Happy 7th Anniversary!

HAPPY 7th ANNIVERSARY!

Semoga jodoh kita berpanjangan.
Semoga hidup kita sentiasa diberkati Allah.

(Credit goes to Kakak, who drew our wedding potrait!)

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TEBBY GOT ME THESE TWO PAIRS OF SHOES
(i was given 3 options - shoes, facial-care range or an external hard-disk).

I did not ask for 2 okay, he offered.

Afterall, it's also my 33rd Birthday.

thanks darling.




AND I GOT TEBBY THIS

and got these for myself also.. he.. he..

with all due respect to other brands i've used before, this so far, works best for my skin.
stop kejap since my financial was not so good.

now that i still underspent my ESOS money kan.....

How The Weekend Went - 25&26th Aug

It was tiring weekend. Nevertheless, a beneficial and meaningful one. We did lots of thing, from groceries shopping, going to nurseries, cooking and right up to visiting Floria in Putrajaya.

Originally i had planned to go to Pasar Sungei Besi to stock-up the kitchen. Even our 'must-haves-in-the-kitchen' were finished. We ended up in Tesco Kajang due to the rain. After 2 hours (50% of the time can be discounted without the kids. You know lah, nak kena layan pilih biskut lagi, nak kena let them choose and count the tomatoes lagi. Termasuk jugak nak buat kajian anatomi ikan dan ayam!) and a cartful of groceries, we headed for breakfast in Uncle John Kopitiam. Albeit the price (RM2.50 for a slice of garlic-butter bread. true, the slice was thick but RM2.50?), we had good time splurging ourselves with 1/2 boiled eggs, Kaya & Butter Toast, Garlic Butter Toast and a plate of Mihun Goreng. To wash them all down, I had Ipoh Kopi O, Tebby White Ipoh Kopi while Kakak had Soy Bead. Iman just drank plain water from his bottle - which we later tercicir there.

That was the shopping part. Later, Tebby prepared yummylicious Chicken Tomyam for lunch. I managed to do Beef Stock, Chicken Ball and put them away in freezer. Weekdays mana sempat nak merebus-rebus lama-lamaan kan. That's what I normally do. Pre-prepared. I even have fishes rubbed with salt+turmeric in the freezer. As compared to zaman dulu-dulu, we have really improved where eating-in is concerned. Dah jarang-jarang makan luar except the time yang busy-busy sangat kat ofis. We used to throw away rempah-rempah sebab dah naik hapak. You knowlah how long can spice last kan. That's how terrible it was. Lagipun anak-anak tengah membesar ni, I have to set example on what are 'normal' and what are not. Certainly makan luar everyday is not, kan.

Other than that, we have the usual clearance of laundry. I have mountains to fold and another few bukit to wash and dry. Thank God, at the end of the weekend, every thing was folded and put away in their respective place.

And oh, lewat petang Sabtu we went to Pusat Flora Cheras to browse around and find anyone who can do landscaping services. It's such a relief to see all those beautiful flora & fauna. And a relief too that we finally found someone who can come and plant grass and do a bit of landscaping. I hope what we want can fit our budget. I don't have much so I don't expect much. Maybe 2-3 big trees on a green lawn. Err.. if possible, a wood deck.

Half of Sunday spent at Floria Putrajaya. When I first got to know about it, I knew I could not miss it. I don't know if we had covered all as we did not get the map. Nevertheless, with Iman running around (And when he does not, he'd insisted on 'kokong' - dukung. There we were, taking turns with 16kg him in our arms). We went inside the cool room where they display creations using flowers, plants even fruits and vege. Did not stay long in there. Iman dah start tonyoh2 mata and muka dia. Maybe due to habuk2 bunga kot since he's allergic to many things. Then we went out into the sun again. If I were to judge, I'd prefer the one they had in Tmn Tasik Titiwangsa last year. Lagi redup cause banyak pokok besar and lagi banyak display. (esoknya Iman & Kakak warded in APSH sampai 2 weeks). This time I remember to charge the battery in full and had fun photographing. I wish I could snap a lot more but with 2 kids tagging along, I could not do as much as I wanted to. Will share some here and will load more in a few days time.

How The Weekend Went

THANKS & BEST WISHES

To Zarid, for the invitation to her brother's Majlis Menyambut Menantu on the 18th August. Sorry we could not make it. Iman needed to see his paed on that day. Hope everything went well.

