post raya 1

alhamdulillah, we came back to a much clearer sky in KL. we shoot off from tgg at apr. 8.30a.m. drove slowly along Chendering in searh of the keropok 008. (it's on your right if you're driving from tgg to kl - with a bright yellow, kuning siyo signboard bearing 008) and stopped for petrol at Gambang petronas where PLUS helly was taking off (much to the kids excitement) and finally stopped by at my hometown on Temerloh for lunch and sending the things they ordered. we were safely home in Cheras at 4.30p.m. alhamdulillah, albeit the long hot journey, we had a safe journey. Iman vomitted once (I think he's prone to travel-sickness, he also vomitted on the way to tgg).

and today kakak has gone back to her pre-school. Iman to the nursery. we haven't gone to work just yet tho. spent the day shopping for provisions, browsing for air-purifier, searching for 12 Dancing Princess DVD and finally home soaking wet from the heavy rain. after a warm shower, we potato-couched ourselves watching The Devil Wears Prada while eating fries and sipping soda. sambil ditemani hujan renyai-renyai. aman.

anyway, how was everybody's Eid? some had food poisoning, some gained back 2 kilos they've lost during the month, all in a week, plus another 2 kilo. some wanting to get back some weight. as for me, part of Eid was celebrated 'sederhana tapi meriah' (sederhana in a true meaning of sederhana I must say) while other part was a bit somber.

we went back balik kampung only on Sunday. we had the house cleaned on Saturday. did some packing and shoot off after Subuh. sampai-sampai di kampung, rupanya we already had a task assigned. buat sup tulang. so there were we, sitting by a big besen of tulang cleaning them while Iman soaked his cars and lorries in that very besen as well. my mum was worried sup tak habis since we had 3-4 kilos of tulang but by 1st raya, the big pot was squeaky clean already! alhamdulillah, on 1st day Eid, orang datang tak putus-putus since after sembahyang raya. we only managed to go out and visit on petang 2nd day. my parents and brothers went during night time, even. it is customary in my kampung, on 2nd day Eid, we'll have this 'tahlil kubur' where we all gathered at the graveyard and did tahlil and doa while designated adults distributed money to the kids. and this year, it was overwhelming. ramai sungguh yang datang. and sempat jugak melawat kubur my elder sister who passed away 13 years ago in an accident. oh, rendang daging, rendang ayam and lemang was all finished by 2nd day Eid. and the kids had wonderful time chasing after the chicken, played hide and seek amonst the semak-samun (one even had his private part bitten by tungau and rushed to the clinic later on), mengerjakan atok's new recliner. Iman melukis meja kayu baru wan, climbed and stood proudly on glass-topped coffee table, tried to eat wan's crytal fruit, switching on and off the tv (much to his cousins irritation).

3rd day Eid, kami balik ke tgg. this i shall blog later. need to brush my teeth and do something to my face. i seem to be getting zits when i get my P lately.

saturday 21st October ~ we're still here..

dates, egg-tart and black-forest

kuetiaw goreng

crab, prawns masak something & lemon-chicken

ikan

grilled lamb

sambal kupang & mixed-vege

buttered-prawn and fried-chicken

grilled crab. pretty tough to break the shell. the claws cooperated better.

Thanks for all the Eid wishes. As of today, 21st October, we're still in KL, mengemas rumah, packing things up and the likes. Esok after sahur, we're heading for Temerloh and on pagi 3rd raya, to Tgg. The kitchen is sealed ~ no cooking anymore. Maybe we'll have some burgers from uncle Ronald for iftar today. I'm sure the kids will be delighted.

Iman's check-up yesterday was fine. Except that we arrived at APSH somewhat early (the cars ~ where'd they go?). The waiting was tensed tho. Imagine this. He run around endlessly but I am used to that ~ so no big deal. Then he knocked down a wastebin, sending the top part flung away and scattering the insides. Sib baik it was still early and sampah was very minimal. He switched off the airconds few times, then the aquarium's oxygen (kalau mati ikan kelisa dr tu, harulah nak ganti Iman oii!!). I had to chase him here and there and by noon, I think what I ate for sahur was gone already! He also scared away one little girl. Lucky thing Kakak was at school and not joining the 'fun'. Anyway, he needs to continue Singulair and Ketotifen until the haze is gone. Dr also stocked us up with Brycanyl, Nurefon and Actifed. You know what they say, sediakan payung sebelum hujan. We asked about the usage of air-purifier. It helps to some extent, he said. Choose the one with HEPA. Don't ask. I also don't know. But so far, to my knowledge, for an area like living, the cost may fetch more than RM2k per unit while for a bedroom, a little lesser, maybe RM1.5k. *Gulp!*

