A lot has been happening in our lives in one week. Mum was diagnosed with lung cancer and brain tumor last Thursday. Mum being mum has accepted the news calmly. Everyone in the family is also struggling to accept the news and adapt to the whole changes in our lives. hubby has been very supportive and i really appreciate his presence whenever i need it. I am also grateful to be blessed with friends and relatives who has endlessly offer support and help.
The questions everyone has been asking us: how did it happened, any symptoms etc. I will address this later in my upcoming entry. Today i would like to share with you our story for today. This is not meant to ask for sympathy or gloat on anything. I am merely sharing my experience with friends and relatives who has gone or probably going through the similar situation.
Today everyone is celebrating Eidul Adha. I am thankful to Allah for giving this opportunity to celebrate it with my mum. I hope this will not be the last Eid with mum. While everyone was busy getting ready to perform solah Eidul Adha, we were busy panicking trying to take mum to the clinic. I was woken by mum's voice calling for dad. "dad, mum koyak ni". My first thought was some papers ke koyak then i heard dad panicked voice. I jumped off the bed and checked out what has happened. Mum had a big cut on her lil pinky. Blood was everywhere, dripping on the floor, prayer mat, bed, mum's clothes. Mum claimed that she fell somewhere and cut her finger. I called Ezu for help. It was a good decision though because i forgot i have a phobia towards blood. The moment Ezu came up, i left the room and lied down. I almost fainted with the sight of blood. Note to everyone: i am the last person you would call if there is a lot of blood. I might not be able to help but instead i might cause you more problem ;)
we took mum to the nearest and her favorite clinic in USJ. Doctor Loo assessed her situation and stitched her pinky. It was a big cut and she might lost a small sensation on the tip of her right pinky. doctor referred her to a specialist incase we need further assessment. Now, we are here at UM hospital emergency area waiting for a doctor to see mum. Her pinky is still bleeding and the wait is still long. I suspected mum was trying to look at pictures with broken frame and glass that was put away in her room. Bibik saw traces of blood around that perimeter. Mum must have accidentally cut her finger while trying to lift the picture up. She could not or probably embarassed to admit what happened. This is just one of a few beginnings of her new challenge. Please Allah make her stronger and reduce her challenges and sufferrings.
I am (so-not) counting the days before i turn 23. The only good side of having another birthday is you get birthday gifts. Nowadays with facebook you will think everyone remembers your birthday which is actually a nice feeling. The actual fact is FB has done a very good job in reminding your friends that your birthday is coming up. So does this thought counts? :)
Anyway, this birthday is just like any other year. The only difference is how you celebrate it and who actually celebrates it with you? And this year it is no more Ramadhan birthday for me yeay! Another bonus for this year's birthday is what i will be getting as my birthday gift... double yeay! No, i am not going to disclose the gifts but i can assure you that it is different and it is definitely going to make me happy. I guess i deserve to be happy on my birthday? Kepada sesiapa yang berkenaan, Thank you very the much in advance and i love you too!!! hahaha... ala-ala nak buat dedication tapi shy-shy cat. Ada macam orang baru nak bercinta tak? ;)
On the other hand, i have also been doing alot of thinking lately. How i wish life could be simpler like when you were in High School. No committments, no heavy decisions to make, no bills to pay, no bosses to please and no obligations. Those were the times when you can fall in love and leave whenever you please hehehe... you can use the house phone and your parents pay the bills (dulu takde the luxury of handphones unlike kids today), you can forget about homework and the only thing you need to worry is kena marah dengan cikgu and if you don't like the position in the extra-curricular activity you can just resign but you will still get your allowance from your parents LoL (note: please remind me again about this blog when my kids are teenagers). No matter how naughty your (note: naughty tau not bad), everyone will still love you. No hearts were broken or shattered into pieces. How time flies... and now i am an adult, a wife and a mother to 2 brats :) I am not complaining. I love my boys to pieces!!
So di bulan Ramadhan ini, marilah kita bermaaf-maafan dan meminta ampun atas segala salah dan silap mahupun yang besar ataupun yang kecil. Mari kita bermuhasabah diri... terasa macam ucapan kat asrama penuh dulu jerk ngeh ngeh ngeh. To all:
OK i am guilty of not completing the last entry and i don't think i will ever do so LoL. Being a mother of two active boys, i have probably forgotten half of the details to share.
The title of this entry has got nothing to do with a 3rd bub coming or anything close to it though hubby said we could probably give that name to the 3rd one because God is great. DO NOT ask me why he said that because i am clueless as well. I told him i want the next one to be a girl as i am tired of being the only female in the family, Insya-Allah. Production house is temporarily closed for maintenance :)
Anyway, just wanted to share a short story of how Mohamad Aris Eidlan "came" into the picture. To those who has been hanging around Aydin alot, you'd noticed that he calls his younger brother ARIS instead of ARIF. Beats me why he refuses to call the proper name, Arif. Aydin has a mind of his own and he will call you whatever he wants to call you i.e: Moksu = Atu, Aeroplane = Aki, Aya Pin = Bear. Lately i noticed he has grew out of this habit and is able to call the names properly except for ARIF.
Today i received the new and "improved" ING medical card (though i can hardly spot the difference. They must have done a GOOD job) and i have 5 cards instead of 4 (Syawa, Fahmi, Aydin and Arif) but instead i have an extra child called Mohamed Aris Eidlan :) Yes, i spelled it correct ARIS, how ironic is that? And the most ironic thing is hubby and i were contemplating on naming Arif either Aris or Alif. I kinda like the name Aris for whatever reason so i guess Arif was supposed to be Aris kekeke....
So that's the story of Mohamed Aris Eidlan bin Mohamad Fahmi.
Disneyland Day 2 (we took the promo buy 1 day pass get another day free)
It was also our last day in Disney Hollywood hotel, Thank God! We're running out of cash & credit in the credit card (esp. hubby) because food was so darn expensive. I should have known and should have tapau-ed the big gallon of mineral water bottles and more instant food (not that we ran out of instant noodles or Brahim's tee-hee). The small bottled water cost around HKD12 (approx. RM6) and our family of four drinks alot and i try to maintain a good supply of water so that the kids won't get dehydrated. The hotel only provide 2 small mineral water bottles a day so yours truly pun had to boil the water and recycle the mineral bottles though i know it is not very healthy to do so. So friends, if you are going to stay at Disney hotel though you are going straight from the airport, i advice you to stop by at 7-Eleven or any convenient stores at the airport and get a good supply of water and drinks. I am sure the taxi driver would not mind the "extra" luggage.
