What Virus?

It's that time of the year for Naomi to get sick again. It was just very recently when my husband and I struggled tackling Naomi's measles for almost a week and now it's another uninvited continuous high-degree fever that paid my little one a prolonged visit, making her feel so miserable for days.

Let's flashback.

The whole thing started about 5 days ago. On Monday afternoon, Naomi suddenly got warm and she became very hot by night. I gave her some paracetamol and it helped her sleep slightly better at night but her high fever didn't really subside. It was the first time I've ever seen Naomi running a high fever that made her whole body feeling incredibly warm to the point that I felt warm too every time I held her. Not to mention that Naomi became very fussy and cried a lot, possibly due to her body aches. Since taking her last milk at 5pm, Naomi literally rejected all the food or milk that I offered her. She was practically only drinking water until the next morning.

Naomi and her persistent fever.

The next day, Naomi still had her fever and completely lost her appetite. Throughout the day, she ate very little and refused her milk feeds. My husband and I brought her to see a doctor and the doctor said Naomi's 39°C fever was very worrying. She scared of Naomi going into fits if her high fever persisted. At the clinic, the doctor tried to compress Naomi with wet cloth and prescribed paracetamol plus antibiotic syrup for Naomi as she suspected Naomi was perhaps having some throat infection.

By Thursday, Naomi still experienced on and off high-degree fever and uber fussiness. Since I really felt that there was something really wrong with Naomi's symptoms, I took her to see the paediatrician in town by cab. Moving on, realizing that Naomi had high fever for 4 days already - the paediatrician ran two blood tests on Naomi just to make sure that she was not suffering from Dengue Fever, especially since there is ongoing Dengue Fever outbreak in Malaysia.

Although Naomi's blood tests showed that her blood platelet counts and haemoglobin were lower than normal, her dengue diagnostic test came out negative. I was very relieved when I learnt the latter because I really don't want to see my daughter staying in hospital, being hooked up to IV drip and all. It's just purely heart-breaking for me to see small kids enduring the pricking needles in the hospital. Just before we left home, the paediatrician advised my husband and I to do blood test repeat on the next day just to make sure that Naomi is not getting Dengue Fever considering that one's blood profile changes every day.

Naomi after taking her evening bath - looking obviously slimmer.

After the fever medicine that the paediatrician gave, Naomi seemed to be feeling better and became more active and cheerful in the evening. However, at night, Naomi started feeling unwell again. She started crying non-stop and had trouble sleeping.

On Saturday morning (re: yesterday), Naomi's temperature suddenly spiked to 39°C again and I found rashes in her body. My husband and I quickly rushed her to the hospital's ICU and the doctor ran another blood test again on Naomi. Oh my! You have no idea how much tears my girl had shed this week because of the blood tests, taking medicines, etc. Naomi's eyes are now so swollen due to excessive crying. I am so sure that she has been crying enough tears for Niagara Falls and is so traumatic when she sees doctors or nurses.

"No baby likes any doctors, nurses and their pricking needles I assure you!"

Anyway, yesterday's blood test revealed that Naomi has no Dengue Fever (Thank God!). To find out more about Naomi's sickness, the doctor took a little bit of Naomi's mucus sample and ran it for further test in the hospital's lab. Turned out, Naomi is not suffering from influenza either. Doctor concluded that Naomi is having some unknown viral infection and I should just continue giving her the fever syrup and paracetamol to treat her fever and baby lotion for her rashes.

After seeing three different doctors in the past five days, Naomi's fever is finally pretty much gone today. However, I think she is still having some utter discomfort with her body aches and showing horrid dark red rashes all over her body and face (much worse than mild measles rashes). On top of that, to make her ordeals come full circle, seemingly Naomi is now teething 8 new teeth (including molars) at the same time!

As of today, Naomi has been literally fasting from her milk for 5 days in total and this is the first time for me seeing her being so ill and refuses milk altogether. She is only interested with plain water, porridge, rice with soup, white bread and whole grain cereal. I lost count of how many bottles of milk I had wasted when trying to make Naomi drink her milk. Also, Naomi, who is looking obviously slimmer nowadays only wants Mommy and only Mommy! She is incredibly clingy and irritable. She always wants me to hold her while walking or standing up. I am so exhausted, clearly sleep deprived and my left arm is so sore!

When will all this be over? =)

Any Mommies with toddlers out there experiencing the same thing? And yes, Naomi is still very rebellious (screams, kicks and cries) whenever we try to give her the medicines - which is not helping her parents cure her sickness any easier.

