Happy Birthday Abang A-deen!

Today is Aydin's 3rd Birthday. He woke up early than usual as if knowing that today is his birthday. We had a pre-birthday celebration in Subang on Eidul Adha with my carrot cake + cream cheese topping ordered by beloved mum. Aydin has been singing his birthday song ever since.

Aydin's version of Happy Birthday: "et-tay to yooo.. et-tay to yooo.. et-tay to abang a-deen.. et-tay to yooo... *fuuuhh-fuuuh* (blow the candles)".

He was also singing this song the whole day today. I am on leave till Friday and decided to bake Aydin a special birthday cake. The last time i baked him a whole cake was for his 1st birthday; a football field with football players. I didn't bake any for his 2nd birthday because i was already carrying Arif at 7 mths pregnant. Aydin was into Wall-e where he calls it "obot" and also Bean but i don't think i can do Bean. Obot looks easier. I was thinking of baking the 3-D Wall-e but i didn't have a square pan (and besides sapa nak makan kek besar in a household of 3 adults and 2 kids?) So Wall-e it was... peanut butter and choc buttercream icing. Buttercream extra pulak so end up with 2 colors je la: choc and blue :)

The story behind the cake baking... It took me HOURS to make ONE cake. Definitely takleh buat bisnes cake. Anyway, tengah buat kek Aydin wanted to watch Cars la then change to Bob the builder la.. and tak sampai 10 mins change back to Cars la. Luckily Wall-E dvd rosak. Then Arif nak milk la... then Arif wants to be cuddled la. Hence the HOURS. While icing the cake, tengah syiok tonggek2 main icing, Aydin came and pushed my bootie. Dah tersenget "A" then while attempting a steady hand gedebush... senget "N". Wall-E's eyes pun senget. Sampai Ayah balik rumah kek baru siap icing and all. Sigh!

Whatever it is, I am happy i made Aydin's birthday cake. Gave some to the neighbours cos it was a big 9" round cake. It tasted ok despite using the recipe for cupcakes. I hope the neighbours like it too. I am getting better in piping a flower design on a cake. Still learning to make a good buttercream icing batter. I am also planning to have a small birthday do for Aydin. We haven't got him a pressie yet...

Haa... cerita present Aydin pulak. He always wanted a bicycle so we went to a bicycle shop in Seri Putra to get him a new bicycle (i know i have been talking about getting him one in previous blogs :)). Sampai2 and asked him to try out the bike, dia takut pulak! Sudah! I don't know why but he didn't want it. So we didn't get him one yet. We'll see and try again tomorrow.

Later, we celebrated Aydin's birthday with our small family. Time tu la all the batteries ran out. Video cam pun dead and still camera ada 1/4 battery je. I thought i saw 3/4 left. So, we got few seconds of video shot using the still camera of Aydin blowing his candles. Believe it or not, Aydin was malu to sing and celebrate his birthday. He didn't want to stand with his cake and buat2 tengok commercials on tv... funny! We practically had to carry him and made him stand next to the cake. I managed to get few shots of him with the cake without flash cos takut battery out LoL.

Happy 3rd Birthday Abang Aydin. We love you!!

Shopaholic goes shopping... again!

Today is Friday and it's shopping day! To make things worse, there was a FJ Benjamin warehouse sale @Parkroyal for HSBC credit card member. Apalagi?! Shopaholic went crazy. Baity and Shafi went earlier to check out and i went after lunch hoping that the crowd is calmer.

It was calmer indeed. Got my share to try out some Raoul shirts and was able to choose La Senza panties and thongs and g-strings in peace. Basically i took my time checking out what they have. I do not fancy La Senza but it's the closest i can get to my favorite Victoria's Secret collections.

Damages done today was a bit painful to my pocket since it was not accounted for in this month's budget.

Then later off to the costume shop. I have 1 week to go before the ERC dinner. Tried on the Catwoman and didn't like it. It was something about it that didn't make me look 'sexy'. The word sexy is not defined as sexy in the normal dictionary. It is just that... i didn't like it. So after much help from the people at the store, i ended up with.... *secret* i am not going to tell until the day itself. It is going to be a surprise. It was not even in my list but i guess it's the closest i can get to the look that i want. So, stay tuned!!

So many things to do, so little time

Today is pay day. Everyone is grinning from ear to ear in the office. The moment we got our pay slips, the grins slipped away. My total deduction is almost 1 month salary in nett. I have to start working on getting more rebate for this year's income tax. Will proceed with my online order from mphonline.com and deposit more $ into the kids' PTPTN accounts. Oh, not forgetting to contribute more zakat.

I met up with Esma and Nasreen for lunch @Dome KLCC today. Despite today is pay day, i only had RM8 in my purse. All the ATMs on the way was either out of service or had atleast 5 people queueing. So i decided to spend more time with the girls instead of wasting my time waiting in line. I guess all the EM employees were trying to withdraw their bonuses :) Esma looked as slim as ever, Nasreen is due anytime soon but she didn't look as big as she claims. She just looked... pregnant. This time is a smaller group. We missed KF because she had her morning sickness. Which reminds me i owe Nasreen for lunch. We wanted to have Godiva's ice blended kononnya. It was Nasreen's idea (blame it on the pregnant lady) but after lunch and choc cake with ice-cream and Tiramisu, Godiva was forgotten. I will have it the next time... before i chicken out after looking at the price ;)

Nurms mum is not doing so good. Nurms emailed us. She's coming back again. She said mum is weak and they took her home. She is praying that she will make it back on time to see mum. The earliest flight she got is today and arriving tomorrow. I hope everything goes well. Allah is great and i am sure He knows what is best for Nurms' mum. Let's pray for her family.

I got an email from kak mus. Her son Harris is admitted for ruptured appedicitis. He is around Aydin's age if i am not mistaken. He is still a baby and has to go through all this experience. I hope the doctors there get to perform the surgery as soon as the inflamation has subsides. This is another test from Allah the Almighty on her family. I had blogged her email few months ago on her survival from placenta incerta. She and her family is going strong having had to go through another ordeal in life. Insya-Allah everything will be just fine and Harris will recover soon.

ERC dinner is next weekend and i have yet to be happy with my costume. I am still looking for the best costume for that day. There are only a couple of Costume stores nearby but i have not found the perfect outfit. Let's wait and see what's my FANTASY.

I have started my mini online store in FB just for fun. Am trying it out but the goods are from a friend.

Oh no! Just got a yahoo! message from ct telling me that my pictures are in Kaer's vc Kenanganku. LoL so sweet of him... but the pictures were old pictures when i was... more than 60kg!! Tembam gila!! Anyway the thought that counts. Thank you KAER!! muaaahhsss

OK gotta go and sambung tengok vc *grin*

Shopaholic goes Broke and Emo

It is only 23rd of the month and i am already broke with a capital B. Damn broke to be exact. Last month's salary was credited early hence the misery. I am down to my last Rm10 and this is AFTER duit ehsan from hubby. I could have had an extra RM30 but spent it on a body suit i need for the upcoming ERC dinner. Sigh... To make things worse, i have already a new shopping list for December LoL


I am also an Emo (not Elmo) wreck all of a sudden. I feel that i have not been a good friend and an individual as a whole. I have been forgetting alot of birthdays, i have been saying alot of nasty and inappropriate things unintentionally and i have also not been treating people around me right. I really do not mean it most of the times. I am probably just gullible and naive. I probably grew up and learnt from my bad experience but i did not take it well.


I used to remember birthdays. I even take the effort to remember classmates birthdays especially the ones close to me . I will try to save some pocket money i get daily (no, i do not get allowance ever!) just to get a friend a birthday present. I usually end up with something cheapo things like an eraser or pencil or anything i can afford with my less than RM1/daily pocket money. Obviously the phrase "the thought that counts" does not matter during that time. Then came my birthday and no one remembers let alone get me any birthday present. I love presents especially birthday presents. After a while, i came to realize that people don't remember your birthday so why bother. Unconsciously, it affects me till today. I don't remember friends' birthdays as much as i did before so hit me! i am guilty.


