Manila Updates 1

I've been meaning to post these entries while I was in Manila. Somehow, when Tebby was off to his ApecTel Meeting and I have nothing to do, he brought along the laptop and when he's back, we were busy browsing Metro Manila. I was home last Friday 27th April after 3 1/2hrs flight from Ninoy Aquino to KLIA. Gone balik kampung to fetch the kids and came back to Cheras today. In fact, we've just arrived. So, here goes the first part of my Manila experience.

23RD APRIL 2007 – 2nd Day In Manila
Although the restructuring thingy in the office does not take a turn for the worse, I still jumped into Tebby’s invitation to tag along with him to Manila. Yess,.. I AM in fact, in Manila now. Blogging offline. I’ll be online once I’m done with this entry. The internet charges from the room is PHP2,500 flat for a day. That is RM192.30.

I am now in my room in Discovery Suites, Ortigas Center, Metro Manila (as in KL City Center). Tebby has gone for his APEC meeting in Crowne Plaza and won’t be back until maybe at 6p.m. Like any other spoilt-wife, I may be going on a shopping spree. There’s Podium, one of Manila’s many shopping complexes just across the road. And across Podium, there’s SM Mall.

Anyway, we touched down in the off-beat Ninoy Aquino International Airport at about 3.35 yesterday after a flight of 3.5hours and greeted by the ever muka-masam immigration officers and the shouting of other officers who needed to gather the baggage claim tag. There was 3 parts of it actually. 1st being the immigration officers who made me felt so lucky with just having to see her long face, unlike one Arab who was shouted and nagged at. There, we need to surrender one copy of Disembarkation Form and have our passport stamped. 2nd being an officer who stamped another copy of the Disembarkation Form. 3rd being the man who took the form and 4th, the lady whose stingingly voice alerted us that we needed to surrender our baggage claim tag.

Journey from the NAIA to Ortigas Center took about 20 minutes, PHP610 fare and PHP390 forced-tips. Tebby took out PHP1,000 and the driver actually asked to keep the balance.

TIPS NO1 - have exact change if don't intend to tip anyone.

The first person who had a smile on the face was perhaps the receptionist. Tebby could not secure a room in Crowne Plaza (where his meeting was held) itself so we ended up here, about 10 minutes leisure walk to Crowne Plaza. Somehow, I don’t feel as secure as I did when I was in Seoul tho they mostly look like Malay or Chinese, as in KL. Tebby has specifically told me not to wander around any further than the Podium. Not even to the neighboring SM Mall. Last night, after Maghrib prayer (which starts at 6.11p.m.), we walked to the Robinsons, which is attached to Crowne Plaza on one side and Holiday Inn at the other. After checking Tebby’s place for meeting the next day (there was a birthday bash there last night. I saw lots of flesh and boobs, btw) we wandered around in Robinson. The usual shoplots with usual stuffs, you know.. shoes, clothes, lingerie and the likes. I am looking for something conventional and off-beat like Namdaemun in Seoul but since I don’t dare disobeying Tebby’s instruction (which was told in flat tone and straight face btw), I have to be satisfied with whatever there is within 100m radius from our hotel. Oh, be careful when crossing the road, even on the zebra crossing. Be alert of the honks as they won’t stop. Not even for a zebra I guess.

TIPS NO2 – have you hearing and seeing senses all alert when crossing the road. Don’t ever rely you live on the zebra crossing. Like in KL, it doesn’t help you here as well. What’s new anyway.

THE PODIUM. first shopping complex I went to. upscale. expensive.

bought toys for the kids. bought some books as well. books for kids... el cheapo!

They speak Tagalog mostly. They do English, heavily accented with the everrrr rrrrrollinggg R. Kakak will like this coz somehow she has rolling R when speaking English. I don’t really understand them actually so I leave the conversing part to Tebby most of the time. As for food, they are pork-eating community so… we just survive on fish, bread, fish and bread. And fish. Saw lots of inviting stuffed squid which sprawled most of the gerai in Robinson’s food court. Lucky thing we brought along some instant noodle. Pelik kan, when in KL, we don’t find KFC THAT inviting but here, we long for fried chicken. So, always be thankful with what you have. And I think I should not watch that Food Network Channel too much. It makes me hungry.

TIPS NO3 – when coming to a non-muslim country, always bring along instant noodle, or whatever canned food that is halal.

MANGAN. One of the eateries found in The Robinsons, near Crowne Plaza. Middle-class.

Ended up eating fries.

We don’t bring along Kakak and Iman btw. Kakak is having fun in kampong that she doesn’t even want to speak to me when I call. Even when she was the one who told me that I need to call her 3 times a day if I love her (talk about unconditional love.. ). Iman did look for me and ended up raising his hand and made small circles and says ‘ommmeeyyy tade tade tade’ (ummi takde, takde, takde). InsyaAllah, we’ll be bringing them to Palace Beach & Spa in the Mines next week as consolation.

