Ratu the Rats

It is January 2010

2010-01-21T11:01:00.002+08:00

Happy New Year everybody!! I know it is sooo belated but heck, it is still January ;)

My resolution this year is NOT to have any resolutions. December 2009 was not a good month for me and the rest of my family members. We lost our beloved mum on 6th December, 2009 after struggling not more than 3 weeks of battle with Lung Cancer and Brain Tumor stage 4. It was a short, hectic and crazy 3 weeks i must say full with mixed emotions.

Denial... yes, we will always be in denial. I have not come to terms with my mum's passing. No, i have never referred to her as my "Late Mum", i still refer her as Mum... talk about denial. Tears of sadness... almost every other day ever since. Be it in the car, while reciting Yassin, before going to bed... you name it, i have done it all. I am happy that she did not have to go through the pain and suffering but i miss her, ALOT! I can still see her in her kitchen, in her room and everywhere. I can still hear her voice calling my name, scolding me or calling Aydin.

Aydin is feeling the absence more lately. He had fever a couple of days ago. Later at night, he requested to call Tokku (my dad). For the first time ever, i hear him actually had a proper conversation a the phone. He told Tokku he wanted to "sleep Tokku" (sleep with Tokku). Then he asked, "Mana Wen?" I am sure Dad had trouble answering that question. Then Aydin said, "Wen sakit, Aydin sakit". "Wen pegi mana?". "Mana Moksu?" (Moksu = my sis, Ezu). "Wen ikut Moksu." So after a 5-min conversation, he hung up. Later, he asked me again "Nak cakap Wen" (nak call and cakap phone dengan Wan). I was stumped. He used to ask to speak to Mum whenever he misses her. I didn't know what to do so i told him the usuals "Wen sakit. Wen pegi jalan-jalan jumpa Allah". Then he asked again, "Please mummy, nak cakap Wen". My heart was broken into pieces. How can i heal his pain of missing his Wen? So i repeated the same statement and tried to make him understand that his Wen is not around anymore.

I hope Aydin understand and not confusing the concept of "sakit" with death. He saw his Wen for the last time before we brought her to the hospital. Aydin salam and kissed Wen for the last time before she left for the hospital and i saw a smile on her face. He knew Wen sakit. I was sick last week. I had a very bad diarhea and threw up in front of Aydin. Aydin was worried when i was sick. He kept on asking, "Mummy sakit?". "Mummy sakit apa?". "Mummy tunggu ye. Nanti Ayah pegi doctor beli ubat mummy" with worried look on his face and in his voice. Luckily he did not see me in the hospital when i had drip tube attached to me. Luckily it was a short visit and i did not want to admit myself. To my surprise, he told everyone in his school that mummy was sick. His teacher asked Ayah if mummy was ok, that was how we found out. Eversince then, he will remind me every night before we go to bed that he wants mummy to send him to school. This is probably a way for him to ensure that mummy is ok. He is supper-attached to me lately. I tried to persuade him to sleep in the "boys room" with Arif but later he came into my room to check on me. Yesterday he told me, "tak nak boys room, nak mummy's room". He will sleep next to me, make sure he hugs me and i hug him properly neck-to-neck sometimes it suffocates me. He treated me like i am fragile. Arif is not allowed to hit me or hurt me or he will scold Arif. Even Ayah is not allowed to touch me. If he says something wrong or did anything wrong that will make me angry, he will quickly say "Sorry mummy".

Aydin is a very loving and caring boy. I hope he will grow up and stay that way. i will try not to spoil him and make him the typical "Mummy's boy" :)

I am feeling melancholy and blaming it on the BCP Yasmin i was taking hahaha...

Have fun people!!

Start of a new journey

2009-11-27T12:02:00.002+08:00

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.

T minus 14 days

2009-09-11T14:22:00.002+08:00

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:

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

Mohamed Aris Eidlan

2009-07-16T11:53:00.003+08:00

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.

Mickey & the Gang Day 2 / Hong Kong Day 3

2009-06-08T13:49:00.005+08:00

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 :(

Mickey & the Gang: Day 1 / Hong Kong Day 2

2009-06-03T17:39:00.003+08:00

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.

Bye-bye Mickey!

2009-06-01T17:41:00.002+08:00

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".