We took our time since we were not rushing so we left the hotel around noon when everybody was done with their 'business' and everything was nicely packed. We left our luggages at the concierge and so we continued our adventure into Adventureland! But first we took the Train and checked out the whole Disneyland (not that it was big pun) in 10 mins? Later, we missed the 12p.m show so we went for 3p.m Lion King show. It was a good live musical show and i was glad Aydin behaved himself. I gave him a packet of Oreos to keep him happy for a while hoping that the experience of Madagascar 2 will not happened again ;) Surprisingly, Aydin enjoyed the show as well and joined the crowd cheering and clapping while Arif was tired and sleepy and afraid of the loud noise. I BF'ed Arif until he fell asleep and everyone got to enjoy Lion King.
Next we decided not to go up and visit Tarzan at his tree house. Not while carrying Arif on my two shoulders, no way! We decided to just take a ride on the river boat that went through a river full of crocodiles, elephants, gorillas and we also saw an erupted volcano. Don't worry, none of them were alive ;)
Hubby and i were already tired of Disney and Aydin was already asleep on the stroller. I wanted to get some souviniers and i saw a deal 2 items for HKD100 the day before and surprise-surprise, you can never find it when you really want to get it. While trying to look for it in every store, the rain started pouring and poor Arif who was on my back kena hujan. We didn't have any umbrella (because mummy was procastinating before the trip) and Aydin was cozily sleeping under the stroller's hood oblivious to what's happening. I didn't find the deal and just got myself a HKD120 Mickey cap.
This entry is incomplete. I could not find a nice time to spill out my story but i hope it will not be outdated and too late to tell the story later. Sorry... I will try to do this a.s.ap :(
Here i am trying to continue on my 2nd episode of our Hong Kong Trip while munching on some Kuaci. It has been a while since i had kuacis ;)
Day 2:
Before we start on day 2, i forgot to write out a very funny story on Aydin. Before we went to bed, lights out and all because Arif was already asleep before everyone else Aydin was still watching Disney channel. Suddenly Aydin was angry and screaming asking for Disney channel. I was annoyed because i did not want the noise to wake Arif up so i scolded hubby because i thought he changed the channel (he always does this to Aydin just to annoy him). Hubby was surprised and said he didn't do anything and i asked then why is Mickey speaking Chinese? And he said, "Manala i tahu. It was English then dia keluar Chinese version pulak alternately". Yes, it was definitely funny because tak pasal2 hubby kena marah and Aydin pun mengamuk because all of a sudden Mickey dia cakap cina :)) So we figured they repeat the same episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (where Daisy lost her sheep) alternating English and Cantonese. Give it one week i am sure your child will be able to count in Cantonese from 1 to 10.
So the next morning we woke up, got ready for Disneyland and had breakfast of Tuna and bread (that was only me. Hubby went down to get some muffins for himself and Aydin). Arif had the bottled food for breakfast. I packed almost everything in the bag being all organized: Arif's lunch and dinner, bottled water, chocolates, cookies, Arif's milk, wet wipes, tissues and change of clothes for the kids. You are not allowed to bring in outside food into Disneyland. We bought our tix at the hotel counter while Aydin happily waited and sat at the TV area watching Mr. Bean. The tix cost us more than RM400 for 2 adults and 1 child (Arif free, Thank God!). Luckily the promo was buy 1 day pass get another day free so i guess it was worth the money. We took the Disney shuttle bus from the hotel to Disneyland and Aydin was so excited because we got onto "Mickey Bus" as he calls it.
The moment we arrived at Disneyland, Aydin buat perangai and wanted to sit on the stroller so i had to carry Arif on the carrier instead. Thank God for the carrier (and thanks to Jaz and Elin too), it helped my arm but it didn't help my shoulders tho because i had to practically carry a 10kg child for hours on my back! Nak amik gambar pun i had to face sideways or else tak nampak Arif :)
So the moment we entered the main entrance, it was Disney's trademark to have the big Mickey logo and train station greeting us. The plants that made up Mickey's face looked better in Annaheim and Florida's Disney though. Aydin was all excited when he saw Mickey but all the excitement was worn off when he saw the life size Mickey! He was so afraid and tried to make us leave the queue to meet and greet Mickey. He was pulling our hands and cried, "Aydin tak nak. Aydin tak nak". Luckily the line was short so by then it was already our turn and i told hubby to carry Aydin. At first he refused to look at Mickey and the cast crew comforted him by giving stickers (the gave away loads of stickers!). We finally managed to take pictures with Mickey Mouse (with my side profile of course so that Arif is included) and i managed to persuade Aydin to kiss Mickey's nose just to show him that it is ok and Mickey is harmless. He put the sticker he got on his right cheek (his favorite place to stick his stickers) and it almost covered half of his face. Everyone was looking at him and some of the kids wanted to do it as well.
Then we stopped by one of the stores to check out the Disney items and Aydin saw a shelf full of Lightning Mcqueen (say it like it is in the movie). He quickly gathered 2 armful of Disney Cars toys and was still admiring whatever is left on the shelf. I wanted to get the boys the signature Mickey Mouse hat with their names embroided on it but Aydin insisted that we get his Cars as well. Oh well, i figured this will not end until i get him a set so that was what i did. I bought a bag full of Cars characters i.e: Lightning Mcqueen, Sheriff, Mater, Luigi and Red later to find out that it was the bath toys and not even the plastic ones for RM60!