Okay, enough for today.

ummi, signing off from Metro Manila.

Macam-macam Anak-anak - Part II

Kenduri Maulidur Rasul Atfal Excel 2007

Astaghafirullahala'zim... terlupa saya. Malam semalam ada kenduri Maulidur Rasul di Atfal Excel. Semua parents dan anak-anak di Atfal Excel dan Atfal Sayang dijemput. Kalau ikutkan hati, rasa macam nak mintak maaf tak boleh pegi. Tebby baru aje tiba dari PD tengahmalam sebelumnya. I knew he was dead tired. Tapi bila tengok kakak yang sungguh excited, kami gagahkan juga. Tak sampai hati.

Dress-code -> Baju Kurung (girls) dan Baju Melayu (boys). Mula-mula Kakak insist baju kebaya biru dia tu. Saya pujuk dia pakai kurung pink yang ada beads bagai. Lengkap dengan tudung merah. Comel. (anak saya, mestilah comel pada pandangan mata saya kan). Siap ber necklace loket pink lagi tu. Sayang dia pakai selipar biru! Iman pulak lain ceritanya. He is so a t-shirt guy, so to speak. Tetengah dia syok-syok tengok TV, saya pakaikan dia Baju Melayu biru. Bila dia sedar aje, habis guling-guling nak buka. Last-last pakai 3-pcs suit. Heh, bukannya blazer ke apa. Seluar 3/4, t-shirt dengan vest. Comel (anak saya sorang lagi, mestilah comel juga pada pandangan mata saya!).

Aktiviti -> Marhaban & short Tahlil. Anak-anak 5&6 tahun sama-sama bermarhaban. Ahhh, saya ni memang 'peleleh' (perkataan orang Pahang bagi jiwa sensitif macam saya, mudah menangis). Bila dengar anak-anak bermarhaban (semestinya fokus kepada anak saya, Kakak), sayu hati saya. Taktaulah kalau nanti insyaAllah, panjang umur dia berkonvo, harus saya berguling-guling kesyahduan. Iman pulak lain aktivitinya. Mujur laman tadika luas, dia melepaskan tenaga di luar.

Jamuan -> Nasi Beriyani! Tambah 'syok' tu, makan pukul 10.30 malam! Lauknya Ayam Madu (Memang sedari dulu bukan kegemaran saya. Kurengg dengan lauk yang agak manis. Tapi saya makan jugak. Menghormati majlis gitu!), daging yang saya kira namanya Daging Masak Lada Hitam (kot?). Best. Diserikan lagi denga Agar-agar Pandan Bersantan. Memudahkan pencernaan, disediakan Air Sirap Sejuk dan Teh-O panas. Saya dan Tebby, sepertimana biasa, sepinggan sorang. Anak-anak pulak seakan kurang selera. Mungkin sebab dah makan Roti Coklat Gardenia satu roll sorang. Mungkin sebab excited jumpa kawan-kawan. Yang saya pasti, Iman terlalu asyik nak turun-naik gelungsur yang ada.

Buah Tangan -> Terkejut saya. Pada saya cukup sekadar jamuan yang enak-enak. Rupanya dibekalkan lagi dengan Pulut Kuning dengan Telur Dadar Hiris sebekas bagi setiap anak. Dengan potpourri daun pandan (Lamanya saya tak bau... teringat nostalgia kenduri kawin masa kecik2 dulu) dalam bekas bereben bagai. Kakak jugak dapat buku Panduan Farhu Ain.

Kesimpulan -> Tak rugi saya pegi walaupun dalam penat-penat tu. Dapat berkenalan dengan mak-mak lain. Dapat makan best dan macam-macam lagi. Anak-anak pun gembira. Walau bagaimanapun pagi ni, agak susah nak buka mata. Penangan Nasi Beriyani 10.30 malam agaknya!


ps: semalam Farra pulangkan buku saya yang dia pinjam. siap ada kotak kecik berisi kek. sedap. not to sweet like Secret Recipe's. just nice. (Zu, kek terbang-terbang tu sedappp... boleh order dr Farra). err... ada sesapa nak pinjam buku saya lagi?...

When a Frustrated Me Ramble - Part II

Kalau tiada yang menjanjikan bulan dan bintang, tidaklah saya menggapai langit tinggi! Just when I thought there's a light waiting at the end of the tunnel, I am left groping in the dark, only to find nothing awaits me, eventually. Tipu.

kalau padi katakan padi

tidak aku tertampi-tampi

kalau jadi katakan jadi

tidak aku ternanti-nanti

Heh!