He was doing fine in the first hour. I brestfed Arif just in-case he got his ears blocked by the pressure. It worked everytime :) and Arif fell asleep. We had our breakfast on board and i tried to keep Aydin busy by reading the book and all. Later, i ran out of things to keep Aydin busy and he got bored. He couldn't see anything else except for the clouds outside the window and suddenly he took off his seatbelts and said, "Mummy, dah sampai. Jom dah sampai. Ayah car" indicating that we have arrived and let's go and do something else.

The moment we arrived in Hong Kong, we took a cab straight to Disney Hollywood Hotel. Disneyland is situated on the same island as the airport, Lantau Island so the journey was not so bad. The moment Aydin saw the Mickey logo on the fences leading towards the hotel he said, "Look Mummy, Mickey Mouse". He was so excited especially after we arrived at the hotel itself. It was as described, you can see Mickey Mouse logo or the statues everywhere ini the hotel compound. They even provided a small area near the check-in counter for the kids to watch TV with a small sofa (for the kids of course) to keep them busy.

The room: It was spacious and beautifully decorated with Mickey Mouse theme almost everywhere even on the toiletries and bed cover! They even provide a small bathrobe and bedroom slippers for the kids. The beds were equipped with the bed guard/rail upon request so that the kids can sleep safely without faling off the bed. I was so impressed!

We decided to rest and walk around the hotel the first day and go to Disneyland the next day. We checked out the activity room for kids and walk around the Hollywood theme area. Then we saw Goofy swimming with other kids at the swimming pool. The moment Arif saw Goofy, he freaked out and cried and same goes to Aydin who ran away ;) I wanted the kids to warm up to the characters so i ask them to go for a swim later in case we get to meet Goofy again. Arif refused to swim for whatever reason (it was probably Goofy) and Aydin was hanging onto his Ayah the moment he saw Goofy again at the pool. It was fun because there were not many people at the pool and Goofy was playing with the kids in the pool and the slide.

More stories coming soon...

Chaotic River

2009-05-25T16:26:00.002+08:00

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!

End of Life and a Fresh Beginning

2009-05-06T13:41:00.002+08:00

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!

Life is such

2009-04-23T21:38:00.004+08:00

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 trophy

Helloooo dear readers,

I 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!

Step-by-Step

2009-03-20T15:24:00.002+08:00

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!

Red Hot Chilli Pepper

2009-03-18T16:46:00.002+08:00

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?

Night Waking

2009-03-17T10:03:00.002+08:00

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 :)

The Kids and My New Fetish

2009-03-12T23:00:00.002+08:00

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 :)

Arif is 1

2009-03-02T22:54:00.003+08:00

Dang! i was trying to ensure that i make this entry before midnight and i missed it by 5 mins! Oh well, Monday was not my day anyway. Alot has happened today but Arif's 1st Birthday is the highlight for everything.

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!

Lights, Camera, Action!

2009-01-30T17:17:00.003+08:00

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.

Yippee-ya-yeay!

2009-01-30T10:42:00.002+08:00

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.

The Birth of Mum's and Such

2009-01-21T13:45:00.004+08:00

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!

C.H.A.O.S with a capital C

2009-01-14T17:07:00.000+08:00

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!!

The storm has passed... Trunki is the name

2009-01-08T22:24:00.000+08:00

Finally (or i should not jinx the word yet?) i dropped Aydin off this morning without the infamous drama and left in peace and harmony. On the way to the montessori, we had a 'mother-to-son talk'. I don't remember what i told him but i remember the look on his face after i finished talking. He looked at me and said, "Mummy?" I know he is still my baby who has yet understand what the world is all about but i am sure he got the message. He is one clever boy and i really hope he will do better in his life once he is all grown up in the outside world. Now, mummy gets emo LoL. Anyway, things are looking better now so probably next month he can start riding in teacher's car to school.

Trunki. I am not sure if anyone knows what is Trunki but i saw this kid riding on a 'luggage' when we're in Genting last week. I swear it would be one of the coolest thing i would wish for christmas if i was a kid. Bad news is: 1. i do not celebrate christmas 2. i am no more a kid. OK let's rephrase it to it is the coolest luggage every parent must have (read: ME). I was browsing one of my favorite online store: http://www.thelilcaliph.com/ and there it was! the 'ride-on luggage' i saw at Genting. The one i saw was black and white and looked like a cow with its horns. The one from thelilcaliph has more colors. Trust me and check this out: http://www.thelilcaliph.com/e-Boutique/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=544. Cool eh? Now i have to find reasons to buy Trunki. I know Aydin would love it too. He can ride on it whenever he gets bored. I don't think a trip to Alor Setar is good enough reason. I need to organize a trip or HOLIDAY to anywhere... as long as i can justify this purchase to hubby LoL. Oh no! Shopaholic mode ON.