Oh, for yesterday's iftar, we ate out. Kelana Seafood in Desa Aman Cheras. The food was good at priced lowly at RM29 per person. We had almost everything. By 6.45p.m, our table was occupied almost to the fullest. Stopped a little while for Maghrib. Then came down heavy rain so we had to stay back and ate some more. Well,... sort of. (Photos are shown above)

Okay peeps, I need to pack things-up. This time around, I am bringing the whole house where the kids are concerned. Clothes, toys, books, food, medications, thermometer bla bla bla bla.. well, you know what they say, sediakan payung sebelum hujan!

salam Eid dari kami sekeluarga

Short note:-
~ ada orang tu ada hp baru. wahhh.. tak sia-sia hp lama dia tu keypad rosak. terus sambar hp yang lagi canggih dan hebat. hensem gak hp baru dia tu.
~ ada orang tu pulak ada handbag baru. kaler biru katanya. wahhh.. tak sia-sia ada 3G phone, si husbandnya yang shopping mopping, dia pilih bag thru video call.
~ ada pulak sorang kenalan tu dah nak cuti esok. hati-hati di jalanraya yek. semalam try hantar mail tp dah bounced-back. mailbox penuh.


anyway, last few days baru je dapat softcopy gambar-gambar kami di Korea dulu. total from kawan yang seorang ni pun dah 800 keping! kami punya dalam 100-200 keping aje. 2 malam lepas sempat lah menengok kat rumah sama-sama dengan kakak. suddenly she realised how longgg and howww far she was left behind! all the while she thought we were in AQUARIA, KLCC baru dia tau there were fishy things happended tho we didn't even see any fish in Korea. apalagi, muncung lah kawan tu satu malam!
(Photo ~ Namsan Park from Yongsan Street. On top of Namsan Park, there's SEOUL TOWER)

hari ni aktiviti mengumpulkan kuih raya. semalam dah dapat 'FRAMBOZEN KENARI'. hebatkan namanya? rasa pun hebat tauu. hari ni pulak nak ambik KEK LAPIS PRUNE dan KEK LAPIS MASAM-MANIS yang ditempah minggu lepas. alhamdulillah tahun ni tak terburu nafsu. biskut cuma 4 jenis dan kek 2 jenis. baju raya untuk kami suami isteri sepasang sorang. untuk anak-anak ada lebih sikit.

btw, i am still not very well. semalam dapat mc. sebelum balik rumah temankan mdh hantar final draft graduate project dia. tong teng tong teng, sampai rumah pkl 2 ptg. lepas sembahyang zohor tertidur sampai 530p.m. lepas beli juadah berbuka kat pasar ramadhan, pick-up anak-anak. alahai, badan Iman dedar-dedar but he was still active. kalau dia dah 'give-in' to fever, usually dia akan banyak merengek dan nak dukung. he was still in his normal self semalam. mintak-mintak tak melarat. esok pulak memang follow-up check-up dia kat APSH so nak mintak ubat-ubatan spare from dr. y Allah, janganlah pisang berbuah untuk kali ke-3!

anyway, esok tak pasti boleh memblog atau tidak so ummi sekeluarga nak ucapkan SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI. MAAF ZAHIR BATIN. kepada semua kenalan yang pernah bertentang mata, bertepuk tampar atau yang cuma berkenalan di alam cyber.

gambar raya last year. it was 1st day eid.
coincidently it was iman's 1st birthday also.
but look at how sick he was.
masa tu dia kena pneumonia but we still didn't know.
we though it was just some stubborn fever.

dari ummi, mdh, athirah & iman

of haze and the kids

the haze is getting worse these past 2-3 days, don't you think so? and it has taken its toll. this time around, it's me. i am nursing a running nose, a sore and itchy throat and a bit of fever. thank God, the kids are okay without any major things that call for our concern. mdh is fine as well. this time around, the 3 of them will take care of me pulak, how's that? heh heh. anyway, i just hope i'll be back to my normal self before raya.
(Photo~bangunan yang nampak kelam-kelam from far. eh, mana Menara ek?)