A malay saying, "terlajak perahu boleh di undur, terlajak kata buruk padahnya". i guess this is so true. I was a very shy and quiet girl. Since i had problems making people to listen to me and since i told myself it is time to speak up, i do it carelessly. I say whatever is on my mind without thinking. They call it confidence and outspoken but hey, do it carefully. I know i have hurt alot of feelings but please believe me, hurting you is the last thing i had on my mind. I was just being truthful. Too truthful i think without being considerate. I tend to say inappropriate things at the wrong time. I want to tell you that i feel sad for you but instead i share another heartbroken story that makes you feel even worse. I want to tell you it is ok and things will get better but instead i bragged that i am better. Like the typical Malaysian i know you'd say, "Haiyaaa... what la you. Why you say like that?"


So to all my family and friends out there, i sincerely apologize for any wrong doings be it intentionally or unintentionally. I mean well but i don't do it well.


2 cents from an Emo shopaholic. Being broke really affects you eh? or is it the Monday Blues?

Novels, Madagascar and Pus

I know i have been guilty for not blogging for quite sometime. I will stop putting the blame on work and kids because it is so cliche. Now, i want to blame my new novels. I am a novel lover and i bought quite a number of good chick lits from Kinokuniya recently. One main reason was because it is almost the end of the year and i need to strategize my 2008 income tax rebates :) The other reason is just because i love reading and i need good books to ease my mind of my day-to-day routine.

Books i have been and finished reading: Thanks for the Memories by Cecilia Ahern, a Sophie Kinsella and a 3-in-1 book (as you can tell i am bad with titles as well). I also like Mike Gayle's as the books are a bit different from the usual chick lits because it is more on a guy's life instead of the usual girl's stories. I am planning to but books online from mph as it is cheaper and i do not need to leave my comfortable chair! No traffic and stupid drivers to curse, no parking to pay and save my petrol/gas (though the gas price now is down to RM2.00).

The kids: I have finally brought Aydin and Arif to KL Bird park and suprisingly i enjoyed the trip too! I just could not believe that i have never visited this park before. They have wonderful and different type of birds and most of the birds are not confined in a cage. They can fly and wander freely in the park. We were actually walking next to peacocks! They were so beautiful and amazing though Aydin was a bit scared.

Madagascar 2 Return to Africa is showing. I thought it is time to bring Aydin to a cinema. That's what i did and BY MYSELF! It was a bad decision. Aydin is not ready for a cinema experience. I actually paid for the twin seats where we ended up sitting in between dating couples though it was a weekday and cartoon and school holidays. I would never have thought these people would go dating on that day... Anyways, yes Aydin could not sit still and we lasted for about 30mins je in the cinema and that was inclusive of several attempts distracting him and trying to make him enjoy the movie. Aydin said, "ammie jom, ammie car jom" several times (translation: mummy jom balik naik mummy's car). Aydin still calls me ammie instead of mummy though he can pronounce the word mummy very well. Atleast it is an improvement from "abby".

As for Arif, he is growing well and fast. At 8 months, he has already mastered the skill of crawling and standing. He's favorite cartoon is Dibo the gift dragon. Aydin has "graduated" from Playhouse Disney to Disney channel and his favorite now is Bean and apa ntah nama cartoon yang ada Pherb tu. Anyway, Arif wants to watch Dibo and Aydin wants to watch Bean. So i guess this is just the begining of the sibling quarrel?

Ooh! i forget to mention that Arif has also scraped his chin on his bathtub edge. He wanted to stand in the tub while bibik bath him and he slipped. I don't really blame the bibik as i know Arif is quite an active boy too but i just wish that the bibik was a bit more careful with him. It has been almost 3 weeks now and the chin is slowly healing. I think it was infected so it had a small pus and it just popped earlier this afternoon. Poor Arif! I bet it must be painful :(

Sept and Oct Fest

Life was hectic for the past 1 month. Alot has been happening:

1. Moi's Birthday

2. Eid celebration in Alor Setar

3. ERC Futsal @Ampang Sports Planet

4. Erina's new baby

25th September was my ** birthday. We had a small family celebration and i got a cake from "the guys" namely hubby, Aydin and Arif. It was a simple and light but yummy chocolate banana cake from King's. I bought my own birthday present and asked hubby to pay tee-hee!

26th September: celebrated my birthday @Swensen's Subang Parade with my family in Subang. Ice-cream was good because it was fasting month... so anything cold and sweet is always yummy. Ezu got me a very funky and trendy cake.

27th September: Took Firefly ATR to Penang with Arif. It was Arif's first experience on an aeroplane. Luckily it was morning so he slept throughout the journey. Hubby fetched us from Penang airport and drove back to Alor Setar.

Eid was fun because Aydin and Arif was wearing a matching baju melayu.

ERC futsal @Ampang was another new experience for me. It was my 2nd time playing and all girls team and our team champed the league. I couldn't believed that i actually scored alot of goals! Hidden talent? Maybe... LoL perasan!

Erina's new bub: Aufa Izdihar a big healthy baby (4.18kg normal birth) took almost 24 hours to deliver not forgetting he was 1 week overdue. I was one proud aunt, was there before noon though mum & bub was till in the labor suite. Waited and escorted bub from nursery to the room. I was so proud till stayed back and helped Erina to master the art of breastfeeding.

Shopaholic went offline

My Streamyx was out over the weekend due to overdue payment LoL. I did make a payment for August and later realised i was using the old account number. Now, satu keje nak kena send proof of payment and explaination to why the payment was not credited. Now, i am back in the cyber space...

Isetan member prevview sale last Friday: "robbed" me with few hundred ringgit. Colleagues and i went to check out the sale and i have told hubby that i would like to get myself a Birthday gift. I just feel like getting a new perfume. The last time i got a perfume was like... 3 years ago? Yeah, sama baya dengan Aydin. Some dah basi and dah masuk the thrash bin pun. I wanted to get Coolwater and Davidoff had some promos on the perfumes. I tried Davidoff Echo for women and i liked it. The deal was if you get any perfume from the same range, you will get to buy Echo 100ml EDP @RM120! I was like... sharks! Pretty good deal so as usual contemplate lagi! I liked Burberry Sheer but it cost more than RM200 for 50ml. Nina Ricci limited edition was alright but bau more like datin2. After much discussion and thinking i wanted to get the Sheer but later to find out DAH HABIS! Wasted my time on thinking too much and some lady got hold of the last bottle dammit. So back to square one, check out lagi bau perfume lain. I hope tak makruh puasa because bukannya niat nak makan ok kan? Anyways, last-last ended up with Pacco Rabbane (sp?) Ultrared for the same price as Sheer tapi puas hati and got my Echo jugak. Later to discover it was a super duper deal because Ultrared is also an EDP, yeay! Balik rumah claim duit hubby :)

Alamak, installer ni suruh close all web browser pulak. Potong stim! BRB

Super Baby

I have been a very careful mother. Aydin had never fell off the bed until he was 2. Aydin fell off because Aydin tido lasak. The next thing we know, GEDEBUK! Aydin fell off the bed and was still asleep when i carried him back up. Our bed is a queen size platform bed where it is slightly lower than the common bed but it has this extra 5" of wood panel around the bed, alaaa the typical platform bed tu. The other time was when he was slightly older and playing under the duvet. He was rolling on the bed and ended up rolling off the bed!


Now that Arif has learned how to scoot around and practising his skills to maneuvre on all four, we have to be very careful. Last night while trying to put Arif to bed, i noticed that he can now push the pillows and bolsters off the bed. Yes, i use the typical style of pillows and bolsters to safeguard my kid on the bed. This method does not work anymore. It took me a while to calm Arif down for him to fall asleep. He will usually fall asleep after rolling here and there but restricted to a certain area. Now that he is stronger, he maneuvres his way beyond his "territory". So when i woke up for sahur at 4a.m this morning, i saw Arif was already sleeping on his tummy facing the edge of the bed. I made a mental note to put him in his cot tomorrow. Don't ask me why not today. Is this what you call procastinating? And yes, i did not move him to the center of the bed because i did not want to wake him.