Then we quickly continued our journey on Main Street and off to Tomorrowland where Aydin enjoyed his space ride, car ride and also the squirting space land where he drenched himself with water squirted from the "Aliens" and "Spaceships". Luckily it was hot and sunny day so it didn't take a long to dry himself up under the hot sun. Later he saw a kid having a big candy floss so i thought, what the heck. Spoil him and get him one just for the sake of it. The Candy Floss cost me RM10 but it tasted much better than the ones we get here in Malaysia (obviously). The small mineral water bottle cost about RM6/bottle, believe it or not! Aydin was so awed by the candy floss and he only took a bite and wanted to just hold it instead of eating it. After 5 mins the floss shrunk and it was almost everywhere on Aydin's face and mummy's hand (because mummy was trying to steal some floss from Aydin). Mummy and Ayah was practically "stealing" the floss from Aydin before it goes bad and nobody wants to eat it anymore.
We had lunch under a tree and it was only plain fish burgers with tartar sauce. How pathetic can that be? We didn't have much choice and we can't bring our own food so fish burger it was. Aydin had his favorite fries. My packed Oreo's tasted so good that time compared to the fish burger and Aydin had most of it.
Our journey continues in Fantasyland with picture sessions with Winnie the Pooh, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto and another Mickey Mouse. We didn't get to take picture with Buzz Lightyear because Aydin was still afraid then. We were lucky because it was a Wednesday, the crowd was not so crazy and we only had to queue max 5 mins the most to get onto a ride or photo session with the characters. We did not find Donald Duck though and we missed Chip n Dale. We saw the Parade at 3.30p.m and it was so colorful and fun though most of it was in Chinese. We waited for the fireworks at 8.00p.m and Aydin only caught the last few minutes of it because he was asleep.
As for dinner, we wanted to have Shrimp fried rice and hubby excitedly went to the counter to order before noticing that there was a fine line of description underneath the menu that says with Pork Sausages. We were so frustrated because it was a pre-prepared food so we didn't get to order Shrimp fried rice but ended up with Vegetable Noodle and rice. Hubby was sad because he does not really fancy vegetables and he didn't get his shrimp fried rice.
We covered almost everythiing except for Adventureland. We planned to watch the Lion king show the next day and ride on the river boat too. We were all worn out by the time we reached the hotel room. Arif and Aydin fell asleep almost instantly.
Honey, I am hommmmeee!!!
Yes, we are finally back from our 5 days trip to Hong kong to visit Mickey and the gang and still maid-less. The Hong Kong trip was another chaotic trip with Aydin and a mind of his own and we lost a stroller. Yes, we lost the red and black 3 1/2 year old stroller that has served us tremendously well and almost everywhere. First, let's talk about the maid as it is not a very long story. The agent promised us a "tomorrow" and that tomorrow never come until today even after we are back from our trip. He compensated us with a temp maid while waiting for the tomorrow to come with a new maid for us. Just hope we get a good and reliable one.
Now, the story of our Hong Kong trip to meet Mickey Mouse and the gang:
Day 1
We had to wake up very early in the morning because our flight was at 7.00 a.m. I was not very happy to wake the kids at this hour but we didn't really have much choice. Arif was cranky so i only managed to change his diapers and clothes. Aydin was another challenge but i managed to give him a short bath and dressed him up while the taxi was waiting for us outside. I only had around 3 hours of sleep because i was busy packing.
At the airport, Aydin insisted on riding his Trunki. Everyone was looking at our new green Trunki as it is not a very common in Malaysia. It was a worth money spending as Aydin was occupied and proud of his Trunki. We even had his change of clothes, snacks and drinks in the Trunki. As soon as we board the plane, Aydin was so excited and kept looking outside the window: "Mummy, aewo-pwane. Look Mummy Aewo-pwane".
More stories coming soon...
Entin, our maid/helper left to be with her family after working for us for two whole years. As a mother, i understand the need to be with her family and to get to know her new grand-daughter who is a few months younger than Arif. Her niece, Lia was supposed to come and replace her but due to miscommunication between the agent and her, Lia has started work with a factory and her contract will only end in August. I blame the agent for now doing his job well. Now we are waiting for a new Jane Doe from the agent who was supposed to arrive at our door step yesterday but surprise... surprise, tak sampai lagi. I told hubby to tell the agent to hold onto the maid until we come back from our holiday. I do not want us running around like a headless chicken with 2 kids in tow trying to figure out how, when and where to collect the new maid where we have not finished packing our bags yet and the latest fiasco is Aydin just developed a fever... again!
Yes, you heard me right. Aydin just got a slight temperature earlier this morning. Is it because of the hot and humid weather over the weekend or he got it from mum who is recovering from flu? Sigh.. with all this H1N1 thing going around and authorities keeping their eyes open for tourist who is not feeling well and all :( I hope Aydin will get well soon or we might have to defer our travel plans. I am not sure if we are allowed to change our itineraries as all has been paid for in advance. Maybe it is just not our rezeki for now. So we'll have to wait and see what the doctor says and how aydin is feeling later: either Hello Mickey Mouse or See you soon Mickey Mouse.
Let's pray that hubby and i will swim this chaotic river with ease and survive at the other side of it. We are doing fine for Maid-less Day-2. Both kids was fed and cleaned well :) No major short circuit from any of the parents YET and i cooked dinner and prepared the children's meal as well. Ask me again in 2 weeks time if the situation is still the same i.e: If the agent screwed us up again. Tee-ta!
Weeeeee.... i will be leaving on a jet plane tomorrow for a shopping spree with Ellisa. We will shop til we drop for 3 days 2 nights in Jakarta. i am so looking forward to this trip but i really do not know how Arif will handle my absence (or is it the other way round). I hope to bring back alot of goodies for Mum's and Such and for my lil family.
Aydin is at home as i am typing this entry (at work mind me *wink*). He's having fever and hub told me that his temperature reached 39 degree celcius earlier this morning. I am quite worried though but i heard his appetite is ok so hopefully he will no be dehydrated. It has been a while since he last had high fever and Aydin is Aydin. He is one active and mischievious boy so the thought of him lying down and sleeping is very worrying. I hope he will get well soon before mummy leaves on a jet plane.