Anyway.

Saya tidak pernah percayakan 'terapi runcit' or translated as 'retail theraphy'. Mungkin sebab buying power dan disposable income saya tak banyak. Sebagaimana diketahui saya lebih banyak wind-down dan melepaskan tekanan dengan gardening. Sekurang-kurangnya pokok tak menjawab semula - they don't lie, they don't give false hope and won't frustrate you too much.

Lain pula halnya minggu lepas. Therapy saya lebih bertemakan kepada kenderaan. I actually shopped for a car! Kebetulannya bulan lepas adalah bulan terakhir installment personal loan dengan Koperasi so I am free off some hundreds. Dengan harapan increment 2007 will make up the perfect number (if not more! - tamak -) to cover monthly installment for the car without affecting my current budget. Anyway, Savvy is officially out of the list already. It'll hurt my provision for other things. Priced at about RM45k, more or less the same with the much-more-better-looking MyVi, tak mampu! Since harga lebih-kurang sama, MyVi pun automatik terkeluar dari senarai. Yang tinggal are Kelisa and Kancil. I am so tempted to buy a Kelisa. They'll stop the production btw. And new Kancil will be launced tak lama lagi. So, we postponed the purchase until it is launched. The salesman said, maybe harga would not be more than RM40k. Ngam-ngam lah ngan beg duit makcik nih.

Itu cerita kenderaan 4 tayar (kalau tak kira spare tyre lah kan). Saya pun melilau-lilau window-shopped for kenderaan 2 tayar, in specific -> exercise bike. Maksud saya basikal. Bukanlah yang bergerak kalau dikayuh. Basikal statik untuk bersenam. Kalau yang bergerak tu susah pulak. Budak-budak mesti nak ikut punya. Silap-silap, balik jalan kaki sambil pikul basikal dan dukung anak pulak nanti. Nak berjogging kontigennya panjang. Nanti kena bawak botol air lah, makanan lah. Sudahnya jadi mini picnic. Banyak alasan kan. Memetik kata seorang doktor, we always find excuses not to exercise but not the other way around. Makanya saya dah bertemu dengan basikal idaman. More like a strider actually. Pakcik salesman suruh saya try dulu to see if I'm comfortable or not. I jumped to his invitation and started cycling. Backwards heh heh! Lepas tunjuk ajar barulah forward. Berpeluh jugak ketiak yek. Nevertheless I haven't really make the purchase yet. Tak boleh concerntrate. The kids were torturing a gym ball while I was on the strider. InsyaAllah akan ku beli juga nanti.

Mahalnya harga frustration saya kali ini kan.

Dah bukan rezeki saya mendapat bulan dan bintang yang dijanjikan. Tapi mungkin rezeki saya nak berkereta sendiri tak lama lagi. Mungkin rezeki saya nak ada basikal bersenam dirumah. Tuhan Maha Adil.

That's not all. Tebby will be flying off to Manila next week for a meeting. Who knows, if things turn out worse, I may be flying off with him as well... kalau ada rezeki...

APSH092007 & When A Demotivated-Me Ramble

Pagi semalam saya ke APSH (lagi). Follow-up check-up si Iman untuk HFMD dan telinga kanan dia tu. HFMD dah OK, dah kering and insyaAllah tak membawa jangkitan dah.

Telinga dia pulak buat episode cerita baru. Sebetulnya bermula masa balik Tgg untuk Raya Haji hujung tahun lepas. Telinga dia semacam bernanah, ada infection. Dari hospital di Tgg, ke klinik di Cheras, ke APSH, telinga dia tu infectionnya masih belum betul-betul kering. Takdelah banyak, but then it is still there. That’s enough to alarm me. What-more with my Tebby kan. (ps -> he's more paranoid than I am.. seriously) Betullah sangkaan perasaan saya, minggu depan ada follow-up check-up lagi. Kami mula kerap ke sana sejak saya mula mengandungkan Iman. That was early 2004. Kalau dicaongak-congak, dah lebih 3 tahun tu! Nurse di sana dah mula memanggil anak-anak saya by their ‘nama manja’! Semalam dapat Cedax (which caused him to vomit his stomach out) and Sofradex (ubat titik yang tak sempat dititik pun… kena baling dan pecah botolnya).

Selsema dan batuk dia pulak, I cannot say fully OK lah. Just the interval is getting a bit apart. We’ve almost stopped his Singulair. Aero-Chamber comes handy when we really-really-really need to use it. Some people advise us to stop feeding him the medication. But I just don’t dare. This is asthma for God’s sake. Kalau nak beli insuran, ni dah kira penyakit acute. One moment you’re breathing and the next you don’t. We’re still trying both – medication as well as so-called nutrition and supplement that are supposed to help him build immunity.

