So this is (haha backdated post ya) my first day of work after 10 whole days of lazing around and waking up late. Yang paling seronok adalah aku urm period last week, so memang sangat lepak. Hahaha. Siot je rasa. Hari ni juga ada company’s annual CNY lunch at the usual place. Free lunch, sapa tak nak pegi? Memang mengada.

Zufri’s parents are still here in KL. Not really sure when they’re going back. Not really a problem anyway, they are welcomed to stay as long as they want.

Anyway in my last post I said Emma’s getting spoilt, kan? Mari aku cerita contoh-contohnya.

1) If something she’s carrying drops, walaupun jatuh betul-betul kat kaki dia, dan walaupun aku 10 kaki daripada dia, dia akan tunjuk kat barang tu, tengok aku dan kata amek, amek.

2) When we go out and she demands to be carried but I refuse (because most of the time she’ll just scream to be put down), she’ll kiss the floor. Usually I go pick her up because she’s obstructing people. But when the coast is clear, I just leave her there, cium tak cium, and wait for her at a distance. Sometimes she walks back to me, most of the time Zufri picks her up. Itulah masalahnya kot, bila one parent cuba mendisiplin, the other parent coddles her. She’s gonna grow up thinking takpe, mummy tak kasi bapak ada. Not good, huh?

3) If she wants to go somewhere, she’ll grab my hand and say jom jom sambil tangan satu lagi buat gesture mengajak. If I try to pull her to another place, she’ll kiss the floor.

4) If she wants something I don’t give her, she’ll kiss the floor.

5) Bla bla bla, she’ll kiss the floor.

Get the picture? I don’t really care about the staring, and believe me I’ve had my share of stares, its just that sometimes I’m in a rush and I don’t have time to layan her tantrums. She’s not even two years old, and people keep talking about the terrible twos!

I keep telling myself that she’s growing up to be an individual with her own wants, and that this is just a phase. It keeps me sane. My weapon of choice is menjentik telinga. Hahaha. A little reminder here and there is OK to me.

But I once read, and was reminded by Papa lately, that from birth to 7 years old, nurture and care for your child. 7 to what eh, 14 ka, discipline her. 14 to 21 be her friend and at 21 give her wings to fly, set her free. Jadi mungkin sekarang tak perlu terlalu mendisiplin, tapi at the same time, jangan terlalu manjakan Almas.

Entahla dek non, being a parent doesn’t come with a set of manuals. You can do all the research you want, you can listen to as many parents as you want, but it all comes down to what you believe is best for you and your child(ren). Ikutlah kata hati anda. Chewah. Macam dah ada anak 5 pulak nak bagi nasihat keibu bapaan.

Super Long Birthday Week!

Celebrated my birthday with a week long vacation, hehe. Oh what else can one wish for, ey? Went back to Penang for a wedding on Friday (before CNY), came back on Saturday, slept at an el-cheapo hotel in Klang, and finally slept in my own bed on Sunday night. On Tuesday went back to JB with Emma, Kak Peachy and Baby Shaq. Yup, just the four of us. Zufri couldn't join us because his parents were here, hahaha. I had their blessings, OK.

Man, oh man, oh man. Where do I start? The weddings were beautiful, as most weddings are. The trip to and back from Penang went smoothly. Oi kesian OK tengok kereta-kereta yang terperangkap dalam jam masa perjalan kami balik ke KL hari Sabtu tu! Masya Allah, dekat 60 km! Our side was smooth flowing, thank God. Emma was pretty well-behaved throughout, considering she did have a slight temperature.

Then the wedding in Klang. Emma played in the playground all day. The weather was great, the playground was directly next to the wedding tents, the company was marvelous, people didn't even care I wore jeans to the wedding! And believe me, depa semua mami Penang. Semua simpati kot dekat aku, seeing how Emma was behaving. Papa says she's growing to be a spoilt little kid, and I think so too, but more on that later.


Then on Monday night, we had an early birthday dinner, just the 3 of us at The Curve. Everybody had ice cream, hehe even Emma. The most fun togetehr we had all year, so far.

Tuesday morning I left for JB. At four hours to midnight, Shikin wished me happy birthday and claims herself as the first person to wish me, but of course since it wasn't my birthday yet, tak jadi la dek non. Zufri called me at exactly 12:00 a.m. Emma wasn't asleep yet, so we (together with the rest of the household and Kak Yen and Adam and Rizz who called as well) sang and ate birthday cakes together. And although I did not receive any presents this year (except for the birthday dinners and the tudungs), I feel truly blessed to be surrounded by my loved ones. Alhamdulillah.