Enough said... i have loads of agenda on my mind at the moment ie.: what to wear to EMIT dinner this Saturday, where to polish my car etc. Nitey-Nite!

Kindy Day 3

2009-01-07T22:18:00.000+08:00

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!!

Stress Test

2009-01-06T15:19:00.000+08:00

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...

Welcome 2009! and Aydin goes to School

2009-01-05T14:39:00.000+08:00

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.

Happy Birthday Abang A-deen!

2008-12-10T22:00:00.000+08:00

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!

2008-11-28T23:38:00.000+08:00

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

2008-11-25T22:42:00.000+08:00

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

2008-11-24T14:09:00.000+08:00

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

2008-11-21T22:23:00.000+08:00

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

2008-10-22T20:53:00.000+08:00

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

2008-09-22T22:04:00.000+08:00

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

2008-09-16T10:33:00.000+08:00

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

2008-09-14T00:56:00.000+08:00

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

2008-09-12T23:32:00.000+08:00

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

2008-09-10T22:09:00.000+08:00

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

2008-09-10T12:49:00.000+08:00

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

2008-09-08T20:33:00.000+08:00

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

2008-09-05T23:15:00.000+08:00

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

2008-09-03T22:19:00.000+08:00

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

2008-09-03T22:16:00.000+08:00

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

2008-08-28T23:04:00.000+08:00

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

2008-08-27T22:58:00.000+08:00

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

2008-08-26T20:25:00.000+08:00

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

2008-08-18T20:23:00.000+08:00

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.

2008-08-12T22:10:00.000+08:00

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?

2008-08-11T23:23:00.000+08:00

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

2008-08-05T14:27:00.000+08:00

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

2008-07-22T16:48:00.000+08:00

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?

2008-07-21T17:38:00.000+08:00

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

2008-05-05T22:30:00.000+08:00

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

2008-05-02T23:19:00.000+08:00

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").

The End of Happy Days?

2008-04-24T22:43:00.000+08:00

It is exactly 1 more week before i have to go back to work. Life has been pretty challenging everyday. Besides that i have successfully baked the yummiest moist choc cake i have been dreaming of and mum's favorite carrot cake. In fact, she has requested another carrot cake for our pot luck at Aunty Ani's this Saturday. I have tried to enrol myself into the cake decoration class but it was full. Sigh.. takde rezeki. Will have to wait till the next available class.

Today, we had shooting for a TV3 Nona's segment on Kasih Ibu. Check it out! Not that i look good in fact i think my hair was a mess! It will be my first appearance on a national TV where i am not captured there by luck :) You know what i mean. Check out Arif as the main "actor".

News and updates on my kids (wow! Syawa has KIDS). I have yet rejuvenated and doubt will ever be for the next... few years?! Arif has definitely gained alot of weight. He has been trained to drink from the bottle though he prefers to feed directly from the boobies. I have been storing my milk and running out of storage in the freezer fast :) Bought more MLO's storage bottles yesterday.

Aydin has never lost his energy level... ever! He is getting more and more mischevious every day. His latest vocabularies: Noh (nose), Eye, Knee, Mah (mouth), Er (ear), To (Toe), Hair. I think it does makes alot of difference when you are around to help the kids with their learning. I have never heard Aydin learned as much as he does lately. He recognizes few letters as well. How i wish i can become a SAHM (Stay-at-Home-Mum).

Aydin has flu for the past couple of days and he has spread the virus to Arif :( Arif has got the signs of flu i.e: runny nose and cough but hope that's about it or there goes my sanity. Lesser amount of sleep and a 2-year old active toddler can definitely make you lose your mind.

Dang! i am supposed to go to bed early. I have a teleconference with my "dear supervisor" tomorrow morning....

Arif is 1 month old!

2008-04-02T22:42:00.000+08:00

Happy 1-month old Arif!! (singing it like the typical bbirthday song)

Arif is 1 month old today and he has definitely gained weight.. he has actually gained his supposedly 1-month old weight when he was only 3 weeks old (oops!). Well, i like chubby cheek babies. Blame the mummy or blame the mcboobies (as my dear friend rena calls it). Arif is exclusively feeding from my dear boobies and i am very proud of it. It is definitely not an easy task i must say and i have been guilty for expressing my frustration this evening when Arif refused to take his nap when mummy needed one herself... desperately.