Enough rambling about that little boy huh.

Now, it’s about me.

You see, it’s like a huge renovation is going on here and there will be no room for me anymore. I think the BB (that's for BigBoss) is having hard time to pass the message to me but I got his point nonetheless. To be frank, it makes me feel very lowly of myself. Whatmore when someone who is so very expectedly to go, is staying instead. That rubs more salt to the wound, sort of. Talked about it over lunch with cubic-mate Rahmah, Zarid and Sikulat. I agree wholeheartedly with Sikulat. If something is meant for us, we will get it. If it is not, no matter how hard we try, we won’t get it. It is just not meant to be. If that happens, we need to be thankful and always redha with whatever Allah has planned for us. Who knows after the rain stops, we’ll get the most beautiful rainbow or greener grass or full bloom of flowers.

OK peeps, since I don’t have enough to do renovation of any kind, it is best for me to search for other room to fit myself. Did the first step by pasting a more presentable-me photo in the Career Profile. Off I go. Wish me luck.

Macam-macam Anak-anak

First and foremost, community service – Sudahkah anda mengisi boring B/BE 2006? Bagi BE, duedate is 30th April tau! Saya, sepertimana tahun-tahun lepas, berazam nak isi awal-awal. Akan tetapi… sepertimana tahun-tahun lepas juga, masih belum isi walaupun due-date hanya 19hari aje lagi. Sebetulnya saya tak terima hardcopy. Baru 2 hari lepas saya call bertanyakan khabar borang saya tu. Oh, bolehlah print dari websitenya. Sapa tau, mana lagi untung, taksir bersama atau taksir berasingan?

Anyway.

Saya susah hati. Walaupun bukan anak saya. Adik Yin kita masih belum ditemui. Membayangkan saja keadaan mak ayah Adik Yin, saya rasa selera mati. Apatah lagi kalau benar-benar berada dalam situasi mereka. Saya risau juga perkembangan kes ni. Dah diletakkan ganjaran ribuan ringgit. Bimbang pak-pak culik dan mak-mak culik nanti sesuka hati aje ambik anak orang demi nakkan ganjaran. Saya tak salahkan mak ayah Adik Yin. Dalam keadaan mereka, sudah pasti they’d try any avenue as long as dapat semula Adik Yin. Cuma saya harap mereka sentiasa di jalan yang betul. Saya amat mendoakan keselamatan Adik Yin dan amat mendoakan dia akan kembali kepada mak ayahnya. Teringat saya di KLCC park dalam setahun lepas. Saya kira tak sampai 10 saat saya terlepas pandang, kakak hilang dari pandangan mata saya. Berderau darah, saya rasa jantung saya berhenti berdegup. Rupanya dia pegi join satu family yang sedang picnic. Ya Allah.. hanya Allah yang tahu perasaan saya ketika itu. To kakak, saya sentiasa ingatkan dia. Jangan jalan jauh-jauh dari kami. Kalau ada orang yang tak dikenali, tak kira lelaki atau perempuan pegang dia, dia harus dan wajib jerit sekuat hati.


Berbalik kepada Kakak, saya tercari-cari method yang sesuai untuk saya ajarkan dia membaca ketika di rumah. Something light. Something appealing to her. Saya cuba-cuba buka buku tadika dia di rumah. Dia tak menunjukkan minat. Muncung aje. Katanya penat. Dia lebih gemar melukis dan melukis dan melukis. Asyik bertanya bila kami boleh hantar dia pegi sekolah melukis! Kebetulan lama dulu saya ada belikan dia doodle-pro. Semalam saya cuba tulis perkataan-perkataan yang mudah-mudah dan dia perlu lukiskan objeknya. I wrote BOLA, she read BO.. LA… and drew a ball. Then we started with simple sentences like ‘BOLA SAYA BIRU’. Walaupun at times, she took so long to draw, haruslah saya bersabar.

Her English is improving. Walaupun ada anak orang lain, at Kakak’s age can speak fluently kan, to me this is still an achievement. Considering the fact that we speak Malay with heavy accent from the East Coast and a bit Manglish (as secret code) at home kan. My, she also adopting Terengganu accent which is rich with ‘G’ when speaking to relatives from tebby side and swiftly change into Pahang’ code when speaking to relatives from my side.

Satu masa dulu dia asyik bertanya. Mak itik bagi anak itik susu ke? Kucing ada t*t*k ke nak bagi kitty susu? Adoilah. One thing she knows, what animal bertelur and what animal yang beranak. So we leverage on that. I think it was a bit hard to tell her the type of animal such as reptile, amphibian and the likes and the ciri-ciri for each category. I just told her that most animal yang bertelur tak bagi anak dia susu. Yang beranak, they do. It’s a bit messy when it comes to exception such as whale and dolphin and platypus. But she’s getting along the drift quite well.