Swine flu is the "in" thing now. I am just afraid that it will prevent us from going to Hong Kong end of this month for our Family vacation to the Disneyland. They have reported 1 case but i am sure it is under controlled. We had a few SARS cases here in Malaysia once upon a time but the pandemic was contained within that area. I am praying so hard that i get to bring the kids to meet Mickey and Minnie mouse, yeay! We'll be staying 2 nights in Disneyland hotel... double yeay! Does this sound like the mum will have more fun than the kids? LoL you betcha (Mickey Mouse style).
aaa... i have misled the topic to an irrelevant topic BEFORE i actually begin hu hu hu. Yes, another reason why i have not been active blogging here and Mum's & Such and also seldom on Facebook is because... MY PERSONAL LAPTOP is reaching its end of life. I am lucky i have backed up 80% of the pictures but i still have the 20% on my hard disk. I am not sure if the datas could be saved but i pray hard that my IT guy can helped me and do miracle!
This is also another reason why i bought a new gadget Nokia 5800 kui kui kui. I had some extra cash and it has been a while since i last change my mobile phone. This is so not me because i never keep a mobile phone more than a year but then again i have changed (i think so). I have kept my current job more than 2 years and i hope to keep my Mazda 3 more than 2 years too. Wow, i didn't know my "attention" span is no more than 2 years LoL This is a touch screen phone we are talking about. The "in" thing for now and everyone's hype on iPhone. After getting my 5800 then i realize why everyone thinks iPhone is so cool. It is more on the application like you can do almost everything but with Nokia, it is a bit limited. However, Nokia beats iPhone on certain functions i.e: video conference feature, camera, price. In other words i have to be content on what i have now because i couldn't afford to spend RM3k for a gadget, well not now. I have 1001 things to do on my list and to buy ;)
So there goes my stories before i leave for Jakarta tomorrow. tee-ta!
Aydin was supposed to search for candies and put it into his basket but instead he had the basket filled with flour!
Aydin receiving his first trophyI have been pretty occupied with alot of things lately especially with my online blogstore. I am trying to promote the natural soaps so that everyone will indirectly help to save our planet AND their skin from all these harsh chemicals. Yes, the soap is priced higher than our normal soap but no one realised what they are foaming themselves with everyday. Another reason why the natural soaps are more expensive than our normal soaps is because it takes atleast 2 months for the soap to cure and become... SOAP. The natural ingredients also contribute to the price as they are not genetically modified ingredients.
Anyway, on personal side... Aydin had his first Sport's Day last weekend. I was one proud mummy! The unfortunate thing was, we had to go all the way to IIUM Gombak and it took us almost an hour to get there. I just do not get the concept on why they had to gather all the schools in one place. These are pre-school children we are talking about and Aydin had to wake up real early on a Saturday because we had to leave the house by 7 a.m and reach IIUM Gombak by 8 a.m! It was one of the hottest day in the year and all of us were in an enlosed Badminton Hall with NO fans let alone air-conditioner. Poor kids especially the younger siblings of the pre-schoolers i.e: Arif. Most of them were restless and drenched with sweat.
They gave out goodie bags to every pre-schooler and guess what was inside? Junk food!! All the Apollo or whatever cheap brand chocolates were found in the goodie bags believe it or not. It was a real dissapointment because this is IIUM Montessori we are talking about not Tadika ABC with no branches or whatever. I had to hide all the junks from Aydin because it was not good and definitely not healthy food. Sigh... i really do not know how much and how far i can tolerate with all this. I have been giving Aydin the best food nature can give and trying to limit his sugar food and now i am sending him off to a place where to "shower" kids with nutritionless food. I am already thinking of changing Aydin's school for next year.
Aydin is proud of his first trophy
Aydin and his proud mummy ;)Next on my list to share with everyone: we are going on a holiday! I am leaving for my Jaarta trip with a girlfriend in the first week of May. Would that be considered as holiday? More of a shopping spree *evil grin* It will be my first time being away from Arif. I hope he will get along well with his Ayah because Arif is very attached to me and still feeding from me in the evenings. This is also a good opportunity for me to wean him off breastmilk and for me to have some Me time. Then the next on the agenda on the SAME month would be Disneyland, here we come!! Yes, we are finaly going to Disneyland. It is like a dream come true for me NOT that i have not visited any Disneylands before in fact i have been to Disneyland in California when i was a kid and Disneyworld, Florida when i was studying in US. This time it is special and different because i will be taking the kids, the whole little family to be exact. I had some extra money more like a rezeki that came unexpectedly and i rather spend it on a holiday with the family. It is not easy for me to convince hub to go on overseas holiday because of... ALOT of reasons. So this time he has got no choice but to agree :) I really can't wait. I am all geard up for my Jakarta shopping trip and Disneyland holiday till i lost focus on my work, oops! I have been planning the trips especially Disneyland to make sure it is a memorable one. I hope Aydin tak takut the characters like i did when i was younger. If you meet my parents and talk about Disneyland, i can bet you they will tell the whole "episode" of me hiding behind a pillar in Disneyland because i was afraid of Goofy :p
I promise pictures if not the whole story on our trip to Disneyland LoL As you know, i have not been a good blogger lately so no high expectation please.... Till then, tee-ta!
The long awaited steps by Arif has finally arrived... woot-woot! It has already been 3 weeks since he celebrated his 1st Birthday and he surprised us by taking his "more-than-independent-2 steps" about 3-feet distance: from the sofa to the main door. He has been taking his first few 2-3 steps unconciously for a couple of weeks now but i guess his confidence level is slowly building up. We cheered and clapped excitedly and made him wonder what was the whole fuss LoL
I wish i could capture these moments on either my monile phone or the hardly-used video camera. It'd be great to show the kids in 20 years down the road. I am so proud of Arif!
Believe it or not Aydin loves Chillies and i really mean red hot chillies! Last night, he purposely dipped his finger into my sambal sotong just to taste the sambal. No kidding! Everytime he sees anything red on the plate, he will try to have a go at it. So imagine nasi lemak...