a few short note:
~ our sour grape will be leaving us. well i guess that would be best for everyone, the person him/herself and us all. yipeedeedooo! (that describes my feeling anyway!)
~ i saw a tudung that i fancy at Midvalley. A nice green which suits my baju raya with a bit of embroidery. but it was RM299.00. opsie.. thanks but no thanks. i asked for someting much cheaper and they have a few tudungs on sale, which each cost about RM50.00! blame me tho, i think i lingered at the wrong place. it was like looking for a RM100-200 handbag at COACH boutique.
~ kakak writes!! her first words i saw she wrote were 'R O T I' and 'B U C U' (the latter is actually buku. she's still confused with C in english and K in malay)
~ Iman counts!! i heard him counting till 'SEVVVEEENNN' this morning. good boy!
~ Che Abang almost done with his graduate project (he writes credits to us all ~ me and the kids). so, he'll get his scroll early next year. *urut dada tanda kelegaan* (ha, apa yang, PhD?..)

this morning, Iman decided to join us for sahur (bangun pkl 5 lagi tu..). dialah yang terpaling sibuk sekali. makan fishball and cicah sos cili (he ended poo-poo after that). kakak woke-up shortly after. pastu, apalagi. channel 62, 63 and 64 lahh! so today, masa hantar ke Atfal, both kids were squeaky clean already.

ok people, need to go and see the dr downstairs and see if i could get a day off, or two!

bit of this and that

new recipe!
Since Che Abang is now fine and up-n-about, we tried new recipe today. Nasi Daging. (PB~dah try belum?) Serve hot with fried herbed-chicken (chicken marinated with garlic+ginger+salt+tumeric+bawang kisar). Kakak followed my SIL shopping in KLCC and managed to get her CheDe to buy her a pair of blue slippers, to match her blue kebaya. And today, apart from Nasi Daging, I am proud that I achieved lots of things pertaining to mengemas. The kitchen is clear of clutter and I've washed and scrubbed semua rak-rak dapur yang ada kesan minyak. (I soak those racks in vanish+water for 1/2 hr then scrubbed off easily) On top of that, dah basuh backyard and lipat kain. By 12.30p.m dah flat on my back sleeping. Pkl 3p.m Che Abang kejut for Zohor prayer and then started cooking. This time, he just helped.
(Photo ~ nasi daging)

last major shopping for Eid
Last Saturday we went shopping for Eid. With only Kakak in tow, it was much relaxing and fruitful, in the sense that dapatlah semua yang dihajati except for Ummi's sandal. The only hiccup, I suppose, when Kakak terasa sangat lapar and we had to see her through her lunch while she remarked endlessly 'sedaaaapppp', 'hmmmm', 'deliciousss', 'yummy' sambil menyedut air with slurping sound. Such a tempt.. We got pants, tshirt, sandal for Iman, shirt for Abah, tumbler for the kids and guess what.. a brand new Samsung handphone for Ummi ~ courtesy of Abah. Thanks yang.. I love you. (traded-in my nokia for RM100 ~ not bad since I thought the most it could fetch was RM50 only!)

my oh my....

dating sambil berbuka puasa di luar
So, we went to Cerana, Cheras on Thursday. At first thought of going for a buffet in Muzium Kesenian Islam but it was fully booked, well into next week. Cerana charged at RM38 per person. Masakan melayu with quite a spread. When azan was on the air, we have theseeee on our table (added a few dishes later..). Orang lalu pun angkat kening. We can be such a gastronomic disaster at times. So here goes some photos..

we had fish, prawn, squid, 'paru', clams, kerabu mangga
sup ekor, tomyam dan sebagainya
yang mana tak masuk dalam gambar..

happy birthday Iman (2 tahun hijrah)

Iman ~ seconds after delivery.
crying his heart out

Teringat lagi pagi tu. Lepas Che Abang tu ke ofis, ummi terasa nak ke toilet. Tup-tup nampak darah. Cepat-cepat call dia. Kebetulan dia tertinggal laptop so memang on the way balik ke rumah semula. Cepat-cepat mandi dan tukar baju. Minum air milo segelas. Kalau dengan Che Abang tu memang no compromise bab-bab ni. Takdelah nak singgah makan nasi lemak ke, roti canai ke. Kebetulan pulak bulan puasa so teruslah kami meredah kesesakan MRR2 ke Ampang. Sampai di APSH, terus masuk labor room. Dah 3cm.