Emotionally, dia kuat merajuk. Kalau dipujuk-pujuk, rajuknya makin menjadi. Most of the time, I pretend merajuk as well and she’d came running and seeks apology. I don’t know how long will this still be working. I just hope I’ll get new trick before she overgrows that tactic. Dia pun dah tahu some ‘line’ that cannot be crossed over such as she cannot undress in public or boys should not touch her especially her private part so forth and so on. Tebby said, menjaga Kakak sekarang lebih susah dari dulu. In fact mungkin lagi complicated dari Iman. With Iman, kena tahan sabar dan marah. With her, it’s more like dealing with her emotion, feelings and whatnots. She seeks justice. She wants her opinions to be heard. She wants reassurance of our love especially bila dia rasa terpinggir when bergaduh with Iman.

Speaking of Iman, that energy-ball still wakes up at night for his feed. He’s going to be 30mo early May nanti. Last night while he’s eating cereal, he dipped his hands in the milk and ‘washed’ his hair with it. Few days back, while eating bread with jam, he opened up the fold and licked the jam (that was normal I think, I did that when I was small). Then he put the bread on his head, like wearing a hat and patted it hard as if trying to make it sit still on his head. Adoilahh.. *bayangkan pahala Allah berikan...*

2 budak gonek sedang mengharrass tempayan wan mereka di kampung

Show-Off Time!

I'm getting pathethic, in a way, I think. But anyway, blog is a mean of documenting life right. My life-jurnal, which is not so personal.

Anyway, this may hurt Yati a bit. Sorry dear but I hope you will be able to re-arrange your LGK trip nonetheless. There's always reason behind everything that happens. Who knows, you may get more $$$$ that you can spend should the trip be postponed. Presenting..... my Souffle Blue Corelle set. Told you I'm dull, monotonous and boring. (Sikulat and Zarid recently said I am not as introvert as I claim myself to be.. And they say Kakak is very much cheeky as I am..).

Back to the Corelle thing, we've begun to use the set last weekend, much to Kakak's excitement. She's finally upgraded from melamine Garfield. (Let's not waste things, those are Iman's now). I could not decide whether I should buy the Country Herbs or Plum set in the beginning. Somehow, considering my age, I scrapped Plum off my list. To make my decision-making process much easier, I saw this tea set. Err... supposedly of fine China. So, the Country Herbs was scrapped as well. To match the so-called fine China, I finally settled on Souffle Blue.

a bit on the classic end. but what a heck, it's just RM130 per set.

Ever wonder what SOUFFLE is? I did. Here's from Wiki

A soufflé is a light, fluffy, baked dish made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a main dish or sweetened as a dessert. The word soufflé is the past participle of the French verb souffler which means "to blow up" or more loosely "puff up" — an apt description of what happens to this combination of custard and egg whites.

Every soufflé is made from 2 basic components:
1. a base of flavored cream sauce or purée
2. beaten egg whites.
The base provides the flavor and the whites provide the "lift". Common varieties for the base include cheese, chocolate, and lemon (the last two used for desserts, with a good deal of sugar). When it comes out of the oven, a soufflé is generally very large and fluffy, and will "fall" after 20 or 30 minutes (as risen dough does). Soufflé can be made in containers of all shapes and sizes but it is traditional to make soufflé in "soufflé cups" or ramekins.

Let's put a stop to all these pinggan mangkuk thing, shall we?

Someone wants to see us on screen. At least on computer screen. I don't normally put the photo of me-self too much, in case you hadn't noticed. So here goes us on tebby's convocation day. Oh, tebby who? My husband self-proclaimed himself as 'tebby'. That is for teddy-hubby by the way. Yahh... nice to hold, all gebu with lots and lots of cushion I must say! Yang, you know I don't really like those selim-melim lean guys, so this is indeed a compliment from me.

me and tebby.
tebby is wearing a tie I bought for him in Itaewon.

Jom Release Tension

Selepas all the chaos hantar anak balik kampung -> pegi JB untuk konvo mdh -> balik kampung ambik anak -> ke Langkawi outstation -> Iman kena HFMD (lagi) = saya penat!

I needed to relax but having to be with just myself was not an option. Tahu-tahu sajalah, kalau anak-anak ada, habis diserangnya kita depan belakang! Tak kiralah time mandi ke, berurusan dalam toilet ke, ada aje budak-budak gonek tu mengekor. Abahnya sampai dah nak merajuk, semalam Abahnya dah buat announcement ‘Abah ni dah tak laku dah sekarang…..’