I think Arif is looking more and more like Aydin now. I confused myself sometimes when i saw Arif's picture and thought it was Aydin... I wonder how it is going to be if i get twins. I can't even tell my sons apart even when they are not twins! LoL

Oh no! There goes Arif again.. time for his next feed. Later!

Need more than 24 hours in a day

2008-03-26T16:44:00.000+08:00

Finally i am able to log in. Life has been pretty hectic lately, adjusting with two kids at home and trying to get some sleep AND surprisingly i have been thinking about some office work lately (DANG!). I blame my supervisor for the thought of office work during my confinement. She gave me some "things to do and think about" before i left for maternity leave not knowing that i would go into labor 2 days later.

Anyway, just noticed that i had some typos and grammar mistakes in my previous blog. Any idea how i can go and correct it? I do not know how i could improve my writing by blogging but atleast i try kan?

Alot has happened since my last blog entry. I was busy trying to keep up with my confinement schedule i.e: bertungku 2x/day, berurut daily, mandi rempah besides breastfeeding the little one almost 24 hours a day! Arif feeds like a piranha and it is very taxing especially at night. I have lost 10kg but i am also eating like a monster! I eat constantly and almost everything so there goes my pantang :)

My confinement lady had to leave early because her son was involved in a serious accident so that leaves me and arif alone. Having a maid is not helping because Aydin is a handful. Aydin has attempted a series of tricks on his lil bro i.e: a (strong) pat on Arif's tummy and head but i am sure he did not mean it. It must be his way of showing his love for his lil bro.

Oh no! the lil bub is awake. Back to "Supermum"!!

Hello World!

2008-03-10T12:23:00.000+08:00

It's been a week that i have been trying to find some time to share my happiness on this blog. It was on Sunday morning 02/03/2008, i gave birth to a cute and chubby little dude named Arif. Let me share with you the details here:

1 Mar, 2008 : I was hoping to go into labor on this particular day because it is Dad's birthday. Well, bub was not ready so i gave it a rest. As i said in my earlier blog, bub is quite heavy for me to carry so i am really hoping that it will come out soon before it reaches 4.0 kg and it would be too difficult for me to go au'naturel. Since it is a Saturday, hubby decided to stay home and relax. The opposite reaction compared to the last pregnancy where he practically dragged me to MidValley almost every weekend! I told him i want to check out the Sales Carnival so let's go to Alamanda since it's the nearest. That's what we did at 8.30p.m! Just for the sake of exercising and trying to induce labor naturally, i walked untill 10.00p.m and bought some last minute stuff i.e: hair rubber band. I was complaining of hunger because we didn't have our dinner before we left because of the time constraint. As soon as we reached home, i ate a little of rice and some soup. I was already not comfortable but i have been feeling this way for quite some time now. So i drank some organic tea to help with my water retention and blood circulation.

2- Mar : Still i couldn't sleep so i sat in front of the tv with hubby watching some football while eating some crackers. Suddenly i felt contractions but it was not a strong one and it lasted only for less than a minute. I thought it was another Braxton Hicks so i ignored it and i still could not fall asleep. The contraction got intense so i woke Hubby up and told him to be prepared. While he was taking his shower, i was trying to ease the contraction by kneeling on my bed and rocking myself when all of a sudden i felt like farting. POP! My water bag broke and water was gushing out and i quickly ran into the toilet. i obviously left a trail of water from my bed to the toilet :)

We drove to Gleneagles and reached the hospital at about 6.45a.m. I told hubby to drive slowly because every single bump and sudden brakes are not comfortable. In fact we are just trying to kill some time before the actual labor takes place. Admit myself at the A&E (Acccident & Emergency) counter (which cost us a couple hundred $$ for being 15mins early and they didn't even treat my case as emergency), i walked myself to the labor room and waited for the whole episode to begin.

