Out and About

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

"Sakit" Hair

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

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

Aydin needs a bicycle.

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

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

Are you alright?

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

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

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

sign-off: the proudest mother in the world!

Demand and Supply

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

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

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

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

HAPPY BREASTFEEDING MONTH!

Hari Murah Rezeki

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

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

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

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

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

The Story of My Car.. Cars?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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