Berbalik kepada relax, semalam saya sempat buat a bit of gardening. Just a bit, nothing much. Cuma re-arrange pasu-pasu kecik atas stool kayu. Eh, pokok lidah buaya saya dan semakin menghijau tau! Masa mula-mula beli dulu, taklah sehijau tu. In fact siap ada tumbuh anaknya lagi. I like...

Pokok bunga bawang (aka pokok 'taktaunama') ni saya alihkan dari pasu lain (sebab dah terlalu padat dalam pasu lama tu), dah ada tumbuh bunga baru. Tak sabar nak tengok kembang nanti. If all goes well, it'll look like this (gambar pinjam bunga pasu sebelah)


Dan satu lagi projek semalam, saya alihkan anak-anak tomato si Nurul Athirah ke bekas yang lebih besar. Sebenarnya last week saya dah alihkan 4 pokok, cuma dua yang terus hidup, dua lagi dah ‘selamat’. Semalam dengan penuh harapan saya alihkan baki anak-anak tomato yang masih ada dalam bekas semaian. Alhamdulillah, pagi-pagi tadi saya tengok semuanya masih segar dan tegak. Mintak-mintak dapatlah saya merasa makan tomato hasil tangan sendiri.. insyaAllah.

Ni pulak pokok 'taktaunama'. Progressing slowly. Semakin banyak daun. Pasu and pokok bought at Tapak Semaian Baharum kat Bdr Tun Razak, Cheras.

Survivor! Pokok gantung Kakak yang selamat. Sepasu yang lama tu akhirnya mati jugak! Tinggal sepasu lagi. Ada banyak lagi nampak tunas-tunas bunga. Can't wait for them to bloom.

Okie dokie. Have a nice week ahead everyone!

APSH082007 - The Return of HFMD

Aaaahhhhh... finally he's asleep. he's been giving me hard times these few days.

Remember how excited and relieved we were when told that Iman's routine follow-up checkup needed not to continue? That was about a month ago. A little bit less than a month, to be exact. 5 days, to be more precise. Our relief was shortlived yesterday. Woke up to Iman's all bintil2 and bintat2 on his both legs and both hands. And that was after a fever 2 days before. Yep, he got HFMD again.

Like always, my paranoid husband dragged us all to APSH to see Dr Nasir. He confirmed Iman's HFMD and advised Iman not to be sent to nursery as HFMD is contagious. It's air-borne and spreads easily. Which is why I am at home now looking after him. Next week my parents are coming over. Syukran Ya Allah... ada juga jalan-jalan keluar dari masalah ni.

It's not easy. He's been a little bintat monster these few days. Unlike last time, he behaved normally after the spots emerged. This time around he still throws tantrums and whatnots even after he got the spots. Knowing Iman, even when he's in good health, he need extra attention, whatmore when he's not! In short, I've been swearing in my heart to be frank. I had to remind myself times after times about the joy of motherhood and that not all women get the chance to be one. Sabar-sabar. I think I'm gonna read my La Tahzan book today.

Anyway.

While waiting for his turn yesterday, he was running about (like always) and I ran after him (like always). He jumped. He squatted. He ran again. At one time he slipped and fell flat on his face. Nevertheless, he got up and started the commotion again. And 'fell' and 'slipped' on his own will again and again. Not to mention we were almost at least RM5k poorer yesterday. We could've had fried arowana for lunch! He got in the clinic and swithed off the lights, aircond and oxygen suppy for the aquarium.. I tell you.. he may look cute being active but as parents, you may wish for something lesser. As for us, this is what Allah Grants us. A boy with lots to deal with. Mengajar erti kesabaran, pengorbanan dan pentingnya kasih sayang! Had it not been him, I might still be the temperamental me.

Okie dokie, pse pray for us people. For Iman to be well. For Kakak so that she won't contact the disease as well. For me and Mdh so that we'll be more patient dealing with all these. Jasamu dikenang okay! (I sound a bit off-beat kan -> lack of sleep)

Congratulation To A Special Someone - Part II - Full Entry

AMARAN - ENTRYNYA PANJANG...

Sambungan dari sini.

Kami bertolak dari KL tengahari 23032007 dengan perut yang berkeroncong dan kereta yang sarat dengan hadiah telematch. Masing-masing senyap. Masing-masing melayan ingatan sendiri, tentunya pada Kakak dan Iman (yang pada ketika itu tak tak berapa nak ingat kami dan lagi syok tengok musang yang mati kena tembak kat kampung). Ralit sangat berangan, terlepas R&R Seremban, tempat yang kami angan-angankan nak makan lunch. Maka menonong lah ke R&R seterusnya – Ayer Keroh. Sampai kat Ayer Keroh, tanpa banyak soal dan usulperiksa, terus aje menyerbu KFC. Snack-plate sorang satu. Makan senyap-senyap sebab lapar amat. Dah habis baru boleh sembang. Lepas tu kami solat jamak Zuhr+Asar. Perjalanan ke Skudai was fine. Cuaca pun menyebelahi kami, tak panas dan tak hujan. Just nice. Cuma banyak sangat area di highway yang jadi satu lane. Kena pulak lori kat depan… bawak-bawak bersabar. Akhirnya at around 6p.m. kami pun sampai di Pulai Springs Resort (selepas hampir tersesat ke bandaraya JB sebab simpang ditutup – cehh… dahlah takde signboard kata nak U-turn kat mana). 5 jam perjalanan yang serba aman. Sempatlah dengar koleksi lagu-lagu rock leleh zaman 80-an. Sambil makan sotong kering yang beli kat Ayer Keroh. Syokk ooo.