Catching Up with My Home Town

As you might have read from my previous post, I travelled to Indonesia with Naomi alone end of last month. It was my first time going back to my home town solo without my husband since we got married. It felt kinda weird going to Indonesia without my husband because I think I am so used to travel far with him.

Many people thought my husband and I had a big quarrel and I left him. Both of us chuckled whenever we heard people around us told us this. My husband was simply busy at work and mostly out-stationed while Naomi and I were somewhat free and didn't want to stay at our home in Malaysia alone for weeks. That's why I came with the brave idea of going back to Indonesia with my toddler. Initially, Naomi and I planned to stay in Indonesia for two months but our plan changed according to my husband's latest work situation; hence, we're back to Malaysia after two weeks in Indonesia.

Anyway, I think it was a good thing too to come home alone without my husband. This way I could do many things that I used to do before we were together. Just being the old me. Not to say that I can't do lots of things back home when he is around... but you know, when my husband was not with me in Indonesia - I could eat the local food that he doesn't like or deems weird without the need to be considerate, stay at home the whole day doing nothing much without feeling guilty, didn't have to think our itinerary of the day like "What is the plan for today?" or "Where do we go today?", meet my girlfriends for as long as I wanted without the need to tag my man and let him wait for us, women, chit-chatting until our lips dry and so on.

Me visiting my alma mater again.

So yeah, it was a good short break for me to get together with my family and best friends back in my home town. My parents and siblings were so excited to have Naomi at their home as they seldom see her and I think their house is normally pretty 'quiet' without any children around. I mean small kids do add flavour to and breathe life into your home, don't they?

Food wise, I was gastronomically satisfied with my recent holiday because I managed to eat almost all my favourite local food to the point that I barely felt hungry any more. Feel free to see the Indonesian food galore that I had here. My parents didn't mind seeing me going crazy with food and in fact, they kept on feeding me with heavy meals 3-4 times a day because they think I need to gain weight. 

Dinner with my one and only grandparent.

Moreover, Naomi seemed to be fitting well at my parents' house and she was very happy socializing and meeting quite a bit of friends or cousins around her age or older in Indonesia; thus - plenty of playdates!

 Fighting over toys with Darlene.

Never let go Jennifer's hands. 

Naomi loves playing at the pool of balls with Melody. 

 Naomi D'Arc says "Fight the good fight with all thy might, Lord Matthew!".

Naomi and cousin Meagan.

The only thing that I missed during my holiday was probably sightseeing. I was mostly staying at home, going to the malls in the evening or just visiting friends' or relatives' houses! Nobody was available to take me around for sightseeing because technically it was not a holiday season. Everyone else was busy working and I was the only one who was on holiday. LOL.

Nevertheless, going home and short break are always a good thing. Can't wait for spending Christmas in my home town next month. And feeding my stomach non-stop again.

Creating Healthier and Better Life with my LIFE INC.

Whenever I go to malls or supermarkets, my subconscious mind never fails to lead my feet to walk towards their health and personal care stores or department and check the new products and latest promotions there. Why? Because I simply love grooming myself whenever I have the chance and am so into using healthy products that are meant to improve my wellness in general. Organic products are definitely a plus when we talk about health or skin care products. And oh, since Naomi entered my life, I developed shopoholism for baby products as I want to give quality baby care products for Naomi's daily use.

Last week, I received a bag full of baby care, personal care and healthy tea products from my LIFE INC.

Ta-da! Christmas came early for me.

my LIFE INC. is an online healthy lifestyle store offering exclusive brands curated from around the world and a new subsidiary of Eu Yan Sang International, a leading healthcare and wellness company in Asia.

How could I not smile receiving these lovely products from myLIFE INC?

Smiles and exclamations of delights filled me when I received the huge package from my LIFE INC. because I know they only sell top quality products of its kind in the market. The company tests every product that they carry and analyses every ingredient to ensure that it's safe and healthy for us. my LIFE INC. is here to help people find healthy and fun products that are meaningful, functional and convenient by offering a variety of wellness/organic products such as healthy tea, healthy products, supplement, skin care, baby products and even pet care products.

Next, let me show you in detail each of the product that my LIFE INC. generously sent to me.

COWBOYS AND ITCHY BUMS NAPPY RASH CREAM

Since Naomi became more and more active by day, I have slowly moved from putting disposable tape diapers to diaper pants on her in the past few months. Diaper pants are easier and more practical to wear on a very active toddler. However, I often notice pale red marks around Naomi's bums after she wears diaper pants.