I do not know what turns him on when he sees chillies. I thing he is just the typical anak orang nogori (shh! don't tell hubby this). Over the weekend, he was enjoying the kerepek ubi pedas. I told him it was hot and i couldn't really eat it myself. It gives you the after taste yang... pedas! But Aydin insisted and he finished the whole small packet. We got the kerepek from the wedding we attended in JB. He had 2 choices: rempeyek kacang and the kerepek ubi pedas and he opted for the kerepek. I was worried if he will get stomach upset later and to think that we were in a long journey from JB to KL. Alhamdulillah, he was fine and dandy and survived the Kerepek Pedas without even crying for water.
I thought i was raising a kiddo with a taste for western food since he grew up eating pasta and food from Annabel Karmel's recipe. Little that i know, he also loves Roti Canai cicah kuah kari. Yes, everyone would thought he would prefer kuah Dhal but Dhal is not adventurous enough. He surprised his tok wan by asking to cicah kuah kari everytime tok wan took him to kedai mamak to eat roti canai. Being the over-protective grandparents, my in-laws were afraid that he will fall sick but i told them it is ok. He is used to it and i taught him how to cicah LoL I really don't know what my in-laws were thinking about me; teaching my kid to eat hot and spicy food. A macho little man i can say...
Yes, we are talking about my 3-year old son who loves hot and spicy food :) i wonder, how's Arif going to be?
It is another sleepness night for mummy. I have been trying to train Arif to sleep through the night but at the rate we are going, i see another 6 months of zombie-ness until Arif is fully trained. It was not very difficult to train Aydin the last time probably because Aydin was introduced to formula earlier hence he was quite full prior to bedtime. It is known that breastmilk dissolves faster thus making the baby crave for more feeding compared to formula-fed babies. We have introduced formula to Arif but he feeds directly from me whenever i am around (which is quite often lately). I still have plenty of BM to supply and it hurts when i try to skip the usual pumping session at work/feeding session at home. i get all engorged and cautious because i am afraid it will leak again when i am not noticing.
I think i am going to opt for CIO (Crying it out) as plan B. The soothing method is definitely not working when you are all by yourself. It could work for some if you have someone else to take the baby away from you whenever they cry. It is difficult when the nursing mother is trying to soothe the baby herself because bub knows you are refusing his/her feeding. The problem with Arif is he will throw his body backwards to show tantrum. If i am not careful on his 'position', he will knock his head hard on the headboard (which happened several times). There are also possibilities of him falling of the bed because he will keep on throwing himself until he gets what he wants. i am getting tired of trying to soothe him by patting him butt or jumping off the bed hoping to "catch" him whenever he throws himself. This usually lasts for atleast 30mins per session. And we are talking about SESSIONS so go figure how much of sleep i have been getting for the past 1 year. I have never slept more than 2 hours straight without any interruption. How i wish i can get away from all this and do what i used to do best, SLEEP!
Anyone has any plans to go abroad for shopping spree? Please count me in :)
Aaa... finally i manage to tear myself away from my new hobby which is Handbags "Window Shopping" specifically Coach. Don't ask me why and how come, i am just back into this old fetish but upgraded to Coach in particular :) This new fetish is driving me crazy and away from my online store and blogging. Another reason for going slow on my online store is because i am still waiting for stocks to come in namely Baby Gaps, Cloth Diapers, Sling and Natural Soaps.
Anyway... update on my kids. Arif has turned 1 last week and he has cut his first tooth few days prior to his 1st birthday. Now he has his 2nd tooth which is also the upper one next to the 1st gigi kapak. Do not ask me why the lower ones are taking their own sweet time. He has also managed to utter few words or should i just call it word: Car and make his vroom-vroom sound while pushing the car. Besides that he has taken his first 1-2 steps walking unconsciously because he was busy playing with a leaflet while standing without realizing he was actually walking! It was so funny because the moment he realized he was walking, he dropped down on his four and crawled. I think he is not ready to walk yet and has less confidence in standing on his own for more than 5 seconds. I guess we need to give him more encouragement and make sure the maid does not spoil him by always carrying him.
To date, i am still trying to train him to sleep through the night though i have to endure sleepless and screaming nights. I have also introduced Arif to formula which was a very emotional process for me. I still have plenty of BF to supply but i think it is about time Arif becomes independent and i get more Me time without having to worry if he has enough milk. I even leaked today at lunch while i was shopping for Arif's sippy cup at Mothercare...eek! Luckily the salesperson saw and told me at the cashier. She asked, "you breastfeed ke?" Sageetha and i had the same thought, "wow! how can she tell? from the sippy cup i am paying?" LoL Bimbo!
Aydin is getting on fine with his school though i have been wondering if i have sent him to the right school everyday. The reason is because his vocab in BM is increasing tremendously where according to the timetable i have posted in my workstation (Yes, i keep track on his daily school timetable as if it was mine), he only has one 30-min Bahasa Malaysia class every week. This school is supposed to be an English medium school. I am assuming he picked it up from his peers. So much protection from home i.e: no Astro Ceria, Cartoon Network for the past 3 years and less than 3 months he has learnt about Ben-10 and i dare not think what else.
One fine day (according to the maid), he came home from school as usual feeling hungry. So the maid offered him bread and guess what he said, "Tak nak roti. Saya nak biskut". The maid was surprised, mak dia lagi la terkejut badak when the maid told me. So the maid asked again in front of me, "siapa nak susu?" and Aydin replied, "saya!" sambil angkat tangan. Hahaha... tak payah penat2 mak bapak dia ajar BM. Luckily i had taught him English prior going to pre-school because as expected he will pick up BM easily from there. Now, no more Milk but it became Susu. There was more Ben-10, Spiderman and Puperman (as in Superman). And check this out: Aydin has learnt a few names from school, Aydin is known for making up his own words as and when he wished i.e: Tok Wan was Mei-mei, Playground was Eyom Aeroplane was Aki. And now he has modified his friends name: Danish is Finish, Mohamad is Omat and the rest i can't still figure out ;)
Kids and their antiques. I hope i will be able to look back and read this blog in 20 years time. I will definitely laugh and make them read this entry. Time flies and i am already missing my babies though they are still young... i am probably in a melancholy mood today. Time to go to bed and wake up early for the Regional Sports Meet tomorrow. Wish us luck :)
Yes, Arif is 1 and mummy is all emo as usual. We had a small birthday party for Arif on Saturday with Sesame Street theme. Arif had so much fun and he clapped after everyone sang the birthday song. Arif has cut his first tooth and it was the upper one. I think the 2nd one is making its appearance soon and it is also the upper one. The probability for babies to cut their upper tooth first is very rare and i believed my Arif is a ver special boy indeed!