Pulai Springs Resort lived up to my expectation (except for the buffet breakfast, I must say). Nestled in lush greeneries that I thought I wouldn’t mind rolling myself on the golf course, very pristine and calming. Very serene. Our arrival was greeted by trees lining both sides of the road before we checked-in at Cinta Ayu suites. We were located at 317. I’d rate the room at no 2 after The Magellan at Sutera Harbour Kota Kinabalu. The first hotel room I went to, with timber flooring and frill-less deco. That was so us. (Nevertheless we later found a cockroach roaming freely in our room, much to our wild-imagination, it later died. I hope it had eaten death baits rather than killing itself at the sight of us. And the aircond wasn’t working properly. We were relocated to room 311. Btw, room 317 has problems with its door that I would not mind at all, to tear it down myself. We were locked out most of the time) Nevertheless, Its surrounding area was breathtaking. At least to my standard lah. Bunches of mdh’s friends arrived later. Makan dinner at one of those kedai we found somewhere there. Namanya Student Corner. Dishes came in such a commendable portion that we didn’t really mind to forego their tasteless being. After dinner, we literally dragged ourselves into bed. Too tired to do anything other than sleeping. Before I knew it, I was in ohlaalaaa land.

lobby area. i like the sandstone carving

our room

at 'Social Center'. where the wives chatted away

Next day started early. The MBA holders would need to attend their rehearsal, which (should) started at 7.30a.m. I doubted that it would start that early and indeed my intuition was correct. It started much later but the guys had fun there. Sampaikan lupa alkisah para isteri di hotel yang belum makan lunch lagi. While they were there, I decided to a spa-thingy at noon. Hajat tak kesampaian when a friend called and I jumped at their invitation for some juicy gossips, perkongsian pengalaman hidup dengan anak-anak and whatnots – sampai tengahari. There goes my spa treatment. Which I realized I didn’t mind giving up for some chatting. Petang lepas rehearsal and lunch, ada telematch lagi gitu! Mdh and me took part in belon air (which we lost), mummia (which, we, again lost). Nevertheless mdh’s 'amatur' stroke in ‘bowling buah nyor’ won him a prize. We’d planned to stroll around afterwards but it rained so we just stayed indoor planning what to eat for dinner. After much thought, we had BBQ Seafood Buffet at Gleneagles *something*.

the hall. their 38th convocation.

nak tayang hanfon samsung ku sebenarnya.. he.. he..
hadiah hari raya dari mdh.

The convocation day itself started much earlier. We had to be there by 7.30a.m. With puffy eyes, had quick breakfast. On our way to the hall, met a friend. We later went in together into the hall and hit the jackpot when we managed to secure seats nearest to the walkways, through which the graduated would be walking after receiving their scroll.

Like any other convocation in Malaysia, it was an elaborated one. Funny, I couldn’t even remember how it was during my own convocation. Godness-sake, I don’t even remember who handed our scrolls! And I can’t remember where I’d put my Buku Cenderahati, in which my name was printed. As for mdh, he attended a very much lesser frill convocation for his 1st Degree in Manchester. So, he was tortured, sort of. The waiting. The standing up, sitting down, standing up again so forth and so on.. And the way that mamat sang Radja’s Jujur and Aku Pencinta Wanita (he should’ve sang that with more ‘sengau’) to kill time while we waited, was killing me. Agak ‘sumbangsih’ but I applauded for his confidence tho.

YM Zarith Sofia, Pro-Chancellor arrived early. All chatty and friendly. Sultanah Johor was a bit late. To add to that, they went to out on robes and whatnots, the ceremony started about 30-40 minutes later than in the agenda distributed. As they walked on the red carpet (led by a serious man holding a big keris on his shoulder), they were all smiles and sungguh semerbak sekali perfumenya! Once the speeches part were done, the scroll-giving was fast. As for mdh and the gang, their past was the last one. Funny thing was that, how different their sizes were from Bachelor to MBA. Memula semua nipis-nipis aje, sampai tang MBA tu, mak-mak budak, pak-pak budak, bulat-bulat belaka. Or let’s call it horizontally-challenged. Anyway, it was the first convocation I attended other than mine. The feeling while watching your loved one on stage is indescribable. Terharu, sedih, gembira. I shed a tear or two. For him, for me and the kids as well. And for the susah senang we went through for 2 ½ years.