To my boss, for the invitation to his daughter's wedding on 19th August. Luncheon started at 12noon. We arrived there tad bit too early (even the akad-nikah was still going on at that time) and waited until the clock stroke 12noon.

To Sikulat & Cendawan who were promoted a grade higher. I am still open to lunch invitation yek Smah & Jah.. he.. he..

CERITA WEEKEND

Except a wedding and hospital visit, nothing much. Perhaps the highlight was gardening. Yess.. after neglecting those greens, I finally had the chance to do some pruning and 'baja'ing. Too bad by then Kakak's tomatoes went dead and her petunia has gone dried and crisp. I'm sharing some photos here...

Kunyit (tumeric). Dulu habis daun-daun jadi gondol kena makan dek ulat hijau. Terpaksalah kutip and buang sekor-sekor. Now dah sihat sikit dah.

Halia. Semakin membesar.

Daun pandan. La ni senang nak buat Nasi Lemak, ambik aje depan rumah. Takyah tunggu2 nak gi pasar.


Anak timun. I was surprised sbb cepat sgt tumbuh. Masa ni a week after semai.


Yang ini bukan sayur yek. Pokok ni femes time Chinese New Year. Yang selalu orang ikat reben merah kat cabang2 dia tu. Dah membesar dengan hebat sampaikan saya dah pecahkan jadi 2 pasu.


Yang ni pulak pokok anak dara saya tu. Sib baik masih gagah lagi. Kena make sure dalam periuk tu ada air, kalau tak nanti kering dan kempes pulak.

On Being Parents

barely 2 days after her little 6yo birthday party, she asked, when she's a little bit older, if, she can go out with friends. my-oh-my. just the thought of her asking me for some personal space with friends, i felt drained - emotionally. maybe i am not ready to share her with the rest of the world. maybe i want to be HER world. and i know that is so not forever possible.

anyway.

i remember a friend once told me. masa anak kecik, kita penat badan. bila dia besar, kita penat perasaan. i am between the two. at 6yo, kakak has lots (already? belum masuk bab pms lagi tu!) of emotional ups and downs that i need to tackle. at times she leaves me emotionally disturbed. have i been a bad mother? haven't i showed enough affection? thoughts of that sort. Iman challenges me physically. he's always on the move. he always has things to do.

but i'm loving every minute being a mother.

along the short 6 years i officially became a mother, i have a list of mental note..

1. there's no ABC's and 123's fixed in parenting. there's A+, B-, 1+2=C and many more. you can read. you can find through the net. but what works best for your own children, will be your own unique formula. with kakak, it's more psychology and with Iman, i need to raise my voice a bit.

2. your child has his/her own pace. he/she may be relatively faster/slower as compared to other children his/her age. i know it's tempting to have a child who reads, writes, counts ahead of other kids but can't we just let them be children? they deserve it. at times, the harder you push them, the more they dislike.

3. you love them, why keep your feeling? hug, kiss, embrace, tell them verbally how much you love them.

4. restrict comparing too much. he is he. she is she. why do we want them to be like someone else? how would you feel if they want to choose other people as parents, other than you?

5. be prepared emotionally, physically and financially.

i still have a loooonggggg way to go. once a parent, always a parent. even when you children are parents themselves. regardless of whatever stage i'm in, i pray to God i'll always have THAT special place in their hearts.

*sob* (<---- hopelessly emotional)

Ummi's Back!

i have to warn you. i'm not done with telltale of driving and the little-fella that just started pinching my account last month. last two days, i called ATFAL to have the kids and their luggage (2 nursery bags, 2 dirty laundry bags, one school bag and one raga for bekal - now.. those can qualify as luggage - aren't they?) prepared as i was going to fetch them in 5-10 minutes time. baru aje shift into gear, it started to rain. i got out and gave some thoughts. i got back in and decided to just go on. tested the wiper to make sure i still know how everthing worked. everything went well. raised my hand to the pak guard kat depan tu and proceeded tanpa sebarang masalah to ATFAL. the kids were happy. ye lah, jarang-jarang dapat balik awal. fate had it that it rained quite heavily the moment we started our journey back home. i had thumping in my chest and my body jiggled a bit. suddenly i realised that i had no idea how-so-ever on how to operate the back wiper. you see, that little fella has a straight back screen like kenari or ATOS. nevertheless, we were safely home. tebby got back at 9.30p.m. sib baik dah ambik budak2 tu.