Soothing bum barrier cream to naturally protect bubba's delicate skin from irritation.

After two times of continuous application of this nappy rash cream by bod for bubs, the red areas on Naomi's skin that come into contact with and rub against a diaper subsided drastically. From then on, to prevent more severe skin irritation or dreadful diaper rash on her, I never forget to apply a small amount of this scentless soothing nappy rash cream on Naomi's bums whenever changing her nappy.

Yup, that's me just finished lathering this barrier cream on Naomi's bums after her evening bath.

Thanks to this cooling bum barrier cream that is a combination of calendula, chickweed, aloe extracts and essential oils, nowadays I have one less thing to worry as a Mom. So long, rashes!

TRAVEL PACK FOR BABIES

As we have a couple of long-distance holiday plans that required air travels already pencilled in our calendar, I thought having a Travel Pack for Babies from bod for bubs would make sense. This travel pack contains a 50ml bottle of Splish Splash 2 in 1 Everyday Shampoo and Body Wash, a 50 ml bottle of Mother's Milk Body Moisturizer, a 50gr Rub a Dub Chest Rub and a super soft Bod wash cloth. These on-the-go baby needs are packed in one convenient pouch is that easily fits in big/small luggage, diaper bag that I normally carry everywhere and even in our car's compartment.

We are so ready to travel with this travel pack.

With impatience as my middle name, I couldn't wait for our upcoming trip to come; therefore, the other day I tested the Baby Shampoo and Body Wash as well as the Milk Body Moisturiser on Naomi.

Splish splash. Even Mommy doesn't get to have shampoo with lavender extract. I am so lucky!

The gentle shampoo and body wash is made with chamomile extract, calendula extract and lavender among other things. It has the sweet and calming lavender aroma that smells even better on Naomi after her bath.

Baby's super smooth skin, even their feet, is so kissable!

After bath, I rubbed some of the non-greasy and scentless milk moisturizer on Naomi's arms and legs. Not long after I rubbed the moisturizer on her, Naomi grabbed the bottle from me and kept on rubbing her foot as if she was moisturising her skin just like what I just did on her or wait... maybe she watches too much lotion commercials on TV!

My kiddo who doesn't want to let go the moisturizer bottle.

Anyhow, I am positive that my girl is going to be pretty girly when she grows up.

CERTIFIED ORGANIC BUG REPELLENT SPRAY

I have a long list of reasons to hate mosquitoes especially after my husband got dengue fever last year. As my husband and I do quite a bit of gardening at home, while mosquitoes are not garden pests per se, we categorize them as pest for gardeners. Imagine burst of really hungry mosquitoes coming out from their hides somewhere inside our plants. The moment we touch the leaves or water the plants, these buzzing mini vampires would fly out and are ready than ever to bite any human they can find.

Deodorizing bug repellent.

As such, I purposely asked for the Intelligent Nutrients's Bug Repellent Spray from my LIFE INC. to test because I know this organic spray will come very handy and useful for both my husband and me when we deal with our plants. The spray has immediate cooling effect on the skin and pretty strong lemongrass scent. It can be sprayed on body and hair for bug protection. Seriously, after spraying this bug repellent all over the skin areas that are not covered by clothing, I feel a lot safer getting busy in my garden.

Spray and shoo the bugs away.

Again, I still wonder why God created mosquitoes in the first place? Don't think they are that important in food chain either.

NATURAL FACE CLEANSING GEL AND CERTIFIED ORGANIC PAW PAW OINTMENT

On top of the products that I chose to test, my LIFE INC. also sent me some other stuff to sample. The first one was a bottle of facial cleansing gel that is super gentle for our daily face wash.

The cleansing gel by Natural Alternative is made with essential oils from sweet orange to soothe and promote collagen production; and neroli to relieve tension and increase circulation. This face cleansing gel has citrusy fragrance that I find refreshing.

The second product that was given to me was the Organic Paw Paw Ointment. When I first read the product's name, I thought Paw Paw was somehow related to bear paw or panda paw. How wrong I was! Turned out, Paw Paw is a kind of a nutrient-rich fruit that has been described as the world's greatest healing agent. Paw paw cream aids many skin problems such has chapped lips, cuts, redness, insect bites, pimples, dry skin, diaper rash and even works as a temporary relief from haemorrhoids.

Cracked toes and heels no more.