The party went great though mummy almost went berzerk went everyone wanted to share the joy at the 11th hour. Bibik made lepak pisang (indon version) at the very last minute just when i had my timing all planned! Wan mummy brought fried chicken though it was not 'fried' prior to coming over. Wan brought marinated chicken... so much for fried chicken! Imagine everyone was trying to put in their share of menu at 1pm where the guest were expected to arrive at 4p.m! I managed to squeeze in some time to make the icing for Arif's birthday cake as i feel that is more important than the lepat pisag or the fried chicken or the maggi goreng or whatever was on the menu.
So in the end the party turned out alright. All food was on the table on time including the cake and all. Kids had fun and my coloring books did the trick. The kids enjoyed the coloring activity. Arif and Aydin was a bit shy (yes, Aydin was shy on that day). I can't wait for the pictures by Ariff Aris, our photographer for the day. I shall put up the link or the pictures as soon as i get them tomorrow. I am all excited. You can check out some of the pictures on FB.
It's getting late and i should get some sleep now. My mind is not working in full mode. Just completed my RCT at the dentist. Let's see when i will continue blogging hahaha.. i know, i have been bad with this lately. Too many things to do but too little time. The best thing is my keyboard is finally fixed!! I have all my letters back hence i can type faster but i am still doing it in the dark :p Nitey-nite!
We took Aydin for casting over the weekend. Thanks to Uncle Shahrul who informed us of the opportunity. It was held in one of the bungalows in Jalan Semarak. I was told to 'train' Aydin how to draw a triangle and to say the word "Segi Tiga" as it is for a BM TV Commercial. So that was what i did the night before.
So we brought him to the casting place, all looking handsome and neat in his Thomas & Friends red long sleeve shirt hoping that it will bring out 'The Look" in him. I had to sit with Aydin at a small table on the floor and guide him to draw the triangle with a crayon while a lady was recording it. Guess what he did? He scribbled then threw the crayons everywhere and laughed! When we asked him to say "Segi Tiga" he looked at me and ask "Ayah?". Sigh... Ayah came and took over and still he was not "performing". So that was it, we failed the casting miserably. The lady in charge said it was OK and let's take his profile next. She asked Aydin to stand and smile to the camera. The excited mummy was trying to get his attention and trying to make Aydin give his best pose. The best pose it was: the whole body facing the wall ala-ala Spiderman and turned to look at the camera. Ada la gaya the next most wanted eligible bachelor in the making. We ended up with no profile picture as well. There goes Anmum TVC out the window... kabushh! And to add salt to mummy's wound, Aydin repeatedly said "Segi tiga" in the car all the way home.
Talk about the most wanted eligible bachelor in the making, something amusing happened at the kindy recently. It was my turn to send Aydin off to school. This time he said bye to me the moment we entered the gate. We didn't even get to the door and he has shoo-ed me away? As usual the soccermum wanna-be and a potential embarassment to Aydin in near future, i walked him to the door and made him hug and kiss me in front of everyone! Yea, why not? I am just trying to instill the mother-son bonding in him so that was what i got LoL He is only 3 and he already knows when to shoos his mum away. I could not imagine what will happened when he is a teenager.
Then to add icing on the cake, i saw 3-4 girls coming to Aydin as soon as he entered the school. I think they are around 5-6 year old girls. 1 girl came to take Aydin's back pack away and put it at the designated area. Another girl then took Aydin's hand and trying to lead him to the group, i think. Then another one or two girls came to give Aydin kisses on the cheek. Check that out! Aydin already has a fan club of his own!! and he is only 3 LoL Sigh, soon we will be getting calls from girls on the house phone asking to speak to Aydin.
At last a little breather for me... My online store Mum's and Such is up and running. We had our first customer on the first day of the 'launch' and have had few enquiries too. So i hope this is a good sign. Probably a couple of C.O.Ds this weekend, Alhamdulillah.
Aydin is having a minor 'problem' in school. The principal told us that Aydin is still having problem staying in a group. She said we might want to try and do a check-up just to make sure everything is fine. Yes, i am aware that Aydin has social skills problem but i thought by sending him to a kindy would help. I guess we will need to take one thing at a time. He is not violent or any sort it is just that he does not know how to socialize with other kids his age. He thinks hitting other kids is fun though i have tried explaining to him that it is not right to do so. I have read alot on this and am still trying different approach. We brought him to a pediatrician just to get an opinion. The ped has ruled out autism because Aydin has no problem interacting and speaking. He probably has a little problem with hyperactivity where his energy level is always at high. Anyway, we're taking him to see a child psychologist this Sunday just to get the expert's opinion on how to tackle this problem. I think it is more on the parents to learn how to exercise the right skills and gift that Aydin has. So far after 1 month of kindy, he improves alot on his speech and he know the phonics of every letters! I am so proud of him though sometimes it can be a pain whenever he repeats everything that you say or do ;)
As for Arif, he can speak more syllables though one at a time. I am teaching how to say 'Milk' without giving him the boobies :) Everytime i say milk, he will reach out for the boobies! So now whenever i hear him mumbles 'mmm...' i will say 'Milk' and he will repeat 'Milk', yeay!! Then everytime he sees me and ask me to take him he will either say 'Mak' or 'Tuk' which i assume means 'Mummy'? LoL oklaa for one syllable 'Mak' = 'Mummy' aight? He can also stand and let go off his hands for few seconds to reach the other side. He has not cut his first tooth yet and i have not seen any pearly white on the lower gum (or i am just blind...). I saw a couple though on the upper gum but shouldn't the lower ones cut through before the upper ones? He is turning 1 in a month but no tooth and no walk yet. I have no problem with this as Aydin was a late bloomer as well. I think it is time to plan for Arif's first birthday.