Sementara menanti, ummi baca buku cerita. Ingat lagi tajuknya ~ Life of Pi (sampai sekarang tak abis baca lagi!). Che Abang dok belek suratkhabar. Lepas edema tu, sakit masih belum kuat. Tak lama lepas tu, nurse datang bawak satu batang. Eh, macam kenal jek. Time kakak pun ada guna batang tu. Pecahkan water-bag. Nurse kata bagi proses cepat sikit. Tak cukup pecahkan water-bag, kena lak IV, pun nak cepatkan. Si Iman pulak dok tekan-tekan bladder ummi, kejap-kejap nurse kena datang bawak mangkuk. Merasalah buang air ada orang tadahkan he he. Dalam nak terkucil tu sempat lagi baca buku dan berbalas sms. Nurse datang lagi check. Eh dah 7cm tp awat cam tak berapa sakit sangat lagi. Soalan tu terjawab tak lama lepas tu, sakit bertalu-talu sampai merayu2 di belah je perut tu. Nurse cool lagi. Che Abang tu muka kesian sangat. Tugasnya menggosok belakang, pegang botol air dan jadi pom-pom boy. Tak tertahan sakit, mintak pain-killer. Tapi nurse mintak maaf banyak-banyak sebab it was too late already. Iman dah ke bawah. Tiba-tiba lepas tu rasa nak push. Push push. Dan lagi dan lagi. Che Abang intai tak nampak lagi kepala Iman. Setelah berhempas pulas, Iman masih tak keluar. Dr datang. Check punya check, dia kata OP and not engage well. Po ko bondo tu? Rupanya Iman dok senget, tak tepat dengan jalan keluar. Plus, mukanya mengadap ke depan (sama cam kakaknya jugak) Diorang pun betulkan dia tapi masih sangkut. Ummi boleh rasa dia turun sampai ke opening tapi macam ternaik semula. Dr pun kata ‘we vacuum’. Buatlah apa pun, ummi rela. Janji mamat sorang tu keluar dengan selamat. Dalam diorang dok bersiap tu, tertengok lak sedulang pisau segala yang berkilat-kilat. Ngeri gak ek. Pastu Iman pun disedut keluar. Oh, berbelit tali pusat kat leher dia 3 kali. Lepas kena tepuk, menangis lah dia.

Selamat.

3.3kg 1.37p.m ~ 20 Ramadhan 1425. Ummi pegang dia. Che Abang kata cukuplah anak kita dua orang ni. Dia kata kesian tengok Ummi nak bersalinkan Iman, tapi dia tak boleh buat banyak benda untuk tolong.

Terus kami panggil dia Iman. Memang nama tu dah menanti dia. Muhammad Iman. Muhammad sempena nama nabi kita dan disebabkan nazar ummi. Iman pilihan abahnya.

Sebelum keluar dari labor room, Dr pesan ~ lain kali mintak epidural cepat-cepat. Teringat masa bersalinkan kakak. Nurse tanya nak epidural tak? Che Abang tu pulak yang menjawab tak mau. Eh, confius Ummi, sapa yang nak bersalin ni? Walaupun kakak anak sulung dan sakit berpanjangan, proses kelahirannya relatively kurang sakit dari Iman.

Apa-apa hal pun, Iman pun dah besar. Sesuai dengan namanya, dia memang mencabar kesabaran dan keimanan kami. Ragamnya. Sakitnya. Kuat nangisnya. Kuat bergayutnya. Tapi alhamdulillah.. dia tetap menyerikan hidup kami sekeluarga.

Iman ~ 2 tahun (hijrah) kemudian

she's loving it

she's loving it!

with horses and ponies being her current obsessions,
this tshirt with a pony embroided onto it was warmly,
excitedly,
happily received yesterday.
she made endless remarks,
peeks,
folds,
try-ons,
smile-overs,
until i gave-up and promise to let her wear this on our midvalley trip this weekend.
i am so very glad she likes it.
(tersenyum simpul when she opened the bag and saw that)

my head was swimming yesterday from Asar time to waktu berbuka. in fact i vomitted a few times before iftar. i felt full of gas and bloated and ate just a bit of rice and some hot soup. hopefully it won't happen again.

Che Abang will be going for an ultra-sound today to further check the condition of his stomach. he looks a lot better and has shed a few kilos i think. i just hope everthing is okay.

Anyway, my sister is giving birth today. i sound so sure, eh. she's going to have a C-sect this morning. her 3rd child and most probably, as advised by doctors, the last one. we'll be seeing them only this weekend before they go balik kampung. pse pray for safe delivery for both mom and baby. this raya she'll be flanked by the powerpuff girls (she will have 3 girls). oh, i need to ransack my house for baby necessities to lend her. as this is going to be their last baby, she didn't buy much so iman's out-grown clothings and feeding sets will be of good use.
(Photo ~ kakak dan abah, ibarat lagu dan irama..)