I personally use this multi-purpose Organic Paw Paw Ointment to treat the dry skin around my heels and toes that I obviously seldom moisturise. This scentless cream works wonder for treating dry skin. I would recommend using it on dry cracked feet just before bed time because the ointment can be quite oily and sticky on foot soles so it would make walking a slippery business and may leave marks on the floor too.

TEAISM

How come my LIFE INC. knows I don't drink coffee but tea instead? I don't drink coffee because its acid often gives me gastric pain but I do sip tea several times in a week. Inside the bag that was given to me, my LIFE INC. attached few packs of TEAISM - the revolution of healthy teas from Eu Yan Sang that come in pencil-shaped, disposable, high-tech tea wands and eliminate the need for bags or teaspoons! Each disposable wand contains high-grade tea leaves and is made of FDA-approved aluminum foil. 

Latest tea innovation for the most fragrant brew.

To prepare a hot tea with TEAISM, all we need to do is just put a pack of TEAISM in a glass of hot water, stir it for 3-5 mins and enjoy the tea! TEAISM produces the same taste you would derive from high quality loose leaf teas. 

Had your tea today?

TEAISM is definitely the new way of drinking tea. It is healthy, functional, convenient and comes in many flavours. Check out more of TEAISM product range here.

Alright, folks! That's all about the review of the products that are exclusively available at my LIFE INC. If I had to rate the personal care and baby products from my LIFE INC. that I've used so far, it's gotta be two thumbs up plus a big toe! With this, I hope I have enticed you enough to start browsing and making purchases on my LIFE INC online store. Remember to lead a better lifestyle by using safe and healthy best quality products for you and your family.

Finally, in conjunction with their launch promo, myLIFE INC is offering 20% OFF for purchases until 31st December 2013 and orders above S$50 and select items. Please key in lovemylife20 upon checkout at https://www.mylifeinc.me/ to enjoy this special discount!

** At the moment, my LIFE INC. doesn't ship outside of Singapore but stay tuned as they will ship internationally soon. If you have any special shipping request or further questions, please feel free to contact info@mylifeinc.me or (65) 9653 9622. For updates on new products or promotions, please LIKE my LIFE INC.'s Facebook page.

Making Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry

One of my favourite Japanese dishes is Teriyaki. Over the weekend I bought Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce because I wanted to add more menu to our daily meals at home.

My sister who often makes Teriyaki Chicken at her home suggested me to grill the marinated chicken then only drizzle them with some Teriyaki sauce. I thought grilling the chicken itself is already too time-consuming for me because in principle I can only cook when my kid naps.

With this, I decided to just stir-fry the chicken with some Teriyaki sauce to save the time (and the mess in my kitchen). Here's the recipe that I used yesterday.

My version of Teriyaki Chicken Stir-Fry.

Teriyaki Chicken Stir-Fry

Ingredients:

• 1 Chicken breast, cut in strips
• 3-4 tbs Teriyaki sauce
• 2 tbs Light soy sauce
• 1 tbs Shaoxing wine
• Few drops of sesame oil
• 1 tbs Sugar
• 1 tbs Corn starch
• 1/2 Sweet onions, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, mashed
• Cooking oil
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• Sweet soy sauce, to taste
• Water

Tutorials:

1. In a bowl, dissolve Teriyaki sauce, light soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, sesame oil, sugar and corn starch. Marinate the chicken strips with the sauce mixture for about 15-20 mins.
2. In a wok or large skillet, heat oil and stir fry the garlic and sweet onions slices until fragrant.
3. Pour the marinated chicken into the wok and cook well until the chicken loses its pink color.
4. Add some water to the chicken in the wok and keep stirring to thicken the sauce.
5. Add liberal amount of salt, pepper, sweet soy sauce and/or more Teriyaki sauce until you get the desired taste (it should be tangy, salty and sweet) and the chicken turns brown.
6. Serve hot with steamed rice.

I love serving my Teriyaki Chicken with some garden salad and you might want to garnish it with some sesame seeds so it looks nicer.

Naomi Comic Issue #6: Toddler at the Table

Naomi's journey into self-feeding with spoon started few weeks ago. Initially, she always grabbed the spoon from my hand as I tried to feed her. Hence, I let her have another small spoon for her to play with whenever I feed her.

These days, Naomi's meal times take longer than before because she mostly refuses the food I offer her and insists to feed herself using another spoon. Hmm... I wonder if the food tastes better when she eats it with her own effort.