After sahur and finished sterilizing all the bottles (about an hour or so), i went back into the room to continue whatever is left for sleeping. The moment i opened the bedroom dorr to my horror, i did not see Arif on the bed! I though Ayah has taken him but for what reason?! And i saw the pillows and bolsters sort of making a nice exit at the edge of the bed and Arif was lying on his tummy ON THE FLOOR! I was like... Ya Allah, Arif! and the rest i didn't remember what i said but panicked and picked him up from the floor. He was still sleeping. I hugged him tight and was checking if there were any bruises or new benjols and if he was breathing normally. He continued sleeping. I saw the insect repellent i put on the floor was moved and hope that Arif didn't find it amusing and tried to put it in his mouth after he landed on the floor. Just to make sure that he was alright, i woke him up and checked if he was his usual self. He opened his eyes and smiled and me. Sigh it was the loveliest smile ever! I asked him why didn't he cry after he fell off the bed? Why Arif tak panggil mummy cakap Arif jatuh katil? I told him lain kali kalau jatuh katil, cry and call for mummy kalau tak mummy tak tahu. Mummy ingat Arif sleep atas katil. And Arif just smiled and laughed at me. He must find sleeping on the floor somewhat comforting after a fall. Alhamdulillah he is fine and i guess it is true when they say ada malaikat jaga baby to prevent from bad things happening. Maybe ada malaikat yang sambut his fall hence no pain or bruises or whatsoever Alhamdulillah. I just couldn't imagine if something bad happened i.e: broke his ribs ke, hands or legs ke... Nauzubillah.


So i played with him for a while before going back to sleep just to make sure he was alright and dandy. I fed him and he was his usual baracuda self. I told my maid to continue to monitor him in case something develops later.


Note to all mothers: never take things for granted and stop procastinating.

Aydin the Menace

Arif has a benjol on the back of his head. How it got there? Ask abang Aydin. Hubby was holding and playing with Arif while Aydin was busy playing and watching the cartoon on TV. He was holding a small solid plastic ball in his hand when all of a sudden, he swings the ball and accidentally hit Arif's head. Suprisingly, Arif did nothing... not even a tear but he was startled alright. I was not around to witness this. I would usually monitor Aydin's actions by trying to read his next action before it happened. I would analyze his surroundings and learn his behavious so that i can react to his next action. I am getting really good at it now especially when you know he will try to immitate whatever is on the tube. The tip to this is that you need to watch and also pay attention to what is on the tv. You put yourself in their shoes and try to think like them.


Anyway, yes Arif now has a small bump at the back of his tiny head. Ayah tried to apply some warm towel on it to reduce the swollen area but it didn't do any good. I recall an advice from a safety talk that it is best to apply cold pressure on any injury instead of warm because cold pressure will help to control the area of injury. Something to do with blood and veins but i seriously can't remember the explaination to it. I just know that cold pressure is better than warm ;)


Later, we went to Tony Roma's for dinner. We wanted to have something different than the usual rice for iftar. After Maghrib and all at parents' in Subang, we went to Sunway Pyramid. Ordered our favorite salad and surprisingly it didn't taste as good as the last time. Hubby said the salad tasted good the last time because there were only the two of us and we get to enjoy our food. This time our blood nearly goes upstairs with Aydin and his tricks. Aydin was just plain restless while waiting for the food. He asked for ME (not his ayah for some reason) to take him out for a walk. When he was sitting and having his pasta, he wanted to feed himself and most of the pasta did not landed in his mouth. When he had his ice-cream and choc pudding, he was 'savouring' it with yummss and aaahh a-wim (ice-cream) on every little spoon. Sounds cute? Not after the 5th yummsss.

After dinner, Aydin had another bagful of tricks. He wanted to be a baby and lie down on the changing station when we wanted to change the kids into their pjs. This was not an easy job because he is a 20kg boy who pretends to be a baby. He wants whatever Arif is getting. While walking back to the parking space, he was practically lying on the floor for no reason. I had to pull him up and jentik his ear and guess what was his reaction? I thought he would be scared and followed my instruction but Noooo... he just said ouch and laughed at me! Tak makan saman punya budak. He thought it was funny. While walking, he was playing jump and drop down to the floor several times which was very annoying. I think everyone around me could sense the stress vibe from me. We get all stressed out everytime we take Aydin out but we will feel all guilty if we leave him at home.


Sigh... sometimes the bad me would like to abandon him somewhere until he learn to behave himself. I guess every parent goes through this phase every now and then. This is what you call the life as a parent? Help me God. I am still worried about Arif's benjol.

Religion or Custom

This has always been my question everytime i came across situation where people always try to claim that things/ceremonies that they performed are because of religion. I am no where close to be called an Ustazah neither am i very sound in the religion of Islam. I am just a plain Muslim individual who has been trying her best to follow the teaching of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w and Holy Quran as her guidance, Insya-Allah.


Majlis Cukur Jambul or... how do i translate this in English? ;) Anyway, after i had Aydin, Hubby insisted that we have a cukur jambul ceremony. A family friend got all excited and she told us to invite her Marhabban clan to perform this ritual. I went along because i wan't sure myself what is going to happened during this ceremony. All i know is just that you carry bub around and the Marhabban people will cut a bit of bub's hair and put it into the coconut water. Later, i questioned myself what was the reason to all these rituals? I have not read it anywhere saying that this was practised by any of the prophets. All i can remember is that we have to shave all the hair on a newborn and weight it. The weight of the hair will be converted to monetary value based on the price of gold and sadakah it to the poor. This was practised by one of the prophet which i can't remember who.


Another thing that i found out about this ritual is that we should give bub a taste of sweetness and air zam-zam? I am not sure of the benefit of doing this but scientifically, you are not advised to feed bub anything besides breastmilk for the first 6 months as this would kill more than 100 of natural antibodies from the colustrum that our body cannot reproduce. This includes water as breastmilk already contains sufficient water (fore milk + hind milk). I am sure orang-orang tua will not agree with me. Mak long will tell me i have to feed the right boob first as this is the food and the left boob last as this is the water baru budak kenyang :)


Anyway, i know i have read it somewhere and listened to a talk or something from an ustaz/ustazah saying that this cukur jambul and marhabban ritual is haram. It is good that we have a ceremony to announce the arrival of the new member and share the joy with our family and friends but to perform such rituals which are actually customs from our old folks 100 years ago is probably not right. Yes, the marhabban group recites some good advice for the bub but i personally think the best doa would be from the close family member especially the mother. Doa-doa ibu is the best doa for her kids.


Wallahu-alam i could be wrong. I just want to share my thoughts on this topic but feel free to tell me otherwise. Knowledge is infinity. You can never get enough of it till the day you die. The more you share, the more you know. Not what you know is always right.


On another note, i bought Aydin a very expensive CD called We are Muslim 1. He learnt the songs from the previous ALIM playgroup. It is a bit costly for a children CD but hey, i'd rather buy a Muslim CD for my son and instill good religious values instead of some nursery rhymes which i believed that some are just preeching on Christianity... indirectly. One of the song on the CD is the 5 pillars of Islam. What i noticed is that the 4th pillar of Islam is you GIVE zakat NOT PAY zakat as most of us refers to it. This is a good representation of the whole concept. You are not obligated to PAY but it is your responsibility to GIVE zakat to the poor. How a simple word could change the whole meaning of the action. Atleast we know that we are sincere in departing with our harta and share it with the poor. Something to ponder eh? Dah bayar zakat fitrah ke belum?

PROG202: Advanced Programming

I am in the mood to put my daily routine into a program (literally). Sorry to those yang takde experience in programming because it could be a bit difficult to understand the logic but no harm trying. I am just a typical programmer in the IT world...

Program Ramadhan_Weekday_Daily_Routine.

CONSTANT:
Mum = Syawa
Ayah = Fahmi
Kid_1 = Aydin
Kid_2 = Arif

Begin of Function Sahur

wake up at 4.00 a.m
knock on Kid_1 room to wake Ayah
go downstairs and sterlize bottles for pumping

while knock = fail
go upstairs and knock again
endwhile

if makan sahur = Kid_2 cries then
run upstairs to feed Kid_2 until he falls back asleep
endif

express breastmilk
wash up and sterilize bottles
transfer Kid_2 milk from freezer to refrigerator
go back to bed

end of Function Sahur.

Begin of Function Morning

Wake up and get ready

If lucky then
Solat Subuh
else
terlajak tido.
end if.

Get ready to go to work.
Prepare gadgets for pumping at work

If sempat then
Prepare Kid_1 Brekkie
endif.