Lepas ceremony over, they had photo taking session outside. All sweaty from the hot weather but tahan sajalah pakai suit dan robe itu kan. Demi bergambar punya pasal. We rushed to Taman Universiti untuk ambik gambar dalam studio. Wahh.. finally we have a photo yang sesuai untuk ditayang-tayang dalam rumah. Ala-ala ‘teman dan terlebih mesra’ gitu. (read – tanpa ‘pelakon2 tambahan’. ‘pelakon2 tambahan’ akan disuperimpose kemudian). In a month time, we’ll be receiving the photos. Can’t wait. Memandangkan esoknya kami nak berkejar-kejaran balik KL and then to Temerloh to fetch the kids, segala pemulangan jubah, urusan administrative kena selesaikan hari tu jugak. Ke sana sini lah kami, macam rusa masuk kampung. Ye lah, walaupun MBA nya cap UTM, kelasnya semua dibuat di KL. In short, when it all finished, we were too tired to even melawat-lawat tapak ekspo. Balik hotel and tidoqqq.

It was a bit frustrating later that day. We’d intended to go out jogging but my sneakers were still soaking wet from the ‘belon air’ game the day before. I just watch mdh having fun with the treadmill from the kiddy pool. Nampak jugaklah mak-mak budak pakai swimming suit. (Conclusion, I am not alone in this motherhood land… nyeh nyeh nyeh) A little bit later mdh joined and adjourned into the kiddy-pool. I didn’t. I had my P that time and I didn’t want to contaminate the pool. Nanti ada yang jadi drakula pulak.

It was like a 2nd honeymoon to us (the first being our trip to Korea last September). I was having my menses btw. But marriage isn’t just about s*x, isn’t it? At one point, it’s spending time alone with your loved one, doing nothing, say nothing. Just close proximity without having to worry about Jabatan Agama lah kot! Don’t get ideas. Our relationship before marriage was decent.

Anyway, on Sunday, lepas breakfast, cecepat memulakan journey balik pulak. After about ½ hour exiting toll Skudai, I fell asleep and when I woke up, I was in KL already. In just 2 to 2 ½ hours from JB to KL. Mdh kata nak test kereta. Sukahatilah.. I just hope he won’t earn any ‘scroll’ from saman ekor pulok nanti.

Mak aihh… berjela-jela lah pulak… Warned you, didn’t I?

I Am Not - It's Positively Negative

kakak - playing masak-masak with her twin-cousins

Iman, striking a pose with Hazim, his cousin. Aren't they both 'jendul' eh?

Of late, saya suka sangat tengok budak2 kecik, babies in specific. Maybe sebab anak-anak saya dah terkeluar dari kategori babies kot. Kakak is a preschooler already while Iman who toddles, naturally is considered a toddler. Kakak is 6 this year and esok, Iman is a bubbly 29mo. That’s 2y and 5m. Despite his age, Iman doesn’t speak much. Our means of communication are often in forms of screams, tantrums, throwing things, and babbles. In other words, he needs extra attention. Anyway, at the sight of babies, girl especially, making me want to have one of my own. Now.

And yet when I missed my period and when the tester showed another faint faint faint line, I broke into tears. I felt as if I betrayed my own kids. I would not be able to be there when Kakak starts her primary next year. And I would not be able to attend to Iman’s mischievious-ness I like now. I just felt so…. unprepared.

And yet a day or two after that, I started to imagine how it would feel to hold a baby in my arms again and I secretly wished for another girl. A girl for me to dress in gowns, laces, hairclips, hairband. If possible, please grant me one with curling hair. One that I can name Nurul Nuha (I have that name ready since the birth of Nurul Athirah).

It was a mixed-feeling, isn’t it?

Just when I started to sort-of come to term with that, I got my period while I was in JB attending mdh’s convocation. It was almost a relief. Welcomed and needed.

Clearly it was a mixed-feeling.

Another baby or two is fine with me. Maybe next year when Kakak has started her primary and has stabilize herself with the new changes. Maybe when Iman tone-down a bit where his activities and temperamental is concerned. It takes two to tango right so I need to mdh to be prepared as well (as of now, he is not). And when the time comes, I hope Allah makes it easy for us.

Sorry to keep some of you waiting. The tester could’ve been faulty I think. A friend said I could’ve been pregnant actually but miscarriage. Either way, as of now, I am not pregnant.

Thanks anyway for the concern. Appreciate that.