Next, don't you agree that introducing spoon to a toddler is such a messy affair indeed? Naomi's food on her spoon often falls down before it safely reaches her mouth. She also loves banging her spoon onto the food inside her bowl so it's not uncommon to see food fly during her mealtimes.

Issue #6: Toddler at the restaurant.

Anyhow, I am glad that Naomi is doing fine on her way to feed herself so she can fully participate and enjoy family mealtimes in the near future.

On another note, does/did your toddler refuse sitting on baby high chair too? Recently, Naomi doesn't want to sit still in her high chair or the regular chair during mealtimes and it gets really troublesome when we dine out. She would get out of her chair, climb the table and walk around on it like a centre stage instead! Food, toys and songs/videos on smart phones sometimes don't really help in making her sit still for a long time when we eat out either. By doing this, she naturally attracts the attention of the restaurant's owner, staff and other diners. I bet they all think "How naughty this kiddo is!"

Featured in BabyTalk Malaysia Magazine's November 2013 Issue

God is good, all the time.  

My motherhood piece titled "5 Things I Wish I Did More" that I wrote a couple months ago is published in BabyTalk Malaysia Magazine, November 2013 issue under the "Mummy in Training" section. 

I can't believe the editor gives me a total of three pages (page 27, 28 and 29) for my writing. 

My published motherhood article.

I am truly overjoyed.

Once I am done with scanning the pages, I will post the close-up article I did for the magazine for my readers who are not based in Malaysia. Meanwhile, Mommies in Malaysia, please pick up a copy of this magazine if you want to read what I share with them this month.

Stay tuned.

Flying Alone with A Toddler

As my husband was expected to be out-stationed for work, few weeks ago I made a bold decision to go back to my home town in Indonesia alone with Naomi during this lonely period.

This decision didn't come easy on me though. After days of contemplating whether I could travel to Indonesia alone with Naomi, not see my husband at all for few weeks, live without steady internet access in Indonesia and so on; eventually, the thoughts of seeing my family and friends again plus gorging the Indonesian food galore in my home town won. My fingers clicked the ''CONFIRM PAYMENT" button on AirAsia's website and our tickets to Surabaya were bought. No turning back.

Naomi has travelled by air before but back then, my husband flew with us. Two days before our departure day, despite the relatively short flight of 2.5 hours that we're about to have, I experienced massive stress and anxiety. I fretted over Naomi's behaviour in the airport and inside the plane again and again. For days, my brain tried so hard to figure out what to pack my hand-carry bag so I wouldn't have much trouble carrying it whilst carrying my 12kg toddler on the other hand. I could not decide whether I should bring my laptop or tablet too during this trip (in the end, I decided not to). My fear of travelling by air solo with my toddler grew exponentially as hours went by.

The night before our fly day to Surabaya, I could not sleep well. I literally woke up once every few hours because I overly dreaded the morning when I had to fly with Naomi alone for the first time. I forced myself to get some good sleep that night but I just could not. As I tried to get myself into a good night slumber, my alarm rang and it was already the time to head off to the airport.

My husband helped the light-headed me handle my luggage and check us in in LCCT Airport. Thank goodness, I didn't experience much problem until we boarded the plane. Naomi got a little fussy in the airport's gate area and wanted to walk around but somehow I managed to distract her attention and she was not that resistant when I carried her on my arms.

I bought the front seat at the plane (1A) so both Naomi and I would have more space for our stuff and us. And who knew the whole row was for us! Moving on, although overall Naomi behaved pretty well inside the plane, she struggled to walk around inside the plane several times whenever she saw the air-stewardess busy walking around. However, I somehow successfully made her stay put with me by offering her cookies, toys and kids video on my iPhone. She didn't cry during take-off and landing and mostly slept during the flight. When she was awake, she even played peek-a-boo with the pretty flight attendants. Hallelujah! What I feared the most didn't happen and I was so proud with my little tyke.

My minion got so tired inside the air plane.

In short, I can confidently say that my first flight alone with Naomi was a breeze as I didn't encounter many horrifying problems either in the airport when I arrived to Surabaya. Good thing that Juanda airport has lots of porters who can assist travelling mother like me with my heavy luggage.

Unfortunately, when we flew back to Malaysia on last Monday, things didn't run as smoothly as I hoped. Everything felt like a living nightmare ever since I arrived to the check-in counter in Juanda Airport. The queue at the check-in counter before me was extremely long because about a dozen of foreign workers from Indonesia did a group check-in. The airport was so hot and Naomi whom I carried inside a baby sling got really bored, cranky and sweaty too. My toddler, who seemingly gained weight during her visit to my parents' house, wanted to jump out of her baby sling many times so I had to use extra energy to hold her tight. On top of that, I had to make sure my 15 kg luggage and hand-carry which contained our passports, tickets and money were safe with me. By this time, my shoulders and arms already got really sore.