But somehow I'm craving for a label-maker lah!

That night I had another birthday dinner, this time with the family at Ichiban Ramen, Jusco Tebrau.

The next day we had a picnic at Istana Garden. I know, korang mesti kata eh, balik-balik pegi piknik. Gilo apo? Gilo piknik OK. Sangat seronok. Aku jumpa pelepah pokok kelapa, pastu aku tiarapkan Emma atasnya dan mula menarik Emma across the field. Emma deleted the video. Then we slid down a hill and dirtied our jeans. Then I tried to pull Pipi, to no avail. Then we tried to pull Shaq, who started crying. Then we pulled Kak Peachy and Shaq successfully. Then Papa pulled Emma. After half an hour of pulling and running, we left feeling tired yet satisfied with the time well spent.

Baby Shaq, who now has two front teeth!

Emma's playing hide and seek with Mummy.

Then on Friday we went back to KL. Today, jeng jeng jeng aku pegi Sogo dengan parents Zufri. Now I'm not a person who willingly goes to Sogo on weekends, but since Zufri's aunt wanted to give her sister a treat, takkan nak suruh depa naik LRT kot? The traffic was amazingly clear, senang cari parking. Mungkin warga KL masih dalam mood bercuti, who knows? Yang hebatnya adalah aku tak membeli apa-apa! Trying to stick to my guns on clearing my credit card debts this year, Insya Allah.

Also managed to finish re-reading The Firm by John Grisham. I know, hardly the literary genius. Nak bawak balik The Testament, tapi terlupa. Been planning on buying Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffeneger, tapi mahal lah. Even downloaded a copy from the internet! Haha tapi tak kuasa mak nak lepak depan PC baca buku.

So there you go! A super long birthday week! I love Aquarians.

(There goes my plans of having a Libran baby.)

Selamat Bercuti Panjang!

Emma cam whoring.

Besok mak dah start cuti sampai jumaat depan kay!

Adam The Psychic

Mari bercerita.

Minggu lepas, aku bertanyakan Adam. Adam, dalam perut Gigi ada baby tak?

Adam kata takde, dalam perut Mak ada.

Kak Yen agak terkujat mendengar kenyataan Adam, namun dia kata dia tak betapa nak risau memandangkan dia baru habis datang bulan. Hahaha gila melayu. Oh atau baru habis uzur.

Lalu semasa perkelahan keluarga kat KLCC Ahad lalu, soalan yang sama dipertanyakan kat Adam.

Jawapan Adam tetap sama.

Akhirnya Kak Yen mengaku. Katanya Adam’s prophecy the other day was correct. I’m pregnant.

Hahahahahaha Adam sangat psychic ya.

Aku tanya Adam lagi, dalam perut Mak ada Mak kecik ke ada Ayah kecik?

Adam kata Mak kecik.

But later went on to say Adam tak suka budak perempuan.

Eleh dengan Emma suka je. Siap peluk peluk cium cium lagi.

Hahahaha. Insya Allah, dapatlah Kak Yen seorang anak perempuan.

We are all so excited. Congratulations to Kak Yen for your good fortune!

Nota kaki : Adam dah terlalu biasa mengangkat Rizzqin yang seberat 8.6 kilo, jadi bila dia cuba mengangkat Emma yang 2 kilo leboh berat, dia gagal dan berkata, beratnya Emma ni!
Nota kaki 2 : Jangan sesiapa bagitahu Encik Hamzah berita gembira ini tau! Papa still doesn’t know.

Kembali Berbelog

Today ends my month long time off from blogging.

So anyway, nothing much has happened the past month. Haven’t gone out much since I started cooking (yay!). Weekends are well spent. Been going to the park after work for some exercise time with Emma (which consists of me chasing her around) which is God sent because she sleeps better at night!

She’s 10.6 kilos now. Alhamdulillah, surprisingly her booster jab didn’t cause her to have any fever. I give her Scott’s emulsion everyday now, that’s the only supplement she takes. Don’t know if it’s sufficient but as long as she’s eating fruits, vegetables and still breastfeeds, she should be okay, right?

Her favourite animal is the dog, because our neighbourhood’s just crawling with them. She calls everything ‘dog’, even cats. She has her own stroller now, with which she pushes my teddy bear Tommy around like her own baby. Gets stuck at drops all the time. Doesn’t seem to enjoy bath time as much lately, but still loves playing with water. She feeds herself with a spoon, but not as much with her hands. Maybe because I still give her porridge (she rarely eats adult rice).