Prepare Kid_2 morning feed dalam warm water
Spend few minutes with Kid_2
Off to work

End of Function Morning.

Begin of Function Evening

If evening_meeting = TRUE then
balik awal sikit
else
balik macam biasa
endif.

Sampai rumah, spend time with the Kid_1 AND Kid_2
Cook dinner

Case:
1 Kid_1 food = NULL then
cook food for Kid_1
2 Kid_2 food = NULL then
cook food for Kid_2
endcase

if Maghrib = TRUE then
buka puasa
endif.

Feed Kid_2 dinner
Solat Maghrib

if food for kid_1 AND Kid_2 = tak siap lagi
finish up food prep for Kid_1 and Kid_2
endif.
while kid_2 != bedtime
Spend sometime with Kid_1 and Kid_2
endwhile.

if evening_meeting = TRUE then
join evening_meeting
endif.

breastfeed kid_2 until asleep

if NOT sleepy
surf the net
else
read novel
sleep
endif.

end of Function Evening.

Begin of Function Kerja

if mailbox = issue
solve issue
elseif mailbox = important_mails
act on mails
else
lepak with colleagues
endif.

end of Function Kerja.


Begin Main()

Call Function Sahur.
Call Function Morning.
Sampai office, check mailbox
Call Function Kerja.

go to mother_room, express milk.

if hours = lunch then
check plan
if plan = NULL then
stay in office
else
project
endif
endif.

Call Function Kerja.

Solat Zohor
go to mother_room, express milk.
Call Function Kerja.

if HOURS = after_office then
leave the office
Call Function Evening.
endif.

End of Main.


This is really a poor programing logic. I am typing in the dark and someof the keys are gone (blame it on Aydin). I put up all the important points i can think of at the moment but basically this is my daily routine in Ramadhan. Not that impressive eh? Saja trying to release some stress.

Ramadhan and Pre-Syawal

It has been only 10 days of Ramadhan and i am almost done with Syawal prep.

Check list:
1. My Baju Raya - Done
2. Aydin & Arif's Baju Melayu - Done
3. My kasut raya - done
4. Aydin's kasut raya - does not need one
5. Kuih Raya - ordered 5 types kuihs and 2 types of cakes
6. Flight ticket to A.Setar - Done
7. Raya gift to bring to in-law's - ordered

So far in Ramadhan, i have not joined any groups for Majlis Berbuka Puasa. I am more keen to doing it at home with the family as it more comfortable, convenient (because Aydin cannot sit still), cheaper and ... because i have not received any invitation LoL. There are a few discussions on going out for berbuka but nothing firmed yet.

As for food cravings, i have had my kuih2 melayu from the Pasar Ramadhan but so far none had the "out of this world" feeling. I wonder why i usually crave for Kuih2 Melayu during Ramadhan... :) I also had my non-kuih Melayu 2 days in a row yesterday: a Blackforest slice from Chelos, Choc and Macadamia slice & White Choc and Macadamia slice from SR. I am contemplating Durian Cheese from SR today :)

I am getting Aydin and Arif's matching baju melayu from www.thelilcaliph.com. I know some has recommended the curve or some other shopping malls but i do not have the time to go all the way just to find out that they do not carry smaller sizes for Arif or i do not like the materials etc. Another reason to it is because i am just an internet shopper :) I love internet shopping and i think it is one of the greatest invention. I get to safe travelling time not to mention with the fuel price hike and i can also do it at my convenient time especially in the middle of the night when Arif is already asleep. I do not have to worry that Aydin will start throwing tantrums or trying to play "catch-me-if-you-can" in the malls. All you need to do is just open a web browser, type in the website name (i usually have it in my Favorites list) and shop! The products will be delivered straight to your door-step. Some even have free deliveries if your order is more than a certain amount. So Aydin & Arif will be wearing a matching Tangerine Baju Melayu this year. I hope to get my Orange Baju Kurung ready too so we can all have baju sedondon except for Apam (who likes to recycle his Baju Melayu tee-hee).

Wealthy Supply

Today, i was away on SAP training. Lucky thing it started at 10 a.m just for today though. Unlucky thing is the parking around that area is very expensive. Thought of parking inside the building since it has been raining in the evenings but believe it or not the parking rate was RM4/hour! Cost of living is definitely going sky high but i guess we do not have much choice if you are working in KL.

Anyway, i was not going to bitch about cost of living. Let's talk about rezeki and how we should be thankful to Allah s.w.t for our comfort living. Prior to Ramadhan, i was so afraid that i would not be able to produce enough ebm (expressed breast milk) for Arif. From my previous experience with Aydin during Ramadhan and our mothers' experience, i got worried and started to stock up prior to Ramadhan. I didn't get much stock though because Arif was drinking more than i could expressed. So come Ramadhan, i had planned my expressing schedule throughout the day. I read that we should try and express during sahur as that would be the prime time when you milk is at peak. I also tried after iftar but to my dissapointment, i only get around 3oz sometimes. I panicked and my last resort was taking the pil Asii and doa everytime during solat for Allah to bless me with milk so that i can feed Arif until he is full and satisfied. I even alternate Horlicks and Milo after iftar and sahur.

God is great! He answered my prayer Alhamdulillah and i am blessed with generous amount of milk for Arif. When i say generous, i really mean generous! I produce more than the normal non-fasting 3-hourly day and now my freezer is back to the old days when i first got back to work. I have been breastfeeding Arif exclusively for more than 6 months now and i can still maintain my milk supply, Alhamdulillah. I hope to have the strength to continue feeding Arif exclusively until he turns 1. I think my storage this time is more than previously because this time around i have to fill up all the bottles to the max so that i can have more space for other bottles :)

Oh no! i can hear Arif calling me... toddle-doo!

Picture uploaded on 9 Sept after skipping 2 daily sessions on purpose for 2 days due to limited storage space and containers. Side door is full. I have 4 visible bottles on the top compartment and 1 full 9oz. bottle hidden in the lower compartment. Oh, the little hand trying to reach for the bottles is Aydin's :) Whatever it is, i am no where near the mother featured in Pa & Ma: more than 200 bottles qith dedicated storage freezer.

Damages... damages.. damages

Warehouse sales were everywhere starting today. The most awaited warehouse sale (by moi) created a big hole in my pocket with 3 pairs of shoes! My mission was to get a nice black pump shoes for office use but i ended up with nothing close to pump shoes LoL and they were all from the same color scheme: brown. As usual people goes to warehouse sales and beli macam barang free (i quote my mum). When i reached the venue, there was already a very long queue waiting for the door to open. Being in Ramadhan and all i thought people would be more "civilised" and considerate but my thought was also no where near. Everyone was rushing to get their shoes and they were pushing here and there, tak kira umur atau bangsa, chewah! I was even being pushed by a petite older lady ,so size really does not matter. Some were kind enough to help others who couldn't get to the front and ask for their sizes and some were just simply kiasu.



I was there by myself and already had 2 shoe boxes under my left arm and using my right hand trying to grab whatever sample shoe that i fancy but ended up dissapointed most of the time because my shoe size is among the favorite shoe sizes: 5-6. Black shoes are amongst the favorite for obvious reasons hence i justify my 3 brown shoes?



The whole pushing and trying shoes and asking for shoes and paying for the shoes took me 2 freaking hours of standing in Ramadhan. Bear in mind i was up since 4 a.m for sahur and didn't sleep since then. Left the house much earlier than usual but ended up in a 2 hour traffic jam, took the LRT and back in the office to continue work. Things i do to get my HP shoes.



Why HP? Simply because i have to live up to my royalty standards LoL. Not even close again! I have tiny feet for someone who is 5'4 in height and weights.... (i shall not disclose my weight at the moment ;) ). My feet is just so mengada and cannot stand non-leather shoes. I envy those who can wear any type of shoes without getting blisters. I so want to buy cheap shoes i.e: Vincci, Nose etc so i can buy more shoes with a certain amount of $$ but NO! my ever so delicate feet can only accept leathers and it has to be soft leather most of the time. I can't really wear all Scholls because some are hard leather. I can hardly find a nice fit for Lewre because they don't come in 1/2 sizes and Clarks are quite pricey for my little purse. So, does this again justify my 3 pairs of new HP shoes?