Slightly after 9.00 a.m : More intense contractions begins. This time i could not even bring myself to walk around anymore and all i wanted to do was to lie down and rest. I was hoping to catch some sleep since i didn't even got any for the last 18 hours but failed. Suddenly i felt the urge to push. I was doing the breathing technic from Hypnobirthing and it helped until i almost lost control when the urge to push was greater. Doctor and nurse told me to breathe in the "laughing gas" to help me control the pushing urge because i was only 6cm dilated. At this point, i was not enjoying the episode especially when they had to do the internal exam. Yikes! it was painful!! I was trying to recite some ayat lazim and put my focus on something else besides the pain. Aydin was my inspiration and i had his cute face in my mind all the time calling me "By!". Then i was trying to tell my body to progress smoothly so that we will get it over and done with in the next few hours. No more 12 hours labor!

I pushed and pushed and relax for the next hour or so without any pain killer or drugs. It was definitely a stressful episode for everyone in the labor room. I was running out of energy to push and at this moment i surely would appreciate more stamina to help me push the baby out. I was a sprinter and sportwoman alright but i can hardly sprint or run more than 200metres!! I can feel the baby's head crowning and it was like that for God knows how long! I had leg cramps while pushing and i didn't use the stir-up because it would make my cramps worse. Doctor asked me to try giving birth sideways but it didn't work. I was not comfortable. I ended up giving birth with my legs up and wide open with the help from hubby and the nurses (imagine doing sit-ups to tighten your ab muscles with your legs up). God knows what i was thinking at that time: no drugs, no episiotomy... nothing! I almost gave up for that stupid decision on going natural. One thing that was beautiful and indescribable was when you can feel every single part of the body that came out. I can feel the head got trough the birth canal, the shoulders, the hands, the legs and even the cord! It was so amazing (and not forgetting painful) that i didn't know if i wanted to cry or laugh of happiness when they put the baby on my tummy to hold. Forget about screaming "Sakitnya!!" and whatever i said i can't remember... one look at my baby's face calmed me down. I was surely grateful to Allah for giving me the strength to go through the ordeal and i was so proud of myself. I could not stop saying Alhamdulillah in my heart and thank Allah for giving me this wonderful experience and a beacutiful baby and a very supportive hubby. Though i can say it was a crazy decision for a modern woman who lives in a world of science and technology but heck... can you handle it?

I had the opportunity to bond with him and breastfeed him in his first hour of his life. Mohamad Arif Eidlan was born at 10.55 a.m.

Eat your heart out!

2008-02-29T22:23:00.000+08:00

Yes, i am still carrying the lil bub in my tummy. No sign of labor at the moment. Went for an unscheduled check up today and bub has definitely grown. Doc said i might be expecting an 8lbs baby, definitely bigger than Aydin who weighed 3.51kg. I blame it on my choc and sweets craze i have been having for the past few days.. or was it weeks? i have gained another 1kg since last week and i have taken a picture of one of the culprit: (the ice kacang)

Oh, after my check-up i promised myself that i will reduce the amount of sugar and choc intake but as a last retreat (yea right!), i indulged myself to a Dome Chai Latte while waiting for hubble to pick me up from the hospital *grin*. The evidence...

Aydin's Favorite Past Time

2008-02-28T15:30:00.000+08:00

Just thought i should just drop by a few minutes to upload Aydin's latest picture from my new digital camera. I am currently at home relaxing and counting the days of course. It doesn't look like labor is going to come any time soon. I think this is the part where it really test every mommies' patience..

Sex in Late Pregnancy comment

2008-02-25T17:56:00.000+08:00

I am quite surprise to read this article from www.babycenter.com because it was a comment from an O&G in Malaysia. I mean Malaysian hardly gets credit for anything but i am proud to say Dr. Tan and his colleagues from University Malaya has made me proud :) Check this out:

Wed, Oct 10, 2007 (Reuters Health) — A new study calls into question the folk wisdom that having sex late in pregnancy can help bring on labor.

Women who had sex a few days before they were scheduled for labor induction were no more likely to go into labor spontaneously than women who didn't have intercourse, Dr. Peng Chiong Tan of the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and colleagues found.

But this study is not the final word on the subject, Tan cautioned. "Further research in this area is needed — particularly in a less 'pressure cooker' situation than where labor induction was already scheduled for shortly ahead," Tan noted in comments to Reuters Health. "It is possible that regular sex a little earlier on, say from 36-37 weeks onward might have a different effect."

There are good biological explanations for the widespread belief that having sex can bring on labor, Tan and colleagues note in the medical journal Obstetrics and Gynecology. For example, semen contains the hormone prostaglandin, which is used to induce labor, while orgasm can bring on contractions in the uterus. But there is virtually no scientific evidence that sexual intercourse near the end of pregnancy can jump-start labor.