And OMG! Emma absolutely loves cam-whoring. She’d hold my phone at an arm’s length from her face and make faces at the camera! A smile would be scrunching her nose and pouting her lips, haha. She can’t string two words together yet, but says ‘shu shu’ when she wants milk, complete with raising up my top. She babbles a lot, not much is intelligible though.

She’d say shoes when she sees me getting ready to go out, habis when something’s finished, air for water, oyo for oreos, cantik when she’s all groomed, andi when she’s taking her bath (she loves singing in her own language while walking to the shower with her towel draped at her neck), mummy, bapak, tok ah for tok we our neighbour, papa for opah, dam for adam, cih for thank you, “tu, er, ah!” then ‘jumps’ off something (konon-konon satu dua tiga kot) but not much more. Like I said before, her vocab’s still limited. Maybe because I myself am not such a big talker. I should talk to her more, kan baru dia bercakap balik.

She’s almost adept in wearing her own shoes, but taking ‘em off like a pro. Her latest favourite snack is oreos. Dang myself for introducing it to the household. And she seems to love eggs.

Nowadays after her bath, I’d wrap her with her towel like a swaddle and just swing her around, shushing her to sleep, hehe. Feels like she’s growing up too fast! Getting her to wear her clothes is a race. As soon as I put her down, she’ll scramble to her feet an start running around naked, hahaha, sneaking glances at me to see how close I’ve gotten. She’ll snuggle up to an accomplice, usually Zufri, and start screaming. Hahaha sabar je lah. Well at least I’m getting some much-needed exercise.

Every night before sleep, we have this new routine which Zufri doesn’t really approve hehe. She’d look at videos of her in action, and laugh and communicate with herself until the whole video sequence ends. Ada la dekat 15 minit. At least she’s enjoying herself, and gives me some time to catch up on my reading. Hehe. 15 minit pun jadi lah. Maybe I should download some educational videos into my handphone. Don’t know if its possible though.

She’s been eyeing the big bikes at the park. Her small little Stride To Ride Walker is no longer sufficient. Sheesh. I don’t think she can ride a tricycle yet, but maybe she can give it a try at one of the shops. Di Giant sekarang dah tak boleh cuba basikalnya, dia rantaikan tayarnya. Bagus. Hahaha.

Last Sunday us sisters had a picnic at the garden in KLCC (which deserves a post on its own). We’ve always had picnics as children, particularly because Mummy’s not so fond of eating out. We’ve had picnics at all kinds of places, the strangest being the (open) car park at Haw Par Villa in Singapore. Hahaha. As far as I can remember, we’ve always had home cooked food. And she’s a marvelous cook, something I’m trying to emulate.

Wah wah, macam-macam aku nak cerita ya. Macam semua update pasal Emma saja. Hahaha apa nak buat, kehidupan, hati dan minda aku penuh dengan Emma. Hehe. Later when I get my groove back, I’ll blog about something else ya.
But for now, happy 18th month birthday, baby!

Picnic At Lake Garden

Hye, it’s Emma again! I had such fun gathering and playing with friends last Sunday. We reached Lake Garden as early as 8:00 am. There goes my beauty sleep! Then one by one Nabil, Iskandar and Dhani came. Thank God for cousins Adam and Rizzqin to keep me company (and Mummy sane, heh heh).

For breakfast we had nasi lemak, nuggets and sandwiches. I of course had little. The call of the slides, see sew margerie daws and monkey bars is much louder than my stomach. Oh, monkey bars. I couldn’t reach that up high, so I settled for the ladders. Mummy almost had a heart attack!

Then I went for a nature walk with Mak Yen and Adam and Rizzqin. Mummy? Dia dok lepak dengan kawan-kawan dia sampai dia lupa kat cheq, na. Kecik hati cheq. Tapi cheq maintain, pasai cheq kan big girl. Yeah!

Finally left at 11:30. It was already so hot then, my cheeks turned red! I fell asleep as soon as I was safely secured in my car seat. When I woke up, we were at Tesco to get my diapers. Then we went to the Curve. Mummy bought me some hair clips (Mummy is delusional. She knows I have no hair! Tsk tsk) and a fisherman’s hat. In red! Again!

After having lunch at Anggerik Kuringan in Sunway Damansara (only I was alive and kicking. My cousins all terbongkang tidur already) we finally left for home. What a tirrrrrring day!

I learned some new words. Like ‘A’ is for (Alliga)toooor! ‘B’ is for beaaaaar! C is for (Ca)meeeeeeh(l)! Must be exaggerated like that.

Mak Yen says she wants to make this a weekly event. Mummy says yeah right. I say bring it on!
I wish Shaq can join us next time. I haven’t heard his stories on his latest adventures!