How i wish i am back in US and Nine West and Aigner shoes are selling for peanuts.


The "Damages".
Note: These shoes are not for sale :p

Mother's Love

It has been 3 days of Ramadhan and Alhamdulillah i have survived 3 days of dugaan as a nursing mum. Truthfully, being a full-time nursing mum on top of my regular full-time job is a taxing. I almost gave up yesterday when my second pumping session only gave me 1/3 of my normal session. I was terrified that i could not make up what Arif is drinking . I must admit though that my freezer is almost full and i am running out of storage bottles. Psychologically i am just afraid that Arif will not get enough and my stocks will not last long. I think i should make a point to take a shot of my freezer and share it with you guys. Hopefully i will gain back my confidence.

Anyway... I have a very touching real life story to share of a friend who cheated death after giving birth to her second child, Aleena at 34 weeks. I had tears in my eyes after reading her story. This is just an example of a Mother's Love and Sacrifice. I salute her for her strength and courage to go through this ordeal. This shows that Allah is the Almighty and like the old Malay saying, "Hidup dan mati di tangan Tuhan." This also remind us to be thankful to the Almighty and appreciate our precious ones. Thanks k.mus for giving me the opportunity to share your story with others.

Aleena birth was difficult and serious that we could ever anticipated. i had to undergo 2 surgeries for aleena's birth. It almost costs my life. in the end, i lost my uterus. i could not believe at first and was sad, but can accept it and ok now. cuz it is worth the sacrifice when i see her. :)

fyi, i was hospitalized (total bedrest) at the hospital for 4 weeks prior to the delivery. i had placenta previa (placenta totally covers my cervix). i was admitted since i was bleeding at 30 weeks gestation. but it was not heavy and it stopped after couple of days alhamdulillah. but doctor decided to put me on total bedrest at the hospital since it was dangerous to me and baby. At 34 weeks (on 8/5/08), i was bleeding again but this time it was serious and heavy. so doctor decided to deliver me. since i lost lots of blood, they had me on general anesthetic for the csection. i had 2 bags of blood transfusion during the surgery. the surgery went well and Aleena was born healthy, alhamdulillah. however, she was wheeled to NICU (noenatal intensive care unit) since she was born early and for further check up. and i was wheeled to the recovery room. (i did not even get a chance to see her.) at the recovery room, i was ok in the beginning. but later i was hemorrhaging. Hubby said, the blood was like a waterfall coming out of my vagina. at this time my blood count dropped to 7. (normal person is 12 - 15). since i lost a lot of blood, doc wheeled me again to operation room (OR). Doctor told Hubby that they had to do a 2nd surgery on me to remove my uterus to save my life. (apparently, my previa became placenta percreta, where placenta attaches itself through the uterus and uterus cannot be saved.) doc removed the placenta as much as she could and tried to save my uterus during the first surgery but since there were still a little bit left in the uterus, that caused a problem. so here i was again, in the OR for the 2nd time that day. they put me another 3 bags of blood during this sugery. so doc had to remove my uterus. but left the ovary and fallopian tube intact. the surgery went well. but i was wheeled to SICU (surgical intensive care unit) that nite so that they can monitor me closely. i was so weak after the surgeries. talking was hard too. Hubby said he never felt so scared in his life and felt that one hour surgery (2nd surgery) was the longest hour of his life. we were so emotional throughout this ordeal but very very thankful that everything at least was ok alhamdulilah. harris at this time, was taken care of by kak cah (our friend). poor him. he was asking for mommy and daddy according to kak cah. but was ok overall. playing and eating well with k.cah's daughter. i was even more emotional when i think of him. i missed him though at that time.

the next day, i was stable. but my body was swollen due to the IV that was put in my body during the surgeries. pain was unbelievable and i had gas pain too. i took pain killer every hour. around 3pm (8/6/08), i was discharged from the SICU to mother and baby room. but i was still in so much pain. still could not see Aleena. but nurses took a picture of her and put it next to my bed. that was nice. :) during this recovery they still monitored my blood count. however, my blood count was dropping. at the SICU it was 10.9. but later went down to 7.7. doc afraid there might be an internal bleeding. if that is so, they had to do another surgery on me. we were worried already. i was really sad cuz i didnt think that i could go through another surgery. at this time, i was so down and really worried. Hubby even more so. i hv never seen him so worried. so they scheduled me for a cat scan to see wht's going on inside my tummy on 8/7/08. but alhamdulillah no internal bleeding. the hematologist explained that my blood was so diluted that my blood count dropped. but they added another 2 bags of blood for precaution and told me that by peeing a lot helps the blood count to be normal again. they also stopped the IV that day. (by the time i was discharged on sat (8/9/08), my blood count was 11.9 alhamdulillah.)I got to see Aleena that evening on 8/7/08. the nurse wheeled me to the NICU. she was in the incubator and very tiny. i was so scared to hold her. at this time, Hubby is more comfortable with her since he's been feeding her while i cant. when i first looked at her, i could not help but had few tears in my eyes. i felt happy that she is all healthy and beautiful and it's worth the sacrifice that i had to go through. i love her right away. she is our little warrior. even though she was born 6 weeks early, she is breathing on her own and drinking very good. alhamdulillah.as for harris, i got to see him on 8/8/08. i missed him so so so much by then. and him too. i am a bit emotional when i think of him since i was not there for him for 4 weeks b4 delivery and now i have aleena to take care of. but alhamdulillah. things are ok now. he is very good so far with his sister. always wanting to give her a kiss and give big hugs. :)

i also managed to talk to my family during the recovery. they were all worried. we cried when we talked. but thankful things are ok now. :)i am happy that things are normal alhamdulillah and i am home now. (i missed home too you know.) we are so thankful and grateful to Allah SWT that we have our little family. and have each other. and could not ask for more. :)

K.Mus, have a speedy recovery and take care.

To all my friends out there, let's love and appreciate our loved ones: mum, dad, sisters, brothers, husband and kids. Allahu-Akbar!

Arif's First Solid Food

This is supposed to be blogged yesterday unfortunately, i did not get to it until today. So just imagined you are back in yesterday's time ;)

Today Arif celebrates his 6-mth birthday. Today i have decided to be the first day Arif tastes his first solid food after 6 full month of exclusive breastfeeding. Thanks to Kamariah from susuibu.com for supporting me to wait until Arif is fully ready. Arif really enjoyed his first introduction to pureed organic rice with milk. He adjusted to the new taste almost instantly and was pulling my hand for more. I will try to introduce other taste gradually though i am abit excited as if this is my first time. Next on the menu would be.... VEGGIES!! Hmm... should i start with carrot or brocolli or maybe avocado... or it's time for me to go back to my trustworthy Annabel Karmel recipe books :)

Work Life Balance

Is there such thing as work life balance in today's world especially amongst us Asians? Or we are just spoilt with having maids/domestic helpers around and we are totally dependent on them?

i have just got off another evening meeting with my virtual team in the North America and Budapest and hubby is still in his virtual meeting next door. Arif had fallen asleep while i was on the phone and Aydin is temporarily sleeping in the maid's room. What has just happened? We have been away at work the whole day and we are still working in the evening? Poor kids... i think i spent less than a solid 1 hour with the kids especially Aydin. I really pity him though i am quite surprise at how easy it was for him to fall asleep at 10pm compared to his usual 12midnight with his Ayah in his own room. Is it because we know the maid will take care of things while we are busy working? How can we take the kids for granted? I am ashame of myself but how can i change things? This is my job requirement but it is up to me to balance my own life. I feel so guilty but i guess i need to sit down and evaluate things again before it gets worse. I really want to spend more time with the kids but i know i keep taking them for granted especially now that i have a maid around. Will make a mental note to request for an unofficial 1 day time off to spend time with the kids. Maybe take Aydin to watch Wall-E? Is he ready to watch movies at the cinema?

Too many unanswered questions for today unlike the usual blog ;)

Cause and Effect

Alot of interesting events have been happening lately. Some affects the world, some the country and some just small entities like you & me. I have been quite bad in keeping up to date with the wcountry let alone the world. Most of the time i will just pretend as if i know EVERYTHING where most of the things came from hubby's mouth *chuckles*. I wonder how other Supermoms keep themselves updated with the world news...