Oooh, guess what? Hubby has agreed to go for a short holiday in Langkawi with Rena in March... yeay!! I had to declined Ezu's invitation to shop till we drop in Bangkok because Arif will tire and drop us BEFORE we get to shop in Bangkok. I am still putting the plan to go for Girly holiday on hold too just to make sure i have weaned Arif properly before i leave him behind. So this Langkawi trip is a so look forward event for now. I get to do alot in this one trip: spend time with family, spend time with good friend and also shop!! I have to start saving for this trip not that sempat to save but hey, it is better than nothing right? We plan to take up a promo voucher to stay at Awana unless my girlfriend, Rena finds some other better deal. Rena is just being kiasu and all... ain't we all? I hope we get to do other tourist-y thing too in Langkawi besides the main agenda: Shopping *evil grin* (please don't tell hubby this or he will cancel the trip).
I just got a couple of soap samples from a colleague. His wife is selling home-made soaps and i love them!! Some colleagues and i are trying to get her sell some to us. I really want to try the coffee and cotton and grapefruit and... didn't i just say i wanted to save for the Langkawi trip??? Dang!!
Oopsie... it's time to do the boobies thing now.
I have been busy designing and strategizing my new online store: mumsandsuch.blogspot.com. As you noticed, this blog has a different feel as well. While looking for a nice template for my new online store, i thought i might as well give this blog a facelift ;) How do you like it? Don't be surprise if i change the feel again the next time you visit because i can get really experimental.
Why an online store? It has been my passion to sell quality and affordable items for both mums and their babes but due to some restrictions in my current career, i had to find a work around it. Then Dad came home after 3 months from Jeddah. He brought back some nice and affordable tudungs and Mothercare clothings so i said why not make it a family business. Ezu has started her Purple-peppermint so why not i start Mum's and Such. I was so inspired by some other WAHMs (Work-at-home-mums) and Ezu so i got it started. I will try and source out some other cool and nice things for both mums and babes and will surely update it when it is finalize. I hope this is just not one of the saying "Hangat-hangat tahi ayam" (direct translation : hot hot chicken shit). Please pray for my success... and do not forget to drop by my humble on-line store: mumsandsuch.blogspot.com.
p/s: Thanks Ezu for promoting 'our family business' ;)
Adios amigos!
Last week was a very chaotic week for me. Aydin came back with a long scratch on his face resulted from a small 'disagreement' with another kid. Apparently he wanted to check out a toy gun somebody brought to school and the boy refused to give it to him. I do not know the actual scenario so i guess (from the usual observation when kids fight for toys) the were fighting for it and the toy gun accidentally scratches Aydin's face. I was shocked to see the long vertical scratch on his face when he greeted me at the door. So, mummy called teacher AGAIN to know if Aydin was bullying other kids. Alhamdulillah the teacher told me so far Aydin never initiates a quarrel but he still needs improvement in the "social" department or so she said...
The whole week of stressed caused me quite a number of hiccups. I went to a birthday party on Sunday later to find out that the party is supposed to be this coming Sunday (duuh!). We drove all the way to PJ on a SUNDAY just to find out that i screwed up the dates. Hubby was upset and i got the silent treatment tee-hee!
Then, i accidentally topped up a half-filled bottle of breastmilk in the mother's room fridge thinking it was mine. The 2 bottles looked exactly like mine (as if i sorang je la yang ada momslittleones bottles...) located at the usual place i keep my bottles (we have a mutual understanding on who stores where in the fridge) and it looked like my usual amount of milk except that there were TWO half-filled bottles ( i usually top-up whenever i can). Later to find out that those bottles were missing in the evening (before i left the office) and panicked. I called always every mums that i know but could not figure out the 'mystery'. Sageetha called me the next day and i spoke to another mum, Fadhillah apparently the OWNER of the 2 half-filled bottles. Shite! My mind was so screwed up and i topped up some body else's bottle? Hers is a daughter and mine is a son! Luckily it was only 1 oz. so we figured it was ok. The rule to become ibu susuan is kenyang 7 kali kan? So halalkan saja laa 1 oz tu because it was already at the nursery. Aiyaya...
Yesterday i was at Prince Court Medical Center for my endoscopy procedure. I had to fast from the night before and they made me "clear" my bowel with this yucky-salty solution. I had to go to the loo almost 10 times (it could have been more if i didn't try to hold it hahaha...). The interior of the hospital looks like a hotel but the rest is just a typical hospital. They sedated me and i passed out and the next thing i know i was back in the waiting room. I was anticipating the whole "watch what i do in that big screen" thing but... i guess i can just watch it on the CD they gave me. Alhamdulillah everything is good except for the gastric acid.
Later last night, a friend IM'ed me on facebook telling me that she knows the mother of the girl who got hit on the head by Aydin's block. The teacher told me that Aydin was throwing blocks and accidentally hit a little girl's head but what she failed to informed me was the girl got stitches from it! I ask for the mother's number from this friend and straight away called her today to apologize. I mean what would you do if the little girl is yours? Sigh, i feel sooooo bad and i know a simple phone call to apologize is not enough but Aydin is just a kid. All this happened in his 1st week of school. I wonder what else to expect in 1 year? Hubby said he would put the blame on the teachers if he was the parent. Kids do simple mistakes and teachers are meant to educate and ensure that everyone behaves. He is probably right.
Now does all this explain the chaos in my life? I hope to have a somewhat simpler and peaceful life soon... which i think is a bit impossible when you have younger kids at home ;) Let's do retail therapy... yeay!!
Not much change on Day 3 except today we used a different approach. No more teacher car in the morning as we have decided to save everyone's time by sending Aydin to school ourselves. Today was Ayah's turn. I had enough of screaming and crying episodes from Aydin. Called hubby for status update after he sent Aydin off and it looked like Day 3 is the same as Day 2. Sigh... i wonder how long do we have to endure all this madness and chaos.