Anyway.

work has not been easy since my appointment. i rarely have time to berpoya-poya. but i never missed lunch! perhaps, i miss having lunch with Tebby. for some reasons, he always asks me to go with my friends these days. what pisses me off the most is that almost all email come with ASAP. ASAP. ASAP. i can't plan my work. even if i can, i rarely managed to stick to it. i'm giving myself another 2-3 months. oh, maybe a little getaway sometime end August. psttt.. it's our anniversary. if you think it's not appropriate to give me gifts for anniversary, i can also accept birthday present as well. well,.. just to note...

speaking of getaway, i have a few places in mind. semua local lah.. kakak did suggested Disneyland. OMG! then only you can go Kakak. the rest can't afford. i am thinking of Langkawi, Cameron Highland, Bukit Merah. And believe it or not, Mines Wonderland yang kat belakang rumah kami tu pun masuk list. and believe it or not, this is going to be Iman's 1st family holiday. last we went for one was in 2004. Iman was just a 5 months baby. foetus, to be exact. they had good time. notice i did not include 'me'. they had fun in splashing around in the water and i had to just sit and looked. maklumlah, makyong kan time tu.

ok peeps, have a good week ahead.

Ummi Is Not Well

saya mc lagi! kali ni sakit perut. tebby tuduh susu strawberry saya minum semalam. saya tak tau nak tuduh kat mana sebab saya makan macam-macam semalam. malam semalam 5-6 kali saya berulang ke toilet. i felt like sleeping in the toilet itself. udahlah si Muhammad Iman tu tidur atas perut saya. siap hantuk-hantukkan kepala dia atas perut. sib baik Ummi tak 'ter...' atas katil Iman oiii. pagi ni saja dah 6 kali saya ke toilet. i end up with an mc and balik rumah. yayyy... dapat gak nengok channel 11 tanpa gangguan anak-anak dan bapak kepada anak-anak.

selain dari sakit perut, saya pun kena gatal-gatal. semenjak dua menjak ni lah. kalau dulu makanlah apa pun, buat lah apa pun, saya okay aje. lately it seems like i am developing some kind of allergy. salah makanlah, salah sapulah. ooohhh.. dulu saya 20-an, la ni dah 30-an, logic lah kot. merujuk kepada comment dalam entry saya sebelum ni, yes, saya ada anak yang akan mula sekolah rendah tahun depan. kalau ikut statistik, kira agak tua jugak tu. ye lah, saya beranak anak sulung umur 27. time tu, ada kawan-kawan anak dah nak sekolah dah pun! ye lah, rezeki masing-masing kan.

bercakap pasal beranak ni, saya mengandungkan Athirah (Kakak) penghujung 2000. bukan bunting pelamin pun. mulanya kononnya nak postpone dulu setahun-dua. story cut short, saya mengandung jugak lepas 2 bulan menikah. time tu saya consider umur saya taklah muda, taklah tua. kira kesihatan dan ketahanan masih tip top lagi tu. midvalley tu jangan ceritalah, memang tempat saya exercise saban hari masa mengandung. kakak-kakak kat ofis sampaikan takut saya terberanak kat midvalley. perut dah besar gila, saya masih bershopping. bayangkan saya boleh naik tangga ofis 7 tingkat dengan perut jauh ke depan. bukan sekali dua, rasanya hampir tiap hari. dan saya boleh berjalan dari station LRT Central Market ke Brickfield memikul fail dengan selamba derk aje. Bukan sekali, at least dalam sebulan tu, adalah dalam 2-3 kali. kalau dikenang-kenang balik, kagum saya dengan diri sendiri. bab makan pun kagum jugak. typical breakfast saya nasi/mee goreng + roti canai sekeping + kuih 3 ketul. pukul 10 saya makan nasi. lunch nanti saya makan lagi. teatime sure at least 3 ketul kuih atau bubur. tak masuk malam lagi tu. dah tak termasuk snacking. kalau ada sedara datang bawak buah tangan makanan, tebby sure tak bagi diorang tinggalkan bakinya. takut saya makan dengan gamaknya. hasilnya? saya gain 20kg dan anak saya beratnya 3.5kg. dr jemilah sampaikan nasihatkan saya to cut on eating sebab dah nak masuk tahap melampau! anyway, that was 6 years ago. dah lama dah cerita tu. la ni, nak ambik barang kat tingkat atas pun malas..... exercise toksah sebut lah. kasut jogging pun saya tak ingat buh kat mana dah.