Let's begin with the Olympic in Beijing (though it has already ended). I knew it has ended because i saw the re-run of the closing ceremony ;) The only thing we, Malaysian can be proud of is the Silver Medal from LCW. But i have another thing that i am proud of and it was not broadcasted anywhere in the world except my world and yes, it has something to do with the Olympics: Aydin learnt how to run the 100m dash LoL. It happened when we were trying to change the channel from Disney to the Olympic channel and see if Usain Bolt will break the world record in 100m race. So while waiting there were broadcasting some other races on the track. I told Aydin to check out the race and taught him how to start a race: On your mark -- Get set -- Go! and i told him to run and run and run (trying to make it interesting). The aftermath is everytime he sees a race on TV he will say, "on mark -- het het (get set) -- go!" and he will run and run around the house. I hope he gets my sprinting gene :)

Next would be the by-election in Permatang Pauh. As it has officially been announced that Anwar Ibrahim won the Parliamentary seat with the majority of 17,000 votes (this i read from the newspaper :p), i am anticipating colorful "events" and news to come. I am not pro-PKR or pro-government, i am more as they call it "pengundi atas pagar" due to some of my personal beliefs. NO! I am not here to talk about political issues but i was just wondering what does this Anwar thing got to do with the traffic jams since the weekend? I was stucked in the traffic for almost 2 hours in the morning on my way to the office and NO i did not leave the house during the peak period. I left the house after 9a.m and it was massive. To add salt to my wound, i was stuck again in a terrible pouring rain traffic jam on my way home pulak... another 2 hours it was. Hubby told me it's going to get worse tomorrow because of Anwar again like... why? What has it got to do with traffic??? Or is it because the petrol price has gone down to RM2.55/L everyone is starting to drive their cars out?

Let's start on another more interesting topic besides politics. Let's talk about another cause and effect or should i rename it to COST and EFFECT? Let's talk about S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G lagi best. I have been in a shopping mood lately. Baru je plan nak reduce debts and here i go again spending like nobody's business. Alot of damages lately on shopping *grin*. Bought myself stuff from Crabtree & Evelyn because they were on Promo (good excuse to buy). Shampoo & Conditioner because buy shampoo, get conditioner free. I needed a new shampoo anyway and this does not have SLS; Nightcream + eye gel (day) + eye cream (night). Have been looking for a good bargain for night regime. It cost me less than RM200 for the whole set... ok la kan? The latest damage done was at the Batik & Songket exhibition @Karyaneka. This is the con of working nearby interesting places. Bought 2 pewter brooches for Baju Kurung at a very reasonable price after negotiation and a nice cotton B&W Batik shirt for Hubby (belated birthday present konon). Came back, hubby tried the shirt and it was a little too tight for him. It is either he has put on weight or the shirt was not the standard size LoL. Anyway, went back to the store to exchange the shirt but end up buying more! and this time for myself!! I am into white base baju kurungs and after a good bargaining session, i bought a nice chiffon batik baju kurung (white base and dark green motives top) with matching green kain. Not only that, i also bought a nice red batik top! The price tagged on the baju kurung itself was close to RM400 but got everything (baju kurung + blouse) in less than RM300. Still... i do not think it was a good excuse to spend and nothing for hubby. I am planning to check out the sale at L'Occitaine pulak on Friday. I am becoming very vain or what? Where does all my shopping guilt went? Gone with the wind huhuhu...

So, that's it. I shall try to stay away from shopping for the next.... few days? LoL with Ramadhan and Eid Mubarak coming along. How can i stay cheap? I am also trying to order a matching baju melayus for the kids and hopefully they have enough cloth for the mum jugak. Check out the banner on the right hand side of this blog. They sell cute mini baju melayu and mini kurungs as well. I doubt they take orders anymore but do check it out for other deals (i get extra points for referrals from here hik-hik!).

Anyway... Happy Ramadhan everybody! May this Ramadhan cleanse away our dirty soul (betul ke i cakap ni?) *wink* you get what i mean...

Out and About

I have been contemplating to blog for the past few days but my new (actually old) hobby is so strong that i do not have the time to even complete my Twist games on Facebook. Sorry Twist buddies, i know i have not completed alot of my games for a while. Hang in there ;) I have been doing a lot of novel reading. I love reading but with the kids and all, i did not have time to read before i actually fall asleep. I just fall asleep ;) Just bought 3 novels from our neighbourhood pasar malam, a 3-in-1 novel and 2 from a new author i do not recognize. It only cost me RM14/each because it they are second hands. Cool eh?! I read while expressing in mother's room in the office and it has helped alot. I got extra 1oz. extra almost everytime. Reading helps in calming me down?

I am actually in a netmeeting for some training with the Budapest and North America folks. I am just tired and not up to it. Later, there will be an announcement on the Permatang Pauh by-election. I am quite nervous actually. The country's future depends on it really. One good thing i like about this election is the fuel price was reduced by 0.15sen before the promised 1 Sept. Well, not much but it is better than nothing. I am just grateful in any way.


Things were quite hectic in EMIT for the past 2 weeks. We had "House" decoration competition. When i say "House" it is also known as "Rumah Sukan" like the ole school days. I am in Rumah Ungu or Purple House and i also the vice captain for Purple House. It was a very competitive event where all houses (purple, orange, blue, yellow, green, red) were trying to outdo each other. We had all 7 EMIT floors decorated in all 6 colours especially on individual cubicles. Purple went with Barney, some obvious purple character. I thought of suggesting Dibo the purple gift dragon but it is not as significant as Barney ;) or i'd have to sing "Hello hello my name's Dibo. Here is something that you should know..." LoL.

After the whole decoration hype has ended, we had EMIT Olympics on Saturday. It was so much fun playing all the typical family day games under the sun i.e: gunny sack race, captain ball, tug-of-war, beanie putt etc. Purple house won the over-all olympics, yeay! I ended up with a not-so-beautiful tanned face.

Friday 22 Aug was hubby's birthday. We didn't get to do anything much except for a nice family dinner at JM Bariani, Bangi. Made Aydin write his name on the birthday card and we had a small birthday choc fudge cake to share.

Kids: The kids are growing well. Aydin has increased his vocabulary usage. "Ta-yaaa!" (ta-daa!), "Tyre" (with the slang), "wait", "na-nak" (tak nak) etc. Sometimes it's cute but sometimes it is getting a bit annoying hehehe... like ta-yaaa for every single stunt he did.

Arif is trying to move forward and backward, on his tummy and also on his back. He does the backstroke faster than the "frontstroke". I like it when he cries for feeding and he knows that i am around. He will do this "mmm" sound as if calling "mummy" in his manja way. He is going to start his solid soon and i can't wait to introduce him to his first rice cereal. I have bought the organic sarawak rice from susuibu.com store just waiting for the right time to cook and feed Arif.
Ramadhan starts next week. I have been trying to store enough EBM (expressed breastmilk) for Arif hoping that milk production will not deplete due to fasting. I am trying to stock up in case he feeds more and i am not producing enough. I hope by introducing solid would help in this process.

"Sakit" Hair

Aydin never fail to amuse me almost everyday. Aydin slept in the car on the way home from Aunty Ani's house. He didn't take his usual afternoon nap and i was not surprise that he fell asleep in the car. Well, as soon as we reached home Ayah straight away carried him into his room carefully trying not to wake him. We succeeded for the first 30 mins then we heard Aydin calling "Ayah!". Some wishful thinking hah!

Anyway, the moment he came through the door and saw mummy trying to put Arif to sleep, Aydin cried for mummy's attention. Dang! Mummy pitied Aydin so the moment Arif fell into deep sleep, i went into Aydin's room trying to comfort him. 15 mins went by and 30 mins and Aydin is still not sleeping! Then he was scratching his head and said , "Ammi.. sakit hair". And i was like... "What?" (dalam hati la...) and i giggled while trying to scratch his head. I seriously do not know if he meant he was having a headache or he had itchy head LoL.

Aydin needs a bicycle.