Earlier in the morning, Aydin came into my room when i was getting ready for work. He was all cute and handsome in his school uniform wandering around the room probably trying to figure out what to touch to make mummy scream. Then he stood in front of our full length wardrobe mirror, rubbig his tummy and said "abang a-deen hung-wey". I was shocked! I thought he has finally figured how to tell us that he is hungry. My excitement was short lived when later he said "O-oh... erk-erk" (translate = either poo-poo or just passing wind). So afraid that he was actually hungry, i went straight down to make him a brekkie: egg in-a-hole (egg fried in a bread hole). Then 10 mins later, "abang deen sakit utat" (translate = abang aydin sakit pusat. Which usually means sakit perut). Mummy dah confused! Brekkie tapau masuk fridge for after school snack and i told bibik to rub some minyak angin on his tumm-tumm and i continued getting ready for work. Aydin... Aydin...
Post day 3: while i was preparing his bag for Day 4, Aydin said "Mummy, teacher car". So my usual answer just to acknowledge and 'interact' with him i said, "yes, teacher car tapi tadi Aydin tak nak naik teacher car pun". Then he said, "Teacher car utak" (translate = Teacher's car rosak). Please refer to yesterday's blog to understand this statement ;) I laughed out aloud and hubby had a smile on his face (note: Hubby has problem understanding my amusement most of the time so a smile is a good sign). This means Aydin remembers what happened yesterday. Teacher told me that Aydin is a fast learner. He just need to be taught once and he will absorbed it most of the time like a sponge. I noticed this as well but didn't think it was very obvious.
So, that's the story of Day 3. I shall blog more on Aydin for the next few weeks if there are anything amusing worth sharing. Good night!!
Second day of school is worse than the first. Aydin was ready by 8 a.m as the teacher was supposed to pick him up by then. I thought teacher would have managed her time and route properly since she had done her rounds yeaterday but NOOOooo... she came at 9 a.m and i was already late for work. While waiting Aydin insisted that we took a "morning walk" and check out the neighbours.
The moment the teacher arrived, Aydin refused to get into the car... AGAIN! The next thing you know, teacher's car ran out of gas. So much for time AND gas management. She had 2 other kids in the car. I just don't know what else to expect. I ended up as ad-hoc soccermum and transported 3 kids (including Aydin) to school. On the way to school, Aydin was happily singing along his Yusoff Islam's Ramadhan Moon CD. The next thing you know, Aydin hit the other boy on his face and he cried!! I was just afraid that the boy will retaliate so i quickly tried to console him WHILE driving. The boys were in the back seat without the seatbelts but hey... i can leave without another stress matter trying to make them wear the seatbelts. Anyway, luckily the trip was barely 10 mins and i managed to "unload" everyone safely.
This time Aydin is cleverer than yesterday. He held onto my hand like i was going to sprint off any second (which was my initial plan tee-hee). I had to sit next to him until he was comfortable which unfortunately he never got comfortable. We had a drama session where i had to let him scream and cry while i walked away and drove off. It hurts to see him scream and cry out for you but hey, i had to do it. He has to be strong and learn to be independent. It's either now or never and i cannot always be there for him all the time. I hope things will work out soon or i will have to change my working hours :p
Anyway, let's talk about what happened yesterday and get some relief for a while. Aydin came home alright but the moment he stepped into the house, he cried and was frantically looking for the parents. Luckily i called to check on him and he was comforted by my voice. The power of being a mother :) Later when i came home in the evening, he greeted me at the door and hugged me. Guess what he said? "Assamekom mummy" I was ecstatic. He learnt all this in his first day? I almost announced it to the whole world! That made my day.
We will see what will happen tomorrow pulak. I told hubby to take his turn tomorrow because i couldn't afford another stressful event and be late for work. Sigh...
Psst-psst... i am back! In the office and blogging (not that i am a serious blogger pffth..).
Let's recap what has happened in December:
1. 24th December 2008 - a very important date indeed because it was the first time Aydin started calling me MUMMY instead of the usual ammie. yeay for Aydin!
2. Aydin continues with TIDOQ (tidur in BM) instead of the usual word 'sleep'. This is the aftermath of in-laws in the house for 1 week. Luckily the word 'Aiyaq' (water in BM) lasted only for a day in Alor Setar.
3. Aydin went for his Montessori 2-days orientation. It was difficult at first. He didn't want to go inside the class and was crying when we wanted to leave him: "Mummy cryyy!!". Then when he was playing with some new friends, hubby and i left. We went to a nearby mamak for breakfast and went back to the kindy to check on him. Guess where he was when we arrive an hour later? The moment we parked the car i can see Aydin crying looking for mummy and Ayah at the front gate of the kindy. There was a teacher assistant who was with him. She locked the gate because Aydin was trying to run out of the compound. So i went inside and comforted him for a while. After about 1/2 hour or so, i sneaked out again and came back for him at 12.30p.m. The teacher said he was o.k after that. Day-2 was better because he did not cry. He was just looking for the parents and joined some of the activities.
argh.. i lost track of what i wanted to blog for more happenings in December.
Aydin the hip-hopper
The Guys
Anyway, we were in Genting Highlands for our so-called family holiday. It wasn't really a HOLIDAY as Aydin was really giving us a hard time. He was cranky and full of mishieves throughout our stay there. I ended up playing the kiddy rides and no roller-coaster (nama pun mak budak kan?). Aydin enjoyed the Snowworld and asked for more. He enjoyed playing with the fake snow and i can really tell you the snow was not white. It was more of... 'dirty snow'. Anyway, how can we compare the real snow to the man-made snow. The power of God the Al-mighty. Aydin learnt a new word: "Cho-man" as in Snowman ;) and "Cho" as in Snow. He also learnt another way of calling mummy which is "mummy-aa" (exactly the way the Chinese kids say it) I think he got it from queueing up with the kids and it is really annoying when he keeps repeating it.
AND today is Aydin's first official day at school and my first day at work after a long holiday. I couldn't sleep well because Arif kept waking up and suckling on my boobies. I ended up wetting the bed and bolster with my mcBoobies. Aydin was so cranky this morning because he had to wake up early for school. He was already ready by 8a.m but the teacher was late. By the time the teacher arrive to pick him up, he didn't want to enter the teacher's car. We tried but he refused so i ended up sending him to school. Stayed with him for 5 mins and sneaked out when he was not aware. I hope he is doing alright. It is almost 3.30p.m and i will be calling home soon to check out on him. I really hope tomorrow will not be another drama.