To investigate, the investigators randomly assigned 210 women scheduled for labor induction to a group who were advised to have sex as much as possible before their induction, or to a control group who were told that it would be safe for them to have sex but that it wasn't clear whether intercourse could bring on labor. Women received the advice 4.7 days before their induction was scheduled, on average.

Among the 108 women advised to have sex, 60 percent did so, compared to 40 percent of the 102 women in the control group. But among women who had intercourse, 56 percent went into labor on their own, compared to 52 percent of those who didn't have sex, which was not a statistically significant difference.
"We speculate that women very close to spontaneous labor felt changes coming on that might reduce their libido," for example pains and vaginal discharge, Tan told Reuters Health. "If correct, this would mean that those women who had sex were the least likely to go into spontaneous labor soon, so they would do less well in terms of spontaneous labor as outcome in the next few days. We did not have direct data to answer this question satisfactorily, however."

"Based on the findings of our study, women scheduled for induction of labor at term should not be given advice to have sex for the purpose of promoting labor onset," the investigators conclude.

So i guess there goes one option to induce my labor naturally. Let's see... what else can i try? Spicy food? Squatting? Walking?

New Camera & Malaysians @bank

2008-02-25T17:12:00.000+08:00

Just bought me self a digital camera: Samsung L730. As part of EMTC2007 (EM Teambuilding Committee), we were awarded RM500/each to spend on company's account, yippee!! I was surprised because i have never heard of this award before except for ERC (EM Recreational Club) committees. I was contemplating whether to spend it on a holiday or reward myself with something special. Initially, i wanted to spend it on a holiday to Bandung (the RM0.05/way offer) and take the whole family + maid. The cost will take up around RM800++ for everyone. After a warm (not heated) argument with hubby and when he has finally gave me the green light, there was no more RM0.05 tickets!! It was quite frustrating though but looking at the bright side, i can buy something nice for myself. So that's when we have decided to get the digital camera. Not that we do not have a digital camera but the old digital camera was a Nikon with 128MB CF memory card (i doubt we can find a higher MB that is compatible with this camera in the market now), 3.2MP. It is not that bad and we have finally found a card reader that can read the memory card (from a clearance bin) but for convenience etc. i thought it would be a nice buy. Considering the latest features and functions that we get from this new camera... i can take Aydin's picture minus the blur!! Note: Aydin can never sit still so it is difficult to capture a nice picture of him.

On another note, i went to update my ASB account book today. Thought of saving some money (have not been doing that for the past... 1 year? and not that i have that much extra of it to save anyway) but looking at the crowd at the ATM, i thought otherwise. Taking advantage of my current situation ( big belly and all), i just asked the bank officer to just update my passbook. While waiting (it was about 5-10mins wait) to my surprise, nobody gave up their seat for me. I mean out of courtesy, they could have atleast offered me a seat. It was crowded alright and i was standing in front of those who were seated. A lady even rushed infront of me to catch the seat a man just left. So much for Malaysian and their courtesy! Aiyah... when are we going to change?!

I will try to update some pictures i took with my new camera soon. Now i have more the reasons to update the blog when the new bub arrives. I can't wait to share the pictures!!

Tremor or Labor?

2008-02-20T17:49:00.000+08:00

I just can't help it but to blog this experience down. It was around 4 p.m today where suddenly i felt lightheaded. I just got back from the loo and was experiencing some back pain or it was probably a mild contraction. I sat down in front of my pc and suddenly everything felt dizzy. I seriously thought i was going to pass out because i have had several of experience passing out especially during "that time of the month" so it was a very familiar feeling. The only different is i am not menstruating but i am expecting to give birth anytime soon. So i was telling myself this must be one of the sign of labor and i have to tell somebody in case if i actually passed out.

Minutes gone by and suddenly a friend came up to me and ask, "Did you feel the tremor?" I was like.. what tremor? Oh! It was a tremor.. i thought it was labor! Silly me! So much for experienced mother... duh! Signs of labor pun tak tahu. Yes, it was indeed a tremor because there was an earthquake or something in Sumatera scaling at 6.3 if i am not mistaken. Sigh... i am only at 12th floor and i have felt it. I wonder how's the folks in KLCC twin tower level 20 and above? Any expecting mum out there who's working at KLCC twin tower @level 29 maybe? :))

Scared the life of me!