Aydin has been eye-ing for a bicycle. He had always wanted to go to the neighbours' because there are bicycles there. Today, i brought him to the playground to play on the slides and meet up some friends his age. There were a few bicycles there and he got excited. He saw an older boy on a bicycle and he tried chasing the boy. Poor Aydin was running all his might and the boy kept on cycling faster and faster. Aydin was trying to catch him and called out "Abang! Abang!" but the boy did not stop but instead he cycled faster and further and further away. Being a "Mak Rimau" as some calls me, i was trying not to be defensive and blame the boy but it breaks my heart to see Aydin trying to make friends and chase the bicycle. I think this is how mothers feel when they find out that their kid was being bullied. It was no big deal really but i just can't help but pity Aydin. Why can't the boy just stop and play with him for a while instead of making him run and chase him all around the playground? Sigh... "Mak Rimau" is upset.

Note to self: Will get Aydin a bicycle soon..

Are you alright?

I can't help it but to blog this memorable day of my life. It's 30mins to midnight and i have to wake up early in order to reach the office before 8a.m to attend the BPR session. Shite! I bet i will fall asleep in this session.

Anyway, i came back early today because i need to attend a meeting in the evening. Hubby came back early as well and we took the kids to the neighbourhood playground. Arif enjoyed the walk because it was breezy and Aydin obviously enjoyed the playground itself! Aydin wanted to make some friends with some kids his age at the playground. He was attracted to this boy on a bicycle. He approached the boy wanting to play with the bicycle too. Aydin has been interested in a bicycle for quite some time. I think we need to get him one. So the boy sat on his bike while Aydin was pushing the bike froom the back. After a few rounds, they ended smashing onto the swing pole. The boy fell and Aydin looked guilty. He showed sympathy and went to the boy asking, "u ok?". I taught him this everytime he make his trucks and cars fall. Then to my amaze the next question was, "Are you alright?" No kidding! I am sure i heard Aydin said this. Hubby was surprise too but he said Aydin was probably mumbling something else that sounded like it. I was so sure i heard it right, Aydin was saying a full sentence with the slang and fluently. No joke! It's like a dream come true. I mean we have been waiting for him to talk properly meaning sentences that adult can understand and there he was asking the boy if he was alright? I was the proudest mother of all in the whole universe!!

Let's wait and see what's next from Aydin. I am sooo excited :)

sign-off: the proudest mother in the world!

Demand and Supply

First of all, to celebrate the World Breastfeeding Week/Month 2008 i would like to honor all breastfeeding mothers for their hardwork, courage and determination to give the world's best food to their babies. All breastfeeding mothers should get a week off from their daily routine and relax... but how can we relax when we know that we still need to fulfill our responsibility as breastfeeding mothers? :) Poor bubs without the familiar smell of mommies boobies for the whole week is like ... a whole week of smokers without their ciggies?

Being a fulltime breastfeeding mum be it direct feeding or expressing at work is definitely a hardwork. It requires alot of determination and patience to meet the high demand of our babies. Who says being a mum especially an exclusive breastfeeding mum is easy? My first experience as an exclusive "Boob Mummy" was horror. I was a first time mother without a maid, working in an office which has no place to discreetly express your milk and had no hubby by my side towards the 2nd half of the experience because he was outstationed. Suck eh but that was my life.

Now with Arif, life is much easier. I have more experience and knowledge, i also have a maid to help me around, the office now has a mother's room and hubby is always around *smile*. I am also comfortable in helping and supporting other breastfeeding mothers around me. I share and give them moral support whenever needed. It makes me happy to hear and know that other mothers are also breastfeeding exclusively.

Current challenge: Arif turned 5-month old over the weekend. He is feeding more and i am expressing less. I guess this is natural, baby feeds more as they grow older and mother expresses less as they lose the momentum. Arif was waking up almost every 45-mins at night over the weekend. I was down with fever due to fatigue and tiredness. Well atleast it took me 5 months of sleepness nights before i fell sick *wink*. My patience and sanity was thinning. Hubby came to the rescue and helped me out that night. He woke up at every feeding to put Arif next to me. All i needed to do was to lift my shirt and shove the boobies :D Hubby took Arif away in the morning and let me sleep in for a while. It took me 2 days to fully recover and i am all up and perky again. My mission now is to increase my milk supply from 18-20 oz. to atleast 22-25oz daily. I have consulted Kamariah from susuibu.com and she has advised for me to hold on a little longer before giving solids to Arif. It has greater benefit if i can continue breasfeeding Arif until he is 6-month old. The option i had was either to start Arif on solid or to express more so i opted to express more. I am now trying on Pil Asi and biji Halba. Hope this works. I am on maximum expressing mode!

HAPPY BREASTFEEDING MONTH!

Hari Murah Rezeki

Today is such a blessful day or should i say a "murah rezeki" day. Some colleagues and i had lunch cum birthday celebration @Tony Roma's, Pavillion. We were celebrating four July Birthday Babies: Maizie, Intan, Helmi & Baity. Today is Baity's birthday. I had my salad kononnya trying to eat healthily. Well, i was trying... Anyway, the portion was enough for two and most of us had difficulty trying to finish our food. I had a bit from everyone's plate and for the first time ever, i did not refill my refillable ice lemon tea. I could not even drink up the whole glass! I blame it on my healthy breakie of Pecan and Oats cereal plus a bar of Roasted Almond granola. I think these food had expanded and fill up 3/4 of my stomach capacity hence i did not have enough space to store my salad and any other food from other people's dishes :)) We even had brownies and ice-cream for dessert! Later we found out that the lunch was courtesy of Aniza and Helmi... Yippee!! Kalau tahu tadi order Steak hahaha :)) Thank you Helmi and Aniza. Happy Birthday Intan, Maizie, Helmi and Baity!

I was practically waddling my way back to the car macam orang pregnant. Oh! I forgot to mention that i got a nice walnut butter cupcake from Sageetha as well earlier in the morning. It was yummilicious! Then the salad and later 2 pieces of J.Co donuts courtesy of the July Birthday babies. I didn't know J.Co now has new flavors i.e: Garlic n Cheese and Pizza? Memang macam ular sawa kekenyangan! My head is spinning and my back is aching. I need a good massage session pulak ;) I hope the aerobic class later after work would help to shed out the calories i have gained and help with my lethargy-ness.

OK, i will make sure there will be no dinner for tonight. No more food until tomorrow morning atleast. Oh no! Today's Tuesday, i hope hubby does not decide to go to Pasar Malam and buy dinner.

On top of all the food i got today, a friend just dropped by and gave me a key chain survinier(sp?) he got from Siem Rep, Cambodia. How thoughtful...

Alamak! I forgot that i need to send out an email before i leave for the day. Shite! Sorry to end today's entry abruptly (not that i am in the state to write more anyways!).

The Story of My Car.. Cars?

After more than a month of silence (actually 2 months more like it), i have decided to just jot down a "few" sentences to liven up my dead site. A lot of things had happened and i don't think i have the time nor the memory to type out EVERYTHING. My memory is depleting(sp?) by the seconds. Is it due to pregnancies or old age? I am NOT that all come to think of it, hah!

Anyway, let's get back to the reasons why i am blogging today....

For the past few weeks, i have been contemplating to sell my car and to buy a car. I wasn't sure if i could sell off my car since it is less than 3 years old. It started when my dad told me that SMART Forfour is priced at RM8x,xxx and i was like... wow!! I thought the car is expensive and there's no more available in Malaysia. This is interesting. We went to check out the car and everything was so cool! To cut the story short, the salesman failed to service me after i have expressed my interest, not once but several times. So being the typical female, i decided not to pursue with that interest BUT i had already advertised my car and was set to get a new car. (Note: This is only an overdue excuse because i am known to change cars every 2 years huhu..)