Next, as we waited the plane to board, Naomi refused to sit still and didn't want to be carried either. She decided to be hyper and unleash her mighty energy by walking around the waiting area which was full of people. Some of these people gazed at me with a look of pity because at that time I believe I already looked like a mad woman. I was tired, sweating like a pig, sporting a crazy hair and clearly impatient. My left arm and shoulder were incredibly painful from carrying my girl and my right arm had to bear with the heavy hand-carry everywhere we went.

As if my headache in the airport's waiting area was not enough, I smelled poop from my little girl who was busy wandering around. I hastily peeked inside her pants and great, I saw a large amount of very runny poop all over her bottoms and diaper. I quickly carried Naomi and dashed to the toilet. When I saw the long queue at the ladies' toilet, I pitifully asked the janitor guy to let me immediately use the toilet for disabled people and thankfully, he let us in. I don't want to share more details of what happened inside the toilet when I was cleaning Naomi's bottom because it was really frustrating. One thing for sure, cleaning one playful energizer bunny's bottoms is so full of drama. Period.

After we came back from the toilet, I just could not wait to board the air plane and really looked forward to sit down. All my muscles were screaming from pains, I had throbbing headache and was just beyond exhausted following my daughter walking around and climbing all the unoccupied seats in the gate area non-stop.

Fast forward, we finally boarded the plane to Kuala Lumpur but I was not able to purchase the front seat again because Tiger Air doesn't allow mother with kids/babies to sit in the front rows. Duh! The best hot seat we could get was at the second row and it was equally crammed as the standard seats. Fortunately, the ladies sitting next to us were really kind and loved playing with Naomi. Anyway, I supposed Naomi was really tired from her epic adventure roaming the airport's gate area and she dozed off not long after the plane took off.

Arriving to Kuala Lumpur.

Two days after our arrival to Kuala Lumpur (re: now), I still suffer from muscle aches all over my body similar to those you get from doing vigorous yoga poses. In addition, I can't exactly remember how I managed to keep my daughter, hand-carry and heavy luggage out of the LCCT airport safely all by myself.

Oh, did I mention that my daughter and I had to wait my husband for almost 30 mins in the airport after we touched down? What a horrible come-back.

Last but not least, here are some useful tips for you, mothers, if you plan to travel by air alone with your very active kid.

1. Zzz time is the best. If possible, try to book a flight that is around your child's sleep or nap time. This way, your potential problem in handling active toddler will be much reduced as there is big chance that your little one would be sleeping during the flight. By the time he or she wakes up, you are not that far from or maybe already land to your destination.
2. Travel light. Remember you got only two hands to carry your kid and your hand-carry bag, make your kid's feed, show your passport and tickets to the officer, etc. I decided not to bring my own hand-bag during our recent trip because I could not imagine how I could handle another burden on my shoulder. Instead, I neatly placed our passport books, money and tickets in Naomi's industrial sized diaper bag, together with her other zillion necessities for easy access.
3. Bring lots of snacks and toys when you brave air travel in solo parentis. I brought toys that didn't create any noise for other passengers and lots of different snacks that wouldn't produce much mess for Naomi inside the plane. The main goal is to make your kid as quiet as possible throughout the trip.
4. Charge, charge, charge. If you intend to entertain your kid with songs or videos on your smart phone or tablet, make sure your gadget's battery is full to amuse your kid throughout the entire journey.
5. Sling over stroller, perhaps? I could not foresee myself folding and lifting a stroller all by myself in the airport. I also reckoned that Naomi would highly likely reject sitting quietly in her stroller; thus, I dropped the idea of bringing a stroller with me to the airport altogether. I chose to wear a baby carrier/sling all the time in the airport just in case my arm got really tired from carrying my kid; only then I would rely on my sling, hence my shoulder, to carry my child. I don't know about you but personally, it was just more convenient for me to walk around with a baby sling on.
6. Get some space. If you have extra budget, consider buying the hot seat in the budget airline. You will really appreciate the extra leg space you get from sitting at the very front seat.

How was your experience in travelling solo by air with your toddler or baby? If you have any more tips to add, feel free leave them in the comment below.