up in the yard sale online.. and we got it for him.. muahahah!!

We also bought the bed frame from the yard sale.. but of course.. the mattress is new lah. But had we bought something new like that.. it would have cost us a good $300 .. and we paid really cheap for this one. But course, we did our fengshui cleansing with sea salt .. and holy water.. and only had good thoughts while cleaning it. Plus we bought another coffee table on the yard sale.. a round one.. because the one we had .. has sharp corners. So yes.. ! i admit.. i’m officially a yard sale junkie .. muahahha!!!

October 8, 2009

Swaroski For Kids

Our babysitter had been sick for a long time now and we haven’t heard back from her or her father since Monday. But we knew we wanted to get something nice for our friends for Thanksgiving .. so we headed to Swaroski as soon as we could. I don’t know about other parents.. but I love to get good stuff for my kid. Now don’t get me wrong, good stuff doesn’t mean.. 100s of dollars of stuff.. but things that are worth it.. and things that are everlasting.

Chloe loves her pink Swaroski Crystal.. and even though it was at a very good price.. we still only bought her one.. and a few for our other friends. Generous you think..?? nah.. those friends are priceless. Do you treasure your friends..like we do..?

October 4, 2009

One Month In New School

So Chloe had been in her new school for a month now. We just got back a note from her teacher about her performance – i guess you can called it a performance report . .no..?? And I’m pleased to report that she “M” – mastered most of all that was expected of her till now.. but the only thing she didn’t “M” in was the names of her classmates. The teacher had written that she was a lovely girl too – in which i have no doubt about because Chloe is pretty well behaved in public – not to blow my own trumpet. We are thus far pleased with the school, although there isn’t any fancy bar faucet in the washrooms like some elite schools back home, it is pretty much a good school. It also seems to me that they have a lot of support from volunteers and there are lots of Teacher’s assistants around as well. They had just visited the apple farm the other day.. and we were told that they didn’t need any volunteers even though we readily volunteered ourselves – unlike her previous school where they really take any help they can get. This was taken in the morning . .while getting ready for school – i continue to hope she will continue to be happy every morning .. when preparing for school. Nothing is more stressful to send your kid to school when they are crying and in distress.