Posted my car on several website and even at the Perodua service center and got a serious lady buyer. I went over to her place in USJ with dad and the deal was closed. I was so happy and she paid me the booking fee. While waiting for a week and a half for her loan to be processed, i went car shopping virtually and physically. An old friend wanted to sell off his wife's smacking cool Pearl White Honda Jazz v-tec and i test drove it. It was really cool but my heart was not set on it. I could save a lot of money if i get this Jazz but it does not fit "the car" that i want. I checked out VW Cross Polo and liked the Orange BUT it is not "the car" that i want. After a few days of contemplating on the Cross Polo and the Jazz, i decided not to take either. My heart was set on a Mazda 3. It would be a different story if i was comparing Mazda 3 and a Golf GTi though ;)

So in the end i made up my mind on a Mazda 3 though mum said it would be the biggest mistake i will ever make. She said Mazda cars have no value but... i like! Made the booking after going through 3 different salesman in 3 different branches (not including Naza via a friend). I was not happy with the first 2 salesman and ended up with the last salesman in Glenmarie branch. Paid the booking fee and 2 days later, Myvi buyer told me she decided to cancel and asked for a refund. The heck! After all this hu-ha and contemplation and 1001 different ideas/reviews from 1001 different people AND I HAVE PAID freaking RM1k for my Mazda booking, she wants to cancel the car and ask for a refund!! She was not happy with the amount of loan she was approved for like... why didn't you do your freaking homework before buying a car?? I freaked out and was so pissed and straight away re-posted my ad on almost every single free advertising websites available. I got alot of calls later in the evening.... yippee!!

I guess it is true when they said "doa ibu yang menyusukan anak selalu akan dimakbulkan". I got my new serious buyer less than 24 hours after the cancellation. Actually i had more than 1 serious buyer but the lady buyer got to me first. We made our appointment the next day itself. She saw the car, test drove the car, went to a mechanic to check the car condition and the next thing you know, the car was sold!! and i am a happy person again :)

So, now is the waiting game. I am waiting for her loan to be approved and i can proceed with my new Mazda 3 arrangement. My loan is already approved and it is just waiting for me to sign some documents. Do not asked me about the price because i will be paying through my nose for this car! Nak sangat sports car... nasib la. So friends, no more shopping or expensive lunch or whatsoever. I put the blame on the current economic crisis and the Hire Purchase interest rate is climbing up the ladder. I was a week too late to enjoy 2.4% interest and now i will have to accept 2.95% interest huhuhu...

To the KPC's: i have fulfilled 2 out of 3 2008 resolution. I can't remember what's the 3rd one... I know i have achieved no.1 to give birth naturally no.2 to buy a cool performance/sports car (though not as cool as i wanted it to be) and i can't remember the 3rd. Let's revisit our resolutions again.

Yikes! I am late. I need to go to the mother's room before i leave the office. Milk supply is decreasing and i just had an Ipoh White Coffee. Hopefully Arif will not get high on caffein tonight. Tiddly-doo!

Backdated Happenings and Recent Ones too

I am trying to put Arif to sleep but this time it takes longer than usual. It is past 10p.m and Arif is still awake. I came home later than expected all because of a stupid car that broke down at the traffic light next to my office. Now i have so little time to spend with my precious ones.

Wondering how can i be typing this blog when i said i was trying to put Arif to sleep? He's a bit calmer tonight so i put him down in his cot and wind up his cot mobile, a gift from moksu a.k.a Atu (by Aydin). I am hoping that he will fall asleep by himself but i guess i am just pushing my luck. i have managed to upload some nice pitures to share. Let's see if i manage to post a few before Arif starts to crank up. There are collections of pictures old and new. When i say old it is not older than a couple of months though :)

Above is a picture of my dream choc moist cake. I have been dreaming to bake the most delicious choc moist cake ever. I was very happy with the taste but not the physical appearance :p Give me some time and i will improve on my topping skills.

Above are some pictures taken @Saloma Restaurant for Johnson's Baby Pesanan Kasih Ibu photoshoot. Aydin had too much of energy so they distracted him by asking him to hold the board. He did a good job on that one ;)

Above is the hamper we got from Johnson & Johnson Bedtime campaign. I think we are good for atleast a year of supplies :)

Above : The Mischievious Boy, Aydin's attempt to take a picture but shooting from the wrong end and took his own face picture instead. One-two one-two (Aydin way of saying let's take a picture).

So, mummy had to help out and take a picture of one of his favorite toy, The Mater from Cars.

Above is a picture taken during Erina's birthday "party". This would be her last birthday before she becomes a MUM. Check out the green bear jelly cake i bought from qjelly.com. Don't ask me why green bear because that was the only readily available jelly cake when i visited the shop in Puchong at the very last minute. Here are more pictures taken that evening:

Today 05/05/2008 Happy Mother's Day from Aydin, Arif and Ayah

I had a surprise delivery at the office after lunch today. I received a bouquet of Ferrero Rochers and the card says: Dear Mummy, Happy Mother's Day and we love you very much. Lots of love Aydin, Arif and Ayah. I was so touched. The last time hubby sent me a bouquet was on our 1st Wedding Anniversary and now to receive it from the 3 men in my life makes it more special. This is one Mother's Day that will be embedded or "stored" in my "memory card" forever. Hahaha... typical IT person.

1st day of work and post-natal dilemma

Today is my first day of work and it also marks Arif's 2nd month. It was not a productive day besides the fact that today is a Friday which means a very short day. To make things worse, we were out the whole day yesterday and came back late at night. I was falling asleep while driving to work. So muh for safety!

The usual comments from colleagues and friends, trying to see if i have shed and lost all the pregnancy weight. Some thinks i lost it (obviously! if you are comparing when i was pregnant) and some think i look the same i.e: pre-pregnancy weight. What they do not know is i have a flabby tummy and my stretch marks are awful. If i can quote how a good friend describes her nightmare stretch marks as a scr*tum look alike... i can say she describes it well. I am currently using a cream supposedly to reduce the appearance of the marks and tighten the skin. It says to use it liberally twice a day for 2 weeks to see results. i shall say i have 1 more week to go and let's see how effective the cream is. I am also using the slimming machine from Ogawa at Mother's Day promo price. It better work or i shall be visiting the slimming center soon! I can't fit into most of my pants and it is depressing. I do not mind tops because then i will have some excuse to buy new ones ;)

Let's leave my post-natal depression and dilemmas behind. What has happened for the past couple of weeks:

1. Did the shooting for Nona/Johnson & Johnson Kasih Ibu shooting at home. Check it out on the first Sunday of June on TV3 Nona @2p.m.

2. Went for Johnson & Johnson Bedtime campaign @KLGCC. What i can say is the logistics was terrible. Mothers were expected to bring their kids to support the campaign but there were no access for strollers. What i mean is there were only stairs all the way to get to the function room. There i was with Arif alone in the stroller. Luckily there was a doorman to help me carry Arif in the stroller up the stairs. They didn't even have a prper place to change diapers. I do not expect the club to have a diaper change station but the organiser should have thought of preparing a small corner for it. I had to change Arif's diaper on the table top next to the sink. Thank God for changing mat.

3. Got a call from an ad agency asking Arif and i to come for a casting. So far, Arif is like a hot stuff! ;)

4. We got RM500 worth of J&J products which could last us for more than a year considering that Aydin and Arif hardly uses any powder, lotion or whatsoever after bath. I prefer their natural smell :) and it helps with eczema too. Less physical exposures to chemicals.

5. Baked an orange cake with custard topping and fruit cocktail. Planned to bring it over to Esma's for lunch on May 1 holiday. She is in town and we were supposed to have the usual small get-together do. Unfortunately, Isha was not feeling well so i really didn't know who was supposed to eat all the cake! Ended up bringing it to the office where i was sure or i will make sure i will only bring back an empty container.

6. Good news! My sis, Erina is expecting a boy. We blame it on dad for asking for boys and soon he will have 3 grandsons in total. Mum loves it because she already has 3 girls.

7. Update on Aydin's vocab: he can now connects 2 words to become a sentence i.e: Aweef cold (Arif cold), Aweef steep (Arif sleep), oh man!, bibik milk (bibik, i want milk) and lots more. He can also name his parts of body and can tell his alphabets... or atleast till F.

8. Arif recognizes few faces. He will smile and interact with people around him. He also has 2 strong legs that knock down a small bowl of water for changing his diaper ;)

To Nurms: i owe you nice and latest pictures of Arif but everytime i am entering my blog, it is always in the dark where Arif is asleep. I will try to do it soon. I like some pictures of him and Aydin side by side and i must admit that Arif now looks exactly like his Ayah with the forehead and eyes and the botakness.

Alrighty, gotta go to bed. Need to take Aydin for his playgroup tomorrow. I hope he behaves like last week. He has improved his attention span during his playgroup session. I think it's the teacher. I personally like Teacher Farra because she knows what a 2-3 year old kids love which is singing and physical activities (besides the fact that she was the singer for the song "Bagaikan Puteri").