oh, saya belum bercadang nak menambah ahli keluarga lagi setakat ni. ada jugak yang bertanya. ye lah, umur saya pun nak mencecah 33 dah, Iman pun nak masuk 3 tahun. monetarily insyaAllah kami mampu. the key is to adjust. baju harian budak2 pun banyak kami beli kat pasar malam. apa nak malu, kita bayar, bukan curi. cuma dari segi masa dan perhatian yang saya risaukan. betul, kami dalam proses mendapatkan maid. tapi kalau tiap-tiap hari pukul 8mlm balik rumah.... susah jugak. memetik kata-kata nasihat seorang penulis blog, walaupun ada orang gaji, pastikan anak anda kenal yang mana satu ibunya. kalau dia dah mula berkata 'ku liat sapi di tepi kali' - you should do something!

Happy 6th Birthday Princess!!

Born 6 years ago at 2.20p.m, on 8th August 2001, she was a 3.5kg bundle of joy. (just for record - that was quite an achievement for a first time mother but i do not wish to break my own record) 52cm in length with 33cm head circumference. And now, she's a young lady with her own opinions. And not scared to voice out her thinking.

She'd been asking if she could have party packs this time around. And some cakes to cut after her friends sing the birthday song. At the end of the day, she came back home a little tired than usual. My suspect was that she was overly over-excited with the little celebration.

To Kakak, Happy Birthday from Ummi, Abah and Iman.

We love you much more than you think we do.

little recaps

it's been awhile, isn't it? between work and family committments, i am quite full at the moment. forget about personal space or personal time. if, showering can be defined as one, yes i do have 10 minutes of personal space. nothing to brag or to nag about. this is the life i somewhat chosen, right. i wonder how it'd feel to be a stay-at-home mom? while earning the same dough at least like i do now?

anyway.

we finally made the second step. forked out some RM1.8k for the maid. my SIL helped us and found a suitable, willing candidate. insyaAllah, it'll take about 1-2 weeks for her to settle on Indonesia's side and we'll ask for a favor from tebby's biras to settle on this side. if Nur doesn't mind celebrating Eid here in Malaysia, she's most welcome the moment everything is settled. otherwise, it's gonna be after Eid then. i've been getting negative remarks on this maid thingy. we're praying that everything will go on smoothly. and if Nur later can't cope, we'll send her home. in good faith.

some notes during the days i did not manage to blog..

28th July 2007
thanks to mummychomel for the invitation. went to her open-house cum cukur jambul baby Azriel Mirza. met Myra (who was quite busy at the moment we were there). good food, nice house and wonderful host. we had great time MC!



1st Aug 2007

marked our 10th anniversary in the company. me, tebby and some 100-something other friends. a few made it to GM level now, some are AGMs, some portions at managerial level and some still at executive level. thanks to the company. me and tebby are personally indebted. hey, our medical bills last year could have afforded me something even greater than ViVa!

2nd Aug 2007
down with swimming headache. finally i got sometime off on my own, doing nothing back home. tebby was late so i fetched the kids myself from Atfal. the journey was like 4-5km to-fro but to this mokcik, that was something. hey,... do applause for her.

4th Aug 2007
went to APSH for Iman's routine check-up. alhamdulillah he was okay tho not tip-top. scrapped off pneumoccocal injection as he was still having runny-nose. dr stocked us up with neurogain.


that night, we went for a little celebration in Milwaukee. had good food and good time. met Zarid there.

6th Aug 2007

took a day off to run some errands like confirming kakak's std 1 registration next year. she's going to SR BTHO(2). and watching Simpsons The Movie. i knew i could not miss that one. had good laugh and time.

went to buy things for kakak's party packs (she's going to be 6 tomorrow). ordered 2 cakes from Farra. Yati said sorry for not being able to bake another 2. i hope kakak is going to have a good time tomorrow.

iman did a little stunt last night. he ran about and tripped on the carpet. he fell and his face landed on the front-board of our sofa. thank God i never fancy kerusi kayu. his nose bled and swell. rushed him to nearby clinic with a nappy dotted with fresh blood. so relieved to know that the bleeding is not coming from internal and the swelling is just on his tulang rawan.


7th Aug 2007
i have a meeting to attend and a seminar to go later on but i stayed back home to look after him. i'll be working again tomorrow insyaAllah. iman looks ok so far. he vomitted just once, which i guess from the crying. the swelling is lessening and he's already up and about since this morning. btw, he was trying to immitate Barney's dancing and singing when he went overboard and hurt himself.

oklah. dried laundry needs folding. chow chin chow for now. i rolled up the carper already btw.