2008-02-20T12:24:00.000+08:00

I came home as usual yesterday with hubble and my maid told me a scary, terrifying story about what happened to Aydin earlier in the afternoon. She still looked panic while telling me the story. This was what happened:

At around 2p.m yesterday, Aydin was playing with the free gift motorcycle we got from buying Nutrigen. Aydin loves taking out the parts from his toys especially the wheels. While playing with the wheels he decided to taste and eat it! Unfortunately he choked on it and luckily maid was around to help. Maid said he turned red and was choking. Luckily it was a rubber wheel with holes though it was not a small one! I could never imagined if it was a solid wheel which could have block his air passage way, Na'uzubillah. I am so thankful to God for sending me a maid who has experience with kids and knew what to do at that time, Alhamdulillah. Besides the fact that maids are maids, i am thankful that my maid acted on time and saved my precious son. She said, "Tuan sama puan nggak ada di rumah, tin takuuut sangat". Who wouldn't?! I have read alot of articles and books on what to do if this happened and never did i imagined that it will happened when i am not around. Sigh... kids will be kids but we as parents have to ensure that we do not have any small items that are choking hazards lying around the house. Never take for granted that your child is old enough to understand what is edible and what is not.

I really do not know what to expect when the new bub arrives. People said the older one will crave for attention and i can never imagine what and how Aydin will turn out to be later when he becomes an Abang. With his character and attitude at the moment, i think we can barely keep ourselves sane let alone with Aydin no.2. Hubby has been complaining that he hardly gets enough sleep because Aydin's energy level hardly decreases until after midnight and sometimes he had to stay up till 2a.m! Aydin will make sure nobody sleeps before he does so beat that! Though now he has this habit of immitating whatever people say and that's cute... for now. I have been trying to teach him new words everyday and repeat the old ones too for him to understand and memorize it. The latest words are "wen" (a slang for Wan, the maternal grandmother), "gho-ti" (roti a.k.a bread) and "ni" (here in English).

As for myself, i am still into cloth diapering. I am glad to say that i have almost enough cloth diapers to go full-time on Aydin soon and slowly buying some more for the new bub. Aydin is cloth diapered every night and we have overcome the leak problem night. I personally think using fitted diaper for overnight is the best as it has more coverage than pockets. It is a bit bulky though with fitted diaper and its cover but you can rest assured your child will not be sleeping in his/her pee the next morning ;) I am training my maid to put on the pockets on Aydin during the day. I have even bought few more from babytotsandmum.com for both Aydin and adik for a best deal. I have ordered a Bob the Builder diaper cover for Aydin and i am so excited! I have been trying out different brands to see which ones works best. I personally think we are slowly saving some $$ with cloth diaper since Aydin is not potty trained yet and his XXL disposable diapers are costing us a fortune at the moment and it has only been like what... 1-2 months?

Alrighty, boss will be calling me in few minutes for our bi-weekly one-on-one meeting. I hope there are nothing much to talk about as she tends to talk alot. I am just tired of teleconferencing at the moment and would love a good lie-down to ease my backaches.

How it started

2008-02-12T18:37:00.000+08:00

Welcome to the world of blogging! I am just trying myself out though i know one thing for sure i am not a good writer let alone a blogger. How this blog started? I am bored and my butt is killing me from sitting on this office chair for God knows how long, waiting for Hubby to come and fetch me home. The disadvantage of car pooling.

I am actually 36 week pregnant and just went for my ante-natal check-up earlier this afternoon. Bub is looking good, 70% engaged and doc is expecting another 2-weeks for bub to arrive. All i can say is, "Mummy is ready whenever you are ready bub!". Energy wise, i am all drained and physically i am waddling like a duck. I feel like there's something in between my legs and i can hardly drag my feet to walk!

As for my elder child, Aydin who is 26 months old who has the energy like an Energizer bunny, keeps hubby and i busy. Lately, he has been a heavy wetter at night. Poor Aydin... i hope it is not because of the new cloth diapers mummy is trying out on him. He also wets himself when he is wearing disposable diapers too. I do not think it is because of the diapers, i think it is more on the amount of pee he has lately. I will have to remind hubbles to potty train him before going to bed.

Hurray! Hubble-bubble just called saying that he is on his way. I am signing off for today. Hopefully you will hear more of me tomorrow or days to come. Bye!